A little after this Wilson's
_Ornithology of the United States_ fell into my hands.
The desire I had of seeing that country, together with the animated
description which Wilson had given of the birds, fanned up the almost-
expiring flame. I forgot the vexations already alluded to, and set off for
New York in the beautiful packet _John Wells_, commanded by Captain
Harris. The passage was long and cold, but the elegant accommodations on
board and the polite attention of the commander rendered it very agreeable;
and I landed in health and merriment in the stately capital of the New
World.
We will soon pen down a few remarks on this magnificent city, but not just
now. I want to venture into the north-west country, and get to their great
canal, which the world talks so much about, though I fear it will be hard
work to make one's way through bugs, bears, brutes and buffaloes, which we
Europeans imagine are so frequent and ferocious in these never-ending
western wilds.
I left New York on a fine morning in July, without one letter of
introduction, for the city of Albany, some hundred and eighty miles up the
celebrated Hudson.
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