in the current. They kept to the river every night, except when it was foggy, taking turns on the watch. They landed, when practicable, on islands, to cook their meals, allow the mules to graze, and gather some grass for them. Some bales of husks had been brought along for fodder. For the food of the men they had a supply of corn-meal and sea-biscuit, using the meal first, and saving the biscuit for their land journey. They managed to kill a fair supply of game, which they found very tame in these green solitudes.
Ralph Morton had with him instruments for taking observations, and had sufficient skill in mathematics to determine latitude and longitude. The latitude and longitude of principal points and of the mouths of all large tributaries of the Ohio were determined.
Floating thus down the smooth current along a broad and beautiful valley for two weeks, the party came to where the clear waters of the Ohio flowed out into a mighty stream whose waters were turbid with yellow mud. It was not so broad as the Potomac in its lower course, but the strong current told that the volume of water was vastly greater than that of the Potomac. Morton had no
