the Chancellor Place. "Clermont" is about half a mile to the north,
the home of Clermont Livingston, an early manor house built by Robert
R. Livingston, who, next to Hamilton, was the greatest New York
statesman during our revolutionary period. The manor church, not seen
from the river, is at the old village of Clermont, about five miles
due west from the mansion. The Livingstons are of Scotch ancestry and
have an illustrious lineage. Mary Livingston, one of the "four Marys"
who attended Mary Queen of Scots during her childhood and education in
France, was of the same family. Robert Livingston, born in 1654, came
to the Hudson Valley with his father, and in 1686 purchased from the
Indians a tract of country reaching east twenty-two miles to the
boundary of Massachusetts with a river frontage of twelve miles. This
purchase was created, "the Lordship and Manor of Livingston," by
Governor Thomas Dongan. In 1692 Robert built the manor house, but did
not reside in it for twenty years. He was a friend of Captain Kidd and
a powerful promoter of his enterprises. The manor consisted of 260,000
acres. The estate of 13,000 acres, given to his second son Robert, was
called Clermont. Philip, his first son, inherited 247,000 acres, by
old-time primogeniture succession. From each of these two families
sprang a line of vigorous and resolute men. Robert R. Livingston,
our revolutionary hero, descended from the smaller estate, owned
"Clermont" at the time it was burned by the British. It was soon
rebuilt and Lafayette was a guest at the mansion during his visit to
the United States in 1824.

* * *

Let us not then neglect to improve the advantages we
possess; let us avail ourselves of the present moment to
fix lasting peace upon the broad basis of natural union;
let us while it is still in our power lay the foundation of
our long happiness and the happiness of our posterity.

_Robert R. Livingston._

* * *

Above West Camp landing on the west side, is the boundary line between
Ulster and Greene Counties; Ulster having kept us company all the way
from Hampton Point opposite New Hamburgh. Throughout this long stretch
of the river one industry must not be overlooked, well described by
John Burroughs:

=The Shad Industry.=--"When the chill of the ice is out of the river
and the snow and frost out of the air, the fishermen along the shore
are on the lookout for the first arrival of shad. A few d