Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 3).djvu/130

 the east and north, is much nearer to the sea than Philadelphia. Its harbour being safe, and of an easy access in all seasons, makes it very advantageous to the city, and adds incessantly to its extent, riches, and population. The town consists of more than 50,000 souls, among whom are reckoned but a very small number of negroes. Living is not so dear there as at Charleston; one may board for eight or ten piastres a week.

During my stay at New York I frequently had an opportunity of seeing Dr. Hosack, who was held in the highest reputation as a professor of botany. He was at that time employed in establishing a botanical garden, where he intended giving a regular course of lectures. This garden is a few miles from the town: the spot of ground is well adapted, especially for plants that require a peculiar aspect or situation. Mr. Hosack is the physician belonging to the hospital and prison, by virtue of which he permitted me to accompany him in one of his visits, and I had by that {15} means an opportunity of seeing those two establishments. The hospital is well situated, the buildings are extensive, the rooms lofty and well aired; but the beds appeared to me very indifferent; they are composed of a very low bedstead, edged with board about four inches wide, and furnished with a mattress, or rather a pallias, filled with oat straw, not very thick, coarse brown linen sheets, and a rug. The prison is remarkable for the decorum, the arrangement, the cleanliness that reigns there, and more especially for the willingness with which the prisoners seem to work at the different employments allotted for them.

Each seemed to be tasked according to his abilities or profession; some were making shoes, and others manufacturing cut-nails. These nails, made by the help of a