ALEXANDER WILSON. 
lv 
notwithstanding his painful and weakened condition. An 
Indian, having been made acquainted with his situation, 
recommended the eating of strawberries, which were then 
fully ripe, and in great abundance. On this delightful 
fruit, and newly laid eggs alone, he lived for several days; 
and he attributed his restoration to health to these simple 
remedies. 
The following series of extracts from letters to Mr 
Lawson will be found to contain an exceedingly inter- 
esting account of this toilsome and hazardous journey : — 
“ Pittsburg, February 22, 1810. 
“ Dear Sir, — From this first stage of my ornitholo- 
gical pilgrimage, I sit down with pleasure to give you 
some account of my adventures since we parted. On 
arriving at Lancaster, I waited on the governor, secretary 
of state, and such other great folks as were likely to be 
useful to me. The governor received me with civility, 
passed some good-natured compliments on the volumes, 
and readily added his name to my list. He seems an 
active man, of plain good sense, and little ceremony. 
By Mr L. I was introduced to many members of both 
houses ; but I found them in general such a pitiful, 
squabbling, political mob ; so split up, and justling about 
the mere formalities of legislation, without knowing any 
thing of its realities, that I abandoned them in disgust. 
I must, however, except from this censure a few intelligent 
individuals, friends to science, and possessed of taste, who 
treated me with great kindness. 
“ Having a letter from Dr Muhlenberg to a clergyman 
in Hanover, I passed on through a well cultivated country, 
chiefly inhabited by Germans, to that place, where a 
certain judge took upon himself to say, that such a book 
as mine ought not to be encouraged, as it was not within 
the reach of the commonalty, and therefore inconsistent 
with our republican institutions ! By the same mode of 
