from the stalk, and branch from it all the way up, are about the breadth of four inches, and from two to three feet in length. The whole gives a field of Indian corn a most luxuriant appearance.'

It being, as before observed, the plan of Mr. S. to give a description of the open country rather than of the towns of America, and the latter (at least the more important of them) having been frequently described, we see without regret the brevity of his notices respecting them; and from this part of the work we extract only a few remarks, which seem not to have offered themselves elsewhere:

Jan. 7. I have noticed a number of Friends in Philadelphia, who have come from various parts of the continent of Europe. They appear thankful for the encouragement and protection they meet with in this favoured land; and some of them having felt the heavy hand of oppression in their native country, know better how to estimate the value of the privileges which they here enjoy.'

I was sometimes ready to think that Philadelphia might be considered as a kind of central depot, in which is found people of every nation on the earth; and where all appear to unite cordially, as in one common family. Such are the beneficial effects of a free and liberal policy, the seeds of which were sown by that enlightened patriot William Penn.'

Albany has more the appearance of an English town, than any I have seen in America. Some of the streets are narrow and irre

gular, and many of the houses are old. On approaching the city, in sailing up the river, the roofs of many of the buildings, from being covered with tin plates instead of slate, exhibit a very singular and glittering appearance in the sun.

Nov. 16. This day I rode up to Troy, which is a beautiful city, and improving rapidly. It is already of considerable extent, although like Hudson of but few years standing. Divers of the steeples and towers of their public buildings being covered with tin plates, as at Albany, give the place a very splendid appearance."

Our extracts will by this time have shewn that Mr. S. is by no means a querulous traveller, and that his observations. tend to create a prepossessing idea of the comfort of domestic life in the United States. Without, however, having the most distant doubt of his veracity or correctness, we must caution our readers against allowing themselves to fill up the remaining outline of the picture of America, in correspondence with the flattering colours in which he has delineated the portion that came under his observation. His intercourse was chiefly among the members of his own Society, who are proverbially industrious and contented, and who in general offer as few subjects of complaint to the eye or ear of the traveller in Europe as in America. Moreover, he seems personally to have

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have partaken highly of this enviable frame of temper; since, notwithstanding all the delays and mortifications to which a mercantile man attempting to collect his debts in America is unavoidably exposed, we never find him inclined to give way to complaint, or to bestow even merited censure on the irregularity of those with whom he dealt. The only observation of the kind is contained (p. 296.) in the general notice that he had, in the course of his long journey, with many things to try his faith and patience." It would be wrong, therefore, to imagine that a person of different temper would be able to go over American ground with similar feelings; or would not experience a grievous disappointment, if he commenced his travels with the hope of terminating them in the mild train of his modest. predecessor. If Mr. S. be ever moved from a tranquil and placid tone, it is when he is unluckily brought in contact with those outcasts of society, who carry on a traffic in kidnapping unprotected slaves in the central states, and driving them for sale to the southward, particularly to Georgia: of which he relates some impressive anecdotes. We pass, however, from this to a more cheerful topic; we mean the progressive advance of popula tion in the new settlements on the extensive tract to the west of the Allegany mountains:

A friend informed me that he had a prospect of removing to the Ohio, and showed me two certificates of lands he had purchased in that State, said to be of excellent quality, for which he engaged to give 11s. 3d. per acre, to be paid by instalments at two, three, and four years. The number of Friends who have emigrated into that state, in the course of the last few years, is said to exceed 800 families."

Nov. 28. I passed through Batavia; and, near this place, met an Indian with his dog, driving a flock of sheep before him, of about 30 or 40 in number. In the course of the day, I met several hunting parties of Indians, and came to Vandeventer's tavern in the evening; which I spent with one of the Holland Company's surveyors. He and his companions had been occupied in the woods more than three months, and had not, in all that time, slept in a house or on a bed. He was a young man of stability, very agreeable, and well informed.

The tract of land they were surveying was purchased by some persons in Holland, and is therefore called the Holland-landPurchase. It consists of 3,500,000 acres, for which they paid at the rate of 1d. per acre. The principal proprietor is Schimmelpennick. This land they are now selling from 9s. to 278. per acre, but purchasers may be accommodated with the money remaining at interest, provided they settle upon the purchase, and improve the land.

By the surveyor's books, I observed that they measured out REV. SEPT. 1817. F

the

the tract into divisions and ranges, which are numbered; a square of about 10 miles making a township; and these townships being subdivided into lots for farms. The maps describe every stream and mountain, the quality of the land in each division, and the timber upon it, in a very neat and accurate style.'

The following relates to one of the new settlements consi→ derably to the south of the Genisee country:

One of our company was a young woman, whose usual residence was in one of the new settlements, on the banks of the Ohio, about 500 miles from Philadelphia. She informed us, that many families on the banks of this great river, are supplied with shop goods from vessels which navigate it, and are fitted up with counters, shelves, and drawers, in the same manner as are shops on land, and well stored with all kinds of goods. As they sail along the river, on coming near a plantation, they blow a horn or conch shell, to give notice of their arrival; when the planters, with their wives and daughters, repair to these floating shops, and select such things as they are in want of; and make payment in the produce of their plantations; such as grain, flour, cotton, tobacco, dried venison, the skins of wild animals, &c. &c. The shopkeeper, having disposed of his goods in this way, returns home with the produce he has collected; and again renews his stock, and proceeds on another voyage.'

Sugar-Maple. The trees on the uncleared frontiers of the American States are very various, but beech, oak, pine, and sugar-maple are more often found than ethers; and the last is productive of considerable advantage to the settlers.

'I saw several sugar camps, fenced in, where the sap is collected in small wooden troughs, about two feet long, coarsely made with the hatchet, and capable of containing one or two gallons each. One of these troughs is placed at the foot of each tree, and above it a hole is pierced, with an inch and a half auger. In the hole is fixed a spout, about one foot long, made of the elder tree, with the pith taken out. As the sap is collected, it is carried to the boilers, which are fixed in the camp. Some farmers not only collect sufficient sugar and treacle for their own use, but have several hundred pounds weight to dispose of to the grocers.'

On the subject of Fishing, and the great use of Shads and Oysters as articles of food, we have these particulars:

June 29. I spent this evening at a country residence, justabove the Falls of the Schuylkill. At this part of the river, the Shad Fishery is prosecuted with great spirit in the early part of summer. Almost every farmer, who happens to have a field on the banks of the river, keeps a net for this purpose; and, with a little industry, may, in the course of two or three weeks, lay up a supply for the whole year. The fish are salted, and are brought out, through the winter, as a relish at breakfast and supper.

I have sometimes stood by in the evening, and watched the people taking these fishes. The nets used are about 50 or 60 yards in length, and about 6 feet in width; the lower side being weighted with lead, and the upper side supported with pieces of cork. One end of the net is fixed firm to a stake on the edge of the river, whilst the other end is taken out in a small boat towards the other side. After getting to the extent of it, the boat is rowed down the river, bringing the end of the net with it, and at length it comes to land, a little below the stake to which the other end of the net is fastened, forming a circular inclosure, within which the fish are secured. As the net approaches the bank of the river, the fishes are seen struggling in all directions; till at last they are brought close to the shore, when they are quickly gathered up, and thrown into the boat. Several hundreds are, at times, taken at one draught; but as the fishing is continued through the night, during the season, the farmers often think themselves well paid with 20 or 30, as they weigh about five pounds each.

In the early part of the season, I think the shad is nearly equal to trout. Although the practice of eating it at breakfast and supper is not common in England, I soon found myself very partial to the shad at breakfast, with coffee and toast, it being first nicely broiled over the hot embers of a wood fire.'.

'I went on board the packet for New-York, directly after a breakfast made chiefly of stewed oysters. These shell-fish abound so much here, that little children are taught to eat them to breakfast. The landlady told me, that she sometimes had 2 or 300 bushels in the cellar, at a time, in the winter season. After being on board about a quarter of an hour, we were invited by signal to touch at Perth Amboy, on the opposite shore; where we landed about ten o'clock, and took in two families for New-York. As we sailed along this bay, I had an opportunity of seeing the oyster fishers, who were busily employed. The instruments they generally used somewhat resembled two hay-rakes, with long iron-teeth, having the handles, which are very long, pinned together about two feet from the heads of the rakes, so as to open and shut like a pair of large pincers. These instruments, which are called tongs, are opened wide when the heads are let down from the boat; and, as soon as they reach the bottom, the men close them, and the teeth of the rakes meeting, drag the oysters together. By this method, from one to three or four oysters are taken at a time.'

In closing our extracts from this interesting volume, and in observing on the general merits of the writer, we must make two remarks; first, that several of the reflections (pp. 80. 284, 285.) will expose him to the charge of superstition; and next that, in others, he has allowed his attention to be occupied with humble and even sometimes trifling circumstances. The journal-form, while it has the advantage of giving much precision and interest to the narrative, is also 'the cause of considerable disjunction and want of connection; the writer's ideas being frequently recorded not as part of any general illus

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tration, but with reference to the single and insulated circumstance that suggested them. Still, this little work will be found to give a very perspicuous and amusing description of American manners, whether we advert to the state of society in the neighbourhood of a great city like Philadelphia, or to the dawn of culture and civilization on the western frontier. Like Boswell's life of Johnson, it induces the reader to suppose himself for a moment an actual spectator of the scene described, and contains, in the vividness of its effect, an apology for the lowliness of many of its delineations. The plates, plain and unadorned like the book, suffice to convey a clear idea of such humble topics as a farm-house in the back-settlements, families of Quakers going to meeting during a frost, the same in summer, &c. &c. We should recommend, in case of a future edition, the insertion of several more sketches of the same familiar and domestic character; and the omission of the distressing account (p. 262.) of the massacre of the Conestoga Indians; which leaves a most unpleasant impression on the mind of the reader, without being necessary for the enforcement of any moral lesson, since no man will now be found sufficiently cruel to assert that the wretched Indians ought to suffer death on account of their idolatry.

Mr. S. returned home in 1806, and adopted the determination of removing his family to America. He accomplished this plan in 1811, and settled at the distance of a few miles from Philadelphia; where he had every prospect of enjoying many years of comfort and prosperity, when he contracted a fatal disease by exposing himself in assisting to extinguish a fire in that city. The fever baffled the skill of his medical attendants, and deprived society of a very valuable member in the end of the year 1811.

IN

ART. IX. A Series of Discourses on the Christian Revelation, viewed in Connection with the modern Astronomy. By Thomas Chalmers, D.D., Minister of the Tron Church, Glasgow. Sixth Edition. 8vo. pp. 276. 8s. Boards. Longman and Co. 1817. N the preface to these discourses, which have been enjoying a large share of fugitive reputation, the author tells us that 'the astronomical objection against the truth of the Gospel' has not been much noticed by the defenders of Revelation. He has accordingly set himself to work to supply this deficiency; and he appears to have accomplished the task very much to his own satisfaction, if we may judge from the feeling of self-complacency displayed in the effusions of inflated declamation with which this volume abounds. At the same time,