Ixxxvi 
LIFE OF WILSON. 
pearance of neither coat, waistcoat, nor breeches, but a motley 
mass of coarse, dirty woolen 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 co- 
ver their nakedness, and came out, very 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 extent of confined commons, one-half of which is nearly 
level, and little higher than the Potomac; the other parts, on 
which the Capitol and President’s 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 building, which is the only improvement, of 
that kind, going on at present. The taverns and boarding 
houses here are crowded with an odd assemblage of characters. 
Fat placemen, expectants, contractors, petitioners, office-hun- 
ters, lumber-dealers, salt-manufacturers, and numerous other 
adventurers. Among the rest are deputations from different 
Indian nations, along our distant frontiers, who are come hither 
to receive their last alms from the President, previous to his 
retirement. 
“ The President received me very kindly. I asked for no- 
body 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 in- 
troduce 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 for this person himself; and to 
take down, from his mouth, what he knows on the subject; 
thinking it a pity, as he says, that the knowledge he possesses 
should die with him. But he has entrusted the business to 
me; and I have promised him an account of our interview. 
“All the subscribers I have gleaned here amount to seven- 
