Travels in New England, and New York, etc

Letter I

Journey to Sheffield. White Marble. Rapid descent of the Streams which fall into the Hudson, and into the Hooestennuc. Egremont. Manor of Livingston. Claverack. Character of First Settlers in little Landing Places. Kaatskill. Canton. Durham. Kaatskill Mountains. Bristol. Blenheim. Stamford. Harpersfield. Meredith. White Pine Tree. Franklin. Sidney. Miserable Inns. Troublesome Innkeeper. Unadilla. Oxford. Norwich. Jericho. Chenango River and Valley. Sherburne. Hamilton. Cazenovia.. 1

Letter II

Holland Company. Face of the Country from Sullivan to Canandaigua. Manlius. Varieties of Names given lo Townships. Onondaga. Salt Springs. Marcellus. Early Fall of Snow. Skeneateles Lake. Aurelius. Cayuga Bridge. Account of Lakes in this Region. Junius. Geneva. Seneca Lake 2+

Letter III

Easton. Canandagua. Bloomfield. Charleston. Hartford. Genesee River. Genesee Flats. Oak Plains. Their peculiar Appearance, owing to Fires kindled by the Indians. a CONTENTS. Page Their Soil productive. County of Genesee. Buffaloe. View of the Lake, Sec. Beautiful Collection of Clouds 39

Letter IV

Brief Account of the great Lakes which supply the River Niagara. Lake Superior: its Islands, Rivers, Sec. River St. Marie: its only Outlet. Opinion, that there are subterranean Outlets, examined. Lake Huron. Lake Michigan. Island of Michilimackinac. Huron River. Lake St. Clair. Lake Erie. Evidence, that the Waters of these Lakes are lower than they formerly nere 60

Letter V

River Niagara. Properly called the St. Lawrence. Islands in the River. General appearance and Character of this Region. Cataract of Niagara 69

Letter VI

A Passage behind the Sheet of Water of the Cataract practicable al some times, and not at others. Explanation of this Phenonwnon. Retrogression of the Cataract considered 84

Letter VII

Severe Storm. General Observations upon the Western Part of New-York. Excessive Value placed upon Lands covered with Vegetable Mould. Climate and prevalent Winds of this Region. Western District of New-York unhealthy. Diseases. Fever and Ague. Goitres. Pulmonary Affections rare 93

Letter II

Holderness. Squam Lake. Plymouth. Baker's River. Romney. Wentworth. Warren. Ryegate. Barnet. St. Johnsbury. Lyndon. Sheffield. Premature Frosts. Lebanon Falls. Boating on Connecticut River. Governor Griswold 137 SECOND JOURNEY TO LAKE WINIPISEOGEE, OR WENTWORTH.

LETTER I.

Journey to Andover through Providence. To Portsmouth through Newburyport. Rochester. Norway Plain. Middleton. Wolf borough. Governor Wentworth. Tuftonborough. Moultonborough. Prospect of the Lake Winipiseogee or Wentworth from the Red Mountain. Squam, or Sullivan's Lake. Return 147

LETTER II

General Remarks upon New-Hampshire. Its Population, Soil, and Agriculture. Form of Government. Support of Religion 156 JOURNEY TO UTICA. Description of the Kaatskill Mountains. Extensive Prospect VI CONTENTS. Page from the Summit. Journey to Utica. Hamilton College. Cavities worn by the Mohawk in the Rocks at Little Falls. Return 165 ♦— THE IROQUOIS.

LETTER I.

Authorities consulted in the following Account of the Iroquois. Their Form of Government. Their Story relative to the Creation of Man. Their Mythology, as related by the Oneidas 175

LETTER II

Government of the Iroquois. Sachems. Customs and Laws of the Nation 186

Letter III

Origin of the Iroquois. Their warlike Character. Their Faithfulness in keeping Treaties. Their Eloquence and Language. Mischiefs produced by Ardent Spirits. The Effects of General Sullivan's March through their Country. Feast, or Thanksgiving of the Senecas 192 REMARKS ON EUROPEAN TRAVELLERS IN AMERICA.

Letter II

The Inhabitants of this Country charged with retaining Obsolete Words; with introducing New Words; with annexing new Significations to Words. Alterations in Language less in this Country than in England, for the last two hundred Years. Vindication of this Conduct 273 LEARNING, MORALS, &c OF NEW-ENGLAND.

LETTER I.

Schools. System of Connecticut. Schools of New-England. Effects of this Education on the People at large. Honourable Roger Sherman 283

LETTER II

Academies in New-England. Colleges. State of these Institutions in 1812. Law and Theological Seminaries. Medical, Historical, and Philosophical Societies. Social Libraries.... 292

Letter III

Observations of Buffon, De Pauw, Sec, relative to the Deterioration of Animals ; of the Bodies, and of the Minds of Men in America. Genius; what, and whence derived. Genius of Americans. Literature and Science of the Americans. Men of Learning. Causes why they are not numerous 299

Letter IV

Dpinion of the Edinburgh Review relative lo the Literature of CONTENTS. VIII Page America. President Edwards. Rev. Dr. Edwards. Dr. Franklin. Dr. Rittenhouse and other Natural Philosophers. Ingenious and Useful Inventions. 31' Fingal. Progress of Learning in Great Britain from the Eighth Century 312

Letter V

Manners and Morals of the People of New-England. Executions during the Revolutionary War. Capital Punishments in the County of New-Haven in one hundred and seventy-five Years. Duels in New-England since its Settlement. Inhabitants all required to be in the possession of Arms. The Poor supported and educated. Public and Private Charities 322

Letter II

State of Religion after the Peace of 1783. Effects of the French Revolution. Circulation of the Writings of Infidels CONTENTS. IX Page LETsER III. The Effects of the Principles, avowed by the Leaders of the French Revolution, counteracted and destroyed, in a great measure, by their Cruelties and Impiety, and by the Miseries they brought on other Nations. These Effects likewise lessened by the Efforts of the Clergy, and of many other respectable Inhabitants, but principally by an extensive Revival of Religion. Comparison of the Religious and Moral Character of the First Settlers with that qf the present Inhabitants 370

The Personal Appearance of the Inhabitants. Their Gravity, Ifc. General Remarks on the Influence of Theatres and Plays on Society 449

Letter II

Opinion qf a Writer in the Quarterly Review, relative to the Women of this Country, examined. The Features, Manners, and Employments of the Women of New-England. Their Education 456 MANUFACTURES OF NEW-ENGLAND. Extracts from the Report of the Secretary of the Treasury, April 19, 1810. General Account of the Manufactures of Massachusetts and of Connecticut. Account of the Manufactures of Rhode-Island, with a History of their Origin 465 — ♦ — MASSACHUSETTS.

LETTER I.

Tlie State of Massachusetts. Its Boundaries, Population, and Government Page CONTENTS.

LETTER II.

Laws relative to Schools and the Qualifications of Schoolmasters; concerning the Maintenance of Ministers and the Establishment of Public Worship. Early Laws for the Support of Harvard College. Crimes punished by Death. Militia. 490 PROSPECTS OF THE UNITED STATES

LETTER I.

Opinions of Foreigners relative to the Future Prospects of our Country. Bishop Berkley's Views of this Subject in Verse. Extent, Waters, Soil, Productions, and Population of the United States 497

LETTER II.

Enterprise, Ingenuity, Intelligence, means of acquiring Know* ledge; Laws, Morals, Language, and Liberty, of the People of the United States. Extent of Country yet to be settled. Institutions of the Country in a state of Improvement. Increase of Evangelical Religion and Catholicism. Future Prospects qf the United States.,

LETTER I.

Journey to Sheffield. White Marble. Rapid descent of the Streams which fall into the Hudson, and into the Hooestennuc. Egremont. Manor of Livingston. Claverack. Character of First Settlers in little Landing Places. Kaatskill. Canton. Durham. Kaatskill Mountains. Bristol. Blenheim. Stamford. Harpersffeld. Meredith. White Pine Tree. Franklin. Sidney. Miserable Inns. Troublesome Innkeeper. Unadilla. Oxford. Norwich. Jericho. Chenango River and Valley. Sherburne. Hamilton. Cazenovia. Dear Sir; On Wednesday, September 19th, 1804, I began a journey to the falls of Niagara. I was detained by rain until three o'clock in the afternoon, and then rode to Watertown : twenty-six miles. The next day I proceeded to Sheffield: forty-one miles. At Litchfield, and afterwards at Canaan, I had expected to find my destined companions in this excur sion ; but missed of them in both places.

At the latter, after a solitary ride of between fifty and sixty miles, I found some gentlemen going to Sheffield, whose company made the remainder of the way very agreeable. The day was remarkably cold for the season, and was followed by a severe frost ; the ice at Sheffield being, the next morning, about the thickness of a dollar, and the tender vegetables generally destroyed. During the preceding nine years there has not, in those parts of the country where I have journeyed, been a frost, sufficiently intense to destroy vegetables of this class, until about the middle of October. VOL. if. B At Sheffield I found two gentlemen designing to set out for Kaatskill*, and with them I proceeded very pleasantly on the journey. The road turns directly west from Sheffield, and enters the state of New-York in the township of Hills dale.

The part of it, which is in Massachusetts, is alternately a forest and a collection of solitary settlements. About a mile and a half from Sheffield we passed by a number of workmen employed in sawing, grinding, and polish ing marble. Immense quarries of this mineral are found in the range of hills, at the foot of which their works were erected. It is white, and generally of the same texture with that at West-Stockbridge. The workmen, however, showed us some specimens of a much finer quality, and very beautiful. The business is here in its infancy ; but, if pursued with in dustry and prudence, can scarcely fail of being profitable. The ascent of the Taghkannuc range, on the eastern side, is gradual and easy ; on the western, the declivity is longer and steeper. From the bottom of this range the tributary streams of the Hudson run through a country twenty miles in breadth, with a rapidity not less than that, with which those of the Hooestennuc run five miles.

Both the valley and the bed of the Hudson, therefore, are much nearer the level of the ocean, in this latitude, than those of the Hooestennuc. This conclusion is obvious, also, from an attention to the cur rent of these rivers. That of the Hooestennuc, from Canaan to Derby, is almost universally rapid ; and is interrupted by several falls and rifts. The whole perpendicular descent of these must be more than two hundred feet ; and that of the general current much more. From Canaan to the Sound, the length of the river, as measured on the road, is seventy-two miles ; and this distance, although the road follows the course of the river in a remarkable degree, is yet short of the truth. Almost all this distance is a continued ripple. Three hundred feet will be a moderate allowance for such a descent, through out such a distance.

In the Hudson there is not even a rapid below Troy. The first township through which we passed, after leaving Sheffield, was Egremont in Massachusetts, bordering upon * The name of this town was originally spelled Kaatskill, but has since been altered by the legislature to Catsiill. — Pub. A sequestered valley. ■i the western line of the state, and lying on the summit and eastern declivity of Taghkannuc. The soil of this township is generally good. The settlement is comparatively recent. The inhabitants live on scattered plantations ; and suffer the usual inconveniences, both moral and physical, of such settlements. Their number, in 1790, was 759 ; in 1800, 835 ; and, in 1810, 790. From the ridge of this mountain there is a handsome view of the Green Mountain range, and a noble one of the Kaatskill mountains.

The stone found on Taghkannuc, so far as we had an op portunity to observe it, is principally blue, shining schist, like that, formerly mentioned, on Saddle Mountain. After we began to descend from the ridge, we saw on the left, between two steep declivities, a small and very beautiful valley, of a rich soil and verdure, so narrow and so deep, as to be styled without impropriety a ravine. In this retired spot stood a few humble dwellings, which appeared as if every storm, both of the natural and political world, would pass over them without disturbing their peaceful inhabitants. No spot has presented to my eye more forcibly the idea of being se questered from intrusion and bustle. It was a valley of Swit zerland ; and I felt as if it v.ould be easy to find in this little cluster the cottage of Venoni.

When we had passed the line, which divides Massachusetts from New-York, the appearance of the country in many re spects was changed in an instant. The houses became ordinary and ill-repaired. A great number of them were taverns ; generally, however, of so wretched an appearance, as must, one would think, prevent the entrance of any traveller. Not a church nor a school-house was visible till we reached Cla verack ; at the distance of sixteen or eighteen miles. About the taverns, early as it was, were gathered a number of per sons from the neighbourhood, idling and drinking away then time, rude in their appearance, and clownish in their man ners. From the ridge to Claverack the whole country is slate ground, the soil tolerably good, and the surface an alternation of hills and vallies. There is so much sameness in the succession as to make the whole prospect tame and dull, without b any thing picturesque or even sprightly.

The houses, also, are generally indifferent, and the agriculture on a humble scale. I ought to add, that this tract is extensively culti vated by tenants ; and belongs to one branch of the family of Livingston. We dined at a very good inn in Claverack, a pleasant and very ancient Dutch settlement. This town is about four miles from Hudson, and contains sixty or seventy substantial houses, built in the Dutch manner ; two churches, a Dutch and an Episcopal, a court house, and a gaol, all of them ordinary buildings. The site of Claverack is a handsome elevation, near a sprightly mill-stream, which is bordered with intervals. Agriculture in this neighbourhood seems to be at a stand. Neither improvement nor enterprise meets the eye, and every thing, except the passing of a great number of waggons, wears the appearance of stillness and seclusion.

Claverack is the shire town ofthe county of Columbia. In 1790, it contained 3,262 inhabitants ; in 1800, 4,414 ; and, in 1810, 3,593. On the Hudson there are many clusters of houses and stores, which are gathered at the end of every considerable road, terminating at the bank in what is called a landing. Trade is the motive, which at the first settlement siimmons to these places adventurers of every sort from every quarter. Together with a collection of discreet and virtuous people, there is sometimes an unhappy proportion of loose, lazy, shift less, and unprincipled inhabitants. They are of the clan, which I have heretofore mentioned under the name of fo resters. It is a peculiar characteristic of the ignorant and vicious part of such aggregations to feel, that their settlement inti mately resembles great trading towns.

To exhibit this resemblance to each other, and to strangers, is always a favourite object of their attention. Too ignorant, however, to dis cern in what the real respectability of such towns principally consists, and too vicious willingly to adopt what is excellent in their character, they employ themselves in copying the fashions, follies, and vices of cities. To be first and excessive in fashions ; to make a parade in the midst of poverty ; to be pert ; to gamble : to haunt taverns ; to drink ; to swear ; to CHARACTER OF SETTLERS ON THE HUDSON. 5 read newspapers ; to talk on political subjects ; to manage the affairs of the nation and neglect their own ; to profess them selves infidels ; to seem to know every thing, and plainly to care nothing about religion ; to array themselves against its ministers, its friends, and its interests ; and to be " wiser in their own conceit, than seven men, who can render a reason;" are strong features of the character of such men.

Another peculiar characteristic, found in many of the in habitants in such settlements, is a bold spirit of commercial adventure. They chiefly come together for the purposes of trade ; and generally have neither the capital, skill, experience, nor caution, which are indispensable to success in business of this nature. With a full conviction of their competency, they contract debts, and trust their property to persons whom they have never seen, without fear, and almost without thought. They, therefore, bargain with every body, who will bargain ■with them. Their darling object is to have the reputation of doing a great deal of business ; and the question, whether it is done with advantage or not, seems to give them little anxiety. You will not wonder, that many of them speedily become bankrupts.

Another trait in the character of such settlers is expensive ness. To be like the inhabitants of great cities, they feel that they must in some measure resemble them in show. This spirit displays itself in dress, buildings, furniture, and modes of living ; and is often the gulf which swallows up the pro perty and ruins the family. The road from Claverack to Kaatskill is disagreeable ; wandering through a solitary country, composed chiefly of rough and barren hills, and containing a very few indifferent houses. At the ferry we were obliged to wait a long time ; and what was worse, were compelled during this time to hear two men, mere brutes, professedly talking, and actually swearing and cursing, about politics and religion. Of these subjects neither of them knew any thing except a few words, to which each attached no other signification, except that some of these were the words of his own party or sect, and the remainder words of that which he opposed.

Our passage was in other respects safe and pleasant. Kaatskill is a town, built on a creek or mill-stream of the same name. It contains about one hundred houses ; almost all built on a single street, near and parallel with the creek, and in a direction from south-east to north-west. Several of the houses are built of brick. These, and some others which are of wood, are good buildings. A high and steep hill rises in the north-east at a small distance, leaving an easy slope at the bottom, of sufficient breadth for this street and its appendages. The soil is clay ; in wet seasons very muddy, and in dry very dusty. Naturally it is cold and barren ; but capa ble, with good husbandry, of producing plentiful crops. Many of the grounds, heretofore enclosed, are now suffered to lie waste ; a decisive proof, that they are of little value.

The business done at Kaatskill is considerable ; consisting principally in the importation of foreign commodities from New-York and elsewhere, and in the exportation of wheat, flour, and lumber. Much of this business is done in the way of barter*; and is attended with all the evils incident to those modes of exchanging property, in which there is no settled standard of dealing. One of the chief benefits of money is, that it furnishes the parties in all contracts with a known rule of estimation ; by which they can determine the value and price of their commodities, and understand perfectly the nature of their bargains. Kaatskill, i. e. the creek which bears this name, is naviga ble into the heart of the town for vessels drawing nine or ten feet of water. The channel of the Hudson is here one third of a mile distant from this shore.

An island, bordering upon the channel, formed probably by the slime of the creek, is connected with the shore by a beach formed in the same man ner. On this beach the inhabitants have begun to build a causey, which is to unite the island with the main, and to give them access to the channel of the Hudson. This work, an honourable proof of enterprise in these inhabitants, has since been completed ; and an opening made from Kaatskill to the ocean for mercantile vessels of any burthen. Kaatskill contains two congregations, an Episcopal and a Presbyterian. The Episcopalians, aided by the funds of Trinity church in the city of New-York, have erected a neat * 1804. KAATSKILL. church. The Presbyterians meet in the court-house*. There are here a few Baptists, and a smaller number of Methodists. There are in the township, also, two Dutch churches, one five miles north, and the other four miles west of the town.

There are two academies in this town ; one of them incor porated. The prospects from the high grounds, near the village, all present two very interesting objects, the Hudson and the Kaatskill mountains. Otherwise they are dull and discourag ing, destitute of the fine scenes of nature and the pleasing traces of art. Kaatskill is the shire town of the county of Greene, which contains also the townships of Coxackie, Greenville, Free hold, Canton, Durham, New-Baltimore, and Windham. The Kaatskill mountains, so far as they are entitled to any distinction, have their whole course in this county. The number of its inhabitants, in 1800, was 12,584. It then contained four townships. In 1810, its inhabitants amounted to 19,536. The township of Kaatskill contained, in the year 1790, 1,980 inhabitants ; in the year 1800, 2,408 ; and, in 1810, 4,245.

I found my expected companion, Professor D of Yale college, and Mr. D of New-Haven, at Kaatskill. Here we spent our time very agreeably in a circle of good friends till Monday, September 24th, when we rode to Bristol in the county of Schoharie, through the townships of Canton and Freehold, as they were then named. You will observe, that the local divisions of this state are continually changing, es pecially in the more recent settlements. It is impossible for a traveller, therefore, to follow these changes, unless he were to have frequent recourse to the records of the state. Our journey proceeded in a turnpike road, a branch of the Greenwoods' turnpike, from Hartford to Albany, commencing at Canaan in Connecticut, and passing to Wattles's ferry on the Susquehannah. Thence it is proposed to extend it to the county of Trumbull, on the southern shore of Lake Erie.

The road is well made. After leaving Kaatskill, we passed by two hamlets, built on the creek, in one of which is the best mill-seat that I have met with. The dam is formed by a ledge of limestone, the front of which is perpendicular, and so high, * Thev have since built a handsome church. as to be on a level with the floor of the fourth story of the mill. This building stands on the side of the creek, in a spot perfectly safe ; the water-wheels are overshot ; and the whole expense laid out upon the dam is incurred by placing a single stick of timber upon the brow of the ledge, and by forming a flume, perhaps four or five feet in length. It cannot, I think, have exceeded ten dollars. The stream is abundant, and ne ver failing. The interior furnishes immense quantities of wheat. Navigable water is scarcely four miles distant.

More than thirty thousand barrels of flour are, or may easily be, manufactured here in a season. Between these hamlets, and near the bank of the creek, there is a cave, said to extend, in a winding direction, thirty rods in length. The account must, I think, be conjectural ; for the entrance is so ragged as to discourage effectually all investigation. The country from Kaatskill through the township of Canton is a dull, dreary region. The ground is clay, the soil lean and filled with slate, the forests low and unthrifty, the houses few and miserable, and the cultivation wretched. Such of the inhabitants as we saw, corresponded in their appearance with all the particulars of this description. Few spots, within my knowledge, wear a more forbidding aspect. The dulness of the scene was, however, relieved by fine views of the Kaat skill mountains.

Canton, which since this journey has changed its name to Cairo, is a counterpart of the region already described. Its surface appeared to my eye as if it had been anciently and frequently burnt over by the Indians, and not unfrequently by those who succeeded them. The settlements, which we saw, were few, recent, and wretched. From Canton we entered Freehold, passing through a settlement called New-Durham, and since incorporated into a township by the name of Durham. Here the face of the country changed in an instant. The surface became a succession of long, easy declivities on the north-eastern margin of the Kaatskill range, together with beautiful, open vallies lying between them. The soil, a mixture of loam and clay, is rich, and abundantly productive of both grass and wheat. The in habitants have availed themselves of their advantages.

This VALLEY OF THE HUDSON. 9 settlement, when we were on the ground, was of little more than twenty years standing; yet it was thoroughly cleared, well cultivated, and divided by good enclosures into beautiful farms. Indeed, every thing here wears the appearance of prosperity. Almost all the inhabitants are emigrants from Connecticut, and have preserved the habits of their native country. Of this we saw sufficient proof in their school-houses and their church. The congregation consists of two hundred families. Among them there has lately prevailed an extensive revival of religion, a rich reward for their efforts to establish the worship of God. From Durham the road rises by a very easy and regular ascent to the ridge of the Kaatskill mountains, here divided into two arms, at the distance of more than twenty miles from the northernmost of the three principal summits.

From the ridge at this place are seen the valley of the Hudson, Saddle Mountain, and the Taghkannuc and Green Mountain ranges. This valley is here at least forty-miles wide. Its extent north ward and north-eastward is vast, exhibiting a remarkable spe cimen of the grandeur produced by amplitude, but is not or namented, nor even relieved, by variegations of natural or ar tificial beauty. To the west, nothing was visible but huge piles of mountains, separated by deep and narrow vallies. Into this valley our road descended very gradually along the declivity of the northern ridge. Here we found a few lonely plantations, recently begun upon the road. The southern ridge, or rather the south-western, is a rude and lofty mountain. At the bottom runs a sprightly mill-stream, winding in several places through rich intervals, a small number of them cleared, and covered with flourishing verdure.

Occasionally we passed a cottage, and heard the distant sound of an axe, and of a human voice. All else was grandeur, gloom, and solitude. The mountains on either hand seemed to shut out the few in habitants of the valley from the rest of mankind. If I can conjecture the feelings of a Swiss, and the habits which he must be supposed to derive from the circumstances of his na tive country, I should believe, that in this spot he might easily imagine himself to be still in Switzerland. We reached our destined inn soon after sun-set. It was kept by a plain, but very friendly and obliging Dutchman, named Rechtmeyer, who had been planted here a considerable time, and had an excellent farm under good cultivation. One of his sons was the first uneducated Dutchman whom I have heard speak English so perfectly, that.

I should not have sus pected him to have been of Dutch extraction. The latter part of our journey lay in the township of Bristol and the county of Schoharie. It was incorporated in 1797, and contained, in 1800, 1,083 inhabitants. In the morning, September 25th, we proceeded on our route through a part of Blenheim, a part of Jefferson, a corner of Stamford, and through the townships of Harpersfield and Kortright, to Meredith : thirty-seven miles. The first part of our way lay in the valley already described. The northern ridge receded gradually toward the north-west ; the southern continued its former western direction, and increased its height and rudeness until it terminated on Schoharie creek, eight miles from Rechtmeyer's. When we arrived at the creek, we found the bridge swept away by a late flood.

This stream rises in the neighbourhood of Kingston, and runs directly north to the Mohawk, about eighty miles. Its bed is deep and rocky, its course rapid, and its waters, during every considerable rain, swollen instantaneously by torrents from the mountains into a deluge. Its banks, for a great distance, are formed by the ends of these eminences, rising on both sides in a long succession, and abutting upon the river in the form of huge promontories. The appearance of these heights, and of the whole neighbouring region, is singularly shaggy, wild, and horrid ; nor is the prospect cheered by a smiling object. We were necessitated to ford the river. Happily we found a waggoner on the spot, who directed us to a place where we crossed it without much difficulty. On the opposite bank, however, we were compelled to make our horses climb up a rocky precipice, scarcely practicable, and attended with no small danger.

From the Schoharie we entered Blenheim, ascending a mountainous acclivity, near three miles in length. This township, so far as it was visible from the road, we found an almost absolute forest, as we afterwards did those of Jefferson and Stamford. I can scarcely conceive, that an agreeable re sidence will ever be found in either of these places. THE KAATSKILL MOUNTAINS. Blenheim was incorporated since the year 1790, and Jef ferson since the year 1800. The former contained, in 1800, 775 inhabitants ; and, in 1810, 1,319 ; and the latter, in 1810, 1,740. Stamford was incorporated in 1792, and contained, in 1800, 924 inhabitants ; and, in 1810, 1,658. It lies in the county of Delaware. In this part of our road we crossed two of the head-waters of the river which bears that name, and found them mere mill-brooks.

Harpersfield, which is in the same county, is a settlement of some standing. The surface is irregular, the hills are sudden, and the valleys are narrow. The face of the country is much inferior in beauty, and the soil in fertility, to Durham. The houses are comfortable ; and the inhabitants have built them selves a decent church, added to it a steeple, in this region a singularity, and settled a clergyman. When I speak of a clergyman, with any qualification in the phraseology, 1 always intend a man regularly educated for the ministry, and regularly inducted into that office. In the year 1790, Harpersfield contained 1,726 inhabitants. It was then an extensive tract of country, and belonged to the county of Montgomery. The present Harpersfield contained, in 1800, 1,013 inhabitants ; and, in 1810, 1,691.