About twenty miles before you come to Bethlehem, in going thither from Wilkes-barré, you cross the ridge of Blue Mountains at what is called the Wind-Gap; how it received that name I never could learn. This gap is nearly a mile wide, and it exhibits a tremendously wild and rugged scene. The road does not run at the bottom of the gap, but along the edge of the south mountain, about two thirds of the way up. Above you on the right, nothing is to be seen but broken rocks and trees, and on the left you look down a steep precipice. The rocks at the bottom of the precipice have every appearance, it is said (for we did not descend into it) of having been washed by water for ages; and from hence it has been conjectured that this must have been the original channel of the River Delaware, which now passes through the ridge, at a place about fifteen miles to the north-west. Whether this were the case or not it is impossible to determine at this day; but it is certain, from the appearance of the country on each side of the Delaware, that a great change has taken place in this quarter, in consequence of some vast inundation. [Illustration: VIEW _of_ BETHLEHEM _a Moravian settlement_. _I. Weld del. J. Dadley sculp^t._ _Published Dec. 12 1798, by I. Stockdale, Picadilly._ ] On the Atlantic side of the mountains the country is much less rugged than on the opposite one, and it is more cleared and much more thickly settled: the inhabitants are for the most part of German extraction. [Sidenote: BETHLEHEM.] Bethlehem is the principal settlement, in North America, of the Moravians, or United Brethren. It is most agreeably situated on a rising ground, bounded on one side by the river Leheigh, which falls into the Delaware, and on the other by a creek, which has a very rapid current, and affords excellent seats for a great number of mills. The town is regularly laid out, and contains about eighty strong built stone dwelling houses and a large church. Three of the dwelling houses are very spacious buildings, and are appropriated respectively to the accommodation of the unmarried young men of the society, of the unmarried females, and of the widows. In these houses different manufactures are carried on, and the inmates of each are subject to a discipline approaching somewhat to that of a monastic institution. They eat together in a refectory; they sleep in dormitories; they attend morning and evening prayers in the chapel of the house; they work for a certain number of hours in the day; and they have stated intervals allotted to them for recreation. They are not subjected, by the rules of the society, to perpetual confinement; but they seldom, notwithstanding, go beyond the bounds of their walks and gardens, except it be occasionally to visit their friends in the town. [Sidenote: MORAVIANS.]