bird, as bytes observations and dissection!, wf? should have had tsbe
fullest investigation of this wonderful phenomenon in nature.
The weather being fair, I tiiougbfc it best tor continue my tour,
and leave the other remarkable objects: here till my return. The
«»tent of Philadelphia- at present along the Delaware, is stated to
te a few f three miles, and: in some parts to be about a mile wide,
and the population eighty thousand, souls. Opposite the town on
the river Schuylkill, where the river is sevemhundoed feet wide, a
bri dge js> erec led, w hieh rests only on threedarge aradies* ©£ which it
is-said the middle one is a hundred and ninety feet span, and tire
two other arches, one hundred- and fifty each. The; bridge is fifty
feet wide, roofed, and great solidity1 is giwn to it, by the skilful
combination of the beams in the upper part, similar to that at
Sdhaff hausen in Switzerland, but the present one is built on a larger
a©d more elegant sdale ; has a foot path on each side, and is lighted
in the evetiing by lamp®. There is another btidgeover the Schuylkill
on the road, hodl on*a similar plan,bufcaa we passed intbestage
coach very quick, over this, f can give yen no further account of it.
The road from Philadelphia to Baltimore is very indifferent,
though we pass through many good villages and country towns*
Chester, about fifteen miles from Philadelphia, lays datm to
the honour of being the most ancient settlement in Pensylvania, and
the first place Where the colonial assembly met. The swamps of the
Delaware in the viekwty of Chester having been: embanked in, and
different dykes; cut through them, has not only afforded valuable
meadow land, but unproved the healthiness of the situation so, that
doting the1 sickfy season at Philadelphia, many of the inhabitants
make tlieir retreat to Chester as a place of.security.
At Mareus-hook on the Delaware, wharfs are erected-for defending
thekbips^ against the floating bodies of ice.
Wilmington, eighty-two -miles from Philadelphia, is a populous,
and, to all appearance* a thriving place.
Baltimore is miMy^ine miles..from’Philadelphia?ihoFatapoca
river form® here-a® «awellejjt .harbour,.and it is>«aid that' ia-aarae
parts, ®llips of rfive hundred tons can iBaeoii. Trade is oamied
on here ato 'a verif consMerable /©»lent,; and is jnouch iBemeasiad
-by the abundance of ores found in this -Gountny; coal-mi wes havte
also been diseovered here. The ipart of Baltimore which is near
the .harbourlies rather lowi but the otbei pairt o f »the fown Is bhilt
on un elevated -situation, Land somatpai® »stand very high, «the new
streets are regular, < and; are of aiweh ptoporticrBsed breadth. Tire
public fouildings,h©we veiydo not appear-toihave.a»y (thing ipafftieo-
Jarty remarkable.
Bmm Baltimore si iset off to the dty «of WadhinigiBat, wibioh is
about fourteen miles distant;; the rroad)ki very bad,and the villages
ondt, «have not the .appearance of pwosperity that those between
•Philadelphia and Baltimore have. The adjacent = forests icon tain
many cedar, pine, Land spruce trees:; But none of ash*rge:growthiare
to Be seen o»>this road* The stage .coach passestitfough Jhdfiityfof
Washington,; and stops a t George Town » which ris«only «e paraded ftom
it by the Book «creek. At dins place ;is a Boman Catholic racadepy,
«nd-itsfsrtuation ;,an<theBatomuekdswery fiae^The townarBuill'-oh.
different.»smaill;hiMs»>a®d.;th©ngh natflarge in «stent, seems do4hrke
wdl hi oonatjierdsai business, o f which com and Uobaepo farm tlie
price»pal exports; Pncwi^Beerge Town 1 vxenf to fake a lodging. in the
caityesf Washington. The local situation of tlns plaee is \vell calculated
for becoming the seat*©f government of the Federal U ni ted
States, as« lying m «tiie<jaentrea®f«the tertitory ©f Columbia,, and thus
e$ercising»a judicial authority* apart.#om that ©fithereverql states*
It is built anthe-point where .tihe Pplmnaok -and ithe4Elann^eclieque
form a junction, whichf Igestds commonly«Galled eastern branch
of the same river; this- promises the «ityau-extensweicmnmeree,.
while tens equally favoniBable^feeingisituatediat; such a distancefroin
the sea, for the sittings of the? congress, who camne verbedisturbed by