Travels into North America, Volume 3 (of 3)

By JOHN REINHOLD FORSTER, F.A.S.

Enriched with a Map, several Cuts for the Illustration of Natural History, and some additional Notes.

VOL. III.

LONDON: Printed for the EDITOR; And Sold by T. Lowndes, in Fleet-street.

MDCCLXXI.

PREFACE OF THE EDITOR.

I could have left this volume without preface, was it not for some circumstances, which I am going to mention.

The author of this account of North-America is a Swede, and therefore seems always to shew a peculiar way of thinking in regard to the English in general, and in regard to the first proprietors and inhabitants of Philadelphia in particular. The French, the natural enemies of the English, have, for upwards of a century, been the allies of the Swedes, who therefore are in general more fond of them than of the English. The external politeness of the French in Canada fully captivated our author, prejudiced him in their favour, and alienated his mind, though unjustly, from the English. I have therefore now and then, in remarks, been obliged to do the English justice, especially when I saw the author carried away either by prejudice, misinformation, or ignorance. He passed almost all the winter, between 1748 and 1749, at Raccoon, and conversed there with his countrymen; when he came to Philadelphia he likewise was in the company of the Swedes settled there: these, no doubt, furnished him with many partial and disingenuous accounts of the English, and gave his mind that unfavourable biass which he so often displays in prejudice of a nation, now at the head of the enlightened world, in regard to every religious, moral, and social virtue. The author frequently seems to throw an illiberal reflection on the first proprietors of Pensylvania, and the quakers; though they got that province not by force, but by a charter from the English government, to whom the Swedes gave it up by virtue of a public treaty. Prompted by such false insinuations of his countrymen, he likewise enters very minutely into the circumstances of the Swedes, and often omits, or misrepresents, more important points, relative to the legislator and father of Pensylvania, William Penn, who gave that province existence, laws, and reputation. The accounts in the first Volume, p. 32 and 33, 37, 42 and 46, seem to be founded on such misrepresentations. A philosopher should examine such accounts, hear both parties, and emancipate himself from narrowness of mind and prejudice.

The author, however, often does justice to the excellent constitution of Pensylvania, as may be seen Vol. I. p. 58, 59, and likewise pag. 270, 271.

The author speaks of stones attracting the moisture of the air; see Vol. I. p. 35; this is somewhat unphilosophically expressed. No stone attracts the moisture of the air, unless impregnated with saline particles; however, when the stones are colder than the atmosphere, they then condense the moisture of the air on their surface: the porous stones absorb it immediately, but those of a more solid texture, as marbles, &c. keep it on their surface till it evaporates.

Page 36. The author represents the white cedar-wood as almost entirely destroyed; though at present, above twenty years after his account, it is still used in Pensylvania, and quantities of it to be had, sufficient both for home consumption, and exportation to the West-India islands.

Page 48. The river Delaware is called one of the greatest rivers in the world; here, I suppose, the author forgot a great many its superiors.

For the tenor of the above remarks I am indebted to a worthy friend and benefactor.

To the Errata of the first Volume must be referred the following: page 117, note, line 5, easible, read, feasible. P. 247, line 3 and 4, forty seven, read, seventy four. P. 298, line 13, Originals, read, Orignals.

A word more I must add about the American Fauna and Flora, which I promised in my proposals. The author, who, as far as I know, is still living, has not yet finished this work; these three volumes contain all that he has hitherto published relative to America; the journal of a whole year’s travelling, and especially his expedition to the Iroquese, and fort Niagara, are still to come; which, as soon as they appear, if Providence spares my life and health, and if my situation allows of it, I will translate into English; and there are some hopes of obtaining the original from the author. He likewise often promises, in the course of this work, to publish a great Latin work, concerning the animals and plants of North-America, as far as he went through it; which would certainly make the small catalogue I could make, useless. It is likewise probable that the description of the animal kingdom will fall to the share of an abler pen than mine.

I here take the opportunity of returning my humble thanks to my friends, who have generously promoted this publication; as without this public manner of acknowledging their favours, I would think myself guilty of ingratitude, which, in my opinion, is one of the most detestable vices.

London, Febr. the 15th, 1771.

PETER KALM’s TRAVELS.

July the 1st. 1749.

At day break we got up, and rowed a good while before we got to the place where we left the true road. The country which we passed was the poorest and most disagreeable imaginable. We saw nothing but a row of amazing high mountains covered with woods, steep and dirty on their sides; so that we found it difficult to get to a dry place, in order to land and boil our dinner. In many places the ground, which was very smooth, was under water, and looked like the sides of our Swedish morasses which are intended to be drained; for this reason the Dutch in Albany call these parts the Drowned Lands. [1] Some of the mountains run from S. S. W. to N. N. E. and when they come to the river, they form perpendicular shores, and are full of stones of different magnitudes. The river runs for the distance of some miles together from south to north.

The wind blew north all day, and made it very hard work for us to get forwards, though we all rowed as hard as we could, for our provisions were eaten to-day at breakfast. The river was frequently an English mile and more broad, then it became narrow again, and so on alternately; but upon the whole it kept a good breadth, and was surrounded on both sides by high mountains.

About six o’clock in the evening, we arrived at a point of land, about twelve English miles from Fort St. Frederic. Behind this point the river is converted into a spacious bay; and as the wind still kept blowing pretty strong from the north, it was impossible for us to get forwards, since we were extremely weak. We were therefore obliged to pass the night here, in spite of the remonstrances of our hungry stomachs.

It is to be attributed to the peculiar grace of God towards us that we met the above mentioned Frenchmen on our journey, and that they gave us leave to take one of their bark boats. It seldom happens once in three years, that the French go this road to Albany; for they commonly pass over the lake St. Sacrement, or, as the English call it, lake George, which is the nearer and better road, and every body wondered why they took this troublesome one. If we had not got their large strong boat, and been obliged to keep that which we had made, we would in all probability have been very ill off; for to venture upon the great bay during the least wind with so wretched a vessel, would have been a great piece of temerity, and we should have been in danger of being starved if we had waited for a calm. For being without fire-arms, and these deserts having but few quadrupeds, we must have subsisted upon frogs and snakes, which, (especially the latter) abound in these parts. I can never think of this journey, without reverently acknowledging the peculiar care and providence of the merciful Creator.

July the 2d. Early this morning we set out on our journey again, it being moonshine and calm, and we feared lest the wind should change and become unfavourable to us if we stopped any longer. We all rowed as hard as possible, and happily arrived about eight in the morning at Fort St. Frederic, which the English call Crown Point. Monsieur Lusignan, the governor, received us very politely. He was about fifty years old, well acquainted with polite literature, and had made several journies into this country, by which he had acquired an exact knowledge of several things relative to its state.

I was informed that during the whole of this summer, a continual drought had been here, and that they had not had any rain since last spring. The excessive heat had retarded the growth of plants; and on all dry hills the grass, and a vast number of plants, were quite dried up; the small trees, which grew near rocks, heated by the sun, had withered leaves, and the corn in the fields bore a very wretched aspect. The wheat had not yet eared, nor were the pease in blossoms. The ground was full of wide and deep cracks, in which the little snakes retired and hid themselves when pursued, as into an impregnable asylum.

The country hereabout, it is said, contains vast forests of firs of the white, black, and red kind, which had been formerly still more extensive. One of the chief reasons of their decrease are, the numerous fires which happen every year in the woods, through the carelessness of the Indians, who frequently make great fires when they are hunting, which spread over the fir woods when every thing is dry.

Great efforts are made here for the advancement of Natural History, and there are few places in the world where such good regulations are made for this useful purpose, all which is chiefly owing to the care and zeal of a single person. From hence it appears, how well a useful science is received and set off, when the leading men of a country are its patrons. The governor of the fort, was pleased to shew me a long paper, which the then governor-general of Canada, the Marquis la Galissonniere had sent him. It was the same marquis, who some years after, as a French admiral, engaged the English fleet under admiral Byng, the consequence of which was the conquest of Minorca. In this writing, a number of trees and plants are mentioned, which grow in North-America, and deserve to be collected and cultivated on account of their useful qualities. Some of them are described, among which, is the Polygala Senega, or Rattle Snake-root; and with several of them the places where they grow are mentioned. It is further requested that all kinds of seeds and roots be gathered here; and, to assist such an undertaking, a method of preserving the gathered seeds and roots, is prescribed, so that they may grow, and be sent to Paris. Specimens of all kinds of minerals are required; and all the places in the French settlements are mentioned, where any useful or remarkable stone, earth, or ore has been found. There is likewise a manner of making observations and collections of curiosities in the animal kingdom. To these requests it is added, to enquire and get information, in every possible manner, to what purpose and in what manner the Indians employ certain plants and other productions of nature, as medicines, or in any other case. This useful paper was drawn up by order of the marquis la Galissonniere, by Mr. Gaulthier, the royal physician at Quebec, and afterwards corrected and improved by the marquis’s own hand. He had several copies made of it, which he sent to all the officers in the forts, and likewise to other learned men who travelled in the country. At the end of the writing is an injunction to the officers, to let the governor-general know, which of the common soldiers had used the greatest diligence in the discovery and collection of plants and other natural curiosities, that he might be able to promote them, when an opportunity occurred, to places adapted to their respective capacities, or to reward them in any other manner. I found that the people of distinction, in general here, had a much greater taste for natural history and other parts of literature, than in the English colonies, where it was every body’s sole care and employment to scrape a fortune together, and where the sciences were held in universal contempt. [2] It was still complained of here, that those who studied natural history, did not sufficiently enquire into the medicinal use of the plants of Canada.