234 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



white countenance stood out of a raven-black beard. 

 We arrived after 10 o'clock ; he kept no tavern and we 

 were glad of it, for we were taken in willingly and 

 given milk, butter, and bread, and straw for a couch. 



The Glades or ' Glade-Settlements ' begin here. 

 This is the name given the great broad valley, which 

 lies between the Alleghany and the next-following 

 Laurel-hill, and is here 10-12 miles in breadth. The 

 level of the valley is naturally high, for from the ridge 

 of the Alleghany, as well as of the Laurel-hill, down 

 into this valley the way is by no means so long and 

 abrupt as that up the other slopes of both these mount- 

 ains. Really the word Glade denotes a meadow, past- 

 ure, or other open tract in the woods, naturally free of 

 timber, commonly not of great extent and lying about 

 large springs or along brooks. There is always much 

 high, thick grass in such places, which are unfavorable 

 to the growth of trees, because the seeds are either 

 swept away or rot faster than they can find lodgment 

 in the ground. Similar glades occur even more fre- 

 quently in the southern provinces and are tempting 

 spots. Ten or twelve years ago several families began 

 to take up land here, and now there are many settlers, 

 so that this part of the mountains is already as well 

 peopled as many tracts of the lower country. The land 

 is good and well watered. An acre at this time costs 

 35-45 shillings Pensylv. Current. It produces good 

 wheat and other crops, and on account of the continual 

 passing-through there is no difficulty in the sale of 

 them. Besides, they have near them the Potowmack 

 on the one side and the Ohio on the other. Several 

 times during the war, and even this spring, all the 

 wheat of the region that could be spared was sold and 



