Part 18

November the 15th. In the morning I returned to Philadelphia. Mr. Cock told me to day, and on some other occasions afterwards, an accident which happened to him, and which seemed greatly to confirm a peculiar sign of an imminent hurricane. He sailed to the West Indies in a small yacht, and had an old man on board, who had for a considerable time sailed in this sea. The old man sounding the depth, called to the mate to tell Mr. Cock to launch the boats immediately, and to put a sufficient number of men into them, in order to tow the yacht during the calm, that they might reach the island before them, as soon as possible, as within twenty-four hours there would be a strong hurricane. Mr. Cock asked him what reasons he had to think so, the old man replied, that on sounding, he saw the lead in the water at a distance of many fathoms more than he had seen it before; that therefore the water was become clear all of a sudden, which he looked upon as a certain sign of an impending hurricane in the sea. Mr. Cock likewise saw the excessive clearness of the water. He therefore gave immediate orders for launching the boat, and towing the yacht, so that they arrived before night in a safe harbour. But before they had quite reached it the waves began to rise more and more, and the water was as it were boiling, though no wind was perceptible. In the ensuing night the hurricane came on, and raged with such violence, that not only many ships were lost, and the roofs were torn off from the houses, but even Mr. Cock’s yacht and other ships, though they were in safe harbours, were by the wind, and the violence of the sea, washed so far on shore, that several weeks elapsed, before they could be got off.

An old Dutch skipper said, that he had once caught a dogfish in the bay of New York, which being cut open, had a quantity of eels in his stomach.

November the 18th. Mr. Bartram shewed me an earthen pot, which had been found in a place, where the Indians formerly lived. He, who first dug it out, kept grease and fat in it to smear his shoes, boots and all forts of leather with: Mr. Bartram bought the pot of that man; it was yet entire and not damaged: I could perceive no glaze or colour upon it, but on the outside it was very much ornamented and upon the whole well made. Mr. Bartram shewed me several pieces of broken earthen vessels which the Indians formerly made use of. It plainly appeared in all these that they were not made of mere clay; but that different materials had been mixed with it, according to the nature of the places where they were made. Those Indians, for example, who lived near the sea shore, pounded the shells of snails and muscles, and mixed them with the clay. Others who lived further up in the country, where mountain crystals could be found, pounded them and mixed them with their clay; but how they proceeded in making the vessels, is entirely unknown: it was plain, that they did not burn them much, for they were so soft that they might be cut in pieces with a knife: the workmanship however seems to have been very good; for at present they find whole vessels or pieces in the ground, which are not damaged at all, though they have lain in the ground above a century. Before the Europeans settled in North America, the Indians had no other vessels to boil their meat in, than these earthen pots of their own making: but since their arrival, they have always bought pots, kettles, and other necessary vessels of the Europeans, and take no longer the pains of making some, by which means this art is entirely lost among them. Such vessels of their own construction are therefore a great rarity even among the Indians. I have seen such old pots and pieces of them, consisting of a kind of Serpentine stone, or Linnæus’s Talcum, Syst. nat. 3. p. 52.

Mr. Bartram likewise shewed me little pieces of a black slate, which is plentifully found in some parts of the river Skullkill. There are pieces to be found, which are four feet and above square: the colour and configuration is the same as in the Table slate (Schistus tabularis, Linn.) Syst. nat. 3. p. 37. except that this is a little thicker. The inhabitants of the country thereabouts (in the neighbourhood of the Skullkill) cover their roofs with it; Mr. Bartram assured me, that he had seen a whole roof composed of four such slates. The rays of the sun, heat, cold, and rain do not act upon the stone.

Mr. Bartram further related, that in several parts of the country, caves or holes were to be met with, going deep into the mountains: he had been in several of them and had often found a number of Stalactites, Linnæus’s Stalactites stillatitius, Syst. nat. 3. p. 183. of different dimensions at the top; they differed in colour, but the greatest curiosity was, that in some of the caves Mr. Bartram had found Stalactites, whose outward side was as it were wreathed from top to bottom; he had sent some pieces of it to London, and had none at present.

November the 20th. This morning I set out in company of a friend, on a journey to Raccoon in New Jersey, where many Swedes live, who have their own church. We had three miles to go before we came to the ferry which was to bring us over the Delaware. The country here was very low in some places: the plains on the banks of the river, were overflowed at every high water or flowing of the tide, and at the ebbing they were left dry again. However the inhabitants of the country hereabouts, made use of this plain: for that purpose they had in several places thrown up walls or dykes of earth towards the river, to prevent its overflowing the plains, which they made use of as meadows. On them the Water-beeches (Platanus occidentalis, Linn.) were planted in great numbers on both sides the road, quite close together: these in summer afford a pleasant shade, on account of the abundance and size of their leaves, and make the road extremely delightful, as it resembles a fine shady walk. The Delaware has nearly the same breadth here, which it has near Philadelphia. Near the place where the ferry is to be met with, several pretty houses were built on both sides, where travellers might get all kinds of refreshment. On our journey from Pensylvania to New Jersey, we were brought over the Delaware in a ferry belonging to, and kept in repair by the Pensylvania-men; but on our return we were obliged to take the ferry belonging to the New Jersey side. As soon as we had crossed the river, we were in a different province, for the Delaware makes the division between Pensylvania and New Jersey, so that every thing to the west of it belongs to the former, and all to the east, to the latter province. Both these provinces have in most things different laws, and their peculiar coin.

We now pursued our journey further, and soon observed that the country on this side appeared very different from that on the other; for in Pensylvania the ground consists of more clay and black mould, and is very fertile; but in New Jersey it is more sandy and very poor, so that the horses went very deep in sand in several parts of the road. Near the place where we were brought over, and a little way along the shore was a thick firwood: the trees were not very high, but in their greatest vigour; between them appeared now and then a low bush of oak. But after travelling about three English miles, the firwood ended, and we saw no more trees of this kind till we came to the church in Raccoon. In all the parts of Pensylvania where I have been, I have found few firwoods; on the other hand, they are abundant in New Jersey, and especially in the lower part of that province. We afterwards found all the day long no other trees, than such as have deciduous leaves; most of these were oaks of different sorts, and of considerable height, but they stood every where far enough asunder, to admit a chaise to pass through the wood without any inconvenience, there being seldom any shrubs or underwood between the trees, to obstruct the way. The leaves were all fallen, and covered the ground more than a hand’s breadth: this had an appearance of encreasing the upper black soil greatly. In several places flowed a small rivulet. The country was commonly plain, but sometimes formed a few hills with an easy declivity, though no high mountains appeared, and in a few places we found some small stones not bigger than a fist. Single farm houses were scattered in the country, and in one place only was a small village: the country was yet more covered with forests than cultivated, and we were for the greatest part always in a wood.

This day and the next we passed several Kills, or small rivulets which flowed out of the country into the Delaware with no great descent nor rapidity. When the tide came up in the Delaware, it likewise rose in some of these rivulets a good way; formerly they must have spread to a considerable breadth by the flowing of the tide, but at present there were meadows on their banks, formed, by throwing up strong dykes as close as possible to the water, to keep it from overflowing. Such dykes were made along all rivers here to confine their water; therefore when the tide was highest, the water in the rivers was much higher than the meadows: in the dykes were gates through which the water can be drawn from, or led into the meadows; they were sometimes placed on the outward side of the wall, so that the water in the meadows forced it open, but the river water shut it.

In the evening we came into the house of a Swede called Peter Rambo, and we staid the night at his house.

The pines which we had seen to day, and which I have mentioned before, were of that kind which has double leaves and oblong cones covered with aculeated scales. The English to distinguish it call it the Jersey Pine: commonly there were only two spines or leaves in one fascicle, as in our common Swedish pines, but sometimes three; the cones had long spines, so that they were difficult to be touched. These pines look at a distance wholly like the Swedish ones, so that if the cones were not regarded, they might easily be taken for the same species. Of these pines they make a great quantity of tar, of which I shall speak in the sequel; but as most of them are but small, they are good for nothing else; for if they be employed as posts, or poles in the ground, they are in a short time rendered useless by rotting: as soon as they are cut down the worms are very greedy of them; they soon eat through the wood, and only a few weeks after it is cut down; however it is made use of as fuel where no other wood is to be got, in several places they make charcoal of it, as I intend to mention in the sequel. There is another thing which deserves notice, in regard to these trees, and which several people, besides myself, have experienced. In the great heat of the summer, the cattle like to stand in the shade of these trees, preferably to that of the oak, hiccory, walnut, water-beech and other trees of this kind, whose foliage is very thick; and when the cattle find the latter with the former, they always choose to stand under the firs and pines, though the other trees with annually deciduous leaves could afford a better shade: and if there be but a single pine in a wood, as many cattle from the herd as can stand under it, throng to it. Some people would infer from hence, that the resinous exhalations of these trees, were beneficial to the cattle, and which made them more inclined to be near firs and pines, than any other trees.

The Spoon tree, which never grows to a great height, we saw this day in several places. The Swedes here have called it thus, because the Indians who formerly lived in these provinces, used to make their spoons and trowels of the wood of this tree. In my cabinet of natural curiosities, I have a spoon made of this wood by an Indian, who has killed many stags and other animals on the very spot where Philadelphia afterwards was built; for in his time that spot was yet covered with trees and shrubs. The English call this tree a Laurel, because its leaves resemble those of the Laurocerasus. Dr. Linnæus, conformable to the peculiar friendship and goodness which he has always honoured me with, has been pleased to call this tree, Kalmia foliis ovatis, corymbis terminalibus, or Kalmia latifolia. It succeeds best on the side of hills, especially on the north side, where a brook passes by; therefore on meeting with some steep places (on hills) towards a brook, or with a steep side of a hill towards a marsh, you are sure to find the Kalmia. But it frequently stands mixed among beech trees. The higher the Kalmias stand on the north side of a mountain, the less they grow: I have seen them not only in Pensylvania and New Jersey, but even in New York, but there they are more scarce: I never found them beyond the forty-second deg. of north lat. though I took ever so great care to look for them: they have the quality of preserving their fine green leaves throughout winter, so that when all other trees have lost their ornaments, and stand quite naked, these chear the woods with their green foliage. About the month of May they begin to flower in these parts, and then their beauty rivals that of most of the known trees in nature: the flowers are innumerable, and sit in great bunches. Before they open, they have a fine red colour, but as they are expanded, the sun bleaches them, so that some are quite white; many preserve the colour of roses. Their shape is singular, for they resemble a crater of the ancients: their scent however is none of the most agreeable. In some places it was customary to adorn the churches on christmas day or new-years day with the fine branches of this tree, which are then thick covered with leaves.

But these trees are known for another remarkable quality; their leaves are poison to some animals, and food for others: experience has taught the people that when sheep eat of these leaves, they either die immediately, or fall very sick, and recover with great difficulty. The young and more tender sheep are killed by a small portion, but the elder ones can bear a stronger dose. Yet this food will likewise prove mortal to them, if they take too much of it: the same noxious effect it shews in regard to calves which eat too much of the leaves: they either die, or do not recover easily. I can remember, that in the autumn of the year 1748, some calves eat of the leaves, but fell very sick, swelled, foamed at the mouth, and could hardly stand, however they were cured by giving them gunpowder and other medicines: the sheep are most exposed to be tempted by these leaves in winter; for after having been kept in stables, for some months they are greedy of all greens especially if the snow still lies upon the fields, and therefore the green but poisonous leaves of the Kalmia, are to them very tempting. Horses, oxen and cows which have eaten them, have likewise been very ill after the meal, and though none of them ever died of eating these leaves, yet most people believed, that if they took too great a portion of them, death would certainly be the result. For it has been observed that when these animals only eat small quantities, yet they suffer great pains. On the other hand the leaves of the Kalmia are the food of stags, when the snow covers the ground, and hides all other provisions from them. Therefore, if they be shot in winter, their bowels are found filled with these leaves; and it is very extraordinary, that if those bowels are given to dogs, they become quite stupid and as it were drunk, and often fall so sick, that they seem to be at the point of death, but the people, who have eaten the venison, have not felt the least indisposition. The leaves of the Kalmia are likewise the winter food of those birds, which the Swedes in North America call Hazel-hens, and which stay here all winter, for when they are killed, their crop is found quite filled with them.

The wood of the Kalmia is very hard, and some people on that account, make the axis of their pullies of it. Weavers shuttles are chiefly made of it, and the weavers are of opinion, that no wood in this country is better for this purpose, for it is compact, may be made very smooth, and does not easily crack, or burst. The joiners and turners here, employ it in making all kinds of work, which requires the best wood; they chiefly use the root because it is quite yellow; the wood has a very suitable hardness and fineness, and from the center, spread as it were small rays, which are at some distance from each other. When the leaves of the Kalmia are thrown into the fire, they make a crackling like salt. The chimney sweepers make brooms in winter of the branches with the leaves on them, since they cannot get others in that season. In the summer of the year 1750, a certain kind of worms, devoured the leaves of almost all the trees in Pensylvania; yet they did not venture to attack the leaves of the Kalmia. Some people asserted, that when a fire happened in the woods, it never went further, as soon as it came to the Kalmias, or Spoon trees.

November the 21st. The Swedes and all the other inhabitants of the country plant great quantities of maize, both for themselves and for their cattle. It was asserted that it is the best food for hogs, because it makes them very fat, and gives their flesh an agreeable flavour, preferable to all other meat. I have given in two dissertations upon this kind of corn to the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, which stand in their Memoirs, one in the Volume for the year 1751, in the last quarter, and the other in the first quarter of the Volume for the year 1752, and thither I refer my readers.

The wheels of the carts which are here made use of, are composed of two different kinds of wood. The felloes were made of what is called the Spanish oak, and the spokes of the white oak.

The Sassafras tree grows every where in this place. I have already observed several particulars in regard to it, and intend to add a few more here. On throwing some of the wood into the fire, it causes a crackling as salt does. The wood is made use of for posts belonging to the enclosures, for it is said to last a long time in the ground: but it is likewise said, that there is hardly any kind of wood, which is more attacked by worms than this, when it is exposed to the air without cover, and that in a short time it is quite worm-eaten through and through. The Swedes related, that the Indians who formerly inhabited these parts, made bowls of it. On cutting some part of the sassafras tree, or its shoots, and holding it to the nose, it has a strong but pleasant smell. Some people peel the root, and boil the peel with the beer which they are brewing, because they believe it wholesome for the same reason. The peel is put into brandy, either whilst it is distilling, or after it is made.

An old Swede remembered that his mother cured many people of the dropsy, by a decoction of the root of sassafras in water drank every morning: but she used, at the same time to cup the patient on the feet. The old man assured me, he had often seen people cured by this means, who had been brought to his mother wrapped up in sheets.

When a part of a wood is destined for cultivation, the sassafras trees are commonly left upon it, because they have a very thick foliage, and afford a cool shade to the cattle, during the great heats. Several of the Swedes, wash and scour the vessels in which they intend to keep cyder, beer or brandy, with water in which the sassafras root or its peel has been boiled; which they think renders all those liquors more wholesome. Some people get their bed-posts made of sassafras wood, in order to expel the bugs; for its strong scent it is said prevents those vermin from settling in them. For two or three years together this has the desired effect; or about as long as the wood keeps its strong aromatic smell; but after that time it has been observed to lose it effect. A joiner shewed me a bed, which he had made for himself, the posts of which were of sassafras wood, but as it was ten or twelve years old, there were so many bugs in it, that it seemed likely, they would not let him sleep peaceably. Some Englishmen related, that some years ago it had been customary in London, to drink a kind of tea of the flowers of sassafras, because it was looked upon as very salutary; but upon recollecting that the same potion was much used against the venereal disease, it was soon left off, lest those that used it, should be looked upon as infected with that disease. In Pensylvania some people put chips of sassafras into their chests, where they keep all sorts of woollen stuffs, in order to expel the moths (or Larvæ, or caterpillars of moths or tinies) which commonly settle in them in summer. The root keeps its smell for a long while: I have seen one which had lain five or six years in the drawer of a table, and still preserved the strength of its scent.

A Swede named Rambo, related that the Indians formerly dyed all sorts of leather red with the bark of the chesnut oak.

Some old people remembered that in the year 1697, there had been so rigorous a winter, that the ice in the river Delaware was two feet thick.

November the 22d. Aoke Helm was one of the most considerable Swedes in this place, and his father came over into this country along with the Swedish governor Prince; he was upwards of seventy years of age. This old man told us, that in his youth there was grass in the woods, which grew very close, and was every where two feet high; but, that it was so much lessened at present, that the cattle hardly find food enough, and that therefore four cows now give no more milk than one at that time; but the causes of this alteration are easy to find. In the younger years of old Helm, the country was little inhabited, and hardly the tenth part of the cattle kept which is at present; a cow had therefore as much food at that time, as ten now have. Further, most kinds of grass here are annual, and do not for several years together shoot up from the same root, as our Swedish grasses: they must sow themselves every year, because the last year’s plant dies away every autumn. The great numbers of cattle hinder this sowing, as the grass is eaten before it can produce flowers and fruit. We need not therefore wonder that the grass is so thin on fields, hills, and pastures in these provinces. This is likewise the reason why travellers in New Jersey, Pensylvania, and Maryland, find many difficulties, especially in winter, to get forwards with their own horses, for the grass in these provinces is not very abundant, because the cattle eat it before it can bring seeds: but more to the north, as in Canada, are a sufficient quantity of perennial grasses; so wisely has the Creator regulated every thing. The cold parts of the earth, naturally bring forth a more durable grass, because the inhabitants want more hay to feed their cattle with, on account of the length of the winter. The southern provinces again have less perennial grass, as the cattle may be in the fields all the winter. However careful œconomists have got seeds of perennial grasses from England, and other European states, and sowed it in their meadows, where they seem to thrive exceedingly well.