The American HiMands.^ ::v ., ,r. ^93 



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painted yellow ; a style of building that may be singular, but 

 by no means, as they are here finished, inelegant or incon- 

 venient. Windows in great abundance. In this country 

 dwelling-houses are much better supplied with lights than in 

 England. Glass is one half cheaper, and windows, no matter 

 how numerous, are not taxed in America. 



Newburgh contains about 2000 inhabitants, is rapidly im- 

 proving, and promises soon to be one of the largest and most 

 considerable places in commercial importance on the Hudson. 

 Nearly opposite is Fishkill, another large and beautiful vil- 

 lage. The river is here about five miles in breadth, and is 

 bounded on each side by much variety of interesting scenery. 

 The trade between this pkce and the city of New York is 

 very extensive ; from ten to fifteen sloops are constantly 

 employed in the transferring of goods between the two 

 ports. It supports two printing establishments, from one of 

 which is issued weekly a newspaper, Tke Political Index. 

 By the spirited and laudable efforts of a few gentlemen, 

 a lyceum has been recently established : although small in 

 stock, and commenced upon very limited resources, it con- 

 tains some rare and many valuable specimens of minerals, a 

 collection of fossils, dried plants, and relics of Indian handle 

 craft, with a few birds and animals in excellent preservation. 

 I have to acknowledge many obligations which I received, 

 from its worthy and talented vice-president. 



Strolling into the fields, in the immediate vicinity of New-^ 

 burgh, one of the first things that particularly took my atten- 

 tion was a large black snake (Coluber constrictor), the first of 

 the kind I had seen. The motions of this snake are much 

 quicker than those of the generality of snakes ; it is sometimes 

 found of 7 or 8 ft. in length, and although its bite is not poi^ 

 sonous, it is still an object of great horror with the peasantry 

 of this country, who assert and believe wonderful tales about 

 it. The present one was about 4< ft. longj in bulk well pro- 

 portioned, and from the middle part gradually tapering to 

 the caudal extremity, until it terminated in a point not more 

 than the twelfth part of an inch in diameter ; head rather 

 small ; colour, above, a shining iridescent black ; sides same, 

 but less intense ; below, nearly a pure white, running into a 

 whitish freckle, growing less defined as it approached the 

 tail. The arrangement of the scales was similar to that gene- 

 rally found in the reptile tribe ; those of the abdomen, how- 

 ever, I thought, were larger than any I had seen in other 

 snakes of a proportional size; and this fact may account in 

 some degree for the celerity of progressive movement of the 



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