Travels in North America, From Modern Writers: With Remarks and Observations; Exhibiting a Connected View of the Geography and Present State of that Quarter of the Globe — John Shaqi
Travels in North America, From Modern Writers: With Remarks and Observations; Exhibiting a Connected View of the Geography and Present State of that Quarter of the GlobeBingley, William
History
Travels in North America, From Modern Writers: With Remarks and Observations; Exhibiting a Connected View of the Geography and Present State of that Quarter of the Globe
Bingley, William
Canada -- Description and travel; Mexico -- Description and travel; United States -- Description and travel
When he was at Ancaster, this gentleman had been shown the grave of an
Indian, among the woods, near the head of the stream: it was covered
with boards, and a pole was erected at each end, on which a kind of
dance was rudely painted with vermilion. The relatives of the deceased
brought offerings to it daily, during their stay in the neighbourhood.
After passing through some other villages, Mr. Hall reached the banks of
the _Susquehanna_: these have no great variety of scenery, though they
frequently present grand features. The space betwixt the mountains and
the river is often so narrow, that it barely suffices for one carriage
to pass; and, in many places, the road, for a mile or two, seems to have
been hewn from the rock. Near the creeks there is tolerable land, and
two or three pleasant villages. The face of the landscape is no where
naked: mountain and vale are alike clothed with pine and dwarf
oak-trees; the swamp lands are covered with hemlock-trees, and the
bottoms of the woods with rhododendrons.
_Wilksbarre_ is a neat town, regularly laid out, on the left bank of the
Susquehanna. Its locality is determined by the direction of one of the
Alleghany ridges, which recedes from the course of the river, a few
miles above the town, and, curving south-west, encloses a semicircular
plot of land, towards the centre of which the town is built. Its
neighbourhood abounds in coal. The pits are about a mile distant. They
lie under a stratum of soft clay slate, which contains impressions of
ferns, oak-leaves, and other vegetables, usually found in such
situations. The town itself, in consequence of the frequent separation
of its streets and houses, by grass-fields and gardens, has a quiet and
rural aspect. It contains a neat church, appropriated to the alternate
use of episcopalians and presbyterians. Wilkesbarre is built on the
site of _Wyoming_: a small mound, near the river, is pointed out, as
that on which the fort stood; and the incursion of the Indians, when
most of the inhabitants fell, in an unsuccessful battle, is still
remembered. Some few escaped, by swimming across the stream, and fled,
naked, through the woods, for several days, till they reached the
nearest settlement; and this is all the record that exists of Albert and
Gertrude, the foundation of Campbell's poem of Gertrude of Wyoming.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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