[285] “Sed quoniam, (ut præclare scriptum est a Platone) non nobis solum nati sumus, ortusque nostri partem patria, vindicat, partem amici.” De Officiis, Lib. I. § 7. The words “partem parentes” are not in the original, but have been inserted by modern scholars as rendering the quotation from Plato more correct.
[286] In annotating this chapter I have been indebted to Professors Asa Gray and C. S. Sargent of Harvard University for assistance, they having sent me several of the more technical notes. This and the five following chapters of the New Canaan have a certain interest as being among the earliest memoranda on the trees, animals, birds, fish and geology of Massachusetts. The only earlier publication of at all a similar character is Wood’s New England’s Prospect, which appeared in 1634, and contained the result of observations made during the four years 1629 to 1633. Morton’s acquaintance with the country was earlier and longer than Wood’s, but the New Canaan was not published until three years after the Prospect, which it followed closely in its description of the country and its products. Josselyn’s first voyage was made in 1638, and his stay in New England covered a period of fifteen months, July, 1638, to October, 1639. His second visit was in 1663, and lasted until 1671. The New England’s Rarities was published in 1672, and the Two Voyages in 1674. Josselyn’s alone of these works can make any pretence to a scientific character or nomenclature, but the four taken together constitute the whole body of early New England natural history and geology. Only occasional reference to this class of subjects is found in other writers.
[287] The White Oake includes, no doubt, Quercus alba and bicolor, and the Redd Oake, Quercus rubra, tinctoria and coccinea.
[288] Edward Williams, in his Virginia (III. Force’s Tracts, No. 11. p. 14), written in 1650, says: “Nor are Pipestaves and Clapboard a despicable commodity, of which one man may with ease make fifteen thousand yearely, which in the countrey itselfe are sold for 4 l. in the Canaries for twenty pound the thousand, and by this means the labour of one man will yeeld him 60 l. per annum, at the lowest Market.”
[289] Probably Fraxinus Americana, although two other species of Ash are common in Massachusetts, the Red and the Black Ash (F. pubescens and sambucifolia).
[290] It is interesting to note that, at this early day, two forms of our one species of Beech were distinguished by the color of the wood, a distinction which has often been adopted by Botanists and is still considered by mechanics and woodsmen.
[291] This refers, no doubt, to our different species of Hickory, although the Butternut (Juglans cinerea) is common in Massachusetts.
[292] Both the White and the Pitch Pine (Pinus strobus, and rigida) are probably referred to.
[293] “For I have seene of these stately high growne trees, ten miles together close by the River side, from whence by shipping they might be conveyed to any desired Port.” (Wood’s New England’s Prospect, p. 15.)
[294] The Red Cedar (Juniperus virginia).