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Show TRAVELS THROUGH NOR .. fH AMERICA:- . b net of this kind to at one rn. de, l"t 1. s necefiary for a woman wcanng a on turn her whole body round. . ·ds the mountains, the women In the upper parts of the country, tow.u 11 d·L~rerent having a healthy comely appearance. are tota y w ' L E T T E. R XII •. ']; of (."'(' h . k Rall·hahannock River.-SharkJ fouud iu it.- :J. appa annoc .- r.r M o'7.vn b d . on rrrbanna -Fires common in the Woods.- anner C ntrv or ermg up u, • · fi nlo"ujl o .I. . d c!J' I p orr -Mode o~" getting 'l'urpmtme rom ,,fltn thezr rea U rogrf!jS" ~ . . . 0'I ' 'h- g 'V': k (."'(' -Remains 0 1" the Fortijtcattons ereE!ed rees -Gloucrj/lfr .-..1. or 1 0'7.0ll. 'l . · here d· urm. g the. A . . Tp; -Houl'es jl.'Jattered by Balls jltll remam~ !1Je1 tcan r, ar. ':1" . • • . C . tze Banko~' the River.-l¥t!ltmnfourgh.-State lloz!ft m mg.- ave m tJ ~ . • . d M Rum. s .-S tatue 0"r Lord Bottetourt.-Co/lege oj Wzi/Jam an ary.- Condition of the Students. Williamlburgh, April. INCE I laft wrote, the greater part of my time has been fpent at the S houfes of different gentlemen in the Northern Neck. Four days ago I cro!fed the Rappahannock River, which bounds the Northern ~eck on one r11. dc , t o. a lr'. mall town called Tappahannock, or H.o bb s Hole, conta·m ·m g a b ottt on. e I1 undred· houfes · Before the war th1s town was in a much more flouriiliing !late than at prefent; that unfortunate con-tell: ruined the trade of this little place, as it did that of moll: of the fea-port towns in Virginia. The Rappahannock is ~bout thre~ quarters of a mile wide oppofttc the town, which is fcvcnty nulcs above 1ts mouth. 'sharks arc v ' ry often feen in this river. What is very remarkable, the fifh arc all found on the fide of the river next to the town. } rom T appahannock to Urbanna, another fmall town on the Rappahannock Ri.ver, fituated about twt.:n y-five miles lower down, the country wears but a poor afpect, 9 • The F I R E S I N T II E VV 0 0 D S. The ro::td, whi h .is level and v ry fandy, runs through woods for miles together. The hahitations that arc fccn from it arc but few, and they arc of the poorcfl dcfcri1,tion . T he wood. chiefly confifl: of black oak, pine, and cedar trees, which grow on land of the woril: quality only. . On this road there are many rrcek to be eroDed, which empty them-felves into the Rappahannock River, in the neighbourhood of which there are extcnfive marChes, that render the adjacent country, as may be fnppofed, very unhealthy. Such a quantity of fnip s arc fecn in the[c marfhcs continually, that it would be harJ ly po.Oiblc to fire a gun in a horizontal direCtion, and not kill many at one f110t. As I paffcd through this part of the country, I obferved many traces of fires in the woods, which arc fn:qnent, it fecms, in the fpring of the year. They uflla11y proceed from the negligence ·of people who are burning bruiliwood to clear the lands, and confidcring how often they happen, it is wonderful that they arc not attended with more fcrious confeqnenccs than commonly follow. I was a witncfs myfclf to one of thcfe fires, that happened in the Northern Neck. The day had been remarkably ferene, and appearing f.womablc for the purpofe, large quanti ties of bru (hwood had been fired in di{fcrcn t places; in the afternoon, however, it became fultry, and il:rcams of hot air were perceptible now :wd then, the u[ual tokens of a gufl:. About five o'clock, the horizon towards the north became dark, and a terrible whirlwind arofe. I was fianding with fome gentlemen on an eminence at the time, and perceived it gradually advancing. It carried with it a cloud of dufi, dr.ied lea v.es, and pieces of rotten wl".lod, and in many places, a it came along, it levelled the fence rails and unroofed the fl1eds for the cattle. We made every endeavour, but in vain, to get to a place of ihelter; in the courfc of two minutes the whirlwind overtook ns; the fl1ock was ,·iolent; it was hardly poffiblc to il:and, and dilJicult to breathe,; the whirlwind pa.Oed over in about three minutes, but a il:onn, accompanied by heavy thunder and lightning, fucceeded, which lail:ed for more than half an hour. On looking round immediately after the whirlwind had paffed, a prodigious column of .fire now appeared in a part of the wood N 2 · where |
