stream without much expense. Coosee river, a branch of the Alabama, also approaches very near to the Tennessee; and from the Alabama to the river Perdido, near Pensacola, the distance is very small.
If these ideas are correct, the trade of New Orleans, both foreign and domestic, will not increase so rapidly as might otherwise be expected. It is well known, that the expense attending the navigation of vessels up the Mississippi to New-Orleans, and in passing from thence to the mouth of the river, is frequently great. Vessels are sometimes from thirty to sixty days in ascending this river to the city; and in descending it the detention, both on the {188} river and at the pilot-ground, near its entrance into the Gulf of Mexico, is often considerable. Besides, the danger attending this navigation is far from being small.
Should the produce of that part of the Western Country, which lies on the Ohio, pass into the Tombecbee and Alabama rivers, Mobile will rapidly increase; and should the United States acquire a right to Pensacola, it will probably become, in time, one of the greatest commercial places in the world. No maritime city will, in this event, possess a back country so extensive, rich, and populous; and none more completely combine the energies of inland, and foreign commerce. The harbour of Pensacola is one of the best in the world.
Before I leave the Ohio, it may be well for me to introduce a general idea of the courses of this river. Its minor sinuosities are too numerous to mention. From Pittsburg, this river proceeds in a north-west course about thirty miles;—west-south-west, five hundred miles;—south-west, one hundred and seventy miles;—west, two hundred and eighty miles;—south-west, one hundred and eighty miles;—and the residue of the distance, west-south-west.
