10 October : Lightly overcast sky; the thermometer registers 16°R [68°F, 20°C] at six thirty. The mountains of the bank are steep; they are divided by ravines. During the night we had lain at anchor; at dawn we continued our journey. We had passed McMahon Creek and Elizabethtown; we now had M17The Big Grave Creek. the Captina Creek on the right, or Ohio, bank. On the bank lay canoes hewn from a single tree trunk, almost like those in Brazil, but not so long, certainly made in the Indian manner. Cornfields here and there. On the bank a wild profusion of fallen timber, tall Platanus, and willows with tender leaves. Grapes overgrow the thickets. Grave Creek empties near Elizabethtown. Now Fish Creek here. Its wooded banks are most picturesque.

Along the bank there were small individual cottages. We stopped and took on wood. Tall Platanus, willows, and other trees on shore, some of them broken down and toppled. Rain darkens the region. The mountains are rounded off, short and steep, with valleys between them. In many places wood has been piled up for the steamships; some is already lying [in] boats. The trunks of the tall trees are, in part, most picturesquely entwined with red and yellow vines. On an old stump in the water we saw mussels (Unio), which an animal had piled up. A bird of prey drew our gaze, always pleasantly occupied, high up into the air. The roots of the Platanus were often completely washed clear of soil.

On the right bank, we reached Newtown, a hamlet of eight houses at the mouth of Sunfish Creek. This place was not on my map. Beautiful, wild intertwining of tall trees of all colors; at other places asters and Syngenesia form dense thickets 2 to 3 feet high. We passed a boat floating on the river. Tall beeches, Platanus, maples, [and] elms, their branches entwined with vermilion red Hedera quinquefolia. Traces of Ohio floods: broken trunks, piled-up trees, deeply eroded clay banks. The force of the river can scarcely be compared with the Rhine River. Veins of rocks now appear on the mountain to the right; on the bank lie boulders wildly mingled with shattered timber. Tall timber grows picturesquely in the rocks. Bridges are often constructed picturesquely across small ravines in the tall timber. Woodpiles on shore.

The ship is stopped and people are taken aboard. The steam hisses terribly. Picturesque location of dwellings scattered in the tall timber; gaggles of geese on shore. Here the river is about as broad as the Paraíba at Campos dos Goyta cazes. A large bird of prey, perhaps an Aquila leucocephala, which is said to be common near Steubenville. Cornfields lie in the small bottoms along the river; at devastated spots above them, everything is often covered with vermilion red Rhus typhinum. Fishing Creek now issued to the left. Here a beautiful belted kingfisher (Alcedo alcyon L.) flew along the bank. The steamship Marksman races past us. The mate fetches a passenger [from it] with the boat. Magnificently tall timber along the shore forms a lofty forest. Platanus trunks wreathed with red vines like red columns. Cattle were grazing in their dark shade. Rain darkens the beautiful region.

After breakfast our table companions, about three or four of them, follow us in our place, then, last of all, the black waiters and the boys. There are now sandy stretches on the bank with stones and Platanus thickets, which the river maltreats. Black crows (Corvus [——]) were calling in the tall forest. To the right we now see the big city Sisterville, consisting of a few miserable huts. The sandbars were yellow from a plant that I could not examine. Floating wood bumps against the ship. Banks with dried-up trees and dense low brush; here the ship struck bottom. Falco haliaëtus flew off before us. The region was beautiful, an extremely scenic island, and the view up the river was excellent. There are lofty primeval forests along the shore that afford a glimpse of tall and steeply eroded layers of sand and clay; shattered timber lies everywhere. The direction of the river is southwest.

At an attractive house, we halted to take on several passengers. Here several beautiful round islands appeared ahead, all of them covered with tall, picturesque forest. The left bank is Virginia; the right one, the state of Ohio. The wind that had arisen blew the leaves down from the trees and some of them into the river, which became covered with them.[Page 1:113] At the foot of the mountain, large blackish boulders and, above them, plants which I took for Magnolia. On the bank a picturesque bridge crossed a small run. A low-lying island densely covered with willows at its front; they are of the tender- or narrow-leaved species, which grows to be very tall (Salix [——]). Tall Platanus, birches, elms. Small habitations in the old forest. Stone chimney on the exterior. Open spots where shrubs are overgrown with grapevines. Entire mountain walls where the timber has been stripped away, then other places completely reddened by sumac. At twelve noon we had a temperature of 16 1/2°R [69.1°F, 20.6°C]. Island with tall forest, the Platanus intertwined with vermilion red Hedera quinquefolia, tall willows on the bank. In the water, accumulations of driftwood; the river is now narrow besides. Several open areas on the right, where [there are] tilled fields and habitations.

At one o’clock the sun emerged. The colorful forests now appeared just as beautiful as ever. Huge trees, particularly maple, Platanus, beeches, elms, basswood; dark, breezy shade; ashes, walnut trees. Among them creeping Vitis and bright red Hedera, and in this shade [are the] most picturesque bridges or footbridges across the ravines of the little runs.M18Mill Creek on the right, and farther on, before the Little Muskingum River, Bull Creek. Extremely narrow channel of the Ohio between the right bank and a sandbar; Alcedo alcyon flew over this spot. On the left bank, tender-leaved willows grew. A beautiful white, featherlike bush.

We put in on the right side along the bank and took on wood. Mr. Bodmer and Dreidoppel went ashore, and when the bell gave the signal, they returned with the fruits of the pawpaw (Annona glabra), which grows here very copiously. These were the trees that I had taken for Magnolia, 20 to 40 feet high, with a large leaf and a fruit like a small cucumber. Inside it [are] 12 thick black seeds and a whitish, juicy pulp, which did not taste bad. Many persons find its odor unpleasant.M19The trees near Pittsburgh and Wheeling are said to be completely without fruit this year. The buckeye (Aesculus ohioensis) also grows here. At the landing place stood tall Platanus, in the thick, divided branches of which the river at high level had deposited thick pieces of wood and sticks. The tall, slender black locusts nearby already had yellow foliage.

After lunch there was a heavy downpour, very desirable for us, so that the river might rise. Just now we struck bottom five or six times so that the rudder broke. The steamboat Chippewa hurries by us lay at anchor. Splendidly tall trees to the right, where black crows in large number were flying. Narrow passage of the river.M20There the little village of Newark is located. Then we came to the Little Muskingum River. The hamlet or village (town), Marietta, [is] to the right. Here the Muskingum River empties into the Ohio. The place is small but [has] several good brick houses. The steamboat Citizen is lying at anchor here, beside which we stop and take on passengers.M21From Marietta one reaches Muskingum Island, then Vienna Island, opposite which is situated the little village of Vienna on the left bank. After we had passed James Island, we caught sight of [——] on [——].

Swallows, which had long since left Pennsylvania, still flew about here over the river; they appeared to be Cypselus. The small town has an attractive church, painted yellow; apparently two churches. Beyond the mouth of the Muskingum River there is a village. Behind the island that one passes before reaching the village, the Little Muskingum and Duck Creek discharge. The high flood of the Ohio last March must have been terrible; steamboats docked at the third story of houses in Marietta.

From here on, the bank to the right was bare, except for occasional trees; to the left there was better forest. Uprooted Platanus continue to produce green foliage.M22Unfortunately, our stay was too short for me to get out and see the largest feature worthy of note in this region: the old Indian ruins, of which Smith Barton, in his work Observations on Some Parts of Natural History, part 1, [30–35,] London, has provided a description and diagram. At that time they still stood out in the open on the plain between the Muskingum and the Ohio. Since then Marietta has been built right on this spot; a part of the old remains is located in the town, but part of it has been plowed under, and with each passing year, more of it will be. Already—I believe in 1815—when Mr. T. Say visited these ruins, much of them could no longer be seen, and the ramparts were being plowed under. It is sad that the government does not have sufficient appreciation for such things to preserve them. It has likewise permitted the extermination and expulsion of still-existing Indians. The Americans, however, have an appreciation only for money or Indian corn and hogs. Travelers must pay dearly; they are not spared. But an object of historical or natural historical significance does not concern them in the slightest. Now we reached On the left bank, Parkersburg, a town beneath which the Little Kanawha River empties into the Ohio emerges from the high bank. Opposite, in the state of Ohio, there are several houses called Belpre. A crushed steamboat, ruined by ice, on the bank. Evening approaches. Cattle graze beneath pawpaw trees. The right bank is now rather high, 60 feet, but bare, with scattered bushes. Trees are growing on top. We anchored off the right bank for the night; after supper I made some entries in my diary. During the night, a violent storm with heavy rain. It rained into the upper bunks in the ship.