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Show TRAVELS TIIROUGll NO:RTil AMERICA: into Vir ,inia, and many of them infon 1ed me, that they lu d cxpe rienced the f:tmc treatment th mfclv s at this h ufl:; yet this hou!C 1 ad the name ol a tavern. What the white people who inhabited it live I upon J coultl not di(cover, but it was evident that they took care of th emlclv s. As for the poor flavcs, however, of which there were many in the hu ts adjoining the tavern, they had a mofl: wretched app caran~e, {llltl fcem d to be half fiarved. The men and women were covered Wtth rags, and the children we re running about frark n:tkcd. . After having got into the ferry boat, the 111:111 of the houfe, :lS 1f confcious that he h~d given me very bad fare, told me that there was a bank of oyfl:ers in the river, clofc to which it was ncccfl:try to pafs, and that .if I chafe to {l:op the men would procure abundance of them for me. The curiofity of getting oyfl:crs in frc{h water tempted m~ fiop, and the men got near n. bufhel of them in a very few minutes. Thcfc oyfl:crs are extrcm ly good when cooked, but very difagreeable eaten raw ; indeed all the oyfl:ers found in America, 1 ot excepting what arc taken a.t New York, fo clofe to the ocean, arc, in the opinion of mofl: Europeans, very indiifcrent and tafl:elcfs when raw. The Americans, on their part, find fiill greater fault with our oyfl:ers, which tl~y fay arc not fit to be cat in any !hape, becaufc they tafl:e of copper. The Patowrnac, as well as the refl: of the riv rs in Virginia, abounds with excellent fi[h of many diflcrent kinds, as fiurgeon, !had, roach, herrings, &c. which form a very principal part of the food of the people living in the neighbourhood of them. The rivc1· at the ferry is about three miles wide, and with particular winds the waves rife very high; in thefe cafes they always tie the horfcs, for fear of accidents, before they fet out; indeed, with the fmall open !>oats which they make nfe of, it is what ought always to be dom;, for in this country gufts of wind rife fuddenly, and frequently when they are not at all expeCted : having omitted to take this precaution, the boat was on the point of being ovcrfct two or three different times as I crofled over. On. the Virginian fhorc, oppofite to the ferry houfc from whence I failed, there are feveral large creeks, which fall into the Patowmac, and § it VIRGINIAN SliORE. i.t is impoHiblc t ctofs thcf(; on horf ·' a ·k, w"thou t riding thirty or forty mi e up a [ l!lcly uni .~t.:re i 1g pJrt of th..: country to the fords or br 'd ·e'·. '- As I wiiJH;d t go beyond thell: reeks, I thcrc.:fur..: hired tl c bo~ltn ..:n to carry me ten n iles down the P.ttOWIJli.lC P ivcr in the ferry boat, p;tfl tile mouths of them all; thi · they accor ling]y diJ, a1Hl in the aft<.:rnoon I land d on the bea ·b, not n. little plcafcd at fi nding that 1 had r :lchccl the 010r witl10ut having been under the neccf 1ty of fwinHning any part of the way, for during the l.til hour the horf<.:s had not r<.:main d tJuict for two minutes together, and on one or two occafions , having got both to the fame Jicle of the boat, the trim of it was very nearly d fhoyed, and it was with the utmofl: tli1licu1ty that we prt-vcntcd it from being overfet. The part of the conn try where I landed appeared to he a perfeCt wilderncfs; no traces of a road or pathway vvere vifible on tl c Ioofc white fand, and the cedar and pine trees gr w fo clofcJy together on all fide , that it was fcarcdy poHibk to fcc fitrth r forward in any dircO.ion than one hundred yard . Taking a courfe, however, as nearly as I could guefs, in a direCt line from · the river up the country, at the end of an hour I came upon a narrow road, which led to a large old r"ck houfc, fomewhat fimilar to thofc I had met with on the Marybnd fhor . Oa enquiring here, from two, bhcks for a tavern, I was tole! there \V:lS no fuch thing in this part of the ountry; that in the h ufe before me no part of the family was at home; b ! t that if I rode on a little farther, I fhoull come to fomc other get t emen 's houfcs, where I could readily get a commodation. In the courfc of five or fix miles I fa.w fl:veral more of the fame fort of oll brick holies, and the e cning now drawinrr towards a clofe, I began to fc.d the neccni ty of "Oing to fomc one of them. I had fecn no pcrfon f(x fev r;ll mile to tell me who any of the owners w rc, and I was confidcrin()' within myfl:lC which houil: I fhoull vifit, ' hen a lively old negro, mounted on a little hor(·, came gallop· no- after me. On applying to him for inforn a ion on the fubjet..1., he tool gre:1t pains to affure m ·,that I D1otdd be ' 'ell rct:Livcd; t any o 1c of the houf<.:s I might 11op at; he ft id there were n tavell1s in this part of the country, and firongly recommended me to proceed under his guidance to M h"s |