Boston 



siderable ferries, I arrived in the evening at Prov- 

 idence. This is the chief town of what was formerly 

 called Providence Plantation in Narraganset, and 

 is at present the second considerable town in the 

 province of Rhode Island. It is situated upon a 

 pretty large river, and is distant from Newport about 

 thirty miles. In the morning I set out for Boston, 

 and arrived there about sunset, after a journey of 

 five and forty miles. The country which I travelled 

 over is chiefly grazing ground, laid out into neat en- 

 closures, surrounded with stone walls, and rows of 

 pseudo acacia or locust-trees, which are said with 

 their leaves to manure and fertilize the land. I passed 

 over a beautiful fall of water in Pawtucket river, upon 

 a bridge, which is built directly over it. The fall 

 is about twenty feet high, through several chasms 

 in a rock, which runs diametrically across it, and 

 serves as a dam to hold up the water. There are 

 two or three mills, which have been erected for the 

 advantage of having the different spouts or streams 

 of water conducted to their respective wheels. These 

 have taken very much from the beauty of the scene, 

 which would otherwise be transcendantly elegant; 

 for the fall, though not large or upon a great scale, 

 is by far the most romantic and picturesque of any 

 that I met with in my tour. 



During the course of my ride from Newport, I 

 observed prodigious flights of wild pigeons*: they 



* See Appendix, No. i. 



