Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 9).djvu/189

 *land and Delaware will be deducted, as ineligible to the man who does not wish to live amongst slaves. He may, indeed, live in either of these parts without employing the involuntary labourer, but the man of acute sensibility will usually be unwilling to injure the feelings of his neighbours, who may conceive that his abstaining from the detested practice implies a practical censure on their conduct. Slaves being addicted to theft and other immoralities, form a strong objection against settling amongst them. The whole stretch of country on the coast, including Maryland, Delaware, part of Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, may be rejected, on account of the high price of land. The inland parts of Pennsylvania and New York States remain free from the objections just mentioned, and {158} are believed to possess comparative advantages in respect of climate and soil.

The winter of New York State is the more severe of the two, and seems to point out Pennsylvania as preferable. With the single defect of distance from market, Western Pennsylvania possesses great advantages. The most prominent are, a healthy climate, a good soil, abundance of coal, iron-ores, limestone, sandstone, and salt springs, circumstances that render this country susceptible of a dense population, and a very high state of improvement.

It being assumed that Pennsylvania lies between parallels of latitude, the most temperate of any on the eastern coast, the inference is natural, that the States Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and part of Kentucky, must have a climate of similar warmth, slightly modified, no doubt, by the elevation and prevalent winds of particular parts. Accordingly, observations made at Cincinnati, (which lies fifty minutes south of Philadelphia) show, that its