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Show V I R G I N I A. go over t }1 e moun tal.ns with me into the lower fettlements.. However, by the politenefs of the commander of the place,. the honourable colonel Byrd, and of another gcntlem an of my acquaintance, I got over thefe difficulties j for the form_er, while I continued at Winchefier, accommodated me w1th his own apartments in the fort, ordering his fervants to attend and wait upon me: and the latter fent a ~egro~ boy with me, as far as colouel WaChington's, eighty miles ddl:ant from this pl~ce. On the 4th of June, therefore, ~ was enabled to leave Winchefier,. and I travelled that mght about eighteen miles, to Sniker's fe:ry upon. the ~henando. . . , The next morning I repafied the Blue-ndge at W 1lhams s Gap, and proceeded on my journey about forty miles. I this day fell into converfation with a planter, who ~vertook me on the road, concerning the rattle-fnake, of which there are infinite numbers in thefe parts; and he told me, that one day going to a mill at fome difiance, he p:ovoke~ one to fuch a degree, as to make it firike a fmall vtne whtch grew clofe by, and that the vine prefently drooped, and died ~. My accommodations this evening were extremely bad ; 1 had been wet to the fkin in the afternoon; and at the miferable plantation in which I had taken lhelter, I could get no fire; nothing to eat or drink but pure water; and not even a blanket to cover me. I threw myfelf down upon my mattrafs, but fuffered fo much from cold, and was fo infeO:ed with infeCts . and vermin, that I could not clofe my eyes. I rofe early in the * Several perfons to wh?m I have mentioned this fact, have feemed to . doubt of the probability of it. But were it not true, a quefi:ion will naturally arife, how an idea of that nature ihould occur to an ignorant planter, living remote from all cultiv~ted fociety; and, more particularly, how he 1hould happen to fix upon that tree ; which, fuppofing the thing poffible, is the moil likely to have been affected in the manner defcribed. morn"'1 M. ARYLA N D. morning, therefore, and proceeded upon my journey, being diO:an t from colonel Wa01ington's not more than thirty iles. lt was late, however, before I arrived there, for it rained extremely hard, and a man who undertook to !how me the neareft way, led me among precipices and rocks, and we were lofi for above two hours. It was not indeed, without fome compenfation; for he brought me through as beautiful and picturefque a fcene, as eye ever beheld. It was a delightful vall ey, about two miles in length, and a quarter of one in breadth, between high and craggy mountains, covered with chamcedaphnes or wild ivy, in full flower. Through the middle of the valley glided a ri- · vulet about eight yards wide, extremely lucid, and breaking into i.nnumerable cafcades; and in different parts of it fiood fma1l c] urn ps of evergreens ; fuch as myrtles, cedars, pines, anrl various other forts. Upon the whole, not Tempe itfelf could have difplayed greater beauty a more delightful fcene. At colonel Wa01ington's I difpofed of my horfes, and, having borrowed his curricle and fervant, I took leave of Mount-Vernon the I I th of ] une. I croffed over the Potowmac into Maryland at Clifton's ferry, .. where the river is fomething more than a mile broad; and proceeded on my journey to Marlborough, eighteen miles. I here met with a firolling company of players, under"' the direction of one Douglas. I went to fee their theatre, which was a neat, convenient tobacco-houfe, well fitted up for the pnrpofe. From hence in the afternoon I proceeded to Q£een Ann, nine miles; and in the evening nine miles farther, over the Patuxen to London-town ferry; I fiaid here all night, and early in the morning ferrying over South-river, three quarters of a mile in breadth, I arrived at Annapolis, four miles dil1ant, about nine in the morning. Anna~ - 37 |