(decorative banner)
New-Englands
RARITIES
Discovered.
Drop cap I
IN the year of our Lord 1663.May 28.upon an Invitation from my only Brother, I departed fromLondon, and arrived atBoston, the chief Town in theMassachusetts, a Colony ofEnglishmeninNew-England, the28thofJulyfollowing.
Boston(whose longitude is 315 deg. and 42 deg. 30 min. of North Latitude) is built on the South-west side of a Bay large enough for the Anchorage of 500 Sail of Ships, the Buildings are handsome, joyning one to the other as inLondon, with many large streets, most of them paved with pebble stone, in the high street towards the Common, there are fair buildings, some of stone, and at the East End of the {2} Town one amongst the rest, built by the Shore by Mr.Gibs, a Merchant, being a stately Edifice, which it is thought will stand him in little lessthan 3000l.before it be fully finished.[26]The Town is not divided into Parishes, yet they have three fair Meeting-houses or Churches, which hardly suffice to receive the Inhabitants and Strangers that come in from all parts.[27]
Having refreshed my self here for some time, and opportunely lighting upon a passage in a Bark belonging to a Friend of my Brothers, and bound to the Eastward, I put to sea again, and on the Fifteenth ofAugust, I arrived atBlack-point, otherwise calledScarborow, the habitation of my beloved Brother,[28]being about an hundred leagues to theEastward ofBoston; here I resided eight years, and made it my business to discover all along the Natural, Physical, and Chyrurgical Rarities of this New-found World.
New-Englandis said to begin at 40 and to end at 46 of Northerly Latitude, that is fromde la WareBay toNew-found-Land.
The Sea Coasts are accounted wholsomest, the East and South Winds coming {3} from Sea produceth warm weather, the Northwest coming over land causeth extremity of Cold, and many times strikes the Inhabitants bothEnglishandIndianwith that sad Disease called there the Plague of the back, but with usEmpiema.[29]
The Country generally is Rocky and Mountanous, and extremely overgrown with wood, yet here and there beautified with large rich Valleys, wherein are Lakes ten, twenty, yea sixty miles in compass, out of which our great Rivers have their Beginnings.[30]
Fourscore miles (upon a direct line) to the Northwest ofScarborow, a Ridge of Mountains run Northwest andNortheast an hundred Leagues, known by the name of theWhite Mountains, upon which lieth Snow all the year, and is a Land-mark twenty miles off at Sea. It is rising ground from the Sea shore to these Hills, and they are inaccessible but by the Gullies which the dissolved Snow hath made; in these Gullies growSavenBushes, which being taken hold of are a good help to the climbing Discoverer; upon the top of the highest of these Mountains is a large Level {4} or Plain of a days journey over, whereon nothing grows but Moss: at the farther end of this Plain is another Hill called theSugar-Loaf, to outward appearance a rude heap of massie stones piled one upon another, and you may as you ascend step from one stone to another, as if you were going up a pair of stairs, but winding still about the Hill till you come to the top, which will require half a days time, and yet it is not above a Mile, where there is also a Level of about an Acre of ground, with a pond of clear water in the midst of it; which you may hear run down, but how it ascends is a mystery. From this rocky Hill you may see the whole Country round about; it is far above the lower Clouds, and from hence we beheld a Vapour (like a great Pillar) drawn up by the Sun Beams out of a great Lake or Pond into the Air, where it was formed into a Cloud. The Country beyond these Hills Northward is daunting terrible, being full of rocky Hills, as thick as Mole-hills in a Meadow, and cloathed with infinite thick Woods.[31]
New-Englandis by some affirmed to be an Island, bounded on the North with the {5} RiverCanada, (socalled from MonsieurCane) on the South with the RiverMohegan, orHudsonsRiver, so called because he was the first that discovered it.[32]Some will haveAmericato be an Island, which out of question must needs be, if there be a Northeast passage found out into the South Sea; it contains 1152400000 Acres. The discovery of the Northwest passage (which lies within the River ofCanada) was undertaken with the help of some ProtestantFrenchmen, which leftCanadaand retired toBostonabout the year 1669. The Northeast people ofAmericai.e.New England,&c.are judged to beTartarscalledSamoades, being alike in complexion, shape, habit and manners, (see theGlobe:) Their Language is very significant, using but few words, every word having a diverse signification, which is exprest by their gesture; as when they hold their head of one side the word signifieth one thing, holding their hand up when they pronounce it signifieth another thing. Their Speeches in their Assemblies are very gravely delivered, commonly in perfectHexamiterVerse, with great silence and attention, and answered againex temporeafter the same manner.[33]
{6} Having given you some short Notes concerning the Country in general, I shall now enter upon the proposed Discovery of the Natural, Physical, and Chyrurgical Rarities; and that I may methodically deliver them unto you,I shall cast them into this form: 1. Birds. 2. Beasts. 3. Fishes. 4. Serpents and Insects. 5. Plants, of these, 1. such Plants as are common with us, 2. of such Plants as are proper to the country, 3. of such Plants as are proper to the Country and have no name known to us, 4. of such Plants as have sprung up since theEnglishPlanted and kept Cattle there, 5. of such Garden Herbs (amongst us) as do thrive there and of such as do not. 6. Of Stones, Minerals, Metals, and Earths.