is a neat town, regularly laid out, on the left bank of the
Susquehanna. Its locality is determined by the direction of one of the
Alleghany ridges, which recedes from the course of the river, a few
miles above the town, and, curving south-west, encloses a semicircular
plot of land, towards the centre of which the town is built. Its
neighbourhood abounds in coal. The pits are about a mile distant. They
lie under a stratum of soft clay slate, which contains impressions of
ferns, oak-leaves, and other vegetables, usually found in such
situations. The town itself, in consequence of the frequent separation
of its streets and houses, by grass-fields and gardens, has a quiet and
rural aspect. It contains a neat church, appropriated to the alternate
use of episcopalians and presbyterians. Wilkesbarre is built on the
site of _Wyoming_: a small mound, near the river, is pointed out, as
that on which the fort stood; and the incursion of the Indians, when
most of the inhabitants fell, in an unsuccessful battle, is still
remembered. Some few escaped, by swimming across the stream, and fled,
naked, through the woods, for several days, till they reached the
nearest settlement; and this is all the record that exists of Albert and
Gertrude, the foundation of Campbell's poem of Gertrude of Wyoming.

At Wilkesbarre the road quits the Susquehanna, and, ascending a ridge of
the Alleghany Mountains, crosses through deep forests and hemlock
swamps, sparingly interspersed with settlements. The Pokono Mountain,
over which Mr. Hall passed, is famous with the sportsmen and epicures of
Philadelphia, for its grouse. Mr. Hall crossed the _Blue Ridge_, at the
stupendous fissure of the _Wind Gap_, where the mountain seems forcibly
broken through, and is strewed with the ruin of rocks. There is a
similar aperture, some miles north-east, called the Water Gap. This
affords a passage to the Delaware; and all the principal rivers of the
states, that rise in the Alleghanys, pass through similar apertures.

Betwixt the Blue Ridge and the Lehigh River, are two Moravian
settlements, called _Bethlehem_ and _Nazareth_. [The inhabitants of the
former constitute a large society, and occupy several farms. They have a
spacious apartment, in which they all daily assemble, for the purpose of
public worship. The single men and women have each a separate dwelling.
The women are occupied in various domestic employments; in fancy and
ornamental works; and, occasionally,