LETTER XVII - To the Same

Summary

Our passage from New York to Philadelphia, though the distance is less than ninety miles, was made, as is so usual here, by land and by water. In consequence of the unequalled facilities offered by their rivers, bays, and sounds, the Americans enjoy, in a very large portion of their country, the means of travelling that are cheap and commodious to a degree that is unknown in any other country. Of the steam-boats I have already spoken; but I do not remember to have said any thing concerning their extraordinary cheapness. The passage money is sometimes little more than nominal. I have been conveyed in a spacious, convenient, and even elegant boat, the distance of forty miles, for something less than a shilling sterling. This was certainly cheaper than common, but the price of a passage, (food included,) from New York to Albany, varies from two to four dollars, according to the style and nature of your accommodations. For the lowest sum, you travel better than in any European boat I have ever yet seen; and for the highest, if the excessive crowds be excepted, with a degree of comfort and abundance that is really next to incredible.

I think the first thing that strikes you at an American table, is the liberality with which it is supplied. The excessive abundance is a fault.