Finding the afternoon too far spent to admit of another stage, we concluded to pass the night here. After a repast at the inn, we walked out to view the place, and inhale the cool breezes of declining day. The sun was just sinking below the western mountains, and fringed their tops with a rich variety of fiery hues, which died away into the most delicate tints of purple. We stood contemplating this scene of admirable {68} beauty, till the grey shades of evening shut it out from the view.
Wednesday, June 15
Beginning now to ascend the steep sides of the Alleghany, the road is rough and tiresome, and the prospect assumes a wilder and more romantic appearance at every step we advance.
We crossed a considerable stream which dashes over the rocks from the declivity of the mountain, and makes the fourth fork of Buffalo-lick Creek; one of the principal branches of the Yohiogany river. It issues from a spring near the top of the mountain. The indistinct echoes of the distant waterfall, and the plaintive murmurs of the breeze breaking in upon the stillness of the desert region, constitute an accompaniment corresponding with the solemnity and grandeur of the whole scene.
We dined at Seybour's on the top of the mountain. We then visited the beautiful spring, near the house, on the easterly brow of the mountain, which is the source of Caicutuck, or Will's Creek, whose waters enter the Potomack at Fort Cumberland, an outer post built by General Braddock in 1755.[49]*
