Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 3).djvu/157

 Prior to my arrival at Greensburgh[16] I had an opportunity of remarking several parts of the woods exclusively composed of white oaks, or quercus alba, the foliage of which being a lightish green, formed a beautiful contrast with other trees of a deeper colour. About a mile from the town, and on the borders of a tremendous cavity I perceived unequivocal signs of a coal mine. I learnt at Greensburgh and Pittsburgh that this substance was so common and so easy to procure, that many of the inhabitants burnt it from economical motives. Not that there is a scarcity of wood, the whole country being covered with it, but labour is very dear; so that there is not a proprietor who would not consent to sell a cord of wood for half the sum that coals would cost, provided a person would go a mile to fell the trees, and take them home.

Greensburgh contains about a hundred houses. The town is built upon the summit of a hill on the road from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. The soil of the environs is fertile; the inhabitants, who are of German origin, cultivate wheat, rye, and oats with great success. The flour is exported at Pittsburgh.

{54} I lodged at the Seven Stars with one Erbach, who keeps a good inn.[17] I there fell into company with a traveller who came from the state of Vermont, and through necessity we were obliged to sleep in one room. Without entering into any explanation relative to the in-*