142 TRAVELS THROUGH NORTH AMERICA : 
uninteresting part of the country to the fords 
or bridges. As I wished to go beyond these 
creek§> I therefore hired the boatman to carry 
me ten miles down the Patowmac River in the 
ferry boat, past the mouths of them all; this 
they accordingly did, and in the afternoon I 
landed on the beach, not a little pleased at 
finding that I had reached the shore without 
having been under the necessity of swimming 
any part of the way, for during the last hour 
the horses had not remained quiet for two mi¬ 
nutes together, and on one or two occasions, 
having got both to the same side of the boat, 
the trim of it was very nearly destroyed, and 
it was with the utmost difficulty that we pre¬ 
vented it from being overset. 
The part of the country where I landed ap¬ 
peared to be a perfect wilderness ; no traces of 
a road or pathway were visible on the loose 
white sand, and the cedar and pine trees grew 
so closely together on all sides, that it was 
scarcely possible to see farther forward in any 
direction than one hundred yards. Taking a 
course, however, as nearly as I could guess, in 
a direct line from the river up the country, 
at the end of an hour I came upon a narrow 
road, which led to a large old brick house, 
somewhat similar to those I had met with on 
the Maryland shore. On enquiring here, from 
two blacks, for a tavern, I was told there was 
i 
