Greenwich, the banks on the right slope with a gentle declivity to the water, and are in general thickly wooded; on the left they are frequently broken and precipitous. About fifteen miles up the river, Kingsbridge heights appear on the right, and below them Haerlem creek, 7 as it is called, which stretches with an irregular curve from the Hudson into Long Island Sound, giving to the Manhattan territory its insular character, and limiting the jurisdiction of the city corporation of New York.

The New Jersey shore becomes now bold and precipitous, and for several miles an abrupt wall of granite raises its bare forehead on the left, to a height of nearly two hundred feet. The Palisades, as this range has been most appropriately denominated, form a striking feature in the landscape; they are in general from two to three hundred feet from the water's edge, in some places the front has been broken, and irregular masses of rock tumbled downwards to the water, but for the most part it is smooth and perpendicular like the wall of an ancient fortress, while here and there a solitary pine tree, moor'd on the rifted rock,' seems, like the banner of a citadel, to wave a proud defiance from the edge of the cliff.

'The reader of Knickerbocker's History of New York will recollect that here the renowned sounder of brass, Antony Van Corlaer, met with his untimely fate, presumptuously essaying while half tipsy to swim across the creek in a dark and stormy night.'

PALISADES-TAPPAAN BAY,

313

With the Palisades terminates the State of New Jersey, and we approach a wider part of the stream which the early Dutch settlers dignified with the appellation of the Tappaan Sea, but which was in after times modified into that of Tappaan Bay. This lake as we may call it is about ten miles long, and the banks are from four to seven miles apart, presenting a very considerable variety of landscape;

here the bold promontory crowned with embowering trees advancing into the bay-there the long woodland slope sweeping up from the shore in rich luxuriance whilst at a distance a long waving line of rocky heights throw their gigantic shades across the water.' In many places the ground has been cleared of wood, and country seats and snug farm houses, flanked by capacious barns, give variety to the scene; in other situations however the for

8

s Knickerbocker, Vol. II. Chap. 2.-Mr. Irving's fascinating pen has now invested the beautiful scenery of the Hudson with all the charm of classic ground. The reader need scarcely be reminded of Rip Van Winkle and the Legend of the Sleepy Hollow. The Sleepy Hollow we are told lies in the bosom of one of those spacious coves which indent the eastern shore of the Hudson, at that broad expansion of the river denominated by the ancient Dutch navigators the Tappaan Zee, and where they always prudently shortened sail and implored the protection of St. Nicholas.' Let not future voyagers up the river, fail to explore the sequestered glen on their right, where Ichabod Crane sighed for the smiles of Katrina Van Tassel, and where the ill-omened apparition of the galloping Hessian wrought such wo to the enamoured pedagogue. The mountain side where Rip encountered the dolorous party at nine pins, and partook of their soporific flagon, is yet at a distance.

ests are yet untamed, and afford the traveller a glimpse of what America formerly was, when none but the Indian traversed its shores, and only the bark canoe glided over its waters.

On the traveller's left is Rockland county, a favourite resort of the early Dutch settlers; the race is hitherto so unmixed, that very little English is spoken in any part of the county. Some of the land on the right contains good freestone, and has been valued so high as 1500 Dollars an acre; about £340 sterling.

I was particularly struck, in my progress up this lordly stream, by the multitude of thriving little towns which at short intervals stud its banks. They are generally of wood, and some are obviously of recent origin, but in others a sprinkling of brick buildings gives an aspect of comparative antiquity and a promise of permanence to the settlement. All of them have wharfs projecting into the river, which are never without sloops loading or discharging; in many of them banks are to be found and courts of justice.

Schooners are a favourite kind of vessel in America for the coasting trade, but in the rivers, and particularly on the Hudson, none but sloops are employed; in going up the stream we met a great number going down before the wind to New York. The Hudson river sloops are proverbial for their neatness. They are not deep in the water, but very broad in the beam and sharp in the

HUDSON SLOOP-VERPLANKS'S POINT. 315

bows; carrying a large cargo and giving space for a comfortable cabin, but drawing little water and sailing fast. The rigging is abundant and in excellent order, the vessel clean, showily painted, and occasionally decorated with a handsome figure head; altogether very superior in appearance to any of our river craft. The number that are employed upon this river have been estimated at two thousand, of 40 tons and upwards.

Somewhat above the Tappaan Bay there is a contraction and sudden bend of the channel, and the stream, after washing in its descent the bases of the mountainous range denominated the Highlands, makes a circuit round a bold head-land called Verplank's Point which projects from the eastern shore. The turn is so sudden, that in going up the river the banks at a little distance seem to close completely in, and it is not till you have approached very near it that the narrow channel appears upon the left, through which the river issues from the mountainous region. Before we reached this part of our course a most agreeable change took place in the weather. The clouds broke, and the rays of the sun burst through ; the wind subsided into a gentle breeze, the temperature of the air became perceptibly milder, and we entered the alpine region under the cheering and beautifying influence of a lovely autumnal afternoon, rendered doubly enlivening by the previous contrast.

Verplank's Point commands a fine prospect of the river. The bank swells up with a gradual but rapid slope, the brow of it is crowned by a neat family mansion, and a little below, the roof of the tea-house appears from among the trees. Behind rise the lofty hills among which we were about to pass, and you could almost imagine yourself on the margin of Lochlomond or some other of our Scotish lakes. Our floating leviathan now entered the narrow channel, and we were soon surrounded by the Highlands of the Hudson. These are said to form a part of the eastern or Blue Ridge division of the Appalachian mountains; a continuation of which skirts the boundaries of Connecticut and Massachusetts, and pursuing a north easterly course, passes through Vermont into Canada. The height of the more elevated points on the banks of the Hudson does not much exceed 1500 feet; they are of course low in comparison of a great many of the mountains of Scotland, but their effect in the landscape is much more imposing than that of more elevated masses in a hilly country.

An American mountain is in general very unlike a Scotish one. Ours are bare craggy ridges, sharp and angular in their outline, rearing a flinty peak towards heaven; with perhaps a few straggling bushes scattered near the base, but more commonly the purple heather or yellow broom is all that is found on the scanty patches of earth which here and there cling to its sides. In America the