193 
in which were four gentlemen from the state of Tennessee, mem¬ 
bers of congress, going to Washington. I took my seat as usual 
alongside the coachman, where I had more room and fresh air. 
We returned as far as Lexington by the road we left it. Having 
stopped for a short while here, I was the object of much curi¬ 
osity to the German descendants who are settled here. The 
town of Lexington was first established about forty years ago, 
and it now contains eleven hundred inhabitants. In its vicinity 
upon a hill, is a large arsenal covered with zinc, belonging to the 
United States. 
From Lexington we took another road which led us through 
the considerable villages of Brownsburgh and Middleburgh. 
The road was in some places very bad, and terribly rough; but 
we sometimes found a side road, which in that dry season was 
still very good ; it ran generally through a forest. We saw lonely 
houses and met with many travellers on horseback, several of 
them were well dressed white women. All our coachmen in 
this state were whites; I was surprised at this, knowing that 
black coachmen could be had at a cheaper rate, and was told that 
in this state, blacks were not allowed to drive the mail stage. 
On the 24th of November, after nine o’clock in the morning, 
we set out from Staunton in a hired coach, in order to pass by a 
circuitous route the celebrated Wier’s cave, and thence con¬ 
tinue our journey to Charlotteville, whither we had sent our 
heavy baggage, by the stage. 
As far as Wier’s cave, eighteen miles distant, we had a good 
country road. We took our lodgings in a lonely house belong¬ 
ing to Mr. Mohler, a German from Pennsylvania, of Saxon 
origin. The way was through a hilly, woody country ; many 
breaks in the earth presented limestone rocks, and announced 
the proximity of caves. For a sportsman this country must be 
delightful, for we saw in the woods two flocks of partridges, 
which left the road, only to give way to the passing carriage, 
and then settled at not more than ten paces from us. On the 
banks of the creeks we saw a great number of snipes. Mohler’s 
house is situated on a considerable creek, called the South river, 
which by means of a canal, works a grist-mill and forge. 
The grist-mill belongs to a miller, who has also a whiskey dis¬ 
tillery, and upwards of one hundred acres of land, with four 
negro slaves. He cultivates wheat, some rye, and a great quantity 
of Indian corn. His mill, a large stone building, is arranged very 
compendiously, and reminded me of the large steam-mill at Bal¬ 
timore. There are only two pairs of stones, one for wheat, and 
the other for Indian corn. The boulted flour is conveyed to the 
upper floor by means of elevators, and spread upon it by a rake, 
which has a circular and horizontal motion, in order to cool it. 
Vol, I. 25 
