. JOURNEY TO GENEVA. 75 



to drive fifteen miles, answered it was just an hour less than 

 he intended to have taken. The drivers receive no gratuity 

 from passengers, and can only be acted on by civility. 



The state of the w r eather and stage-coach conveyance 

 prevented our enjoying the scenery of the valley of the 

 Mohawk as I expected ; and after passing Little Falls, I 

 exchanged places with a friend on the box seat. The object 

 appearing, when the sun was approaching the horizon, was 

 the German flats in the neighbourhood of the Herkeimer. 

 But the shortness of twilight soon shut the landscape from my 

 sight, and the brilliancy of the fire-fly alone remained to 

 attract attention. 



I again passed through this part of the valley of the Mo 

 hawk, in the end of October following, when the weather 

 was fine, in a canal packet, which afforded a better opportu 

 nity of seeing the scenery than travelling by stages, as on 

 the former occasion. There is no part of America which I 

 visited so interesting as this valley, which happily combines 

 the beauties of nature with the comforts of man. The Mo 

 hawk is a moderate sized stream, according to the conceptions 

 of a Briton, and wends its way gently through a valley, 

 bounded by verdant hills, adorned with an infinite variety of 

 vegetable productions. The road and canal in many places 

 approach the verge of the river, where the scenery assumes 

 the boldest character, and the different objects around Little 

 Falls have few equals in any part of the world. The bottom 

 of the valley affords evidence of successful cultivation, and 

 its beautiful sloping sides are thickly covered with cattle and 

 sheep browsing on the herbage. The country around the 

 Herkeimer, near which the West Canada creek joins the Mo 

 hawk, as seen from the canal, is truly fertile, and the inha 

 bitants of the valley apparently wealthy and happy. 



In New England States, I observed a few plants of a class 

 known to British farmers as wild mustard, chadlock, &c. &c., 

 and which appears to me raphanus raphanustrum, but not 

 in such numbers as to injure the crops. 



On entering the State of New York, the raphanus was com 

 mon, and methought I could distinguish the wild turnip from 

 the stage-windows. Between Schenectady and Little Falls, 



