and a dining-room. The fires are generally surrounded by parties of about six persons. The usual custom with Americans is to pace up and down the news-room, in a manner similar to walking the deck of a ship at sea. Smoking segars is practised by all, and at every hour of the day. Argument or discussion, in this part of the world, is of very rare occurrence; social intercourse seems still more unusual; conversation on general topics, or taking enlarged and enlightened views of things, rarely occurs: each man is in pursuit of his own individual interest. At half past seven, the first bell rings for the purpose of collecting all the boarders, and, at eight, the second bell rings; breakfast is then set, the dining-room is unlocked, a general rush commences, and some activity, as well as dexterity, is necessary to obtain a seat at the table. The breakfast consists of a profuse supply of fish, flesh, and fowl, which is consumed with a rapidity truly extraordinary. At half-past one, the first bell rings, announcing the approach of dinner; the avenues to the dining-room become thronged. At two o'clock the second bell rings, the doors are thrown open, and a repetition of the breakfast-scene succeeds. At six, tea, or what is here called supper, is announced, and partaken of in the same manner. is the last meal, and it usually affords the same fare as breakfast. At table there is neither conversation nor drinking: the latter is effected by individuals taking their liquor at the bar, the keeper of which is in full employ from sun-rise to bed-time. A large tub of water, with a ladle, is placed at the bar; and to this the customers go and help themselves. When spirits are called for, the decanter is handed; the person calling for them takes what quantity he pleases, and the charge is sixpence-halfpenny. The life of boarders at an American tavern, presents a senseless and comfortless mode of killing time. Most houses of this description are thronged to excess; and few of the persons who frequent them, appear to have any other object in view than spitting and smoking.

This

In the state of Kentucky there are several subterrane ous caverns, which have attracted much attention, and which are described as among the most extraordinary natural curiosities in the world. They are also of considerable importance in a commercial view, from the quantity of nitre they afford. The great cave, near Crooked Creek, is supposed to contain a million pounds of nitre. This cave has two mouths or entrances, about six hundred and fifty yards from each other, and one hundred and fifty yards from the creek.]

Tenth Day's Instruction.

UNITED STATES CONTINUED.

Narrative of the Journey of M. Michaux, from Lexing ton to Charleston in South Carolina.

ON the tenth of August, M. Michaux set out from Lexington to Nasheville, in the state of Tenessee; and, as an establishment for the purpose of naturalizing the vine in Kentucky, was not very far out of his road, he resolved to visit it. Consequently, about fourteen miles from Lexington, he quitted the road, turned to the left, strolled through some woods, and reached the vineyard in the evening. It was, at this time, under the superintendance of a M. Dufoux, the principal per son of a small Swiss colony, which had settled in Kentucky some years before. The vines had been selected chiefly from the vicinity of New York and Philadelphia. Many of them had failed; but those of the kinds which produce the Madeira wines, appeared to give consider. able hopes of success. The whole of the vines occupied a space of about six acres; and they were

planted

and fixed with props similar to those in the environs of Paris.

From this place M. Michaux was conducted, through the woods, to a ferry over the Kentucky River. The borders of the river at this ferry are formed by an enormous mass of chalky stones, remarkably peaked, and about a hundred and fifty feet high.

Near Harrodsburgh M. Michaux visited the plantation and residence of General Adair. A spacious and commodious house, a great number of black servants, equipages: every thing announced the opulence of the general. Magnificent peach-orchards, and immense fields of Indian wheat, surrounded the house. The soil was extremely fertile, as was evident from the largeness of the blades of corn, their extraordinary height, and the abundance of the crops.

About forty miles beyond the general's plantation, M. Michaux passed over Mulder Hill, a steep and lofty mountain, that forms a kind of amphitheatre. From its summit the neighbouring country presents the aspect of an immense valley, covered with forests of imperceptible extent. As far as the eye can reach, nothing but a gloomy verdant space is seen, formed by the tops of the close-connected trees, and, through which, not even the vestige of a plantation can be discerned. The profound silence that reigns in these woods, uninhabited by savage beasts, and the security of the place, forms an ensemble rarely to be seen in other countries.

About ten miles beyond Green River commence what are called the Barrens, or Kentucky Meadows. On the first day of his journey over them, M. Michaux travelled fifteen miles; and, on the ensuing morning, having wandered to some distance out of the road, in search of a spring, at which to water his horse, he discovered a plantation in a low and narrow valley. The mistress of the house told him that she had resided there upwards of three years, and that, for eighteen months, she had not seen any individual except of her own family: that, weary of living thus isolated, her husband had

been more than two months from home in quest of another spot, towards the mouth of the Ohio. A daughter, about fourteen years of age, and two children, considerably younger, were all the company she had: her house was abundantly stocked with vegetables and

corn.

This part of the Barrens was precisely similar to that which M. Michaux had traversed the day before; and the same kind of country extends as far as the line which separates the state of Tenessee from that of Kentucky. Here, to the great satisfaction of M. Michaux, he once more entered the woods. Nothing, he says, can be more tiresome than the doleful uniformity of these immense meadows, where there is no human creature to be met with; and where, except a great number of partridges, no species of living beings are to be seen.

The Barrens comprise a portion of country from sixty to seventy miles in length, by sixty miles in breadth. According to the signification of the name, M. Michaux had imagined that he should have to cross a naked space, scattered here and there with a few plants; but he was agreeably surprised to find a beautiful meadow, where the grass was from two to three feet high. He here discovered a great variety of interesting plants. In some parts he observed several species of wild vines, and, in particular, one which is called by the inhabitants " summer grapes:" the bunches of fruit were as large, and the grapes as good in quality, as those in the vineyards round Paris. And it appeared to M. Michaux that the attempts which had been made in Kentucky, to establish the culture of the vine, would have been more successful in the Barrens, the soil of which appeared to him better adapted for this kind of culture, than that on the banks of the Kentucky. The Barrens are very thinly populated; for, on the road where the plantations are closest together, M. Michaux counted but eighteen in a space of sixty or seventy

miles.

Nasheville, the principal and the oldest town in this part of Tenessee, is situated on the river Cumberland, the borders of which are here formed by a mass of chalky stone, upwards of sixty feet in height. Except seven or eight houses, built of brick, the rest, to the number of about a hundred and twenty, were constructed of wood, and were distributed over a surface of twenty-five or thirty acres, where the rock appeared almost naked in every part.

This little town, although it had been built more than fifteen years, contained no kind of manufactory or public establishment; but there was a printing-office, at which a newspaper was published once a week. A college had also been founded here; but it was yet in its infancy, having not more than seven or eight students, and only one professor.

The price of labour in the vicinity of Nasheville was higher than at Lexington. There appeared to be from fifteen to twenty shops, which were supplied from Philadelphia and Baltimore; but they did not seem so well stocked as those of Lexington, and the articles, though dearer, were of inferior quality..

All the inhabitants of the western country, who go by the river to New Orleans, return by land and pass through Nasheville, which is the first town beyond Natchez. The interval which separates these towns is about six hundred miles, and was, at this time, entirely uninhabited. Several persons who had travelled this road, assured M. Michaux that, for a space of four or five hundred miles beyond Natchez, the country was very irregular; that the soil was sandy, in some parts covered with pines, and not much adapted for culture; but that, on the contrary, the borders of the river Tenessee were fertile, and superior even to the richest parts of Kentucky.

On the fifth of September, M. Michaux set out from Nasheville for Knoxville. He was accompanied by a Mr. Fisk, one of the commissioners who had been appointed to determine the boundaries between the states