p, which was
done in the evening, the clouds had dispersed, and the water was
again like a glassy lake.

The 18th of August had now arrived, and as yet we had advanced no
farther than to the mouth of the Patuxent. There we lay, as we
had done the day before, anxiously expecting a breeze; till about
noon, the wind beginning to blow fair, the fleet entered the
river and made its way slowly and majestically against the
stream. The voyage soon became picturesque and interesting in
the highest degree. Fields of Indian corn, with meadows of the
most luxuriant pasture, stretched along the margin of the stream
on either hand; whilst the neat wooden houses of the settlers,
all of them painted white, and surrounded with orchards and
gardens, presented a striking contrast to the boundless forests
which formed a background to the scene. Of the prodigious extent
and gloomy appearance of these forests, it is impossible for any
language to convey an adequate conception. There is nothing, at
least nothing which I have seen, in the Old World, at all
resembling or to be compared with them; and hemming in, as they
do, on every side, the tiny spots of cultivation, they certainly
convey no very enlarged idea of the power of human industry. The
cleared fields on the banks of the Patuxent, for example, could
in no direction measure above half a mile across,--in many places
their breadth fell short of that, from the river to the woods;
and then all was one vast forest, through which no eye could
penetrate, nor any traveller venture to seek his way. We were,
as may be imagined, greatly taken by scenery so novel; and we
continued to gaze upon it with the liveliest interest, till our
attention was drawn away to other and more important matters.

ST. BENEDICT'S.

We had not proceeded many miles from the river's mouth when a
telegraph from the Admiral gave orders for the troops to be in
readiness to land at a moment's notice. Everything was forthwith
put in a state of forwardness; provisions for three days, that is
to say, three pounds of pork, with two pounds and a half of
biscuit, were cooked and given to the men; the cartouch-boxes
were supplied with fresh ammunition, and the arms and
accoutrements handed out. The fleet, however, continued to move
on, without showing any inclination to bring to; till at length,
having ascended to the distance of ten leagues from the bay, the
ships of the line began to take the ground; and in a lit