LIFE OF WILSON. 



pearance of neither coat, waistcoat, nor breeches, but a motley 

 mass of coarse, dirty woolen Tags, of various colours, gathered 

 up about them. When I stopped at some of the negro huts to 

 inquire the road, both men and women huddled up their filthy 

 bundles of rags around them, with both arms, in order to co- 

 ver their nakedness, and came out, very civilly, to show me 

 the way. 



61 1 cannot pretend, within the bounds of a letter, to give 

 you a complete description of Washington. It consists of a 

 great extent of confined commons, one-half of which is nearly 

 level, and little higher than the Potomac; the other parts, on 

 which the Capitol and President's house are built, are high and 

 commanding. The site is much better than I expected to find 

 it; and is certainly a noble place for a great metropolis. I saw 

 one brick house building, which is the only improvement, of 

 that kind, going on at present. The taverns and boarding 

 houses here are crowded with an odd assemblage of characters. 

 Fat placemen, expectants, contractors, petitioners, office-hun- 

 ters, lumber-dealers, salt-manufacturers, and numerous other 

 adventurers. Among the rest are deputations from different 

 Indian nations, along our distant frontiers, who are come hither 

 to receive their last alms from the President, previous to his 

 retirement. 



" The President received me very kindly. 1 asked for no- 

 body to introduce me, but merely sent him in a line that I was 

 there; when he ordered me to be immediately admitted. He 

 has given me a letter to a gentleman in Virginia, who is to in- 

 troduce me to a person there, who, Mr. Jefferson says, has 

 spent his whole life in studying the manners of our birds; and 

 from whom I am to receive a world of facts and observations. 

 The President intended to send for this person himself; and to 

 take down, from his mouth, what he knows on the subject; 

 thinking it a pity, as he says, that the knowledge he possesses 

 should die with him. But he has entrusted the business to 

 me; and I have promised him an account of our interview. 



" All the subscribers I have gleaned here amount to seven- 



