Chapter 9

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 theNorth Americancolonies, 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[320]ofPensylvaniaonly, from the first ofJanuary1749, to the first ofJanuary1750; 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 ofPensylvaniacurrency, 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 Squirrelsare a peculiar kind, which seem to be the same with those which inhabitFinland, and which Dr.Linnæusin hisFauna Svecica, No. 38. callsSciurus volans. TheAmericanflying squirrel at the[321]utmost is only a variety of that which we have inFinland.Catesbyin hisNatural History of Carolina, Vol. 2, p. 76, 77, has described it, and tab. 76, 77, drawn it after life. He likewise calls itSciurus volans.Edwardsin hisNatural History of Birdsrepresents 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,[322]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.Pa:322.Pl:1.Flying Squirrel. Ground SquirrelFlying Squirrel.Ground Squirrel[322]There is a small species of squirrels abounding in the woods, which theEnglishcallground Squirrels.Catesbyhas described and drawn them from life, in the 2d. Vol. of hisNatural History of Carolina, p. 75, tab. 75, andEdwardsin hisNatural History of Birds, t. 181.50He and Dr.Linnæuscall itSciurus striatus, or thestreaked 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[323]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 inPensylvania, than in any other province ofNorth Americathrough which I have travelled. Its length is commonly six[324]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 aSwedewas 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[325]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[326]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.Novemberthe 15th. In the morning I returned toPhiladelphia. Mr.Cocktold me to day, and on some other occasions afterwards, an accident whichhappenedto him, and which seemed greatly to confirm a peculiar sign of an imminent hurricane. He sailed to theWest Indiesin 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.Cockto 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.Cockasked him what reasons he had to think so,[327]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.Cocklikewise 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 oldDutchskipper said, that he had once caught a dogfish in the bay ofNew York, which being cut open, had a quantity of eels in his stomach.Novemberthe 18th. Mr.Bartramshewed me an earthen pot, which had been found[328]in a place, where theIndiansformerly 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.Bartrambought 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.Bartramshewed me several pieces of broken earthen vessels which theIndiansformerly 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. ThoseIndians, 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[329]have lain in the ground above a century. Before theEuropeanssettled inNorth America, theIndianshad 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 theEuropeans, 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 theIndians. I have seen such old pots and pieces of them, consisting of a kind ofSerpentine stone, orLinnæus’sTalcum, Syst. nat. 3. p. 52.Mr.Bartramlikewise shewed me little pieces of ablack slate, which is plentifully found in some parts of the riverSkullkill. There are pieces to be found, which are four feet and above square: the colour and configuration is the same as in theTable 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 theSkullkill) cover their roofs with it; Mr.Bartramassured 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.[330]Mr.Bartramfurther 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 ofStalactites,Linnæus’sStalactites 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.Bartramhad foundStalactites, whose outward side was as it were wreathed from top to bottom; he had sent some pieces of it toLondon, and had none at present.Novemberthe 20th. This morning I set out in company of a friend, on a journey toRaccooninNew Jersey, where manySwedeslive, who have their own church. We had three miles to go before we came to the ferry which was to bring us over theDelaware. 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[331]made use of as meadows. On them theWater-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. TheDelawarehas nearly the same breadth here, which it has nearPhiladelphia. 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 fromPensylvaniatoNew Jersey, we were brought over theDelawarein a ferry belonging to, and kept in repair by thePensylvania-men; but on our return we were obliged to take the ferry belonging to theNew Jerseyside. As soon as we had crossed the river, we were in a different province, for theDelawaremakes the division betweenPensylvaniaandNew 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[332]the other; for inPensylvaniathe ground consists of more clay and black mould, and is very fertile; but inNew Jerseyit 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 inRaccoon. In all the parts ofPensylvaniawhere I have been, I have found few firwoods; on the other hand, they are abundant inNew 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[333]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 severalKills, or small rivulets which flowed out of the country into theDelawarewith no great descent nor rapidity. When the tide came up in theDelaware, 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[334]that the water in the meadows forced it open, but the river water shut it.In the evening we came into the house of aSwedecalledPeter 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. TheEnglishto distinguish it call it theJersey Pine: commonly there were only two spines or leaves in one fascicle, as in our commonSwedishpines, but sometimes three; the cones had long spines, so that they were difficult to be touched. These pines look at a distance wholly like theSwedishones, 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[335]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.TheSpoon tree, which never grows to a great height, we saw this day in several places. TheSwedeshere 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[336]a spoon made of this wood by an Indian, who has killed many stags and other animals on the very spot wherePhiladelphiaafterwards was built; for in his time that spot was yet covered with trees and shrubs. The English call this tree aLaurel, because its leaves resemble those of theLaurocerasus. 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, orKalmia 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 theKalmia. 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 inPensylvaniaandNew Jersey, but even inNew 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[337]chear the woods with their green foliage. About the month ofMaythey 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:[338]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,[339]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 theSwedesinNorth AmericacallHazel-hens, and which stay here all winter, for when they are killed, their crop is found quite filled with them.The wood of theKalmiais 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 theKalmiaare 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[340]kind of worms, devoured the leaves of almost all the trees inPensylvania; 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, orSpoon trees.Novemberthe 21st. TheSwedesand 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 theSwedish Royal Academy of Sciences, which stand in theirMemoirs, 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 theSpanishoak, and the spokes of the white oak.TheSassafrastree 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[341]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. TheSwedesrelated, that theIndianswho 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 oldSwederemembered 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.[342]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 theSwedes, 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. SomeEnglishmenrelated, that some years ago it had been customary inLondon, 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,[343]it was soon left off, lest those that used it, should be looked upon as infected with that disease. InPensylvaniasome people put chips of sassafras into their chests, where they keep all sorts of woollen stuffs, in order to expel the moths (orLarvæ, 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.ASwedenamedRambo, 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 riverDelawarewas two feet thick.Novemberthe 22d.Aoke Helmwas one of the most considerableSwedesin this place, and his father came over into this country along with theSwedishgovernorPrince; 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;[344]but the causes of this alteration are easy to find. In the younger years of oldHelm, 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 ourSwedishgrasses: 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 inNew Jersey,Pensylvania, andMaryland, 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 inCanada, 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.[345]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 fromEngland, and otherEuropeanstates, and sowed it in their meadows, where they seem to thrive exceedingly well.ThePersimon(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 severalEnglishmenandSwedesbrew 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[346]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 followingmanner: 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 ofSeptember, but most of them later, and some not beforeNovemberandDecember, when the cold first overcomes their acrimony. The wood of this tree is very good for joiner’s instruments,[347]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.Novemberthe 23d. Several kinds of gourds and melons are cultivated here: they have partly been originally cultivated by the Indians, and partly brought over byEuropeans. Of the gourds there was a kind which were crooked at the end, and oblong in general, and therefore they were calledcrooked 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 inSweden. Many farmers have a whole field of gourds.[348]Squashesare a kind of gourds, which theEuropeansgot 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.TheCalabashesare likewise gourds, which are planted in quantities by theSwedesand 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[349]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, sowBuck-wheat, in the middle ofJuly; it must not be sown later, for in that case the frost ruins it, but if it be sown beforeJuly, 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. TheSwedishchurchwardenRagnilson, 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,[350]instead of toasted bread with butter, or toast, which theEnglishcommonly eat at breakfast. The buck-wheat cakes are very good, and are likewise usual atPhiladelphiaand in otherEnglishcolonies, 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 theEnglishcolonies, yet theFrenchhad no right notion of it inCanada, and it was never cultivated among them.Towards night we found someGlow Wormsin 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;[351]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.Novemberthe 24th.Holly, orIlex 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. TheSwedesdry 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:blueis dyed withIndigo, 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 withlog-woodand copperas: the black colour thus produced,[352]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 theSwedishchurch inRaccoon, toPeils 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[353]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.Novemberthe 25th. During my stay atRaccoon, at this time and all the ensuing winter, I endeavoured to get the most information from the oldSwedesrelating 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 theSwedes, calledKing, 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[354]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 riverDelaware, 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 atRaccoon, 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,[355]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, thatAmericahas 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, aSwedeabove 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 Keenand several other people inferred from hence, that the whole country whereRaccoonandPenn’sneckare situated, was anciently[356]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, andWilliam 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.AsCobbmade 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 atRaccoonstands; 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 ofRaccoon, 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[357]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 theDelaware, where the people went in boats, when he was young; but which at present were changed into little islands, some of which were near anEnglishmile 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 oldestSwedesin the parish ofRaccoon, 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[358]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 someAmericanplants, such as the wildVirginianflax, orLinum Virginianum, and theAntirrhinum Canadense, which look very like common flax, yet it is remarkable that the bundle was really tied together. TheEuropeanson their arrival inAmerica, 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 aboveAmericanplants, or other similar ones, have been taken for flax. Charcoal and firebrands have often been found under ground: TheSwedishchurchwarden,Eric Ragnilson, told me that he had seen a quantity of them,[359]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 ofNew 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 riverDelawarecarries down along with it, from the upper parts of the country: howeverCape Mayseems to give some occasion for doubts, of which I shall speak in the sequel.[360]Novemberthe 27th. TheAmericanevergreens are1.Ilex Aquifolium, holly.2.Kalmia latifolia, the spoon tree.3.Kalmia angustifolia, another species of it.4.Magnolia glauca, the beaver tree. The young trees of this kind only keep their leaves, the others drop them.5.Viscum album, or misletoe; this commonly grows upon theNyssa aquatica, or tupelo tree, upon theLiquidambar styraciflua, or sweet gum tree, the oak and lime tree, so that their whole summits were frequently quite green in winter.6.Myrica cerifera, or the candleberry tree; of this however only some of the youngest shrubs preserve some leaves, but most of them had already lost them.7.Pinus Abies, the pine.8.Pinus sylvestris, the fir.9.Cupressus thyoides, the white cedar.10.Juniperus Virginiana, the red cedar.Several oaks and other trees dropt their leaves here in winter, which however keep them ever green, a little more to the south, and inCarolina.Novemberthe 30th. It has been observed, that theEuropeansinNorth America, whether they were born inSweden,[361]England,GermanyorHolland; or inNorth America, ofEuropeanparents, always lost their teeth much sooner than common; the women especially were subject to this disagreeable circumstance, the men did not suffer so much from it. Girls not above twenty years old, frequently had lost half of their teeth, without any hopes of getting new ones: I have attempted to penetrate into the causes of this early shedding of the teeth, but I know not, whether I have hit upon a true one. Many people were of opinion that the air of this country hurt the teeth: so much is certain that the weather can no where be subject to more frequent and sudden changes; for the end of a hot day, often turns out piercing cold, andvice versa. Yet this change of weather, cannot be looked upon as having any effect upon the shedding of the teeth, for theIndiansprove the contrary: they live in the same air, and always keep fine, entire white teeth; this I have seen myself, and have been assured of by every body: others ascribe it to the great quantities of fruit and sweet meats which are here eaten. But I have known many people, who never eat any fruit, and nevertheless had hardly a tooth left.I then began to suspect the tea, which[362]is drank here in the morning and afternoon, especially by women, and is so common at present, that there is hardly a farmer’s wife or a poor woman, who does not drink tea in the morning: I was confirmed in this opinion when I took a journey through some parts of the country which were still inhabited byIndians. For Major GeneralJohnsontold me at that time, that several of theIndianswho lived close to theEuropeansettlements, had learnt to drink tea. And it has been observed, that such of theIndianwomen, as used themselves too much to this liquor, had in the same manner as theEuropeanwomen, lost their teeth prematurely, though they had formerly been quite sound. Those again, who had not used tea preserved their teeth strong and sound to a great age.I afterwards found, that the use of tea could not entirely cause this accident. Several young women who lived in this country, but were born inEurope, complained that they lost most of their teeth after they came toAmerica: I asked, whether they did not think that it arose from the frequent use of tea, as it was known, that strong tea, as it were enters into and corrodes the teeth; but they answered, that they had lost their teeth before they[363]had began to drink tea, but continuing my enquiries, I found at last a sufficient cause, to account for the loss of their teeth: each of these women owned, that they were accustomed to eat every thing hot, and nothing was good in their opinion, unless they could eat it as fast as it came from the fire. This is likewise the case with the women in the country who lose their teeth much sooner and more abundantly than the men. They drink tea in greater quantity and much oftener, in the morning, and even at noon, when the employment of the men will not allow them to sit at the tea-table. Besides that, theEnglishmencare very little for tea, and a bowl of punch is much more agreeable to them. When theEnglishwomen drink tea, they never pour it out of the cup into the saucer, but drink it hot as it is out of the former. TheIndianwomen in imitation of them, swallow the tea in the same manner. On the contrary those Indians whose teeth are sound, never eat any thing hot, but take their meat either quite cold, or only just milk warm.I asked theSwedishchurchwarden inPhiladelphia, Mr.Bengtson, and a number of oldSwedes, whether their parents and countrymen had likewise lost their teeth as soon as theAmericancolonists; but they[364]told me that they had preserved them to a very great age.Bengtsonassured me, that his father at the age of seventy, cracked peach stones and the black walnuts with his teeth, notwithstanding their great hardness, which at this time no body dares to venture at that age. This confirms what I have before said, for at that time the use of tea was not yet known inNorth America.No disease is more common here, than that which theEnglishcallfever and ague, which is sometimes quotidian, tertian or quartan. But it often happens, that a person who has had a tertian ague, after losing it for a week or two, gets a quotidian ague in its stead, which after a while again changes into a tertian. The fever commonly attacks the people at the end ofAugust, or beginning ofSeptember, and commonly continues during autumn and winter till towards spring, when it ceases entirely.Strangers who arrive here, commonly are attacked by this sickness the first or second year after their arrival; and it is more violent upon them, than upon the natives, so that they sometimes die of it; but if they escape the first time, they have the advantage of not being visited again the next year, or perhaps never any more. It is[365]commonly said here, that strangers get the fever to accustom them to the climate. The natives ofEuropeanoffspring, have annual fits of this ague in some parts of the country: some however are soon delivered from it, with others on the contrary it continues for six months together, and others are afflicted with it till they die. The Indians also suffer it, but not so violently as theEuropeans. No age is secured against it: in those places where it rages annually, you see old men and women attacked with it; and even children in the cradle, sometimes not above three weeks old: it is likewise quotidian, tertian or quartan with them. This autumn the ague was more violent here, than it commonly used to be. People who are afflicted with it, look as pale as death, and are greatly weakened, but in general are not prevented from doing their work in the intervals. It is remarkable, that every year there are great parts of the country where this fever rages, and others where scarce a single person has been taken ill. It likewise is worth notice, that there are places where the people cannot remember that it formerly prevailed in their country, though at present it begins to grow more common: yet there was no other visible difference between the several[366]places. All the oldSwedes,Englishmen,Germans, &c. unanimously asserted, that the fever had never been so violent, and of such continuance when they were boys, as it is at present. They were likewise generally of opinion, that about the year 1680, there were not so many people afflicted with it, as about this time. However others equally old, were of opinion that the fever was proportionably as common formerly, as it is at present; but that it could not at that time be so sensibly perceived, on account of the scarcity of inhabitants, and the great distance of their settlements from each other; it is therefore probable that the effects of the fever have at all times been equal.It would be difficult to determine the true causes of this disease; they seem to be numerous, and not always alike: sometimes, and I believe commonly several of them unite. I have taken all possible care to sound the opinions of the physicians here on that head, and I here offer them to the reader.Some of them think that the peculiar qualities of the air of this country cause this fever; but most of them assert that it is generated by the standing and putrid water, which it seems is confirmed by experience.[367]For it has been observed in this country, that such people as live in the neighbourhood of Morasses or Swamps, or in places where a stagnant, stinking water is to be met with, are commonly infested with the fever and ague every year, and get it more readily than others. And this chiefly happens at a time of the year when those stagnant waters are most evaporated by the excessive heat of the sun, and the air is filled with the most noxious vapors. The fever likewise is very violent in all places which have a very low situation, and where salt water comes up with the tide twice in twenty four hours, and unites with the stagnant, fresh water in the country. Therefore on travelling in summer over such low places where fresh and salt water unite, the nauseous stench arising from thence often forces the traveller to stop his nose. On that account most of the inhabitants ofPenn’sneck, andSaleminNew Jersey, where the ground has the above-mentioned quality, are annually infested with the fever to a much greater degree, than the inhabitants of the higher country. If an inhabitant of the higher part of the country, where the people are free from the fever, removes into the lower parts, he may be well assured that the fever will attack[368]him at the usual time, and that he will get it again every year, as long as he continues in that country. People of the liveliest complexion on coming into the low parts of the country, and continuing there for some time, have entirely lost their colour and become quite pale. However this cannot be the sole cause of the fever, as I have been in several parts of the country which had a low situation and had stagnant waters near them, where the people declared they seldom suffered from this sickness: but these places were about two or three degrees more northerly.Others were of opinion that diet did very much towards it, and chiefly laid the blame upon the inconsiderate and intemperate consumption of fruit. This is particularly the case with theEuropeans, who come intoAmerica, and are not used to its climate and its fruit; for those who are born here can bear more, yet are not entirely free from the bad effects of eating too much. I have heard manyEnglishmen,Germans, and others speak from their own experience on this account; they owned, that they had often tried, and were certain that after eating a water melon once or twice before they had breakfasted, they would have the fever and ague in a few[369]days after. Yet it is remarkable, that theFrenchinCanadatold me that fevers were less common in that country, though they consumed as many water melons as theEnglishcolonies, and that it had never been observed that they occasioned a fever; but that on coming in the hot season to theIllinois, anIndiannation which is nearly in the same latitude withPensylvaniaandNew Jersey, they could not eat a water melon without feeling the shaking fits of an ague, and that the Indians therefore warned them not to eat of so dangerous a fruit. Query, Does not this lead us to think that the greater heat inPensylvania, and the country of theIllinois, which are both five or six degrees more southerly thanCanada, makes fruit in some measure more dangerous? In theEnglishNorth American colonies, every countryman plants a number of water melons, which are eaten whilst the people make hay, or during the harvest when they have nothing upon their stomachs, in order to cool them during the great heat, as that juicy fruit seems very proper to give refreshment. In the same manner melons, cucumbers, gourds, squashes, mulberries, apples, peaches, cherries, and such like fruit are eaten here in summer, and altogether contribute to the attacks of the ague.[370]But that the manner of living contributes greatly towards it, may be concluded from the unanimous accounts of old people, concerning the times of their childhood; according to which, the inhabitants of these parts, were at that time not subject to so many diseases as they are at present, and people were seldom sick. All the oldSwedeslikewise agreed, that their countrymen, who first came intoNorth America, attained to a great age, and their children nearly to the same; but that their grand children, and great grand children did not reach the age of their ancestors, and their health was not near so vigorous and durable. But theSwedeswho first settled inAmerica, lived very frugally; they were poor, and could not buy rum, brandy, or other strong liquors, which they seldom distilled themselves, as few of them had a distilling vessel. However they sometimes had a good strong beer. They did not understand the art of making cyder, which is now so common in the country: tea, coffee, chocolate, which are at present even the country people’s daily breakfast, were wholly unknown to them: most of them had never tasted sugar or punch. The tea which is now drank, is either very old, or mixed with all sorts of herbs, so that it no longer[371]deserves the name of tea: therefore it cannot have any good effect upon those who use it plentifully; besides, it cannot fail of relaxing the bowels, as it is drank both in the morning and in the afternoon quite boiling hot. The Indians, the offspring of the first inhabitants of this country, are a proof of what I have said. It is well known that their ancestors, at the time of the first arrival of theEuropeans, lived to a very great age. According to the common accounts, it was then not uncommon to find people among the Indians, who were above a hundred years old: they lived frugally, and drank pure water: brandy, rum, wine, and all the other strong liquors, were utterly unknown to them; but since the christians have taught them to drink these liquors, and the Indians have found them too palatable, those who cannot resist their appetites, hardly reach half the age of their parents.Lastly, some people pretended that the loss of many odoriferous plants, with which the woods were filled at the arrival of theEuropeans, but which the cattle has now extirpated, might be looked upon as a cause of the greater progress of the fever at present. The number of those strong plants occasioned a pleasant scent to rise in[372]the woods every morning and evening. It is therefore not unreasonable to think that the noxiousness of the effluvia from putrifying substances was then prevented, so that they were not so dangerous to the inhabitants.Several remedies are employed against this disease: the jesuit’s bark was formerly a certain one, but at present it has not always this effect, though they sell it genuine, and for the very best. Many people accused it of leaving something noxious in the body. Yet it was commonly observed, that when the bark was good, and it was taken as soon as the fever made its appearance, and before the body was weakened, it was almost sure to conquer the fever, so that the cold fits never returned, and no pain or stiffness remained in the limbs; but when the disease is rooted in, and has considerably weakened the patients, or they are naturally very weak, the fever leaves them after using the jesuit’s bark, but returns again in a fortnight’s time, and obliges them to take the bark again; but the consequence frequently is a pain and a stiffness in their limbs, and sometimes in their bowels, which almost hinders them from walking: this pain continues for several years together, and even accompanies some to the grave. This bad[373]effect is partly attributed to the bark, which can seldom be got genuine here, and partly to the little care which the patients take in using the bark. A man of my acquaintance was particularly dexterous in expelling the ague by the use of the jesuit’s bark. His manner of proceeding was as follows: when it was possible, the patient must use the remedy as soon as the fever begun, and before it was settled in his body: but before he took the medicine, he was to take a diaphoretic remedy, as that had been found very salutary; and as the fever is frequently of such a nature here, as not to make the patient sweat, even when the hot fit is upon him, a perspiration was to be brought about by some other means. To that purpose the patient took his dose on the day when he had his cold fit, and was not allowed to eat any thing at night. The next morning he continued in a warm bed, drank a quantity of tea, and was well covered that he might perspire plentifully. He continued so till the perspiration ceased, and then left the bed in a hot room, and washed his body with milk warm water, in order to cleanse it from the impurities that settled on it from the perspiration, and to prevent their stopping up of the pores. The patient was then dried again, and at last he[374]took the bark several times in one day. This was repeated twice or thrice on the days after he had the ague, and it commonly left him without returning, and most people recover so well, that they do not look pale after their sickness.

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 theNorth Americancolonies, 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[320]ofPensylvaniaonly, from the first ofJanuary1749, to the first ofJanuary1750; 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 ofPensylvaniacurrency, 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 Squirrelsare a peculiar kind, which seem to be the same with those which inhabitFinland, and which Dr.Linnæusin hisFauna Svecica, No. 38. callsSciurus volans. TheAmericanflying squirrel at the[321]utmost is only a variety of that which we have inFinland.Catesbyin hisNatural History of Carolina, Vol. 2, p. 76, 77, has described it, and tab. 76, 77, drawn it after life. He likewise calls itSciurus volans.Edwardsin hisNatural History of Birdsrepresents 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,[322]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.Pa:322.Pl:1.Flying Squirrel. Ground SquirrelFlying Squirrel.Ground Squirrel[322]There is a small species of squirrels abounding in the woods, which theEnglishcallground Squirrels.Catesbyhas described and drawn them from life, in the 2d. Vol. of hisNatural History of Carolina, p. 75, tab. 75, andEdwardsin hisNatural History of Birds, t. 181.50He and Dr.Linnæuscall itSciurus striatus, or thestreaked 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[323]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 inPensylvania, than in any other province ofNorth Americathrough which I have travelled. Its length is commonly six[324]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 aSwedewas 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[325]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[326]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.Novemberthe 15th. In the morning I returned toPhiladelphia. Mr.Cocktold me to day, and on some other occasions afterwards, an accident whichhappenedto him, and which seemed greatly to confirm a peculiar sign of an imminent hurricane. He sailed to theWest Indiesin 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.Cockto 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.Cockasked him what reasons he had to think so,[327]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.Cocklikewise 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 oldDutchskipper said, that he had once caught a dogfish in the bay ofNew York, which being cut open, had a quantity of eels in his stomach.Novemberthe 18th. Mr.Bartramshewed me an earthen pot, which had been found[328]in a place, where theIndiansformerly 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.Bartrambought 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.Bartramshewed me several pieces of broken earthen vessels which theIndiansformerly 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. ThoseIndians, 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[329]have lain in the ground above a century. Before theEuropeanssettled inNorth America, theIndianshad 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 theEuropeans, 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 theIndians. I have seen such old pots and pieces of them, consisting of a kind ofSerpentine stone, orLinnæus’sTalcum, Syst. nat. 3. p. 52.Mr.Bartramlikewise shewed me little pieces of ablack slate, which is plentifully found in some parts of the riverSkullkill. There are pieces to be found, which are four feet and above square: the colour and configuration is the same as in theTable 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 theSkullkill) cover their roofs with it; Mr.Bartramassured 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.[330]Mr.Bartramfurther 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 ofStalactites,Linnæus’sStalactites 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.Bartramhad foundStalactites, whose outward side was as it were wreathed from top to bottom; he had sent some pieces of it toLondon, and had none at present.Novemberthe 20th. This morning I set out in company of a friend, on a journey toRaccooninNew Jersey, where manySwedeslive, who have their own church. We had three miles to go before we came to the ferry which was to bring us over theDelaware. 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[331]made use of as meadows. On them theWater-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. TheDelawarehas nearly the same breadth here, which it has nearPhiladelphia. 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 fromPensylvaniatoNew Jersey, we were brought over theDelawarein a ferry belonging to, and kept in repair by thePensylvania-men; but on our return we were obliged to take the ferry belonging to theNew Jerseyside. As soon as we had crossed the river, we were in a different province, for theDelawaremakes the division betweenPensylvaniaandNew 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[332]the other; for inPensylvaniathe ground consists of more clay and black mould, and is very fertile; but inNew Jerseyit 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 inRaccoon. In all the parts ofPensylvaniawhere I have been, I have found few firwoods; on the other hand, they are abundant inNew 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[333]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 severalKills, or small rivulets which flowed out of the country into theDelawarewith no great descent nor rapidity. When the tide came up in theDelaware, 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[334]that the water in the meadows forced it open, but the river water shut it.In the evening we came into the house of aSwedecalledPeter 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. TheEnglishto distinguish it call it theJersey Pine: commonly there were only two spines or leaves in one fascicle, as in our commonSwedishpines, but sometimes three; the cones had long spines, so that they were difficult to be touched. These pines look at a distance wholly like theSwedishones, 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[335]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.TheSpoon tree, which never grows to a great height, we saw this day in several places. TheSwedeshere 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[336]a spoon made of this wood by an Indian, who has killed many stags and other animals on the very spot wherePhiladelphiaafterwards was built; for in his time that spot was yet covered with trees and shrubs. The English call this tree aLaurel, because its leaves resemble those of theLaurocerasus. 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, orKalmia 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 theKalmia. 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 inPensylvaniaandNew Jersey, but even inNew 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[337]chear the woods with their green foliage. About the month ofMaythey 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:[338]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,[339]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 theSwedesinNorth AmericacallHazel-hens, and which stay here all winter, for when they are killed, their crop is found quite filled with them.The wood of theKalmiais 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 theKalmiaare 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[340]kind of worms, devoured the leaves of almost all the trees inPensylvania; 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, orSpoon trees.Novemberthe 21st. TheSwedesand 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 theSwedish Royal Academy of Sciences, which stand in theirMemoirs, 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 theSpanishoak, and the spokes of the white oak.TheSassafrastree 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[341]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. TheSwedesrelated, that theIndianswho 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 oldSwederemembered 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.[342]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 theSwedes, 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. SomeEnglishmenrelated, that some years ago it had been customary inLondon, 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,[343]it was soon left off, lest those that used it, should be looked upon as infected with that disease. InPensylvaniasome people put chips of sassafras into their chests, where they keep all sorts of woollen stuffs, in order to expel the moths (orLarvæ, 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.ASwedenamedRambo, 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 riverDelawarewas two feet thick.Novemberthe 22d.Aoke Helmwas one of the most considerableSwedesin this place, and his father came over into this country along with theSwedishgovernorPrince; 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;[344]but the causes of this alteration are easy to find. In the younger years of oldHelm, 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 ourSwedishgrasses: 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 inNew Jersey,Pensylvania, andMaryland, 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 inCanada, 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.[345]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 fromEngland, and otherEuropeanstates, and sowed it in their meadows, where they seem to thrive exceedingly well.ThePersimon(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 severalEnglishmenandSwedesbrew 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[346]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 followingmanner: 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 ofSeptember, but most of them later, and some not beforeNovemberandDecember, when the cold first overcomes their acrimony. The wood of this tree is very good for joiner’s instruments,[347]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.Novemberthe 23d. Several kinds of gourds and melons are cultivated here: they have partly been originally cultivated by the Indians, and partly brought over byEuropeans. Of the gourds there was a kind which were crooked at the end, and oblong in general, and therefore they were calledcrooked 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 inSweden. Many farmers have a whole field of gourds.[348]Squashesare a kind of gourds, which theEuropeansgot 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.TheCalabashesare likewise gourds, which are planted in quantities by theSwedesand 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[349]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, sowBuck-wheat, in the middle ofJuly; it must not be sown later, for in that case the frost ruins it, but if it be sown beforeJuly, 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. TheSwedishchurchwardenRagnilson, 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,[350]instead of toasted bread with butter, or toast, which theEnglishcommonly eat at breakfast. The buck-wheat cakes are very good, and are likewise usual atPhiladelphiaand in otherEnglishcolonies, 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 theEnglishcolonies, yet theFrenchhad no right notion of it inCanada, and it was never cultivated among them.Towards night we found someGlow Wormsin 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;[351]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.Novemberthe 24th.Holly, orIlex 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. TheSwedesdry 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:blueis dyed withIndigo, 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 withlog-woodand copperas: the black colour thus produced,[352]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 theSwedishchurch inRaccoon, toPeils 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[353]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.Novemberthe 25th. During my stay atRaccoon, at this time and all the ensuing winter, I endeavoured to get the most information from the oldSwedesrelating 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 theSwedes, calledKing, 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[354]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 riverDelaware, 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 atRaccoon, 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,[355]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, thatAmericahas 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, aSwedeabove 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 Keenand several other people inferred from hence, that the whole country whereRaccoonandPenn’sneckare situated, was anciently[356]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, andWilliam 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.AsCobbmade 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 atRaccoonstands; 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 ofRaccoon, 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[357]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 theDelaware, where the people went in boats, when he was young; but which at present were changed into little islands, some of which were near anEnglishmile 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 oldestSwedesin the parish ofRaccoon, 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[358]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 someAmericanplants, such as the wildVirginianflax, orLinum Virginianum, and theAntirrhinum Canadense, which look very like common flax, yet it is remarkable that the bundle was really tied together. TheEuropeanson their arrival inAmerica, 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 aboveAmericanplants, or other similar ones, have been taken for flax. Charcoal and firebrands have often been found under ground: TheSwedishchurchwarden,Eric Ragnilson, told me that he had seen a quantity of them,[359]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 ofNew 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 riverDelawarecarries down along with it, from the upper parts of the country: howeverCape Mayseems to give some occasion for doubts, of which I shall speak in the sequel.[360]Novemberthe 27th. TheAmericanevergreens are1.Ilex Aquifolium, holly.2.Kalmia latifolia, the spoon tree.3.Kalmia angustifolia, another species of it.4.Magnolia glauca, the beaver tree. The young trees of this kind only keep their leaves, the others drop them.5.Viscum album, or misletoe; this commonly grows upon theNyssa aquatica, or tupelo tree, upon theLiquidambar styraciflua, or sweet gum tree, the oak and lime tree, so that their whole summits were frequently quite green in winter.6.Myrica cerifera, or the candleberry tree; of this however only some of the youngest shrubs preserve some leaves, but most of them had already lost them.7.Pinus Abies, the pine.8.Pinus sylvestris, the fir.9.Cupressus thyoides, the white cedar.10.Juniperus Virginiana, the red cedar.Several oaks and other trees dropt their leaves here in winter, which however keep them ever green, a little more to the south, and inCarolina.Novemberthe 30th. It has been observed, that theEuropeansinNorth America, whether they were born inSweden,[361]England,GermanyorHolland; or inNorth America, ofEuropeanparents, always lost their teeth much sooner than common; the women especially were subject to this disagreeable circumstance, the men did not suffer so much from it. Girls not above twenty years old, frequently had lost half of their teeth, without any hopes of getting new ones: I have attempted to penetrate into the causes of this early shedding of the teeth, but I know not, whether I have hit upon a true one. Many people were of opinion that the air of this country hurt the teeth: so much is certain that the weather can no where be subject to more frequent and sudden changes; for the end of a hot day, often turns out piercing cold, andvice versa. Yet this change of weather, cannot be looked upon as having any effect upon the shedding of the teeth, for theIndiansprove the contrary: they live in the same air, and always keep fine, entire white teeth; this I have seen myself, and have been assured of by every body: others ascribe it to the great quantities of fruit and sweet meats which are here eaten. But I have known many people, who never eat any fruit, and nevertheless had hardly a tooth left.I then began to suspect the tea, which[362]is drank here in the morning and afternoon, especially by women, and is so common at present, that there is hardly a farmer’s wife or a poor woman, who does not drink tea in the morning: I was confirmed in this opinion when I took a journey through some parts of the country which were still inhabited byIndians. For Major GeneralJohnsontold me at that time, that several of theIndianswho lived close to theEuropeansettlements, had learnt to drink tea. And it has been observed, that such of theIndianwomen, as used themselves too much to this liquor, had in the same manner as theEuropeanwomen, lost their teeth prematurely, though they had formerly been quite sound. Those again, who had not used tea preserved their teeth strong and sound to a great age.I afterwards found, that the use of tea could not entirely cause this accident. Several young women who lived in this country, but were born inEurope, complained that they lost most of their teeth after they came toAmerica: I asked, whether they did not think that it arose from the frequent use of tea, as it was known, that strong tea, as it were enters into and corrodes the teeth; but they answered, that they had lost their teeth before they[363]had began to drink tea, but continuing my enquiries, I found at last a sufficient cause, to account for the loss of their teeth: each of these women owned, that they were accustomed to eat every thing hot, and nothing was good in their opinion, unless they could eat it as fast as it came from the fire. This is likewise the case with the women in the country who lose their teeth much sooner and more abundantly than the men. They drink tea in greater quantity and much oftener, in the morning, and even at noon, when the employment of the men will not allow them to sit at the tea-table. Besides that, theEnglishmencare very little for tea, and a bowl of punch is much more agreeable to them. When theEnglishwomen drink tea, they never pour it out of the cup into the saucer, but drink it hot as it is out of the former. TheIndianwomen in imitation of them, swallow the tea in the same manner. On the contrary those Indians whose teeth are sound, never eat any thing hot, but take their meat either quite cold, or only just milk warm.I asked theSwedishchurchwarden inPhiladelphia, Mr.Bengtson, and a number of oldSwedes, whether their parents and countrymen had likewise lost their teeth as soon as theAmericancolonists; but they[364]told me that they had preserved them to a very great age.Bengtsonassured me, that his father at the age of seventy, cracked peach stones and the black walnuts with his teeth, notwithstanding their great hardness, which at this time no body dares to venture at that age. This confirms what I have before said, for at that time the use of tea was not yet known inNorth America.No disease is more common here, than that which theEnglishcallfever and ague, which is sometimes quotidian, tertian or quartan. But it often happens, that a person who has had a tertian ague, after losing it for a week or two, gets a quotidian ague in its stead, which after a while again changes into a tertian. The fever commonly attacks the people at the end ofAugust, or beginning ofSeptember, and commonly continues during autumn and winter till towards spring, when it ceases entirely.Strangers who arrive here, commonly are attacked by this sickness the first or second year after their arrival; and it is more violent upon them, than upon the natives, so that they sometimes die of it; but if they escape the first time, they have the advantage of not being visited again the next year, or perhaps never any more. It is[365]commonly said here, that strangers get the fever to accustom them to the climate. The natives ofEuropeanoffspring, have annual fits of this ague in some parts of the country: some however are soon delivered from it, with others on the contrary it continues for six months together, and others are afflicted with it till they die. The Indians also suffer it, but not so violently as theEuropeans. No age is secured against it: in those places where it rages annually, you see old men and women attacked with it; and even children in the cradle, sometimes not above three weeks old: it is likewise quotidian, tertian or quartan with them. This autumn the ague was more violent here, than it commonly used to be. People who are afflicted with it, look as pale as death, and are greatly weakened, but in general are not prevented from doing their work in the intervals. It is remarkable, that every year there are great parts of the country where this fever rages, and others where scarce a single person has been taken ill. It likewise is worth notice, that there are places where the people cannot remember that it formerly prevailed in their country, though at present it begins to grow more common: yet there was no other visible difference between the several[366]places. All the oldSwedes,Englishmen,Germans, &c. unanimously asserted, that the fever had never been so violent, and of such continuance when they were boys, as it is at present. They were likewise generally of opinion, that about the year 1680, there were not so many people afflicted with it, as about this time. However others equally old, were of opinion that the fever was proportionably as common formerly, as it is at present; but that it could not at that time be so sensibly perceived, on account of the scarcity of inhabitants, and the great distance of their settlements from each other; it is therefore probable that the effects of the fever have at all times been equal.It would be difficult to determine the true causes of this disease; they seem to be numerous, and not always alike: sometimes, and I believe commonly several of them unite. I have taken all possible care to sound the opinions of the physicians here on that head, and I here offer them to the reader.Some of them think that the peculiar qualities of the air of this country cause this fever; but most of them assert that it is generated by the standing and putrid water, which it seems is confirmed by experience.[367]For it has been observed in this country, that such people as live in the neighbourhood of Morasses or Swamps, or in places where a stagnant, stinking water is to be met with, are commonly infested with the fever and ague every year, and get it more readily than others. And this chiefly happens at a time of the year when those stagnant waters are most evaporated by the excessive heat of the sun, and the air is filled with the most noxious vapors. The fever likewise is very violent in all places which have a very low situation, and where salt water comes up with the tide twice in twenty four hours, and unites with the stagnant, fresh water in the country. Therefore on travelling in summer over such low places where fresh and salt water unite, the nauseous stench arising from thence often forces the traveller to stop his nose. On that account most of the inhabitants ofPenn’sneck, andSaleminNew Jersey, where the ground has the above-mentioned quality, are annually infested with the fever to a much greater degree, than the inhabitants of the higher country. If an inhabitant of the higher part of the country, where the people are free from the fever, removes into the lower parts, he may be well assured that the fever will attack[368]him at the usual time, and that he will get it again every year, as long as he continues in that country. People of the liveliest complexion on coming into the low parts of the country, and continuing there for some time, have entirely lost their colour and become quite pale. However this cannot be the sole cause of the fever, as I have been in several parts of the country which had a low situation and had stagnant waters near them, where the people declared they seldom suffered from this sickness: but these places were about two or three degrees more northerly.Others were of opinion that diet did very much towards it, and chiefly laid the blame upon the inconsiderate and intemperate consumption of fruit. This is particularly the case with theEuropeans, who come intoAmerica, and are not used to its climate and its fruit; for those who are born here can bear more, yet are not entirely free from the bad effects of eating too much. I have heard manyEnglishmen,Germans, and others speak from their own experience on this account; they owned, that they had often tried, and were certain that after eating a water melon once or twice before they had breakfasted, they would have the fever and ague in a few[369]days after. Yet it is remarkable, that theFrenchinCanadatold me that fevers were less common in that country, though they consumed as many water melons as theEnglishcolonies, and that it had never been observed that they occasioned a fever; but that on coming in the hot season to theIllinois, anIndiannation which is nearly in the same latitude withPensylvaniaandNew Jersey, they could not eat a water melon without feeling the shaking fits of an ague, and that the Indians therefore warned them not to eat of so dangerous a fruit. Query, Does not this lead us to think that the greater heat inPensylvania, and the country of theIllinois, which are both five or six degrees more southerly thanCanada, makes fruit in some measure more dangerous? In theEnglishNorth American colonies, every countryman plants a number of water melons, which are eaten whilst the people make hay, or during the harvest when they have nothing upon their stomachs, in order to cool them during the great heat, as that juicy fruit seems very proper to give refreshment. In the same manner melons, cucumbers, gourds, squashes, mulberries, apples, peaches, cherries, and such like fruit are eaten here in summer, and altogether contribute to the attacks of the ague.[370]But that the manner of living contributes greatly towards it, may be concluded from the unanimous accounts of old people, concerning the times of their childhood; according to which, the inhabitants of these parts, were at that time not subject to so many diseases as they are at present, and people were seldom sick. All the oldSwedeslikewise agreed, that their countrymen, who first came intoNorth America, attained to a great age, and their children nearly to the same; but that their grand children, and great grand children did not reach the age of their ancestors, and their health was not near so vigorous and durable. But theSwedeswho first settled inAmerica, lived very frugally; they were poor, and could not buy rum, brandy, or other strong liquors, which they seldom distilled themselves, as few of them had a distilling vessel. However they sometimes had a good strong beer. They did not understand the art of making cyder, which is now so common in the country: tea, coffee, chocolate, which are at present even the country people’s daily breakfast, were wholly unknown to them: most of them had never tasted sugar or punch. The tea which is now drank, is either very old, or mixed with all sorts of herbs, so that it no longer[371]deserves the name of tea: therefore it cannot have any good effect upon those who use it plentifully; besides, it cannot fail of relaxing the bowels, as it is drank both in the morning and in the afternoon quite boiling hot. The Indians, the offspring of the first inhabitants of this country, are a proof of what I have said. It is well known that their ancestors, at the time of the first arrival of theEuropeans, lived to a very great age. According to the common accounts, it was then not uncommon to find people among the Indians, who were above a hundred years old: they lived frugally, and drank pure water: brandy, rum, wine, and all the other strong liquors, were utterly unknown to them; but since the christians have taught them to drink these liquors, and the Indians have found them too palatable, those who cannot resist their appetites, hardly reach half the age of their parents.Lastly, some people pretended that the loss of many odoriferous plants, with which the woods were filled at the arrival of theEuropeans, but which the cattle has now extirpated, might be looked upon as a cause of the greater progress of the fever at present. The number of those strong plants occasioned a pleasant scent to rise in[372]the woods every morning and evening. It is therefore not unreasonable to think that the noxiousness of the effluvia from putrifying substances was then prevented, so that they were not so dangerous to the inhabitants.Several remedies are employed against this disease: the jesuit’s bark was formerly a certain one, but at present it has not always this effect, though they sell it genuine, and for the very best. Many people accused it of leaving something noxious in the body. Yet it was commonly observed, that when the bark was good, and it was taken as soon as the fever made its appearance, and before the body was weakened, it was almost sure to conquer the fever, so that the cold fits never returned, and no pain or stiffness remained in the limbs; but when the disease is rooted in, and has considerably weakened the patients, or they are naturally very weak, the fever leaves them after using the jesuit’s bark, but returns again in a fortnight’s time, and obliges them to take the bark again; but the consequence frequently is a pain and a stiffness in their limbs, and sometimes in their bowels, which almost hinders them from walking: this pain continues for several years together, and even accompanies some to the grave. This bad[373]effect is partly attributed to the bark, which can seldom be got genuine here, and partly to the little care which the patients take in using the bark. A man of my acquaintance was particularly dexterous in expelling the ague by the use of the jesuit’s bark. His manner of proceeding was as follows: when it was possible, the patient must use the remedy as soon as the fever begun, and before it was settled in his body: but before he took the medicine, he was to take a diaphoretic remedy, as that had been found very salutary; and as the fever is frequently of such a nature here, as not to make the patient sweat, even when the hot fit is upon him, a perspiration was to be brought about by some other means. To that purpose the patient took his dose on the day when he had his cold fit, and was not allowed to eat any thing at night. The next morning he continued in a warm bed, drank a quantity of tea, and was well covered that he might perspire plentifully. He continued so till the perspiration ceased, and then left the bed in a hot room, and washed his body with milk warm water, in order to cleanse it from the impurities that settled on it from the perspiration, and to prevent their stopping up of the pores. The patient was then dried again, and at last he[374]took the bark several times in one day. This was repeated twice or thrice on the days after he had the ague, and it commonly left him without returning, and most people recover so well, that they do not look pale after their sickness.

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 theNorth Americancolonies, 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[320]ofPensylvaniaonly, from the first ofJanuary1749, to the first ofJanuary1750; 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 ofPensylvaniacurrency, 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 Squirrelsare a peculiar kind, which seem to be the same with those which inhabitFinland, and which Dr.Linnæusin hisFauna Svecica, No. 38. callsSciurus volans. TheAmericanflying squirrel at the[321]utmost is only a variety of that which we have inFinland.Catesbyin hisNatural History of Carolina, Vol. 2, p. 76, 77, has described it, and tab. 76, 77, drawn it after life. He likewise calls itSciurus volans.Edwardsin hisNatural History of Birdsrepresents 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,[322]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.Pa:322.Pl:1.Flying Squirrel. Ground SquirrelFlying Squirrel.Ground Squirrel[322]There is a small species of squirrels abounding in the woods, which theEnglishcallground Squirrels.Catesbyhas described and drawn them from life, in the 2d. Vol. of hisNatural History of Carolina, p. 75, tab. 75, andEdwardsin hisNatural History of Birds, t. 181.50He and Dr.Linnæuscall itSciurus striatus, or thestreaked 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[323]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 inPensylvania, than in any other province ofNorth Americathrough which I have travelled. Its length is commonly six[324]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 aSwedewas 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[325]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[326]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.Novemberthe 15th. In the morning I returned toPhiladelphia. Mr.Cocktold me to day, and on some other occasions afterwards, an accident whichhappenedto him, and which seemed greatly to confirm a peculiar sign of an imminent hurricane. He sailed to theWest Indiesin 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.Cockto 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.Cockasked him what reasons he had to think so,[327]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.Cocklikewise 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 oldDutchskipper said, that he had once caught a dogfish in the bay ofNew York, which being cut open, had a quantity of eels in his stomach.Novemberthe 18th. Mr.Bartramshewed me an earthen pot, which had been found[328]in a place, where theIndiansformerly 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.Bartrambought 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.Bartramshewed me several pieces of broken earthen vessels which theIndiansformerly 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. ThoseIndians, 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[329]have lain in the ground above a century. Before theEuropeanssettled inNorth America, theIndianshad 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 theEuropeans, 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 theIndians. I have seen such old pots and pieces of them, consisting of a kind ofSerpentine stone, orLinnæus’sTalcum, Syst. nat. 3. p. 52.Mr.Bartramlikewise shewed me little pieces of ablack slate, which is plentifully found in some parts of the riverSkullkill. There are pieces to be found, which are four feet and above square: the colour and configuration is the same as in theTable 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 theSkullkill) cover their roofs with it; Mr.Bartramassured 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.[330]Mr.Bartramfurther 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 ofStalactites,Linnæus’sStalactites 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.Bartramhad foundStalactites, whose outward side was as it were wreathed from top to bottom; he had sent some pieces of it toLondon, and had none at present.Novemberthe 20th. This morning I set out in company of a friend, on a journey toRaccooninNew Jersey, where manySwedeslive, who have their own church. We had three miles to go before we came to the ferry which was to bring us over theDelaware. 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[331]made use of as meadows. On them theWater-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. TheDelawarehas nearly the same breadth here, which it has nearPhiladelphia. 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 fromPensylvaniatoNew Jersey, we were brought over theDelawarein a ferry belonging to, and kept in repair by thePensylvania-men; but on our return we were obliged to take the ferry belonging to theNew Jerseyside. As soon as we had crossed the river, we were in a different province, for theDelawaremakes the division betweenPensylvaniaandNew 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[332]the other; for inPensylvaniathe ground consists of more clay and black mould, and is very fertile; but inNew Jerseyit 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 inRaccoon. In all the parts ofPensylvaniawhere I have been, I have found few firwoods; on the other hand, they are abundant inNew 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[333]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 severalKills, or small rivulets which flowed out of the country into theDelawarewith no great descent nor rapidity. When the tide came up in theDelaware, 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[334]that the water in the meadows forced it open, but the river water shut it.In the evening we came into the house of aSwedecalledPeter 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. TheEnglishto distinguish it call it theJersey Pine: commonly there were only two spines or leaves in one fascicle, as in our commonSwedishpines, but sometimes three; the cones had long spines, so that they were difficult to be touched. These pines look at a distance wholly like theSwedishones, 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[335]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.TheSpoon tree, which never grows to a great height, we saw this day in several places. TheSwedeshere 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[336]a spoon made of this wood by an Indian, who has killed many stags and other animals on the very spot wherePhiladelphiaafterwards was built; for in his time that spot was yet covered with trees and shrubs. The English call this tree aLaurel, because its leaves resemble those of theLaurocerasus. 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, orKalmia 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 theKalmia. 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 inPensylvaniaandNew Jersey, but even inNew 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[337]chear the woods with their green foliage. About the month ofMaythey 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:[338]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,[339]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 theSwedesinNorth AmericacallHazel-hens, and which stay here all winter, for when they are killed, their crop is found quite filled with them.The wood of theKalmiais 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 theKalmiaare 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[340]kind of worms, devoured the leaves of almost all the trees inPensylvania; 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, orSpoon trees.Novemberthe 21st. TheSwedesand 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 theSwedish Royal Academy of Sciences, which stand in theirMemoirs, 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 theSpanishoak, and the spokes of the white oak.TheSassafrastree 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[341]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. TheSwedesrelated, that theIndianswho 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 oldSwederemembered 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.[342]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 theSwedes, 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. SomeEnglishmenrelated, that some years ago it had been customary inLondon, 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,[343]it was soon left off, lest those that used it, should be looked upon as infected with that disease. InPensylvaniasome people put chips of sassafras into their chests, where they keep all sorts of woollen stuffs, in order to expel the moths (orLarvæ, 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.ASwedenamedRambo, 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 riverDelawarewas two feet thick.Novemberthe 22d.Aoke Helmwas one of the most considerableSwedesin this place, and his father came over into this country along with theSwedishgovernorPrince; 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;[344]but the causes of this alteration are easy to find. In the younger years of oldHelm, 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 ourSwedishgrasses: 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 inNew Jersey,Pensylvania, andMaryland, 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 inCanada, 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.[345]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 fromEngland, and otherEuropeanstates, and sowed it in their meadows, where they seem to thrive exceedingly well.ThePersimon(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 severalEnglishmenandSwedesbrew 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[346]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 followingmanner: 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 ofSeptember, but most of them later, and some not beforeNovemberandDecember, when the cold first overcomes their acrimony. The wood of this tree is very good for joiner’s instruments,[347]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.Novemberthe 23d. Several kinds of gourds and melons are cultivated here: they have partly been originally cultivated by the Indians, and partly brought over byEuropeans. Of the gourds there was a kind which were crooked at the end, and oblong in general, and therefore they were calledcrooked 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 inSweden. Many farmers have a whole field of gourds.[348]Squashesare a kind of gourds, which theEuropeansgot 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.TheCalabashesare likewise gourds, which are planted in quantities by theSwedesand 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[349]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, sowBuck-wheat, in the middle ofJuly; it must not be sown later, for in that case the frost ruins it, but if it be sown beforeJuly, 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. TheSwedishchurchwardenRagnilson, 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,[350]instead of toasted bread with butter, or toast, which theEnglishcommonly eat at breakfast. The buck-wheat cakes are very good, and are likewise usual atPhiladelphiaand in otherEnglishcolonies, 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 theEnglishcolonies, yet theFrenchhad no right notion of it inCanada, and it was never cultivated among them.Towards night we found someGlow Wormsin 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;[351]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.Novemberthe 24th.Holly, orIlex 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. TheSwedesdry 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:blueis dyed withIndigo, 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 withlog-woodand copperas: the black colour thus produced,[352]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 theSwedishchurch inRaccoon, toPeils 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[353]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.Novemberthe 25th. During my stay atRaccoon, at this time and all the ensuing winter, I endeavoured to get the most information from the oldSwedesrelating 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 theSwedes, calledKing, 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[354]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 riverDelaware, 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 atRaccoon, 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,[355]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, thatAmericahas 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, aSwedeabove 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 Keenand several other people inferred from hence, that the whole country whereRaccoonandPenn’sneckare situated, was anciently[356]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, andWilliam 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.AsCobbmade 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 atRaccoonstands; 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 ofRaccoon, 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[357]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 theDelaware, where the people went in boats, when he was young; but which at present were changed into little islands, some of which were near anEnglishmile 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 oldestSwedesin the parish ofRaccoon, 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[358]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 someAmericanplants, such as the wildVirginianflax, orLinum Virginianum, and theAntirrhinum Canadense, which look very like common flax, yet it is remarkable that the bundle was really tied together. TheEuropeanson their arrival inAmerica, 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 aboveAmericanplants, or other similar ones, have been taken for flax. Charcoal and firebrands have often been found under ground: TheSwedishchurchwarden,Eric Ragnilson, told me that he had seen a quantity of them,[359]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 ofNew 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 riverDelawarecarries down along with it, from the upper parts of the country: howeverCape Mayseems to give some occasion for doubts, of which I shall speak in the sequel.[360]Novemberthe 27th. TheAmericanevergreens are1.Ilex Aquifolium, holly.2.Kalmia latifolia, the spoon tree.3.Kalmia angustifolia, another species of it.4.Magnolia glauca, the beaver tree. The young trees of this kind only keep their leaves, the others drop them.5.Viscum album, or misletoe; this commonly grows upon theNyssa aquatica, or tupelo tree, upon theLiquidambar styraciflua, or sweet gum tree, the oak and lime tree, so that their whole summits were frequently quite green in winter.6.Myrica cerifera, or the candleberry tree; of this however only some of the youngest shrubs preserve some leaves, but most of them had already lost them.7.Pinus Abies, the pine.8.Pinus sylvestris, the fir.9.Cupressus thyoides, the white cedar.10.Juniperus Virginiana, the red cedar.Several oaks and other trees dropt their leaves here in winter, which however keep them ever green, a little more to the south, and inCarolina.Novemberthe 30th. It has been observed, that theEuropeansinNorth America, whether they were born inSweden,[361]England,GermanyorHolland; or inNorth America, ofEuropeanparents, always lost their teeth much sooner than common; the women especially were subject to this disagreeable circumstance, the men did not suffer so much from it. Girls not above twenty years old, frequently had lost half of their teeth, without any hopes of getting new ones: I have attempted to penetrate into the causes of this early shedding of the teeth, but I know not, whether I have hit upon a true one. Many people were of opinion that the air of this country hurt the teeth: so much is certain that the weather can no where be subject to more frequent and sudden changes; for the end of a hot day, often turns out piercing cold, andvice versa. Yet this change of weather, cannot be looked upon as having any effect upon the shedding of the teeth, for theIndiansprove the contrary: they live in the same air, and always keep fine, entire white teeth; this I have seen myself, and have been assured of by every body: others ascribe it to the great quantities of fruit and sweet meats which are here eaten. But I have known many people, who never eat any fruit, and nevertheless had hardly a tooth left.I then began to suspect the tea, which[362]is drank here in the morning and afternoon, especially by women, and is so common at present, that there is hardly a farmer’s wife or a poor woman, who does not drink tea in the morning: I was confirmed in this opinion when I took a journey through some parts of the country which were still inhabited byIndians. For Major GeneralJohnsontold me at that time, that several of theIndianswho lived close to theEuropeansettlements, had learnt to drink tea. And it has been observed, that such of theIndianwomen, as used themselves too much to this liquor, had in the same manner as theEuropeanwomen, lost their teeth prematurely, though they had formerly been quite sound. Those again, who had not used tea preserved their teeth strong and sound to a great age.I afterwards found, that the use of tea could not entirely cause this accident. Several young women who lived in this country, but were born inEurope, complained that they lost most of their teeth after they came toAmerica: I asked, whether they did not think that it arose from the frequent use of tea, as it was known, that strong tea, as it were enters into and corrodes the teeth; but they answered, that they had lost their teeth before they[363]had began to drink tea, but continuing my enquiries, I found at last a sufficient cause, to account for the loss of their teeth: each of these women owned, that they were accustomed to eat every thing hot, and nothing was good in their opinion, unless they could eat it as fast as it came from the fire. This is likewise the case with the women in the country who lose their teeth much sooner and more abundantly than the men. They drink tea in greater quantity and much oftener, in the morning, and even at noon, when the employment of the men will not allow them to sit at the tea-table. Besides that, theEnglishmencare very little for tea, and a bowl of punch is much more agreeable to them. When theEnglishwomen drink tea, they never pour it out of the cup into the saucer, but drink it hot as it is out of the former. TheIndianwomen in imitation of them, swallow the tea in the same manner. On the contrary those Indians whose teeth are sound, never eat any thing hot, but take their meat either quite cold, or only just milk warm.I asked theSwedishchurchwarden inPhiladelphia, Mr.Bengtson, and a number of oldSwedes, whether their parents and countrymen had likewise lost their teeth as soon as theAmericancolonists; but they[364]told me that they had preserved them to a very great age.Bengtsonassured me, that his father at the age of seventy, cracked peach stones and the black walnuts with his teeth, notwithstanding their great hardness, which at this time no body dares to venture at that age. This confirms what I have before said, for at that time the use of tea was not yet known inNorth America.No disease is more common here, than that which theEnglishcallfever and ague, which is sometimes quotidian, tertian or quartan. But it often happens, that a person who has had a tertian ague, after losing it for a week or two, gets a quotidian ague in its stead, which after a while again changes into a tertian. The fever commonly attacks the people at the end ofAugust, or beginning ofSeptember, and commonly continues during autumn and winter till towards spring, when it ceases entirely.Strangers who arrive here, commonly are attacked by this sickness the first or second year after their arrival; and it is more violent upon them, than upon the natives, so that they sometimes die of it; but if they escape the first time, they have the advantage of not being visited again the next year, or perhaps never any more. It is[365]commonly said here, that strangers get the fever to accustom them to the climate. The natives ofEuropeanoffspring, have annual fits of this ague in some parts of the country: some however are soon delivered from it, with others on the contrary it continues for six months together, and others are afflicted with it till they die. The Indians also suffer it, but not so violently as theEuropeans. No age is secured against it: in those places where it rages annually, you see old men and women attacked with it; and even children in the cradle, sometimes not above three weeks old: it is likewise quotidian, tertian or quartan with them. This autumn the ague was more violent here, than it commonly used to be. People who are afflicted with it, look as pale as death, and are greatly weakened, but in general are not prevented from doing their work in the intervals. It is remarkable, that every year there are great parts of the country where this fever rages, and others where scarce a single person has been taken ill. It likewise is worth notice, that there are places where the people cannot remember that it formerly prevailed in their country, though at present it begins to grow more common: yet there was no other visible difference between the several[366]places. All the oldSwedes,Englishmen,Germans, &c. unanimously asserted, that the fever had never been so violent, and of such continuance when they were boys, as it is at present. They were likewise generally of opinion, that about the year 1680, there were not so many people afflicted with it, as about this time. However others equally old, were of opinion that the fever was proportionably as common formerly, as it is at present; but that it could not at that time be so sensibly perceived, on account of the scarcity of inhabitants, and the great distance of their settlements from each other; it is therefore probable that the effects of the fever have at all times been equal.It would be difficult to determine the true causes of this disease; they seem to be numerous, and not always alike: sometimes, and I believe commonly several of them unite. I have taken all possible care to sound the opinions of the physicians here on that head, and I here offer them to the reader.Some of them think that the peculiar qualities of the air of this country cause this fever; but most of them assert that it is generated by the standing and putrid water, which it seems is confirmed by experience.[367]For it has been observed in this country, that such people as live in the neighbourhood of Morasses or Swamps, or in places where a stagnant, stinking water is to be met with, are commonly infested with the fever and ague every year, and get it more readily than others. And this chiefly happens at a time of the year when those stagnant waters are most evaporated by the excessive heat of the sun, and the air is filled with the most noxious vapors. The fever likewise is very violent in all places which have a very low situation, and where salt water comes up with the tide twice in twenty four hours, and unites with the stagnant, fresh water in the country. Therefore on travelling in summer over such low places where fresh and salt water unite, the nauseous stench arising from thence often forces the traveller to stop his nose. On that account most of the inhabitants ofPenn’sneck, andSaleminNew Jersey, where the ground has the above-mentioned quality, are annually infested with the fever to a much greater degree, than the inhabitants of the higher country. If an inhabitant of the higher part of the country, where the people are free from the fever, removes into the lower parts, he may be well assured that the fever will attack[368]him at the usual time, and that he will get it again every year, as long as he continues in that country. People of the liveliest complexion on coming into the low parts of the country, and continuing there for some time, have entirely lost their colour and become quite pale. However this cannot be the sole cause of the fever, as I have been in several parts of the country which had a low situation and had stagnant waters near them, where the people declared they seldom suffered from this sickness: but these places were about two or three degrees more northerly.Others were of opinion that diet did very much towards it, and chiefly laid the blame upon the inconsiderate and intemperate consumption of fruit. This is particularly the case with theEuropeans, who come intoAmerica, and are not used to its climate and its fruit; for those who are born here can bear more, yet are not entirely free from the bad effects of eating too much. I have heard manyEnglishmen,Germans, and others speak from their own experience on this account; they owned, that they had often tried, and were certain that after eating a water melon once or twice before they had breakfasted, they would have the fever and ague in a few[369]days after. Yet it is remarkable, that theFrenchinCanadatold me that fevers were less common in that country, though they consumed as many water melons as theEnglishcolonies, and that it had never been observed that they occasioned a fever; but that on coming in the hot season to theIllinois, anIndiannation which is nearly in the same latitude withPensylvaniaandNew Jersey, they could not eat a water melon without feeling the shaking fits of an ague, and that the Indians therefore warned them not to eat of so dangerous a fruit. Query, Does not this lead us to think that the greater heat inPensylvania, and the country of theIllinois, which are both five or six degrees more southerly thanCanada, makes fruit in some measure more dangerous? In theEnglishNorth American colonies, every countryman plants a number of water melons, which are eaten whilst the people make hay, or during the harvest when they have nothing upon their stomachs, in order to cool them during the great heat, as that juicy fruit seems very proper to give refreshment. In the same manner melons, cucumbers, gourds, squashes, mulberries, apples, peaches, cherries, and such like fruit are eaten here in summer, and altogether contribute to the attacks of the ague.[370]But that the manner of living contributes greatly towards it, may be concluded from the unanimous accounts of old people, concerning the times of their childhood; according to which, the inhabitants of these parts, were at that time not subject to so many diseases as they are at present, and people were seldom sick. All the oldSwedeslikewise agreed, that their countrymen, who first came intoNorth America, attained to a great age, and their children nearly to the same; but that their grand children, and great grand children did not reach the age of their ancestors, and their health was not near so vigorous and durable. But theSwedeswho first settled inAmerica, lived very frugally; they were poor, and could not buy rum, brandy, or other strong liquors, which they seldom distilled themselves, as few of them had a distilling vessel. However they sometimes had a good strong beer. They did not understand the art of making cyder, which is now so common in the country: tea, coffee, chocolate, which are at present even the country people’s daily breakfast, were wholly unknown to them: most of them had never tasted sugar or punch. The tea which is now drank, is either very old, or mixed with all sorts of herbs, so that it no longer[371]deserves the name of tea: therefore it cannot have any good effect upon those who use it plentifully; besides, it cannot fail of relaxing the bowels, as it is drank both in the morning and in the afternoon quite boiling hot. The Indians, the offspring of the first inhabitants of this country, are a proof of what I have said. It is well known that their ancestors, at the time of the first arrival of theEuropeans, lived to a very great age. According to the common accounts, it was then not uncommon to find people among the Indians, who were above a hundred years old: they lived frugally, and drank pure water: brandy, rum, wine, and all the other strong liquors, were utterly unknown to them; but since the christians have taught them to drink these liquors, and the Indians have found them too palatable, those who cannot resist their appetites, hardly reach half the age of their parents.Lastly, some people pretended that the loss of many odoriferous plants, with which the woods were filled at the arrival of theEuropeans, but which the cattle has now extirpated, might be looked upon as a cause of the greater progress of the fever at present. The number of those strong plants occasioned a pleasant scent to rise in[372]the woods every morning and evening. It is therefore not unreasonable to think that the noxiousness of the effluvia from putrifying substances was then prevented, so that they were not so dangerous to the inhabitants.Several remedies are employed against this disease: the jesuit’s bark was formerly a certain one, but at present it has not always this effect, though they sell it genuine, and for the very best. Many people accused it of leaving something noxious in the body. Yet it was commonly observed, that when the bark was good, and it was taken as soon as the fever made its appearance, and before the body was weakened, it was almost sure to conquer the fever, so that the cold fits never returned, and no pain or stiffness remained in the limbs; but when the disease is rooted in, and has considerably weakened the patients, or they are naturally very weak, the fever leaves them after using the jesuit’s bark, but returns again in a fortnight’s time, and obliges them to take the bark again; but the consequence frequently is a pain and a stiffness in their limbs, and sometimes in their bowels, which almost hinders them from walking: this pain continues for several years together, and even accompanies some to the grave. This bad[373]effect is partly attributed to the bark, which can seldom be got genuine here, and partly to the little care which the patients take in using the bark. A man of my acquaintance was particularly dexterous in expelling the ague by the use of the jesuit’s bark. His manner of proceeding was as follows: when it was possible, the patient must use the remedy as soon as the fever begun, and before it was settled in his body: but before he took the medicine, he was to take a diaphoretic remedy, as that had been found very salutary; and as the fever is frequently of such a nature here, as not to make the patient sweat, even when the hot fit is upon him, a perspiration was to be brought about by some other means. To that purpose the patient took his dose on the day when he had his cold fit, and was not allowed to eat any thing at night. The next morning he continued in a warm bed, drank a quantity of tea, and was well covered that he might perspire plentifully. He continued so till the perspiration ceased, and then left the bed in a hot room, and washed his body with milk warm water, in order to cleanse it from the impurities that settled on it from the perspiration, and to prevent their stopping up of the pores. The patient was then dried again, and at last he[374]took the bark several times in one day. This was repeated twice or thrice on the days after he had the ague, and it commonly left him without returning, and most people recover so well, that they do not look pale after their sickness.

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 theNorth Americancolonies, 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[320]ofPensylvaniaonly, from the first ofJanuary1749, to the first ofJanuary1750; 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 ofPensylvaniacurrency, 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 Squirrelsare a peculiar kind, which seem to be the same with those which inhabitFinland, and which Dr.Linnæusin hisFauna Svecica, No. 38. callsSciurus volans. TheAmericanflying squirrel at the[321]utmost is only a variety of that which we have inFinland.Catesbyin hisNatural History of Carolina, Vol. 2, p. 76, 77, has described it, and tab. 76, 77, drawn it after life. He likewise calls itSciurus volans.Edwardsin hisNatural History of Birdsrepresents 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,[322]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.

Pa:322.Pl:1.Flying Squirrel. Ground SquirrelFlying Squirrel.Ground Squirrel

Pa:322.Pl:1.

Flying Squirrel.Ground Squirrel

[322]

There is a small species of squirrels abounding in the woods, which theEnglishcallground Squirrels.Catesbyhas described and drawn them from life, in the 2d. Vol. of hisNatural History of Carolina, p. 75, tab. 75, andEdwardsin hisNatural History of Birds, t. 181.50He and Dr.Linnæuscall itSciurus striatus, or thestreaked 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[323]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 inPensylvania, than in any other province ofNorth Americathrough which I have travelled. Its length is commonly six[324]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 aSwedewas 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[325]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[326]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.

Novemberthe 15th. In the morning I returned toPhiladelphia. Mr.Cocktold me to day, and on some other occasions afterwards, an accident whichhappenedto him, and which seemed greatly to confirm a peculiar sign of an imminent hurricane. He sailed to theWest Indiesin 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.Cockto 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.Cockasked him what reasons he had to think so,[327]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.Cocklikewise 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 oldDutchskipper said, that he had once caught a dogfish in the bay ofNew York, which being cut open, had a quantity of eels in his stomach.

Novemberthe 18th. Mr.Bartramshewed me an earthen pot, which had been found[328]in a place, where theIndiansformerly 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.Bartrambought 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.Bartramshewed me several pieces of broken earthen vessels which theIndiansformerly 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. ThoseIndians, 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[329]have lain in the ground above a century. Before theEuropeanssettled inNorth America, theIndianshad 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 theEuropeans, 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 theIndians. I have seen such old pots and pieces of them, consisting of a kind ofSerpentine stone, orLinnæus’sTalcum, Syst. nat. 3. p. 52.

Mr.Bartramlikewise shewed me little pieces of ablack slate, which is plentifully found in some parts of the riverSkullkill. There are pieces to be found, which are four feet and above square: the colour and configuration is the same as in theTable 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 theSkullkill) cover their roofs with it; Mr.Bartramassured 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.[330]

Mr.Bartramfurther 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 ofStalactites,Linnæus’sStalactites 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.Bartramhad foundStalactites, whose outward side was as it were wreathed from top to bottom; he had sent some pieces of it toLondon, and had none at present.

Novemberthe 20th. This morning I set out in company of a friend, on a journey toRaccooninNew Jersey, where manySwedeslive, who have their own church. We had three miles to go before we came to the ferry which was to bring us over theDelaware. 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[331]made use of as meadows. On them theWater-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. TheDelawarehas nearly the same breadth here, which it has nearPhiladelphia. 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 fromPensylvaniatoNew Jersey, we were brought over theDelawarein a ferry belonging to, and kept in repair by thePensylvania-men; but on our return we were obliged to take the ferry belonging to theNew Jerseyside. As soon as we had crossed the river, we were in a different province, for theDelawaremakes the division betweenPensylvaniaandNew 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[332]the other; for inPensylvaniathe ground consists of more clay and black mould, and is very fertile; but inNew Jerseyit 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 inRaccoon. In all the parts ofPensylvaniawhere I have been, I have found few firwoods; on the other hand, they are abundant inNew 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[333]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 severalKills, or small rivulets which flowed out of the country into theDelawarewith no great descent nor rapidity. When the tide came up in theDelaware, 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[334]that the water in the meadows forced it open, but the river water shut it.

In the evening we came into the house of aSwedecalledPeter 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. TheEnglishto distinguish it call it theJersey Pine: commonly there were only two spines or leaves in one fascicle, as in our commonSwedishpines, but sometimes three; the cones had long spines, so that they were difficult to be touched. These pines look at a distance wholly like theSwedishones, 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[335]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.

TheSpoon tree, which never grows to a great height, we saw this day in several places. TheSwedeshere 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[336]a spoon made of this wood by an Indian, who has killed many stags and other animals on the very spot wherePhiladelphiaafterwards was built; for in his time that spot was yet covered with trees and shrubs. The English call this tree aLaurel, because its leaves resemble those of theLaurocerasus. 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, orKalmia 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 theKalmia. 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 inPensylvaniaandNew Jersey, but even inNew 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[337]chear the woods with their green foliage. About the month ofMaythey 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:[338]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,[339]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 theSwedesinNorth AmericacallHazel-hens, and which stay here all winter, for when they are killed, their crop is found quite filled with them.

The wood of theKalmiais 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 theKalmiaare 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[340]kind of worms, devoured the leaves of almost all the trees inPensylvania; 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, orSpoon trees.

Novemberthe 21st. TheSwedesand 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 theSwedish Royal Academy of Sciences, which stand in theirMemoirs, 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 theSpanishoak, and the spokes of the white oak.

TheSassafrastree 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[341]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. TheSwedesrelated, that theIndianswho 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 oldSwederemembered 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.[342]

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 theSwedes, 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. SomeEnglishmenrelated, that some years ago it had been customary inLondon, 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,[343]it was soon left off, lest those that used it, should be looked upon as infected with that disease. InPensylvaniasome people put chips of sassafras into their chests, where they keep all sorts of woollen stuffs, in order to expel the moths (orLarvæ, 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.

ASwedenamedRambo, 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 riverDelawarewas two feet thick.

Novemberthe 22d.Aoke Helmwas one of the most considerableSwedesin this place, and his father came over into this country along with theSwedishgovernorPrince; 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;[344]but the causes of this alteration are easy to find. In the younger years of oldHelm, 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 ourSwedishgrasses: 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 inNew Jersey,Pensylvania, andMaryland, 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 inCanada, 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.[345]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 fromEngland, and otherEuropeanstates, and sowed it in their meadows, where they seem to thrive exceedingly well.

ThePersimon(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 severalEnglishmenandSwedesbrew 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[346]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 followingmanner: 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 ofSeptember, but most of them later, and some not beforeNovemberandDecember, when the cold first overcomes their acrimony. The wood of this tree is very good for joiner’s instruments,[347]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.

Novemberthe 23d. Several kinds of gourds and melons are cultivated here: they have partly been originally cultivated by the Indians, and partly brought over byEuropeans. Of the gourds there was a kind which were crooked at the end, and oblong in general, and therefore they were calledcrooked 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 inSweden. Many farmers have a whole field of gourds.[348]

Squashesare a kind of gourds, which theEuropeansgot 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.

TheCalabashesare likewise gourds, which are planted in quantities by theSwedesand 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[349]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, sowBuck-wheat, in the middle ofJuly; it must not be sown later, for in that case the frost ruins it, but if it be sown beforeJuly, 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. TheSwedishchurchwardenRagnilson, 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,[350]instead of toasted bread with butter, or toast, which theEnglishcommonly eat at breakfast. The buck-wheat cakes are very good, and are likewise usual atPhiladelphiaand in otherEnglishcolonies, 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 theEnglishcolonies, yet theFrenchhad no right notion of it inCanada, and it was never cultivated among them.

Towards night we found someGlow Wormsin 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;[351]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.

Novemberthe 24th.Holly, orIlex 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. TheSwedesdry 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:blueis dyed withIndigo, 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 withlog-woodand copperas: the black colour thus produced,[352]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 theSwedishchurch inRaccoon, toPeils 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[353]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.

Novemberthe 25th. During my stay atRaccoon, at this time and all the ensuing winter, I endeavoured to get the most information from the oldSwedesrelating 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 theSwedes, calledKing, 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[354]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 riverDelaware, 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 atRaccoon, 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,[355]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, thatAmericahas 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, aSwedeabove 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 Keenand several other people inferred from hence, that the whole country whereRaccoonandPenn’sneckare situated, was anciently[356]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, andWilliam 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.

AsCobbmade 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 atRaccoonstands; 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 ofRaccoon, 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[357]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 theDelaware, where the people went in boats, when he was young; but which at present were changed into little islands, some of which were near anEnglishmile 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 oldestSwedesin the parish ofRaccoon, 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[358]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 someAmericanplants, such as the wildVirginianflax, orLinum Virginianum, and theAntirrhinum Canadense, which look very like common flax, yet it is remarkable that the bundle was really tied together. TheEuropeanson their arrival inAmerica, 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 aboveAmericanplants, or other similar ones, have been taken for flax. Charcoal and firebrands have often been found under ground: TheSwedishchurchwarden,Eric Ragnilson, told me that he had seen a quantity of them,[359]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 ofNew 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 riverDelawarecarries down along with it, from the upper parts of the country: howeverCape Mayseems to give some occasion for doubts, of which I shall speak in the sequel.[360]

Novemberthe 27th. TheAmericanevergreens are

Several oaks and other trees dropt their leaves here in winter, which however keep them ever green, a little more to the south, and inCarolina.

Novemberthe 30th. It has been observed, that theEuropeansinNorth America, whether they were born inSweden,[361]England,GermanyorHolland; or inNorth America, ofEuropeanparents, always lost their teeth much sooner than common; the women especially were subject to this disagreeable circumstance, the men did not suffer so much from it. Girls not above twenty years old, frequently had lost half of their teeth, without any hopes of getting new ones: I have attempted to penetrate into the causes of this early shedding of the teeth, but I know not, whether I have hit upon a true one. Many people were of opinion that the air of this country hurt the teeth: so much is certain that the weather can no where be subject to more frequent and sudden changes; for the end of a hot day, often turns out piercing cold, andvice versa. Yet this change of weather, cannot be looked upon as having any effect upon the shedding of the teeth, for theIndiansprove the contrary: they live in the same air, and always keep fine, entire white teeth; this I have seen myself, and have been assured of by every body: others ascribe it to the great quantities of fruit and sweet meats which are here eaten. But I have known many people, who never eat any fruit, and nevertheless had hardly a tooth left.

I then began to suspect the tea, which[362]is drank here in the morning and afternoon, especially by women, and is so common at present, that there is hardly a farmer’s wife or a poor woman, who does not drink tea in the morning: I was confirmed in this opinion when I took a journey through some parts of the country which were still inhabited byIndians. For Major GeneralJohnsontold me at that time, that several of theIndianswho lived close to theEuropeansettlements, had learnt to drink tea. And it has been observed, that such of theIndianwomen, as used themselves too much to this liquor, had in the same manner as theEuropeanwomen, lost their teeth prematurely, though they had formerly been quite sound. Those again, who had not used tea preserved their teeth strong and sound to a great age.

I afterwards found, that the use of tea could not entirely cause this accident. Several young women who lived in this country, but were born inEurope, complained that they lost most of their teeth after they came toAmerica: I asked, whether they did not think that it arose from the frequent use of tea, as it was known, that strong tea, as it were enters into and corrodes the teeth; but they answered, that they had lost their teeth before they[363]had began to drink tea, but continuing my enquiries, I found at last a sufficient cause, to account for the loss of their teeth: each of these women owned, that they were accustomed to eat every thing hot, and nothing was good in their opinion, unless they could eat it as fast as it came from the fire. This is likewise the case with the women in the country who lose their teeth much sooner and more abundantly than the men. They drink tea in greater quantity and much oftener, in the morning, and even at noon, when the employment of the men will not allow them to sit at the tea-table. Besides that, theEnglishmencare very little for tea, and a bowl of punch is much more agreeable to them. When theEnglishwomen drink tea, they never pour it out of the cup into the saucer, but drink it hot as it is out of the former. TheIndianwomen in imitation of them, swallow the tea in the same manner. On the contrary those Indians whose teeth are sound, never eat any thing hot, but take their meat either quite cold, or only just milk warm.

I asked theSwedishchurchwarden inPhiladelphia, Mr.Bengtson, and a number of oldSwedes, whether their parents and countrymen had likewise lost their teeth as soon as theAmericancolonists; but they[364]told me that they had preserved them to a very great age.Bengtsonassured me, that his father at the age of seventy, cracked peach stones and the black walnuts with his teeth, notwithstanding their great hardness, which at this time no body dares to venture at that age. This confirms what I have before said, for at that time the use of tea was not yet known inNorth America.

No disease is more common here, than that which theEnglishcallfever and ague, which is sometimes quotidian, tertian or quartan. But it often happens, that a person who has had a tertian ague, after losing it for a week or two, gets a quotidian ague in its stead, which after a while again changes into a tertian. The fever commonly attacks the people at the end ofAugust, or beginning ofSeptember, and commonly continues during autumn and winter till towards spring, when it ceases entirely.

Strangers who arrive here, commonly are attacked by this sickness the first or second year after their arrival; and it is more violent upon them, than upon the natives, so that they sometimes die of it; but if they escape the first time, they have the advantage of not being visited again the next year, or perhaps never any more. It is[365]commonly said here, that strangers get the fever to accustom them to the climate. The natives ofEuropeanoffspring, have annual fits of this ague in some parts of the country: some however are soon delivered from it, with others on the contrary it continues for six months together, and others are afflicted with it till they die. The Indians also suffer it, but not so violently as theEuropeans. No age is secured against it: in those places where it rages annually, you see old men and women attacked with it; and even children in the cradle, sometimes not above three weeks old: it is likewise quotidian, tertian or quartan with them. This autumn the ague was more violent here, than it commonly used to be. People who are afflicted with it, look as pale as death, and are greatly weakened, but in general are not prevented from doing their work in the intervals. It is remarkable, that every year there are great parts of the country where this fever rages, and others where scarce a single person has been taken ill. It likewise is worth notice, that there are places where the people cannot remember that it formerly prevailed in their country, though at present it begins to grow more common: yet there was no other visible difference between the several[366]places. All the oldSwedes,Englishmen,Germans, &c. unanimously asserted, that the fever had never been so violent, and of such continuance when they were boys, as it is at present. They were likewise generally of opinion, that about the year 1680, there were not so many people afflicted with it, as about this time. However others equally old, were of opinion that the fever was proportionably as common formerly, as it is at present; but that it could not at that time be so sensibly perceived, on account of the scarcity of inhabitants, and the great distance of their settlements from each other; it is therefore probable that the effects of the fever have at all times been equal.

It would be difficult to determine the true causes of this disease; they seem to be numerous, and not always alike: sometimes, and I believe commonly several of them unite. I have taken all possible care to sound the opinions of the physicians here on that head, and I here offer them to the reader.

Some of them think that the peculiar qualities of the air of this country cause this fever; but most of them assert that it is generated by the standing and putrid water, which it seems is confirmed by experience.[367]For it has been observed in this country, that such people as live in the neighbourhood of Morasses or Swamps, or in places where a stagnant, stinking water is to be met with, are commonly infested with the fever and ague every year, and get it more readily than others. And this chiefly happens at a time of the year when those stagnant waters are most evaporated by the excessive heat of the sun, and the air is filled with the most noxious vapors. The fever likewise is very violent in all places which have a very low situation, and where salt water comes up with the tide twice in twenty four hours, and unites with the stagnant, fresh water in the country. Therefore on travelling in summer over such low places where fresh and salt water unite, the nauseous stench arising from thence often forces the traveller to stop his nose. On that account most of the inhabitants ofPenn’sneck, andSaleminNew Jersey, where the ground has the above-mentioned quality, are annually infested with the fever to a much greater degree, than the inhabitants of the higher country. If an inhabitant of the higher part of the country, where the people are free from the fever, removes into the lower parts, he may be well assured that the fever will attack[368]him at the usual time, and that he will get it again every year, as long as he continues in that country. People of the liveliest complexion on coming into the low parts of the country, and continuing there for some time, have entirely lost their colour and become quite pale. However this cannot be the sole cause of the fever, as I have been in several parts of the country which had a low situation and had stagnant waters near them, where the people declared they seldom suffered from this sickness: but these places were about two or three degrees more northerly.

Others were of opinion that diet did very much towards it, and chiefly laid the blame upon the inconsiderate and intemperate consumption of fruit. This is particularly the case with theEuropeans, who come intoAmerica, and are not used to its climate and its fruit; for those who are born here can bear more, yet are not entirely free from the bad effects of eating too much. I have heard manyEnglishmen,Germans, and others speak from their own experience on this account; they owned, that they had often tried, and were certain that after eating a water melon once or twice before they had breakfasted, they would have the fever and ague in a few[369]days after. Yet it is remarkable, that theFrenchinCanadatold me that fevers were less common in that country, though they consumed as many water melons as theEnglishcolonies, and that it had never been observed that they occasioned a fever; but that on coming in the hot season to theIllinois, anIndiannation which is nearly in the same latitude withPensylvaniaandNew Jersey, they could not eat a water melon without feeling the shaking fits of an ague, and that the Indians therefore warned them not to eat of so dangerous a fruit. Query, Does not this lead us to think that the greater heat inPensylvania, and the country of theIllinois, which are both five or six degrees more southerly thanCanada, makes fruit in some measure more dangerous? In theEnglishNorth American colonies, every countryman plants a number of water melons, which are eaten whilst the people make hay, or during the harvest when they have nothing upon their stomachs, in order to cool them during the great heat, as that juicy fruit seems very proper to give refreshment. In the same manner melons, cucumbers, gourds, squashes, mulberries, apples, peaches, cherries, and such like fruit are eaten here in summer, and altogether contribute to the attacks of the ague.[370]

But that the manner of living contributes greatly towards it, may be concluded from the unanimous accounts of old people, concerning the times of their childhood; according to which, the inhabitants of these parts, were at that time not subject to so many diseases as they are at present, and people were seldom sick. All the oldSwedeslikewise agreed, that their countrymen, who first came intoNorth America, attained to a great age, and their children nearly to the same; but that their grand children, and great grand children did not reach the age of their ancestors, and their health was not near so vigorous and durable. But theSwedeswho first settled inAmerica, lived very frugally; they were poor, and could not buy rum, brandy, or other strong liquors, which they seldom distilled themselves, as few of them had a distilling vessel. However they sometimes had a good strong beer. They did not understand the art of making cyder, which is now so common in the country: tea, coffee, chocolate, which are at present even the country people’s daily breakfast, were wholly unknown to them: most of them had never tasted sugar or punch. The tea which is now drank, is either very old, or mixed with all sorts of herbs, so that it no longer[371]deserves the name of tea: therefore it cannot have any good effect upon those who use it plentifully; besides, it cannot fail of relaxing the bowels, as it is drank both in the morning and in the afternoon quite boiling hot. The Indians, the offspring of the first inhabitants of this country, are a proof of what I have said. It is well known that their ancestors, at the time of the first arrival of theEuropeans, lived to a very great age. According to the common accounts, it was then not uncommon to find people among the Indians, who were above a hundred years old: they lived frugally, and drank pure water: brandy, rum, wine, and all the other strong liquors, were utterly unknown to them; but since the christians have taught them to drink these liquors, and the Indians have found them too palatable, those who cannot resist their appetites, hardly reach half the age of their parents.

Lastly, some people pretended that the loss of many odoriferous plants, with which the woods were filled at the arrival of theEuropeans, but which the cattle has now extirpated, might be looked upon as a cause of the greater progress of the fever at present. The number of those strong plants occasioned a pleasant scent to rise in[372]the woods every morning and evening. It is therefore not unreasonable to think that the noxiousness of the effluvia from putrifying substances was then prevented, so that they were not so dangerous to the inhabitants.

Several remedies are employed against this disease: the jesuit’s bark was formerly a certain one, but at present it has not always this effect, though they sell it genuine, and for the very best. Many people accused it of leaving something noxious in the body. Yet it was commonly observed, that when the bark was good, and it was taken as soon as the fever made its appearance, and before the body was weakened, it was almost sure to conquer the fever, so that the cold fits never returned, and no pain or stiffness remained in the limbs; but when the disease is rooted in, and has considerably weakened the patients, or they are naturally very weak, the fever leaves them after using the jesuit’s bark, but returns again in a fortnight’s time, and obliges them to take the bark again; but the consequence frequently is a pain and a stiffness in their limbs, and sometimes in their bowels, which almost hinders them from walking: this pain continues for several years together, and even accompanies some to the grave. This bad[373]effect is partly attributed to the bark, which can seldom be got genuine here, and partly to the little care which the patients take in using the bark. A man of my acquaintance was particularly dexterous in expelling the ague by the use of the jesuit’s bark. His manner of proceeding was as follows: when it was possible, the patient must use the remedy as soon as the fever begun, and before it was settled in his body: but before he took the medicine, he was to take a diaphoretic remedy, as that had been found very salutary; and as the fever is frequently of such a nature here, as not to make the patient sweat, even when the hot fit is upon him, a perspiration was to be brought about by some other means. To that purpose the patient took his dose on the day when he had his cold fit, and was not allowed to eat any thing at night. The next morning he continued in a warm bed, drank a quantity of tea, and was well covered that he might perspire plentifully. He continued so till the perspiration ceased, and then left the bed in a hot room, and washed his body with milk warm water, in order to cleanse it from the impurities that settled on it from the perspiration, and to prevent their stopping up of the pores. The patient was then dried again, and at last he[374]took the bark several times in one day. This was repeated twice or thrice on the days after he had the ague, and it commonly left him without returning, and most people recover so well, that they do not look pale after their sickness.

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