mountains in North America. These are the Kaatskill, the fine northern range, in which, according to Volney, are to be found the sources of the Delaware. They are the most picturesque range that I have seen in America, (except, perhaps, one range in Virginia, from the valley of the Shenandoah, and I do not know that I ought to except that.) Their rounded summits and towering peaks give them a strong resemblance to our mountain scenery, and form a striking contrast to the unbroken continuity and horizontal outline of the American mountains generally, and especially of the Alleghany. They are not higher than the fine range of the Lake Mountains, which we see from Lancaster Castle, nor, I think, either more beautiful or sublime; but it is difficult to compare objects, where the one is present to the eye, the other only to the imagination. It was a very fine morning, and the sun threw a rich red tinge over their snowy steeps when he rose. To the south, the Fishkill Mountains, which are also very remarkable ones, were distinctly visible; and in the vicinity of this fine scenery-by many persons considered the finest in North America-I had arranged to pass my last Sabbath on these western shores. To how many interesting reflections, prospec tive and retrospective, that single consideration gave rise, I must leave you to imagine. In the Episcopal Church, a little plain building, we had a good sermon from the words, "All things are yours," &c. and in the afternoon, in the Baptist Meeting, on a kindred subject from the text, "All things work together for good to them that love God, that are the called according to his purpose." We had a glorious sunset behind the distant mountains, and as the sun went down I appeared to take leave of America; for I anticipated little time either to think or feel during the ensuing week of preparation. Letter XLIV. E New York, 7th March, 1821. We left Poughkeepsie at four o'clock the next morning in the stage. This is principally a Dutch town, as is very evident in the construction of the buildings, and the figures of the men and women; the former of smaller, the latter of ampler, dimensions than are common in America. The ride to New York, 80 miles, is one of the most striking in this country. In the space of 20 miles, through and over what are called the Highlands, or the Fishkill Mountains, I saw more of Nature's ruins than in my whole life before: "Craggs, knolls, and mounds, confusedly hurl'd, Many of the smaller defiles resembled the Trossachs, but were far wilder. I will, however, attempt no description. I will only say, that for two days I was revelling in magnificent scenery, and adding largely to those chambers of imagery, from which I hope, during life, to be able to summon at pleasure the most sublime and beautiful forms of nature. I had a very fine view of the passage which the Hudson has forced for itself through the Fishkill Mountains. We were within a short distance of the Hudson during a great part of the day; frequently on its banks; and as the day was bright, and I sat by the coachman till it was dark, I saw the country to great advantage. I had before sailed through the Highlands by moonlight, on my way to Canada. We reached New York after midnight, (this morning;) and I am now writing my last letter to England in the house where I slept the night we landed, sixteen months since. I can hardly believe, that only sixteen months have elapsed since I first hailed these western shores.Every week, indeed, has glided rapidly away; but the new sources of interest which have opened to me on every side, and the various scenes through which I have passed, have supplied such a rapid succession of ideas and feelings, as to give to the intervening period an apparent extension far beyond its real limits. In little more than a year, I have visited Upper and Lower Canada, and traversed the United States from their northern to their southern extremity, comprehending, in my route, the Massachusetts, States of Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. I have crossed the Alleghany in Tennessee, the Blue Ridge in Virginia, and the Green Mountains in Vermont. I have sailed on those inland seas, and traversed those boundless forests, which are associated with our earliest conceptions of this Western world. I have seen the St. Lawrence precipitate its mighty torrent down the Falls of Niagara, reflect from its calm expanse the frowning battlements of Quebec, and then flow majestically to the wintry shores of Labrador; and the Mississippi, * rising in the same tableland as the St. Lawrence, rolling its turbid. waters for 3000 miles to the orange-groves of Louisiana, and, at last, falling into the Gulf of Mexico, under nearly the same latitude as the Nile. I have conversed with the polished circles of the Atlantic cities; the forlorn emigrant in the wilderness; the Negro on the plantation; and the Indian in his native forest. In successive intervals of space, I have traced society through those various stages which, in * For a particular account of the sources of the Mississippi, see Appendix H. |