New Harmony is seated on the banks of the Wabash; and following the sinuosities of that river, it is distant sixty-four or five miles from the Ohio, but over land, not more than seventeen.  This settlement was purchased by Messrs. Mac Clure and Owen from Mr. Rapp, in the year 1823.  The Rappites had been in possession of the place for six years, during which they had erected several large brick buildings of a public nature, and sundry smaller ones as residences, and had cultivated a considerable quantity of land in the immediate vicinity of the town.  Mr. Owen intended to have established here a community of union and mutual co-operation; but, from a too great confidence in the power of the system which he advocates, to reform character, he has been necessitated to abandon that design at present.

Harmony must have been certainly a desirable residence when it was the abode of the many literary and scientific characters who composed a part of that short-lived community.  A few of these still linger here, and may be seen stalking through the streets of Harmony, like Marius among the ruins of Carthage, deploring the moral desolation that now reigns in this once happy place.

Le Seur, the naturalist, and fellow traveller of Peron, in his voyage to the Austral regions, is still here.  The suavity of manners, and the scientific acquirements of this gentleman, command the friendship and esteem of all those who have the pleasure of his acquaintance.  He has a large collection of specimens connected with natural history, which the western parts of this country yield in abundance.  The advantages presented here for the indulgence of retired habits, form at present the only attractions sufficient to induce him to live out of la belle France.

Mr. Thomas Say, of Philadelphia, who accompanied Major Long on his expedition to the Rocky Mountains, also resides here.  He too is a recluse, and is now preparing a work on his favourite subject, natural history.  His garden contains a tolerable collection of Mexican and other exotic plants.

Harmony is built on the second bottom of the Wabash, and is perhaps half a mile from the river at low water, the first bottom being about that breadth.  Mosquitos abound here, and are extremely troublesome.  There are several orchards in the neighbourhood well stocked with apples, peaches, &c.; and the soil being rich alluvion, the farms are productive—­so much as fifty dollars per acre is asked for cleared land, close to the town.  There is a great scarcity of money here, as in most parts of Indiana, and trade is chiefly carried on by barter.  Pork, lard, corn, bacon, beans, &c., being given, by the farmers, to the store-keepers, in exchange for dry goods, cutlery, crockery-ware, &c.  The store-keepers either sell the produce they have thus collected to river-traders, or forward it to New Orleans on their own account.