Colonel Morris's, who lives in the country, and is Judge or Chief Justice of this province, a very sensible and good man. We were well received by him, and remained with him all night; and we saw a great many fine improvements that he had made, and he showed us several rare collections of his own making. He lives upon the river that comes down to New-York.
29th.—About ten of the clock we left Colonel Morris's, crossed the river, and arrived at New-York at twelve. The roads are very bad and stony, and no possibility for coaches to go, only in the winter, when the snow fills up the holes and makes all smooth, then they can make use of wheel-carriages. There are but two coaches belonging to this province, because of the badness of the roads, though there are many rich people.
We were invited to dine at two with Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Lane. After dinner, I visited Mr. Freneau, and had a great deal of discourse with him about the trade of Virginia. From thence I walked round the town. There are three churches, the English, the French, and the Dutch Church; there is also a place for the Assembly to sit, which is not very fine, and where they judge all matters. The town is compact, the houses for the most part built after the Dutch manner, with the gable-ends towards the street; the streets are of a good breadth; the town is built close upon the river, and there is a fine quay that reigns all round the town, built with stone and piles of wood outside. There are small docks for cleaning and building small ships. At high-water, the vessels come up to the quay to lade and unlade. In winter the river is frozen, sometimes all over, and such abundance of ice comes down, that it often cuts the cables of ships, but cannot hurt
