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Show TRAVELS TI-IROUGH NORTH AMERICA: with a few exceptions, throughout America. Thefe habitations are not very fight1y, but when well built they arc wann and comfortable, and la!l: for a long time. A confidcrablc quantity of wheat and Indian corn is ralfed in this neighbourhood, to the produCtion of which the foil is fctvourable; but the be11 cultivated parts of the country are not fccn from the road, which pafic chiefly over barren and hilly tracts, called " ridges." The reafon for c.1rrying the road over thefe is, becaufe it is found to lafl: longer than if carried over the flat part of the country, where the foil is deep, a circumfi:ance which the people of Maryland always take into confidcration; for after a road is once cut, they never take pains to keep it in good repair. The roads in this fiate are worfc tlun in any one in the union; indeed [o very bad arc they, that on going from Elkton to the Sufi.1uehannah ferry, the driver frequently had to call to the paficngers in the fiage, to lean out of the carriage firll at one fide, then at the other, to prevent it frmn overfctting in the deep ruts with which the road abounds: ~' Now, gentlemen, to the right;'' upon which the pafiengers all firetched their bodies half way out of the carriage to balance it on that fide : " Now, gentleznen, to the left," and fo on. This was found ab[olute1y neceflary at lea!l: a dozen tirnes in half the number of miles. Whenever they attcm pt to n1cnd thcfe roads, it is always by filling the ruts with faplings or bufhes, and covering them over with earth. This, however, IS done only when then~ arc fields on each ilde of the ro:1tl. If the road 1 uns contiguous to a wood, then, inficadof mending it \·vherc ;tis bad, they O} en ,l new paflagc through the trees, which th(y caB mrtking a road. It is very common in Maryland to fee fix or fcven different roads branching out fro1n one, which all lead to the fame pL1cc. A firan~ser, before he is acquainted with this (;ircmnflance, is frequently puzzled to know which he ou _;h t to take. The dcxtu·ity with which the drivers of th..: fiagcs guiJe their horfes along thefe new roads, which are full of (lumps of t1 t.:t ,, is ~H:o~, i~Jing, yet to appearance they are the rnofi a w kwa1 d dz ivers pofliblo; H IS n1ore by the different noifcs which they make, than by their reins, that they manage their horfcs. Char1c11on .. C ·II A R L E S T 0 N. 2.3 Charlcfton Ll:ands at a few rnilcs di.lance from Elkt m; there arc about twenty houfc.s only in it, which are iii h.lbitcd chiefly by people who carry on a herring fin1ery. lleyonJ it the country js much diverfific<. l with hill and dale, and the fc)il being but of an inc.lifr~rent qua- . lity, the ttnd arc fo little cll:arccl, that in many parts the road wind.;through unintcrruptcJ woods for four or five miles together. 'T'hc fccner, in this nei6hbourhood is extremely interefiing. Fr01n the top of the hills you meet with nurnberkC boU and ext~nrlve profpeCl:s of the Chcfapcak 13ay and of the river Su(quehannah; and fcarc<.:ly do yo~J crofs a valley without beholding in the depths of the wood the waters of fome little creek or rivulet ru01ing over ledges of rock in a b~autiful cafcade. The generality of Americans flare w.ith afloniauncnt at a perfon who can feel any delight at paffing through fuch a country as this. To then1 the fight of a wheat field or a cabbage garden would convey pleafure far greater than that of the moil: romantic woodland views. They have an unconquerable avedion to trees; and whenever a fettlement is made, they cut away all before them without mercy ; not one is fpared; all ihare the fame fate, and are involved in the general havoc. It appears :firange, that in a country where the rays of the fun atl. with fuch prodigious power, fome few trees near the habitations ihonld not be fpared, whofe foliage might afford a cooling flude during the parching heats of fummer; and I have oftentimes expreifed my ailonifhmcnt that none were ever left for that purpofe. In anfwer I have generally been told, that they could not be left lbnding near a houfe without danger. 1'he trees it feetns in the American forefis have but a very flcnder hold in the ground, confidering their itnmenfc height, fo that when two or three fully grown arc deprived of lhelter in confequenc:c of the others which fiood around thetn being cut down, they arc very apt to be levelled by the firfi: fiorm that chances to blow. This, however, would not be the cafe with trees of a finall growth, which n1ight 1afdy be fp:u-ed, and which would foon afford an agreeable fl1ade if the Americans thought proper to leave them ftanding; but the fact of the matter is, that fi·om the face of the country being entirely overfpread with trees, the eyes of the people become fatiated with the figpt of them. The ground cannot be tilled, |
