“Thunder and lightning followed, and the rain and hail came down in streams. The horses were frightened and would not go on. When we reached the bank the storm had almost passed. We called to the ferryman, who was standing in his door on the other side, but he moved not a foot until the rain had entirely ceased, and then gave as excuse that he had not seen us. While we were waiting a large serpent came out of the river onto the banks. I killed it, and found it to be not unlike what they call in Lombardy the smiroldo. On the other side of the river, in a group of houses, stands the building in which the court of Albemarle County was formerly held. I dried my clothes here, ate dinner, and kept on four miles to Eniscotty, the residence of Colonel John Coles, who received me hospitably as his brother. The situation, at the top of a hill, is such that the leaves fall later there, and appear earlier in the spring, than in the country adjacent. The calicanthus grows well, with such an exposure; the hill is called in the neighborhood the Green Hill, which, indeed, in situation and fertility may be compared with the foothills of Monte di Brianza. The mulberry and the vine should flourish here. “May 18th I left Eniscotty. I crossed the Blue Ridge by the road through Rockfish Gap, which is not comparable, either in steepness or in length, to the roads over the Apennines, much less those over the Alps. Thick fog, followed by rain, compelled me to spend the day at a house on the divide, the proprietor of which told me much regarding the fertility of the lands in that region and the customs of the inhabitants. He informed me that many people from the lower country stayed at his house on their way to the springs in the Alleghany Mountains. Having crossed the Blue Mountains and the South River, I came to Stantown the morning of the 23d. Here I was enabled to see a mocking-bird. These birds are often kept in cages, and are bought by the English at extravagant prices. They are very scarce to the north, and have many times fetched three to four guineas at Boston. About Stantown tobacco is only beginning to be cultivated. They raise wheat, Turkish corn [Indian corn] and hemp. Heavy rains kept me at Stantown until the 27th, and prevented me seeing the extraordinary Natural Bridge. “At Middle River, a small stream usually fordable the year through, I found several travelers waiting for an opportunity to cross. I put up at a house nearby, and as often as the rain permitted went out, like the Egyptians, to measure with a rod the rise or fall of the waters.