LONG ISLAND. 
369 
as, added to this, you may proceed much faster 
and easier in it than in a carriage on wheels; 
haying said then that there was snow on the 
ground, it will perhaps be a subject of wonder 
to you, that we had not one of these safe and 
agreeable carriages to take us to New York; 
if so, I must inform you, that no experienced 
traveller in the middle states sets out on a 
* • ...• * * ^ 
long journey in a sleigh at the commencement 
of winter, as unexpected thaws at this period 
new take place very commonly, and so rapid 
are they, that in the course of one morning the 
snow sometimes entirely disappears ; a serious 
object of consideration in this country, where, 
if you happen to be left in the lurch with 
your sleigh, other carriages are not to be had 
at a moment’s warning. In the present in¬ 
stance, notwithstanding the intense severity of 
the cold, and the appearances there were of its 
long continuance, yet I had not been eight 
and forty hours at New York when every 
vestige of frost was gone, and the air became 
as mild as in the month of September. 
This sudden change in the weather afforded 
me an opportunity of seeing, to much greater 
advantage than might have been expected at 
this season of the year, parts of New York and 
Long Islands, which the shortness of my stay 
in this neighbourhood had not permitted me 
to visit in the summer. After leaving the im- 
VOL, II, B B 
