368 TRAVELS IN THE UNITED STATES t 
over the Delaware, whose majestie stream iS 
always the last in this part of the country to 
feel the chilly touch of the hand of winter. 
The ice, however, was not yet strong enough 
to sustain the weight of a stage carriage, neither 
was it very readily to be broken: so that when 
we reached the falls of the river, where it i§ 
usual to cross in going from Philadelphia to 
New York, we had to remain for upwards of 
two hours shivering before the bitter blasts# 
until a passage was opened for the boat, which 
was to convey us and our vehicle to the oppo¬ 
site side. The crossing of the Delaware at this 
place with a wheel carriage, even when the 
river is frozen over and the ice sufficiently 
thick to bear, is generally a matter of con¬ 
siderable inconvenience and trouble to travel¬ 
lers, owing to the large irregular masses of ice 
formed therein when the frost first sets in, by 
the impetuosity of the current, which break¬ 
ing awav the slender flakes of ice from the 
o «/ 
edges of the banks, gradually drifts them up 
in layers over each other; it is only at this 
rugged part, that a wheel carriage can safely 
pass down the banks of the river, 
When the ground is covered with snow, a 
sleigh or sledg;e is by far the most commodious 
sort of carriage to travel in, as neither it nor 
' ^. . . • 
the passengers it contains are liable to receive 
any injury whatsoever from an overturn, and 
