220 
which, from his hurry, he generally does 
to his difadvantage. I have known feve- 
ral who have never taken their families 
from on board the fhip which brought 
them over; but not finding their expecta- 
tions anfwered, returned the fame way 
they came. It muft be evident, that much 
expence and inconvenience would have 
been faved, if the mafer of ‘he family 
had emigrated alone. But the reafons are 
much ftronger for fuch as mean to pur- 
chafe in an wnfettled part ; becaufe reafon 
muft digtate to every thinking perfon, that 
he ought to know the probability of his 
being able to exift his family in a foreft 
before he plunges them into it; and fhould 
be aware of the difficulties of carrying 
them about with him through a country 
where they muft be frequently obliged 
to fleep without any other covering than 
the canopy of heaven, unlefs they have had 
the precaution to bring blankets with 
them, before he undertakes to march them 
off to a fpot from which they may be 
obliged to return. If, however, an emi- 
grant carries his family to America, he 
will find it the moft convenient and leaft 
expenfive way, to leave them at the place 
where he lands, until he has viewed the 
land he is going to purchafe, and formed 
an opinion that it will anfwer his expecta- 
tions. He may, alfo, in a very few weeks 
ereét a clapboarded temporary habitation, 
to which he may remove his family, with 
a certainty of not having thein to remove 
again. 
In the purchafe of back-lands, nothing 
can be more infatuated than the practice, 
which has prevailed with emigrating per- 
fons, of purchafing land of Britifh agents, 
previoufly to their failing. Ifa farmer in 
England intends to remove his family from 
one county to another, he will faddle his 
horfe, and ride to take a view of his in- 
tended new refidence, previoufly to fuch 
removal; and if this is looked upon as fo 
precautionary a meafure in a journey of a 
day or two, how much more fo muft it be 
in one of feveral weeks. 
A man is fhewn a plan of a traé& of land, 
with, of courfe, a varnithed defcription of 
the fertilivy of its foil, and the variety of 
its productions, pienteous ftreams, mill- 
feats, &c.; and the freehold of this land 
may be made his own at four or five fhil- 
lings anacre. True: but then it never 
coft the proprieters as many pence; and, 
from watural caufes, fuch as its diftance 
from any fettlements, its want of roads, 
or of navigable ftreams, to communicate 
with any market, however diftant, it will 
Information refpedting Emigration to North America. [O&. 1, 
be worth little or nothing, even if its foil 
were exuberance itielf, ( nleis to land- 
jobbers, who pats it from hand to hand, 
at a cent, or one hundredth part of a dol- 
lar, profit,) until thofe natural impedi- 
ments are removed ; and how that may © 
be dene, I have already fhewn—by an 
immenfe capital. Buc this: can mtivhers 
{uit the purfe nor ftuation of the clafs of 
perfons I] am deferibing, who want homes, 
and think hat when they arrive upen vheir 
land, build a houfe, and clear {ome land, 
they have furmounted ali obftacles; but 
thofe are the lealt. Ifa purchafer of la-ds 
upon fpeculation, when he arrives in Ame- 
rica, finds that his land lies fome hundred 
miles from the coaft, and, perhaps, 50 or 
60 from any fettlement, the conducting 
his family through a dreary foreft, where 
the only guide is a compafs, is difcourag- 
ing ; but how is he to get the tmplements 
of hufbandry, cattle, &c. which he mutt 
have, thither? If a man fhould efablifh 
his point, which has been {carcely ever the 
cafe, his fituation is that of being cut off 
from fociety. For thefe reafons, a {pe- 
culation in back lands is only fit for ca- 
pitalifts and land-jobbers, who can fell 
them at once, or keep them in their hands, 
until the progfeffive fettlement of the coun- 
try comes nearer tothem. For thefe rea- 
fons, we fee that moft of the diftant back 
fettlements of America have been formed 
by an union of feveral families going ina 
body: and the fpeculators have recruiting 
parties throughout Europe, to procure 
freights of emigrants who, arriving in a 
body, are difpatched to the fame fpot; 
and, by their uniied exertions, become 
neceflary to their mutual convenience : 
the lands grow gradually worth to the. 
fpeculators more and more every year. 
—But this more properly comes under the 
next head. A farmer, however, who has 
property, would not join fuch- an affem- 
blage of adventurers ; therefore, the moft 
open and proper way for him will be to 
go to the vicinity of fome fettlement al- 
ready formed, and fix upen his refidence 
where he may be ready to receive his fa- 
mily. He will, by thefe means, pay 
dearer for his freehoid, than if be pur- 
chafed it at ‘¢ hit or mifs:”’ but he may 
ftill get it reafonable—have plenty of room 
for improvement—and avoid innumerable 
troubles, expences, and difficulties, into 
which too many have iaconfiderately 
plunged themfelves by a contrary conduct. 
The fame remark will alfo apply to pur- 
chafing of Jand-owners in the firt Ameri 
can town where the emigrant lands. He 
ufually 
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