XCVl 
LIFE OF WILSON. 
and philosophy both abandoned me, and I saluted every new gate 
(which obliged me to plunge into the mud to open it) with perhaps 
less Christian resignation than I ought to have done. The negi'oes 
there are very numerous, and most wretchedly clad: their whole 
covering, in many instances, assumes the appearance of neither 
coat, waistcoat, nor breeches, but a motley mass of coarse, dirty 
woollen rags, of various colours, gathered up about them. When 
I stopped at some of the negro huts to inquire the road, both men 
and women huddled up their filthy bundles of rags around them, 
with both arms, in order to cover their nakedness, and came out, 
veiy civilly, to show me the way. 
“ I cannot pretend, within the bounds of a letter, to give you 
a complete description of Washington. It consists of a great ex- 
tent of confined commons, one-half of which is nearly level, and 
little higher than the Potomac ; the other parts, on which the Capi- 
tol and Pi*esidenCs house are built, are high and commanding. 
The site is much better than I expected to find it; and is certainly 
a noble place for a great metropolis. I saw one brick house build- 
ing, which is the only improvement, of that kind, going on at pre- 
sent. The taverns and boarding houses here are crowded with an 
odd assemblage of characters. Fat placemen, expectants, contrac- 
tors, petitioners, office-hunters, lumber-dealers, salt-manufacturers, 
and numerous other adventurers. Among the rest are deputations 
from different Indian nations, along our distant frontiers, who are 
come here to receive their last aims from the President, previous 
to his retirement. 
“ The President received me very kindly. I asked for nobo- 
dy to introduce me, but merely sent him in a line that I was there; 
when he ordered me to be immediately admitted. He has given 
me a letter to a gentleman in Virginia, who is to introduce me to 
a person there, who, Mr. Jefferson says, has spent his whole life in 
studying the manners of our birds ; and from whom I am to receive 
a world of facts and observations. The President intended to send 
