46 ESSAYS. 
son, and could scarcely be made to comprehend the object of 
our visit, or why we should come from a distance of seven 
hundred miles to toil over the mountains in quest of their 
common and disregarded herbs. Curiosities as we were to 
these good folks, their endless queries had no air of imper- 
-tinence, and they entertained us to the best of their ability, 
never attempting to make unreasonable charges. A very fas- 
tidious palate might occasionally be at a loss ; but good corn- 
bread and milk are everywhere abundant; the latter being 
used from preference quite sour, or even curdled. Sweet 
milk appears to be very generally disliked, being thought less © 
wholesome, and more likely to produce the “ milk sickness,” 
which is prevalent in some very circumscribed districts; so 
that our dislike of sour and fondness for sweet milk was re- 
garded by this simple people as one of our very many oddi- 
ties. Nearly every farmer has a small dairy-house built over 
a cold brook or spring, by which the milk and butter are kept 
cool and sweet in the warmest weather. 
We botanized for several days upon the mountains in the 
immediate neighborhood of Jefferson, especially the Negro 
Mountain, which rises abruptly on one side of the village, the 
Phenix Mountain, a sharp ridge on the other side, and the 
Bluff, a few miles distant in a westerly direction. The alti- 
tude of the former is probably between four and five thou- 
sand feet above the sea; the latter is apparently somewhat 
higher. They are all composed of Mica-slate ; and we should 
remark that we entered upon a primitive region immediately 
upon leaving the Valley of Virginia. The mountain sides, 
though steep or precipitous, are covered with a rich and deep 
vegetable mould, and are heavily timbered, chiefly with 
Chestnut, White Oak, the Tulip-tree, the Cucumber-tree, and 
sometimes the Sugar Maple. Their vegetation presents so 
little diversity, that it is for the most part unnecessary to dis- 
tinguish particular localities. Besides many of the plants 
already mentioned, and a very considerable number of north- 
ern species which we have not room to enumerate, we collected 
or observed on the mountain sides, Clematis Viorna in great 
abundance; Zradescantia Virginica; Iris cristata in fruit ; 
