Ride to Mauch Chunk. 5 



May 12. — A view from the heights in and about Easton, includes 

 the Delaware, which is here a roaring rapid river, with bold and pre- 

 cipitous banks ; the picturesque Lehigh and its attendant canal ; fine 

 verdant slopes, and an ancient respectable town, bulk principally of 

 stone, with a population of 2500 to 3000. Easton was, in former 

 times, the seat of many Indian treaties, and was one of the usual 

 channels of communication between the eastern colonies and north- 

 ern Pennsylvania.* It has in its vicinity a fine serpentine formation ; 

 and the beautiful cabinet of Dr. Swift, presents that mineral in dis- 

 tinct crystals : it is of the variety called noble serpentine, which ap- 

 pears thus clearly entided to rank as a distinct mineral species. In 

 Dr. Swift's well selected and well arranged collection there are splen- 

 did crystals of zircon found in this vicinity, and the most beautiful crys- 

 tallized mica in long prisms of six sides. We were indebted to the 

 kindness and intelligence of several of the gentlemen of Easton for 

 much valuable local information. 



RIDE TO MAUCH CHUNK. 



We passed between Nazareth and Bethlehem, ■}■ die two most cel- 

 ebrated establishments of the Moravians in this quarter, and regretted 

 that we could not then see them ; for we were in a private carriage, 

 which, as the roads were heavy, v/as merely able, without stopping or 

 changing horses, to convey us, in one day, to the celebrated coal mines 

 on the Lehigh, thirty six miles from Easton. On our way we passed 

 through a most beautiful country, a continuation of the rich valley 

 which we had, the day before, so much admired in New Jersey. 

 The farms were adorned with the finest grass and wheat ; the latter in 

 very extensive fields, cultivated by a German population ; females were 



* Most of the emigrants from the east to the valley of Wyoming, travelled 

 through the country on the higher branches of the Delaware, and left Easton to 

 the south. 



t On our return home, by the way of Philadelphia, we passed through these beauti- 

 ful towns, but as we merely stopped for refreshment, a hasty walk through the streets 

 of Bethlehem afforded only a transient opportunity of admiiing this charming spot. 

 The stability, order and neatness of the town, are sufficiently remarkable, and bear 

 testimony to the industry and order of the excellent people that founded it: its fe- 

 male seminary is a conspicuous object, and the scenery as we descend fronfi it to the 

 Lehigh, which (here a full flowing stream,) winds among lovely hills and meadows, 

 is not surpassed by the finest park and forests scenes of England, to which it bears 

 a great resemblance. 



