PENSYLVANIA 9 



bird (Emberiza nivalis L.), and some partridges 

 (Tetrao virginianus L.). The weather was warm and 

 pleasant, but all the leaves had long fallen, and only 

 here and there stood a belated aster ; all other plants 

 were slumbering. 



The road to Lancaster lies through the fore-men- 

 tioned limestone valley, a fertile, varied, and well- 

 farmed region. Along the road indeed one sees for 

 the most part sorry cabins, for the better houses of the 

 well-to-do land-owners are all set a little off from the 

 road. This, and the custom of always leaving some 

 timber next the road, brings it about that travellers 

 think they are going through nothing but wilderness, 

 when all around there are plantations and dwellings 

 stuck away in the bush. On this road everybody I met 

 I addressed in German and they all answered me in the 

 same language. Very many Anabaptists live in these 

 parts ; good, kind people, and sturdy subjects who here 

 as well as in Germany win the love of their neighbors 

 and the regard of the magistracy. 



The limestone of this valley is the same coarse, black- 

 grey stone, as everywhere, and frequently comes to the 

 surface. This, as well as the middle valley and the 

 great limestone valley beyond that, showing fertile soil, 

 it may be asked: Does limestone soil always make 

 fertile land ? And in what association ? Or is it merely 

 the deeper situation of these valleys that gives them an 

 especial fertility? 



The plantations and dwelling-houses in this region 

 being scattered, we passed through but one village, of 

 40-50 houses and a church, called New Holland, 13 

 miles this side Lancaster where we arrived in the 

 evening just before a heavy snow-storm. This storm 

 2 



