STATE OF DELAWARE 377 



fields above, much cattle, and neat country-houses, 

 lies 



Wilmington; a vastly better place, large and busy. 

 We arrived there a little before sunset, having not far 

 from the town been set over Christina Creek, which 

 falls into the Delaware here. Wilmington is not only 

 very pleasantly situated but also very advantageously 

 for trade. Standing on a moderate hill based on rock, 

 it has on the one side the Christina and on the other 

 the Brandywyn Creek, these making a point of land, 

 at the most elevated part of which is the town, the 

 land thence falling away and flat to the Delaware, 2-3 

 miles distant ; a splendid prospect towards the river 

 and the farther shores in Jersey is thus afforded. 



Brigantines as well as three-masted ships can come 

 up Christina Creek to the town and lay-to very close 

 in. The trade of the place, which begins to be con- 

 siderable, is in grain, flour, and timber. The town 

 contains some 400 houses, mostly good, neat, brick- 

 houses standing close together in several straight 

 streets ; it has two well-supplied and roomy market- 

 places, four or five houses of worship, and many new 

 houses are on the point of building. The Swedish 

 colony here, which gave occasion to the settlement of 

 the town and conferred on Christina Creek its name, 

 has preserved pretty well its language and usages ; at 

 least these are less deformed than among the Swedes 

 of Philadelphia, many of whom scarcely understand 

 any longer the speech of their fore-fathers. 



Near to Wilmington the Brandywyn is crossed, over 

 a good stone bridge. The name of this stream has been 

 made immortal by the fight between Howe and Wash- 

 ington which took place at a little distance from here 



