Part 4 (1/2)

In order to make ourselves acquainted with the interior of Pennsylvania, and the Alleghanypart of that state, we left Bethleheht, covered carriage, driven by our landlord, Wohler, ell known in all this country Dr

Saynisch and Mr Bodmer accompanied me I left my huntsman behind to look after our affairs at hoenerally the case for some time past, till the sun dispelled it We took the road to Easton, where the fields were partly cleared, and covered with stubble, partly planted with clover, maize, potatoes, and buckwheat, which was just in flower The ground was gently undulating, with an alternation of fields, and woods of walnut and oak This country belongs to the secondary liround was broken up, limestone was seen, and in the woods were several lie heaps, to be spread over the the road They are slightly built of wood, reat nuardens of these houses were generally planted with European flowers, and on the road-side in the hedges, the kermes-oak and juniper abounded, and their berries attracted numbers of thrushes Horses and horned cattle are very nuood breed, are left, day and night, at liberty in the31] The peasants are very bold in riding and driving, never use drags to their wheels, but drive down the hills full trot In the hot and dry season, this country is often in want of water, and even the cisterns made by the farmers then become dry, so that the cattle must frequently be driven five or six miles to water

This arid tract is called by the inhabitants, in their Gere, ”das Trockene land,” the dry land

We no, on our right hand, the heights on the banks of the Lehigh, covered with verdant forests, which ere again approaching The double call of the _Perdix Virginiana et Marylandica_, called, by the Ae, sounded in the clover fields; the ground squirrel ran along the fences; the red-headed woodpecker flew from tree to tree; and plants of various kinds, _Verbascureat mullein), _Antirrhinum linaria_ (the coinian surew by the road-side; the dwelling houses were surrounded with large orchards, and the apple trees were loaded with small yellow apples of an indifferent kind, and ireat deal of cider is eneral, in rather a backward state The cherry trees, too, were covered at this tierly sought after by nu twelve miles, we arrived at Easton, a small toith a population of 2,000 inhabitants, the capital of Northampton county, situated at the conflux of the Delaware and the Lehigh We alighted at the inn with many country people, and immediately set out to take a walk in the tohile breakfast was preparing The streets of Easton cross each other at right angles; they are not paved, excepting a footway on the sides, paved with bricks; the largest of theentle declivity to the Delaware In a square in the highest part stands the Court-house The buildings in the place are, in general, only two stories high; and the e over the Delaware This bridge is 600 English feet long, has three arches, is quite closed, covered with a strong roof, and has fifteen glass s on each side; it is painted yellow, and the building of it, like all sis in the United States, was a private speculation, and brings in thirty per cent, a toll being paid

We crossed this bridge, and walked down the river, till we came opposite to the spot, i from its picturesque valley, between the rocky hills covered with pines and other trees, falls into the Delaware Near to the former, on the same side, is the mouth of the Mauch Chunk canal; and on the other side of the Delaware begins the Morris canal, leading to New York[38] A great number of men were busily erew _Datura Tatula_, with its purple flowers, tall Virginian junipers, a verbena, and other plants; and the three-striped viper darted through the low bushes

[pg 32] Returning to the inn, we loaded our guns and proceeded on our journey As soon as ere out of the toent up the Delaware on the right bank, and crossed a bridge to Bushkill, a picturesque strea between lofty shady trees, on banks richly covered with a variety of plants Froreeable It leads close by the bright mirror of the river, which may be full 200 paces broad, in the shade of the dark forest of plane, oak, tulip, walnut, chestnut, and other trees; and on the left hand rises the steep rocky wall, covered withplants, which are protected by the shade of the trees The river soon becomes broader, and we caroves We stopped at one of theer, on horseback, back to Bethlehe otten

The rocks often came so close to the bank of the river, that there was scarcely rooes to pass each other: lofty forest trees afforded a welcome shade In many places the rock stood out Dr

Saynisch struck off with his hammer some fine pieces of saussurite (_Hornstone_), and talc, with lad that we had taken good speci our way, in the shade, by the banks of the river, we frequently caave way to human habitations, where we stopped at the White House to water our horses and take some refreshment From this place the country was more diversified The road still runs by the side of the river, which was anieese The Mudrun creek here issues in a very picturesque h trees, from a small side valley A little farther on, we left the Delaware to ascend so the side valley of Martin's creek, in which there are some spots of marshy meadohere the splendid _Lobelia cardinalis_, which is usually found on the banks of all these rivers, attracted the eye by its deep red flowers We then passed a naked lateral defile, where stubble, and clover fields, and woods, whichat a distance, reminded us of sohts, alternately gently ascending and descending till we cae of Richreat heat, and ascended a considerable e church, called Upper Mount Bethel We then proceeded through a more elevated plain, where, on the left hand, in a north-west direction, is a near prospect of the Blue Mountains, which forhany

This first chain is said to be only 2,000 feet above the level of the sea; but it extends here further than the eye can reach, and is uniformly covered with verdant, primeval forests It runs in the direction from north to south, and has no characteristically shaped peaks, or re picturesque in the total effect With the exception of some parts, especially the beautiful Catskill mountains, most of the landscapes of North A outlines, and this constitutes the great difference between the 33] the views in Brazil, where the mountains and the outlines of the horizon are al forms, as is usual in primitive mountains

In the chain before us, we re in a northerly direction, where the Delaware breaks through; this is called the Delaware Water Gap, or the Delaware Gap It is twenty-three miles from Bethlehem, and was the place of our destination to-day We were noo ,before us, almost in all directions, luxuriant verdant woods, and e behind each other As our horses hastened to the valley, the height of the ht Delaware appeared before us, and we soon reached its banks The river here forms the boundary of Warren County in New Jersey On the opposite side we perceived a large glasshouse, ed by Germans, called Columbia Glasshouse, where many who have possessed it have already become bankrupts

As we approached this defile, we observed a water-snake swi in the river, which suffered itself to be carried doith the stream, but disappeared as soon as we approached We procured one on the following day, as they are not uncommon here

We had now reached the mountain chain, which rose bold and steep on both sides, and at every step becaap, is an inn, behind which, at the distance of hardly a couple of hundred paces, runs the steep rocky wall of grauwacke and clay slate, here the predoh wall is crowned on the summit with pines, and covered at the base with various other trees, while the ed At the foot of the mountains are luxuriant fields andFrom this spot the rocky wall approaches nearer and nearer to the river, the banks of which, rude and desolate, are covered with ether,in the water This is the effect of the rising of the river, and the breaking-up of the ice in spring, which had causedof 1832 than on any former occasion within the memory of man Where the banks of the river are flat and sandy, thickets of young planes often supply the place of the s on the banks of our European rivers The plane--called by the Gerlo-Americans, buttonwood, or sycamore--flourishes particularly near the water, or in low, rowth in perfection These young planes, on the bank, were almost entirely stripped of their bark by the action of the water

The inn, Delaware Gap, is supposed to be 600 feet higher than Philadelphia, and the steep wall of rock behind it is elevated 600 or 700 feet above it We ht, but, as it was early, we preferred passing the Gap The road now led i the bank of the river, and then obliquely upwards on the steep wooded western rocky wall The savage grandeur of the scenery is very striking The forest has underwood of [pg 34] various kinds, where nu plants attracted our attention

Picturesque rocks, over which water trickles, covered with various coloured mosses, lichens, and beautiful ferns, stand between the trunks of the trees, and form shady nooks, caverns, seats; while all the forest trees of this country, mixed with pines, particularly the hemlock spruce fir, and the Wey of awe

The valley of the Gap leaves the river just rooh to force its way between the steep walls of rock; and, if you turn and look back in this interesting ravine, you see against a steep-wooded height what is called the Indian ladder There are several islands in this part of the river, which are partially stripped of their wood by the action of the current, but some of them have pretty lofty trees on them At the distance of about a mile from the narrowest part of the Gap, we reached a lonely house, where a h, and very corpulent, came to meet us; he was of Gerly have received us for the night in his small public-house, but there was no accommodation for our horses, and we therefore proceeded on our journey In a short time we reached an eminence, at the turn of the rocky wall, where the solitary dwelling of a Frenchh above the river From this place the valley becomes more open, and the mountains less steep as you recede froe open place in the woods, for, consisting of twelve or thirteen scattered dwellings, is situated Here we took up our night's lodging in a tolerable public-house, which is also the post-office for the stages, and is kept by a farmer named Broadhead

We had scarcely taken a little rest, when a poor old man entered, as the first person that had settled in this part of the country; his nae was called after hio, and possessed 150 slaves; but, being obliged to fly during the revolution, had purchased a considerable piece of land here on the Delaware, and co

He had previously lost part of his property by the capture of shi+ps, and his speculations here too seem to have failed The property melted away, and the last remnant of his possessions was sold He had built houses and sold theht be called the founder of the whole of Dutotsburg; yet, after all this, he is reduced to a state of great poverty, and his situation excites the compassion of travellers who pass that way

As the country about Delaware Gap was highly interesting to ust We were early insun beautifully illuuide, Wohler, had acco excursion in the woods; the rest of us went different ways, each with his gun, till breakfast tie, a sh the thickets and meadohere nu-pieces of our sports wood After our return, I accompanied old Dutot to see his house and his fae, and his fahtful view into the ravine of the Delaware below, and afterwards took the way to the ro evening

Several plants were here pointed out to me, to the roots of which the inhabitants of the country ascribe great medicinal virtues; for instance, the snake root, perhaps _Aristolochia serpentaria_, which is said i of any wound; and, above all, the lion's heart (_Prenanthes rubicunda_), which is coainst the bite of serpents Old Dutot related a number of successful cures which he had performed with this root This plant has a tall flower stee arrow-shaped leaves; its root is partly tuberous, partly long, pretty large, and branching, of a reddish yellow colour, and contains a milky juice It is boiled with milk, and two table-spoonfuls are taken as a dose The swelling, caused by the bite of the reptile, is said speedily to disappear, after chewing the root The Delaware Indians,[39] who formerly inhabited all Pennsylvania, made this remedy known to an old man, from whom it was inherited by the fa the Indians, and gavethelish nobleman, but they nainal, or chief race of mankind, and they called the river _Lenapewi-hittuck_ (river of the Lenape) They are the _Loups_, or _Abenaquis_ of the French, inhabited Pennsylvania, New Jersey, &c, and were forreat part of them dwelt, subsequently, on the White River, in Indiana, after they had been much reduced by the whites; but, in 1818, they were compelled to sell the whole of this tract of country also, to the Government of the United States, and lands have been allotted to theenerate remnants of them still live They are said to have previously dwelt between fifty and sixty years in the territory of the present state of Ohio They buried their dead in the islands of the Delaware, which are now partly in possession of old Dutot, but wholly uncultivated, and of little importance It is said that huround, and that, forht position, which, however, seems to be uncertain, and with them a quantity of arrow-heads and axes of flint; but all these things were disregarded and throay, nor had Dutot anything re but a thin, smoothly polished stone cylinder, hich those Indians used to pound their maize I was filled with melancholy by the reflection that, in the whole of the extensive state of Pennsylvania, there is not a trace reinal population O! land of liberty!

Our excursion was extended to the public-house situated on the other side of the Delaware Gap, where we found a live specimen of the red fox of this country (_Canis fulvus_, Desm), which we had not beforeobjects, we returned to [pg 36] Broadhead's house, where all the persons of our party successively arrived, each with soht me the beautiful water-snake which we had seen on the preceding day Mr Bodmer had taken a faithful view of the Gap, near Dietrich's public-house

We left Broadhead's on the 25th of August, early in theThe place which ished to reach on this day is called the Pokono, and is the hanys or Blue Mountains Our road led in a south-westerly direction, along Cherry Creek, through a pleasant valley diversified with

As we rose higher and higher over gentle hills, we reeable, raw, cold wind, and reached, on the elevated plain, an isolated church, with a few habitations round it On our asking the name of the place, a person, pretty well dressed, said, ”he did not hiyman, a German, came, about once in athe top,before us the highest ridge of the Blue Mountains, the summit of which, as I have said, is called Pokono, where an unbroken tract of dark forests covers the whole wilderness

We gradually advanced towards a ion, where pines and firs more and more predominated On an elevated plain ere surrounded, as far as the eye could reach, oods or thickets of low oaks, from which nuida_) shot up These pines originally formed the forest--the oaks, only the underwood; but the former have, for the most part, perished in the fires, hich the settlers have, in the most unwarrantable manner, without any necessity whatever, destroyed these prihland, cleared of wood, through which the road passes,a row of neooden houses, and at once perceived that timber is the source of the subsistence of the inhabitants Boards, planks, shi+ngles, everywhere lay about, and large quantities are exported Shops, where most of the common necessaries of life were sold, had already been established in this new settlement

From this place, called Chestnut Hill, from the abundance of chestnut trees in the forests, the road declines a little, and you see, on all sides, numerous saw mills, which prepare for use the chief product of the country The outside cuts of the pine and firs were piled up in large stacks; scarcely any use is ht for a trifle We had to pass five or six tis of Pokonbochko Creek, the banks of which are agreeably bordered with thickets of alder, birch, -leaved spiraea, and the _Lobelia cardinalis_ A great nu up at the house of a tanner, such as grey and red foxes, racoons, lynxes, &c, which led us to ask what beasts of the chase were to be e animals are still numerous

Rattlesnakes abound in these parts; they showed usup on the [pg 37] gable end of a house Soerous serpents from a notion that, when dressed in a certain ainst many diseases

We had here a foretaste of the wild scenery of North Aht expect to find in perfection, in uninterrupted primeval forests on the Pokono; we, therefore, did not stop here, but hastened to the less inhabited, ion, where the an to preponderate We halted, and took our dinner at an isolated public-house, kept by a in, whose name is Meerwein Forests surrounded the verdant meadows about the house, in which woodcocks were numerous In a little excursion in the forest I saw splendid bushes of _Rhododendron maximum_, kalmia, Andromeda, _Rhodora canadensis_, _Ceanothus vaccinum_; and in the shade of the first, _Orchis ciliata_, with its beautiful orange-coloured flowers, which is found also nearer to Bethleheood and reasonable; all the inmates, except one ht, they would have gone out for us with their guns, as deer and pheasants abound in the forests Having taken the opportunity of forwarding our collections to Bethlehee which passed the house, we proceeded on our journey Fro a fine thick wood, frequently crossing the strearowth of scrub oak and chestnut is spread uniformly, and without interruption, over the whole country, the pines, as alreadyabove it, most of which have suffered by fire; for in the dry season these woods have often been destroyed by extensive conflagrations, which have generally been caused by the negligence of the wood-cutters and hunters Even now, clouds of sreat lonely wilderness The high road is here carried directly through the forest; it is, for the most part, laid ood, covered with earth, which requires carriages with good springs

When you have nearly reached the most elevated part of this wilderness, and look back, you have a grand prospect Lofty ridges rise one above another in a narrow valley, all covered with dark forests, and, on the right and left, high walls of rock close the valley We soon reached the highest summit of the Pokono, or second chain of the Blue Mountains, which, as I have said, forhanys