Witt supposed the water to be impregnated almost to saturation. Mr. Byington told me, that salt could not be dissolved in it, except in exceedingly small quantities.

The latter of these gentlemen also informed me, that the quantity of salt made in the year 1803 amounted to 96,000 bushels, and that in 1804 it would extend to 100,000. A duty of four cents on the bushel is paid to the state.

This salt is forbidden by law to be sold for more than sixty cents per bushel. Notwithstanding the expense of transportation, therefore, it is obtained on very moderate terms by all the inhabitants of the western country, even at the greatest distance. Nor is this all: the regions round the lakes Ontario, Erie, and Huron, are supplied with salt from these springs. Even this is not all: Messrs. Wood and Byington have contracted to furnish the merchants in Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) with four thousand barrels, containing five bushels each, in the years 1805, 1806, and 1807. This is to be delivered by the contractors at Oswego, near the south-eastern corner of Lake Ontario. The transportation from the springs to this place is wholly by water, except twenty yards. At Oswego it will be shipped for Queenstown, and thence conveyed by land eight miles to Chippewa. There it will be shipped again for Presque Isle, on the south-eastern shore of Lake Erie. Thence it will be transported by land to Le Boeuf, by a portage of fifteen miles; and thence, by French creek and Alleghany river, to Pittsburgh. From Pittsburgh it will be conveyed as far as the falls of the Ohio, for the general supply of the inhabitants on both sides of that river.

From these facts you will learn the importance of these springs; and will naturally ask, whether they are so copious as to supply such an extent of country; especially when it shall be generally inhabited? I answer, without hesitation, that the quantity of water is sufficient for the whole of the tract to which I have referred. The deficiency, if it exist, will not be found in the quantity of water, but in the difficulty of manufacturing it into salt. This is accomplished by boiling; and demands, even on the present scale, a very great quantity of fuel. The wood in the vicinity is already consumed, and must even now be transported from a distance, which very seriously enhances the expense of the process. Should the

same mode be pursued, therefore, for any great length of time, the price of the salt itself must be materially increased.

I proposed to Mr. Byington to adopt the process in use on the peninsula of Cape Cod, and formerly described in these Letters. After I had explained it, he was so well satisfied of its expediency, that he determined to put it in practice. Whether the attempt has been made, I am ignorant. The only obstacle to its success, within my knowledge, is the occasional wetness of the seasons in this region. But allowing to this consideration all the importance which it could claim, I am convinced, that it will prove much more convenient, salubrious, and less expensive, than the present mode.

One of the greatest evils, attending this business, is the unhealthiness of the tract bordering on the springs, One period of the year is proverbially styled here the sickly season; at which a considerable number of the workmen die annually. The evil is attended, and probably increased, by another; viz. the consumption of ardent spirits by the workmen. From a conviction, that these furnish the greatest security against the dangers of the climate, these unhappy people use them so licentiously, as in considerable numbers to become drunkards.

The sickliness of this spot is rationally believed to flow from the putrefaction of the waters in the marsh. These are salt water diluted by fresh; a compound which in the hot season becomes more suddenly and entirely putrid, than either of them would be if unmixed. The smell in the warm season is extremely offensive, and fills the atmosphere of the vicinity. The diseases, which prevail here, are the fever and ague in the spring, and the bilious remittent in the autumn. It is a melancholy reflection, that so much vice, and so great a waste of human life, should be incident to the acquisition of this necessary article. Should the other process be adopted, a sixth part of the hands now employed, and a sixth part of the time even of these would probably compass the object. On both accounts the exposure would be proportionally less; and the vice would undoubtedly be lessened with the exposure.

The mines, from which these springs derive their salt, must, I think, be near; otherwise they would be more diluted with the fresh water of other subterranean streams. The attempts

made to explore them have, however, furnished no prospect of obtaining the salt in ass.

Other salt-springs of considerable importance have been discovered in different parts of this state, viz. in the counties of Cayuga, Seneca, Ontario, and Genesee. The quantity of salt furnished by all these sources, in 1811, was the following:

This quantity, allowing three bushels to each, will furnish salt for 181,000 families; or, supposing six persons in each family, for 1,086,000 persons.

The tract, surrounding the Onondaga salt springs, is now formed into a township, called Salina, which contained, in 1810, 1,299 inhabitants.

We found a small number of houses in Onondaga Hollow. The hill on the west of the valley is higher and steeper than any between Albany and the falls of Niagara. The soil on the height is clay; and is said to yield wheat better than the rich loam, so generally found throughout this country. Here, a little north of the road, stands the court-house of this county. It was designed to be a pretty building; but being unfinished, and standing in a solitary situation, has a gloomy aspect. The brow of the hill presents to the view of the traveller Onondaga and Oneida lakes, and the country, by which they are surrounded.

Onondaga is said to have been the principal settlement of the Iroquois; and to have been considered by them as a kind of metropolis.

The township of Onondaga contained, in 1800, 893 inhabitants; and the present township, in 1810, 3,775. The whole township, including Salina, contained, at the latter date, 5,074.

Marcellus, the next township, exhibits little to the eye of the traveller to distinguish it from the country in its neigh

bourhood. The land here is however superior to most in this region; and produces all the grains and grasses of the climate in abundance. Wheat has yielded forty-five bushels an acre; maize, from seventy to eighty; and oats seventy. Oats on an average grow to the height of five feet, and yield fifty bushels. The central settlement on this road is thrifty and handsome. The inhabitants have erected a well-appearing Presbyterian church; and are labouring with a commendable spirit to obtain a minister. On the morning of September 20th, we were not a little surprised to find the ground entirely covered with snow, to the depth of an inch where it was least dissolved, and the shower still falling. This was a sight which no person in the township had ever seen at the same season of the year. We attended public worship; and suffered from the cold more than on most sabbaths in the winter. The congregation were decent to an edifying degree; and, it seems, assemble every sabbath, whether a preacher be present or not: some of the graver members of the church in the latter case making the prayers, and reading a sermon. This, though very common in New-England, was hardly expected by us here; but is one desirable proof, among many, of the happy influence of the institutions, under which they have been educated. A general spirit of decency, sobriety, and good order, is here very plainly characteristical. Religion is reverenced, and the sabbath regarded as a day consecrated to God.

Around the church there is a prosperous settlement formed in a valley, which is watered by a sprightly mill-stream, called Nine-mile creek. This stream conveys the waters of Otisco lake in the south-eastern corner of Marcellus into that of Onondaga, and furnishes a considerable number of valuable mill-seats.

In the year 1800, Marcellus contained 909 inhabitants; and, in the year 1810, 4,735.

On Monday, October 1st, we left our inn, very well pleased with our entertainment; and rode through the remaining part of Marcellus, and through Aurelius, and Junius, to Geneva: thirty miles. The country exhibited a similar face to that through which we had lately passed. The hills and vallies, however, returned more frequently; and the declivities were longer and steeper before, than we found them on this day's journey. In the western part of Marcellus there is a beau

VOL. IV.

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tiful lake, named Skeneateles; commencing in the township of Tully, crossing the corner of Sempronius, and reaching through a considerable part of Marcellus. Its length is fifteen miles; and its breadth from one to two. At the outlet of this fine piece of water, sprightly and vigorous, running between high and rough banks, and without any of those marshy incumbrances, which spread deformity and disease around the outlets of so many lakes in this region, there is a small settlement, which I thought peculiarly pretty. It is built upon the north end of the lake, and upon a handsome, clean margin. The lake is in full view, and interested me more than any other on this road. The shores on both sides are elegant, arched slopes; the eastern, already handsomely cultivated. The soil is excellent, and the fields were covered with a glowing verdure. At the south end of the lake the prospect is limited by distant mountains; in this region uncommon, and therefore peculiarly gratifying objects.

The township of Aurelius, which lies immediately west of Marcellus, wears the same general appearance. The inhabitants are visibly prosperous; and, what is uncommon here, have settled a clergyman. This gentleman will not, I think, die for want of exercise. His cure comprehends probably seventy or eighty thousand acres; and he preaches successively at four different stations*.

We dined at Cayuga bridge, where there is a hamlet, consisting of three very good, and eight or ten indifferent houses. Its situation is pleasant; commanding a fine view of Cayuga lake, and the country on its borders.

The bridge over this lake, considering the recency of the settlements, may be justly styled a stupendous erection; and is probably the longest work of the kind in the United States, the planking being no less than a mile in length+. It is built on wooden trestles, in the plainest and most ordinary manner; and exhibits nothing to strike the eye, except its length. It is said to have cost 20,000 dollars, and to be the property of a Mr. Swartwout of New-York. The toll is a quarter of a

* The large and flourishing village of Auburn has been wholly built since the date of this journey. It is within the limits of what was then Aurelius.-Pub.

+ The new Boston bridge is commonly said to be longer; but the appellation of "bridge" is there given to two bridges, and as many causeys.