cure a supply of coal, than to procure wood, not-
withstanding
that article is in great plenty here.
The sugar trees afford sugar in plenty to those
who are sufficiently
industrious to make it. Many
families, we are told, make from five hundred
to
a thousand pounds, and others make from eight-
een to twenty-five
hundred weight, every spring.
The trees do not appear to be injured by
draw-
ing off the sap. Molasses of excellent quality
is also made from
this tree, and also small beer,
equal to any thing of the kind we met with
at
this place, produced from the sap.
Shall I say, a proof of the instability of the
human mind, under the most
bountiful supply of
temporal blessings, is to be drawn from the
pre-
sent disposition of the inhabitants of Redstone
Blest with a country rich and fruitful, and posses-
sing other great natural advantages, there is
nevertheless a general feeling of discontent. The
new country beyond the Ohio, lately opened for
sale, has set the general mind afloat. We saw
people who were well settled, and who some
years ago, too, had passed the meridian of life,
strongly affected with the prevailing mania.
The river Monongahela not having yet
risen,
we are greatly disappointed in our wish
and intention to take boat at
Redstone
mouth of the Miami of the Ohio. We have,
therefore, no other alternative than to prosecute
a long and doubtless fatiguing journey by land.
This morning, whilst we were preparing to pro-