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seen in a hotel. The carpet was a particularly fine one; and I could not observe, without disgust, that many of the Americans kept spitting on it in all directions. They delight in smoking, a somewhat pardonable vice, considering the cheapness and excellence of their segars; but chewing tobacco, which is carried to even a greater length than smoking, stains the teeth, makes the breath smell most disagreeably, and produces an incessant salivation. Moreover, this disgusting liquid is squirted, not only upon the carpets of the taverns, but also frequently upon those of private houses. I heard it alleged by way of excuse, that it did the carpets good, and killed the moths; but I should think that a person of English delicacy would rather have all the moths in America at work on his carpets, than have them spit upon by tobaccochewers.

I have seen many individuals, in other respects men of refined manners, who nevertheless chewed tobacco. But among the gentlemen of New England, this custom, like that of smoking, is comparatively rare. If indeed the American ladies would oppose it with firmness, it would no doubt soon be abolished; for in all countries it is the female part of the community that corrects and polishes manners.

The hotel I boarded at was dreadfully infested with ants, which I was informed was the case with many other houses in the city. These insects are

of a reddish brown colour, and are not the less troublesome for being extremely small. In my bed-room, which was on the third story, there were great numbers of them; and during the night, when they appeared to be particularly active, they would make an inroad into my portmanteau or gun-case. They were attracted to the latter by a small bottle of oil that was in it. When I found they had nearly eaten out the cork, I placed the bottle on a small table in the middle of the room, where the ants could not find it. When however I took up two or three of them from the wainscot where they chiefly resided, and put them on the bottle, they descended; and in the course of half a day I was sure to see my little enemies ascending and descending the table in a long stream, and hard at work again upon the cork. I tried this experiment several times, and always with the same result; so that I was satisfied that these minute insects were capable to a certain degree of communicating intelligence to one another.

3

In a great part of the neighbourhood of Philadelphia, the scenery is very picturesque, particu larly on the banks of the Schuylkill. On this river are the great waterworks which supply the city with an abundance of the purest water. Just above a very fine bridge is a large and nearly perpendicular cliff; at the bottom of which a great basin has been formed, partly by excavation, and partly by a strong wall of masonry. This basin is

always kept full by a long weir running across the river; for the Schuylkill, though broad and rapid, is but shallow. The wheels, which are turned by the water let out from the basin, front the river. Their axes are fastened by a neat and simple contrivance to the pistons of the forcing pumps, the pipes leading from which are attached to the face of the cliff, and discharge themselves at the top into a very large and capacious reservoir. Phila delphia is the only city in the United States that is thus supplied with water, for the inhabitants of all the other cities rely upon wells and pumps. The building at the waterworks is very handsome and substantial.

The ornamental garden of Mr. Pratt is in this neighbourhood. Here I expected to see something very magnificent, having heard it much spoken of, but I was extremely disappointed; for the situa tion, which is indeed very beautiful, is far better worth seeing than the disposition and cultivation of the ground. Ornamental gardening is an art at present totally unknown, or at least unpractised, in the United States.

While at Philadelphia I dined out several times; but our parties consisted entirely of men, the only lady at table being the mistress of the house. This is always the custom, the ladies being seldom or never asked out to dinner. I observed besides, that it was very unusual for any one to go after din ner into the drawing-room, to which the lady of

the house had retired; for after sitting a moderate time, the party commonly broke up and dispersed. The ordinary dinner hour is three o'clock; but when there is a large party, it is occasionally put off till four. The Americans call our fashionable dinners" suppers," a name but too frequently deserved.

CHAPTER III.

BALTIMORE-WASHINGTON.

I WAS extremely unwilling to leave Philadel phia, which I liked better and better every day; but my object was to travel, and not to remain long stationary in any place, however agreeable. Accordingly I set off in the steam-boat for Baltimore.

The Delaware below Philadelphia is very wide, but the general marshiness of the banks renders the prospect much less beautiful than above the city. Thirty-three miles from Philadelphia, we stopped at Newcastle, which, though a small town, is a very important one, there being no other on the Delaware so near the tide-waters of Chesapeak Bay. It is somewhere near this place, that the canal intended to unite the bay and the river is just about to be commenced.

From Newcastle the stages which meet the steam-boat, convey travellers eighteen miles further to Frenchtown, a mere straggling village situated on Elk river, a large arm of the Chesapeak Bay. The road to this place is through a tolerably rich, but very uninteresting country. I remarked that some of the farmers had improved the appearance of their fields by adopting the English

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