1. On travelling from hence to the south, you meet with a place where the highroad is very low in the ground between two mountains. On both sides you see [[200]]nothing but oyster shells and muscle shells in immense quantities above each other; however the place is many miles off the sea.
2. Whenever they dig wells, or build houses in town, they find the earth lying in several strata above each other. At a depth of fourteen feet or more, they find globular stones, which are as smooth on the outside as those which lie on the sea-shore, and are made round and smooth by the rolling of the waves. And after having dug through the sand, and reached a depth of eighteen feet or more, they discover in some places a slime like that which the sea throws up on the shore, and which commonly lies at its bottom and in rivers; this slime is quite full of trees, leaves, branches, reed, charcoal, &c.
3. It has sometimes happened that new houses have sunk on one side in a short time, and have obliged the people to pull them down again. On digging deeper, for a very hard ground to build upon, they have found a quantity of the above slime, wood, roots, &c.
Are not these reasons sufficient to make one suppose that those places in Philadelphia which are at present fourteen feet and more under ground, formerly were the bottom of [[201]]the sea, and that by several accidents, sand, earth, and other things were carried upon it? or, that the Delaware formerly was broader than it is at present? or, that it has changed its course? This last still often happens at present; the river breaking off the bank on one side, and forming one on the other. Both the Swedes and English often shewed me such places.
October the 18th. At present I did not find above ten different kinds of plants in blossom: they were, a Gentiana, two species of Aster, the common Golden Rod, or Solidago Virga aurea, a species of Hieracium, the yellow wood Sorrel, or Oxalis corniculata, the Fox Gloves, or Digitalis purpurea, the Hamamelis Virginiana, or Witch Hazel, our common Millefoil, or Achillæa Millefolium, and our Dandelion, or Leontodon Taraxacum. All other plants had for this year laid aside their gay colours. Several trees, especially those which were to flower early in spring, had already formed such large buds, that on opening them all the parts of fructification, such as Calyx, Corolla, Stamina and Pistillum were plainly distinguishable. It was therefore easy to determine the genus to which such trees belonged. Such were the red maple, or Acer rubrum, and the Laurus æstivalis, a species of bay. Thus nature prepared to [[202]]bring forth flowers, with the first mild weather in the next year. The buds were at present quite hard, and all their parts pressed close together, that the cold might by all means be excluded.
The black Walnut trees had for the greatest part dropt their leaves, and many of them were entirely without them. The walnuts themselves were already fallen off. The green peel which enclosed them, if frequently handled, would yield a black colour, which could not be got off the fingers in two or three weeks time, though the hands were washed ever so much.
The Cornus florida was called Dogwood by the English, and grew abundantly in the woods. It looks beautiful when it is adorned with its numerous great white flowers in spring. The wood is very hard, and is therefore made use of for weaver’s spools, joiner’s planes, wedges, &c. When the cattle fall down in spring for want of strength, the people tie a branch of this tree on their neck, thinking it will help them.
October the 19th. The Tulip tree grows every where in the woods of this country. The botanists call it Liriodendron tulipifera, because its flowers both in respect to their size, and in respect to their exterior form, [[203]]and even in some measure with regard to their colour, resemble tulips. The Swedes called it Canoe tree, for both the Indians and the Europeans often make their canoes of the stem of this tree. The Englishmen in Pensylvania give it the name of Poplar. It is reckoned a tree which grows to the greatest height and thickness of any in North America, and which vies in that point with our greatest European trees. The white oak and the fir in North America, however are little inferior to it. It cannot therefore but be very agreeable to see in spring, at the end of May (when it is in blossom) one of the greatest trees covered for a fortnight together with flowers, which with regard to their shape, size, and partly colour are like tulips, the leaves have likewise something peculiar, the English therefore in some places call the tree the old woman’s smock, because their imagination finds something like it below the leaves.
Its wood is here made use of for canoes, boards, planks, bowls, dishes, spoons, door posts, and all sorts of joiners work. I have seen a barn of a considerable size whose walls, and roof were made of a single tree of this kind, split into boards. Some joiners reckoned this wood better than oak, because this latter frequently is warped, which [[204]]the other never does, but works very easy; others again valued it very little. It is certain, that it contracts so much in hot weather, as to occasion great cracks in the boards, and in wet weather it swells so as to be near bursting, and the people hardly know of a wood in these parts which varies so much in contracting and expanding itself. The joiners however make much use of it in their work, they say there are two species of it; but they are merely two varieties, one of which in time turns yellow within, the other is white, the former is said to have a looser texture. The bark (like Russia glass) is divisible into very thin leaves, which are very tough like bast, though I have never seen it employed as such. The leaves when crushed and applied to the forehead are said to be a remedy against the head ach. When horses are plagued with worms, the bark is pounded, and given them quite dry. Many people believe its roots to be as efficacious against the fever as the jesuits bark. The trees grow in all sorts of dry soil, both on high and low grounds, but too wet a soil will not agree with them.
October the 20th. The Beaver tree is to be met with in several parts of Pensylvania and New Jersey, in a poor swampy soil, [[205]]or on wet meadows. Dr. Linnæus calls it Magnolia glauca; both the Swedes and English call it Beaver tree, because the root of this tree is the dainty of beavers, which are caught by its means, however the Swedes sometimes gave it a different name, and the English as improperly called it Swamp Sassafras, and White Laurel. The trees of this kind dropt their leaves early in autumn, though some of the young trees kept them all the winter. I have seldom found the beaver tree to the north of Pensylvania, where it begins to flower about the end of May. The scent of its blossoms is excellent, for by it you can discover within three quarters of an English mile, whether these little trees stand in the neighbourhood, provided the wind be not against it. For the whole air is filled with this sweet and pleasant scent. It is beyond description agreeable to travel in the woods about that time, especially towards night. They retain their flowers for three weeks and even longer, according to the quality of the soil on which the trees stand; and during the whole time of their being in blossom, they spread their odoriferous exhalations. The berries likewise look very fine when they are ripe, for they have a rich red colour, and hang in bunches on slender stalks. The [[206]]cough, and other pectoral diseases are cured by putting the berries into rum or brandy, of which a draught every morning may be taken; the virtues of this remedy were universally extolled, and even praised for their salutary effects in consumptions. The bark being put into brandy, or boiled in any other liquor, is said not only to ease pectoral diseases, but likewise to be of some service against all internal pains and heat; and it was thought that a decoction of it could stop the dysentery. Persons who had caught cold, boiled the branches of the beaver tree in water, and drank it to their great relief. A Swede, called Lars Lack, gave the following account of a cure effected by this tree: One of his relations, an old man, had an open sore in his leg, which would not heal up again, though he had had much advice and used many remedies. An Indian at last effected the cure in the following manner. He burnt some of this wood to charcoal, which he reduced to powder, mixed with the fresh fat of pork, and rubbed the open places several times. This dried up the holes, which before were continually open, and the legs of the old man were quite sound to his death. The wood is likewise made use of for joiner’s planes. [[207]]