CHAP. XXXIX.j CROTON AQUEDUCT. 335 



land quadrupeds in a state of activity, so as to observe 

 their habits. I told him I had been equally sur 

 prised at the apparent scarcity of this tribe in the 

 native forests of the United States. This whole 

 class of animals,, he said, ought to be regarded as 

 properly nocturnal ; for not merely the feline tribe 

 and the foxes, the weasels and bats shun the day 

 light, but many others feed partly by night, most 

 of the squirrels and bears for example. The rumi 

 nants no doubt are an exception, yet even the deer 

 and the buffalo, like the wild horse, travel chiefly in 

 the night. 



From Mr. Audubon s I went to Highbridge, 

 where the Croton water is made to play for the 

 amusement of visitors, and is thrown up in a column 

 to the height of 120 feet. 



I went also to see the reservoir, enclosing an area 

 of no less than thirty-six acres, from which the water 

 is distributed to all parts of New York. In this ar 

 tificial lake all the river sediment is deposited, the 

 basin being divided into two parts, so that one may 

 be cleaned out while the other is use. The tunnel 

 or pipe conveying the water for a distance of more 

 than thirty miles, from the source to the Haerlem 

 river, is so large, that the chief engineer and com 

 missioners of the works were able to float down it 

 in a flat-bottomed boat when it was first opened, in 

 July, 1842. 



While at New York, we were taken by our literary 

 friend, Mr. Cogswell, over the printing and publish 

 ing establishment of the Harpers, the largest in 

 America, and only surpassed, in the scale of its 



