deeply into the ground by it. This
portion had encountered some individual in its course, as it came
stained with blood. Such was the situation of the houses that it must
have fallen at an angle as high as forty-five degrees. It has been
stated, that bodies of persons were projected quite across the river
into Kentucky. I can find no evidence of the truth of this: on the
contrary, Mr Kerr informs me that he made inquiries of the people on
the opposite shore, and could not learn that anything was seen to fall
farther than half way across the river, which is at that place about
sixteen hundred feet wide."

I was at Cincinnati some time after the explosion, and examined the
wreck which still lay on the Ohio shore. After the report was drawn up
it was discovered that the force of the explosion had been even greater
than was supposed, and that portions of the engine and boilers had been
thrown to a much greater distance. It is to be remarked, that Mr
Woodbury's report to Congress states from one hundred to one hundred and
twenty persons as having been killed. Judge Hall, in the report of the
committee, estimates it at one hundred and fifty; but there is reason to
believe that the loss on this occasion, as well as in many others, was
greater than even in the report of the committee. The fact is, it is
almost impossible to state the loss on these occasions; the only data to
go upon are the books in which the passengers' names are taken down when
the fare is paid, and this is destroyed. In a country like America,
there are thousands of people unknown to anybody, migrating here and
there, seeking the Far West to settle in; they come and go, and nobody
knows anything of them; there might have been one hundred more of them
on board the Moselle at the time that she exploded; and as I heard from
Captain Pearce, the harbour-master, and others, it is believed that such
was the case, and that many more were destroyed than was at first
supposed.

The American steam-boats are very different from ours in appearance, in
consequence of the engines being invariably on deck. The decks also are
carried out many feet wider on each side than the hull of the vessel, to
give space; these additions to the deck aye called guards. The engine
being on the first deck, there is a second deck for the passengers,
state-rooms, and saloons; and above this deck there is another, covered
with a white awning. They have something the appearance of