Clinch rivers, where they unite to form the Tennessee; and at a distance was a chain of mountains, strongly resembling the chain which comprises Coniston Fells and Langdale Pikes; while the surface of the ground, sometimes gently undulating, and sometimes broken into narrow, lofty, and precipitous ridges, was almost every where covered with stately trees, of a gigantic stature.

Letter XVII.

Richmond, 20th June, 1820.

I ARRIVED here yesterday, and have ever since been revelling amidst the mass of letters which had accumulated for so many weeks; although it is always with great solicitude that I begin to open my letters, after being long deprived of intelligence from home. My friends have been extremely considerate in securing my hearing as often as is compatible with the contingencies of a wandering life; but my distance from the coast has, in some degree, defeated their kind intentions. I can hardly believe that it is only four months since I left Richmond; for perpetual change of scene and society have given to the intervening period an apparent extension, far beyond its real limits. But I must continue my narrative.-My last letter brought me to Kingston.

We set off from that place early the next morning, and reached Knoxville at night, delighted, yet almost exhausted, with the constant succession of magnificent mountain views.

U

At Knoxville I staid at Ray's tavern, which, being built of bricks, and divided into convenient rooms, appeared like a palace, after our late accommodations. On my arrival, I found several gentlemen sitting in the portico before the house, among whom was the resident agent of the United States among the Choctaws, who had been at Washington, and was bringing a handsome present from the Government to the Missionary settlements at Yaloo Busha, The following morning I rose early, and walked about the town, beautifully situated on the Holstein. At five o'clock, most of the shops were open, the newspapers were in the course of delivery, and every thing bore the appearance of eight or nine o'clock in a more northern town. We rode for about 17 miles, when we were compelled to halt by the heat of the day. In the evening, the fragrance of the woods and the melody of the birds were delightful; and the cool clear streams seemed to refresh our horses greatly after their toilsome journey, our detention in the morning having thrown us more into the heat of the day than usual. We now began to be more sensible than ever how much we had been indebted to the thick woods, which, till within a few days, had almost entirely protected us from the rays of the sun.

At eight o'clock we stopped at Myers's, a German, who treated us very civilly. Opposite the house they were making hay, the first we had seen cut; the smell of which transported me for a time to Indeed, for several days I had been perpetually reminded of home by the general aspect of the surrounding scenery; the rich crops of wheat and barley, which, in this section of the country, had almost displaced the Indian corn; the "hum of children just let "loose from school," who often accosted us with their little bows; and a style of manners resembling that of the country people in the neighbourhood of our lakes, in all its most valuable characteristics. Some of the customs, indeed, were different, as I was still occasionally placed at the family supper-table with labourers in their shirt-sleeves; but that family, and those labourers, appeared as cordial, obliging, and accommodating, as those with whom I have ventured to compare them; in their own way, as respectful, and much more intelligent: in short, any thing, rather than what people generally mean, when they say American.

Coffee regularly forms a part of their supper; and travellers seldom take any thing between breakfast and supper here. The part of the valley where Myers lived, was called Richland

Creek, but it was losing its claim to the title, having been in cultivation forty years. Our host, a steady old German, said they lived comfortably, but had no means of raising even the little money they require for taxes, but by entertaining travellers, or sending a little flour down the Holstein to Huntsville; that the want of a commercial staple, and the difficulty of disposing of their surplus produce, rendered them generally indolent, and that it would kill them to work as they do in the north. His grandfather came from Germany, his father from Pennsylvania. He said that, eight miles distant, there were several families who had been from Holland as long as his grandfather, who still required their children to speak Dutch. There were schools in the neighbourhood, both English and Dutch, and public worship in both languages. In the morning, (the 7th,) we set off at four o'clock, and rode 17 miles, through a romantic country, to breakfast. In the afternoon, we rested two hours at a very nice house, on the banks of the Holstein, where I found a mother and three daughters from Virginia.

They were all busy sewing, and in their manners were agreeable and very respectable. I really do not know with what class in England to compare them, perhaps with some of our