Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 3).djvu/136

 The absence of Mr. W. Hamilton deprived me of the pleasure of seeing him; notwithstanding, I went into his magnificent garden, situated upon the borders of the Schuylkill, about four miles from Philadelphia. His collection of exotics is immense, and remarkable for plants from New Holland; all the trees and shrubs of the United States, at least those that could stand the winter at Philadelphia, after being once removed from their native soil; in short, it would be almost impossible to find a more agreeable situation than the residence of Mr. W. Hamilton.

{23} CHAP. III

Departure from Philadelphia to the Western Country.—Communications by land in the United States.—Arrival at Lancaster.—Description of the town and its environs.—Departure.—Columbia.—Passage from Susquehannah, York, Dover, Carlisle.—Arrival at Shippensburgh.—Remarks upon the state of agriculture during the journey.

The states of Kentucky, Tennessea, and Ohio comprise that vast extent of country known in America by the name of the Western Country. Almost all the Europeans who have published observations upon the United States, have been pleased to say, according to common report, that this part of the country is very fertile; but they have never entered into the least particulars. It is true that, to reach these new settlements, one is obliged to travel over a considerable tract of uninhabited country, and that {24} these journies are tedious, painful, and afford nothing very interesting to travellers who wish to describe