LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY OF 
 
 LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY OF 
 
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RSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF. GAL 
 
 f. 
 
 RSITV OF CUIFORKU LI8RHRY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CJU 
 
BRA! 
 
 
FROM 
 
 LETTERS 
 
 WRITTEN DURING A TOUR THROUGH 
 
 In the Summer and Autumn of 1819; 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE OF 
 
 THE CHARACTER OF THE NATIVE INDIANS, 
 
 AND OF THEIR DESCENT FROM 
 
 THE LOST TEN TRIBES OF ISRAEL; 
 
 As well as descriptive of 
 THE PRESENT SITUATION AND 
 
 AND OF THE 
 
 SOIL AND STATE OF AGRICULTURE. 
 
 " Let it be enquired, whether the first intention of those who 
 are fluttering; on the wing, and collecting a flock that they 
 may take their flight, be to attain good or to avoid evil." 
 
 JOHNSON. 
 
 Printed and sold by J. DUNN, Market-place ; 
 
 SOLD ALSO BY 
 
 Baldwin, Cradock &Joy, and Darton, Harvey & Darton, London; 
 
 H. Mozley, Richardson & Handford, Derby; Collinson and 
 
 Laugley, Mansfield, and all other Booksellers. 
 
REESE 
 
THE numerous publications of American 
 travels, within these few years, seem to 
 supersede the necessity of any addition to 
 their number ; and, were it not for the 
 most important considerations, arising out 
 of the present relative circumstances of 
 this country and of the United States, 
 they certainly would do so. But, when 
 the fates of thousands of our countrymen 
 are, in a great measure, dependant upon 
 the nature of the intelligence they receive 
 thence, no man can blamelessly withhold 
 that information which he deems at once 
 important and imperfectly diffused : and 
 no information which is true, can be su 
 perfluous. 
 
yi ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 that settlement. The relation of that 
 journey, in letters 2 and 3, will sufficiently 
 explain the scope and character of that 
 publication. 
 
 Some remarks of Dr. S. Johnson, in 
 his Tour to the Hebrides, appear to him 
 particularly applicable to the present 
 causes and consequences of American 
 emigration. 
 
 " Those who have obtained grants of 
 American lands, have, as is well known, 
 invited settlers from all quarters of the 
 globe. \Vhether the mischiefs of emi 
 gration were immediately perceived, may 
 be justly questioned. They who went 
 first, were probably such as could best be 
 spared ; but the accounts sent by the 
 earliest adventurers, whether true or 
 false, inclined many to follow them ; and 
 whole neighbourhoods formed parties for 
 removal : so that departure from their 
 native country is no longer exile. He 
 that goes thus accompanied, carries with 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. VII 
 
 him all that makes life pleasant. He sits 
 down surrounded by his kindred and 
 friends ; they carry with them their lan 
 guage, their opinions, their popular songs 
 and hereditary merriment : they change 
 nothing but their place of abode, and of 
 that change they perceive the benefit. 
 
 " This is the real effect of emigration, 
 if those that go away together settle on 
 the same spot, and preserve their ancient 
 union. But some relate, that these ad 
 venturous visitants of unknown regions, 
 after a voyage passed in dreams of 
 plenty and felicity, are dispersed at last 
 upon a sylvan wilderness, where their 
 first years must be spent in toil, to clear 
 the ground, which is afterwards to be 
 tilled; and that the whole effect of their 
 undertaking is only more fatigue and 
 equal scarcity. 
 
 " Some method to stop this epidemic 
 desire of wandering, which spreads its 
 contagion from valley to valley, deserves 
 to be sought with great diligence. 
 
V1I1 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 " Let it be enquired, whether the first 
 intention of those who are fluttering on 
 the wing, and collecting a flock, that they 
 may take their flight, be to attain good or 
 to avoid evil. If they are dissatisfied with 
 that part of the globe which their birth 
 has allotted them, and resolve not to live 
 without the pleasures of happier climates; 
 if they long for bright suns, and calm 
 skies, and flowery fields, and fragrant 
 gardens, I know not by what eloquence 
 they can be persuaded, or by what offers 
 they can be hired to stay. 
 
 " But if they are driven from their 
 native country by positive evils, and dis 
 gusted by ill treatment, real or imaginary, 
 it were fit to remove their grievances, and 
 quiet their resentment : since, if they have 
 been hitherto undutiful subjects, they will 
 not much mend their principles by Ame 
 rican conversation. 
 
 " To hinder insurrection by driving 
 away the people, and to govern peaceably 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. IX 
 
 by having no subjects, is an expedient 
 that argues no great profundity of politics. 
 To soften the obdurate, to convince the 
 mistaken, to mollify the resentful, are 
 worthy of a statesman ; but it affords a 
 legislator little self-applause, to consider 
 that where there was formerly an insur 
 rection there is now a wilderness." 
 
 On the subject of emigration, he has 
 only to observe in conclusion, that he is 
 aware that it has led htm to state circum 
 stances, and sketch features of society, 
 which may by some be deemed as charged 
 with a tendency to excite feelings of re 
 sentment and animosity in the minds of 
 Americans. He can alone avow, that he 
 regards strictures of that nature, wantonly 
 made, as deserving the utmost reprehen 
 sion ; and if it has fallen to his lot to 
 touch upon matters which could not be 
 read, beyond the Atlantic, with the most 
 perfect equanimity of temper, he has done 
 it with a reluctance which nothing but 
 the most solemn regard to truth, and the 
 
X ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 most anxious wishes for the welfare of 
 those who may hereafter be affected by 
 them, could overcome. His object has 
 been, whenever such topics have occurred, 
 to give those proposing to emigrate, a 
 correct idea of things which they would 
 inevitably meet with. And he would wish 
 it to be distinctly understood, that the 
 bulk of his remarks apply to that range 
 of society which occupies newly-settled 
 tracks. But settlers themselves may be 
 supposed as speaking with greater impar 
 tiality than a mere passing traveller, he 
 therefore gives the following extract of a 
 letter from an acquaintance. 
 
 " On my arrival in America, my spi 
 rits were exceedingly depressed by the 
 bad news I heard on all sides, respecting 
 the back country ; however, I pushed 
 forward, and have no reason to repent. 
 I arrived at Birkbeck s settlement on the 
 llth of September, and purchased land 
 in a few days ; but the boys 1 brought 
 with me have occasioned me a great deal 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. XI 
 
 of trouble and uneasiness. The one I 
 engaged on my passage, I was obliged 
 quickly to discharge, and the one I 
 brought with me from England, and 
 whom I thought nothing would have 
 induced -to leave me, has turned out the 
 most hardened, wicked wretch imaginable. 
 We are surrounded by numbers of back 
 woods-men, whom Birkbeck truly calls 
 " Half savage hunters : " these he has left 
 my cabin, in my absence, to join; wishing 
 myself, his father, mother, brother, and 
 all Englishmen, the most hearty curses; 
 declaring he was in a free country, where 
 he could plunder and do as he pleased : 
 for, the back-woodsmen have a strange 
 notion, that they are too strong for the 
 law, except in cases of money transac 
 tions. You hear of desperate characters 
 in London ; but these men beat them 
 hollow, in all species of crime. These 
 are the men with whom Henry has asso 
 ciated himself, and particularly with a 
 young but most desperate character, who 
 
Xll ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 fancies himself freed from all moral obli 
 gations. He has espoused Henry s cause, 
 and set the whole tribe of hunters iu hos 
 tility against me. I have every reason to 
 believe they have killed one of my horses, 
 and that Henry is lurking about my plan 
 tation, to destroy the other. The reasons 
 he alledged for leaving me were, that I 
 had teazed him with learning him to read 
 and write, and reproved him for getting 
 intoxicated ; which they teach him are 
 intolerable insults. It has been added, 
 that I have beaten him ; but every one, 
 acquainted with this country, knows I 
 dare not have touched a hair of his head : 
 for children, from the age of six, are 
 taught to resent such an injury with a 
 stab, and are seldom seen here without 
 \ a knife for this purpose. 
 
 That word LIBERTY, but which I call 
 LICENTIOUSNESS, is a curse to this country. 
 Here, children of six and seven years old, 
 set their parents at defiance, and are sup 
 ported in their rebellion by their neigh- 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. Xlll 
 
 hours. This State represents a melan 
 choly picture of human depravity : parents 
 encouraging their children in vice, and 
 children threatening their parents, like 
 dogs. Law and order are odious to them. 
 
 " In all new States, there is a code of 
 laws ; but it takes some years to put them 
 in force, and these characters, too strong 
 for the gallows and the whipping-post, 
 indulge themselves in the most horrible 
 
 o 
 
 crimes. I have mortally offended them, 
 by reprobating some of their evil pro 
 pensities, and not permitting them to 
 come to my house, to get drunk. Last 
 winter but one, they shot twice at an 
 Englishman, in his own house, for such 
 a refusal ; and one of the very men has 
 since been made a magistrate : a mur 
 derer made a magistrate ! 
 
 " Last Christmas, I expected the 
 same fate; but I stood all day in the de 
 fensive, and I believe the number of my 
 arms deterred them. They, however, de- 
 b 
 
XIV ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 nounce my destruction, and that of my 
 cattle, which I expect going first, and, 
 for myself, I have been under the neces 
 sity of lying during the night with my 
 arms by me, and my sword in my hand, 
 for a long time together. I am five miles 
 from Birkbeck, and therefore out of the 
 reach of immediate assistance. My situ 
 ation you will think a desperate one, 
 and you must not be surprised to hear 
 that they have shot me, or I some of them. 
 
 "As our settlement increases, how 
 ever, this nuisance will cease : for these 
 fellows retire before the advance of po 
 pulation, with the rest of the noxious 
 animals. To my face, they are very civil, 
 when it serves their interest : for I am 
 their lawyer and doctor, and have given 
 them every assistance in my power, on all 
 occasions, without charge ; but they are 
 men with no ideas of gratitude, the In 
 dians and wild beasts are far before them." 
 
 j. c. 
 
 Wanborouyh, {English Settlement,) 
 State of Illinois, \\th Jan. 1820. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. Xr 
 
 With respect to the origin of the 
 Indians, it is unnecessary to say more 
 here, than that the author has merely 
 wished to excite a desire in those into 
 whose hands this work may fall, to ex 
 amine the question at large, in the able 
 work whence he has drawn the principal 
 extracts on that subject. 
 
 Mansfield, %th month, 10M, 1820, 
 
 CONTENTS, 
 
LETTER I. 
 
 CROSS from Liverpool to Dublin. Voyage from 
 Dublin to New York. Feelings on leaving land. 
 Ship scenery in a gale. The fine effects of a vessel 
 passing in mid-ocean. Visit to a French vessel. 
 Appearance of land, and first impressions. American 
 museum. Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends, 
 in New York. Elias Hicks. Preparations for a 
 journey to Susquehanna County. Impositions on 
 emigrants. 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 Departure from New York. Miserable state of 
 
 cotton^ spinners, at Patterson. Discouraging Accounts. 
 
 Lodging in the woods, in a stormy night. Beautiful 
 
 fails. Newfoundland tavern. Wretched country. 
 
 b3 
 
xviii CONTENTS. 
 
 Tree frogs. Crossing the Blue mountain and the Del 
 aware. French emigrant. Bare -legged settlers. 
 Old hunter. Dreadful roads Musquitos. Rattle 
 snakes. Cross the Lackawakson. A little Eden. 
 Miserable settlers. Horse drops through fatigue. 
 Leave the servant and horse at a tavern. Wretched 
 condition and prospects of settlers. Settlers all flocking 
 to sell their places. Centreville. No grain but rye to 
 be seen. Deserted land. Montrose Bad site for a 
 town. Interview with Dr. Rose. Conviction of the 
 wretched poverty of the whole settlement, and reso 
 lution to return. Obliged to leave a tavern at night, 
 by vermin. Remarks of an English traveller, on 
 American lodgings. Disappointed settlers. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 Journey with a surveyor to a newly-discovered 
 track. Adventure in the woods. Anecdotes of the 
 surveyor, Farms offered. Thief. Emigrants from 
 Derbyshire, on the road. Comparison between the 
 settlers in this desert, and English hovellers. Dis 
 advantages and privations in the woods. Stage con 
 versation. American conceit. Ne wburgh. Steam 
 packet Arrival at New York. General observations 
 on the British settlement. Loss by exchange of mo 
 ney. 
 
CONTENTS. XIX 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 Leave New York for Philadelphia. The stage. 
 Newark. Plainfields. Son of Walter Mifflin. Phi 
 ladelphia Peale s museum. Spot where Win. Penn 
 made his treaty with the Indians. Pensylvania hos 
 pital. Painting of CHRIST healing the sick, by West. 
 
 Statue of Wm. Penn.- -Appearance of the city Laws 
 
 relative to marriage. Burlington Declining state of 
 manufactories. Pratt s garden. Permanent wood 
 bridges. Beauty of the vicinity of Philadelphia. 
 Anniversary of American independence. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 Leave Philadelphia. Poor land. Baltimore. 
 Washington. Slavery. Aspect of the city. Com- 
 plaint of American filth, by an emigrant. Alexandria. 
 
 Return- Mock-bird Negroes. Philadelphia 
 
 Yellow fever. State of the laws for recovery of debts. 
 Visit to the house of Joseph Buonaparte, of Borden- 
 town. Arrive at New York. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 Adventure of General Putnam. The wolfs cave. 
 Inspection of a cotton-factory, at Cornwall. Banking 
 adventure, at Newburgh. Danger of taking local bank 
 notes instanced. Duchess comity. American mode 
 of reaping. Cattle. Cross the mountains that sepa- 
 
XX CONTENTS. 
 
 rate New York state from Connecticut. Roads in an 
 infant state of society American doctor. Improved 
 
 state of society, and of agriculture Hartford. 
 
 General character of the state. 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 Present of a live rattle-snake. Thrashing grass 
 hoppers. Pass the great bend of the Susquehanna. 
 
 Beauty of the Lake country Geneva. Party of 
 
 Indians travelling. Visit to an Indian settlement, on 
 
 Genessee river Batavia Pass the Tonnewanta 
 
 creek. Buffalo. Interview with the Indians, at Se 
 neca village. Speech of young King. Reply Falls 
 of Niagara. Phenomenon of the foam at the falls. 
 Boundary spirit and desolations. 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 Remains of an ancient fortification, at Boston. 
 Walk through the wilderness. Purchase a boat. 
 Voyage alone down the Aleghany river. Adventure 
 with the Indians. Their inquisitive disposition. 
 
 Arrival at the Friends track Visit to the School for 
 
 teaching Indian children. Letter from Owen Black- 
 snake, an Indian boy. Improvements effected by 
 
 Friends Interview with Tekiaiida, a chief. His 
 conversation with Jonathan Thomas, on war. Re- 
 m-rks on the mode of introducing Christianity pursued 
 
 by Friends Speech of Red Jacket to the Boston 
 
 missionary. 
 
CONTENTS. XXI 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 Theory of the descent of the American Indians 
 from the " lost ten tribes of Israel." William Penn 
 the first author of that opinion. Extract from his 
 works. Extracts from Dr. Boudinot s work. The 
 Indian language. Traditions. General character and 
 customs Public worship and religious opinions. 
 Arguments in favour of this theory. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 Departure from Tunessassah. Journey down the 
 Alleghany. Indians hunting.- Sold the boat, and 
 travelled on foot. Appearance of the country from 
 Franklin to Pittsburgh. Return to Philadelphia, 
 thro Huntingdon county, the Derbyshire of America. 
 The Dunkers. Their mode of settling in companies, 
 recommended. Dutch tavern. Harrisburgh, Eliz 
 abeth town. Arrival of emigrants. Beautiful ap 
 pearance of the country, and richness of the soil. 
 Friends Meeting at West Bradford. Miserable cha 
 racter at a tavern, near West Chester. Arrival at 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 Yellow fever in New York. Its effects on trade. 
 Hypothesis of a physician that the yellow fever is a 
 consequence of slave-holding. Concluding remarks. 
 Opinion on general emigration. American character. 
 Its causes. Particular traits and facts, illustrative of 
 them. Conclusion. 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 PAO LINE 
 
 1 
 
 5, for 
 
 occured, 
 
 read occurred 
 
 10 
 
 5, - 
 
 intreped, 
 
 " intrepid 
 
 30 
 
 2, 
 
 of New, 
 
 at New 
 
 49 
 
 11, - 
 
 citizan, 
 
 citizen 
 
 62 
 
 H, - 
 
 beyond, 
 
 by 
 
 65 
 
 7, - 
 
 and air, 
 
 an air 
 
 
 
 23, 
 
 man, 
 
 manner 
 
 66 
 
 7, - 
 
 decree, 
 
 degree 
 
 68 
 
 15, - 
 
 statury. 
 
 statuary 
 
 
 
 23, - 
 
 reservior 
 
 reservoir 
 
 71 
 
 10, - 
 
 constitutes, 
 
 constitute 
 
 
 
 12, - 
 
 occured, 
 
 occurred 
 
 76 
 
 , 
 
 polegoniem, 
 
 poly-gonum 
 
 
 
 7, - 
 
 vervem, 
 
 vervain 
 
 103 
 
 7, - 
 
 dreary, 
 
 dreamy 
 
 132 
 
 9, - 
 
 distributing, 
 
 attributing 
 
 134 
 
 the date, 
 
 Cattarausus, 
 
 Cattaraugus 
 
 136 
 
 11, - 
 
 ancestrel, 
 
 ancestral 
 
 
 
 20, _ 
 
 Cattaragus, 
 
 Cattaraugus 
 
 138 
 
 3, - 
 
 Cincinatte, 
 
 Cincinati 
 
 153 
 
 13, - 
 
 filled, 
 
 felled 
 
 181 
 
 14, - 
 
 not taken, 
 
 not only taken. 
 
LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 New York, 5/7* mo. 28M, 1819. 
 
 JL OtJ have no doubt thought it very long before 
 you heard from us ; and I can assure you we have 
 been as anxious to communicate to you the knowledge 
 of our safe arrival. No earlier opportunity has how 
 ever occured, and we now hasten to assure you of our 
 health and safety, and to give some passing account of 
 our proceedings to this time. On the 1st of the 4th 
 month we crossed over from ^Liverpool to Dublin, and 
 having terminated our concerns there, we finally em- 
 
 B 
 
2 LETTER I. 
 
 barked on the llth on board the Hibernia, Captain 
 Walteling, for New York, having directed my goods 
 to be shipped for Philadelphia. We had on board 
 about 30 passengers in the steerage, and in the cabin 
 one female and ourselves. For the first few days our 
 voyage was delightful, at least to such as were exempt 
 from sickness; the novelty of the scenes around us, 
 the view of the retiring Irish shores, the wide expanse 
 of waters ruffled by the rising gale, and the porpoise 
 sporting amongst its billows, absorbed the attention of 
 us who were little acquainted with the sea, and doubt 
 less contributed to soften the asperity of many a tender 
 and melancholy feeling in the hearts of those, whom 
 disappointment, distress, or the wild spirit of curiosity 
 and adventure were leading to the Great Western 
 Wilderness. This pleasant scene was quickly suc 
 ceeded by a violent gale of wind, which shewed us a 
 mixture of the terribly sublime and comical, inconceiv 
 able except to a spectator. The reeling and tumbling 
 of the vessel the waves dashing over the forecastle 
 the tremendous thunder of the sea along the sides o^ 
 the ship the shrieks of the passengers and the indif 
 ference of the seamen taught us in a moment the ter 
 rible majesty of a storm. Below were as many sources 
 
LETTER I. 3 
 
 of the ludicrous as above of the sublime. Every thing 
 moveable in agitation or topsy-turvey ; men staggering, 
 tumbling, catching hold of one another, or of any thing 
 next; sickness, curses, scalding with spilt soup, and a 
 set of figures and faces in noble style for the droll 
 painter. This was the prelude to the rough passage 
 which the sailors predicted as we advanced into the 
 Atlantic from the birds of old Mother Carey. These 
 birds, which are a curiosity in Natural History, are 
 said never to be seen near land. The sailors seem to 
 regard them with superstitious reverence, believing 
 like the fabled Halcyon, they build upon the waves, 
 and ride there the certain oracles of storms. The pre 
 dictions of the seamen however proved too true, for 
 we had a most turbulent passage, the Captain declar 
 ing he had crost the Atlantic 20 times in Winter, but 
 never had a passage like this. 
 
 We had however some intervals of fine weather and 
 festivity, and now and then an opportunity of observing 
 in the passing of a distant vessel, how much the ab 
 straction of general objects, adds to those that remain. 
 A noble vessel sailing out of harbour is a magnificent 
 object. But the same vessel beheld in the mighty 
 
4 LETTER I. 
 
 solitude of mid-ocean, when the eye meets nothing 
 besides, but the vast canopy of heaven stretched over the 
 immense monotony of waters, assumes a magic beauty 
 and grandeur to be imagined and felt only in such a si 
 tuation. The associations in the minds of the passen 
 gers, swell their feelings to enthusiasm. The two vessels 
 pass like the sole objects in a wide creation. The thoughts 
 of the land whence they came, and of the friends whither 
 they are going, rush into the soul with their first appear 
 ance, and the eye, sharpened by these considerations and 
 wearied with the long prospect of the solitary sea, hangs 
 upon the departing sail till it sees it only in imagination. 
 
 I had on the 3d of the 5th month, the particular gratifi 
 cation of being permitted to go on board a French vessel, 
 L.e Jeune Alfred de Fecamp, which lay becalmed about 3 
 miles off, in N. L. 44 61 W. L. 41 32 Myself, a steer 
 age passenger, and a sailor visited her in the little boat. 
 After an hour s hard rowing, during which time a smart 
 breeze arose and endangered our ever recovering our 
 own vessel or reaching this, we gained it, and passing 
 round to the leeside boarded her without ceremony or 
 a word. The mate threw us a rope, and the crew 
 assisted us to mount. Our reception was such as jus- 
 
LETTER I. 6 
 
 lifted the character of the French for politeness. Their 
 provisions their Bourdeaux brandy were at our ser 
 vice, and I was surprised to find that none of the sailors 
 would accept of any present. I shall not soon forget the 
 kindness, the generosity, and the mutual affability of 
 that interview. Alas ! thought I, as we departed, and 
 these are the men whom we are taught to consider as 
 national enemies, or to regard with the jealous eye of 
 petty rivalry. How lamentable, that the ambition of a 
 few individuals, or the narrow and erroneous policy of 
 ill-calculating statesmen should prevent the intercourse 
 of friendship amongst whole nations, and cherish the 
 poison of discord in dispositions otherwise prone to 
 sociability and mutual good-will. What would have 
 been the result of such an interview a few years ago ? 
 Now, we experience nothing but the greatest civility 
 and are compelled to return debtors to their generous 
 hospitality. 
 
 On the 17Ui of the 5th month we discovered land at 
 8 o clock in the morning, and at nine we had a clear 
 view of this country, the object of adventurous hope 
 to so many thousands of our distressed countrymen. 
 On the 20th the pilot came on board, at 3 in the 
 
6 LETTER 1. 
 
 morning, and at 10 we reached the highlands at the 
 mouth of the North River. The hill sides were covered 
 with noble timber; cedar and white oak on both 
 sides the bay, interspersed with gentlemen s houses and 
 cottages in every direction. The oak in the vallies 
 was beginning to bud and look green, that on the hills 
 white, and the hill sides themselves appeared of a sandy 
 colour. The fields were covered with green and lux 
 uriant herbage, the surface of the noble river up which 
 we were sailing, was scarcely ruffled with a breeze, 
 and the sun threw a splendor over the whole, which 
 finished one of the most enchanting and beautiful scenes 
 I ever beheld. You will imagine its delicious effect 
 upon our minds, after the long tossing of the ocean. 
 The next morning we gladly set foot on this land of 
 boasted liberty. Every thing about us contributed to 
 inspire us with the idea, that the relations of the beauty 
 and prosperity of this country were untrue, only as 
 they had failed to reach the level of reality. The sea 
 son of the year and the gaiety of mind resulting from 
 the thought that our voyage and all its tedium and 
 danger were past, augmented the charm of novelty, 
 and presented the scene before us as a perfect para 
 dise. The poplars along the streets were in their freshest 
 
LETTER I. 7 
 
 foliage, the tulip and lilac were in their full bloom and 
 beauty exhibited for sale. The markets were plentifully 
 supplied with beef, fish, and an abundance of wild fowl, 
 asparagus, green peas, radishes, &c. The ladies, in 
 dresses of uncommon elegance and richness, were walk 
 ing on the noble and airy promenades. Every thing 
 wore an air of pleasure and plenty. Such were our 
 first impressions ! you will make due allowance for 
 the change from the solitude of our voyage to the bus 
 tle of the city, which doubtless did not lose its influence 
 upon our opinion of its wealth, respectability, and 
 commercial importance. 
 
 The next day we visited the American museum. It 
 contains a great variety of the natural curiosities of 
 this country, amongst which a stuffed bear strikes the 
 spectator perhaps most forcibly. The animal was kil 
 led within 40 miles of the city, and weighs 700lbs. 
 There is an excellent collection of Indian tools, dresses 
 and weapons of war. 
 
 I have to reckon amongst the most gratifying circum 
 stances of my journey, that of having arrived in New 
 York just in time to witness the yearly Meeting of 
 Friends for that State, The meeting, which continued 
 
8 LETTER I. 
 
 four days, was numerously attended. The fine opportu 
 nity it afforded me of takinga wide view of the character 
 and habits of American friends, the importance and va 
 riety of its discussions, the display of talent and Ameri 
 can freedom of opinion it produced, and the universal 
 demonstration of kindness and hospitality given us, 
 induce me to set down this period as one of the hap 
 piest of my life. I was particularly impressed with the 
 boldness and decision of American conference, and 
 the extent of modification which the dicipline of the 
 Society has received in this country to adapt it to its 
 views and circumstances. In some instances that 
 modification is striking. It is here the custom to hold 
 no meeting of worship previous to one for discipline 
 A request from one Quarterly Meeting to depart from 
 this established custom, occasioned a long and ably, 
 conducted debate, and the request was finally nega 
 tived . It was argued, for the omission of such meetings* 
 that a considerable number of persons frequently took 
 advantage of the great body of friends assembled, to 
 remain amongst them during the succeeding meeting of 
 church discipline. That friends likewise often wished 
 to bring their acquaintances with them to the meeting 
 
LETTER I. 9 
 
 of worship, who were under the necessity of returning 
 alone, or occasioning the friends to leave the early part 
 of the meeting to accompany them if strangers, and 
 these friends returning at various times, occasioned 
 much disturbance to the proceedings. 
 
 Most of the other subjects were such as occur in our 
 Meetings in England. In the course of the transactions, 
 I particularly noticed Richard Jordan and Henry Hull, 
 who visited England some time ago, Richard Mott 
 and Elias Hicks. In a most interesting debate on the 
 general state of the Society, Richard Mott delivered a 
 speech, perhaps never surpassed for argumentative pow 
 er and consummate eloquence. The tomb-like silence of 
 the meeting bore a deep arid solemn testimony to its 
 effects, and all seemed to feel its appeal irresistable. 
 Elias however did not think so. He arose and replyed, 
 with a boldness and originality of sentiment that mark 
 his character, and threw an aspect so different upon it, 
 that it was obliged to be referred to a committee. This 
 friend is deemed by many the first minister in the So. 
 ciety in the U.S. I attended the meeting in Pearl 
 Street, the day previous to the yearly meeting. As he 
 was expected, according to his usual custom, to be 
 
10 LETTER I. 
 
 there, we went nearly half an hour before the usual 
 time, but we found the place crowded to excess. Such 
 is the remarkable character of this friend and his minis 
 try, that wherever he holds a meeting this is the case. 
 Possessed of a strong and intreped mind , unenervated by 
 the restraints and modulations of an academical educa 
 tion, he gives no measure or direction to the avowal of his 
 sentiments, but such as he conceives is prescribed by 
 the spirit of the Almighty. His appearance is simple, 
 old fashioned, and patriarchal, and he pours forth in his 
 public discources, in an astonishing and animated flow 
 of plain, but powerful and penetrating language, a train 
 of argument that lightens, and sentiment that warms 
 upon whatever it touches. No person, situation, or 
 circumstance can awe him to the suppression of a word 
 that he feels inclined to speak. He barkens alone to his 
 own heart s suggestions of his duty, and he does it. 
 That sophistry must be artful indeed that eludes his 
 discriminating glance; he seems to grasp in a moment 
 the compass and bearing of the subject, and unravels its 
 intricacies with a perspicuity peculiarly his own. 
 No custom, however sanctioned by its antiquity, or 
 doctrine, however supported by public opinion, ever 
 
LETTER I. 11 
 
 meets with respect from him, if they originate not in 
 sound reason and sound religion. The professors of 
 other creeds often feel the giant stroke of his oratorical 
 power, yet they do homage to his talents, they venerate 
 his virtues, and though they have shrunk heneath the 
 terrors of his castigation, they court his society and 
 crowd to his meetings. 
 
 The yearly meeting being over, we were anxious to 
 pursue our primary object, that of discovering a tract 
 of land in some situation, combining the promise of a 
 market, health, and fertility. A situation to which we 
 could unhesitatingly invite our European friends. In 
 New York our friends have universally recommended 
 us to visit the British settlement of Susquehanna Coun 
 ty. My brother is returned from a trip to Long Island, 
 bringing specimens of game &c. He visited William 
 Cobbet s residence three days previous to its being 
 burnt down, and, with the enthusiasm of recent emi 
 grants, discribes the country in romantic colours. We 
 waited on the President of the British Emigrant Soci 
 ety, a friend who has furnished us with a map of the 
 country, and a letter of recommendation to the settlers. 
 W r e have not however found every thing so far, smooth 
 
12 LETTER I. 
 
 and without difficulty. In our attempt to purchase a 
 horse and waggon for our journey, we have began 
 to understand the mystery of emigrants continuing 
 so long in the cities. Birkbeck in his notes con 
 demns their lingering in the eastern towns, and con 
 tinually exclaims, "Push on! A man however, 
 who has but a few precious dollars in his pocket, is 
 desirous of economising as much as possible in his 
 equipage for his journey. But he will find, when he goes 
 to make his purchase, that the Yankees are prepared to 
 take every advantage of his ignorance or his haste- 
 An Englishman is recognised in a moment. The want 
 of the real Yankee slang or tone is sufficient, but 
 their appearance is a still prior informant. You im 
 mediately distinguish English from Americans, who 
 are generally dressed in light clothes, trowsers down 
 to their heels, and broad-brimed chip hats. Mostly 
 tall, thin, yellow-looking men, who have stood the test 
 of a parching climate. But the English exhibit stout, 
 robust frames, and fresh complexions : their clothes 
 heavy, and themselves labouring under the stimulus of 
 a heated atmosphere, and exhausted with intense per 
 spiration. Amongst the active slim citizens, they look 
 
LETTER I. 13 
 
 clumsy and idle. Thus readily known and supposed 
 to be anxious to prosecute their route, they are asked 
 most exorbitant prices for every thing they want. 
 For a horse, we were asked from 100 to 300 dollars, 
 and it has not been till nearly the loss of a week, with 
 much fatigue and chagrin, that we have purchased a 
 horse for 70 dollars, and a waggon for 65 dollars. This 
 species of waggon is made as light or more light than 
 our English gentlemen s carriages. To emigrants, on 
 their arrival, it is difficult to give advice that may ena 
 ble them to escape gross imposition. Many a poor 
 fellow, who has collected a trifle with the sweat of many 
 years labour, here beliolds it quickly sacrificed by his 
 precipitance, or ignorance of the character of this peo 
 ple. Those who may have friends here will do well to 
 entrust their transactions to them ; but to those who 
 have not, I can only recommend deliberate caution and 
 vigilant circumspection. We are intending to set out 
 for the British Settlement to-morrow or the next day. 
 When you will here of us again is most uncertain, but 
 we shall not fail to seize every oportunity of writing, 
 arid of sending you a simple and faithful detail of our 
 remarks, perils, and peregrinations. 
 
14 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 Montrose, Susquehanna County, S. Pennsyloania, 
 Qth Mo. 
 
 .-LA.N emigrant, returning from this place to New 
 York, will convey this letter to the hand of a friend 
 there, to be forwarded by the first line ship to England. 
 We ourselves are on the point of returning, but it is 
 not improbable that we may make some deviation from 
 the direct road which will occasion considerable de 
 lays, and we are anxious not to neglect the smallest 
 glimpse of a possibility of conveying our communica 
 tions to you. I shall not entertain you here with much 
 
LETTER II. 15 
 
 declamation, in praise or dispraise, of what we have 
 seen, but simply transcribe facts from my journal, to 
 speak for themselves. We commenced our journey 
 hither the 29th of 5th month. G. L. a friend from 
 Bristol, whose mother (E. L.) was drowned some time 
 ago in the Irish Sea, having agreed to accompany us, 
 we put his knapsack into our waggon, but hy mis 
 chance we never met at the rendezvous appointed, and 
 we did not see him till a few days ago. For crossing 
 the north river in a steam hoat, we paid 87J cents. As 
 the night proved very clear and moon-light, we tra 
 velled till nine o clock, entertained with a novel kind 
 of music, the croaking of tree frogs and the chirping of 
 wood-crickets ! We had scarcely unloaded our things 
 and made our bed in the waggon, when clouds ga 
 thered, and obliged us to throw our tent over us ; but 
 the dampness of the air, t!ae noises of the birds, and 
 the barking of our dog, prevented us from sleeping. 
 At 3 it began to rain, and we rose and prepared to 
 depart. As we passed through Belville and New 
 Barbadoes, every one who saw us and conversed with 
 us, expressed his sorrow that we were going to be the 
 dupes of interested speculators, yet was equally fond 
 C 2 
 
16 LETTER II. 
 
 of giving advice of his own. As we approached Pat 
 terson, the scenery somewhat appeared to resemble 
 that of Matlock, in Derbyshire : high and perpen 
 dicular rocks, overhung with wood and seen to a con 
 siderable distance. This village is noted for its cotton 
 manufactories, on the Passaic, near the great falls of 
 that river. Here we were immediately known for old 
 countrymen, by the manufacturers who flocked around 
 us, making lamentable complaints of the deceptions 
 practised upon them by false representations of this 
 country, and saying they would sacrifice every thing 
 to get back to England. 
 
 As this distressing scene and recital were extremely 
 discouraging, and evidently affected the spirits of my 
 brother, and much more his man, we hurried away as 
 fast as possible. To find the labouring manufacturers 
 in this miserable situation, was totally unexpected by 
 me. Immediately on leaving this place, we found 
 ourselves in a country mountainous and barren, and the 
 roads not only excessively steep, but terribly rough. 
 In the evening, we called at the farm house of a 
 Dutchman, who told us he was in Susquehanna county 
 last fall, and that it was a poor country, the very sight 
 
LETTER II. 17 
 
 of which would frighten us. He described the soil as 
 much inferior to his, which he valued at 60 dollars 
 per acre, and which, I am sure, in England would not 
 be worth half that sum. This was a strange account, 
 after what we had heard from so many quarters and 
 so many respectable persons, and yet we were inclined 
 to believe it : on the other hand, we felt that it was 
 the interest of this man, and such as he, to damp our 
 hopes, because he wished to sell his own land ; we 
 therefore determined to proceed, while the servant 
 began to exclaim bitterly against the accounts which 
 brought us here. Travelling forward, it began to rain, 
 and as no house was near, we took refuge in an old, 
 miserable, deserted barn, for the night. Every thing 
 was so extremely damp, that after an hour s fruitless 
 attempt to raise a fire, we were nearly giving it up in 
 despair, but the wet and chilliness of the night, and 
 our hunger after a laborious day s travel over those 
 tremendous rough roads, compelled us to resume our 
 exertions, and we at length succeeded in raising a 
 flame, the comforts of which, in such a situation, are 
 indescribable. We next had an anxious hunt, in the 
 dark, to find water, and, after obtaining it, we boiled 
 C3 
 
18 LETTER II. 
 
 our kettle, and frizzled some ham upon a pointed stick : 
 a dirty, miserable repast, you think, but we thought 
 most luxurious. My brother took the first turn to 
 watch. Our dog was completely wearied out with tra 
 velling and barking all night, at every sound, and slept 
 soundly beside myself, John, and the horse. At mid 
 night, some wild animal, which the extreme darkness 
 of the night prevented us seeing, came trotting into the 
 barn, and to our bed-side. The dog lay still, but my 
 brothers call to him alarmed our visitor, and he made 
 his retreat. Sleep broken in this manner, affords little 
 refreshment. Travellers new to the woods, hear every 
 little noise made by the night-birds, and the tinkling 
 of the bells upon the cow s necks on the mountains, by 
 which the herdsmen find their cattle. 
 
 The next day, we passed the Dutch settlement at 
 Prakaness, around which the land has been cleared 
 for some time, and free from stumps : a rare sight ! A 
 few miles onward is the village of Pompton, with three 
 or four genteel white houses ; the windows painted pea 
 green. It is situated in a flat, and well watered with 
 small streams, upon which are several beautiful falls. 
 Indeed, in this neighbourhood, we have observed a 
 
LETTER II. 19 
 
 remarkable number of falls and eligible mill-seats, 
 more particularly on the river upon which (we were 
 informed) our late queen had extensive iron-works 
 carried on, under the firm of " The English Co." 
 previous to the revolution ; whence it has since been 
 called Charlottenburgh. Immense rocks, which rise 
 to the sky, are beautifully hung with timber to the 
 very summit, and though no soil is seen on even some 
 of the flats near, yet fine trees are growing most lux- 
 uriently amongst them, the greater part perfectly 
 unknown to us at present. 
 
 This afternoon, completely drenched with rain, we 
 staid at a tavern newly erected, called Newfoundland. 
 Here we procured a small private room and a good 
 fire, dried our clothes, and got tea very comfortably. 
 Our landlord, a very intelligent man, spent the evening 
 with us, and related several interesting anecdotes of 
 General Washington, with whom he was personally 
 acquainted. I observed, he was always addressed 
 with the title of Squire, being a magistrate. Bears, 
 deer, and wolves, are very numerous in this neigh, 
 bourhood, in the fall. Our fequire had eighteen sheep 
 last summer, which are now reduced to seven, the 
 
20 LETTER II. 
 
 rest being lost in the woods or devoured. A barn, 
 not exceeding GO feet by 30, costs here about 125 
 dollars ; shingles or wood tiles, 15 to 20 dollars per 
 thousand. The whip-poor-will we heard for the first 
 time, at this place, repeating its plaintive notes through 
 the whole night. Our accommodations at this place 
 were very comfortable, and our charge, including hay, 
 one peck of Indian corn, our room, fuel, liquor, one 
 pound of butter, what milk we chose, and tar and 
 tallow for our waggon, ^ of a dollar. I gave our kind 
 host one dollar, which he accepted with reluctance ; 
 and, at our setting off, he prepared us a quantity of 
 egg-nog, a mixture of apple-spirit, eggs, and milk. 
 
 Terrible roads still ; and the bridges over the small 
 streams nothing more than poles laid across : those 
 over the large ones, of framed timber and covered 
 with 2-inch plank, which soon wears through, and 
 endangers the horses legs. White oak, elm, and 
 chesnut, seem to flourish best, though trees of every 
 kind are in abundance, and amongst them the pinxter 
 honeysuckle and calmia-latifolia, are elegant orna 
 ments of the woods. The most plentiful living 
 creatures we have seen this way, are snakes and sqir- 
 
LETTBR II. 21 
 
 rels. From Newfoundland to H. Bemer s tavern, a 
 course of twenty miles, we saw but two small villages, 
 (Snufftown and Deckertown,) a few iron-forges, a 
 tan-yard, two or three saw and grist mills. We 
 noticed several fine mill-seats ; but the country is so 
 rough and rocky, that few settlers venture to fix on 
 them. Near this town, which is situate at the foot of 
 the Blue Mountains, land cleared sells for 20 dollars 
 per acre ; and though rough and stoney, and cultivated 
 in the slovenly manner of the Americans, will produce 
 twenty bushels of wheat, twenty of rye, and forty of 
 Indian corn, on an average. The tree frog, about this 
 place, makes a continued noise in the evening, which 
 may be heard at a great distance. I discovered one 
 of them with great difficulty, notwithstanding their 
 numbers : for they so exactly resemble the bark of the 
 tree, that when you are close by them, (and their shrill 
 voice seems to strike through you,) you must have good 
 eyes to perceive them. 
 
 Ascending the mountain the next morning we found 
 it almost inaccessible. The distance to the Delaware 
 was nine miles, and we accomplished it in seven hours. 
 Both the ascent and descent of this stupendous moun- 
 
22 LETTER II. 
 
 tain was equally steep and rough. A path just th 
 width of a carriage is cleared of timber, but not one of 
 the craggs of which the road is full, is removed or 
 broken, This mountain, covered with timber and 
 rock-stones of an immense size, and presenting scarce 
 ly a vestige of vegitation capable of supporting any 
 living creature, is yet the rendezvous of vast numbers 
 of wild animals, especially deer, fox, wolf, raccoon, 
 wild cat, and panther. At Milford, we crossed the 
 Delaware in a flat, leaving the state of New Jersey for 
 that of Pensylvania fare J dollar. Here we met 
 with a French emigrant, ignorant of the English lan 
 guage, who had arrived four months ago ; he had 
 brought with him watches and shoes, the former he 
 sold at 3 dollars, ,and the latter at 1 dollar per pair, 
 which realized him a profit. I asked him, in his own 
 tongue, if he prefered this country to France. He 
 replyed Oh ! non ! non ! non ! He spoke with enthu 
 siasm of Napoleon. The road on the Pensylvanian 
 side we found a good deal improved, yet hilly and the 
 land quite as stoney. Here were a few sheep of the 
 mountain breed, quite equal to the soil. Wool worth 
 \ dollar per Ib. for home use. 
 
LETTER II. 23 
 
 At the tavern where we staid to night, we found the 
 landlord plowing near his own door, with 2 little mules 
 like asses. His children were almost naked, without 
 shoes or stockings. His wife and self commended it 
 as best for their health, and strongly enforced it by 
 their own example. This discription will apply to the 
 generality of settlers we have yet seen. Sixth month 
 3rd, we pastthe Sheholy falls and accidently met with 
 an old hunter, equiped with his rifle and other neces 
 sary accoutrements, for an encounter with buck or bear. 
 He wore a large buckskin leather coat, finely decora 
 ted with leather tassels on his shoulders and arms. 
 His rifle lock was neatly covered with the skin of a 
 tnusk rat to keep it dry. A large belt went over his 
 right shoulder and under his arm, on which was sus 
 pended a leathern bag for his bullets, a large horn for 
 his powder, and a case knife curiously hafted by him 
 self with a buck s horn. He told us he had killed last 
 fall upwards of 200 deer, 7 in one day, and that in his 
 time he had encountered and killed more than 1000 
 bears. 
 
 The last house upon this new road (as they call it) 
 was that of an Irishman, j ust fixing. He readily sold us 
 
24 LETTER II. 
 
 a few oats that he had, for our horse, and invited us to 
 partake his dinner of dried venison, which, as a novelty, 
 we did. Beyond this house for 5 miles we found an 
 opening through these wild and dreadful rocky woods. 
 But our horse was so much fatigued that we found it 
 next to impossible to proceed, and should gladly have 
 pitched our tent there for the night, could we have 
 found some mode of escaping the fury of the muquitos, 
 and the dread of the snakes, more numerous there 
 than in any place we had seen. Our horse s ears 
 appeared complete lumps of clotted blood with the 
 bites of the musquitos, and his head was perfectly 
 covered with those maddening tormentors. I walked 
 forward to see if I could discover a friendly hut, and 
 at length heard the music of a woodman s axe. We 
 got our horse and waggon up the hill with much diffi 
 culty, for the waggon as well as our boxes, was very 
 much broken and shivered by the rocks and stumps 
 over which we had travelled. The good man found 
 comfortable accomodations for our jaded horse, and 
 gave us some encouragement, by telling us he believed 
 we had past some of the worst road in the United States. 
 
 Our man did nothing but complain of the villany of 
 
LETTER II. 25 
 
 folks, who could entice people from England into such 
 a country as this. " But (said he) I hope you ll tell 
 the truth ahout it, and not deceive folks a this fashion." 
 A young man overtook us this evening, who had been 
 with some rye to be ground at a mill 28 miles distant. 
 His waggon light as ours, and a load not half the 
 weight, drawn by two horses abreast, was broken down 
 upon the rocks. He therefore staid all night, to rest 
 and refit; and it was wonderful to see with what 
 facility he supplied his loss, by cutting down a fine 
 young white oak, and shaping it into a new axle. 
 
 The woodman informed us, that the dens in these 
 rocks abounded with rattle-snakes. He broke into 
 one the last winter, near his house, and found 38 of 
 these deadly reptiles, all coiled together. Indeed, we 
 saw little else but snakes thereabouts. The hemlock 
 spruce grows there, to a large size, but not equal to 
 the pine, one of which we measured that evening, 
 which was 128 feet long. 
 
 Sixth month, 4th. we crossed the river Lacka- 
 wackson, which is navigable for lumber, that is, fine 
 timber, chiefly pine, which is fastened together in rafts, 
 and sent down the Delaware to Philadelphia. This 
 
26 LETTER II. 
 
 river, though wide, is fordable at the place where we 
 crossed. There is a place or two on its banks, which 
 look comfortable ; one with a neat framed house upon 
 it, a good barn, 95 acres of flat land cleared, and a 
 fine thriving orchard of 5 acres : a sort of little Eden 
 in this wilderness. We found the owner, like all be 
 sides, was anxious to sell : he told us, that some time 
 ago he was offered for his whole track, of which four 
 teen hundred acres were not cleared, nine thousand 
 dollars. He now asked six thousand, and finally prof 
 fered it at 4,500 dollars, being but 3 dollars per acre, 
 with all his improvements. He had a decent flock of 
 sheep then in the barn, which his son was shearing as 
 they stood; the wool his daughters spin, and afterwards 
 weave into cloth, and make clothes of it for the family. 
 This was by far the cheapest place we had seen ; but 
 the roads are too terrible to leave much temptation to 
 purchase. The place we purposed to reach, on setting 
 off in the morning, was Bethany, 15 miles distant ; but 
 being overtaken by a most awful thunder-storm, we 
 again took refuge in a barn. The owner was a hunter, 
 and his family presented one more of those dismal 
 spectacles which daily add to the conviction of the 
 miserable poverty of this part of the United States. 
 
LETTER II. 27 
 
 The woman and children were particularly real objects 
 of pity, with looks as wild as the wilderness they in 
 habit, and unsightly as the lizard that crawls into their 
 houses ; their hair hangs as naturally as a long unmo 
 lested growth will let it, and their stockings and shoes 
 never wear out, for they are of nature s own pro- 
 viding. 
 
 Sixth month, 5th, we hired a horse to assist ours to 
 Bethany, a considerable village on the borders of the 
 Beech Woods, containing about 3 taverns, 3 stores, 
 and 12 or 14 neat houses. The sugar maple grows 
 here, mostly 60 feet high to the first branches, pro 
 ducing from 6 to 30 gallons of sap each tree, and every 
 6 gallons 1 Ib. of sugar. This has been a bad season. 
 Our horse was so completely exhausted, that on gain 
 ing the top of the hill which we had permitted him to 
 walk up, without assisting to draw the waggon, he fell, 
 and was only recovered by great care and exertion. 
 I remained there all night, with the waggon, and my 
 brother and John turned into the woods to hunt. 
 
 Sixth month, 6th. Being 1st day, we concluded to 
 stay and rest at a small tavern not far off, to get our 
 horse out to grass a few days, and to proceed on foot. 
 
 D2 
 
28 LETTER II. 
 
 Here we also agreed to leave John, till our return. 
 The bread used all on this track, is rye and Indian 
 corn ; we have not tasted wheat since we left New 
 York, more than a week ago. I have associated as 
 much as possible with the settlers, as we have travelled 
 on, and endeavoured to procure a correct account of 
 their situation. So far, I am well convinced, the con 
 dition of the poorest English farmer is incomparably 
 better. A man first buys a track, as it is called, that 
 is, steep, wild, rocky wood-land, at from 2 to 5 dol 
 lars per acre, consisting of four or five hundred acres. 
 In the first place, it is a perpetual incumbrance to him : 
 for the policy of the state has so divided it into lots, 
 that not more than l-5th can be cultivated at all, and 
 yet the whole is rated to the state tax : he is therefore 
 paying continually for what will never benefit him or 
 his posterity. In the next place, he is absolutely in a 
 state of pauperism, with the possession of it. He lias 
 most likely a wife and several children, depending 
 solely upon his exertions. His first object is, to clear 
 some land, and sow some Indian corn for his family : 
 this is all he can possibly do the first year. He has 
 no sheep, and consequently no clothing, nor any means 
 of providing it; his rifle can only supply him with the 
 
LETTER II. 29 
 
 luxuries of life, wild cats, racoons, and squirrels : 
 their skins he must exchange for ammunition. But, 
 what are these privations to those of his family? He 
 is free ! he can rove when and where he pleases ! till 
 an execution for arrears of purchase-money or taxes 
 be brought against him, and his whole farm is sold. 
 This is the common routine of a settler s fate. Enter 
 a tavern ; there you see scores of advertisements 
 of sales of land, to pay taxes. My brother often ex 
 claims vehemently against this country, and declares 
 he would prefer an English workhouse to any part he 
 has seen. 
 
 I have persevered in my journey against every 
 discouragement, and the most trying of all is, the 
 dejection of my companions, in order to form a full 
 and personal observation. I have seen many gradations 
 in the condition of society ; but this week has shewn 
 me more perfect wretchedness than I ever before wit 
 nessed. We have travelled upwards of one hundred 
 miles on foot, lain out exposed to the heavy mists 
 that fall here by night, and by day walked over the 
 most harrassing road, under a consuming sun, with 
 two meals a-day ; but still this would be tolerable, 
 
 D 3 
 
30 LETTER II* 
 
 could we discover any thing like what we heard of 
 America when in England, and of this part of New 
 York. Hitherto, however, all is one scene of savage 
 wilderness, sterility, and abject poverty. At the sight 
 of an emigrant, all flock to proffer their farms \ to an 
 American, it is useless. If they are offered goods, 
 they reply they want them, but they have no money. 
 Talk of the times, they murmur ; there is something 
 amiss they cannot account for : one attributes it to the 
 pride of the cities, whose inhabitants can wear nothing 
 but silks, for which they drain the country of specie ; 
 another charges it to the banking system, and a third, 
 to the war. Some are democrats, some are federalists; 
 but all are kings and nobles, every man a ruler, and 
 yet nothing pleases. Such is the happiness of this 
 country. Here, at least, it is a dream and a phantom; 
 and the further we seek it the further we are behind. 
 
 In the afternoon of the next day, we reached Cen- 
 treville, a small, neat village, having three taverns 
 and two or three stores. The land, as it lies in grass, 
 seems pretty good ; but the rye, the only grain grown 
 there, looks miserably. As we travelled from that 
 place, we saw a number of houses deserted, and grass 
 land unoccupied, -A poor omen ! 
 
LETTER II. 31 
 
 Sixth month, 7th. Left the tavern at Tunchannock 
 creek, at four o clock, and travelled seven miles to 
 breakfast : a few spots cultivated and looking better ; 
 but no grain, except rye, to be seen. We want to see 
 good wheat, barley, oats, and Indian corn : English 
 men like good things, especially good bread. We 
 reached Montrose in the evening : several trades are 
 just started, and about forty houses erected. The 
 site of the town, however, is a very bad one : no 
 river near, and the soil about it extremely poor. 
 
 On the 8th, we got to Britannia : the site of this 
 place is better selected, having the advantage of water 
 and a better soil. We found four temporary houses 
 erected, and about sixty half-acre lots marked out for 
 settlers. Here we had an interview with Dr. Rose, 
 the proprietor, and complained to him of the fallacious 
 description given of this settlement in Dr. Johnson s 
 book and by the Emigrant Society, which represented 
 it as possessing fine land, excellent water, and, in 
 short, every advantage. The Dr. wished to persuade 
 us that the statement was true ; that a little more ob 
 servation would convince us of it : but we had seen 
 too much. We are only like many of our deluded 
 
32 LETTER II. 
 
 countrymen, the dupes of unprincipled speculators, 
 but happily we are not like too many, obliged to 
 remain so. We therefore determined to return im 
 mediately; and after travelling all day through the 
 different tracks, and observing a few miserable half 
 crops of rye, we sat down, completely fatigued, at a 
 small tavern. After a supper of tea and salt pork, we 
 retired. We calculated upon having walked upwards 
 of thirty miles that day, and therefore were not in a 
 disposition to quarrel with homely accommodations. 
 My brother was soon in bed ; but, preparing to follow 
 him, I observed more company than I chose to lie 
 down with : in fact, such were the swarms of bugs in 
 the bed, on the walls, and in every part of the room, 
 that, weary as we were, we lost no time in quitting our 
 quarters. Our dispatch, however, was not sufficient to 
 prevent us carrying away in our clothes a populous 
 colony of those social vermin. Our feet were so sore 
 with walking over the rough stones and burning ground, 
 that we could scarcely bear to touch it. There was 
 no other tavern nearer than Montrose, (9 miles ; ) but 
 we did not feel disposed to adopt the plan of an Eng 
 lish traveller, who said, that if he corld not sleep the 
 first night in an American tavern, he always could the 
 
LETTER II. 33 
 
 second : for the whole night s exercise of fighting those 
 troopers, prepared him for a second night s sleep, that 
 nothing could disturb : we therefore paid our hill and 
 decamped at ten o clock. We walked till near 2 
 o clock, during which time I actually slept a good deal, 
 and had it not been for the swarms of toads and lizards, 
 crawling in every direction, I should certainly have 
 lain in the road. Two miles from Montrose, we found 
 a broken-down waggon, into which we crept and slept 
 deliciously till four o clock, when we awoke very 
 chilly. Heavy, cold dews invariably succeed hot days 
 here. At six o clock we reached Montrose, ( as you 
 will imagine,) in a miserable condition. 
 
 At the last-mentioned tavern, we met with a B. from 
 New Radford, whose mother and sisters are milliners 
 there. He had bought 60 acres of land, which he was 
 beginning to clear. He came to this country with B. of 
 Calverton, whose mortification and repentance, he de 
 scribed in melancholy colours. His wife (as he calls -\ 
 her) vents the acrimony of her rage and disappointment 
 on him plentifully. I should like cousin M. to know 
 this. Here we met with G. Lovel, who missed us at 
 setting out from New York. We found him highly 
 
34 LETTER II. 
 
 exasperated and out of humour, at being so sadly duped. 
 He had been into the western country and back on 
 foot; and it is very amusing to hear him calculate 
 his expenses, so as to save half a dollaf in two or three 
 weeks travelling. His knapsack, together with many 
 of our own things, had been jolted out of our waggon, 
 or stolen. Here too was a person from Nottingham, 
 with a family, who had travelled from Philadelphia, at 
 the expense of 100 dollars, and were anxiously wishing 
 to return, but unable ! A friend purchased a track here, 
 in the winter; returned to Philadelphia, to buy 2 yoke 
 of oxen and implements, with grain and potatoes for 
 his family, brought his family with him sowed his 
 grain set a quantity of potatoes paid his deposit 
 staid one month, sacrificed all, and left yesterday morn 
 ing for Philadelphia again. This man was considered 
 an excellent farmer. These are a few instances, out of 
 great numbers, of the dupes of interested speculators, 
 who have been lured by splended discriptions, to this 
 settlement, to suffer incredible hardships, to see them 
 selves not only mocked in their expectations, but rob 
 bed of their little property, and many of them left 
 without a possibility of escaping out of this devouring 
 wilderness, or of rendering it subservient to the first 
 
LETTER II. 35 
 
 demands of nature. Here we are then, in a fine land of 
 promise to be sure ! but remember, by the time you 
 read this, we shall, I hope, have regained the more en- 
 viable eastern shores, and perhaps penetrated into some 
 other part of this vast continent. I have no time to 
 make any comments. If you are disappointed in read 
 ing this, you must, as we do, hope for better tidings. 
 
36 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 New York, 6th mo. 14th, 1819. 
 
 T 
 
 HE pitiful plight and howling wilderness in which 
 my last communication to you left us, will rouse all 
 your anxiety for an early supplement to it. My place 
 of date will at once tell you, that I was, at the writing 
 of this, in better quarters. I am preparing to set off for 
 Philadelphia, and shall occupy the only leasure time 
 I have in giving you the remaining recital of our 
 melancholy expedition. We returned from Mont- 
 rose to the Newburgh turnpike on the 9th, and on the 
 
LETTER III. 37 
 
 lOtk we accompanied M Cartby, a snrveyer, and a 
 friendly old man, to view some land which he had dis 
 covered, and imagined very suitable for a settlement. 
 We followed the course of a river or large creek, for 
 some miles, by which the land appeared of a better 
 quality. As there was no track, our progress was very 
 slow, and reaching one of their lines by ten o clock, 
 they afterwards cut their way by the compass, mark 
 ing the trees as they went along. The day was ex 
 ceedingly hot, and being anxious to escape the oppres 
 sive sultriness of the woods, I followed the course of a 
 stream, which I was told, issued from a lake, the place of 
 our destination. My progress, however, was soon imped 
 ed by a wide morass, and the numerous traces of bears, 
 and the approach of evening, gave me considerable anx 
 iety to regain our company. Besides the danger of 
 passing the night there, without fire and without arms, 
 the chances of regaining the track we had made through 
 the woods, was extremely uncertain. To attempt to 
 find your way in these immense and gloomy forests 
 without a compass, is equally hopeless, as that of navi 
 gating the wide ocean without it. The sound of a gun 
 at a distance* revived my spirits, supposing it some of 
 my party who had shot something. 1 shouted, the shout 
 
38 LETTER III. 
 
 was returned ; I repeated it, it was repeated still nearer, 
 till a wild man or hunter issued from the wood, imagin 
 ing it the alarm of some one engaged with a hear. 
 When he found his mistake, he appeared evidently 
 chagrined, and in spite of my intreaties, and offers of 
 reward to shew me the lake, he replied it was too late 
 to go and return, and hurried into the woods again. 
 Fortunately, my party perceiving my error, had sent a 
 man after me, who coming up directed me to them, 
 to my great satisfaction. It was quite evening when 
 we reached the lake. Expecting to return the same 
 day, we had neglected to take provisions except a little 
 bread, and found ourselves without refreshment or 
 place to lodge in. My brother however raised a fire 
 from the pan of his gun. An old canoe lay on the 
 shore, \vescopcd the water out with a piece of bark, and 
 lunched it upon the still, deep lake, embosomed in the 
 profound and shadowy silence of woods that flourish 
 upon its banks, and dip their dark foliage in its waters. 
 
 4 A > * <l f * f i VC"** " *t 2 \ *f **t-T 
 
 We had the success to catch seme small nVh, which we 
 broiled on the fire, and made an hearty meal. For a 
 bed, we cut down branches of hemlock spruce, in which 
 we soon found that we had the company of two snakes, 
 a garter, and one of a_larger kind. These, of course, 
 
39 
 
 we dispatched. As we lay round our fire, M Carthy, 
 ever at home, entertained us with a variety of anecdotes, 
 amongst which was the history of his grand father, who 
 had been sent by his father from Ireland, when a boy, 
 to his uncle in England. He had always a great fear 
 of his uncle, and on one occasion, dreading his presence, 
 he ran away and engaged with a captain at Liverpool, 
 whom he knew, to carry him to Ireland. The wretch, 
 instead of that, brought him to this country and sold 
 him as a slave ; here he worked with his master till 
 twenty-one years of age, he was then at liberty, but 
 possessed no means of returning to his native country. 
 In a while he married, and a family bound him to the 
 soil. Time past, though he felt anxious to hear of his 
 parents, or to give them information of his existence, 
 a variety of circumstances prevented it, till he lost all 
 hopes of his parents being alive, and no tidings ever 
 crossed the Atlantic from him to his friends, or his 
 friends to him. 
 
 It i$ the custom of the surveyors in these wilds, to 
 bang their provisions aloft to the bough of a tree, be 
 yond the reach of bears or other wild animals, that 
 might be attracted by them. But one night, the old 
 man wanting a pillow, as they lay out in the woods 
 
40 LETTER III. 
 
 placed his budget under his head : about midnight, he 
 was awoke by somebody as he thought pulling it away; 
 tealf awake, he lay and felt something pull and drag at 
 it, when lifting up his head, he found his nose nearly 
 in contact with that of a monstrous bear. Bruin, dis 
 concerted, eyed him for a moment, and turning round 
 began his retreat very sedately ; when M Carthy called 
 out" Hey man! Where are you going? as you have 
 been so mighty civil, you shall even go shares ** He 
 then threw him a piece of bread, which he snatched up 
 as he went, and podded off into the thicket. 
 
 In the night, we were awoke by some small animal 
 running over us, and making a great noise hi the leaves. 
 The air was excessively damp and chill, and the wind 
 having changed, had driven the smoke from us, so 
 that the musquitos were intolerable. In the morning 
 we had recourse again to the lake for our breakfasts, 
 which gave us a bad head-ache the whole the day, 
 not being quite sufficiently initiated into that style of 
 living. The land about the lake, is superior to that of 
 Rose s settlement, and more free from stones. In the 
 evening, we regained McCarthy s tavern. The air was 
 literally filled and illuminated with immense quantities 
 
J. 41 
 
 x>f the fire fly. My face was covered with lumps as 
 large as nuts, where the musquitos had bitten the last 
 night, and my hands as swelled and stiff, as if stung 
 with so many wasps. 
 
 Sixth month, 12th. Several people came early in 
 the morning, to offer us their farms ; but we wanted 
 no farms there. We reached Centreville that day, and 
 the next morning went to the tavern where we left our 
 man and horse : both of them had recovered much of 
 their strength and spirits. Here I left my brother, 
 who intended taking the route to Albany. At Forbe s 
 tavern, 13 miles from this, where I staid to lodge, J 
 had a very short sleep : for, retiring at eleven o clock, 
 at one we were called up by a constable, in quest of a 
 thief, who actually proved to be in our respectable 
 company, with 100 dollars on his person, which he 
 fcad made fr,ee with : at three, . I set forward by the 
 stage for Newburgh. In the valley below Mamacaton, 
 we passed three men from Duffield, in Derbyshire, 
 travelling to the western .country, with their baggage 
 in a waggon : they, with their wives and children, were 
 set (gipsey-like) on the grass, as we past, with the 
 
 gipsey poles, and gipsey kettle oil tho fire, preparing 
 E3 
 
42 LETTER III. 
 
 for dinner. It is astonishing, to see what privations a 
 man will sit down with in this country, to what he will 
 in England. Picture to yourself, a man in a sod house, 
 on an English common, his wife and children bare 
 foot and bare-legged; you pity them from your soul ! 
 The condition of that family is ten-fold better than that 
 of thousands here, who once dreamed they were tra 
 velling to a land flowing with milk and honey. There 
 they can procure wages, though scanty, and enjoy, 
 in their estimation, some comforts ; but here, they 
 have nothing to buy comforts with : they sit down in 
 a, savage wilderness. Years pass over them before the 
 land round the hut is cleared for cultivation. A garden 
 would be a glorious resource for them ; but the present 
 stimulus of hunger, generally sends the man through 
 the woods after a wild cat, or a racoon. The day, 
 nay week or fortnight, is often spent : no labourer, 
 meanwhile, is cultivating his soil, and what is dene 
 must be the product of half-satisfied hunger and ex. 
 hausted strength. The English cottager, or hoveller, 
 is generally cleaned and better dressed on a sabbath. 
 Here all days are alike : there is no remission of 
 fruitless labour, there is no sweet day of rest and 
 
LETTER Ilf. 43 
 
 reflection, in which the mind can look (at leisure) 
 back, in gratitude, and forward, even in the gloomiest 
 period, with the joyous hope of a better world; without, 
 all is a dismal wilderness, and within, all is hastening 
 to assimilate in character. Morris Birkbeck, in his 
 Romantic Descriptions of American Backwoods, as 
 sumes a sort of triumph in the idea, " that a parent must 
 open there a new career of improvement and advantage 
 for his children, in a Society whose institutions are 
 favourable to virtue." How far will this apply to the 
 great body of poor emigrants, and indeed to those of 
 some capital, to whom the same disabilities will attach, 
 in some degree, in similar situations ? All who sit 
 down in the back woods will, for a long period, be 
 influenced by the same circumstances, and by the 
 predominant character of the settlement in which they 
 reside. 
 
 Where are the advantages of an English sabbath? 
 Where is the opportunity of giving their children a 
 cheap and pious education ? Where do they find them 
 selves the able instructor, to unfold to them the mys 
 teries of godliness, to expand their minds, elevate 
 .heir views, and gladden their hearts with the rehearsal 
 
41 JLETTER III. 
 
 of the Creator s goodness and the proud prospects of 
 futurity ? Where do they find consonant minds, with 
 whom they can converse and reflect upon these things ? 
 Where do they meet with the sympathizing members 
 of a multiplicity of societies, labouring to diffuse light, 
 comfort and consolation through the dwellings of the 
 poor ? The demoralizing tendency of this mode of life, 
 must be obvious. 
 
 It may be said, that ample provision is made for 
 education, by the government. Such provision is 
 made, and doubtless it will be productive of as much 
 future good, as it is wise ; but it cannot reach the 
 scattered population of a wiHerness, all at once, or if 
 it could, it would find the most formidable obstacles 
 io its exertion. 
 
 Every moment, of every day, the mind, the inge 
 nuity, the exertion, of the settler, are on the stretch, 
 merely to procure just enough to support existence. 
 To furnish his house with necessaries, to clotlje his 
 family, is impossible ! He cannot sell corn which he 
 hath not; or if he have, he must carry it to market at 
 an expense of time and toil indescribable, and barter 
 it away for an insignificant return. His mind is thus 
 
LETTER III. 4S 
 
 kept upon the tension of imperious necessity; his 
 heart becomes habituated to no motive but that of 
 interest : every nobler, better, more social or exalted 
 principle withers before it. 
 
 What is his society? Cold-blooded speculators, 
 watching for the simple and unwary to exchange with 
 them a portion of the desert for their hard-earned 
 specie, or men actuated and acted upon by motives 
 and causes similar to his own : spending youth, health, 
 strength, and property, for no return but a bare exis 
 tence in a desert, the tomb of virtue and of know 
 ledge, the abode of friendless, self-exiled, miserable, 
 and discontented beings, who, having broken the 
 bonds of country, of fellowship and affection, can have 
 little sympathy with the horde of discordant strangers 
 amongst whom they now live : men possessed of no 
 refinement of manners, or philosophy of mind, to 
 temper the enthusiasm of liberty, which, therefore, 
 degenerates into brutal ferocity ; impatient of controul, 
 furious at contradiction, under the name of freedom, 
 abandoning all decent and virtuous restraint ; irritated 
 by disappointments, and instigated by poverty, to 
 render each other rancourous and suspicious. 
 
ui. 
 
 In such circumstances, a,nd iu such society, sur 
 rounded by pernicious example, hemmed in hy neces 
 sity, and without a. hope of extricating themselves, the; 
 morals of the most confirmed must relax, the energies 
 of the most spirited must sink into despair, and leave 
 behind that loathsome picture of indolence, filth, and 
 poverty, which so remarkably characterizes these 
 
 settlers. 
 
 I 
 
 What barriers are raised to oppose these conse 
 quences ? What societies arise to ameliorate the con 
 dition, to moralize the minds, of these people? None ! 
 Such machinery cannot exist in a wilderness. The 
 retrogade motion of society, in such circumstances, 
 must be rapid. The children of those who left Europe 
 with some traces of knowledge and refinement, must 
 stand a striking gradation nearer to the savage. I shall 
 not soon forget the remark of a lady, on a character 
 Before mentioned : " He seems himself (said she) to 
 have gone back from Christianity to deism ; and now, 
 he appears to be leading his children from civilization 
 to barbarism." These things, at least, claim the serious 
 reflection of Englishmen, before they commence the 
 march of emigration ; and it ought to be remembered, 
 
LETTER III. 47 
 
 the scenes here described, are not found in the far 
 thest woods, but in the settlements of the old populated 
 states. 
 
 On our approach to Orange County, the land assum 
 ed a better aspect, more generally cultivated, and the 
 orchards, which are the greatest pride of the Ameri 
 cans, appeared to have been planted upwards of twenty 
 years, and looked beautiful. There was also a few nut 
 and peach orchards. By nut, I do not mean the hazle- 
 nut, of which I have yet not seen one; but the buUer- 
 nut, black and white walnut, shelbark ,hickory , &c. We 
 passed through Montgomery, a large village, on a con 
 siderable river, and apparently well situate for trade. 
 Two or three cotton factories f t on foot here, during 
 the late war, were now set down as ruinous concerns. 
 In the stage we had here, an addition to our company, 
 of several lawers and doctors, who entered into politics 
 and the causes of national distress. All were unani 
 mous as to the reallity of its existence, and all at vari 
 ance in their notions of its causes. An honest Dutch 
 man stated, that his grandfather and father had rendered 
 important services, paid taxes to the state, and supported 
 government from the first assertion of its independence, 
 
48 LETTER III. 
 
 and he guessed that it was not right that a foreigner, 
 after living a few years in the country, should represent 
 them in congress. No wonder at distress, whilst so 
 governed. Another r/wmed, government would assist 
 the sinking manufactories by a heavier import duty. 
 Another, that it was the Federals, who were leagued 
 \vith Great Britain, and thus plunged both into difficul 
 ties. Britain would have been a republic 3 years ago, 
 had not the United States supported her, by taking her 
 manufactories. The constant appeal was to me, "Well 
 friend, you are an old country-man, what do you think 
 of these matters ?" I did not tell them, that kings and 
 nobles as they are, how short-sighted they were. I 
 did not tell them what would have rendered them again 
 all unanimous, that their country was doing business 
 on the strength of British capital, that their revenues 
 were dependent upon the profit of her manufacturers. 
 That instead of examining both sides of the question 
 impartially, they looked blindly, and confounded effects 
 and their causes together. But such is the pride of 
 Americans, all things originate with them; prosperity 
 or distress, wherever it is found, flow from the influ 
 ence of their all-potent country. The same conceit, 
 
LETTER III. 49 
 
 which teaches a Chinese to make a map of the world, 
 by delineating their country at large, and sketching a 
 few outlines for a few of the rest, causes the American 
 to give his the same portion on the political chart. 
 They never cast a glance on the advantages they derive 
 from other countries. They never look at India, 
 sending them silk handkerchiefs at 2s sterling 8 oz. 
 each ; at France sending watches at 2 dollars each, 
 and other articles of exquisite workmanship, propor 
 tionally. They think not of the cause, which has ex 
 hausted Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and in short all 
 Europe. The philanthropist however, a citizean of the 
 world, a brother in the great human family, unbiassed by 
 national interest, unblended by national pride, recog 
 nizes the cause in a moment, and weeps at the prospect. 
 He knows that it is war ; deadly, insatiate, demoraliz 
 ing, destructive war, carrying fire, famine, and crime 
 from nation to nation, blasting the bosom of creation, 
 disorganizing society, and leaving behind not merely 
 the wounds of the infatuated warrior, the scattered 
 relicts of fathers, husbands, and brothers, the tears of 
 the widow, and the cry of orphan infancy, but a gan 
 grene in society, a palsy in commerce, which hence- 
 F 
 
50 LETTER III, 
 
 forth diffuse for years, wherever their operations extend, 
 nothing but pollution, poverty, and suffering. 
 
 We reached Newburgh about sun down, as the 
 American phrase it, and got on board the steam packet, 
 at 12 o clock, for New York. Here I got about five 
 hours good rest on a bed. This boat is about 160 feet 
 long, with 3 cabins most superbly fitted up, for 200 pas. 
 sengers : one for females, one for the men, and the 
 other for the women s dining and sleeping rooms. No 
 hotel has better conveniences, or appartments more 
 elegant. The fare for 70 miles, 3| dollars, breakfast 
 included. To this 160 passengers sat down, without 
 exception, excelling any thing I have seen in this 
 country for elegance and profusion. Fish and flesh in 
 great variety, was served up, with tea and coffee, with 
 the utmost order and freedom from bustle ; it strongly 
 reminded me of setting down to dinner with friends at 
 the general meeting at Ack worth school. The Hudson 
 or North River, is a noble river, and as smooth and 
 level as a lake. The east scenery slopes from a consi 
 derable distance down to its margin, and mostly culti 
 vated, tho the soil is weak and poor. On the west, high 
 and perpendicular rocks skirt the water, crowned with 
 
LETTER III. 51 
 
 small timber, presenting an air of bold and inspiring 
 grandeur. We arrived at New York at 10 o clock 
 A. M having sailed 7 3 miles per hour. 
 
 I have now finished one journey, in quest of a set 
 tlement affording the advantages which the Reports 
 of this Country in England promised : the particulars 
 of that journey I have chosen to relate simply, rather 
 than to indulge in general remarks. It will be obvious 
 to you, that the first period of such an undertaking is 
 the period of attentive examination ; the last alone is 
 the proper time for forming conclusions. The journey 
 is now made, and you may judge for yourselves. It 
 ought to be remembered, that this settlement was 
 recommended to our attention, as preferring the most 
 solid claims. A Society, styling itself " The British 
 Emigrant Society," was founded with the avowed ob 
 ject of directing the enquiries of emigrants into the 
 best channel. By the recommendation of those gen 
 tlemen and by others of apparent respectability, we 
 were induced to select it : a book was also put into 
 our hands, written by a Dr. Johnson, describing it as 
 " fast settling, healthy, well watered, and finely situated 
 for market. The soil of excellent quality, favourable 
 
 F2 
 
2 LETTER III. 
 
 for all sorts of grain, and particularly productive of 
 grass, promising to be one of the finest grazing coun 
 tries in the Union. Water abundant, lively and clear. 
 Excellent roads, schools, and society. 
 
 This Was the expectation with which we set out : 
 this was the dreadful wilderness into which we went ! 
 This land of excellent quality, was the tremendous 
 track of crags and stones, never touched with a tool 
 since the creation. This land of all sorts of grain, 
 where grew nothing but a little miserable rye. This 
 fine grazing country, was the horrid chaos of barren 
 mountains, where scarce a blade of vegetation could be 
 seen for scores of miles ; but stones, huge, ponderous, 
 splintering stones, lying in one wide, melancholy 
 prospect, as if showered upon it by some inexhaustable 
 volcano. Every step heightened our astonishment at 
 the heartless villany and daring, pitiless avarice of 
 mercenary wretches, who could thus array the most 
 dreadful scene in all the attributes of an arcadia, in 
 order to prey upon the last few cents of miserable 
 people, who had left behind friends and country, and 
 every hope but that of purchasing, at the price of every 
 thing dear to man, an asylum from the terrors of ab- 
 
LETTER III. 53 
 
 solute starvation. Never shall I forget the scenes of 
 misery I beheld there ! The poor, desolate, forlorn i 
 situation of families, once comfortably supported : the 
 despairing looks of those who knew the horrors and 
 the hopelessness of their fate ; the tears and sobs of 
 women, at the moment of discovering their woeful de 
 ception, the sterner rage of their husbands, and the 
 sneering exclamations of the older settlers, at the ar 
 rival of new adventurers, demon-like, welcomes to the 
 world of the unhappy, are too deeply impressed upon 
 my fancy to permit my indignation, at the authors of 
 such wretchedness, quickly to expire. 
 
 The fatigues and hardships attendant upon that 
 journey, were nothing to the pain of beholding so 
 many of my countrymen the victims of such ruthless, 
 villany. The only satisfaction it was possible to feel 
 was, in the consoling idea, that I possessed the power 
 to return, and was not compelled to add one more to 
 the wretched beings whom Drs. Rose and Johnson 
 had drawn into the desert. Since my return to this 
 place, I have discovered that Rose was nearly ruined 
 by the purchase of this barren track, and in daily ex 
 pectation of an execution, by which the whole would 
 
 F3 
 
64 LETTER III. 
 
 have been offered for sale, when Johnson, a poor, 
 penniless adventurer, offered his assistance. He told 
 Hose that he had no money ; but that if he would give 
 him a track of land, he would engage to procure him 
 plenty of settlers. The bargain was made ; a few 
 interested individuals were collected, who formed 
 themselves in a company, for the ostensible purpose 
 of directing emigrants to the best situations. Johnson s 
 book was made and published, purchasers attracted, 
 and the consequences above related produced. 
 
 This, I imagine, is the usual process of such specu 
 lations ; and such it will doubtless continue, whenever 
 the spirit of emigration affords a chance of success. 
 Emigrants cannot be too cautious in procuring infor 
 mation from authentic and disinterested sources ; and 
 yet, what these sources are, is almost impossible to 
 tell. It is great odds whether any body knows any 
 thing of the place you enquire after, from personal 
 knowledge, but the speculators themselves. The in 
 habitants of the eastern cities know as little of the 
 interior as you do. We were recommended to this 
 settlement by friends whose integrity we cannot doubt : 
 they, like many others, took up the common report, 
 
LETTER III. 
 
 so sedulously diffused by the interested ; and such is 
 the general nature of information, in such cases. I 
 know of no plan so likely to prevent emigrants step 
 ping into an error, that may enslave them and their 
 posterity for ever, except that of visiting the place first, 
 unincumbered with family or baggage. 
 
 There is another circumstance which ought to be 
 stated. I was advised to exchange my specie for 
 New York notes, at the bankers who were giving &| 
 premium. At my return, I found that Jacob Barker, 
 whose notes they were, had availed himself of the act 
 of congress, allowing a suspension of cash payment 
 for eight months, at the pleasure of the banker ; and, 
 to use an American phrase, I was pretty closely shaved, 
 that is, obliged to give a discount of 20 per cent. The 
 county bank notes too, which I had necessarily received 
 in change on my journey, were there only payable, at 
 a still greater loss. This is a circumstance which re 
 quires the particular circumspection of American tra 
 vellers. 
 
 Thus, I have given you a full, true, and particular 
 account of our first expedition , and a melancholy one 
 it is ! I really hope that it is the worst account we 
 
56 LETTER III. 
 
 shall have to give you, and that we may find that we 
 have seen the very Arabia Petrae of this continent. 
 A little time will now acquaint us with the state of the 
 eastern old-established cities ; and you may depend 
 upon our forwarding our letters to you with the same 
 earnestness that we expect yours. 
 
LETTER IV. 
 
 Philadelphia, 1th mo. 1th, 1819. 
 
 JL HE date of this will convince you that I am 
 willing to omit no opportunity of writing, however 
 frequent. I have been in this city and neighbourhood 
 almost the whole time since my last. My brother is 
 returned to-day from his excursion in New York 
 State, having travelled upwards of 300 miles on foot, 
 without seeing any spot which he could approve as a 
 settlement for himself and friends. 
 
 I shall now continue my narrative , in a hasty man 
 ner, to the present moment. I left New York for 
 
d>8 LETTER IV. 
 
 this place the 16th of last month, in the mail stage, 
 fare 4 dollars, distance 100 miles. These stages differ 
 widely from those of England. They carry no outside 
 passengers : all sit under a cover, from which are 
 leathern curtains, to let down in winter, but in summer 
 are rolled and strapped up, admitting the air on all 
 sides, but excluding the sun and wet : they carry 12 
 passengers, sitting on forms across the vehicle. We 
 travelled but 38 miles that day, passing thro Newark, 
 about 9 miles from New York, an elegant town, con 
 taining about 6,000 inhabitants, chiefly rich. Plain 
 fields, a large flat, principally the property of friends, 
 whose agriculture does them great credit. We staid 
 the night at Somerville Forty miles farther, we dined 
 the next day, where I met with a son of the late 
 Walter Miflin, whose emancipation of his slaves is so 
 aflectingly described by Brissot. This son is a man 
 of great wealth, but deprived, by a mysterious provi 
 dence, of the noblest gem, unclouded reason. At 5 
 o clock P. M. we reached this city. The land, thro* 
 the whole line, appears weak and poor, but consi 
 derably improving as we approach this city, near 
 which we observed some good wheat and Indian corn, 
 
LETTER IV. #9 
 
 2 feet high. At Plainfields, land is worth 100 dollars 
 per acre, in this neighbourhood, from 160 to 200 
 dollars; about half the price it bore some time ago. 
 The charges at the hotels, on this road, may be con 
 sidered high. 
 
 I applied at the boarding house, 74, Walnut-street, 
 as directed by E. H. and find it a very comforable 
 place. Our mother (as she and the ladies of her 
 profession are universally called) is an agreeable lady, 
 nearly 70, and partial to .English travellers. The 
 thermometer stood, the day of my arrival, in the 
 shade, at 80. 
 
 Sixth month, 19th. In the morning, I went thro 
 the market, which is held in a shed, extending a mile 
 along the centre of Market-street, open on all sides to 
 admit the air, while it is a shelter from the weather. 
 
 On the 21st, I visited the museum Amongst the 
 subjects of natural history, the most important, and in 
 deed one of the greatest natural curiosities in the world, 
 is a complete skeleton of the mammoth. It measures 
 18 feet in length and 11 in height; and it is said that 13 
 men dined together in it at the last anniversary of the 
 
60 LETTER IV. 
 
 independence. The quadrupeds are by no means well 
 preserved, except in one or two instances. The wolf 
 devouring a lamb is, perhaps, the best executed. The 
 collection of birds, principally indigenous to this con 
 tinent, is large, various, and well managed. The lovers 
 of entomology would be highly gratified with the large 
 and beautiful collection of insects ; but that of reptiles 
 is woefully deficient : a circumstance the more extra 
 ordinary, when we consider the ease with which they 
 may be procured : but, perhaps, Americans are not 
 anxious to place, very prominently, before strangers, 
 the horrid army of those creatures with which their 
 country is infested. The wax-work figures of the In 
 dians appear very old, and are wretched performances. 
 Their dresses are shabby, and their weapons of war 
 [bows, arrows, axes, spears, tom-a-hawks, and clubs] 
 very inferior to those of New York. A well-executed 
 specimen of the figures, costumes, and martial equipage 
 of these people, would probably become, in a short 
 time, an object of uncommon interest to the curious : 
 but it might not alone remain an object of that interest 
 to the philosopher ; it would stand a monument of 
 national odium : for, if the present system of oppression 
 
LETTER IV. 61 
 
 and extermination continue, these people, who are 
 fast delining and contracting their boundaries, will 
 shortly he known only in the record of Christian vio 
 lence, towards those whom they please to term savages, 
 and the knowledge of their personal appearance, their 
 arts and ingenuity, be derived only from these repo 
 sitories of a nation whom they hospitably received, 
 and by whom they have been repaid by bloody in 
 justice, war, and expulsion from the land of their 
 ancestors. 
 
 The mineral department, compared with European 
 cabinets, is small, but extremely interesting to a stranger, 
 as affording a proof of the subterraneous wealth of this 
 continent, whose surface is yet scarcely broken by the 
 miner, but its riches are reserved for the resource and 
 aggrandisement of future generations. Besides these, 
 are Chinese productions, coins, and Indian manufac 
 tories of the different tribes. The portraits, exhibited 
 by Peele, the proprietor and painter, are numerous 
 and estimated, by the standard of the American school, 
 very decent. Amongst those of numerous celebrated 
 and demi- celebrated men, I was much surprised at not 
 seeing one of the great and immortal founder of this 
 city and state. G 
 
62 LETTER IV. 
 
 Sixth month, 22nd. I dined with my friends J. 
 Midgeley and R. Gallon, from England, at the Wash- 
 kigton hotel, whence R. G. and myself went to see 
 the spot where William Penn made his treaty with the 
 Indians. The large elm tree, under which that treaty 
 was ratified, was blown down some years ago ; the stump 
 and root are now taken up, and in the possession of the 
 proprietor of the house in which W. P. is said to have 
 resided. With the true spirit of devotees, we requested 
 and obtained permission to take some small pieces of 
 it : relics of intrinsic value, though destitute of miracu 
 lous power, because memorials of an action, that must 
 stand an eternal testimony against all the casuistry of 
 the advocates of war; proving beyond irrefragible de 
 monstration, that men, however politicians may charac 
 terize them, as vengeful, lawless, and perfidious, may by 
 conciliation and sincerity, be compelled to bow to the 
 benign power of Christianity, and its yoke of peace. A 
 memorial, to use the language of Voltaire, a writer 
 whom no one will accuse of a blind partiality for Chris 
 tianity," of tbe only treaty made with them, without 
 an oath, and the only one which was never broken." 
 A branch, set at the time the tree was blown down, is 
 
LETTER IV 63 
 
 growing finely, and promises to become as large as 
 its parent. 
 
 Sixth montb, 24th. Visited the Pensylvania general 
 hospital, in company with E. Wilson and several 
 other English merchants. The painting of Christ 
 healing the sick, by West, presented by him to this 
 institution, is exhibited for its benefit, at J dollar each. 
 The fellow to it, I believe, he sold to our venerable 
 King, for 3000. The numbers who daily visit this 
 exquisite performance of the father of the American 
 school, render the value of the donation extreme ; and 
 while I contemplated it with mingled feelings of admi- 
 ratation and awe, I could not help reflecting how in 
 calculable are the blessings which providence enables 
 genius, in every department, to confer on its country 
 and on mankind. This is an extensive institution ; 
 the buildings of which, are modern and well finished. 
 A garden, 50 yards wide from the street, places it at a 
 distance, which allows ^passengers to contemplate it to 
 $peat advantage. The garden is well stocked with ex 
 otic trees and shrubs. The orange and lemon were 
 hung with fine fruit, and the whole kept in the neatest 
 
 order. In the centre of the garden, a bronze statue s 
 G 2 
 
64 LETTER IV. 
 
 larger than life, of William Perm, is placed on a tablet 
 of white marble, bearing on the pannels the following 
 inscriptions; front, south, "William Penn, born 1644, 
 died 1718," in the centre of this pannel are the family 
 arms, with the motto " Mercy and Justice." East side, 
 " Pensylvania granted by Charles II, to William 
 Penn, 1G81" North, "The proprietary arrived 1684, 
 made a just and amicable arranegment with the natives 
 for the purchase of their lauds, and went back to Eng 
 land in 16S8." East, "Returned to Pensylvania 
 1699, and finally withdrew to his paternal estates, 
 1701 " In his hand he bears a scroll thus incribed, 
 Charter of Privileges to Pensylvania, MDCC. 
 Almighty God being the only Lord of conscience, 
 I do grant and declare, that no person who shall 
 acknowledge one Almighty God, and profess himself 
 obliged to live quietly under the civil government, 
 shall be in any case molested or." 
 
 Our friend E. Wilson, being a liberal subscriber, we 
 had a fine opportunity of surveying every part of this 
 noble building. In professional skill, in the cleanness 
 of the appartments, and the order of the establishment, 
 perhaps it is not inferior to any in Jinglaud. The 
 
l/ETTER IT. 6*5 
 
 kitchen garden and green-houses are the hest I have 
 seen in this country. 
 
 The more I see of this city, and the more I admire 
 it. Many of the new houses are very elegant and sub 
 stantial, though none of an uniform height, through the 
 length of a street. The steps at the doors are of white 
 marble, and particularly the new ones, have and air of 
 beauty and coolness very delightful. A few of the 
 square sections into which the city is divided, on the 
 founder s plan, are not yet built upon; but perhaps 
 their effect, covered with fine shady timber, the Button 
 wood, Weeping willow, and Lombardy poplar, in the 
 middlejof a city with a population of 120,000, is more 
 charming than that of the proudest fabrics which 
 could be erected upon them. 
 
 Many of the laws of William Penn are still in force, 
 and held in great veneration. But perhaps none so 
 strikingly mark their origin as that of marriage. This 
 act is performed in this state, before the civil magistrate. 
 It is required by law, that 12 days previous public 
 notice shall be given by the parties entering into that 
 contract. A certificate is produced and signed by 
 witnesses, in the presence of an alderman in the man. 
 G3 
 
66 LETTER IV. 
 
 of friends before our meeting. J. Smith, of this city, 
 shewed me one of these certificates, on parchment, which 
 I found ran in nearly the same words, as those in the 
 early use of our society. It would appear however 
 that provisions against clandestine marriages are not 
 made with so much caution and effect, as amongst 
 friends. The decree of publicity is not sufficiently de 
 fined, or the medium of that publicity rendered suffi 
 ciently secure. It is no uncommon thing, I am told, 
 for a young fellow to take his friend with him and 
 stick his public notice upon a post, and as soon as his 
 friend has read it, tear it off again. At the time of the 
 marriage, should any adverse party appear, and object 
 the omission of publication, his friend is ready to de 
 pose that he read it, at such a time, on a public post, 
 and the ceremony proceeds. 
 
 Sixth month 26th. I went up the Delaware to 
 Burlington, to view a cloth factory, about 2 miles from 
 that place, and to see our friend P. S. at Samuel 
 Emlen s. This kind of manufactury has always been 
 represented to me by the Americans, as the most 
 profitable, therefore the more likely to endure foreign 
 competition. The machinery exceeded my expecta- 
 
LETTER IV". 67 
 
 tion, but both it and the rooms were in a wretched 
 dirty state. The cloth was not equal to what the ma 
 chinery apparently could produce. The men com 
 plained of wages ; and I found this most profitable 
 concern, was on the eve of being set down. Several 
 cotton manufactories have been offered to sale lately, 
 some of which have sold for one-third of the original 
 cost. I was assured by one gentleman that he em 
 barked, during the late war, a capital of fifty thousand 
 dollars, in cotton spinning, every cent of which he had 
 lost. In the western country, a factory which cost, 
 170,000 dollars, I can authentically state, has been 
 sold, with all its machinery, for 20,000 dollars. Those 
 who still continue concerns of this description, it is 
 well known, are doing it from the hope of legislative 
 assistance. Such is the present prospect of manufac 
 tories in this country. Burlington is altogether a 
 beautiful situation, 20 miles from Philadelphia ; it was 
 originally pitched upon by William Penn, for the site 
 of Phiadelphia, but afterwards abandoned for the pre 
 sent more eligible one. The houses on the banks of 
 the Delaware, which is here a mile wide, painted white, 
 with pea-green shutters, and in the front growing the 
 Weeping willow and Lombardy poplar, with a luxiu 
 
68 LETTER IV. 
 
 riance astonishing to a European, have a romantically 
 beautiful appearance. 
 
 Sixth month, 29th. Excessively hot, the thermo 
 meter standing in the shade 95, in the sun 150. In 
 the afternoon, wishing to visit Lemon-hill, the seat of 
 J. Pratt, Esq. about 2 miles from the city, E. Wilson, 
 kindly insisted upon us taking his carriage, to avoid 
 the oppressive heat. The gardens of this gentleman 
 are finely situated, and laid out with superior taste. 
 The assemblage of plants, of all kinds and countries, 
 is rendered particularly grateful to the eye, by every 
 advantage of arrangement and exquisite neatness. 
 They include, in a small space, by an artful disposition 
 of walks and waters, sun and shade, the elegance of the 
 greenhouse and ornamental statury, a little paradise. 
 It is one of the grand resorts of fashionable company 
 in summer Thei-e obtain admission by a ticket from 
 the proprietor, or his select friends, none without, and 
 yet they are mostly crowded in fine weather. In our 
 return, we viewed the new water-works, on the Schuyl- 
 kill, by which the whole city is supplied. The water 
 is raised from the river, by an engine of 100 horse pow 
 er, into a large reservior upon a hill, about 2 miles 
 
LETTER IV. 69 
 
 distant, 100 feet above the surface of the water. From 
 this hill, we had a fine view of 2 permauiertt wood 
 bridges, erected over this river, one with 3 arches, and 
 the other of a single span, The latter is an extraordi 
 nary piece of workmanship. The chord of the arch 
 34 feet long : the full length of the sweep 400 feet,being 
 93 feet longer than that of any other bridge in the world. 
 These bridges are widely distinct in their appearance 
 and construction, from any thing I have seen in 
 Europe. The piers are of stone, and from these 
 spring arches of wood, whence a floor is suspended by 
 joists framed into every part of the sweep of the arch, 
 and intersecting each other in a variety of directions. 
 The floor therefore rests alone on the hutments at the 
 spring of the arches, and the space between each arch 
 is supported by this framing, depending from the 
 crown of each arch. Thus the passengers pass not 
 over the back of the arches, as in common (for the 
 arches do not extend from side to side, but merely 
 stand as ribs on each hand) yet the pressure is equal 
 ly borne by the arches, as if that were the case. The 
 edges are boarded on both sides, and " once in a 
 while" to use an American phrase, is left a peep-hole 
 to see the water. Over all is thrown a roof, and thus 
 
70 LETTER IY. 
 
 protected from the weather above, and the water be 
 neath, they derive the name of permament bridges. 
 
 Seventh month, 4th. Being 1st day, I walked to 
 Merion meeting, 8 miles. This meeting is a consider 
 able one. The horses of friends were tied under the 
 trees, which are principally button-wood, and afford a 
 fine shelter. Those with carriages were tied in sheds 
 erected for that purpose, I counted 25 carriages. The 
 friends here spoke very highly of R. Sutcliff. After 
 dining with R. Ecroyd, I returned in the evening .by 
 way of the Schuylkill falls, where are, a nail, wire, 
 and other mills. The falls themselves are very incon 
 siderable, but the surrounding scenery is highly ro 
 mantic and picturesque. Along the road, from this 
 place to Philadelphia, are scattered a great number of 
 handsome houses and pleasure grounds. The cultiva 
 ted aspect of the country, the fineness of the situation, 
 and the commanding size and richness of the timber, 
 convey to the mind an idea of so much vigour in the 
 soil, and wealth and refinement in the inhabitants of 
 this smiling scene, that it is no wonder that strangers 
 are captivated with its appearance, and readily induced 
 to persuade themselves, that they are arrived in the 
 
LETTER IV. 71 
 
 native land of loveliness and enjoyment. The black 
 cherry and raspberry were ripe, and hung in sponta 
 neous abundance in the woods. The fine, clear vault 
 of heaven, unspotted with a cloud, the stillness of the 
 air, the coolness and serenity of the evening, and the 
 last notes of birds, to me novel and unknown, made 
 my walk peculiarly pleasing, and disposed the mind 
 to a calm, passive enjoyment of natural beauty, and a 
 serious cast of thought, that in their combination con 
 stitutes some of our happiest moments. 
 
 Seventh month, oth. The 44th anniversary of Ame 
 rican Independence occured on the 4th, but that 
 being 1st day, its celebration was postponed till the 5th. 
 This great event was marked as usual, by a cessation 
 of all business, except amongst friends ; the parading 
 of the militia in full uniform, firing, maneuvering, din 
 ner-parties, balls, and all the usual modes of demon 
 strating exultation on such occasions. In the evening 
 the citizens diversified their amusement, and renewed 
 the acumen of pleasure, blunted by so much feasting 
 and display, by the refined and moral relief of making 
 the lowest Irish porters and negroes drunk and setting 
 them to fight. I could not but tacitly acknowledge 
 
72 LETTER IV. 
 
 whence the spirit of that diversion was derived, whilst 
 I lamented that the worst features of the people where 
 it sprung should be retained, and that too with a sen 
 sible gust, by those fathers of the new world- Before 
 I leave Philadelphia, let me add, that I have lost a 
 great deal of sleep in it, by the almost nightly alarms 
 from fire, this arises from the old houses being built of 
 timber, and such is the terrible uproar made by the 
 fire-men and boys, dragging their patent hose or fire 
 engine along the pavement, and their unceasing yell of 
 fire, that no sleep can resist it but the sleep of death. 
 
 For the present adieu. I am in daily expectation ef 
 letters from you ; tlie arrival of which I hope to assure 
 you of soon. 
 
73 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 New York, 7th Month, 18*A, 1819. 
 ^LJuFTER a long delay and much rambling through 
 these eastern cities, I am preparing to visit the New 
 England states, and to proceed thence to gratify my 
 curiosity at Niagara, and thence to the Illinois. Since 
 my last which is now on the great waters, I have visi 
 ted Baltimore, Washington, and Alexandria, and shall 
 now give you a sort of familiar gossip on that subject, 
 in my usual manner. I left Philadelphia 7th month, 
 8th sailed in a steam boat down to Newcastle, 40 miles. 
 The fare including stage to French town 18 miles fur 
 ther, 3 dollars. The land near Newcastle is flat, the 
 H 
 
74 LETTER V. 
 
 soil a sandy loam, some fine crops of Indian corn ; 
 wheat, and oats were got, and carried into small round 
 ricks of about 3 English waggon loads, but very sloven 
 ly. On the whole it offered a tolerable specimen of 
 American farming. The fences along the road are of 
 what is here called black-thorn, thickly covered with 
 
 spines, from 3 to 4 inches long. It however, strongly 
 
 . 
 reminded me of the aspect of English inclosures, the 
 
 Americans universally using a zig-zag fence of rails. 
 
 Proceeding towards French-Town, the land grows 
 continually worse. The Indian corn weak and bad, 
 the oats miserable, not returning seed. No grasses 
 except artificial ones, and even the timothy, which in 
 some parts of the United States stands like a crop of 
 reeds, is here very light. Live stock of course thinly 
 seen, and that very indifferent. Between the Dela 
 ware and the Elk. I observed abundance of wild vines 
 and American creeper hanging on the black-thorn and 
 sassafrass. From French-Town to Baltimore, 70 
 miles. 
 
 - Seventh month, 9th. Reached Baltimore about 2 
 o clock in the morning. I \vas extremely struck with 
 its resemblance to an English town. Its brick houses 
 
LETTER V. 75 
 
 the colour of the bricks, and the style of the buildings, 
 all tend to generate that idea. But there was one 
 thing that would not permit an Englishman to dream 
 himself at home, the presence of slaves. No ! Eng 
 land with all the curses and stains which Ameri 
 cans, and especially Baltimorians charge upon her, is 
 at least untainted with this cancer in society, unstained 
 with this deadly pollution, the practice of slave holding 
 by the boasted lovers of liberty the lash and manacle 
 in the hands of the Christian. Baltimore, with a popu 
 lation of 60,000, is the creation of less than a century. 
 Its mercantile importance is considerable, and having 
 a high road to the western settlements, will probably 
 insure a full share of the future prosperity of this coun 
 try. The land round it is however barren, the timber 
 dwarfish, and the crops wretched. Indian-corn and 
 tobacco looked best ; the former was in blossom, and 
 five feet high. As we proceeded, much of the country 
 appeared deserted, the roads heavy sand, burning be 
 neath an intense sun. In the vicinity of Washington, 
 the land was one wide common of many hundred acres, 
 cleared and open to any body. The grass \ inch high, 
 and burnt to snuff, with a drought of eight weeks, 
 
76 LETTER V. 
 
 jet the stock looked better than in some other places. 
 Walking before the stage out of Baltimore some miles, 
 I gathered in the woods a variety of indigenous plants, 
 amongst others the golden rod, enchanter s night-shade, 
 two species of oxalis sanicle, haresfoot trefoil, two 
 specis of gnaphalium climatis, wortleberry, two species 
 of marygold, two of polygoniem, vervem, perrenial sun" 
 flower, touch me not, and scarlet monarda. I observ- 
 r d by the road the remains of iron mines, and was 
 informed that several furnaces had been worked here 
 some time ago ; from the vitrious cinders of which the 
 roads were repaired in some places. The chromate 
 of iron is found here in abundance, and the beautiful 
 chrome yellow prepared in perfection. This part of 
 the country appears rich in iron ore. 
 
 We reached Washington at 3 o clock in the after- 
 noon. The first object that arrests the attention and 
 indeed almost the only one, is the far famed capitol, 
 placed on a commanding eminence. The two wings 
 burnt by the British, are now recompleted, and the 
 centre is fast rising. The whole is of fine white free 
 stone, and will when finished, from its position, and its 
 bold and simple architecture, form a noble object. 
 
LETTER T. 77 
 
 The President s house situated on an eminence at the 
 opposite end of the Pensylvania avenue, is built of the 
 same stone as the capital, and in the same style. Pen 
 sylvania avenue is upwards of] a mile long, and con 
 tains a few neat brick houses, thinly erected, yet far 
 more closely than any other part of the city. Indeed 
 after all I had heard of this city, I was still disappoint 
 ed in its appearance, which is rather that of a straggling 
 village, than the capital of this vast empire. The 
 whole population does not exceed 9000, and building 
 appears to proceed very slowly. The romantic hopes 
 formed of the progress of this city, which was expected 
 to start up into population, wealth, and grandeur, as 
 by magic effect, appears to be vanishing. The eulogies 
 heaped upon its founder, his wisdom in the choice of 
 this site for the seat of government, his sagacious dis 
 cernment of its numerous advantages, central position, 
 noble harbour, "rich commercial territories, and im 
 mense internal resources/ are disputed by time, the 
 sure test of utility. It has not yet " grown up with a 
 rapidity unparalleled in the annals of time, " it has not 
 * yet become the admiration of the world " or " the 
 
 principal emporium of American commerce. " Its 
 H3 
 
78 LETTER T. 
 
 harbour is indisputably excellent, and the Potowmae, 
 though not navigable except for small vessels near the 
 banks of the city, is a majestic river, and the site of 
 the city for health, pleasantness, and beauty perhaps 
 unrivalled. But there is a something which withstands 
 the progress and prosperity of this capital, which poli 
 ticians can best perceive, and which the Americans 
 themselves are compelled to acknowledge. "What 
 ever advantages it may possess, it is certainly destitute 
 of one primary requisite, a fertile surrounding country. 
 It stands in an unthankful desert. The country 
 to a great distance, is one weak and barren wil 
 derness. In spite of the hand of cultivation, it is 
 still a waste, bearing the marks of partial labour and 
 general desertion. Such a circumstance must necessa 
 rily deprive it of the greatest source of security, a well 
 populated neighbourhood ; a wealthy and thickly popu 
 lated soil would present, in the deep interest and anx 
 ious solicitude of its possessors an impassable barrier 
 of defence. But here, there is no obstacle to invasion, 
 nothing to impede the progress of an army. There are 
 no fine fertile demesnes, no opulent villas, no farms 
 swarming with stock, no domestic riches and endeared 
 hearths, to call forth the vindictive valour of an assault- 
 
LETTER V. 79 
 
 cd people. The way is open, unfrequented, and the 
 hostile army may advance to the very capital and be 
 hold at a distance a few timid placemen flying before 
 them. 
 
 The soil, to be sure, is cultivated by slaves, and from 
 such heartless and uninterested labourers, little can 
 result ; and indeed it does seem to bear the curse of 
 slavery : that is the morbid evil which will not only 
 operate directly upon the amount of the country s pro 
 duce, but must blight its moral growth and eat into its 
 very vitals. This is a consequence inevitably certain, 
 both from the constitution of human nature and the 
 provisions of Providence, whose laws are never violated 
 with impunity. In speaking of slaves, I ought to ob 
 serve, that the situation of many is better than I anti 
 cipated : no amelioration of condition, however, no 
 provisions of comforts, or even the blessings of life, to 
 slaves, can obliterate from my heart the abhorrence of 
 a slave-holder. Till the greatest of blessings, LIBERTY, 
 is given, the work of restitution is scarcely begun ; and 
 when I hear a slave, (as is universally the case when 
 interrogated,) praising his master and acquiescing in 
 his condition, I feel an involuntary horror at that 
 
80 LETTER Vi 
 
 system which levels the spirit of man with the dust, 
 and teaches it to enjoy its grovelling, or which holds 
 a rod of terror before a wretch s eyes, capable of ex 
 tinguishing the love of truth, and practising its victims 
 in duplicity and falsehood. The poor negro sees in a 
 white man, a foe, and expects that the query of his 
 condition is the language of a spy, that would gladly 
 see him suspended to a sapling for the least murmur 
 of discontent. 
 
 The treatment and condition of the negroes here 
 abouts is, from what I can learn, far superior to what 
 it is in some other states. 
 
 As congress was not sitting, the state of society was 
 consequently at its lowest ebb, and there was a stillness 
 and vacuity over the whole place, that bespoke little 
 commercial existence, A few scattered houses, an 
 isolated giant public building or two, a wide extent 
 of projected but yet ideal streets, commons cleared 
 of trees and parched with the sun, and herds of cattle 
 wandering over them, a few discontented emigrants, 
 and a horde of slaves, will ailbrd you a tolerable idea 
 of this city. The emigrants (for my own part) I con- 
 
LETTER V. 81 
 
 sider are doing better here than in most places I have 
 seen ; though they complain sadly, and express their 
 anxiety to return. Mechanics appear to be tolerably 
 paid for their labour, but labour is not constant or suf 
 ficient. S.H. a shoemaker, fromHeanor, Derbyshire, 
 brought over with him, about 12 months ago, a quantity 
 of shoes, not one of which he has been able to dispose of; 
 " and if e had, (said he) there war no munney." You 
 will be surprised to hear that this man, whom we never 
 regarded as one of the sprucest, is out of all patience 
 with American filth. He told me, that, passing a 
 butcher s stall, the butcher called out, " Mr. H. you ve 
 had several jobs of mine, but you never buy a bit of 
 meat of me." On this he returned, and looking at his 
 stall, " Why, (said he,) yo Merican butchers are sich 
 nasty chaps, I conna fashion to eat after ye. Ar 
 country butchers, they n staws as clean an white one 
 mud eat ofFen em ; but thy staw s an inch thick o 
 dirt : thou s ne er scrap d it sin tliou had it. I reckon 
 some nasty niggars drest it " The poor fellow s com- 
 plaint is but too just, both as to the slovenliness of the 
 meat and its being dressed by negroes. The butchers 
 here seldom slaughter for themselves, but keep two or 
 
82 LETTER v. 
 
 three negroes for that purpose, wliose persons and 
 the manner in which they mangle their meat, are 
 equally disgusting. 
 
 S. S s. wife and daughter arrived at Alexandria 
 whilst I was at Washington, and I accompanied him 
 there in a hack chaise, to fetch them. Alexandria is 
 seven miles distant; a neat, English-looking town, 
 containing about 7,500 inhabitants. On our return, 
 we dined together under a locust tree, in front of S. S s; 
 house, a delightful situation ! from its shade and the 
 cooling motion of its boughs, in this excessively hot 
 season : after which, I partook of the fruit of his 
 garden ; black and morell cherries, fine apricots, ap 
 ples, and currants. The ground appeared burnt up 
 with the sun, yet they had raised potatoes, cabbage, 
 Indian corn, squashes, water and mush melons, cu 
 cumbers, French beans, &c. 
 
 I left this city at 2 o clock the next morning, wishing 
 to walk to a tavern 14 miles distant, before I took the 
 stage, that I might have an opportunity of examining 
 more minutely the soil and its productions. My walk, 
 for the first few hours, was extremely delightful ; the 
 moon was very clear, and the comet flamed conspi- 
 
LETTER V. 83 
 
 cuous, even amidst the effulgence of her light. The 
 birds in the woods were chanting their morning carols ; 
 and, amongst their notes, those of the melancholy 
 whip-poor-will and the voluble and ever-variable mock 
 bird were particularly distinguishable : the mock-bird 
 is truly an astonishing and delightful musician ; its 
 organs of sound adapt themselves to the tone and mo 
 dulations of every other bird, while the melody and 
 strength of its voice give them a superior effect. It is 
 not merely the notes of birds that it is capable (like our 
 nightingale) of imitating, but every sound which it 
 hears ; and the traveller in the forest, untrodden by 
 man or beast, may be startled by their respective calls. 
 I should have enjoyed my morning ramble exceedingly, 
 had it not been for the unwelcome ideas presented by 
 the sight of so many poor negroes, on the road at that 
 early hour, going to Washington with baskets of fruit, 
 &c. These they had to dispose of and return, as a 
 prelude to the labours of the day. 
 
 Seventh month, 12th. Arriving in Philadelphia, L 
 found the city in considerable alarm at the appearance 
 of the yellow fever, and trade much worse. 
 
 Perhaps 1 cannot choose a better opportunity of in* 
 
81 LETTER V. 
 
 forming you of the bad state of the laws here, which 
 give security to trade ; nor can I make you more sen. 
 sible of it than by inserting the following document, 
 put into my hands by the author, a very respectable 
 merchant, whose benevolent object it sufficiently in- 
 dicates. 
 
 To the Merchants of Great-Britain, trading to the 
 United States of America. 
 
 GENTLEMEN, 
 
 THE general expectation excited by the meri 
 torious efforts of Mr. Hopkinson and Mr. Sergeant, 
 Members of Congress, from this city, and others, to 
 procure the passage of an efficient Bankrupt Law, 
 having, in consequence of its rejection, greatly subsided 
 if not totally ceased, it becomes the imperative duty 
 of those who are interested, as Agents or Factors, to 
 furnish their Correspondents with information as to 
 the state of the existing laws for the recovery of debts 
 in America; a subject of the first importance to such 
 Foreigners as are in the habit of giving almost indis- 
 
LETTER V. 85 
 
 criminate credits. That there are Merchants in Ame 
 rica, and many of them as upright, as conscientious, 
 as honest, and as punctual, as can be found in any 
 part of the world, I can cheerfully testify, from an 
 experience of many years ; but, as communities are 
 composed of various materials, it is necessary to be 
 on our guard against such as answer the reverse of this 
 description, that, if we should unfortunately fall into 
 their hands, we may be aware of the extent of their 
 power over us. 
 
 The power to make a General Bankrupt Law, re 
 mains with Congress ; but that body is composed of 
 members, whose opinions on this subject are so various, 
 that the public no longer expect any relief from that 
 quarter : the recovery of debt, therefore, is governed 
 by the various Insolvent Laws of the individual States, 
 which, although they all differ, yet their bearing upon 
 the general creditor being precisely the same, it will 
 be sufficient to show the practice under the Insolvent 
 Laws of Pensylvania. 
 
 When any description of persons, Merchant, Me 
 chanic, Farmer, or Tradesman, cannot comply with 
 his engagements, or pay his notes as they become due, 
 
86 LETTER V. 
 
 lie is considered as having stopped payment, and he 
 immediately sets himself about disposing of the pro 
 perty remaining in his possession, to whomsoever of 
 his Creditors he may think proper, by an instrument 
 denominated an Assignment. As it is the common 
 practice in America, to carry on business by means of 
 Accommodation Notes or Indorsements, these Notes 
 or Indorsements must be first provided for in the As 
 signment : this is the law of honour, on these occasions, 
 and so deep rooted is the practice, that he who departs 
 from it would be stigmatised as a man destitute of 
 sound principle. Borrowed money is equally sacred, 
 and must also be included in the first class to be paid 
 out of the wreck of property. The next class of fa 
 voured or preferred creditors, are particular friends or 
 relations, for whom the debtor possesses feelings of 
 friendship or regard ; and the balance (which, in most 
 instances, is nothing) is to be divided among the ge 
 neral creditors, excluding those, however, who shall 
 neglect or refuse to sign a full release within a giv en 
 period of time. 
 
 The first right of an injured creditor would seem to 
 be, a full and fair opportunity of enquiring into the 
 
LETTER Y. 87 
 
 affairs of the insolvent, and being consulted, at least, 
 on the best measures existing exigencies might require. 
 How different is the practice ; the Assignment, in the 
 form just described, is made without the knowledge 
 or consent of any except, perhaps, two or three of the 
 favoured creditors. This act of the debtor supercedes 
 all remonstrance ; he exercises his uncontrolled will 
 and pleasure, in the disposition of the effects in his 
 possession; HE CHOOSES HIS OWN ASSIGNEES; he 
 declares which of his creditors shall be paid in full, 
 and which shall receive nothing : and this system of 
 preferences has been known, in some instances, to be 
 carried so far as to induce the failing merchant to 
 make large purchases of goods, but a few hours pre 
 vious to his stoppage, for the purpose of transferring 
 them to a favoured creditor !!! Astonished, you will 
 naturally exclaim, Is there no law to punish such a 
 robbery ? Let us see what Mr. Hopkinson, * one of 
 
 * Debate on a Uniform System of Bankruptcy, published 
 in the National Intelligencer, February 25. 1818. A condensed 
 View of the Debates is inserted in the Philadelphia Port Folio 
 for the same year ; which is sold by Mr. John Souter, bookseller, 
 2, Paternoster-Row, London. 
 
 12 
 
88 LETTER Y. 
 
 the ablest American lawyers, says on the subject : 
 " The principles of the Insolvent Law require only a 
 " full surrender of the property, in the possession of ike 
 " insolvent at the time of his application for discharge ; 
 " hut the manner in which he has lost the rest, whether 
 " by extravagance, waste, gambling, or the indulgence 
 " of any other folly or vice, cannot affect his right of 
 " discharge." 
 
 The debtor having thus, in defiance of every honest, 
 just, and honourable feeling, parcelled out his favours 
 to real or pretended creditors, causes his Assignees to 
 give notice thereof in the public papers, with an inti 
 mation, that if the debtor s release be not signed by 
 the appointed time, according to the terms of the as 
 signment, they will be excluded from all participation 
 in future dividends; thus enforcing, with the uplifted 
 hand of menace, compliance or further punishment, 
 as if the robbery already committed had not sufficiently 
 transcended the climax of deliberate villany. 
 
 Notwithstanding the hardened threat of total exclu 
 sion, in case of a refusal to sign off , it is pretty well 
 understood, in many cases, that those who sign and 
 those who do not sign, will ultimately share the same 
 
LETTER T. 89 
 
 fate; the whole property having been previously 
 assigned to preferred creditors, and the threat of ex 
 clusion executed even before it was made known. In 
 this case, there will remain troublesome, oppressive 
 creditors, and, as they are sometimes called, blood 
 suckers, who are only to be quieted by means of the 
 Insolvent Laws ; to do this, the debtor must be actually 
 placed in confinement, which is easily accomplished 
 at the most convenient time, by means of a friendly or 
 preferred creditor. The debtor then presents his pe 
 tition to the Court, to be released ; the Court appoint 
 a day for the hearing, which is the same day appointed 
 for the hearing of, perhaps, a hundred similar cases : 
 fifteen days notice of this is given to the creditors, 
 and unless the clearest proof of concealment be made, 
 the debtor is free, and may enter into business again, 
 and pass through the same operation as often as he 
 can find credulity to work upon. 
 
 The Insolvent Laws do not afford the necessary 
 means of enquiring into and sifting the affairs of the 
 insolvent. Mr. Hopkinson says," The nature of the 
 " proceeding forbids it ; the tribunal, before whom the 
 " examination takes place, is not calculated for it, and 
 I 3 
 
90 LETTER V. 
 
 " never can be, and the whole affair has become a 
 " mere mockery, which the vulgar attend for their 
 " amusement, and nobody looks to for any advantage* 
 " 1 have known (said he) as many as a hundred in- 
 " solvents discharged in one morning ; have seen them 
 " sworn off by six or eight at a time,* each struggling 
 "to get his hand upon the book, repeating the oath, 
 " or rather parts of it, all together, and exhibiting a 
 " scene of confusion equally disgusting and iniquitous : 
 " in short, the whole proceeding is a mockery, so con- 
 " temptible in its progress, and so inefficient to any 
 " one good result, that creditors submit to be defrauded 
 " rather than appear as parties in such a proceeding; 
 " with a full knowledge, that their opposition will be 
 " effectual neither to discover the frauds of the debtor, 
 * nor prevent his discharge. But the monstrous evils 
 " of these Insolvent Systems are found, not so much 
 " in what is wrongfully done in them, as in that which 
 * may be rightfully, or rather lawfully done ; and here, 
 " (said Mr. Hopkinson) we open upon that boundless 
 
 * About four hundred persons annually take the benefit of 
 the Insolvent Law, in Philadelphia. 
 
LETTER Y. 91 
 
 " field of fraud, corruption, and ruin, in which we see 
 " the various modes resorted to, to give preference to 
 " particular Creditors, to the utter exclusion of others 
 " equally meritorious and just, by which those funds 
 " which should be fairly distributed, to alleviate the 
 " losses of all, are bestowed on a few, who may be 
 " preferred by caprice, by blood, or by future expec- 
 " tations held out to the debtor : the whole power and 
 " machinery of Assignments, Judgments, Attachments, 
 " are brought into action, to promote and secure a 
 " purpose so immoral and unjust, but, at the same 
 " time, so authorised by the Law, as to be placed beyond 
 " the reach of morality or justice." 
 
 Mr. H. said, " that under the patronage of the In- 
 " solvent Laws, the merchants had now established a 
 " code of laws for the payment of their debts, which 
 " is at once destructive of commercial credit, and of 
 " every principle of moral justice ; they have, what 
 " they are pleased to call, their debts of honour, and 
 " their debts of business, and the former are preferred 
 " to the exclusion of the latter. Indorsements are 
 " considered of the first class ; yes, the indorser, by 
 " whose aid he has been enabled to sustain his credit 
 
92 LETTER y. 
 
 " long after it ought to have sunk, hy whose means he 
 " has been enabled to make purchases of goods from 
 " honest unsuspecting venders : this indorser finally 
 " carries off all the property, perhaps the very goods 
 " purchased on their immediate proceeds, and the 
 " sellers of them obtain not a farthing from the wreck." 
 Mr. H. appealed to experience, and asserted, " that 
 " of many thousand persons who have been discharged 
 " by the Insolvent Laws, he had never heard of one 
 " who afterwards paid his debts.* 
 
 Such is the language of an experienced, enlightened, 
 practical lawyer, uttered, no doubt, with the deepest 
 feelings of regret, at such a state of things ; but whose 
 ardent and patriotic mind became willing to suffer the 
 painful mortification attending the exposure of truth, 
 for the consolatory and self-approving reflection, that 
 his utmost exertions had not been wanting to remedy 
 the evil. 
 
 Another method of placing effects beyond the reach 
 of creditors, is practised as follows : The failing mer 
 chant makes an assignment, to two or three particular 
 friends, who, perhaps, are in no other view interested 
 in his concerns, and never receive any other than 
 
LETTER V. 93 
 
 nominal possession. The assignees then advertise that 
 such an assignment has been executed, and that they 
 have duly appointed the insolvent their agent, to settle 
 the concerns, and if any turbulent creditor should 
 thereafter think proper to bring an action against him, 
 he can plead " no property real or personal," be dis 
 charged under the Insolvent Laws, and resume the 
 management of his affairs as usual ; while the bam 
 boozled creditor can only stare with astonishment and 
 mortification, at this hocus-pocus kind of legerdemain 
 robbery. 
 
 A great mass of the American people, however, re 
 probate with virtuous indignation, the laxity of the laws 
 in cases of Insolvency ; they are subject in common 
 with Foreigners, to the depredations practised under 
 them, and deplore with them their fraudulent tendency. 
 It is but justice to add, that the Society of Friends, or 
 Quakers, much to their credit, have made a full stand 
 against these unjust preferences ; no one can remain 
 a Member of their Society who is guilty of them. It 
 is a pity they do not go one step further, and declare 
 him equally guilty, who submits to be favoured by them. 
 To the credit too, of some late unfortunate individuals, 
 
94 LETTER V. 
 
 be it said that they disdained to follow the almost uni 
 versal rule of prefering one Creditor to the injury of 
 another ; the consequence is, they have found their best 
 friends among their sympathising though disappointed 
 Creditors. 
 
 After this exposition, you cannot plead ignorance of 
 the risk you run, in giving credit to persons of whom 
 your knowledge is at best but superficial ; permit one 
 who is a stranger to many of you, to say, that the ex 
 cessive credits you too readily give, cannot fail to result 
 in enormous losses, and if you continue in the practice, 
 in utter ruin. This nation cannot consume the vast 
 amount of Goods continually sent ! and with a few 
 trifling exceptions, scarcely any articles will bring their 
 original cost and charges in America. In consequence 
 of which, and to the irreparable injury of the honest, 
 well-meaning Merchant, Goods are commonly sold at 
 Auctions just as they arrive, by hundreds of packages, 
 always at a loss, and sometimes at sacrifices so great 
 that I forbear suggesting an idea of them, lest it should 
 appear incredible. 
 
 These ruinous losses must ultimately fall upon you. 
 
 Besides the preferences I have already enumerated, 
 it must be remembered that if any debt is due to go- 
 
LETTER V. 95 
 
 Ternment, it is a lien upon the effects of the debtor, 
 and must be paid at all events. The high duties on 
 British Goods are bonded at a credit of eiglit, ten, and 
 twelve months ; anci it will, therefore, be easily imagin 
 ed, that a considerable sum will always, in case of 
 failure, be due to the United States. When this, and 
 the endorsed Notes, and the borrowed money, and 
 the provisions for personal friends is deducted, it will 
 be at once perceived, that the debtor must have stopped 
 in very good time, if there should be any thing left for 
 the general Creditor. 
 
 When you recollect this, and also, that your sole 
 hope and dependence must be, on the native inherent 
 principles of honour and integrity of your Correspon 
 dents in America, that you can have no other reliance, 
 you will assuredly be more cautious and circumspect 
 in your trans-atlantic operations than you have hitherto 
 been. If you are not, permit a friend and native of 
 Great Britain to inform you, that you are travelling, 
 with hasty strides, in the high road to ruin. 
 
 I am, Gentlemen, 
 
 Your obedient Servant, 
 
 JOHN COOK. 
 Philadelphia, March 1st, 1819. 
 
96 LETTER T. 
 
 The following copies of recent Advertisements are 
 exhibited to explain more fully, the coercive, and inti 
 midating mode, of ivliipping in Creditors, according to 
 the conditions of the Assignments. 
 
 NOTICE. 
 
 Whereas Charles Comly and Richard F. Allen, 
 trading under the firm of Coinly and Allen, Merchants, 
 of Philadelphia, did execute to us on the first instant, an 
 assignment of all their Estate, real, personal, and mix 
 ed, in trust, according to the conditions of said assign- 
 ment, one of which conditions is for the benefit of such 
 of their creditors, resident in the United States, who 
 shall execute to them a release within 60 days, or if 
 out of the United States, within six months from the 
 date of said assignment. All those who are indehted 
 to the said Estate, will please to make immediate pay 
 ment to us, or Comly and Allen, who are appointed 
 our Attorneys, with full power to collect and settle all 
 business of the said Estate, under our instructions. 
 The Assignment and release are in our hands, at the 
 
 store of Folwell and Comly, No. 95, Market-street. 
 NATHAN FOLWELL, 
 WM. MONTGOMERY, 
 
 Assignees. 
 December 10, 1818. 
 
LETTER V. 97 
 
 TO CREDITORS, 
 
 The Creditors of the late house of Messrs. Comly 
 and Allen, are hereby again informed, that their re 
 lease is ready for signing at the store of Messrs. Folwell 
 and Comly, No. 95, Market-street, and unless done by 
 the 29th instant, they will be excluded from all benefit 
 under the Assignment. 
 
 NATHAN FOLWELL, 
 WM. MONTGOMERY, 
 Assignees of Comly and Allen. 
 January 19, 1819. 
 
 NOTICE. 
 
 The Creditors of Caverly and Borer are informed 
 that the time limited by their assignment, for executing 
 a release, will expire on tiie.29th instant. Those who 
 wish to avail themselves of the conditions of this said as 
 signment, will find the release at the store of John Gill, 
 jun. and Co. No. 204, Market-street. All those who do 
 not sign the release on or before that day, will be ex- 
 eluded according to the terms thereof, from the bene 
 fits of said assignment. 
 
 PETER CATERLY, 
 January 19, 1819. Attorney for Assignees. 
 
98 LETTER T. 
 
 NOTICE. 
 
 Whereas Henry J. Stuckert, Druggist, of Philadel 
 phia, did execute, on the 14th instant, to John Stuckert, 
 an assignment of all his Estate, real, personal, and 
 mixed, intrust, according to the conditions of the assign 
 ment. The conditions of said assignment are for the 
 benefit of such of his creditors who shall execute to 
 him a release within twenty-nine days from the date of 
 said assignment. 
 
 The assignment is recorded, and the release is left 
 in the hands of H. J. Stuckert, S. \V. corner of Second 
 and Shippen streets. JOHN STUCKERT. 
 
 December 28, 1818. 
 
 NOTICE. 
 
 Take notice, that I have applied to the Judges of 
 the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia county, 
 for the benefit of the several Acts of Insolvency of this 
 Commonwealth, and they have appointed Thursday, 
 the 15th day of October next, at 10 o clcok in the fore 
 noon, at the County Court House, in the City of Phil 
 adelphia, to hear me and my Creditors, when and 
 where you may attend. J. L. THOMPSON. 
 
 Debtor s Apartment, Sep. 28, 1818. 
 
LETTER V. 99 
 
 On the 15th, I went through the house of Joseph 
 Buonaparte, near Bordentown. Without recommen 
 dation or introduction, I was permitted, with the 
 greatest politeness, to view the house and grounds. 
 The ex-king has expended a great deal of money upon 
 this beautiful spot : the house, with the exception of 
 the president s, at Washington, is the best I have seen ; 
 it stands on an eminence on the Jersey bank of the 
 Delaware, and is well set off with native woods. It has 
 nine rooms on a floor, superbly finished and furnished. 
 It is enriched with a collection of paintings, by the 
 best artists : Napoleon crossing the Alps, by David, 
 has been justly praised ; full-length figures of Joseph 
 in his regalia, with his wife and two children, by 
 Gimrde, an apprentice of David, in the same room, 
 are masterly performances. But the rooms are literally 
 crowded with the best specimens of the fine arts. I 
 shall only add, their inspection was one of the greatest 
 treats I have received on this continent. 
 
 Joseph leads here a very retired life, and bears a 
 high character in the neighbourhood, for hospitality, 
 affability, and ready adaptation to the customs of the 
 
 Americans. Perhaps, if he knew it, he is now nearer 
 K2 
 
JOG LETTER V. 
 
 happiness than he has ever yet heen : without the 
 tumult and splendour of usurped regality, he is like 
 wise secure from its dangers and instability, while he 
 retains all the solid blessings of life, wealth, a fine 
 estate, domestic peace, leisure, and popularity. 
 
 Seventh month, 18th. Arrived in New York, and 
 found its commercial state likewise much worse. 
 Emigrants continue to arrive, and their difficulties and 
 perplexities are very distressing. Win. Gillespie, a 
 weaver, from Manchester, who came with us per 
 Hibernia, I find has earned four dollars in eight weeks, 
 and is now without a cent. Several farmers, out of 
 Yorkshire, are just landed, and are much discouraged 
 at the gloomy state of things. I intend setting out on 
 my journey into Connecticut, and thence to Niagara, 
 in a day or two : and when I shall have another op 
 portunity of writing, is very uncertain. 
 
 - 
 
101 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 Abington, 7f& month, 23rd, 1819. 
 
 M 
 
 .Y father will be pleased to hear that I write 
 this at the house of the daughter of General Putnam, 
 whose daring acts excited our admiration so much, 
 when reading an account of this State, many years 
 ago. Near this place is the Wolfs Cave, to which 
 the bold but rash adventure of the General, has at 
 tached so much notoriety.* I have walked to it this 
 
 * A she wolf, that had committed terrible ravages in the 
 folds of the neighbouring county, and had eluded all the pur 
 suits of the inhabitants, escaping with only the loss of part of 
 
102 LETTER VI. 
 
 afternoon, in company with three of his grandaughters. 
 The situation and character of the cave and adjacent 
 scenery, is much as described by Col. Humphries, in 
 his Life of the General. A black and his family live 
 upon the hill near it, and he is the guide for strangers. 
 The cave itself possesses no attraction, except what it 
 derives from the imaginary associations of the General s 
 deeds and his daring, determined, and popular cha 
 racter. Numbers of visitors have left their names in 
 scribed upon the face of the rock and surrounding 
 trees : few, I believe, enter far, to leave a memorial 
 \vithin ; and even the general himself, if alive, weuld 
 find a multitude of enemies in it, each as formidable 
 as the famous she wolf, it being the retreat of abun 
 dance of rattle-snakes ; the guide refused to enter on 
 that account, and I was well contented with a very 
 
 one foot, by which her track was well known, being hunted 
 into this cave, the General was so anxious to make sure of her, 
 that, when nobody beside, not even his slave, would undertake 
 the task, he descended three several times into the cave, whence 
 he was as often dragged by a rope tied to his leg, but eventually 
 succeeded in killing and bringing forth the monster, though 
 himself dreadfully lacerated, by being drawn thro the narrow 
 and rugged openings in the rock, and his life nearly sacrificed. 
 
LETTER YI. 10$ 
 
 transient sojourn in it : I have been, however, gra 
 tified with my visit. It is pleasing to stand upon a 
 spot which, at the distance of several thousand miles, 
 has excited your curiosity, amongst scenes and per 
 sons which the magic of youthful imagination has in 
 vested with a peculiar interest, whilst you sometimes 
 feel a dreary doubtfulness that the theatre of action 
 which books have made familiar to the mind, is really 
 before you. The kindness and agreeable society of 
 the General s children, was equally grateful and unex 
 pected. In person and in mind, they are ornaments 
 to their country ; and their hospitality to a stranger, 
 will long continue to recall them to my memory. 
 
 Two days after I wrote last, I left New York, by 
 the Chancellor Livington s steam boat, for Newboirgh. 
 This boat, considered the best upon the line, cost 
 100,000 dollars. In the evening, I went to see our 
 friends at Canterbury ; and the next morning accom 
 panied C. W. to Cornwall, to view a cotton-factory. 
 The machinery was good, but very dirty : wages for 
 women in the mill, 2 and \ dollars per week, from "sun 
 up to sun down. j/ I called upon the widow of David 
 Sands, and was shewn, under an apple-tree ia his 
 
104 LETTER VI. 
 
 orchard, a stone inscribed with his initials, which 
 marked the place of his interment. This patriarchal 
 custom of burying in their own grounds, is very com* 
 mon here, and conveys to the mind of a stranger, a 
 very pleasing idea : it carries it back to the infancy of 
 society, when all was simplicity, and nature dictated 
 to the bereaved relatives a mode of softening mental 
 separation, by depositing the remains of departed 
 friends in a spot which uninterrupted retirement might 
 allow the foot frequently to revisit, and the heart to 
 recall the remembrance of their virtues and endear 
 ments. How much more agreeable to decorum, the 
 health of society, and natural feeling, than our crowded 
 burial-places, where every fresh corpse is an intruder 
 upon the repose of another. 
 
 Before leaving Newburgh, I called at the bank to 
 exchange their bills for specie, to take with me into 
 the western country. The scene which occurred will 
 furnish a tolerable specimen of American banking. 
 Addressing the cashier, " I will thank thee to give me 
 specie for these bills of yours :" the cashier, without 
 reply, took the notes, counted them, laid down in their 
 place the amount, in five dollar-bills of their own, and 
 
LETTER VI. 105 
 
 marched back in profound silence. " Cashier ! these 
 won t do! I want specie, or United Slates bills." 
 " Our bills are as good as specie." " Possibly ! but 
 they are not what I want : I want specie ! " He then 
 canie again, took the notes, and laid down New York 
 notes, and walked back to his desk again. " Cashier! 
 what is the meaning of this ? Am I to have specie or 
 not ? " " Arn t New York bills good enough for you ? " 
 " No ! nor your s neither ! Shall you give me specie, 
 or not ? " " Where are you going ? " "I am going to 
 the west." " Our notes will go as far as you !" "That 
 is not to the purpose ! I must be short : only tell me, 
 Will you give me specie, or will you not?" (To a 
 boy,) "My son, call Mr. Belknap!" (Enter the 
 banker. " Mr. Belknap ! This ere man says your 
 notes are not good, nor New York neither ! He will 
 hare specie. What s to be done ? " Then I added, 
 "Or United States bills." (Banker,) "Give him 
 United States bills." (Cashier,) " I won t : I have 
 them all packed up ! " (Banker,) " Then give him 
 specie." Here the old Yankee reluctantly counted 
 out the specie. This is considered one of the most 
 respectable banks in the Union ; the discount upon 
 
106 LETTER VI. 
 
 their notes being at that time, in New York, but 2J, 
 whilst several others were 20, 30, and 50 per cent. 
 
 Rencounters of this sort are not very agreeable to 
 travellers : but, firmness is requisite, as the loss upon 
 the local notes, by being obliged to give heavy discounts 
 when carried to a distance, is too considerable to per 
 mit indifference ; in fact, such is the commercial state 
 of the country, that the notes of the multitude of local 
 banks are not current at any discount, beyond their 
 own immediate neighbourhood. 
 
 When you have your expenses to pay at a tavern, 
 it is with the greatest difficulty you can find a bill, 
 amongst the greatest variety, which will satisfy your 
 host. My brother was at one, where a poor Scotch 
 man had but one 3-dollar bill, and was obliged to give 
 one dollar to get it changed. The recent emigrant, 
 ignorant of this state of things, and unsuspecting, is 
 commonly the dupe of the wary American. The worst 
 notes are given him in exchange, with the most solemn 
 assurances that " they are the best in the Union, and 
 will pay anywhere." The country is inundated with 
 such notes, admirably executed ; and by that means, 
 
LETTER VI. 107 
 
 perhaps, more readily delude the stranger. On every 
 new settlement, where three or four houses are erected, 
 there arises a tavern, a store, and a bank, but most 
 commonly, the banker and the store-keeper are one 
 person. With such notes as these, a fellow-traveller of 
 mine was furnished, on his journey to the western 
 States, at the different taverns where he received 
 change, and tending a variety of them at one, for the 
 payment of his bill, the landlord rejected them succes 
 sively, as he offered them. An American sitting by, 
 requested permission to inspect them, and select those 
 payable in that part of the country. He looked them 
 over, there were upwards of sixty, and returned them, 
 saying, " you have but one good one, the Utica." 
 "Well, (said the traveller,) I knew that was good, 
 and always depended upon it, but the landlord may 
 have it." He turned them over and over ; but the 
 Utica note, (the only good one,) was gone off between 
 the nimble fingers of the friendly American examiner. 
 
 Seventh month, 21st. Crost the North River, and 
 past thro Fishkill-town to Buckstown and to Simpson s 
 tavern, thirty-one miles, on this side the river, Duchess 
 County, New York State. I was pleased to find a 
 
108 LETTER VI. 
 
 most agreeable change in the aspect of the country. 
 It is line and romantic. The land is good, and the crops 
 consequently abundant. Wheat yields from 2| to 5 
 qrs. per acre, oats 3 to 7, barley 3 to 5, rye 5, Indian 
 rorn 5, the dark sap-green colour of the last, which 
 was then in full flower, and so high and thick, that a 
 horse let loose into it, would be lost ; formed a striking 
 contrast to that in the state of Maryland. Natural 
 and artificial grasses are here cultivated to advantage, 
 fine crops of which were then cutting. Most of the 
 wheat and rye was got in, the oats and barley chiefly 
 standing. The wheat and rye are there cut with the 
 scythe, and collected by a rake attached to it. The 
 reaper by a peculiar management of this instrument, at 
 once cuts and forms the grain into sheaves. This pro 
 cess is termed cradling, a process in my opinion, by 
 no means convenient, or offering one advantage over 
 that of the English farmer, yet it is one to which the 
 Americans are strongly attached. It was gratifying 
 once more to observe some decent flocks of sheep, as 
 well as a few good dairies. I saw 2 oxen grazing from 
 60 to 70 stone each. The sheep are generally strong 
 woolled and close coated, clipping from 3 to Gibs each, 
 
LETTER VI. 109 
 
 and when fed weighing from 17 to 20lbs. per quarter. 
 The cattle may be ranked upon an equality with the 
 English; a very kind dark red, half horned sort, and 
 the cows excellent milkers. The gardens of some far 
 mers are large, and well stocked, chiefly with squashes, 
 cucumbers, mush and watermelons, french beans, &c. 
 but not one gooseberry to be seen, or scarceley a 
 cabbage. Land on the flats sells for 150 dollars per 
 acre, high land from 20 to 50. 
 
 Twenty-second. Rode 14 miles to breakfast across 
 the mountains which separate New York state, from 
 Connecticut In their general character they resemble 
 the peak mountains, though on a grander scale, high 
 and beautifully hung with wood, The roads are steep 
 and rough, but in their direction, evince the ingenious 
 parsimony of an infant state. In an old and wealthy 
 country, where population is close, and commercial 
 transactions extensive, the necessity of dispatch, the 
 fastidious taste of the opulent inhabitants, the splendid 
 chariot of patrician luxury, and the ponderous vehicle 
 of its manufactures and stores, demand good and direct 
 roads .Every obstacle to motion in strait lines vanishes ; 
 
 mountains are levelled, vallies filled, marshes drained, 
 t 
 
110 LETTER VI. 
 
 the noble bridge spans the impeding river, and the 
 accommodated traveller meets no obstruction but a few 
 solitary toll-bars, to remind him of the rugged route 
 and perilous peregrinations of his ancestors. But in a 
 newly populated land, where the soil is yet unsubdued, 
 and the resources are small, he must wind carefully 
 round the sides of the mountain; he must circumscribe 
 the morass, and pay his toll in muscular exertion and 
 delay. The circuitous roads of this hilly country how 
 ever, present you with frequent recompense for your 
 toil, by suddenly throwing on the view, a glorious pros 
 pect of rich vallies, foaming cataracts, far winding ri 
 vers, distant towns, and a world of woods ; in short 
 every thing which is considered noble and awful in 
 nature. At one moment you are entombed in the 
 gloomy stillness of the forest, the next, the dreadful 
 precipice yawns on the one hand below ; the impending 
 mountain towers on the other, and waves its mighty 
 and primeval trees, in defiance of the axe. The squir 
 rel pounces from tree to tree, the gaudy tribe of wood 
 peckers glance their rich hues to the sun, and shout 
 in the solitude of the wood, you are now lifted to the 
 breeze and cheering aspect of 
 
LETTER VI. Ill 
 
 "The summer heaven s delicious blue," 
 and now returned to the calm seclusion of the valley, 
 and forgive the circumvolutions of the road, for the 
 beguiling variety it affords. 
 
 I overtook a person riding along these mountains 
 withsaddle-bags, and as we entered into the true inquisi 
 tive pro and con of American conversation, in return 
 for his familar queries, I took the liberty of enquiring 
 where he was going, and what was his busines. He 
 assured me very readily that he was one of the faculty 
 going to visit his patients. His horse did not appear to 
 be worth 3 dollars, lame and poor, yet quite as respect 
 able as its rider in appearance. I asked him his opin 
 ion of the Indian doctors, (some men in New York, 
 who had been amongst the Indians and adopted their 
 mode of administering herbs.) " We physicians " said 
 he " call them quacks. " It may sound oddly to an 
 English ear, for a man carrying his drugs with him in 
 his saddle-bags, as in this instance, styling himself 
 Physician. But this is nothing odd here. The whole 
 practical range of the healing art, is here commited to 
 one man. He is physician, surgeon, apothecary, drug 
 gist and often more than this, storekeeper and vender 
 
112 LETTER VI. 
 
 of all the vulgar sundries of a country shop. A patient 
 mentis for a son of ^Esculapius. He takes up his bags 
 well stored with potent drugs, mounts his horse, arrives, 
 explores by tact of pulse, and learned interrogative 
 the complaint, opens his budget, prepares his nostrum, 
 and if necessary pierces a vein, or amputates a limb. 
 This is an advertisement I have seen in the Buffalo 
 Gazette for months together. In fact such are always 
 to be seen. "Doctor E.Johnson, oppposite to the bank, 
 lias on hand at his druggists store, a large supply of 
 drugs and medicines, paints of every description, also 
 linseed oil, together with an extensive assortment of 
 confectionary, likewise a choice assortment of best figs, 
 almonds, raisins, prunes and tamarinds. All of which 
 ill be sold very low for cash." 
 
 This tract of country to speak of it generally, is 
 rough and uneven, yet well cultivated, thickly inhabi 
 ted, and blest with prolific soil. The crops of corn and 
 grass are abundant, the cattle good, many of which 
 when fed, weigh 60 stone, of 14lbs. to the stone, the 
 oxen are the best I have seen, especially upon the rich 
 and extensive flats upon this river, where they fre 
 quently weigh 80 stones. They are the most common 
 
LETTER VI. 113 
 
 beasts of draught. Their horses which are fine blood 
 bays, with black legs, strong bones, and good action, 
 being only drawn occasionally. This place is rightly 
 called Farmington, for a farming town it is, having 
 the best land, excellent water, healthy situation, and 
 evincing more neatness, comfort, and good agriculture 
 than any place I have yet visited. Here I was sensi 
 bly struck with the different reception and better at 
 tention to his comfort which a trveller receives, that in 
 the other states I have travelled in. Instead of being 
 obliged to put up my own horse, to clean him down, 
 fetch his corn, &c. here was a man ready to do all 
 this, and who gave him besides, the rare luxury of a 
 little straw to lie upon. My own treatment was equal- 
 ly superior. With all the American freedom, there 
 was more appearance of desire to oblige, of a sense of 
 real comfort, less vulgarity, and of that manner which 
 seems to say, do as we like, or go about your business. 
 This improved state of the taverns, and I may say, of 
 society in general, I find to prevail in this state. It 
 has been longer settled: the heterogeneous and repellent 
 principles of its original population, have gradually 
 amalgamated, in the fervour of novel liberty, or rather 
 unbounded license, society has at length flowed into 
 
114 LETTER VI. 
 
 a more uniform and tranquil channel. Education has 
 smoothed off some of its asperities, and has developed 
 the more pleasing traits which mark a people not only 
 free, hut enlightened. 
 
 Seventh month, 23rd. I reached Hartford to break 
 fast, which consisted of veal cutlets, boiled potatoes, cu 
 cumbers, pickles, toast, bread and butter, pound cake, 
 cheese, fruit-pye, coffee, and cider. This is a handsome 
 little city, the capital of the state. The river Connecticut 
 on which it stands, is navigable up to it, at high-water 
 for vessels of 300 tons. It possesses some commerce, 
 and a good soil. Thence I proceeded through Ox 
 ford, Mansfield, Ashford, and to this place inPomfret 
 township. To speak generally of this state, it posses 
 ses a diversity of situation and good soil, commonly 
 well cultivated. To the agriculturist of capital, it af 
 fords the best prospect I have yet seen. Here he would 
 find land that would repay his labour, without the in 
 calculable privations and sufferings of a scarcely explored 
 wilderness; but from the advanced state of population, 
 a selection of an eligible spot would be attended with 
 some difficulty : such spots must be purchased at a 
 high rate, and are not very numerous. To-morrow 
 
LETTER VI. 115 
 
 morning I again resume my journey towards the Lake 
 country, and as it will most likely be a long time before 
 I have another opportunity of writing at my leisure, 
 the next letter which falls into your hands will probably 
 be a long one. 
 
116 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 Buffalo, Wh Month, 9th, 1819. 
 
 v T E are just returned to this place, from viewing 
 the awful and tremendous falls of Niagara, an objectof 
 great curiosity to foreigners, but of the utmost indiffer 
 ence to Americans, who are not very sensitive to natural 
 beauty. A man of whom we enquired the way about 
 1.5 miles distant, and who had lived there many years, 
 but had never seen them, told us that none but 
 Englishmen were such fools, to go so far to see a heap 
 of water tumbled down a rock. But as we are now 
 enjoying here, a day of sweet tranquility and rest, I 
 shall not immediately take you to the falls, but lead 
 you by the same way we arrived at them from Abingdon. 
 
LETTER VII. 117 
 
 Seventh month, 27th. I left Newburgh per stage, 
 for Forbe s tavern, Wayne county, Pensylvania. At 
 Bloomingburgh, the stage driver presented me with a 
 live rattlesnake, with nine rattles on its tail, and said 
 to be as many years old ; after securing it in a strong 
 box, I directed it to our kind friend F. T. of New York, 
 and forwarded per mail stage. These reptiles abound 
 in the mountains over which we travelled the whole 
 day. On the morrow I reached Joseph Stevensons s 
 tavern, where I met brother. Here we saw a settler 
 busy thrashing the grasshoppers and cicados off a field 
 of buck-wheat, which was just coming up. These in 
 sects are one of the plagues of America, and absolutely 
 worse than the Egyptian locusts, for with all their vo 
 racity they have a perpetual succession. The country 
 is full of them, and wherever an opening is made, and 
 corn or grass sown, they come in clouds to bask in 
 the sun, and devour every green blade. The labour of 
 expelling them is the labour of Sysiphus, the settlers 
 thrash their grounds all over with boughs, and they 
 dance before them like a cloud of dust. But they 
 only dance from one place to another, by the man is at 
 one end of the field the other is restocked. It seems 
 an evil as irremediable as it is serious. Kill millions, 
 
118 LETTER vit. 
 
 millions supply their places ; for millions of acres are 
 full, and no means can possibly repress them. The 
 ground is buried under them. Every step you take in 
 the sun, they start up in thousands, striking against 
 your face with surprising force, and if you are not 
 careful, jumping into your mouth. No description 
 can possibly convey an idea of their swarming numbers, 
 they are of several sizes and species, from the size of 
 a gnat, to that of a dragon-fly. Some of the large spe 
 cies have wings, and fly to a distance of 50 yards. If 
 a man only lays down his cloaths in the sun, they are 
 devoured immediately, and such is their voracity, that 
 my brother having laid down his gun a few minutes in 
 the grass, found on taking it up they had nearly ruined 
 the stock, by eating into it in various places. 
 
 On the 30th we passed our old friend M Carthy s, 
 who pressed us very kindly to stay a few days with 
 him ; and in the afternoon the great bend of the Susque- 
 hanna, and lodged at Chenango-point. This is a beau 
 tiful village on the Chenango river. The neighbouring 
 flats on the Susquehanna, are rich and produce abun 
 dant crops of corn and garden produce, but the roads 
 are dreadfully bad. In the morning we started again 
 
LETTER VII. 119 
 
 by the stage at 4 o clock, breakfasted at Owego, a fine 
 village on the Susquehanna, past through Ithaca on 
 the lake Cayuga and arrived at Ovid, a distance of 76 
 miles at 11 at night. Nothing can surpass in beauty 
 the scenery of this part of the lake country. Besides 
 the magic effect of woods, wilds, and waters, the fertile 
 soil laden with exuberant crops of wheat and other 
 grain, and a thickly settled population, not only charm 
 the imagination with the grand and beautiful, but in 
 dulge the heart with the association of plenty and en 
 joyment. We again started hence at 4 o clock in the 
 morning, along the east side of the Seneca lake to 
 Geneva, which stand on its north point. The soil on 
 this side is not equal to that on the west; where after 
 passing the north point we past through a tract of land 
 formerly cleared by the Aborigines for a settlement. 
 The soil is of an excellent quality, and indeed this ob 
 servation seems superfluous, because it is well known 
 the Indians never pitched upon any but the most fer 
 tile spots. The ancient proprietors of the country, 
 while it lay before them, a mighty wilderness, they 
 had an unbonded choice, and they naturally appro 
 priated only the best, the cream of the country. Their 
 mode of clearing the earth of its trees, I never could 
 
120 LETTER VII. 
 
 learn for a certainty, but it was probably one of those 
 ingenious resources of native invention, an instance of 
 that facility of directing the unassisted efforts of muscu 
 lar power, and of supplying the want of mechanical 
 knowledge, and appropriate implements,^ conspicuous 
 in uncivilized men. Most likely they girdled the trees 
 by taking off the bark, and after perishing, set fire to 
 them .On these openings they erected their wigwams, 
 grazed their cows, and completed the routine of their 
 agriculture, by scratching in their Indian and Broom 
 corn. Geneva is a large and populous town, de 
 lightfully situated, and containing many good houses. 
 From this place, to Canandaigua, the country continues 
 rich and fine, rather flat yet apparently healthy. The 
 soil is light hazel. It is adorned with flourishing or 
 chards, hung with fruit to such a degree, that many of 
 the boughs were supported by props, and many broken 
 down. The grain was mostly got in but the grass look 
 ed well. The timber yet standing is chiefly large, the 
 sugar maple, white oak, elm, hickory, and a few beech 
 and bass-wood. \Ve met a party of Indians on a jour 
 ney, near Canandaigua. The men were dressed pret 
 ty much like the Yankeys, with silver bands about 2 
 inches broad, round their hats; but the squaws or In- 
 
LETTER VII. 
 
 dian women wore no covering on their heads. They 
 were wrapt in blankets tied wiih yellow strings, and 
 carried their whole luggage, with the exception of a 
 rifle and an axe, which were carried by each man. 
 A boy about 12 or 13 years old, carried a bow and arrows. 
 Their whole appearance, their complexion, dress, and 
 equipage, resembled most strikingly those of the English 
 gypsies. Their ears w r ere loaded with ear-rings. I have 
 seenmany of the white settlersof a far moreswarthy hue 
 than these natives. Their hair is, as commonly describ 
 ed, quite the reverse to that of negroes, long, silky, and 
 flowing over their shoulders, of a jet black. They were 
 far from possessing that athletic frame and formidable 
 air, I had anticipated, being remarkably thin, but tall 
 and straight. Canandaigua is increasing in population 
 very fast, and is situated on the head of the lake, from 
 which it derives its name. Leaving this place in the 
 afternoon, we walked on about 6 miles from Bloomfield, 
 on the Buffalo road, and again in the morning set oft* 
 very early on foot ; crossed the Genessee river about 
 noon, and turned out of our way a short distance to 
 visit a settlement of Indians, who have a reservation 
 ou this river, 2 miles by 1, part of which is fine prairie, 
 
 M 
 
122 LETTER Til. 
 
 some resembling more than any thing we have yet seen 
 -fen English park, a few fine white oaks standing at in 
 tervals, and cattle grazing under them ; yet, neverthe 
 less, more neglected, more wilderness like, exhibiting 
 here and there thickets and underwood. We found the 
 men drest only in shirts, and their wigwams made of 
 bark of trees. Their gardens were well stocked with 
 potatoes and a few fruit trees. They were little dis 
 posed to say any thing to us, and nothing seemed to 
 break the apathy of any of them, except the double- 
 barrelled gun which caught the fancy of one. I asked 
 him to shoot at a mark, but the wary Indian would not 
 consent till I had discharged one barrel, when he fired 
 the other. The number of their wigwams did not exceed 
 15 or 16. Before some of them, their deer-skins were 
 stretched in the sun to dry. 
 
 Eight month, 3rd, we passed through Batavia, and 
 over the Tonnewante Creek to Clarence, forty miles, 
 thirty of which we performed on foot, the rain having 
 cooled and softened the roads. We crossed several 
 black swarnps, very common inGenessee county, which 
 is flat, and very productive of ague and fever. These 
 swamp s are rendered passable by trees cut down, and 
 
LETTER YII. 128 
 
 laid side by side. You will readily conceive the de* 
 licious jolting of the carriage, as it goes bouncing from 
 one tree to another, and frequently more than a mile 
 together. Here brother shot a hen-hawk, as called 
 by the settlers, and much dreaded by them for the 
 havock it makes amongst the poultry, the wings of 
 which were each two feet long. 
 
 On the 4th, we reached Buffalo at noon, and rested 
 the afternoon. At Williamsville, about ten miles from 
 this place, on our morning s route, is a pleasant village 
 of about twenty houses. The soil, in this part of the 
 county of Niagara, is very strong, with a clayey sub 
 soil; the country flat, the woods, on the road side, 
 turned into farms, and thickly settled. Sheep are 
 worth 1 dollar each ; milch cattle, 20 to 30 dollars ; 
 good oxen, 89 dollars; wheat, 1 dollar, Indian 7s. 
 ( New York money, of 8s. to the dollar,) oats, 6s. or 
 j dollar; barley and buck -wheat, each 1 dollar per 
 bushel. In the evening, we walked down to the lake, 
 and were highly delighted with the view of so vast an 
 expanse of fresh water, more resembling a fine bay of 
 the ocean : the eye revels on the dark blue waves unre 
 strained, except by the American woods on the left, 
 M 2 
 
124 LETTER VII. 
 
 and those of Canada on the right. In the morning, 
 we walked to Seneca village, inhabited by the Indians, 
 who have reserved a track along the banks of Buffalo 
 Creek, of the most luxuriant land I have seen in 
 America. The elm and button wood are growing to a 
 most stupendous size. Wild fruit, apples, grapes, a 
 large species of haws, &c. hung in abundance. We 
 found the natives busily employed, covering in with 
 shingles a council-house, which they likewise intend 
 for a place of worship. It was from this settlement 
 that the young men who visited England in 1818, went. 
 We told them we were English travellers called to see 
 them, and to enquire after the safety and health of the 
 young men whe had been in our country. We were 
 presently introduced to them, who came and shook 
 hands with us. Young King being informed of our 
 arrival, came and shook hands likewise with us, and 
 conducted us into the council-house, where we were 
 seated upon some boards, and the object of our visit 
 enquired into. After these questions, they requested 
 us to meet them again in two hours, in which time 
 they would be prepared with a talk and an interpreter. 
 Leaving them in consultation, we accepted the hm- 
 
LETTER VII. 125 
 
 tation of J. B. Hyde, the presby terian minister residing 
 there, to dine. 
 
 In two hours they sent for us ; we were introduced 
 again into their council-house, where we found twenty 
 Indians assembled : we were seated on boards in the 
 inidst of them. The interpreter rose and stood before 
 us ; and after a short and solemn silence, he informed 
 us they were ready to speak to us. Young King then 
 began an address, with a solemnity of manner and of 
 tone, which, combined with the novelty of the scene, 
 the dress, the deep attention, the gravity and profound 
 silence of the surrounding chiefs, struck a feeling of 
 subduing awe into my bosom, such as I have seldom 
 felt. The interpreter explained his speech to this ef 
 fect : " We return our thanks to the Great Spirit, 
 " who has brought you safe through your long and 
 " perilous journey from beyond the ocean to see us, 
 " and the young men who visited your country. We 
 " are thankful to the Great Spirit for their preservation 
 " and safe return to us : we are thankful to our brothers 
 " the friends in England, for their great kindness and 
 " attention to our young men, when in your country. 
 " You may inform them, we have prepared and sent 
 M 3 
 
126 LETTER VII. 
 
 " them an address two weeks ago. Let them know, 
 " we have built a meeting-house, to worship the Great 
 " Spirit in. We think, (like our brothers, the white 
 " people,) that it is better to have a covering over us 
 " in wet and stormy weather. We should like to write 
 " again by you, but fear your time will not admit of it. 
 " We will take care to inform our neighbours, of your 
 " wish to have a few things of our making to take back 
 " with you to England. We wish you to excuse us 
 " being found in this manner, as your visit has been 
 " sudden and unexpected to us : had we known, we 
 " would have been better dressed. We hope the 
 " Great Spirit will preserve you through your long 
 " and perilous journey, and conduct you back to your 
 " families and friends, who no doubt will receive you 
 " with the same feelings of gratitude and affection as we 
 " did our young men, who we feared would have never 
 " returned. We have done." I then replied, "Bro- 
 " thers ! we are much obliged by your kind and friendly 
 " reception, and are glad to find that the young men are 
 " returned in safety to their country and their friends. 
 " We will tell our friends in England, that you have 
 " built a meeting-house at Buffalo Creek, to worship 
 
LETTER VII. 127 
 
 " the Great Spirit in, if we are favoured with a safe 
 " return, they will rejoice to hear it." Brothers ! we 
 " shall be happy to take any communication from you 
 " or your young men, to the friends on our side of the 
 " ocean. Brothers ! we are glad to find you dwelling 
 " in so fertile and pleasant a situation. You have fine 
 " soil, fine water, fine corn, and fine fruits. Let no 
 " white men tempt you to sell this beautiful remnant 
 " of your fathers country. You have every thing in 
 " the ground necessary for the production of all the 
 " blessings of life. We are glad to see the dawn of 
 " agriculture amongst you. Let it proceed ; and tho* 
 " your reservation is small, it is amply sufficient to 
 " afford you abundance. We hope the Great Spirit 
 " will send you good crops, and incline your hearts to 
 " a quiet and settled life. If you are industrious in 
 " cultivating your land, you will be happier in this 
 " little spot with the plough and the hoe, than you 
 " could be with the bow or the rifle, and the possession 
 " of this vast continent. Brothers ! we intend to see- 
 " you again in two days, when you may rely upon us 
 " giving you a fair price for the few things we wish to* 
 " take back as curiosities for our friends." 
 
128 LETTER VI I. 
 
 We were disappointed in not seeing Red Jacket the* 
 famous orator, who, we understood, was gone on ail 
 embassy from the United States to some hostile tribe 
 of Indians ; an employment in which he is often en 
 gaged. The animated eloquence, and the talents for 
 negociation, of this celebrated man, are most aston 
 ishing ; and nothing but an equal education, and field 
 of action, are wanting, to place him by the side of a 
 Cicero or a Chatham. 
 
 Eighth month, 6th. On leaving the Indians, we 
 proceeded that evening ten miles towards the Falls, 
 which we reached at eleven the next morning. As we 
 drew nearer them, the country became more and more 
 thinly inhabited, the soil more strong and clayey, and 
 the distant war of the cateracts, seemed to make the 
 surrounding solitude more sensibly felt. To attempt 
 to describe this stupendous object, would be vain : it 
 would be only to prove, (as all descriptions of it either 
 by the pen or pencil, which I have seen, have done,) 
 how infinitely far we lag behind in the strift with na 
 ture, when she chooses to mock the imitative powers 
 of man. 
 
LETTER TU. 129 
 
 This justly-celebrated fall has been visited by many 
 of my countrymen ; and it was a pleasing thought, that 
 wild and awful as were the scenes around me, tre 
 mendous the object before me, and vast the distance I 
 had traversed to behold it, the desert I trod, or the 
 rock where I sat, had witnessed many of my Compa 
 triots before me, led by the same impulse, and over 
 powered by the same feelings. Curiosity, ami the in 
 extinguishable attachment to the great and beautiful in 
 nature, inherent in the cultivated mind, flit with an 
 eagle wing over earth and ocean, to the objects of their 
 adoration, and the immensity of the distance is for 
 gotten in the fleet and successive visits of their votaries. 
 
 In this rambling age, we talk of the wonders of a 
 distant hemisphere with such numbers who have seen 
 them, that we imagine ourselves almost in contact with 
 them. The toils, the perils, the enormity of the inter- 
 Tening space, pass by unfelt, and they appear to the 
 fancy with the familiarity of a next-door gossip, t 
 doubt not, but numbers who have travelled before me 
 to this awful scene, have thought, at a distance, of the 
 exact descriptions by which they would enable their 
 friends to see what they saw, and to give them a 
 
130 LETTER VII. 
 
 powerful participation in their feelings, and it was 
 not till the mighty torrent burst upon their view, and 
 they were lost in the appalling thunder of its terrible 
 concussion, that they found that nature, in her sub- 
 limest oratory, spoke to the senses and the soul in a 
 language they had learnt to feel, but never to commu 
 nicate The man who has stood and watched the 
 giant flood precipitating down the precipice of 150 feet, 
 and stretching its snowy volume of falling waters three 
 quarters of a mile, who has glanced in giddy fear on 
 the phrerizleu, foaming agnation of the gulpu below, 
 sending its tormented waters in clouds of vapour to 
 the skies, awe-struck, "stunned with the eternal dis 
 sonance," will bow in prostrate adoration, and while 
 his soul expands to nobler conceptions of the might 
 and majesty of the Eternal, he will renounce the hope 
 to trace, with an earthly pencil, the inimitable sketches 
 of his hand. 
 
 Tn approaching these falls, we pursued the course of 
 the river downwards from Buffalo, and our attention 
 was first arrested by the sound, at the distance of 18 
 miles. At | of a mile distant the rapids commenced, 
 the river taking a quick descent, and rushing impe- 
 
LETTER YI7. 131 
 
 tuously over a vast number of rocks in its course, 
 which worked it into a fierce torrent of white foam. 
 Drawing nearer to the fall, there are several small is 
 lands, and one on the brink of the precipice, [Goat s 
 Island,] to which we passed by a bridge. Here the 
 view of the descending flood burst suddenly upon us, 
 and we remained some time in silent contemplation of 
 the awfully magnificent spectacle. This island, which 
 divides the stream, was, a short time ago, the secure 
 feyry of a number of Bald Eagles ; but the bridge ex 
 posed them to the intrusion of travellers, and they 
 have totally deserted it. In attempting to go between 
 the sheet of falling water and the precipice, from the 
 stairs on the American side, we were wet through in 
 an instant by the spray, and so bewildered as to be 
 obliged to retreat. On the Canadian side, where we 
 did not attempt it, I understand it is readily practicable. 
 The stream at the Falls, takes a sudden turn, and 
 becomes contracted into a very narrow channel : we 
 passed over here in a boat to the Canadian side. The 
 water in this gulph is 347 feet deep, and the rocks oil 
 each side nearly perpendicular, and extremely dan 
 gerous ; having climbed that side, you are presented 
 
132 LETTER VII. 
 
 by far with the noblest and most complete view of the 
 Falls. As we sat in the boat, I took up some of the 
 foam that covered the waters, and, squeezing it in my 
 hand, found that it possessed a sort of solidity that 
 astonished me, more resembling the compression of 
 snow than of foam : a gentleman has since assured me, 
 that I might have carried it with me, in that state, to 
 England. He attempted to explain this singular 
 phenomenon, by distributing its consistency to a vast 
 portion of sulphurous and aluminous matter, which is 
 carried down by the rapids, and incorporated with the 
 foam by the force and agitation of the cateract. By 
 the rapids, on the American side, are erected several 
 mills ; at one of which, a man will cut 270 small nails 
 per minute. On that side, and on Goat Island, grow 
 some of the largest arbor vita?, or white cedar trees, I 
 ever saw, some of them measuring seven feet round. 
 We walked back on the Canadian side of the river, 
 which is wide and level, with no rapids, except in the 
 immediate vicinity of the falls. 
 
 On this side we observed some good farms, well 
 managed, and exhibiting (what was become a novelty 
 to us) clean fallows and good large flocks of sheep. 
 
LETTER VII. 133 
 
 The inhabitants seem to exult in the idea, that they 
 are British subjects, and not dirty yankeys. 
 
 The spirit of hostility and jealousy, generated by the 
 mutual outrages of boundary territories, is but too 
 visible here. The memory of war is recent in their 
 bosoms, and the vestiges of its ruins are still before 
 their eyes. We saw several graves, enclosed with 
 palisades, which (they told us) were those of British 
 officers, slain during the war, some of whom were of 
 distinction. This desolating scourge had destroyed 
 the houses of the settlers, on both sides the river, but 
 particularly the Canadian, which is more cultivated. 
 On the other, Buffalo was completely burnt down, with 
 the exception of one house ; it is now re-built, and a 
 place of considerable importance, extending near two 
 miles in length. 
 
 As soon as the wind is favourable, we intend sailing 
 up the lake Erie, for the Miami, and pursuing our 
 journey for Birkbeck s settlement, in the Illinois. 
 Till we return thence, we shall not have the pleasure 
 of receiving any of your communications ; a privation, 
 in a foreign land, sufficient of itself to stimulate to the 
 acme of exertion. 
 
134 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 Tuncsassah> Cattarausus County, N. Y. 
 8th month, 16th, 1819. 
 
 JL NOW address you from one of those settlements 
 of our friends amongst the Indians, for the purpose of 
 civilizing them, of which we have had so many ac 
 counts in England. Accustomed to solitary and savage 
 wanderings so long, to find friends in this wilderness, 
 was like arriving at home, and now, that I am at the 
 point of leaving it, I feel it doubly so ; but, before I 
 give you any introduction to this interesting place, I 
 must, according to my regular custom, lead you by the 
 same path that I entered myself. 
 
LETTER VIII. 13$ 
 
 My last was dated Buffalo, the 7th of this month. 
 We waited several days in vain, for a fair wind ; during 
 which time, we were discouraged by repeated accounts 
 of the dangers of the voyage down the Wabash, on 
 account of the hostile state of the Indians on its banks. 
 My brother and I began to grow heartily tired of this 
 country, too much so to trust our sculls to the terrible 
 tomahawk, through our desire of exploring its more 
 western territories ; we therefore concluded, I should 
 proceed to Pittsburgh alone, by the way of this set 
 tlement, while he returned to New York, to make 
 preparations for the voyage to Europe. 
 
 On the 9th, we again visited the Indians, and pur 
 chased a few of their curiosities, and, on the llth, 
 my brother and I separated, and I took the road 
 towards Concord, on foot, but was overtaken by a 
 gentleman of that place, with whom I rode in his wag 
 gon 38 miles, passing through Hamburgh and Boston. 
 In Boston township, we saw an ancient breast- work forr 
 tification, not less in the internal diameter than 40 yards. 
 Some pieces of iron have been found about it, and the 
 trees upon it are as large, and appear as old, as any to 
 be found in the woods : a decisive proof that this work 
 N2 
 
136 LETTER V11I. 
 
 must have been cast up at a very distant period, and 
 that by a race of people, perhaps, not of a more mar 
 tial spirit than the present, but acquainted with more 
 formidable modes of warfare, acquainted with iron, 
 that reputed criterion of a great advance in civilization, 
 and accustomed to the erection of works that bespeak 
 habits of laborious activity, and an acquaintance with 
 the mechanical powers. It is a singular fact, that 
 these remains are chiefly found in the west and north 
 west of this continent; the route which agrees exactly 
 with the universal ancestrel tradition of the Indians, 
 respecting the original peopling of America. I have 
 not seen this circumstance noticed by any writer on 
 that subject; but it is important, and I shall speak of 
 it again on a future occasion. I travelled eight miles 
 along the beach of the lake, and afterwards through 
 a newly-settled wilderness, over rough ground and 
 abounding stumps. 
 
 My journey, the next day, from Springville to the 
 Cataragus land office, (18 miles,) was through an un 
 broken desert for 16 miles. It was the most fatiguing 
 journey I ever experienced, and one that I almost 
 despaired of ever accomplishing, having no track, 
 
LETTER VIII. 137 
 
 but marks on the trees, which had been made some 
 time by the surveyors, for a new road, and which were 
 very difficult to find : in addition to this, the latter part 
 of the road was extremely mountainous, and, after 
 walking ten hours, with no other refreshment than 
 water from the springs, (in which time I saw but one 
 small loghouse,) over dead trees, sticks, roots and plants, 
 clambering up hills and precipices, I was no little 
 delighted once more to reach the habitations of men. 
 
 On the 13th, t reached a Squire Green s, on the 
 Great Valley Creek, ten miles from the Cattaraugus 
 land-office. The soil, along this valley, appears par 
 ticularly rich, by the luxuriance of plants as well as of 
 timber, but as yet unsettled. Here I ordered a skiff, 
 for which I waited till next day at noon : it was a few 
 boards nailed together, and a cover, raised to defend 
 me from the worst of the weather, for which I paid 4 
 dollars. With this, I prepared to navigate the Great 
 Valley Creek, and afterwards the Allegany river, being 
 heartily tired of traversing this wilderness on foot. 
 
 At this place, provisions were excessively dear; 
 wheat, 4 dollars per bushel, butter, 25 cents, and 
 
 every thing else in proportion : in provisions for my 
 N3 
 
138 LETTER VIII. 
 
 voyage, I paid accordingly; dried venison, ls.6d. per 
 pound, &c. Here are four saw-mills, which cut a 
 vast quantity of boards for the Pittsburg, Cincinatte, 
 and New Orleans market, and are sent down the 
 Great Valley Creek to the Allegany, and thence down 
 the Ohio On this route, I set out at noon ; but the 
 creek being very low, and filled with slabs from the 
 saw-mills, I was obliged to wade most of the way, and 
 push my skiff before me. It was four o clock when I 
 reached the river, which I found extremely variable 
 in depth and rapidity : in some places very deep and 
 still; in others shallow, narrow, and rushing over 
 rocks and stones with a strong current. Over these I 
 was obliged to wade ; and, by these means, my pro 
 gress was extremely slow. It was my intention to 
 reach this settlement that day, which is distant fifteen 
 miles; but, owing to these impediments, (to having 
 my skiff upset and filled with water, which I was 
 obliged to lade out with a pint tin, as I stood 2 hours 
 up to the middle in water,) J was compelled to seek 
 the first lodgings I could find. 
 
 Pondering my solitary way, wet, and completely 
 weary, as it grew dark, I perceived a light, and, 
 
LETTER Till. 
 
 drawing up my boat, made towards it. I found it an 
 Indian village, and entered a wigwam, where several 
 of them were sitting. They took no notice of my en 
 trance, but continued their talk. I told them I was a 
 benighted traveller, and must be indebted to their 
 hospitality for lodgings. They still continued their 
 discourse, unmoved. I then added, I had travelled 
 a long way, and was faint and in want of some re 
 freshment. They still continued their apathy and 
 discourse. On this, I repeated my request with some 
 emphasis, to a young man near me. He coldly asked 
 me what I would have : I replied, some bread and 
 milk. He then rose and fetched me some of their 
 bread, made of Indian corn, pounded in a mortar, 
 and baked, husk and all, on the hearth, and some 
 thick butter-milk. I was really excessively hungry ; 
 but when I tasted of the bread, rough and husky, and 
 thought of the nasty squaws by whom it was made, I 
 could not eat : the butter-milk was still more intol 
 erable, and I dare say they thought my conduct as 
 saucy as I thought their fare bad. I threw the butter 
 milk out of the door ; and seeing a cow grazing just by, 
 iu the dusk, I requested a squaw to milk me a little 
 
140 LETTER VIII. 
 
 milk. She was as immoveable as the men, and there 
 fore I attempted to milk for myself; but the cow was 
 like her keepers, and would have nothing to do with 
 me. I therefore returned, and (pointing to the cow) 
 gave the tin to a squaw, and peremptorily told her to 
 fetch me some milk. She obeyed ; and, after this real 
 luxury, I entered the wigwam, where the Indians now 
 began to grow more social. Observing my bundle, 
 in which I had a few necessaries, they quickly opened 
 it, and began to examine its contents with great eager 
 ness. Every one asked, * how much this ? how much 
 that? " One put my fur cap (with a veil to keep off the 
 musquitos) on, and, erecting and shaking his head, 
 assumed an air of proud and terrible ferocity, such as 
 I have always imagined in a warlike savage. The 
 articles in my bundle were squandered in an instant, as 
 I imagined, never to be regained : I therefore hastened 
 to secure my boat ; but this they had taken to carry 
 them over to the other side, where I saw a fire, and 
 licardthem shouting and making a great noise : I sup 
 pose they were shewing their curiosities to their friends. 
 I now began to feel not very comfortable in my situ 
 ation. In the midst of these rude Indians, at a dis- 
 
LETTER YIII. 141 
 
 tance from any civilized settlement, my necessaries 
 and my boat taken away, and the knowledge that if 
 they chose to kill me, my fate could never be known, 
 the darkness of the night, the shouts of the Indians, 
 and the wild novelty of every thing around me, 
 served to inspire me with gloomy ideas. I determined, 
 however, to make the best of my situation ; and, re 
 turning to the wigwam, I told my host 1 had nothing 
 but what I wanted for my journey, and should expect 
 every thing to be returned before morning. I soon 
 found my fears were all vain : the things were quickly 
 reassembled, and my host sweeping out a small place, 
 (I may call it a parlour, such as it was,) laid me a skin 
 to sleep upon. Here I laid me down, with my gun by 
 my side, and often did I get up to look for returning 
 light : for I slept none. As soon as it appeared, I 
 gave my host a silver tooth-pick and a tobacco-stopper, 
 the only things I could well spare, and took my leave. 
 I staid breakfast at an Indian s hut, where I boiled 
 my kettle and frizzled my venison. Here I was ia- 
 formed, that " the friends lived only eight miles down 
 the river. The Indians were remarkable for their 
 hospitality, at the first arrival of Europeans ; but th 
 
142 LETTER VIII. 
 
 crimes of the latter have taught them caution : they 
 are, however, when you become a little more sociable, 
 excessively inquisitive, always asking, "Where from ? 
 Where going? and, What for ? " When you answer, 
 they add, " Ho, ho." 
 
 1 reached this track just as friends were sitting 
 down to meeting, and afterwards spent the day very 
 agreeably with them. Jonathan Thomas has spent the 
 greater part of the last 23 years in the work of 
 civilization in this wilderness. Joseph Elkinton, the 
 schoolmaster, informed me, I am the only friend, 
 except the Indian Committee and a particular friend 
 of his, who have visited this secluded place during his 
 residence. Our dinner was a perfect luxury : green 
 Indian corn, potatoes, milk, bread and cheese, and 
 blackberry pye. The afternoon passed most agree 
 ably, in listening to the account of improvements made 
 by friends, amongst this part of the Senecas and 
 Oneidas. On retiring, I could not help feeling most 
 sensibly, the blessing of having had an education 
 amongst friends, and deep thankfulness for meeting 
 with some of them in this vast wilderness, whose kind 
 ness to me, a perfect stranger, will ever be gratefull/ 
 remembered. 
 
LETTER VIII. 143 
 
 The next morning, I walked with Jos. Elkinton to 
 the Indian School and village, about three miles off. 
 He has here a room built, which serves both for a 
 school and house : for here he cooks his own meals 
 and makes his own bed. A small birth is taken out 
 of one corner where he sleeps, and above there is 
 another small bed, for a benighted traveller, like 
 myself, as sometimes happens. He had that day but 
 six Indian scholars, who appeared to be making rapid 
 progress in the English language, writing, reading, 
 and accounts. One boy, of eleven years old, gave me 
 a Map of the Tracks belonging to them, of his drawing, 
 and wrote me the following letter, in a good hand. 
 It will shew, even in so young an observer, the dif 
 ferent opinions of his countrymen respecting the object 
 friends are pursuing. 
 
 Cold Spring, &h Month 14*A, 1819, 
 Respected Friend, 
 
 I AM now going to write a letter for thee. I guess 
 by and by very strong rain. I guess not much high 
 Water now at Cold Spring. I guess to-morrow, council 
 chiefs at Allegany, Not much got apple at my house. 
 
144 LETTER VIII. 
 
 My brother plant buck-wheat, some big at over the riven 
 Very warm now. Some of the Indians he d ont want 
 learn book. Some of the Indians he d ont want hunt. 
 Some of the Indians he want very much hunt deer. 
 Some of the Indians not got horse, my brother got two 
 horses, one very strong, my brother got one yoke of 
 oxen very strong, very good, my sisters plant cucum 
 bers at my house, near house, Joseph Elkinton very 
 good plant corn, broom corn very good, I am very 
 glad any thing grow good at my house, near house. 
 Not much plenty birds now at Cold Spring, not much 
 plenty deer. My mother plant corn, some big, pota 
 toes too plant, some big. My mother well, my father 
 too well, brother too well, sister too well, all well my 
 
 relations. 
 
 Owen Blacksnake, 
 11 years old. 
 
 The traces of improvement amongst these children 
 of the forest, are striking and encouraging : for though 
 they are peculiarly tenacious of their ancient customs 
 ahd sentiments, we see them gradually assuming the 
 habits and pursuits of civilized life. The young are 
 accustomed to agriculture, the handicraft arts are intro 
 duced amongst them, the bow and arrow are laid aside, 
 
LETTER VIII. 145 
 
 and it is highly gratifying to see the superior cleanliness, 
 comfort and industry, in the habitations and manners, 
 of those who have been educated by friends. The 
 track of land purchased by the Indian committee, has 
 two good mill seats upon it. One saw, and one grist 
 mill, are already erected and at work. The former 
 cuts 4000 feet of pine timber in one day, which is here 
 worth 5 dollars per thousand, and about 10 dollars in 
 Cincinati. I.Thomas assures me that there is sufficient 
 pine timber here, to serve 30 years, at that quantity per 
 diem. The mountains covered with this pine appear 
 but indifferent land, but the flats are excellent. After 
 vschool was over, Joseph Elkinton introduced me to 
 Tekianda, a chief, at his own house. He like the rest 
 of his brethren, who spend their lives in these woods 
 expressed his astonishment at the vast distance I had 
 come, and during my stay repeatedly recurred to it. 
 He furnished me with a few porcupine s quills, which 
 they dye with brilliant colours of their own production, 
 to ornament their mocasins. Some specimens of their 
 paint, 2 of their ear-rings, and as a peculiar token of 
 friendship, a tuft of feathers of the hen hawk, smeared 
 with red earth, which he had worn all the last war; 
 
 This chief is a great warrior. His presents I very 
 o 
 
146 LETTER VIII. 
 
 willingly received, and was glad to replace by others; 
 but when he offered me as a particular token of amity, 
 bis tomahawk to smoke out of, no considerations of 
 offence to the old man, could subdue my horrid loath 
 ings, while my imagination figured to me the mangled 
 brains of numbers, into which it had doubtless been 
 dashed. A fine cucumber which he offered me, (though 
 I did not want it,) was a far more acceptable present. 
 His garden is in its first year, yet it is well stocked 
 with all the varieties of cucumbers, melons, squashes, 
 and other vegetables common to American gardens. 
 Joseph Elkinton endeavours to excite a spirit of horti 
 cultural emulation amongst them, by using every exer 
 tion to excel them in the production of his garden. 
 They look upon him as a most excellent" corn plant," 
 and their attempts to equal him will not be without 
 the best effects. The more I see of the effects pro 
 duced by friends amongst these people, the more I am 
 convinced of the unrivalled wisdom of their system.* 
 
 * " Of this humane community, it is but just to say, that they 
 were the only Europeans in the new world, who always treated 
 the Indiana with probity like their own, and with kindness cal 
 culated to do honour to the faith they professed. I speak of 
 them now in their collective capacity. They too are the only 
 people that in a temperate, judicious, (and I trust successful) 
 
LETTER VIII. 147 
 
 It is obvious that if we wish to introduce Christi 
 anity amongst a wild people, the first object to be 
 accomplished, is to convince them that we have really 
 and sincerely their good at heart. When we have 
 planted this conviction firmly in their minds, we have 
 acquired that confidence and esteem, which will induce 
 them to listen to our reasons, and bias them towards a 
 trial of our plans. But it is not by metaphysical argu 
 ments, by a detail of spiritual benefits, or any extent 
 of spiritual promises, that we must expect to produce 
 this effect upon a people, whose time is spent in pro 
 curing the nece>saries of life, who possess a deeply 
 rooted veneration for the traditions of their ancestors, 
 and whose intellectual views in proportion to their 
 paucity and contraction, are more strongly presented 
 to their minds. We must attack them through the 
 medium of the senses, we must give them a demon 
 strative proof of our attachment to them, and of the 
 transcendent value of our knowledge, and this can only 
 be done by an abode amongst them, in which we may 
 at once convince them of our love for them, and the 
 
 manner, have endeavoured, and still endeavour to convert the 
 Indians to Christianity." 
 
 Mrs. Giant s Memoirs of an American Lady, vol 2. p. 336. 
 
148 LETTER nir. 
 
 wisdom of our maxims, and the superior comforts to 
 be derived from our arts and habits. By an abrupt at 
 tempt to alter the tenor of their views, and overturn 
 tla established principles of their conduct, we should 
 at once raise a mighty rampart against ourselves, we 
 should excite their hatred as deriders of the wisdom 
 of their ancestors, and as enemies of their religion, and 
 should find our doctrines opposed by the adamantine 
 firmness of their traditionary zeal. To alter the con* 
 stitution of the mind, and the habits of a people, must be 
 the united work of wisdom, affection and time. Let 
 men of shrewdness, patience, and piety, fix their abode 
 amongst them, let them shew them practically, the mode 
 of procuring abundance of food and raiment, from a 
 wondrous little spot of ground ; let them offer no vio 
 lence to their confirmed and popular prejudices, but 
 occasionally sap them, by gentle expostulation, and in- 
 genious arguments ; let them introduce the handicraft 
 arts, and excite at once their wonder and their imita 
 tive disposition ; let them display a regularity of conduct 
 and an evident desire to oblige and accomodate them ; 
 till by a frequent conviction of the superiority of their 
 wisdom, they become their friends and their oracles, 
 
LETTER VIII. 149 
 
 and the result is certain. The most inveterate preju 
 dices will melt away, the most savage habits will gradu 
 ally vanish, and your power established in their bo 
 soms, by wisdom and benevolence, will enable you to 
 extend that work of reformation to the soul, which you 
 have begun in external forms and habits of existence. 
 
 The Indians have had friends amongst them, who 
 have instructed both men and women in all the arts 
 necessary to the first stage of civilized domestic life, and 
 the Indian committee have now withdrawn them, in 
 order to let them pursue them by themselves, and to 
 feel the satisfaction natural to the human mind, in a 
 dependance on its own powers, and particularly in the 
 exercise of new acquirements. They have carpenters, 
 builders, weavers, &c. their women spin, knit, sew, &e. 
 and they have only two friends remaining with them, 
 as advisers, and directors, and educators of the young. 
 They have 60 acres of land cleared and laid down to 
 grass, which looks well, and their gardens are their 
 pride. Yet it will be seen by Owen Biacksnake s 
 letter, that the contest between old habits and new 
 ones, is not yet ceased. Innovation is a bugbear, even 
 in a wilderness. But the march of improvement is 
 o 3 
 
150 LETTER VII 
 
 begun, and the decided influence of habits which arc 
 intrinsically excellent, cannot be controuled. Their 
 prejudices stand thick as the trees of their forest, but 
 the axe of civilization is at work, and as they fall before 
 it, the sun of the gospel will irradiate the ground, and 
 foster a nobler harvest upon its bosom. 
 
 Amongst their most inveterate attachments is that of 
 war. I. Thomas is considered their friend and honour 
 ed as their father. They enter his house when they 
 please, and sit down without asking. He is their ad 
 viser in difficulties, and the result of their councils is 
 often submitted to him. He can frequently prevail 
 upon them to alter their plans, and abandon their pre 
 judices. He has often discussed this subject with Te- 
 kianda, but he always replied, that war was pleasing 
 to the Great Spirit, for he had commanded their an 
 cestors to fight and destroy their enemies. I. Thomas 
 could never silence him but on one occasion. His 
 long residence here, has enabled him, not only to ac 
 quire a full knowledge of their language, but likewise 
 of the signification of their hieroglyphics. One alone he 
 found inscribed upon a tree, which he could never de- 
 cypher. This Tekianda explained to him, shewing him 
 
LETTER VIII. 
 
 that it commemorated the return of a certain chief from 
 a war, bringing so many scalps, and having acquired 
 uncommon glory. From this explanation, they again 
 fell upon this subject, in a gradual and almost insensi 
 ble manner, as they walked along. At length I. Tho 
 mas said, "well Tekianda, thou thinks war pleasing to 
 the Great Spirit. Yes. He is the father of the Indi 
 ans, he made them. He made the white people too, 
 and he gave them all the things best for them. Yes, 
 certainly. He feeds them all, and makes the ground 
 fruitful for them all. He watches over them and takes 
 care of them, for he loves them. Yes. Well, thou 
 hast several children. Thou brings them up hardily. 
 Thou teaches them to hunt, and to use every sport and 
 exercise that may make them strong, and capable of 
 living honourably, and of destroying their enemies ; 
 thou would like to see them like thyself, great warriors. 
 Yes. Well, when they are grown up, and are strong, 
 and warlike and famous, and all thy hopes are fulfilled, 
 thou would like to see them strike one another, and 
 kill one another, and shew great bravery. What! 
 strike! kill one another! No, I should be ready to 
 kill them ! Indians must love one another, they must 
 
1<52 LETTER Vllf. 
 
 kill only their enemies. Well, thon says the Great 
 Spirit is the father of all the Indians, and the white 
 people, and the black people. That he loves them all, 
 and especially his red children, dost thou think he 
 Jikes to see his children fight and kill one another. Is 
 he not very angry at thisT Tekianda was silent. 
 
 The wisdom of introducing Christianity by the hand 
 of civilization, and the manual arts, is still more con 
 spicuous from this consideration ; the Missionary who 
 goes fresh amongst them, however well he may be ac 
 quainted with his own doctrines, is but half instructed 
 in his office. He not only comes amongst them a 
 stranger, without recommendation, and without any 
 thing but professions to offer, but ignorant of their ha 
 bits, their modes of thinking, and their peculiar preju 
 dices, it is a miracle if he does not excite both their 
 rage and their derision. Filled with the importance 
 of his mission, confident of the sublimity, and convinc 
 ing superiority of the knowledge he has to communi 
 cate, regarding them as simp e and miserable savages, 
 he is prepared to astonish them with his discoveries, 
 and overturn all their objections. Animated with these 
 ideas, impelled by his compassionate feelings, and his 
 
LEfTEtt VIII. 
 
 religious acal, h boldly denounces their customs as 
 ridiculous, and their worship as devilish, and has the 
 mortification to discover that he has only irritated them to 
 incurable enmity , or excited their pity as a silly enthusiast . 
 
 Now the time spent in introducing the fundamental 
 arts of civilized life M would prevent all these conse 
 quences. It would allow him an opportunity of study 
 ing their character, while it was giving consideration 
 to his own. He would perceive that the} have a talentof 
 close and shrewd reasoning ; he would learn that the 
 torrent which could not be suddenly stemmed, might be 
 diverted from its channel : the tree which could not be 
 plucked up by the roots, might be filled by repeated 
 strokes ; and the morass, at first impassable, be eventual 
 ly drained by industry and skill. He would have an 
 opportunity to reconnoitre the whole fortress of their cha 
 racter, and to discover what might be boldly attacked, 
 what silently sapped, and what must be left to the dila 
 pidations of time ; while he was all the while laying the 
 foundation of a complete revolution of character and re 
 novation of heart, in teaching the handicraft arts and in 
 schooling the children. Of this the history of the 
 Presbyterian Mission to Buffalo Creek, affords astrik- 
 
154 LETTER VIII. 
 
 ing example. At a conference of the Six Nations, 
 held there, in 1815, a missionary from the Missionary 
 Society of Boston, Massachusetts, addressed them in a 
 speech, in which he told them, " he was come to in 
 struct them in the religion of Jesus Christ. That there 
 was but one way to worship the Great Spirit, and that 
 they had always been in error." After due consider 
 ation, the following speech was delivered by Red 
 Jacket. 
 
 "Friend and Brother. It was the will of the 
 Great Spirit that we should meet together to day ; he 
 orders all things, and has given us a fine day for our 
 council; he has taken his garment from before the sun, 
 and caused it to shine with brightness upon us ; our 
 eyes are open, that we see clearly, our ears are unstop 
 ped, that we have been able to hear distinctly the words 
 you have spoken. For all these favours we thank the 
 Great Spirit, and him only. 
 
 Brother This council fire was kindled by you, it 
 vras at your request that we came together at this time, 
 we have listened attentively to what you have said, you 
 request us to speak our minds freely, this gives us 
 greatjoy, for we now consider that we stand upright be- 
 
LETTER VIII. 155 
 
 fore you, and can speak what we think ; all have heard 
 your voice, and all speak to you now as one man, our 
 minds are agreed. 
 
 Brother you say you want an answer to your talk 
 before you leave this place. It is right you should have 
 one, as you are at a great distance from home, and 
 we don t wish to detain you. But we will first 
 look back a little, and tell you what our fathers have 
 told us, and what we have learnt from the white peo 
 ple. (Here the orator gave a long and animated ac 
 count, of the means by which they had been disposses 
 sed of their land, and nearly exterminated by the 
 white people, and then continued thus.) 
 
 Brother Our seats were once large, and yours were 
 small; you have now become a great people., and we 
 have scarcely a place to spread our blankets ; you have 
 got our country, but are not satisfied, you want to 
 force your religion upon us. 
 
 Brother continue to listen, you say you arc sent 
 to instruct us, how to worship the Great Spirit agree 
 ably to his mind, and if we do not take hold of the re- 
 ligion which you teach, we shall be unhappy hereafter. 
 You say you are right, and we are lost, how do you know 
 
156 LETTER VIII. 
 
 this to be true ? We understand your religion is writ 
 ten in a book. If it was intended for us as well as 
 you, why has not the Great Spirit given to us, and not 
 only to us, but why did he not give, to our forefathers, 
 the knowledge of that book, with the means of under 
 standing it rightly? We only know what you tell us 
 about it, how shall we know when to believe, being so 
 often deceived by the white people ? 
 
 Brother, you say there is only one way to worship 
 the Great Spirit; if there is but one religion, why do 
 you white people differ so much about it ? Why not 
 all agree, as you can all read the book ? 
 
 Brother, we do not understand these things. We 
 are told that your religion was given to your fore 
 fathers, and has been handed down from father to son. 
 We also have a religion which was given to our fore 
 fathers, and has been handed down to us their children. 
 We worship in that way ; it teaches us to be thankful 
 for all the favours we receive ; to love each other, and 
 to be united. We never quarrel about religion. 
 
 Brother, The Great Spirit has made us all ; but 
 he has made a great difference between his white and 
 
LETTER VIII. 
 
 red children. He has given us different complexions, 
 and different customs. To you he has given the arts ; 
 to these he has not opened our eyes. We know these 
 things to be true. Since he has made so great a dif 
 ference between us in other things, why may we not 
 conclude that he has given us a different religion ? 
 According to our understandings, the Great Spirit 
 does right : he knows what is best for his children. 
 We are satisfied, brothers ; we do not want to destroy 
 your religion, or to take it from you : we only want 
 to enjoy our own. 
 
 Brother, We are told, you have been preaching to 
 the white people in this place. These people are our 
 neighbours, we are acquainted with them ; we will 
 wait a little while, and see what effect you* preaching 
 has upon them. If we find it does them good, makes 
 them honest, and less disposed to cheat the Indians, 
 we will then consider again what you have said. 
 
 Brother, You have now heard an answer to your 
 talk, and this is all we have to say at present. As we 
 are going to part, we will come and take you by the 
 hand ; and hope the Great Spirit will protect you on 
 your journey, and return you safe to your friends." 
 p 
 
158 LETTER VIII. 
 
 As the Indians began to approach the missionary, 
 be rose hastily from his seat, and replied, that he could 
 not take them by the hand, that there was no fellow 
 ship between the religion of GOD and the works of the 
 devil. This being interpreted to the Indians, they 
 smiled, and retired in a peaceable manner. It being 
 afterwards suggested to the missionary, that his reply 
 was rather indiscreet, he observed, he supposed the 
 shaking of hands would have been considered by them 
 as a token of his assent to what they had said ; but, 
 being assured to the contrary, he said he was sorry 
 
 for the expression, 
 x^ 
 
 The consequence was, the missionary was here for 
 bid to preach to the Indians. The Presbyterian Mis 
 sionary Society of New York, however, instructed 
 better by experience, made a similar application, but 
 in a manner more adapted to the genius of the people, 
 and, after a consultation of six days, permission was 
 granted for a missionary to fix his residence there. 
 He has now effected a great change amongst them ; 
 and, at the time I was there, they were busily em 
 ployed in building a meeting-house for themselves, 
 
159 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 Tuncsassah, Cataraugus County^ 
 8th month, ^ 1 ^th > 1819. 
 
 close my letter, it occurred to me, that 
 while at this place, surrounded by the Indians, and 
 presented with a full opportunity of obtaining an insight 
 into their character and manners, both from my own 
 personal observations and from the long experience of 
 my friends here, you may perhaps expect me to com 
 municate some particulars on that subject : I have 
 therefore chose to defer till to-day, what I might have 
 to say upon it, and to do it in a distinct communication. 
 On re-consideration, however, my time will not allow 
 me to enter into a very long detail ; and I am therefore 
 
160 LETTER IX. 
 
 happy to assure you, in a few words, that, as far as 
 my own perceptions and the relations of these friends 
 go, they fully confirm the accounts of travellers and 
 writers in general : I shall therefore confine myself to 
 a few remarks on the theory of their origin. You are 
 well acquainted with the prominent traits in their cha 
 racter, and the most peculiar of their manners. I have 
 sometimes used the term wild people; but I do not 
 mean by that, a savage, ignorant people. They cer 
 tainly, to a passing view, appear uncivilized in their 
 mode of life, and savage in their warfare : but they 
 possess moral sentiments and religious knowledge, a 
 dignity of feeling, and a train of virtues, which must 
 lead us to contemplate, with curiosity and astonishment, 
 the means by which they have acquired a peculiarity 
 of character, distinct from every uncivilized nation ill 
 the world. 
 
 You know their deep sagacity in war and in peaceful 
 traffic, their ardour in friendship, their ferocity in 
 contest, their sublime ideas of the Deity, their 
 perfect freedom from that idolatry which invariably 
 contaminates the dark and uncultured barbarian, 
 their excessive deliberation in council, their elo- 
 
LETTER IX, 16! 
 
 quence in public speaking, the independent spirit of 
 the men, the laborious habits of the women, their 
 hospitality to the first settlers in their country, and the 
 subsequent ingratitude and horrible cruelty by which 
 they have been nearly annihilated by those settlers. 
 I have seen many of these traits. I know them to be 
 true : and, even now, I see the children of one family 
 returning from the woods, where they have been 
 gathering berries, -the boys marching in a lordly and 
 erect attitude, the girls panting beneath the burden 
 of their united labours. I tell the youngsters to take 
 the load from their sisters ; but they spurn with in 
 dignation at the idea, and march on with a loftier step. 
 You see the accounts of this people are true, even to 
 this circumstance, which you possibly imagine is not 
 one of those anti-savage features of which I have been 
 speaking. I agree it is one of the worst, and yet, 
 what if it be one perfectly consistent with their origin? 
 I speak of their origin as if I were satisfactorily ac 
 quainted with it, and I imagine that I am. From 
 what I have seen and read of them since my arrival 
 in this country, I am perfectly convinced of the justice 
 of Wm. Penn s bold conjecture, at his first acquaint 
 
162 LETTER IX. 
 
 tance with them, " that they are the descendants of 
 the Lost ten tribes of Israel." 
 
 I fancy I see you this moment, smiling at my cre 
 dulity, and commenting on our propensity to enlist our 
 imaginations in the cause of our inclinations to the 
 marvellous, and to warp every little coincidence in those 
 we contemplate with those whom we seek, till they appear 
 striking marks and conclusive evidences. I too have 
 smiled on the same occasion, even at the credulity of 
 the sagacious Father Onas, and have taken up subse 
 quent articles on this subject, prepared to enjoy the 
 fond zeal of the writer, and to trace (as a source of 
 merriment) his attempts to prove American Indians 
 the children of Jacob ! Not doubting but that America 
 was originally peopled from Asia, by way of Kams- 
 kateha and Bhering s Straits, I supposed that some 
 traees of Eastern manners and language might be found 
 amongst them, which would as well prove them 
 Japanese as Israelites. I now, however, candidly 
 confess, the smile has long since vanished from my 
 brow, before the vast body of evidence now collected, 
 and collected too from a great variety of most authentic 
 and respectable sources. I cannot entertain a doubt. 
 
LETTER IX. 163 
 
 but that he whose eye surveys the universe, conducted 
 these tribes from the midst of nations with whom it 
 was impossible they could ever amalgamate, into this 
 great western wilderness, and has here fulfilled upon 
 them many of his predicted judgments. It is a most 
 interesting speculation ; and whether we are indivi 
 dually convinced by it or not, it is to be hoped that 
 it will prove a means of causing us to regard these 
 " children of the Great Spirit " with a more favorable 
 and brotherly eye. You, I doubt not, feel persuaded, 
 with the generality of the learned, who have of late 
 years made anxious enquiries on the subject, that the 
 posterity of these captive tribes are yet to be found in 
 some quarter of the globe. You feel convinced that, 
 from the nature of the prophecies relating to them, 
 and from their pertinacious adherence to their customs, 
 they would remain (like their brethren the Jews) a 
 distinct people, in spite of persecution, or flattery, 
 scattering or confinement, the destroying or incor 
 porating policy of different nations, and the contumely 
 and cruelty they have received from all. The attempts 
 to discover them in the East, have shewn us merely 
 traces of their former presence, and but faint vestiges 
 
164 LETTEtt IX. 
 
 of a few of their number mingling with other people; 
 it is therefore doubly interesting to examine the reasons 
 for supposing they are eventually found here. 
 
 William Penn says,* " The natives I shall con 
 sider, in their persons, manners, religion, and govern 
 ment, with my sense of their original. Their language 
 is lofty, yet narrow, but (like the Hebrew) in signi 
 fication, full. They believe in a GOD and immortality. 
 Their worship consists of two parts, Sacrifice and 
 Cantico. Their sacrifice is their first fruits. The first 
 and fattest buck they kill, goeth to the fire, where he 
 is all burnt, with a mournful ditty of him that per- 
 formeth the ceremony. In the fall, when the corn 
 cometh in, they begin to feast one another. There 
 have been two great festivals already, to which all 
 come that will. We have agreed that in all differences 
 between us, six of each side shall end the matter. 
 Do not abuse them ; but let them have justice, and 
 you win them. The worst is, that they are the worse 
 for the Christians, who have propagated their vices. 
 For their original, I am ready to believe them of the 
 
 * Select Works of William Penn, vol. 4th, page 304312. 
 
LETTER IX. 165 
 
 Jewish race ; I mean of the stock of the Ten Tribes, 
 and that for the following reasons : 1st, They were to 
 go to a * land not planted nor known," which, to be 
 sure, Asia and Africa were, if not Europe ; and he 
 that intended that extraordinary judgment upon them, 
 might make the passage not uneasy to them, as it is 
 not impossible, of itself, from the eastermost of Asia 
 to the westermost of America. In the next place, I 
 find them of like countenance, and their children of 
 so lively a resemblance, that a man would think him 
 self in Duke s-place, or Bury-street, in London, 
 when he seeth them. But this is not all, they agree 
 in rites, they reckon by moons, they offer their first- 
 fruits, they have a kind of feast of tabernacles, they 
 are said to lay their altar upon twelve stones, their 
 mourning a year, customs of women, with many other 
 things that do not now occur." 
 
 Such are some of the remarks of William Penn, . 
 which for brevity, I have selected from a detail of their 
 customs, to which you will do well to refer. At that 
 time not merely his idea of their origin, but that of a 
 passage from Asia, was extremely ridiculed. Subse 
 quent discoveries, have however proved the latter, and 
 
166 LETTER IX. 
 
 it is remarkable that almost all travellers and mission*- 
 aries have added their corroborative testimony to the 
 former. They have been universally struck, with their 
 personal likeness to the Jews; on learning their lan 
 guage, they have found its idiom purely hebrew, and 
 have not only selected many Hebrew words, but have 
 given us abundant additional testimonies in their tradi 
 tions and customs. This evidence has lately been col 
 lected with much labour and arranged with much 
 perspicuity by Dr. Boudinot of Philadelphia, but as 
 I believe his work has not reached, or been re-printed 
 in England, I shall give jou a few brief extracts, though 
 they must be few indeed, but yet sufficient to teach you 
 what you may expect to encounter in a large octavo 
 volume, if you wish to refute it. 
 
 He quotes the Apocryphal relation of their journey 
 from the second book of Esdras, chap. 13, verses 39 to 
 50, to which you may turn. After a long dissertation on 
 the subject, and quotations of prophecies relative to 
 this people, he remarks, " Suppose a strange people to 
 be discovered, before wholly unknown to the civilized 
 world, and an enquiry into their origin were to be in 
 stituted, what mode would be most likely to succeed? 
 
LETTEfc IX. 167 
 
 In our opinion a strict enquiry into the following par 
 ticulars would be the best. The language; their re- 
 ceived traditions ; their established customs and habits ; 
 their known religious rites and ceremonies ; and lastly 
 their public worship, and religious opinions and pre 
 judices." 
 
 LANGUAGE. 
 
 " The Indian Languages are, in general, very copi 
 ous and expressive, considering the narrow sphere in 
 which they move, their ideas being few in comparison 
 with civilized nations. They have neither cases nor 
 declensions, they have few or no prepositions. This 
 they remedy by affixes and suffixes ; their words are 
 invariably the same in both numbers. All this, if 
 the writers information be correct, is very similar to 
 the Hebrew, He has been informed, and the same is 
 confirmed by a writer well acquainted with the subject, 
 that there is no language in Europe, except the He 
 brew, without prepositions, that is in seperate and 
 distinct words. The Indians have all the parts of 
 speech except the above. They have no comparative 
 or superlative degrees, more than the Hebrew. He 
 goes on to observe that both Jews and Indians are alike 
 
168 LETTER IX. 
 
 in their epithets and their abounding with rhetoric and 
 metaphor. After which he introduces several Indian 
 speeches, equally demonstrative of these qualities, and 
 the profound sense of their orators. Adair, declares 
 their language to he the same both in root and general 
 construction as the Hebrew and many of their words 
 are yet purely Hebrew. Charlevoix, a man well ac 
 quainted with the Indians and their language, says, 
 that the Algonquin and Huron have between them 
 that of all the nations of Canada. Both of these have a 
 richness, a variety of terms, and a regularity which 
 astonishes, they have a sort of urbanity or atticism of 
 which the common ear is very sensible, but to which 
 their orators alone obtain. All appear to be dialects of 
 only one great language, and are understood by one 
 another to immense distances. Dr. Edwards asserts, 
 their pronouns are formed from their nouns, same as 
 the Hebrew. Many words are known to be the same in 
 both, and doubtless thousands more might be discover 
 ed by a close examination. I subjoin a few." 
 
 English. Charribee. Creek. Hebrew. 
 
 His wife. Liani. Li Hene. 
 
 My wife. Yene Nori Hene Herranni, 
 
LETTER IX. 
 
 English. Charribee. Creek. Hebrew. 
 
 Come hither. Haci yeti. Aca-ati (Samaritan 
 
 The Heavens. Chemin. Shemin. 
 
 Jehovah. Jocanna. Y-he-ho-wah. Jehovah. 
 
 Woman. Ishto Ishto. 
 
 Ish - Ishte - Ish - ; v 
 
 Praise God. Hallehuwah. Hallelujah. 
 
 Father. Abba. Abba. 
 
 And a vast many more. The Indian Mohawks pos 
 sessed a power and reverence amongst all other tribes, 
 and were considered the great counsellors of the others. 
 It is a singular fact, that the Hebrew word Mhhokek, 
 means a lawgiver, ( leges-interpres ) a superior. The 
 learned Jew Isaac Nasci, resident at Surinam inform 
 ed Souard, that the language of Guiana has a regular 
 ity in its Syntax, as if established at an academy, and 
 that all the substantives were Hebrew." 
 
 Indian Traditions. 
 
 " Their traditions are preserved with the strictest 
 care : their beloved old men, or Priests, teaching 
 them to their promising young men. They hold it a 
 certain fact, that their ancestors came from a very far 
 country, by the way of the west, where the people were 
 
LETTER IX* 
 
 all of one colour. Instances of Indians coming from 
 the south in quest of their brethren, whom their old 
 men said dwelt to the north-west, have been known ; 
 even from Mexico to the Aquahpah nation, above 150 
 miles above Nachez, on the north side the Mississippi, 
 and opening a correspondence with them. This tradi 
 tion of the course of their ancestors extends to allparts of 
 the American continent. Their account is very descrip 
 tive of what their rout would be through Kamskatcha, 
 and over Bherings Straits in winter. They have tra 
 ditions of their ancestors being great prophets, able to 
 controul the course of nature, and to procure great rains 
 for the "beloved people," a name they always appro 
 priate to themselves, the holy people, the children of 
 the Great Spirit. That their common father had twelve 
 wicked sons, their first mother came down from heaven, 
 and had twins, the eldest of whom killed the younger ; 
 they believe, that in ancient times, their ancestors lived 
 till their feet were worn out with walking, and their 
 throats with eating. They speak of the deluge and the 
 great canoe in which a few were saved. They did till 
 lately, and man} tribes do still, practice circumcision. 
 That they once built a great high place, to avoid ano 
 ther flood, and the Great Spirit came down in a rage, 
 
LETTER IX.. 
 
 and confounded their language. That in leaving their 
 native land, they carried with them a sanctified rod, 
 which they planted every night; at length it put forth 
 and grew, as an oracle had foretold, and there they fix 
 ed their abode. That the angels used to come down and 
 talk with their forefathers, and taught them to pray 
 and sacrifice. They believe in two spirits, the Great 
 good Spirit, who cannot do evil if he would, and the 
 great bad spirit, who does nothing but mischie f. These 
 traditions have been collected by persons of great piety 
 and veracity. Charlevoix was a clergyman of charac 
 ter, who was with the Indians some years, and travel 
 led from Canada to the Mississippi, at a very early day. 
 Adair was forty years domesticated with the southern 
 Indians, and was a man of great learning and observa 
 tion. Brainerd, was a man of remarkable piety, and 
 a missionary with the Crosweek Indians to his death. 
 Dr. Edwards son of President Edwards, was eminent 
 for his piety, and learning, and intimately acquainted with 
 the Indians from his youth. Dr. Beatty, was a cler 
 gyman of note and character. Bartrom was well 
 known to the author, a man of considerable discern 
 ment, and travelled the country as a botanist. M Ken- 
 zie in the employment of the northern company, an 
 
172 LETTER IX. 
 
 old trader and the first adventurous explorer of the 
 country from the Lake of woods to the Northern 
 Oceans." 
 
 "An Indian once set out from the tribe of the Ya- 
 zous, forty leagues from the ISTachez, called by his 
 fellow Indians, " the killer of pain and fatigue, J * to 
 visit the land of his ancestors, and travelled to an im 
 mense distance through the nation of the Otters, till he 
 came to a country were the days were long and the 
 nights short. Here he was told, that the land extended 
 a stupendous distance north-west, and was then cut by 
 a water running from north to south. He returned 
 home from that place and got back five years from his 
 first setting out. All these accounts point clearlv to 
 their crossing the straits from Asia. 
 
 Gneral Character and Customs. 
 The author gives a list of "one hundred and ninety 
 nations, each having a king or sachem." The Indians 
 by oppression, disease, wars, and ardent spirits, have 
 greatly diminished and degenerated in their moral 
 character, and lost their high standing as warriors, 
 since the Europeans settled amongst them. The very 
 ancient men who have witnessed their former glory 
 
LETTER IX. ITS 
 
 and have heard from their beloved old men the achieve 
 ments of their ancestors, weep like children when 
 speaking of their present state. 
 
 Every nation has its peculiar emblem, as well as 
 tribe and family, by which they distinguish themselves 
 as the Israelites, " the lion of the tribe of Judah, &c." 
 These emblems they cut on trees, as memorials of 
 their victories, and they are understood by one another. 
 They have their eagles, panthers, (the lion of America,) 
 their bears, &c. &c. They reckon after the manner 
 of the Hebrews, dividing their years into seasons, 
 and reckon by moons. Their days by the different pro 
 gress of the sun. Their months by the ripening of 
 fruits, and pay great regard to a new moon. They 
 have cities of refuge appointed like the Jews. They 
 have a strict and peculiar preparation to sanctify them 
 selves for war. But the most remarkable circumstance 
 is, that they have an Holy Ark, which they carry to 
 war against their enemies, by the command of the 
 Great Spirit. The Indian ark is of a very simple con 
 struction. It is made of w r ood, securely fastened to 
 gether in the form of a square. The middle of three 
 sides extends a little out, but the fourth is flat for the 
 
174 LETTER IX. 
 
 convenience of the person who carries it. The ark has 
 a cover, and the whole is made impenetrably fast by 
 hickory splinters. It is about half the dimensions of 
 the Jewish ark, and may be properly called the He 
 brew ark imitated. The leader and a beloved waiter 
 carry it by turns. It contains several consecrated ves 
 sels, made by beloved superanuated old women, and 
 of such curious antiquated forms, as would have puz 
 zled Adam to have given significant names to them. 
 These two carriers are purified longer than the rest, 
 that the first may be qualified to act in the religious 
 office of a priest of war, and the other to carry the aw 
 ful sacred ark, all the while they are engaged in the 
 act of fighting. The Hetissu or beloved waiter, feeds 
 each of the warriors by an exact stated rule, giving 
 them even the water out of his own hands, lest by in 
 temperance they should spoil the supposed communi 
 cated power of their holy things, and occasion fatal dis 
 asters to the war camp. They never place the Ark 
 upon the ground, nor set it upon the bare earth while 
 carrying it against the enemy On hilly ground where 
 stones are plentiful, they place it on them, but on land 
 where stones are not to be found, they use short logs, 
 always resting themselves in like manner. The 
 
LETTER IX. 175 
 
 former is a striking imitation of the pedestal on which 
 the Jewish Ark was placed, a stone rising three fin 
 gers breadth above the floor. They have as strong 
 faith in the power and holiness of their ark, as ever 
 the Israelites had of theirs : ascribing the superior 
 success of the party to their stricter adherence to the 
 law than the other. This ark is deemed so sacred and 
 dangerous to be touched, either by their own sanctified 
 warriors, or the spoiling enemy, that they will not 
 touch it on any account. It is not to he meddled with 
 by any but the war-chieftain or his beloved waiter, 
 who are consecrated for the purpose, under the penal 
 ty of incurring great evil. Nor would the most inve 
 terate enemy of their nation, touch it in the woods for 
 the same reason. When they return victorious they 
 sing the triumphal song, Y-he-ho-wah, ascribing the 
 victory to him. They never eat the hollow of the thigh 
 of any thing they kill The atonement of blood for 
 blood, is required. After the funeral ceremony and 
 singing Y-he-ho-wah and Hal-le-lu-yah, they bury 
 the corpse in all its finery, perhaps in his own house, 
 or under his own bed, in a sitting posture, with bis face 
 towards the east, and his head anointed with bear s oil. 
 They think the burial of a white man in the tomb of 
 
176 LETTER IX. 
 
 their ancestors would be highly criminal. The Choc- 
 taws hire mourners after the Hebrew manner, Jere 
 miah, chap. 9, verse 17, 19. They imitate the Hebrew 
 injunction of a brother marrying the widow of the 
 deceased/* 
 
 Their known Rites and Ceremonies. 
 "The Indians have a surprizing pure system of moral 
 ity and great knowledge of propriety. It is a fact well 
 attested that before the revolutionary war, a preacher 
 went amongst them and began a sudden discourse, 
 telling them "there was a God who made all things, 
 and that it was exceedingly sinful and offensive to him. 
 to steal, get drunk, or lie," they replied, " go about 
 your business you fool, dont we know there is a God 
 as well as you ? Go to your own people and preach to 
 them, for who get drunk, or He, or steal more than you 
 white people r" 
 
 "Adair assures us, that from forty years experience,, 
 ke can say, that no nation from Hudson s Bay to the 
 Mississippi, have ever been known to attempt any 
 image of the Great Spirit whom they devoutly worship. 
 They never pretend to divine from any thing but, 
 dreams. They believe the Great Spirit has bound the 
 
LETTER IX. 177 
 
 wicked spirit, having found him very wicked when he 
 had made him. That he made a little man of clay at 
 first, and blew upon him and he lived, but they have 
 no tradition of the creation of woman, except that she 
 was produced after the man. They are filled with 
 great spiritual pride and consider themselves under a 
 theocracy, having God for their king. They despise 
 all other people. Their high.priest in his addresses 
 calls them, the beloved people, and makes many flou 
 rishes on their land, which he says, " flows with milk 
 and honey." The Tetragommator of the Jews, and 
 their sacred regard for it, never pronouncing it all to 
 gether, except once a year, is well known, and the 
 four great lettered name of this people Y-he-ho-wah, 
 is regarded and used much in the same manner. Their 
 names of the Deity are highly expressive of his attri 
 butes. They are never known to pay adoration to any 
 material thing or representation, yet they have a sort 
 of rude sketch of the cherubim in their places of wor 
 ship, the horn, the Hebrew emblem of power, is theirs, 
 and is hereditary in some chief s families. See the 
 treaty of William Penn with the Indians. They have 
 their prophets, and priests, and their high-priest when 
 
178 LETTER IX. 
 
 he offers the yearly burnt offering for sin, clothes him- 
 self in a vest, which bears a humble resemblance to 
 that of the Jewish pontiff." 
 
 Public Worship and Religious Opinions. 
 " The Indians in general, keep the following reli 
 gious feasts and festivals. 1st The feast of the first 
 fruits, and after it, on the evening of the same day, one 
 resembling the passover. 2nd The hunter s feast, 
 like that of Pentecost. 3rd The feast of harvest, and 
 day of expiation for sin. 4th A daily sacrifice. 5th 
 A feast of lore." 
 
 The description of these it is impossible to quote, 
 even in the smallest degree. 1 shall only add, they 
 break no bone at the passover, and consume every 
 thing that day. If one family is not competent to 
 hold it by itself, two or more unite, after the mosaic 
 institution. These and abundance of other evidence of 
 which I have given you but a very flitting touch, will 
 I think, prepare you to read Dr. Boudinotwith atten 
 tion. In the mean time William Penn s account of 
 this people, as they were at the first arrival of Euro 
 peans, will afford you much pleasure. 
 
 Are not these features then of the Aborigines truly 
 
LETTER IX. 179 
 
 astonishing ? If we were to deny their origin as a na 
 tion, to what cause can we possibly attribute such pe 
 culiar customs, so different to those of savage nations ; 
 so different from those of all nations whatever, except 
 the Jews ? How can we account for so surprising a 
 coincidence between the rites, ceremonies, language, 
 and doctrines of two nations? Such a solution would 
 I imagine, be far more difficult than the removal of 
 any objection to the possibility, and rationality of this 
 theory. For my part I do not hesitate to avow that I 
 consider the evidence, which is abundant, and drawn 
 from various sources, the most complete and convinc 
 ing that could possibly be brought to prove the extrac 
 tion of any nation, at the distance of upwards of 2000 
 years from its separation from the mother state, and 
 without any communication with it, or any historical 
 record. The principal and most general objection 
 which I have heard advanced against this theory is the 
 present state of the Indians. Is it possible it is asked 
 that a people so enlightened as the Israelites, and ac 
 quainted as they were with writing, should so com- 
 pletely lose that art, and should so completely forget 
 the clear history of their ancestors ? 
 
180 LETTER IX. 
 
 If they be indeed the posterity of the Ten tribes. 
 The time elapsed since their probable entry of this 
 country, and their peculiar circumstances, are certainly 
 more than sufficient to account for that and still greater 
 approaches to barbarism. The captivity and carrying 
 away of the ten tribes under Salmanazer, and their 
 settlement in Halah and Habor, cities of the Medes, 
 took place ante J. C. 728. That of the remnant by 
 Esarhaddon, in 700. It appears to me most probable, 
 that their escape from the thraldom of the Medes, took 
 place during the troubles and revolution of the Assy 
 rian Empire ; whilst the Medes were harrassed by the 
 vast eruptions of the Scythians, which recalled them 
 from the seige of Nineveh, 635, or whilst the Medes 
 and Persian, were engaed in the wars of Cyrus. Those 
 mentioned as still inhabiting part of the east by Jose- 
 phus and Terence in the 1st century, it is probable, 
 were merely the relics of the host, who had not been 
 able to effect their escape, or perhaps the remnant ta 
 ken captive by Esarhaddon. But even supposing them 
 there at that time, the space of about 1500 years, till 
 the discovery of America, appears amply sufficient to 
 account for their change. But it is far more probable 
 that their departure took place at an earlier period and 
 
LETTER IX. 181 
 
 at the invasion of the Scythians rather than at any 
 other. It is more reasonable to suppose, that while 
 slavery was new, and the idolatrous manners of their 
 conquerors were strange, they would feel.more vividly 
 the calamities of their situation, and would watch with 
 impatience for the first opportunity of escaping from 
 so galling and odious a thraldom. Their numbers 
 would be more collected and undiminished, their spirit 
 more unbroken and undebased, their love of liberty 
 and passion for revenge more glowing than they would 
 be after a longer endurance of the degrading influence 
 of slavery, a finer opportunity could not possibly pre 
 sent itself. The power of their oppressors was not 
 taken from their shoulders, but their very existence 
 threatened by the torrent of that barbarous inundation. 
 The vast countries of the north east of Asia, were open 
 to their march, and to their enquiry. If therefore 
 their departure took place at that period, a space of 
 2000 years is allowed for the production of their pre 
 sent character. Now if we only conceive what must 
 have been the effect of their captivity upon them, de 
 prived of all means of cultivating the arts, carried into 
 the midst of nations little civilized, placed in a barren 
 country between the Euxine and Caspian seas, and 
 
182 LETTER IX. 
 
 therefore obliged to devote their whole time to th 
 support of life ; if we only duly calculate the evils and 
 disabilities of their situations, in their long and arduous 
 inarch, the difficulties of merely supporting them 
 selves on their immense journey, we shall not sureljr 
 expect them to retain their rank as a civilized people, 
 we shall not surely expect them to employ themselves 
 much in writing. 
 
 Their national character must be fast deteriorating, 
 and their art of preserving their records fast approach 
 ing to extinction. Bat when they arrived in America, 
 what would be their situation ? They had a vast wil 
 derness before them, which (if prophecy be true) the 
 foot of man had never sealed with the signet of his 
 dominion. The wild animals and the wild productions 
 of the earth, must be their only resource ; the bow and 
 the spear, must be their only weapons ; the preser 
 vation of their arts must give way to the preservation 
 of their existence, and their history must be com 
 mitted to the keeping of tradition. Such causes, 
 operating upon them for ages, must leave them in the 
 simplicity of nature. We might naturally expect that, 
 in successive generation?, new customs would spring 
 
LETTER IX. 1S3 
 
 up, new habits would arise out of the nature and 
 wants of their situation, and the memory and practices 
 of their ancestors gradually fade away. I am, there 
 fore,, only astonished that so many traces of their 
 ancestry do remain. I am surprised only at the lu 
 minous coincidence of language, traditions and custom* 
 that still forcibly mark them, and which prove to my 
 mind, that they must have had their foundation m 
 circumstances of singular and awful importance. 
 
 It is now generally admitted, that Asia was the 
 grand source of American population; and it is almost 
 generally allowed, that this continent (in part, at least) 
 kas been inhabited by a people more acquainted with 
 the mechanical arts than the present Indians. The 
 remains of fortifications, which must have been erected 
 more than a thousand years ago, from two successions 
 f trees having grown upon them, the youngest of 
 which appear eq*al to any trees of the forest, are fre 
 quently found. Iron, and other traces of a civilized 
 and powerful people, are sometimes discovered ; and 
 I have now in my possession a piece of stone, fluted 
 in the manner of a Doric pilaster, which I picked up. 
 Many other architectural remains I have seen in tht 
 ft* 
 
184 LETTER IX. 
 
 possession of different gentlemen, consisting of ma 
 terials not to be found in the neighbourhood where 
 they were discovered ; a proof that labour and expense 
 were not spared for the gratification of taste. But it 
 is a circumstance which I have not seen remarked, 
 that these traces are the most frequent in the north 
 west ; affording a decisive proof that the people who 
 left them came into the country in that direction a 
 great people, and that, as they advanced, they gra 
 dually sunk into a more simple state. All these cir 
 cumstances agree with this theory, and the traditions 
 f the Indians. 
 
 An American writer congratulates his country, on 
 being the only Christian country in the world whieh 
 has not persecuted the Hebrews. Perhaps, however, 
 it will appear, that it does not constitute so amiable an 
 exception; and that America will have to unite its 
 efforts with every other Christian realm, to wipe away 
 the stain of injury towards the most remarkable and 
 most abused people in the globe. This is the object 
 to which I could wish all our enquiries to turn. I am 
 not anxious to ascertain the origin of the Indians, be- 
 e ause I imagine that the Hebrews will ever return to 
 
LETTER IX. 18o 
 
 their original country : that is to me a matter of perfect 
 indifference ; but this I know, that they have heen 
 barbarously and ungratefully treated, and that, as 
 Christians bear the blot of that infamy, every Christian 
 ought to be anxious to wipe it away. 
 
 If it be proved that these interesting people arc 
 really the descendants of Jacob, it will afford an awful 
 instance of the deep and inscrutable workings of Pro 
 vidence, and will awaken a strong and ( for them, I 
 trust,) propitious interest in every Christian mind. 
 
 P. S. The striking personal likeness the Indians bear 
 to the gypsies, and tbe singular history of that wan 
 dering people, and several other circumstances, would 
 render an attempt to point out one common origin, not 
 at all surprising to me. The author of their history 
 has endeavoured to trace their origin to the East; but 
 has developed their route no further than to Tartary, 
 through which the Israelites passed, and where many 
 remained, and mingled with the native Scythians. 
 May not the very Parias of Indostan be a branch of 
 this same stock ? They possess characters in common 
 with both Jews, Indians, and Gypsies ; they are a 
 
 despised and persecuted people, who never mingle by 
 X3 
 
186 LETTER IX. 
 
 marriage with others : all bearing a strong resemblance 
 to the people marked out by the prophet, " to be 
 driven into every nation under heaven, and to be as 
 the outcasts of all." It is not generally known, that 
 the Gypsey language possesses the peculiarity of idiom 
 common to the Hebrew and the American Indians, 
 that of having no superlative degree ; but it is really 
 the case. I merely suggest this idea, without the least 
 wish to press it; but, if it should prove true, it would 
 place the predictions of the degradation of the Israelites 
 in a very strong light : for, who are degraded as these 
 people ? 
 
187 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 Philadelphia, 9th month, 5fA, 1819. 
 
 JL ARRIVED in this city yesterday, and forgot many 
 a long day s wandering, in reading your truly-welcome 
 letters : mine, giving you a relation of some of our 
 earlier travels, are doubtless in your hands before this. 
 I am truly happy to think that I shall, after this time, 
 have little further relation to give you, exoept what I 
 give verbally when I regain the land of the scenes of 
 my birth. I now hasten to bring down my narrative 
 to the presenj time. 
 
 I took leave, with mingled feelings of gratitude and 
 regret, of my kind friends and their interesting settle- 
 
188 LETTER X. 
 
 ment at Tunesassah, which J. Thomas informed m 
 he intended to quit in a few weeks, and return to his 
 own family and estate. I could have remained st- 
 cluded with these friends of the poor and persecuted 
 children of the forest much longer, with great pleasure ; 
 but the thoughts of the journey before me, (having still 
 near three hundred miles to go, chiefly through an 
 entire wilderness, alone and solitary, to Pittsburgh, 
 which, at thirty miles per day, would be about nine 
 day s journey,) made me anxious to get along. 
 
 I found the river rather higher, which would hav 
 made it better voyaging, had not the velocity of the 
 current in some places, and the agitation of the rapids, 
 roaring over rocks and stones, increased the danger. 
 At Marshes tavern, fourteen miles onward, I was told, 
 four people had been lately drowned, and buried near 
 there. The hills, along the Indian reservation, are of 
 a most astonishing height, chiefly covered with pine ; 
 the flats, few and small, covered with button-wood, 
 butter-nut, and elm. I slept at Warren, the first small 
 village on the river, (31 miles,) and again, rising 
 early, pursued my solitary way. The bald eagle and 
 the bittern find a retreat from the intrusions of men, 
 
LETTER X. 
 
 amongst these stupendous, rocky mountains, at the 
 foot of which, the Alleghany runs, winding in every 
 direction. 1 called, to rest myself awhile, at a settler s 
 of the name of Jones, a smart man, as an American, 
 and an intelligent one, as an Englishman would say. 
 He told me, that George Lawson, a hosier, from 
 Nottingham, had settled near him, three years ago, > 
 and two years last second month, perished in the snow, 
 leaving 1200 dollars in property. By letters found, 
 it appeared he had left a wife and nine children, on 
 account of his wife s implacable temper. Proceeding 
 onward, I took up my lodgings with a poor family, 
 in a state of wretchedness and filth inconceivable to an 
 Englishman. 
 
 The next day, I observed a number of Indians, 
 fishing and hunting along the sides of the hills, who 
 agreeably animated by their presence the death-like 
 solitude of this wild and silent valley. They are 
 astonishingly expert with the fish-spear, and appeared 
 very successful in their hunting, by the number of 
 skins they displayed. As I proceeded, the river be 
 came wider and deeper, and therefore less dangerous ; 
 but heartily tired of this mode of travelling, with being 
 
190 LETTER X. 
 
 every now and then turned over, or obliged to leap 
 out, both in tbe cold of the evenings and the thick 
 mists of the morning, I sold my skiff to a man, giving 
 him my kettle and et ceteras for the voyage, into the 
 bargain, for one dollar bill, which, I bettered at the 
 time and eventually found, was worth nothing. 
 
 Intending to pursue my journey on foot, I directed 
 y course for Franklin. On the preceding night, I 
 procured lodgings at a private house, at the mouth of 
 Oil Creek. On this creek, two settlers annually pro 
 cure 600 gallons of petroleum, which flows from several 
 springs, and which they sell at 1 J dollar per gallon. 
 
 8th month, 20th. According to my custom when 
 on foot, I walked on early, and reached Franklin to 
 breakfast, where I met with two young men from 
 Nottingham, who gave me letters to their friends, 
 and a young man from Manchester, who had employ, 
 ment at the Plattsburgh iron-works, and was the first 
 person I had found who preferred this country to 
 England. From Franklin, on the Pittsburg road, an 
 abundance of minerals discover themselves in the hills. 
 In one place, vast quantities of ochre seemed to have 
 attracted speculators ; but their log-houses were agaim 
 
LETTER X. 191 
 
 deserted, and their beautiful orchards, in full bearing, 
 thrown open to the waste wilderness. Game, phea- 
 saats, tarkeys, and other birds, appeared plentiful. 
 I terminated this day s journey, of 24 miles, at a tavern 
 in Slippery Rock township, Butler county. This 
 neighbourhood abounds with good iron ore, coal, salt- 
 wells, yellow ochre, chalk, white clay, gypsum, and 
 limestone. The state tax upon land of the first quality 
 here is 1| cent per acre, second quality, 1 cent; 
 road tax, the same. . From this place (o Pittsburgh, 
 (42 miles,) the appearance of game, particularly tur 
 keys and deer, is frequent. Coal is seen bassetting 
 out of the hill sides in many places, of excellent 
 quality, which the settlers always term stone coal, to 
 distinguish it from char- coal. The soil is generally 
 strong and shelly. The timber, on this side the Al- 
 leghany, principally ash, with a little hickory. As we 
 approach Pittsburgh, the land is better cultivated and 
 thickly inhabited ; but no framed houses are seen from 
 Franklin till within seven miles of Pittsburgh, which 
 I reached at sun down, having walked thirty miles. 
 
 Eighth month, 24th, In the night I was seized 
 with a most violent attack of spasms at the stomach, 
 
192 LETTER X. 
 
 and obliged to call in an apothecary, who told me it 
 almost universally affected Europeans, on their arrival. 
 He attributed it to the water, impregnated with a va 
 riety of minerals. To the same cause he attributes the 
 general prevalence of the dysentery, which sweeps off 
 great numbers. 
 
 Pittsburgh has been so much the subject of de 
 scription, by many travellers, that I shall only make 
 a few general remarks. The aspect of trade is at pre 
 sent very gloomy. Most of the factories, both of cotton 
 and iron, are set down, and great complaints are made. 
 Potatoes are selling at 1 dollar per bushel ; coals, at 
 5 to 7 cents ; beef, Cd to 7d per Ib ; flour, 6 dollars 
 per cwt. The number of inhabitants is almost 9,000 ; 
 the houses are chiefly of brick, poor and low ; the 
 streets intersect each other at right angles. Though 
 the city is situated at the confluence of the Alleghany 
 and Mbnongahela, yet the mills are chiefly worked by 
 steam, coal being excellent and abundant. Mechanics 
 are more plentiful than employment; and though, 
 doubtless, this place (from its situation and local 
 circumstances ) will become a most important manufac 
 turing station, the general state of trade must be much 
 
LETTER X. 193 
 
 improved, before it can become an object of attraction 
 to fresh adventurers. I was glad to pay my last local 
 note away here, a thing of considerable difficulty, 
 from the vast number of bad ones, paying 9 dollars 
 for 2 pair of shoes. My curiosity was soon satisfied ; 
 and I left this dirty, smoking, miserable place, with 
 uncommon pleasure. 
 
 Return to Philadelphia, thro Huntingdon County. 
 
 In my return, I took Huntingdon County in my 
 route, as it is noted for its minerals ; and, tired with 
 walking over this mountainous country, I bought a 
 young horse, or creature, as the Americans say. From 
 this place to New Alexandria, the country wore much 
 the same aspect as that through which I approached 
 it, mountainous, full of minerals, soil thin and strong, 
 scantily inhabited, badly farmed, growing principally 
 buck wheat and Indian corn. New Alexandria has 
 about a dozen houses. At Armagh, I observed a large 
 quantity of fossils, particularly fishes and serpents, 
 whence some fine specimens have been sent to Phila 
 delphia. Here also I saw an extremely rich strata of 
 
194 LETTER X. 
 
 the purest iron ore I have seen in the United States. 
 This place, I have no doubt, will become very impor 
 tant at some future time, possessing various ores and 
 inexhaustible coal. There are nine salt wells working 
 in this county, producing sixty bushels of salt per day. 
 My breakfast here reminded me of the celebrated 
 John Elwes, Esq. boiled eggs and pancakes to my 
 tea. In riding hence towards Ebensburgh, along 
 Chesnut Ridge, I was struck with a sudden view of 
 one of the most extensive prospects in nature, and ex 
 hilarated with that rare, but delicious enjoyment to an 
 American traveller, a view of heaven s azure canopy. 
 
 Fourteen miles from Ebensburgh, I came upon the 
 new road, cutting from Huntingdon to Pittsburgh, 
 which was terribly rough, the stones being broke very 
 large, and the road altogether badly made. The ride 
 from Ebensburgh through Alexandria to Huntingdon, 
 over the Alleghany mountains, is one of the wildest in 
 America; the country thinly settled, the mountains 
 of a most stupendous height, in some places, the 
 rocks piled upon one another, in a most romantic and 
 terrible disorder. The woods are w r ell populated with 
 deer, pheasants, bears, and rattle-snakes. At the 
 
LETTER X. 195 
 
 Yellow Springs, fourteen miles from Huntingdon, is 
 a considerable intermitting spring, which ebbs and 
 flows there alternately, and is never known to vary 
 much. Huntingdon is a considerable place containing 
 upwards of one hundred houses. The surrounding 
 flats are very good. The county of which it is the ca 
 pital, may be called the Derbyshire of America. At 
 this place I called upon Dr Henderson to view his 
 collection of minerals, being informed that he had been 
 indefatigable in his researches. I found a great quan 
 tity of shabby specimens, thrown amongst some broken 
 tomahawks and old iron. My landlord was an inr 
 stance of the effects of the remains of feudal modes of 
 thinking in Great Britain, which induce men to sacri 
 fice their own justice, and the happiness and affection 
 of their children on the altar of pride. His family 
 was one of wealth and rank in Ireland, where his el. 
 dest brother now lives upon the paternal estate. His 
 other brothers were furnished with commissions in the 
 army, and himself being too young at the time of his 
 father s death, to mount a pulpit, or a ship, or to assume 
 the mountebank habit of a legal murderer, was obliged 
 to seek his fortune in this, country, and seemed recon^ 
 ciled to his lot in this wild region, My journey the 
 
K>6 LETTER X. 
 
 next day lay through the Big Valley, between Long 
 Stone, and Jack s mountains, in which are some of 
 the best farms, and best cultivated in the United States. 
 They exhibited fine fallows ready for wheat, with ma. 
 nure heaps laid down as in England. Red clover is 
 cultivated on them to great advantage. The soil a 
 strong hazle worth 60 and 70 dollars peracre, the whole 
 flat including woodland. The timber,oak, hickory, wal 
 nut, &c. always indicating good land. The narrows 
 of the Jack s mountains, through which I past to Lewis 
 town are a most terrific scene. They are chasms, 
 which have been made by the rending asunder of 
 these stupendous mountains, by some terrible convul 
 sion. The abrupt rocks stand on either hand, raising 
 their heads to an amazing height, and here and there 
 presenting immense masses of rock projecting from the 
 awful precipice, threatening to crush you to atoms. 
 When I think of the highest hills in England they 
 shrink into comparative inanity. These are truly 
 amongst the sublirnest features of nature, and he who 
 can pass them without awe, must be without a soul. 
 I reached Lewis town, the capital of Mifllin County in 
 the evening, 35 miles from Huntingdon. 
 
LETTER X. 197 
 
 Eight month 30th Riding along the Juniatta from 
 L.ewistown, 1 met .with one of the Dunkers on a beau- 
 tiful horse. These people occupy a considerable part 
 of the big valley. They have a most patriarchal ap 
 pearaace, wearing their beards and habited in clothes 
 of the utmost plainness. They have little intercourse 
 with the world. They do not court its acquaintance, 
 but seek tranquillity and seclusion. Their character 
 stands high for honesty, and they are generally wealthy. 
 They bear a testimony against oaths and war, refuse to 
 go to law, and lend their money without interest. 
 Their church government and discipline resemble that 
 of the baptists. They use a variety of ceremonies 
 and acts, which they ground upon the practice of the 
 primitive Christians, and indeed they much resemble them 
 in their mode of living, and brotherly unity. Provi 
 dence seems to have allotted them here, a land adapted 
 to their dispositions, and industry insures their prospe 
 rity. The young dress as their parents, and seldom 
 leave the settlement. They still continue to emigrate 
 from Europe, usually in a large body, and purchase a 
 whole settlement, where uninterrupted by the mixture 
 of people of different manners and ideas, they can en- 
 s 3 
 
198 LETTER X. 
 
 joy their own, and worship God, and assist each other 
 after the manner of their ancestors. 
 
 "A band of brothers in the wilderness/ 
 Their houses are generally small, but their barns com 
 prise every thing necessary for a complete farm yard. 
 On the first floor, are stables, cow-houses, store-rooms, 
 &c. on the second, a large granary which projects 
 on every side eight or nine feet beyond the lower story, 
 and sufficient to contain all their corn in the straw. 
 Their settlement at Bethany is well known. 
 
 The practice of these people deserves the most seri 
 ous consideration of our countrymen, who proposing 
 to emigrate hither, would wish to possess any of the 
 comforts of life. This mode of a company of fellow 
 countrymen purchasing a track of land for their own 
 exclusive settlement, is undoubtedly the most wise. It 
 presents a variety of important recommendations. If 
 you would wish to employ your own judgement in the 
 cultivation of your land, and not be dragged under the 
 yoke of popular prejudice, you must adopt it. I have 
 lost my patience in nothing so much, as in seeing the uni 
 versal practice of agriculturists, of the most superior 
 skill, who entered this country with a firm resolve, to 
 
LETTER X. 
 
 pursue their own plan of judgment, adapting it only to 
 climate and soil, dropping in a few years, into the 
 slovenliness and absurd customs of the Americans. 
 The American farmers are composed of men, or the de- 
 cendants of them, who came over the water, artificers 
 of all kinds, and commenced husbandmen. They fol 
 low the practice of the first settlers, which was bad 
 enough, implicitly, and in spite of reason and the efforts 
 of the most enlightened of their countrymen, who per 
 ceive the evil, and have established Agricultural Societies 
 to counteract it, but hitherto without effect. They follow 
 them with that self pride and consequent and cpiniative 
 obstinacy, which characterizes the vulgar of America, 
 and few are the minds, which surrounded by them, can 
 long resist the universal laugh and gibe, that attends a 
 dissent from their notions. "Ah you ll teach us 
 something I guess : Let him alone ! we shall see ! he ll 
 do something dreadful clever in awhile !" Such is the 
 language a farmer hears on all sides, who presumes to 
 act different from the sagacious, omniscient American. 
 Besides nobody will assist such an heretic, the ban is 
 upon him, and he is as effectually under the interdict 
 of his neighbours fire and water, as the proscribed Ro 
 man ? till he condescends to amalgamate with the mass. 
 
200 LETTER X, 
 
 The farmer who went from this country, expecting 
 to find the American farmer acting upon some re 
 gular system adapted to his climate, soil, and local 
 situation, would be much deceived : his only sys 
 tem is to sow what grain he wants, without any re 
 gard to the alternation of green and white crops. He 
 frequently sows the same kind of grain, on the same 
 piece of land, seven or eight, or more years successive 
 ly, if the strength of the land will allow him. His only 
 object appears convenience, and the saving of labour, 
 which is certainly here an important consideration. 
 The American seldom or never looks forward to the 
 future and progressive improvement of his land, he 
 uses it as asses are used in this country, worked while 
 they have a spark of life in them, without one care 
 about their support or preservation. But if you have 
 any taste for consonant society, if you prefer the com 
 pany of neighbours whom you resemble in manners, 
 pursuits, and modes of thinking, if you prefer cleanliness 
 to filth,* modesty to iuquisitiveness, honesty to theft, 
 civility to the vulgar effrontery of men who mistake law 
 less licence for liberty, if you wish to sit down in a 
 house clean and sweet, to one odious with nastiness, if 
 
 * These remarks more particularly appl y to recent settlements. 
 
LETTER X. 201 
 
 you prefer sleeping all night, to lying down only to be 
 worried witli vermin, and in short the company of peo 
 ple clean, sweet, and unassuming, to a dirty, noisy, 
 spitting and heterogeneous rabble of all countries, 
 this plan is indispensible ; by it you may almost forget 
 you are in a foreign land, at times, without it, I can 
 predict your constant and incurable misery. 
 
 At Mifflin town I called on Dr. John Harris, a young 
 man of considerable chemical and mineralogical know 
 ledge, and saw his cabinet, which like all the Ame 
 rican ones is small. At Thomson town, I likewise 
 called upon the school-master, Thomas Pelaw, who 
 bears a high character in that country as a chemi 
 cal philosopher. I found him in his school, with a few 
 adult mathematical students. He was merrily singing 
 as I entered, Burns s " When wild wars deadly blast 
 was blown," and reminded me strongly of Campbell s 
 character of the poetry of that admirable and unhappy 
 bard. 
 
 "And see the Scottish exile tanned, 
 By many a far and foreign clime, 
 
 Bend o er his homeborn verse and weep, 
 In memory of his native land 
 
 With love that scorns the lapse of time, 
 And ties that stretch beyond the deep, 
 
202 LETTER X. 
 
 Encamped by Indian rivers wild, 
 
 The soldier resting on his arms, 
 In Burns s carols sweet recalls - 
 
 The scenes that blest him when a child. 
 And glows and gladdens at the charms 
 
 Of Scotia s woods and waterfalls. 
 
 I found him a very intelligent man, had travelled a 
 great deal, held several offices under government, hut 
 was now to use his expression, retired to his cahin. It 
 is but justice to him, and to the literary characters in 
 America generally to say, that they were extremely 
 obliging, and ready to give me all possible information 
 and introduction to their friends. The old man was 
 very anxious for me to accompany him to his cavern in 
 the mountains, where hs kept his natural curiosities, 
 which he assured me was only 9 miles off. 
 
 At Power s tavern where I crossed the Juniatta I 
 entered a valley where the fox grapes hung in wild 
 abundance, ripe, and in bunches of a most surprising 
 size, some of which I gathered, to have dried and sent 
 to England. Having travelled forty miles along the 
 river which runs wildly round these steep, rocky moun 
 tains, I stopped at a Dutch tavern. The landlord 
 shewed me as usual to my or rather our bedroom, fora 
 bedroom here accommodates a multitude, I remarked 
 
LETTER X. 203 
 
 to him there were neither sheets nor blankets to the 
 bed, " Oh ?" said he " there are two beds" lifting up 
 one with his hand, " you must sleep between them,, 
 you ll sleep mighty well I guess." But not having 
 any great fondness for that sort of bed, I begged a rug 
 of him, the only thing I could get, and wrapping my 
 self in it, slept a little, rose early, and crossed the Juni- 
 atta at Clark s ferry. I reached Harrisburgh early in 
 the forenoon. It is a handsome and considerable town, 
 but like most of the American county towns, makes a 
 great display of taverns. I found on enquiry that the 
 number of these and of stores or shops, was equal; of 
 each 34. The state house and land office are here. 
 A new state house is building on an extensive scale. 
 This place I conceive is very suitable for such offices, 
 being not only in a central, but rich and healthy part 
 of the State and well populated. These are qualities 
 which must give strength and Security. The soil on 
 this flat forms a strong contrast with that on which the 
 Federal city stands. Although the river here is up 
 wards of a mile wide, two firm permanent bridges are 
 thrown over it at two spans, one from each side to an 
 island nearly in the middle. The private houses are 
 inferior neither to those of Philadelphia or New York; 
 
204 LETTER X. 
 
 The streets are wide and clean, and intersect each other 
 at right angles. In my journey the next clay, I found 
 myself amongst a Dutch population, who knew so little 
 of English as to be unable to answer my enquiries of 
 the way. One of the most wealthy however gave me 
 some oats for my horse, treated me with his cherry 
 brandy, ripe peaches, apples, and pears, and not only 
 refused to accept the least recompense, but prest me 
 to stop all night at his house. An instance of good, 
 hearted hospitality not often to be found I doubt, by a 
 traveller in England. As I approached Elizabeth-town, 
 the scene was wrapt in the richest tints of nature, and 
 heightened by the softest magic of evening. The 
 luxuriant crops of Indian corn, and clover eddish, 
 were stretched in most beautiful green before me, as_I 
 broke from a grove of young white oak and hickory, 
 on the bill. The sun was set, the moon rode sweetly 
 and placidly before me, the noises of men were giving 
 way to the shrill voice of the tree frog, the notes of the 
 cicada or wood cricket, and the plaintive lament of 
 the whip-poor-will, and my mind seemed hushed into 
 a calm, the most comfortable and tranquillizing. I 
 looked round and admired the goodness of Providence 
 
LETTER X. 205 
 
 in showering peace, beauty, and plenty upon a genera 
 tion which murmurs at its lot. 
 
 At Washington tavern, where I breakfasted the next 
 morning, nine miles from Harrisburgh, I met with 
 several emigrants just arrived from England, intending 
 for Cincinnati, all in high spirits, having travelled per 
 haps through the finest part of the United States. I 
 reached Lancaster in the forenoon, I had heard much 
 of this county, but the land as far surpassed my anticipa 
 tion as Susquehanna county fell short of it. After 
 travelling over upwards of 2000 miles in different 
 states, I do not hesitate to say that the land from 
 Ebensburgh hither, and round this place, is the finest 
 I have seen. A farm, including all its varieties of soil, 
 is worth 120 to 150 dollars per acre. The houses are 
 of stone, handsome and large, and the farm yards spa 
 cious. Red clover is much cultivated. Not many 
 sheep are kept, but their dairies are excellent, and 
 their horses noble. The city, which was duly incorpo 
 rated a year ago, is the largest inland in the United 
 States. The houses in it are many of wood, and strong 
 built, but good brick ones are numerous, and stone 
 ones not unfrequent. The streets intersect at rectan- 
 
 T 
 
206 LETTER X. 
 
 gles, like many American towns. It is on the whole a 
 fine and handsome city. As I rode along the West 
 Chester road thirty-four miles the next day, the country 
 still presented the same beautiful and cultivated aspect. 
 The farm houses all along resembling gentlemen s seats 
 in England. 
 
 At Centre tavern, West Bradford, next morning, I 
 saw a great number of horses tied under some trees, 
 which I found to belong to friends at a week-day meet 
 ing, preparative to the quarterly meeting. They were 
 just breaking up as I reached the place. Andrew- 
 Wilson, a young man who settled one mile from this 
 place, a year ago, informed me the monthly meeting 
 contained 150 families, the preparative meeting 50. 
 He accompanied me to Jesse Kersey s farm at Down 
 ing town, five miles distant. My time would only per 
 mit me to spend the afternoon with him, though he 
 appeared highly pleased with my call, and had much 
 to ask me respecting friends in England. His memo 
 ry of every incident that occured to him there, surpri 
 sed me. He w ell remembered my father, and telling 
 him an anecdote of himself, which I have heard my 
 father repeat many times : that of a friend overtaking 
 
LETTER X. 207 
 
 him, as he was walking to meeting, and saying 
 " Jesse, thy father has given thee a good fortune" 
 " Ah" he replied " where is it? I know of nothing 
 at present." "Yes" said the friend "he has learnt 
 thee to live upon a little." He well remembered my 
 father-in-law R. L. and telling him that his little farm 
 produced more luxuries, than one in America 100 times 
 as large. His son presented me with some ears of 
 Indian corn, of a variety, which he said would succeed 
 in England. If I return in safety I shall try them. 
 Jesse s situation is a beautiful one. His soil is rich. 
 About 100 acres cleared with a fine fruitful orchard 
 upon it. 
 
 I stopped for the night at a tavern at West Chester, 
 kept by David Lewis, a friend, and as friends in 
 Chester county are numerous, it is much frequented ; 
 This county is more diversified with hills than Lancaster 
 county, but perhaps not quite so rich, yet still very fertile. 
 The white thorn is here cultivated with great success. 
 
 Ninth month, 3rd At the tavern where I breakfast 
 ed, nine miles on my way, I met with a young man of a 
 weak arid depraved character. He told me that he was 
 educated amongst friends, and was possessed of a fine 
 
208 LETTER X. 
 
 plantation wortli twenty thousand dollars. He married 
 out of the society and as is too frequently the case un 
 happily. The tavern was the resource of his disap 
 pointed and misguided mind ; his property was partly 
 dissipated, his wife put into possesion of the remainder, 
 disunited from her, and himself turned a fugitive and 
 a vagabond into the world. He lamented his hard 
 fortune, and weeping aloud to me, I advised him to 
 attempt to subdue his bad habits, and pave the way for 
 a reconciliation, but he replied it was in vain to try. 
 I could not help regarding with mingled horror and 
 compassion, so miserable a victim of unrestrained pas 
 sions. At two o clock I reached this city, which I 
 was very glad to see, after an absence of seven weeks. 
 
 Thus I have brought you I hope to the termination 
 of my rambles on this side the Atlantic. The state of 
 trade here is much worse, and still declining Some 
 English emigrants are still seen, anxiously preparing 
 to set off for the west-ward, where I doubt not they will 
 soon be as anxious to get back. Every day sees mul 
 titudes returning. During my short stay here, I have 
 visited the Academy of Arts and Sciences, in which 
 is a various and numerous collection of minerals. I 
 
LETTER jt. 209 
 
 attended the meeting in Mulberry-street on first day, 
 composed of the largest number of friends I ever saw 
 together. The meeting-house is a very large and noble 
 building, and has an extensive libary, in which is an 
 ancient manuscript bible. I have just before sitting 
 down to this letter been through the markets, which 
 are full of fruit. Ripe peaches J dollar per peck. 
 Cantelopes, melons, apples, pears, plums, grapes, &c. 
 One watermelon I saw which well filled a wheel-barrow. 
 I intend being in New York in a few days, whence as 
 soon as I can terminate my affairs there, I shall hast 
 en to embark once more for happy old England. 
 
 T3 
 
210 
 
 LETTER XI, 
 
 New York, 9th Month, 22wrf. 1819. 
 
 JL HE first news that met me here, was the preva 
 lence of the yellow fever. Auctions are numerous 
 occasioned by this circumstance. The heat continues 
 oppressive, and the musquitos though bad enough in Phil 
 adelphia, are still more tormenting here. The fear of con 
 tagion makes friends meetings very small in this city. 
 I have engaged a passage in the Ship Ann, Crocker, for 
 Liverpool, but as the wind has been so long, and still 
 continues unfavourable, my brother and myself, tired of 
 the heat and apprehensive of the fever in the city, which 
 
LETTER XT. 211 
 
 gets worse every day, have made a trip to Long Island. 
 We took stage at Brooklyn and past by William Cob- 
 bett s late residence, Hyde Park is now burnt down. 
 His wife and family have left this fine country for 
 old England. Himself and son are in lodgings near 
 Jamaica. Thejand is a weak sand and is so completely 
 burnt up, that not a blade of grass can be seen. This 
 is called the garden of America. We visited North 
 Hampstead, a neat little village on bad land and 
 where fuel is very scarce. We walked back by Jamaica , 
 twelve miles from New York, which is likewise a smart 
 Tillage surrounded by numerous large orchards, but 
 like the generality of this Island without fruit, owing 
 I suppose to the great draught of the season. We 
 purchased a few chickens of a remarkable large kind, 
 to take to England, and got some Indian and broom 
 corn, on our return from this Colunbian garden, 
 which indeed resembles too much many of the Ameri 
 can gardens, plats of ground burnt up with the sun, in 
 which a cabbage or a gooseberry is a great rarity. 
 
 I am waiting impatiently enough, 1 assure you to 
 leave this place The heat, the fever, the mus^uitos, and 
 the many delays and disappointments respecting sail- 
 
212 LETTER XI. 
 
 ing, all add to my anxiety to see the vessel move. The 
 fever rages increasingly, notwithstanding all the efforts 
 of the board of health to check it, and numbers are 
 nightly carried out by the negroes to be buried. It is 
 well known that these enslaved men are exempt from 
 the contagion, of this fever ; I have heard a physician 
 declare that he considered the fever the consequence 
 of slave holding, and that were he a preacher, he 
 \vould declaim against it, as the grand cause of a ter 
 rible scourge from which this country will never be 
 free, till it makes its slaves free. Men in the degraded 
 and spirit quenching condition of slavery, live in a 
 state of filth and pollution, which in a hot climate in- 
 genders and diffuses infectious miasma, which though, 
 harmless to them, is amazingly fatal to their oppressors. 
 If we believe in a superintending providence and con 
 sider this striking fact, does it not add considerable 
 force to the retributive notion of the doctor? Walking 
 pretty early this morning up Front-street, 1 observed 
 that the greater part of the inhabitants hud removed on 
 this account, and left tickets on the doors, of reference 
 to their new lodgings. 
 
 In order to beguile my anxiety to get off, I shali 
 
LETTER XI. 213 
 
 employ myself in giving you a few general remarks on 
 this country, though it is uncertain whether I or my 
 letter will reach you first. I can assure you, I am 
 heartily tired of my sojourn here : the charm of novelty 
 is gone, and most objects of fascination are gone with 
 it, and I look with augmenting pleasure to the time 
 when I shall set foot on a shore which, not only the 
 ties of nature, but the effects of comparison has highly 
 endeared to me. I quit this land with but few 
 sources of regret; and yet not without a few. There 
 are those in it, whose hospitality and kindness, whose 
 liberal minds and endearing manners, I shall never 
 forget; and on whose account I coulcl wish so vast an 
 ocean did not intervene between their and mine abode. 
 I regret to leave my brother behind, whose company 
 and indefatigable affection have contributed very much 
 to soften the hardships and disappointments of our 
 journey ; but he has determined to stay the winter 
 over, in order to see if any better prospect may pos 
 sibly present itself: I regret to think how many of my 
 countrymen and countrywomen are suffering incredible 
 hardships ; and how many more may yet be induced 
 to enter the same fascinating path of adventure. 
 
214 LETTER XI. 
 
 For myself, there are a variety of causes, each in 
 dividually sufficient to prevent me settling here ; but I 
 will only mention one or two, in a general manner. 
 The heat of the climate, in summer, is far too great ta 
 be endured with comfort. To be panting under a per 
 petual and intense perspiration, day and night, till the 
 lightest clothes are intolerable, is burthensonie enough, 
 if one only wished to sit still ; but, to take exercise in 
 such a climate, is slavery indeed. Life is wearisome, 
 and (I am persuaded) it is reconcileable to none, except 
 they become inured to it very early. But, the induce 
 ments to agriculturalists are not so powerful as I anti 
 cipated. There are districts which are fertile ; but, as 
 a general statement, the soil of America is poor. It 
 is a fact, that the land which has been worked some 
 years, and abandoned under the name of worn-out 
 laud, does not recover itself by rest, as our jEnglish 
 land. It has not that mild and propitious atmosphere, 
 to impregnate it with the principles of vegetation ; but, 
 its force is devoured by the raging sun. On the other 
 hand, the fertile tracks are sold at 41 price quite inade 
 quate to their value, as calculated by the price of pro 
 duce. There can be, therefore, no inducement to an 
 
LETTER XI. 215 
 
 agriculturalist to break all the bonds of early life, and 
 the ties of country and kindred, to settle here. But, 
 the manners of the people are to me the greatest objec 
 tion ; of which I shall speak presently. 
 
 As for general emigration, I imagine, by the time I 
 reach England, it will have begun to subside. The 
 voice of disappointment will certainly have risen above 
 that of wild and romantic adventure, and made itself 
 heard. At present, it is the height of folly. Such is 
 the present state of things here, that neither farmers 
 nor mechanics can succeed: the vast number of 
 sheriffs sales, are a sufficient proof of this. The 
 country is inundated with the vast torrent of emigration, 
 that has been flowing into it ; and if trade were flou 
 rishing, as that the grower could dispose of his produce 
 readily, and take in return the fabrics of the manu 
 facturer, the new arrivers must be content to penetrate 
 far into the wilderness, and undergo fatigues, expense 
 and hardships, which he can badly estimate by his 
 fire side. 
 
 The tide of emigration, like that of the ocean, must 
 ebb as well as flow, and this is the ebbing period ; 
 but, if such be the distress of England, and so gloomy 
 
216 LETTER XI. 
 
 its prospects, that emigration is (to any one) an object 
 of desire, 1 would certainly advise them to remove 
 hither rather than to a new colony. The pioneers of 
 civilization, those who advance first into an untrodden 
 desert, and begin the work of culture and population, 
 ought to be schooled to the office by a suitable edu 
 cation : they must be inured from childhood to a rude 
 and desultory life, to every inconvenience of poverty 
 and irregularity of climate, to struggle against dif 
 ficulties which would daunt, and amidst sufferings 
 which would destroy all besides. The towns-man, 
 the mechanic, and even the fanner, accustomed to re 
 gularity of life, must, in such a situation, become a 
 wretched object, and, most probably, the victim of his 
 change of habits. But here, at least, they may find 
 some degree of civil security, and may fix themselves 
 on a track which has felt the first efforts of civilization, 
 and is still in the verge of society : but it must be the 
 distressed alone, who can hope to find alleviation here. 
 There may be some who may improve their situations. 
 Farmers, of considerable capital, who, by purchasing a 
 track that will supply their families with food, and 
 reserve a portion of that capital, to procure clothes 
 and other necessaries, may live comfortably, and look 
 
LETTER XI 217 
 
 forward to an increasing value of their estates. Me 
 chanics, whose superior skill or good fortune, may 
 meet with profitable employ ; but the state of trade 
 and glut of emigration, both preclude the possibility of 
 the majority securing to themselves situations which 
 will counterbalance the difficulties and hardships they 
 will certainly find : amongst these, the impositions of 
 the older inhabitants are not the least. The old Ame 
 rican (or Yankee) looks with the most sovereign con 
 tempt upon the emigrant : he considers him a wretch, 
 driven out of a wretched country, and seeking a sub 
 sistence in his glorious land. His pride is swelled, 
 and his scorn of the poor emigrant doubled, not 
 merely by this consideration, but by the prevailing 
 notion, that, but few come here who have not violated 
 the laws of their native realm. If a word is said of 
 one returning, " Oh, (says the Yankee,) he ll non 
 return : the stolen horse will keep him here." 
 
 With their insatiate thirst of gain, and these con 
 temptuous notions of emigrants, they seem to consider 
 them fair objects for plunder ; and are prepared, in 
 every transaction, to profit by their ignorance of the 
 value of their goods, the custom and laws of the 
 
218 LETTER XI. 
 
 country, and the character of the people. Whoever 
 comes here, should come with his eyes and ears open, 
 and with the confirmed notion, that he is going to deal 
 with sharpers. If he is not careful in purchasing ne 
 cessaries for his inland journey, he will pay ten-fold 
 for them ; and when he is there, without equal caution, 
 he will be liable to purchase land of a squatter : that 
 is, a man who has taken possession of it, cultivated it 
 without any title, and is subject to be ejected every 
 day by the legal owner. With this, the evils of the 
 banking system are to be taken into the account. I 
 have stated, in a former letter, the causes which tend 
 to bind a purchaser to the soil, and make him a pauper 
 and a slave upon it ; add to this, the extremes of heat 
 and cold, the tormenting and disgusting swarms of 
 vermin, not merely infesting your plantations and de 
 vouring every green leaf in your fields, but crawling 
 in your houses, and attacking your persons. I have 
 given a catalogue of plagues, which a man must have 
 courage and discontent in abundance, to steel him to 
 encounter. 
 
 For those who, in any degree, prize social enjoy 
 ments, this, I am confident, is not the land. Oh ! it 
 
LETTER XI. 219 
 
 is not a pure and romantic arcadia, where the vices of 
 cities are forgotten, and shepherds are piping hy foun 
 tains, while their fair ones are twining roses and 
 jessamines round their sylvan cottages, and the only 
 objects of life are, to live and to love. It cannot be ex 
 pected to be such, if we only reflect a moment on the 
 causes which have populated it, and the character of 
 those who would naturally seek an asylum here. 
 There have been, doubtless, many noble and generous 
 souls, who, indignant at oppression and adoring liberty, 
 civil or religious, have sought it here. There have 
 been many who, weary of the guilty dissipation of 
 Europe, have hoped for a sweeter quiet, many who, 
 stripped of all the dearest connexions, have sought for- 
 getfulness in change and novelty, many who, glancing 
 forward into futurity, wished to plant their children 
 on an ampler theatre of action than the teeming little 
 spot of Britain could promise ; but these were lost in 
 the mighty, overwhelming multitude of those w r hom 
 the sentence of violated laws, or crimes which inspired 
 the fear of them, had banished, of those who had 
 swindled the public, and gulled a host of creditors, 
 and escaped hither with the spoil, and of those who, 
 without education, without moral principles, or any 
 
220 LETTER XI. 
 
 other resource, had scraped together just enough to 
 land them on this shore of adventurous fame : a mingled 
 mass of the lowest of all countries, with hearts that 
 had shewn their little sympathy with their fellow-men, 
 by their easy contempt of the amor patriae, and whose 
 leading star was a thirst of possession, that every thing, 
 particularly since the revolution, has tended at once 
 to stimulate and debauch. It was not to be expected, 
 that from such primordial roots, should quickly spring 
 the lovely shoots of civil union and social order. 
 
 Released at once from the yoke of poverty and of a 
 stricter government, the most powerful passions were 
 speedily developed and excited to a morbid excess. 
 Metamorphosed from poor and oppressed subjects, into 
 proprietors of the soil and important wheels in the 
 great machine of government, and flattered as the 
 champions of liberty, the desire of power, and the 
 love of self, were pushed with an exotic growth to a 
 rank luxuriance. They were not possessed of that 
 virtue implanted by a careful education, of that phi 
 losophy, and deep sense of propriety, which can alone 
 restrain them within due bounds, and the torrent of 
 concurring circumstances carried them away. Tli 
 
LETTER XI. 221 
 
 love of liberty is but one modification of the love of 
 self; it is great and amiable only while it involves its 
 own interest in that of the whole community. It is 
 the most selfish passion of the soul ; and if unchecked 
 by the power of reason, virtue, and benevolence, spe- 
 dily degenerates into tyranny. It is the vitiated love 
 of liberty which characterizes the despot. He sits in 
 its full enjoyment, and in his exercise of freedom binds 
 the fetters of slavery on a whole state, and lops the 
 heads of its noblest citizens. 
 
 This feature, in the heroes of liberty, has been con 
 spicuous in all ages. The Greek, brandished the 
 scourge over his helot, the Roman, his slave, and in 
 the modern land of liberty, its champions mark the 
 generosity of their free-born souls, on the bleeding 
 backs of their negroes. In what does the freedom of 
 such men differ from that of Phalaris, enjoying the 
 roar of his victim in his red-hot bull, of Dionysius, 
 steeping his hands in the blood of the Scyracusan pa 
 triots, or of Tiberius ordering the execution of a son, 
 who dared to weep at the fatal sentence of his lather. 
 
 It is not that true, that genuine liberty, which at 
 v 3 
 
222 LETTER XI. 
 
 once asserts its own, and respects the rights of another; 
 not that exalted and suhlime principle which animates 
 a soul enlightened by the mingled blaze of philosophy 
 and religion, and which teaches us to spare the feel 
 ings and respect the sentiments of our neighbours, 
 while we enjoy the unshackled indulgence of our own, 
 which, in a word, teaches us to do as we would be 
 done by. I say not, that such a principle actuates no 
 American ; that would be to violate at once both truth 
 and virtue. There are many who would do honour to 
 any country, by their knowledge, politeness, and noi 
 bility of mind. The number of these will increase with 
 the progress of the arts and sciences amongst them; 
 but these benefactors, and reformers of men, follow 
 only in the train of national wealth and greatness. 
 Their course is only now beginning. This is not the 
 natural time of their flourishing. The work of popu 
 lation, and acquisition of property, must be first well 
 established ; the clearing of land, the construction of 
 machinery, must occupy the thoughts and exertions 
 of the multitude, and it will only be when there are 
 many in the mighty mass, who have wealth and leisure 
 to allow them to turn from the constant caring for the 
 
/ LETTER XI. 223 
 
 means of existence to the wish to embellish it, that 
 they will take deep root and exert their influence over 
 the puhlic mind : then these restraints upon vulgar and 
 ignorant licentiousness will, indeed, be properly felt 
 and extended. 
 
 At present, the predominant character is too strongly 
 marked, by the causes I have stated. The idea of 
 freedom seems to extend to every thing. The real 
 Yankee deems himself authorised to indulge his own 
 will, and to break the slavish bonds of decorum and 
 respect. Like the Swiss peasant, who, at the point of 
 death, avowing his enmity to his murderer, and being 
 asked by his priest, if be meant to go to hell, in a 
 passion which extinguished life, exclaimed, " I am a 
 free Switzer, and can go where I please."* The con 
 firmed American is without bounds to his licence and 
 bis pride. But I will notice a few characteristics se 
 parately. The first which strikes a stranger is, an 
 astonishing inquisitiveness. Wherever you go, you 
 are surrounded by men (who never saw you before in 
 their lives) who immediately have a thousand questions. 
 
 * Zimmerman s Solitude. 
 
221 LETTER XT. 
 
 " Who are you? Where do you come from? What 
 are you doing here ? What s your name ? " &c. &c. 
 The repugnance of Englishmen to answer all these in 
 terrogations, is the cause of many a curse. " O ! 
 you re a mighty grand fellow ! You re not to he spoken 
 to, I guess ! You re not in England now ! " 
 
 I carried a large port-folio with me some hundreds 
 of miles, in the woods, to collect botanical specimens 
 of indigenous plants. The moment I entered a tavern, 
 " What have you got there ? Have you got pictures ? " 
 " No." " Are you going to publish ? Have you got 
 specimens of your work?" " No." " Have you got 
 maps ? " " No ; only a few dried plants. " Plants ! 
 What, are you a herb-doctor f " " No." " What then? 
 "What are they for r " Before I had time to satisfy 
 their curiosity, a dozen hands would have hold of it : 
 some pulling at the strings, some trying to open it 
 before it was untied, and some seizing hold of the end 
 of a leaf or a twig, that happened to peep. It was 
 with the utmost difficulty I could preserve it while 
 under my care; and, sending it to New York by the 
 stage, it happened to be left at a tavern, where it was 
 
LETTER XI. 225 
 
 quickly ransacked : every string pulled off, the leaves 
 torn and tossed, and the specimens taken or spoiled. 
 
 My brother got a waggon, to convey my luggage to 
 the vessel, on my preparation to embark, in which 
 were some cases, containing deer and fowls. The busy 
 spectators jumped into the waggon, one after another : 
 " What have you got ? Have you got foxes? and hens ! 
 What are you going to do with them ? " " Take them 
 to England." " O ha ! and what have you got in 
 these chests ? " " Should you like to see ? " " Oh ! 
 yes; let s see," &c. &o. It is said, you lose nothing 
 by these impertinent catechists, that they are as ready 
 to answer as to ask ; but, at all events, they are like 
 their musquitos, very busy about you when you could 
 well spare them. 
 
 But many of them are not satisfied with asking and 
 seeing, they retain some of the nimble-fingered pro. 
 pensities of their ancestors. They use their freedom to 
 take what they please. Near Power s Tavern, Pen- 
 sylvania, I gathered some remarkably large and beau 
 tiful bunches of Fox grapes, which I carried upwards 
 of three hundred miles, and got them dried at Philadcl- 
 
226 LETTER XI. 
 
 phia, to take to England, they scarcely got to my lodg 
 ings in New York before they were stole. A friend 
 at Mansfield in a joke requested me before leaving 
 home, to bring her a live rattlesnake. As one fell 
 into my hands, I sent it to New York, in a cage, 
 where it was also claimed, and was exhibiting in that 
 city on my arrival. My double-barrelled gun which I 
 highly valued both for the beauty and the excellence 
 of the workmanship, went out of my private room 
 while I stepped out about an hour, and though our 
 suspicion naturally fell upon our landlord, all research 
 es and advertisements were in vain. I select these 
 instances out of many, to shew that things valuable or 
 worthless, are alike acceptable. I shall be happy to 
 escape at length with any thing left. 
 
 Their love of freedom shews itself in their vulgar 
 effrontery. Considering their opinions as the very 
 oracles of wisdom, contradiction to them is intolerable; 
 yet they will contradict with furious impetuosity. Their 
 conceit is incredible, and of consequence their opiniatre* 
 invincible. Do as you will, you arc almost certain of 
 giving oflence, especially if you are known as an Eng 
 lishman, for he is watched with an envious and ma- 
 
LETTER XI. 227 
 
 lignant eye. One day at a tavern at dinner, where 
 four waiters were in attendance, I incautiously said, 
 * Waiter ! will thou please hand me the mustard ?" 
 " Who are you?" roared out a fellow who sat opposite, 
 in a gruff tone, " You are not in England now ! 
 There are no waiters here !" I replied " that there 
 were four persons in waiting, and that I knew of no 
 more appropriate name. But that my question was 
 not addressed to him, and that he need not therefore 
 put himself out of humour ahout it." This was a gross 
 insult to the free American, and he uttered a torrent 
 of abuse and of oaths before a large company, with as 
 much fury as if I had taken his dinner away ; which by 
 the bye, he was gobbling down with a voracity as sa 
 vage and disgusting as his address. Such rencounters 
 are by no means unfrequent, even when you previously 
 fancy yourselves in most respectable travelling compa 
 ny. At a boarding-house in New York, my dog, 
 which was chained in the yard by my luggage, barked 
 at a little fiery republican as he past, though it was 
 impossible he could come near him. The lit!> man 
 was so enraged that he fetched an axe to dash out his 
 brains, and it was only by the most prompt and reso- 
 
228 LETTER XI, 
 
 lute resistance that 1 compelled him to desist. My 
 landlady however attacked me with a torrent of femi 
 nine eloquence, because I would not let the dog be 
 killed, that to obtain peace I was obliged to pay my 
 bill and seek fresh quarters. The perpetual occur 
 rence of such displays of the spirit of freedom, though 
 they may appear trivial or invidious on paper, are in 
 conceivably irritating to those who love quietness, and 
 have been accustomed to temperate society. They 
 urge to the maximum my anxiety to depart from this 
 sanctuary of liberty. 
 
 One trait more and I have done; the too general 
 want of cleanliness. It is a common complaint against 
 the English, that nothing is good enough for them ; 
 and I do not wonder at it. The taverns are most of 
 fensive in this respect. Enter one of these, you will 
 naturally suppose, that in a land, where every man s 
 history is a perfect romance, in a company all of whom, 
 or their father s have quitted their native country from 
 the avowed love of liberty, that you will find a certain 
 greatness of soul, a dignity and magnanimity of thought 
 in minds that have spurned at oppression, and sacrifi 
 ced every thing to be free, and a consequent degree of 
 
LETTER XI. 229 
 
 propriety, and delicacy of manners. They are dignifi 
 ed indeed, for you may imagine them if you will, the 
 Gods in an Olympian council, there they sit the clouds 
 are rolling over their heads, and below them the floor 
 is wet with the eternal shower. Smoking and spitting 
 are the luxuries of life, and I verily helieve an Ameri 
 can could not enjoy the thought of heaven, if he were 
 sure not to find there, his whiskey and segar. But this 
 odious custom pervades all ranks and places. In ele 
 gant houses, in carpetted rooms, you are happy if you 
 escape spitting upon, for an American is free and can 
 spit where he pleases. But the want of cleanliness and 
 attention to comfort is discernible in many other parti 
 culars. There are provisions for conveniency and de 
 licacy that even the Ashantees in Africa are said to 
 possess in perfection, and which one would suppose 
 no nation with any pretensions to civilization would 
 be without, but which are seldom found connected 
 with any houses in the country here. The outsides of 
 the rural dwellings are commonly pleasing to the eye, 
 painted white, with pea-green shutters, but the inter 
 nal contrast is frequently so comfortless as to make 
 you think the notions of comfort on the different sids 
 w 
 
230 LETTER XI. 
 
 the Atlantic, are exactly opposite. It is however 
 amongst the back settlers, that filth and vermin reach 
 their acme, and hold despotic empire. Nor am I sur 
 prised at it, the langour inspired by the climate, and 
 dispiriting influence of abject poverty, and perhaps 
 disappointment, extinguish the ardour of hope, and 
 destroy the pulse, and impetus of activity. 
 
 But I must conclude ; and shall only add one ge 
 neral sentiment as the sum and substance of my opinion. 
 America will doubtless in time become a great country, 
 and when the character of its population, has whitened 
 and improved beneath the humanizing influence of 
 science and of time, it may be a happy country. 
 But at present Emigration is folly, and will I think, 
 continue long to present an aspect, at which a sensible 
 man will pause and reflect, 
 
 " Tis better to bear the evils that we have, 
 Than fly to others that we know not of." 
 
 Printed by J. Dunn, Nottingham. 
 
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