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William Priest - Travels in the United States of America
any other nation. The following statement of the manner of living of the Americans[Footnote: By the
term American you must understand a white man descended from a native of the Old Continent;
and by the term Indian, or Savage, one of the aborigines of the New World.] will
convince you of the falsity of this opinion.
About eight or nine in the morning they breakfast on tea and coffee, attended always with what they
call relishes, such as salt fish, beef-steaks, sausages, broiled-fowls, ham, bacon, &c. At two they
dine on what is usual in England, with a variety of american dishes, such as bear, opossum, racoon, &c.
At six or seven in the evening they have their supper, which is exactly the same as their breakfast, with
the addition of what cold meat is left at dinner. I have often wondered how they acquired this method of
living, which is by no means calculated for the climate; such stimulating food at breakfast and supper
naturally causes thirst, and there being no other beverage at these meals than tea, or coffee, they are apt
to drink too freely of them, particularly the female part of the family; which, during the excessive heats
in summer, is relaxing and debilitating; and in winter, by opening the pores, exposes them to colds of the
most dangerous kind.
The manner of living I have been describing is that of people in moderate circumstances; but this taste
for relishes with coffee and tea extends to all ranks of people in these states. Soon after my
arrival at this city, I went on a party of pleasure to a sort of tea-garden and tavern[Footnote: By
the word tavern, in America, is meant an inn or public house of any description.], romantically
situate on the bank of the Scuylkill. At six in the evening we ordered coffee, which I was informed they
were here famous for serving in style. I took a memorandum of what was on the table; viz.
coffee, cheese, sweet cakes, hung beef, sugar, pickled salmon, butter, crackers, ham, cream, and
bread. The ladies all declared, it was a most charming relish!
Yours sincerely, &c.
* * * * *
Philadelphia, March 12th, 1794.
Dear Friend,
The price of labour in this country is very great, owing to the prospect an industrious man has of
procuring an independance by cultivating a tract of the waste lands; many millions of acres of which are
how on sale by government; to say nothing of those held by individuals. The money arising from the sale
of the former is appropriated to the discharge of the national debt.
During my residence in Jersey, I was at no little pains to inform myself of the difficulties attending a
back settler. We will suppose a person making such an attempt to possess one hundred pounds, though
many have been successful with a much less sum: his first care is to purchase about three hundred acres
of land, which, if it is in a remote western settlement, he will procure for about nineteen pounds sterling:
he may know the quality of the land by the trees, with which it is entirely covered. The hickory and the
walnut are an infallible sign of a rich, and every species of fir, of a barren, sandy, and unprofitable soil.
When his land is properly registered, his next care is to provide himself with a horse, a plough, and other
implements of agriculture; a rifle, a fowling piece, some ammunition, and a large dog of the blood-hound
breed, to hunt deer. We will suppose him arrived at the place of his destination in spring, as soon as the
ground is clear of frost. No sooner is the arrival of a new settler circulated, than, for many miles round,
his neighbours flock to him: they all assist in erecting his hut; this is done with logs; a bricklayer is only
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