At a small place called Claysville, a stage from Washington (Pensilvania), a man came to offer to the tavern-keeper for sale a fat pig; the price he demanded was about two shillings and sixpence sterling per stone of fourteen pounds, and I was told that he would have taken a quarter less.--Another proof this, if one were wanting, of the cheapness and plenty of food.[52] We stayed a day at Washington, Pensilvania, comfortably received at Mr. Morris's good tavern, and then took a new route by the south-west corner of this State: crossing the Monongahela river we baited at Brownsville,[53] at an excellent house kept by Mr. Evans, an emigrant; from {150} thence, by a fine new road through Union Town,[54] we soon entered the picturesque State of Maryland, and arrived at a small town called Fort Cumberland. The traveller by this route will pass the mountains scarcely knowing it, except from the fine views of the subjacent country which are frequently presented to view; that from the top of the hill about eleven or twelve miles west of Cumberland is truly magnificent. Along this well-formed road we pass without once being stopped to pay toll, and I understood it to be the intention of the United States government to finish and support this western road, from Washington the seat of the government down to New Orleans, by a fund to be raised solely for that purpose; a liberal plan and worthy of imitation. Of the few picturesque stations it has been our lot to see, Fort Cumberland stands first; it is not in itself a town of any importance or containing many good buildings, but surrounded as it is by mountains covered with beautiful foliage, and its stream winding through the vale, it forms a whole worthy the pencil of a master: at the distance of about six miles are some natural curiosities of rock, cave, and waterfall, which, owing to the lateness of the season, I did not chuse to lose a day in viewing though invited to it by the respectable old Patriarch of {151} the settlement, who in his ninetieth year yet offered to walk and accompany us to the scene. [Illustration: View at Fort Cumberland, Maryland]