At last we arrived in Philadelphia about ten o’Clock in the morning. We had not been more than six weeks, or (to speak more accurately) not quite forty one days on our voyage from Gravesend to this place, including the time we spent at Deal, in supplying ourselves with the necessary fresh provisions, &c. our voyage was therefore reckoned one of the shortest. For it is common in winter time to be fourteen, nineteen, or more weeks in coming from Gravesend to Philadelphia. Hardly any body ever had a more pleasant voyage over this great ocean, than we had. Captain Lawson affirmed this several times. Nay he assured us he had never seen such calm weather in this ocean, though he had crossed it very often. The wind was generally so favourable that a boat of a middling size might have sailed in perfect safety. The [[29]]sea never went over our cabin, and but once over the deck, and that was only in a swell. The weather indeed was so clear, that a great number of the Germans on board slept on the deck. The cabin windows needed not the shutters. All these are circumstances which show the uncommon goodness of the weather.
Captain Lawson’s civility increased the pleasure of the voyage. For he shewed me all the friendship, that he could have shewn to any of his relations.
As soon as we were come to the town, and had cast anchor, many of the inhabitants came on board, to enquire for Letters. They took all those which they could carry, either for themselves or for their friends. Those, which remained, the captain ordered to be carried on shore, and to be brought into a coffee-house, where every body could make enquiry for them, and by this means he was rid of the trouble of delivering them himself. I afterwards went on shore with him. But before he went, he strictly charged the second mate, to let no one of the German refugees out of the ship, unless he paid for his passage, or some body else paid for him, or bought him.
On my leaving London I received letters [[30]]of recommendation from Mr. Abraham Spalding, Mr. Peter Collinson, Dr. Mitchel, and others to their friends here. It was easy for me therefore to get acquaintance. Mr. Benjamin Franklin, to whom Pensylvania is indebted for its welfare, and the learned world for many new discoveries in Electricity, was the first, who took notice of me, and introduced me to many of his friends. He gave me all necessary instructions, and shewed me his kindness on many occasions.
I went to day accompanied by Mr. Jacob Bengtson, a member of the Swedish consistory and the sculptor Gustavus Hesselius, to see the town and the fields which lay before it. (The former is brother of the rev. Messrs. Andrew and Samuel Hesselius, both ministers at Christiana in new Sweden, and of the late Dr. John Hesselius in the provinces of Nerik and Wermeland). My new friend had followed his brother Andrew in 1711 to this country, and had since lived in it. I found that I was now come into a new world. Whenever I looked to the ground, I every where found such plants as I had never seen before. When I saw a tree, I was forced to stop, and ask those who accompanied me, how it was called. The first plant which struck my [[31]]eyes was an Andropogon, or a kind of grass, and grass is a part of Botany I always delighted in. I was seized with terror at the thought of ranging so many new and unknown parts of natural history. At first I only considered the plants, without venturing a more accurate examination.
At night I took up my lodging with a grocer who was a quaker, and I met with very good honest people in this house, such as most people of this profession appeared to me, I and my Yungstrœm, the companion of my voyage, had a room, candles, beds, attendance, and three meals a day, if we chose to have so many, for twenty shillings per week in Pensylvania currency. But wood, washing and wine, if required, were to be paid for besides.
September the 16th. Before I proceed I must give a short description of Philadelphia, which I shall frequently mention in the sequel of my travels. I here put down several particulars which I marked during my stay at that place, as a help to memory.
Philadelphia, the capital of Pensylvania, a province which makes part of what formerly was called New Sweden is one of the principal towns in North-America; and next to Boston the greatest. It is situated [[32]]almost in the center of the English colonies, and its lat. is thirty nine deg. and fifty min. but its west long. from London near seventy five deg.
This town was built in the year 1683, or as others say in 1682, by the well known quaker William Pen, who got this whole province by a grant from Charles the second, king of England; after Sweden had given up its claims to it. According to Pen’s plan the town was to have been built upon a piece of land which is formed by the union of the rivers Delaware and Skulkill, in a quadrangular form, two English miles long and one broad. The eastern side would therefore have been bounded by the Delaware, and the western by the Skulkill. They had actually begun to build houses on both these rivers; for eight capital streets, each two English miles long, and sixteen lesser streets (or lanes) across them, each one mile in length, were marked out, with a considerable breadth, and in strait lines. The place was at that time almost an entire wilderness covered with thick forests, and belonged to three Swedish brothers called Sven’s-Sœner (Sons of Sven) who had settled in it. They with difficulty left the place, the situation of which was very advantageous, But at last they were [[33]]persuaded to it by Pen, who gave them a few English miles from that place twice the space of country they inhabited. However Pen himself and his descendants after him, have considerably lessened the ground belonging to them, by repeated mensurations, under pretence that they had taken more than they ought.
But the inhabitants could not be got in sufficient number to fill a place of such extent. The plan therefore about the river Skulkill was laid aside till more favourable circumstances should occur, and the houses were only built along the Delaware. This river flows along the eastern side of the town, is of great advantage to its trade, and gives a fine prospect. The houses which had already been built upon the Skulkill were transplanted hitherto by degrees. This town accordingly lies in a very pleasant country, from north to south along the river. It measures somewhat more than an English mile in length; and its breadth in some places is half a mile or more. The ground is flat and consists of sand mixed with a little clay. Experience has shewn that the air of this place is very healthy.