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Show TRAVELS 1'£IROUGII NORTH AMERICA ! tedious winter. Before ftve days, however, were over, the wind again c1 ann-eLl, and fo fudden wa. the thaw th.tt the f10w diiappearcd entirdy on the iceond lhy, and not a vell:igc of the f10fl w.11; t be [~.;en, excep tin ')" in the rivers, where lan~c pieces of icc remained fl ating abont . ...,It was about the middle of D~cembcr when I r~!achtd Daltimorc; b•1t I was deterred frat 1 gc ing on to PhilaJdphia until the frofly weatll : r ihould f..:t in, by tl e badnds oft H' ro~uls; for t1 ~y w<.:r~ in fqch a Lt r. , that ~..;vcn the public {bgcs were pr~v ntcd fnm ply in 1 for the fp.tce of ten r twdve days. T 1e frorL fc)Oll dncd t 1em, and rend..!rcd them as goo( as in fun tm:r~ I fc.:t out when it was mofl.. icvcre. At day bre.1 k, the morning aft~r I lc t na timOic,,the thermumLWI', .t<.:Cording to foa•·cnbcit, flood at i'· I never obfervcd it fo lo v dul'lng any other par t o the winter. St:v >ral travellers had il:oppcJ at the f..tme houfc that I did the fit 0:: night I was ll th~ road, i rd w all hrea: f l ed togct her rr paratol y lO ie tting ut the ne . ..t t r.1in:;. The Amcrilan traveller , before they purfucd their journey, took a hearty drau;.;ht each, .t cording to cufiom , of egg-no , a n ixturc com} r~ i of new mi lk, <:g1rs, rum;, nd fugar, beat up to•,ethcr ; th,-.y a}1pearcd to be at no fm;1 I pflins alfo in forti fying thcn~!dv s ~g.tinJ1: the iev 'Lity f the we th r with great coats and wrappers over ea h oth ~.-r , wool ~.-n focks and trowfe rs over tl1ei r boots, woolkn mittens over their gloves, and fil · hand! : rebid- ticJ over their cars and mouths, &c. fo that nmh ·ng ould b le..!n excepting their nofes and Lheir eye . It wa. abCol ut ·ly a tuhjett of d1v, rliun to me, anJ to a yo mg gentleman jqf\: arriv 1 from the Wefl: lnd i l'~ , who accon p.111idl me from Baltimor , to fcc the gn:.tt ca re with wh1ch rhl..y wr.Lp ,'ed thcmfelves up, for w both fou nd ourf ivcs lull] ·i 'Jitly warm in comu.on chthing. It ii..ems, huw( v '1', to be a n,attcr generally a llow~..;d , that :fl.ra1 ~ ·r•., even from tlk \V,·(l: Indi s, tnaccuD:umed t > 111 e 1k coi l,. do no~ fuft~r fo t11l:l h Ji·om the fe nty of the winter, thl..! lirit year of their arnv.tl tn Amcnca, as th-: wh 1 t~.,; 1 1t o,')k who h tv been born in the c.n:t ~ ry. Every perfon that we 1 ~..: upo11 the road was wrq.1pcd up nHtLh 111 the fiulc manner as th., tr<n dkrs who brcakiafled with u , anJ had fi Jk P ASSA GE OF TIIfo. SUS Q UEli,\ r, Ali. 57 f1lk handker h icfs tied round th eir heads, fo as to cover th~..;ir mouth and ca rs. A lout the mi.ldle of the day we arrived :tt th"' Sufqnl'hannah, a 10, a., we expctl:ed to find it, the ri ver was froz· n entircl; over. In \\'h. t manner w were to g~ t acrofs was now th <.: qm:fl..ion. The people at the fcrry-houlc were of pinion that the i c w.ts not fufli ·icntly 11rong to bear in every part of the river ; at the fame time th ·y faid, it WJ.S fo very thicl near the lhores, that it would. be imprJ.Cl:icablc to cut a patTagc through it bc.:forc the c.by was over; however, as a great number of lravcll rs deG rou of ge tting acrofs was colleCt d togethe r, and as all of them were much averfc to remaini ng at the fcrry- houfe till the next morning, by which time it was fuppoCcd th at the ice wouhl be fl:ro ng enough to bear in ev ery part, the people were at lai1: over-ruled, and every thing w::ts prq'ared D r cutting a way acrofs the river. T he paffen gers ~'ere about twelve in number, with four horfes ; the boat's crew conGHed of [even blac ks ; three of whom, with l.trge club ·, flood upon the bow of the boat, and broke the ic , whi li1: the other , with iron-hearted poles, puD1ed the boat fo rwar is So VL ry laborious was the tafk. which the men at the bow had to p rfonn, that it was rwceilary for the others to relieve them every ten minutes. At the end of half an hour their h ands , arms, fa ces, and hat , were ghz d cnti r Jy over with a thick coJt of ice, f rm ·d fro rn th water wh i<..h w aChed up by the reite rated fl. rokes of their cl ubs. T wo hours clapfcd before one half of the way wa broken ; th ice was foll nd much tb 1ckcr than had been imagined ; the clubs were {hiv ·reel to pieces; the m n were quite cxhauficd.; and having fuftcred the boat to rcmai11 fiationary for a minute or two in a part where the ice WetS remarkably thick, it was fi·ozen up, fo that the utmofl: exertions of the crew and paflengers united were unable to extricate it. In this predicament a council was h lJ; it vva i11 pof1l.b1.:: to move either backwa rd or for ... ward; the boat was half a mile from the DlOr ; no one would attempt to wa)k th<:.rc on the icc; to remain all nigh t in th · boat would be death. L uckily I had a 1 air of pill.ols in my ho1fiers, and. havin_; fi red I a few |