OCR Text |
Show A L D A N Y. nold, during the American war, and the confcq ul:ll t lk tth of !he un .ortun a t~ Major Andre. The fort il.ancls about on· httndr'd and firty !l:..:t above thl: kvd of the water, on the fide of a b~m 'l l h ill ; no hu'1L\.~ creature a pp ~.;Jring in it except the folit:ny Celltincl, w 10 m.tr ·hnl b.tckwards and forw.uds on the rat11part s ovcrgruwn with lo11g gr~t f. , it had a mofl: melancholy a(p~a that pcrlups wa, heightened by th gloominci!· of th<.: morning, and the..: rccolldlion or all the circum!Ltn ccs att <.: nding the unhap1 y fatt: of poor 1\ ndrc. Ncar Wcfl Point th ere is :-~lfo another pofl, \ llled ·ort Putnam, which, fince the p ace, has been (uttered to get very much out of r 'pair; however, flcps are now taking to have it put in good order. Sup poling that a rupture !hould ever unfortt~uat e ly again tak~ place between (,reat Britai11 and the Unitc.:d States of America, thefe pofls v1ould be ( f the grcatefl: con.G·qu nee, as they form a linl in that chain of pofls which extend the whole way along the navigable waters that connect the Britifh fcttlcments with New York. In thi neighbourhood the highlands, as they arc called, commence, and c:>..tend along the river on each fid for .kveral mil~ · . The breadth of the river is here conGJcrably contraCted, and fu h fuddcn gufl:s of wind, omi11g from betwcett the mountains, fom<.:timcs blow through the narrovv paflcc, th:.J.t veflds frequently have their topmafls c:trricJ away. The capt• in of the !loop we were it , Llid, that his mainl:til wa one~ blown into tatter in an infbnt, •~ nd a pat t of it carried on {hore. When the !ky i lcwcring, they u(ually take in iai1 going along this part of the..: nvcr. About four o' Jock in the morning f the fourth of July we reached Albany, the place of our ddlination, om: hundred and Jixty miles di lhnt fi'om New York. Albany is a city, and contains about eleven hundred houks; the number however is incrcafi.ng f:tfl-, particularly t]nct.: the remmal of the il.ltt.: • governm nt from New York. In the olJ pa rt of the to . n the 11.rLt:t arc very n:::.rrow and the houfcs arc frightful; they arc all bLtilt in the old Dut h tafl:e, with the gablt: end towards the ilrct:t, anJ orn<~mc ntcd on the top with large iron weather cocks; but in that pa1 t which has bt.el1 X 2 1at 'ly |