Mr. Bartram was at this time-building a house in Philadelphia, and had

sunk a cellar to a considerable depth, the soil of which was thrown

out. I here observed the following strata. The upper loose soil was

only half a foot deep, and of a dark brown colour. Under it was a

stratum of clay so much blended with sand, that it was in greater

quantity than the clay itself; and this stratum was eight feet deep.

These were both brick coloured. The next stratum consisted of little

pebbles mixed with a coarse sand. The stones consisted either of a

clear, or of a dark Quartz; [19] they were quite smooth and roundish on

the outside, and lay in a stratum which was a foot deep. Then the

brick-coloured clay mixed with sand appeared again. But the depth of

this stratum could not be determined. Query, could the river formerly

have reached to this place and formed these strata?

Mr. Bartram has not only frequently found oyster-shells in the ground,

but likewise met with such shells and snails, as undoubtedly belong to

the sea, at the distance of a hundred and more English miles from the

shore. He has even found them on the ridge of mountains which separate

the English plantations from the habitations of the savages. These

mountains which the English call the blue mountains, are of

considerable height, and extend, in one continued chain from north to

south, or from Canada to Carolina. Yet in some places they have gaps,

which are as it were broke through, to afford a passage for the great

rivers, which roll down into the lower country.

The Cassia Chamæcrista grew on the roads the woods, and sometimes on

uncultivated fields, especially when shrubs grew in them. Its leaves

are like those of the Sensitive plant, or Mimosa, and have likewise the

quality of contracting when touched, in common with the leaves of the

latter.

The Crows in this country are little different from our common crows in

Sweden. Their size is the same with that of our crows, and they are as

black as jet in every part of their body. I saw them flying to day in

great numbers together. Their voice is not quite like that of our

crows, but has rather more of the cry of the rook, or Linnæus’s Corvus

frugilegus.

Mr. Bartram related, that on his journeys to the northern English

colonies, he had discovered great holes in the mountains on the banks

of rivers, which according to his description, must exactly have been

such giants pots, [20] as are to be met with in Sweden, and which I

have described in a particular dissertation read in the Royal Swedish

Academy of Sciences. Mr. Bartram has likewise addressed some letters to

the Royal Society at London upon this subject. For some people

pretended, that these holes were made by the savages, that they might

in time of war hide their corn and other valuable effects in them. But

he wrote against this opinion, and accounted for the origin of these

cavities in the following manner. When the ice settles, many pebbles

stick in it. In spring when the snow melts, the water in the rivers

swells so high that it reaches above the place where these holes are

now found in the mountains. The ice therefore will of course float as

high. And then it often happens, that the pebbles which were contained

in it, ever since autumn when it first settled on the banks of the

river, fall out of the ice upon the rocky bank, and are from thence

carried into a cleft or crack by the water. These pebbles are then

continually turned about by the water, which comes in upon them, and by

this means they gradually form the hole. The water at the same time

polishes the stone by its circular motion round it, and helps to make

the hole or cavity round. It is certain that by this turning and

tossing, the stone is at last unfit for this purpose; but the river

throws commonly every spring other stones instead of it into the

cavity, and they are turned round in the same manner. By this whirling

both the mountain and the stone afford either a fine or a coarse sand,

which is washed away by the water when in spring, or at other times it

is high enough to throw its waves into the cavity. This was the opinion

of Mr. Bartram about the origin of these cavities. The Royal Society of

Sciences at London, has given a favourable reception to, and approved

of them. [21] The remarks which I made in the summer of the year 1743,

during my stay at Land’s-Ort, in my country, will prove that I was at

that time of the same opinion, in regard to these holes. I have since

further explained this opinion in a letter to the Royal Academy of

Sciences; and this letter is still preserved in the Academy’s Memoirs,

which have not yet been published. But there is great reason to doubt,

whether all cavities of this kind in mountains, have the same origin.

Here are different species of Mulberry trees, which grow wild in the

forests of north and south America. In these parts the red mulberry

trees are more plentiful than any other. However Mr. Bartram assured me

that he had likewise seen the white mulberry trees growing wild, but

that they were more scarce. I asked him and several other people of

this country, why they did not set up silk manufactures, having such a

quantity of mulberries, which succeed so easily? For it has been

observed that when the berries fall upon the ground where it is not

compact but loose, they soon put out several fine delicate shoots. But

they replied that it would not be worth while to erect any silk

manufactures here, because labour is so dear. For a man gets from

eighteen pence to three shillings and upwards, for one day’s work, and

the women are paid in proportion. They were therefore of opinion that

the cultivation of all sorts of corn, of hemp, and of flax, would be of

greater advantage, and that at the same time it did not require near so

much care as the feeding of silk worms. By the trials of a governor in

Connecticut, which is a more northern province than New York, it is

evident however, that silk worms succeed very well here, and that this

kind of mulberry trees is very good for them. The governor brought up a

great quantity of silk worms in his court yard; and they succeeded so

well, and spun so much silk, as to afford him a sufficient quantity for

cloathing himself and all his family.

Several sorts of Vines likewise grow wild hereabouts. Whenever I made a

little excursion out of town, I saw them in numerous places climbing up

trees and hedges. They clasp around them, and cover them sometimes

entirely, and even hang down on the sides. This has the same appearance

at a distance, as the tendrils of hops climbing along trees. I enquired

of Mr. Bartram why they did not plant vineyards, or press wine from the

grapes of the wild vine. But they answered, that the same objection lay

against it, which lies against the erection of a silk manufacture, that

the necessary hands were too scarce, and it therefore was more rational

to make agriculture their chief employment. But the true reason

undoubtedly is, that the wine which is pressed out of most of the North

American wild grapes is sour and sharp, and has not near such an

agreeable taste, as that which is made from European grapes.

The Virginian Wake robin, or Arum Virginicum, grows in wet places. Mr.

Bartram told me, that the savages boiled the spadix and the berries of

this flower, and devoured it as a great dainty. When the berries are

raw, they have a harsh, pungent taste, which they lose in great measure

upon boiling.

The Sarothra Gentianoides, grows abundantly in the fields and under the

bushes, in a dry sandy ground near Philadelphia. It looks extremely

like our whortleberry bushes when they first begin to green, and when

the points of the leaves are yet red. Mr. Bartram has sent this plant

to Dr. Dillenius, but that gentleman did not know where he should range

it. It is reckoned a very good traumatic, and this quality Mr. Bartram

himself experienced; for being thrown and kicked by a vicious horse, in

such a manner as to have both his thighs greatly hurt, he boiled the

Sarothra and applied it to his wounds. It not only immediately appeased

his pain, which before had been very violent, but he likewise by its

assistance recovered in a short time.

Having read in Mr. Miller’s Botanical Dictionary, that Mr. Peter

Collinson had a particular Larch tree from America in his garden, I

asked Mr. Bartram whether he was acquainted with it, he answered, that

he had sent it himself to Mr. Collinson, that it only grew in the

eastern parts of New Jersey, and that he had met with it in no other

English plantation. It differs from the other species of Larch trees,

its cones being much less. I afterwards saw this tree in great plenty

in Canada.

Mr. Bartram was of opinion, that the apple tree was brought into

America by the Europeans, and that it never was there before their

arrival. But he looked upon peaches as an original American fruit, and

as growing wild in the greatest part of America. Others again were of

opinion, that they were first brought over by the Europeans. But all

the French in Canada agreed, that on the banks of the river Missisippi

and in the country thereabouts peaches were found growing wild in great

quantity. [22]

September the 27th. The tree which the English here call Persimon, is

the Diospyros Virginiana of Linnæus. It grows for the greatest part in

wet places, round the water pits. I have already mentioned that the

fruits of this tree are extremely bitter and sharp before they are

quite ripe, and that being eaten in that state they quite contract ones

mouth, and have a very disagreeable taste. But as soon as they are

ripe, which does not happen till they have been quite softened by the

frost, they are a very agreeable fruit. They are here eaten raw, and

seldom any other way. But in a great book, which contains a description

of Virginia, you meet with different ways of preparing the Persimon,

under the article of that name. Mr. Bartram, related that they were

commonly put upon the table amongst the sweet-meats, and that some

people made a tolerably good wine of them. Some of these Persimon

fruits were dropped on the ground in his garden, and were almost quite

ripe, having been exposed to a great degree of the heat of the sun. We

picked up a few and tasted them, and I must own that those who praised

this fruit as an agreeable one, have but done it justice. It really

deserves a place among the most palatable fruit of this country, when

the frost has thoroughly conquered its acrimony.

The Verbascum Thapsus, or great white Mullein, grows in great quantity

on roads, in hedges, on dry fields, and high meadows of a ground mixed

with sand. The Swedes here call it the tobacco of the savages, but

owned, that they did not know whether or no the Indians really used

this plant instead of tobacco. The Swedes are used to tie the leaves

round their feet and arms, when they have the ague. Some of them

prepared a tea from the leaves, for the dysentery. A Swede likewise

told me, that a decoction of the roots was injected into the wounds of

the cattle which are full of worms, which killed these worms, and made

them fall out. [23]

September the 28th. The meadows which are surrounded by wood, and were

at present mown, have a fine lively verdure. On the contrary when they

lie on hills, or in open fields, or in some elevated situation,

especially so that the sun may be able to act upon them without any

obstacles, their grass looks brown and dry. Several people from

Virginia told me, that on account of the great heat and drought, the

meadows and pastures almost always had a brown colour, and looked as if

they were burnt. The inhabitants of those parts do not therefore enjoy

the pleasure which a European feels at the sight of our verdant,

odoriferous meadows.

The American Nightshade, or the Phytolacca decandra, grows abundantly

in the fields, and under the trees, on little hills. Its black berries

are now ripe. We observed to day some little birds with a blue plumage,

and of the size of our Hortulans and Yellow Hammers (Emberiza

Citrinella and Emberiza Hortulanus) flying down from the trees, in

order to settle upon the nightshade and eat its berries.

Towards night I went to Mr. Bartram’s country seat.

September the 29th. The Gnaphalium margaritaceum, grows in astonishing

quantities upon all uncultivated fields, glades, hills, and the like.

Its height is different according to its different soil and situation.

Sometimes it is very ramose, and sometimes very little. It has a

strong, but agreeable smell. The English call it Life everlasting; for

its flowers, which consist chiefly of dry, shining, silvery leaves

(Folia calycina) do not change when dried. This plant is now every

where in full blossom. But some have already lost the flowers, and are

beginning to drop the seeds. The English ladies were used to gather

great quantities of this Life everlasting, and to pluck them with the

stalks. For they put them into pots with or without water, amongst

other fine flowers which they had gathered both in the gardens and in

the fields, and placed them as an ornament in the rooms. The English

ladies in general are much inclined to have fine flowers all the summer

long, in or upon the chimneys, sometimes upon a table, or before the

windows, either on account of their fine appearance, or for the sake of

their sweet scent. The Gnaphalium above-mentioned, was one of those,

which they kept in their rooms during the winter, because its flowers

never altered from what they were when they stood in the ground. Mr.

Bartram told me another use of this plant. A decoction of the flowers

and stalks is used to bathe any pained or bruised part, or it is rubbed

with the plant itself tied up in a bag.

Instead of flax several people made use of a kind of Dog’s bane, or

Linnæus’s Apocynum cannabinum. The people prepared the stalks of this

plant, in the same manner as we prepare those of hemp or flax. It was

spun and several kinds of stuffs were woven from it. The savages are

said to have had the art of making bags, fishing-nets, and the like,

for many centuries together, before the arrival of the Europeans.

I asked Mr. Bartram, whether he had observed in his travels, that the

water was fallen, and that the sea had formerly covered any places

which were now land. He told me, that from what he had experienced, he

was convinced that the greatest part of this country, even for several

miles together, had formerly been under water. The reasons which led

him to give credit to this opinion, were the following.

1. On digging in the blue mountains, which are above three hundred

English miles distant from the sea, you find loose oyster and other

sorts of shells, and they are also likewise to be met with in the

vallies formed by these mountains.

2. A vast quantity of petrified shells are found in limestone, flint,

and sandstone, on the same mountains. Mr. Bartram assured me at the

same time, that it was incredible what quantities of them there were in

the different kinds of stones of which the mountains consist.

3. The same shells are likewise dug in great quantity, quite entire and

not mouldered, in the provinces of Virginia and Maryland, as also in

Philadelphia and in New York.

4. On digging wells (not only in Philadelphia, but likewise in other

places) the people have met with trees, roots, and leaves of oak, for

the greatest part, not yet rotten, at the depth of eighteen feet.

5. The best soil and the richest mould is to be met with in the vallies

hereabouts. These vallies are commonly crossed by a rivulet or brook.

And on their declivity, a mountain commonly rises, which in those

places where the brook passes close to it, looks as if it were cut on

purpose. Mr. Bartram believed, that all these vallies formerly were

lakes; that the water had by degrees hollowed out the mountain, and

opened a passage for itself through it; and that the great quantity of

slime which is contained in the water, and which had subsided to the

bottom of the lake, was the rich soil which is at present in the

vallies, and the cause of their great fertility. But such vallies and

cloven mountains are very frequent in the country, and of this kind is

the peculiar gap between two mountains, through which a river takes its

course or boundaries of New York and Pennsylvania. The people in a jest

say, that this opening by the D—l, as he wanted to go out of

Pennsylvania into New York.

6. The whole appearance of the blue mountains, plainly shews that the

water formerly covered at part of them. For many are broken in a

peculiar manner, but the highest are plain.

7. When the savages are told, that shells are found on these high

mountains, and that from thence there is reason to believe that the sea

must formerly have extended to them, and even in part flown over them;

they answer that this is not new to them, they having a tradition from

their ancestors among them, that the sea formerly surrounded these

mountains.

8. The water in rivers and brooks likewise decreases. Mills, which

sixty years ago were built on rivers, and at that time had a sufficient

supply of water almost all the year long, have at present so little,

that they cannot be used, but after a heavy rain, or when the snow

melts in spring. This decrease of water in part arises from the great

quantity of land which is now cultivated, and from the extirpation of

great forests for that purpose.

9. The sea-shore increases likewise in time. This arises from the

quantity of sand continually thrown on shore from the bottom of the

sea, by the waves.

Mr. Bartram thought that some peculiar attention should be paid to

another thing relating to these observations. The shells which are to

be found petrified on the northern mountains, are of such kinds as at

present are not to be got in the sea, in the same latitude, and they

are not fished on the shore, till you come to South Carolina. Mr.

Bartram from hence took an occasion to defend Dr. Thomas Burnet’s

opinion, that the earth before the deluge was in a different position

towards the sun. He likewise asked whether the great bones which are

sometimes found in the ground in Siberia, and which are supposed to be

elephant’s bones and tusks, did not confirm this opinion. For at

present those animals cannot live in such cold countries; but if

according to Dr. Burnet, the sun once formed different zones about our

earth, from those it now makes, the elephant may easily be supposed to

have lived in Siberia. [24] However it seems that all which we have

hitherto mentioned, may have been the effect of different causes. To

those belong the universal deluge, the increase of land which is merely

the work of time, and the changes of the course of rivers, which when

the snow melts and in great floods, leave their first beds, and form

new ones.

At some distance from Mr. Bartram’s country house, a little brook

flowed through the wood, and likewise ran over a rock. The attentive

Mr. Bartram here shewed me several little cavities in the rock, and we

plainly saw that they must have been generated in the manner I before

described, that is, by supposing a pebble to have remained in a cleft

of the rock, and to have been turned round by the violence of the

water, till it had formed such cavity in the mountain. For on putting

our hands into one of these cavities, we found that it contained

numerous small pebbles, whose surface was quite smooth and round. And

these stones we found in each of the holes.

Mr. Bartram shewed me a number of plants which he had collected into a

herbal on his travels. Among these were the following, which likewise

grow in the northern parts of Europe, of which he had either got the

whole plants, or only broken branches.

1. Betula alba. The common birch tree, which he had found on the

cats-hills.

2. Betula nana. This species of birch grows in several low places

towards the hills.

3. Comarum palustre, in the meadows, between the hills in New

Jersey.

4. Gentiana lutea, the great Gentian, from the fields near the

mountains. It was very like our variety, but had not so many

flowers under each leaf.

5. Linnæa borealis, from the mountains in Canada. It creeps along

the ground.

6. Myrica Gale, from the neighbourhood of the river Susquehanna,

where it grows in a wet soil.

7. Potentilla fruticosa, from the swampy fields and low meadows,

between the river Delaware, and the river New York.

8. Trientalis Europæa, from the cats-hills.

9. Triglochin maritimum, from the salt springs towards the country

of the five nations.

Mr. Bartram shewed me a letter from East Jersey, in which he got the

following account of the discovery of an Indian grave. In the April of

the year 1744, as some people were digging a cellar, they came upon a

great stone, like a tombstone, which was at last got out with great

difficulty, and about four feet deeper under it, they met with a large

quantity of human bones and a cake of maize. The latter was yet quite

untouched, and several of the people present tasted it out of

curiosity. From these circumstances it was concluded that this was a

grave of a person of note among the savages. For it is their custom to

bury along with the deceased, meat any other things which he liked

best. The stone was eight feet long, four feet broad, and even some

inches more where it was broadest, and fifteen inches thick at one end,

but only twelve inches at the other end. It consisted of the same

coarse kind of stone, that is to be got in this country. There were no

letters nor other characters visible on it.

The corn which the Indians chiefly cultivate is the Maize, or Zea Mays,

Linn. Then have little corn fields for that purpose. But besides this,

they likewise plant a great quantity of Squashes, a species of pumpions

or melons, which they have always cultivated, even in the remotest

ages. The Europeans settled in America, got the seeds of this plant,

and at present their gardens are full of it, the fruit has an agreeable

taste when it is well prepared. They are commonly boiled, then crushed

(as we are used to do with turneps when we make a pulse of them) and

some pepper or other spice thrown upon them, and the dish is ready. The

Indians likewise sow several kinds of beans, which for the greatest

part they have got from the Europeans. But pease which they likewise

sow, they have always had amongst them, before any foreigners came into

the country. The squashes of the Indians, which now are likewise

cultivated by the Europeans, belong to those kinds of gourds

(cucurbita,) which ripen before any other. They are a very delicious

fruit, but will not keep. I have however seen them kept till pretty

laid In winter.

September the 30th. Wheat and rye are sown in autumn about this time,

and commonly reaped towards the end of June, or in the beginning of

July. These kinds of corn, however, are sometimes ready to be reaped in

the middle of June, and there are even examples that they have been

mown in the beginning of that month. Barley and oats are sown in April,

and they commonly begin to grow ripe towards the end of July.

Buck-wheat is sown in the middle or at the end of July, and is about

this time, or somewhat later, ready to be reaped. If it be sown before

the above-mentioned time, as in May, or in June, it only gives flowers,

and little or no corn.

Mr. Bartram and other people assured me, that most of the cows which

the English have here, are the offspring of those which they bought of

the Swedes when they were masters of the country. The English

themselves are said to have brought over but few. The Swedes either

brought their cattle from home, or bought them of the Dutch, who were

then settled here.

Near the town, I saw an Ivy or Hedera Helix, planted against the wall

of a stone building, which was so covered by the fine green leaves of

this plant, as almost to conceal the whole. It was doubtless brought

over from Europe, for I have never perceived it any where else on my

travels through North-America. But in its stead I have often seen wild

vines made to run up the walls.

I asked Mr. Bartram, whether he had observed, that trees and plants

decreased in proportion as they were brought further to the North, as

Catesby pretends? He answered, that the question should be more

limited, and then his opinion would prove the true one. There are some

trees which grow better in southern countries, and become less as you

advance to the north. Their seeds or berries are sometimes brought into

colder climates by birds and by other accidents. They gradually

decrease in growth, till at last they will not grow at all. On the

other hand, there are other trees and herbs which the wise Creator

destined for the northern countries, and they grow there to an amazing

size. But the further they are transplanted to the south, the less they

grow; till at last they degenerate so much as not to be able to grow at

all. Other plants love a temperate climate, and if they be carried

either south or north, they will not succeed well, but always decrease.

Thus for example Pensylvania contains some trees which grow exceedingly

well, but always decrease in proportion as they are carried further off

either to the north, or to the south.

I afterwards on my travels, had frequent proofs of this truth. The

Sassafras, which grows in Pensylvania, under forty deg. of lat. and

becomes a pretty tall and thick tree, was so little at Oswego and Fort

Nicholson, between forty-three. and forty-four deg. of lat. that it

hardly reached the height of two or four feet, and was seldom so thick

as the little finger of a full grown person. This was likewise the case

with the Tulip tree. For in Pensylvania it grows as high as our tallest

oaks and firs, and its thickness is proportionable to its height. But

about Oswego it was not above twelve feet high, and no thicker than a

man’s arm. The Sugar Maple, or Acer saccharinum, is one of the most

common trees in the woods of Canada, and grows very tall. But in the

southern provinces, as New Jersey and Pensylvania, it only grows on the

northern side of the blue mountains, and on the steep hills which are

on the banks of the river, and which are turned to the north. Yet there

it does not attain to a third or fourth part of the height which it has

in Canada. It is needless to mention more examples.

October the 1st. The gnats which are very troublesome at night here,

are called Musquetoes. They are exactly like the gnats in Sweden, only

somewhat less, and the description which is to be met with in Dr.

Linnæus’s Systema Naturæ, and Fauna Suecica, fully agrees with them,

and they are called by him Culex pipiens. In day time or at night they

come into the houses, and when the people are gone to bed they begin

their disagreeable humming, approach always nearer to the bed, and at

last suck up so much blood, that they can hardly fly away. Their bite

causes blisters in people of a delicate complexion. When the weather

has been cool for some days, the musquetoes disappear. But when it

changes again, and especially after a rain, they gather frequently in

such quantities about the houses, that their numbers are astonishing.

The chimneys of the English which have no valves for shutting them up,

afford the gnats a free entrance into the houses. In sultry evenings,

they accompany the cattle in great swarms, from the woods to the houses

or to town, and when they are drove before the houses, the gnats fly in

wherever they can. In the greatest heat of summer, they are so numerous

in some places, that the air seems to be quite full of them, especially

near swamps and stagnant waters, such as the river Morris in New

Jersey. The inhabitants therefore make a fire before their houses to

expell these disagreeable guests by the smoak. The old Swedes here,

said that gnats had formerly been much more numerous; that even at

present they swarmed in vast quantities on the sea shore near the salt

water, and that those which troubled us this autumn in Philadelphia

were of a more venomous kind, than they commonly used to be. This last

quality appeared from the blisters, which were formed on the spots,

where the gnats had inserted their sting. In Sweden I never felt any

other inconvenience from their sting, than a little itching; whilst

they sucked. But when they stung me here at night, my face was so

disfigured by little red spots and blisters, that I was almost ashamed

to shew myself.

I have already mentioned somewhat about the enclosures usual here; I

now add, that most of the planks which are put horizontally, and of

which the enclosures in the environs of Philadelphia chiefly consist,

are of the red cedar wood, which is here reckoned more durable than any

other. But where this could not be got, either white or black oak

supplied its place. The people were likewise very glad if they could

get cedar wood for the posts, or else they took white oak, or chesnut,

as I was told by Mr. Bartram. But it seems that that kind of wood in

general does not keep well in the ground for a considerable time. I saw

some posts made of chesnut wood, and put into the ground only the year

before, which were already for the greatest part rotten below.

The Sassafras tree, or Laurus Sassafras, Linn. grows in abundance in

the country, and stands scattered up and down the woods, and near

bushes and enclosures. On old grounds, which are left uncultivated, it

is one of the first that comes up, and is as plentiful as young birches

are on those Swedish fields, which are formed by burning the trees

which grew on them. [25] The sassafras grows in a dry loose ground, of

a pale brick colour, which consists for the greatest part of sand,

mixed with some clay. It seems to be but a poor soil. The mountains

round Gothenburgh, in Sweden, would afford many places rich enough for

the Sassafras to grow in, and I even fear they would be too rich. I

here saw it both in the woods amidst other trees, and more frequently

by itself along the enclosures. In both it looks equally fresh. I have

never seen it on wet or low places. The people here gather its flowers,

and use them instead of tea. But the wood itself is of no use in

œconomy; for when it is set on fire, it causes a continual crackling,

without making any good fire. The tree spreads its roots very much, and

new shoots come up from them in some places; but these shoots are not

good for transplanting, because they have so few fibres besides the

root, which connects them to the main stem, that they cannot well

strike into the ground. If therefore any one would plant Sassafras

trees he must endeavour to get their berries, which however is

difficult, since the birds eat them before they are half ripe. The cows

are very greedy after the tender new shoots, and look for them every

where.

The bark of this tree is used by the women here in dying worsted a fine

lasting orange colour, which does not fade in the sun. They use urine

instead of alum in dying, and boil the dye in a brass boiler, because

in an iron vessel it does not yield so fine a colour. A woman in

Virginia has successfully employed the berries of the Sassafras against

a great pain in one of her feet, which for three years together she had

to such a degree, that it almost hindered her from walking. She was

advised to broil the berries of sassafras, and to rub the painful parts

of her foot with the oil, which by this means would be got from the

berries. She did so, but at the same time it made her vomit; yet this

was not sufficient to keep her from following the prescription three

times more, though as often as she made use thereof, it always had the

same effect. However she was entirely freed from that pain, and

perfectly recovered.

A black Woodpecker with a red head, or the Picus pileatus, Linn. is

frequent in the Pensylvanian forests, and stays the winter, as I know

from my own experience. It is reckoned among those birds which destroy

the maize; because it settles on the ripe ears, and destroys them with

its bill. The Swedes call it Tillkroka, but all other woodpeckers,

those with gold yellow wings excepted, are called Hackspickar in the

Swedish language. I intend to describe them altogether more exactly in

a particular work. I only observe here, that almost all the different

species of woodpeckers are very noxious to the maize, when it begins to

ripen: for by picking holes in the membrane round the ear, the rain

gets into it, and causes the ear with all the corn it contains to rot.

October the 3d. In the morning I set out for Wilmington, which was

formerly called Christina by the Swedes, and is thirty English miles to

the south west of Philadelphia. Three miles behind Philadelphia I

passed the river Skulkill in a ferry, beyond which the country appears

almost a continual chain of mountains and vallies. The mountains have

an easy slope on all sides, and the vallies are commonly crossed by

brooks with crystal streams. The greater part of the country is covered

with several kinds of deciduous trees; for I scarcely saw a single tree

of the fir kind, if I except a few red cedars. The forest was high, but

open below, so that it left a free prospect to the eye, and no

under-wood obstructed the passage between the trees. It would have been

easy in some places to have gone under the branches with a carriage for

a quarter of a mile, the trees standing at great distances from each

other, and the ground being very level. In some places little glades

opened, which were either meadows, pastures, or corn-fields; of which

latter some were cultivated and others not. In a few places, several

houses were built close to each other. But for the greatest part they

were single. In part of the fields the wheat was already sown, in the

English manner without trenches, but with furrows pretty close

together. I sometimes saw the country people very busy in sowing their

rye. Near every farm-house was a little field with maize. The

inhabitants hereabouts were commonly either English or Swedes.

All the day long I saw a continual variety of trees; walnut trees of

different sorts, which were all full of nuts; chesnut trees quite

covered with fine chesnuts; mulberries, sassafras, liquidambar, tulip

trees, and many others.

Several species of vines grew wild hereabouts. They run up to the

summits of the trees, their clusters of grapes and their leaves

covering the stems. I even saw some young oaks five or six fathoms

high, whose tops were crowned with vines. The ground is that which is

so common hereabouts, which I have already described, viz. a clay mixed

with a great quantity of sand, and covered with a rich soil or

vegetable earth. The vines are principally seen on trees which stand

single in corn-fields, and at the end of woods, where the meadows,

pastures, and fields begin, and likewise along the enclosures, where

they cling with their tendrils round the trees which stand there. The

lower parts of the plant are full of grapes, which hang below the

leaves, and were now almost ripe, and had a pleasant sourish taste. The

country people gather them in great quantities, and sell them in the

town. They are eaten without further preparation, and commonly people

are presented with them when they come to pay a visit.

The soil does not seem to be deep hereabouts; for the upper black

stratum is hardly two inches. This I had an occasion to see both in

such places where the ground is dug up, and in such where the water,

during heavy flowers of rain, has made cuts, which are pretty numerous

here. The upper soil has a dark colour, and the next a pale colour like

bricks. I have observed everywhere in America, that the depth of the

upper soil does not by far agree with the computation of some people,

though we can almost be sure, that in some places it never was stirred

since the deluge. I shall be more particular in this respect

afterwards. [26]

The Datura Stramonium, or Thorn Apple, grows in great quantities near

all the villages. Its height is different according to the soil it is

in. For in a rich soil it grows eight or ten feet high, but in a hard

and poor ground, it will seldom come up to six inches. This Datura,

together with the Phytolacca, or American Nightshade, grow here in

those places near the gardens, houses, and roads, which in Sweden are

covered with nettles and goose-foot, which European plants are very

scarce in America. But the Datura and Phytolacca are the worst weeds

here, nobody knowing any particular use of them.

Turnep-fields are sometimes to be seen. In the middle of the highroad I

perceived a dead black snake, which was four feet six inches long, and

an inch and a half in thickness. It belonged to the viper kind.

Late at night a great Halo appeared round the moon. The people said

that it prognosticated either a storm, or rain, or both together. The

smaller the ring is, or the nearer it comes to the moon, the sooner

this weather sets in. But this time neither of these changes happened,

and the halo had foretold a coldness in the air.

I saw to-day the Chermes of the alder (Chermes Alni) in great abundance

on the branches of that tree, which for that reason looks quite white,

and at a distance appears as it were covered with mould.

October the 4th. I continued my journey early in the morning, and the

country still had the same appearance as I went on. It was a continual

chain of pretty high hills, with an easy ascent on all sides, and of

vallies between them. The soil consisted of a brick coloured mould,

mixed with clay, and a few pebbles, I rode sometimes through woods of

several sorts of trees, and sometimes amidst little fields, which had

been cleared of the wood, and which at present were corn-fields,

meadows, and pastures. The farm-houses stood single, sometimes near the

roads, and sometimes at a little distance from them, so that the space

between the road and the houses was taken up with little fields and

meadows. Some of the houses were built of stone, two stories high, and

covered with shingles of the white cedar. But most of the houses were

wooden, and the crevices stopped up with clay, instead of moss, which

we make use of for that purpose. No valves were to be met with in the

chimneys, and the people even did not know what I meant by them. The

ovens were commonly built up at some distance from the houses, and were

either under a roof, or without any covering against the weather. The

fields bore partly buck-wheat, which was not yet cut, partly maize, and

partly wheat, which was but lately sown; but sometimes they lay fallow.

The vines climbed to the top of several trees, and hung down again on

both sides. Other trees again were surrounded by the ivy (Hedera

quinquefolia) which with the same flexibility ascended to a great

height. The Smilax laurifolia always joined with the ivy, and together

with it twisted itself round the trees. The leaves of the ivy were at

this time commonly reddish, but those of the vine were still quite

green. The trees which were surrounded with them, looked at a distance

like those which are covered with hops in our country, (and on seeing

them from afar off, one might expect to find wild hops climbing upon

the trees.) Walnut and chesnut trees were common near enclosures, in

woods, and on hills, and at present were loaded with their fruit. The

persimon was likewise plentiful near the roads, and in the woods. It

had a great quantity of fruit, but they were not yet fit for eating,

since the frost had not softened them. At some distance from

Wilmington, I passed a bridge over a little river, which falls north

into the Delaware. The rider pays here twopence toll for himself and

his horse.

Towards noon I arrived at Wilmington.

Wilmington is a little town, about thirty English miles south-west from

Philadelphia. It was founded in the year 1733. Part of it stands upon

the grounds belonging to the Swedish church, which annually receives

certain rents, out of which they pay the minister’s salary, and employ

the rest for other uses. The houses are built of stone, and look very

pretty; yet they are not built close together, but large open places

are left between them. The quakers have a meeting-house in this town.

The Swedish church, which I intend to mention in the sequel, is half a

mile out of town eastwards. The parsonage is under the same roof with

the church. A little river called Christina-kill passes by the town,

and from thence falls into the Delaware. By following its banks one

goes three miles before one reaches the Delaware. The river is said to

be sufficiently deep, so that the greatest vessel may come quite up to

the town: for at its mouth or juncture with the Delaware, it is

shallowest, and yet its depth even there when the water is lowest, is

from two fathoms to two and a half. But as you go higher its depth

encreases to three, three and a half, and even four fathoms. The

largest ships therefore may safely, and with their full cargoes come

to, and from the town with the tide. from Wilmington, you have a fine

prospect of a great part of the river Delaware, and the ships sailing

on it. On both sides of the river Christina-kill, almost from the place

where the redoubt is built to its juncture with the Delaware, are low

meadows, which afford a great quantity of hay to the inhabitants. The

town carries on a considerable trade, and would have been more

enlarged, if Philadelphia and Newcastle, which are both towns of a more

ancient date, were not so near on both sides of it.

The Redoubt upon the river Christina-kill, was erected this summer,

when it was known that the French and Spanish privateers intended to

sail up the river, and to attempt a landing. It stands, according to

the accounts of the late Rev. Mr. Tranberg, on the same spot, where the

Swedes had built theirs. It is remarkable, that on working in the

ground this summer, to make this redoubt, an old Swedish silver coin of

Queen Christina, not quite so big as a shilling was found at the depth

of a yard, among some other things. The Rev. Mr. Tranberg afterwards

presented me with it. On one side were the arms of the house of Wasa

with the inscription: CHRISTINA, D. G. DE. RE. SVE. that is, Christina,

by the grace of God, elected Queen of Sweden; and near this the year of

our Lord 1633. On the reverse were these words: MONETA NOVA REGNI SVEC.

or, a new coin of the kingdom of Sweden. At the same time a number of

old iron tools, such as axes, shovels, and the like, were discovered.

The redoubt, that is now erected, consists of bulwarks of planks, with

a rampart on the outside. Near it is the powder magazine, in a vault

built of bricks. At the erection of this little fortification it was

remarkable, that the quakers, whose tenets reject even defensive war,

were as busy as the other people in building it. For the fear of being

every moment suddenly attacked by privateers, conquered all other

thoughts. Many of them scrupled to put their own hands to the work; but

forwarded, it by supplies of money, and by getting ready every thing,

which was necessary.

October the 5th. It was my design to cross the Delaware, and to get

into New Jersey with a view to get acquainted with the country; but as

there was no ferry here to bring my horse over, I set out on my return

to Philadelphia. I partly went along the high road, and partly deviated

on one or the other side of it, in order to take more exact

observations of the country, and of its natural history.

The maize, was sown in several places. In some its stalks were cut

somewhat below the ear, dried and put up in narrow high stacks, in

order to keep them as a food for the cattle in winter. The lower part

of the stalk had likewise leaves, but as they commonly dry of

themselves, the people do not like to feed the cattle with them, all

their flavour being lost: But the upper ones are cut, whilst they are

yet green.

The vallies between the hills commonly contain brooks: but they are not

very broad, and require no bridges, so that carriages and horse can

easily pass through them, for the water is seldom above six inches

deep.

The leaves of most trees were yet quite green, such as those of oaks,

chesnut trees, black walnut trees, hiccory, tulip trees, and sassafras.

The two latter species are found in plenty on the sides of the little

woods, on hills, on the fallow fields, near hedges, and on the road.

The persimon likewise had still its leaves; however some trees of this

kind had dropt them. The leaves of the American bramble were at present

almost entirely red, though some of these bushes yet retained a lively

green in the leaves. The Cornelian cherry likewise had already a

mixture of brown and pale leaves. The leaves of the red maple were also

red.

I continued my journey to Chichester, a borough upon the Delaware,

where travellers pass the river in a ferry. They build here every year

a number of small ships for sale. From an iron work which lies higher

in the country, they carry iron bars to this place, and ship them.

Canoes are boats made of one piece of wood, and are much in use with

the farmers, and other people upon the Delaware, and some little

rivers. For that purpose a very thick trunk of a tree is hollowed out;

the red juniper or red cedar tree, the white cedar, the chesnut tree,

the white oak, and the tulip tree are commonly made use of for this

purpose. The canoes made of red and white cedar are reckoned the best,

because they swim very light upon the water, and last twenty years

together. But of these, the red cedar canoes are most preferable. Those

made of chesnut trees will likewise last for a good while. But those of

white oak are hardly serviceable above six years, and also swim deep,

because they are so heavy. The Liquidambar tree, or Liquidambar

styraciflua, Linn. is big enough but unfit making canoes, because it

imbibes the water. The canoes which are made of the tulip tree, scarce

last as long as those of white oak. The size of the canoes is

different, according to the purposes they are destined for. They can

carry six persons; who however, must by no means be unruly, but sit at

the bottom of the canoe in the quietest manner possible, lest the boat

overset. The Swedes in Pensylvania and New Jersey near the rivers, have

no other boats to go to Philadelphia in, which they commonly do twice a

week on the market days, though they be several miles distant from the

town, and meet sometimes with severe storms; yet misfortunes from the

oversetting, &c; of these canoes are seldom heard of, though they might

well be expected on account of the small size of this kind of boats.

However a great deal of attention and care is necessary in managing the

canoes, when the wind is somewhat violent; for they are narrow, round

below, have no keel, and therefore may easily be overset. Accordingly

when the wind is more brisk than ordinary, the people make for the

land.

The common garden cresses grow in several places on the roads about

Chichester, and undoubtedly come from the seeds, which were by chance

carried out of the many gardens about that town.

The American brambles are here in great plenty. When a field is left

uncultivated, they are the first plants that appear on it; and I

frequently observed them in such fields as are annually ploughed, and

have corn sown on them. For when these bushes are once rooted, they are

not easily extirpated. Such a bush runs out tendrils sometimes four

fathoms off its root, and then throws a new root, so that on pulling it

up, you meet with roots on both ends. On some old grounds, which had

long been uncultivated, there were so many bushes of this kind, that it

was very troublesome and dangerous walking in them. A wine is made of

the berries, as I have already mentioned. The berries are likewise

eaten when they are ripe, and taste well. No other use is made of them.

October the 6th. The Chenopodium anthelminticum is very plentiful on

the road, and on the banks of the river, but chiefly in dry places in a

loose sandy soil. The English who are settled here, call it Wormseed

and Jerusalem Oak. It has a disagreeable scent. In Pensylvania and New

Jersey its seeds are given to children, against the worms, and for that

purpose they are excellent. The plant itself is spontaneous in both

provinces.

The environs of Chichester, contain many gardens, which are full of

apple trees, sinking under the weight of innumerable apples. Most of

them are winter fruit, and therefore were yet quite sour. Each farm has

a garden, and so has each house of the better sort. The extent of these

gardens is likewise not inconsiderable, and therefore affords, the

possessor all the year long, great supplies in his house-keeping, both

for eating and drinking. I frequently was surprized at the prudence of

the inhabitants of this country. As soon as one has bought a piece of

ground, which is neither built upon nor sown, his first care is to get

young apple trees, and to make a garden. He next proceeds to build his

house, and lastly prepares the uncultivated ground to receive corn. For

it is well known that the trees require many years before they arrive

to perfection, and this makes it necessary to plant them first. I now

perceived near the farms, mills, wheels, and other instruments which

are made use of in crushing the apples, in order to prepare cyder from

them afterwards.

From Chichester I went on towards Philadelphia. The oaks were the most

plentiful trees in the wood. But there were several species of them,

all different from the European ones. The swine now went about in great

herds in the oak woods, where they fed upon the acorns which fell in

great abundance from the trees. Each hog had a wooden triangular yoke

about its neck, by which it was hindered from penetrating through the

holes in the enclosures; and for this reason, the enclosures are made

very slender, and easy to put up, and do not require much wood. No

other enclosures are in use, but those which are so like sheep hurdles.

A number of squirrels were in the oak woods, partly running on the

ground, and partly leaping from one branch to another; and at this time

they chiefly fed upon acorns.

I seldom saw beach trees; but I found them quite the same with the

European ones. Their wood is reckoned very good for making joiner’s

planes of.

I do not remember seeing any other than the black Ants, or Formica

nigra in Pensylvania. They are as black as a coal, and of two sorts,

some very little, like the least of our ants, and others of the size of

our common reddish ants. I have not yet observed any hills of theirs,

but only seen some running about singly. In other parts of America, I

have likewise found other species of ants, as I intend to remark in the

sequel.

The common Privet, or Ligustrum vulgare, is made use of in many places,

as a hedge round corn-fields and gardens, and on my whole voyage, I did

not see that any other trees were made use of for this purpose, though

the Englishmen here, well know that the hawthorn makes a much better

hedge. The privet hedges grow very thick and close, but having no

spines, the hogs, and even other animals break easily through them; and

when they have once made a hole, it requires a long while before it

grows up again. But when the hedges consist of spinose bushes, the

cattle will hardly attempt to get through them.

About noon I came through Chester, a little market-town which lies on

the Delaware. A rivulet coming down out of the country, passes through

this place, and discharges itself into the Delaware. There is a bridge

over it. The houses stand dispersed. Most of them are built of stone,

and two or three stories high; some are however made of wood. In the

town is a church, and a market-place.

Wheat was now sown every where. In some places it was already green,

having been sown four weeks before. The wheat fields were made in the

English manner, having no ditches in them, but numerous furrows for

draining the water, at the distance of four or six foot from one

another. Great stumps of the trees which had been cut down, are every

where seen on the fields, and this shews that the country has been but

lately cultivated.

The roots of the trees do not go deep into the ground, but spread

horizontally. I had opportunities of observing this in several places

where the trees were dug up; for I seldom saw one, whose roots went

above a foot deep into the ground, though it was a loose soil.

About two English miles behind Chester, I passed by an iron forge,

which was to the right hand by the road side. It belonged to two

brothers, as I was told. The ore however is not dug here, but thirty or

forty miles from hence, where it is first melted in the oven, and then

carried to this place. The bellows were made of leather, and both they

and the hammers, and even the hearth, but small in proportion to ours.

All the machines were worked by water. The iron was wrought into bars.

To day I remarked, as I have since frequently seen on my travels in

this country, that horses are very greedy of apples. When they are let

into an orchard to feed upon the grass, if there are any apples on the

ground, they frequently leave the fresh green grass, and eat the

apples, which, however, are not reckoned a good food for them; and

besides that, it is too expensive.

The red Maple, or Acer rubrum is plentiful in these places. Its proper

situations are chiefly swampy, wet places, in which the alder commonly

is its companion. Out of its wood they make plates, spinning-wheels,

rolls, feet for chairs and beds, and all sorts of work. With the bark,

they dye both worsted and linnen, giving it a dark blue colour. For

that purpose it is first boiled in water; and some copperas, such as

the hat-makers and shoe-makers commonly make use of, is added, before

the stuff (which is to be dyed) is put into the boiler. This bark

likewise affords a good black ink. When the tree is felled early in

spring, a sweet juice runs out of it, like that which runs out of our

birches. This juice they do not make any use of here, but in Canada,

they make both treacle and sugar of it. Here is a variety of this tree

which they call the curled Maple, the wood being as it were marbled

within; it is much used in all kinds of joiner’s work, and the utensils

made of this wood, are preferable to those made of any other sort of

wood in the country, and are much dearer than those made of the wood of

the wild cherry trees (Prunus Virginiana) or of black walnut trees. But

the most valuable utensils were those made of curled black walnut, for

that is an excessive scarce kind of wood. The curled maple was likewise

very uncommon, and you frequently find trees, whose outsides are

marbled, but their inside not. The tree is therefore cut very deep

before it is felled, to see whether it has veins in every part.

In the evening I reached Philadelphia.

October the 7th. In the morning we crossed the Delaware in a boat to

the other side which belongs to New Jersey, each person paying

fourpence for his passage. The country here is very different from that

in Pensylvania; for here the ground is almost mere sand, but in the

other province it is mixed with a good deal of clay, and this makes the

ground pretty rich. The discoveries which I made to day of insects and

plants, I intend to mention in another work.

A soil like this in New Jersey, one might be led to think, could

produce nothing because it is so dry and poor. Yet the maize which is

planted on it grows extremely well, and we saw many fields filled with

it. The earth is of that kind in which tobacco commonly succeeds, but

it is not near so rich. The stalks of maize are commonly eight feet

high, more or less, and are full of leaves. The maize is planted as

usual in rows, in little squares, so that there is a space of five feet

and six inches between each square, both in length and breadth; on each

of these little hills three or four stalks come up, which were not yet

cut for the cattle; each stalk again has from one to four ears, which

are large and full of corn. A sandy ground could never have been better

employed. In some places the ground between the maize is ploughed, and

rye sown in it, so that when the maize is cut, the rye remains upon the

field.

We frequently saw Asparagus growing near the enclosures, in a loose

soil, on uncultivated sandy fields. It is likewise plentiful between

the maize, and was at present full of berries, but I cannot tell

whether the seeds are carried by the wind to the places where I saw

them; it is however certain, that I have likewise seen it growing wild

in other parts of America.

The Worm-seed, is likewise plentiful on the roads, in a sandy ground

such as that near the ferry opposite to Philadelphia. I have already

mentioned that it is given to children, as a remedy to carry off the

worms. It is then put into brandy, and when it has been in it for one

hour, it is taken out again, dried and given to the children, either in

beer sweetened with treacle, or in any other liquor. Its effects talked

of differently. Some people say it kills the worms, others again

pretend that it forwards their encrease. But I know by my own

experience, that this wormseed has had very good effects upon children.

The Purslain, which we cultivate in our gardens, grows wild in great

abundance in the loose soil amongst the maize. It was there creeping on

the ground, and its stalks were pretty thick and succulent; which

circumstance very justly gave reason to wonder from whence it could get

juice sufficient to supply it in such a dry ground. It is to be found

plentiful in such soil, in other places of this country.

The Bidens bipinnata, is here called Spanish Needles. It grows single

about farm houses, near roads, pales and along the hedges. It was yet

partly in flower; but for the greatest part it was already out of

blossom. When its seeds are ripe it is very disagreeable walking where

it grows. For they stick to the cloaths and make them black; and it is

difficult to discharge the black spots which they occasion. Each seed

has three spines at its extremity; and each of these again is full of

numerous little hooks, by which the seed fastens itself to the cloaths.

In the woods and along the hedges in this neighbourhood, some single

red Ants, (Formica rubra) crept about, and their antennæ or feel-horns

were as long as their bodies.

Towards night we returned to Philadelphia.

October the 8th. The shore of Pensylvania has a great quantity of the

finest oysters. About this time the people began to bring them to

Philadelphia for sale. They come from that part of the shore, which is

near the mouth of the river Delaware. They are reckoned as good as the

New York oysters, of which I shall make more particular mention

afterwards. However I thought that this latter sort of oysters was

generally larger, fatter and more palatable. It is remarkable that they

commonly became palatable at the time when the agues had left off their

fury. Some men went with whole carts full of oysters, crying them about

the streets; this is unusual here when any thing else is to be sold,

but in London it is very common. The oyster shells are thrown away,

though formerly a lime was burnt from them, which has been found

unnecessary, there being stones for burning of lime in this

neighbourhood, and the lime of oyster shells not being as good as this

other lime. The people shewed me some of houses in this town which were

built of stone, and to the mason work of which the lime of oyster

shells had been employed. The walls of these houses were always so wet

two or three days before a rain, that great drops of water could

plainly be perceived on them; and thus they were as good as

Hygrometers. [27] Several people who had lived in this kind of houses

complained of these inconveniences.

October the 9th. Pease are not much cultivated in Pensylvania at

present, though formerly, according to the accounts of some old Swedes,

every farmer had a little field with pease. In New Jersey and the

southern parts of New York, pease are likewise not so much cultivated

as they used to be. But in the northern parts of New York, or about

Albany, and in all the parts of Canada which are inhabited by the

French, the people sow great quantities, and have a plentiful crop. In

the former colonies, a little despicable insect has obliged the people

to give up so useful a part of agriculture. This little insect was

formerly little known, but a few years ago it multiplied excessively.

It couples in summer, about the time when the pease are in blossom, and

then deposites an egg into almost every one of the little pease. When

the pease are ripe, their outward appearance does not discover the

worm, which, however, is found within, when it is cut. This worm lies

in the pea, if it is not stirred during all the winter, and part of the

spring, and in that space of time consumes the greatest part of the

inside of the pea: In spring therefore little more than the mere thin

outward skin is left. This worm at last changes into an insect, of the

coleoptera class, and in that state creeps through a hole of its own

making in the husk, and flies off, in order to look for new fields of

pease, in which it may couple with its cogeneric insects, and provide

food sufficient for its posterity.

This noxious insect has spread from Pensylvania to the north. For the

country of New York, where it is common at present, has not been

plagued with it above twelve or fifteen years ago; and before that time

the people sowed pease every year without any inconvenience, and had

excellent crops. But by degrees these little enemies came in such

numbers, that the inhabitants were forced to leave off sowing of pease.

The people complained of this in several places. The country people

about Albany have yet the pleasure to see their fields of pease not

infected by these beetles, but are always afraid of their approach; as

it has been observed they come every year nearer to that province.

I know not whether this insect would live in Europe, and I should think

our Swedish winters must kill the worm, even if it be ever so deeply

inclosed in the pea; notwithstanding it is often as cold in New York

(where this insect is so abundant) as in our country, yet it continues

to multiply here every year, and proceeds always farther to the north.

I was very near bringing some of these vermin into Europe, without

knowing of it. At my departure from America, I took some sweet peas

with me in a paper, and they were at that time quite fresh and green.

But on opening the paper after my arrival at Stockholm, on August the

1st. 1751; I found all the peas hollow, and the head of an infect

peeping out of each. Some of these insects even crept out, in order to

try the weather of this new climate; but I made haste, to shut the

paper again, in order to prevent the spreading of this noxious insect.

[28] I own, that when I first perceived them, I was more frightened

than I should have been at the sight of a viper. For I at once had a

full view of the whole damage, which my dear country would have

suffered, if only two or three of these noxious insects had escaped me.

The posterity of many families, and even the inhabitants of whole

provinces, would have had sufficient reason to detest me as the cause

of so great a calamity. I afterwards sent some of them, though well

secured, to count Tessin, and to Dr. Linnæus, together with an account

of their destructive qualities. Dr. Linnæus has already inserted a

description of them in an Academical Dissertation, which has been drawn

up under his presidency, and treats of the damages made by insects.

[29] He there calls this insect the Bruchus of North-America. [30] It

was very peculiar that every pea in the paper was eaten without

exception.

When the inhabitants of Pensylvania sow pease procured from abroad,

they are not commonly attacked by these insects for the first year; but

in the next they take possession of the pea. It is greatly to be wished

that none of the ships which annually depart from New York or

Pensylvania, may bring them into the European countries. From hence the

power of a single despicable insect will plainly appear; as also, that

the study of the œconomy and of the qualities of insects, is not to be

looked upon as a mere pastime and useless employment. [31]

The Rhus radicans is a shrub or tree which grows abundantly in this

country, and has in common with the ivy, called Hedera arborea, the

quality of not growing without the support either of a tree, a wall, or

a hedge. I have seen it climbing to the very top of high trees in the

woods, and its branches shoot out every where little roots, which

fasten upon the tree and as it were enter into it. When the stem is

cut, it emits a pale brown sap of a disagreeable scent. This sap is so

sharp that the letters and characters made upon linnen with it, cannot

be got out again, but grow blacker the more the cloath is washed. Boys

commonly marked their names on their linnen with this juice. If you

write with it on paper, the letters never go out, but grow blacker from

time to time.

This species of Sumach has the same noxious qualities as the poisonous

sumach, or Poison-tree, which I have above described, being poisonous

to some people, though not to every one. Therefore all that has been

said of the poison tree is likewise applicable to this; excepting that

the former has the stronger poison. However I have seen people who have

been as much swelled from the noxious exhalations of the latter, as

they could have been from those of the former. I likewise know that of

two sisters, the one could manage the tree without being affected by

its venom, though the other immediately felt it as soon as the

exhalations of the tree came near her, or when ever she came a yard too

near the tree, and even when she stood in the way of the wind, which

blew directly from this shrub. But upon me this species of sumach has

never exherted its power, though I made above a hundred experiments

upon myself with the greatest stems, and the juice once squirted into

my eye, without doing me any harm. On another person’s hand which I had

covered very thick with it, the skin a few hours after became as hard

as a piece of tanned leather, and peeled off in the following days, as

if little scales fell from it.

October the 10th. In the morning I accompanied Mr. Cock to his country

seat, which is about nine miles from Philadelphia to the north.

Though the woods of Pensylvania afford many oaks, and more species of

them than are found further north, yet they do not build so many ships

in this province as they do in the northern ones, and especially in New

England. But experience has taught the people that the same kind of

trees is more durable the further it grows to the north, and that this

advantage decreases the more it grows in warm climates. It is likewise

plain that the trees in the south grow more every year, and form

thicker ringlets than those in the north. The former have likewise much

greater tubes for the circulation of the sap than the latter. And for

this reason they do not build so many ships in Pensylvania, as they do

in New England, though more than in Virginia and Maryland; but Carolina

builds very few, and its merchants get all their ships from New

England. Those which are here made of the best oak, hardly are

serviceable above ten, or at most twelve years; for then they are so

rotten, that no body ventures to go to sea in them, Many captains of

ships come over from England to North-America, in order to get ships

built. But most of them choose New England, that being the most

northerly province; and if they even come over in ships which are bound

for Philadelphia, they frequently on their arrival set out from

Pensylvania for New England. The Spaniards in the West Indies are said

to build their ships of a peculiar sort of cedar, which holds out

against putrefaction and wet; but it is not to be met with on the

continent in the English provinces. Here are above nine different sorts

of oak, but not one of them is comparable to the single species we have

in Sweden, with regard to its goodness. And therefore a ship of

European oak costs a great deal more than one made of American oak.

Many people who chiefly employed themselves in gardening, had found in

a succession of years, that the red Beet, which grew out of the seed

which was got from New York, became very sweet and had a very fine

taste; but that it every year lost part of its goodness, if it was

cultivated from seeds which were got here. The people were therefore

obliged to get as many seeds of red beet every year from New York, as

were wanted in their gardens. It has likewise been generally observed,

that the plants which are produced from English seeds are always much

better and more agreeable, than those which come from seeds of this

country.

In the garden of Mr. Cock was a raddish which was in the loose soil,

grown so big as to be seven inches in diameter. Every body that saw it,

owned it was uncommon to see them of such a size.

That species of Convolvulus which is commonly called Batatas, has here

the name of Bermudian potatoes. The common people, and the gentry

without distinction planted them in their gardens. This is done in the

same manner as with the common potatoes. Some people made little

hillocks, into which they put these potatoes; but others only planted

them in flat beds. The soil must be a mixture of sand and earth, and

neither too rich, nor too poor. When they are going to plant them, they

cut them, as the common potatoes, taking care however that a bud or two

be left upon each piece which is intended to be planted. Their colour

is commonly red without, and yellow within. They are bigger than the

common sort, and have a sweet and very agreeable taste, which I cannot

find in the other potatoes, in artichokes or in any other root, and

they almost melt in the mouth. It is not long since they have been

planted here. They are dressed in the same manner as common potatoes,

and eaten either along with them, or by themselves. They grow very fast

and very well here; but the greatest difficulty consists in keeping

them over winter, for they will bear neither cold, nor a great heat,

nor wet. They must therefore be kept during winter in a box with sand

in a warm room. In Pensylvania where they have no valves in their

chimnies, they are put in such a box with sand, at some distance from

the fire, and there they are secured both against frost and against

over great heat. It will not answer the purpose to put them into dry

sand in a cellar, as is commonly done with the common sort of potatoes.

For the moisture which is always in cellars, penetrates the sand, and

makes them putrefy. It would probably be very easy to keep them in

Sweden in warm rooms, during the cold season. But the difficulty lies

wholly in bringing them over to Sweden. I carried a considerable number

of them with me on leaving America, and took all possible care in

preserving them. But we had a very violent storm at sea, by which the

ship was so greatly damaged, that the water got in every where, and

wetted our cloaths, beds and other moveables so much, that we could

wring the water out of them. It is therefore no wonder that my Bermuda

potatoes were rotten; but as they are now cultivated in Portugal and

Spain, nay even in England, it will be easy to bring them into Sweden.

The drink which the Spaniards prepare from these potatoes in their

American possessions is not usual in Pensylvania. [32]

Mr. Cock had a paper mill, on a little brook, and all the coarser sorts

of paper are manufactured in it. It is now annually rented for fifty

pounds Pensylvania currency.

October the 11th. I have already mentioned, that every countryman has a

greater or lesser number of apple trees planted round his farm-house,

from whence he gets great quantities of fruit, part of which he sells,

part he makes cyder of, and part he uses in his own family for pyes,

tarts, and the like. However he cannot expect an equal quantity of

fruit every year. And I was told, that this year had not by far

afforded such a great quantity of apples as the preceding; the cause of

which they told me, was the continual and great drought in the month of

May, which had hurt all the blossoms of the apple trees, and made them

wither. The heat had been so great as to dry up all the plants, and the

grass in the fields.

The Polytrichum commune, a species of moss, grew plentifully on wet and

low meadows between the woods, and in several places quite covered

them, as our mosses cover the meadows in Sweden. It was likewise very

plentiful on hills.

Agriculture was in a very bad state hereabouts. When a person had

bought a piece of land, which perhaps had never been ploughed since the

creation, he cut down part of the wood, tore up the roots, ploughed the

ground, sowed corn on it, and the first time got a plentiful crop. But

the same land being tilled for several years successively, without

being manured, it at last must of course lose its fertility. Its

possessor therefore leaves it fallow, and proceeds to another part of

his ground, which he treats in the same manner. Thus he goes on till he

has changed a great part of his possessions into corn-fields, and by

that means deprives the ground of its fertility. He then returns to the

first field, which now is pretty well recovered; this he again tills as

long as it will afford him a good crop, but when its fertility is

exhausted, he leaves it fallow again, and proceeds to the rest as

before.

It being customary here, to let the cattle go about the fields and in

the woods both day and night, the people cannot collect much dung for

manure. But by leaving the land fallow for several years together, a

great quantity of weeds spring up in it, and get such strength, that it

requires a considerable time to extirpate them. From hence it likewise

comes, that the corn is always so much mixed with weeds. The great

richness of the soil, which the first European colonists found here,

and which had never been ploughed before, has given rise to this

neglect of agriculture, which is still observed by many of the

inhabitants. But they do not consider, that when the earth is quite

exhausted, a great space of time, and an infinite deal of labour is

necessary to bring it again into good order; especially in these

countries which are almost every summer so scorched up by the excessive

heat and drought. The soil of the corn-fields consisted of a thin

mould, greatly mixed with a brick coloured clay, and a quantity of

small particles of glimmer. This latter came from the stones which are

here almost every where to be met with at the depth of a foot or

thereabouts. These little pieces of glimmer made the ground sparkle,

when the sun shone upon it.

Almost all the houses hereabouts were built either of stone or bricks;

but those of stone were more numerous. Germantown, which is about two

English miles long, had no other houses, and the country houses

thereabouts, were all built of stone. But there are several varieties

of that stone which is commonly made use of in building. Sometimes it

consisted of a black or grey glimmer, running in undulated veins, the

spaces between their bendings being filled up with a grey, loose,

small-grained limestone, which was easily friable. Some transparent

particles of quartz were scattered in the mass, of which the glimmer

made the greatest part. It was very easy to be cut, and with proper

tools could readily be shaped into any form. Sometimes however the

pieces consisted of a black, small-grained glimmer, a white

small-grained sandstone, and some particles of quartz, and the several

constituent parts were well mixed together. Sometimes the stone had

broad stripes of the white limestone without any addition of glimmer.

But most commonly they were much blended together, and of a grey

colour. Sometimes this stone was found to consist of quite fine and

black pieces of glimmer, and a grey, loose and very small-grained

limestone. This was likewise very easy to be cut, being loose.

These varieties of the stone are commonly found close together. They

were every where to be met with, at a little depth, but not in equal

quantity and goodness; and not always easy to be broken. When therefore

a person intended to build a house, he enquired where the best stone

could be met with. It is to be found on corn-fields and meadows, at a

depth which varies from two to six feet. The pieces were different as

to size. Some were eight or ten feet long, two broad, and one thick.

Sometimes they were still bigger, but frequently much less. Hereabouts

they lay in strata one above another, the thickness of each stratum

being about a foot. The length and breadth were different, but commonly

such as I have before mentioned. They must commonly dig three or four

feet before they reach the first stratum. The loose ground above that

stratum, is full of little pieces of this stone. This ground is the

common brick coloured soil, which is universal here, and consists of

sand and clay, though the former is more plentiful. The loose pieces of

glimmer which shine so much in it, seem to have been broken off from

the great strata of stone.

It must be observed that when the people build with this stone, they

take care to turn the flat side of it outwards. But as that cannot

always be done, the stone being frequently rough on all sides, it is

easily cut smooth with tools, since it is soft, and not very difficult

to be broken. The stones however are unequal in thickness, and

therefore by putting them together they cannot be kept in such straight

lines as bricks. It sometimes likewise happens that pieces break off

when they are cut, and leave holes on the outside of the wall. But in

order to fill up these holes, the little pieces of stone which cannot

be made use of are pounded, mixed with mortar, and put into the holes;

the places thus filled up, are afterwards smoothed, and when they are

dry, they are hardly distinguishable from the rest at some distance. At

last they draw on the outside of the wall, strokes of mortar, which

cross each other perpendicularly, so that it looks as if the wall

consisted wholly of equal, square stones, and as if the white strokes

were the places where they were joined with mortar. The inside of the

wall is made smooth, covered with mortar and whitewashed. It has not

been observed that this kind of stone attracts the moisture in a rainy

or wet season. In Philadelphia and its environs, you find several

houses built of this kind of stone.

The houses here are commonly built in the English manner.

One of Mr. Cock’s negroes showed me the skin of a badger (Ursus Meles)

which he had killed a few days ago, and which convinced me that the

American badger is the same with the Swedish one. It was here called

Ground Hog.

Towards night I returned to Philadelphia.

October the 12th. In the morning we went to the river Skulkill, partly

to gather seeds, partly to collect plants for the herbal, and to make

all sorts of observations. The Skulkill is a narrow river, which falls

into the Delaware, about four miles from Philadelphia to the south; but

narrow as it is, it rises on the west side of those high mountains,

commonly called the blue mountains, and runs two hundred English miles,

and perhaps more. It is a great disadvantage to this country, that

there are several cataracts in this river as low as Philadelphia, for

which reason there can be no navigation on it. To day I made some

descriptions and remarks on such plants as the cattle liked, or such as

they never touched.

I observed several little subterraneous walks in the fields, running

under ground in various directions, the opening of which was big enough

for a mole: the earth, which formed as it were a vault above it, and

lay elevated like a little bank, was near two inches high, full as

broad as a man’s hand, and about two inches thick. In uncultivated

fields I frequently saw these subterraneous walks, which discovered

themselves by the ground thrown up above them, which when trod upon

gave way, and made it inconvenient to walk in the field.

These walks are inhabited by a kind of mole, [33] which I intend to

describe more accurately in another work. Their food is commonly roots:

I have observed the following qualities in one which was caught. It had

greater stiffness and strength in its legs, than I ever observed in

other animals in proportion to their size. Whenever it intended to dig,

it held its legs obliquely, like oars, I laid my handkerchief before

it, and it began to stir in it with the snout, and taking away the

handkerchief to see what it had done to it, I found that in the space

of a minute it had made it full of holes, and it looked as if it had

been pierced very much by an awl. I was obliged to put some books on

the cover of the box in which I kept this animal, or else it was flung

off immediately. It was very irascible, and would bite great holes into

any thing that was put in its way; I held a steel pen-case to it, it at

first bit at it with great violence, but having felt its hardness, it

would not venture again to bite at any thing. These moles do not make

such hills as the European ones, but only such walks as I have already

described.

October the 13th. There is a plant here, from the berries of which they

make a kind of wax or tallow, and for that reason the Swedes call it

the Tallow shrub. The English call the same tree the Candleberry-tree,

or Bayberry-bush; and Dr. Linnæus gives it the name of Myrica cerifera.

It grows abundantly on a wet soil, and it seems to thrive particularly

well in the neighbourhood of the sea, nor have I ever found it high up

in the country far from the sea. The berries grow abundantly on the

female shrub, and look as if flower had been strewed upon them. They

are gathered late in autumn, being ripe about that time, and are then

thrown into a kettle or pot full of boiling water; by this means their

fat melts out, floats at the top of the water and may be skimmed off

into a vessel; with the skimming they go on till there is no tallow

left. The tallow as soon as it is congealed, looks like common tallow

or wax, but has a dirty green colour; it is for that reason melted over

again, and refined, by which means it acquires a fine and pretty

transparent green colour: this tallow is dearer than common tallow, but

cheaper than wax. In Philadelphia they pay a shilling Pensylvania

currency, for a pound of this tallow; but a pound of common tallow only

came to half that money, and wax costs as much again. From this tallow

they make candles in many parts of this province, but they usually mix

some common tallow with it. Candles of this kind, do not easily bend,

nor melt in summer as common candles do; they burn better and slower,

nor do they cause any smoak, but rather yield an agreeable smell, when

they are extinguished. An old Swede of ninety-one years of age told me,

that this sort of candles had formerly been much in use with his

country men. At present they do not make so many candles of this kind,

if they can get the tallow of animals; it being too troublesome to

gather the berries. However these candles are made use of by poor

people, who live in the neighbourhood of a place where the bushes grow,

and have not cattle enough to kill, in order to supply them with a

sufficient quantity of tallow. From the wax of the candleberry tree

they likewise make a soap here, which has an agreeable scent, and is

the best for shaving. This wax is likewise used by doctors, and

surgeons, who reckon it exceeding good for plasters upon wounds. A

merchant of this town once sent a quantity of these candles to those

American provinces which had Roman Catholic inhabitants, thinking he

would be well paid, since wax candles are made use of in the Roman

Catholick churches; but the clergy would not take them. An old Swede

mentioned that the root of the candleberry tree was formerly made use

of by the Indians, as a remedy against the tooth ach, and that he

himself having had the tooth ach very violently, had cut the root in

pieces and applied it round his tooth; and that the pain had been

lessened by it. Another Swede assured me that he had been cured of the

tooth ach, by applying the peel of the root to it. In Carolina, they

not only make candles out of the wax of the berries, but likewise

sealing-wax.

October the 14th. Penny Royal is a plant which has a peculiar strong

scent, and grows abundantly on dry places in the country. Botanists

call it Cunila pulegioides. It is reckoned very wholesome to drink as a

tea when a person has got cold, as it promotes perspiration. I was

likewise told, that on feeling a pain in any limb, this plant, if

applied to it, would give immediate relief.

The goods which are shipped to London from New England are the

following: all sorts of fish caught near Newfoundland and elsewhere;

train-oil of several sorts; whale-bone; tar, pitch, masts; new ships,

of which a great number is annually built; a few hides, and sometimes

some sorts of wood. The English islands in America, as Jamaica and

Barbadoes, get from New England, fish, flesh, butter, cheese, tallow,

horses, cattle; all sorts of lumber, such as pails, buckets, and

hogsheads; and have returns made in rum, sugar, melasses, and other

produces of the country, or in cash, the greatest part of all which

they send to London (the money especially) in payment of the goods

received from thence, and yet all this is inefficient to pay off the

debt.

October the 15th. The Alders grew here in considerable abundance on wet

and low places, and even sometimes on pretty high ones, but never

reached the height of the European alders, and commonly stood like a

bush about a fathom or two high. Mr. Bartram, and other gentlemen who

had frequently travelled in these provinces, told me that the more you

go to the south, the less are the alders, but that they are higher and

taller, the more you advance to the north. I found afterwards myself,

that the alders in some places of Canada, are little inferior to the

Swedish ones. Their bark is employed here in dying red and brown. A

Swedish inhabitant of America, told me that he had cut his leg to the

very bone, and that some coagulated blood had already been settled

within. That he had been advised to boil the alder bark, and to wash

the wound often with the water: that he followed this advice, and had

soon got his leg healed, though it had been very dangerous at first.

The Phytolacca decandra was called Poke by the English. The Swedes had

no particular name for it, but made use of the English, with some

little variation into Paok. When the juice of its berries is put upon

paper or the like, it strikes it with a high purple colour, which is as

fine as any in the world, and it is pity that no method is as yet found

out, of making this colour last on woollen and linen cloth, for it

fades very soon. Mr. Bartram mentioned, that having hit his foot

against a stone, he had got a violent pain in it; he then bethought

himself to put a leaf of the Phytolacca on his foot, by which he lost

the pain in a short time, and got his foot well soon after. The berries

are eaten by the birds about this time. The English and several Swedes

make use of the leaves in spring, when they are just come out, and are

yet tender and soft, and eat them partly as green cale, and partly in

the manner we eat spinnage. Sometimes they likewise prepare them in the

first of these ways, when the stalks are already grown a little longer,

breaking off none but the upper sprouts which are yet tender, and not

woody; but in this latter case, great care is to be taken, for if you

eat the plant when it is already grown up, and its leaves are no longer

soft, you may expect death as a consequence which seldom fails to

follow, for the plant has then got a power of purging the body to

excess. I have known people, who, by eating great full grown leaves of

this plant, have got such a strong dysentery, that they were near dying

with it: its berries however are eaten in autumn by children, without

any ill consequence.

Woollen and linen cloth is dyed yellow with the bark of hiccory. This

likewise is done with the bark of the black oak, or Linnæus’s Quercus

nigra, and that variety of it which Catesby in his Natural History of

Carolina, vol. i. tab. 19. calls Quercus marilandica. The flowers and

leaves of the Impatiens Noli tangere or balsamine, likewise dyed all

woollen stuffs with a fine yellow colour.

The Collinsonia canadensis was frequently found in little woods and

bushes, in a good rich soil. Mr. Bartram who knew the country perfectly

well, was sure that Pensylvania, and all the parts of America in the

same climate, were the true and original places where this plant grows.

For further to the south, neither he nor Messrs. Clayton and Mitchel

ever found it, though the latter gentlemen have made accurate

observations in Virginia and part of Maryland. And from his own

experience he knew, that it did not grow in the northerly parts. I have

never found it more than fifteen min. north of forty-three deg. The

time of the year when it comes up in Pensylvania, is so late, that its

seed has but just time sufficient to ripen in, and it therefore seems

unlikely, that it can succeed further north, Mr. Bartram was the first

who discovered it, and sent it over into Europe. Mr. Jussieu during his

stay at London, and Dr. Linnæus afterwards, called it Collinsonia, from

the celebrated Mr. Peter Collinson, a merchant in London, and fellow of

the English and Swedish Royal Societies. He well deserved the honour of

having a plant called after his name, for there are few people that

have promoted natural history and all useful sciences with a zeal like

his; or that have done as much as he towards collecting, cultivating,

and making known all sorts of plants. The Collinsonia has a peculiar

scent, which is agreeable, but very strong. It always gave me a pretty

violent head-ach whenever I passed by a place where it stood in plenty,

and especially when it was in flower. Mr. Bartram was acquainted with a

better quality of this plant, which was that of being an excellent

remedy against all sorts of pain in the limbs, and against a cold, when

the parts affected are rubbed with it. And Mr. Conrad Weisser,

interpreter of the language of the Indians in Pensylvania, had told him

of a more wonderful cure with this plant. He was once among a company

of Indians, one of which had been stung by a rattle snake, the savages

gave him over, but he boiled the collinsonia, and made the poor wretch

drink the water, from which he happily recovered. Somewhat more to the

north and in New York they call this plant Horseweed, because the

horses eat it in spring, before any other plant comes up.

October the 16th. I asked Mr. Franklin and other gentlemen who were

well acquainted with this country, whether they had met with any signs,

from whence they could have concluded that any place which was now a

part of the continent, had formerly been covered with water? and I got

the following account in answer.

1. On travelling from hence to the south, you meet with a place where

the highroad is very low in the ground between two mountains. On both

sides you see nothing but oyster shells and muscle shells in immense

quantities above each other; however the place is many miles off the

sea.

2. Whenever they dig wells, or build houses in town, they find the

earth lying in several strata above each other. At a depth of fourteen

feet or more, they find globular stones, which are as smooth on the

outside as those which lie on the sea-shore, and are made round and

smooth by the rolling of the waves. And after having dug through the

sand, and reached a depth of eighteen feet or more, they discover in

some places a slime like that which the sea throws up on the shore, and

which commonly lies at its bottom and in rivers; this slime is quite

full of trees, leaves, branches, reed, charcoal, &c.

3. It has sometimes happened that new houses have sunk on one side in a

short time, and have obliged the people to pull them down again. On

digging deeper, for a very hard ground to build upon, they have found a

quantity of the above slime, wood, roots, &c.

Are not these reasons sufficient to make one suppose that those places

in Philadelphia which are at present fourteen feet and more under

ground, formerly were the bottom of the sea, and that by several

accidents, sand, earth, and other things were carried upon it? or, that

the Delaware formerly was broader than it is at present? or, that it

has changed its course? This last still often happens at present; the

river breaking off the bank on one side, and forming one on the other.

Both the Swedes and English often shewed me such places.