- taken by an American gentleman whom I had met the
preceding evening at Greensburgh. Although he was on horseback, he had the politeness to slacken his pace, and I accompanied him to Pittsburgh. This second interview made us more intimately acquainted. He informed me that his intention {56} was to go by the side of the Ohio. Having the same design, I entertained a wish to travel with him, and more so, as he was not an amateur of whiskey; being compelled, by the heat of the weather, frequently to halt at the inns, which are tolerably numerous, I had observed that he drank very little of that liquor in water, and that he gave a preference to sour milk, whenever it could be procured.[18] In that respect he differed from the American officer with whom I had travelled almost all the way from Shippensburgh.
About ten miles from Greensburgh, on the left, is a road that cuts off more than three miles, but which is only passable for persons on foot or on horseback. We took it, and in the course of half an hour perceived the river Monongahela, which we coasted till within a short distance of Pittsburgh. A tremendous shower obliged us to take shelter in a house about a hundred fathoms from the river. The owner having recognized us to be strangers, informed us that it was on that very spot that the French, in the seven years' war, had completely defeated General Braddock; and he also showed us several trees that are still damaged by the balls.[19]
We reached Pittsburgh at a very early hour, when {57} I took up my residence with a Frenchman named Marie,
