Tar, pitch and rice are the chief products of Carolina. The soil is

very sandy, and therefore many pines and firs grow in it, from which

they make tar: the firs which are taken for this purpose are commonly

such as are dried up of themselves; the people here in general not

knowing how to prepare the firs by taking the bark off on one, or on

several sides, as they do in Ostrobothnia. In some parts of Carolina

they likewise make use of the branches. The manner of burning or

boiling, as the man describes it to me, is entirely the same as in

Finland. The pitch is thus made: they dig a hole into the ground and

smear the inside well with clay, into which they pour the tar, and make

a fire round it, which is kept up till the tar has got the consistence

of pitch. They make two kinds of tar in the North American colonies:

one is the common tar, which I have above described, and which is made

of the stems, branches, and roots of such firs, as were already

considerably dried out before; which is the most common way in this

country. The other way in peeling the bark from the firs on one side,

and afterwards letting them stand another year; during which the resin

comes out between the cracks of the item. The tree is then felled and

burnt for tar; and the tar thus made is called green tar, not that

there is that difference of colour in it, for in this respect they are

both pretty much alike; but the latter is called so from being made of

green and fresh trees; whereas common tar is made of dead trees: the

burning is done in the same manner as in Finland. They use only black

firs; for the white firs will not serve this purpose, though they are

excellent for boards, masts, &c. green tar is dearer than common tar.

It is already a pretty general complaint that the fir woods are almost

wholly destroyed by this practice.

Rice is planted in great quantity in Carolina: it succeeds best in

marshy and swampy grounds, which may be laid under water, and likewise

ripens there the soonest. Where these cannot be had, they must choose a

dry soil; but the rice produced here will be much inferior to the

other: the land on which it is cultivated must never be manured. In

Carolina they sow it in the middle of April, and it is ripe in

September: it is planted in rows like pease, and commonly fifteen

inches space is left between the rows; as soon as the plants are come

up, the field is laid under water. This not only greatly forwards the

growth of the rice, but likewise kills all weeds, so as to render

weeding unnecessary. The straw of rice is said to be excellent food for

cattle, who eat it very greedily. Rice requires a hot climate, and

therefore it will not succeed well in Virginia, the summer there being

too short, and the winter too cold; and much less will it grow in

Pensylvania. They are as yet ignorant in Carolina of the art of making

arrack from rice: it is chiefly South Carolina that produces the

greatest quantity of rice; and on the other hand they make the most tar

in North Carolina.

November the 7th. The stranger from Carolina whom I have mentioned

before, had met with many oyster shells at the bottom of a well,

seventy English miles distant from the sea, and four from a river: they

lay in a depth of fourteen English feet from the surface of the earth:

the water in the well was brackish; but that in the river was fresh.

The same man, had at the building of a saw-mill, a mile and a half from

a river, found, first sand, and then clay filled with oyster shells.

Under these he found several bills of sea birds as he called them,

which were already quite petrified: they were probably Glossopetræ.

There are two species of foxes in the English colonies, the one grey,

and the other red: but in the sequel I shall shew that there are others

which sometimes appear in Canada. The grey foxes are here constantly,

and are very common in Pensylvania and in the southern provinces: in

the northern ones they are pretty scarce, and the French in Canada,

call them Virginian Foxes on that account: in size they do not quite

come up to our foxes. They do no harm to lambs; but they prey upon all

sorts of poultry, whenever they can come at them. They do not however

seem to be looked upon as animals that cause a great deal of damage;

for there is no reward given for killing them: their skin is greatly

sought for by hatters, who employ the hair in their work. People have

their clothes lined with it sometimes: the grease is used against all

sorts of rheumatic pains. These foxes are said to be less nimble than

the red ones: they are sometimes tamed; though they be not suffered to

run about but are tied up. Mr. Catesby has drawn and described this

sort of foxes in his Natural history of Carolina, by the name of the

grey American fox, vol. 2. p. 78. tab. 78. A skin of it was sold in

Philadelphia for two shillings and six-pence in Pensylvanian currency.

The red Foxes are very scarce here: they are entirely the same with the

European sort. Mr. Bartram, and several others assured me, that

according to the unanimous testimony of the Indians, this kind of foxes

never was in the country, before the Europeans settled in it. But of

the manner of their coming over I have two different accounts: Mr.

Bartram and several other people were told by the Indians, that these

foxes came into America soon after the arrival of the Europeans, after

an extraordinary cold winter, when all the sea to the northward was

frozen: from hence they would infer, that they could perhaps get over

to America upon the ice from Greenland or the northern parts of Europe

and Asia. But Mr. Evans, and some others assured me that the following

account was still known by the people. A gentleman of fortune in New

England, who had a great inclination for hunting, brought over a great

number of foxes from Europe, and let them loose in his territories,

that he might be able to indulge his passion for hunting. [43] This is

said to have happened almost at the very beginning of New England’s

being peopled with European inhabitants. These foxes were believed to

have so multiplied, that all the red foxes in the country were their

offspring. At present they are reckoned among the noxious creatures in

these parts; for they are not contented, as the grey foxes with killing

fowl; but they likewise devour the lambs. In Pensylvania therefore

there is a reward of two shillings for killing an old fox, and of one

shilling for killing a young one. And in all the other provinces there

are likewise rewards offer’d for killing them, Their skin is in great

request, and is sold as dear as that of the grey foxes, that is two

shillings and six-pence, in Pensylvanian currency.

They have two varieties of Wolves here, which however seem to be of the

same species. For some of them are yellowish, or almost pale grey, and

others are black or dark brown. All the old Swedes related, that during

their childhood, and still more at the arrival of their fathers, there

were excessive numbers of wolves in the country, and that their howling

and yelping might be heard all night. They likewise frequently tore in

pieces, sheep, hogs, and other young and small cattle. About that time

or soon after, when the Swedes and the English were quite settled here,

the Indians were attacked by the small pox: this disease they got from

the Europeans, for they knew nothing of it before: it killed many

hundreds of them, and most of the Indians of the country, then called

New Sweden died of it. The wolves then came, attracted by the stench of

so many corpses, in such great numbers that they devoured them all, and

even attacked the poor sick Indians in their huts, so that the few

healthy ones had enough to do, to drive them away. But since that time

they have disappeared, so that they are now seldom seen, and it is very

rarely that they commit any disorders. This is attributed to the

greater cultivation of the country, and to their being killed in great

numbers. But further up the country, where it is not yet so much

inhabited, they are still very abundant. On the coasts of Pensylvania

and New Jersey, the sheep stay all night in the fields, without the

people’s fearing the wolves: however to prevent their multiplying too

much, there is a reward of twenty shillings in Pensylvania and of

thirty in New Jersey, for delivering in a dead wolf, and the person

that brings it may keep the skin. But for a young wolf the reward is

only ten shillings of the Pensylvanian currency. There are examples of

these wolves being made as tame as dogs.

The wild Oxen have their abode principally in the woods of Carolina,

which are far up in the country. The inhabitants frequently hunt them,

and salt their flesh like common beef, which is eaten by servants and

the lower class of people. But the hide is of little use, having too

large pores to be made use of for shoes. However the poorer people in

Carolina, spread these hides on the ground instead of beds.

The Viscum filamentosum, or Fibrous misletoe, is found in abundance in

Carolina; the inhabitants make use of it as straw in their beds, and to

adorn their houses; the cattle are very fond of it: it is likewise

employed in packing goods.

The Spartium scoparium grew in Mr. Bartram’s garden from English seeds;

he said that he had several bushes of it, but that the frost in the

cold winters here had killed most of them: they however grow

spontaneously in Sweden.

Mr. Bartram had same Truffles, or Linnæus’s Lycoperdon Tuber, which he

had got out of a sandy soil in New Jersey, where they are abundant.

These he shewed to his friend from Carolina, and asked him whether they

were the Tuckahoo of the Indians. But the stranger denied it, and added

that though these truffles were likewise very common in Carolina, yet

he had never seen them used any other way but in milk, against the

dysentery; and he gave us the following description of the Tuckahoo. It

grows in several swamps and marches, and is commonly plentiful. The

hogs greedily dig up its roots with their noses in such places; and the

Indians in Carolina likewise gather them in their rambles in the woods,

dry them in the sun shine, grind them and bake bread of them. Whilst

the root is fresh it is harsh and acrid, but being dried it loses the

greatest part of its acrimony. To judge by these qualities the Tuckahoo

may very likely be the Arum Virginianum. Compare with this account,

what shall be related in the sequel of the Tahim and Tuckah.

After dinner I again returned to town.

November the 8th. Several English and Swedish oeconomists kept

bee-hives, which afforded their possessors profit: for bees succeed

very well here: the wax was for the most part sold to tradesmen: but

the honey they made use of in their own families, in different ways.

The people were unanimous, that the common bees were not in North

America before the arrival of the Europeans; but that they were first

brought over by the English who settled here. The Indians likewise

generally declare, that their fathers had never seen any bees either in

the woods or any where else, before the Europeans had been several

years settled here. This is further confirmed by the name which the

Indians give them: for having no particular name for them in their

language, they call them English flies, because the English first

brought them over: but at present they fly plentifully about the woods

of North America. However it has been observed that the bees always

when they swarm, spread to the southward, and never to the northward.

It seems as if they do not find the latter countries so good for their

constitution: therefore they cannot stay in Canada, and all that have

been carried over thither, died in winter. It seemed to me as if the

bees in America were somewhat smaller than ours in Sweden. They have

not yet been found in the woods on the other side of the Blue

Mountains, which confirms the opinion of their being brought to America

of late. A man told Mr. Bartram, that on his travels in the woods of

North America, he had found another sort of bees, which, instead of

separating their wax and honey, mixed it both together in a great bag.

But this account wants both clearing up and confirming.

November the 9th. All the old Swedes and Englishmen born in America

whom I ever questioned, asserted that there were not near so many birds

fit for eating at present, as there used to be when they were children,

and that their decrease was visible. They even said, that they had

heard their fathers complain of this, in whose childhood the bays,

rivers and brooks were quite covered with all sorts of water fowls such

as wild geese, ducks, and the like. But at present there is sometimes

not a single bird upon them; about sixty or seventy years ago, a single

person could kill eighty ducks in a morning; but at present you

frequently wait in vain for a single one. A Swede above ninety years

old, assured me that he had in his youth killed twenty-three ducks at a

shot. This good luck no body is likely to have at present, as you are

forced to ramble about for a whole day, without getting a sight of more

than three or four. Cranes [44] at that time came hither by hundreds in

the spring: at present there are but very few. The wild Turkeys, and

the birds which the Swedes in this country call Partridges and

Hazel-hens were in whole flocks in the woods. But at this time a person

is tired with walking before he can start a single bird.

The cause of this diminution is not difficult to find. Before the

arrival of the Europeans, the country was uncultivated, and full of

great forests. The few Indians that lived here seldom disturbed the

birds. They carried on no trade among themselves, iron and gun powder

were unknown to them. One hundredth part of the fowl which at that time

were so plentiful here, would have sufficed to feed the few

inhabitants; and considering that they cultivated their small maize

fields, caught fish, hunted stags, beavers, bears, wild cattle, and

other animals whose flesh was delicious to them, it will soon appear

how little they disturbed the birds. But since the arrival of great

crouds of Europeans, things are greatly changed; the country is well

peopled, and the woods are cut down: the people increasing in this

country, they have by hunting and shooting in part extirpated the

birds, in part scared them away: in spring the people still take both

eggs, mothers and young indifferently, because no regulations are made

to the contrary. And if any had been made, the spirit of freedom which

prevails in the country would not suffer them to be obeyed. But though

the eatable birds have been diminished greatly, yet there are others,

which have rather increased than decreased in number, since the arrival

of the Europeans: this can most properly be said of a species of daws

which the English call Blackbirds [45] and the Swedes Maize thieves,

Dr. Linnæus calls them Gracula Quiscula. And together with them, the

several sorts of Squirrels among the quadrupeds have spread: for these

and the former, live chiefly upon maize, or at least they are most

greedy of it. But as population increases, the cultivation of maize

increases, and of course the food of the above-mentioned animals is

more plentiful: to this it is to be added, that these latter are rarely

eaten, and therefore they are more at liberty to multiply their kind.

There are likewise other birds which are not eaten, of which at present

there are nearly as many as there were before the arrival of the

Europeans. On the other hand I heard great complaints of the great

decrease of eatable fowl, not only in this province, but in all the

parts of North America, where I have been.

Aged people had experienced that with the fish, which I have just

mentioned of the birds: in their youth, the bays, rivers, and brooks,

had such quantities of fish that at one draught in the morning, they

caught as many as a horse was able to carry home. But at present things

are greatly altered; and they often work in vain all the night long,

with all their fishing tackle. The causes of this decrease of fish, are

partly the same with those of the diminution of the number of birds;

being of late caught by a greater variety of contrivances, and in

different manners than before. The numerous mills on the rivers and

brooks likewise contribute to it in part: for it has been observed

here, that the fish go up the river in order to spawn in a shallow

water; but when they meet with works that prevent their proceeding,

they turn back, and never come again. Of this I was assured by a man of

fortune at Boston: his father was used to catch a number of herrings

throughout the winter and almost always in summer, in a river, upon his

country seat: but he having built a mill with a dyke in this water,

they were lost. In this manner they complained here and every where of

the decrease of fish. Old people asserted the same in regard to oysters

at New York; for though they are still taken in considerable quantity,

and are as big and as delicious as can be wished, yet all the

oyster-catchers own, that the number diminishes greatly every year: the

most natural cause of it, is probably the immoderate catching of them

at all times of the year.

Mr. Franklin told me that in that part of New England, where his father

lived, two rivers fell into the sea, in one of which, they caught great

numbers of herring, and in the other not one. Yet the places where

these rivers discharged themselves into the sea, were not far asunder.

They had observed that when the herrings came in spring to deposit

their spawn, they always swam up the river where they used to catch

them, but never came into the other. This circumstance led Mr.

Franklin’s father who was settled between the two rivers, to try

whether it was not possible to make the herrings likewise live in the

other river. For that purpose he put out his nets, as they were coming

up for spawning, and he caught some. He took the spawn out of them, and

carefully carried it across the land into the other river. It was

hatched, and the consequence was, that every year afterwards they

caught more herrings in that river; and this is still the case. This

leads one to believe that the fish always like to spawn in the same

place where they were hatched, and from whence they first put out to

sea; being as it were accustomed to it.

The following is another peculiar observation. It has never formerly

been known that codfish were to be caught at cape Hinlopen: they were

always caught at the mouth of the Delaware: but at present they are

numerous in the former place. From hence it may be concluded that fish

likewise change their places of abode, of their own accord.

A captain of a ship who had been in Greenland, asserted from his own

experience, that on passing the seventieth deg. of north lat. the

summer heat was there much greater, than it is below that degree. From

hence he concluded, that the summer heat at the pole itself, must be

still more excessive, since the sun shines there for such a long space

of time, without ever setting. The same account with similar

consequences drawn from thence, Mr. Franklin had heard of the ship

captains in Boston, who had sailed to the most northern parts of this

hemisphere. But still more astonishing is the account he got from

captain Henry Atkins, who still lives at Boston. He had for some time

been upon the fishery along the coasts of New England. But not catching

as much as he wished, he sailed north, as far as Greenland. At last he

went so far, that he discovered people, who had never seen Europeans

before (and what is more astonishing) who had no idea of the use of

fire, which they had never employed; and if they had known it, they

could have made no use of their knowledge, as there were no trees in

the country. But they eat the birds and fish which they caught quite

raw. Captain Atkins got some very scarce skins in exchange for some

trifles.

It is already known from several accounts of voyages, that to the

northward neither trees nor bushes, nor any ligneous plants are to be

met with, fit for burning. But is it not probable that the inhabitants

of so desolate a country, like other northern nations which we know,

burn the train oil of fishes, and the fat of animals in lamps, in order

to boil their meat, to warm their subterraneous caves in winter, and to

light them in the darkest season of the year? else their darkness would

be insupportable.

November the 11th. In several writings we read of a large animal, which

is to be met with in New England and other parts of North America. They

sometimes dig very long and branched horns out of the ground in

Ireland, and no body in that country or any where else in the world,

knows an animal that has such horns. This has induced many people to

believe that it is the Moose-deer so famous in North America, and that

the horns found, were of animals of this kind, which had formerly lived

in that island, but were gradually destroyed. It has even been

concluded, that Ireland, in distant ages either was connected with

North America, or that a number of little islands, which are lost at

present, made a chain between them. This led me to enquire, whether an

animal with such excessive great horns, as are ascribed to the

Moose-deer, had ever been seen in any part of this country. Mr. Bartram

told me, that notwithstanding he had carefully enquired to that

purpose, yet there was no person who could give him any information,

which could be relied upon, and therefore he was entirely of opinion,

that there was no such an animal in North America. Mr. Franklin related

that he had, when a boy, seen two of the animals which they call

Moose-deer, but he well remembered that they were not near of such a

size as they must have been, if the horns found in Ireland were to fit

them: the two animals which he saw, were brought to Boston in order to

be sent to England to Queen Ann. The height of the animal up to the

back was that of a pretty tall horse; but the head and its horns were

still higher: Mr. Dudley has given a description of the Moose-deer

which is found in North America. On my travels in Canada, I often

enquired of the Frenchmen, whether there had ever been seen so large an

animal in this country, as some people say there is in North America;

and with such great horns as are sometimes dug out in Ireland. But I

was always told, that they had never heard of it, and much less seen

it: some added, that if there was such an animal, they certainly must

have met with it, in some of their excursions in the woods. There are

elks here, which are either of the same sort with the Swedish ones, or

a variety of them: of these they often catch some which are larger than

common, whence perhaps the report of the very large animal with

excessive horns in North America first had its rise. These elks are

called Original’s by the French in Canada, which name they have

borrowed from the Indians: perhaps Dudley, in describing the

Moose-deer, meant no other animals, than these large elks. [46]

Mr. Franklin gave me a piece of a stone, which on account of its

indestructibility in the fire, is made use of in New England for making

melting furnaces and forges.

It consists of a mixture of Lapis Ollaris or Serpentine stone, and of

Asbest. The greatest part of it is a grey Serpentine stone, which is

fat and smooth to the touch, and is easily cut and worked. Here and

there are some glittering speckles of that sort of asbest, whose fibres

come from a center like rays, or Star Asbest. This stone is not found

in strata or solid rocks, but here and there scattered on the fields.

Another stone is called Soapstone by many of the Swedes, being as

smooth as soap on the outside. They make use of it for rubbing spots

out of their cloaths. It might be called Saxum talcosum particulus

spataceis, granatisque immixtis, or a talc with mixed particles of spar

and garnets. A more exact description I reserve for another work. At

present I only add that the ground colour is pale green, with some dark

spots, and sometimes a few of a greenish hue. It is very smooth to the

touch, and runs always waved. It is likewise easily sawed and cut,

though it is not very smooth. I have seen large stones of it, which

were a fathom and more long, proportionably broad, and commonly six

inches or a foot deep. But I cannot determine any thing of their

original size, as I have not been at the place where they are dug, and

have only seen the stones at Philadelphia, which are brought there

ready cut. The particles of talc in this stone are about thirty times

as many as those of spar and garnet. It is found in many parts of the

country, for example in the neighbourhood of Chester in Pennsylvania.

The English likewise call it Soapstone, [47] and it is likely that the

Swedes have borrowed that name from them.

This stone was chiefly employed in the following manner. First, the

people took spots out of their cloaths with it. But for this purpose

the whole stone is not equally useful, for it includes in its clear

particles some dark ones which consist wholly of serpentine stone, and

may easily be cut with a knife; some of the loose stone is scraped off

like a powder, and strewed upon a greasy spot, in silk or any other

fluff; this imbibes the grease, and after rubbing off the powder the

spot disappears: and as this stone is likewise very durable in the

fire, the country people make their hearths with it, especially the

place where the fire lies, and where the heat is the greatest, for the

stone stands the strongest fire. If the people can get a sufficient

quantity of this stone, they lay the steps before the houses with it,

instead of bricks, which are generally used for that purpose.

The walls round the court yards, gardens, burying places, and those for

the sloping cellar doors towards the street, which are all commonly

built of brick, are covered with a coping of this stone; for it holds

excellently against all the effects of the sun, air, rain and storm,

and does not decay but secures the bricks. On account of this quality,

people commonly get the door posts in which their hinges are fastened

made of this stone: and in several publick buildings, such as the house

of assembly for the province, the whole lower wall is built of it, and

in other houses the corners are laid out with it.

The Salt which is used in the English North American colonies is

brought from the West Indies. The Indians have in some places salt

springs from which they get salt by boiling. I shall in the sequel have

occasion to describe some of them. Mr. Franklin was of opinion that the

people in Pensylvania could easier make good salt of sea water, than in

New England, where sometimes salt is made of the sea water on their

coast; though their situation is more northerly. Lead-ore has been

discovered in Pensylvania, but as it is not to be met with in quantity,

no body ever attempted to use it. Loadstones of considerable goodness

have likewise been found; and I myself possess several pretty pieces of

them.

Iron is dug in such great quantities in Pensylvania and in the other

American provinces of the English, that they could provide with that

commodity not only England, but almost all Europe, and perhaps the

greater part of the globe. The ore is here commonly infinitely easier

got in the mines, than our Swedish ore. For in many places with a pick

ax, a crow-foot and a wooden club, it is got with the same ease with

which a hole can be made in a hard soil: in many places the people know

nothing of boring, blasting and firing; and the ore is likewise very

fusible. Of this iron they get such quantities, that not only the

numerous inhabitants of the colonies themselves have enough of it, but

great quantities, are sent to the West Indies, and they have lately

began even to trade to Europe with it. This iron is reckoned better for

ship building than our Swedish iron, or any other, because salt water

does not corrode it so much. Some people believed that without

reckoning the freight, they could sell their iron in England at a lower

rate than any other nation; especially when the country becomes better

peopled and labour cheaper.

The mountain flax, [48] or that kind of stone, which Bishop Browallius

calls Amiantus fibris separabilibus molliusculis, in his lectures on

mineralogy which were published in 1739, or the amiant with soft fibres

which can easily be separated, is found abundantly in Pensylvania. Some

pieces are very soft, others pretty tough: Mr. Franklin told me that

twenty and some odd years ago, when he made a voyage to England, he had

a little purse with him, made of the mountain flax of this country,

which he presented to Sir Hans Sloane. I have likewise seen paper made

of this stone: and I have likewise received some small pieces of it,

which I keep in my cabinet. Mr. Franklin had been told by others that

on exposing this mountain flax to the open air in winter, and leaving

it in the cold and wet, it would grow together, and more fit for

spinning. But he did not venture to determine how far this opinion was

grounded. On this occasion he related a very pleasant accident, which

happened to him with this mountain flax: he had, several years ago, got

a piece of it, which he gave to one of his journeymen printers, in

order to get it made into a sheet at the paper mill. As soon as the

fellow brought the paper, Mr. Franklin rolled it up, and threw it into

the fire, telling the journeyman he would see a miracle, a sheet of

paper which did not burn: the ignorant fellow asserted the contrary,

but was greatly astonished, upon seeing himself convinced. Mr. Franklin

then explained him, though not very clearly, the peculiar qualities of

the paper. As soon as he was gone, some of his acquaintance came in,

who immediately knew the paper. The journeyman thought he would shew

them a great curiosity and astonish them. He accordingly told them that

he had curiously made a sheet of paper, which would not burn, though it

was thrown into the fire. They pretended to think it impossible, and he

as strenuously maintained his assertion. At last they laid a wager

about it; but whilst he was busy with stirring up the fire, the others

slyly besmeared the paper with fat: the journeyman, who was not aware

of it, threw it into the fire, and that moment it was all in flames:

this astonished him so much, that he was almost speechless; upon which

they could not help laughing, and so discovered the whole artifice.

In several houses of the town, a number of little Ants run about,

living underground and in holes in the wall. The length of their bodies

is one geometrical line. Their colour is either black or dark red: they

have the custom of carrying off sweet things, if they can come at them,

in common with the ants of other countries. Mr. Franklin was much

inclined to believe that these little insects could by some means

communicate their thoughts or desires to each other, and he confirmed

his opinion by some examples. When an ant finds some sugar, it runs

immediately under ground to its hole, where having stayed a little

while, a whole army comes out, unites and marches to the place where

the sugar is, and carries it off by pieces: or if an ant meets with a

dead fly, which it cannot carry alone, it immediately hastens home, and

soon after some more come out, creep to the fly and carry it away. Some

time ago Mr. Franklin put a little earthen pot with treacle into a

closet. A number of ants got into the pot, and devoured the treacle

very quietly. But as he observed it he shook them out, and tied the pot

with a thin string to a nail which he had fastened in the ceiling; so

that the pot hung down by the string. A single ant by chance remained

in the pot: this ant eat till it was satisfied; but when it wanted to

get off, it was under great concern to find its way out: it ran about

the bottom of the pot, but in vain: at last it found after many

attempts the way to get to the ceiling by the string. After it was come

there, it ran to the wall, and from thence to the ground. It had hardly

been away for half an hour, when a great swarm of ants came out, got up

to the ceiling, and crept along the string into the pot, and began to

eat again: this they continued till the treacle was all eaten: in the

mean time one swarm running down the string, and the other up.

November the 12th. A man of fortune who has long been in this province

asserted, that, by twenty years experience, he had found a confirmation

of what other people have observed with regard to the weather, viz.

that the weather in winter was commonly foretold by that on the first

of November, old stile, or twelfth new stile; if that whole day be

fair, the next winter will bring but little rain and snow along with

it: but if the first half of the day be clear, and the other cloudy,

the beginning of winter would accordingly be fair, but its end and

spring would turn out rigorous and disagreeable: of the same kind were

the other presages. I have likewise in other places heard of similar

signs of the weather; but as a mature judgment greatly lessens the

confidence in them, so the meteorological observations have

sufficiently shewn, how infinitely often these prophecies have failed.

Pensylvania abounds in springs, and you commonly meet with a spring of

clear water on one or the other, and sometimes on several sides of a

mountain. The people near such springs, use them for every purpose of a

fine spring water. They also conduct the water into a little stone

building near the house, where they can confine it, and bring fresh

supplies at pleasure. In summer they place their milk, bottles of wine

and other liquors in this building, where they keep cool and fresh. In

many country houses, the kitchen or buttery was so situated, that a

rivulet ran under it, and had the water near at hand.

Not only people of fortune, but even others that had some possessions,

commonly had fish ponds in the country near their houses. They always

took care that fresh water might run into their ponds, which is very

salutary for the fish: for that purpose the ponds were placed near a

spring on a hill.

November the 13th. I saw in several parts of this province a ready

method of getting plenty of grass to grow in the meadows. Here must be

remembered what I have before mentioned about the springs, which are

sometimes found on the sides of hills and sometimes in vallies. The

meadows lie commonly in the vallies between the hills: if they are too

swampy and wet, the water is carried off by several ditches. But the

summer in Pensylvania is very hot; and the sun often burns the grass so

much, that it dries up entirely. The husbandmen therefore have been

very attentive to prevent this in their meadows: to that purpose they

look for all the springs in the neighbourhood of a meadow; and as the

rivulets flowed before by the shortest way into the vallies, they raise

the water as much as possible and necessary, to the higher part of the

meadow, and make several narrow channels from the brook, down into the

plain, so that it is entirely watered by it. When there are some deeper

places, they frequently lay wooden gutters across them, through which

the water flows to the other side; and from thence it is again by very

narrow channels carried to all the places where it seems necessary. To

raise the water the higher, and in order to spread it more, there are

high dykes built near the springs, between which the water rises till

it is so high as to run down where the people want it. Industry and

ingenuity went further: when a brook runs in a wood, with a direction

not towards the meadow, and it has been found by levelling, and taking

an exact survey of the land between the meadow and the rivulet, that

the latter can be conducted towards the former; a dyke is made, which

hems the course of the brook, and the water is led round the meadow

over many hills, sometimes for the space of an English mile and

further, partly across vallies in wooden pipes, till at last it is

brought where it is wanted, and where it can be spread as

above-mentioned. One that has not seen it himself, cannot believe how

great a quantity of grass there is in such meadows, especially near the

little channels; whilst others, which have not been thus managed look

wretchedly. The meadows commonly lie in the vallies, and one or more of

their sides have a declivity. The water can therefore easily be brought

to run down in them. These meadows which are so carefully watered, are

commonly mowed three times every summer. But it is likewise to be

observed, that summer continues seven months here. The inhabitants

seldom fail to employ a brook or spring in this manner, if it is not

too far from the meadows to be led to them.

The leaves were at present fallen from all the trees; both from oaks,

and from all those which have deciduous leaves, and they covered the

ground in the woods six inches deep. The great quantity of leaves which

drop annually, would necessarily seem to encrease the upper black mould

greatly. However, it is not above three or four inches thick in the

woods, and under it lays a brick coloured clay, mixed with a sand of

the same colour. It is remarkable, that a soil which in all probability

has not been stirred, should be covered with so little black mould: but

I shall speak of this in the sequel.

November the 14th. The Squirrels which run about plentifully in the

woods are of different species; I here intend to describe the most

common sorts, more accurately.

The grey Squirrels are very plentiful in Pensylvania and in the other

provinces of North America. Their shape corresponds with that of our

Swedish squirrel; but they differ from them, by keeping their grey

colour all the year long, and in size being something bigger. The woods

in all these provinces, and chiefly in Pensylvania, consist of trees

with deciduous leaves, and in such these squirrels like to live. Ray in

his Synopsis Quadrupedum, p. 215, and Catesby in his Natural History of

Carolina, Vol. 2. p. 74, tab. 74, call it the Virginian greater grey

Squirrel; and the latter has added a figure after life. The Swedes call

it grao Ickorn, which is the same as the English grey Squirrel. Their

nests are commonly in hollow trees, and are made of moss, straw, and

other soft things: their food is chiefly nuts; as hazel nuts,

chinquapins, chesnuts, walnuts, hiccory nuts, and the acorns of the

different sorts of oak which grow here; but maize is what they are most

greedy of. The ground in the woods is in autumn covered with acorns,

and all kinds of nuts which drop from the numerous trees: of these the

squirrels gather great stores for winter, which they lay up in holes

dug by them for that purpose: they likewise carry a great quantity of

them into their nests.

As soon as winter comes, the snow and cold confines them to their holes

for several days, especially when the weather is very rough. During

this time they consume the little store, which they have brought to

their nests: as soon therefore as the weather grows milder, they creep

out, and dig out part of the store which they have laid up in the

ground: of this they eat some on the spot, and carry the rest into

their nests on the trees. We frequently observed that in winter, at the

eve of a great frost, when there had been some temperate weather, the

squirrels, a day or two before the frost, ran about the woods in

greater numbers than common, partly in order to eat their fill, and

partly to store their nests with a new provision for the ensuing great

cold, during which they did not venture to come out, but stay snug in

their nests: therefore seeing them run in the woods in greater numbers

than ordinary, was a safe prognostic of an ensuing cold.

The hogs which are here droven into the woods, whilst there is yet no

snow in them, often do considerable damage to the poor squirrels, by

rooting up their store-holes, and robbing their winter provisions. Both

the Indians, and the European Americans, take great pains to find out

these store-holes, whether in trees or in the ground, as all the nuts

they contain are choice, and not only quite ripe, but likewise not

pierced by worms. The nuts and acorns which the Dormice, or Mus

Cricetus, Linn. store up in autumn, are all in the same condition. The

Swedes relate, that in the long winter, which happened here in the year

1741, there fell such a quantity of snow, that the squirrels could not

get to their store, and many of them were starved to death.

The damage which these animals do in the maize fields, I have already

described: they do the more harm, as they do not eat all the corn, but

only the inner and sweet part, and as it were take off the husks. In

spring towards the end of April, when the oaks were in full flower, I

once observed a number of squirrels on them, sometimes five, six, or

more in a tree, who bit off the flower stalks a little below the

flowers, and dropt them on the ground: whether they eat any thing off

them, or made use of them for some other purpose I know not: but the

ground was quite covered with oak flowers, to which part of the stalk

adhered. For this reason the oaks do not bear so much fruit by far, to

feed hogs and other animals, as they would otherwise do.

Of all the wild animals in this country, the squirrels are some of the

easiest to tame, especially when they are taken young for that purpose.

I have seen them tamed so far, that they would follow the boys into the

woods and run about every where, and when tired would sit on their

shoulders. Sometimes they only ran a little way into the wood, and then

returned home again to the little hole that had been fitted up for

them. When they eat, they sit almost upright, hold their food between

their forefeet and their tail bent upwards. When the tame ones got more

than they could eat at a time, they carried the remainder to their

habitations, and hid it amongst the wool which they lay upon. Such tame

squirrels shewed no fear of strangers, and would suffer themselves to

be touched by every body, without offering to bite. They sometimes

would leap upon stranger’s cloaths and lie still on them, in order to

sleep. In the farm houses where they were kept, they played with cats

and dogs: they likewise eat bread.

The wild grey squirrels likewise hold up their tails when sitting. As

soon as they perceive a man, they continually wag their tails and begin

to gnash with their teeth, and make a great noise, which they do not

readily give over. Those who go a shooting birds and other animals, are

therefore very angry at them, as this noise discovers them, and alarms

the game. Though a grey squirrel does not seem to be very shy, yet it

is very difficult to kill; for when it perceives a man, it climbs upon

a tree, and commonly chuses the highest about it. It then tries to hide

itself behind the trunk, so that the shooter may not see it, and though

he goes ever so fast round the tree, yet the squirrel changes its place

as quickly, if not quicker: if two boughs bend towards each other, the

squirrel lies in the middle of them, and presses itself so close, that

it is hardly visible. You may then shake the tree, throw sticks and

stones to the place where it lies, or shoot at it, yet it will never

stir. If three branches join, it takes refuge between them, and lies as

close to them as possible, and then it is sufficiently safe. Sometimes

it escapes on a tree where there are old nests of squirrels, or of

large birds: it slips into such, and cannot be got out, either by

shooting, throwing, or any thing else; for the grey squirrels seldom

leap from one tree to another, except extreme danger compels them. They

commonly run directly up the trees and down the same way, with their

head straight forward. Several of them which I shot in the woods, had

great numbers of fleas.

I have already mentioned that these squirrels are among the animals,

which at present are more plentiful than they formerly were, and that

the infinitely greater cultivation of maize, which is their favourite

food, is the cause of their multiplication. However it is peculiar,

that in some years a greater number of squirrels come down from the

higher countries into Pensylvania, and other English colonies. They

commonly come in autumn, and are then very busy in the woods gathering

nuts and acorns, which they carry into hollow trees or their

store-holes, in order to be sufficiently provided with food for winter.

They are so diligent in storing up of provisions, that though the nuts

have been extremely plentiful that year, yet it is difficult to get a

considerable quantity of them. The people here pretended from their own

experience to know, that when the squirrels came down in such numbers

from the higher parts of the country, the winter ensuing was uncommonly

rigorous and cold, and for that reason they always look upon their

coming down, as a sure sign of such a winter. Yet this does not always

prove true, as I experienced in the autumn of the year 1749: at that

time a great number of squirrels came down into the colonies, yet the

winter was very mild and no colder than common. But it appeared that

their migration was occasioned by the scarcity of nuts and acorns,

which happened that year in the higher parts of the country, and

obliged them to come hither for their food. Therefore they generally

return the next year to the place from which they came.

Some people reckon squirrel flesh a great dainty, but the generality

make no account of it. The skin is good for little, yet small straps

are sometimes made of it, as it is very tough: others use it as a furr

lining, for want of a better. Ladies shoes are likewise sometimes made

of it.

The Rattle snake often devours the squirrels, notwithstanding all their

agility. This unwieldy creature, is said to catch so agile an one,

merely by fascination. I have never had an opportunity of seeing how it

is done: but so many credible people assured me of the truth of the

fact, and asserted that they were present, and paid peculiar attention

to it, that I am almost forced to believe their unanimous accounts. The

fascination is effected in the following manner: the snake lies at the

bottom of the tree upon which the squirrel sits; its eyes are fixed

upon the little animal, and from that moment it cannot escape; it

begins a doleful outcry, which is so well known, that a person passing

by, on hearing it, immediately knows that it is charmed by a snake. The

squirrel runs up the tree a little way, comes downwards again, then

goes up, and now comes lower again. On that occasion it has been

observed, that the squirrel always goes down more than it goes up. The

snake still continues at the root of the tree, with its eyes fixed on

the squirrel, with which its attention is so entirely taken up, that a

person accidentally approaching, may make a considerable noise, without

the snake’s so much as turning about. The squirrel as before-mentioned

comes always lower, and at last leaps down to the snake, whose mouth is

already wide open for its reception. The poor little animal then with a

piteous cry runs into the snake’s jaws, and is swallowed at once, if it

be not too big; but if its size will not allow it to be swallowed at

once, the snake licks it several times with its tongue, and smoothens

it, and by that means makes it fit for swallowing. Every thing else

remarkable at this enchantment, I have described in a treatise inserted

in the Memoirs of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, in the Volume

for the year 1753, I therefore am not so circumstantial here. The same

power of enchanting is ascribed to that kind of snake, which is

commonly called the black snake in America, and it is said to catch and

devour squirrels in the same manner as the former. [49]

But these little animals do considerable damage to the maize, not only

whilst it is upon the stalk, as I have before observed, but even when

it is brought home into the barns: for if they can come at it without

any obstacle, they can in a few nights bring a whole bushel away into

their lurking holes. The government in most of the North American

colonies, has therefore been obliged to offer a certain premium, to be

paid out of the common treasury, for the head of a squirrel. It seems

inconceivable what a sum of money has been paid for grey and black

squirrel’s heads, in the province of Pensylvania only, from the first

of January 1749, to the first of January 1750; for when the deputies

from the several districts of the province met, in order to deliberate

upon the affairs of the province, each of them complained that their

treasuries were exhausted by paying so much for squirrels: for at that

time the law had appointed a reward of three-pence for each squirrel’s

head. So far extended the vengeance taken upon these little creatures,

i.e. upon the grey and black squirrels. It was found, by calling up

accounts, that in that one year eight thousand pounds of Pensylvania

currency, had been expended in paying these rewards: this I was assured

of by a man who had looked over the accounts himself.

Many people, especially young men, left all other employment, and went

into the woods to shoot squirrels: but the government having

experienced how much three-pence per head took out of the treasury,

settled half that sum upon each squirrel’s head.

Flying Squirrels are a peculiar kind, which seem to be the same with

those which inhabit Finland, and which Dr. Linnæus in his Fauna

Svecica, No. 38. calls Sciurus volans. The American flying squirrel at

the utmost is only a variety of that which we have in Finland. Catesby

in his Natural History of Carolina, Vol. 2, p. 76, 77, has described

it, and tab. 76, 77, drawn it after life. He likewise calls it Sciurus

volans. Edwards in his Natural History of Birds represents it, t. 191.

They are met with in the woods, but not very frequently. They are

scarce ever seen in the day time, unless they are forced out by men who

have discovered their nests: for they sleep in the day time, but as

soon as it grows dark, they come out and run about almost all night.

They live in hollow trees, and by cutting one down, seven or more

flying squirrels are frequently found in it. By the additional skin

with which Providence has provided them on both sides, they can fly

from one tree to another. They expand their skins like wings, and

contract them again as soon as they can get hold of the opposite tree.

Some people say that they fly in a horizontal line; but others asserted

that they first went a little downwards, and then rose up again, when

they approached the tree to which they would fly: they cannot fly

further than four or five fathoms. Among all the squirrels in this

country, these are the most easily tamed. The boys carry them to

school, or wherever they go, without their ever attempting to escape:

if even they put their squirrel aside, it leaps upon them again

immediately, creeps either into their bosom, or their sleeve, or any

fold of the clothes, and lies down to sleep: its food is the same with

that of the grey squirrel.

There is a small species of squirrels abounding in the woods, which the

English call ground Squirrels. Catesby has described and drawn them

from life, in the 2d. Vol. of his Natural History of Carolina, p. 75,

tab. 75, and Edwards in his Natural History of Birds, t. 181. [50] He

and Dr. Linnæus call it Sciurus striatus, or the streaked Squirrel.

These do not properly live in trees, as others of this genus, but dig

holes in the ground (much in the same manner as rabbets) in which they

live, and whither they take refuge when they perceive any danger. Their

holes go deep, and commonly further inwards divide into many branches.

They are also cunning enough to make sometimes an opening or hole to

the surface of the ground from one of these branches. The advantage

they have from hence, is that when they stroll about for food, and the

hole is stopt up through which they went out, they may not expose

themselves to be caught, but presently find the other hole, into which

they may retreat: but in autumn, when the leaves fall from the trees,

or sometime after, it is diversion to see the consternation they are

sometimes in when pursued; for their holes being easily covered with

the great fall of leaves, or by the wind, they have a great deal to do,

to find them on a sudden: they then run backwards and forwards, as if

they had lost their way: they seem to know the places where they have

made their subterraneous walks, but cannot conceive where the entrances

are. If they be then pursued, and one claps his hands, they know no

other refuge than that of climbing upon a tree; for it is to be

observed that these squirrels always live under ground, and never climb

upon trees unless pursued, and unable in the hurry to find their holes.

This kind of squirrels is much more numerous in Pensylvania, than in

any other province of North America through which I have travelled. Its

length is commonly six inches, without the curved tail; and it is very

narrow. The skin is ferruginous, or of a reddish brown, and marked with

five black streaks, one of which runs along the back, and two on each

side. Their food consists of all sorts of corn, as rye, barley, wheat,

maize, and of acorns, nuts, &c. They gather their winter provisions in

autumn, like the common grey squirrels, and keep them in their holes

under ground. If they get into a granary, they do as much mischief as

mice and rats. It has often been observed that if, after eating rye,

they come to some wheat, they throw up the former, which they do not

like so well as the wheat, in order to fill their belly with the

latter. When the maize is reaped in the fields, they are very busy in

biting off the ears, and filling the pouches in their mouth with corn,

so that their cheeks are quite blown up. With this booty they hasten

into the holes which they have made in the ground.

As a Swede was making a mill-dyke, pretty late in autumn, he employed

for that purpose the soil of a neighbouring hill, and met with a hole

on a subterraneous walk belonging to these squirrels; he followed it

for some time, and discovered a walk on one side like a branch, parting

from the chief stem: it was near two feet long, and at its end was a

quantity of choice acorns of the white oak, which the little careful

animal had stored up for winter. Soon after he found another walk on

the side like the former, but containing a fine store of maize: the

next had hiccory nuts, and the last and most hidden one contained some

excellent chesnuts, which might have filled two hats.

In winter these squirrels are seldom seen, for during that season they

live in their subterraneous holes upon the provisions, which they have

stored up there. However on a very fine and clear day they sometimes

come out. They frequently dig through the ground, into cellars in which

the country people lay up their apples, which they partly eat, and

partly spoil, so that the master has little or nothing left. They

handle the maize stores full as roughly as the apples. But the cats are

their great enemies, who devour them and bring them home to their young

ones: their flesh is not eaten by men, and their skin is not made use

of.

Of all the squirrels in the country, these are the most difficult to be

tamed; for, though they be caught very young, yet it is dangerous to

touch them with naked hands, as they bite very sharp when one is not

aware of them. Many boys, who had lost a deal of time in trying to tame

these squirrels, owned that they knew of no art to make them quite

tame; at least they are never so far tamed as the other species. In

order to do any thing towards taming them they must be caught when they

are very small. Some people kept them in that state in a cage, because

they looked very pretty.

I shall take an other opportunity of speaking of the black and

ferruginous squirrels, which likewise inhabit this country.

November the 15th. In the morning I returned to Philadelphia. Mr. Cock

told me to day, and on some other occasions afterwards, an accident

which happened to him, and which seemed greatly to confirm a peculiar

sign of an imminent hurricane. He sailed to the West Indies in a small

yacht, and had an old man on board, who had for a considerable time

sailed in this sea. The old man sounding the depth, called to the mate

to tell Mr. Cock to launch the boats immediately, and to put a

sufficient number of men into them, in order to tow the yacht during

the calm, that they might reach the island before them, as soon as

possible, as within twenty-four hours there would be a strong

hurricane. Mr. Cock asked him what reasons he had to think so, the old

man replied, that on sounding, he saw the lead in the water at a

distance of many fathoms more than he had seen it before; that

therefore the water was become clear all of a sudden, which he looked

upon as a certain sign of an impending hurricane in the sea. Mr. Cock

likewise saw the excessive clearness of the water. He therefore gave

immediate orders for launching the boat, and towing the yacht, so that

they arrived before night in a safe harbour. But before they had quite

reached it the waves began to rise more and more, and the water was as

it were boiling, though no wind was perceptible. In the ensuing night

the hurricane came on, and raged with such violence, that not only many

ships were lost, and the roofs were torn off from the houses, but even

Mr. Cock’s yacht and other ships, though they were in safe harbours,

were by the wind, and the violence of the sea, washed so far on shore,

that several weeks elapsed, before they could be got off.

An old Dutch skipper said, that he had once caught a dogfish in the bay

of New York, which being cut open, had a quantity of eels in his

stomach.

November the 18th. Mr. Bartram shewed me an earthen pot, which had been

found in a place, where the Indians formerly lived. He, who first dug

it out, kept grease and fat in it to smear his shoes, boots and all

forts of leather with: Mr. Bartram bought the pot of that man; it was

yet entire and not damaged: I could perceive no glaze or colour upon

it, but on the outside it was very much ornamented and upon the whole

well made. Mr. Bartram shewed me several pieces of broken earthen

vessels which the Indians formerly made use of. It plainly appeared in

all these that they were not made of mere clay; but that different

materials had been mixed with it, according to the nature of the places

where they were made. Those Indians, for example, who lived near the

sea shore, pounded the shells of snails and muscles, and mixed them

with the clay. Others who lived further up in the country, where

mountain crystals could be found, pounded them and mixed them with

their clay; but how they proceeded in making the vessels, is entirely

unknown: it was plain, that they did not burn them much, for they were

so soft that they might be cut in pieces with a knife: the workmanship

however seems to have been very good; for at present they find whole

vessels or pieces in the ground, which are not damaged at all, though

they have lain in the ground above a century. Before the Europeans

settled in North America, the Indians had no other vessels to boil

their meat in, than these earthen pots of their own making: but since

their arrival, they have always bought pots, kettles, and other

necessary vessels of the Europeans, and take no longer the pains of

making some, by which means this art is entirely lost among them. Such

vessels of their own construction are therefore a great rarity even

among the Indians. I have seen such old pots and pieces of them,

consisting of a kind of Serpentine stone, or Linnæus’s Talcum, Syst.

nat. 3. p. 52.

Mr. Bartram likewise shewed me little pieces of a black slate, which is

plentifully found in some parts of the river Skullkill. There are

pieces to be found, which are four feet and above square: the colour

and configuration is the same as in the Table slate (Schistus

tabularis, Linn.) Syst. nat. 3. p. 37. except that this is a little

thicker. The inhabitants of the country thereabouts (in the

neighbourhood of the Skullkill) cover their roofs with it; Mr. Bartram

assured me, that he had seen a whole roof composed of four such slates.

The rays of the sun, heat, cold, and rain do not act upon the stone.

Mr. Bartram further related, that in several parts of the country,

caves or holes were to be met with, going deep into the mountains: he

had been in several of them and had often found a number of

Stalactites, Linnæus’s Stalactites stillatitius, Syst. nat. 3. p. 183.

of different dimensions at the top; they differed in colour, but the

greatest curiosity was, that in some of the caves Mr. Bartram had found

Stalactites, whose outward side was as it were wreathed from top to

bottom; he had sent some pieces of it to London, and had none at

present.

November the 20th. This morning I set out in company of a friend, on a

journey to Raccoon in New Jersey, where many Swedes live, who have

their own church. We had three miles to go before we came to the ferry

which was to bring us over the Delaware. The country here was very low

in some places: the plains on the banks of the river, were overflowed

at every high water or flowing of the tide, and at the ebbing they were

left dry again. However the inhabitants of the country hereabouts, made

use of this plain: for that purpose they had in several places thrown

up walls or dykes of earth towards the river, to prevent its

overflowing the plains, which they made use of as meadows. On them the

Water-beeches (Platanus occidentalis, Linn.) were planted in great

numbers on both sides the road, quite close together: these in summer

afford a pleasant shade, on account of the abundance and size of their

leaves, and make the road extremely delightful, as it resembles a fine

shady walk. The Delaware has nearly the same breadth here, which it has

near Philadelphia. Near the place where the ferry is to be met with,

several pretty houses were built on both sides, where travellers might

get all kinds of refreshment. On our journey from Pensylvania to New

Jersey, we were brought over the Delaware in a ferry belonging to, and

kept in repair by the Pensylvania-men; but on our return we were

obliged to take the ferry belonging to the New Jersey side. As soon as

we had crossed the river, we were in a different province, for the

Delaware makes the division between Pensylvania and New Jersey, so that

every thing to the west of it belongs to the former, and all to the

east, to the latter province. Both these provinces have in most things

different laws, and their peculiar coin.

We now pursued our journey further, and soon observed that the country

on this side appeared very different from that on the other; for in

Pensylvania the ground consists of more clay and black mould, and is

very fertile; but in New Jersey it is more sandy and very poor, so that

the horses went very deep in sand in several parts of the road. Near

the place where we were brought over, and a little way along the shore

was a thick firwood: the trees were not very high, but in their

greatest vigour; between them appeared now and then a low bush of oak.

But after travelling about three English miles, the firwood ended, and

we saw no more trees of this kind till we came to the church in

Raccoon. In all the parts of Pensylvania where I have been, I have

found few firwoods; on the other hand, they are abundant in New Jersey,

and especially in the lower part of that province. We afterwards found

all the day long no other trees, than such as have deciduous leaves;

most of these were oaks of different sorts, and of considerable height,

but they stood every where far enough asunder, to admit a chaise to

pass through the wood without any inconvenience, there being seldom any

shrubs or underwood between the trees, to obstruct the way. The leaves

were all fallen, and covered the ground more than a hand’s breadth:

this had an appearance of encreasing the upper black soil greatly. In

several places flowed a small rivulet. The country was commonly plain,

but sometimes formed a few hills with an easy declivity, though no high

mountains appeared, and in a few places we found some small stones not

bigger than a fist. Single farm houses were scattered in the country,

and in one place only was a small village: the country was yet more

covered with forests than cultivated, and we were for the greatest part

always in a wood.

This day and the next we passed several Kills, or small rivulets which

flowed out of the country into the Delaware with no great descent nor

rapidity. When the tide came up in the Delaware, it likewise rose in

some of these rivulets a good way; formerly they must have spread to a

considerable breadth by the flowing of the tide, but at present there

were meadows on their banks, formed, by throwing up strong dykes as

close as possible to the water, to keep it from overflowing. Such dykes

were made along all rivers here to confine their water; therefore when

the tide was highest, the water in the rivers was much higher than the

meadows: in the dykes were gates through which the water can be drawn

from, or led into the meadows; they were sometimes placed on the

outward side of the wall, so that the water in the meadows forced it

open, but the river water shut it.

In the evening we came into the house of a Swede called Peter Rambo,

and we staid the night at his house.

The pines which we had seen to day, and which I have mentioned before,

were of that kind which has double leaves and oblong cones covered with

aculeated scales. The English to distinguish it call it the Jersey

Pine: commonly there were only two spines or leaves in one fascicle, as

in our common Swedish pines, but sometimes three; the cones had long

spines, so that they were difficult to be touched. These pines look at

a distance wholly like the Swedish ones, so that if the cones were not

regarded, they might easily be taken for the same species. Of these

pines they make a great quantity of tar, of which I shall speak in the

sequel; but as most of them are but small, they are good for nothing

else; for if they be employed as posts, or poles in the ground, they

are in a short time rendered useless by rotting: as soon as they are

cut down the worms are very greedy of them; they soon eat through the

wood, and only a few weeks after it is cut down; however it is made use

of as fuel where no other wood is to be got, in several places they

make charcoal of it, as I intend to mention in the sequel. There is

another thing which deserves notice, in regard to these trees, and

which several people, besides myself, have experienced. In the great

heat of the summer, the cattle like to stand in the shade of these

trees, preferably to that of the oak, hiccory, walnut, water-beech and

other trees of this kind, whose foliage is very thick; and when the

cattle find the latter with the former, they always choose to stand

under the firs and pines, though the other trees with annually

deciduous leaves could afford a better shade: and if there be but a

single pine in a wood, as many cattle from the herd as can stand under

it, throng to it. Some people would infer from hence, that the resinous

exhalations of these trees, were beneficial to the cattle, and which

made them more inclined to be near firs and pines, than any other

trees.

The Spoon tree, which never grows to a great height, we saw this day in

several places. The Swedes here have called it thus, because the

Indians who formerly lived in these provinces, used to make their

spoons and trowels of the wood of this tree. In my cabinet of natural

curiosities, I have a spoon made of this wood by an Indian, who has

killed many stags and other animals on the very spot where Philadelphia

afterwards was built; for in his time that spot was yet covered with

trees and shrubs. The English call this tree a Laurel, because its

leaves resemble those of the Laurocerasus. Dr. Linnæus, conformable to

the peculiar friendship and goodness which he has always honoured me

with, has been pleased to call this tree, Kalmia foliis ovatis,

corymbis terminalibus, or Kalmia latifolia. It succeeds best on the

side of hills, especially on the north side, where a brook passes by;

therefore on meeting with some steep places (on hills) towards a brook,

or with a steep side of a hill towards a marsh, you are sure to find

the Kalmia. But it frequently stands mixed among beech trees. The

higher the Kalmias stand on the north side of a mountain, the less they

grow: I have seen them not only in Pensylvania and New Jersey, but even

in New York, but there they are more scarce: I never found them beyond

the forty-second deg. of north lat. though I took ever so great care to

look for them: they have the quality of preserving their fine green

leaves throughout winter, so that when all other trees have lost their

ornaments, and stand quite naked, these chear the woods with their

green foliage. About the month of May they begin to flower in these

parts, and then their beauty rivals that of most of the known trees in

nature: the flowers are innumerable, and sit in great bunches. Before

they open, they have a fine red colour, but as they are expanded, the

sun bleaches them, so that some are quite white; many preserve the

colour of roses. Their shape is singular, for they resemble a crater of

the ancients: their scent however is none of the most agreeable. In

some places it was customary to adorn the churches on christmas day or

new-years day with the fine branches of this tree, which are then thick

covered with leaves.

But these trees are known for another remarkable quality; their leaves

are poison to some animals, and food for others: experience has taught

the people that when sheep eat of these leaves, they either die

immediately, or fall very sick, and recover with great difficulty. The

young and more tender sheep are killed by a small portion, but the

elder ones can bear a stronger dose. Yet this food will likewise prove

mortal to them, if they take too much of it: the same noxious effect it

shews in regard to calves which eat too much of the leaves: they either

die, or do not recover easily. I can remember, that in the autumn of

the year 1748, some calves eat of the leaves, but fell very sick,

swelled, foamed at the mouth, and could hardly stand, however they were

cured by giving them gunpowder and other medicines: the sheep are most

exposed to be tempted by these leaves in winter; for after having been

kept in stables, for some months they are greedy of all greens

especially if the snow still lies upon the fields, and therefore the

green but poisonous leaves of the Kalmia, are to them very tempting.

Horses, oxen and cows which have eaten them, have likewise been very

ill after the meal, and though none of them ever died of eating these

leaves, yet most people believed, that if they took too great a portion

of them, death would certainly be the result. For it has been observed

that when these animals only eat small quantities, yet they suffer

great pains. On the other hand the leaves of the Kalmia are the food of

stags, when the snow covers the ground, and hides all other provisions

from them. Therefore, if they be shot in winter, their bowels are found

filled with these leaves; and it is very extraordinary, that if those

bowels are given to dogs, they become quite stupid and as it were

drunk, and often fall so sick, that they seem to be at the point of

death, but the people, who have eaten the venison, have not felt the

least indisposition. The leaves of the Kalmia are likewise the winter

food of those birds, which the Swedes in North America call Hazel-hens,

and which stay here all winter, for when they are killed, their crop is

found quite filled with them.

The wood of the Kalmia is very hard, and some people on that account,

make the axis of their pullies of it. Weavers shuttles are chiefly made

of it, and the weavers are of opinion, that no wood in this country is

better for this purpose, for it is compact, may be made very smooth,

and does not easily crack, or burst. The joiners and turners here,

employ it in making all kinds of work, which requires the best wood;

they chiefly use the root because it is quite yellow; the wood has a

very suitable hardness and fineness, and from the center, spread as it

were small rays, which are at some distance from each other. When the

leaves of the Kalmia are thrown into the fire, they make a crackling

like salt. The chimney sweepers make brooms in winter of the branches

with the leaves on them, since they cannot get others in that season.

In the summer of the year 1750, a certain kind of worms, devoured the

leaves of almost all the trees in Pensylvania; yet they did not venture

to attack the leaves of the Kalmia. Some people asserted, that when a

fire happened in the woods, it never went further, as soon as it came

to the Kalmias, or Spoon trees.

November the 21st. The Swedes and all the other inhabitants of the

country plant great quantities of maize, both for themselves and for

their cattle. It was asserted that it is the best food for hogs,

because it makes them very fat, and gives their flesh an agreeable

flavour, preferable to all other meat. I have given in two

dissertations upon this kind of corn to the Swedish Royal Academy of

Sciences, which stand in their Memoirs, one in the Volume for the year

1751, in the last quarter, and the other in the first quarter of the

Volume for the year 1752, and thither I refer my readers.

The wheels of the carts which are here made use of, are composed of two

different kinds of wood. The felloes were made of what is called the

Spanish oak, and the spokes of the white oak.

The Sassafras tree grows every where in this place. I have already

observed several particulars in regard to it, and intend to add a few

more here. On throwing some of the wood into the fire, it causes a

crackling as salt does. The wood is made use of for posts belonging to

the enclosures, for it is said to last a long time in the ground: but

it is likewise said, that there is hardly any kind of wood, which is

more attacked by worms than this, when it is exposed to the air without

cover, and that in a short time it is quite worm-eaten through and

through. The Swedes related, that the Indians who formerly inhabited

these parts, made bowls of it. On cutting some part of the sassafras

tree, or its shoots, and holding it to the nose, it has a strong but

pleasant smell. Some people peel the root, and boil the peel with the

beer which they are brewing, because they believe it wholesome for the

same reason. The peel is put into brandy, either whilst it is

distilling, or after it is made.

An old Swede remembered that his mother cured many people of the

dropsy, by a decoction of the root of sassafras in water drank every

morning: but she used, at the same time to cup the patient on the feet.

The old man assured me, he had often seen people cured by this means,

who had been brought to his mother wrapped up in sheets.

When a part of a wood is destined for cultivation, the sassafras trees

are commonly left upon it, because they have a very thick foliage, and

afford a cool shade to the cattle, during the great heats. Several of

the Swedes, wash and scour the vessels in which they intend to keep

cyder, beer or brandy, with water in which the sassafras root or its

peel has been boiled; which they think renders all those liquors more

wholesome. Some people get their bed-posts made of sassafras wood, in

order to expel the bugs; for its strong scent it is said prevents those

vermin from settling in them. For two or three years together this has

the desired effect; or about as long as the wood keeps its strong

aromatic smell; but after that time it has been observed to lose it

effect. A joiner shewed me a bed, which he had made for himself, the

posts of which were of sassafras wood, but as it was ten or twelve

years old, there were so many bugs in it, that it seemed likely, they

would not let him sleep peaceably. Some Englishmen related, that some

years ago it had been customary in London, to drink a kind of tea of

the flowers of sassafras, because it was looked upon as very salutary;

but upon recollecting that the same potion was much used against the

venereal disease, it was soon left off, lest those that used it, should

be looked upon as infected with that disease. In Pensylvania some

people put chips of sassafras into their chests, where they keep all

sorts of woollen stuffs, in order to expel the moths (or Larvæ, or

caterpillars of moths or tinies) which commonly settle in them in

summer. The root keeps its smell for a long while: I have seen one

which had lain five or six years in the drawer of a table, and still

preserved the strength of its scent.

A Swede named Rambo, related that the Indians formerly dyed all sorts

of leather red with the bark of the chesnut oak.

Some old people remembered that in the year 1697, there had been so

rigorous a winter, that the ice in the river Delaware was two feet

thick.

November the 22d. Aoke Helm was one of the most considerable Swedes in

this place, and his father came over into this country along with the

Swedish governor Prince; he was upwards of seventy years of age. This

old man told us, that in his youth there was grass in the woods, which

grew very close, and was every where two feet high; but, that it was so

much lessened at present, that the cattle hardly find food enough, and

that therefore four cows now give no more milk than one at that time;

but the causes of this alteration are easy to find. In the younger

years of old Helm, the country was little inhabited, and hardly the

tenth part of the cattle kept which is at present; a cow had therefore

as much food at that time, as ten now have. Further, most kinds of

grass here are annual, and do not for several years together shoot up

from the same root, as our Swedish grasses: they must sow themselves

every year, because the last year’s plant dies away every autumn. The

great numbers of cattle hinder this sowing, as the grass is eaten

before it can produce flowers and fruit. We need not therefore wonder

that the grass is so thin on fields, hills, and pastures in these

provinces. This is likewise the reason why travellers in New Jersey,

Pensylvania, and Maryland, find many difficulties, especially in

winter, to get forwards with their own horses, for the grass in these

provinces is not very abundant, because the cattle eat it before it can

bring seeds: but more to the north, as in Canada, are a sufficient

quantity of perennial grasses; so wisely has the Creator regulated

every thing. The cold parts of the earth, naturally bring forth a more

durable grass, because the inhabitants want more hay to feed their

cattle with, on account of the length of the winter. The southern

provinces again have less perennial grass, as the cattle may be in the

fields all the winter. However careful œconomists have got seeds of

perennial grasses from England, and other European states, and sowed it

in their meadows, where they seem to thrive exceedingly well.

The Persimon (Diospyros Virginiana) was pretty common here: I have

already mentioned it before, but I intend now to add some more

particulars. Some of its fruits began to ripen and to become fit for

eating about this time, for they always ripen very late in autumn, and

then the people eat them like other fruit: they are very sweet and

glutinous, yet have a little astringency; I frequently used to eat a

great quantity of them, without feeling the least inconvenience. From

the persimon several Englishmen and Swedes brew a very palatable liquor

in the following manner. As soon as the fruit is ripe, a sufficient

quantity is gathered, which is very easy, as each tree is well stocked

with them. These persimon apples are put into a dough of wheat or other

flour, formed into cakes, and put into an oven, in which they continue

till they are quite baked, and sufficiently dry, when they are taken

out again: then, in order to brew the liquor, a pot full of water is

put on the fire and some of the cakes are put in: these become soft by

degrees as the water grows warm, and crumble in pieces at last; the pot

is then taken from the fire, and the water in it well stirred about,

that the cakes may mix with it: this is then poured into another

vessel, and they continue to steep and break as many cakes as are

necessary for a brewing: the malt is then infused, and they proceed as

usual with the brewing. Beer thus prepared is reckoned much preferable

to other beer. They likewise make brandy of this fruit in the following

manner: having collected a sufficient quantity of persimons in autumn,

they are altogether put into a vessel, where they lie for a week till

they are quite soft. Then they pour water on them, and in that state

they are left to ferment of themselves, without promoting the

fermentation by any addition. The brandy is then made in the common

way, and is said to be very good, especially if grapes (in particular

of the sweet sort) which are wild in the woods, be mixed with the

persimon fruit. Some persimons are ripe at the end of September, but

most of them later, and some not before November and December, when the

cold first overcomes their acrimony. The wood of this tree is very good

for joiner’s instruments, such as planes, handles to chisels, &c. but

if after being cut down, it lies exposed to sunshine and rain, it is

the first wood which rots, and in a year’s time there is nothing left

but what is useless. When the persimon trees get once into a field,

they are not easily got out of it again, as they spread so much. I was

told, that if you cut off a branch and put it into the ground, it

strikes root, but in very strong winters, these trees often die by

frost, and they, together with the peach trees, bear cold the least of

any.

November the 23d. Several kinds of gourds and melons are cultivated

here: they have partly been originally cultivated by the Indians, and

partly brought over by Europeans. Of the gourds there was a kind which

were crooked at the end, and oblong in general, and therefore they were

called crooked necks (Crocknacks;) they keep almost all winter. There

is yet another species of gourds which have the same quality: others

again are cut in pieces or slips, drawn upon thread and dried; they

keep all the year long, and are then boiled or stewed. All sorts of

gourds are prepared for eating in different manners, as is likewise

customary in Sweden. Many farmers have a whole field of gourds.

Squashes are a kind of gourds, which the Europeans got from the

Indians, and I have already mentioned them before. They are eaten

boiled, either with flesh or by themselves. In the first case, they are

put on the edge of the dish round the meat; they require little care,

for into whatever ground they are sown, they grow in it and succeed

well. If the seed is put into the fields in autumn, it brings squashes

next spring, though during winter it has suffered from frost, snow and

wet.

The Calabashes are likewise gourds, which are planted in quantities by

the Swedes and other inhabitants, but they are not fit for eating, and

are made use of for making all sorts of vessels; they are more tender

than the squashes, for they do not always ripen here, and only when the

weather is very warm. In order to make vessels of them, they are first

dried well: the seeds, together with the pulpy and spungy matter in

which they lie, are afterwards taken out and thrown away. The shells

are scraped very clean within, and then great spoons or ladles,

funnels, bowls, dishes and the like may be made of them; they are

particularly fit for keeping seeds of plants in, which are to be sent

over sea, for they keep their power of vegetating much longer, if they

be put in calabashes, than by any other means. Some people scrape the

outside of the calabashes before they are opened, dry them afterwards

and then clean them within; this makes them as hard as bones: they are

sometimes washed, so that they always keep their white colour.

Most of the farmers in this country, sow Buck-wheat, in the middle of

July; it must not be sown later, for in that case the frost ruins it,

but if it be sown before July, it flowers all the summer long, but the

flowers drop, and no seed is generated. Some people, plough the ground

twice where they intend to sow buck-wheat; others plough it only once,

about two weeks before they sow it. As soon as it is sown the field is

harrowed. It has been found by experience, that in a wet year

buck-wheat is most likely to succeed: it stands on the fields till the

frost comes on. When the crop is favourable, they get twenty, thirty

and even forty bushels from one. The Swedish churchwarden Ragnilson, in

whose house we were at this time, had got such a crop: they make

buck-wheat cakes and pudding. The cakes are commonly made in the

morning, and are baked in a frying pan, or on a stone: are buttered and

then eaten with tea or coffee, instead of toasted bread with butter, or

toast, which the English commonly eat at breakfast. The buck-wheat

cakes are very good, and are likewise usual at Philadelphia and in

other English colonies, especially in winter. Buck-wheat is an

excellent food for fowls; they eat it greedily, and lay more eggs, than

they do with other food: hogs are likewise fattened with it. Buck-wheat

straw is of no use; it is therefore left upon the field, in the places

where it has been thrashed, or it is scattered in the orchards, in

order to serve as a manure by putrifying. Neither cattle nor any other

animal will eat of it, except in the greatest necessity, when the snow

covers the ground and nothing else is to be met with. But though

buck-wheat is so common in the English colonies, yet the French had no

right notion of it in Canada, and it was never cultivated among them.

Towards night we found some Glow Worms in the wood, their body was

linear, consisting of eleven articulations, a little pointed before and

behind; the length from head to tail was five and a half geometrical

lines; the colour was brown and the articulations joined in the same

manner as in the onisci or woodlice. The antennæ or feel horns were

short and filiform, or thread-shaped; and the feet were fastened to the

foremost articulations of the body: when the insect creeps, its

hindmost articulations are dragged on the ground, and help its motion.

The extremity of the tail contain a matter which shines in the dark,

with a green light: the insect could draw it in, so that it was not

visible. It had rained considerably all day, yet they crept in great

numbers among the bushes, so that the ground seemed as it were sown

with stars. I shall in the sequel have occasion to mention another kind

of insects or flies which shine in the dark, when flying in the air.

November the 24th. Holly, or Ilex Aquifolium, grows in wet places,

scattered in the forest, and belongs to the rare trees; its leaves are

green both in summer and in winter. The Swedes dry its leaves, bruise

them in a mortar, boil them in small beer, and take them against the

pleurisy.

Red is dyed with brasil wood, and likewise with a kind of moss, which

grows on the trees here: blue is dyed with Indigo, but to get a black

colour, the leaves of the common field sorrel (Rumex Acetosella) are

boiled with the stuff to be dyed, which is then dried, and boiled again

with log-wood and copperas: the black colour thus produced, is said to

be very durable. The people spin and weave a great part of their every

day’s apparel, and dye them in their houses. Flax is cultivated by many

people, and succeeds very well, but the use of hemp is not very common.

Rye, wheat, and buck-wheat are cut with the sickle, but oats are mown

with a scythe. The sickles which are here made use of are long and

narrow, and their sharp edges have close teeth on the inner side. The

field lies fallow during a year, and in that time the cattle may graze

on it.

All the inhabitants of this place from the highest to the lowest, have

each their orchard, which is greater or less according to their wealth.

The trees in it are chiefly peach trees, apple trees and cherry trees:

compare with this what I have already said upon this subject before.

A little before noon, we left this place and continued our journey,

past the Swedish church in Raccoon, to Peils groves. The country, on

the sides of this road, is very sandy in many places and pretty near

level. Here and there appear single farms, yet they are very scarce,

and large extensive pieces of ground are still covered with forests,

which chiefly consist of several species of oak and hiccory. However we

could go with ease through these woods, as there are few bushes (or

under-wood) and stones to be met with. It was not only easy to ride in

every part of the wood on horseback, but even in most places there was

sufficient room for a small coach or a cart. Sometimes a few lying

trees which had been thrown on the ground by a hurricane, or had fallen

down through great age, caused some hindrance.

November the 25th. During my stay at Raccoon, at this time and all the

ensuing winter, I endeavoured to get the most information from the old

Swedes relating to the increase of land, and the decrease of water in

these parts; I shall therefore insert the answers here, which I have

received to my questions. They are as I got them, and I shall only

throw in a few remarks which may serve to explain things: the reader

therefore is left at liberty to draw his own inferences and

conclusions.

One of the Swedes, called King, who was above fifty years of age, was

convinced, that about this time the little lakes, brooks, springs and

rivers had much less water, than they had when he was a boy. He could

mention several lakes on which the people went in large boats in his

youth, and had sufficient water even in the hottest summers; but now,

they were either entirely dried up, or for the greatest part; and in

the latter case, all the water was lost in summer. He had himself seen

the fish dying in them, and he was apt to believe that at this time it

did not rain so much in summer, as it did when he was young. One of his

relations, who lived about eight miles from the river Delaware, on a

hill near a rivulet, had got a well, dug in his court yard: at the

depth of forty feet, they found a quantity of shells of oysters and

muscles, and likewise a great quantity of reed, and pieces of broken

branches. I asked, to what causes they ascribed what they had

discovered? and I was answered, that some people believed these things

had lain there ever since the deluge, and others, that the ground

increased.

Peter Rambo, a man who was near sixty years of age, assured me that in

several places at Raccoon, where wells had been dug, or any other work

carried deep into the ground, he had seen great quantities of muscle

shells and other marine animals. On digging wells, the people have

sometimes met with logs of wood at the depth of twenty feet, some of

which were putrified, and others as it were burnt. They once found a

great spoon in the ground, at this depth. Query, Is it not probable,

that the burnt wood which has been thus dug up, was only blackened by a

subterraneous mineral vapour? People however have concluded from this,

that America has had inhabitants before the deluge. This man (Peter

Rambo) further told me, that bricks had been found deep in the ground;

but may not the brick coloured clay (of which the ground here chiefly

consists, and which is a mixture of clay and sand) in a hard state have

had the appearance of bricks? I have seen such hardened clay, which at

first sight is easily mistaken for brick. He likewise asserted, that

the water in rivers was still as high as it used to be, as far back as

memory could reach; but little lakes, ponds, and waters in marshes are

visibly decreased, and many of them dried up.

Maons Keen, a Swede above seventy years old, asserted, that on digging

a well he had seen at the depth of forty feet, a great piece of chesnut

wood, together with roots and stalks of reed, and a clayey earth like

that which commonly covers the shores of salt water bays and coves.

This clay had a similar smell and a saline taste. Maons Keen and

several other people inferred from hence, that the whole country where

Raccoon and Penn’s neck are situated, was anciently quite overflowed by

the sea. They likewise knew, that at a great depth in the ground, such

a trowel as the Indians make use of, had been found.

Sven Lock, and William Cobb, both above fifty years of age agreed, that

in many places hereabouts, where wells had been dug, they had seen a

great quantity of reed, mostly rotten, at the depth of twenty or thirty

feet and upwards.

As Cobb made a well for himself, the workmen after digging twenty feet

deep, came upon so thick a branch, that they could not get forwards,

till it was cut in two places; the wood was still very hard. It is very

common to find near the surface of the earth, quantities of all sorts

of leaves not quite putrified. On making a dyke some years ago, along

the river on which the church at Raccoon stands; and for that purpose

cutting through a bank, it was found quite full of oyster shells,

though this place is above a hundred and twenty English miles from the

nearest sea shore. These men, and all the inhabitants of Raccoon,

concluded from this circumstance (of their own accord, and without

being led to the thought) that this tract of land was a part of the sea

many centuries ago. They likewise asserted that many little lakes,

which in their youth were full of water, even in the hottest season,

now hardly formed a narrow brook in summer, except after heavy rains;

but it did not appear to them that the rivers had lost any water.

Aoke Helm, found (on digging a well) first sand and little stones, to

the depth of eight feet; next a pale coloured clay, and then a black

one. At the depth of fifteen feet he found a piece of hard wood, and

several pieces of mundick or pyrites. He told me that he knew several

places in the Delaware, where the people went in boats, when he was

young; but which at present were changed into little islands, some of

which were near an English mile in length. These islands derive their

origin from a sand or bank in the river; on this the water washes some

clay, in which rushes come up, and thus the rest is generated by

degrees.

On a meeting of the oldest Swedes in the parish of Raccoon, I obtained

the following answers to the questions which I asked them on this

account. Whenever they dig a well in this neighbourhood, they always

find at the depth of twenty or thirty feet, great numbers of oyster

shells and clams: the latter are, as was above-mentioned, a kind of

large shells, which are found in bays, and of which the Indians make

their money. In many places, on digging wells a quantity of rushes and

reeds have been found almost wholly undamaged; and once on such an

occasion a whole bundle of flax was brought up, found between twenty

and thirty feet under ground; it seemed as little damaged as if it had

been lately put under ground; all looked at it with astonishment, as it

was beyond conception how it could get there; but I believe the good

people saw some American plants, such as the wild Virginian flax, or

Linum Virginianum, and the Antirrhinum Canadense, which look very like

common flax, yet it is remarkable that the bundle was really tied

together. The Europeans on their arrival in America, found our common

flax neither growing wild nor cultivated by the Indians, how then could

this bundle get into the ground? Can it be supposed, that past ages

have seen a nation here, so early acquainted with the use of flax? I

would rather abide by the opinion, that the above American plants, or

other similar ones, have been taken for flax. Charcoal and firebrands

have often been found under ground: The Swedish churchwarden, Eric

Ragnilson, told me that he had seen a quantity of them, which had been

brought up at the digging of a well: on such occasions, people have

often found (at the depth of between twenty and fifty feet) great

branches and blocks. There were some spots where twenty feet under the

surface of the earth, the people had found such trowels as the Indians

use: from these observations they all concluded, that this tract of

land had formerly been the bottom of the sea. It is to be observed,

that most of the wells which have hitherto been made, have been dug in

new settlements, where the wood was yet standing, and had probably

stood for centuries together. From the observations which have hitherto

been mentioned, and to which I shall add similar ones in the sequel, we

may, with a considerable degree of certainty conclude, that a great

part of the province of New Jersey, in ages unknown to posterity, was

part of the bottom of the sea, and was afterwards formed by the slime

and mud, and the many other things which the river Delaware carries

down along with it, from the upper parts of the country: however Cape

May seems to give some occasion for doubts, of which I shall speak in

the sequel.