Total,

161,718

13,283

174,061 Cincinnati is situated on the eastern border of a beautiful valley, about four miles in extent, which is shut in on all sides by sloping hills, of easy ascent, rising to an elevation of about 300 feet. These high lands, being generally covered with forests, form a fine background to the more fertile, cultivated and animated plain lying at their feet. The site of the town is remarkably favorable, as it occupies two natural terraces, of which the lower one is sufficiently raised above the level of the river to put it above the reach of the floods, and the other, which is from 40 to 60 feet sigher, offers fine, commanding situations for habitations along the upper streets, of which advantage has been taken by many of the inhabitants.

The broad margin by the river has been left unencumbered, and a wide street or quay extends along that side of the city, paved to the water's edge, and lined with floating wharves, which rise and fall with the floods This precaution is indispensable, as the Ohio is subject to sudden inundations.

The latitude of the city is 39 deg. 6 min. 30 sec. north, and the longitude, 7 deg. 24 min. 45 sec. west. It stands half way between the head of the Ohio, at Pittsburgh, and its confluence with the Mississippi, at Cairo, being 465 miles dis

tant from each, measuring the course of the stream. By the steamboat routes it is 198 miles from Louisville, 655 from St. Louis, 1335 from Natchez, 1631 from New Orleans. By the stage routes, Washington is 502 miles, Baltimore 518, and Philadelphia 617. By the lakes, the distance to New York is 650 miles.

The rocks at Cincinnati are mountain limestone, below which, as elsewhere, are found beds of coal. They are, however, at a considerable distance beneath. The vicinity appears to have been once a plain, 600 feet above the river at low water, and 1200 above the Atlantic, but cut down by streams, in the course of ages, which expose alternate strata of blue clay, marl, and fossiliferous limestone, nearly pure, and of a bluish color. At different elevations, in alluvial deposites left by the streams, at different ages, in their former beds, are found old trees, and the remains of elephants. On the larger streams are fine bottom lands, or meadows, of a very rich soil, of an amber color, which, in floods, tinges the riWells are sometimes filled with carbonic acid gass, or choke-damp, which proceeds from the limestone. Numerous marine fossils abound in the rocks.

ver.

Railroads and canals, as well as steamboats, greatly subserve the business of Cincinnati. In 1841, there were estimated to be 1,125 miles of these three kinds of routes concentrating at this city, to cost, when completed, twelve millions of dollars.

Cincinnati, notwithstanding its present importance, and the great advantages of its position, was not occupied until most of the other principal points on the western rivers had been planted with towns.

The first surveys were begun by Mr. Filsom in 1788; but he soon disappeared in the woods, and was never seen again. Israel Ludlow, Robert Patterson, and Mathias Denman occupied a part of the land at the close of that year and the next, and they gave the place the name of Losantville, which was fortunately soon changed to that which it still bears. Jan. 7, 1789, thirty men drew lots for portions of the land, but about a year afterward, Joel Williams purchased two-thirds of the town. The original price of the whole was $500, in continental certificates, then worth only five shillings on the pound. The growth of the place has been very rapid.

A Life-Saving Hero. THE EMIGRANTS TO CALIFORNIA.-We have had several partial accounts of the terrible sufferings and mortality that befel an unfortunate party of emigrants to California, last winter, amid the snowy wastes of the dreary journey across the mountains; bnt all we have seen are imperfect in a very interesting particular, inasmuch as they left some of the emigrants, with a possibility if not a strong probability, of perishing by cold and dan

ger.

The editor of the New London News has a Honolulu paper containing the report of Passed Midshipman Woodworth, who went with a party to the relief of these survivors, and from his columns we transfer it to our own. The report was originally published in the California Star:

SAN FRANCISCO, April 1, 1847. SIR.-I have but this moment arrived in Captain Sutter's launch from Fort Sacramento, after a passage of two and a half days, and learning that your paper is about going to press, I hasten to drop you a few lines.

I am

Mr. McKinstry has already informed you of the result of the last expedition, in which I brought in 17 sufferers. In my last report from the mountains I said that one of my men, by the name of Clark, (left at the cabins by Mr. Reed,) was lost in the snow storm in which Mr. Reed and party suffered so severely. happy to say that he was rescued by the last party of five men that I sent; he had succeeded in killing a bear, and had subsisted on the meat until the day before the timely aid arrived, and has come in safety, as also five others from the cabin; likewise 11 of the 14 persons left by Mr. Reed on the road, viz: Mr. Brian, wife and five children; 3 children of Mr. Graves, one of which was an infant at the breast, and Mary Donner, a girl about 11 years of age; three of the latter children being packed on the backs of Oakley, Stark and Stone, the other five were, 3 children of Mr. George Donner, between the ages of 1 and 4 years, girls; John Baptiste, a Spanish boy in the employment of Mr. Donner, and Simon Murphy, a boy of 6 of age. yesrs The persons left on the road by Mr. Reed were Brinn, wife and five children, Mrs. Graves and 4 children, Mary and Isaac Donner. The day Mr. Reed left them the boy Isaac Donner died, and the same night Mrs. Graves and one of her

children died; the remaining sufferers continued two days without food, but on the third day were obliged to resort to the only alternative, that of eating the dead; they commenced on the children, and when my party reached them, which was on the fifth day, they were eating one of the bodies and had already eaten a portion of it, when timely supply of food and assistance reached them. The night previous Mary Donner fell into the fire, and burned her foot so severely that amputation will be necessary in order to save her life.

I have hastened down here with some of the sufferers who required immediate medical attendance. Among them are two of my men, Henry Dan and Charles Cady, with feet badly frozen. I have brought Mary Donner and her brother down, that they may obtain medical aid; the Spanish boy and Howard Oakley came down with them as nurses.

When I left the mountains there were still remaining at the cabins Mr. Kiesbury and George Donner, the only two men, Mrs. Geo. Donner, one child and Mrs. Murphy. Mrs. Murphy, Mr. Donner and the child could not survive many days when left, but Mr. Kiesbury and Mrs. Donner could subsist upon the remaining bodies yet some ten days. The snow at the cabins was going off rapidly, but in Bear Valley and on the Juba River, it was yet 20 feet deep on the level.

When I arrived at Johnson's on the 23d, I found a letter from Mr. McKins try, stating that the bearers, J. Sel, D. Tucker, John Rhodes and E. Caffemeyer, were willing to return to the cabins, and endeavor to save the remaining few. I immediately organized another party consisting of John Rhodes, John Starra, E. Caffemeyer, John Sel and Daniel Tucker, Mr. Foster and the son of Greaves volunteering to return with them, and dispatched them immediately, furnishing them horses, provisions, &c., and I hope ere this that they have succeeded in saving two of those remaining there; the other three, George Donner, Mrs. Murphy and the child, I do not think can be saved, even should they be alive, as it will be impossible to remove them, they being so very feeble and otherwise ill. When I reached Fort Sacramento I despatched William Thompson to meet the party on their return with a fresh supply of coffee, sugar, cocoa, &c.

Since the 28th day of February, I have been twenty-four days in the snow, I may say without seeing land-I have travelled over 140 miles on the snow on foot, carrying a pack on my back; have crossed Bear River mountain four times; been twice over on Juba river, and can say that I never enjoyed better health, but have suffered a little from the cold, and rather hard fare.

I herewith subjoin a schedule of the persons saved, and those that have perished since the original party first arrived at the foot of the California mountains and were overtaken by the snows, The whole party consisted of 81 souls. Started with E & F Came in 7

Total,

16

Thus you will perceive that through the instrumentality of the expedition fitted out for the relief of the sufferers, 38 souls have been rescued from inevitable death, and at least two others, making in all 40; and relief has been afforded to the whole number, 44 persons. Yet it has not been effected without great sufferings and hardships by the men employed in this arduous duty. Mr. Reed has suffered much himself from frost and over exertion, having carried one of his children over the snows on his back.

In haste, I must conclude, very respectfully, S. E. WOODWORTH. Passed Mid'n. U S. N. Commanding expedition to the California Mountains.

LADIES FOR THE WEST.-Thirty-five young ladies of accomplished minds, (says the New York Evangelist,) have recently started from Hartford for the West, under the care of the National Board of Education, for which Ex-Governor Slade is General Agent.

For three weeks they have been passing through a course of preparatory training, under the care of Miss Martha Beecher aud others. They received their board gratuitously in various families at Hartford, to whom they endeared themselves by their Christian deportment. On Sabbath evening, a public meeting was held in the Centre Church, who listened to an address of an hour and a half from Mr. Slade, in explanation of the object. Dr. Hawes followed in some brief re

marks to the teachers. Many prayers have gone up in their behalf, that they may diffuse both intelligence and religion through the West.

INDIAN IDEAS OF IMMORTALITY.—When an Indian corpse is put in a coffin, among the tribes of the Lake Algonquins, the lid is tied down, and not nailed. On depositing it in the grave, the rope or string is loosed, and the weight of the earth alone relied on, to keep it in a fixed position. The reason they give for this, is that the soul may have free egress from the body. (See vol. iii. p. 504.)

Over the top of the grave a covering of cedar bark is put, to shed the rain. This is roof-shaped and the whole structure looks, slightly, like a house in miniature. It has gable ends. Through one of these, being the head, ar aperture is cut. On asking a Chippewa why this was done, he replied. "To allow the soul to pass out, and in."

"I thought," I replied, "that you believed the soul went up from the body at the time of death, to a land of happiness. How, then, can it remain in the body?" "There are two souls," replied the Indian philosopher.

"How can this be my friend?" "It is easily explained," said he. "You know that, in dreams, we pass over wide countries, and see hills, and lakes and mountains, and many scenes, which pass before our eyes, and affect us. Yet, at the same time, our bodies do not stir, and there is a soul left with the body,--else it would be dead. So, you perceive, it must be another soul that accompanies us."

This conversation took place in the Indian country. I knew the Indian very well, and had noticed the practice, not general now, on the frontiers, of tying the coffin lid, in burials. It is at the orifice in the bark sheeting mentioned, that the portion of food, consecrated in feasts for the dead, is set. It could not but happen, that the food should be eaten by the hystrix, wolf, or some other animal, known to prowl at night; nor that Indian superstition, ever ready to turn slight appearances of this kind to account, should attribute its abstraction to the spirit of the deceased. The Indian is emphatically a superstitious being, believing in all sorts of magical, and secret, and wonderful influences. Woman, herself, comes in for no small share of these.-Schoolcraft.

Perilous Affair with a Turtle.

In the small island of Ashtola, lying about 12 miles from the coast of Mekran, on the N. E. side of the gulf, a party went on shore one night to catch a turtle. We reached the shore about dark, and then hauled the boat upon the beach, and formed ourselves into two parties, and dispersed to different parts along the beach. Having reached a place where we thought it likely turtle would land, we lay down, keeping a sharp look-out and making as little noise as possible. The moon had risen some time, and was shedding her silvery rays on those desolate regions; the opposite coast in the distance, which is very mountainous, and the ship riding at anchor, had, together, a beautiful effect.

The sea was calm, and every thing appeared to be sleeping in the stillness of night, and not a whisper being heard among the party-the surf alone breaking the silence of the scene. We were thus all in anxious expectation of the appearance of the turtle; and it was 11 o'clock, P. M. when we saw the first, to our great delight, coming on shore just opposite us. It looked like a black rock moving slowly and steadily out of the water. We did not interrupt its progress until it had got some distance upon the beach, when a rush was made towards it, and it was immediately turned on its back, without giving it time either to defend itself, or blind its assailants by throwing the sand with its flippers or fins, which they do with such force that it is almost dangerous to come near them. It took six stout men thus to turn the largest that we caught; and the following accident will further show the immense strength of these animals. One of our men, the gunner, wandered away by himself to the further end of the beach, where he thought to have all the sport to himself, not doubting for a moment that he would be able to turn any turtle he found; but on the contrary, to his surprise, not being absent long before espying a large one making towards the beach, he allowed it to come up some way, and then ran over to it and attempted to turn it.

All his endeavors, however, were fruitless-and by some means he got his hand between the shell and the neck, which the animal, by drawing in the head, held so tight that he could not withdraw it. The turtle began to crawl towards the

sea, dragging the man with it, and he was in imminent danger of being carried off, when he began to call for assistance. We were alarmed at the cries, and immediately ran towards the place from which the sound proceeded, where we arrived just in time to save the poor fellow from a watery grave. The turtle was close to the sea, and was carrying him off as if he were nothing; nor was it without some difficulty we released him from his perilous situation-dragging the turtle above high-water mark and turning it over. The man got off with a few bruises, but was much frightened; and we all had a good laugh at him for his adventure.-Lieut. Kempstone's Journal.

It

QUERETARO.-Queretaro, the place to which the Mexicans have transferred their seat of government ad interim', is a fine town or city, of some thirty-five thousand inhabitants, stone built, and distinguished for its, manufactures, particularly of coarse woolens and cottons. is about one hundred and twenty miles N. W. of Mexico, and is seated on the borders of the Baxio,-a great mountain plain or valley, of some two thousand feet less elevation than the valley of Mexico, which stretches, sixty or more miles wide, to the neighborhood of the larger city of Guanoxuato, and is considered the richest, as it is, in fact, the most fertile tract of land in all Mexico. The whole of this country, with its vicinity, is densely peopled. The little state of Guanoxuato, with a territory considerably less than that of Massachusetts, has a population of upwards of half a million. The State of Queretaro, which is twice as large, contains a population variously estimated at from one hundred and twentyfive up to five hundred thousand soulsa remarkable example of the uncertainty that exists, in Mexico, in regard to the most important points of national statistics, which are all guessed at.-SEL.

NEW COLLEGE.-The Christian Advocate and Journal states, that a project is on foot for the establishment of a literary institution, to be called the California University, near the Bay of San Francis

AGRICULTURAL.

Prairies in Iowa.

A recent letter from the west contains the following remarks on the prairies, and the practice of the farmers.

"Fancy upon a level smooth piece of ground, free from sticks, stumps and stones, a team of four, five, or even six yoke of oxen, hitched to a pair of cart wheels, and to them hitched a plough, with a beam fourteen feet long, and the share, &c., of which weigh from sixty to one hundred and twenty-five pounds, of wrought iron and steel, and which cuts a furrow from sixteen to twenty-four inches wide, and you will figure the appearance of a breaking team' in operation.

The sod is more tough than can be believed by those who have never ploughed it. It requires the plough to be kept very sharp, and for this purpose the ploughman is always provided with a large file, with which he keeps a keen edge as possible upon the share and coul

ter.

Such a team ploughs from one to two acres a day, usually about four inches deep, which is not near down to the bottom of the roots, so that the sod turned up affords but a scanty covering for grain that is sowed upon it at first, yet very fine crops of wheat are raised in this way. It is also a common practice to break up in the spring and drop corn in every second or third arrow, and from which twenty or thirty bushels to the acre are often gathered, nothing having ever been done to it after planting. It takes two or three years for these sods to become thoroughly decomposed, and then the soil is of a light, loose, black vegetable mould, very easily stirred by the plough, but of a nature that it adheres to the plough in a troublesome manner. In fact, no plough has ever been found to keep itself clear; and the ploughman is generally obliged to carry with him a small wooden paddle, with which to clear off the adhering mass of dirt upon the mould board. With this exception, the prairie soil is generally one of the easi est in the world to till, and of course remarkably fertile.

By far the greatest portion is based upon a sub-soil of clay, though in many places the sub-soil is sand or gravel, and there are large tracts of which the surface is of this material. The streams are

often broad and nearly covered with vegetable growth, in some instances to that degree that sheets of water many rods wide actually burn over during the autumnal fires.

Notwithstanding the many "interesting accounts of burning prairies," the fire upon a dry prairie in a calm time does not blaze as high as it would in an old stubble field. But in the marshes or wet prairies, it sometimes rages with most magnificent grandeur.

There is one more question often asked, that deserves some notice; and that is, 'How is this land ever to be fenced?' This is a question that deserves serious consideration.

The settlements already made are upon the smaller prairies, the centre of which are not more than four or five miles from timber, or along the border of "the Grand Prairie," taking care not to extend out beyond the reach of convenient woodland. But there are many places where the groves are barely sufficient to furnish the land most contiguous, and vast tracts of prairie are to be found ten or fifteen miles from timber. That these tracts will forever remain uncultivated, cannot for a moment be thought of. That timber can be planted and raised in abundance is certain. It is equally certain that they can be fenced with ditches, and perhaps with hedges, though the experiments that have as yet been made in the United States to enclose land with hedges have generally proved failures.

The most feasible plan, it seems to me, would be to enclose large tracts by ditching, and cultivate the land without division fences, even between many occupants. Such is the mode in many parts of Europe, and more particularly in China. Or this kind of land could be profitably improved by grazing herds of cattle and sheep under the care of shepherds. Houses of a most comfortable kind can be built of clay without burning into brick, and the expense of hauling lumber for roofs and inside work would be trifling. The only difficulty would be fuel. In many parts of the West coal exists in abundance, and where that is not to be had, the expense of hauling wood over a smooth and nearly level country would not be a serious obstacle. It is also thought that peat will be found abundant.

At present, however, there is an abun