6 TRAVELS THROU&H NORTH AMERICA : 
the public ways of Philadelphia. It is no 
more than thirty feet wide; and immediately 
behind the houses, which stand on the side far¬ 
thest from the water, a high bank, supposed 
to be the old bank of the river, rises, which 
renders the air very confined. Added to this, 
such stenches at times prevail in it, owing in 
part to the quantity of filth and dirt that is 
suffered to remain on the pavement, and in 
part to what is deposited in waste houses, of 
which there are several in the street, that it is 
really dreadful to pass through it. It was here 
that the malignant yellow fever broke out in 
the year 1793, which made such terrible ra¬ 
vages; and in the summer season, in general, 
the street is found extremely unhealthy. That 
the inhabitants, after suffering so much from 
the sickness that originated in it, should re¬ 
main thus inattentive to the cleanliness of 
Water-street is truly surprising ; more espe¬ 
cially so, when it is considered, that the streets 
in the other parts of the town are as much 
distinguished for the neatness that prevails 
throughout them, as this one is for its dirty 
condition. 
On the level plot of ground on the top of 
the bank which rises behind Water-street, the 
city of Philadelphia was originally laid out, 
and it was intended by the founder that no 
houses should have been erected at the bottom 
