Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 9).djvu/84

 had escaped naked from bed, others packing up bed clothes, or putting them into waggons: Waggoners harnessing their horses, &c.

The little piece of ground cleared here is very rich, the best pasture I have seen in America; but the winter in this high region must be severe.

Two miles onward there are fine fields and orchards. The interval land is meadow. No Indian corn is to be seen. By the road side, what miners call the vise of a bed of coal is perceptible.

Stoystown is delightfully situated on the north bank of a deep vale.[33] The neighbouring grounds are but recently cleared. If we may judge from {55} the appearance of the houses, tavern-keepers are the principal men of the place; one of these is dubbed Major.

The land on this side of the Allegany ridge is much better than immediately on the eastern side of it. At present travellers and horses consume a great part of the produce, but as cultivation proceeds, the distance from market must become more sensibly felt.

The ridge, Laurel Hill, is about seven miles broad from one side of the base to the other. We observed a rattlesnake that had been recently killed on the road; it was about three and a half feet long, and about an inch and a half in diameter. The people say, that only two species of serpents are poisonous here; but there are probably more, as no less than thirty species have been enumerated in the United States.

Laurel Hill being broad, and considerably steep, must be of prominent height. Of its elevation relatively to the