m North America. 109 



the deadly engine and all the " sad implements of war " were 

 lately pointed for the destruction of human lives, forsaken, 

 gnawed by the tooth of time, and soon again not to be dis- 

 tinguished from the rocks of the rugged mountain, offers a 

 subject, to the peaceable at least, of the highest pleasure and 

 national congratulation. 



IG 



The western shore from Fort Lee, or, indeed, from Wee- 

 hawk, to Tappan, distance about twenty -five miles, as far back 

 as can be seen from the river, is a pretty regular ascent, and 

 seems an uninterrupted forest. 



In consequence of a strong ebb tide and a light wind, we 

 came to anchor : I was glad to make the present an oppor- 

 tunity of going ashore. My intended excursion exhibited too 

 forbidding an aspect to induce any of my fellow-passengers 

 to accompany me ; and I was told it required no ordinary 

 strength and perseverance to accomplish the task. After 

 tugging and scrambling up as steep and craggy an ascent 

 perhaps as ever mortal ventured to climb, sometimes de- 

 pending by the bough of a tree, or holding myself from being 

 precipitated upon the tree tops and rocks below by the tufts 

 of long grass which grew from the chinks of the cHfF, I suc- 

 ceeded in reaching the summit of Palisado Ridge. It was 

 an hour's toil ; and, almost exhausted, I sat down to view the 

 prospect. 



Far below flowed the Hudson, whose silvery waters, stud- 

 ded with all the beauty and variety of shipping, I could easily 

 follow to the ocean. The city of New York was before me ; 

 its bay and harbour, one of the finest and most beautiful in the 

 world, could be seen with delightful effect. The eastern shorfi 

 of the State of New Jersey, Staten Island, Long Island, its 



