To J. S. Skinner, Esq.

Messrs.Gales & Seaton.

P. S. Since writing this letter, I have been apprized of a similar convulsion which occurred six or seven years ago, at a place some forty miles distant from this in a southwesterly direction. My informant says that at his house the ground was agitated for some minutes during a rumbling sound, and that a few miles off, the earth was rent and broken for the distance of two miles in length and nearly a half mile in breadth. Though I have not seen the locality, I have no doubt of the truth of the statement, nor of the general resemblance of the phenomena to those I have described above.

T. L. C.

House of Representatives, Feb. 3, 1844.

Dear Sir: Your favor of the 30th ultimo was received a day or two since, and I now avail myself of the very first opportunity to answer it. Ido so most cheerfully, because, in the first place, I am happy to have it in my power to gratify in any manner one who has done so much as yourself to diffuse correct information on subjects most important to the agriculture of the country; and, secondly, because I feel a deep interest in the subject to which your inquiries are directed.

You state that you have directed some attention to the sheep husbandry of the United States, in the course of which it has occurred to you that the people of the mountain regions of North Carolina, and some of the other Southern States, have not availed themselves sufficiently of their natural advantages for the production of sheep. Being myself well acquainted with the western section of North Carolina, I may perhaps be able to give you most of the information you desire. As you have directed several of your inquiries to the county of Yancey, (I presume from the fact, well known to you, that it contains the highest mountains in any of the United States,) I will, in the first place, turn my attention to that county. First, as to its elevation. Dr.Mitchell, of our University, ascertained that the bed of Tow river, the largest stream in the county, and at a ford near its centre, was about twenty-two hundred feet above the level of the ocean. Burnsville, the seat of the court-house, he found to be between 2,800 and 2,900 feet above it. The general level of the county is, of course, much above this elevation. In fact, a number of the mountain summits rise above the height of six thousand feet. The climate is delightfully cool during the summer: there being very few places in the county where the thermometer rises above 80° on the hottest day. An intelligent gentleman who passed a summer in the northern part of the county (rather the more elevated portion of it) informed me that the thermometer did not rise on the hottest days above 76°.

You ask, in the next place, if the surface of the ground is so much covered with rocks as to render it unfit for pasture? The reverse is the fact; no portion of the county that I have passed over is too rocky for cultivation, and in many sections of the county one may travel miles without seeing a single stone. It is only about the tops of the highest mountains that rocky precipices are to be found. A large portion of the surface of the county is a sort of elevated table-land,undulating, but seldom too broken for cultivation. Even as one ascends the higher mountains, he will find occasionally on their sides flats of level land containing several hundred acres in a body. The top of the Roan (the highest mountain in the county except the Black) is covered by a prairie for ten miles, which affords a richpasture during the greater part of the year. The ascent to it is so gradual, that persons ride to the top on horseback from almost any direction. The same may be said of many of the other mountains. The soil of the county generally is uncommonly fertile, producing with tolerable cultivation abundant crops. What seems extraordinary to a stranger is the fact that the soil becomes richer as he ascends the mountains. The sides of the Roan, the Black, the Bald, and others, at an elevation of even five or six thousand feet above the sea, are covered with a deep rich vegetable mould, so soft, that a horse in dry weather often sinks to the fetlock. The fact that the soil is frequently more fertile as one ascends, is, I presume, attributable to the circumstance that the higher portions are more commonly covered with clouds, and the vegetable matter being thus kept in a cool moist state while decaying, is incorporated to a greater degree with the surface of the earth just as it is usually found that the north side of a hill is richer than the portion most exposed to the action of the sun’s rays. The sides of the mountains, the timber being generally large, with little undergrowth and brushwood, are peculiarly fitted for pasture grounds, and the vegetation is in many places as luxuriant as it is in the rich savanna of the low country.

The soil of every part of the county is not only favorable to the production of grain, but is peculiarly fitted for grasses. Timothy is supposed to make the largest yield, two tons of hay being easily produced on an acre, but herds-grass, or red-top, and clover, succeed equally well; blue-grass has not been much tried, but is said to do remarkably well. A friend showed me several spears, which he informed me were produced in the northern part of the county, and which by measurement were found to exceed seventy inches in length; oats, rye, potatoes, turnips, &c., are produced in the greatest abundance.

With respect to the prices of land, I can assure you that large bodies of uncleared rich land, most of which might be cultivated, have been sold at prices varying from twenty-five cents to fifty cents per acre. Any quantity of land favorable for sheep-walks might be procured in any section of the county, at prices varying from one to ten dollars per acre.

The few sheep that exist in the county thrive remarkably well, and are sometimes permitted to run at large during the winter without being fed, and without suffering. As the number kept by any individual is not large enough to justify the employment of a shepherd to take care of them, they are not unfrequently destroyed by vicious dogs, and more rarely by wolves, which have not yet been entirely exterminated.

I have been somewhat prolix in my observations on this county, because some of your inquiries were directed particularly to it, and because most of what I have said of Yancey is true of the other counties west of the Blue Ridge. Haywood has about the same elevation and climate of Yancey. The mountains are rather more steep, and the valleys somewhat broader; the soil generally not quite so deep, but very productive, especially in grasses. In some sections of the county, however, the soil is equal to the best I have seen.

Buncombe and Henderson are rather less elevated—Ashville and Hendersonville, the county towns, being each about 2,200 feet above the sea. The climate is much the same, but a very little warmer. The more broken portions of these counties resemble much the mountainous parts of Yancey and Haywood, but they contain much more level land. Indeed the greater portion of Henderson is quite level. It contains much swamp land, which, when cleared, with very little if any drainage, produces very fine crops of herds-grass. Portions of Macon and Cherokee counties are quite as favorable, both as to climate and soil, as those above described. I would advert particularly to the valleys of the Nantahalah, Fairfield, and Hamburg, in Macon, and of Cheoh, in Cherokee. In either of these places, for a comparatively trifling price, some ten or fifteen miles square could be procured, all of which would be rich, and the major part sufficiently level for cultivation, and especially fitted, as their natural meadows indicate, for the production of grass.

In conclusion, I may say that, as far as my limited knowlege of such matters authorizes me to speak, I am satisfied that there is no region that is more favorable to the production of sheep than much of the country I have described. It is every where healthy and well watered. I may add, too, that there is water power enough in the different counties composing my Congressional district, to move more machinery than human labor can ever place there—enough, certainly, to move all now existing in the Union. It is also a rich mineral region. The gold mines are worked now to a considerable extent. The best ores of iron are found in great abundance in many places; copper, lead,[1]and other valuable minerals exist.That must one day become the great manufacturing region of the South. I doubt if capital could be used more advantageously in any part of the Union than in that section.

For a number of years past the value of the live stock (as ascertained from books of the Turnpike Company) that is driven through Buncombe county is from two to three millions of dollars. Most of this stock comes from Kentucky and Ohio, and when it has reached Ashville it has travelled half its journey to the more distant parts of the Southern market, viz. Charleston and Savannah. The citizens of my district, therefore, can get their live stock into the planting States south of us at one half the expense which those of Kentucky and Ohio are obliged to incur. Not only sheep, but hogs, horses, mules, and horned cattle can be produced in many portions of my district as cheaply as in those two States.

Slavery is, as you say, a greatbugbear, perhaps, at a distance; but I doubt if any person from the North, who should reside a single year in that country, whatever might be his opinions in relation to the institution itself, would find the slightest injury or inconvenience result to him individually. It is true, however, that the number of slaves in those counties is very small in proportion to the whole population.

I have thus, sir, hastily endeavored to comply with your request, because you state that you would like to have the information at once. Should you find my sketch of the region a very unsatisfactory and imperfect one, I hope you will do me the favor to remember that the desk of a member during a debate is not the most favorable position for writing an essay.

With very great respect, yours,T. L. CLINGMAN.

J. S. Skinner, Esq.

You published a few weeks since an extract from an article in Silliman’s Journal, contributed by Prof. Shepard, in which he described a diamond sent him from this region a few months since. As that extract excited some interest in the minds of a number of my friends who are engaged in the mining business, I inclose you a letter from Prof. Shepard, the publication of which I am sure would be acceptable to many of your readers. I may remark in explanation, that within the last fewyears I have sent Prof. Shepard some hundreds of specimens of minerals collected in this and some of the other western counties of the State. In some instances a doubt as to the character of a particular mineral induced me to take this course, but more frequently it was done to gratify those of my acquaintances who wished to have their specimens examined by one in whose decision there would be absolute acquiescence. I knew too, that I should by these means be able favorably to make known to the public the existence in Western North Carolina, of such minerals as might be valuable in a commercial point of view, or interesting to the scientific world. The letter which I send you, was received in reply to an inquiry directed to Prof. Shepard, as to what was his opinion generally in relation to the minerals of this region, and what he thought of the propriety of a more careful survey of it than has hitherto been made. The answer, though merely in reply to my inquiries, is of such a character that I feel quite sure that its publication will be alike creditable to the writer and beneficial to the public. Even should it fail to produce any such impression on the minds of our legislators as might induce them to direct a complete geological survey of the State, its publicity may in other respects prove beneficial.

I have been pleased to observe that the letter of Prof. Mitchell, in relation to some of the minerals of this region, which appeared in your paper a year or two since, aroused the attention of a number of persons to that subject, and has been the means of bringing under my observation several interesting minerals. By going (whenever leisure has been afforded me,) to examine such localities as from their singular appearance or any peculiarity of external character, had aroused the attention of persons in the neighborhood,—I have induced many to manifest an interest in such subjects, so that there is in this region a considerable increase in the number of individuals who will lay up and preserve for examination singular looking minerals. Others are deterred from so doing, lest they should be laughed at by their neighbors as unsuccessfulhunters of mines. Doubtless they deserve ridicule, who, so ignorant of mineralogy as not to be able to distinguish the most valuable metallic ores from the most common and worthless rocks, nevertheless spend their whole time in travelling about the country under the guidance ofmineral rodsor dreams, in search of mines. But, almost every one may without serious loss of time and with trifling inconvenience to himself, preserve for future examination specimens of the different mineral substances he meets with in his rambles. Heought to remember that by so doing he may have it in his power to add to the knowledge, wealth and happiness of his countrymen. Partially separated as this region of country is by its present physical condition from the commercial world, it is of the first consequence to its inhabitants that all its resources should be developed. Opening valuable mines, besides diverting labor now unprofitably, because excessively, applied to agriculture, would attract capital from abroad and furnish a good home market to the farmer.

Should the proposed Railroad from Columbia to Greenville, S. C., be completed. I am of opinion that the manganese and chrome ores in this and some of the adjoining counties would be profitably exported. Though the veins of sulphate of baryta in the northern part of this county, contain pure white varieties suitable to form an adulterant in the manufacture of the white lead of commerce, yet for want of a navigable stream, it is not probable that they will ever be turned to account in that way. They have, however, at some points, a metallic appearance at the surface, they lie at right angles to the general direction of the veins of the country, go down vertically, and being associated abundantly with several varieties of iron pyrites, oxides of iron, fluor spar and quartz, and containing traces of copper and lead, will doubtless at no very distant day, be explored to a greater or less extent. There is not a single county west of the Blue Ridge, that does not contain in abundance rich iron ores. In some instances these deposits are adjacent to excellent water power and lime-stone, and are surrounded by heavily timbered cheap lands. The sparry carbonate of iron, orsteel ore, of which a specimen some years since, fell under the observation of Prof. Mitchell, though he was not able to ascertain the locality from which it came, is abundant at a place rather inaccessible in the present condition of the country. It is not probable that in our day the beautiful statuary marble of Cherokee, both white and flesh-colored, will be turned to much account for want of the means of getting it into those markets where it is needed. Besides the minerals referred to in Prof. Shepard’s letter, some of the ores of copper exist in the western part of this State. I have the carbonate, (green malachite,) the black oxide, and some of the sulphurets. Whether, however, these, as well as the ores of lead and zinc, (both the carbonate and sulphuret exist here,) are in sufficient abundance to be valuable, cannot be ascertained without further examination than has yet been made.

Many persons are deterred from making any search, and are discouragedbecause valuable ores are not easily discovered on the surface of this country. This is not usually the case any where. Gold, it is true, because it always exists in the metallic state, and because it resists the action of the elements better than any other substance, remains unchanged, while thegangue, or mineral containing it crumbles to pieces and disappears, and hence it is easily found about the surface by the most careless observer. Such, however, is not generally the case with metallic ores. On the contrary, many of the best ores would, if exposed to the action of the elements, in progress of time be decomposed, or so changed from the appearances which they usually present when seen in cabinets, that none but a practised eye would detect them at the surface. In the counties west of the Blue Ridge, there has been as yet no exploration to any depth beneath the surface of the ground, with perhaps the single exception of the old excavations in the county of Cherokee. According to the most commonly received Indian tradition, they were excavated more than a century ago, by a company of Spaniards from Florida. They are said to have worked there for two or three summers, to have obtained a white metal, and prospered greatly in their mining operations, until the Cherokees, finding that if it became generally known that there were valuable mines in their country, the cupidity of the white men would expel them from it, determined in solemn council to destroy the whole party, and that in obedience to that decree no one of the adventurous strangers was allowed to return to the country whence they came. Though this story accords very well with the Indian laws which condemned to death those who disclosed the existence of mines to white men, yet I do not regard it as entitled to much credit. At the only one of these localities which I have examined, besides some other favorable indications, there is on the surface of the ground in great abundance that red oxide of iron, which from its being found in Germany above the most abundant deposites of the ores of lead and silver, has been called by the Germans theIron Hat. Also something resembling that iron ore rich in silver, which the Spaniards called pacos, is observable there. It seems more probable, therefore, that some of those companies of enterprising Spaniards, that a century or two since were traversing the continent in search of gold and silver mines, struck by these appearances, sunk the shafts in question and soon abandoned them as unproductive. But which of these is the more probable conjecture, cannot perhaps be determined, until some one shallbe found adventurous enough to re-open those old shafts. I am, however, keeping your readers too long from the interesting letter of Prof. Shepard.

T. L. CLINGMAN.

New Haven, Conn., Sept. 15, 1746,

Hon. Mr. Clingman,—Dear Sir:—To your inquiry of what I think of the mineral resources of Western North Carolina, it gives me pleasure to say that no part of the United States has impressed me more favorably than the region referred to. It is proper, however, to state, that my acquaintance with it is not the result of personal observation, but has been formed from a correspondence of several years standing with yourself and Dr. Hardy, and from the inspection of numerous illustrative specimens supplied to me at different times by my colleague, Dr. S. A. Dickson, of Charleston, S. C., and by the students of a Medical College of South Carolina, who have long been in the habit of bringing with them to the college samples of the minerals of their respective neighborhoods. I may add to these sources of information, the mention of not unfrequent applications made to me by persons from North Carolina, who have had their attention called to mines and minerals, with a view to their profitable exploration. Nor shall I ever forget the pleasure I experienced a year or two since, on being waited upon in my laboratory by a farmer from Lincolnton, who had under his arm a small trunk of ore in lumps, which he observed that he had selected on account of their size, from the gold washings of his farm during the space of a single year. The trunk contained not far from twelve hundred dollars in value, and one of the specimens weighed two hundred and seventy-five dollars.

I have recognized in the geological formation of the southwestern counties of North Carolina, the same character which distinguishes the gold and diamond region of the Minas Geraes of Brazil, and the gold and platina district (where diamonds also exist) of the Urals, in Siberia. It is this circumstance, beyond even the actual discoveries made with us, that satisfies my mind of the richness of the country in the precious metals and the diamond. The beautiful crystal of this gem which you sent me last spring, from a gold washing in Rutherford, however, establishes the perfect identity of our region with the far-famed auriferous and diamond countries of the South and the East.

Neither can there remain any doubt concerning the existence of valuable deposites of manganese, lead, crome and iron, in your immediate vicinity, to which I think we are authorized to add zinc, barytes and marble. I have also seen indications of several of the precious stones, besides the diamond, making it on the whole, a country of the highest mineralogical promise.

Enough has already been developed, as it appears to me, in the minerals of the region under consideration, to arouse the attention of prudent legislators to this fertile source of prosperity in a State. If a competent surveyor of the work were obtained, under whose direction a zealous and well-instructed corps of young men, (now easily to be obtained from those States in which such enterprises are just drawing to a close,) could take the field, I have no doubt that numerous important discoveries would immediately be made, and that the entire outlay required for carrying forward the work, would in a very short time be many times over returned to the people from mineral wealth, which now lies unobserved in their very midst. But the highest advantages of such a survey would no doubt prove with you as it has done elsewhere, to bethe spirit of inquiry which it would impart to the population generally, producing among their own ranks an efficient band of native mineralogists and geologists, whose services, in their own behalf, in that of their neighbors and the State at large, would, in a few years, greatly outweigh all that had been achieved by the original explorers. It is thus in the States of New-England, New-York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland, that there are scattered every where through those communities, numbers of citizens, who having first had their attention called to the subject by the scientific men appointed by the Legislature, have now become fully competent to settle most of the questions which arise relating to the values of the unknown mineral substances, which from time to time are submitted by their less informed neighbors for determination. A very observable impulse has in this way been given to the development of underground wealth; and many valuable mines are in the course of active exploration, which but for these surveys and the attendant consequences of them, would now remain not only unproductive but unknown. Nor is the mere mineral yield of these mines to be considered in determining the advantages that accrue to a community from such enterprises. The indirect results to the neighborhood in which the mines are situated, are often very great; such for example as those flowing from the increased demand for farming produce, from the free circulation ofcapital, the improvement of roads, and the general stimulus which is always imparted by successful enterprise to the industry of a country. I may be permitted to add in conclusion also, that an important service is always rendered true science, in restraining the uninformed from unprofitable adventures.

I have a wish to see the public survey of North Carolina undertaken, not only on account of its economical bearings, but from the conviction with which I am impressed, that it will equally promote the progress of science, and elevate the character of our country at large.

I have the honor to remain very truly and obediently yours.

CHARLES UPHAM SHEPARD.

My Dear Sir,—I promised my friends in the Western counties that they should hear from me through the Highland Messenger, and to the editor of that paper that he should receive one or two communications. As the person who undertakes to inform the public on subjects not strictly in the line of his profession is likely to fall into some errors, and to say some things which will not be thought very wise, I have wished that what I have to offer, might, before going to press, pass under the eye of one, who, like yourself, has long taken a deep interest in every thing connected with the mountain region, is well acquainted with the larger part of it, and in whose friendly feeling I could fully rely. The statements and remarks that are to follow, will fall naturally under the four heads ofElevation of the Country and Height of the Mountains,Soil and Agriculture,Minerals and Scenery.

The elevation of the highest mountain peaks was ascertained by me within certain limits of accuracy about eight years ago. So little was known about them before that time, that the Grandfather was commonly regarded as the highest of all. With the view of coming somewhere near the truth, one barometer was stationed at Morganton, and another carried to the tops of the mountains. Their elevation above that village was thus ascertained; but in order to get their height above the level of the sea, that of Morganton must be known, and for this there were no data in which implicit confidence could be placed. I finally fixed upon 968 feet as a moderate estimate, and in my desire to avoid an extravagant and incredibleresult, it now appears that the elevation assigned to Morganton, and therefore to all the heights measured, was somewhat too small.

In the first report of the President and Directors of the Louisville, Cincinnati, and Charleston Railroad, it is stated as one of the results of the surveys and measurements made with reference to that work, that “the elevation of the summit of our mountain passing above a line drawn along what may be regarded as their base about twenty miles below, does not exceed 1054 feet.” This will leave 1114 feet for the height of that line above the sea, or 146 feet more than I had allowed for Morganton.

But the surveys referred to were carried along the French Broad river, in the immediate vicinity of Ashville, and therefore afford a base, or starting point, from which all the heights in that region could be conveniently ascertained. Dr. Dickson having undertaken to observe the barometer at Ashville, and knowing that in his hands it would afford results in which confidence could be placed, I determined to try the Black once more, in which mountain I was well satisfied that the highest points are to be found, as I was, also, that I had never yet been upon the highest.

The Black Mountain, as you well know, is a long curved ridge, 15 or 20 miles in length, its base having somewhat the form of a common fish-hook, of which the extremity of the shank is near Thomas Young’s, in Yancey. It sweeps round by the heads of the South fork of the Swannanoe, Rim’s Creek and Ivy, and ends at the Big Butt, or Yates’s Knob—Caney river drains by a number of forks the hollow of the curve. The summit of the ridge is depressed at some points, and rises at others into peaks or knobs, 2, 3 or 400 feet higher than the rest, and it is a matter of considerable difficulty to determine before ascending which is the highest, as we cannot tell how much the apparent elevation is affected by the distance of the different points. The general elevation of the ridge may be stated at 600 feet. The following are the heights measured, which are likely to have most interest for the readers of the Messenger.

It appears that the valley of the French Broad is a trough, or depression, extending quite across the great back-bone of the United States, having the parallel, but considerably higher valleys of the Nolachucky and Pigeon on its two sides. Ivy Ridge is the boundary of this valley on the north-east, the ford of Ivy creek, near Solomon Carters, having very nearly the height of Ashville. The difference of temperature and climate corresponds to the indications of the barometer, grain and wild fruits ripening sooner about Ashville, than in the neighborhood of either Burnsville or Waynesville. At the ford of the Tuckaseege, on the road to Franklin, we are at the bottom of another deep and warm valley, but this does not, like that of the French Broad, extend across the whole range of the Alleghanies.

These measurements are not altogether without value, to the people of Haywood and Macon, showing as they do, what is the amount of obstacle that has to be overcome in carrying a road from Tennessee into South Carolina, along the Tuckaseege. Such a road should be made, or rather the existing one should be greatly improved, and the route altered in some places. There is likely to be a good deal of travel along it, but the gap in the Blue Ridge, where it is to pass, is about 1500 feet higher than that at the head of the French Broad.

There are but two routes by which the highest peaks of the Black Mountains can be reached, without an amount of labor which few people are willing to undergo. One is by the head of Swanannoe. This brings us to a point a little higher than the top of the White Mountains in New Hampshire. The other is from the south fork of Tow. It is represented as quite practicable, and leads to the highest summit.

Agriculture.—The mountain counties, Ashe, Yancey, Buncombe, Henderson,Haywood and Macon, do not appear to have adopted fully those modes of culture which are the best suited to their soil and climate, and which are likely ultimately to prevail. For this two reasons may be assigned.

1. The great amount of travel, through the counties of Ashe, Henderson and Buncombe, (but especially the two last,) between the Atlantic states and the West, has created a demand for the different kinds of grain, and given a direction to the industry of the population of those counties, which but for the circumstance mentioned, would be neither natural nor profitable. The roads have consumed all the corn that could be raised. The practice of the farmers living near the roads, which will answer very well for them, (especially if somewhat more attention be paid to the cultivation of the grasses), may be expected to have an under influence in the remote parts of those counties.

2. The families by whom these counties were settled, were from below the ridge, and carried with them into the mountain region, the kind of husbandry to which they have been accustomed in the warmer and drier parts from which they came. It is only gradually that men change the habits and practices of their earlier days. This influence of custom is exhibited on the northernmost range of counties in North Carolina, along the Virginia line, where the culture of tobacco prevails much more extensively than a little farther south, where the soil is equally well adapted to the growth of that noxious weed.

The latitude and elevation—and of course the temperature of the mountain counties as far as it depends upon these two, are very nearly the same with those of ancient Arcadia—the country of herdsmen and shepherds. Their soil is different, having been formed by the decomposition of primitive rocks—granite, gneiss and mica slate—whilst limestone abounds in Arcadia, as well as other parts of Greece. But it is to the raising of cattle and sheep and the making of butter and cheese for the counties below the ridge, that it may be expected there will be a tendency in the industry of the mountain region for many years. The quantity of rain falling there, is greater than in the eastern parts of the state, and luxuriant meadows of the most valuable grasses, but especially of timothy, may be easily formed. This is for winter food. But the summer pastures, too, are susceptible of great improvement.

Whilst the Indians held possession of the country it was burnt over every year. The fire destroyed the greater number of the young trees,that were springing up, and the large ones remained thinly scattered, like the apple trees in an orchard with large open spaces between. In these, the different kinds of native vines and other wild plants,—pea vine, &c., contended for the mastery, and each prevailed and excluded the other according to the vigor of its growth. Macon county still exhibits in some parts the appearance which the whole back country of North Carolina may be supposed to have borne when the first settlements of the whites were made. But after the Indians had been removed and large quantities of stock were introduced, the cattle and horses lent their aid in this contest of the different vegetable species and in favor of the worst kinds. They ate out and destroyed such as they found palatable and suitable for the nourishment of animals, whilst such as are worthless were permitted to grow and occupy the ground. In the mean time the annual firing of woods that had been practised by the Indians having ceased, bushes and small trees have overspread and shaded a large space that was formerly covered with herbage. For these two reasons, therefore, because the best kinds of vegetables have been in a great measure eaten out, and destroyed, and because of the thickening of the forests, the range (even if the population were still the same) would be greatly inferior to what it was fifty years ago.

It is necessary here as in other cases that the industry and ingenuity of man should come in to direct, and to some extent, control the operations of nature. The best grasses—best for pasturage, must be introduced and made to take the place of such as are worthless. The milk, butter, and cheese would be improved in quality as well as increased in quantity. As the wild onion, where eaten by cows, gives milk a flavor that is intolerable to some persons, so it may be expected that bitter and unpalatable weeds of every kind will give it a wild and savage taste; that it will be inferior in purity and richness to such as is yielded where the sweetest and best grasses are the only food. It appeared to me as I rode down from the Flat Rock to Ashville that there were very extensive tracts in Henderson and in the southern part of Buncombe now almost waste and worthless, which would, in the course of a few years, be converted into artificial pastures; not the most fertile in the world—but such as would amply repay an outlay of capital upon them; that the marshes and low grounds would be drained, and rank timothy take the place of sedge and other coarse grasses that afford no nourishment. In the immediate neighborhood of the Flat Rock I saw that the good work had been begun and made a considerable progress.

The sides of the mountains are too steep to be cleared and converted into pastures that will have any permanent value. The soil that is exposed would be washed away. But there are tracts, some of no inconsiderable extent, and especially near the crest of the ridge and along the head springs of the western waters, where the surface is comparatively livid, the soil sufficiently moist and fertile, and where capital might be advantageously invested for the purpose of converting them into meadows and pastures. The tops of the mountains also, where the ridge is broad or a single summit has a rounded surface instead of a sharp peak, will afford a few grazing farms. I do not altogether despair of living to see the time when the highest summit of the Black shall be inclosed and covered with a fine coat of the richest grasses, and when the cheese of Yancey shall rival in the market of the lower counties that which is imported from other States.

For accomplishing this a good deal of labor will be required. But the person to whom it has happened to visit Burnsville soon after it was fixed upon as the seat of Justice for Yancey county, and during the present year, will have good hopes of very rough and unsightly places. A more doleful spot than it was in the year 1834, cannot well be imagined; and though there is ample room for improvement yet, it is not difficult to see that the time is near when there will be a range of meadows passing by and near it, alike productive and beautiful.

If an inhabitant of the mountains shall be desirous of calling in the experience of other parts of our widely extended country for the purpose of directing his own labors, there is no section of the United States which he would visit with more advantage than the genuine Yankee land—the New England States. The soil is to a great extent the same with his own, having been produced by the decomposition of primitive rocks; elevation compensating for difference of latitude, there is a considerable similarity of climate. And if after seeing what the labor of two centuries has accomplished there, he shall pass through the mountain region of North Carolina, whilst he will be pleased to see how much has been done in his own section, he will fix upon many spots that are now in a great measure neglected, as those which a patient industry will in the course of a few years render the most productive and valuable. Extensive tracts in Henderson county, the moist grounds inclining to swamp in the neighborhood of Waynesville, the valley of Scott’s creek, bordering the road, the head waters of the Tuckaseege and those of the Savannah on the south side of theBlue Ridge, are cited as examples because they fell under my immediate observation.

Closely connected with agriculture as affording access to a market are good roads, and it was with some surprise that I noticed certain indications that the road scraper has never been introduced into the western part of the State, but that all the difficult passes in the mountains had been wrought out with the plough, the hoe, and shovel. The Warm Spring turnpike has inequalities, elevations and depressions, even between the village of Ashville and the point where it first comes into contact with the river, that would not be permitted to continue for a year if this excellent labor-saving instrument were once to come into use. For removing earth through short distances, for a hundred feet to a hundred yards, there is nothing comparable to it. A single man and horse will accomplish as much as six or eight men with the ordinary tools.

I am respectfully yours,E. MITCHELL.

To Hon.T. L. Clingman.

THE END.

[1]Since writing this letter I have discovered there the diamond, platina, blue corundum in large masses, of brilliant colors, and the most splendent lustre, sapphire, ruby, emerald, euclase, amethyst; also in various localities, zircon, pyropian garnet, chrome ore; and manganese, and barytes in large veins; likewise plumbago of the finest quality.

155 Broadway, New-York,July, 1849.

With an Account of a Visit to the Chaldæan Christians of Kurdistan, and the Yezidis, or Devil-Worshhippers; and an Inquiry into the Manners and Arts of the Ancient Assyrians.

BY AUSTEN HENRY LAYARD, ESQ., D.C.L.

With Introductory Note by Prof. E. Robinson, D. D., LL. D.

Illustrated with 13 Plates and Maps, and 90 Woodcuts. 2 vols. 8vo. Cloth. $4 50.

“We cannot doubt it will find its way into the hands of scholars and thinkers at once, and we shall be surprised if it does not prove to be one of the most popular, as it certainly is one of the most useful issues of the season.”—Evangelist.

“As a record of discoveries it is equally wonderful and important; confirming in many particulars the incidental histories of Sacred West, disentombing temple-palaces from the sepulchre of ages, and recovering the metropolis of a wonderful nation from the long night of oblivion.”—Com. Advertiser.

“Taking this only as a book of travels, we have read none for a long time more interesting and instructive.”—Quarterly Review.

“We repeat that there has been no such picture in any modern book of travels. Park is not brave or more adventurous, Burkhaph is not more truthful, Eöthen not more gay or picturesque than the hero of the book before us.”—London Examiner.

“This is, we think, THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY WORK OF THE PRESENT AGE, whether with reference to the wonderful discoveries it describes, its remarkable verification of our early biblical history, or of the talent, courage, and perseverance of its author. * * * * * * We will only add in conclusion, that in those days, when the fulfilment of prophecy is engaging so much attention, we cannot but consider that the work of Mr. Layard will be found to afford many extraordinary proofs of biblical history.”—London Times.

“Of the historical value of his discoveries, too high an estimate can hardly be formed.”—N.Y. Recorder.

“It has been truly said, that the narrative is like a romance. In its incidents and descriptions it does indeed remind one continually of an Arabian tale of wonders and genii.”—Dr. Robinson in Introductory Note.

“The work of Mr. Layard has two prominent and distinct characters. Its narration of wonderful discoveries is of high and absorbing interest; but as a book of modern travels, abounding in living and piquant descriptions of the manners and habits of a people always regarded with intense interest, it is second to none.”—Democratic Review.

“The book has a rare amount of graphic, vivid, picturesque narrative.”—Tribune.

“The work of Layard is the most prominent contribution to the study of Antiquity, that has appeared for many years.”—Christian Inquirer.

“Not one excels in interest the account of Nineveh and its Ruins, given by Mr. Layard.”—Washington Intelligencer.

“As we follow the diggers with breathless interest in their excavations, and suddenly find ourselves before a massive figure carved with minute accuracy, now lifting its gigantic head from the dust of 3000 years, we are ready to cry out with the astonished Arabs, ‘Wallah, it is wonderful, but it is true!’”—Independent.

As Illustrative of Scripture History.

BY FRANCIS L. HAWKS, D.D., LL.D., &c., &c.

Illustrated with Engravings from the Works ofChampollion,Rosellini,Wilkinson, and others, and Architectural Views of the Principal Temples, &c. One vol. 8vo, uniform with ‘Layard’s Nineveh.’

This work presents a comprehensive and authentic, and at the same time popular view of all that has been brought to light by modern travelers, illustrative of the manners and customs, arts, architecture, and domestic life of the ancient Egyptians—with reference to other ancient remains in the “Old and New World.”

⁂ The following are some of the architectural illustrations, beautifully executed in int. by Sarony & Major:—

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