136 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



exclusive advantage of this country in itself, beyond 

 that arising from the sparseness of the population 

 that is to say, the diminished difficulty that people of a 

 certain condition find in accumulating a landed estate 

 has been hitherto the especial allurement held out by 

 America, and this may be the case for a long time to 

 come, but not everywhere equally so. 



No one met us on this road until we came to the 

 ferry opposite Bethlehem, where on this side the river 

 there stands a tavern. The ferryman and two others 

 who were put over with us gave the impression as if 

 the pleasantness of the region had had its influence ; 

 they were more friendly, politer, and more obliging 

 than the run of the inhabitants thereabouts. 



Bethlehem ; a colony of the Moravian Brotherhood, 

 stands on the north side of the beautiful Leheigh, on a 

 commodious rising ground, in North-hampton county, 

 53 English miles north of Philadelphia, and under lati- 

 tude 40 37' north. Approaching, the place shows to 

 great advantage, and after one has come the last half of 

 the way from Philadelphia through a tedious sameness of 

 bush and forest, relieved only here and there by cabins, 

 often mean cabins, it is certainly an astonishment to see 

 all at once rising up, one above another, lofty buildings 

 in this presumptive wilderness. The whole number of 

 the houses may be about 60. The first settlement was 

 made in the year 1741, Count Zinzendorf himself hav- 

 ing chosen the site and regularly secured the land from 

 the Indians there established and claiming title. The 

 chief building of the place is of good appearance, large, 

 and furnished with two wings in one of them the 

 Assembly-hall of the Brothers and the ministers' 

 quarters ; in the middle the children's house ; and in the 



