IN a former Letter I mentioned to you, that it was my original determination to avoid reading the accounts, given by European travellers concerning the countries, which were the immediate object of my own investigation. My reason was, I wished to come to every thing, which I saw, without any bias from the opinions of others; and to examine every thing in the very light in which it should appear to me. At the same time I proposed to read, after I had examined for myself, what had been written by others, for the purpose both of renouncing my own errors and correcting theirs. To this design I have rigidly adhered. Having finished my journies of investigation, I shall now commence an examination of several travellers from Great Britain and France, who have thought proper to visit this country, and to give their observations concerning it to the world. I begin with Volney.

This celebrated Frenchman was well known in America, before he visited it in person, by his writings; particularly his travels in Syria, Egypt, and Palestine, and his ruins of Palmyra. The latter of these publications, indeed, gained him very little reputation with men of sobriety and good sense: but the former was at first, in some degree, and continues still to be, a popular work in this country; although Mr. Antes, with every appearance of truth, has informed the public, that

Volney, notwithstanding his professions, never ascended the Nile a step beyond Cairo. In the United States he certainly travelled extensively: to what purpose I shall now proceed summarily to inquire. My remarks will be confined chiefly to detached passages, and those such as assert facts. The book, from which I quote, is a translation of Volney's View of the United States, by Mr. Charles B. Brown, published in Philadelphia, 1804.

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In the second chapter of this work, page 6th, the writer says, "In the year 1796, from Boston to Richmond, in Virginia, I scarcely marched through a tract of three miles, together, of cleared, or unwooded land." If M. Volney took the upper road from Boston to Springfield, he did not pass through three miles of wooded land till after he had passed Brookfield, a distance of about seventy miles. Between Brookfield and Springfield, about thirty miles, adding all the forests, groves, and coppices, on the Lyme range, and the lean plains lying west of it, perhaps we might make five miles From Springfield to New-York, as the road then went, summing up the scattered collections of wood on the road, there may be twelve miles more. The distance is one hundred and forty miles. The whole distance from Boston to New-York in this course is two hundred and forty miles. Twenty miles of wood, made up of fifty or sixty parcels, is the amount of all the wooded land, which M. Volney saw in this part of his journey. Two of these parcels make up eight miles of the twenty; and two others, four. The remaining eight miles are composed of groves and coppices, scarcely sufficient, in number or extent, to complete the variety and beauty of the landscape. This M. Volney must have seen, if he kept his eyes open; if he did not, he should have left the subject to those who did.

If M. Volney proceeded from Springfield to Hartford, on the western side of Connecticut river, and went on to Middletown, he rode twenty miles without passing a single grove, which extended an eighth of a mile along the road. If he went on the eastern side of the river, he proceeded forty miles without passing more than two such groves.

Page 9, the writer says, "The third district, or Northern Forest, is likewise composed of the fir, pine, larch, cedar, and

cypress. It spreads itself over the western parts of NewYork, and the inland countries of New-England."

I have already given a sufficient account of the forests of these countries; and shall only observe here, that the fir is a solitary tree, thinly scattered upon the mountains, south of New-Hampshire and Vermont, and that it is rarely found in these states, except on the mountains, below latitude fortyfour; that the pine, south of the district of Maine, if it were all collected into one spot, would scarcely cover the county of Hampshire; that the larch, though actually existing in NewEngland, is so rare, that I have never yet seen one; that the cedar, were it all collected, would scarcely fill three townships; and that the cypress is not, within my knowledge, found either in New-England or New-York.

In the state of New-York there is a considerable tract of pine land, extending from Lake George and South-bay, on both sides of the Hudson, down to the city of Hudson. There are, also, a few smaller tracts, particularly on the Susquehannah, and some of its branches; and on Long-Island there is a large forest of pines. Cedars are scattered, to no great extent, along the lower parts of the Hudson. Firs, larches, and cypresses, I have never met with in this state. tenths of all the forests in this country, south of the district of Maine, are composed either of oak, hickory, &c., or of beach, maple, &c.

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Page 10th, the writer proceeds, On one side, in a course of nine hundred miles, are scattered ten or twelve towns, built entirely of brick, or of painted wood, and containing from ten to sixty thousand souls. Without the city are scattered farmhouses, built of unhewn logs, surrounded with a few small fields of wheat, tobacco, or maize; that are still encumbered with the half-burnt stocks of trees, and are divided by branches, laid across each other, by way of fence."

The account which I have already given of this country furnishes the best proof of the inaccuracy of this representation. If it should be admitted to be just (and that it will be by every observing traveller, who follows my footsteps, I feel thoroughly assured), it will be seen, that the representation of M. Volney is merely a flight of the imagination. It will appear also that a great part of the ancient settlements in

New-England, instead of being scattered farm-houses, are composed chiefly of villages; most of them flourishing, many of them handsome, and not one of them in one hundred disfigured even by a log-house.

In May, 1810, I took a journey from New-Haven to Windsor in Vermont; and thence across the Green Mountains to Middlebury; whence I returned in a direct course to New-Haven. The distance which I travelled is a little more than four-hundred and sixty miles. A considerable part of it is occupied, also, by recent settlements. Two of my companions having read or heard of this observation of Volney, determined, before we commenced our journey, to count the log-houses, which they should find on the road. The whole number to Middlebury was fifteen; and thence to New-Haven thirty-two.

As to the assertion, that the houses are surrounded with small fields, still encumbered with the half-burnt stocks of trees, and divided by branches, laid across each other by way of fence, I shall only observe, that M. Volney is sporting with the credulity of his reader. A great part of the enclosures in the ancient settlements are formed of stone, the remainder of rails and of boards. Hedges we have none, all attempts to raise them having hitherto failed of success. In forests and recent settlements fences are often made of logs, raised upon each other, and sometimes trees are felled on the spot, so as distantly to resemble the enclosure mentioned by this writer.

Page 11th. Speaking of the great chain of mountains, which forms the principal feature of the United States, he says, "It begins in Lower Canada, on the southern shore of St. Lawrence, near its mouth; where its points are called by sailors the Hills de Notre Dame, and de la Magdeleine. Tending south-west, it recedes by degrees from this river, and forms the frontier of the United States till it enters New-Hampshire. It then stretches southward through Vermont, and assumes the appellation of the Green Mountain, &c."

As M. Volney never travelled over the region which he has here described, he is certainly to be acquitted of wilful misrepresentation. He ought not, however, to have asserted so roundly what he did not, and could not, know to be true.

The hills, which commence at the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and run south-westward between Lower Canada and Maine, turn directly to the south, about twenty-five miles east of Connecticut river. Their western branch terminates on the Sound at New-Haven. The Green Mountains, commencing their eastern ridge at West Rock, also in New-Haven, run directly north to Lower Canada. At some distance before they reach that province, they subside into hills of a moderate elevation. In the account, in which he pursues this subject farther, there are other errors, but it is unnecessary for me to mention them. I shall only add, that between Lower Canada and Maine the range of the White Mountains is only what is denominated a rising ground, there being nothing which can be called a mountain in the whole range, until after it enters NewHampshire.

Page 132. "For near three years together, from October, 1795, to June, 1798, I never saw the wind at the same point for thirty hours at a time."

In what part of the United States M. Volney was, during this period, I am ignorant. No such state of weather has occurred where I have been, either at that or at any other time. For the best comment, which I am able to make on this assertion, I must refer you to the observations which I formerly made concerning the climate of New-England and that of New-York.

Page 133. "In summer, a calm may be expected at two o'clock in the afternoon; the thermometer at 86 or 88°. Rain succeeds, with a south-west wind, at four or five."

M. Volney does not inform us where these circumstances are to be expected. That they may be expected I certainly cannot deny. But during five-sixths of the summer they will ordinarily be expected in vain. Rarely is the thermometer as high as eighty-six, and not often so high as eighty. In a wet season we have usually two rains in a week; in a temperate season, one; in a dry season, perhaps one in one, two, or three months. A calm sometimes takes place from nine o'clock to eleven, or from ten to twelve, and is commonly followed by a breeze from the south-west, or some other southern point. A thunder shower is usually preceded by a south-west wind, and is almost always brought on by a wind blowing between

VOL. IV.

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