Mr. Owen’s of Lanark, formerly Rapp’s Settlement.—Remarks on it.—Keel-boat Scenes.—Cave in Rock.—Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers.—Fort Massai.

About a hundred and fifty houses, built on the Swabian plan, with the exception of Mr. Rapp’s[B] former residence—a handsome brick house—presented themselves to our view. We were introduced to one of the managers, a Mr. Shnee, formerly a Lutheran minister, who entered very soon into particulars respecting Mr. Owen’s ulterior views, in rather a pompous manner. This settlement, which is about thirty miles above the mouth of the big Wabash, in Indiana, was first established by Rapp, in the year 1817, and was now (in the year 1823), purchased by Mr. Owen, of Lanark, for the sum of 150,000 dollars. The society is to be established on a plan rather different from the one he has pursued in Scotland, and on a larger scale. Mr. Owen has, it is said, the pecuniary means as well as the ability to effect something of importance. A plan was shown and sold to us, according to which a new building of colossal dimensions is projected; and if Mr. Owen’s means should not fall short of his good will, this edifice would certainly exhibit the most magnificent piece of architecture in the Union, the capitol at Washington excepted. This palace, when finished, is to receive his community. According to his views, as laid down in his publications, in the lectures held by him at Washington and at New York, and as stated in the verbal communications of the persons who represent him, he is about to form a society, unshackled by all those fetters which religion, education, prejudices, and manners have imposed upon the human species; and his followers will exhibit to the world the novel and interesting example of a community, which, laying aside every form of worship and all religious belief in a supreme being, shall be capable of enjoying the highest social happiness by no other means than the impulse of innate egotism. It has been the object of Mr. Owen’s study to improve this egotism in the most rational manner, and to bring it to the highest degree of perfection; and in this sense he has published the Constitution, which is to be adopted by the community. It is distributed, if I recollect rightly, into three subdivisions, with seventy or more articles.—Mechanics of every description—people who have learned any useful art,—are admitted into this community. Those who pay 500 dollars, are free from any obligation to work. The time of the members is divided between working, reading, and dancing. A ball is given every day, and is regularly attended by the community. Divine service, or worship of any kind, is entirely excluded; in lieu of it, moreover, a ball is given on Sunday. The children are summoned to school by beat of drum. A newspaper is published, chiefly treating of their own affairs, and of the entertainments and the social regulations of the community, amounting to about 500 members, of both sexes, composed almost exclusively of adventurers of every nation, who expect joyful days. The settlement has not improved since the purchase, and there appeared to exist the greatest disorder and uncleanliness. This community has since been dissolved as was to have been expected. The Scotchman seems to have a very high notion of the power of egotism. He is certainly not wrong in this point; but if he intends to give still greater strength to a spirit which already works with too much effect in the Union, it may be feared that he will soon snap the cords of society asunder. According to his notions, and those of his people, all the legislators of ancient and modern times, religious as well as political, were either fools or impostors, who went in quest of prosperity on a mistaken principle, which he is now about to correct. Scotchmen, it is known, are sometimes liable to adopt strange notions, in which they always deem themselves infallible. I am acquainted with an honorable president of the quarter-sessions, who, as a true Swedenborghian, is fully convinced that he will preside again as judge in the other world, and that the German farmers will be there the same fools they are here, whom he may continue to cheat out of their property. Great Britain has no cause to envy the United States this acquisition. We stayed at this place about two hours, crossed the Wabash, and took the road to Shawneetown, through part of Mr. Birkbeck’s settlement. The country is highly cultivated, and the difference between the steady Englishman of the Illinois side, and the rabble of Owen’s settlement, is clearly seen in the style and character of the improvements carried on.We arrived at Shawneetown, where our boat was waiting for us, having travelled since seven o’clock in the morning a distance of forty miles. We found our boat’s company in the utmost confusion. Our ladies had hitherto given a regular tea party at nine o’clock, out of their own stock of provisions. With the exception of guns, powder, shot, some hundred cigars, a few bottles of wine, the gentlemen were furnished with nothing. They went therefore to Shawneetown, a village twelve miles below the mouth of the Wabash, with sixty houses, and 300 inhabitants, of a very indifferent character, mostly labourers at the salt works of the Saline river. The party however were not so fortunate as to procure anything except a dried haunch of venison. On their return, the invalid doctor missed the negro girl he had brought to wait upon him, intending to sell her along with a male slave. She was gone. A search was commenced, but the honest inhabitants declared, with many G—d d—ns, that they did not know anything about her. The company discovered what was wanting, and persuaded the physician to offer a reward for her recovery. In less than half an hour, one of the worthy inhabitants came up with the run-away girl, leading her by a rope. He had shortly before assured some of the inquirers, under the pledge of a round oath, of his utter ignorance of the matter, whilst at the same time the slave was concealed in his kitchen. The second physician from Tennessee had the benevolent precaution of suggesting to the patient to keep himself cool. But every advice was thrown away. The Kentuckian could not resist striking the girl. With the utmost pain he raised himself up in his bed, to give her blows, which did himself infinitely more harm. When called upon to pay the reward of twenty dollars, his wrath rose to the highest pitch, and if he had had strength we should have witnessed a strange scene. He paid, however, and contented himself with binding her arms, and fastening her to the door-post, from which she was released by the following accident, which took place about eight o’clock, just as we returned from our excursion. One of the planters, a Kentuckian by birth, made a regular excursion, twice a day, to fetch milk and eggs for the company. The captain refused to dispatch the skiff for him, but the rest of the company sent it without asking the captain’s leave. Some hours after the Kentuckian’s return he heard of the captain’s refusal, and immediately accused him of negligence, &c. The captain gave him the lie, and hardly was the word spoken, when the Kentuckian rushed upon the young man with a dirk in his hand. He was, however, prevented, when turning round, he ran to the other side to fetch an axe, declaring at the same time, with a G——d d——n, he would knock down any body who dared to oppose him. I stood with Mr. B. at the door. A quarrel ensued, and he was going to force it open, when several gentlemen came to our assistance. During this riot the stove became heated to such a degree, as unobserved by any one, to set fire to the wood beneath it, so that the birth of our patient was in flames in a moment. Quarrelling, and murderous thoughts gave way to the danger of being roasted alive. All hands, even the Kentuckian, were assiduous in their endeavours to extinguish the fire; but this could not be so easily accomplished, the boat being extremely crowded. At last we succeeded; the poor doctor had almost been forgotten, and was very near being burnt alive, had it not been for his second servant, who immediately laid hold of a bucket full of water, and poured it over his master. The behaviour of this invalid was strange beyond description, and shewed a degree of passion, at once ludicrous and pitiable. “For heaven’s sake,” exclaimed he, “I am roasting! no, I am drowning! the wretch has poured a whole bucket of water over me. Come hither, rascal!” The servant was obliged to approach, and tender his face to receive a box on the ear, certainly the most harmless he ever got; the master at the same time reproaching him with his villainy, and lamenting the consequences which this bath would bring upon him, such as rheumatism, fever, &c. We stood astonished and confounded at this man, the living image of a burnt-out volcano. “But for heaven’s sake,” said Mr. B., “Doctor, you would have been roasted alive but for your slave, and you have been the only cause of the fire, by the unsupportable heat you kept up in the stove; you must not do that again.” “He is my slave,” was the answer, “and should have stayed with me, instead of listening to your ungentlemanly disputes; then the fire would not have broken out.” We assented to this, and peace was fully restored.The next day we proceeded on our journey, having the state of Illinois on our right, and Kentucky on our left. Thirteen miles below Saline river we visited the cave of Rock Island. The limestone wall, 120 feet high, runs for about half a mile along the right bank of the Ohio; nearly at its end is the entrance to the cave. A few steps bring you at once into the grotto, which is about sixty-five feet wide at the base, narrowing as you ascend, and forming an arch, the span of which is from twenty-five to thirty feet, extending to a length of 120 feet. Marine shells, feathers, and bones of bears, turkies, and wild geese, afford ample testimony that this place has not been visited by the curious alone, but has been the resort of numerous families, which had taken temporary refuge here.

Our sporting excursions had generally pigeons, turkies, or opossums, for their object; below the cave, in the rocks, wild geese and ducks become very plentiful. Flocks of from forty to one hundred were flying over our heads in every direction, and augmenting in numbers as we approached the Mississippi. We shot this day seven geese and ducks, and passed the small villages of Cumberland, at the mouth of the river of that name, and Smithland, three miles below. Both villages are now springing up. The Cumberland is 720 feet wide at its mouth. The river Tennessee, thirteen miles below, is 700 feet. Eleven miles lower down, on the Illinois side, is fort Spassai, erected on a high bank and in a commanding position, which overlooks the Ohio, here a mile wide. The prospect for a distance of forty miles, is charming. The extraordinary beauty of the river, which the French very properly called la belle riviÈre, on both sides the majestic native forests, clad in their autumnal foliage, here and there an island in the midst of the stream, with its luxuriant growth of trees, not unlike enchanted gardens. The charm which is diffused over the whole scene can scarcely be described. The fort is garrisoned by a captain, with a company of regulars, who, however, suffer much from swamps in the rear of the fort.

On the two following days we passed the county towns of Golconda, the seat of justice for Pope county; Vienna, for Johnson; and America, for Alexander county; villages which have nothing in common with the cities of which they remind you but the name. They are inhabited by some Kentuckians and loiterers, who spend part of their time in bringing down the Mississippi the produce of the country, for the transport of which they demand double wages, and are thus enabled to spend the rest of their time sitting cross-legged over their whiskey. The ninth day, about noon, we arrived at Trinity. I was heartily tired of this manner of travelling, and resolved to wait here with Mr. B., and Mrs. Th—— and family, for a steam-boat from St. Louis. The rest of the company went on in the boat, after an hour’s stopping. Trinity, or as it was formerly called, Cairo, is situated four and a half miles above the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi, consisting only of a tavern and a store, kept by a Mr. Bershoud. The inundations occurring regularly every year, have hitherto prevented the formation of settlements at this place. Though these inundations rise every year from four to ten feet above the banks, as may be seen from the weeds remaining in clusters on the trees, the inhabitants of these two houses have, if we except the trouble of transporting their effects and goods to the upper story, but little to apprehend, the rise of the river being gradually slow, and its power being lessened by its circuitous course, and by the trees on its bank.

From Trinity down to Baton Rouge, a distance of 900 miles, the houses are constructed in such a manner as to be secured against accidents; the foundations are stumps of trees, or low brick pillars, four feet high. The houses are so built, or rather laid upon these pillars, as to allow the water to pass beneath. Notwithstanding this precaution, the flood generally reaches to the lower apartments, and passengers coming from Trinity to New Orleans last February, had to get into the skiff sent for them, through the window of the second story.

From Trinity to the mouth of the Ohio, are reckoned four and a half miles. We visited on the following morning, this remarkable spot, where two of the most important rivers unite.