66 
two o’clock, and tea at seven in the evening. At tea, the table 
is again furnished as at breakfast, with the addition of ragouts 
and baker’s bread. Nobody is obliged to drink wine. There are 
usually water and whiskey on the table, which are mixed in the 
summer, as the most healthy drink. Every one must help him¬ 
self as well as he can, for the victuals are not handed about. Nap¬ 
kins you do not get, and instead, you are obliged to make use of 
the table-cloth. With the exception of the spoons, there is no 
silver on the table; the forks have two steel prongs, and their 
handles, like those of the knives, are of buck’s horn. It is an ex¬ 
cellent rule, that no one on departing is obliged to give money to 
the servants. 
At Utica, seven of us for nine dollars hired a stage to visit the 
Falls of Trenton, distant fourteen miles. Our passengers were 
partly from New York, and partly from the state of North Ca¬ 
rolina. We crossed the Mohawk upon a covered wooden 
bridge, built in a bad and awkward manner, on which I observed 
an advertisement, “that all persons who pass this bridge on horse¬ 
back or wagon faster than a walk, shall be fined one dollar.” 
After this, our road gradually ascended to a forest, which was, 
however, in part cleared for new fields. The timber is so much 
neglected here, that they will very probably feel the want of it 
in less than fifty years. At a short distance from the falls of 
West Canada Creek is a new tavern, which is situated in a lately 
cleared forest, and is built entirely of wood. At this tavern we 
left the carriage, and went on foot through thick woods, from 
which a pair of stairs conduct to the falls. A new pair of wooden 
stairs of about eighty steps, built for the accommodation of stran¬ 
gers, leads to the bed of the river. This consists entirely of slate- 
rock, is about two hundred feet wide, and is enclosed between 
high rocky banks, which are lined by beautiful and lofty firs, 
arbor vitae , the maple, the elm, and the cedar. This beautiful 
mass of green, the azure sky, the large and variegated rocks, and 
the three falls, produce a most happy effect. The rocks at these 
falls, which, on account of the great heat, scarcely extended over 
half the river, are so excavated by the water, that they have the 
form of a common kettle. The upper falls, which are about ninety 
feet high, are the grandest; and near them, under the shade of an 
arbor vitae , an adventurer has established a small tavern, which 
presents a very picturesque appearance, and is said to yield con¬ 
siderable profit. The rocks contain handsome petrifactions of 
shells, plants, and animals; and we saw one specimen a foot and 
a half long, which resembled a young alligator; of the smaller 
ones we took several specimens. At the tavern where we 
had put up, we found a tolerably good dinner, and towards 
