169 
In paying Mr. Thomas my parting visit, I met his father, 
eighty-eight years old, and in full possession of his mental facul¬ 
ties. I entertained myself a long time with him. Among other 
topics, he related to me, that he had seen the spot which the city 
of Baltimore now occupies, a forest inhabited by Indians. 
CHAPTER XIII. 
Stay in Washington, from the 2d until the loth of November , 
1825. 
ON the morning of the 2d of November I received another 
visit from Mr. de Vallenilla. He showed me a golden medal, 
which had formerly been coined by the town of Williamsburg 
in Virginia, in honour of President Washington, and a very well 
made miniature of that great man, painted by Stewart, to which 
was appended his hair. The medal was in a box made of wood 
from one of the trees standing near Washington’s tomb. The 
medal and miniature were intended by Washington’s family as 
presents for President Bolivar, and Mr. de Vallenilla was to set 
off within a few days for Caraccas, in order to present them to 
his patron, the liberator Bolivar. 
In the public stage I left the friendly city of Baltimore, with 
which I was extremely gratified, accompanied by Mr. Huygens, 
for Washington, the seat of government of the United States, 
distant thirty-nine miles. The weather was good and tolerably 
warm. The stage travelled slowly, and we did not arrive before 
five o’clock in the evening. The road was principally a turn¬ 
pike, kept in a very good state. The country belonging to the 
state of Maryland is for the most part hilly, covered with wood 
of large-leaved oak and pine trees, appearing but very little set¬ 
tled. The ground is sandy; the fields are planted with Indian 
corn and tobacco. The country is for the most part uniform; we 
did not pass through a single decent village. The difference be¬ 
tween this country and the northern states is very striking. The 
houses are a great deal smaller, and of an inferior construction 
than the worst log-houses in the state of New York; The 
most of these small houses are inhabited by negroes, who gene¬ 
rally had a very tattered appearance. We crossed several creeks 
over good wooden bridges, and six miles from Washington, near 
Bladensburg, we crossed the east branch of the Potomac, by two 
wooden bridges. It was here, that in the year 1814, an engage- 
Vol. I. 22 
