more interesting than this: it extended three miles on a perfect level, cultivated in the highest degree; bounded by a rising ground on the left, and a transparent river on the right; and leading to a well inhabited town where I meant to repose after a journey of 320 miles, 150 of them over stupendous mountains and barren rocks. Such a sight could not fail of gratifying and enchanting me; giving serenity to the mind, and gratitude to the heart; and awakening in the soul its most amiable and distinguished affections.

In sending you this sketch, I have not stopped to detail the inferior particulars of the journey. It is of little consequence where a traveller sleeps, where and what he eats, and whether he was comfortable, &c. In travelling along this and every other road in America, a stranger is furnished with a route indicating the best inns and their distances from each

other as to the expence, it seldom varies; being a quarter of a dollar for lodging, the same sum for every meal, and half a dollar a night for a horse. With regard to comfort, that favourite British word is too vague for general explanation; as it relates to comparison, habit, and sensibilities. If the English miss cleanliness, the French coffee, the Dutch tobacco, the Germans beer, the Russians oil, the Italians chocolate, the Spaniards garlic, the Turks opium, the Tartars milk, the Indians rice, and so on through every nation, they never consider themselves comfortable; and hence we hear the same house praised by one guest, and vilified by another.

LETTER III.

Situation and description of Pittsburg. Its manufactories, ship-building, and population. State of education here. Character and

persons of the ladies. Religious sects. Schools. Market-house, and prices of provisions. Price of land. Amusements.

Pittsburg, October, 1806.

I AM afraid I tire your patience: three letters from this place, and yet it remains undescribed! Excuse me: I now

commence.

No inland town in the United States, or perhaps in the world, can boast of a position superior to this, both as to its beauty, and also the many advantages with which it is attended; it being delightfully situated at the head of the Ohio, and on the point of land formed

by the junction of the Alleghany and the Monongahela rivers. The site of the old French garrison Duquesne, which was taken by general Forbes in the year 1758, is immediately at the confluence of the two streams; and commands a charming view of each, as well as of the Ohio. The British garrison Fort Pitt (so called after the late earl of Chatham, and erected near the former post), higher up on the Monongahela, was once a place of some consequence as a frontier settlement, but fell into decay on being given up by its founders. As it was included in one of the manors of the Penn family, it was sold by the proprietaries; and now makes a part of the town of Pittsburg, and is laid out in town-lots. Fort Fayette, built a very few years since, is also within the limits of the town, on the bank of the Alleghany: a garrison is at present kept there; and for the most

part, it is made head-quarters for the army of the United States.

The spot on which this town stands, is so commanding (in the military phrase) that it has been emphatically called the key to the western country; and its natural situation is peculiarly grand and striking. Blest as it is with numerous advantages, there is nothing surprising in its having increased rapidly within the last few years. It contains about four hundred houses, many of them large and elegantly built with brick; and above two thousand inhabitants. It abounds with mechanics, who cultivate most of the different manufactures that are to be found in any other part of the United States; and possesses upward of forty retail stores,* which all seem

*The common name for the places of sale in America and the colonies; differing from shops in being generally larger, and always dealing in a vast variety of articles, including every thing that can be expected to be asked for.