On the 17th of July I renewed my attempts in the entire, spacious, and now very hot city; afterward I visited the Peale Museum and gave the one letter of recommendation that I had received from Leipzig

to Mr. Krumbhaar. Mr. Krumbhaar received me very cordially and that afternoon came with his cabriolet to show me the city and the interesting waterworks of Fairmount. Afterward I spent the evening at his home until rather late, and he was kind enough to accompany me almost all the way back to the hotel.

Philadelphia is a beautiful, large city of 160,000 inhabitants, and in overall appearance is rather different from New York and Boston. For the most part, the houses are not so tall, and some of the streets are lined with rows of linden trees, which provide very much shade on Chestnut Street. All the streets of this city intersect at right angles, and the entire city is located between the Delaware and the Schuylkill (pronounced “Skulkill”) rivers. In the center of the city is the lengthy Market Street, in the middle of which moderately long, shedlike buildings are located in which there are booths and trading is carried on. Market Street divides the city into northern and southern sections. There is a great deal of activity and trade in Philadelphia, since a large number of roads lead from here into the interior of the country. A characteristic feature of this city are the poles erected on both sides at the edge of the very fine broad streets (of bricks), poles that have been provided with awnings, so that on most streets one can walk in the shade.

An entire section of the city is inhabited by Germans; one also hears much German and French spoken. There are even sermons in German in the German churches, and all denominations have churches here. The number of churches is large. Even the Jews have synagogues. In the vicinity of the Delaware, there still exists an old Swedish church, which was founded during the earliest period of Swedish settlement, and even now there are families of Swedish extraction. The Quakers, the sect of the first settler in Pennsylvania, William Penn, who concluded the first treaty with the Indians on the spot where the city now stands, are very numerous here. Quaker men are distinguished by their gray coats with a high collar and by their flat felt hats. The women wear a strange bonnet, as well as a costume similar to that of the Moravian Brethren. Quaker is a derisive name; they themselves call themselves Friends. They do not practice baptism. There are rich people among them. There are also Catholic churches here, and freedom of religion is completely unrestricted.

There are several public buildings with an impressive style of architecture, such as the United States Bank. This is true of many buildings, generally, which have their lower floor constructed of a grayish white marble of which the stairs, doorframes, and window frames in the buildings, otherwise constructed of brick, are made.

An excellent installation in all parts of the city is the running water from Fairmount, about which more will be told later. One pays a certain amount annually and then has the water pipes in the house. In all upper-class families it is customary to have ice constantly on hand for cooling beverages. It is taken daily from the ice cellar and kept in the cool passages of the house in a special chest tightly enclosed with boards. In the hotels, too, all beverages, and even butter and other foods, are served in ice.

Of the natural history institutions in Philadelphia, Mr. Peale’s museum is certainly the most interesting. Since the owner himself was with Major Long in the interior of the western states, west of the Mississippi as far as the Rocky Mountains, and has also been in South America, he has consequently assembled a very large collection of interesting objects, from which, however, many things, even the large European animals, are still lacking. Here one sees the elephant, the rhinoceros, the bison (buffalo) very nicely displayed, as well as the wapiti (elk) with enormous antlers, the North American antelope, the argali from the American mountains, and very many interesting animals. The collection of birds, including many interesting ones, is rather significant. Well worth seeing are the costumes and articles of finery of various peoples, including the North American Indians, of whom several complete figures (face and hands of wax) are very interesting. Chiefs, with headdresses made from the feathers of the war eagle, painted, and with necklaces made from the claws of the grizzly bear (Ursus ferox), present a strange sight. Seymour, the painter who participated in the expedition of Major Long, has painted several Indian scenes in oil that are mediocre but provide an interesting depiction of the life of these people. They are on display here in this museum. One portrays the interior of an Indian lodge, the other a view of an entire village. Interesting costumes and ornaments of the Mexicans, Brazilians, Chinese, and other Asiatic peoples are also displayed here in cabinets. As in all the museums of the American cities described thus far, this collection here is actually a hodgepodge, for one finds paintings, models, art objects, and natural history specimens all displayed together.

In order to study and learn more about the Indians of North America, I had made very considerable efforts to find some drawings and illustrations, but without success. The most important work of this kind ever to be published, however, is now appearing: a book with 120 color lithographed portraits of the famous chiefs of all the Indian tribes. These are from the Indian Office in Washington, where oil paintings of all of them are kept. This work is to appear in some twenty installments, each with six illustrations, and at a price of six dollars, and to contain an excellent text with the history of these peoples. I saw a few sample sheets at a local bookdealer’s shop.

Since Philadelphia—literally “the city of Friends” (Quaker)—is situated in a very low-lying region, one cannot readily gain an overview of it; but I did at least ride around the city, and Mr. Krumbhaar showed me its principal sights. Immediately before the city we see the prison where young delinquents, perhaps still capable of reform, are kept. In addition, another one, which has the appearance of a citadel. To our left was the building designed for those afflicted with yellow fever at the time this disease was prevalent. Then we crossed the new railroad now under construction, near which there is a restaurant, or inn, with a tall Chinese tower similar to the Porcelain Tower, and then reached the waterworks of Fairmount. On the Schuylkill a lateral canal with locks for navigation has been constructed, and beside it, a long weir for the waterworks has been constructed straight across the river, so that there may never be a lack of water. Below the weir on the northern bank of the river is situated a long, graceful building in which long paddle wheels turn, scooping the water out of the river which set into motion the force pumps that pump the water in pipes steeply upward to an eminence, sixty to eighty feet high, on which two large reservoirs have been excavated and from which the water is conveyed to the city in iron pipelines. This rocky elevation, from which an excellent spring gushes, has been provided with stairs, balustrades, and elegant pavilions from which one can survey the entire waterworks and the interesting wooded river valley, and to which many persons daily make a pilgrimage, since there are refreshments to be had there. Among the rocks, which are moistened by the spray of the gushing fountains, grow beautiful trees: catalpa, Platanus, etc., which immensely adorn the region with their luxuriant foliage.

From the opposite side of the Schuylkill, I returned to Philadelphia by a different road, on which we crossed two huge wooden covered bridges, like the one at Trenton, which I have already discussed. One pays something for this passage.

Of the three theaters located in Philadelphia, only one is open during the summer. From time to time the French troupe from New Orleans has also performed here; now there is nothing but English comedy.

Now I wanted to visit the Moravian Brethren “colony at Bethlehem,” which is 56 miles away from here, but I could not get a coach, since the New York refugees crowded all the roads.