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Show 72 CHOLERA ON BOARD THE STEAM-BOAT. of the 17th reached the village of Brandenburg, on the Kentucky bank, which is here rocky, and marked with horizontal white stripes, or strata. The mountains were rounded and covered with wood. In Indiana the forest was cleared in some places for plantations, which afforded a view into the picturesque interior; for on these cleared spots the tall forest trees stood, as in the primeval forests in Brazil, like columns crowded together. This dense forest was interrupted for a short space by the towns of Leavenworth and Rome, in Indiana, and Stevensport in Kentucky; the two last with some indifferent buildings. From this part the country had no great variety, the forests being seldom interrupted. The islands were bordered with willow bushes, with tall trees in the middle. On the bank where the rock was exposed, on account of the low water in the river, we observed singular forms produced by the action of the stream. They consisted of round or elliptical stratified masses, which gradually decreased in breadth, so that the whole looked like a truncated pyramid rising in terraces. Before night we reached Cloverburg, in Kentucky, and lay to till the stars or the moon should appear. Numerous card parties sat down in the great cabin, where the heat was intolerable. Our beds swarmed with cockroaches, which ran over our faces and hands, or fell from the ceiling. These disagreeable animals are as common here as in Brazil; they gnaw everything, and, being quite soft, are crushed by the slightest motion. On the 18th, at half-past six o'clock in the morning, the thermometer was +16° Reaumur, with rain, and wind, and a clouded sky. We reached at an early hour the little place of Rockport, in Indiana, and at half-past eight, Owenburg, or Yellow Banks, in Kentucky, where we landed many passengers. We saw the Turkey buzzard hovering over the woods-a bird which we had not observed since we left Cincinnati, and which is not found to the west of the Alleghanys. The Ohio, though the water was extremely low, was still very broad and beautiful, its wooded banks rather low. French Island, and some others, covered with bushes and lime trees, lay quite dry, surrounded with a large sand-bank. It was discovered that we had the cholera on board. A man from Kentucky had declared himself ill early in the morning, and was dead before eleven o'clock, though the Captain employed all the remedies in his power. He was quite well in the evening, had played at cards all night, and did not complain till towards morning. A coffin was made of some planks ; the vessel lay to on the bank, which was steep, and the bell was rung while the body was conveyed on shore and buried. Many of our passengers landed to see the funeral; others were extremely alarmed, and, meantime, took a walk. After the funeral was over, and a white board, with the name of the deceased, had been set up on the grave, the bell called the passengers on board; in half an hour we reached Evansville on the Indiana bank; soon afterwards Pigeon Creek; above this, on the other bank, the Green River, and subsequently the village of Henderson. Here we took in fresh provisions, and, among the rest, 1000 fowls were offered for sale, of which we took a good supply at a dollar per dozen. U.BB-'¦ ''. |