1606.] 



Ohfervatlons during a Tour in America. 



50.3 



bundredhoufes. The ftreets, as is gene- 

 rally the cafe in thofe parts of the United 

 States which I have feen, are laid out in 

 ftrait lines, fo as to crols each other at 

 right-angles. About a mile before you 

 get to the town, and at fomediftance from 

 the road, are the barracks, at which, dur- 

 ing the laft war, a part of General Bur- 

 goyne's troops were quartered, after the 

 convention of Saratoga. At prefent they 

 are occupied by a fmall detachinent of the 

 army of the United States. This town 

 contains a handfome court and market- 

 boufe, a good jail, and fevernl churches, 

 to which the different fefts of ChriftiariS 

 rtfort ; each claiming, under the confVi- 

 tution of this country, the full right of 

 worfhipping their Creator according to 

 their own confciences, and each dil'claim- 

 ingaod deteftingany pretended toleration, 

 which fonie governments claim the right of 

 conceding to their fubjefts. There are 

 fome very refpeifable Germans fettled in 

 this town and neighbourhood. The prin- 

 cipal (freet is about a mile in length, and 

 contains feveral handfome brick houfss. 

 The inhabitants, according to the laft cen- 

 Ais, were about four thoufand ; but, as 

 it is an improving town, there are proba- 

 bly more now. 



Frederic is celebrated for its manufac- 

 tories of hats and fadlery ; but its princi- 

 pal fupport is from the waggons which 

 pafs along this rosd from the fouthern 

 country to Baltimore. 



Frederic being only forty-four miles 

 fiom Wafnington, we arrived at a very 

 good dining-hour, and were fafely landed 

 at the heft inn in the town, which is kept 

 by a widow-lady. She afforded us an ex-, 

 cellent dinner, confiftins; of a very nice 

 boiled turkey, a fine ham, a Ioir\ of veal, 

 fome boiled pork, th/ee or four different 

 kinds of vegetables, and cuftards. We 

 had alio good fpruce-beer and brandy, for 

 which we were charged half a dollar each. 

 Frederic-town is about twelve miles 

 from H^rper's-ferry, rendered celebrated 

 by Mr. Jeff<:rfon's Notes on Virginia. As 

 it is my wifb to yield as much amufement 

 and indruSlIon to your readers as I can, 

 I (hall copy from the letters of one of my 

 moft valued friends* a defcription of this 

 extraordinary place, which was lent me 



• Nich'^.las King, furveyor to the city of 

 Waftiinjjioii. Mr. K. made fome very actu- 

 X3te drav.ti^s v/heii ua ttu fp^t. 



about two years backi and written on the 

 fp.t. 



♦' The ciiriofity which Mr. Jefferfon'g 

 animated defcription of this place has ex- 

 cited in the readers of his Notes on Virgi- 

 nia, calls the tr:»veller to an attentive exa- 

 mination of it. The fublimity of the 

 picture he has drawn, when coloured by 

 the imagination, probably exceeds nature, 

 and ta.kes away from the pkafure whicb 

 would flow from an unanticipated contem- 

 plation of this iuterefting fubjeif. 



" Our road to the Ferry was along the 

 margin of the Potomak, for a confidcraUlc 

 diftance, under mountains, ciags, and pre- 

 cipices, in many places, to near the edge 

 of the rivtr, as to ba dangerous when the 

 water is raifed ahove its general height.— 

 The ferry is acrofs the Potomak-river, 

 juft above its confluence with the She- 

 nandoah, where the current is gentle, 

 and, except in the time of froft, tile paf- 

 fage is fdfe. On the Virginia fide, anj 

 en the point formed by the janflion of the 

 rivers, is the ferry-houfe, tavern, aud pub- 

 lic buildings. 



" The Potomak-river, coming for fome 

 diftance with great rapidity, and paffinj 

 over ledges of rocks, which crofs the 

 channel in right- lines nearly north and 

 fouth, has a fouth-eaftcily dire6lion 

 until it receives the waters of the Shenan- 

 doah from the fouth-weft. It then take* 

 an eafterly direflion, through two ridges 

 of the South Mountain, in a gap feeming- 

 ly made by a fudden difrupture of the 

 mountains ; and foamingover the rocks 

 which lie in its bed, and appear to have 

 been rolled by the force of the water con- 

 fiderahly belorw the movmtains, of which 

 they formed a part, it feeks its courfe to 

 the Atlantic. When it paffes the moun- 

 tains, it is interfeclcd by Itrata or ledges of 

 rock, which crofs its bed at nearly right- 

 angles, and foim falls or rifles. Tlie 

 eafternmoft of thefe, which is the princi- 

 pal, is called Payne's-falls, and has a per- 

 pendicular pitch of two or three feet. To 

 overcome the impediments to navigatioa 

 which thefe falls prefented, the Potomak- 

 Company have, at a great expence, either 

 made fide-canals, in which the pitch or 

 perpendicular fall is loft in a rapid or 

 flioot of fome length, or they have opened 

 pudages t'.trough and removed the moft 

 dingerous rocks. 



" On examining the fubftances compofing 



the South Mountain, at the gap through 



wiiicb the Potonuak pafftiv I found the un- 



deroioft 



