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Show ' ' ,• B E T II L E II E M. or tiot it i impofliblc to determine at this day; but it i, ccrt:-u1,. from the appear~nce of the country on each fide of the Delaware, that a great change has taken place in this quarter, in confc:qucncc of fome vafl: inun-dation. On the Atlantic fide of the mountains the country is much lcfs rugged than on the oppofi te one, and it is more cleared and much more thickly fcttled: the inhabitants arc for the mofl part of German ex-traCtion . Bcthkhem is the principal fcttlcmcnt, in North America, of the Mo-ravians, or United Brethren. It is moll: arrrec~tbly fitnatcd on a rifing ground, bounded on one fide by the river Lehcigh, which falls into the Dehwarc, and on the other by a creek, which has a very rapid current, and atlord excellent feats for a great numb 'r of mills. The town is regularly laid out, and contains abou t ighty {lrong built fione dwelling b ufcs and a large church. Three of the dwelling houfcs arc very fpacions buildings, an l arc appropriated refpcCI:ivcly to the accommod~ttion of the unmarried young men of the focicty, of the unmarried females, and of the widows. In thcfe houfcs different manu fa urcs arc carried on, and the inmates of each are fubjeCl to a di(ciplinc approaching fomcwhat to that of a monafiic infl:itution. They cat together in a rcfcCI:ory; they fieep in dormitories; they attend morning and evening prayers in the chapel of the houfe; they work for a cert:::tin number of hours in the day, and they have fl:ated intervals allotted to them for re reation. They arc not fubjeClcd, by the rules of th,c focicty, to perpetual onfinement; but they fcldom, notwi hfl:anding, go beyond the bound of their walk.s and gard · ns, except it be oc afionally to vifit their friends in the town. The Moravi:ms, though they do not enjoin celibacy, yet think it highly meritorious, and the young perfons of difE.:rent fexcs have hut very littll! intercourfe with each other ; they nev r enter each otbcr's houfes, and at church they arc obliged to fit i~parate; it is only in confcquencc of his having fc n her :1t a di(bnce, perhaps, that a batchelor is induced to propofe for a young woman in marriage, and he is not permitt d to offer his propofals in perfon to th objeCt of his choice, but merely throHgh the medium of the fuperintcndant of the female houfe. If from the r ·- 3 M 2 port |