From Bunker's Hill we went to Cambridge, and had, on this road, the first sight of an American landscape. Meadows, partly covered with arundinaceous plants, corn-fields, and European fruit trees, alternated with small thickets and groves. The apples that grow here are said to be yellow, and not particularly good; they are chiefly used to make cider. On almost all these fruit trees we saw caterpillars' nests of extraordinary size, they being often a foot and more in diameter. The butterfly which produces them must be in vast numbers, and it is surprising that more care is not taken to destroy them. The road was bordered with trees, as is generally the case here; we observed Celtis occidentalis, Lombardy poplars, partly lopped, and not growing to any great height. The thickets consisted of oaks, with various deeply indented leaves, in general of a beautiful shining green; different kinds of walnut, ash, and elm, which always attain a great height here, and, where they stand free, the stems are clothed with thick boughs down to the ground. The low thickets were of a bright green, and in adjacent meadows, which were partly marshy, grew plants, much resembling those of Europe, such as Ranunculus, Pyrethrum, several with white flowers of the genus Syngenesia; both a white clover and a red clover, common with us, seemed to be generally cultivated, as well as potatoes, corn, and maize. This part of the country has, on the whole, the European character—like England, for instance—but it is even now more wooded, and pines of different kinds give a variety: the population, too, is distributed in a different manner. In one of the nearest thickets, a little songster (Sylvia æstiva), and some other birds, reminded me that I was not in Europe, but on the borders of the northern part of the New World, and the beautiful Icterus Baltimore flew to the higher thickets; and I very well distinguished its black and bright red plumage. These new objects gave 8 us great pleasure, and we only regretted that we could not immediately pursue them. On the summit of the gentle eminences we came to Cambridge College, which is very agreeably situated on a verdant lawn, shaded with trees, and surrounded by avenues of elms, Weymouth pines, maples, ash, planes, and other shady trees. The buildings stand separately; and in all the gardens of the neat habitations, we observed, in general, European plants—the rose, syringa, hibiscus, and but few American plants, of which the trumpet tree was not then in blossom. My visit might have been very interesting if I had known that Mr. Nuttal,[23] one of the most active naturalists and travellers in North America, held an office in this college.
On our return to Boston, we visited many of the curiosities of the city, which are enumerated in various works. Among them I mention only the New England Museum,[24] as in part, at least, an institution for natural history, but where the expectation of the stranger is grievously disappointed. These museums, as they are styled, in all the larger cities of the United States, except, perhaps, the Peale Museum, at Philadelphia, are an accumulation of all sorts of curiosities, the selection of which is most extraordinary. Here we find specimens of natural history; stiff, awkward, wax figures; mathematical and other instruments, models, bad paintings and engravings, caricatures; nay, even the little prints out of our journals of the fashions, &c., hung up without any order. Among the animals there are some interesting specimens, but without any ticket or further direction. This collection was placed in several stories of a lofty house, in narrow passages, rooms, and closets, connected by many flights of steps; and to attract the public, a man played on the harpsichord during our visit—a concert which could have no great charms for us.
Boston, however, has much that is worthy of notice, and numerous excellent institutions, respecting which the many descriptive works may be consulted, which treat on the subject more in detail than a passing traveller can do. As my time was limited, I took places in a stage-coach that was to set out at noon for Providence, from Bunker's coach-office, at the Marlborough hotel. The establishment of stage-coaches, and the mode of travelling in this country, have been accurately described by Duke Bernhard of Saxe Weimar;[25] I therefore merely say, that we went in a commodious stage, with nine seats inside, and four good horses, which carried us at a rapid pace from Boston to New Providence, forty-one miles distant, where we embarked for New York.
The causeway was a good, solid, broad road, paved in some places, and very dusty at this dry season; it led over low hills and plains. Near the city there is a great number of pretty, and some elegant country houses; and as they became less numerous, they were succeeded by the houses of the farmers and planters, which are spread over the whole country. All these farm-houses are slightly built, boarded, and roofed with shingles; often grey, of the natural colour of the wood; but many of those belonging to the richer class are neatly painted, and variously ornamented. The walls, even of large buildings of this kind, are extremely thin, and one would think they 9 must be too slight for the cold winters of this country. It seems quite inconceivable that, throughout the United States, you find only open fireplaces; and very rarely good stoves, against which the Americans are prejudiced, because they are not aware of their great superiority. The business of the occupant is painted on the house in large letters, as in England and France.
The road by which we travelled was often bounded by hedges, or by walls of blocks of granite, or other kinds of stone, on which plantain, elder, stagshorn, sumach, &c., were growing. In the low marshy meadows were willows, a kind of reed mace, cotton grass, rushes, and, in the water, adder's tongue. Near the road, the hills, which here and there gradually rise to a great elevation, are covered with shrubs and trees, among which we noticed some firs, mixed with the other trees.
Juniper trees, from fifteen to twenty feet high, grew in all these woods, partly as underwood. In the low grounds, near the road, we observed luxuriant tufts of various kinds of oak, walnut trees—some with large shining leaves, chestnuts, now in blossom, and many other kinds of trees cultivated in European gardens. Wild vines, with the under side of the leaves whitish, twine round many of the bushes; but, in these northern parts, they do not attain a great height. These thickets alternate with open tracts of land, where the peasants, tanned by the powerful American sun, wearing large straw hats, were busily employed in making hay.
However small and poor the dwellings, we still saw at the windows, and before the doors, the women, most elegantly and fashionably dressed, engaged in their household employments. In this land of freedom, nobody, of course, will allow his neighbour to have an advantage over him; hence we often see silk gowns, and the newest fashions of all kinds, in laughable contrast with the poor little habitations. Small country carts pass the traveller, in which, beside the owner, who drives, sits a country lady, handsomely attired, who looks like a copy of some journal des modes. The dress of the countrymen is, in general, not so fine, but is, in some degree, according to the man's circumstances.
We were much pleased with some thick forests of oak, with beautiful glossy (often deeply indented) leaves, of a great variety of forms. Forests, consisting wholly of the Weymouth pine, alternated with the oak. The trunks were large, but the height of the tree was not great in proportion. Among them there was always a number of dead trees; others had a quantity of bearded moss hanging on them; in a word, though so near to the habitations of man, and in a cultivated country, they had more of the wild character of unreclaimed nature than our European forests. In many places there were openings into dark forests, to a great distance; and, now and then, into lovely valleys, with a lake or a river, where the white buildings had a very picturesque appearance, contrasted with the dark woods and the green meadows. Mr. Bodmer, however, was not satisfied with all these landscapes: he had expected to find, at once, in America, forms differing from those of Europe; but these must be looked for under another zone; for, in 10 North America, the general character of the vegetation resembles that of Europe. In some parts, we remarked in the meadows large stones, something like those in Westphalia, or in the Westerwald, in Germany.
We changed horses at three places, at one of which we had dinner, which, as in England, was ready when the passengers arrived. The regulations here have an advantage over those in most parts of Europe, inasmuch as fees are nowhere given, so that you cannot be molested by the importunity of the driver: on the other hand, the coachman dines at the same table as the passengers. You are, however, pretty secure against the conversation of unpolished people, because the Americans are usually mute at table.
Towards evening we reached Pawtucket, a neat town on the river of the same name, in the state of Massachusetts. The place has manufactures of various kinds, and is animated by trade and industry. The river empties itself into Narraganset bay, and is said to have falls of fifty feet. We soon travelled the few miles from this place to Providence. The evening being fine, the journey was very pleasant: the road was full of stages, cabriolets, farmers' wagons, and smart country ladies, whose veils on their large fashionable hats waved in the wind; they were generally seated in little chaise carts, the seats of which were covered with bear skins.