any disastrous flood below the outlet. The village was commenced in 1823, when the canal was completed, and the first factory erected, since which it has acquired a population of twelve hundred. Its water power alone is capable of sustaining a population of ten thousand inhabitants.

But the bell on the dock announces the steamboat in sight, and I must away, without saying the half I intended. So farewell for the present.

SARATOGA SPRINGS.

THE writer of the foregoing letters made a flying excursion to Saratoga Springs, and intended to have given a particular description of the place, but has been compelled by circumstances beyond his control, to omit an original account of matters and things relative to this fashionable resort. As these letters, however, will probably fall into the hands of many a traveller on the Hudson, who contemplates a visit, he would introduce from Mr. Davison's "Traveller's Guide through the Middle and Northern States, and the Provinces of Canada," the following account, with a few alterations, rendered necessary by changes which have occurred since the appearance of the last edition of that valuable work.

Saratoga Springs is situated north-easterly from Ballston Spa 6 1-2 miles, and 36 1-2 miles from the city of Albany. The village is located on an elevated spot of ground, surrounded by a productive level country, and enjoys, if not the advantage of prospect, at least the advantage of a salubrious air and climate, contributing much to the health and benefit of its numerous visitants. The springs, so justly celebrated for their medicinal virtues, are situated on the margin of a vale, bordering the village on the east, and are a continuation of a chain of springs discovering themselves about 12 miles to the south, in the town of Ballston, and extending easterly in the form of a crescent, to the Quaker village. In the immediate vicinity are 10 or 12 springs, the principal of which are the Congress, the Hamilton, the High Rock, the Columbian, the Flat Rock, the Washington, and the President. About a mile east, are found a cluster of mineral springs which go by the name of the Ten Springs.

THE CONGRESS SPRING

Is situated at the south end of the village, and is owned by Doct. John Clarke; to whose liberality the

public are much indebted for the recent improvements that have been made in the grounds adjoining the fountain, for the purity in which its waters are preserved, and for an elegant colonnade erected over the spring, affording a convenient promenade to visitants.

The spring was first discovered in the summer of 1792, issuing from a crevice in the rock, a few feet from its present location. Here it flowed for a number of years, until an attempt to improve the surface around it produced an accidental obstruction of its waters, which afterward made their appearance at the place where they now flow. It is enclosed by a tube sunk into the earth to the distance of 12 or 14 feet, which secures it from the water of a stream, adjoining which it is situated.

From an analysis made by Doct. Steel, it appears that a gallon of the water contains the following substances: chloride of sodium, 385 grs.; hydriodate of soda, 3 1-2 grs.; bicarbonate of soda, nearly 9 grs.; bicarbonate of magnesia, nearly 96 grs.; carbonate of lime, a little more than 98 grs.; carbonate of iron, upwards of 5 grs.; silix, 11-2 grs.; carbonic acid gas, 311 cubic inches; atmospheric air, 7 do.

To this spring perhaps more than any other spot on the globe, are seen repairing in the summer mornings, before breakfast, persons of almost every grade and condition, from the most exalted to the most abject. The beautiful and the deformed-the rich and the poor-the devotee of pleasure and the invalid-all congregate here for purposes as various as are their situations in life. To one fond of witnessing the great diversity in the human character, this place affords an ample field for observation. So well, indeed, has it been improved by the little urchins who dip water at the fountain, that an imposing exterior is sure to procure for its possessor their services; while individuals less richly attired, and whose physiognomy indicate a less liberal disposition, are often compelled to wait till it is more convenient to attend to their wants.

Most persons soon become fond of the water; but the effect on those who taste it for the first time is frequently unpleasant. To such, the other fountains are generally more palatable, having a less saline taste than the Congress.

The HIGH ROCK is situated on the west side of the val

ley, skirting the east side of the village, about half a mile north of the Congress. The rock enclosing this spring is in the shape of a cone, 9 feet in diameter at its base, and 5 in height. It seems to have been formed by a concretion of particles thrown up by the water which formerly flowed over its summit through an aperture of about 12 inches in diameter, regularly diverging from the top of the cone to its base. This spring was visited in the year 1767 by Sir William Johnson, but was known long before by the Indians, who were first led to it, either by accident or the frequent haunts of beasts, attracted thither by the saline properties of the water. A building was erected near the spot previous to the revolutionary war; afterward abandoned, and again resumed; since which the usefulness of the water has, from time to time, occasioned frequent settlements within its vicinity.

The water now arises within 2 feet of the summit, and a common notion prevails that it has found a passage through a fissure of the rock occasioned by the fall of a tree; since which event it has ceased to flow over its brink. This opinion, however, may be doubted. It is probable that the decay of the rock, which commenced its formation on the natural surface of the earth, may have yielded to the constant motion of the water, and at length opened a passage between its decayed base and the loose earth on which it was formed. This idea is strengthened from the external appearance of the rock at its eastern base, which has already been penetrated by the implements of curiosity a number of inches.

Between the Red spring in the upper village, and the Washington in the south part of the lower village, are situated most of the other mineral springs in which this place abounds. At three of the principal springs, the Hamilton, Monroe, and Washington, large and convenient bathing houses have been erected, which are the constant resort for pleasure as well as health, during the

warm season.

The mineral waters both at Ballston and Saratoga are supposed to be the product of the same great laboratory, and they all possess nearly the same properties, varying only as to the quantity of the different articles held in solution. They are denominated acidulous saline and acidulous chalybeate. Of the former are the Congress,

(which holds the first rank,) the Hamilton, High Rock, and President, at Saratoga; and of the latter are the Columbian, Flat Rock, and Washington, at Saratoga, and the Old Spring and San Souci, at Ballston. The waters contain muriate of soda, hydriodate of soda, carbonate of soda, carbonate of lime, carbonate of magnesia, oxide of iron, and some of them a minute quantity of silica and alumina. Large quantities of carbonic acid gas are also contained in the waters, giving to them a sparkling and lively appearance. The Congress, in particular, the moment it is dipped, contains nearly one half more than its bulk of gas; a quantity unprecedented in any natural waters elsewhere discovered.

Doct. Steel, in his geological report of the county of Saratoga, published a few years since, remarks, that "the temperature of the water in all these wells is about the same, ranging from 48 to 52 degrees on Fahrenheit's scale; and they suffer no sensible alteration from any variation in the temperature of the atmosphere; neither do the variations of the seasons appear to have much effect on the quantity of water produced.

"The waters are remarkably limpid, and when first dipped, sparkle with all the life of good champaigne, The saline waters bear bottling very well, particularly the Congress, immense quantities of which are put up in this way, and transported to various parts of the world; not, however, without a considerable loss of its gaseous property, which renders its taste much more insipid than when drank at the well. The chalybeate water is likewise put up in bottles for transportation, but a very trifling loss of its gas produces an immediate precipitation of its iron; and hence this water, when it has been bottled for some time, frequently becomes turbid, and finally loses every trace of iron; this substance fixing itself to the walls of the bottle.

"The most prominent and perceptible effects of these waters, when taken into the stomach, are cathartic, diuretic, and tonic. They are much used in a great variety of complaints; but the diseases in which they are most efficacious are jaundice and bilious affections generally, dyspepsia, habitual costiveness, hypochondriacal complaints, depraved appetite, calculous and enphritic complaints, phagedenic or ill-conditioned ulcers, cutaneous