Cherry-trees were planted in great quantities before the farm-houses, and along [[225]]the high-roads, from Philadelphia to New Brunswick; but behind that place they became more scarce. On coming to Staten Island, in the province of New York, I found them very common again, near the gardens. Here are not so many varieties of cherries as there are in Pensylvania. I seldom saw any of the black sweet cherries[62] at New York; but commonly the sour red ones. All travellers are allowed to pluck ripe fruit in any garden which they pass by; and not even the most covetous farmer can hinder them from so doing. Between New Brunswick and Staten Island, are a few cherry-gardens; but proportionably more orchards, with apple-trees.
June the 6th. Several gentlemen and merchants, between fifty and sixty years of age, asserted, that during their life they had plainly found several kinds of fish decrease in number every year; and that they could not get near so many fish now as they could formerly.
Rum, a brandy prepared from the sugar-canes, and in great use with all the English North American colonies, is reckoned much wholesomer than brandy, made from wine or corn[63]. In confirmation of this [[226]]opinion, they say, that if you put a piece of fresh meat into rum, and another into brandy, and leave them there for some months; that in the rum will keep as it was, but that in the brandy will be quite eaten, and full of holes. But this experiment does not seem a very accurate one to me. Major Roderfort told me, that being upon the Canada expedition, he had observed, that such of his men as drank brandy for some time died of it; but those who drank rum were not hurt, though they got drunk with it every day, and oftener than the others.
Long-Island is the name of an island opposite the town of New York, in the sea. The northern part of the island is much more fertile than the southern. Formerly there lived a number of Indians on this island; and there are yet some, which however decrease in number every year, because they leave the island. The soil of the southern part of the island is very poor; [[227]]but this deficiency is made up by a vast quantity of oysters, lobsters, crabs, several kinds of fish, and numbers of water fowl, all which are there far more abundant than on the northern shores of the Island. Therefore the Indians formerly chose the southern part to live in, because they subsisted on oysters, and other productions of the sea. When the tide is out, it is very easy to fill a whole cart with oysters, which have been driven on shore by one flood. The Island is strewed with oystershells and other shells, which the Indians left there; these shells serve now for good manure for the fields. The southern part of the Island is turned into meadows, and the northern part into fields. The winter is more constant on the northern part, and the snow in spring lies longer there than on the southern part. The people are very fertile here, and commonly tall and strong.
June the 10th. At noon we left New York, and sailed up the river Hudson, in a yacht bound for Albany. All this afternoon we saw a whole fleet of little boats returning from New York, whither they had brought provisions and other goods for sale, which on account of the extensive commerce of this town, and the great number of its inhabitants, go off very well. The [[228]]river Hudson runs from North to South here, except some high pieces of land which sometimes project far into it, and alter its direction; its breadth at the mouth is reckoned about a mile and a quarter. Some porpesses played and tumbled in the river. The eastern shore, or the New York side, was at first very steep and high; but the western was very sloping and covered with woods. There appeared farm-houses on both sides, surrounded with corn-fields. The ground of which the steep shores consisted was of a pale brick colour, and some little rocks of a grey sand-stone were seen here and there. About ten or twelve miles from New York, the western shore appears quite different from what it was before; it consists of steep mountains with perpendicular sides towards the river, and they are exactly like the steep sides of the mountains of Hall and Hunnebarg in West Gothland. Sometimes a rock projects like the salliant angle of a bastion: the tops of these mountains are covered with oaks, and other wood; a number of stones of all sizes lay along the shore, having rolled down from the mountains.
These high and steep mountains continue for some English miles on the western shore; but on the eastern side the land is [[229]]high, and sometimes diversified with hills and valleys, which are commonly covered with deciduous trees, amongst which there appears a farm now and then in a glade. The hills are covered with stones in some places. About twelve miles from New York we saw Sturgeons[64] (Acipenser Sturio), leaping up out of the water, and on the whole passage we met with porpesses in the river. As we proceeded we found the eastern banks of the river very much cultivated; and a number of pretty farms surrounded with orchards and fine corn-fields, presented themselves to our view. About twenty-two miles from New York, the high mountains which I have before mentioned left us, and made as it were a high ridge here from east to west quite across the country. This altered the face of the country on the western shore of the river: from mountainous, it became interspersed with little vallies and round hillocks, which were scarce inhabited at all; but the eastern shore continued to afford us a delightful prospect. After sailing a little while in the night, we cast our anchor and lay here [[230]]till the morning, especially as the tide was ebbing with great force.
June the 11th. This morning we continued our voyage up the river, with the tide and a faint breeze. We now passed the Highland mountains, which were to the East of us; they consist of a grey sandstone, are very high and pretty steep, and covered with deciduous trees, and likewise with firs and red cedars. The western shore was full of rocks, which however did not come up to the height of the mountains on the opposite shore; the tops of these eastern mountains were cut off from our sight by a thick fog which surrounded them. The country was unfit for cultivation, being so full of rocks, and accordingly we saw no farms. The distance from these mountains to New York is computed at thirty-six English miles.
A thick fog now rose up from the high mountains. For the space of some English miles, we had hills and rocks on the western banks of the river; and a change of lesser and greater mountains and vallies covered with young firs, red cedars, and oaks, on the eastern side. The hills close to the river side are commonly low, but their height increases as they are further from the river. Afterwards we saw, for some miles [[231]]together, nothing but high round mountains and valleys, both covered with woods; the valleys are in reality nothing but low rocks, and stand perpendicular towards the river in many places. The breadth of the river is sometimes two or three musket shot, but commonly not above one; every now and then we saw several kinds of fish leaping out of the water. The wind vanished away about ten o’clock in the morning, and forced us to get forwards with our oars, the tide being almost spent. In one place on the western shore we saw a wooden house painted red, and we were told, that there was a saw-mill further up; but besides this we did not perceive one farm or any cultivated grounds all this forenoon.
The water in the river has here no more a brackish taste; yet I was told that the tide, especially when the wind is South, sometimes carries the salt water up higher with it. The colour of the water was likewise altered, for it appeared darker here than before. To account for the first origin of rivers is very difficult, if not wholly impossible; some rivers may have come from a great reservoir of water, which being considerably encreased by heavy falls of rain or other circumstances, passed its old bounds and flowed to the lower countries, [[232]]through the places where it met with the least opposition. This is perhaps the reason why some rivers run in so many bendings equally through fields of soft earth, as likewise there, where mountains, rocks, and stones, divert their passage. However it seems that some rivers derive their first origin from the creation itself, and that Providence then pointed out their course; for their existence can, in all probability, not be owing to the accidental eruption of water alone. Among these rivers we may rank the river Hudson: I was surprised on seeing its course, and the variety of its shores. It takes its rise a good way above Albany, and descends to New York, in a direct line from North to South, which is a distance of about a hundred and sixty English miles, and perhaps more; for the little bendings which it makes are of no signification. In many places between New York and Albany, are ridges of high mountains running West and East. But it is remarkable that they go on undisturbed till they come to the river Hudson, which cuts directly across them, and frequently their sides stand perpendicular towards the river. There is an opening left in the chain of mountains, as broad as the river commonly is, for it to pass through, and the mountains go on as [[233]]before, on the other side, in the same direction. It is likewise remarkable, that the river in such places where it passes through the mountains is as deep, and often deeper than in the other places. The perpendicular rocks on the sides of the river are surprising, and it appears that if no passages had been opened by Providence, for the river to pass through, the mountains in the upper part of the country would have been inundated, since these mountains, like so many dykes, would have hindered the water from going on. Quere, Why does this river go on in a direct line for so considerable a distance? Why do the many passages, through which the river flows across the mountains, ly under the same meridian? Why are water-falls near some of these passages, or at least shallow water with a rocky ground?
We now perceived excessive high and steep mountains on both sides of the river, which echoed back each sound we uttered. Yet notwithstanding they were so high and steep, they were covered with small trees.