The millers who attended the mill which stood here, said, that the axle-trees of the wheels of the mill were made of white oak, and that they continued good three or four years, but that the fir-wood does not keep so well. The cogs of the mill-wheel, and the pullies, are made of the wood of the white walnut-tree, because it is the hardest which can be got here. The wood of mulberry-trees is of all others reckoned the most excellent for pegs and plugs in ships and boats.
At night I went over the river Delaware, from Willmington, to the ferrying-place, on the New Jersey side.
December the 13th. In the morning I returned to Raccoon.
On many trees in the woods of this country, either on one of the sides, or in the middle of a branch, or round a branch, are greater or lesser knobs or excrescences. Sometimes there is only a single one in a tree. In the size there is a considerable difference, for some of these knobs are as big and bigger than a man’s head, others are only small. They project above the surface of the tree, like a tumor. Sometimes a tree was quite covered with them. They do not ly on one side only, but often form a circle round a branch, and even [[23]]round the stem itself. The trees which have these knobs are not always great ones, but some not above a fathom high. The knobs commonly consist of the same parts as the wood itself, and look within like curled wood. Some of them are hollow. When a knob on a little tree is cut open, we commonly find a number of little worms in it, which are sometimes also common in the greater knobs. This shews the origin of the knobs in general. The tree is stung by insects, which lay their eggs under the bark, and from the eggs worms are afterwards hatched. They occasion an extravasation of the sap, which gradually condenses into a knob. Only the trees with annual deciduous leaves have these knobs, and among them chiefly the oak, of which again the black and Spanish oak have the greatest abundance of knobs. The ash trees, (Fraxinus excelsior) and the red maple (Acer rubrum) likewise have enough of them. Formerly the Swedes, and more especially the Finlanders, who are settled here, made dishes, bowls, &c. of the knobs which were on the ash-trees. These vessels, I am told, were very pretty, and looked as if they were made of curled wood. The oak-knobs cannot be employed in this manner, as they are commonly [[24]]worm-eaten and rotten within. At present the Swedes no longer make use of such bowls and dishes, but make use of earthen ware, or vessels made of other wood. Some knobs are of an uncommon size, and make a tree have a monstrous appearance. Trees with knobs are very common in the woods of this country[4].
The roads are good or bad according to the difference of the ground. In a sandy soil the roads are dry and good; but in a clayey one they are bad. The people here are likewise very careless in mending them. If a rivulet be not very great, they do not make a bridge over it; and travellers may do as well as they can to get over: Therefore many people are in danger of being drowned in such places, where the water [[25]]is risen by a heavy rain. When a tree falls across the road, it is seldom cut off, to keep the road clear, but the people go round it. This they can easily do, since the ground is very even, and without stones; has no underwood or shrubs, and the trees on it stand much asunder. Hence the roads here have so many bendings.
The farms are most of them single, and you seldom meet with even two together, except in towns, or places which are intended for towns; therefore there are but few villages. Each farm has its corn-fields, its woods, its pastures and meadows. This may perhaps have contributed something towards the extirpation of wolves, that they every where met with houses, and people who fired at them. Two or three farm-houses have generally a pasture or a wood in common, and there are seldom more together; but most of them have their own grounds divided from the others.
December the 18th. All persons who intend to be married, must either have their banns published three times from the pulpit, or get a licence from the governor. The banns of the poorer sort of people only are published, and all those who are a little above them get a licence from the governor. In that licence he declares that he has examined the affair, and found no obstacles [[26]]to hinder the marriage, and therefore he allows it. The licence is signed by the governor; but, before he delivers it, the bridegroom must come to him in company with two creditable and well known men, who answer for him, that there really is no lawful obstacle to his marriage. These men must subscribe a certificate, in which they make themselves answerable for, and engage to bear all the damages of, any complaints made by the relations of the persons who intend to be married, by their guardians, their masters, or by those to whom they may have been promised before. For all these circumstances the governor cannot possibly know. They further certify that nothing hinders the intended marriage, and that nothing is to be feared on that account. For a licence they pay five and twenty shillings in Pensylvanian money, at Philadelphia. The governor keeps twenty shillings, or one pound, and the remaining five shillings belong to his secretary. The licence is directed only to protestant clergymen. The quakers have a peculiar licence to their marriages. But as it would be very troublesome, especially for those who live far from the governor’s residence to come up to town for every licence, and to bring the men with them [[27]]who are to answer for them, the clergymen in the country commonly take a sufficient number of licences and certificates, which are ready printed, with blanks left for the names; they give them occasionally, and get the common money, one pound, five shillings, for each of them, besides something for their trouble. The money that they have collected, they deliver to the governor as soon as they come to town, together with the certificates, which are signed by two men, as above-mentioned; they then take again as many licences as they think sufficient: from hence we may conceive that the governors in the English North American colonies, besides their salaries, have very considerable revenues[5].
There is a great mixture of people of all sorts in these colonies, partly of such as are lately come over from Europe, and partly of such as have not yet any settled place of abode. Hence it frequently happens that when a clergyman has married such a [[28]]couple, the bridegroom says he has no money at present, but would pay the fee at the first opportunity: however he goes off with his wife, and the clergyman never gets his due. This proceeding has given occasion to a custom which is now common in Maryland. When the clergyman marries a very poor couple, he breaks off in the middle of the Liturgy, and cries out Where is my fee? The man must then give the money, and the clergyman proceeds; but if the bridegroom has no money, the clergyman defers the marriage till another time, when the man is better provided. People of fortune, of whom the clergyman is sure to get his due, need not fear this disagreeable question, when they are married.
However, though the parson has got licences to marry a couple, yet if he be not very careful, he may get into very disagreeable circumstances; for in many parts of the country there is a law made, which, notwithstanding the governor’s licence, greatly limits a clergyman in some cases. He is not allowed to marry a couple who are not yet of age, unless he be certain of the consent of their parents. He cannot marry such strangers as have bound themselves to serve a certain number of years, in order [[29]]to pay off their passage from Europe, without the consent of their masters; if he acts without their consent, or in opposition to it, he must pay a penalty of fifty pounds, Pensylvania currency, though he has the licence, and the certificate of the two men who are to answer for any objection. But parents or masters give themselves no concern about these men, but take hold of the clergyman, who is at liberty to prosecute those who gave him the certificate, and to get his damages repaid. With the consent of the parents and masters he may marry people without danger to himself. No clergyman is allowed to marry a negro with one of European extraction, or he must pay a penalty of one hundred pounds, according to the laws of Pensylvania.
There is a very peculiar diverting custom here, in regard to marrying. When a man dies, and leaves his widow in great poverty, or so that she cannot pay all the debts with what little she has left, and that, notwithstanding all that, there is a person who will marry her, she must be married in no other habit than her shift. By that means, she leaves to the creditors of her deceased husband her cloaths, and every thing which they find in the house. But she is not [[30]]obliged to pay them any thing more, because she has left them all she was worth, even her cloaths, keeping only a shift to cover her, which the laws of the country cannot refuse her. As soon as she is married, and no longer belongs to the deceased husband, she puts on the cloaths which the second has given her. The Swedish clergymen here have often been obliged to marry a woman in a dress which is so little expensive, and so light. This appears from the registers kept in the churches, and from the accounts given by the clergymen themselves. I have likewise often seen accounts of such marriages in the English gazettes; which are printed in these colonies; and I particularly remember the following relation: A woman went, with no other dress than her shift, out of the house of her deceased husband to that of her bridegroom, who met her half way with fine new cloaths, and said, before all who were present, that he lent them his bride; and put them on her with his own hands. It seems, he said that he lent the cloaths, lest, if he had said he gave them, the creditors of the first husband should come, and take them from her; pretending, that she was looked upon as the relict of her first husband, before she was married to the second. [[31]]