Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 3).djvu/134

 *pletely {20} cleared, and the farms are contiguous to each other. About nine miles from New York is a place called Newark, a pretty little town situated in New Jersey. The fields that encompass it are planted with apple trees; the cyder that is made there is accounted the best in the United States; however, I conceived it by far inferior to that of Saint Lo, Coutance, or Bayeux. Among the other small towns by the road side, Trenton seemed worthy of attention. Its situation upon the Delaware, the beautiful tract of country that surrounds it, must render it a most delightful place of abode.

Philadelphia is situated upon the Delaware, a hundred miles distant from the sea; at this period the most extensive, the handsomest, and most populous city of the United States. In my opinion, there is not one upon the old continent built upon so regular a plan. The streets cut each other at right angles, and are from forty to fifty feet in breadth, except the middle one, which is twice as broad. The market is built in this street, and is remarkable for its extent and extreme cleanliness; it is in the centre of the town, and occupies nearly one-third of its length. The streets are paved commodiously before the houses with brick; pumps erected on both sides, about {21} fifty yards distant from each other, afford an abundant supply of water; upon the top of each is a brilliant lamp. Several streets are planted with Italian poplars of a most beautiful growth, which makes the houses appear elegantly rural.

The population of Philadelphia is always on the increase; in 1749, there were eleven thousand inhabitants; in 1785, forty thousand; and now the number is computed to be about seventy thousand. The few Negroes that are there are free, the greatest part of whom go out