Chapter V: Front Matter (5)

Bullfrogs [43] are a large species of frogs, which I had an opportunity of hearing and seeing to-day. As I was riding out, I heard a roaring before me; and I thought it was a bull in the bushes, on the other side of the dyke, though the sound was rather more hoarse than that of a bull. I was however afraid, that a bad goring bull might be near me, though I did not see him; and I continued to think so till some hours after, when I talked with some Swedes about the Bullfrogs, and, by their account, I immediately found that I had heard their voice; for the Swedes told me, that there were numbers of them in the dyke. I afterwards hunted for them. Of all the frogs in this country, this is doubtless the greatest. I am told, that towards autumn, as soon as the air begins to grow a little cool, they hide themselves under the mud, which lies at the bottom of ponds and stagnant waters, and ly there torpid during winter. As soon as the weather grows mild, towards summer, they begin to get out of their holes, and croak. If the spring, that is, if the mild weather, begins early, they appear about the end of March, old stile; but if it happens late, they tarry under water till late in April. Their places of abode are ponds, and bogs with stagnant water; they are never in any flowing water. When many of them croak together, they make an enormous noise. Their croak exactly resembles the roaring of an ox or bull, which is somewhat hoarse. They croak so loud, that two people talking by the side of a pond cannot understand each other. They croak all together; then stop a little, and begin again. It seems as if they had a captain among them: for when he begins to croak, all the others follow; and when he stops, the others are all silent. When this captain gives the signal for stopping, you hear a note like poop coming from him. In day-time they seldom make any great noise, unless the sky is covered. But the night is their croaking time; and, when all is calm, you may hear them, though you are near a mile and a half off. When they croak, they commonly are near the surface of the water, under the bushes, and have their heads out of the water. Therefore, by going slowly, one may get close up to them before they go away. As soon as they are quite under water, they think themselves safe, though the water be very shallow.

Sometimes they sit at a good distance from the pond; but as soon as they suspect any danger, they hasten with great leaps into the water. They are very expert at hopping. A full-grown Bullfrog takes near three yards at one hop. I have often been told the following story by the old Swedes, which happened here, at the time when the Indians lived with the Swedes. It is well known, that the Indians are excellent runners; I have seen them, at Governor Johnson’s, equal the best horse in its swiftest course, and almost pass by it. Therefore, in order to try how well the bull-frogs could leap, some of the Swedes laid a wager with a young Indian, that he could not overtake the frog, provided it had two leaps before hand. They carried a bull-frog, which they had caught in a pond, upon a field, and burnt his back-side; the fire, and the Indian, who endeavoured to be closely up with the frog, had such an effect upon the animal, that it made its long hops across the field, as fast as it could. The Indian began to pursue the frog with all his might at the proper time: the noise he made in running frightened the poor frog; probably it was afraid of being tortured with fire again, and therefore it redoubled its leaps, and by that means it reached the pond before the Indian could over-take it.

In some years they are more numerous than in others: nobody could tell, whether the snakes had ever ventured to eat them, though they eat all the lesser kinds of frogs. The women are no friends to these frogs, because they kill and eat young ducklings and goslings: sometimes they carry off chickens that come too near the ponds. I have not observed that they bite when they are held in the hands, though they have little teeth; when they are beaten, they cry out almost like children. I was told that some eat the thighs of the hind legs, and that they are very palatable.

A tree which grows in the swamps here, and in other parts of America, goes by the name of White Juniper-tree. Its stem indeed looks like one of our old tall and strait juniper-trees in Sweden: but the leaves are different, and the wood is white. The English call it White Cedar, because the boards which are made of the wood, are like those made of cedar. But neither of these names are just, for the tree is of the cypress kind [44]. It always grows in wet ground or swamps: it is therefore difficult to come to them, because the ground between the little hillocks is full of water. The trees stand both on the hillocks and in the water: they grow very close together, and have strait, thick, and tall stems; but they were greatly reduced in number to what they have been before. In such places where they are left to grow up, they grow as tall and as thick as the tallest fir-trees; they preserve their green leaves both in winter and summer; the tall ones have no branches on the lower part of the stem.

The marshes where these trees grow are called Cedar Swamps. These cedar swamps are numerous in New Jersey, and likewise in some parts of Pensylvania and New York. The most northerly place, where it has been hitherto found, is near Goshen in New York, under forty-one degrees and twenty-live minutes of north latitude, as I am informed by Dr. Colden. For to the North of Goshen, it has not been found in the woods. The white cedar is one of the trees, which resist the most to putrefaction; and when it is put above ground, it will last longer than under ground: therefore it is employed for many purposes; it makes good fences, and posts which are to be put into the ground; but in this point, the red cedar is still preferable to the white; it likewise makes good canoes. The young trees are employed for hoops, round barrels, tuns, &c. because they are thin and pliable; the thick and tall trees afford timber, and wood for cooper’s work. The houses which are built of it, surpass in duration, those which are built of American oak. Many of the houses in Rapaapo were made of this white cedar wood; but the chief thing which the white cedar affords is the best kind of shingles. The white cedar shingles are preferred to all others for several reasons; first, they are more durable than any others made of American wood, the red cedar shingles excepted; secondly, they are very light, so that no strong beams are requisite to support the roof. For the same reason it is unnecessary to build thick walls, because they are not pressed by heavy roofs. When fires break out, it is less dangerous to go under or along the roofs, because the shingles being very light can do little hurt by falling; they suck the water, being somewhat spungy, so that the roofs can easily be wetted in case of a fire: however, their fatness occasions that the water does not hurt them, but evaporates easily. When they burn and are carried about by the wind, they have commonly what is called a dead coal, which does not easily set fire where it alights. The roofs made of these shingles can easily be cut through, if required, because they are thin, and not very hard; for these qualities the people in the country, and in the towns, are very desirous of having their houses covered with white cedar shingles, if the wood can be got. Therefore all churches, and the houses of the more substantial inhabitants of the towns, have shingle roofs. In many parts of New York province, where the white cedar does not grow, the people, however, have their houses roofed with cedar shingles, which they get from other parts. To that purpose great quantities of shingles are annually exported from Eggharbour and other parts of New Jersey, to the town of New York, from whence they are distributed throughout the province. A quantity of white cedar wood is likewise exported every year to the West Indies, for shingles, pipe staves, &c. Thus the inhabitants are very busy here, not only to lessen the number of these trees, but even to extirpate them entirely. They are here (and in many other places) in regard to wood, bent only upon their own present advantage, utterly regardless of posterity. By this means many cedar swamps are already quite destitute of cedars, having only young shoots left; and I plainly observed, by counting the circles round the stem, that they do not grow up very quickly, but require a great deal of time before they can be cut for timber. It is well known that a tree gets only one circle every year; a stem, eighteen inches in diameter, had one hundred and eight circles round the thicker end; another, seventeen inches in diameter, had a hundred and sixteen; and another, two feet in diameter, had one hundred and forty-two circles upon it. Thus near eighty years growth is required, before a White cedar raised from seed can be used for timber. Among the advantages which the white cedar shingles have over others, the people reckon their lightness. But this good and useful quality may in future times turn out very disadvantageous to Philadelphia, and other places where the houses are rooted with cedar shingles; for as the roofs made of these shingles are very light, and bear but a trifling weight on the walls, so the people have made the walls but very thin. I measured the thickness of the walls of several houses here, of three stories high (cellar and garret not included), and found most of them nine inches and a half, and some ten inches thick; therefore it is by no means surprising, that violent hurricanes sometimes make the brick gable-ends to vibrate apparently, especially on such houses as have a very open situation. And since the cedar-trees will soon be wanting in this country, and the present roofs when rotten must be supplied with heavier ones, of tiles, or of other wood, it is more than probable, that the thin walls will not be able to bear such an additional weight, and will either break, or require to be supported by props: or else the whole house must be pulled down and rebuilt with thicker walls. This observation has already been made by others. Some of the people here make use of the chips of white cedar instead of tea, alluring me that they preferred it in regard to its wholesomeness to all foreign tea. All the inhabitants here were of opinion, that the water in the cedar swamps is wholesomer than any other drink: it creates a great appetite, which they endeavoured to prove by several examples. They ascribed this quality to the water itself, which is filled with the rosin of the trees, and to the exhalations which came from the trees, and can easily be smelled. The people likewise thought that the yellowish colour of the water, which stands between the cedar trees, was owing to the rosin, which comes out of the roots of these trees. They likewise all agreed, that this water is always very cold in the hottest season, which may be partly owing to the continual shade it is in. I knew several people who were resolved to go to these cedar swamps, and use the waters for the recovery of their appetite. Mr. Bartram planted a white cedar in a dry soil, but it could not succeed there: he then put it into a swampy ground, where it got as it were new life, and came on very well; and though it was not taller than a man, yet it was full of cones. Another thing is very remarkable, with regard to the propagation of this tree: Mr. Bartram cut its branches in spring two years successively, and put them into the swampy soil, where they struck roots, and succeeded very well. I have seen them myself.

The red Juniper-tree is another tree which I have mentioned very frequently in the course of my account. The Swedes have given it the name of red Juniper, because the wood is very red and fine within. The English call it red Cedar, and the French Cedre rouge. However, the Swedish name is the most proper, as the tree belongs to the Junipers [45]. At its first growth it has a deal of similarity to the Swedish Juniper [46], but after it is grown up it gets quite different leaves. The berry exactly resembles that of the Swedish Juniper, in regard to its colour and shape; however, they are not so big, though the red Cedar grows very tall. At Raccoon these trees stood single, and were not very tall. But at other places I have seen them standing together in clusters; they like the same ground as the common Swedish Juniper, especially on the rising banks of rivers, and on other rising grounds, in a dry, and frequently in a poor soil. I have seen them growing in abundance, as thick and tall as the tallest fir-trees, on poor dry and sandy heaths. Towards Canada, or in the most northerly places, where I have seen them, they commonly choose the steep sides of the mountains, and there they grow promiscuously with the common Juniper. The most northerly places where I have found them wild in the woods, is in Canada, eighteen French miles to the southward of the Fort Saint Jean, or St. John, in about 44° 35′ North Latitude. I have likewise seen it growing very well in a garden, on the island of Magdalene [47], belonging to the then governor of Montreal, Monsieur le Baron de Longueuil. But it had been got at more southerly places, and was transplanted here. Of all the woods in this country, this is without exception the most durable, and withstands putrefaction longer than any other; it is therefore employed in all such cases where it is most liable to rot, especially for all kinds of posts which are to be put into the ground. Some people say, that if an iron be put into the ground along with a pole of cedar, the iron would be half corroded by rust in the same time that the wood would be rotten. In many places both the fences, and the posts belonging to them, are made of red cedar. The best canoes, consisting of a single piece of wood, are made of red cedar; for they last longer than any others, and are very light. In New York I have seen pretty large yachts build of red cedar. Several yachts which go from New York to Albany, up the river Hudson, are built in a different manner, as I have mentioned in the first volume [48]. In Philadelphia they cannot make any yachts or other boats of red cedar, because the quantity and the size of the trees will not allow of it. For the same reason they do not roof their houses with red cedar shingles; but in such places where it is plentiful, it makes excellent good roofs. The heart of this cedar is of a fine red colour, and whatever is made of it looks very fine, and has a very agreeable and wholesome smell. But the colour fades by degrees, or else the wood would be exceedingly proper for cabinet work. I saw a parlour in the country seat of Mr. Norris, one of the Members of the Pensylvanian House of Assembly, wainscotted many years ago with boards of red cedar. Mr. Norris assured me that the cedar looked exceedingly well in the beginning, but it was quite faded when I saw it, and the boards looked very shabby, especially the boards near the window had entirely lost their colour; so that Mr. Norris had been obliged to put mahogany in their stead: however, I was told, that the wood will keep its colour if a thin varnish is put upon it whilst it is fresh, and just after it has been planed, and if care is taken that the wood is not afterwards rubbed or hurt. At least it makes the wood keep its colour much longer than commonly. Since it has a very pleasant smell, when fresh, some people put the shavings and chips of it among their linen to secure it against being worm-eaten. Some likewise get bureaus, &c. made of red cedar, with the same view. But it is only useful for this purpose as long as it is fresh, for it loses its smell after some time, and is then no longer good for keeping off insects. It is sometimes sent to England, as timber, and sells very well. In many places round Philadelphia, in the seats of the gentry, there was commonly an avenue, with a row of these trees planted on both sides, leading from the high road to the house. The lower branches were cut, and only a fine crown left. In winter, when most other trees have lost their leaves, this looks very fine. This tree has likewise a very slow growth; for a stem, thirteen inches and a quarter in diameter, had one hundred and eighty-eight rings, or annual circles and another, eighteen inches in diameter, had at least two hundred and fifty, for a great number of the rings were so fine that they could not be counted. This tree is propagated in the same manner as the common Juniper-tree is in Sweden, viz. chiefly by birds, which eat the berries and emit the seeds entire. To encourage the planting of this useful tree, a description of the method of doing it, written by Mr. Bartram, was inserted in a Pensylvania almanack, called Poor Richard Improved, for the year 1749. In it was explained the manner of planting and augmenting the number of these trees, and mention is made of some of the purposes to which they may be employed.

In the evening I returned to Raccoon.

May the 6th. The Mulberry-trees (Morus rubra) about this time began to blossom, but their leaves were yet very small. The people divided them into male and female trees or flowers; and said that those which never bore any fruit were males, and those which did, females.

Smilax laurifolia was superabundant in all the swamps near this place. Its leaves were now beginning to come out, for it sheds them all every winter; it climbs up along trees and shrubs, and runs across from one tree or bush to another: by this means it shuts up the passage between the trees, fastening itself every where with its cirrhi or tendrils, and even on people, so that it is with the utmost difficulty one must force a passage in the swamps and woods, where it is plentiful; the stalk towards the bottom is full of long spines, which are as strong as the spines of a rose-bush, and catch hold of the clothes, and tear them: this troublesome plant may sometimes bring you into imminent danger, when botanizing or going into the woods, for, not to mention that the cloaths must be absolutely ruined by its numberless spines, it occasions a deep shade in the woods, by crossing from tree to tree so often; this forces you to stoop, and even to creep on all fours through the little passages which are left close to the ground, and then you cannot be careful enough to prevent a snake (of which there are numbers here) from darting into your face. The stalk of the plant has the same colour as the young rose-bushes. It is quite green and smooth between the spines, so that a stranger would take it to be a kind of thorn-bush, in winter, when it is destitute of leaves.

May the 8th. The trees hereabouts were now stocked with innumerable Caterpillars; one kind especially was observable, which is worse than all the others. They immediately formed great white webs, between the branches of the trees, so that they were perceptible, even at a distance; in each of these webs were thousands of Caterpillars, which crept out of them afterwards, and spread chiefly upon the apple-trees. They consumed the leaves, and often left not one on a whole branch. I was told, that some years ago they did so much damage, that the apple-trees and peach-trees hardly bore any fruit at all; because they had consumed all the leaves, and exposed the naked trees to the intense heat of the sun, by which means several of the trees died. The people took the following method of killing these Caterpillars: They fixed some straw or flax on a pole, set it on fire, and held it under the webs or nests; by which a part was burnt, and a part fell to the ground. However, numbers of the Caterpillars crept up the trees again, which could have been prevented, if they had been trod upon, or killed any other way. I called chickens to such places where they crept on the ground in numbers; but they would not eat them. Nor did the wild birds like them; for the trees were full of these webs, though whole flights of little birds had their nests in the gardens and orchards.

May the 18th. Though it was already pretty late in May, yet the nights were very dark here. About an hour after sun-set, it was so dark, that it was impossible to read in a book, though the type was ever so large. About ten o’clock, on a clear night, the dark was so much increased, that it looked like one of the darkest star-light nights in autumn, in Sweden. It likewise seemed to me, that though the nights were clear, yet the stars did not give so great a light as they do in Sweden. And as, about this time, the nights are commonly dark, and the sky covered with clouds; so I would compare them only to dark and cloudy Swedish winter nights. It was therefore, at this time of the year, very difficult to travel in such cloudy nights; for neither man nor horse could find their way. The nights, in general, seem very disagreeable to me, in comparison to the light and glorious, summer nights of Sweden. Ignorance sometimes makes us think slightly of our country. If other countries have their advantages, Sweden is not destitute of matter to boast of on this head: it likewise has its peculiar advantages; and upon weighing the advantages and inconveniencies of different places, Sweden will be found to be not inferior to any of them.

I will briefly mention in what points I think Sweden is preferable to this part of America; and why I prefer Old Sweden to New Sweden.

The nights are very dark here all the summer; and in winter, they are quite as dark, if not darker, than the winter nights in Sweden; for here is no kind of Aurora Borealis, and the stars give a very faint light. It is very remarkable if an Aurora Borealis appears once or twice a year. The winters here bring no snow, to make the nights clear, and to make travelling more safe and easy. The cold is, however, frequently as intense as in Old Sweden. The snow which falls lies only a few days, and always goes off with a great deal of wet. The Rattle-snakes, Horned-snakes, red-bellied, green, and other poisonous Snakes, against whose bite there is frequently no remedy, are in great plenty here. To these I must add the wood-lice, with which the forests are so pestered, that it is impossible to pass through a bush without having a whole army of them on your cloaths, or to sit down, though the place be ever so pleasant. The inconvenience and trouble they cause, both to man and beast, I have described in the Memoirs of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The weather is so inconstant here, that when a day is most excessively hot, the next is often sensibly cold. This sudden change often happens in one day; and few people can suffer these changes, without impairing their health. The heat in summer is excessive, and the cold in winter often very piercing. However, one can always secure one’s self against the cold; but when the great heat is of any duration, there is hardly any remedy against it. It tires one so, that one does not know which way to turn. It has frequently happened, that people who walked into the fields, dropped down dead, on account of the violence of the heat. Several distempers prevail here; and they increase every year. Nobody is left unattacked by the intermitting fever; and many people are forced to suffer it every year, together with other diseases. Pease cannot be sown, on account of the insects which consume them [49]. There are worms in the grains of rye, and numbers of them are in the cherry-trees. The caterpillars often eat all the leaves from the trees, so that they cannot bear fruit in that year; and numbers die every year, both of fruit-trees and forest-trees. The grass in the meadows is likewise consumed by a kind of worms, and another species cause the plumbs to drop, before they are half ripe. The oak here affords not near so good timber as the European oak. The fences cannot stand above eighteen years. The houses are of no long duration. The meadows are poor, and what grass they have is bad. The pasture for cattle in the forests, consists of such plants as they do not like, and which they are compelled to eat by necessity; for it is difficult to find a single grass in great forests, where the trees stand far asunder, and where the soil is excellent. For this reason, the cattle are forced, during almost the whole winter and part of the summer, to live upon the young shoots and branches of trees, which sometimes have no leaves: therefore, the cows give very little milk, and decrease in size every generation. The houses are extremely unfit for winter habitations. Hurricanes are frequent, which overthrow trees, carry away roofs, and sometimes houses, and do a great deal of damage. Some of these inconveniencies might be remedied by art; but others will either admit of no alteration, or they will at least cost vast trouble. Thus every country has its advantages, and its defects: happy is he who can content himself with his own.

The rye grows very ill in most of the fields, which is chiefly owing to the carelessness in agriculture, and to the poorness of the fields, which are seldom or never manured. After the inhabitants have converted a tract of land into fields, which had been a forest for many centuries together, and which consequently had a very fine soil, they use it as such, as long as it will bear any corn; and when it ceases to bear any, they turn it into pastures for the cattle, and take new corn fields in another place, where a fine soil can be met with, and where it has never been made use of for this purpose. This kind of agriculture will do for some time; but it will afterwards have bad consequences, as every one may clearly see. A few of the inhabitants, however, treated their fields a little better: the English in general have carried agriculture to a higher degree of perfection than any other nation. But the depth and richness of the soil, which those found here who came over from England, (as they were preparing land for ploughing which had been covered with woods from times immemorial) misled them, and made them careless husbandmen. It is well known, that the Indians lived in this country for several centuries before the Europeans came into it; but it is likewise known, that they lived chiefly by hunting and fishing, and had hardly any fields. They planted maize, and some species of beans and gourds; and at the same time it is certain, that a plantation of such vegetables as serve an Indian family during one year, take up no more ground than a farmer in our country takes to plant cabbage for his family upon; at least, a farmer’s cabbage and turnep ground, taken together, is always as extensive, if not more so, than the corn-fields and kitchen-gardens of an Indian family. Therefore, the Indians could hardly subsist for one month upon the produce of their gardens and fields. Commonly, the little villages of Indians are about twelve or eighteen miles distant from each other. From hence one may judge, how little ground was formerly employed for corn-fields; and the rest was overgrown with thick and tall trees. And though they cleared (as is yet usual) new ground, as soon as the old one had quite lost its fertility; yet such little pieces as they made use of were very inconsiderable, when compared to the vast forests which remained. Thus the upper fertile soil increased considerably, for centuries together; and the Europeans coming to America found a rich and fine soil before them, lying as loose between the trees as the best bed in a garden. They had nothing to do but to cut down the wood, put it up in heaps, and to clear the dead leaves away. They could then immediately proceed to ploughing, which in such loose ground is very easy; and having sown their corn, they got a most plentiful harvest. This easy method of getting a rich crop has spoiled the English and other European inhabitants, and induced them to adopt the same method of agriculture which the Indians make use of; that is, to sow uncultivated grounds, as long as they will produce a crop without manuring, but to turn them into pastures as soon as they can bear no more, and to take in hand new spots of ground, covered since time immemorial with woods, which have been spared by the fire or the hatchet ever since the creation. This is likewise the reason why agriculture, and the knowledge of this useful branch, is so imperfect here, that one can learn nothing on a great tract of land, neither of the English, nor of the Swedes, Germans, Dutch, and French; except that, from their gross mistakes and carelessness for futurity, one finds opportunities every day of making all sorts of observations, and of growing wise at the expence of other people. In a word, the corn-fields, the meadows, the forests, the cattle, &c. are treated with equal carelessness; and the English nation, so well skilled in these branches of husbandry, is with difficulty found out here. We can hardly be more lavish of our woods in Sweden and Finland than they are here: their eyes are fixed upon the present gain, and they are blind to futurity. Every day their cattle are harassed by labour, and each generation decreases in goodness and size, by being kept short of food, as I have before mentioned. On my travels in this country I observed several plants, which the horses and cows preferred to all others. They were wild in this country, and likewise grew well on the driest and poorest ground, where no other plants would succeed. But the inhabitants did not know how to turn this to their advantage; owing to the little account made of Natural History, that science being here (as in other parts of the world) looked upon as a mere trifle, and the pastime of fools. I am certain, and my certainty is founded upon experience, that by means of these plants, in the space of a few years, I have been able to turn the poorest ground, which would hardly afford food for a cow, into the richest and most fertile meadow, where great flocks of cattle have found superfluous food, and are grown fat upon. I own, that these useful plants were not to be found on the grounds of every planter: but with a small share of natural knowledge, a man would easily collect them in the places where they were to be got. I was astonished, when I heard the country people complaining of the badness of the pastures; but I likewise perceived their negligence, and often saw excellent plants growing on their own grounds, which only required a little more attention and assistance from their unexperienced owners. I found every where the wisdom and goodness of the Creator; but too seldom saw any acknowledgment, or adequate estimation of it, among men.

O fortunatos nimium sua si bona norint,
Agricolas!

Virg. Georgic.

I have been led to these reflections, which may perhaps seem foreign to my purpose, by the bad and neglected state of agriculture in every part of this continent. I likewise intended to shew the reason why this journal is so thinly stocked with œconomical advantages in the several branches of husbandry. I do not however deny, that I have sometimes found one or two skilful œconomists, but they were very scarce.

Birds of prey which pursue the poultry are found in abundance here, and if possible more plentiful than in Sweden. They enjoy great liberty here, as there are still great forests in many places, from whence they can come unawares upon chickens and ducks. To the birds of prey it is quite indifferent whether the woods consist of good or bad trees, provided they are in shade. At night the owls, which are very numerous, endanger the safety of the tame fowls. They live chiefly in marshes, give a disagreeable shriek at night, and attack the chickens, which commonly roost at night in the apple-trees, peach-trees, and cherry-trees, in the garden. But since they are very busy in clearing this country of woods, as we are in Sweden and Finland, it may be of use for exposing the birds of prey, more than they are now, and for depriving them of the opportunities of doing mischief with so much ease.

The thick forests of America contain numbers of stags; they do not seem to be a different species from the European stags. An Englishman was possessed of a tame hind. It is observable that though these creatures are very shy when wild in the woods and the cedar swamps, which are very much frequented by them, yet they can be tamed to such a degree, if taken young, that they will come of their own accord to people, and even to strangers: This hind was caught when it was but very little; the colour of the whole body was a dirty reddish brown, the belly and the under side of the tail excepted, which were white; the ears were grey; the head, towards the snout, was very narrow, but upon the whole the creature looked very fine. The hair lay close together, and was quite short; the tail reached almost to the bend of the knee, near which, on the inside of each hind-foot, was a knob or callus. The possessor of the hind said, that he had tamed several stags, by catching them whilst they were very young. It was now big with young ones. It had a little bell hung about its neck, that by walking in the woods, the people might know it to be tame, and take care not to shoot it. It was at liberty to go where it pleased, and to keep it confined would have been a pretty hard task, as it could leap over the highest enclosures. Sometimes it went far into the woods, and frequently staid away a night or two, but afterwards returned home like other cattle. When it went into the woods, it was often accompanied by wild stags, and decoyed them even into the very houses, especially in rutting time, giving its master numerous opportunities of shooting the wild stags, almost at his door. Its scent was excellent, and when it was turned towards the wind, I often saw it rising and looking towards that part, though I did not see any people on the road, but they commonly appeared about an hour after. As soon as the wild stags have the scent of a man, they make off. In winter the man fed the hind with corn and hay; but in summer it went out into the woods and meadows, seeking its own food, eating both grass and other plants: it was now kept in a meadow; it did chiefly eat clover, the leaves of hiccory, of the Andromeda paniculata, and the Geranium maculatum. It was likewise contented with the leaves of the common plantane, or Plantaga, grasses, and several other plants. The possessor of this hind sold stags to people in Philadelphia, who sent them as curiosities to other places. He got twenty-five, thirty, and forty shillings a-piece for them. The food of the wild stags in summer is grass and several plants; but in winter, when they are not to be got, they eat the shoots and young sprigs of branches. I have already mentioned [50] that they eat without any danger the spoon-tree, or Kalmia latifolia, which is poison to other animals. In the long and severe winter, which commenced here upon the tenth of December, 1740, and continued to the thirteenth of March, old stile, during the course of which there fell a great quantity of snow, the stags were found dead in the snow, but chiefly higher up the country, where the snow was deeper. Nobody could determine whether their death was the consequence of the great quantity and depth of snow, which hindered their getting out, or whether the frost had been too severe, and of too long duration, or whether they were short of food. The old people likewise relate, that vast numbers of stags came down in the year 1705, when there was a heavy fall of snow, near a yard deep, and that they were afterwards found dead in the woods, in great numbers, because the snow was deeper than they could pass through. Numbers of birds were likewise found dead at that time. In that same winter, a stag came to Matsong into the stables, and ate hay together with the cattle. It was so pinched by hunger, that it grew tame immediately, and did not run away from people. It afterwards continued in the house, as another tame creature. All aged persons asserted, that formerly this country abounded more with stags than it does at present. It was formerly not uncommon to see thirty or forty of them in a flock together. The reason of their decrease is chiefly owing to the increase of population, the destruction of the woods, and the number of people who kill and frighten the stags at present. However, high up in the country, in great forests and desarts, there are yet great numbers of them. Among their enemies is the Lynx of this country, which is the same with the Swedish one [51]. They climb up the trees, and when the stags pass by, they dart down upon him, get fast hold, bite, and suck the blood, and never give over till they have killed it.

I saw several holes in the ground, both on hills and on fields, and fallow grounds; they were round, and commonly about an inch wide; they went almost perpendicularly into the earth, and were made by dung-beetles, or by great worms, which are made use of for angling. The dung-beetles had dug very deep into the ground, thro’ horse-dung, tho’ it lay on the hardest road, so that a great heap of earth lay near it. These holes were afterwards occupied by other insects, especially grasshoppers, (Grylli) and Cicadæ; for by digging these holes up, I commonly found one or more young ones of these insects, which had not yet got their perfect size.

May the 19th. This morning I left Raccoon, a parish in the country called New Sweden, and which is yet chiefly inhabited by Swedes, in order to proceed in my travels to the North. I first intended to set out with the beginning of April, but for several reasons this was not adviseble. No leaves were come out at that time, and hardly any flowers appeared. I did not know what flowers grew here in spring; for the autumnal plants are different from the vernal ones. The Swedes had this winter told me the œconomical and medical uses of many plants, to which they gave names unknown to me: they could not then shew me those plants on account of the season, and by their deficient and erroneous descriptions, I was not able to guess what plants they meant. By going away so early as the beginning of April, I would have remained in uncertainty in regard to these things. It was therefore fit, that I should spend a part of the spring at Raccoon, especially as I had still time enough left for my tour to the North.

On the road we saw a Black Snake, which we killed, and found just five foot long. Catesby has described it and its qualities, and also drawn it [52]. The full-grown Black Snakes are commonly about five feet long, but very slender; the thickest I ever saw was in the broadest part hardly three inches thick; the back is black, shining, and smooth; the chin white and smooth; the belly whitish turning into blue, shining, and very smooth; I believe there are some varieties of this snake. One which was nineteen inches long, had a hundred and eighty-six scales on the belly, (Scuta Abdominalia) and ninety-two half scales on the tail (Squamæ subcaudales), which I found to be true, by a repeated counting of the scales. Another, which was seventeen inches and a half in length, had a hundred and eighty-four scales on the belly, and only sixty-four half scales on the tail; this I likewise assured myself of, by counting the scales over again. It is possible that the end of this last snake’s tail was cut off, and the wound healed up again [53].

The country abounds with Black Snakes. They are among the first that come out in spring, and often appear very early if warm weather happens; but if it grows cold again after that, they are quite frozen, and lie stiff and torpid on the ground or on the ice; when taken in this state and put before a fire, they revive in less than an hour’s time. It has sometimes happened, when the beginning of January is very warm, that they come out of their winter habitations. They commonly appear about the end of March, old style.

This is the swiftest of all the snakes which are to be found here, for it moves so quick, that a dog can hardly catch it. It is therefore almost impossible for a man to escape it if pursued: but happily its bite is neither poisonous nor any way dangerous; many people have been bit by it in the woods, and have scarce felt any more inconvenience than if they had been wounded by a knife; the wounded place only remains painful for some time. The Black Snakes seldom do any harm, except in spring, when they copulate; but if any body comes in their way at that time, they are so much vexed, as to pursue him as fast as they can. If they meet with a person who is afraid of them, he is in great distress. I am acquainted with several people, who have on such an occasion run so hard as to be quite out of breath, in endeavouring to escape the snake, which moved with the swiftness of an arrow after them. If a person thus pursued can muster up courage enough to oppose the snake with a stick or any thing else, when it is either passed by him, or when he steps aside to avoid it, it will turn back again, and seek a refuge in its swiftness. It is, however, sometimes bold enough to run directly upon a man, and not to depart before it has received a good stroke. I have been assured by several, that when it overtakes a person, who has tried to escape it, and who has not courage enough to oppose it, it winds round his feet, so as to make him fall down; it then bites him several times in the leg, or whatever part it can get hold of, and goes off again. I shall mention two circumstances, which confirm what I have said. During my stay in New York, Dr. Colden told me, that in the spring, 1748, he had several workmen at his country seat, and among them one lately arrived from Europe, who of course knew very little of the qualities of the Black Snake. The other workmen seeing a great Black Snake copulating with its female, engaged the new comer to go and kill it, which he intended to do with a little stick. But on approaching the place where the snakes lay, they perceived him, and the male in great wrath leaves his pleasure to pursue the fellow with amazing swiftness; he little expected such courage in the snake, and flinging away his stick, began to run as fast as he was able. The snake pursued him, overtook him, and twisting several times round his feet, threw him down, and frightened him almost out of his senses; he could not get rid of the snake, till he took a knife and cut it through in two of three places. The other Workmen were rejoiced at this sight, and laughed at it, without offering to help their companion. Many people at Albany told me of an accident which happened to a young lady, who went out of town in summer, together with many other girls, attended by her negro. She sat down in the wood, in a place where the others were running about, and before she was aware, a Black Snake being disturbed in its amours, ran under her petticoats, and twisted round her waist, so that she fell backwards in a swoon occasioned by her fright, or by the compression which the snake caused. The negro came up to her, and suspecting that a Black Snake might have hurt her, on making use of a remedy to bring his lady to herself again, he lifted up her cloaths, and really found the snake wound about her body as close as possible; the negro was not able to tear it away, and therefore cut it, and the girl came to herself again; but she conceived so great an aversion to the negro, that she could not bear the sight of him afterwards, and died of a consumption. At other times of the year this snake is more apt to run away, than to attack people. However I have heard it asserted frequently, that even in summer when its time of copulation is past, it pursues people, especially children, if it finds that they are afraid and run from her. Several people likewise assured me from their own experience, that it may be provoked to pursue people, if they throw at it, and then run away. I cannot well doubt of this, as I have heard it said by numbers of creditable people; but I could never succeed in provoking them. I ran always away on perceiving it, or flung something at it, and then took to my heels, but I could never bring the snakes to pursue me: I know not for what reason they shunned me, unless they took me for an artful seducer.

Most of the people in this country ascribed to this snake a power of fascinating birds and squirrels, as I have described in several parts of my Journal [54]. When the snake lies under a tree, and has fixed his eyes on a bird or squirrel above; it obliges them to come down, and to go directly into its mouth. I cannot account for this, for I never saw it done. However, I have a list of more than twenty persons, among which are some of the most creditable people, who have all unanimously, though living far distant from each other, asserted the same thing; they allured me upon their honor, that they have seen (at several times) these Black Snakes fascinating squirrels and birds which sat on the tops of trees, the snake lying at the foot of the tree, with its eyes fixed upon the bird or squirrel, which sits above it, and utters a doleful note; from which it is easy to conclude with certainty that it is about to be fascinated, though you cannot see it. The bird or squirrel runs up and down along the tree continuing its plaintive song, and always comes nearer the snake, whose eyes are unalterably fixed upon it. It should seem as if these poor creatures endeavoured to escape the snake, by hopping or running up the tree; but there appears to be a power which withholds them: they are forced downwards, and each time that they turn back, they approach nearer their enemy, till they are at last forced to leap into its mouth, which stands wide open for that purpose. Numbers of squirrels and birds are continually running and hopping fearless in the woods on the ground, where the snakes ly in wait for them, and can easily give these poor creatures a mortal bite. Therefore it seems that this fascination might be thus interpreted, that the creature has first got a mortal wound from the snake, which is sure of her bite, and lies quiet, being assured that the wounded creature has been poisoned with the bite, or at least feels pain from the violence of the bite, and that it will at last be obliged to come down into its mouth. The plaintive note is perhaps occasioned by the acuteness of the pain which the wound gives the creature. But to this it may be objected, that the bite of the Black Snake is not poisonous; it may further be objected, that if the snake could come near enough to a bird or squirrel to give it a mortal bite, it might as easily keep hold of it, or, as it sometimes does with poultry, twist round and strangle or stifle it. But the chief objection which lies against this interpretation, is the following account, which I received from the most creditable people, who have assured me of it. The squirrel being upon the point of running into the snake’s mouth, the spectators have not been able to let it come to that pitch, but killed the snake, and as soon as it had got a mortal blow, the squirrel or bird destined for destruction, flew away, and left off their moanful note, as if they had broke loose from a net. Some say, that if they only touched the snake, so as to draw off its attention from the squirrel, it went off quickly, not stopping till it had got to a great distance. Why do the squirrels or birds go away so suddenly, and why no sooner? If they had been poisoned or bitten by the snake before, so as not to be able to get from the tree, and to be forced to approach the snake always more and more, they could however not get new strength by the snake being killed or diverted. Therefore, it seems that they are only enchanted, whilst the snake has its eyes fixed on them. However, this looks odd and unaccountable, though many of the worthiest and most reputable people have related it, and though it is so universally believed here, that to doubt it would be to expose one’s self to general laughter.

The black snakes kill the smaller species of frogs, and eat them. If they get at eggs of poultry, or of other birds, they make holes in them, and suck the contents. When the hens are sitting on the eggs, they creep into the nest, wind round the birds, stifle them, and suck the eggs. Mr. Bartram asserted, that he had often seen this snake creep up into the tallest trees, after bird’s eggs, or young birds, always with the head foremost, when descending. A Swede told me, that a black snake had once got the head of one of his hens in its mouth, and was wound several times round the body, when he came and killed the snake. The hen was afterwards as well as ever.