134 TRAVELS THROUGH NORTH AMERICA: 
self again in the midst of an inquisitive and 
prying set of Americans, to gratify whose cu¬ 
riosity it is always necessary to devote a certain 
portion of time after alighting at a tavern. 
A traveller on arriving in America may 
possi bly imagine, that it is the desire of obtain¬ 
ing useful information which leads the peo¬ 
ple, wherever he stops, to accost him ; and 
that the particular enquiries respecting the ob¬ 
ject of his pursuits, the place of his abode, and 
that of his destination, &c. are made to pre¬ 
pare the way for questions of a more general 
nature, and for conversation that may be at¬ 
tended with some amusement to him; he 
therefore readily answers them, hoping in re¬ 
turn to gain information about the country 
through which he passes; but when it is 
found that these questions are asked merely 
through an idle and impertinent curiosity, and 
that by far the greater part of the people who 
ask them are ignorant, boorish fellows; when 
it is found that those who can keep up some 
little conversation immediately begin to talk 
upon politics, and to abuse every country ex- 
ceptingtheir ow n ; w hen, lastly, it is found that 
the people scarcely ever give satisfactory an¬ 
swers at hist to the enquiries w hich are made 
by a stranger respecting their country, but 
always hesitate, as if suspicious that he was 
asking these questions to procure seme local 
