'Travels Through North America 



The navigation is obstructed in the winter, for about 

 six weeks, by the severity of the frost; but, at other 

 times, it is bold and open. The Schuylkill, though 

 not navigable for any great space, is exceed- 

 ingly romantic, and affords the most delightful 

 retirements. 



Cultivation (comparatively speaking) is carried 

 to a high degree of perfection; and Pennsylvania 

 produces not only great plenty, but also great variety 

 of grain; it yields likewise flax-seed, hemp, cattle of 

 different kinds, and various other articles.* 



It is divided into eight counties, and contains 

 many large and populous towns: Carlisle, Lancaster, 

 and Germantown, consist each of near five hundred 

 houses; there are several others which have from 

 one or two hundred. 



The number of inhabitants is supposed to be 

 between four and five hundred thousand, f a fifth of 



* In the southern colonies cultivation is in a very low state. 

 The common process of it is, first to cut ofF the trees two or three 

 feet above ground, in order to let in the sun and air, leaving the 

 stumps to decay and rot, which they do in a few years. After this 

 they dig and plant, and continue to work the same field, year after 

 year, without ever manuring it, till it is quite spent. They then 

 enter upon a fresh piece of ground, allowing this a respite of about 

 twenty years to recover itself; during which time it becomes beauti- 

 fully covered with Virginian pines; the seeds of that tree, which 

 are exceedingly small, and, when the cones open, are wafted 

 through the air in great abundance, sowing themselves in every 

 vacant spot of neglected ground. 



t Doubts have since arisen, whether the number, at the time 

 here mentioned, amounted to more than 350,000. — See Morse's 

 American Geography. 



[92] 



