Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 V13.djvu/44

 *mediate and surrounding country is deeply undulated with hills of a softish sandstone and slate clay. The more conspicuous hills of shale, accompanied {12} by organic remains, commence at Chambersburg, and, as in Virginia, are characterised by the appearance of Pine (Pinus inops), and scrub oak (Quercus ilicifolia); here also occurs the fragrant sumach (Rhus aromaticum).

The road, on which several bands of labourers were employed, was now nearly completed to Pittsburgh, affording that convenience and facility to the inland commerce of the state which had been so long neglected. The states of New-York and Virginia, equally interested in the advancement of their internal trade, now begin to show themselves as the serious rivals of Pennsylvania, which, till lately, with the exception of New-Orleans, enjoyed the most considerable portion of the commerce of the west.

7th.] To-day I proceeded about 21 miles, over a very poor and mountainous country. From the little village, or cluster of cabins, called Loudon, we commence the ascent over the North Mountain, by an easy and well-levelled turnpike. From its summit appeared a wide and sterile forest extending across the glen, and, only at small and distant intervals, obscurely broken by scattered farms. The soil is here argillaceous, a slate-clay passing into argillaceous trap and siliceous sandstone, occasionally changing into an almost homogeneous quartz, predominates. At Loudon, there is a small iron-furnace, and ore in inconsiderable quantities found in the neighbourhood. Passing this range, sometimes called the Cove or North