abundant; and on some of the. prairies the strawberries are large and fine. It is affirmed, that in the northern parts, in the low prairies, whole tracts are covered with the beautiful fowl-meadow grass, of the north. It is a certain fact, that wherever the Indians or the French have inhabited long enough to destroy the natural prairie grass, which it is well known, is soon eradicated, by being pastured by the domestic animals, that surround a farmer's barn, this grass is replaced by the blue grass of the western country, which furnishes not only a beautiful sward, but covers the earth with a mat of rich fodder, not unlike the second crop which is cut in the northern state, as the most valuable kind of hay. For all the objects of farming, and raising grain, flour, hemp, tobacco, cattle, sheep, swine, horses, and generally the articles of the northern and middle states, emigrants could desire no better country than may be found in Indiana. In the rich bottoms in the southern parts, the reed cane, and uncommonly large ginsing are abundant.

Q. What are the minerals of Indiana?

A. Stone coal of the best quality is found in several places. Native copper has been discovered in small masses, in the northern part of the state. Iron ore is also found in some places. But in general, it is a country too level to be a mineral one. From the first settlement of the country it has been asserted, that there is a silver mine at Ouitanon. The mineral features will be noticed in the description of each county.

Q. Are there any mineral or medical springs in this State?

There are salt springs in different parts of the state. We do not know that any of them are worked to much extent. The salt has hitherto been chiefly brought from the United States' Saline, back of Shawneetown, or from

the salines of Kenhawa. Medical springs are not found in this state.

Q. Are there any caves in this state?

A. Like Alabama and Tennessee, this state abounds with subterranean wonders, in the form of caves. Many of them have been explored, but few described. Not farfrom Big Blue river, there is a large one, the entrance to which is on, the side of a hill, that is about 400 feet high. Here are found great quantities of sulphate of magnesia, or Epsom salt, and of nitre, &c. The annexed description is from the pen of Mr. Adams:

"The hill in which it is situated, is about 400 feet high from the base, to the most elevated point; and the prospect to the south-east is exceedingly fine, commanding an extensive view of the hills and valleys bordering on Big Blue river. The top of the hill is covered principally with oak and chestnut. The side of the south-east is mantled with cedar. The entrance is about midway from the base to the summit, and the surface of the cave preserves in general about that elevation; although I must acknowledge this to be conjectural, as no experiments have been made with a view to ascertain the fact. It is probably owing to this middle situation of the cave, that it is much drier than is common. After entering the cave by an aperture 12 or 15 feet wide, and in height in one place three or four feet, you descend with easy and gradual steps into a large and spacious room, which continues ablut a quarter of a mile, varying in height from 8 to 30 feet, and iu breadth from 10 to 20. In this distance, the roof is in some places arched, in others a plane, and in one place it resembles the inside view of the roof of a house. At the distance above named, the cave forks, but the right hand fork soon terminates, while the left rises by a flight of rocky stairs, nearly 10 feet high, into another story, and pursues a course at this place nearly south

east. Here the roof commences a regular arch, the height of which from the floor varies from 5 to 8 feet, and the width of the cave from 6 to 12 feet, which continues to what is called the 'creeping-place'-from the circumstance of having to crawl 10 or 12 feet into the next large room. From this place to the pillar, a distance of about one mile and a quarter, the visitor finds an alternate succession of large and small rooms, variously decorated; sometimes traveling on a pavement, or climbing over huge piles of rocks, detached from the roof by some convulsion of nature. The aspect of this large and stately white column, as it heaves in sight from the dim reflection of the torches, is grand and impressive. Visitors have seldom pushed their inquiries further than 200 or 300 yards beyond this pillar. This column is about 15 feet in diameter, from 20 to 30 feet high, and regularly reeded from the top to the bottom."

Q. What are the natural productions of this State ? A. See face of the country, soil, &c. In which is mentioned the principal forest trees.

Q. What is the climate of this State?

A. In point of salubrity, we can do no more than repeat the remarks which have so often been found applica ble to the western country in general, and which from the nature of things must apply to all countries. The high and rolling regions of this State are as healthy as the same kinds of land in the other parts of the United States. The wet prairies, swampy lands, and tracts continuous to small lakes and ponds, and inundated bottoms, intersected by bayous, generate fevers and ague, and autumnal fevers, and impart a bilious tendency to all disorders of the country. The beautiful prairies above Vincennes on the Wabash, in the neighborhood of Fort Harrison and Tippecanoe, are found to have some balance against their fertility, beauty of appearance, and the ease

with which they are cultivated, in their insalubrity. That the settlers in general, have found this State, taken as a whole, favorable to health, the astonishing increase of the population, bears ample testimony.

The winters are mild, compared with those of New England or Pennsylvania. Winter commences in its severity about Christmas, and seldom more than six weeks. During this time, in most seasons, the rivers that have not very rapid currents, are frozen. Though winters do occur in which the Wabash cannot be crossed upon the ice.

About the middle of February, the severity of winter is past. In the northern parts of the state, snow sometimes, though rarely, falls a foot and a half in depth. In the middle and southern parts it seldom falls more than six inches. Peach trees are generally in blossom early in March. The forest trees begin to be green from the 5th to the 15th of April. Vast numbers of flowering shrubs are in full flower, before they are in leaf, which gives an inexpressible charm to the early appearance of spring. Vegetation is liable to be injured both by early and late frosts.

Q. What can you say of the Government of Indiana? A. The constitution of Indiana was adopted on the 10th of June, 1816, and contains the following essential provisions :

Representatives shall be chosen annually, by the qualified electors of each county respectively, on the first Mon. day in August.

Senators shall be chosen for three years, on the first Monday in August, by the qualified voters for represen tatives.

Qualifications for Representatives and Senators the same as in Pennsylvania.

The Governor holds his office for three years, or until a successor shall be chosen and qualified. He is required

to be 30 years of age, a citizen of the United States 10 years, and have resided in the state five years next preceding his election. He has the usual powers of governors of states.

The judiciary power of this state, both as to law and equity, shall be vested in one supreme court, in circuit courts, and such other inferior courts, as the general assembly may, from time to time, direct and establish.

Every white male citizen of the United States, of the age of 21 years and upwards, who has resided in the state one year immediately preceding such election, shall be entitled to vote in the county where he resides. All elections by ballot. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this state.

The other provisions of the constitution of Indiana have the ordinary features of those in other states. Q. What can you say of the Indians of this State? A. Until recently, they owned the greater part of the fertile lands in this state. Most of these lands have lately been purchased of them by treaty. The names of the tribes, as they used to be, convey little idea of their present position and numbers. Great numbers have emigrated far to the west, on White river and Arkansas.— Others have strayed into Canada, as towards the sources of the Mississippi, and their deserted places are rapidly filling with the habitations of white men. Their names, as they used to be, are Mascontins, Prankashaws, Kicka. poos, Delawares, Miamies, Shawnees, Ouitanons, Eel Rivers, and Pottawattomies. Their present numbers cannot exceed four or five thousand souls. It is an unquestionable evidence of the fertility of the country in the interior of Indiana, that it was once the seat of the most dense Indian population in the western country. The Indians invariably fixed in greatest numbers where the soil was fertile, the country healthy, and the means of