FROM CARLISLE TO THE OHIO 233 



tavern where, if one brings meat and drink along with 

 him he finds room enough to dispose of them. Two 

 young fellows kept house but had nothing except 

 whiskey and cheese ; bread and meat are accidental 

 articles. We were obliged to push on over the Alle- 

 ghany and as far as its foot had a swampy and stony 

 road. 



The Alleghany, one of the longest and most con- 

 spicuous ranges, does not appear so high as might be 

 expected from its giving its name to the rest. But it 

 must be remembered that the road has been continually 

 over higher and higher ranges, and in consequence the 

 base of the Alleghany must be very elevated. On the 

 other hand the eye is again pleased with a steep wall 

 of a mountain running almost straight from northeast 

 to southwest. The sun was just going down when we 

 reached the foot of the mountain, and the tall thick 

 woods soon hid from us completely the dull twilight 

 and we found ourselves in darkness. A few other 

 travellers had joined us at the last house ; they were as 

 much strangers here as we, and were as little pleased 

 at stumbling from stones to slough, and from slough to 

 stones. We were not prepared to stay in the woods ; 

 we could neither make a fire nor care for our horses. 

 Everything was dead, still, and dark about us ; nothing 

 could be heard from the four-footed or feathered in- 

 habitants of these wastes. After four miles, which in 

 our situation seemed to us endless, we reached the 

 cabin of a smith on the other side of the mountain who 

 on occasion plays the innkeeper. Unfortunately his 

 house was no inn this evening ; he had nothing, and 

 we must grope for two heavy miles more, to the farm 

 of an Anabaptist by the name of Spiker whose milk- 



