not raised, and therefore they are little used, in New England. The sweet potatoe, which is very nutritious and productive, is much used in New Jersey and the States south of it. It is best plainly roasted or boiled, though it is often made into puddings or pies. A very favorite and delicious cake is also made of the buckwheat flour. It is eaten hot, and with a great deal of butter. This flour is sent to all the States, but the true art of making the best cakes seems harder to be communicated. In the southern part of the Middle States, hominy is much used. It is made of a coarse meal of Indian corn, boiled to a consistency, and is generally eaten with butter. Less fish is consumed than in New England, except the shad, which are excellent, and so abundant that many barrels full are sometimes taken at a haul. Much beer is drank, and there is, perhaps, not a large town in the Middle States that has not one or more breweries; the abundance of porter and beer has effected a great diminution in the consumption of ardent spirits. Whiskey is the most common of the distilled spirits, and perhaps the least ruinous, though it is but too cheap for the good of the community. The custom, however, of taking juleps, or raw spirits, in which mint is crushed, is not very common in the Middle States.

15. Traveling. The grand rivers and bays of the Middle States afford excellent facilities for steamboats, and in many parts the roads are excellent for stagecoaches.* In other parts, however, the roads are so bad, and the coaches so little easy, that a traveller compares them to the tub of Regulus, without the nails. The traveling by steam is expeditious, easy, and cheap. The boats are hotels, in which there is much comfort and splendor. There is, however, too much danger, and the loss of life by explosions has been grievous. Accidents have generally been traced to careless management, and they do not seem necessarily to belong to the system. As the great northwestern lakes are united by a canal with the Hudson River, a safe and pleasant mode of traveling is much used through the State of New York in canalboats. Though they move but four miles an hour, yet, going night and day, the progress is onsiderable. During the latter part of summer, the number of persons who travel in steamboats between New York and Albany is immense. One boat will often have 400, and sometimes 500 on board; many of these visit the springs at Saratoga, and others proceed westward on the fashionable tour to Niagara Falls. At this time the canal-boats are crowded, and the great roads are thronged with stagecoaches, whirling through the beautiful towns and villages which are situated upon them. Food and lodging are furnished in the canal-boats, which are neatly fitted up. On the great roads leading from Baltimore or Philadelphia to the Western States, the number of travelers is immense. It seems, when so many are collected in these narrow defiles, that half mankind are migrating westward. From the two last-named cities, there are hundreds of large wagons with four and six horses, and these are frequently hired to carry the emigrants and their goods. Some purchase horses and lighter wagons, which can be sold at some discount in the West, and large companies are continually to be seen traveling in this way, and associating for mutual convenience. They rest at night under shelter of the woods, sleep in their wagons or under them, and cook in the open air. Others again are seen walking slowly but confidently to the land of promise. Many generations go together; the aged grandsire leaning on his staff, his son in the prime of manhood, and his grandchildren, of which the youngest is often strapped to the back of the eldest. There is scarcely a group that is not a picture, and it is hardly possible to look on the road and not see a group.

streak for a foot above and below many of the auger-holes. The great miracle is, that a single sugar-tree is alive in Bedford; but the Almighty Fabricator of the Universe has, in his infinite wisdom and beneficence, bestowed on this precious tree a tenacity of life truly wonderful. Though every year assaulted by the axe, the auger, or by fire, it clings to existence, and yields to its ungrateful possessor a luxury and necessary of life, which but for it would command a price, which would debar its use from the poor. The average price of maple sugar is from six to ten cents per pound." Description of Bedford County, Pennsylvania, from the American Farmer.

The following are the remarks of a foreign traveler, and relate to the stages and steamboats between New York and Philadelphia.

"Both stages and steamboats often belong to one line. In the former vehicles, the passengers are disposed of by a very simple and quiet process, and with an expedition that marks all the movements of this active people. You are only to imagine a hundred passengers arriving with

The " movers

their baggage at a point of debarkation, whence in less than ten minutes of time they were to proceed in coaches, to fancy the uproar and confusion that would occur in most countries. The steamboat lines, as they are called, manage the matter differently. Some little time before the boat arrives, the passengers give in their names, and receive in turn tickets, which bear the numbers of the coaches in which they are to proceed. You will readily suppose that all classes of people are to be found traveling in these public and cheap conveyances; some little address is therefore necessary to dispose of an assemblage which is so motley, and where the members are of necessity to be in such familiar contact In one or two instances I heard requests urged, that families or parties might be placed together, and several changes were made in order to accommodate the applicants. There were two or three vehicles filled with jolly sons of the ocean, who appeared to relish each other's society better than they would have relished ours, and the carriage in the rear brought on a dark body of the descendants of Ham."

are as various in character and appearance as the Canterbury pilgrims. Sixty or more of the large wagons may be often seen in a line. The roads are now good, though a few years since they were hardly passable. The taverns are of all kinds, from mere hovels to large hotels. On many parts of the route, nearly every house is a tavern, though there is seldom a sign other than an upright pole. It is, however, not easy to mistake one, from the various notifications pasted on the doors and posts. On the mountains, which are near two hundred miles over, there are hospices or log-cabins erected for the poor or benighted traveler. The forest supplies wood, and a night may be passed in them with comfort. Several shelves are built up on the sides, and covered with leaves or hay for beds. Many emigrants, however, suffer from want; for a route so frequented, and in which nearly every house is a tavern, is an inauspicious one for the solicitation of charity. The old and the feeble, therefore, sometimes perish among the mountains, and there are many scenes of distress.*

16. Manners, Customs, and Character. It is not easy to describe the character of the people even of an old country, and it is a much harder task in a new country composed of inhabitants of different nations, and with different languages. There is, indeed, in the Middle States, hardly any general or peculiar character. In Pennsylvania, the Friends give a tone to society, especially in Philadelphia and some other towns, and the Germans have a similar influence in the country. New York, the great commercial emporium, has the character of all commercial cities. Trade assimilates one person to another. Philadelphia and Baltimore have escaped much more than New York the moral evils that seem to be inseparable from great cities, and which appear to be the price that men pay for what advantages there are in living in large communities. In the larger cities of the Middle States, a great many people live at public hotels and boarding-houses. These are well regulated, and the price of board varies from three to fifteen dollars a week. In a country where almost every one is engaged in active pursuits, little time is spent at table. The inmates of a hotel assemble at the sound of a bell, and in a few minutes each one has retired and resumed his occupation. The domestic servants are better in States where there is slavery. The servants, except those called " Boots," never expect, and seldom receive, any gratuity, as they are well paid by their employers. In New York there is a singular and a shocking custom, by which swine are permitted to range freely about the city. Men tolerate great evils to which they are accustomed, rather than small ones that are new. If the swine are intended to act as the city scavengers, it is but a mutation of nuisance." What is borne in New York, would be intolerable in Philadelphia. In Baltimore and Philadelphia, the manner of life is far more quiet and domestic than in New York; and in Philadelphia, the arts and sciences are more successfully cultivated. In the latter city, the Wistar parties, or assemblies at gentlemen's houses, where the conversation is chiefly on scientific and literary subjects, are much praised by intelligent strangers.†

A pedestrian traveler over the mountains gives these anecdotes. "Some of the emigrants had neither money nor friends; and some I saw that I should like to forget. In the mountains I met a poor young woman with three small children sitting by the wayside. Her dress and manner betokened better days, and her story has many paral lels in the West. Her husband, after a long illness, that exhausted their slender funds, had died at Pittsburg, and she and her children were crawling, at the rate of five miles a day, back to Philadelphia. My own funds were much less than ample, but I gave her three dollars, and advised the poor woman to take passage in a return wagon to Harrisburg, where she could perhaps find some benevolent people to aid her to Philadelphia. If you charge me with recounting my alms in a spirit of vanity, the next adventure may acquit me; and I will tell it with the fidelity of Rousseau, hoping that the confession will a little expiate the guilt.

"One cold evening, as I was riding with a wagoner for a few miles, down the slope of the Laurel Hill, I beheld an old man lying by the road side, apparently dead; it would be a pleasure to me to think that he was dead in reality, for I passed him as though he had been a dog; I am troubled at the recollection. I arrived at the foot of the hill before I thought of my duty, and then I neglected it. Perhaps I thought that some other traveler would have more feeling than I had; yet I would give the best cargo the wagoner ever carried over the mountains, to know that some kind soul took the old gaffer to the village, gave him

com

supper and lodging, and dismissed him with a little coin. The image that he was created in, should have been his defence from death by hunger, or any gradual cause, in the highway; and, if my aid could have saved his life, I should have no better hope than to die as he died, deserted by men."

The following description of the reception of Lafayette at New York, will show how the people, when most excited and interested, retain their sedateness. It is thus related by a person just coming up the Narrows, from Europe: "Is there any news? roared the captain through his speaking-trumpet; the answer came against the breeze, and was nearly indistinct. The words Cadmus in,' were however affirmed, by more than one eager listener, to form a part of the reply. Another opportunity was not long wanting. A large coasting schooner passed within two hundred feet of us. A tar was standing on her quarterdeck, both hands thrust into the bosom of his sea jacket, eyeing our ship with a certain understanding air, that need not be explained to one who claims himself to be so promising a child of Neptúne. The individual proved to be the master of the coaster, and to him our captain again roared, 'Any news?' 'Ay, ay; all alive up in the bay.'

"The vessels were sweeping by each other with great rapidity, and, without paying the customary deference to nautical etiquette, some six or seven of the passengers united in bawling out, as with one voice,' What news? what news?' The envious winds again bore away the answer, of which no more reached our ears than the same

17. Amusements. The amusements in the Middle States are more various than in the other sections of the country. As the three largest cities in the Union are distant one from the other but about a hundred miles, there are, of course, greater facilities and encouragements for scenic exhibitions; and the theatres, especially in New York, are much attended. actors are generally English, and the best English performers often come over for a season. There is a French opera company, also, who at times perform in the cities, where they give general pleasure, and the Italian opera had, for a time, some success in New York. In the latter city, there are several extensive public gardens, in which a great variety of costly fireworks, shows, and amusements are offered in the warm seasons; when lighted up at night, they are very brilliant, and they attract crowds of people. There are many small gardens, where refreshments are sold; and in Philadelphia the number of these is considerable, though some of them contain little else than a few alcoves, covered with creeping plants. Horse-racing, which in New England is almost unknown, is more honored in the Middle States; and some

of the matches on Long Island and in Dutchess county, have been attended by vast crowds of people. Boat-races, also, are sometimes held in the calm waters about New York. Skating is practised with great animation, and thousands of people collect on the Delaware, at Philadelphia, when the stream is frozen. An ox, on such occasions, has sometimes been roasted on the ice, near the Mariner's Hotel, which is the hull of a large vessel moored in the river.*

18. Education, &c. The means of education are not neglected in some of the Middle States, but there is not so much knowledge generally diffused as in New England. It is not common, however, except among the foreigners and their children, to find a person who cannot read and write. Though there are more books printed at New York and Philadelphia than in all the rest of the republic, there are more houses without books or newspapers in the Middle States than in New England. The newspapers, however, from New York and Philadelphia, are circulated over the whole country.

19. Religion. The sects are more various than in the Eastern States, and there is hardly a creed in Europe, that has not a society in the Middle States. The Catholics are numerous. The Sabbath is less strictly observed than in New England, yet in general it is not profaned; and in Philadelphia it is as much observed as in Boston.

20. Laws. The peculiarities of the laws are less than in the other sections of the country; as in general the laws are not made like those of the West, for new countries; or have not descended, as in New England, from puritanic legislatures; or are not, as in the South, devised to meet the exigencies of the system of slavery.

21. Arts. In the cities there are several eminent artists, and a general taste for the arts, and several collections of paintings open to the public. Some of the useful or mechanic arts are in a higher state at Philadelphia, than in any other city in the Union.

*The following extracts are from an account in the American Farmer, describing some of the manners and customs of Bedford county, Pennsylvania. The first relates to the clearing of land, after the forest trees have been girdled; the latter describes a custom which also prevails in New England.

"In eight or ten years, the timber begins to fall rapidly. When the ground is pretty well covered with old logs, the farmer goes in to nigger off. This is effected by laying the broken limbs and smaller trees across the logs, and putting fire to it. Boys or women follow to chunk up the fires. In a day or two the logs are niggered off at the length of twelve or fifteen feet; sometimes the entire tree is consumed. When the trees are thus reduced to lengths that can be handled by men, the owner has a log rolling. He gives the word to eighteen or twenty of his neighbors the day before the frolic, and when they assemble they generally divide the force into two companies. A captain is chosen by acclamation for each company, and the captains choose their companies, each naming a man alter

nately. When the whole is formed, they set to work, provided with handspikes, and each company exerts itself to make more log-heaps than the other. Nothing is charged for the work, and the only thing exceptionable in these frolics, is the too immoderate use of whisky. In general, great hilarity prevails; but these meetings, like all others in this country, are sometimes disgraced by dreadful combats between the persons composing them."

"The corn-husking is done at night. The neighbors meet at dark; the corn has been previously pulled, and hauled in a pile near the crib. The hands join in, the whisky bottle goes round, the story, the laugh, and the rude song is heard. Three or four hundred bushels are husked by nine or ten o'clock, a plentiful supper is provided, and sometimes the frolic ends with a stag dance; that is, men and boys, without females, dance like mad devils, but in good humor, to the time of a neighbor's catgut and horse-hair, not always drawn with the melody and judgment of Guillaume."

1. Boundaries and Extent. New York is bounded N. by Lake Ontario, the river St. Lawrence, and Lower Canada; E. by Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut; S. by Pennsylvania and New Jersey; W. by Pennsylvania, Lake Erie, and Niagara River. It lies between 40° 30′ and 45° N. lat., and between 720 and 79° 55′ W. lon. It is 340 miles in length from east to west, and 304 in breadth. It contains, including Long Island, 49,000 square miles. 2. Mountains. The eastern part of this State only is mountainous. The Appalachian chain enters from New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and extends northeasterly across the State to Con

The Highlands.

necticut and Massachusetts. The chief branch of this chain is called the Shawangunk Ridge. This is broken through by the Hudson River, 50 miles above New York, where the mountains are known by the name of the Highlands. At this place they form a chain 16 miles in breadth, and send off a branch to the north, called the Catskill Mountains. This branch afterwards makes a bend to the west, and then returns in a northerly direction, and finally crosses the St. Lawrence into Canada. The general height of these eminences is about 3,000 feet, where they first leave the Hudson; after this, they constitute an irregular range of hills, called the Helderberg Hills,