g()2 Mrs. Wright's Travels in the Tinted States. 
bounded on one side by the wooded 
heights of Brooklyn and the varied 
shores of Long Island", and on the other 
by quays and warehouses, scarce dis¬ 
cernible through the forest of masts that 
were crowded as far as the eye could 
reach. Behind us stretched the broad 
expanse of the bay, whose islets crown¬ 
ed with turreted forts, their colours 
streaming from their flag-staffs, seemed 
to slumber on the still and glowing 
waters, in dark or sunny spots, as they 
variously caught or shunned the gaze 
of the sinking sun. It was a glorious 
scene; and we almost caught the en¬ 
thusiasm of our companions, who, as 
they hailed their native city, pro¬ 
nounced it the fairest in the world. 
NEW YORK AND VICINITY. 
Notwithstanding the pleasant, opu¬ 
lent, and airy appearance of the city, a 
European might be led to remark, that, 
if nature has done every tiling for it. 
art, in the way of ornament, lias as yet 
done little. Except the City Hall there 
is not a public building worth noticing, 
but it presents what is far better—st reets 
of private dwellings, often elegant, and 
always comfortable. Turn where you 
will successful industry seems to have 
Axed her abode. No dark alleys, whose 
confined and noisome atmosphere marks 
the presence of a dense and suffering 
population ; no hovels, in whose ruined 
garrets, or dank and gloomy cellars, 
crowd the wretched victims of vice and 
disease, whom penury drives to despair, 
ere she opens to them the grave. 
I shall not fatigue you with particular 
accounts of the excursions we have 
made into the surrounding country. 
We surveyed with pleasure the thriving 
farms of Long Island, and those of the 
neighbouring state of Jersey. The 
country is every where pleasingly di¬ 
versified ; gentle hills, sinking into ex¬ 
tensive valleys, watered by clear rivers, 
their banks sprinkled with neat white 
dwellings,usually low and broad roofed, 
shaded by projecting piazzas, and very 
generally by enormous weeping willows. 
These exotics seem to take wonderfully 
to the soil and climate, and are much 
cultivated, in the more immediate 
neighi o irhood of houses, as well on ac¬ 
count of their rapid growth, as from 
the massiveness of their foliage, and 
fiom their being the earliest trees to 
bud, and the latest to cast their leaves. 
There are some very lovely, though 
few very lordly dwellings, scattered 
along the shores of this island. You 
Yi'.l 1 remember how picturesque these 
shores are; the one washed by the mag¬ 
nificent waters of the Hudson, and the 
other by that arm of the sea styled the 
East River, which runs round the head 
of Long Island. I know not if you ever 
navigated this curious channel. The 
whirlpools of Hell-gate are, at high wa¬ 
ter, with good pilotage, passed by sail¬ 
ing vessels without much hazard, and 
by steam-boats without any hazard, in 
almost all states of the tide : those huge 
leviathans pointing their way steadily 
through the narrow channels which 
wind among the whirling eddies that 
boil on either band, styled respective¬ 
ly the greater and lesser pots. 
AMERICAN OPINIONS. 
It is truly interesting to listen to an 
intelligent American when he speaks of 
the condition and resources of his coun¬ 
try ; and this not merely when you find 
him in the more polished circles of so¬ 
ciety, but when toiling for his subsist¬ 
ence with the saw or spade in his hand. 
I have never yet conversed with the 
man who could not inform you upon 
any fact regarding the past history and 
existing institutions of his nation, with 
all the readiness and accuracy with 
which a school-boy, fresh from his 
studies, might reply to your queries 
upon the laws of Lycurgus, or the 
twenty-seven years r war of the Pelopon¬ 
nesus. 
Putting some questions a few days 
since to a farmer whom I met in a steam¬ 
boat, I could not help remarking to 
him, when, in reply to my questions, 
he had run through the geography, soil, 
climate, &c. of his vast country, just 
as if its map had been stretched before 
him, with the catalogue of all its ex¬ 
ports and imports, that beseemed as in¬ 
timately acquainted with the produce 
and practicabilities of the United States 
as he could he with jdiose of his own farm. 
Some weeks since, crossing the North 
river in one of the fast-sailing sloops, 
which crowd in such multitudes upon 
these waters, I observed a man at one 
end of the little vessel, who first at¬ 
tracted my attention by his interesting 
appearance. He was well dressed in 
the plain garb of a working farmer. 
His silvered hairs and deeply-lined 
countenance told that he was approach¬ 
ing the last resting-place of all human 
travellers, while his unbent figure and 
mild aspect told, also, that he was ap¬ 
proaching it without anxiety. Enter¬ 
ing into conversation with him, I learnt 
that he was a Jersey farmer, who re¬ 
membered the declaration of Indepen¬ 
dence, 
