November the 25th. During my stay at Raccoon, at this time and all the ensuing winter, I endeavoured to get the most information from the old Swedes relating to the increase of land, and the decrease of water in these parts; I shall therefore insert the answers here, which I have received to my questions. They are as I got them, and I shall only throw in a few remarks which may serve to explain things: the reader therefore is left at liberty to draw his own inferences and conclusions.

One of the Swedes, called King, who was above fifty years of age, was convinced, that about this time the little lakes, brooks, springs and rivers had much less water, than they had when he was a boy. He could mention several lakes on which the people went in large boats in his youth, and had sufficient water even in the hottest [[354]]summers; but now, they were either entirely dried up, or for the greatest part; and in the latter case, all the water was lost in summer. He had himself seen the fish dying in them, and he was apt to believe that at this time it did not rain so much in summer, as it did when he was young. One of his relations, who lived about eight miles from the river Delaware, on a hill near a rivulet, had got a well, dug in his court yard: at the depth of forty feet, they found a quantity of shells of oysters and muscles, and likewise a great quantity of reed, and pieces of broken branches. I asked, to what causes they ascribed what they had discovered? and I was answered, that some people believed these things had lain there ever since the deluge, and others, that the ground increased.

Peter Rambo, a man who was near sixty years of age, assured me that in several places at Raccoon, where wells had been dug, or any other work carried deep into the ground, he had seen great quantities of muscle shells and other marine animals. On digging wells, the people have sometimes met with logs of wood at the depth of twenty feet, some of which were putrified, and others as it were burnt. They once found a great spoon in the ground, [[355]]at this depth. Query, Is it not probable, that the burnt wood which has been thus dug up, was only blackened by a subterraneous mineral vapour? People however have concluded from this, that America has had inhabitants before the deluge. This man (Peter Rambo) further told me, that bricks had been found deep in the ground; but may not the brick coloured clay (of which the ground here chiefly consists, and which is a mixture of clay and sand) in a hard state have had the appearance of bricks? I have seen such hardened clay, which at first sight is easily mistaken for brick. He likewise asserted, that the water in rivers was still as high as it used to be, as far back as memory could reach; but little lakes, ponds, and waters in marshes are visibly decreased, and many of them dried up.

Maons Keen, a Swede above seventy years old, asserted, that on digging a well he had seen at the depth of forty feet, a great piece of chesnut wood, together with roots and stalks of reed, and a clayey earth like that which commonly covers the shores of salt water bays and coves. This clay had a similar smell and a saline taste. Maons Keen and several other people inferred from hence, that the whole country where Raccoon and Penn’s neck are situated, was anciently [[356]]quite overflowed by the sea. They likewise knew, that at a great depth in the ground, such a trowel as the Indians make use of, had been found.

Sven Lock, and William Cobb, both above fifty years of age agreed, that in many places hereabouts, where wells had been dug, they had seen a great quantity of reed, mostly rotten, at the depth of twenty or thirty feet and upwards.

As Cobb made a well for himself, the workmen after digging twenty feet deep, came upon so thick a branch, that they could not get forwards, till it was cut in two places; the wood was still very hard. It is very common to find near the surface of the earth, quantities of all sorts of leaves not quite putrified. On making a dyke some years ago, along the river on which the church at Raccoon stands; and for that purpose cutting through a bank, it was found quite full of oyster shells, though this place is above a hundred and twenty English miles from the nearest sea shore. These men, and all the inhabitants of Raccoon, concluded from this circumstance (of their own accord, and without being led to the thought) that this tract of land was a part of the sea many centuries ago. They likewise asserted that many little lakes, which [[357]]in their youth were full of water, even in the hottest season, now hardly formed a narrow brook in summer, except after heavy rains; but it did not appear to them that the rivers had lost any water.

Aoke Helm, found (on digging a well) first sand and little stones, to the depth of eight feet; next a pale coloured clay, and then a black one. At the depth of fifteen feet he found a piece of hard wood, and several pieces of mundick or pyrites. He told me that he knew several places in the Delaware, where the people went in boats, when he was young; but which at present were changed into little islands, some of which were near an English mile in length. These islands derive their origin from a sand or bank in the river; on this the water washes some clay, in which rushes come up, and thus the rest is generated by degrees.

On a meeting of the oldest Swedes in the parish of Raccoon, I obtained the following answers to the questions which I asked them on this account. Whenever they dig a well in this neighbourhood, they always find at the depth of twenty or thirty feet, great numbers of oyster shells and clams: the latter are, as was above-mentioned, a kind [[358]]of large shells, which are found in bays, and of which the Indians make their money. In many places, on digging wells a quantity of rushes and reeds have been found almost wholly undamaged; and once on such an occasion a whole bundle of flax was brought up, found between twenty and thirty feet under ground; it seemed as little damaged as if it had been lately put under ground; all looked at it with astonishment, as it was beyond conception how it could get there; but I believe the good people saw some American plants, such as the wild Virginian flax, or Linum Virginianum, and the Antirrhinum Canadense, which look very like common flax, yet it is remarkable that the bundle was really tied together. The Europeans on their arrival in America, found our common flax neither growing wild nor cultivated by the Indians, how then could this bundle get into the ground? Can it be supposed, that past ages have seen a nation here, so early acquainted with the use of flax? I would rather abide by the opinion, that the above American plants, or other similar ones, have been taken for flax. Charcoal and firebrands have often been found under ground: The Swedish churchwarden, Eric Ragnilson, told me that he had seen a quantity of them, [[359]]which had been brought up at the digging of a well: on such occasions, people have often found (at the depth of between twenty and fifty feet) great branches and blocks. There were some spots where twenty feet under the surface of the earth, the people had found such trowels as the Indians use: from these observations they all concluded, that this tract of land had formerly been the bottom of the sea. It is to be observed, that most of the wells which have hitherto been made, have been dug in new settlements, where the wood was yet standing, and had probably stood for centuries together. From the observations which have hitherto been mentioned, and to which I shall add similar ones in the sequel, we may, with a considerable degree of certainty conclude, that a great part of the province of New Jersey, in ages unknown to posterity, was part of the bottom of the sea, and was afterwards formed by the slime and mud, and the many other things which the river Delaware carries down along with it, from the upper parts of the country: however Cape May seems to give some occasion for doubts, of which I shall speak in the sequel. [[360]]

November the 27th. The American evergreens are