[38] Probably it is a stone marle; a blue and reddish species of this kind is used with good success, in the county of Bamff in Scotland. [↑]
[39] Dr. Linnæus, in his Travels through Westrogothia, has given a drawing of the machine by which woad is prepared, on the 128th. page. [↑]
[40] As there are no Jews in Sweden, Prof. Kalm was an utter stranger to their manners and religious customs, and therefore relates them as a kind of novelty. F. [↑]
[41] This has really happened by a greater union and exertion of power from the colonies and the mother country; so that Canada has been conquered and its possession has been confirmed to Great Britain in the last peace. F. [↑]
[42] Of this animal and of the above-mentioned Racoon is a representation given plate 2. both from original drawings; the German and the Swedish edition of Prof. Kalm’s work being both without this plate. F. [↑]
[43] Neither of these accounts appear to be satisfactory; and therefore I am inclined to believe that these red foxes originally came over from Asia, (most probably from Kamtchatka [[284]]where this species is common, see Miller’s Account of the Navigations of the Russians, &c.) though in remote times, and thus spread over North America. It is perhaps true that the Indians never took notice of them till the Europeans were settled among them; this, however, was because they never had occasion to use their skins: but when there was a demand for these they began to hunt them, and, as they had not been much accustomed to them before, they esteemed them as a novelty. What gives additional confirmation to this is, that when the Russians under Commodore Bering landed on the western coast of America, they saw five red foxes which were quite tame, and seemed not to be in the least afraid of men: now this might very well have been the case if we suppose them to have been for many generations in a place where no body disturbed them; but we cannot account for it, if we imagine that they had been used to a country where there were many inhabitants, or where they had been much hunted. F. [↑]
[44] When Captain Amadas, the first Englishman that ever landed in North America, set foot on shore (to use his own words) such a flocke of Cranes (the most part white) arose under us with such a cry, redoubled by many ecchoes, as if an armie of men had showted alltogether. [↑]
[45] Properly shining blackbirds. [↑]
[46] What gives still more weight, to Mr. Kalm’s opinion of the Elk being the Moose-deer, is the name Musu which the Algonkins give to the elk, as Mr. Kalm himself observes in the sequel of his work; and this circumstance is the more remarkable, as the Algonkins before the Irokeese or five nations got so great a power in America, were the most powerful nation in the northern part of this continent; in so much, that though they be now reduced to an inconsiderable number, their language is however a kind of universal language in North America; so that there is no doubt, that the elk is the famous Moose-deer. F. [↑]
[47] It seems to be either the substance commonly called French Chalk, or perhaps the Soap-rock, which is common in Cornwall near the Lizard point, and which consists besides of some particles of talc, chiefly of an earth like magnesia, which latter with acid of vitriol, yields an earthy vitriolic, salt, or Epsom salt. F. [↑]