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tinued through a forest of oak, chesnut, acacia, and cedar trees; 
houses were seldom met with. We forded many creeks, the 
most considerable of them is called Cedar creek. We observed 
also some grist-mills. It froze pretty hard, so that the borders 
of the creeks were covered with a pretty thick ice, and large 
icicles hung on the sluices of the mills. Eleven miles beyond 
Smithfield, we came to Winchester, a very nice country town, 
where the houses are mostly of masonry, and form a long prim 
cipal street, intersected by other smaller ones; it has a market- 
house, and many stores, which appeared to be very well provided. 
Here we changed our stage for a better one, although still very 
inconvenient. The wood of which it was constructed was 
hickory, which has a great deal of elasticity. 
From Winchester, we went to Stephensbury, eight miles 
farther, to Middleton, then to Strasburg, six miles, and at last to 
Woodstock, twelve miles, where we passed the night. This place 
is sixty-one miles distant from Harper’s ferry. We reached our 
night-quarters in the evening about six o’clock, in a very cold 
night and a fine moonshine. The places between Winchester and 
Woodstock were not considerable, except Strasburg, which is 
more ancient than the others, and appears to have a larger popu¬ 
lation. The houses are generally of wood and covered with 
shingles, although a great number of stones are found here. The 
country became at last very fine. On our left we saw the Blue 
Ridge, from which we now withdrew at every moment. An¬ 
other ridge, in a parallel direction with the former, called the 
Northern Ridge, rose suddenly between us and the Blue Ridge, 
which soon entirely disappeared. On our right there was another 
ridge of mountains, it was an arm of the Alleghany Mountains, 
and we went through a valley at least ten miles wide. The forma¬ 
tion of these parallel ridges is very singular, and no instance oc¬ 
curs of it in the other parts of the world. The country was 
pretty well cultivated, and by the exterior appearance of many 
country-houses, we were induced to believe their inhabitants en¬ 
joyed plenty. The enclosures of fields are here, for the most 
part, the above-mentioned old fences, yet next to the houses they 
are of masonry carefully formed. As it appeared, they travel here 
much on horseback. On account of great distances between the 
plantations, almost all the ladies can ride on horseback; we met 
several of them elegantly dressed, and also black women. The race 
of horses of this country, appears to be a very strong one. They 
use also oxen for drawing; to many carts were put two oxen, and 
before them two horses. On the 20th of November, we left 
Woodstock at half-past two o’clock in the morning, in a very 
miserable stage, and proceeded to Staunton, seventy-one miles 
distant, on a still more rugged road than that of yesterday; in 
