180 



UNITED STATES. ' 



. Between cape Henlopen and cape May, is tlie en- 

 trance into the Delaware bay : the entrance intd the 

 river is 40 miles farther up, at Bombay Hook, where 

 the river is four or five miles wide. From Bombay 

 Hook to Reedy Island is 20 miles. This island is the 

 rendezvous of outward bound ships in Autumn and 

 Spring, waiting for a favourable wind. The course 

 from this to the sea is south-south-east, 'so that a 

 north-west wind, which is the prevailing wind in 

 these seasons, is fair for vessels to put out to sea. 

 This river is generally frozen one or two months in 

 the year at Philadelphia, so as to prevent naviga- 

 tion; but vessels may, at all times, make a secure 

 harbour at Port Penn, at Reedy Island, where piers 

 have been erected by the state. Vessels are gene- 

 rally from twelve to twenty-four hours in ascending 

 this river to Philadelphia, From Chester to Phila- 

 delphia, 20 miles by water and 15 by land, the chan- 

 nel of the river is narrowed by islands of marsh, which 

 are generally banked and turned into rich and valua- 

 ble meadov/s.* 



The shores of the bay and of the river Delaware, 

 for a very considerable distance upwards, are low; 

 and they are covered, like the coast, with one vast 

 forest, excepting merely in a few places, where ex- 

 tensive marshes intervene. Nothing, however, 

 can be more pleasing, than the views with which 

 the stranger is entertained in sailing up to Philadel- 

 phia, during those months in the year that the trees 

 on each side are in bloom ; and in the Autumhj the 



* Horse«. 



