Chapter XII: Introduction

HAVING long laboured under wasting sickness, which obliged me for a time to relinquish the duties of my ministry; my mind, naturally feeble and timid, sunk under its depressions and yielded to despondency. To divert its attention, by directing its regards to objects remote from its corroding cares, and to benefit my bodily health by means of exercise and change of climate, my physicians urged my taking a journey.

A MUCH esteemed neighbour, Mr. SETH ADAMS, was about making an excursion into the TERRITORY NORTHWEST OF THE OHIO, and proposed my accompanying him thither. My brother in law, Mr. JOHN DIX, kindly offered to be my attendant, and assisted me in summoning resolution for the undertaking.

ON the 29th of March, 1803, we set out on the tour. We took the post road from Boston, through New-York and Philadelphia, to Lancaster; and thence, through Carlisle and Shippensburgh, to Strasburgh at the foot of the {vi} Alleghany Mountains. Here commence the extracts from my journal.

FOR the gratification of my family and a few friends, I kept a record of the occurrences each day afforded, and some particulars of the several towns through which we passed. I was advised, on my return, to communicate the Geographical articles to the public; and I have consented, from a willingness to contribute my mite, however insignificant, to the common stock of the topographical knowledge of our country.

I AM aware that many of the remarks and observations may appear desultory or trivial: but some indulgence is due to them from the circumstances under which they were made. They were first sketched down, as opportunity presented, in a pocket-book with a lead pencil; and at evening transcribed into my diary. They consist of such reflections as were made upon the places and the prospects immediately under my eye, and of such information as could be collected from intelligent individuals with whom I had the opportunity of conversing. The whole is the fruit of those moments of leisure, (rescued from a fatiguing journey) which the languor and pain of a miserable state of health would permit me to employ.

I HOPE the freedom with which I have expatiated on the description of forest and mountain {vii} scenery will not be unpleasing to those who have never had the privilege of beholding the grand and prominent features of nature, or of penetrating its sequestered glooms. For myself, I have always been an admirer of the sublime and beautiful in creation; and the immediate effect upon my feelings, produced by umbrageous forests, and by contemplating extended prospects from lofty mountains, was of so pleasurable and exalted a kind, that I wished to retain the impression to myself, and, as well as I could, communicate it to others, by a description taken on the spot.

“A STATE of convalescence (says a fine writer[2]) appears to me to be that of all others, which is most open to, and which indulges most in, the melancholy and awful impressions: and the transitions from the sublime to the pleasing, and from the sounds of discordance to those of melody, have their alternate and sympathetic effects, and have consequently their attractions. Every object delights the eye, and every murmur of the grove is in unison with the soul. The convalescent has his hopes, his wishes, and his fears; but the remembrance of sickness melts them down to _resigned patience, and humble expectation_.”

{viii} AN apology is necessary for the delay of the publication. This has been partly occasioned by waiting for the return of the subscription papers, and partly by the length of time necessary to complete the engravings and the impression.

To the candor of the Public,
I submit my work;
to the
providence and favour of ALMIGHTY GOD,
I commend my beloved Family;
and to the hopes,
not of the present,
but
of the future life,
I resign myself.

DORCHESTER }
_Jan. 1805._ }