Travels Through North America 



but one angle, and that an inconsiderable one, dur- 

 ing the whole way. At West Point it forks, and 

 divides itself into two branches; the southward called 

 Pamunky; the northward Mattapony: each of these 

 branches, including the windings and meanders of 

 the river, is navigable seventy or eighty miles, and a 

 considerable way of this space for large ships. 



The Rappahannock is navigable to the falls, which 

 are a mile above Fredericksburg, and about no from 

 the bay. Vessels of large burden may come up to 

 this place; and small craft and canoes may be carried 

 up much higher. 



The Potomac is one of the finest rivers in North 

 America: it is* ten miles broad at the mouth, navi- 

 gable above 200 miles, to Alexandria, for men of 

 war; and, allowing for a few carrying places, for 

 canoes above 200 farther, to the very branches of 

 the Ohio. Colonel Bouquet,f a Swiss gentleman 

 in the Royal Americans, came down this autumn 

 from Fort Cumberland \ to Shenandoah with very little 



* The Potomac, according to Mr. Jefferson, is only 7^ miles 

 broad at its mouth, and perhaps his account may be founded upon 

 better authority than my own. I had no opportunity of ascer- 

 taining the fact, and the statement which I have made rests entirely 

 upon the credibility of those Virginian gentlemen, who favoured 

 me with the information, and who, I am persuaded, did not inten- 

 tionally mislead me; though it is possible they might be mistaken. 



f See Note IV. 



J The distance from Fort Cumberland to Shenandoah is above 

 100 miles; from Shenandoah to the great falls about 60; and from 

 the great falls to Alexandria about 17 or 18. 



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