Leave Ballston for the Falls of Niagara.-Departure from Schenectady by the Railroad. -Beautiful Valley of the Mohawk.-Little Falls on this River.-Rich alluvial Plains of the German Flats.-Villages of Herkimer and Frankfort.-Romantic Beauty of the Mohawk Valley.-Arrival and Stay at Utica.-Stage Journey from Utica to Syracuse.-Comparison of American and English Coaches.-Use of Sea-phrases by American Drivers.-Villages of New-Hartford, Manchester, and Vernon.-Oneida Castle. -Indian Reservations.-Arrival and Stay at Syracuse.-Journey to Auburn by wooden Railroad.-Arrival and short Stay at Auburn.-Departure from Auburn for Canandaigua.-Passage by Bridge over the Lake Cayuga.-Village built on the Seneca Falls.-Pass through Waterloo to Geneva.

ON Tuesday, the 7th of August, we quitted the hospitable mansion of Mr. Delavan on our projected tour to the Falls of Niagara, this being considered the best season of the year for making the journey, and seeing the Falls to advantage.

Mr. Delavan accompanied us as far as Schenectady, where we took the railroad for Utica at ten o'clock; and, starting from thence, proceeded along the Valley of the Mohawk River, which winds its way from the westward till it empties itself into the Hudson, and by it into the Atlantic. On leaving Schenectady, we crossed over the stream of the Mohawk by a bridge of 800 feet in length, going in a northerly direction, but after a space of about a mile the road curved to the west, and ran along in nearly the direction of the stream, chiefly on its northern bank; bringing us, after a distance of about eight miles more, into the beautiful valley named.

The first place of any size passed on our way was the village of Amsterdam, first settled, no doubt, by some patriotic Dutchman, and so called after the capital of his native country.. It has about 200 houses, which are yearly increasing in number, an excellent bridge across the Mohawk, and a small stream which descends from higher ground through the village to the river, and affords good water-power for mills and manufactures. The Erie Canal, which is about 40 feet in breadth, is to be widened to nearly double its present dimensions, to admit of the requisite space for the increased navigation, no less than 400 additional boats having been launched upon the canal during this present season; and the works for this widening of the canal were just beginning to be put in operation here.

About four miles beyond this, in passing round the foot of a promontory called Tripe's Hill, the view becomes more expanded, more varied, and more beautiful, and justifies all that has been said in praise of this lovely Valley of the Mohawk, which is exquisitely rich in its scenery, and combines the soft and the wild, the cultivated and the picturesque, in an eminent degree.

A very pretty settlement, called Fonda, appeared four or five miles farther on; and as this has been fixed on for the county town of the district in which it is situated, several public buildings have already begun to make their appearance. The courthouse is of chaste Grecian architecture, surmounted by a graceful dome, which is coated with tin-plate, like the public edifices at Albany, and this, on a bright day, reflects the sun so powerfully as to give it the dazzling brightness of plated silver. A large and imposing hotel, with a lofty Ionic portico, faces the road also; and these, with other buildings rising around them, give to Fonda an air of great promise and prosperity.

Beyond this, at distances of only four or five miles apart, we passed several rising villages; among others, Palatine Bridge and Fort Plain, until we reached the spot called "The Little Falls,"

which is about sixty miles from Schenectady, the point of our departure. The chain of the Catsberg Hills crosses the Mohawk here from north to south; and the bursting of this rocky barrier, with the corresponding declivity in the stream, occasions those descents and rapids which here constitute the "Little Falls." The spot is romantic in scenery, and would furnish many striking pictures, though in some parts the valley is so narrow that the river, the stage route, and the railroad all run side by side, separated only a few feet from each other; while a perpendicular wall of cliff on the north, and broken masses of rock on the south, hem in the whole on either side, the breadth from rock to rock being apparently less than a hundred yards.

It is on the highest part of this broken and rocky descent that the village called "The Little Falls" is seated; and the situation

is chiefly chosen for the facility it affords to establish corn-mills, saw-mills, and other establishments requiring the aid of water-power, which is here very considerable, and completely under control. Already there are upward of 3000 inhabitants at this place, and hundreds come to add to their numbers every year, attracted by the excellence of its position for trade and manufactures; with a rich and fertile country all around it, and a canal on either hand, to send its productions east or west, as they may be required. As the descent is here about forty feet in a mile, there are five locks on the Erie Canal, and eight locks on the one that preceded it in this place; both, however, being now connected by an aqueduct crossing over the river, of the length of 184 feet.

The great charm of the spot to the traveller is, however, the romantically beautiful combinations of scenery with which it abounds: massive rock, running water, fertile fields, rich orchards, wild woods, beetling cliffs, and soft and verdant plains, all unite in composing a succession of the most delightful pictures that the lover of nature could wish to dwell upon.

Beyond this gorge of the hills the Valley of the Mohawk begins to expand, and grows wider and wider as you approach to the west; the district being here called the German Flats, no doubt from the Germans being the earliest settlers on these rich alluvial plains. The village of Herkimer is the only one of note in this district, being about seven miles beyond "The Little Falls," and fourteen before you reach Utica. The village contains about 2000 inhabitants, having a handsome courthouse and some other public buildings, besides about 200 dwellings. A little to the east of it is the stream on which the celebrated Trenton Falls are situated, at a distance of about twenty miles. This stream falls into the Mohawk, and is crossed near the point of their junction by a well-built bridge.

From hence to Utica, through the village of Frankfort, the country continues level; but, though highly fertile, and well adapted to agriculture or pasture, it is tame after the beauties of the Mohawk Valley, which is equal to the loveliest spots in Devonshire or Somerset, resembling in some places the Valley of the Tamar in the one, and the Vale of Glastonbury in the other, but more beautiful and more romantic than either, as well as more extensive than both united. Altogether it is one of the most enchanting tracts of country through which I have passed for many years, reminding me forcibly of some of the delicious valleys of Persia, but having more grandeur, though not more softness, than any of these, from the frequent mingling of the wildest with the most luxuriant features of nature. I was, indeed, so much enraptured with its beauty, that, if I had not been restricted to time, I would have willingly returned immediately to re-enjoy its scenery.

We reached Utica about 3 o'clock, having been thus five hours in performing the whole distance of seventy-eight miles, or at the average rate of about fifteen miles and a half per hour. We remained here to sleep, and passed the evening with some friends to whom I had letters of introduction; but, intending to remain at Utica a week on our return journey, all examination of the town was reserved till that period.

On the morning of Wednesday, August 8, we left Utica in an extra, as the regular stage had set out in the middle of the night, and proceeded on by the high turnpike road towards Syracuse, where we intended making our next halt. It is not usual to travel in postchaises in this country, but, in lieu of this, extra coaches, with nine seats, will be furnished on any part of the road, if the persons engaging them will pay the regular stage-fare for eight passengers. We were fortunate in finding an agreeable party of three persons, which, added to our own of the same number, enabled us to take an extra between us and divide the expense; and in this way the carriage is entirely under the direction of the party occupying it as to stoppages, hours of setting out, &c.

These coaches, whether stage or extra, are very heavily built, though airy and commodious when the passengers are once seated. The baggage is all carried in a large leather case projecting from behind, and the coaches are painted with very gaudy colours. The horses are large, strong, and good, but the harness is coarse, ill fitted, and dirty. There is no guard and no outside passengers; and the coachman, or driver, as he is here universally called, is generally very ill-dressed, though civil, and well qualified for his duty, notwithstanding that he receives no fees whatever from any of the passengers by the way; and it is certainly an agreeable thing for an English traveller to find himself on the road, with his fare paid once for all, without the frequent opening of the coach door for the shilling and half crown due, by usage, to the coachman and guard, with a certainty of insolent language if it be not readily paid.

STAGE TRAVELLING.-VILLAGES.

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The rate of stage-travelling varies between six and eight miles the hour, but is more frequently the former than the latter. The roads are in general wretched, full of deep ruts and elevations, that jolt and shake the traveller to a painful degree; while, in appearance, the American stagecoach, with its horses, harness, and fittings, is as inferior to the light, smart, and trim coaches of Bath, Brighton, and Dover, that start from Charing Cross and Piccadilly, as a heavily-laden merchant-ship is to a beautiful corvette or light frigate, or to do the Americans justice in another department, in which they excel us-as the deeply-laden collier going up the Thames is to one of their beautiful pilot schooners or packets.

While on this subject, I may mention that a great many even of the coach-phrases in America are derived from a seafaring life; as, for instance, instead of the coachman coming to the door, as in England, and asking, “Are ye all in, gentlemen ?" the American driver's question is, " Are ye all aboard?" and instead of the signal of the English guard," All right," which precedes the crack of the whip, the American bookkeeper, when he hands up the waybill, exclaims, "Go ahead!"

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Proceeding by the stage route from Utica, we first passed through a small village called New-Hartford, seated on a stream named Sadaquada, here called a creek; another instance of the nautical origin of many of the American names and phrases. A creek is a familiar term to seamen, because every inlet from the sea up a narrow strait of land is so called; but here the term is applied to small inland rivers hundreds of miles from the sea. Ascending from hence over a rising hill, we had a fine view of Hamilton College, one of the public seminaries of education pointed out to us. landscape, of which it formed a part, was pleasing; and the country around it well wooded and in good order.

A few miles farther on we came to Manchester, very unlike its great dingy and smoky namesake in England. This was entirely an agricultural village, with about 1000 inhabitants, enjoying a pure air, a rural prospect, with well-cultivated farms all around it, and, as far as I could learn, there was not a single manufactory, nor even the germe of one, yet planted at this spot.

Vernon is the name of another pretty village, seven or eight miles beyond Manchester, at which we changed horses and drivers, the usual distance performed by each team being from eight to twelve miles. This contains a glass factory, and some few mills worked by water-power.

Five miles beyond this we passed through a spot called Oneida Castle, the lands around which formerly belonged to the Oneida Indians, under the title of the Oneida Reservation. In general, when treaties were made between the government of the United States and any of the Indian tribes, certain portions of land were set apart for their use, either as hunting-grounds or for cultivation.