Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 11).djvu/112

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  • ers only, by the bye, have a vote. The answer was this:

"Why, colonel, I always reckoned you was an independent man, quite above begging. I now find I was grossly deceived and mistaken. I came here purposely to give you my vote, which is now in my hand; but as you have demeaned yourself so much as to ask me for it, I shall not give it to you but to your opponent." What a lesson is this to the old world. But think not that candidates and electors are, here, all incorruptible. A barbecued {92} hog in the woods, and plenty of whiskey, will buy birth-*rights and secure elections, even in America.

July 1st.—We were greeted with the sight and sound of Land a-head O! the coast of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia light-house; thus passing from Charleston lighthouse to this, in the short space of 60 hours, a distance of between six and seven hundred miles, averaging ten miles an hour. At six this evening, we anchored in the spacious Bay of Delaware, 20 miles broad, dividing the two states of Jersey and Delaware. At nine we passed the quarantine establishment, (a noble asylum) with but a slight scrutiny by the doctors, although we expected detention, on account of the sickness on board and of the pestilence left behind us.

2d.—At six this morning we reached Newcastle, on the banks of the river Delaware, 40 miles from Philadelphia. The scenery here, on both banks, is enchanting. The hay and oat harvest, now general along these lovely banks, perfumes the air of the river with odours. Here, too, the contrast is heightened by the recent view of parched, bare sands in the south; for here all is green, gay, and flowery; and fine commodious farm-houses and rich pastures, full of cattle and sheep, variegate the perspective in every direction, quite up to Philadelphia. In the south are no