After a hasty sketch had been made of the bear-trap, we set out on our return; I very much regretted leaving the magnificent wilderness. On the way we found a fine viburnum, with large reddish leaves, and the Oxalis acetosella, which grew in abundance among the moss and decaying trunks of trees. The loud hammering of the woodpeckers resounded in this forest, and we shot the great spotted woodpecker of this country, which very much resembles our Picus major; for dinner we had bear's flesh, which we thought resembled mutton.

When I returned to the house of Sachs, I found the hunters, whom I had hired, in no little confusion. One of them, in particular, after receiving his wages for the first day, had remained in the public-house the whole night and the following morning. Stretched at length on a table, he had slept off the effects of his drunken fit, talked big, and found here a willing audience, a number of drinkers of whisky being collected in this place. Brandy drinking is far more common among the lower classes in America than with us; and here, on the Pokono, this bad habit was peculiarly prevalent among the country people. Not far from Tobihanna Creek there was a small wooden house, ten or twelve feet square, with a little iron stove (see the view of the Tobihanna Bridge), in which a school was kept. The stalls for cattle, swine, and sheep, are, for the most part, cages, the bars of which being pretty wide apart, the cold winter wind blows freely through them; nay, many of them had half fallen to pieces. The swine, which ran about in great numbers, had a triangular yoke round their necks to hinder them from getting through the fences. In all this part of the country, garden vegetables are raised in beds, or rather boxes, filled with mould, elevated on four posts. The seeds are sown in these boxes, and the young plants not transplanted till they have acquired a certain growth, otherwise they would be destroyed by the insects. Maple sugar is not made here, because the tree does not grow in sufficient abundance. The 42 chief occupation of the settlers, in this part, is the making of shingles, which are manufactured from the Weymouth pine. We were assured, that these peasants steal the greater part of the wood for their shingles, in the forests belonging to greater landowners, who live at a distance, and have no keepers to protect their property. One workman can make in a day 300 or 400 shingles, which are sold on the spot for half-a-dollar per 100. They are sent to all the neighbouring country, in large wagons drawn by four horses. At Bethlehem, forty-two miles from Pokono, the best shingles were sold, at that time, for eleven dollars per 1,000. These shingles are of two kinds; the German, made by Germans, who first manufactured them in this way, which are considered to be the best, and the English; the former are equally thick at both edges, the latter thicker at one side than the other. Many persons, whose horses are not otherwise employed, come here and fetch shingles.

On the 29th of August we continued our journey through forests that extended, without interruption, on all sides. After crossing a bridge over the little brook called Two-miles-run, we came to an open spot in the forest, where the great village of Stoddartsville is built on the Lehigh, which at this place is still an inconsiderable stream. The environs of the place are still wild. Stumps of trees, cut or sawed off two or three feet from the ground, were everywhere seen, and this newly-cleared spot was still covered with wild plants. As you come down the hill, you look directly into the street of the place, to which some neat and pretty houses give a very striking effect in this wilderness. We continued our journey over wooded eminences, where bears and stags are said to be still numerous. Having passed Bear Creek and Ten-miles-run Creek, we soon reached the Pokono, or highest summit of the Blue Mountains, and began gradually to descend. In the forests through which we now passed, the firs began to give way to other timber trees, and the woods are again more burnt and ruined, frequently consisting only of shoots from the stumps of oaks, chestnuts, maples, and sassafras trees, with single pines everywhere rising above them, as the palms in Brazil do, above the lower Dicotyledones.

On one of the next eminences, we came to another lofty point, whence we had the most extensive view, backwards and forwards, that we had yet enjoyed in these mountains. Towards the north-west lies the beautiful valley of Wyoming, through which the Susquehannah flows; and backwards, in the opposite direction, a rude prospect of wood and mountain, where peak rises above peak, and the eye ranges over an uninterrupted extent of immense forests. It is said to have been ascertained, by actual measurement, that this spot is 1,050 feet above the level of the Atlantic. Unfortunately, our time would not allow us to take a drawing of this grand prospect. From this place we began to descend into the valley of the Susquehannah, where the woods assume a more cheerful character, the firs being soon entirely succeeded by the oak, chestnut, and other timber trees. The road resembles an avenue, overshadowed by lofty oaks, tulip, chestnut, walnut, beech, hornbeam, birch, maple, elm, nyssa, and other trees, growing very close 43 together. Here we already see the formation of the conglomerate—the precursor of the coal district, which we now enter. When we had descended rather more than half way down the declivity of the mountain, we were taken about 200 paces to the right of the road, to be surprised by the beautiful prospect of the valley of Wyoming, or the Susquehannah. A group of rocks of conglomerate rises, isolated in the forest, and, on ascending it, you have a magnificent view. The broad and extensive valley, covered with towns and detached houses, alternates agreeably with forests and fields; the river flows through its whole length, and at our feet lay the pretty town of Wilkesbarre, the streets of which we could overlook. It is manifest, at a glance, that the whole of the valley was formerly covered with a thick primeval forest, for strips of wood everywhere traverse the fields.

Proceeding on our journey we came to a solitary public-house, where we met with a rattlesnake. I bought it, and it was put into brandy, as a live creature of this kind is not the most agreeable travelling companion. This snake had been kept three weeks in a box, and had not taken any nourishment whatever, so that it moved its rattle but faintly when it was irritated. As it was a very large and handsome specimen, I paid two dollars and a half for it. The landlady, a very corpulent personage, was in a very light morning dress when she concluded the bargain with me, and not being able to give me change, she immediately threw on her Sunday clothes, to follow our carriage on foot, and settle the account at Wilkesbarre. Her head was adorned with a large fashionable straw hat; she had a silk gown, and a silk parasol, which she might very well have spared, protected her tanned face from the sun. It was remarkable that, heavy as she was, she reached the town as soon as we did, though we had half a league to go. Wilkesbarre, in Lucerne county, is a place with about 1,200 inhabitants, with three churches, a court-house, a bank, &c.[45] The streets are pretty regular, and the buildings separated by gardens and intermediate spaces. The place has its singular name from the first settlers, who were called Wilkes and Barre. The population consists of handicraftsmen, field labourers, storekeepers, and merchants; and several of the inhabitants are interested in the important coal mines, situated to the west of the road which we had taken. This bed of coals is said to extend fourteen miles along the slope of the valley of the Susquehannah, and then to continue over other eminences, of which there will be occasion to speak in the sequel. For the purpose of conveying the coals by water, a canal has been dug, which was not quite completed, and which is to form a communication between the coal mines and the Susquehannah. On the other side of the river the great Pennsylvania canal is already finished, which connects Pennsylvania with Maryland by means of the Susquehannah.[46] This last canal, which is divided into several parts, will be continued to Baltimore, the chief seaport, but it is not yet quite completed. Pennsylvania is already intersected by numerous canals, which connect the rivers, and are of the highest importance by the facilities they afford to inland trade.

44 The inn at which we put up at Wilkesbarre was kept by a German, named Christ, who recommended to our notice some interesting points in the environs; and we, therefore, did not take the usual road at the bottom of the valley, but soon turned aside from the Susquehannah, into a wild, lateral valley, in which there are fine waterfalls. At less than a league from Wilkesbarre, we reached, at the foot of the mountain, a wild, thickly-wooded ravine, where we soon heard the roaring of Solomon Creek. Near a mill, the owner of which is General Ross,[47] this stream forms some highly picturesque cascades over smooth, perpendicular black rocks, covered with moss, forming a basin below, in a thick forest of pine and other timber. There are two cascades, one above the other, of which the second is the largest; then comes the last and highest, where the water, conducted from the mill directly across the ravine, falls perpendicularly, about the height of a house, over a steep rock. It was, unfortunately, too late, when we arrived, to make a drawing of this interesting scene. We asked for accommodation for the night in the mill, which is a roomy house; but our countryman (this man's mother was born in Germany) could not, or would not, receive us. They gave us some of the water of the stream to drink, which had a strong taste of iron and sulphur. As it was not possible to find a lodging in the neighbourhood, we were advised to proceed three miles to the top of the mountain, which we, indeed, accomplished, but had nearly had reason to repent of our resolution.

The road ascends on the left rocky bank of Solomon Creek, in a thick forest, over rough ground, so that we constantly had the steep precipice on the right hand. There was no room for two carriages to pass; luckily, carriages are rare in this remote wilderness. As we had been told that there was abundance of wild animals, we loaded our fowling-pieces with ball. We now turned to ascend in a wooded defile, where a couple of solitary miserable dwellings, built of trunks of trees, scarcely left room for a small field or a little garden overgrown with weeds. While the road became more and more rude, and obstructed by the vegetation, twilight set in, and it was only with the greatest efforts that our horses could draw the carriages among rocks and fallen trunks of trees, and nothing but the greatest care prevented them from being overturned. We met several peasants, with their axes and guns, returning from their work in the woods: they were robust, savage-looking, powerful men, whose sudden appearance in such a lonely spot might elsewhere have excited suspicion. There are no robbers in these parts; at least, I never heard of any, but it must be owned that the place is extremely well suited to them. The beautiful cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) grew in such abundance in the swampy parts of the wood, as to form a fine red carpet. The Chelone obliqua, with its white flowers, was likewise very common.

At length the moon rose bright and clear to relieve us from our unpleasant situation, and cheered by her friendly beams the gloomy path of the wanderer. When we reached the summit the road divided into two branches, of which we were so lucky as to choose the right one. At 45 length, about nine in the evening, we had the pleasure of seeing a light; and a lonely house, in an open spot, lay before us. On our knocking, the door was slowly opened. We entered a poor hut, where two women—one an elderly person, the other younger—were sitting by the fireside. The master of the house, whose name was Wright, was not at home. The two women were very tall, and were smoking, quite at their ease, small clay pipes. They were not a little surprised at so late a visit, but soon stirred up the fire, and set on water. Our frugal supper, consisting of coffee and potatoes, was soon finished, and we lay down in our clothes on tolerable beds, placed in a large unfurnished room, which in this country are almost always made for two persons. This house belongs to Hanover township; the settlement itself had not yet any name. Only English was spoken here. Not far from the house the Wapalpi Creek ran through the thickets towards the ravine.

The night was soon passed, and at six in the morning we proceeded on our journey. In order to take a view of the Falls of Solomon Creek, Mr. Bodmer left us, and returned to the mill, with the intention of joining us again at Bethlehem, by taking another road. John Wright, brother to our host, lived three miles off, in a little rude valley, where we intended to breakfast. Some men, who were going to hay-making, with their guns and dogs, met us. The inhabitants of these woods generally take their guns when they go to their work, as they frequently have opportunities of killing some large game. They have powerful dogs, resembling our German bloodhounds, brown or black, with red marks; or striped like the wolf, and sometimes, but seldom, their ears are cropped. These dogs are used in chasing the bear or the stag.

In a romantic wooded valley we reached the solitary dwelling of John Wright, where we halted. The mistress of the house, who, with a little boy, was alone at home, gave us a very friendly reception, and prepared us a breakfast with coffee; all very clean and good for this retired spot. In the course of conversation we learned that she was of German descent, and born at Tomaqua.[48] She lived here in a pretty roomy log-house, with a chimney and iron stove; yet she said that in winter it was often very cold in the room, the walls of which were, indeed, not quite air-tight. In many rooms in these mountains we found two iron stoves. Leaving these scattered dwellings of Hanover township, we reached, in five hours, the Nescopeck Valley, eleven miles from our last night's quarters, the road to which is bad, little frequented, and in part stony, gently ascending and descending, and passing through ruined forests, such as have already been described. In some places the wood is thicker, in others the sides of the mountains had been quite cleared, and were covered with young shoots and some higher trees; small streams, here called runs, flow in the defiles and valleys; the bridges of beams over which were, for the most part, so rotten, 46 and in such bad condition, that horses and carriages could not pass without danger. We saw no human beings or dwellings on this road, nor any animals except some small birds and frogs. After this rather monotonous journey, we were glad to descend into the Nescopeck Valley, and reached it, at the mill of one Bug, of German descent, where we refreshed ourselves with milk and brandy. The Nescopeck Creek, a pretty considerable stream, which turns several mills, flows through this beautiful wooded valley. This district belongs to Sugarloaf township, in Lucerne county.

After we had watered our horses, and the miller had questioned us about his native Germany, we crossed the bridge over the stream, ascended the mountain on the other side, and reached an inn on the summit, from which it is eighteen miles to Wilkesbarre. Proceeding from this place, we crossed the valley of the little Nescopeck Creek, which is covered with lofty trees, then passed the little Black Creek, and afterwards came to a high mountain wall, with a beautiful wood of various forest trees, which the inhabitants, who are mostly of German origin, call the Bocksberg. German is everywhere spoken here.

From the mill, the way leads through a thick underwood of shrub-like oaks, with a few higher trees, and we soon reached the high road from Berwick, in the Susquehannah Valley, along which we proceeded to Mauch Chunk, where two stage-coaches pass daily.

We took this road, and soon came to an inn, kept by a German named Anders, who likewise had a saw-mill. The host had, a short time before, caught an old she-bear in a trap, and in the three following days her three cubs, which he sold to travellers passing that way. The point where we now were is called the Hasel Swamp; and, proceeding onwards, we passed Pismire Hill, where rattlesnakes are said to abound. We observed, too late, a very large animal of this kind dead in the road, one of the wheels of our carriage having crushed the head of the snake, which was otherwise in a good state of preservation. My driver laid it in a natural position by the road-side, and I have no doubt that it was again knocked on the head by some other traveller. The marshy tract through which the Beaver Creek flows, is called Beaver Meadow, and is covered with willow bushes. It is probable that beavers may have formerly been numerous here, at least the place is quite suited to them; but those harmless animals have been long since extirpated. We came next to a considerable eminence, called Spring Mountain, which we ascended, and then rapidly descended, always through a thick forest, where we observed, on both sides of the way, the Grauwacke formation. On reaching the bottom of Spring Mountain we entered a wide valley, both the steep sides and bottom of which are covered with thick woods, only thinned a little round the habitations. In the middle of the valley, directly before us, six or seven buildings, in a broad street, formed the village of Lausanne, five or six hundred paces below which the Quackack Brook flows through the valley. A Jew keeps here a public-house and shop, where we met likewise with newspapers.

47 Beyond Lausanne is a high mountain, called Broad Mountain, up which the road is carried in an oblique direction. Trees and shrubs form everywhere a very thick but ruined forest, in which there is scarcely any serviceable timber. The view back over the extensive and wild valley of Lausanne was extremely interesting. One can hardly fancy this sublime and rude country without its aboriginal red inhabitants. The wide and hollow valley is everywhere covered with dense forests; and the little village of Lausanne is scarcely to be seen amidst the dark green foliage. On the Broad Mountain we find again the same formation of conglomerate, which I have before mentioned; the beds of coal are at a small distance. On the side which we descended the wood is more beautiful, the trees taller than on the edge of the mountain; oaks, chestnuts, and other trees, were very vigorous and luxuriant. Several planters have formed detached settlements here, among whom an Irishman was pointed out to us, who had lately been arrested on an accusation of murder, but had been since set at liberty.

The Neskihone or Neskihoning Valley, into which we now descended, is wide, and enclosed by very high, far-extending walls of rock, everywhere covered with thick woods, in which some small cultivated patches are here and there seen. Along the right, or southern wall, an iron railroad has been laid down, which forms a communication between one of the coal mines of the Mauch Chunk Company, on the Rumrun Creek, and Mauch Chunk. It runs down into the valley of the Lehigh, which it follows to the last-named place. The appearance of the valley is very wild and picturesque; the Neskihone, which you pass at a saw-mill, flows at the bottom of it, and then turns to the left into the beautiful valley of the Lehigh, into which the Neskihone empties itself. The Lehigh comes on the left hand, out of a deep, extremely wild mountain valley, or dark glen, the entrance to which is entirely concealed by lofty, steep wooded mountains. Its glassy surface shines, half hid by tall shady oaks, beeches, and chestnuts; and the whole is one of the most interesting scenes that I met with in Pennsylvania. The road from this place to the Lehigh Valley is agreeably shaded by high trees, and on the banks of the river there are several dwelling-houses and inns. In a quarter of an hour we reached Mauch Chunk, now celebrated as the central point of the Lehigh coal district.

As the railroad runs up along the declivity, it has been necessary to cut it obliquely; it is, therefore, narrow, with only one line; and places, at certain intervals, to allow two carriages to pass. For the convenience of travellers who wish to see the works, a stage-coach has been established, which is drawn up by two horses. Our company assembled at the inn, and ascended, by a steep path, from the town, to the iron railroad, which runs a little above the village. The 49 railroad stages are light carriages, with four low wheels, and seats for eight persons; they are covered at top, and open at the sides. The wheels are of iron, and have a groove, which fits into the rail, and runs upon it. The driver sits in front, and has a long tin horn, which he blows, to announce his approach to such as may be coming in the opposite direction; in the other hand he holds, in the descent, the machine with which the carriage is stopped when necessary. This contrivance consists of a pole, at the lower end of which there is a stuffed leather cushion, which, by moving the pole, is brought close to the wheels, and by its friction checks the rapidity of the motion. As a train of coal-wagons was expected, we slackened our pace. The two stages were fastened together, and though both were quite full of passengers, a couple of horses drew them up with great ease. We had not proceeded far, when we heard the rolling of a train of coal-wagons. It was interesting to see the black train advance, and dart by us with the rapidity of an arrow. These are built of strong beams and planks; each contains two tons of coals, and forty-five wagons go at the same time, which carry 90 tons; they run five times a day, thus 450 tons, or 25,200 bushels, are brought down to Mauch Chunk daily. Every fifteen wagons are fastened together by strong iron bands, and in the middle of this train is a man who holds a chain in his hand, by means of which he can check the rapidity of the motion, or even stop it entirely. Four or five hundred paces behind the first column comes the second, and then, at an equal distance, the third, and after these, seven wagons, in each of which there are four mules, with provender, and a bridge for them to get in and out. Their heads are turned to the front, and they eat quietly, as they descend. These mules are to draw up the empty coal wagons.

It was interesting to see the thundering column approach us, and then hasten by. As soon as it had passed, our horses trotted up the mountain, which could not be attempted, except on an iron railroad. The road runs along the rocky wall, always through a forest, where single settlers have here and there built their little wooden dwellings. Cattle were feeding in the neighbourhood, whose bells we heard in the woods. The valley at our left hand was very wild and romantic. Both the high mountain and the valley below, in which the Mauch Chunk flows, are clothed with a forest of fir and other timber, and wild vines twine about the bushes by the road-side. The number of miles is marked on white boards nailed to the trees. When we reached the top we came to an inn, which had a small park with Virginian deer. The fawns of these deer were still spotted a little at the end of August.

As soon as our company had rested a little, and taken some refreshment, as it was very hot, we got again into our carriage, and proceeded, this time without horses, to the coal mines, about ten minutes from our inn, to which the railroad declines a little. You reach these interesting works by a deep section of the upper stratum of sandstone, and then enter the pits, which may be 300 paces long, 150 wide, and 30 feet deep; quite open at top, having been gradually sunk to that depth. 112 men were at work in and about these mines, and 130 mules were employed 50 in conveying the coals, which stand out, shining, and with a beautiful play of colours; in some places they are of better quality than in others. They are detached partly with iron crows, partly by gunpowder, broken into pieces with pickaxes, and loaded in the wagons. From one part of the mine to another there are little railroads, on which boxes with four wheels run like what is called the dog (hund), in our German mines, in which refuse and rubbish are removed. In this manner high heaps of rubbish have arisen about the pits, which extend further and further into the valley. In some parts of the works there are impressions of antediluvian plants, of which we found some interesting specimens. The labour of seeking, in a stooping attitude, was particularly disagreeable on this day, which was hotter than any that preceded it. When we returned from the works to our inn, the thermometer, at twelve o'clock, and in the house, was at 96°; to which we must add that the mine is 1,460 feet above the level of the sea. There was not a breath of air stirring, and everybody found the heat extremely oppressive.

To return to Mauch Chunk we again got into our carriage, but had now no need of horses; the driver shoved the carriage a few steps, leaped into his seat, and we immediately proceeded faster than a horse could gallop. We had travelled the greater part of the way in seventeen minutes, when we were obliged to halt, in order to let a train of wagons, returning, pass us, which detained us about twenty minutes; we then proceeded with the rapidity of an arrow, and travelled the whole distance of eight miles in thirty-two minutes. When we had reached the bottom we hastened to see the place where the wagons are unloaded.

At the end of the iron railroad is a building on the eminence, in which there is a large windlass, with an endless rope, which with one part lowers a loaded coal wagon, on an obliquely inclined iron railroad, down the mountain, while the other part draws up an empty wagon from below. The distance from the windlass to the place on the iron railway, where the wagons deposit the coals in a large shed, is above 700 feet.[49] The mechanism of all these works is well worth seeing, and the whole establishment extremely interesting. Mr. White, one of the principal members of the Lehigh Company, is a man of much and varied knowledge, and particularly well acquainted with machinery.[50] He has erected a saw-mill on the Lehigh, the construction of which is very ingenious. A single workman is able to saw 4,000 square feet of deal in twelve hours. The Company requires six such saw-mills in the Mauch Chunk, to saw the wood that it wants, because the coal barges are sent down the canal and the Delaware, and sold at Philadelphia as planks.

The road from Mauch Chunk through the Lehigh Valley, which we took, on the 31st of August, in the evening, is agreeable and diversified. A violent thunder-storm had passed over the valley, and had poured down torrents of rain, the traces of which were everywhere visible. We proceeded along the right bank of the river, in a rather sandy road, shaded by old trees. On 51 our right hand we had at first the steep wooded mountain, where Rubus odoratus and other beautiful plants grew amongst rude rocks. The mountains then recede, and fields, meadows, and detached dwellings, succeed.

We came to Lehighton, where the sign of the inn was conspicuous afar off.[51] Lehighton is situated at no great distance from the opening of the Mahoning Valley, from which the Mahoning stream flows. This valley is wooded, has many settlements, and is well known from the destruction of Gnadenhütten, a small establishment, founded there by the Moravian Brethren. Some Delaware Indians, instigated, it is said, by neighbouring colonists, who were hostile to the Brethren, attacked the settlement, which they burnt, and killed eleven persons. Only four of the fifteen who composed the little colony escaped.[52] Mr. Bodmer, who followed us from Wilkesbarre, visited the spot. He found among the bushes the tomb-stone which covers the remains of the victims, and made a drawing of it. The following is the inscription:—

TO THE MEMORY
OF
GOTTLIEB AND CHRISTINA ANDERS,
WITH THEIR CHILD JOHANNA;
MARTIN AND SUSANNAH NITSCHMANN;
ANN CATHARINE SENSEMANN;
LEONHARD GATTERMEYER;
CHRISTIAN FABRICIUS, CLERK;
GEORGE SCHWEIGERT;
JOHN FREDERIC LESLY; AND
MARTIN PRESSER;
WHO LIVED HERE AT GNADENHÜTTEN, UNTO THE LORD,
AND LOST THEIR LIVES IN A SURPRISE FROM
INDIAN WARRIORS,
NOVEMBER 24TH, 1755.
"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints."
PSALM CXVI. 15.
1788, AND. W. BOVER, PHILADELPHIA.

On the lands at Gnadenhütten, which still belong to the Brethren, several farmers reside, among whom there is a singular female of no ordinary education, and, as it is said, of high rank, 52 whose real name is not known. She is said to have come from Germany, it is supposed from the principality of Lippe. Her sole employment is agriculture; she performs all manual labour herself, milks her cows, to which she has given names, and which she has tamed. She has rented a piece of land from the Brethren, which Mr. Von Schweinitz, as director of the council, let to her.

Near the issue of the Mahoning, or Mahony Valley, a wooden bridge has been built, in a picturesque situation, over the Lehigh. It is surrounded on all sides by fine lofty trees, and on the right hand the wooded eminences of the Mahony Valley overlook it. From this place we came to a level, open part of the valley, where a few scattered dwellings bear the name of Weissport.[53] A man named Weiss proposed to build a town here, and had collected the names of many subscribers, but the town consists, at present, of only four detached houses.

Night set in, and the moon showed us, in the Blue Mountains before us, a deep cleft, called the Lehigh, or Lecha Gap, where that river passes through the mountain chain. At the Gap we halted at an isolated, but very good inn, kept by a man named Craig, son of the General of that name. He spoke both English and German, and we were very well accommodated in his house.

On the 1st of September we visited the Lehigh Gap, the mountains on the north side of which are low, rocky, and wooded. A projecting portion is called the Devil's Rock. Near the buildings there are great heaps of limestone thrown up, which is obtained from a mountain in the Mahony Valley. The lime is of bad quality, but serves very well for mortar. It contains a number of small bivalve shells. About eight o'clock we left the Lehigh Gap, and took the road to Bethlehem, where we arrived at noon, having passed through Berlin, Cryterville, Howard Town, and Schoner's Town.

Our baggage, which we had so long expected from Boston, arrived at length on the 4th of September, and as Mr. Bodmer rejoined us on the 10th, I should have thought of proceeding on our journey, did not the traveller often depend on accidents, which render it impossible to fix anything for certain. Mr. Bodmer, desiring to finish a drawing that he had begun, undertook a second visit to the Delaware Gap, and on this occasion was severely wounded by the bursting of his fowling-piece, which compelled us again to defer our departure. On our hunting excursions, we now saw the country in its autumnal dress. Night frosts had already set in, and the mornings were foggy, till the sun had risen pretty high, when a hot day followed. Most of the birds of passage were gone; no swallows were to be seen, and the wild pigeons passed by in large flocks. On a walk to Allentown,[54] the capital of Lehigh County, which has 1,700 inhabitants, three churches, and a court-house, six miles from Bethlehem, we found, in the Lehigh Valley, several flocks of birds ready to depart. The blue birds (Sylvia sialis) were assembled, twenty together. The yellow woodpecker and the nuthatch were hovering about the gardens and fields, where 53 numbers were collected together. The plants that were in blossom in the fields and hedges were chiefly of the class Syngenesia.

The accounts of the progress of the cholera, which we daily received, were not favourable. In New York and Philadelphia, and more especially at Baltimore, the disorder was extremely dangerous; it had also spread in the country about the great lakes, and on Hudson's River, and had extended from Detroit to the Mississippi and Ohio. It seemed impossible to avoid it; I therefore chose the route down the Ohio, intending to make the Mississippi, in the following spring, the basis of our excursions into the Western wilds or the Indian country. We took leave of our friends at Bethlehem, and set out in the first instance for Pittsburg.

Violent thunder-storms, accompanied with heavy rains, had taken place during the night before I left Bethlehem, early in the morning of the 17th, with the stage from Easton to Reading. Mr. Bodmer remained behind for some days, on account of the injury done to his hand. At day-break we reached Allentown, where we changed both carriage and horses, and passed the Cedar Creek, which was much swollen. The thunder-storm had not changed the temperature of the air. All this country was covered with plantations of maize, clover, and buckwheat, and detached farm-houses were numerous. The clover was often sown, as among us, with the corn. The ears of the maize were partly cut off, and the stalks tied up in bundles. The maize becomes ripe here in October. We halted very often at the post-houses, where the horses are always watered. As soon as the stage arrives, the large leather bag containing the letters is thrown down, and the correspondence for places further on the road is put in. We were here on a calcareous soil, and many limekilns were burning in the neighbourhood. Flocks of birds, of many kinds, appeared ready to depart; Papilio plexippus flew about the hedges. The Datura, with purple blossoms, and the Phytolacea, with ripe black berries, dark red stems and branches, grow on the road-side, and about the houses.[55] The leaves of the sumach, and of some kinds of oak and maple, had already 55 changed to a beautiful red colour. The fallow fields were entirely covered with the yellow blossoms of the golden rod, or St. John's wort, and beautiful asters, mostly with small white or purple flowers. The farm-houses in this part of the country are remarkably handsome. The barns are built of stone, very large, and have, in the lower part, the stables, with eight or twelve doors and windows, and over this is the barn, properly so called. At the end of the building there is a passage where the wagons stand under cover; the windows, doors and roof are frequently painted of a reddish brown colour: cattle of all kinds surround these farms. The swine are very fat, have broad hanging ears, and are generally marked with small round black spots, and sometimes, but more rarely, they are reddish brown. We saw some fine forests of oak and walnut trees, among which is much hickory (Juglans alba), which, next to the white oak, and the black walnut tree, furnishes the best timber. In general this country resembles Germany: it is diversified and pleasant; wooded eminences on the sides, and bright green meadows, often kept in very good order, occur as in our country; but large, new habitations, built in rather a different style, the zigzag fences, and the more lofty and luxuriant growth of the trees, give, on the whole, another character to the scenery.

In Maxatawny township we addressed the inhabitants in the German language, who answered us at once in the same, and we heard German names all the way to Pittsburg. After passing Sackoma Creek, we arrived at ten o'clock at Kutztown, eighteen miles from Bethlehem, where we breakfasted. The heat being very great, the dust was extremely annoying, for the thunder-storm, which had passed over Bethlehem, had not extended to this part of the country. The cattle sought protection against the sun, in the shade of single trees, or in the orchards. Large stacks of corn, six, eight, or ten together, stood in rows by the fences. On the right hand ran the Oli Mountains, beautiful verdant wooded eminences, which are connected with the Lehigh Mountains. About noon we had travelled the thirty-six miles to Reading, where we were obliged to stop one day, because the stage had already left.

Reading is a very pretty town on the Schuylkill, with 6,000 or 7,000 inhabitants; it has seven churches, and a new one was just then building. There are about 400 negroes and people of colour. Some of the streets were not paved in the middle, but have on the sides a pavement of bricks for the foot passengers, planted with acacias, planes, poplars, and other trees. All these towns are rapidly increasing. The cholera had already carried off many persons here, but the inhabitants would not confess this. We saw a funeral procession returning home, in which there were several women on horseback; the veils on their large fashionable hats fluttered in the wind, and gave this caravan of Amazons a singular appearance. Much fruit is grown in the neighbourhood, and the apples are good, but not the plums. Peaches thrive very well; we saw whole wagon-loads of them brought into Reading, around which the people crowded to buy, while the children stole them.

56 On the 18th of September it was with very great difficulty that we got places in the stage, the travellers being very numerous. After we had passed Kakusa Creek, we came to Womelsdorf, founded by Germans, fourteen miles from Reading, where we stopped to dine, and then proceeded over Dolpahaga Creek, to Lebanon County, which is in a tract diversified with eminences and wooded mountains. On this road we several times passed the Union Canal, which goes from Baltimore to Pittsburg, is very nearly completed, and is said to have cost 18,000,000 of dollars. After we had passed the River Swatara, which runs into the Susquehannah, we continued our journey in a dark but fine evening; the crickets and grasshoppers chirped all around; but their note is by no means so loud as that of those in the Brazils. At length we perceived a number of lights before us, and came to Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, the end of our journey to-day.

Harrisburg is a small town, with only 5,000 inhabitants, situated between the Susquehannah and the Union Canal. It has broad streets crossing each other at right angles; but many of the buildings are of wood, for which they are now, however, gradually substituting better ones of brick. Rows of trees are planted in front of the houses. The inn at which we put up was in a square, which they were just covering with broken stones. Here, too, is the market-hall, a long roofed building supported by pillars, in which the productions of the country are exposed for sale, as in most of the towns in the United States. Harrisburg, being the capital of the state, is the residence of the Governor. The state-house is built on a gentle eminence on the canal, near the town, and with its two wings is a very considerable building, with a colonnade and a cupola supported by pillars. Another interesting point of the town is the view of the Susquehannah, which is very broad here, and forms an island. A long bridge, covered at top, and enclosed at the sides, is built over each arm of the river. One of these bridges is about 600 paces in length. In the first there are twenty-three glass windows, and it has two pillars on shore, and five in the river. There are colossal bridges of this kind in the United States; and there is one further down the Susquehannah, which is one and a quarter mile and four rods in length, and has fifty-two pillars. The view from this bridge up the river is peculiarly beautiful. Verdant wooded islands adorn its surface, which is broad, but it was at this time very shallow. There are 500 negroes and people of colour. Germans are met with everywhere, and we were told that an able German physician lived here.

The defective arrangements of the post-houses obliged us to stop here three days, and it was not till the 21st of September, in the evening, that we could leave the town to continue our journey during the night. We passed the Susquehannah, and the Juniata, which comes from the Alleghany Mountains, and flows into it. On the 22nd, at day-break, we were at the little village of Mexico.

Mexico is in Mifflin County, forty miles from Harrisburg. Three miles further is the village of Mifflin Town, the capital of the county, where they were just building a new town-hall. The Union Canal, which connects Philadelphia and Baltimore with Pittsburg, in general follows the 57 same direction as the river Juniata, near which it often runs at a greater elevation, and sometimes is even carried over it. The river is here about as broad as the Lehigh, but was at this time very shallow. Beyond Mifflin Town it receives the Los Creek. From this place we observed in the valley many robinias, which grow very high and vigorous, as well on the mountain, which is rather dry, as by the water-side; vines as thick as a man's arm twine round the trunks, and frequently rise to the very summit. The nettle tree (Celtis) grew in great abundance, and the maples were just assuming their red tinge. The picturesque forest is intermingled with Canadian pines, many of which are quite blighted and withered. The valley now became wilder and more romantic; on the right hand rose a high precipice, covered with bolders, fragments of rock, mouldering trunks, and the finest trees of the country, forming a real wilderness. A very narrow part of the valley, where we watered our horses at an insulated house, bears the name of the Long Narrows; and the steep wooded mountain, on the south bank of the river, is called Blacklog Mountain; it is said to be the haunt of bears and stags. The cattle belonging to the log-houses were grazing among the rocks. After some time the valley grew more open, and at a wider spot, near the road, which descended towards the defile of James Creek, was a group of lofty and slender robinias, on which a flock of tame turkeys were sitting. These birds resemble in colour the wild ones which are common in this country; they often go into the forests, where they breed, and come home again with their young ones. After passing Kishikokinas Creek, we reached, at a broad part of the valley, the village of Louis Town, in which there are some considerable houses. The country people were ploughing and harrowing their fields; and I may here observe, that, in all Pennsylvania, they never employ oxen in these operations, but horses only, of which they have great numbers. The plough is rather different from that of Germany.

Beyond Louis Town we saw a number of horsemen, assembled for the fox-chase. The fox was caught in a trap, then let loose at a certain spot, and hunted with many dogs, as in England. In a district diversified with forests and cultivated fields, we came to Waynesburg, a small town agreeably situated in a valley. The forests began to assume their autumnal tints; the maples, the dogwood (Cornus Florida), and the sumach, were partly red; the walnut trees, and the hickory, yellow, which gave great variety to the landscape. Near some habitations we observed weeping willows of extraordinary size. The surrounding mountains were covered with forests, into which we penetrated to ascend the first ridge of the Western Alleghanys. The road, which is, for the most part, in bad condition, rose obliquely on the side of a rude picturesque precipice. Except a pheasant, which flew past us, we saw but few living objects. Advancing into the valley we again came to the Juniata, over which the canal is here carried by an aqueduct, supported by four pillars. In this part of the river there are several dams, such as we had seen in the Lehigh, near Bethlehem, with this difference that here they are triple. For this purpose, rows 58 of stones, piled one upon another, are laid across the river, forming, in the direction of the stream, acute angles, where a basket is placed, in which the fish are collected.

At a place where three valleys meet stands the village of Huntingdon,[56] ninety miles from Harrisburg, where we found a tolerably good inn, on an eminence above the banks of the Juniata. From this inn we proceeded, during the night, through high rude tracts and forests, past Alexandria, and at midnight reached Yellow Springs, and then the highest points of this ridge, called the summit, between 2,400 and 3,000 feet above the level of the sea, in the vicinity of Blair's Gap. This wild mountain region bears hemlock spruce firs of colossal magnitude, mixed with other timber. The night was clear and cool; towards morning fogs arose from the deep valleys, which at daybreak covered the pine forest through which we descended. We passed the Conomaugh Creek, and then arrived at the little town of Ebensburg, on an open spot in the forest. We stopped here at a small inn to wait for our travelling companions.

Ebensburg, the capital of Cambria County, is an inconsiderable place, consisting of wooden buildings, forming not much more than one broad, unpaved street, but has a town-house and a pretty large church. The inhabitants, about 300 or 400 in number, are of English, Irish, and some of German extraction. The surrounding country is very mountainous and woody, and is said to abound in all sorts of game, as indeed the many skins of lynxes, racoons, martens, and minks, fastened against the houses, prove; bears, stags, and wolves, are said not to be uncommon, as lofty and dark forests surround the town within a couple of hundred paces. Ebensburg derives some profit from the numerous wagons, drawn by two, four, or six strong horses, that pass through it on the high road to Pittsburg.

Our hunting excursions in this rude country were very interesting. We proceeded first in a northern direction into the forest, which we found to be quite a primeval wilderness. The mountains rise peak above peak, with deep ravines, where pines, beeches, chestnuts, birches, maples, and walnut trees of various kinds, form a gloomy forest, and fallen and decayed trunks check your advance at every step; cool, sylvan brooks rushed foaming through all the defiles, and we had continually to cross them on natural bridges, formed by the fallen trunks of trees. Such old trunks are covered with a whole world of mosses, lichens, fungiwood, sorrel, ferns, &c.; nay, even young shoots of maple, beeches, and tulip trees, had taken root on them. We clambered over the trunks, went round the fallen giants of the forest, and found everywhere, on the ground, traces of the numerous squirrels (Sciurus cinereus), in the remains of fruit and shells, especially, of the chestnut.

But there was also an interesting wilderness in the opposite direction. Here a very extensive fall of timber had been commenced—a gigantic labour, as in Brazil, where the wood is burnt afterwards, as soon as it is sufficiently dry. The sturdy woodcutters were of German extraction, and spoke German. From this place a dark narrow path led through an old pine forest, where 59 the little creeping Michella repens, here called ground berry, with its beautiful red berries, grew among the moss, and often covered the ground. Several small runs and muddy ditches crossed the forest, over which I walked or rode on trunks of trees that served as bridges; in doing which my clothes suffered not a little. Woodpeckers abounded here, especially the great black woodpecker (P. pileatus), which we had not seen before. It is nearly as large as a crow, and its splendid bright red tuft is conspicuous at a great distance. They were very shy; knocked and hammered on the dead pine trees, which stood like the ruins of a colonnade, and were pierced and bored by their strong bills. This fine large bird is called here, and in general, woodcock. A young man who lived in the forest, some miles off, told me that bears, stags, and other wild animals, were very numerous, particularly the pheasant, or cock of the wood (Tetrao umbellus), one of which we shot. There is a saw-mill here, among the lofty pines, on an arm of Conomaugh Creek, in a wild, lonely spot. The owner was not a little astonished at my double-barrelled percussion gun. After we had spent two days here in exploring the woods, our travelling companions, Dr. Saynisch and Mr. Bodmer, at length joined us, on the 26th, but as the latter still had need of rest, on account of his wound, we took their places, and set out immediately for Pittsburg.

Seven miles from Ebensburg is the place which is looked upon as the boundary of the Alleghanys, properly so called; here begins the ridge called the Laurel Hills, for these mountains consist of several parallel chains, many of which have distinct names. The forest now assumes a different character. Oaks of various species succeed the pines and beeches; the forest is not so high, rude, and thick, and from an elevated spot on the road there is a fine view as you look back on the long wooded chain of the Alleghanys.

The traveller soon sees before him a deep and wide valley in which the Conomaugh River flows, and beyond it a long ridge, covered with verdant woods, called the Chestnut Ridge, in which there is a gap, through which both the river and the canal pass. The eminences are uniformly wooded, and the chestnut and chestnut oak appear to predominate. We changed horses at Further Laurel Hill, and at Amagh, and then passed the gap. In the meadows and fields, the stumps of the trees that had been cut down were still standing, for the whole country was formerly one unbroken forest. The habitations were few in number, and, at the same time, small and wretched. We were told that this part of the country is chiefly inhabited by Irish, who are bad managers, and addicted to drinking. A better character is given to the settlers of German origin, and they are said frequently to possess well cultivated farms.

In the woods of this district, we everywhere remarked that the tops of the branches, for about a foot or a foot and a half, were hanging down and withered, which is caused by a kind of cricket (locust, Cicada septem decem, Linn.). This insect, which, as is well known, appears only once in seventeen years, but then, like the cockchafer with us, in prodigious numbers, had abounded 60 in Pennsylvania in 1832, and in many places was a real scourge; it does not, however, appear everywhere at the same time. But a few weeks before, they were so numerous in these forests, that the noise they made almost overpowered the human voice. On examining the withered twigs, we found the bark, as it were, ripped open in many places, the wood quite dry, and in the sap, a whitish substance, which consists of the eggs of the insect.

As we drove rapidly down the hills, we saw before us the extensive valley of the Conomaugh, for the most part covered with woods, and gently rising on all sides, in which, a little higher up, the small town of Indiana is situated. We stopped at a lonely inn by the road-side, watered our horses, and hastened forwards. On every side we saw extensive forests, and from the next eminence looked down into another valley, in which the Conomaugh runs by the town of Blairsville, a pretty little place, with many respectable houses, and a very good inn, in a broad main street, which runs directly across the valley. The country is hilly, or mountainous, well cultivated, and with neat farm-houses scattered around. From this place, it is ten miles to New Alexandria, a village with tolerably good wooden houses, many of which are painted. Beyond it runs the Loyalhanna, a small stream, which was at this time very shallow, with a covered bridge over it. At nightfall we reached New Salem, then Millersburg, and about midnight, Pittsburgh.[57]

Pittsburg is an old, large, but by no means handsome town, celebrated for its manufactories and brisk trade, and has been described by many travellers. The town itself has 12,000 inhabitants; but with the suburbs, its population is estimated at 24,000 souls, including many Germans, some of whom are respectable merchants. Coal mines in the immediate neighbourhood (a part of which is now on fire), afford an ample supply of fuel for the numerous steam-engines, stoves, &c. The style of building in the town is everything but uniform, neat brick houses being mixed with small wooden ones. The streets are ill-paved, dirty, and badly lighted; some of them, however, are modern and regular; and the new edifices are handsome and elegant. There are many iron works, nail manufactories, glasshouses, cotton manufactories, &c., in many of which, steam-engines are employed, of which, as we were told, there are above 100 at work, which are likewise made here.

This town lies on the tongue of land between the rivers Monongahela and Alleghany, which, by their union, form the Ohio; this river is not very considerable here; yet, at certain seasons, when the water is high, it is navigable by steam-boats, of which I counted sixteen on the banks of the Monongahela. Over the Alleghany there is a covered bridge, 500 paces in length, which has, on each side, an additional covered footpath; and a covered aqueduct, of the same length, is likewise carried across the river. A similar long and colossal bridge is built over the Monongahela.

The situation of Pittsburg itself is not very pleasing, but there are interesting points in the environs. As I was furnished with very good letters of recommendation, several of the inhabitants of Pittsburg endeavoured to make my stay there agreeable. Messrs. Volz and Von Bonnhorst 61 (the latter of whom had been an officer in the Prussian army) were extremely kind to me. Mr. Lambdin, possessor of a museum which was yet in its infancy, likewise gave useful recommendations and instructions.[58] Mr. Volz had the goodness to accompany me to Economy, the remarkable and interesting colony of Mr. Rapp. For this purpose we left Pittsburg on the 29th, passed the great Alleghany bridge, and the suburb, and drove by the large new House of Correction, towards the Ohio.[59] On the eminence to the right of the town is the convent of Flanders nuns, who have established a school, in which they receive children of all religious denominations. We proceeded on the right bank of the Ohio, eighteen miles, to Economy.

Economy has been described, in its leading features, by Duke Bernard of Saxe Weimar;[60] but it has become much more flourishing since that time. It is well known that old Mr. Rapp, with a company of between 600 and 700 Swabian emigrants, came to America, and had, at that time, but very limited resources. He founded, with his people, successively three settlements; first, Old Harmony, near the Ohio; then, New Harmony, on the Wabash, in the State of Indiana; and then, Economy, near Pittsburg. This last settlement has now about 150 houses, which at first were slightly built of wood, but are now succeeded by better ones of brick; they are two stories high, and neatly painted. The church is spacious and plain, built of brick, with a pretty steeple, and a good bell.

The rapidity with which these settlements sprung up, amidst thick forests, proves the judgment and prudence of their founder. The order introduced at Economy is admirable; nobody is seen in the streets during the day; all the inhabitants are usefully employed; young men and women, and also the children, are distributed among the several manufactories, where they work and receive no wages, but all their wants are amply provided for, free of cost. They are cleanly and neatly dressed in their Swabian costume, and nothing but German is spoken amongst them. The possessions and the revenues of the whole establishment are the joint property of the community, every inhabitant having placed his property in the common fund. Mr. Rapp and his adopted son are the directors, and the only complaint is, that no account is given of the management, and that the government of the institution is rather too dictatorial. Be this as it may, it cannot be denied that the arrangement and direction of this artificial society are admirable, and do honour to the founder. Mr. Rapp has established several important manufactories with steam-engines; even silks are manufactured from silk produced on the spot. The mulberry plantations and the management of the silk-worms are under the especial care of Mr. Rapp's grand-daughter. The manufactories alone are said now to yield an annual profit of 20,000 dollars. Several large buildings have been erected for a cotton and a woollen cloth manufactory, a mill, an inn, where the accommodations are very good and reasonable, &c. Everything they want is raised or made by themselves. They have extensive corn fields and vineyards, and breed great numbers of 62 cattle. Mr. Rapp has erected a large building, with a great saloon in the upper story, where the inhabitants meet on festive occasions, and where they have musical entertainments. In the lower story of this building, a cabinet of natural history has been commenced, in three rooms, which already contains some very interesting specimens.

After we had viewed all these objects, and had been led by Mr. Rapp, jun., through the manufactories, we went to the dwelling-house of the director of the establishment, and met with a very friendly reception from his family, who were dressed entirely in the manner of the country people of Würtemberg. They told us they would never deviate from their old national manners, and would always remain Germans, which we were very glad to hear. Soon afterwards, the founder of the establishment, Mr. Rapp, came in. He was a vigorous old man, of venerable appearance, with white hair and a long beard. We supped with him, drank very good wine produced here, and, in conclusion, were entertained by six or seven girls and a young man, who is the schoolmaster, and is said to be well informed, with singing and playing on the piano. We here became acquainted with Mr. Ehrmann of Mannheim, an agreeable, well-educated man, whose wife is likewise a very interesting person, and who was engaged in establishing a manufactory near Economy.

On the following day we viewed the park, in which there were seventeen Virginian deer. Most of them had already got their winter coat; some were still a little red: they cast their horns in March. As it was Sunday, the people assembled, at nine in the morning, in the church, which has neither pulpit nor organ. The men sat on the right hand of the preacher, the women on the left; the older persons in front, the young people a little way back. Mr. Rapp's family had the first place. When the congregation were assembled, old Mr. Rapp entered with a firm step, seated himself at a table which was on a raised platform, and gave out a hymn, which was sung in rather quick time. After a prayer delivered standing, he preached on a text from the bible, in a bold, figurative style, well suited to country people, and with very animated gesticulation. After the sermon some verses were sung, and Mr. Rapp delivered a prayer, which the congregation repeated after him, sitting. The word Amen was always repeated by the whole congregation. In the afternoon we took a very cordial farewell of the worthy family of Mr. Rapp, and set out on our return.

The country about Pittsburg has some zoological rarities, specimens of which my travelling companions had collected during my absence. Among them are, in particular, many interesting fresh water shells of the Ohio. Several American naturalists have written on these Bivalve testacea; and there is, probably, no other country so rich in beautiful and manifold productions of this kind. On their excursions in the neighbouring islands in the Ohio, they met with trees of colossal size, and especially a maple, that measured twenty French feet in circumference at the height of twelve feet from the ground, where it divided into four thick parallel stems, from which 63 the branches issued. Among the remarkable and interesting natural productions of these rivers, we must mention the soft shell turtles of the Americans (Trionyx, Aspidonectes, Wagl.), of which there are two or three species. They grow to a great size, and are often seen in the markets. Another very remarkable animal, which is very numerous here, is the great Alleghany salamander (Menopoma, Harlan), which is here called alligator, and of which I obtained many specimens alive, so that Mr. Bodmer was able to make an accurate drawing from the life. Then there is the Triton lateralis, Say., or Menobranchus lateralis, Harlan, which differs from the preceding by the tufts at the gills, which remain even in old age. America is well known to abound in these singular enigmatical animal forms, which are nearly akin to the European Proteus, or Hypochthon.

The Ohio, called by the French La Belle Rivière, was at this time too shallow at Pittsburg to be navigated by steamboats, and we were therefore obliged to go by land to Wheeling,[61] a distance of fifty-seven miles; by the river, it is ninety-five miles. After taking leave of Dr. Saynisch, who returned to Bethlehem, we crossed the Ohio, near the town, in a well contrived ferry, the wheels of which were moved by four horses. Our stage was drawn rapidly, by four good horses, along the path of the mountains, where the road passed through lofty forests, great part of which was, however, ruined and cleared. The foliage was adorned with the most beautiful varied tints of autumn, a circumstance which distinguishes North America, at this season, from all other countries. In the Brazils, it is the spring, or the transition from the rainy to the dry season, that adorns the forest with the most beautiful diversity of tints, which, however, are chiefly produced by the flowers, which frequently appear before the leaves. North America, on the other hand, has but few such flowering trees; most of them have catkins (amenta), and it is the foliage, which assumes in the autumn so great a variety of colours.

On the next eminence, the road leaves the river, and turns to the south-west. Strata of coal appear in some places, and workmen were busy in removing the earth above them. We frequently met with European emigrants, most of them in their peasant's dress, with faces burnt by the sun, and carrying their children. The country consists of high hills and forests, and we frequently saw the robinia, pseud-acacia, which is partly planted for the sake of its timber, potatoes, 65 clover, and corn, which was now in the ear. A great deal of fruit is cultivated here, and the farmers were just reaping the maize. The farm-houses are all slightly built of wood, with the chimney on the outside, to avoid the danger of fire. As the sun shone with intense heat, the birds were all life, twittering on the high trees, where the loquacious blackbirds flew about in companies. The woods, presenting a beautiful mixture of yellow, vermilion, purple and green, gave us much pleasure, and we reached Chattier or Shirtee Creek, which, after numerous windings, falls into the Ohio, near Wheeling. We proceeded along its valley, where colossal planes and elms, as well as robinia and willows, afforded a welcome shade. We had passed several covered bridges before we reached Cannonsburg, eighteen miles from Pittsburg, where we changed horses, and, as usual in all such places in the United States, were gazed at by the curious and the idle. There is a college here for young divinity students. We now traversed the valley of the Chattier Creek, where the plane trees were very lofty and spreading. They were covered with their round fruit, from which the Americans have given the tree the name of button-wood.

At noon we reached Washington,[62] a village, beyond which the country presented an alternation of forests and fields, where stumps of trees showed that the whole country east of the Mississippi was a primeval forest. We found an ample variety in the splendid woods, where the lime (Tilia grandifolia), with its colossal leaves, was not uncommon, and the willow-leaved oak (Quercus phellos), was likewise in great abundance, the foliage of which resembles our white willow, but the bark and fruit are exactly like those of the oak. After passing a village called Alexandria, or more properly Alexander we reached the boundary of the state of Pennsylvania, and entered Virginia, which last state has a narrow strip of land on the eastern bank of the Ohio. The land here is said to be fruitful, and very well cultivated, though we did not immediately perceive this in the narrow valley of the Wheeling Creek, through which we drove. We saw numbers of young oxen, all brought for sale from the state of Ohio, where the breeding of cattle is very extensive. Many of these oxen had uncommonly large horns, others none at all. It was a beautiful moonlight evening when we passed the Mean Creek, which joins that above-mentioned, and both together forming Wheeling Creek. At this place, not far from the road-side, there is a pillar erected in honour of Mr. Henry Clay, who had been very instrumental in the opening of this road. The night prevented our taking a view of it. From an eminence we saw before us numerous lamps in Wheeling, and the Ohio sparkling in the light of the moon, and then took up our quarters at an inn at that place. Wheeling is a rapidly improving town, containing 5,200 inhabitants, where at this time they were building whole streets, and is situated on a ledge of the mountain, on the bank of the Ohio. On the summit there is not much more than one broad, unpaved street, with footpaths of bricks: shops of all kinds were already opened. The Ohio at this place is about as broad as the Moselle near its mouth. The banks are moderately high wooded mountains, the uncultivated places in which are often overgrown with Datura. Two 66 steam-boats were expected on the 9th of October, and at noon we embarked on board the Nile, a small vessel, because steamers of a large size cannot come so high up the river. Our large or lower cabin had sixteen beds, the upper cabin being appropriated to the women. The river was, at this time, very low, and its banks, from forty to fifty feet high, consisted of yellowish red clay and strata of sand.

The traces of the great inundation of the preceding spring were everywhere visible in uprooted trees, thrown one over the other. The water at that time overflowed the lower stories of the houses of Wheeling; whereas it was now so low, that our boat was obliged to stop for the night. Early on the following morning, however, the 10th of October, we passed Elizabeth Town. On the banks of the river lay pirogues, composed of the trunk of a tree hollowed out, like those in Brazil, and small habitations were scattered in the lofty and picturesque forests. A little field of maize generally surrounded these dwellings, and the recently felled trees indicated that it was a new settlement. The eminences on the banks of the Ohio are, in general, rounded, steep, wooded hills, separated by valleys or ravines. In many places stacks of wood were piled up for the steam-boats, and some was already in boats. We arrived at New Town, on the right bank, at the mouth of the Sunfish Creek, a village with only eight houses, which was not yet marked on Tanner's map.[63] Near Fishing Creek, which falls into the Ohio, we saw the white-headed eagle soaring in the air, while the kingfishers flew about the banks, and the note of the black crow sounded in the tall forests. Near the village of Sistersville, on the right bank, in the state of Ohio, the sand-banks in the river were covered with the yellow blossoms of some plant, which, however, I was not able clearly to distinguish; but it was an autumnal flower, and the wind reminded us of the approach of the cold season, blowing quantities of leaves from the forest, in some places entirely covering the surface of the water with them. Towards noon, the sun shone bright, and the gay tints of the forest appeared more lovely than ever; colossal planes, maples, tulip trees, beeches, elms, ashes, limes, walnuts, and other trees, grow to a great height, and beneath their shade we saw many rustic bridges, or planks, thrown picturesquely across the little brooks. The trunks of the trees, covered with the Hedera quinquefolia, which made them look like scarlet columns, and the varied tints of the foliage, charm the beholder. All along the Ohio, Mississippi, and Lower Missouri, the papaw tree (Asimina triloba Dunal) grows as underwood. Its fruit, resembling a small cucumber, was now ripe, and great quantities were brought on board our steamer. This tree has a beautiful light green, large, smooth leaf, and violet brown flower, which grows isolated, but it does not attain a greater height than between twenty and thirty feet. The fruit has a pleasant taste, but the smell is disagreeable. It contains a whitish, juicy pulp, and twelve thick black kernels.