382. 
houfe in Water-ftreet, appropriated to 
the purpofe of an exchange, is a lofty, 
handfome brick edifice. The governor’s 
houfe, on the Battery, facing £ icadveay, 
can lay claim to no pretenfions for ele- 
gance of architcétyre, though large and 
maffive. In the hofpitals, neatnefs, good 
‘erder, and humanity, prevail; greatly 
to the credit of the opulent New- Yorkers, 
who laudably vie in thefe and other pa- 
triotic inftitutions, with the Philadelphi- 
ans and Boftonians. The fociety of 
Friends or Quakers, who are here very 
numerous, particularly merit eommenda- 
tion, as being liberal benefactors and 
romoters of every benevolent undertek- 
ing. Nothing delighted me more in this 
very pleafant city, than its admirable 
maritime fituation, and the picturefque 
Variety of its views, from féyeral parts 
of the city and environs: the fineft may 
be enjoyed from the Battery, the Belye- 
dere, the North-river Baths, and trom 
‘Brooklyn or Long Hland. The profpect 
from the Battery is really enchanting ! 
Where the fortifications once {tood, now 
exazed, the area is adorned with the go- 
vernor’s houfe, and fome elegant modern 
buildings, and the remainder laid down in 
ra{s-plats and walks, fhaded with trees, 
oth rivers are navigable for veffels 
or the largeft burthen, ‘as line of bat- 
“tle fhips frequently demonftrated during 
the laff war. Heli-Gate is a dange- 
fous kind of whirlpool in the eaftern 
cbannel, fome few miles from the city ;. 
2a The 
Belvedere is an airy, elegant ftruéture, 
near the city on the banks of the faid 
channel, (improperly termed the Eaft- 
river, being merely au arm of the fea, 
feparating the main land from Long 
Hiland) and fitted up as a houfe for public 
entertainment and the convivial meetings 
of the Britifh club, at whofe expence it 
was bulit. J had fome opportunities of 
witnefiing the zealous attachment of its 
yefpeCtable members to the mother-coun- 
try! Here the club occahonally give al- 
fembliés: this delightful {pot is aptly 
named the Belvedere, the perfpective trom 
hence being exquiitely fine, efpecially at 
the vernal feafon ; when the innumerable 
orchards on Lone Hand are in full blof- 
fom, and the wel] cultivated hills along 
its finely-indented fhores then appearing 
in thei moit luxuriant beauty. The 
harbour, and its verdant iflands, and the 
eaftern-channel, are feen to particular ad+ 
vantage from the aflembly-room of the 
Belvedere. The beft views of the ro- 
yaantic Hudfon, are from the wefern 
and requires am expert pilot. 
NewYork and its Vicinity. 
quays and upper part of the city, like. 
wife from the openings of the new freets 
leading from Broadway. York Ifland is 
connected with the main land at King’s- 
bridge, about 12 miles from the city ; 
the foil is generally barren, though in 
fomes places tolerably cultivated, and 
embellithed with gentlemen's feats. On 
Long Ifland I rarely found the foil fertile, 
being for the moft part rocky, fandy, 
and iterile, though Flat-bufh, and fome 
few fpots are exceptions: the inhabitants 
feem an induftrious, ftout, hardy race, 
chiefly of Dutch defcent: the Dutch 
language is yet taught in their grammar 
{chools, though Englith is the common 
idiom. Farming is moft produétive on 
the weftern part of the ifland, from its 
Vicinity to the metropolis, whofe mar- 
kets it regularly fupplies with butter and 
milk, poultry, fruit, vegetgbles, and 
corn. This ifland extends confiderably 
‘aboye a hundred miles in length; the 
breadth is trifling in proportion. Jamaica, 
Brooklyn, and Flat-buth, are pretty 
villages, 
New-Town, or Newton, is a fmali 
place, remarkable for the exeellent ap- 
ples produced in its diftriét : New-Town 
pippins being well known even in Europe. 
_ Salifbury-Plaip, in the centre of the 
ifland, is noted for groufe-fhooting, and 
other game, and fer the races held occa- 
fionally there; I never attended them, 
but underftoad they were forry enough ! 
Rockaway, a bathing-place much fre- 
quented in the feafon, js near 30 miles 
from New York, on the fouthern fhore 
‘of the iland; here they often fith for and 
catch fharks, yet I never heard of acei- 
-dents to bathers, from thefe voracious 
tigers of the deep! A tolerable inn af- 
forded us fome fhelter-from the torment- 
ine mofquitos, that in myriads infeft the 
fandy fhores and marfhes of the ifland, 
and area vexatious drawback on the rural 
pleafures refulting from a refidence on 
its pleafant farms: thefe abominable 
gnats pervade all the coafts of the 
‘United States, and are exceflively trou- 
blefome, particularly to ftrangers, as 
I wofully experienced : far inland, where 
the foil is elevated and dry, and the 
country cleared of wood, they are 
almoit unknown. “Fhey feldom make 
their appearance -in New-York city til! 
July or Auguft, and difappear early in 
Oétober; but in the Jerfies they nearly 
devour the traveller, from April to No- 
vember: I have feen their women and 
children, efpecially thofe of a fair ¢om- 
plexion, cevered with their bites, and 
: inflamed 
