We had now country seats on both sides of the roads. Now we came into a lane enclosed with pales on both sides, including pretty great corn-fields. Next followed a wood, and we perceived for the space of four English miles nothing but woods, and a very poor soil, on which the Lupinus perennis grew plentifully and succeeded well. I was overjoyed to see a plant come on so well in these poor dry places, and even began to meditate, how to improve this discovery in a soil like that which it inhabited. But I afterwards had the mortification to find that [[220]]the horses and cows eat almost all the other plants, but left the lupine, which was however very green, looked very fresh, and was extremely soft to the touch. Perhaps means may be found out of making this plant palatable to the cattle. In the evening we arrived at Trenton, after having previously passed the Delaware in a ferry.
October the 28th. Trenton is a long narrow town, situate at some distance from the river Delaware, on a sandy plain; it belongs to New Jersey, and they reckon it thirty miles from Philadelphia. It has two small churches, one for the people belonging to the church of England, the other for the presbyterians. The houses are partly built of stone, though most of them are made of wood or planks, commonly two stories high, together with a cellar below the building, and a kitchen under ground, close to the cellar. The houses stand at a moderate distance from one another. They are commonly built so, that the street passes along one side of the houses, while gardens of different dimensions bound the other side; in each garden is a draw-well; the place is reckoned very healthy. Our landlord told us, that twenty-two years ago, when he first settled here, there was hardly more than one house; but from that [[221]]time Trenton has encreased so much, that there are at present near a hundred houses. The houses were within divided into several rooms by their partitions of boards. The inhabitants of the place carried on a small trade with the goods which they got from Philadelphia, but their chief gain consisted in the arrival of the numerous travellers between that city and New York; for they are commonly brought by the Trenton Yachts from Philadelphia to Trenton, or from thence to Philadelphia. But from Trenton further to New Brunswick, the travellers go in the waggons which set out every day for that place. Several of the inhabitants however likewise subsist on the carriage for all sorts of goods, which are every day sent in great quantities, either from Philadelphia to New York, or from thence to the former place; for between Philadelphia and Trenton all goods go by water, but between Trenton and New Brunswick they are all carried by land, and both these conveniences belong to people of this town.
For the yachts which go between this place and the capital of Pensylvania, they usually pay a shilling and six-pence of Pensylvania currency per person, and every one pays besides for his baggage. Every passenger [[222]]must provide meat and drink for himself, or pay some settled fare: between Trenton and New Brunswick a person pays two shillings and sixpence, and the baggage is likewise paid for separately.
We continued our journey in the morning; the country through which we passed was for the greatest part level, though sometimes there were some long hills, some parts were covered with trees, but far the greater part of the country was without woods; on the other hand I never saw any place in America, the towns excepted, so well peopled. An old man, who lived in this neighbourhood and accompanied us for some part of the road, however assured me, that he could well remember the time, when between Trenton and New Brunswick there were not above three farms, and he reckoned it was about fifty and some odd years ago. During the greater part of the day we had very extensive corn-fields on both sides of the road, and commonly towards the south the country had a great declivity. Near almost every farm was a spacious orchard full of peaches and apple trees, and in some of them the fruit was fallen from the trees in such quantities, as to cover nearly the whole surface. Part of it they left to rot, since they could not take it all in [[223]]and consume it. Wherever we passed by we were always welcome to go into the fine orchards, and gather our hats and pockets full of the choicest fruit, without the possessor’s so much as looking after it. Cherry trees were planted near the farms, on the roads, &c.
The barns[36] had a peculiar kind of construction hereabouts, which I will give a concise description of. The whole building was very great, so as almost to equal a small church; the roof was pretty high, covered with wooden shingles, declining on both sides, but not steep: the walls which support it, were not much higher than a full grown man; but on the other hand the breadth of the building was the more considerable: in the middle was the threshing floor, and above it, or in the loft or garret they put the corn which was not yet threshed, the straw, or any thing else, according to the season: on one side were stables for the horses, and on the other for the cows. And the small cattle had likewise their particular stables or styes; on both ends of the buildings were great gates, [[224]]so that one could come in with a cart and horses through one of them, and go out at the other: here was therefore under one roof the threshing floor, the barn, the stables, the hay loft, the coach house, &c. This kind of buildings is chiefly made use of by the Dutch and Germans; for it is to be observed that the country between Trenton and New York, is inhabited by few Englishmen, but instead of them by Germans or Dutch,[37] the latter of which especially are numerous.
Before I proceed, I find it necessary to remark one thing with regard to the Indians, or old Americans. For this account may perhaps meet with readers, who, like many people of my acquaintance, may be of opinion that all North America, was almost wholly inhabited by savage or heathen nations, and they may be astonished, that I do not mention them more frequently in my account. Others may perhaps imagine, that when I mention in my journal, that the country is much cultivated, that in several places, houses of stone or wood are built, round which are corn-fields, gardens, [[225]]and orchards, that I am speaking of the property of the Indians; to undeceive them, I here give the following explication. The country especially all along the coasts, in the English colonies, is inhabited by Europeans, who in some places are already so numerous, that few parts of Europe are more populous. The Indians have sold the country to the Europeans, and have retired further up: in most parts you may travel twenty Swedish miles, or about a hundred and twenty English miles, from the sea shore, before you reach the first habitations of the Indians. And it is very possible for a person to have been at Philadelphia and other towns on the sea shore for half a year together, without so much as seeing an Indian. I intend in the sequel to give a more circumstantial account of them, their religion, manners, oeconomy, and other particulars relating to them: at present I return to the sequel of my journal.
About nine English miles from Trenton, the ground began to change its colour; hitherto it consisted of a considerable quantity of hazel coloured clay, but at present the earth was a reddish brown, so that it sometimes had a purple colour, and sometimes looked like logwood. This colour came from a red limestone which approached [[226]]very near to that which is on the mountain Kinnekulle in West Gothland, and makes a particular stratum in the rock. The American red limestone therefore seems to be merely a variety of that I saw in Sweden, it lay in strata of two or three fingers thickness; but was divisible into many thinner plates or shivers, whose surface was seldom flat and smooth, but commonly rough: the strata themselves were frequently cut off by horizontal cracks. When these stones were exposed to the air, they by degrees shivered and withered into pieces, and at last turned into dust. The people of this neighbourhood did not know how to make any use of it; the soil above is sometimes rich and sometimes poor: in such places where the people had lately dug new wells, I perceived, that most of the rubbish which was thrown up consisted of such a species of stone. This reddish brown earth we always saw till near New Brunswick, where it is particularly plentiful. The banks of the river, shewed in many places nothing but strata of Limestone, which did not run horizontally, but dipped very much.
About ten o’clock in the morning we came to Prince-town, which is situated in a plain. Most of the houses are built of wood, and are not contiguous, so that there [[227]]are gardens and pastures between them. As these parts were sooner inhabited by Europeans than Pensylvania, the woods were likewise more cut away, and the country more cultivated, so that one might have imagined himself to be in Europe.
We now thought of continuing our journey, but as it began to rain very heavily, and continued so during the whole day and part of the night, we were forced to stay till next morning,
October the 29th. This morning we proceeded on our journey. The country was pretty well peopled; however there were yet great woods in many places: they all consisted of deciduous trees: and I did not perceive a single tree of the fir kind, till I came to New Brunswick. The ground was level, and did not seem to be every where of the richest kind. In some places it had hillocks, losing themselves almost imperceptibly in the plains, which were commonly crossed by a rivulet. Almost near every farm-house were great orchards. The houses were commonly built of timber, and at some distance by themselves stood the ovens for baking, consisting commonly of clay.