1821.] 



Letters from Baltimore and the Illinois Country. 



-J I Imd no conception of the largeness 

 of the city of Baltimore, and I am 

 murh pleased with it ; all the streets 

 run iu right lines, the inhabitants arc 

 kind and hospitable, and seem willing 

 to do a stranger any service. Provi- 

 sions are very cheap, not being half the 

 price thej^ are in Loudon, and some not 

 one fourth. Fine tea is one dollar the 

 pound, mm two dollars per gallon. 

 Flour is four dollars a barrel, wcigliing 

 une hundred and ninety-six pounds. 

 The way strangers generally do here, 

 is to lodge at a boarding-house ; but I 

 adopted a different plan, — that is, I took 

 a small unfurnished house in the skirts 

 of the town in an airy situation facing 

 the fields. Furnished lodgings are 

 never let here without board, and for 

 my empty house I am to pay seven dol- 

 lars per month. I shall not be able to 

 get under weigh from hence under a 

 month. I could not get a waggon to 

 suit iny mind, iind so I am waiting to 

 have a new one built for 120 dollars. 

 It is to be eleven feet long and six wide, 

 with laids at the sides, one pair of 

 shafts and drag chain, and tilting hoops 

 complete. The waggons here are not 

 fit for the conveyance of luggage ; a Jer- 

 sey waggon is well enough to carry six 

 or seven people, but they are too clumsy 

 and by no means fit to carry heavy goods. 

 I have purchased a pair of good strong 

 grey horses for 190 dollars, foi strength 

 and size equal to the brewers' dray horses 

 in London, and are I believe the larg- 

 est in Baltimore. Horses of the ordi- 

 nary size between fourteen and fifteen 

 hands high, may be bouglit for sixty 

 dollars each. My waggon maker is 

 Mr. Ford iu Queen-street, and the har- 

 ness maker is Mr. Lee at the corner of 

 the horse market. I have been told 

 they are very honest men and reason- 

 able in their charges, and I believe 

 their character is just; I therefore re- 

 commend them to your notice if ever it 

 should be your lot to wantany thing in 

 tlieir line in this country. 



In about a week from the date of this, 

 every thing will be ready, and we shall 

 get under weigh for the western coun- 

 try. I understand that we have arrived 

 at a very good time to purchase land, 

 for since the general failure of the pro- 

 vincial and country town banks, the 

 land has fallen full fifty per cent. ; the 

 government also has reduced theirs frojn 

 two dollars per acre to one and a quar- 

 ter, for prompt payment, which is a 

 happy circumstance for us. Our voy- 

 age from Liverpool to Baltimore was 



499 



long and dreary ; we had rough wea- 

 ther and adverse winds, and saw no- 

 thing after we lost sight of English land 

 but a world of waters; but Providence 

 had ordained that we should arrive safe. 

 The only accident we had was the break- 

 ing of our fore-yard exactly in the mid- 

 dle. It was about thirteen inches thick 

 and fifty feet in length. This occurred 

 about two in the morning, and it took 

 all hands full twelve hours to rig ano- 

 ther. We came in sight of Cape Henry 

 in A'^irginia, at nine o'clock on the 12th 

 of June. On the 4th of July, here 

 and in every town in the United States, 

 there will be a grand federation or fes- 

 tival to celebrate the day from which 

 the Americans date their independence. 

 I am told it is kept up with great spirit, 

 and it must be grateful to those who 

 have left the Island of Taxation, and 

 taken refuge under the banner of Li- 

 berty. 1 long to hear the popular song 

 of "the Star spangled Banner," which, 

 to the Americans, is the p« ira of the 

 French, or as Rule Britannia to (he 

 English. Yours, &;c. 



Robert Chapman. 



Richmond, Wayne County, 

 State of Indiana, Jan. 9, 1821. 



Dear Friend, — You will no doubt 

 think I have been very negligent in not 

 writing to you sooner, but I hope you 

 will excuse me, when 1 assure you it 

 was merely to give you a more full de- 

 scription of this New World. 



We left Baltimore on the 20th of July 

 all well, after a stay of five weeks We 

 liave completely packed our baggage, 

 about 20 hundredweight, into our new 

 waggon, and the vehicle weighs about 

 half as much. Though 1 had purchased 

 two good grey horses, after we had 

 commenced our journey, we found that 

 another horse was necessary; for the 

 roads here are not quite so good as 

 those iu England. Having got another 

 grey we went on pleasantly ; the road 

 from Baltimore to Wheeling is tolerably 

 gold but hilly. The Allegany moun- 

 tains commence at Cumberland, and 

 end at Union Town, a distance of fifty 

 miles. The AUeganys are a number 

 of mountains in regular succession; they 

 are not so steep as a great many persons 

 have represented, but in some places 

 the road is very rocky, at least it ap- 

 peared so to us, because we were fre- 

 quently obliged to leave the turnpike- 

 road \\liere it was forming. It is now 

 completed, and is a very good one 

 either to Wheeling or to Pittsburg: 

 Wheeling, 



