.sy 



02 A. D. 1796. 



being univerhiliy allowed to be the flrft. It confifls moflly of good 

 lioufes, elpecially in that part near Hudfon's river, which has been re- 

 built fince the war. By the cenfus in the year 1790 the inhabitants 

 were found to be .^0,148 free people and 2,180 flaves. This year its 

 population was reckoned above 50,000 ; and it will probably continue 

 to increafe It has an excellent harbour, in which large vcllels can load 

 and unload at the wharfs. None of the towns already mentioned has 

 fuch an advantageous communication with the interior country, as New 

 York poflefles by means of Hudfon's river, all thofe to the eaftward, 

 except Connecticut river, having very fhort courfes in comparifon with 

 that noble river, which is navigable for vefTels of eighty tuns as high 

 as Albany, and brings to New York a great ihare of the produce of 

 Connedicut and Vermont, as well as of its own ftate, and alfo a large 

 proportion of the furs and peltry collected by the Indian tribes in the 

 neighbourhood of Lake Ontario. The traders from New York even 

 penetrate to that inland fea in canoes by the help of a portage of a few 

 miles, which is to be fuperfeded by a canal. New York is alfo the port 

 of exportation for the produce of the eaftern part of New Jerfey. The 

 foreign trade of this city is almoil that of the whole flate of New York, 

 an account of which has already been given. 



Albany, fituated on Hudfon's river 165 miles above New York, con- 

 tained in the year 1796 about 1,100 houfes and about 6,000 inhabitants, 

 of whom one third were flaves. In the year 1 795 the fittings of the 

 legiflature of the ftate of New York were removed from New York to 

 this city. It carries on a confiderable inland trade with a thriving and 

 thick-fettled country and with the Indians, the produce of which is 

 partly carried down the river to be fold at New York, and partly ex- 

 ported by the merchants of Albany on their own account : but this 

 branch ot their trade, which is not very extenfive, is moftly carried on 

 in veffels chartered at New York, the river being, as already obferved, 

 navigable for vefTels of only eighty tuns as high as Albany, though it is 

 capable of being improved fo as to carry larger veffels. The trade of 

 Albany is increafing, though feveral new towns have lately been built 

 higher up the river with a view of intercepting a fhare of the trade of 

 the fertile diftrids around it : and thefe new towns are alfo thriving. 



iludfon, the plan of which was laid out lb late as the year 1783, had 

 now increafed to about 400 good houfes, containing near 3,000 in- 

 habitants, whereof about 200 were flaves. It is advanrageoufly fituated 

 on the eafl bank of Hudfon's river 2 i miles below Albany, and below 

 the fiioals which prevent large veffels from reaching that place. The 

 trade of Hudfon is the fame as that of Albany with the advantage of 

 poflefling larger vefTels, which are employed in foreign commerce and 

 the whale fifhery ; an advantage, which will probably make it, inftead 

 qf Albany, the chief feat of the trade of the upper part of Hudfon's 



