Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 9).djvu/56

 *can claimed the superiority, in toto, while the Englishman asserted the higher excellence of the literary, the scientific, and the mechanical attainments of Britain; but, at the same time admitted, with apparent candour, the superior dexterity of Americans in traffic, and that, taken in a body, they are without some of the ruder qualities of John Bull. Thus, in one day, I have heard two intelligent Englishmen discuss the character of the American people, and each draw opposite conclusions: a fact, which proves how cautious we ought to be in forming an estimate of a community; as we are in continual danger of judging of the great stock from the small, and it may happen that an unfair sample may come within the narrow limits of a single person's observation.

{26} The land between New Brunswick and Princeton is chiefly of a poor sand. The road is composed of the same material, with plank bridges over ravines, where most of the streams are now dried up. The woods, to a Briton, seem more remarkable for their height, than for the diameter of the trees. The stems, even by the road side, where many are felled, stand closely together, and their tops form a continued canopy, that sheds a gloom over the surface of the ground. When proximity to the two greatest cities in the Union is considered, it seems surprising that the arm of man has effected so little. The farms by the road side are neither numerous, nor are the cleared patches large. The passenger has no way of knowing how the country is peopled or improved beyond the first clearing; and where no opening occurs, he cannot see the light more than about 200 yards into the woods. Rail fences, however, and cattle amongst the trees, indicate that the whole is appropriated.

The cows are small, and of little value; and the few