The grass was of full height for the scythe ; and strongly realized to my own mind, for the first time, the proper import of that picturesque declaration in the Song of Deborah : ' In the days of Shamgar, the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through by-paths. The inhabitants of the villages ceased ; they ceased in Israel.' "«• , ■- ^

The subjoined account of the County, in 1780, is taken from Dr. Thacher's Military Journal : -- - ' . -

" The country which we lately traversed, about fifty miles in extent, is called " NpuTRAL Ground ;" but the miserable inhabitants who remain are

» American Scenery, by Bartlett and Willis. \^PL. I. 0

xviii INTRODUCTION.

not much favored with the privileges which their neutrality ought to secure to ihem. They are continually exposed to the ravages and insults of infamous banditti, composed of royal refugees and lories. The country is rich and fertile ; and the farms appear to have been advantageously cultivated, but it now has the marks of a country in ruins. A large proportion of the proprietors having abandoned their farms, the few that remain find it impossible to harvest the produce. The meadows and pastures are covered with grass of a summer's growth, and thousands of bushels of apples and other fruit are rotting in the orchards. We brought otf about two hundred loads of hay and grain ; and ten times the amount might have been procured, had teams enough been provided. Those of the inhabitants of the neutral ground who were tories, have joined their friends in New York, and the Whigs have retired into the interior of our country. Some of each side have faken up arms, and become the most cruel and deadly foes.