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Show TRAVELS TI-IROUGll NORTH AMERICA: fcen to unite ; and the tall fordl: rifing gradually out of the ocean, at )aft prefents itfclf in all its m~jcfiy to your view. The land which we made was fituateJ very ncar to the bay of Delaware, and before noon we palfed between the capes Iknlopcn aml IVlay, which guard the entrance of the bay. The capes arc only eighteen n1iles apart, but withi11 thcrn the bay expands to the breadth of thirty rniles. It afterwards becomes gradually narrower, until it is lo!l: in the river of the fame name, at Bombay !look, f<.!vcn leagues diftant frorn the Atlantic. The rivt:r Delaw.lrc, at this place, is about fix rnilcs wide; at Reedy IGc1nd, twenty miles higher up, it is three tnilcs wide; and at Philadelphia, one hundred and twenty miles fi·om tht; fca, one tnik wide. The iliorcs of the bay and of the river DeJa w:ue, for a very confiderable di{bncc upwards, are low; and they arc covered, like the coafl:, with one v;lft fore.fl:, excepting merely in a few places, where cxtenfive marfl1es intervene. Nothing, however, could be n1orc plcafing than the views with which we were entertained as we failed up to Philadelphia. The trees had not yet quite loll: their foliage, and the rich red and y;llow tints which autun1n h;1d fufTufcd over the lea'ves of the Oilks and poplars appeared beautifully blended with the fombre green of the lofty pines; whiHl: the river, wir1Lling flowly and fmoothly along under the banks, rcfletled in its gla!fy furf.'lce the varied colours of the objeCts on fhore, as wdl as the images of 1nultitudes of vdfds of various fizcs, \\~ich, as_ f.·u· as the eye could r~ach, were {een gliding illcntly along WJth the t1de. As you approach towards Phi lade] phia, the ban k.s of the river bll:omc more elevated; and on the kft hand fide, where they are n1~ch ~]eared, they are interfperfed wjth nun1bcrlefs neat fann-houfes, w1th VIllages and towns; and arc in fon1e parts cultivated down to the very ~dge ~f the water. The New Jcrfl:y {hore, on the right band fide, n:mams thtckly wooded_, even as far as the city. V e!fcls very commonly afcend to Philadelphia, when the wind j fu- ' 'ourabk, in twenty-four hours· but un:£;o,·ttlll"tcl 11 • d h • . . , n y,as our 1111p entere t e 11ver, the wmd d1ed away, and !he had to depc11d r01 1 1 ·d . u e y upon t 1e t1 e, whtch flows at the rate of about three miles only in the hour. Finding that the paffitge up to the city was likely therefore to become tc .. 8 dious, P I I I L A D E L P I-I I A. dious, I would fain have gone on {hore t'lr below it; but this the c:tptai!t vvould not pern1it tnc to do. By the laws of Pennfylvania, enaCted in confcquencc of the dreadful P'·ililence which raged in the capital in the year 179 3, the n1afier of any vdkl bound for that port is n1ade fubjeCl. to a very heavy fine, if he fnftcrs any perfon fron1 on board her, whether marint;r or paficnger, to go on fhore in any part of the fl:ate, before his vcfiel is exatnined by the h ealth o11iccr: and any perfon that goes on ihore, contrary to the will o[ the maficr of the vetTel, is liable to be irnprifoned for a confidcrahle length of tin1e. In cafe the exifl:cnce of this law {ho ~tld not be known on board a vdrcl bound for a port in Pcnnfylvania, it is the bufincfs of the pilot to furnifh the n1afl.er and the palfengcrs on board with copies of it, with which he always comes provided .. The health ofli.cer, who is a regular bred phyfician, rcfides at Mifflin Fort, four 1niles below the city, where there is a frnall garrifon kept. A boat is always fcnt on {hore for h1tn from the 01ip. After having been to.lfcd about on the ocean for nine weeks nearly, nothing could be tnorc tantalizing than to be kept thus clofc to the fl1ore without being pcnnit .. ted to land. Philaddphia, as you approach by the river, is not fcen farther ofF than three miles, a point of land covered with trees concealing it from the view. On weathering this point it fuddenly opens upon you, and at that dill:ancc it looks extremely well; but on a nearer approach, the city tnakes a poor appearance, as nothing is vifiblc fi·orn the water but con .. fufed heaps of wooden ftorchoufes, crowded upon each other, the chief of which are built upon platfonns of artificial ground, and wharfs which projeCt a confiderablc way into the river. The wharfs arc of a reCtangular form, and built of wood; they jut out in every direet·ion, and arc wdl adapted for the accommodation of {hipping, the largefl: merchant vefrels being ~ blc to lit; clofe along fide thcn1. Be.:: hind thcfe wharfs, and par:11Jcl to the river, runs Water-fi:rcct. This is the firll: fireet which you ufually enter after landing, and it docs not fervc to give a .fl:ranger a very favourahle opinion either of the ncatncfs or com1nodioufi1c[c; of the public \vays of PhiladJphi.l. It is no more than thirty ft!ct wide; and immediately behind the houfes, which fiand on the fide fartheil: frotn the B 2 water, |
