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to navigate on account of rocks & "snags"-- May 23rd. Arrived at Peducah a small tho' thriving town below the confluence of the Cumberland & Ohio rivers. The steamer from Louisville on which I wish to [?contract?] for St Louis did not arrive until dark, & I thus lost sight of the scenery of the Ohio from Louisville to "the mouth" with the exception of the small distance from the mouth of the Cumberland to Peducah. The Ohio here is very wide, generally not less than a mile, the banks much lower than above Louisville & thickly timbered. Altho' lacking the picturesque variety of its mountain course above Cincinnati, it is yet here a magnificent stream, elegant & feminine & broad deep & clear bounded by country rich in useful products. An old gentleman named "Bell" of Tennessee was my companion on board the Lady Franklin & was a very clever, sturdy Western & Southern specimen - I supposed him to be my only acquaintance aboard the "Lady Franklin" the Louisville steamer, but with my usual luck, I had not been long in the crowded cabin before a gentleman next me, who [unclear] I was not from Baltimore, he seemed to know me having seen me there & at Louisville, tho' he was unknown to me. I found him to be a Mr. [Mahorl/Mahon?] a travelling agent