348 TRAVELS IN THE UNITED STATES : 
miles,, and when the river is full, and the cur¬ 
rent of course strong,, as is usually the case in 
the fall and spring of the year, you may go 
down the whole of this distance in one day; 
but owing to the lowness of the water we 
were no less than four days performing the 
voyage, though we made the utmost expedi¬ 
tion possible. In many parts of the river, in¬ 
deed, we found the current very rapid ; at the 
Fails of Wyalusing, for instance, we were car¬ 
ried down three or four miles in about a quar¬ 
ter of an hour; but in other places, where the 
river was deep, scarcely any current was per¬ 
ceptible in it, and we were obliged to work 
our way with paddles. The bed of the river 
abounds with rock and gravel, and the water 
is so transparent, that in many parts, where it 
must have been at least twenty feet deep, the 
smallest pebble was distinguishable at the bot¬ 
tom. The width of the river varies from fifty 
to three hundred yards, and scarcely any stream 
in America has a more irregular course; in 
some places it runs in a direction diametrically 
opposite to what it does in others. The coun¬ 
try through which this (the eastern) branch 
of the Susquehannah passes, is extremely un¬ 
even and rugged ; indeed, from Lochartzburgh 
till within a short distance of Wilkesbarre, it 
is bounded the entire way by steep mountains 
either on the one side or the other. The 
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