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Title: New-England's rarities discovered : In birds, beasts, fishes, serpents, and plants of that country
Author: Josselyn, John, active 1630-1675, Tuckerman, Edward
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "New-England's rarities discovered : In birds, beasts, fishes, serpents, and plants of that country" ***
DISCOVERED ***
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
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The character ſ (long-form s) has been replaced by the normal s.
Footnote anchors are denoted by a number in [ ], and the footnotes
have been placed at the end of the book.
These footnotes make numerous references to pages in Josselyn’s
“An Account of Two Voyages to New-England”. This book can be
This edition of 1865 is a faithful reproduction of the original
Josselyn edition of 1672, and the original spelling and punctuation
have been carefully preserved without change, in both the printed
1865 book and in this etext.
The page numbering of the 1672 book has been preserved and inserted
at the appropriate points of the text. These page numbers were in
[ ] in the 1865 edition, but have been changed to { } in this etext
to avoid confusion with the footnote numbering notation.
Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book.
[Illustration: (decorative banner)]
NEW-ENGLAND’S RARITIES.
[Illustration: (decorative icon)]
_NEW-ENGLAND’S_
RARITIES
DISCOVERED IN BIRDS, BEASTS, FISHES,
SERPENTS, AND PLANTS OF
THAT COUNTRY.
_By JOHN JOSSELYN, Gent._
With an Introduction and Notes,
_By EDWARD TUCKERMAN, M.A._
[Illustration: (colophon)]
Boston:
WILLIAM VEAZIE.
MDCCCLXV.
Two Hundred and Fifty Copies printed, Small Quarto.
BOSTON: PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON.
[Illustration: (decorative banner)]
Publisher’s Advertisement.
In the reproduction of this quaint and curious treatise, which is one
of the earliest, on the _Natural History of New England_, it has been
the intention of the Publisher to enhance its value as a literary
curiosity, by making it as nearly as possible an exact Fac-simile
of the original edition, in accordance with the projected plan of a
series of reprints, in which the present work is comprised.
In the furtherance of this intention, the precise orthography,
punctuation, and also the arrangement,—with the exception of the
commencement and termination of pages,—have been preserved.
The valuable Introduction and Notes of Prof. TUCKERMAN, incorporated
in this edition, have been previously issued in vol. iv. of “The
Transactions of the American Antiquarian Society,” which contains a
reprint of “The Rarities” in a more modern style. The notes have,
however, undergone a thorough revision by the author; and some few
additions have been made by him, during the progress of the present
edition through the press.
Some additional matter concerning the Genealogy of the Josselyn
Family may be found contained in the Preface of the “Two Voyages to
New England in 1638 and 1663, by John Josselyn,” published in uniform
style with the present work.
BOSTON, MAY 15, 1865.
[Illustration: (decorative icon)]
[Illustration: (decorative banner)]
INTRODUCTION.
Mr. John Josselyn, the writer of this book, was only brother, as
he says, to Henry Josselyn, Esq., many years of Black Point in
Scarborough, Me.; and both were sons to Sir Thomas Josselyn, Knt., of
Kent, whose name is at the head of the new charter obtained by Sir
Ferdinando Gorges for his Province in 1639, but who did not come to
this country. Mr. Henry Josselyn was at Piscataqua, in the interest
of Capt. John Mason, at least as early as 1634; but, in 1636, he is
one of the Council of Gorges’s Province in Maine, and continued in
that part of the country the rest of his life. He succeeded in 1643,
by the will of Capt. Thomas Cammock, to his patent at Black Point,
and soon after married his widow. He is afterwards Deputy-Governor of
the Province; and until 1676, when the Indians attacked and compelled
him to surrender his fort, he was, says Mr. Willis,—whose valuable
papers are cited below,—“one of the most active and influential
men in it;” holding, “during all the changes of proprietorship and
government, the most important offices.” He is then a magistrate
of the Duke of York’s Province of Cornwall, and, as late as 1680,
a resident of Pemaquid; when he is spoken of, in a letter of Gov.
Andros to the commander of the fort at Pemaquid, as one “whom I would
have you use with all fitting respect, considering what he hath been
and his age.” He is living in 1682; but had died before the 10th of
May, 1683,[1] leaving no descendants.[2]
Notwithstanding the evidence, above afforded, of the social position
of the family of which Henry and John Josselyn were members, the
present writer failed in tracing it, doubtless from not knowing
in which county it had its principal seat. In this uncertainty,
it occurred to him to make application to the eminent English
antiquary,—the Rev. Joseph Hunter, Vice-President of the Society
of Antiquaries of London,—to whom he was indebted for former kind
attentions; and was favored by this gentleman with such directions
as left nothing to be desired. “The Josslines,” writes Mr. Hunter
“(the name is written in some variety of orthographies, and now more
usually Joceline), are quite one of the old aristocratic families
of England, having several knights in the early generations; being
admitted into the order of baronets, and subsequently into the
peerage.... Their main settlement was in Hertfordshire, at or near
the town of Sabridgeworth; and accounts of them may be read in the
histories—of which Chauncy’s, Salmon’s, and Clutterbuck’s are the
chief—of that county. But a fuller and better account is to be found
in the ‘Peerage of Ireland,’ by Mr. Lodge, keeper of the records in
the Birmingham Tower, Dublin: 4 vols. 8vo, 1754.”[3]
According to Lodge, the family begins with a Sir Egidius, who passed
into England in the time of Edward the Confessor, and was descended
from “Carolus Magnus, King of France, with more certainty than the
houses of Lorraine and Guise.” Of this Sir Egidius was Sir Gilbert de
Jocelyn, who accompanied the Conqueror, and had Gilbert—called St.
Gilbert, being canonized by Pope Innocent III. in 1202—and Geoffry.
To this Geoffry is traced back John Jocelyn, living in 1226; who
married Catherine, second daughter and co-heir to Sir Thomas Battell,
and had Thomas, who married Maud, daughter and co-heiress of Sir John
Hide, of Hide Hall in Sabridgeworth, county of Hertford, Knt., by
his wife Elizabeth, daughter of John Sudeley; Baron Sudeley, in the
county of Gloucester. He had Thomas Jocelyn, Esq., who married Joan,
daughter of John Blunt, and had Ralph, who married Maud, daughter of
Sir John Sutton _alias_ Dudley, and had Geoffry of Hide Hall, 1312.
Geoffry married Margaret, daughter of Robert Rokell or Rochill, and
had Ralph, who married Margaret, daughter and heir to John Patmer,
Esq., and had Geoffry (died 1425), who married Catherine, daughter
and heir to Sir Thomas Bray, and had four sons and two daughters. Of
these, the eldest was Thomas Jocelyn, Esq., living in the reign of
Edward IV., who married Alice, daughter of Lewis Duke of Dukes in
Essex, Esq., by his wife Anne, daughter of John Cotton, Esq., and
had issue George, his heir, called Jocelyn the Courtier, who married
Maud, daughter and heir to Edmond Bardolph,—Lord Bardolph,—and had
one daughter and three sons. John Jocelyn, Esq.,—“auditor of the
augmentations, upon the dissolution of the abbeys by King Henry
VIII.,”—was son and heir to the last-mentioned George, and married
Philippa, daughter of William Bradbury, of Littlebury in Essex; by
whom he had Sir Thomas, of Hide Hall,—created a Knight of the Bath
at the coronation of King Edward VI.,—who married Dorothy, daughter
of Sir Geoffry Gales or Gates, Knt., and had issue;[4] one daughter
marrying Roger Harlakenden, of Carnarthen in Kent, Esq.; and the
fifth son being Henry Jocelyn, Esq., who married Anne, daughter
and heir to Humphrey Torrell, otherwise Tyrrell, of Torrell’s Hall
in Essex,—became seated there, and had six sons and six daughters.
The second son of this family was Sir Thomas Jocelyn (father to
our author), who was twice married. His first wife was Dorothy,
daughter of John Frank, Esq.; by whom he had six sons and five
daughters,—Torrell, born 28th May, 1690; Henry, and Henry, both
died infants; Thomas, who died without issue, in 1635, at Bergen op
Zoom; Edward, who, by a lady of Georgia, had a daughter Dorothy,
and died at Smyrna in 1648; Benjamin, born 19th May, 1602; Anne,
married to William Mildmay, Esq., by whom she had Robert, John,
Anne, and Elizabeth; Dorothy, married to John Brewster, Esq., and
left no issue; Elizabeth, married to Francis Neile, Esq., and had
Francis, John, and Mary; Frances, born 26th March, 1600, and married
Rev. Clement Vincent; and Mary, died unmarried. The second wife of
Sir Thomas Jocelyn was Theodora, daughter to Edmond Cooke, of Mount
Maschall in Kent, Esq.; and by her he had Henry, John, Theodora,
and Thomazine. Torrell, the eldest son, married, first, Elizabeth,
daughter of Sir Richard Brooke of Cheshire,—heir to her grandfather
(by the mother), Dr. Chaderton, Bishop of Lincoln,—by whom he had
a daughter, Theodora, married to Samuel Fortrie, Esq.,[5] to whom
our author dedicates the present volume, with acknowledgment of the
“bounty” of his “honored friend and kinsman.”
The principal line of the family was continued by Richard, heir
to Sir Thomas of Hide Hall; the said Richard being brother to our
author, John Josselyn’s grandfather. In 1665, Sir Robert Jocelyn of
Hide Hall was advanced to the dignity of baronet. The fifth son of
this Sir Robert was Thomas; whose son, Robert Jocelyn, Esq., was
bred to the law; was Solicitor-General and Attorney-General and Lord
High Chancellor of Ireland; and created, in 1743, Baron Newport of
Newport, and Viscount Jocelyn in 1755. Robert, son and successor of
this nobleman, was created, in 1771, Earl of Roden, of High Roding,
County of Tipperary; and was ancestor to the present Lord Roden.[6]
Our author, John Josselyn, made his first voyage to New England in
1638; arriving in Boston Harbor the 3d of July, and remaining with
his brother at Black Point till the 10th of October of the following
year. While at Boston, he paid his respects to the Governor and to
Mr. Cotton, being the bearer to the latter of some poetical pieces
from the poet Quarles; and, as he says, “being civilly treated by
all I had occasion to converse with.” In the account of his first
voyage, there is no appearance of that dislike to the Massachusetts
government and people which is observable in the narrative of the
second, and may there not unfairly be connected with his brother’s
political and religious differences with Massachusetts.[7] His second
voyage was made in 1663. He arrived at Nantasket the 27th of July,
and soon proceeded to his brother’s plantation, where he tells us he
staid eight years, and got together the matter of the book before us.
This was first printed in 1672, but occurs also with later dates. It
was followed, in 1674, by “An Account of Two Voyages to New England;
wherein you have the Setting-out of a ship, with the Charges; the
Prices of all Necessaries for furnishing a Planter and his Family
at his first Coming; a Description of the Country, Natives, and
Creatures; the Government of the Countrey as it is now possessed by
the English, &c. A large Chronological Table of the most Remarkable
Passages, from the first Discovering of the Continent of America to
the Year 1673.” 12mo, pp. 279. Reprinted in the third volume of the
Third Series of the Collections of the Historical Society; which
edition is quoted here. A large part of the “Voyages” is taken up
with observations relating to natural history; and it is quite likely
that the author tried in this second work to supply some of the
defects of his “Rarities.” Compare especially the accounts of beasts
of the earth, of birds, and of fishes; each of which is better done
in the “Voyages.”
Josselyn was, it appears, a man of polite reading. He quotes
Lucan, Pliny, and Du Bartas; he has Latin and Italian proverbs;
he is acquainted with the writings of Mr. Perkins, that famous
divine; with Van Helmont; with Sandys’s “Travels,” and Capt. John
Smith’s. His curiosity in picking up “excellent medecines” points
to an acquaintance with physic; of his practising which, there
occur, indeed (pp. 48, 58, 63), several instances.[8] Nor is he,
by any means, uninterested in prescriptions for the kitchen; as
see his elaborate _recipe_ for cooking eels (Voyages, p. 111), and
also that (_ibid._, p. 190) for a compound liquor “that exceeds
_passada_, the Nectar of the country;” which is made, he tells us,
of “Syder, Maligo-Raisons, Milk, and Syrup of Clove-Gilliflowers.”
But his curiosity in natural history, and especially in botany, is
his chief merit; and this now gives almost all the value that is
left to his books.[9] William Wood, the author of “New-England’s
Prospect” (London, 1634[10]), was a better observer, generally, than
Josselyn; but the latter makes up for his other short-comings by the
particularity of his botanical information.
The “Voyages” was Josselyn’s last appearance in print. He was already
advanced in years, and alludes to this at page 69 of the present
book, where he says he shall refer the further investigation of a
curious plant—of which a neighbor, “wandering in the woods to find
out his strayed cattle,” had brought him a fragment—“to those that
are younger, and better able to undergo the pains and trouble of
finding it out.” “Henceforth,” he declares in his “Voyages,” p. 151,
“you are to expect no more Relations from me. I am now return’d
into my Native Countrey; and, by the providence of the Almighty and
the bounty of my Royal Soveraigness, am disposed to a holy quiet of
study and meditation for the good of my soul; and being blessed with
a transmentitation or change of mind, and weaned from the world, may
take up for my word, _non est mortale quod opto_.”
We may suppose that a rude acquaintance with the more common or
important animals of a new country will commence with the discovery
of it. Thus the beginning of European knowledge of the marine animals
of America goes back, doubtless, to the earliest fisheries of
Newfoundland; and these began almost immediately after the discovery
of the continent. Game and peltry were also likely to come to the
knowledge of the earliest adventurers; and scattered among these,
from the first, were doubtless men capable of regarding the world
of new objects around them with an intelligent, if not a literate
eye. Descriptions in this way, and specimens, at length reached
Europe, and became known to the learned there—to Gesner, Clusius, and
Aldrovandus—from as early as the middle of the sixteenth century.
Without being naturalists, such observers as Heriot in Virginia
(1585-6) and Wood in Massachusetts (1634) could give valuable
accounts of what they saw; and more, it may well be, was due to the
Christian missionaries, who accompanied or followed the adventurers,
for the conversion of the heathen. Gabriel Sagard was one of these
missionaries, a _recollet_ or reformed Franciscan monk, who went from
Paris to Canada in 1624, and spent two years in the country of the
Hurons; publishing his “Grand Voyage du Pays des Hurons” in 1632, and
enlarging it in 1636 to “Histoire du Canada et Voyages que les Freres
Mineurs recollets y ont faits pour la Conversion des Infidelles,”
&c., in four books; of which the third treats of natural history,[11]
and is cited by Messrs. Audubon and Bachmann (Vivip. Quadrupeds of
N.A., _passim_) for a good part of our more common and noticeable
_Mammalia_. Something considerable thus got to be known of marine
animals of all sorts, and of quadrupeds. But it was much longer
before our birds—if we except a very few, as the blue-jay and the
turkey—came to the scientific knowledge of Europeans; and this remark
is, as might be expected, at least equally true of our reptiles.
Quite as accidental, doubtless, was the beginning of European
acquaintance with our plants. There are, indeed, traces of the
knowledge of a few at a very early period. Dalechamp, Clusius,
Lobel, and Alpinus—all authors of the sixteenth century—must be
cited occasionally in any complete synonymy of our _Flora_. The
Indian-corn, the side-saddle flower (_Sarracenia purpurea_ and _S.
flava_), the columbine, the common milk-weed (_Asclepias Cornuti_),
the everlasting (_Antennaria margaritacea_), and the _Arbor vitæ_,
were known to the just-mentioned botanists before 1600. _Sarracenia
flava_ was sent either from Virginia, or possibly from some Spanish
monk in Florida. Clusius’s figure of our well-known northern _S.
purpurea_—of which he gives, however, only the leaves and base
of the stem (_Clus. Hist. Pl._, _cit._ Gerard _a_ Johnson)—was
derived from a specimen furnished to him by one Mr. Claude Gonier,
apothecary at Paris, who himself had it from Lisbon; whither we
may suppose it was carried by some fisherman from the Newfoundland
coast. The evening primrose (_Œnothera biennis_) was known in Europe,
according to Linnæus, as early as 1614. _Polygonum sagittatum_ and
_arifolium_ (tear-thumb) were figured by De Laet, probably from
New-York specimens, in his “Novus Orbis,” 1633. Johnson’s edition of
Gerard’s “Herbal” (1636)—which was possibly our author’s manual in
the study of New-England plants—contains some dozen North-American
species, furnished often from the garden of Mr. John Tradescant, who
had other plants from “Virginia” beside the elegant one which bears
his name; and John Parkinson—whose “Theatrum Botanicum” (1640) is
declared by Tournefort to embrace a larger number of species than any
work which had gone before it—describes, especially from Cornuti, a
still larger number. But the first treatise especially concerned with
North-American plants was that of the French author just mentioned;
which, on several accounts, deserves particular attention.
John Robin—“second to none,” says Tournefort, “in the knowledge and
cultivation of plants”—was placed in charge of the Royal Botanical
Garden at Paris, about the year 1570; and Vespasian Robin, “a most
diligent botanist,” followed, in similar connection[12] with the
larger garden founded by Lewis the Thirteenth. Both are said to have
assisted the writer whose book we are to notice; but especially the
latter,[13] who, there is little doubt, deserves credit for all the
American species described in it.
The history of Canadian and other new plants—“Canadensium Plantarum,
aliarumque nondum editarum Historia” of Jacobus Cornuti, Doctor of
Medicine, of Paris—was printed in that city (pp. 238) in 1635, under
the patronage just mentioned; and contains accounts, accompanied,
in every case but one, with figures on copper, of thirty-seven
of our plants; of which the meadow-rue is known to botanists as
_Thalictrum Cornuti_; and the common milkweed, as _Asclepias
Cornuti_. Though himself not eminent as a botanist,[14] the work
of Cornuti was valuable for its elegant presentation of much that
was new; and it will always deserve honorable remembrance in the
history of our _Flora_. There are several passages of it—as at
pp. 5 and 7, and in the account of the two baneberries at p. 76,
where we read, “Opacis et sylvestribus locis in eadem Americæ parte
frequentissimum est geminum genus”—which look a little like a proper
botanical collector’s notes on his specimens; and these specimens,
and the others from the same region, may well have been results of
the herborizing of that worthy Franciscan missionary, whose early
observations on the natural history of Canada have been mentioned
already above. Nor were the North-American plants possessed by
Cornuti entirely confined to this region; for he speaks at the end
(p. 214) of his having received a root, _ex notha Anglia_, as he
strangely calls it, known, it appears, by the name of _Serpentaria_,
or, in the vernacular, _Snaqroel_,—a sure remedy for the bite of
a huge and most pernicious serpent _in notha Anglia_,—which was
no doubt the snake-root so famous once as a cure for the bite
of a rattlesnake, and one of the numerous varieties of _Nabalus
albus_ (L.) Hook., if not, as Pursh supposed, what is now the _var.
Serpentaria_, Gray. But some view of the scantiness of scientific
knowledge of our _Flora_, near forty years after Cornuti, may be had
by reckoning the number of species for which Bauhin’s “Pinax” and
“Prodromus” (1671) are cited by Linnæus in the “Species Plantarum.”
Most of them are Southern plants; and the few decidedly Northern
ones which meet us—as _Cornus canadensis_, _Uvularia perfoliata_,
_Trillium erectum_, _Arum triphyllum_, and _Adiantum pedatum_—are all
indicated, by Bauhin’s phrase, as from Brazil!
We have nothing illustrating the _Flora_ of New England from Cornuti
till Josselyn. In Virginia, Mr. John Banister, a correspondent of
Ray’s, began to botanize probably not long after the middle of the
seventeenth century. He was succeeded by several eminent names; as
Mark Catesby, F.R.S. (born 1679), John Clayton, Esq. (born 1685), and
John Mitchell, M.D., F.R.S.,—a contemporary of the other two,—who
together gave to the botany of Virginia a distinguished lustre; as
did Cadwalader Colden, Esq. (born 1688),—a selection from whose
correspondence has been lately edited by Dr. Gray,—to that of New
York; John Bartram (born 1701), “American botanist to his Britannic
Majesty,” to that of Pennsylvania; and, somewhat later, Alexander
Garden, M.D., F.R.S. (born 1728), to that of South Carolina.
Josselyn himself is, indeed, little more than a herbalist; but it
is enough that he gets beyond that entirely unscientific character.
He certainly botanized, and made botanical use of Gerard and his
other authorities. The credit belongs to him of indicating several
genera as new which were so, and peculiar to the American _Flora_.
It may at least be said, that, at the time he wrote, there is no
reason to suppose that any other person knew as much as he did of
the botany of New England. “The plants in New England,” he says in
his “Voyages,” p. 59, “for the variety, number, beauty, and virtues,
may stand in competition with the plants of any countrey in Europe.
Johnson hath added to Gerard’s ‘Herbal’ three hundred, and Parkinson
mentioneth many more. Had they been in New England, they might have
found a thousand, at least, never heard of nor seen by any Englishman
before.”[15] Nor did our author fail to adorn his “Rarities” with
recognizable figures, as well as descriptions, of some of these
new American plants; and his arrangement is also creditable to
his botanical knowledge. By this arrangement, his collections are
distinguished into—
1. “Such plants as are common with us in England.”
2. “Such plants as are proper to the country.”
3. “Such plants as are proper to the country, and have no name.”
4. “Such plants as have sprung up since the English planted and kept
cattle in New England.”
The last of these divisions is the most valuable part of Josselyn’s
account, as it affords the only testimony that there is to the first
notice among us of a number of now naturalized weeds, which it is an
interesting question to separate from the more important class of
plants truly indigenous in, and common to, both hemispheres; and the
author’s treatment of the latter—as indeed of the other two lists
mentioned above—shows that he was competent, in a measure, to reckon
the former. This furnishes a date, and an early one; and there is
no other till 1785, when Dr. Manasseh Cutler’s Memoir, to be spoken
of, enables us to limit the appearance of some other species not
mentioned by Josselyn.
There is no work of any size or importance on New-England plants,
after Josselyn, for the whole century which followed. We were not,
indeed, without men in distinguished connection with the European
scientific world. The most eminent New-England family gained honors
in science, as well as in the conduct of affairs. John Winthrop the
younger, eldest son of the first Governor of Massachusetts,—and the
“heir,” says Savage, “of all his father’s talents, prudence, and
virtues, with a superior share of human learning,”[16]—was himself
the first Governor of Connecticut, and had, in this connection, a
certain scientific position and reputation. “The great Mr. Boyle,
Bishop Wilkins, with several other learned men,” says Dr. Eliot, “had
proposed to leave England, and establish a society for promoting
natural knowledge in the new colony of which Mr. Winthrop, their
intimate friend and associate, was appointed Governor. Such men were
too valuable to lose from Great Britain; and, Charles II. having
taken them under his protection, the society was there established,
and obtained the title of the Royal Society of London.... Mr.
Winthrop sent over many specimens of the productions of this country,
with his remarks upon them: ‘and, by an order of the Royal Society,
he was in a particular manner invited to take upon himself the charge
of being the chief correspondent in the West, as Sir Philiberto
Vernatti was in the East Indies.’ ‘His name,’ says the same writer,
Dr. Cromwell Mortimer, Secretary of the Royal Society, in his
flattering dedication of the fortieth volume of the Philosophical
Transactions to the Governor’s grandson, ‘had he put it to his
writings, would have been as universally known as the Boyles’s, the
Wilkins’s, and Oldenburghs’, and been handed down to us with similar
applause.’”[17] There is, in the volume of Philosophical Transactions
for 1670, “An Extract of a Letter written by John Winthrop, Esq.,
Governor of Connecticut in New England, to the Publisher, concerning
some Natural Curiosities of those Parts; especially a very strange
and curiously-contrived Fish, sent for the Repository of the Royal
Society” (pp. 3); in which are mentioned, as sent, specimens of
scrub-oak; “bark of tree with fir-balsam, which grows in Nova Scotia,
and, as I hear, in the more easterly part of New England;” pods of
milk-weed, “used to stuff pillows and cushions;” and “a branch of the
tree called the cotton-tree, bearing a kind of down, which also is
not fit to spin.”
Fitz John Winthrop, Esq., F.R.S. (died 1707), son of the last, and
also Governor of Connecticut, is said to have been “famous for
his philosophical” (that is, scientific) “knowledge.”[18] And the
second Governor’s nephew, John Winthrop, Esq., F.R.S. (died 1747),
who left this country and passed the latter part of his life in
England, is declared by the author of the dedication already above
cited, to have “increased the riches of their” (the Royal Society’s)
“repository with more than six hundred curious specimens, chiefly in
the mineral kingdom; accompanied with an accurate account of each
particular.” “Since Mr. Colwell,” it is added, “the founder of the
Museum of the Royal Society, you have been the benefactor who has
given the most numerous collection.” Dr. John Winthrop, F.R.S. (died
1779), Hollisian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, N.E., whose
important papers on astronomical and other related phenomena are to
be found in the Philosophical Transactions, was of another line of
the same family.
Paul Dudley, Esq., F.R.S. (born 1675), son of Gov. Joseph Dudley,
and himself Chief Justice of Massachusetts, was author of several
papers in the Philosophical Transactions; one of which is an
“Account of the Poison-wood Tree in New-England” (vol. xxxi. p.
135); and another, “Observations on some Plants in New-England, with
Remarkable Instances of the Nature and Power of Vegetation” (vol.
xxxiii. p. 129). This last is of only seven pages, and of little
scientific account: though we learn from it, that, in 1726, when Mr.
Dudley wrote, the Pearmain, Kentish Pippin, and Golden Russetin,
were esteemed apples here, and the Orange and Bergamot cultivated
pears;[19] that, in one town in 1721, they made three thousand, and
in another near ten thousand barrels of cider; and that, to speak of
“trees of the wood,” he knew of a button-wood tree which measured
nine yards in girth, and made twenty-two cords of wood; and of an
ash, which, at a yard from the ground, was fourteen feet eight inches
in girth. He also expresses an intention to treat separately the
evergreens of New England; and this treatise, which was possibly more
valuable than the one just noticed, was in the possession of Peter
Collinson, the eminent patron of horticulture, and was given by him
to J. F. Gronovius; but has not, that I am aware of, appeared in
print.[20]
It is likely that the early physicians of New England gave special
attention to those simples of the country, the virtues of which
were known to the savages; and perhaps it was partly in this way
that the Rev. Jared Eliot (born 1685), minister of Killingworth in
Connecticut,—who is called by Dr. Allen “the first physician of his
day,”—is also designated, both by him and by Eliot, a botanist; and
by the latter, “the first in New England.” There is no doubt he was a
friend of Dr. Franklin’s, and a scientific agriculturist according to
the knowledge of his day; and he is said to have introduced the white
mulberry into Connecticut.[21] His Agricultural Essays went through
more than one edition, but is now rare. Mr. Eliot died while our next
character, the first native New-England botanist who deserves the
name, was a student of Yale College.
Manasseh Cutler, LL.D. (born 1743), was minister of the Hamlet in
Ipswich—afterwards incorporated as the town of Hamilton—fifty-one
years, and was also a member of the Medical Society of Massachusetts.
He is author of “An Account of some of the Vegetable Productions
naturally growing in this part of America, botanically arranged,”
which makes nearly a hundred pages of the first volume of the
Memoirs of the American Academy, 1785. In the introduction to this
paper, the author speaks of Canada and the Southern States having
had attention given to their productions, both by some of their own
inhabitants and by European naturalists; while “that extensive tract
of country which lies between them, including several degrees of
latitude, and exceedingly diversified in its surface and soil, seems
still to remain unexplored.” He attributes the neglect, in part, to
this,—“that botany has never been taught in any of our colleges,”
but principally to the prevalent opinion of its unprofitableness in
common life. The latter error he combats with the then important
observation, that, “though all the medicinal properties and
economical uses of plants are not discoverable from those characters
by which they are systematically arranged, yet the celebrated Linnæus
has found that the virtues of plants may be, in a considerable
degree, and most safely, determined by their _natural_ characters:
for plants of the same _natural_ class are in some measure similar;
those of the same _natural_ order have a still nearer affinity;
and those of the fame genus have very seldom been found to differ
in their medical virtues” (p. 397). This shows, perhaps, that Dr.
Cutler appreciated (for the _Italics_ in the just-quoted passage are
his own) that adumbration of a natural system which was afforded or
suggested by the artificial; and his instances—the _Gramineæ_, the
_Borraginaceæ_, the _Umbelliferæ_, the _Labiatæ_, the _Cruciferæ_,
the _Malvaceæ_, the _Compositæ_, &c.; though these are cited under
the divisions, not of the natural, but of the sexual system—are still
more to the point. There are other observations of interest; and the
suggestion is made, that persons should collect the plants of their
districts, and send them from time to time to the Academy.
Dr. Cutler was thus, possibly, the first to suggest a botanical
chair in our colleges, and a general _herbarium_ to illustrate the
_Flora_ of New England; and perhaps it was this last which led him
to propose a still more important undertaking. “It has long been my
intention,” he says in a letter to Prof. Swartz, of Upsal, dated 15th
October, 1802, “to publish a botanical work, comprising the plants
of the northern and eastern States; and [I] have been collecting
materials for that purpose. But numerous avocations, and a variety
of other engagements, has occasioned delay. It is, however, still my
intention, if my health permits, to do it. But, at this time, far
less than in years past, there is very little encouragement given
here to publications of this kind.”[22]
About three hundred and seventy plants are indicated in the published
“Account” of Dr. Cutler. It was not to be expected, that, in
this beginning, numerous mistakes should not be made. It could
not possibly have been otherwise. There is still evidence enough
of the author’s genius, which perhaps needed only opportunity and
encouragement to anticipate a part of what botany now owes to a
Nuttall, a Torrey, and a Gray. The “Account” was favorably received
by other botanists of the time, both in this country and abroad.
In a letter of Muhlenberg to Cutler, dated 9th February, 1791, the
former says, “Not till a few months ago, I was favored with the first
volume of the Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,
printed at Boston, 1785. Amongst other valuable pieces, I found your
‘Account of Indigenous Vegetables, botanically arranged;’ with which
I was infinitely pleased, as this was the first work that gives a
systematical account of New-England plants. Being a great friend
to botany, and having studied it in my leisure-hours upwards of
fourteen years in Pennsylvania, I know the difficulty of arranging
the American plants according to the Linnæan system; and I was always
eager to hear of some gentleman engaged in similar researches, that,
by joining hands, we might do something towards enlarging American
Botany.... This is the reason why I intrude upon your leisure-hours,
and crave for your acquaintance and friendship.”[23] Drs. Withering
and Stokes, of England, were other correspondents of Cutler, and
furnished him with important observations upon his printed Memoir,
besides specimens; as did also Swartz, and, it appears, Payshull
of Sweden. Dr. Stokes followed up his various suggestions for the
improvement of the Memoir, by proposing to dedicate a plant, which
he took to be new, to its author. “A plant,” he says, “like a woolly
heath, and which I wished to call _Cutleria ericoides_, turns out to
be _Hudsonia ericoides_. I hope, however, your herborizations may
furnish a new genus for you, not likely to be disturbed.”—_Letters of
Stokes to Cutler_, from “Feb. 14 ’91, to Aug. 17, ’93.”[24]
But Dr. Cutler’s printed memoir on the plants of New England is much
surpassed in interest by his manuscript volumes of descriptions,
still extant. These manuscript volumes commence with “Book I., 1783,”
and continue, so far as I have seen them, to 1804. The late Mr. Oakes
possessed six of these books; and two were given to me by my valued
friend, the late Dr. T. W. Harris. They are generally entitled,
“Descriptions and Notes on American Indigenous Plants,” and contain
a vast number of observations and analyses, sometimes accompanied by
pen-and-ink sketches. This was evidently the material accumulated for
the author’s _Flora_ above mentioned; and the following extracts will
serve to show that he was in many respects qualified to undertake
such a work. Thus, in describing the several hickories, he points
out those differences from _Juglans_, upon which Nuttall afterwards
constituted his genus _Carya_. Again, in the same volume,—that for
1789,—there is a _N. Gen. Anonymos_, minutely described in several
pages, which is no other than _Thesium umbellatum_, L., afterwards
distinguished by Nuttall as his genus _Comandra_. Again, under
_Anonymos, Yellow-Sandbind_, there is a full description of what
Nuttall after named _Hudsonia tomentosa_. The same volume shows
that the author had anticipated Prof. Gray in referring _Orchis
fimbriata_, as it was called by Pursh and other botanists, to
_O. psychodes_, L.; and the remark is also made that _O. lacera_
Michx.,—which Muhlenberg and our other writers had mistakenly
referred to _O. psychodes_, till Dr. Gray corrected the error,—“must
be a new species,” which it then certainly was. Again, there is
another _Anomolos_ described at length, which is the same afterwards
constituted by Nuttall his genus _Microstylis_. So _Campanula humida_
(Cutler mss.) is what Pursh designated, long after, _C. aparinoides_.
Again, in another volume (for 1800), he anticipates Pursh by
proposing for our water-shield the name _Brasenia ovalifolia_; and,
in yet another, he is before Bigelow in describing as a new species
what the latter, many years later, published as _Prunus obovata_.
This may suffice to indicate the merits of the botanist of Ipswich
Hamlet. A little shrub-willow, with clean, shining leaves, and modest
catkins,—inhabiting, almost everywhere, the alpine regions of the
White Mountains, and gathered by him there, before any other botanist
had penetrated those solitudes,—still reminds us of his name, which
deserves to be remembered by his countrymen.
After Cutler, there appeared nothing of importance[25] on our botany,
till the present elder school of New-England botanists—a school
characterized by the names of an Oakes, a Boott, and an Emerson—was
founded, now more than forty years ago, by the classical _Florula_ of
Bigelow.
[Illustration: (decorative icon)]
_New-Englands_
RARITIES
Discovered:
IN
_Birds_, _Beasts_, _Fishes_, _Serpents_, and _Plants_
of that Country.
Together with
The _Physical_ and _Chyrurgical_ REMEDIES wherewith
the _Natives_ constantly use to Cure their
DISTEMPERS, WOUNDS, and SORES.
_ALSO_
A perfect _Description_ of an _Indian SQUA_, in all
her Bravery; with a POEM not improperly
conferr’d upon her.
LASTLY
_A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE_
of the most remarkable Passages in that Country
amongst the ENGLISH.
_Illustrated with CUTS._
By _JOHN JOSSELYN_, Gent.
_London_, Printed for _G. Widdowes_ at the
_Green Dragon_ in St. _Pauls_ Church yard, 1672.
[Illustration: (decorative banner)]
To the highly obliging,
His Honoured Friend and Kinsman,
SAMUEL FORTREY Esq;
_SIR_,
_It was by your assistance (enabling me) that I commenc’d a Voyage
into those remote-parts of the World (known to us by the painful
Discovery of that memorable Gentleman Sir_ Fran. Drake.) _Your bounty
then and formerly hath engaged a retribution of my Gratitude, and
not knowing how to testifie the same unto you otherwayes, I have
(although with some reluctancy) adventured to obtrude upon you these
rude and indigested Eight Years Observations, wherein whether I
shall more shame my self or injure your accurate Judgment and better
Employment in the perusal, is a question._
We read of Kings and Gods that kindly took
A Pitcher fill’d with Water from the Brook.
_The Contemplation whereof (well knowing your noble and generous
Disposition) hath confirm’d in me the hope that you will pardon my
presumption, and accept the tender of the fruits of my Travel after
this homely manner, and my self as,_
_Sir,_
_Your highly obliged,
&
most humble Servant_,
John Josselyn.
[Illustration: (decorative banner)]
_New-Englands_
RARITIES
Discovered.
In the year of our Lord 1663. _May 28._ upon an Invitation from my
only Brother, I departed from _London_, and arrived at _Boston_,
the chief Town in the _Massachusetts_, a Colony of _Englishmen_ in
_New-England_, the _28th_ of _July_ following.
_Boston_ (whose longitude is 315 deg. and 42 deg. 30 min. of North
Latitude) is built on the South-west side of a Bay large enough for
the Anchorage of 500 Sail of Ships, the Buildings are handsome,
joyning one to the other as in _London_, with many large streets,
most of them paved with pebble stone, in the high street towards
the Common, there are fair buildings, some of stone, and at the
East End of the {2} Town one amongst the rest, built by the Shore
by Mr. _Gibs_, a Merchant, being a stately Edifice, which it is
thought will stand him in little less than 3000 _l._ before it be
fully finished.[26] The Town is not divided into Parishes, yet they
have three fair Meeting-houses or Churches, which hardly suffice to
receive the Inhabitants and Strangers that come in from all parts.[27]
Having refreshed my self here for some time, and opportunely lighting
upon a passage in a Bark belonging to a Friend of my Brothers, and
bound to the Eastward, I put to sea again, and on the Fifteenth of
_August_, I arrived at _Black-point_, otherwise called _Scarborow_,
the habitation of my beloved Brother,[28] being about an hundred
leagues to the Eastward of _Boston_; here I resided eight years, and
made it my business to discover all along the Natural, Physical, and
Chyrurgical Rarities of this New-found World.
_New-England_ is said to begin at 40 and to end at 46 of Northerly
Latitude, that is from _de la Ware_ Bay to _New-found-Land_.
The Sea Coasts are accounted wholsomest, the East and South Winds
coming {3} from Sea produceth warm weather, the Northwest coming
over land causeth extremity of Cold, and many times strikes the
Inhabitants both _English_ and _Indian_ with that sad Disease called
there the Plague of the back, but with us _Empiema_.[29]
The Country generally is Rocky and Mountanous, and extremely
overgrown with wood, yet here and there beautified with large rich
Valleys, wherein are Lakes ten, twenty, yea sixty miles in compass,
out of which our great Rivers have their Beginnings.[30]
Fourscore miles (upon a direct line) to the Northwest of _Scarborow_,
a Ridge of Mountains run Northwest and Northeast an hundred Leagues,
known by the name of the _White Mountains_, upon which lieth Snow all
the year, and is a Land-mark twenty miles off at Sea. It is rising
ground from the Sea shore to these Hills, and they are inaccessible
but by the Gullies which the dissolved Snow hath made; in these
Gullies grow _Saven_ Bushes, which being taken hold of are a good
help to the climbing Discoverer; upon the top of the highest of these
Mountains is a large Level {4} or Plain of a days journey over,
whereon nothing grows but Moss: at the farther end of this Plain is
another Hill called the _Sugar-Loaf_, to outward appearance a rude
heap of massie stones piled one upon another, and you may as you
ascend step from one stone to another, as if you were going up a pair
of stairs, but winding still about the Hill till you come to the top,
which will require half a days time, and yet it is not above a Mile,
where there is also a Level of about an Acre of ground, with a pond
of clear water in the midst of it; which you may hear run down, but
how it ascends is a mystery. From this rocky Hill you may see the
whole Country round about; it is far above the lower Clouds, and from
hence we beheld a Vapour (like a great Pillar) drawn up by the Sun
Beams out of a great Lake or Pond into the Air, where it was formed
into a Cloud. The Country beyond these Hills Northward is daunting
terrible, being full of rocky Hills, as thick as Mole-hills in a
Meadow, and cloathed with infinite thick Woods.[31]
_New-England_ is by some affirmed to be an Island, bounded on
the North with the {5} River _Canada_, (so called from Monsieur
_Cane_) on the South with the River _Mohegan_, or _Hudsons_ River,
so called because he was the first that discovered it.[32] Some
will have _America_ to be an Island, which out of question must
needs be, if there be a Northeast passage found out into the South
Sea; it contains 1152400000 Acres. The discovery of the Northwest
passage (which lies within the River of _Canada_) was undertaken
with the help of some Protestant _Frenchmen_, which left _Canada_
and retired to _Boston_ about the year 1669. The Northeast people of
_America_ i.e. _New England_, _&c._ are judged to be _Tartars_ called
_Samoades_, being alike in complexion, shape, habit and manners,
(see the _Globe_:) Their Language is very significant, using but few
words, every word having a diverse signification, which is exprest
by their gesture; as when they hold their head of one side the word
signifieth one thing, holding their hand up when they pronounce it
signifieth another thing. Their Speeches in their Assemblies are very
gravely delivered, commonly in perfect _Hexamiter_ Verse, with great
silence and attention, and answered again _ex tempore_ after the same
manner.[33]
{6} Having given you some short Notes concerning the Country
in general, I shall now enter upon the proposed Discovery of
the Natural, Physical, and Chyrurgical Rarities; and that I may
methodically deliver them unto you, I shall cast them into this
form: 1. Birds. 2. Beasts. 3. Fishes. 4. Serpents and Insects. 5.
Plants, of these, 1. such Plants as are common with us, 2. of such
Plants as are proper to the country, 3. of such Plants as are proper
to the Country and have no name known to us, 4. of such Plants as
have sprung up since the _English_ Planted and kept Cattle there, 5.
of such Garden Herbs (amongst us) as do thrive there and of such as
do not. 6. Of Stones, Minerals, Metals, and Earths.
First, Of Birds.[34]
_The Humming Bird._
The _Humming Bird_, the least of all Birds, little bigger than a
_Dor_, of variable glittering Colours, they feed upon Honey, which
they suck out of Blossoms {7} and Flowers with their long Needle-like
Bills; they sleep all Winter, and are not to be seen till the Spring,
at which time they breed in little Nests, made up like a bottom of
soft, Silk-like matter, their Eggs no bigger than a white Pease, they
hatch three or four at a time, and are proper to this Country.
_The Troculus._[35]
The _Troculus_, a small Bird, black and white, no bigger than a
Swallow, the points of whose Feathers are sharp, which they stick
into the sides of the Chymney (to rest themselves, their Legs being
exceeding short) where they breed in Nests made like a Swallows Nest,
but of a glewy substance, and which is not fastened to the Chymney as
a Swallows Nest, but hangs down the Chymney by a clew-like string a
yard long. They commonly have four or five young ones, and when they
go away, which is much about the time that Swallows use to depart,
they never fail to throw down one of their young Birds into the room
by way of Gratitude. I have more than once observed, that against the
ruin of the Family these Birds will suddenly forsake the house and
come no more.
{8} _The Pilhannaw._[36]
The _Pilhannaw_ or _Mechquan_, much like the description of the
_Indian Ruck_, a monstrous great Bird, a kind of Hawk, some say an
Eagle, four times as big as a Goshawk, white Mail’d, having two or
three purple Feathers in her head as long as Geeses Feathers they
make Pens of the Quills of these Feathers are purple, as big as Swans
Quills and transparent; her Head is as big as a Childs of a year old,
a very Princely Bird; when she soars abroad, all sort of feathered
Creatures hide themselves, yet she never preys upon any of them, but
upon _Fawns_ and _Jaccals_: She Ayries in the Woods upon the high
Hills of _Ossapy_, and is very rarely or seldome seen.
_The Turkie._[37]
The _Turkie_, who is blacker than ours; I have heard several credible
persons affirm, they have seen _Turkie Cocks_ that have weighed
forty, yea sixty pound; but out of my personal experimental knowledge
I can assure you, that I have eaten my share of a _Turkie Cock_,
that when he was pull’d and garbidg’d, weighed thirty {9} pound;
and I have also seen threescore broods of young _Turkies_ on the
side of a marsh, sunning of themselves in a morning betimes, but
this was thirty years since, the _English_ and the _Indians_ having
now destroyed the breed, so that ’tis very rare to meet with a wild
_Turkie_ in the Woods; But some of the _English_ bring up great store
of the wild kind, which remain about their Houses as tame as ours in
_England_.
_The Goose._[38]
The _Goose_, of which there are three kinds; the _Gray Goose_, the
_White Goose_, and the _Brant_: The _Goose_ will live a long time; I
once found in a _White Goose_ three Hearts, she was a very old one,
and so tuff, that we gladly gave her over although exceeding well
roasted.
_The Bloody-Flux Cured._
A Friend of mine of good Quality living sometime in _Virginia_ was
sore troubled for a long time with the _Bloody-Flux_, having tryed
several Remedies by the advice of his Friends without any good
effect, at last was induced with a longing desire to drink the _Fat
Dripping_ {10} of a Goose newly taken from the Fire, which absolutely
cured him, who was in despair of ever recovering his health again.
_The Gripe and Vulture._
The _Gripe_, which is of two kinds, the one with a White Head, the
other with a black Head, this we take for the _Vulture_. They are
both cowardly _Kites_,[39] preying upon Fish cast up on the shore.
In the year 1668 there was a great mortality of Eels in _Casco Bay_,
thither resorted at the same time an infinite number of _Gripes_,
insomuch that being shot by the Inhabitants, they fed their Hogs with
them for some weeks; at other times you shall seldom see above two
or three in a dozen miles travelling. The _Quill Feathers_ in their
Wings make excellent _Text Pens_, and the Feathers of their Tail are
highly esteemed by the _Indians_ for their Arrows, they will not
sing in flying; a _Gripes_ Tail is worth a _Beavers_ Skin, up in the
Country.
_A Remedy for the Coldness and pain of the Stomach._
The Skin of a _Gripe_ drest with the doun on, is good to wear upon
the Stomach for the Pain and Coldness of it.
{11} _The Osprey._
The _Osprey_, which in this Country is white mail’d.
_A Remedy for the Tooth-ach._
Their Beaks excell for the Tooth-ach, picking the Gums therewith till
they bleed.
_The Wobble._[40]
The _Wobble_, an ill shaped Fowl, having no long Feathers in their
Pinions, which is the reason they cannot fly, not much unlike the
_Pengwin_; they are in the Spring very fat, or rather oyly, but
pull’d and garbidg’d, and laid to the Fire to roast, they yield not
one drop.
_For Aches._
Our way (for they are very soveraign for _Aches_) is to make Mummy
of them, that is, to salt them well, and dry them in an earthern pot
well glazed in an Oven; or else (which is the better way) to burn
them under ground for a day or two, then quarter them and stew them
in a Tin Stewpan with a very little water.
{12} _The Loone._
The _Loone_ is a Water Fowl, alike in shape to the _Wobble_, and as
virtual for Aches, which we order after the same manner.[41]
_The Owl._
The _Owl_, _Avis devia_, which are of three kinds; the great _Gray
Owl_ with Ears, the little _Gray Owl_, and the _White Owl_ which is
no bigger than a _Thrush_.[42]
_The Turkie Buzzard._
The _Turkie Buzzard_, a kind of _Kite_, but as big as a _Turkie_,
brown of colour, and very good meat.[43]
_What Birds are not to be found in_ New-England.
Now, by what the country hath not, you may ghess at what it hath;
it hath no _Nightingals_, nor _Larks_, nor _Bulfinches_, nor
_Sparrows_, nor _Blackbirds_, nor _Mag_{13}_pies_, nor _Jackdawes_,
nor _Popinjays_, nor _Rooks_, nor _Pheasants_, nor _Woodcocks_, nor
_Quails_, nor _Robins_, nor _Cuckoes_, _&c._[44]
Secondly, Of Beasts.[45]
_The Bear, which are generally Black._[46]
The _Bear_, they live four months in Caves, that is all Winter; in
the Spring they bring forth their young ones, they seldome have
above three Cubbs in a litter, are very fat in the Fall of the Leaf
with feeding upon Acorns, at which time they are excellent Venison;
their Brains are venomous; They feed much upon water Plantane in the
Spring and Summer, and Berries, and also upon a shell-fish called
a _Horse-foot_; and are never mankind, i.e. fierce, but in rutting
time, and then they walk the Country twenty, thirty, forty in a
company, making a hideous noise with roaring, which you may hear a
mile or two before they come so near to endanger the Traveller. About
four years since, Acorns being very scarce up in the Country, some
numbers of them came down {14} amongst the _English_ Plantations,
which generally are by the Sea side; at one Town called _Gorgiana_
in the Province of _Meyn_ (called also _New-Sommerset-shire_) they
kill’d fourscore.
_For Aches and Cold Swellings._
Their Grease is very good for Aches and Cold Swellings, the _Indians_
anoint themselves therewith from top to toe, which hardens them
against the cold weather. A black Bears Skin heretofore was worth
forty shillings, now you may have one for ten, much used by the
_English_ for Beds and Coverlets, and by the _Indians_ for Coats.
_For Pain and Lameness upon Cold._
One _Edw. Andrews_ being foxt,[47] and falling backward cross a
Thought[48] in a Shallop or Fisher-boat, and taking cold upon it,
grew crooked, lame, and full of pain, was cured, lying one Winter
upon Bears Skins newly flead off, with some upon him, so that he
sweat every night.
_The Wolf._[49]
The _Wolf_, of which there are two kinds; one with a round-ball’d
Foot, and {15} are in shape like mungrel Mastiffs; the other with a
flat Foot, these are liker Greyhounds, and are called _Deer Wolfs_,
because they are accustomed to prey upon _Deer_. A _Wolf_ will eat
a _Wolf_ new dead, and so do _Bears_ as I suppose, for their dead
Carkases are never found, neither by the _Indian_ nor _English_. They
go a clicketing twelve days, and have as many Whelps at a Litter as
a Bitch. The _Indian Dog_[50] is a Creature begotten ’twixt a _Wolf_
and a _Fox_, which the _Indians_ lighting upon, bring up to hunt
the _Deer_ with. The _Wolf_ is very numerous, and go in companies,
sometimes ten, twenty, more or fewer, and so cunning, that seldome
any are kill’d with Guns or Traps; but of late they have invented a
way to destroy them, by binding four _Maycril Hooks_ a cross with a
brown thread, and then wrapping some Wool about them, they dip them
in melted Tallow till it be as round and as big as an Egg; these
(when any Beast hath been kill’d by the _Wolves_) they scatter by the
dead Carkase, after they have beaten off the _Wolves_; about Midnight
the _Wolves_ are sure to return again to the place where they left
the slaughtered Beast, and the {16} first thing they venture upon
will be these balls of fat.
_For old Aches._
A black _Wolfs_ Skin is worth a _Beaver_ Skin among the _Indians_,
being highly esteemed for helping old Aches in old people, worn as a
Coat; they are not mankind, as in _Ireland_ and other Countries, but
do much harm by destroying of our _English_ Cattle.
_The Ounce._[51]
The _Ounce_ or _Wild Cat_, is about the bigness of two lusty Ram
Cats, preys upon Deer and our _English_ Poultrey: I once found six
whole Ducks in the belly of one I killed by a Pond side: Their flesh
roasted is as good as Lamb, and as white.
_For Aches and shrunk Sinews._
Their Grease is soveraign for all manner of Aches and shrunk Sinews:
Their Skins are accounted good Fur, but somewhat course.
{17} _The Raccoon._[52]
The _Raccoon_ liveth in hollow trees, and is about the size of a _Gib
Cat_; they feed upon Mass, and do infest our _Indian_ Corn very much;
they will be exceeding fat in Autumn; their flesh is somewhat dark,
but good food roasted.
_For Bruises and Aches._
Their Fat is excellent for bruises and Aches. Their Skins are
esteemed a good deep Fur; but yet as the _Wild Cats_ somewhat coarse.
_The Porcupine._
The _Porcupine_, in some parts of the Countrey Eastward towards
the _French_, are as big as an ordinary Mungrel Cur; a very angry
Creature, and dangerous, shooting a whole shower of Quills with a
rowse at their enemies, which are of that nature, that wherever
they stick in the flesh, they will work through in a short time,
if not prevented by pulling of them out. The _Indians_ make use of
their Quills, which are hardly a handful long, to adorn {18} the
edges of their birchen dishes, and weave (dying some of them red,
others yellow and blew) curious bags or pouches, in works like
_Turkie-work_.[53]
_The Beaver, Canis Ponticus, Amphybious._[54]
The _Beaver_, whose old ones are as big as an _Otter_, or rather
bigger, a Creature of a rare instinct, as may apparently be seen in
their artificial Dam-heads to raise the water in the Ponds where they
keep, and their houses having three stories, which would be too large
to discourse.[54] They have all of them four Cods hanging outwardly
between their hinder legs, two of them are soft or oyly, and two
solid or hard; the _Indians_ say they are _Hermaphrodites_.
_For Wind in the Stomach._
Their solid Cods are much used in Physick: Our _Englishwomen_ in this
Country use the powder grated, as much as will lye upon a shilling
in a draught of _Fiol_ Wine, for Wind in the Stomach and Belly, and
venture many times in such cases to give it to Women with Child:
Their Tails are flat, and covered with Scales without hair, {19}
which being flead off, and the Tail boiled, proves exceeding good
meat, being all Fat, and as sweet as Marrow.
_The Moose-Deer._[55]
The _Moose Deer_, which is a very goodly Creature, some of them
twelve foot high, with exceeding fair Horns with broad Palms, some of
them two fathom from the tip of one Horn to the other; they commonly
have three _Fawns_ at a time, their flesh is not dry like Deers
flesh, but moist and lushious somewhat like Horse flesh (as they
judge that have tasted of both) but very wholsome. The flesh of their
_Fawns_ is an incomparable dish, beyond the flesh of an Asses Foal so
highly esteemed by the _Romans_, or that of young Spaniel Puppies so
much cried up in our days in _France_ and _England_.
_Moose Horns better for Physick Use than Harts Horns._
Their Horns are far better (in my opinion) for Physick than the Horns
of other Deer, as being of a stronger nature: As for their Claws,
which both _Englishmen_ and _French_ make use of for _Elk_, I cannot
{20} approve so to be from the Effects, having had some trial of it;
besides, all that write of the _Elk_ describe him with a tuft of
hair on the left Leg behind, a little above the pastern joynt on the
outside of the Leg, not unlike the tuft (as I conceive) that groweth
upon the breast of a _Turkie Cock_, which I could never yet see upon
the Leg of a _Moose_, and I have seen some number of them.
_For Children breeding Teeth._
The _Indian Webbes_ make use of the broad Teeth of the _Fawns_ to
hang about their Childrens Neck when they are breeding of their
Teeth. The Tongue of a grown _Moose_, dried in the smoak after the
_Indian_ manner, is a dish for a _Sagamor_.
_The Maccarib._[56]
The _Maccarib_, _Caribo_, or _Pohano_, a kind of Deer, as big as a
Stag, round hooved, smooth hair’d and soft as silk; their Horns
grow backwards a long their backs to their rumps, and turn again
a handful beyond their Nose, having another Horn in the middle of
their Forehead, about half a yard long, very straight, but {21}
wreathed like an _Unicorns_ Horn, of a brown jettie colour, and very
smooth: The Creature is no where to be found, but upon Cape _Sable_
in the _French_ Quarters, and there too very rarely, they being not
numerous; some few of their Skins and their streight Horns are (but
very sparingly) brought to the _English_.
_The Fox._[57]
The _Fox_, which differeth not much from ours, but are somewhat less;
a black _Fox_ Skin heretofore was wont to be valued at fifty and
sixty pound, but now you may have them for twenty shillings; indeed
there is not any in _New-England_ that are perfectly black, but
silver hair’d, that is sprinkled with grey hairs.
_The Jaccal._[58]
The _Jaccal_, is a Creature that hunts the _Lions_ prey, a shrew’d
sign that there are _Lions_ upon the Continent; there are those that
are yet living in the Countrey, that do constantly affirm, that about
six or seven and thirty years since an _Indian_ {22} shot a young
_Lion_,[59] sleeping upon the body of an Oak blown up by the roots,
with an Arrow, not far from Cape _Anne_, and sold the Skin to the
_English_. But to say something of the _Jaccal_, they are ordinarily
less than _Foxes_, of the colour of a gray Rabbet, and do not scent
nothing near so strong as a _Fox_; some of the _Indians_ will eat of
them: Their Grease is good for all that _Fox_ Grease is good for, but
weaker; they are very numerous.
_The Hare._[60]
The _Hare_ in _New-England_ is no bigger than our _English_ Rabbets,
of the same colour, but withall having yellow and black strokes
down the ribs; in Winter they are milk white, and as the Spring
approacheth they come to their colour; when the Snow lies upon the
ground they are very bitter with feeding upon the bark of Spruce, and
the like.[61]
{23} Thirdly, Of Fishes.[62]
_Pliny_ and _Isadore_ write there are not above 144 Kinds of Fishes,
but to my knowledge there are nearer 300: I suppose _America_ was not
known to _Pliny_ and _Isadore_.
_A Catalogue of Fish, that is, of those that are to be seen between
the English Coast and_ America, _and those proper to the Countrey_.
_Alderling._
_Alize_, _Alewife_, because great-bellied; _Olafle_, _Oldwife_,
_Allow_.[63]
_Anchova_ or _Sea Minnow_.
_Aleport._
_Albicore._[64]
_Barble._
_Barracha._
_Barracoutha_, a fish peculiar to the _West-Indies_.[65]
_Barsticle._
_Basse._[66]
_Sea Bishop_, proper to the _Norway_ Seas.
{24} _River Bleak_ or _Bley_, a _River Swallow_.
_Sea Bleak_ or _Bley_, or _Sea Camelion_.
_Blew Fish_ or _Hound Fish_, two kinds, _speckled Hound Fish_, and
_Blew Hound Fish_ called _Horse Fish_.[67]
_Bonito_ or _Dozado_, or _Spanish Dolphin_.[68]
_River Bream._
_Sea Bream._[69]
_Cud Bream._
_Bullhead_ or _Indian Muscle_.
_River Bulls._
_Burfish._
_Burret._
_Cackarel_ or _Laxe_.
_Calemarie_ or _Sea Clerk_.
_Catfish._[70]
_Carp._
_Chare_, a _Fish_ proper to the River _Wimander_ in _Lancashire_.
_Sea Chough._
_Chub or Chevin._
_Cony Fish._
_Clam_ or _Clamp_.[71]
_Sea Cob._
_Cockes_, or _Coccles_, or _Coquil_.[72]
_Cook Fish._
_Rock Cod._
_Sea Cod_ or _Sea Whiting_.[73]
{25} _Crab_, divers kinds, as the _Sea Crab_, _Boatfish_, _River
Crab_, _Sea Lion_, _&c._
_Sea Cucumber._
_Cunger_ or _Sea Eel_.
_Cunner_ or _Sea Roach_.
_Cur._
_Currier_, _Post_, or _Lacquey_ of the Sea.
_Crampfish_ or _Torpedo_.
_Cuttle_, or _Sleeves_, or _Sea Angler_.
_Clupea_, the _Tunnies_ enemy.
_Sea Cornet._
_Cornuta_ or _Horned Fish_.
_Dace_, _Dare_, or _Dart_.
_Sea Dart_, _Javelins_.
_Dog-fish_ or _Tubarone_.
_Dolphin._
_Dorce._
_Dorrie_, _Goldfish_.
_Golden-eye_, _Gilt-pole_, or _Godline_, _Yellow-heads_.
_Sea Dragon_ or _Sea Spider_, _Quaviner_.
_Drum_, a Fish frequent in the _West Indies_.
_Sea Emperour_ or _Sword Fish_.
_Eel_, of which divers kinds.[74]
_Sea Elephant_, the Leather of this Fish will never rot, excellent
for Thongs.
_Ears_ of the Sea.
_Flayl-fish._
{26} _Flownder_ or _Flook_, the young ones are called _Dabs_.
_Sea Flownder_ or _Flowre_.
_Sea Fox._
_Frogfish._
_Frostfish._[75]
_Frutola_, a broad plain Fish with a Tail like a half Moon.
_Sea Flea._
_Gallyfish._
_Grandpiss_[76] or _Herring Hog_, this, as all Fish of extraordinary
size, are accounted Regal Fishes.
_Grayling._
_Greedigut._
_Groundling._
_Gudgin._
_Gulf._
_Sea Grape._
_Gull._
_Gurnard._
_Hake._
_Haccle_ or _Sticklebacks_.
_Haddock._
_Horse Foot_ or _Asses Hoof_.
_Herring._
_Hallibut_ or _Sea Pheasant_. Some will have the _Turbut_ all one,
others distinguish {27} them, calling the young Fish of the first
_Buttis_, and of the other _Birt_. There is no question to be made of
it but that they are distinct kinds of Fish.[77]
_Sea Hare._[78]
_Sea Hawk._
_Hartfish._
_Sea Hermit._
_Henfish._
_Sea Hind._
_Hornbeak_, _Sea Ruff_ and _Reeves_.
_Sea Horseman._
_Hog_ or _Flying Fish_.
_Sea Kite_ or _Flying Swallow_.
_Lampret_ or _Lamprel_.
_Lampreys_ or _Lamprones_.[79]
_Limpin._
_Ling_, _Sea Beef_; the smaller sort is called _Cusk_.
_Sea Lanthorn._
_Sea Liver._
_Lobster._[80]
_Sea Lizard._
_Sea Locusts._
_Lump_, _Poddle_, or _Sea Owl_.
_Lanter._
_Lux_, peculiar to the river _Rhyne_.
_Sea Lights._
{28} _Luna_, a very small Fish, but exceeding beautiful, broad-bodied
and blewish of colour; when it swims, the Fins make a Circle like the
Moon.
_Maycril._
_Maid._
_Manatee._
_Mola_, a Fish like a lump of Flesh, taken in the _Venetian_ Sea.
_Millers Thumb_, _Mulcet_ or _Pollard_.
_Molefish._
_Minnow_, called likewise a _Pink_; the same name is given to young
_Salmon_; it is called also a _Witlin_.
_Monkefish._[81]
_Morse_, _River_ or _Sea Horse_,[82] fresh water _Mullet_.
_Sea Mullet_, _Botargo_ or _Petargo_ is made of their Spawn.
_Muscle_, divers kinds.[83]
_Navelfish._
_Nunfish._
_Needlefish._
_Sea Nettle._
_Oyster._[84]
_Occulata._
_Perch_ or _River Partridge_.
_Pollack._
{29} _Piper_ or _Gavefish_.
_Periwig._
_Periwincle_ or _Sea Snail_ or _Whelk_.
_Pike_, or _Fresh-water Wolf_, or _River Wolf_, _Luce_ and _Lucerne_,
which is an overgrown _Pike_.
_Pilchard_, when they are dried as _Red Herrings_ they are called
_Fumadoes_.
_Pilot Fish._
_Plaice_ or _Sea Sparrow_.
_Polipe_ or _Pour-Contrel_.
_Porpuise_ or _Porpiss_, _Molebut_, _Sea Hog_, _Sus Marinus_,
_Tursion_.
_Priest Fish_ or _Sea Priest_.
_Prawn_ or _Crangone_.
_Punger._
_Patella._
_Powt_, the _Feathered Fish_, or _Fork Fish_.
_River Powt._
_Pursefish_, or _Indian Reversus_, like an _Eel_; having a Skin on
the hinder part of her Head, like a Purse, with strings, which will
open and shut.
_Parratfish._
_Purplefish._
_Porgee._
_Remora_, or _Suck Stone_, or _Stop Ship_.
_Sea Raven._
{30} _Roch_ or _Roach_.
_Rochet_ or _Rouget_.
_Ruff_ or _Pope_.
_Sea Ram._
_Salmon._[85]
_Sailfish._
_Scallope_ or _Venus Coccle_.
_Scate_, or _Ray_, or _Gristlefish_; of which divers kinds; as _sharp
snowted Ray_, _Rock Ray_, _&c._
_Shad._[86]
_Shallow._
_Sharpling._
_Spurling._
_Sculpin._
_Sheepshead._[87]
_Soles_, or _Tonguefish_, or _Sea Capon_, or _Sea Partridge_.
_Seal_, or _Soil_, or _Zeal_.[88]
_Sea Calf_, and (as some will have it) _Molebut_.
_Sheathfish._[89]
_Sea Scales._
_Sturgeon_; of the Roe of this Fish they make _Caviare_, or
_Cavialtie_.[90]
_Shark_ or _Bunch_, several kinds.[91]
_Smelt._
_Snaccot._
{31} _Shrimp._
_Spyfish._
_Spitefish._
_Sprat._
_Spungefish._
_Squill._
_Squid._[92]
_Sunfish._
_Starfish._[93]
_Swordfish._
_Tench._
_Thornback_ or _Neptunes Beard_.
_Thunnie_, they cut the Fish in pieces like shingles and powder it,
and this they call _Melandria_.
_Sea Toad._
_Tortoise_, _Torteise_, _Tortuga_, _Tortisse_, _Turcle_ or _Turtle_,
of divers kinds.[94]
_Trout._[95]
_Turbut._[96]
_Sea Tun._
_Sea Tree._
_Uraniscopus._
_Ulatise_ or _Sawfish_, having a Saw in his Forehead three foot long,
and very sharp.
_Umber._
_Sea Urchin._
{32} _Sea Unicorn_ or _Sea Mononeros_.
_Whale_, many kinds.[97]
_Whiting_ or _Merling_, the young ones are called _Weerlings_ and
_Mops_.
_Whore._[98]
_Yardfish_, _Asses Prick_ or _Shamefish_.
_The Sturgeon._
The _Sturgeon_, of whose Sounds is made Isinglass, a kind of Glew
much used in Physick: This Fish is here in great plenty, and in some
Rivers so numerous, that it is hazardous for Canoes and the like
small Vessels to pass to and again, as in _Pechipscut_ River to the
Eastward.
_The Cod._
The _Cod_, which is a staple Commodity in the Country.
_To stop Fluxes of Blood._
In the Head of this Fish is found a Stone, or rather a Bone, which
being pulveriz’d and drank in any convenient liquor, will stop Womens
overflowing Courses notably: Likewise,
{33} _For the Stone._
There is a Stone found in their Bellies, in a Bladder against their
Navel, which being pulveriz’d and drank in White-wine Posset or Ale,
is present Remedy for the Stone.
_To heal a green Cut._
About their Fins you may find a kind of Lowse, which healeth a green
Cut in short time.
_To restore them that have melted their Grease._
Their Livers and Sounds eaten, is a good Medicine for to restore them
that have melted their Grease.
_The Dogfish._
The _Dogfish_, a ravenous Fish.
_For the Toothach._
Upon whose Back grows a Thorn two or three Inches long, that helps
the Toothach, scarifying the Gums therewith.
Their Skins are good to cover Boxes and Instrument Cases.
{34} _The Stingray._
The _Stingray_, a large Fish, of a rough Skin, good to cover Boxes
and Hafts of Knives, and Rapier sticks.
_The Tortous._
The _Turtle_ or _Tortous_, of which there are three kinds: 1. The
land _Turtle_; they are found in dry sandy Banks, under old Houses,
and never go into the water.
_For the Ptisick, Consumption, and Morbus Gallicus._
They are good for the Ptisick and Consumptions, and some say the
_Morbus Gallicus_.
2. The River _Turtle_, which are venomous and stink.
3. The _Turtle_ that lives in Lakes and is called in _Virginia_ a
_Terrapine_.
_The Soile._
The _Soile_ or _Sea Calf_, a Creature that brings forth her young
ones upon dry land, but at other times keeps in the Sea preying upon
Fish.
{35} _For Scalds and Burns, and for the Mother._
The Oyl of it is much used by the _Indians_, who eat of it with their
Fish, and anoint their limbs therewith, and their Wounds and Sores:
It is very good for Scalds and Burns; and the fume of it, being cast
upon Coals, will bring Women out of the Mother Fits. The Hair upon
the young ones is white, and as soft as silk; their Skins, with the
Hair on, are good to make Gloves for the Winter.
_The Sperma Ceti Whale._
The _Sperma Ceti Whale_ differeth from the _Whales_ that yield us
Whale-bones, for the first hath great and long Teeth, the other is
nothing but Bones with Tassels hanging from their Jaws, with which
they suck in their prey.
_What Sperma Ceti is._
It is not long since a _Sperma Ceti Whale_ or two were cast upon the
shore, not far from _Boston_ in the _Massachusetts Bay_, which being
cut into small pieces and boiled in Cauldrons, yielded plenty of Oyl;
the Oyl put up into Hogsheads, and flow’d into Cellars for some time,
Candies at the {36} bottom, it may be one quarter; then the Oyl is
drawn off, and the Candied Stuff put up into convenient Vessels is
sold for _Sperma Ceti_, and is right _Sperma Ceti_.
_For Bruises and Aches._
The Oyl that was drawn off Candies again and again, if well ordered;
and is admirable for Bruises and Aches.
_What Ambergreece is._
Now you must understand this _Whale_ feeds upon _Ambergreece_, as
is apparent, finding it in the _Whales_ Maw in great quantity, but
altered and excrementitious: I conceive that _Ambergreece_ is no
other than a kind of Mushroom growing at the bottom of some Seas; I
was once shewed (by a Mariner) a piece of _Ambergreece_ having a
root to it like that of the land Mushroom, which the _Whale_ breaking
up, some scape his devouring Paunch, and is afterwards cast upon
shore.
_The Coccle._[99]
A kind of _Coccle_, of whose Shell the _Indians_ make their Beads
called _Wompampeag_ and _Mohaicks_, the first are white, the other
blew, both _Orient_, and beau{37}tified with a purple Vein. The white
Beads are very good to stanch Blood.
_The Scarlet Muscle._
The _Scarlet Muscle_, at _Paschatawey_ a Plantation about fifty
leagues by Sea Eastward from _Boston_, in a small _Cove_ called
_Bakers Cove_ there is found this kind of _Muscle_ which hath a
purple Vein, which being prickt with a Needle yieldeth a perfect
purple or scarlet juice, dying Linnen so that no washing will wear it
out, but keeps its lustre many years: We mark our Handkerchiefs and
Shirts with it.[100]
_Fish of greatest Esteem in the West Indies._
The _Indians_ of _Peru_ esteem of three Fishes more than any other,
_viz._ the _Sea Torteise_, the _Tubaron_, and the _Manate_,[101]
or _Sea Cow_; but in _New-England_ the _Indians_ have in greatest
request, the _Bass_, the _Sturgeon_, the _Salmon_, the _Lamprey_, the
_Eel_, the _Frost-fish_, the _Lobster_ and the _Clam_.
{38} Fourthly, Of Serpents, and Insects.[102]
_The Pond Frog._[103]
The Pond _Frog_, which chirp in the Spring like _Sparows_, and croke
like Toads in Autumn: Some of these when they set upon their breech
are a Foot high; the _Indians_ will tell you, that up in the Country
there are Pond _Frogs_ as big as a Child of a year old.
_For Burns, Scalds, and Inflammations._
They are of a glistering brass colour, and very fat, which is
excellent for Burns and Scaldings, to take out the Fire, and heal
them, leaving no Scar; and is also very good to take away any
Inflammation.
_The Rattle Snake._[104]
The _Rattle Snake_, who poysons with a Vapour that comes thorough two
crooked Fangs in their Mouth; the hollow of these Fangs are as black
as Ink: The _Indians_, when weary with travelling, will {39} take
them up with their bare hands, laying hold with one hand behind their
Head, with the other taking hold of their Tail, and, with their teeth
tear off the Skin of their backs, and feed upon them alive; which
they say refresheth them.
_For frozen Limbs, Aches, and Bruises._
They have Leafs of Fat in their Bellies, which is excellent to
annoint frozen Limbs, and for Aches and Bruises wondrous soveraign.
Their Hearts swallowed fresh, is a good Antidote against their
Venome, and their Liver (the Gall taken out) bruised and applied to
their Bitings is a present Remedy.
Of Insects.[105]
_A Bug._
There is a certain kind of _Bug_ like a _Beetle_, but of a glittering
brass colour, with four strong Tinsel Wings; their Bodies are full
of Corruption or white Matter like a Maggot; being dead, and kept
awhile, they will stench odiously; they beat the _Humming Birds_ from
the Flowers.
{40} _The Wasp._
The _Wasps_ in this Countrey are pied, black and white, breed in
Hives made like a great Pine Apple, their entrance is at the lower
end, the whole Hive is of an Ash Colour, but of what matter its made
no man knows; wax it is not, neither will it melt nor fry, but will
take fire suddenly like Tinder: this they fasten to a Bow, or build
it round about a low Bush, a Foot from the ground.
_The flying Gloworm._
The flying _Gloworm_, flying in dark Summer Nights like sparks of
Fire in great number; they are common likewise, in _Palestina_.
{41} Fifthly, Of Plants.
_AND_
1. _Of such Plants as are common with us in_ ENGLAND.
_Hedghog-grass._[106]
_Mattweed._[107]
_Cats-tail._[108]
_Stichwort_, commonly taken here by ignorant People for _Eyebright_;
it blows in _June_.[109]
_Blew Flower-de-luce_; the roots are not knobby, but long and
streight, and very white, with a multitude of strings.[110]
_To provoke Vomit and for Bruises._
It is excellent for to provoke Vomiting, and for Bruises on the Feet
or Face. They Flower in _June_, and grow upon dry sandy Hills as well
as in low wet Grounds.
_Yellow bastard Daffodill_; it flowereth in _May_, the green leaves
are spotted with black spots.[111]
_Dogstones_, a kind of _Satyrion_, whereof there are several kinds
groweth in our Salt Marshes.[112]
{42} _To procure Love._
I once took notice of a wanton Womans compounding the solid Roots of
this Plant with Wine, for an Amorous Cup; which wrought the desired
effect.
_Watercresses._[113]
_Red Lillies_ grow all over the Country innumerably amongst the small
Bushes, and flower in _June_.[114]
_Wild Sorrel._[115]
_Adders Tongue_ comes not up till _June_; I have found it upon dry
hilly grounds, in places where the water hath stood all Winter,
in _August_, and did then make Oyntment of the Herb new gathered;
the fairest Leaves grow amongst short _Hawthorn_ Bushes, that are
plentifully growing in such hollow places.[116]
_One Blade._[117]
_Lilly Convallie_, with the yellow Flowers grows upon rocky banks by
the Sea.[118]
_Water Plantane_, here called _Water suck-leaves_.[119]
_For Burns and Scalds, and to draw Water out of swell’d Legs._
It is much used for Burns and Scalds, and to draw water out of
swell’d Legs. _Bears_ feed much upon this Plant, so do the _Moose
Deer_.
{43} _Sea Plantane_, three kinds.[120]
_Small-water Archer._[121]
_Autumn Bell Flower._[122]
_White Hellibore_, which is the first Plant that springs up in this
Country, and the first that withers; it grows in deep black Mould and
Wet, in such abundance, that you may in a small compass gather whole
Cart-loads of it.[123]
_Wounds and Aches Cured by the_ Indians. _For the Tooth-ach. For
Herpes milliares._
The _Indians_ Cure their Wounds with it, annointing the Wound first
with Raccoons greese, or Wild-Cats greese, and strewing upon it the
powder of the Roots; and for Aches they scarifie the grieved part,
and annoint it with one of the foresaid Oyls, then strew upon it the
powder: The powder of the Root put into a hollow Tooth, is good for
the Tooth-ach: The Root sliced thin and boyled in Vineager, is very
good against _Herpes Milliaris_.
_Arsmart_, both kinds.[124]
_Spurge Time_, it grows upon dry sandy Sea Banks, and is very like to
_Rupter-wort_, it is full of Milk.[125]
_Rupter-wort_, with the white flower.[126]
Jagged _Rose-penny-wort_.[127]
{44} _Soda bariglia_, or _massacote_, the Ashes of _Soda_, of which
they make Glasses.
_Glass-wort_, here called _Berrelia_, it grows abundantly in Salt
Marshes.[128]
_St._ John_’s-Wort_.[129]
_St._ Peter_’s-Wort_.[130]
_Speed-well Chick-weed._[131]
_Male fluellin_, or _Speed-well_.[132]
_Upright Peniroyal._[133]
_Wild-Mint._[134]
_Cat-Mint._[135]
_Egrimony._[136]
The lesser _Clot-Bur_.[137]
_Water Lilly_, with yellow Flowers, the _Indians_ Eat the Roots,
which are long a boiling, they tast like the Liver of a Sheep, the
_Moose Deer_ feed much upon them, at which time the _Indians_ kill
them, when their heads are under water.[138]
_Dragons_, their leaves differ from all the kinds with us, they come
up in _June_.[139]
_Violets_ of three kinds, the White Violet which is sweet, but not so
strong as our Blew Violets; Blew Violets without sent, and a Reddish
Violet without sent; they do not blow till _June_.[140]
{45} _For swell’d Legs._
_Wood-bine_, good for hot swellings of the Legs, fomenting
with the decoction, and applying the _Feces_ in the form of a
_Cataplasme_.[141]
_Salomons-Seal_, of which there is three kinds; the first common
in _England_, the second, _Virginia Salomons-Seal_, and the third,
differing from both, is called _Treacle Berries_, having the perfect
tast of Treacle when they are ripe; and will keep good along while;
certainly a very wholsome Berry, and medicinable.[142]
_Doves-Foot._[143]
_Herb Robert._[143]
_Knobby Cranes Bill._[143]
_For Agues._
_Ravens-Claw_, which flowers in _May_, and is admirable for
Agues.[143]
_Cinkfoil._[144]
_Tormentile._[144]
_Avens_, with the leaf of _Mountane-Avens_, the flower and root of
_English Avens_.[145]
_Strawberries._[146]
_Wild Angelica_, _majoris_ and _minoris_.[147]
_Alexanders_, which grow upon Rocks by the Sea shore.[148]
{46} _Yarrow_, with the white Flower.[149]
_Columbines_, of a flesh colour, growing upon Rocks.[150]
_Oak of Hierusalem._[151]
_Achariston is an excellent Medicine for stopping of the Lungs upon
Cold, Ptisick_, &c.
_Oak of Cappadocia_, both much of a nature, but Oak of _Hierusalem_
is stronger in operation; excellent for stuffing of the Lungs upon
Colds, shortness of Wind, and the Ptisick; maladies that the Natives
are often troubled with: I helped several of the _Indians_ with a
Drink made of two Gallons of _Molosses wort_, (for in that part of
the Country where I abode, we made our Beer of Molosses, Water, Bran,
chips of _Sassafras_ Root, and a little Wormwood, well boiled,) into
which I put of Oak of _Hierusalem_, Cat-mint, Sowthistle, of each one
handful, of _Enula Campana_ Root one Ounce, Liquorice scrap’d brused
and cut in pieces, one Ounce, Sassafras Root cut into thin chips, one
Ounce, Anny-seed and sweet Fennel-seed, of each one Spoonful bruised;
boil these in a close Pot, upon a soft Fire to the consumption of one
Gallon, then take it off, and strein it gently; you may if you will
{47} boil the streined liquor with Sugar to a Syrup, then when it is
Cold, put it up into Glass Bottles, and take thereof three or four
spoonfuls at a time, letting it run down your throat as leasurely as
possibly you can; do thus in the morning, in the Afternoon, and at
Night going to Bed.
_Goose-Grass_, or _Clivers_.[152]
_Fearn._[153]
_Brakes._[153]
_Wood sorrel_, with the yellow flower.[154]
_Elm._[155]
_Line Tree_, both kinds.[156]
_A way to draw out Oyl of Akrons, or the like_, &c.
_Maple_; of the Ashes of this Tree the _Indians_ make a lye, with
which they force out Oyl from Oak Akorns that is highly esteemed by
the _Indians_.[157]
_Dew-Grass._[158]
_Earth-Nut_, which are of divers kinds, one bearing very beautiful
Flowers.[159]
_Fuss-Balls_, very large.[160]
_Mushrooms_, some long and no bigger than ones finger, others jagged
flat, round, none like our great Mushrooms in _England_, of these
some are of a Scarlet colour, others a deep Yellow, _&c._[160]
{48} Blew flowered _Pimpernel_.[161]
Noble _Liver-wort_, one sort with white flowers, the other with
blew.[162]
_Black-Berry._[163]
_Dew-Berry._
_Rasp-Berry_, here called _Mul-berry_.
_Goose-Berries_, of a deep red Colour.[164]
_Haw-thorn_, the Haws being as big as Services, and very good to eat,
and not so astringent as the Haws in _England_.[165]
_Toad flax._[166]
_Pellamount_, or Mountain time.[167]
_Mouse-ear Minor._[168]
_The making of Oyl of Akrons. To strengthen weak Members. For
Scall’d-heads._
There is _Oak_ of three kinds, white, red and black, the white is
excellent to make Canoes of, Shallopes, Ships, and other Vessels
for the Sea, and for Claw-board, and Pipe-staves, the black is good
to make Waynscot of; and out of the white Oak Acorns, (which is the
Acorn Bears delight to feed upon): The Natives draw an Oyl, taking
the rottenest Maple Wood, which being burnt to ashes, they make
a strong Lye therewith, wherein they boyl their white Oak-Acorns
until the Oyl swim on the top in great quantity; this {49} they
fleet off, and put into bladders to annoint their naked Limbs, which
corrobarates them exceedingly; they eat it likewise with their Meat,
it is an excellent clear and sweet Oyl: Of the Moss that grows at
the roots of the white Oak the _Indesses_ make a strong decoction,
with which they help their _Papouses_ or young Childrens scall’d
Heads.[169]
_Juniper_, which _Cardanus_ saith is Cedar in hot Countries, and
Juniper in cold Countries; it is hear very dwarfish and shrubby,
growing for the most part by the Sea side.[170]
_Willow._[171]
_Spurge Lawrel_, called here _Poyson berry_, it kills the _English_
Cattle if they chance to feed upon it, especially Calves.[172]
_Gaul_, or noble Mirtle.[173]
_Elder._[174]
_Dwarf Elder._[175]
_For a Cut with a Bruse._
_Alder_; An _Indian_ Bruising and Cutting of his Knee with a fall,
used no other remedy, than Alder Bark, chewed fasting, and laid to
it, which did soon heal it.[176]
_To take Fire out of a Burn._
The decoction is also excellent to take {50} the Fire out of a Burn
or Scalld.
_For Wounds and Cuts._
For Wounds and Cuts make a strong decoction of Bark of Alder, pour of
it into the Wound, and drink thereof.
_Hasel._[177]
_For sore Mouths, falling of the Pallat._
_Filberd_, both with hairy husks upon the Nuts, and setting hollow
from the Nut, and fill’d with a kind of water of an astringent taste;
it is very good for sore Mouths, and falling of the Pallat, as is the
whole green Nut before it comes to Kernel, burnt and pulverized. The
Kernels are seldom without maggots in them.[177]
[Illustration: _The Figure of the Walnut._]
_Walnut_; the Nuts differ much from ours in _Europe_, they being
smooth, much like a Nutmeg in shape, and not much bigger; some three
cornered, all of them but thinly replenished with Kernels.[178]
{51} _Chestnuts_; very sweet in taste, and may be (as they usually
are) eaten raw; the _Indians_ sell them to the _English_ for twelve
pence the bushel.[179]
_Beech._[180]
_Ash._[181]
_Quick-beam_, or _Wild-Ash_.[182]
_Coals of Birch pulverized and wrought with the white of an Egg to
a Salve, is a gallant Remedy for dry scurfy Sores upon the Shins;
and for Bruised Wounds and Cuts._
_Birch_, white and black; the bark of Birch is used by the _Indians_
for bruised Wounds and Cuts, boyled very tender, and stampt betwixt
two stones to a Plaister, and the decoction thereof poured into the
Wound; And also to fetch the Fire out of Burns and Scalds.[183]
_Poplar_, but differing in leaf.[184]
_Plumb Tree_, several kinds, bearing some long, round, white, yellow,
red, and black Plums; all differing in their Fruit from those in
_England_.[185]
_Wild Purcelane._[186]
_Wood-wax_, wherewith they dye many pretty Colours.[187]
Red and black _Currans_.[188]
{52} _For the Gout, or any Ach._
_Spunck_, an excrescence growing out of black Birch, the _Indians_
use it for Touchwood; and therewith they help the _Sciatica_, or Gout
of the Hip, or any great Ach, burning the Patient with it in two or
three places upon the Thigh, and upon certain Veins.[189]
2. _Of such Plants as are proper to the Country._
_To ripen any Impostume or Swelling. For sore Mouths. The
New-Englands standing Dish._
_Indian_ Wheat, of which there is three sorts, yellow, red, and blew;
the blew is commonly Ripe before the other a Month: Five or Six
Grains of _Indian_ Wheat hath produced in one year 600. It is hotter
than our Wheat and clammy; excellent in _Cataplasms_ to ripen any
Swelling or impostume. The decoction of the blew Corn, is good to
wash sore Mouths with: It is light of digestion, and the _English_
make a kind of Loblolly of it {53} to eat with Milk, which they call
_Sampe_; they beat it in a Morter, and sift the flower out of it:
the remainder they call _Homminey_, which they put into a Pot of two
or three Gallons, with Water, and boyl it upon a gentle Fire till
it be like a Hasty Pudden; they put of this into Milk, and so eat
it. Their Bread also they make of the _Homminey_ so boiled, and mix
their Flower with it, cast it into a deep Bason in which they form
the Loaf, and then turn it out upon the Peel, and presently put it
into the Oven before it spreads abroad; the Flower makes excellent
Puddens.[190]
_Bastard Calamus Aromaticus_, agrees with the description, but is not
barren; they flower in _July_, and grow in wet places, as about the
brinks of Ponds.[191]
_To keep the Feet warm._
The _English_ make use of the Leaves to keep their Feet warm. There
is a little Beast called a _Muskquash_, that liveth in small Houses
in the Ponds, like Mole Hills, that feed upon these Plants. Their
Cods sent as sweet and as strong as Musk, and will last along time
handsomly wrap’d up in Cotton wool; they are very good to lay amongst
Cloaths. _May_ is the best {54} time to kill them, for then their
Cods sent strongest.
_Wild-Leekes_, which the _Indians_ use much to eat with their
fish.[192]
A Plant like _Knavers-Mustard_, called _New-England_ Mustard.[193]
_Mountain-Lillies_, bearing many yellow Flowers, turning up their
Leaves like the _Martigon_, or _Turks_ Cap, spotted with small spots
as deep as Safforn, they Flower in _July_.[194]
_One Berry_, or Herb _True Love_. See the Figure.[195]
_Tobacco_, there is not much of it Planted in _New-England_. The
_Indians_ make use of a small kind with short round leaves called
_Pooke_.[196]
_For Burns and Scalds._
With a strong decoction of Tobacco they Cure Burns and Scalds,
boiling it in Water from a Quart to a Pint, then wash the Sore
therewith, and strew on the powder of dryed Tobacco.
[Illustration: _Hollow Leaved Lavender._]
_Hollow Leaved Lavender_, is a Plant that grows in salt Marshes
overgrown with Moss, with one straight stalk about the bigness of an
Oat straw, better than a Cubit high; upon the top standeth one {55}
fantastical Flower, the Leaves grow close from the root, in shape
like a Tankard, hollow, tough, and alwayes full of Water, the Root
is made up of many small strings, growing only in the Moss, and not
in the Earth, the whole Plant comes to its perfection in _August_,
and then it has Leaves, Stalks, and Flowers as red as blood,
excepting the Flower which hath some yellow admixt. I wonder where
the knowledge of this Plant hath slept all this while, _i.e._ above
Forty Years.[197]
_For all manner of Fluxes._
It is excellent for all manner of Fluxes.
_Live for ever_, a kind of _Cud-weed_.[198]
_Tree Primerose_, taken by the Ignorant for _Scabious_.[199]
_A Solar Plant, as some will have it._
_Maiden Hair_, or _Cappellus veneris verus_, which ordinarily is half
a Yard in height. The _Apothecaries_ for shame now will substitute
_Wall-Rue_ no more for _Maiden Hair_, since it grows in abundance in
_New-England_, from whence they may have good store.[200]
_Pirola_, Two kinds. See the Figures, both of them excellent Wound
Herbs.[201]
_Homer’s Molley._[202]
{56} _Lysimachus_ or _Loose Strife_, it grows in dry grounds in the
open Sun four foot high, Flowers from the middle of the Plant to the
top, the Flowers purple, standing upon a small sheath or cod, which
when it is ripe breaks and puts forth a white silken doun, the stalk
is red, and as big as ones Finger.[203]
_Marygold of Peru_, of which there are two kinds, one bearing black
seeds, the other black and white streak’d, this beareth the fairest
flowers, commonly but one upon the very top of the stalk.[204]
_Treacle-Berries._ See before _Salomons Seal_.
_Oak of Hierusalem._ See before.
_Oak of Cappadocea._ See before.
_Earth-Nuts_, differing much from those in _England_, one sort of
them bears a most beautiful Flower.[205]
_For the Scurvy and Dropsie._
_Sea-Tears_, they grow upon the Sea banks in abundance, they are good
for the Scurvy and Dropsie, boiled and eaten as a Sallade, and the
broth drunk with it.[206]
_Indian Beans, better for Physick use than other Beans._
_Indian Beans_, falsly called _French beans_, are better for Physick
and Chyrurgery {57} than our Garden Beans. _Probatum est_.[207]
_Squashes_, but more truly _Squontersquashes_, a kind of Mellon,
or rather Gourd, for they oftentimes degenerate into Gourds;
some of these are green, some yellow, some longish like a Gourd,
others round like an Apple, all of them pleasant food boyled and
buttered, and season’d with Spice; but the yellow _Squash_ called
an Apple _Squash_, because like an Apple, and about the bigness
of a Pome-water is the best kind;[208] they are much eaten by the
_Indians_ and the _English_, yet they breed the small white Worms
(which Physitians call _Ascarides_,) in the long Gut that vex the
Fundament with a perpetual itching, and a desire to go to stool.
_Water-Mellon_, it is a large Fruit, but nothing near so big as a
Pompion, colour, smoother, and of a sad Grass green rounder or more
rightly _Sap-green_; with some yellowness admixt when ripe; the seeds
are black, the flesh or pulpe exceeding juicy.[209]
_For heat and thirst in Feavers._
It is often given to those sick of Feavers, and other hot Diseases
with good success.
{58} _New-England Daysie_, or _Primrose_, is the second kind of
_Navel Wort_ in _Johnson_ upon _Gerard_; it flowers in _May_, and
grows amongst Moss upon hilly Grounds and Rocks that are shady.[210]
_For Burns and Scalds._
It is very good for Burns and Scalds.
_An Achariston, or Medicine deserving thanks._
An _Indian_ whose Thumb was swell’d, and very much inflamed, and full
of pain, increasing and creeping along to the wrist, with little
black spots under the Thumb against the Nail; I Cured it with this
_Umbellicus veneris_ Root and all, the Yolk of an Egg, and Wheat
flower, _f. Cataplasme_.
_Briony of Peru_, (we call it though it grown hear) or rather
_Scammony_; some take it for _Mechoacan_: The green Juice is
absolutely Poyson; yet the Root when dry may safely be given to
strong Bodies.[211]
_Red_ and _Black Currence_. See before.
_Wild Damask Roses_, single, but very large and sweet, but
stiptick.[212]
_Sweet Fern_,[213] the Roots run one within another like a Net,
being very long and spreading abroad under the upper crust of {59}
the Earth, sweet in taste, but withal astringent, much hunted after
by our Swine: The _Scotchmen_ that are in _New-England_ have told me
that it grows in _Scotland_.
_For Fluxes._
The People boyl the tender tops in _Molosses_ Beer, and in Possets
for Fluxes, for which it is excellent.
_Sarsaparilia_, a Plant not yet sufficiently known by the _English_:
Some say it is a kind of _Bind Weed_; we have, in _New-England_ two
Plants, that go under the name of _Sarsaparilia_: the one not above
a foot in height without Thorns, the other having the same Leaf, but
is a shrub as high as a _Goose Berry Bush_, and full of sharp Thorns;
this I esteem as the right, by the shape and savour of the Roots, but
rather by the effects answerable to that we have from other parts of
the World; It groweth upon dry Sandy banks by the Sea side, and upon
the banks of Rivers, so far as the Salt water flowes; and within Land
up in the Country, as some have reported.[214]
_Bill Berries_, two kinds, Black and Sky Coloured, which is more
frequent.[215]
{60} _To cool the heat of Feavers, and quench Thirst._
They are very good to allay the burning heat of Feavers, and hot
Agues, either in Syrup or Conserve.
_A most excellent Summer Dish._
They usually eat of them put into a Bason, with Milk, and sweetned a
little more with Sugar and Spice, or for cold Stomachs, in Sack. The
_Indians_ dry them in the Sun, and sell them to the _English_ by the
_Bushell_, who make use of them instead of Currence, putting of them
into Puddens, both boyled and baked, and into Water Gruel.
_Knot Berry_, or _Clowde Berry_, seldom ripe.[216]
_Sumach_, differing from all that I did ever see in the Herbalists;
our _English_ Cattle devour it most abominably, leaving neither Leaf
nor Branch, yet it sprouts again next Spring.[217]
_For Colds._
The _English_ use to boyl it in Beer, and drink it for Colds; and so
do the _Indians_, from whom the _English_ had the Medicine.
_Wild Cherry_, they grow in clusters like {61} Grapes, of the same
bigness, blackish, red when ripe, and of a harsh taste.[218]
_For Fluxes._
They are also good for Fluxes.
Transplanted and manured, they grow exceeding fair.
_Board Pine_, is a very large Tree two or three Fathom about.[219]
_For Wounds._
It yields a very soveraign Turpentine for the Curing of desperate
Wounds.
_For Stabbs._
The _Indians_ make use of the _Moss_ boiled in Spring Water, for
Stabbs, pouring in the Liquor, and applying the boiled Moss well
stamp’d or beaten betwixt two stones.
_For Burning and Scalding._
And for Burning and Scalding, they first take out the fire with a
strong decoction of Alder Bark, then they lay upon it a Playster of
the bark of _Board Pine_ first boyled tender, and beat to a Playster
betwixt two stones.
_To take Fire out of a Burn._
One _Christopher Luxe_, a Fisher-man, having burnt his Knee Pan, was
healed {62} again by an _Indian Webb_, or Wife, (for so they call
those Women that have Husbands;) She first made a strong decoction
of Alder bark, with which she took out the Fire by Imbrocation, or
letting of it drop upon the Sore, which would smoak notably with it;
then she Playstered it with the Bark of _Board Pine_, or _Hemlock
Tree_, boyled soft and stampt betwixt two stones, till it was as thin
as brown Paper, and of the same Colour, she annointed the Playster
with _Soyles Oyl_, and the Sore likewise, then she laid it on warm,
and sometimes she made use of the bark of the _Larch Tree_.
_To eat out proud Flesh in a Sore._
And to eat out the proud Flesh, they take a kind of _Earth Nut_
boyled and stamped, and last of all, they apply to the Sore the
Roots of _Water Lillies_ boiled and stamped betwixt two stones, to a
Playster.
_For Stitches._
The _Firr Tree_, or _Pitch Tree_,[220] the Tar that is made of all
sorts of _Pitch Wood_ is an excellent thing to take away those
desperate Stitches of the Sides, which perpetually afflicteth those
poor People that are {63} stricken with the _Plague of the Back_.
_Note_, You must make a large Toast, or Cake slit and dip it in the
Tar, and bind it warm to the Side.
_The most common Diseases in New England._
The _Black Pox_, the _Spotted Feaver_, the _Griping of the Guts_,
the _Dropsie_, and the _Sciatica_, are the killing Diseases in
_New-England_.
The _Larch Tree_, which is the only Tree of all the Pines, that sheds
his Leaves before Winter; The other remaining Green all the Year:
This is the Tree from which we gather that useful purging excrense,
_Agarick_.[221]
_For Wounds and Cuts._
The Leaves and Gum are both very good to heal Wounds and Cuts.
_For Wounds with Bruises._
I cured once a desperate Bruise with a Cut upon the Knee Pan, with an
Ungent made with the Leaves of the _Larch Tree_, and Hogs Grease, but
the Gum is best.
_Spruce_ is a goodly Tree, of which they make Masts for Ships, and
Sail Yards: It is generally conceived by those that have {64}
skill in Building of Ships, that here is absolutely the best Trees
in the World, many of them being three Fathom about, and of great
length.[222]
_An Achariston for the Scurvy._
The tops of Green _Spruce_ Boughs boiled in _Bear_, and drunk, is
assuredly one of the best Remedies for the Scurvy, restoring the
Infected party in a short time; they also make a Lotion of some of
the decoction, adding Hony and Allum.
_Hemlock Tree_, a kind of _Spruce_, the bark of this Tree serves to
dye Tawny; the Fishers Tan their Sails and Nets with it.[223]
_To break Sore or Swelling._
The _Indians_ break and heal their Swellings and Sores with it,
boyling the inner Bark of young _Hemlock_ very well, then knocking of
it betwixt two stones to a Playster, and annointing or soaking it in
Soyls Oyl, they apply it to the Sore: It will break a Sore Swelling
speedily.
_One Berry_, _Herba Paris_, or _True Love_.[224]
_Sassafras_, or _Ague Tree_.[225]
{65} _For heat in Feavers._
The Chips of the Root boyled in Beer is excellent to allay the hot
rage of Feavers, being drunk.
_For Bruises and dry Blowes._
The Leaves of the same Tree are very good made into an Oyntment,
for Bruises and dry Blows. The Bark of the Root we use instead of
Cinamon; and it is Sold at the _Barbadoes_ for two Shillings the
Pound.
And why may not this be the Bark the Jesuits Powder was made of, that
was so Famous not long since in _England_, for Agues?
_Cran Berry_, or _Bear Berry_, because Bears use much to feed upon
them, is a small trayling Plant that grows in Salt Marshes that are
over-grown with Moss; the tender Branches (which are reddish) run out
in great length, lying flat on the ground, where at distances, they
take Root, over-spreading sometimes half a score Acres, sometimes
in small patches of about a Rood or the like; the Leaves are like
Box, but greener, thick and glittering; the Blossoms are very like
the Flowers of {66} our _English Night Shade_, after which succeed
the Berries, hanging by long small foot stalks, no bigger than a
hair; at first they are of a pale yellow Colour, afterwards red, and
as big as a Cherry; some perfectly round, others Oval, all of them
hollow, of a sower astringent taste; they are ripe in _August_ and
_September_.[226]
_For the Scurvy._
They are excellent against the Scurvy.
_For the heat in Feavers._
They are also good to allay the fervour of hot Diseases.
The _Indians_ and _English_ use them much, boyling them with Sugar
for Sauce to eat with their Meat; and it is a delicate Sauce,
especially for roasted Mutton: Some make Tarts with them as with
Goose Berries.
_Vine_, much differing in the Fruit, all of them very fleshy, some
reasonably pleasant; others have a taste of Gun Powder, and these
grow in Swamps, and low wet Grounds.[227]
{67} 3. _Of such Plants as are proper to the Country, and have no
Name._
(1.)
_Pirola_, or _Winter Green_, that kind which grows with us in
_England_ is common in _New-England_,[228] but there is another
plant which I judge to be a kind of _Pirola_, and proper to this
Country, a very beautiful Plant; The shape of the Leaf and the just
bigness of it you may see in the Figure.
[Illustration: _The Leaf of the Plant judged to be a kind of Pirola._]
The Ground whereof is a Sap Green, embroydered (as it were) with
many pale yellow Ribs, the whole Plant in shape is {68} like _Semper
vivum_, but far less, being not above a handful high, with one
slender stalk, adorned with small pale yellow Flowers like the other
_Pirola_. It groweth not every where, but in some certain small spots
overgrown with Moss, close by swamps and shady; they are green both
Summer and Winter.[229]
_For Wounds._
They are excellent Wound Herbs, but this I judge to be the better by
far. _Probatum est._
[Illustration]
(2.)
This Plant was brought to me by a neighbour, who (wandering in the
Woods to find out his strayed Cattle,) lost himself {69} for two
Dayes, being as he ghessed eight or ten Miles from the Sea-side.
The Root was pretty thick and black, having a number of small black
strings growing from it, the stalks of the Leaves about a handful
long, the Leaves were round and as big as a Silver five Shilling
piece, of a sap or dark green Colour, with a line or ribb as black
as Jeat round the Circumference, from whence came black lines or
ribs at equal distance, all of them meeting in a black spot in the
Center.[230] If I had staid longer in the Country, I should have
purposely made a Journey into those Parts where it was gathered, to
discover if possible, the Stalk and Flower; but now I shall refer it
to those that are younger, and better able to undergo the pains and
trouble of finding it out; for I understood by the Natives, that it
is not common, that is, every where to be found, no more then the
embroydered _Pirola_, which also is a most elegant Plant, and which I
did endeavour to bring over, but it perished at Sea.
_For Wounds._
_Clownes all heal_, of _New-England_, is another Wound Herb not
Inferiour to {70} ours, but rather beyond it: Some of our _English_
practitioners take it for _Vervene_, and use it for the same, wherein
they are grosly mistaken.
The Leaf is like a Nettle Leaf, but narrower and longer; the stalk
about the bigness of a Nettle stalk, Champhered and hollow, and of
a dusky red Colour; the Flowers are blew, small, and many, growing
in spoky tufts at the top, and are not hooded, but having only four
round Leaves, after which followeth an infinite of small longish
light brown Seed; the Roots are knotty and matted together with an
infinite number of small white strings; the whole Plant is commonly
two Cubits high, bitter in taste, with a Rosenie favour.[231]
{71} [Illustration]
(3.)
This Plant is one of the first that springs up after White
_Hellibore_, in the like wet and black grounds, commonly by
_Hellibore_, with a sheath or Hood like Dragons, but the pestle is of
another shape, that is, having a round Purple Ball on the top of it,
beset (as it were) with Burs; the hood shoots forth immediately from
the Root, before any Leaf appears, having a Green {72} sprig growing
fast by it, like the smaller _Horse Tayl_, about the latter end of
_April_ the Hood and Sprig wither away, and there comes forth in the
room a Bud, like the Bud of the _Walnut Tree_, but bigger; the top of
it is of a pale Green Colour, covered with brown skins like an Onion,
white underneath the Leaves, which spread in time out of the Bud,
grow from the root with a stalk a Foot long, and are as big as the
great _Bur Dock_ Leaves, and of the colour; the Roots are many, and
of the bigness of the steel of a Tobacco Pipe, and very white; the
whole Plant sents as strong as a Fox; it continues till _August_.[232]
{73} [Illustration: _A Branch of the Humming Bird Tree._]
{74} (4.)
This Plant the _Humming Bird_ feedeth upon, it groweth likewise in
wet grounds, and is not at its full growth till _July_, and then it
is two Cubits high and better, the Leaves are thin, and of a pale
green Colour, some of them as big as a Nettle Leaf, it spreads into
many Branches, knotty at the setting on, and of a purple Colour, and
garnished on the top with many hollow dangling Flowers of a bright
yellow Colour, speckled with a deeper yellow as it were shadowed,
the Stalkes are as hollow as a Kix, and so are the Roots, which are
transparent, very tender, and full of a yellowish juice.[233]
_For Bruises and Aches upon stroaks._
The _Indians_ make use of it for Aches, being bruised between two
stones, and laid to cold, but made (after the _English_ manner) into
an unguent with Hogs Grease, there is not a more soveraign remedy for
bruises of what kind soever; and for Aches upon Stroaks.
In _August_, 1670. in a Swamp amongst _Alders_, I found a fort of
Tree _Sow Thistle_, the Stalks of some two or three Inches, {75}
about, as hollow as a Kix and very brittle, the Leaves were smooth,
and in shape like _Sonchus lævis_, i.e. _Hares Lettice_, but longer,
some about a Foot, these grow at a distance one from another, almost
to the top, where it begins to put forth Flowers between the Leaves
and the Stalk, the top of the stalk runs out into a spike, beset
about with Flowers like Sow Thistle, of a blew or azure colour: I
brought home one of the Plants which was between twelve and thirteen
Foot in length, I wondered at it the more for that so large and tall
a Plant should grow from so small a Root, consisting of slender white
strings little bigger than Bents, and not many of them, and none
above a Finger long, spreading under the upper crust of the Earth;
the whole Plant is full of Milk, and of a strong favour.[234]
{76} [Illustration: _The Plant when it springs up first._]
{77} [Illustration: _The Figure of the Plant when it is at full
growth._]
(5.)
This Plant I found in a gloomy dry Wood under an Oak, 1670. the
_18th_ of _August_, afterwards I found it in open Champain grounds,
but yet somewhat scarce: The Root is about the bigness of a _French_
Walnut, the Bark thereof is brown, and rugged, within of a yellowish
Colour, from whence ariseth a slender stalk, no bigger than an Oat
straw, about two Cubits in height, somewhat better than a handful
above the Root shooteth out one Leaf of a Grass Green colour, and
an Inch or two above that, another Leaf, and so four or five at a
greater distance one from another, till they come within a handful
of the top, where upon slender foot stalks grow the Flowers four or
five, more or fewer, clustering together in pale long green husks
milk white, consisting of ten small Leaves, snipt a little on the
edges with purple hair threads in the midst; the whole Plant is of a
brakish tast: When it is at its full growth the stalks are as red as
Blood.[235]
{78} [Illustration]
{79} (6.)
This Plant Flowers in _August_, and grows in wet Ground; it is
about three or four foot in height, having a square slender stalk,
chamfered, hollow and tuff, the Leaves grow at certain distances one
against another, of the colour of _Egrimony_ Leaves sharpe pointed,
broadest in the midst about an Inch and half, and three or four
Inches in length, snipt about the edges like a Nettle Leaf, at the
top of the Stalk for four or five Inches thick, set with pale green
husks, out of which the Flowers grow, consisting of one Leaf, shaped
like the head of a Serpent, opening at the top like a mouth, and
hollow throughout, containing four crooked pointels, and on the top
of every pointel a small, glistering, green button, covered with
a little white woolly matter, by which they are with the pointels
fastened close together and shore up the tip of the upper chap, the
crooked pointels are very stiff and hard, from the bottom of the
husks, wherein the Flower stands, from the top of the Seed Vessel
shoots out a white thread which runs in at the bottom of the Flower,
and so {80} out at the mouth; the whole Flower is milk white, the
inside of the chaps reddish, the Root I did not observe.[236]
[Illustration]
{81} (7.)
This Plant I take for a varigated Herb _Paris_, _True Love_ or _One
Berry_, or rather _One Flower_, which is milk white, and made up with
four Leaves, with many black threads in the middle, upon every thread
grows a Berry (when the Leaves of the Flower are fallen) as big as a
white pease, of a light red colour when they are ripe, and clustering
together in a round form as big as a Pullets Egg, which at distance
shews but as one Berry, very pleasant in taste, and not unwholsome;
the Root, Leaf, and Flower differ not from our _English_ kind, and
their time of blooming and ripening agree, and therefore doubtless a
kind of _Herba Paris_.[237]
{82} [Illustration: _The small Sun Flower, or Marygold of America._]
{83} [Illustration]
{84} (8.)
This Plant is taken by our Simplists to be a kind of _Golden Rod_,
by others for _Sarazens Consound_. I judge it to be a kind of small
_Sun Flower_, or _Marygold_ of the _West Indies_; the Root is brown
and slender, a foot and half in length, running a slope under the
upper face of the Earth, with some strings here and there, the
stalk as big as the steal of a Tobacco pipe, full of pith, commonly
brownish, sometimes purple, three or four foot high, the Leaves grow
at a distance one against another, rough, hard, green above, and gray
underneath, slightly snipt and the ribs appear most on the back side
of the Leaf, the Flower is of a bright yellow, with little yellow
cups in the midst, as in the _Marygold_ of _Peru_, with black threads
in them with yellow pointels, the Flower spreads it self abroad out
of a cup made up of many green beards, not unlike a Thistle; Within a
handful of the top of the stalk (when the Flower is fallen), growes
an excrense or knob as big as a Walnut, which being broken yieldeth a
kind of _Turpentine_ or rather _Rosen_.[238]
_What Cutchenele is._
The stalk beneath and above the knob, covered with a multitude of
small Bugs, about the bigness of a great flea, which I presume will
make good _Cutchenele_, ordered as they should be before they come
to have Wings: They make a perfect Scarlet Colour to Paint with, and
durable.
{85} 4. _Of such Plants as have sprung up since the_ English _Planted
and kept Cattle in_ New-England.[239]
_Couch Grass._[240]
_Shepherds Purse._[241]
_Dandelion._[242]
_Groundsel._[243]
_Sow Thistle._[244]
_Wild Arrach._[245]
_Night Shade_, with the white Flower.[246]
_Nettlestinging_, which was the first Plant taken notice of.[247]
_Mallowes._[248]
{86} _Plaintain_, which the Indians call _English-Mans Foot_, as
though produced by their treading.[249]
_Black Henbane._[250]
_Wormwood._[251]
_Sharp pointed Dock._[252]
_Patience._[253]
_Bloodwort._[254]
And I suspect _Adders Tongue_.[255]
_Knot Grass._[256]
_Cheek weed._[257]
_Compherie_, with the white Flower.[258]
_May weed_, excellent for the Mother; some of our _English_ Houswives
call it _Iron Wort_, and make a good Unguent for old Sores.[259]
The great _Clot Bur_.[260]
_Mullin_, with the white Flower.[261]
_Q._ What became of the influence of those Planets that produce and
govern these Plants before this time!
I have now done with such Plants as grow wild in the Country in great
plenty, (although I have not mentioned all) I shall now in the Fifth
place give you to under{87}stand what _English_ Herbs we have growing
in our Gardens that prosper there as well as in their proper Soil,
and of such as do not, and also of such as will not grow there at all.
5. _Of such Garden Herbs (amongst us) as do thrive there, and of such
as do not._[262]
_Cabbidge_ growes there exceeding well.
_Lettice._
_Sorrel._
_Parsley._
_Marygold._
_French Mallowes._
_Chervel._
_Burnet._
_Winter Savory._
_Summer Savory._
_Time._
_Sage._
_Carrats._
_Parsnips_ of a prodigious size.
_Red Beetes._
{88} _Radishes._
_Turnips._
_Purslain._[263]
_Wheat._[264]
_Rye._
_Barley_, which commonly degenerates into _Oats_.
_Oats._
_Pease_ of all sorts, and the best in the World; I never heard of,
nor did see in eight Years time, one Worm eaten Pea.
_Garden Beans._[265]
_Naked Oats_,[266] there called _Silpee_, an excellent grain used
insteed of Oat Meal, they dry it in an Oven, or in a Pan upon the
fire, then beat it small in a Morter.
_Another standing Dish in New-England._
And when the Milk is ready to boil, they put into a pottle of Milk
about ten or twelve spoonfuls of this Meal, so boil it leasurely,
stirring of it every foot, least it burn too; when it is almost
boiled enough, they hang the Kettle up higher, and let it stew only,
in short time it will thicken like a Custard; they season it {89}
with a little Sugar and Spice, and so serve it to the Table in deep
Basons, and it is altogether as good as a White-pot.
_For People weakned with long Sickness._
It exceedingly nourisheth and strengthens people weakned with long
Sickness.
Sometimes they make Water Gruel with it, and sometimes thicken their
Flesh Broth either with this or _Homminey_, if it be for Servants.
_Spear Mint._[267]
_Rew_, will hardly grow.
_Fetherfew_ prospereth exceedingly.
_Southern Wood_, is no Plant for this Country. Nor,
_Rosemary_. Nor
_Bayes_.[268]
_White Satten_ groweth pretty well, so doth
_Lavender Cotton_.[269] But
_Lavender_ is not for the climate.
_Penny Royal._
_Smalledge._
_Ground Ivy_, or _Ale Hoof_.[270]
_Gilly Flowers_ will continue two Years.[271]
{90} _Fennel_ must be taken up, and kept in a warm Cellar all Winter.
_Housleek_ prospereth notably.
_Holly hocks._
_Enula Campana_, in two Years time the Roots rot.[272]
_Comferie_, with white Flowers.
_Coriander_, and
_Dill_, and
_Annis_ thrive exceedingly, but _Annis Seed_, as also the Seed of
_Fennel_ seldom come to maturity; the Seed of _Annis_ is commonly
eaten with a fly.
_Clary_ never lasts but one Summer, the Roots rot with the Frost.
_Sparagus_ thrives exceedingly, so does
_Garden Sorrel_, and
_Sweet Bryer_, or _Eglantine_.[273]
_Bloodwort_ but sorrily, but
_Patience_,[274] and
_English Roses_, very pleasantly.[275]
_Celandine_, by the West Country men called _Kenning Wort_, grows but
slowly.[276]
_Muschata_, as well as in _England_.
_Dittander_, or _Pepper Wort_, flourisheth notably, and so doth
_Tansie._[277]
_Musk Mellons_ are better than our _English_, and
{91} _Cucumbers._
_Pompions_, there be of several kinds, some proper to the
Country,[278] they are dryer then our _English_ Pompions, and better
tasted; you may eat them green.
_The ancient New-England standing Dish._
But the Houswives manner is to slice them when ripe, and cut them
into dice, and so fill a pot with them of two or three Gallons, and
stew them upon a gentle fire a whole day, and as they sink, they fill
again with fresh Pompions, not putting any liquor to them; and when
it is stew’d enough, it will look like bak’d Apples; this they Dish,
putting Butter to it, and a little Vinegar, (with some Spice, as
Ginger, &c.) which makes it tart like an Apple, and so serve it up to
be eaten with Fish or Flesh: It provokes Urin extreamly and is very
windy.
{92} Sixthly and lastly,
_Of Stones, Minerals, Metals and Earths_.[279]
As first, the _Emrald_ which grows in flat Rocks, and is very good.
_Rubies_, which here are very watry.
I have heard a story of an _Indian_, that found a stone, up in the
Country, by a great Pond as big as an Egg, that in a dark Night would
give a light to read by; but I take it to be but a story.
_Diamond_, which are very brittle, and therefore of little worth.
_Crystal_, called by our West Country Men the _Kenning Stone_; by
_Sebegug_ Pond is found in considerable quantity, not far from thence
is a Rock of Crystal called the _Moose_ Rock, because in shape like a
_Moose_, and
_Muscovy Glass_, both white and purple of reasonable content.
_Black Lead._[280]
_Bole Armoniack._
{93} Red and Yellow _Oker_.
_Terra Sigilla._
_Vitriol._
_Antimony._
_Arsnick_, too much.
_Lead._[281]
_Tin._
_Tin Glass._
_Silver._
_Iron_, in abundance, and as good bog Iron as any in the World.
_Copper._ It is reported that the French have a _Copper_ Mine at
_Port Royal_, that yieldeth them twelve Ounces of pure _Copper_ out
of a Pound of _Oar_.
I shall conclude this Section with a strange Cure effected upon a
Drummers Wife, much afflicted with a Wolf in her Breast; the poor
Woman lived with her Husband at a Town called by the _Indians_,
_Casco_, but by the _English_, _Famouth_; where for some time she
swaged the Pain of her Sore, by bathing it with strong Malt Beer,
which it would {94} suck in greedily, as if some living Creature:
When she could come by no more Beer, (for it was brought from
_Boston_, along the Coasts by Merchants,) she made use of _Rhum_,
a strong Water drawn from Sugar Canes, with which it was lull’d a
sleep; at last, (to be rid of it altogether) she put a quantity of
_Arsnick_ to the _Rhum_, and bathing of it as formerly, she utterly
destroyed it, and Cured her self; but her kind Husband, who sucked
out the Poyson as the Sore was healing, lost all his Teeth, but
without further danger or inconvenience.
[Illustration: (decorative icon)]
[Illustration: (decorative banner)]
{95} _An_ ADDITION _of some RARITIES overslipt_.
The _Star Fish_,[282] having fine points like a Star, the whole Fish
no bigger than the Palm of a Mans hand, of a tough substance like
leather, and about an Inch in thickness, whitish underneath, and of
the Colour of a Cucumber above, and somewhat ruff: When it is warm in
ones hand, you may perceive a stiff motion, turning down one point,
and thrusting up another: It is taken to be poysonous; they are very
common, and found thrown up on the Rocks by the Sea side.
_Sea Bream_, which are plentifully taken upon the Sea Coasts, their
Eyes are accounted rare Meat, whereupon the proverbial comparison,
_It is worth a Sea Breams Eye_.[283]
{96} _Blew Fish_, or _Horse_, I did never see any of them in
_England_; they are as big usually as the _Salmon_, and better Meat
by far: It is common in _New-England_ and esteemed the best sort of
Fish next to _Rock Cod_.
_Cat Fish_, having a round Head, and great glaring Eyes like a Cat:
They lye for the most part in holes of Rocks, and are discovered by
their Eyes: It is an excelling Fish.
_Munk Fish_, a flat Fish like scate, having a hood like a Fryers Cowl.
_Clam_, or _Clamp_, a kind of _Shell Fish_, a white Muscle.
_An Achariston, For Pin and Web._
_Sheath Fish_, which are there very plentiful, a delicate Fish, as
good as a _Prawn_, covered with a thin Shell like the sheath of a
Knife, and of the colour of a _Muscle_.
Which shell Calcin’d and Pulveriz’d, is excellent to take off a Pin
and Web, or {97} any kind of Filme growing over the Eye.
_Morse_, or _Sea Horse_, having a great Head, wide Jaws, armed with
Tushes as white as Ivory, of body as big as a Cow, proportioned like
a Hog, of brownish bay, smooth skin’d and impenetrable; they are
frequent at the Isle of _Sables_, their Teeth are worth eight Groats
the Pound; the best Ivory being Sold but for half the Money.[284]
_For Poyson._
It is very good against Poyson.
_For the Cramp._
As also for the Cramp, made into Rings.
_For the Piles._
And a secret for the _Piles_, if a wise Man have the ordering of it.
The _Manaty_, a Fish as big as a Wine pipe, most excellent Meat; bred
in the Rivers of _Hispaniola_ in the _West Indies_; it hath Teats,
and nourisheth its young ones with Milk; it is of a green Colour, and
tasteth like Veal.
{98} _For the Stone Collick._
There is a Stone taken out of the Head that is rare for the _Stone_
and _Collect_.
_To provoke Urine._
Their Bones beat to a Powder and drank with convenient Liquors, is a
gallant Urin provoking Medicine.
_For Wound and Bruise._
An _Indian_, whose Knee was bruised with a fall, and the Skin and
Flesh strip’d down to the middle of the Calf of his Leg; Cured
himself with _Water Lilly_ Roots boyled and stamped.[285]
_For Swellings of the Foot._
An _Indian_ Webb, her Foot being very much swell’d and inflamed,
asswaged the swelling, and took away the inflamation with our Garden
or _English Patience_, the Roots roasted. _f. Cataplas. Anno 1670.
June 28._
_To dissolve a Scirrhous Tumour._
An _Indian_ dissolv’d a _Scirrhous Tumour_ in the Arm and Hip, with a
fomentation of Tobacco, applying afterwards the Herb stamp’d betwixt
two stones.
{99} [Illustration: (decorative banner)]
A
DESCRIPTION
OF AN
_INDIAN SQUA_.[286]
Now (gentle Reader) having trespassed upon your patience a long while
in the perusing of these rude Observations, I shall, to make you
amends, present you by way of Divertisement, or Recreation, with a
Coppy of Verses made sometime since upon the Picture of a young and
handsome _Gypsie_, not improperly transferred upon the _Indian SQUA_,
or Female _Indian_, trick’d up in all her bravery.
The Men are somewhat Horse Fac’d, and generally Faucious, _i.e._
without Beards; but the Women many of them {100} have very good
Features; seldome without a _Come to me_, or _Cos Amoris_, in their
Countenance; all of them black Eyed, having even short Teeth, and
very white; their Hair black, thick and long, broad Breasted;
handsome streight Bodies, and slender, considering their constant
loose habit: Their limbs cleanly, straight, and of a convenient
stature, generally, as plump as Partridges, and saving here and there
one, of a modest deportment.
Their Garments are a pair of Sleeves of Deer, or Moose skin drest,
and drawn with lines of several Colours into Asiatick Works, with
Buskins of the same, a short Mantle of Trading Cloath, either Blew or
Red, fastened with a knot under the Chin, and girt about the middle
with a Zone, wrought with white and blew Beads into pretty Works;
of these Beads they have Bracelets for their Neck and Arms, and
Links to hang in their Ears, and a fair Table curiously made up with
Beads likewise, to wear before their Breast; their Hair they Combe
backward, and tye it up short with a Border, about two handfulls
broad, {101} wrought in Works as the other with their Beads: But
enough of this.
[Illustration: (decorative banner)]
The _POEM_.
_Whether White or Black be best
Call your Senses to the quest;
And your touch shall quickly tell
The Black in softness doth excel,
And in smoothness; but the Ear,
What, can that a Colour hear?
No, but ’tis your Black ones Wit
That doth catch, and captive it.
And if Slut and Fair be one,
Sweet and Fair, there can be none:
Nor can ought so please the tast
As what’s brown and lovely drest:
And who’ll say, that that is best
To please ones Sense, displease the rest?
{102} Maugre then all that can be sed
In flattery of White and Red:
Those flatterers themselves must say
That darkness was before the Day:
And such perfection here appears
It neither Wind nor Sun-shine fears._
[Illustration: (decorative banner)]
A
{103} Chronological TABLE
_Of the most remarkable passages in that part of_ America, _known
to us by the name of_ NEW-ENGLAND.[287]
_Anno Dom._ 1492. _Christ. Columbus_ discovered _America_.
1516. The Voyage of Sir _Thomas Pert_, Vice Admiral of _England_, and
Sir _Sebastian Cabota_ to _Brazile, &c._
1527. _New-found-Land_, discovered by the _English_.
1577. Sir _Francis Drake_ began his Voyage about the _World_.
{104} 1585. _Nova Albion_ discovered by Sir _Francis Drake_, and by
him so Named.
1585. _April 9._ Sir _Richard Greenevile_ was sent by Sir _Walter
Rawleigh_ with a Fleet of Seven Sail to _Virginia_, and was stiled
the General of _Virginia_.
1586. Captain _Thomas Candish_, a _Suffolk_ Gentleman, began his
Voyage round about the World, with three Ships past the Streights of
_Magellan_, burn’d and ransack’d in the entry of _Chile_, _Peru_,
and _New-Spain_, near the great Island _Callifornia_ in the South
Sea; and returned to _Plymouth_ with a precious Booty _Anno Dom.
1588_. _September_ the _8th_; being the third since _Magellan_ that
circuited the Earth.
1588. Sir _Walter Rawleigh_ first discovered _Virginia_, by him so
Named, in honour of our Virgin Queen.
1595. Sir _Walter Rawleigh_ discovered _Guiana_.
{105} 1606. A Collony sent to _Virginia_.
1614. _Bermudas_ Planted.
1618. The blazing Star; then _Plymouth_ Plantation began in
_New-England_.[288]
1628. The _Massachusets_ Colony Planted, and _Salem_ the first Town
therein Built.[289]
1629. The first Church gathered in this Colony was at _Salem_; from
which Year to this present Year, is 43 Years.
In the compass of these Years, in this Colony, there hath been
gathered Fourty Churches, and 120 Towns built in all the Colonies of
_New-England_.
The Church of Christ at _Plymouth_, was Planted in _New-England_
Eight Years before others.
1630. The Governour and Assistants {106} arrived with their Pattent
for the _Massachusets_.
1630. The Lady _Arabella_ in _New-England_.
1630. When the Government was established, they Planted on _Noddles_
Island.[290]
1631. Captain _John Smith_ Governour of _Virginia_, and Admiral of
_New-England_, Dyed.
1631. Mr. _Mavericke_ Minister at _Dorchester_ in _New-England_.[291]
1631. _John Winthorpe_ Esq; chosen the first time Governour, he
was eleven times Governour; some say Nineteen times; eleven Years
together; the other Years by intermission.
1631. _John Wilson_ Pastor of _Charles_ Town.[291]
{107} 1631. Sir _R. Saltingstall_ at _Water Town_ came into
_New-England_.[291]
1631. Mr. _Rog. Harlackinden_ was a Majestrate, and a Leader of their
Military Forces.[292]
Dr. _Wilson_ gave 1000 _l._ to _New-England_, with which they stored
themselves with great Guns.[293]
1633. Mr. _Thomas Hooker_, Mr. _Haynes_, and Mr. _John Cotton_, came
over together in one Ship.
1634. The Country was really placed in a posture of War, to be in
readiness at all times.
1635. _Hugh Peters_ went over for _New-England_.
1636. _Connecticut_ Colony Planted.
{108} 1637. The _Pequites_ Wars, in which were Slain Five or Six
Hundred _Indians_.
Ministers that have come from _England_, chiefly in the Ten first
Years, Ninety Four: Of which returned Twenty Seven: Dyed in the
Country Thirty Six: Yet alive in the Country Thirty One. The Number
of Ships that transported Passengers to _New-England_ in these times,
was 298, supposed: Men, Women, and Children, as near as can be
ghessed 21200.
1637. The first Synod at _Cambridge_ in _New-England_, where the
_Antinomian_ and _Famalistical_ Errors were confuted; 80 Errors now
amongst the _Massachusets_.
1638. _New-Haven_ Colony began.
Mrs. _Hutchinson_ and her erronious companions banished the
_Massachusets_ Colony.
{109} A terrible Earth quake throughout the Country.[294]
Mr. _John Harvard_, the Founder of _Harvard_ College (at _Cambridge_
in _New-England_) Deceased, gave 700 _l._ to the erecting of it.
1639. First Printing at _Cambridge_ in _New-England_.
1639. A very sharp Winter in _New-England_.
1642. _Harvard_ College Founded with a publick Library.
Ministers bred in _New-England_, and (excepting about 10,) in
_Harvard_ College 132; of which dyed in the Country 10; now living
81; removed to _England_ 41.
1643. The first combination of the Four United Colonies, _viz._
_Plymouth_, _Massachusets_, _Connecticut_, and _New-Haven_.
{110} 1646. The second Synod at _Cambridge_, touching the duty and
power of Majestrates in matters of Religion: Secondly, the nature and
power of Synods.
Mr. _Eliot_ first Preached to the _Indians_ in their Native Language.
1647. Mr. _Thomas Hooker_ Died.
1648. The third Synod at _Cambridge_, publishing the Platform of
Discipline.
1649. Mr. _John Winthorpe_ Governour, now Died.
This Year a strange multitude of _Caterpillers_ in _New-England_.[295]
Thrice seven Years after the Planting of the _English_ in
_New-England_, the _Indians_ of _Massachusets_ being 30000 able Men
were brought to 300.
1651. _Hugh Peters_, and Mr. _Wells_ came for _England_.
{111} 1652. Mr. _John Cotton_ Dyed.
1653. The great Fire in _Boston_ in _New-England_.
Mr. _Thomas Dudley_, Governour of the _Massachusets_, Dyed this Year.
1654. _Major Gibbons_ Died in _New-England_.
1655. _Jamaica_ Taken by the _English_.
1657. The _Quakers_ arrived in _New-England_, at _Plymouth_.
1659. Mr. _Henry Dunster_ the first President of _Harvard_ College
now Dyed.
1661. Major _Atherton_ Dyed in _New-England_.
1663. Mr. _John Norton_ Pastor of _Boston_ in _New-England_, Dyed
suddenly.
{112} Mr. _Samuel Stone_, Teacher of _Hartford_ Church, Dyed this
Year.
1664. The whole _Bible_ Printed in the _Indian_ Language finished.
The _Manadaes_, called New _Amsterdam_, now called New _York_;
surrendred up to His Majesties Commissioners (for the settling
of the respective Colonies in _New-England_, _viz._ Sir _Robert
Carr_, Collonel _Nicols_, Collonel _Cartwright_, and Mr. _Samuel
Mavericke_,) in _September_, after thirteen Dayes the Fort of
_Arania_, now _Albania_; twelve Dayes after that, the Fort _Awsapha_;
then _de la Ware_ Castle Man’d with _Dutch_ and _Sweeds_; the Three
first Forts and Towns being Built upon the great River _Mohegan_,
otherwise called _Hudsons_ River.
In _September_ appeared a great Comet for the space of three
Months.[296]
1665. Mr. _John Indicot_, Governour of the _Massachusets_ Dyed.
{113} A thousand Foot sent this Year by the _French_ King to _Canada_.
Captain _Davenport_ killed with Lightning at the Castle by _Boston_
in _New-England_, and several Wounded.
1666. The _Small Pox_ at _Boston_. Seven slain by Lightning, and
divers Burnt: This Year also _New-England_ had cast away, and taken
31 Vessels, and some in 1667.
1667. Mr. _John Wilson_ Pastor of _Boston_ Dyed, aged 79 Years.
1670. At a place called _Kenibunck_, which is in the Province of
_Meyne_, a Colony belonging to the Heir of that Honourable Knight
Sir _Ferdinando Gorges_; not far from the River side, a piece of
Clay Ground was thrown up by a Mineral vapour (as we supposed) over
the tops of high Oaks that grew between it and the River, into the
River, stopping the course thereof, and leaving a hole two Yards
square, wherein were thousands of {114} Clay Bullets as big as
Musquet Bullets, and pieces of Clay in shape like the Barrel of a
Musquet.[297]
1671. Elder _Penn_ dyed at _Boston_.
1672. Mr. _Richard Bellingham_, Governour of the _Massachusets_ in
_New-England_.
NOTE.
The book is reprinted literally, except in the following items:—
Page 86, line 21, “Planets” is corrected to Plants.
Page 104, line 4, “Richards” is printed Richard; and, line 5, “Water”
is corrected to Walter.
[Illustration: (decorative icon)]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Willis, in N. E. Geneal. Register, vol. ii. p. 204; and New
Series of the same, vol. i. p. 31. Williamson, Hist. of Maine, vol.
i. p. 682.
[2] Dr. T. W. Harris, in N. E. Geneal. Register, vol. ii. p. 306, has
corrected the mistake of Williamson and other writers as to Henry
Josselyn of Scituate’s being of kin to Mr. Josselyn of Black Point;
and Mr. Willis, who had adopted the same error in his first paper,
already cited, now admits, in his second, that there is not “any
evidence that” the proprietor of Black Point “left any children, or
ever had any.”
[3] Letter of Rev. J. Hunter, 12th April, 1859.
[4] See also a Pedigree of Joselyne from the Visitation of
Hertfordshire in 1614, furnished by Mr. S. G. Drake to the
New-England Genealogical Register, vol. xiv. p. 16. This is probably
one of the sources from which Lodge’s account was derived.
[5] Lodge, Peerage of Ireland, vol. iii. p. 65, and _ante_.
[6] Lodge, _ubi supra_. Annual Register, 1771, p. 174.
[7] But there is no doubt that the author was himself as far
from sharing in the serious English thought of the Puritans of
Massachusetts Bay as he was from joining in their evangelical faith.
Yet there is hardly more than one place in either of his books
(Voyages, pp. 180-2) where this is offensively brought forward. It
is worthy of remark, however, that Josselyn’s family, in England,
was attached rather to the Puritan side. “His family connections,”
says Mr. Hunter, in the letter already referred to, “appear to
have been adherents to the cause of the Parliament; particularly
the Harlakendens, in whose regiment a Jocelyn, named Ralph, was a
chaplain.” Nor is this all. “In the year 1663,” continues the learned
authority just cited, “there was a slight insurrectionary movement
in the North; which was easily put down by the government, and the
leaders executed. In a manuscript list of persons who were either
openly engaged, or who were vehemently suspected of being favorers
of the design, I find in the latter class the name of Capt. John
Jossline.” This plot was not discovered till January, 1664; and our
John Josselyn “departed from London,” as he says at page one of this
volume, “upon an invitation of my only brother,” the 28th of May of
the year previous. But, if it be possible that our author was the
person intended in the manuscript list as one strongly suspected
of being engaged in a design against the Royal Government, the
evident uncertainty of this is too great to permit us to discredit
his own exposure of his political leanings,—as in the Voyages, p.
197, where, speaking of Sir F. Gorges, he says, “And, when he was
between three and fourscore years of age, did personally engage in
our royal martyr’s service, and particularly in the siege of Bristow;
and was plundered and imprisoned several times, by reason whereof
he was discountenanced by the pretended Commissioners for Forraign
Plantations,” and so forth,—or in the face of another passage to be
quoted further on, in which he acknowledges “the bounty of his royal
sovereigness,” to question the sincerity—which there is nothing in
either of his books to throw doubt upon—of his general adhesion to
the Royalist side. “The family in Hertfordshire,” says Mr. Hunter,
“were nonconformists; but the spirit of nonconformity seems to have
spent itself at the death of Sir Strange Jocelyn, the second baronet,
who died in 1734. But we may trace the Puritan influence in the
present Earl of Roden, who is a conspicuous member of the religious
body in England called the Evangelical.”—Ms. _ut sup._
[8] And see the Voyages, p. 187, for an account of a “Barbarie-Moor
under cure” of the author, when he “perceived that the Moor had one
skin more than Englishmen. The skin that is basted to the flesh is
bloudy, and of the same Azure colour with the veins, but deeper than
the colour of our Europeans’ veins. Over this is an other skin, of
a tawny colour, and upon that [the] _Epidermis_, or _Cuticula_,—the
flower of the skin, which is that Snake’s cast; and this is tawny
also. The colour of the blew skin mingling with the tawny, makes
them appear black.” Dr. Mitchell, the botanist of Virginia, has a
paper upon the same topic,—the cause of the negro’s color,—in the
Philosophical Transactions; but this appears less in accordance with
more recent researches (Prichard, Nat. Hist. of Man, p. 81) than
Josselyn’s observations.
[9] “His book is a curiosity, sometimes worth examining, but seldom
to be implicitly relied on.”—_Savage_, in Winthrop, N. E., vol. i. p.
267, note.
[10] Reprinted, the third edition, with an introductory essay and
some notes; Boston, 1764,—the edition made use of in these notes.
[11] Biographie Universelle, _in loco_.
[12] He is called _Botanicus Regius_ by Cornuti, p. 22; and the same
title is given to both the Robins, in the printed catalogue of plants
cultivated by them. Tournefort indicates the office of Vespasian
Robin, at the new Botanic Garden, as follows: “_Brossæus_ ... primus
Horti præfectus, studiosis plantas indigitandi numeri præposuit
Vespasianum Robinum diligentissimum Botanicum.”—_Inst. Rei Herb._,
vol. i. p. 48. And the recent writer in the Biographic Universelle,
says, more expressly, that the royal _ordonnance_ establishing the
garden names Vespasian Robin “sub-demonstrator” of botany, with a
stipend of two hundred francs yearly. According to this writer, the
two Robins were not, as has been said, father and son, but brothers;
and Vespasian the elder. This one must have reached a great age, as
the celebrated Morrison, who visited France in 1640, and remained
there twelve years, calls himself his disciple.—_Biog. Universelle_,
_in loco_.
[13] Tournefort, _ubi supra_.
[14] Cornuti autem parum fuit in plantarum cognitione versatus,
ut manifestum est ex ineptis appellationibus quibus utitur in
Enchiridio Botanico Parisiensi, et descriptionibus speciosis ab
Herbariorum stylo tamen alienis.—_Tournef. Inst._, vol. i. p. 43.
Compare, as to the botanical merits of Cornuti, the writer in
Biographic Universelle, who says that Cornuti’s terminology, to
which Tournefort took exception, was that of Lobel; and farther,
that the catalogue—Enchiridium Botanicum Parisiense—which is annexed
to Cornuti’s larger work, is in several respects creditable to
him.—_Biog. Univ._, _in loco_.
[15] Mention of New-England plants may be found in earlier writers
than Cornuti or Josselyn; but what is said is now rarely available.
Gosnold’s expedition was in 1602; and the writer of the account
of it tells us that the island upon which his party proposed to
settle (Cuttyhunk, one of the Elizabeth Islands) was covered with
“oaks, ashes, beech, walnut, witch-hazel, sassafrage, and cedars,
with divers others of unknown names;” beside “wild pease, young
sassafrage, cherry-trees, vines, eglantine, gooseberry-bushes,
hawthorn, honeysuckles, with others of the like quality;” as also
“strawberries, rasps, ground-nuts, alexander, surrin, tansy, &c.,
without count.”—_Mass. Hist. Coll._, vol. xxviii. p. 76. And so the
writer of Mourt’s Relation, in 1620, speaks of “sorrel, yarrow,
carvel, brook-lime, liverwort, watercresses, &c.”, as noticed, “in
winter,” however, at Plymouth.—_Hist. Coll._ vol. viii. p. 221. There
is much here which is true enough, though the “eglantine” of the
first writer is an evident mistake, as doubtless also the “carvel”
of the other; but we have no reason to suppose that either of these
passages ever had any scientific value. Josselyn, so far as his
Botany goes, does not belong to this class of writers. There are
important parts of his account of our plants, in which we know with
certainty what he intended to tell us; and, farther, that this was
worth the telling. And the credit which fairly belongs to the new
_genera_ of American plants, in some sort indicated by him, shall
illustrate as well those other portions of his work where what he
meant is a matter rather of deduction from his particulars, such as
they are, in the light of his only here-and-there-cited authorities,
than of plain fact. His English names—common, and perhaps often
indefinite, as they strike us—had more of scientific value, in
botanical hands at least, when he wrote, than now; and, there is good
reason to suppose, were meant to indicate that the plants intended,
or in some cases the _genera_ to which they belonged, were the same
with those published, under the same names, by Gerard, Johnson, and
Parkinson.
[16] Winthrop’s Journal, by Savage, edit. 1, vol. i. p. 64, note. See
also Bancroft’s character of the younger Winthrop, in History of the
United States, vol. ii. p. 52.
[17] Eliot, Biog. Dict., _in loco_.
[18] Eliot, Biog. Dict., _in loco_.
[19] Interleaved Almanacs of 1646-48, cited by Savage (Winthrop, N.
E., vol. ii. p. 332), mention “Tankard” and “Kreton” (perhaps Kirton)
apples, as well as Russetins, Pearmains, and Long-Red apples; beside
“the great pears,” and apricots, as grown here. In the Records of the
Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay (Records of Mass., vol.
i. p. 24), there is an undated _memorandum_, “To provide to send for
Newe England ... stones of all sorts of fruites; as peaches, plums,
filberts, cherries, pear, aple, quince kernells,” &c., which the
“First General Letter of the Governor,” &c., of the 17th April, 1629,
again makes mention of (_ibid._, p. 392); and Josselyn (Voyages, p.
189) remarks on the “good fruit” reared from such kernels. But, if
this were the only source of our ancestors’ English fruit, the names
which they gave to the seedlings must have been vague.—For other
early notices of cultivated fruit-trees, see Savage Gen. Dict. 4, p.
258, and the same, 4, p. 621. Saml. Sewall, jun. Esq., of Brookline,
had trees grafted with ‘Drew’s Russet,’ and ‘Golden Russet’ apples,
in 1724. (Gen. Reg. 16, p. 65.)
[20] Gronov. _Fl. Virg._, edit. 2. In Mr. Dillwyn’s (unpublished)
“Account of the Plants cultivated by the late Peter Collinson,” from
his own catalogue and other manuscripts, I find Collinson quoting Mr.
Dudley’s paper on Plants of New England, above mentioned; but not
that on the Evergreens.—_Hortus Collins._, p. 41.
[21] Eliot, Biog. Dict., and Allen, Amer. Biog. Dict., _in locis_.
[22] Mss. Cutler, _penes me_.
[23] Mss. Cutler, _penes me_.
[24] Mss. Cutler, _penes me_.
[25] The late Dr. Waterhouse, Professor of Medicine at Cambridge,
read lectures on Natural History to his classes as early as 1788,
and published the botanical part of these lectures in the Monthly
Anthology, 1804-8; reprinting this in 1811, with the title of the
Botanist (Boston, 8vo, pp. 228). In the preface to this volume,
the author’s are claimed to have been the first public lectures
on Natural History given in the United States. The Massachusetts
Professorship of Botany and Entomology was founded in 1805, and
the Botanical Garden in 1807; but the eminent naturalist who first
filled the chair left little behind him to bear witness to his
acknowledged “learning and genius.”—_Quincy, Hist. Harv. Univ._, vol.
ii. p. 330. The studies of Peck were not, however, confined to the
_Fauna_ and _Flora_ of New England; and his distinguished successors
in the lecture-room and the botanical garden—Mr. Nuttall, the late
Dr. Harris, and Professor Gray—may be said to have maintained a
like general, rather than local character, in the entomological and
botanical investigations pursued at the University.
[26] This house was one Mr. Robert Gibbs’s “of an ancient family in
Devonshire,” says Farmer (Geneal. Reg., p. 120); and it stood on Fort
Hill, the way leading to it becoming afterwards known as Gibbs’s
Lane, and a wharf at the waterside, belonging to the property, as
Gibbs’s Wharf. Mr. W. B. Trask, who obligingly examined for me the
early deeds concerning this estate in Suffolk Registry, furnishes a
_memorandum_, that on the 6th June, 1671, Robert Gibbs of Boston,
merchant, conveys to Edward and Elisha Hutchinson, in trust, for
Elizabeth, wife of said Robert, during her life, and after her
decease to such child or children as he shall have by her, his land
and house on Fort Hill, with warehouse on wharf, ‘which land was
formerly my grandfather, Henry Webb’s.’ The wife of said Robert Gibbs
was daughter to Jacob Sheafe by Margaret, daughter to Henry Webb,
mercer. Sampson Sheafe, a Provincial councillor of New Hampshire,
and the ancestor of a family of long standing there, married another
daughter of Jacob Sheafe. Mr. Gibbs was father to the Rev. Henry
Gibbs, minister of Watertown, and had other children; and the family
continues to this day.
[27] Compare the author’s Voyages, pp. 19, 161, 173, for other
notices of Boston, and as to the first of these, which represents the
town (in 1638) as “rather a village, ... there being not above twenty
or thirty houses,” see the note in Savage’s Winthrop, edit. 1, vol.
i. p. 267.
[28] Mr. Henry Josselyn was probably living at Black Point in 1638,
when his brother first visited it (Voyages, p. 20). It was then the
estate (by grant from the council at Plymouth) and residence of
Captain Thomas Cammock; but he, dying in 1643, bequeathed it, except
five hundred acres which were reserved to his wife, to Josselyn,
who, marrying the widow, succeeded to the whole property, which was
described as containing fifteen hundred acres (Willis _infra_), but
is called by Sullivan five thousand (History of Maine, p. 128). In
1658, this and other adjoining tracts were erected into a town by
Massachusetts, under the name of Scarborough, which is thus further
noticed by our author in his Voyages, p. 201, as “the town of Black
Point, consisting of about fifty dwelling-houses, and a Magazine, or
_Doganne_, scatteringly built. They have store of neat and horses, of
sheep near upon seven or eight hundred, much arable and marsh, salt
and fresh, and a corn-mill.”—Comp. Williamson’s Hist. of Maine, vol.
i. pp. 392, 666; Willis in Geneal. Register, vol. i. p. 202.
[29] _Empyema_ is a result of disease of the lungs. See Voyages, p.
121.
[30] Compare the accounts of the first appearance of the country by
the Rev. Francis Higginson and Mr. Thomas Graves, both well-qualified
observers, in New-England’s Plantation, London, 1630; reprinted in
Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. i. p. 117. And see Wood’s New England’s
Prospect, a book which our author was probably acquainted with; as
compare p. 4 of Wood (edit. 1764) with the beginning of p. 3 of the
Rarities, and some other places in both.
[31] The earliest ascents of the White Mountains were those made by
Field and others in 1642, of which we have some account in Winthrop’s
Journal (by Savage, edit. 1, vol. ii. pp. 67, 89). Darby Field, “an
Irishman living about Pascataquack,” has the honor of being the
first European who set foot upon the summit of Mount Washington. He
appears at Exeter in 1639, and was at Dover in 1645, and died there
in 1649, leaving a widow, and, it is said, children (A. H. Quint, N.
E. Geneal. Reg., vol. vi. p. 38). It seems likely, from his account,
that Field, on reaching the Indian town in the Saco Valley, “at the
foot of the hill” where the “two branches of Saco river met,” pursued
his way up the valley either of Rocky Branch or of Ellis River, till
he gradually attained to the region of dwarf firs, on what is known
as Boott’s Spur, which is between the “valley” called Oakes’s Gulf,
in which the “Mount Washington” branch of the Saco has its head, and
the valley in which the Rocky Branch rises (see G. P. Bond’s Map of
the White Mountains). There is no other way that shall fulfil the
conditions of the narrative except that over Boott’s Spur; but of the
three streams, that is, “the two branches of Saco River,” which come
together at or near the probable site of the Indian town, the Rocky
Branch is the shortest, and its valley the most ascending. Field
repeated his visit, with some others, “about a month after;” and
later, in the same year, the mountains were visited by the worshipful
Thomas Gorges, Esq., Deputy-Governor, and Richard Vines, Esq.,
Councillor of the Province of Maine, of which Winthrop takes notice
at p. 89. Whether Josselyn went up himself, or had his account from
others, does not appear. But his calling the mountains “inaccessible
but by the gullies,” leaves it at least supposable, that he, or the
party from which he got his information (perhaps Gorges’s), instead
of gradually ascending the long ridges, or spurs, penetrated into
one of the gulfs (as they are there called), or ravines, of the
eastern side; the walls of which are exceedingly steep, and literally
inaccessible in many parts, except by the gullies. The “large level
or plain of a day’s journey over, whereon grows nothing but moss,”
is noticed in Winthrop’s account of Gorges’s ascent, but not in
that of Field’s; and this plain—which doubtless includes what has
since been called “Bigelow’s Lawn” (lying immediately under the
south-eastern side of the summit of Mount Washington), but understood
also, in Gorges’s account, to extend northward as far as the “Lake
of the Clouds”—furnishes another ground for supposing that the
last-mentioned explorer, or, at least, Josselyn, may have penetrated
the mountain by one of its eastern ravines; several of which head
in the great plain mentioned, while that is rather remote from what
we have taken for Field’s “ridge.” Our author is the only authority
for the “pond of clear water in the midst of” the top of Mount
Washington; though a somewhat capacious spring, which was well known
there before the putting-up of the house on the summit, may have been
larger once; or he may rather have mistaken, or misremembered, the
position of the Lake of the Clouds.
[32] Compare, as to the insulation of the tract understood by
Josselyn as New England, Palfrey, Hist. N. E., vol. i. pp. 1, 2, and
note, and the accompanying map.
[33] See the author’s larger account of the natives in his Voyages,
pp. 123-150.
[34] There is a much fuller account—to be noticed again—of our birds,
in the Voyages, pp. 95-103. Wood’s (N. E. Prospect, chap, viii.) is
also curious. In the notes which immediately follow, on the birds,
beasts, fishes, and reptiles, the oldest writers on our natural
history will be found often to explain or illustrate each other.
[35] Chimney-swallow.
[36] “The pilhannaw is the king of birds of prey in New England.
Some take him to be a kind of eagle; others for the Indian ruck,—the
biggest bird that is, except the ostrich. One Mr. Hilton, living at
Pascataway, had the hap to kill one of them. Being by the sea-side,
he perceived a great shadow over his head, the sun shining out clear.
Casting up his eyes, he saw a monstrous bird soaring aloft in the
air; and, of a sudden, all the ducks and geese (there being then a
great many) dived under water, nothing of them appearing but their
heads. Mr. Hilton, having made readie his piece, shot and brought
her down to the ground. How he disposed of her, I know not; but
had he taken her alive, and sent her over into England, neither
Bartholomew nor Sturbridge Fair could have produced such another
sight.”—_Josselyn’s Voyages_, p. 95. These notices have been taken
to be sufficient by some writers to show the probable existence of
“a bird of prey, very large and bold, on the back of some of our
American plantations.” But our author’s account indicates clearly
a crested eagle, which we cannot explain by any thing nearer home
than the yzquautli, or crested vulture of Mexico and the countries
south of it (_Falco Harpyja_, Gmel.); two notices of which (cited by
Linnæus) had been published some twenty years before Josselyn wrote,
and may have been supposed by him to be applicable to a large bird
which he had heard of as inhabiting mountains about Ossipee. The
great heron—an inhabitant of the coast, and so uncommon inland that
“one ... shot in the upper parts of New Hampshire was described to”
Wilson “as a great curiosity” (Amer. Ornith., by Brewer, p. 555)—has
the size and the crest of Josselyn’s bird; and, if this last was
only (as is possible) the name of a confused conception made up from
several accounts of large birds, the heron may well be thought to
have had a share in it.
[37] “Of these, sometimes there will be forty, threescore and a
hundred, of a flock; sometimes more, and sometimes less. Their
feeding is acorns, hawes, and berries: some of them get a haunt to
frequent English corn. In winter, when the snow covers the ground,
they resort to the seashore to look for shrimps, and such small
fishes, at low tides. Such as love turkey-hunting must follow it in
winter, after a new-fallen snow, when he may follow them by their
tracks. Some have killed ten or a dozen in half a day. If they can be
found towards an evening, and watched where they perch,—if one come
about ten or eleven of the clock,—he may shoot as often as he will:
they will sit, unless they be slenderly wounded. These turkies remain
all the year long. The price of a good turkey-cock is four shillings;
and he is well worth it, for he may be in weight forty pounds; a hen,
two shillings.”—_Wood_, _N. Eng. Prospect_, chap. viii. See also
Josselyn’s Voyages, p. 99.
[38] “The geese of the country be of three sorts. First, a brant
goose; which is a goose almost like the wild goose in England. The
price of one of these is sixpence. The second kind is a white goose,
almost as big as an English tame goose. These come in great flocks
about Michaelmas: sometimes there will be two or three thousand in
a flock. Those continue six weeks, and so fly to the southward;
returning in March, and staying six weeks more, returning to the
northward. The price of one of these is eightpence. The third kind
of geese is a great grey goose, with a black neck, and a black and
white head; strong of flight: and these be a great deal bigger
than the ordinary geese of England; some very fat, and, in the
spring, full of feathers, that the shot can scarce pierce them.
Most of these geese remain with us from Michaelmas to April. They
feed in the sea upon grass in the bays at low water, and gravel,
and in the woods of acorns; having, as other fowl have, their pass
and repass to the northward and southward. The accurate marksmen
kill of these both flying and sitting. The price of a grey goose
is eighteen-pence.”—_Wood_, _N. E. Prospect_, _l. c._ The white
goose here mentioned is probably the snow-goose; upon which compare
Nuttall, Mass. Ornith., Water-Birds, p. 344. Josselyn (Voyages, p.
100) says the brant and the gray goose “are best meat; the white
are lean and tough, and live a long time; whereupon the proverb,
‘Older than a white goose:’” which is not supported by Wood or later
writers. The snow-goose has become much less frequent with us since
the settlement of the country. The great grey goose of Wood is our
well-known Canada goose.
[39] This was the best that our author could say of the eagles of
New England. Wood assists us once more here: “The eagles of the
country be of two sorts,—one like the eagles that be in England;
the other is something bigger, with a great white head and white
tail. These be commonly called gripes.”—_New-Eng. Prospect_, _l.
c._ The first spoken of by Wood—and perhaps, also, what Josselyn
names last—may be the common or ring-tailed eagle, now known to be
the young of the golden eagle. The second of Wood, and first of our
author, is without doubt, the bald eagle; the (so to say) tyrannical
habits of which bird are sufficiently well known, at least in the
vivid pages of Wilson. See the Voyages, p. 96; where we learn also
that “hawkes there are of several kinds; as goshawks, falcons,
laniers, sparrow-hawkes, and a little black hawke highly prized by
the Indians, who wear them on their heads, and is accounted of worth
sufficient to ransom a sagamour. They are so strangely couragious and
hardie that nothing flyeth in the air that they will not bind with.
I have seen them tower so high, that they have been so small that
scarcely could they be taken by the eye” (p. 95-6). Wood makes like
mention of this little black hawk (New-Eng. Prospect, _l. c._); and
R. Williams (Key into the Language of the Indians of N. E., in Hist.
Coll., vol. iii. p. 220) calls it “sachim, a little bird about the
bigness of a swallow, or less; to which the Indians give that name,
because of its sachem or prince-like courage and command over greater
birds: that a man shall often see this small bird pursue and vanquish
and put to flight the crow and other birds far bigger than itself.”
This was our well-known king-bird; and Josselyn, on the same page,
tells us of “a small ash-colour bird that is shaped like a hawke,
with talons and beak, that falleth upon crowes; mounting up into the
air after them, and will beat them till they make them cry:” which
was, perhaps, the king-bird’s half-cousin, as Wilson calls him,—the
purple-martin.
[40] Nuttall (Manual, Water-Birds, p. 520) says that the young of the
red-throated diver is called cobble in England. Our author elsewhere
(Voyages, p. 101) makes mention of the “wobble” and the “wilmote”
(that is, guillemot) as distinct; but _his_ wilmot was “a kind of
teal.”
[41] “He maketh a noise sometimes like a sow-gelder’s horn.”—_N. Eng.
Prospect_, _l. c._
[42] The first is the great-horned or cat-owl; the second, probably,
the mottled or little screech-owl, which Wood notices more fully as
“small, speckled like a partridge, with ears” (_l. c._); and the
third, the Acadian or little owl. There are but two owls reckoned in
New-England’s Prospect; the second of which—“a great owl, almost as
big as an eagle; his body being as good meat as a partridge” (_l.
c._)—is, perhaps, the snowy owl, which, according to Audubon, is good
eating.—_Peabody Report on Birds of Mass._, p. 275.
[43] It is not clear what is meant here. The author merely mentions
the bird again, in Voyages, p. 96.
[44] So Wood: “There are no magpies, jackdaws, cuckoos, jays,
&c.”—_New-England’s Prospect_, _l. c._ Our author, in his Voyages,
adds to the above list of New-England birds the following: “The
partridge is larger than ours; white-flesht, but very dry: they
are indeed a sort of partridges called grooses. The pidgeon, of
which there are millions of millions.... The snow-bird, like a
chaffinch, go in flocks, and are good meat.... Thrushes, with red
breasts, which will be very fat, and are good meat.... Thressels, ...
filladies, ... small singing-birds; ninmurders, little yellow birds;
New-England nightingales, painted with orient colours,—black, white,
blew, yellow, green, and scarlet,—and sing sweetly; wood-larks,
wrens, swallows, who will sit upon trees; and starlings, black as
ravens, with scarlet pinions. Other sorts of birds there are; as the
troculus, wagtail or dish-water, which is here of a brown colour;
titmouse,—two or three sorts; the dunneck or hedge-sparrow, who is
starke naked in his winter nest; the golden or yellow hammer,—a bird
about the bigness of a thrush, that is all over as red as bloud;
woodpeckers of two or three sorts, gloriously set out with variety of
glittering colours; the colibry, viemalin, or rising or walking-bird,
an emblem of the resurrection, and the wonder of little birds. The
water-fowl are these that follow: Hookers, or wild swans; cranes; ...
four sorts of ducks,—a black duck, a brown duck like our wild ducks,
a grey duck, and a great black and white duck. These frequent rivers
and ponds. But, of ducks, there be many more sorts; as hounds, old
wives, murres, doies, shell-drakes, shoulers or shoflers, widgeons,
simps, teal, blew-wing’d and green-wing’d didapers or dipchicks,
fenduck, duckers or moorhens, coots, pochards (a water-fowl like
a duck), plungeons (a kind of water-fowl, with a long, reddish
bill), puets, plovers, smethes, wilmotes (a kind of teal), godwits,
humilities, knotes, red-shankes, ... gulls, white gulls or sea-cobbs,
caudemandies, herons, grey bitterns, ox-eyes, birds called oxen and
keen, petterels, king’s fishers, ... little birds that frequent the
sea-shore in flocks, called sanderlins. They are about the bigness of
a sparrow, and, in the fall of the leaf, will be all fat. When I was
first in the countrie” (that is, in 1638; in which connection, what
follows is not without its interest to us), “the English cut them
into small pieces to put into their puddings, instead of suet. I have
known twelve-score and above killed at two shots.... The cormorant,
shape or sharke” (pp. 99-103).
[45] Compare the account given in the Voyages, pp. 82-95, which is
much fuller; as also New-England’s Prospect, chap. vi.
[46] “Most fierce in strawberry-time; at which time they have young
ones; at which time, likewise, they will go upright, like a man, and
climb trees, and swim to the islands: which if the Indians see, there
will be more sportful bear-baiting than Paris garden can afford; for,
seeing the bears take water, an Indian will leap after him; where
they go to water-cuffs for bloody noses and scratched sides. In the
end, the man gets the victory; riding the bear over the watery plain,
till he can bear him no longer.... There would be more of them, if it
were not for the wolves which devour them. A kennel of those ravening
runagadoes, setting upon a poor, single bear, will tear him as a dog
will tear a kid.”—_New-Eng. Prospect_, _l. c._, which see farther;
and also Josselyn’s Voyages, pp. 91-2.
[47] Stupefied with drink.—_Webster_, _Eng. Dict._
[48] Thwart.
[49] “The woolves be in some respect different from them in other
countries. It was never known yet that a wolf ever set upon a man or
woman: neither do they trouble horses or cows; but swine, goats, and
red calves, which they take for deer, be often destroyed by them;
so that a red calf is cheaper than a black one, in that regard, in
some places.... They be made much like a mungrel; being big-boned,
lank-paunched, deep-breasted; having a thick neck and head, prick
ears and long snout, with dangerous teeth; long, staring hair, and
a great bush-tail. It is thought by many that our English mastiff
might be too hard for them: but it is no such matter; for they care
no more for an ordinary mastiff than an ordinary mastiff cares for
a cur. Many good dogs have been spoiled by them.... There is little
hope of their utter destruction; the country being so spacious, and
they so numerous, travelling in the swamps by kennels: sometimes
ten or twelve are of a company.... In a word, they be the greatest
inconveniency the country hath.”—_New-England’s Prospect_, _l. c._
[50] Spoken of again in the Voyages, pp. 94 and 193; and in Hubbard,
Hist. N. England, p. 25. Josselyn’s may be compared with Lewis and
Clark’s notice of the Indian dog (Travels, vol. ii. p. 165).
[51] Called also “lusern, or luceret,” in the Voyages, p. 85; the
loup-cervier of Sagard (Hist. Can., 1636, _cit._ Aud. and Bachm.
Vivip. Quad. N. A., p. 136); of Dobbs’s Hudson’s Bay, &c.; but more
commonly called gray cat, or lynx, in New England. Wood calls it
“more dangerous to be met withal than any other creature; not fearing
either dog or man. He useth to kill deer.... He hath likewise a
device to get geese: for, being much of the colour of a goose, he
will place himself close by the water; holding up his bob-tail, which
is like a goose-neck. The geese, seeing this counterfeit goose,
approach nigh to visit him; who, with a sudden jerk, apprehends his
mistrustless prey. The English kill many of these, accounting them
very good meat.”—_New-Eng. Prospect_, _l. c._ Audubon and Bachman
(_l. c._, p. 14) give a similar good account of the flesh of the
bay-lynx, or common wild-cat.
[52] The raccoon is, or has been, an inhabitant of all North America
(Godman, Nat. Hist., vol. i. p. 117), and was one of the first of our
animals with which European naturalists became acquainted. Linnæus
(Syst. Nat.) cites Conrad Gesner among those who have illustrated
or mentioned it. Wood says they are “as good meat as a lamb;” and
further, that, “in the moonshine night, they go to feed on clams at
a low tide, by the seaside, where the English hunt them with their
dogs.”—_New-Eng. Prospect_, _l. c._
[53] The author’s account of the Indian works in birch-bark and
porcupine-quills is much fuller in his Voyages, p. 143.
[54] Wood’s account is far better.—_New-Eng. Prospect_, chap. vii.
See page 53 of the Rarities for mention of the musk quash.
[55] See Voyages, pp. 88-91. Called _moos-soog_ (rendered “great-ox;
or, rather, red deer”) in R. Williams’s Key (Hist. Coll., vol. iii.
p. 223): but this is rather the plural form of _moos_; as see the
same, _l. c._ p. 222, and note, and Rasles’ Dict. Abnaki, _in loco_.
It is called _mongsöa_ by the Cree Indians; and, it should seem,
_mongsoos_ by the Indians of the neighborhood of Carlton House; as
see Richardson, in Sabine’s Appendix to Franklin’s Narrative of a
Journey to the Polar Sea, pp. 665-6. “The English,” says Wood, “have
some thoughts of keeping him tame, and to accustome him to the yoke;
which will be a great commodity.... There be not many of these in the
Massachusetts Bay; but, forty miles to the north-east, there be great
store of them.”—_New-Eng. Prospect_, _l. c._ On hunting the moose, as
practised by the Indians, see Josselyn’s Voyages, p. 136.
[56] Wood (N. E. Prospect, _l. c._) has but two kinds of deer: of
which the first is the moose; and the second, called “ordinary
deer,” and, in the vocabulary of Indian words, _ottuck_ (compare
_attuck_ or _noonatch_, deer,—R. Williams, _l. c._; but _atteyk_, in
the Cree dialect, signifies a small sort of rein-deer,—Richardson,
in Appendix to Franklin’s Journey, p. 665; and it is observable
that Rasles’ word for _chevreuil_ is _norke_), is our American
fallow-deer. R. Williams also appears to distinguish with clearness
but two; which are, perhaps, the same as Wood’s. Josselyn, in this
book, passes quite over the common, or fallow-deer: but, making up
in the Voyages for the fallings-short of the Rarities, he goes, in
the former, quite the other way; reckoning the roe, buck, red deer,
rein-deer, elk, _maurouse_, and _maccarib_. What is further said of
these animals, where he speaks more at large, makes it appear likely
that the second, third, and fourth names, so far as they have any
value, belong to a single kind,—the “ordinary deer” of Wood (whose
description possibly helped Josselyn’s), or our fallow-deer; to
which the “roe” is also to be referred: and the “elk” he himself
explains as the moose. But, beside these two kinds, Josselyn has
the merit of indicating, with some distinctness, one, or possibly
two, others,—the _maurouse_ and the _maccarib_. The _maurouse_—of
which only the Voyages make mention—“is somewhat like a moose; but
his horns are but small, and himself about the size of a stag. These
are the deer that the flat-footed wolves hunt after.”—_Voyages_, p.
91. This is to be compared with the _mauroos_, rendered “_cerf_,” of
Rasles’ Dict., _l. c._, p. 382; and, in such connection, is hardly
referable to other than the _caribou_, or rein-deer,—a well-known
inhabitant of the north-eastern parts of New England, and likely,
therefore, to have come to the knowledge of our author; while there
seems to be no testimony to its ever having occurred in Massachusetts
and southward, where Wood and Williams made their observations. The
last, or the _maccarib_, _caribo_, or _pohano_, of Josselyn, is
described above; and, in the Voyages (p. 91), he only repeats that it
“is not found, that ever I heard yet, but upon Cape Sable, near to
the French plantations.” The “round” hoofs of the _maccarib_ might
lead us to take this for the _caribou_ of Maine; the round track of
which differs much from that of the fallow-deer. But the former is
more likely to have been the American elk; so rare, it should seem,
where it occurred, when our author wrote, and so little known in the
New-England settlements, that his fancy, fed by darkling hearsay,
could deck it with the honors of the “unicorn.”
[57] “There are two or three kinds of them,—one a great yellow fox;
another grey, who will climb up into trees. The black fox is of much
esteem.”—_Josselyn’s Voyages_, p. 82; where is also an account of the
way of hunting foxes in New England. Wood has nothing special, but
that some of the foxes “be black. Their furrs is of much esteem” (_l.
c._) Williams (_l. c._) has “_mishquashim_, a red fox; _pequawus_,
a gray fox. The Indians say they have black foxes, which they have
often seen, but never could take any of them. They say they are
manittooes.” Beside the common red fox, or _mishquashim_, we have in
all these accounts—and also in Morell’s _Nova Anglia_, _l. c._, p.
129—mention of a black fox; which may have been the true black or
silver fox, or, in part at least, the more common cross-fox (Aud.
and Bachm., Viv. Quadr. N. A., p. 45); the pelt of which is also in
high esteem. For Williams’s gray fox, see the next note. Josselyn’s
climbing gray fox is perhaps the fisher (_Mustela Canadensis_,
Schreb.), notwithstanding the color. According to Audubon (_l. c._,
pp. 51, 310, 315), this is called the black fox in New England
and the northern counties of New York. I have heard it more often
called black cat in New Hampshire. But the true gray fox (_Vulpes
Virginianus_) “has, to a certain degree, the power of climbing
trees.” Newberry Zoology, Expl. for Pacific Railroad, vi, part 4, p.
40.
[58] “A creature much like a fox, but smaller.”—_Voyages_, p. 83.
Probably the gray fox, called _pequawus_ by R. Williams (_Vulpes
Virginianus_, Schreb.); which has not the rank smell of the red
fox.—_Aud. and Bachm._, _l. c._, p. 168.
[59] “They told me of a young lyon (not long before) kill’d at
Piscataway by an Indian.”—_Voyages_, p. 23. Higginson says that lions
“have been seen at Cape Anne.”—_New-Eng. Plantation_, _l. c._, p.
119. “Some affirm,” says Wood, “that they have seen a lion at Cape
Anne.... Besides, Plimouth men” (that is, men of old Plymouth, it
is likely) “have traded for lion-skins in former times. But sure it
is that there be lions on that continent; for the Virginians saw
an old lion in their plantation,” &c.—_New-Eng. Prospect_, _l. c._
The animal here spoken of may well have been the puma or cougar, or
American lion.
[60] “The rabbits be much like ours in England. The hares be some of
them white, and a yard long. These two harmless creatures are glad
to shelter themselves from the harmful foxes in hollow trees; having
a hole at the entrance no bigger than they can creep in at.”—_Wood_,
_New-Eng. Prospect_, _l. c._ Wood’s rabbit and Josselyn’s hare, so
far as the summer coloring goes, appear to be the gray rabbit (_Lepus
sylvaticus_, Aud. and Bachm., _l. c._ p. 173); and the white hare
of Wood—as also, probably, the hare, “milk-white in winter,” of
Josselyn—is doubtless the northern hare (_Lepus Americanus_, Erxl.,
Aud. and Bachm., _l. c._, p. 93).
[61] The Voyages mention, beside the quadrupeds above named, also
the skunk (_ségankoo_ of Rasles’ Dict., _l. c._); the musquash
(_mooskooéssoo_ of Rasles, _l. c._), for which see also p. 53 of
this; otter; marten, “as ours are in England, but blacker;” sable,
“much of the size of a mattrise, perfect black, but ... I never
saw but two of them in eight years’ space;” the squirrel, “three
sorts,—the mouse-squirril, the gray squirril, and the flying-squirril
(called by the Indian _assapanick_).” Our author’s mouse-squirrel,
which he describes, is the ground or striped squirrel: probably the
“_anequus_, a little coloured squirrel” of R. Williams, _l. c._;
and the _anikoosess_ (rendered _suisse_) of Rasles, _l. c._ The
mattrise of our author is, according to him, “a creature whose head
and fore-parts is shaped somewhat like a lyon’s; not altogether so
big as a house-cat. They are innumerable up in the countrey, and are
esteemed good furr.”—_Voyages_, p. 87. The sable is compared with the
mattrise, at least in size; and the name is perhaps comparable with
_mattegooéssoo_ of Rasles, _l. c._; but this is rendered _lièvre_.
Wood adds to this list of our quadrupeds, mistakenly, the ferret; and
R. Williams, the “_ockquutchaunnug_,—a wild beast of a reddish hair,
about the bigness of a pig, and rooting like a pig;” which seems to
answer, in name as well as habits, to our woodchuck, or ground-hog.
[62] The author’s attempt here at a general catalogue of the fishes,
mollusks, &c., of the North-Atlantic Ocean, affords but a poor
make-shift for such a list as we might fairly have expected from him
of the species known to the early fishermen in the waters and seas of
New England; and the account in his Voyages (pp. 104-15) is again an
improvement on the present, and is confined to the inhabitants of our
waters. The present editor has little to offer in elucidation of the
list; which indeed, in good part, appears sufficiently intelligible.
Compare Wood, New-Eng. Prospect, chap. x.
[63] “Like a herrin, but has a bigger bellie; therefore called an
alewife.”—Voyages, p. 107. The other names, alize and allow, are
doubtless corruptions of the French alose, also in use among London
fishmongers to designate shad from certain waters.—_Rees’s Cyc._,
_in loco_. The old Latin word _alosa_, supposed to have been always
applied to the fish just mentioned, is adopted by Cuvier for the
genus which includes our shad, alewife, and menhaden.
[64] The tunny is so called on the coast of New England.—_Storer’s
Report on the Fishes of Mass._, p. 48.
[65] It is, notwithstanding, set down in the author’s list of fishes
“that are to be seen and catch’d in the sea and fresh waters in New
England.”—_Voyages_, p. 113. And compare Storer, Synops. (Mem. Am.
Acad., N. S., vol. ii.), p. 300.
[66] See Voyages, p. 108. The first settlers esteemed the bass above
most other fish. See Higginson’s New-England’s Plantation (Hist.
Coll., vol. i. p. 120). Wood calls it (New-Eng. Prospect, chap. ix.)
“one of the best fish in the country; and though men are soon wearied
with other fish, yet are they never with bass. The Indians,” he says,
eat lobsters, “when they can get no bass.” The head was especially
prized; as see Wood, and also Roger Williams’s Key (Hist. Coll., vol.
iii. p. 224). The fish is our striped bass (_Labrax lineatus_, Cuv.;
Storer’s Report on Fishes of Mass., p. 7). Our author, at p. 37,
again mentions it as one of the eight fishes which “the Indians have
in greatest request.”
[67] See p. 96 as to the blue-fish, or horse-mackerel; and Storer,
_l. c._, p. 57.
[68] The bonito of our fishermen is the skipjack.—_Storer_, _l. c._,
p. 49.
[69] See p. 95.
[70] See p. 96. Josselyn’s character of the fish as food is confirmed
by Dr. Storer, _l. c._, p. 69.
[71] The clam is one of the eight fishes mentioned at p. 37 as most
prized by the Indians. “_Sickishuog_ (clams). This is a sweet kind
of shell-fish, which all Indians generally over the country, winter
and summer, delight in; and, at low water, the women dig for them.
This fish, and the natural liquor of it, they boil; and it makes
their broth and their nasaump (which is a kind of thickened broth)
and their bread seasonable and savoury, instead of salt.”—_Williams’s
Key, &c._, _l. c._ p. 224. “These fishes be in great plenty in most
parts of the country: which is a great commodity for the feeding
of swine, both in winter and summer; for, being once used to those
places, they will repair to them as duly, every ebb, as if they were
driven to them by keepers.”—_Wood_, _N. Eng. Prospect_, _l. c._ The
mollusk thus approved is the common clam (_Mya arenaria_, L.); but
the _poquauhock_, or quahog (_Venus mercenaria_, L.), “which the
Indians wade deep and dive for” (R. Williams, _l. c._, p. 224), was
also eaten by them, and the black part of the shell used for making
their _suckauhock_, or black money. Wood speaks also of “clams as
big as a penny white loaf, which are great dainties amongst the
natives” (N. E. Prospect, _l. c._); doubtless the giant clam (_Mactra
solidissima_, Chemn.) of Gould (Report on Invertebr. of Mass., p.
51), which is still esteemed as food.
[72] See p. 36; by which it appears that the author has in view
the _meteauhock_ of the Indians; “the periwinkle, of which they
make their _wompam_, or white money, of half the value of their
_suckauhock_, or black money” (R. Williams, _l. c._): supposed to be
_Buccinum undatum_, L. (Gould, _l. c._, p. 305); and possibly, also,
one or two other allied shell-fish.
[73] “Cod-fish in these seas” (that is, Massachusetts Bay) “are
larger than in Newfoundland,—six or seven making a quintal; whereas
they have fifteen to the same weight.”—_New-Eng. Prospect_, _l. c._
Compare Storer, _l. c._, p. 121. Josselyn has an entertaining account
of the sea-fishery, in his Voyages, pp. 210-13.
[74] See further of eels, and the author’s several ways of cooking
them, in his Voyages, p. 111. At p. 37 of the Rarities, eels are
mentioned among the fishes most prized by the Indians. “These eels be
not of so luscious a taste as they be in England, neither are they so
aguish; but are both wholesome for the body, and delightful for the
taste.”—_Wood_, _New-Eng. Prospect_, chap. ix.
[75] See p. 37, where it is said to be one of the fishes which “the
Indians have in greatest request.”—“_Poponaumsuog_” of R. Williams,
_l. c._, p. 225. He says, “Some call them frost-fish, from their
coming up from the sea into fresh brooks in times of frost and snow.”
[76] “Grampoise; Fr. _grandpoisson_;” corrupted grampus.—_Webster_,
_Dict._
[77] “These hollibut be little set by while bass is in
season.”—_Wood_, _l. c._, chap. ix.
[78] “The sea-hare is as big as grampus, or herrin-hog; and as white
as a sheet. There hath been of them in Black-Point Harbour, and some
way up the river; but we could never take any of them. Several have
shot sluggs at them, but lost their labour.”—_Voyages_, p. 105.
The _Lepus marinus_ of the old writers is a naked mollusk of the
Mediterranean; _Laplysia depilans_, L.: but Josselyn’s was a very
different animal.
[79] One of the fishes most valued by the Indians (p. 37); but “not
much set by” by the English, according to Wood, _l. c._
[80] “I have seene some myselfe that have weighed 16 pound; but
others have had, divers times, so great lobsters as have weighed
25 pound, as they assure me.”—_Higginson’s New-Eng. Plantation_,
_l. c._, p. 120; with which compare Gould’s Report, &c., p. 360.
“Their plenty makes them little esteemed, and seldom eaten.”—_Wood_,
_New-Eng. Prospect_, chap. ix. At p. 37, Josselyn counts them among
the fishes, &c., most esteemed by the Indians; but Wood (_l. c._)
qualifies this in a passage already cited. The Indians, it seems,
sometimes dried them, “as they do lampres and oysters; which are
delicate breakfast-meat so ordered.”—_Josselyn’s Voyages_, p. 110.
See the Indian way of catching lobsters, in Voyages, p. 140.
[81] “Munk-fish, a flat-fish like scate; having a hood like a fryer’s
cowl” (p. 96). _Lophius Americanus_, Cuv., the sea-devil of Storer
(Synops. of Amer. Fishes, in Mem. Amer. Acad., N. S., vol. ii. p.
381), is called monk-fish in Maine.—_Williamson_, _Hist._, vol. i. p.
157.
[82] See p. 97.
[83] “The muscle is of two sorts,—sea-muscles (in which they find
pearl) and river-muscles.”—_Voyages_, p. 110. See p. 37, of the
present volume, for an account of “the scarlet muscle,” which ...
“yieldeth a perfect purple or scarlet juice; dyeing linnen so that
no washing will wear it out,” &c. This could scarcely have been a
_Purpura_ or _Buccinum_.
[84] See Voyages, p. 110. “The oysters be great ones,” says Wood;
“in form of a shoe-horn: some be a foot long. These breed on certain
banks that are bare every spring-tide.”—_New-Eng. Prospect_, chap.
ix. This was in the waters of Massachusetts Bay, where Higginson
(New-Eng. Plantation, _l. c._, p. 120) also speaks of their being
found. The question whether the oyster is an indigenous inhabitant of
our bay, or only an introduced stranger, is considered by Dr. Gould
(Report on Invert. Animals of Mass., pp. 135, 365).
[85] One of the fishes “in greatest request” among the Indians (p.
37). Wood says it “is as good as it is in England, and in great
plenty in some places.”—_New-Eng. Prospect_, chap. ix.
[86] “The shads be bigger than the English shads, and
fatter.”—_Wood_, _l. c._
[87] “_Taut-auog_ (sheep’s-heads).” So Roger Williams’s Key, _l. c._,
p. 224. It is probable, therefore, that our author had the fish that
we call tautog in his mind here. What is now called sheep’s-head is
not known in Massachusetts Bay and northward.—_Storer_, _l. c._, p.
36.
[88] See p. 34; and Wood, _l. c._, chap. ix.
[89] See p. 96. It appears to be the mollusk, the shell of which is
well known as the razor-shell (_Solen ensis_, L.).—_Gould_, _Report_,
p. 28.
[90] See p. 32. “The sturgeons be all over the country; but the best
catching of them is upon the shoals of Cape Cod and in the river of
Merrimack, where much is taken, pickled, and brought to England. Some
of these be 12, 14, and 18 feet long.”—_Wood_, _New-Eng. Prospect_,
chap. ix. R. Williams says that “the natives, for the goodness
and greatness of it, much prize it; and will neither furnish the
English with so many, nor so cheap, that any great trade is like to
be made of it, until the English themselves are fit to follow the
fishing.”—_Key_, _l. c._, p. 224. It is one of Josselyn’s eight fish
which are in “greatest request” with the Indians (p. 37). He calls
“Pechipscut” River, in Maine, “famous for multitudes of mighty large
sturgeon.”—_Voyages_, p. 204.
[91] See Voyages, pp. 105-6.
[92] “This fish is much used for bait to catch a cod, hacke, polluck,
and the like sea-fish.”—_Voyages_, p. 107. It is still so used.
[93] Described at p. 95.
[94] See p. 34 of this, and p. 109 of the Voyages, where the author
says, “Of sea-turtles, there are five sorts; of land-turtles, three
sorts,—one of which is a right land-turtle, that seldom or never
goes into the water; the other two being the river-turtle and the
pond-turtle.”—See also the author’s observations on sea-turtles, at
p. 39 of the Voyages.
[95] “Trouts there be good store in every brook; ordinarily two
and twenty inches long. Their grease is good for the piles and
clifts.”—_Voyages_, p. 110.
[96] See Storer’s Report, p. 146.
[97] See p. 35; and Voyages, p. 104. “The natives cut them in several
parcel, and give and send them far and near for an acceptable present
or dish.”—_R. Williams_, _Key_, _l. c._, p. 224.
[98] See Voyages, p. 110. This is the common sea-egg; _Echinus
granulatus_, Say.—_Gould’s Rep._, p. 344.
[99] See p. 24 and note.
[100] Our author’s account of the fishes of New England may take this
of old Wood (N. E. Prospect, _l. c._) for a tail-piece. “The chief
fish for trade,” says he, “is a cod; but, for the use of the country,
there is all manner of fish, as followeth:—
“The king of waters,—the sea-shouldering Whale;
The snuffing Grampus, with the oily seal;
The storm-presaging Porpus, Herring-hog;
Line-shearing Shark, the Cat-fish, and Sea-dog;
The scale-fenced Sturgeon; wry-mouthed Hollibut;
The flouncing Salmon, Codfish, Greedigut;
Cole, Haddick, Hake, the Thornback, and the Scate,
(Whose slimy outside makes him seld’ in date;)
The stately Bass, old Neptune’s fleeting post,
That tides it out and in from sea to coast;
Consorting Herrings, and the bony Shad;
Big-bellied Alewives; Mackrels richly clad
With rainbow-colour, the Frost-fish and the Smelt,
As good as ever Lady Gustus felt;
The spotted Lamprons; Eels; the Lamperies,
That seek fresh-water brooks with Argus-eyes:
These watery villagers, with thousands more,
Do pass and repass near the verdant shore.”
[101] See p. 97.
[102] The account in the Voyages (pp. 114-23) is better; and Wood’s,
in New-England’s Prospect, chap. xi. (to which last, Josselyn was
possibly indebted), far better.
[103] See “the generating of these creatures,” in Voyages, p. 119.
“Here, likewise,” says Wood, “be great store of frogs, which, in the
spring, do chirp and whistle like a bird; and, at the latter end of
summer, croak like our English frogs.”—_N. Eng. Prospect_, _l. c._ In
his Voyages, Josselyn speaks (as Wood had done) of the tree-toad, and
also of another kind of toad; and of “the eft, or swift, ... a most
beautiful creature to look upon; being larger than ours, and painted
with glorious colours: but I lik’d him never the better for it” (p.
119).
[104] Wood’s account (New-Eng. Prospect, _l. c._) is worth comparing
with Higginson’s (New-England’s Plantation, _l. c._) and with
Josselyn’s, both here and at pp. 23 and 114 of the Voyages. Wood
justly says of this “most poisonous and dangerous creature,” that it
is “nothing so bad as the report goes of him.... He is naturally,” he
continues, “the most sleepy and unnimble creature that lives; never
offering to leap or bite any man, if he be not trodden on first: and
it is their desire, in hot weather, to lie in paths where the sun
may shine on them; where they will sleep so soundly, that I have
known four men to stride over them, and never awake her.... Five or
six men,” he adds, “have been bitten by them; which, by using of
snake-weed” (compare the preface to this, p. 119), “were all cured;
never any yet losing his life by them. Cows have been bitten; but,
being cut in divers places, and this weed thrust into their flesh,
were cured. I never heard of any beast that was yet lost by any of
them, saving one mare” (_l. c._). Of other serpents, Wood mentions
the black snake; and Josselyn, in his Voyages (_l. c._), speaks of
“infinite numbers, of various colours;” and especially of “one sort
that exceeds all the rest; and that is the checkquered snake, having
as many colours within the checkquers shadowing one another as there
are in a rainbow.” He says again, “The water-snake will be as big
about the belly as the calf of a man’s leg” which is, perhaps, the
water-adder. Josselyn adds, “I never heard of any mischief that
snakes did” (_l. c._); and so Wood: “Neither doth any other kind of
snakes” (the rattle-snake always excepted, as no doubt dangerous
when trodden on) “molest either man or beast.” There are perhaps no
worse prejudices in common life, than those which breed cruelty. In
the Voyages (p. 23), our author makes mention “of a sea-serpent, or
snake, that lay quoiled up like a cable upon a rock at Cape Ann. A
boat passing by with English aboard, and two Indians, they would have
shot the serpent: but the Indians disswaded them; saying, that, if
he were not kill’d outright, they would be all in danger of their
lives.” This was from “some neighbouring gentlemen in our house, who
came to welcome me into the countrey;” and it seems, that, “amongst
variety of discourse, they told me also of a young lyon (not long
before) killed at Piscataway by an Indian;” which, indeed, was
possibly not without foundation. And as to the serpent, compare a
Report of a Committee of the Linnæan Society of New England relative
to a large marine animal, supposed to be a serpent, seen near Cape
Ann, Mass., in August, 1817 (Boston, 1817); which contains also a
full account of a smaller animal—supposed not to differ, even in
species, from the large—which was taken on the rocks of Cape Ann.—See
also Storer, Report on the Reptiles of Mass.; Supplement, p. 410.
[105] The author continues his entomological observations, in
his Voyages, p. 115; and the account is fuller than Wood’s;
_New-England’s Prospect_, chap. xi.
[106] Gerard by Johnson, p. 17,—_Carex flava_, L.; the first species
of this genus indicated in North America, and common also to Europe.
There is no doubt of the reference, taking Josselyn’s name to be
meant for specific, and to refer to Gerard’s first figure with the
same name. But it is certainly possible that our author had in view
only a general reference to Gerard’s fourteenth chapter, “Of Hedgehog
Grasse,” which brings together plants of very different genera; and,
in this case, his name is of little account. Cutler (Account of
Indig. Veg., _l. c._, 1785) mentions three genera of _Cyperaceæ_, but
not _Carex_; nor did he ever publish that description of our true
_Gramineæ_ “and other native grasses,” which, he says (_l. c._, p.
407), “may be the subject of another paper.” The first edition of
Bigelow’s Florula Bostoniensis (1814) has seven species of _Carex_,
which are increased to seventeen in the second edition (1824); the
list embracing the most common and conspicuous forms. The genus
has since been made an object of special study, and the number of
our species, in consequence, greatly increased. A list of Carices
of the neighborhood of Boston, published by the present writer in
1841 (Hovey’s Mag. Hort.), gives forty-seven species; and Professor
Dewey’s Report on the Herbaceous Plants of Massachusetts, in 1840,
reckons ninety-one species within the limits of his work.
[107] Johnson’s Gerard, p. 42,—English matweed, or helme (the
other species being excluded, as not English, by our author’s
caption); which I take to be _Calamagrostis arenaria_ (L.) Roth,
of Gray, Man., p. 548; called sea-matweed in England, and common
to Europe and America. But if the author only intended to refer to
Gerard’s “Chapter 34, of Mat-weed,”—which is perhaps, on the whole,
unlikely,—his name is of no value.
[108] Gerard, p. 46,—_Typha latifolia_, L.,—common to America and
Europe.
[109] Gerard, p. 47,—_Stellaria graminea_, L.; for which our
author mistook, as did Cutler a century after, the nearly akin _S.
longifolia_, Muhl.
[110] Appears not to be meant for a specific reference to any of
Gerard’s species; but only an indication of the genus, with the
single distinguishing character of color, which was enough to
separate the New-England plants from the only British one referred by
Gerard to Iris. Both of our blue-flags are peculiar to the country.
[111] Not one of Gerard’s bastard daffodils, but his dog’s-tooth, p.
204 (_Erythronium_, L.). Our common dog’s-tooth was at first taken
for a variety of the European, but is now reckoned distinct.
[112] Gerard, p. 205,—_Orchis_, L., etc. It is here clear that the
name is used only in a general way. The second name (_Satyrion_),
perhaps, however, makes our author’s notion a little more definite,
and permits us to refer the plants he had probably in view to species
of _Platanthera_, Rich. (Gray, Man., p. 444), of which only one is
certainly known to be common to us and Europe.
[113] Gerard, em. p. 257,—_Nasturtium officinale_, L. Reckoned also
by Cutler, and indeed naturalized in some parts of the country
(Gray, Man., p. 30); but our author had probably _N. palustre_, DC.
(marsh-cress), if any thing of this genus, and not rather _Cardamine
hirsuta_, L. (hairy lady’s smock), in his mind. Both the last are
common to us and Europe.—_Gray_, _l. c._
[114] Gerard, p. 192. _Lilium bulbiferum_ (the garden red lily)
is meant; for which our author mistook our own red lily (_L.
Philadelphicum_, L.).
[115] Of the two plants,—either of which may possibly have been in
view of the author here,—the sorrell du bois, or white wood-sorrel of
Gerard, p. 1101 (_Oxalis acetosella_, L.) which is truly common to
Europe and America, and the sheep’s sorrel (Gerard, p. 397,—_Rumex
acetosella_, L.), which inhabits, indeed, the whole northern
hemisphere, but is taken by Dr. Gray to be a naturalized weed here,
I incline to think the latter less likely to have escaped Josselyn’s
attention than the former, and to be what he means to say appeared to
him as native, in 1671. For the yellow wood-sorrel, see farther on.
[116] Gerard, em., p. 404,—_Ophioglossum vulgatum_, L.; common to us
and Europe.
[117] Gerard, em., p. 409,—_Smilacina bifolia_ (L.), Ker; common to
us and Europe.
[118] Gerard, em., p. 410. A mistake of our author’s, which can
hardly be set right. The station is against the plant’s having been
_Smilacina trifolia_ (L.), Desf. But it may be that _Clintonia
borealis_ (Ait.) Raf., was intended.
[119] _Alisma plantago_, L., common to Europe and America; “called,
in New England, water suck-leaves and scurvie-leaves. You must lay
them whole to the leggs to draw out water between the skin and the
flesh.”—_Josselyn’s Voyages_, p. 80. As to its medicinal properties,
see Gerard, p. 419; and Wood and Bache, Dispens., p. 1293.
[120] _Plantago maritima_, L. (Gerard, p. 423), a native of Europe
and America, is our only sea-plantain. One of the others was probably
_Triglochin_.
[121] _Sagittaria sagittifolia_, L. (now called arrowhead), common to
Europe and America; though here passing into some varieties which are
unknown in the European Floras.
[122] _Gentiana saponaria_, L., peculiar to America, but nearly
akin to the European _G. pneumonanthe_, L., which our author
intended.—_Johnson’s Gerard_, _edit. cit._, p. 438.
[123] The plant is green hellebore (_Veratrum viride_, Ait.); so
near, indeed, to the white hellebore (_V. album_, L.) of Europe, that
it was taken for it by Michaux. In his Voyages, the author, after
speaking of the use of opium by the Turks, says, “The English in New
England take white hellebore, which operates as fairly with them as
with the Indians,” &c. (p. 60); and see p. 76, further.
[124] _Polygonum lapathifolium_, L. (_Hydropiper_ of Gerard, p.
445),—for which, perhaps, _P. hydropiper_, L., was mistaken,—and
_P. Persicaria_, L. (_Persicaria maculosa_ of Gerard, _l. c._),
are what the author means; being the two sorts figured by Gerard
himself. The third, added by Johnson, is unknown in this country;
and the fourth belongs to a very different genus. _P. Persicaria_ is
marked as introduced in the late Mr. Oakes’s catalogue of the plants
of Vermont; and both this and _P. hydropiper_ are considered to be
naturalized weeds by Dr. Gray (Man., p. 373). Josselyn’s testimony as
to the former, as appearing to him to be native in 1671, is therefore
not without interest; and possibly it is not quite worthless as to
the latter.
[125] _Chamæsyce_, or spurge-time, of Gerard (_edit. cit._, p. 504),
is _Euphorbia chamæsyce_, L., a species belonging to the Eastern
continent; for which Sloane (_cit. L. Sp. Pl. in loco_) appears to
have mistaken our _Euphorbia maculata_, L.; while Plukenet (_Alm.
372_, _cit. L._) recognizes the affinity of the same plants, calling
the latter _Chamæsyce altera Virginiana_. Josselyn’s spurge-time may
be _E. maculata_; but quite possibly, taking the station which he
gives into the account, _E. polygonifolia_, L.
[126] There are “several sorts of spurge,” according to the Voyages
(p. 78); of which this, which I cannot specifically refer, is
possibly one.
[127] To this species of _Saxifraga_, L., unknown to our _Flora_
(Gerard, p. 528), our author, with little doubt, referred the pretty
_S. Virginiensis_, Michx.—See p. 58 of this, note.
[128] Gerard, em., p. 535,—_Salicornia herbacea_, L. But Linnæus
referred one of Clayton’s Virginia specimens (the rest he did not
distinguish from _S. herbacea_) to a variety, _β. Virginica_ (which
he took to be also European; _Sp. Pl._), and afterwards raised this
to a species, as _S. Virginica_, _Syst. Nat._, vol. ii. p. 52,
Willd. _Sp. Pl._, vol. i. p. 25. To this the more common glasswort
of our salt marshes is to be referred; and we possess, beside, a
still better representative of the European plant in _S. mucronata_,
Bigel. (_Fl. Bost._, edit. 2, p. 2), which may perhaps best be taken
for a peculiar variety (_S. herbacea_, _β. mucronata_, articulorum
dentibus squamisque mucronatis, _Enum. Pl. Cantab._, Ms.; and _S.
Virginica_ may well be another) of a species common to us and Europe.
It is certain that we have plants strictly common to American and
European Floras, in which the differences referable to difference
of atmospheric and other like conditions are either not apparent or
of no account; and it is possible that there are yet other species,
now considered peculiar to America, which only differ from older
European species in those characters—whether of exuberance mostly,
or also of impoverishment—in which an American variety of a plant,
common to America and Europe, might beforehand be expected to differ
from an European state of the same. “Linnæus ut Tournefortii errores
corrigeret, varietates nimis contraxit.”—_Link_, _Phil. Bot._, p. 222.
[129] _Hypericum perforatum_, L. (“_Hypericum_, _S. John’s-wort_; in
shops, _Perforata_.”—_Gerard_, _edit. cit._, p. 539). The species is
considered to have been introduced, by most American authors; and it
is possible that Josselyn had _H. corymbosum_, Muhl., in his mind.
[130] _Hypericum quadrangulum_, L. (Gerard, p. 542); for which our
author doubtless mistook _H. mutilum_, L. (_H. parviflorum_, Willd.),
a species peculiar to America; to which Cutler’s _H. quadrangulum_
(Account of Indig. Veg., _l. c._, p. 474) is probably also to be
referred.
[131] _Veronica arvensis_, L. (Gerard, p. 613),—a native, at present,
of Europe, Asia, Northern Africa, and North America (Benth., in DC.
Prodr., vol. x. p. 482); but considered to have been introduced here.
[132] _Veronica_, L. The species is perhaps _V. officinalis_, L.;
which, together with _V. serpyllifolia_, L., is considered by Prof.
Gray to be both indigenous and introduced here.—_Man. Bot._, pp.
200-1.
[133] _Hedeoma pulegioides_ (L.) Pers. (American pennyroyal), is
doubtless meant. The specific name indicates its resemblance—in smell
and taste particularly—to _Mentha pulegium_, L.; for which our author
and Cutler (_l. c._, p. 461) mistook it. But the former is peculiar
to America.
[134] _Mentha aquatica_, L. _Sp. Pl._ (Gerard, p. 684); for which it
is likely our author (and also Cutler, _l. c._, p. 460) mistook _M.
Canadensis_, L., Gray.
[135] _Nepeta cataria_, L. (Gerard, em., p. 682); considered by
American botanists to have been introduced from Europe.
[136] _Agrimonia Eupatoria_, L. (Gerard, em., p. 712); common to
America and Europe.
[137] _Xanthium strumarium_, L., Gray (Gerard, p. 809); common, as a
species, to both continents; but in part, also, introduced.—_Gray_,
_Man._, p. 212.
[138] _Nuphar advena_, Ait.,—the common American species,—is meant;
and this, though resembling _N. lutea_, Sm., of Europe, is distinct
from it.
[139] _Arum_, L. (Gerard, p. 381). The New-England species “differ,”
as our author says, “from all the kinds” in the Old World.
[140] None of the species, presumably here meant, are common to
America and Europe. Our author’s white violet is _Viola blanda_,
Willd.
[141] All our true honeysuckles (“woodbinde, or honisuckles,”—Gerard,
p. 891; _Caprifolium_, Juss.) are distinct from those of Europe; but
what the author meant here is uncertain.
[142] _Convallaria_, L.; _Polygonatum_, Tourn.; _Smilacina_, Desf.
Many botanists have referred our smaller Solomon’s seal to the
nearly akin _C. multiflora_ of Europe; but Dr. Gray (Manual, p. 466)
pronounces the former a distinct American species. The second of
Josselyn’s species is the “_Polygonatum Virginianum_, or Virginian’s
Salomon’s seale” of Johnson’s Gerard (p. 905), and also of Morison
(Hist., _cit. L._), and earliest described and figured by Cornuti
as _P. Canadense, &c._, which is _Smilacina stellata_, (L.) Desf.;
peculiar to America. The third is set down by our author, at p.
56, among the “plants proper to the country;” and Wood (New-Eng.
Prospect, chap. v.) mentions it among eatable wild fruits, by the
same name. It is probably _Smilacina racemosa_, (L.) Desf.,—a
suggestion which I owe to my friend Rev. J. L. Russell’s notes upon
Josselyn’s plants, in Hovey’s Magazine (March, April, and May, 1858);
papers which were published after the manuscript of this edition had
passed from the hands of the editor,—and is also confined to this
continent.
[143] _Geranium_, L. The first is _G. Carolinianum_, L., which
nearly resembles Gerard’s dove’s-foot (p. 938); the second is _G.
Robertianum_, L., common to us and Europe; and the third (Gerard, p.
940)—which cannot be _G. dissectum_—was meant, it is likely to be
taken for synonymous with the fourth, or raven’s-claw,—doubtless our
lovely _G. maculatum_, L., which belongs to that group of species
which the old botanists distinguished by the common name _Geranium
batrachioides_, or crow-foot geranium, which flowers in May, and is
of well-known value in medicine; and the “knobby” root, attributed to
Josselyn’s third kind, favors this opinion.
[144] The genus _Potentilla_, L., in general, is perhaps intended
by cinque-foil; and although our author probably confounded the
common and variable _Potentilla Canadensis_, L., with the nearly
akin _P. reptans_ and _P. verna_, L., of Europe, yet the larger part
of our New-England species are, with little doubt, common to both
continents. What Josselyn referred to _Tormentilla_, L.,—a genus
not now separated from _Potentilla_,—was probably a state of _P.
Canadensis_, which resembles _P. reptans_, L., as remarked above (and
was, indeed, mistaken for it by Cutler,—_l. c._, p. 453), as this
does _Tormentilla reptans_, L.
[145] _Geum strictum_, Ait.,—not found in England, but European
(Gray, Man., p. 116),—is indicated by the author’s phrase; and see
the Voyages, p. 78, for his opinion of its medicinal virtue.
[146] _Fragaria vesca_, L. (the common wood-strawberry of Europe), is
native here, according to Oakes (Catal. Verm., p. 12), “especially on
mountains;” and I have even gathered it, but possibly naturalized,
on the woody banks of Fresh Pond in Cambridge. Our more common
strawberry was not separated from the European by Linnæus, but is
now reckoned a distinct species. “There is likewise strawberries in
abundance,” says Wood (New-England’s Prospect, _l. c._),—“very large
ones; some being two inches about. One may gather half a bushel
in a forenoon.”—“This berry,” says Roger Williams (Key, in Hist.
Coll., vol. iii. p. 221), “is the wonder of all the fruits growing
naturally in those parts. It is of itself excellent; so that one of
the chiefest doctors of England was wont to say, that God could have
made, but God never did make, a better berry. In some parts, where
the natives have planted, I have many times seen as many as would
fill a good ship, within few miles’ compass. The Indians bruise them
in a mortar, and mix them with meal, and make strawberry-bread.”
Gookin also speaks of Indian-bread.—_Mass. Hist. Coll._, vol. i. p.
150.
[147] The two plants here intended, and supposed by the author to
correspond with the “wild angelica” and “great wilde angelica” of
Gerard (pp. 999-1000), may perhaps be taken for the same which
Cornuti (_Canad. Pl. Hist._, pp. 196-200), thirty years before, had
designated as new,—Josselyn’s _Angelica sylvestris minor_ being
_Angelica lucida Canadensis_ of Cornuti, which is _A. lucida_, L.
(and probably, as the French botanist describes the fruit as “minus
foliacea vulgaribus,” also _Archangelica peregrina_, Nutt.); and his
_Angelica sylvestris major_ being _A. atropurpurea Canadensis_ of
Cornuti, or _A. atropurpurea_, L.
[148] _Smyrnium aureum_, L. (golden Alexanders), now separated
from that genus, was mistaken, it is quite likely, for _S.
olusatrum_, L. (true Alexanders), to which it bears a considerable
resemblance.—_Gerard_, p. 1019.
[149] _Achillea millefolium_, L. Oakes has marked this as introduced
(Catal. Vermont, p. 17): but it appeared to our author, in 1672, to
be indigenous; and Dr. Gray reckons it among plants common to both
hemispheres.—_Statistics of Amer. Flora_, in Am. Jour. Sci., vol.
xxiii. p. 70. The author’s reference is to common yarrow.—_Gerard_,
p. 1072.
[150] _Aquilegia Canadensis_, L. As elsewhere, the author probably
means here only that the genus is common to both continents.
[151] At p. 56, both of these are set down among the “plants
proper to the country.” The first, to follow Gerard (p. 1108), is
_Chenopodium botrys_, L.,—a native of the south of Europe, and
considered as an introduced species here. It has reputation in
diseases of the chest.—Wood & Bache, Dispens., p. 213. Josselyn’s oak
of Cappadocia (Gerard, p. 1108) is an American species,—_Ambrosia
elatior_, L. Cutler says of it (_l. c._, p. 489), “It has somewhat
the smell of camphire. It is used in antiseptick fomentations.”
[152] _Galium aparine_, L. (Gerard, _edit. cit._, p. 1122), common to
America and Europe.—Compare Gray, Man., p. 170.
[153] The “Filix mas, or male ferne,” of Gerard, _edit. cit._, p.
1128 (for, says he, of the “divers sorts of ferne ... there be two
sorts, according to the old writers,—the male and the female; and
these be properly called ferne: the others have their proper names”),
is the collective designation of four species of _Aspidium_; of
which all, according to Pursh, and certainly three, are natives of
both continents,—_AA. cristatum_, _Filix mas_, _Filix fæmina_, and
_aculeatum_, Willd. “_Filix fæmina_ (female ferne, or brakes,)” of
Gerard, _l. c._ is _Pteris aquilina_, L.; also common to us and
Europe. The other _Filices_ mentioned by our author are _Ophioglossum
vulgatum_, L. (p. 42); and _Adiantum pedatum_, L. (p. 55).
[154] _Oxalis corniculata_, L. (Gerard, em., p. 1202), common to
Europe and America.
[155] _Ulmus_, L. There are no species common to America and Europe.
[156] See the Voyages, p. 69, where the author has it “the line-tree,
with long nuts: the other kind I could never find.” The former was
_Tilia Americana_, L.,—a species peculiar to America.
[157] See p. 48; and Voyages, p. 69. None of our species are found in
Europe.
[158] The plant intended is doubtless the same with that spoken
of in the Voyages, p. 80.—“_Rosa solis_, sundew, moor-grass. This
plant I have seen more of than ever I saw in my whole life before in
England,” &c. Both our common New-England species of _Drosera_ are
also natives of Europe.
[159] “Differing much from those in England. One sort of them bears
a most beautiful flower” (p. 56, where it is rightly placed among
plants “proper to the country”). The author refers here, doubtless,
to _Apios tuberosa_, Moench. (ground-nut of New England), which was
raised at Paris, from American seeds, by Vespasian Robin, and figured
from his specimens by Cornuti (Canad., p. 200) in 1635; but it was
celebrated, ten years earlier, in “Nova Anglia,”—a curious poem by
the Rev. William Morrell, who came over with Capt. Robert Gorges in
1623, and spent about a year at Weymouth and Plymouth, publishing his
book in 1625 (repr. Hist. Coll., vol. i. p. 125, &c.),—as follows:—
“Vimine gramineo nux subterranea suavis
Serpit humi, tenui flavo sub cortice, pingui
Et placido nucleo nivei candoris ab intra,
Melliflua parcos hilarans dulcedine gustus,
Donec in æstivum Phœbus conscenderit axem.
His nucleis laute versutus vescitur Indus:
His exempta fames segnis nostratibus omnis
Dulcibus his vires revocantur victibus almæ.”
[160] See p. 52 and Voyages (pp. 70, 81) for other notices of
_Fungi_; and Voyages, p. 81, for the only mention of _Algæ_.
[161] Female pimpernell (Gerard, em., p. 617),—_Anagallis arvensis_,
γ, Sm.; _A. cærulea_, Schreb.,—but scarcely differing, except in
color, from the scarlet pimpernel, which has long (“in clayey
ground,”—_Cutler_, _l. c._, 1785) been an inhabitant of the coasts of
Massachusetts Bay, though doubtless introduced.
[162] _Hepatica triloba_, Chaix. (_Anemone hepatica_, L.),
common to Europe and America; occurring occasionally with white
flowers.—_Gerard_, em., p. 1203.
[163] _Rubus_, L. The red raspberry of this country is hardly other
than an American variety of the European (_R. Idæus_, var. strigosus,
caule petiolis pedunculis calyceque aculeato-hispidissimis, Enum.
Pl. Agri Cantab, 1843, Ms.); upon which see Gray (Man., p. 121; and
Statistics, &c., _l. c._, p. 81). _R. triflorus_, Richards., is also
very near to, and was once considered the same as, the European
_R. saxatilis_, L. The rest of our New-England raspberries and
blackberries appear to be specifically distinct from those of Europe.
The cloud-berry, mentioned at p. 60, is there set down among plants
proper to the country; and may therefore not be the true cloud-berry
(Gerard, p. 1273), or _Rubus chamæmorus_, L., which is common to both
continents.
[164] The New-England gooseberries are peculiar to this country. The
author no doubt intends _Ribes hirtellum_, Michx. (Gray, Man., p.
137); as see further his Voyages, p. 72.
[165] _Cratægus_, L. But the species are peculiar to this country, as
Josselyn implies with respect to the haws which he notices. These,
no doubt, included _C. tomentosa_, L., Gray; and perhaps, also, _C.
coccinea_, L. Wood says, “The white thorn affords hawes as big as an
English cherry; which is esteemed above a cherry for his goodness
and pleasantness to the taste.”—_New-England’s Prospect_, chap. v.
At page 72 of his Voyages, the author mentions “a small shrub, which
is very common; growing sometimes to the height of elder; bearing
a berry like in shape to the fruit of the white thorn; of a pale,
yellow colour at first, then red (when it is ripe, of a deep purple);
of a delicate, aromatical tast, but somewhat stiptick,”—which may be
_Pyrus arbutifolia_, L. Higginson (New-England’s Plantation, _l. c._,
p. 119) speaks of our haws almost as highly as Wood.
[166] Great toad-flax (Gerard, em., p. 550); _Linaria vulgaris_,
Moench. Compare De Candolle (Geog. Bot., vol. ii. p. 716) for a
sketch of the American history of this now familiar plant, which the
learned author cannot trace before Bigelow’s date (Fl. Bost., edit.
1) of 1814. But it is certainly Cutler’s “snapdragon; ... blossoms
yellow, with a mixture of scarlet; common by roadsides in Lynn and
Cambridge” (_l. c._, 1785): though he strangely prefixes the Linnæan
phrase for _Antirrhinum Canadense_, L.; and there seems no reason to
doubt that Josselyn may very well have seen it in 1671.
[167] Gerard, p. 653 (_Teucrium_, L.). The author may have intended
to reckon the genus only. Our species is peculiar to this continent.
[168] The designation is uncertain. The old botanists gave the name
_Auricula muris_, or mouse-ear, to species of _Myosotis_, _Draba_,
_Hieracium_, and _Gnaphalium_. Josselyn’s plant may most probably be
_Antennaria plantaginifolia_, Hook. (mouse-ear of New England), which
is very near to _A. dioica_ of Europe.—_Gray, Statistics, &c._, _l.
c._, p. 81.
[169] _Quercus alba_, L.; _Q. rubra_, L.; and _Q. tinctoria_, Bartr.
Wood’s account of the oaks (New-England’s Prospect, chap. v.) is
similar. In his Voyages, p. 61, Josselyn gives us “the ordering of
red oake for wainscot. When they have cut it down and clear’d it from
the branches, they pitch the body of the tree in a muddy place in a
river, with the head downward, for some time. Afterwards they draw it
out; and, when it is seasoned sufficiently, they saw it into boards
for wainscot; and it will branch out into curious works.”
[170] _Juniperus communis_, L.; common to both continents. But the
author did not probably distinguish from it _J. Virginiana_, L.;
which is frequent, and often dwarfish, near the sea.
[171] _Salix_, L.; the genus only meant here, it is likely.
[172] _Daphne Laureola_, L. (Gerard, p. 1404), with which Josselyn
may have considered _Kalmia angustifolia_, L., in some sort allied.
The latter has long been known in New England as dwarf or low laurel.
[173] _Myrica Gale_, L. (Gerard, p. 1414); common to Europe and
America.
[174] _Sambucus_, L. Our _S. Canadensis_, L. differs very little from
the common elder of Europe, except, as our author in his Voyages
says (p. 71), in being “shrubbie,” and in not having “a smell so
strong.”—_Cf._ DC. _Prodr._, vol. ii. p. 322; _Gerard_, p. 1421. The
other North-American elder (_S. pubens_, Michx.) is at least equally
near to the European _S. racemosa_, L., according to Prof. Gray.
[175] “There is a sort of dwarf-elder, that grows by the sea-side,
that hath a red pith. The berries of both”—that is, of this and of
the true elder mentioned above—“are smaller than English elder; not
round, but corner’d.”—_Voyages_, p. 71. Gerard’s dwarf-elder (p.
1425) is _Sambucus ebulus_, L. Josselyn’s may have been a _Viburnum_;
for this genus was confused with _Sambucus_ by the elder botanists.
Wood (New-England Prospect, chap. v.) speaks of—
“Small eldern, by the Indian fletchers sought;”—
which was perhaps arrow-wood, or _Viburnum dentatum_, L.
[176] _Alnus_, Tourn. One of the three New-England species (_A.
incana_, Willd.) is common to Europe and America. Another (_A.
serrulata_, Willd.) “bears so great a resemblance,” says F. A.
Michaux, to the common European alder (_A. glutinosa_, Willd.) “in
its flowers, its seeds, its leaves, its wood, and its bark, as to
render a separate figure unnecessary; the only difference observable
between them” being “that the European species is larger, and has
smaller leaves.”—_Sylva_, vol. ii. p. 114. Compare Gray, Statistics,
&c., _l. c._, p. 83. _A. viridis_, our third species, is common to
Europe and this country.
[177] _Corylus_, L. Our species, which are peculiar to America, are
both indicated: the “filberd, ... with hairy husks upon the nuts,”
being _C. rostrata_, Ait. (beaked hazel); and that “setting hollow
from the nut,”—that is, larger than the nut.—_C. Americana_, Wangenh.
(common hazel).
[178] _Carya_, Nutt. In the Voyages, p. 69, the author speaks of
the “walnut, which is divers: some bearing square nuts; others like
ours, but smaller. There is likewise black walnut, of precious use
for tables, cabinets, and the like” (_Juglans nigra_, L.). “The
walnut-tree,” continues Josselyn, “is the toughest wood in the
countrie, and therefore made use of for hoops and bowes; there
being no yews there growing. In England, they made their bowes
usually of witch-hasel” (that is, witch-elm,—_Ulmus montana_,
Bauh., Lindl.; as see Gerard, p. 1481: but _Carpinus_, “in Essex,
is called witch-hasell,”—_ib._), “ash, yew, the best of outlandish
elm; but the Indians make theirs of walnut.” This was hickory, and
what Wood says belongs doubtless to the same. He calls it “something
different from the English walnut; being a great deal more tough
and more serviceable, and altogether heavy. And whereas our guns,
that are stocked with English walnut, are soon broken and cracked
in frost,—being a brittle wood,—we are driven to stock them new
with the country walnut, which will endure all blows and weather;
lasting time out of mind.” After speaking favorably of the fruit, he
adds (New-Eng. Prospect, chap. vi.), “There is likewise a tree, in
some parts of the country, that bears a nut as big as a pear,”—the
butternut, doubtless (_Juglans cinerea_, L.). Josselyn has told us
(p. 48) of the oil which the Indians managed to get from the acorns
of the white oak. Roger Williams (Key, _l. c._, p. 220) says our
native Americans made “of these walnuts ... an excellent oil, good
for many uses, but especially for the anointing of their heads.”
Michaux (_Sylva_, vol. i. p. 163) says the Indians used the oil
of the butternut, and also (p. 185) of the shag-bark, “to season
their aliments.” Williams adds (_l. c._), “Of the chips of the
walnut-tree—the bark taken off—some English in the country make
excellent beer, both for taste, strength, colour, and inoffensive
opening operation.”
[179] _Castanea vesca_, Gaertn.; common to Europe and America.
Our chestnut is considered to differ from the European only as an
American variety of a species common to both continents might be
expected to. “The Indians have an art of drying their chestnuts, and
so to preserve them in their barns for a dainty all the year.”—_R.
Williams_, _l. c._
[180] Neither Wood nor R. Williams makes mention of it. The
younger Michaux considered our beech distinct from the European;
but Mr. Nuttall makes it only a variety of it; while Prof.
Gray puts both trees in his list of “very close representative
species.”—_Statistics, &c._, _l. c._, p. 81.
[181] _Fraxinus_, L. Our species are peculiar to this continent. I
cannot account for Wood’s saying, “It is different from the ash of
England; being brittle and good for little, so that walnut is used
for it.”—_New-Eng. Prospect_, chap. vi.
[182] _Sorbus_, L. (Gerard, p. 1473). Our mountain-ash (_S.
Americana_, Willd.) is quite near to the quicken, or mountain-ash of
the north of Europe (_S. aucuparia_, L.); but hardly, perhaps, to
be reduced to an American variety of it, as the elder Michaux (_Fl.
Amer._, vol. i. p. 290) proposed. Compare Gray, Statistics, &c., _l.
c._, p. 82.
[183] Except the small white birch (_B. populifolia_, Ait.),
which Mr. Spach reduces to a variety of the European _B. alba_,
L.,—in which he is sustained by Prof. Gray (Man., p. 411),—and the
dwarf-birch (_B. nana_, L.) of our alpine regions, all our species
are peculiar to this continent.—See the author’s Voyages, p. 69, for
another mention of the birches.
[184] _Populus_, L. Our species are peculiar to the country, as the
author’s remark suggests. Wood (_l. c._) notices “the ever-trembling
asps.”
[185] “The plumbs of the country be better for plumbs than the
cherries be for cherries. They be black and yellow; about the bigness
of damsons; of a reasonable good taste.”—_New-Eng. Prospect_, chap.
v. _Prunus maritima_, Wangenh. (beech-plum), and _P. Americana_,
Marsh. (wild yellow plum), are no doubt here intended; as also, it
is likely, by Josselyn, who, it is evident, in this place had only
the genus in mind as “common with us in England.”—See p. 61 for the
author’s mention of the “wild cherry.”
[186] _Portulaca oleracea_, L. (Gerard, p. 521). “In cornfields. It
is eaten as a pot-herb, and esteemed by some as little inferior to
asparagus.”—_Cutler_; _Account of Indigenous Vegetables_ (1785),
_l. c._, p. 447. Considered to have been introduced here; but our
author enables us to carry back the date of its introduction, without
reasonable doubt, to the first settlement of the country. “Purslain,
Mr. Glover says, is also very common in Virginia, and troublesome
too, to the tobacco-planters.” Sir Philip Skippon to Ray, Feb. 11,
1675-6, in Ray Society’s Corresp. of John Ray, p. 121. Mr. Nuttall
regarded the species as indigenous on the plains of the Missouri; but
this plant, “too closely resembling the common purslane,” according
to Prof. Gray (Man., p. 64), has been separated as specifically
distinct by Dr. Engelmann.
[187] _Genista tinctoria_, L. (_Genistella tinctoria_,—greenweed,
or dyers’ weed; Gerard, p. 1316). “We shall not need to speake of
the use that diers make thereof,” says the latter. Our author could
hardly have been mistaken about so well-known a plant as this; which
he probably met with in one of his visits to the neighborhood of
Boston,—long the only American station for it. There is a tradition
that it was introduced here by Gov. Endicott; which may have been
some forty years before Josselyn finished his herborizing,—enough to
account for its naturalization then. It was long confined to Salem
(“pastures between New Mills and Salem,”—_Cutler_, _l. c._, 1785);
but occurred to me sparingly, in 1841, on the shores of Cambridge
Bay, and also on roadsides in Old Cambridge. “Woad-seed” is set down,
in a memorandum of the Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay,
before February, 1628, to be sent to New England (Mass. Col. Rec.,
vol. i. p. 24); and though _Isatis tinctoria_, L., is true woad,
_Reseda luteola_, L. (wold, or weld), and our _Genista_ (woadwaxen),
have, it is said (Rees’s Cycl., _in loco_), been known “in English
herbals under that name.”
[188] “Current-bushes are of two kinds,—red and black. The black
currents, which are larger than the red, ... are reasonable pleasant
in eating.”—_Voyages_, p. 72. Our black currant is _Ribes floridum_,
Herit.,—considered by Linnæus (Sp. Pl., p. 291) only a variety of
_R. nigrum_, L., the true black currant of the gardens; and our red
currant, which I have gathered in the White Mountains,—far below
the region of _R. rigens_, Michx., the more common red currant
there,—appears to be undistinguishable from _R. rubrum_, L. (the red
currant of gardens); unless, possibly, as an American variety of
it. This is probably _R. albinervium_, Michx. (Fl., vol. i. p. 110;
Pursh, Fl., vol. i. p. 163).
[189] _Polyporus_, Mich., sp.—In his Voyages, p. 70, the author
speaks of “a stately tree growing here and there in valleys, not
like to any trees in Europe; having a smooth bark, of a dark-brown
colour, the leaves like great maple in England called sycamor; but
larger,”—which may be _Platanus occidentalis_, L. (button-wood). And
Wood enables us to add one more to this early account of the genera
of plants, which we possess, common to the Old World. He tells us
(New-England’s Prospect, chap. v.) “the hornbound tree is a tough
kind of wood, that requires so much pains in riving as is almost
incredible; being the best to make bowls and dishes, not being
subject to crack or leak. This tree growing with broad-spread arms,
the vines twist their curling branches about them; which vines afford
great store of grapes,” &c. This was our American hornbeam (_Carpinus
Americana_, L.). And the same author again alludes to it, in verse,
as—
“The horn-bound tree, that to be cloven scorns;
Which from the tender vine oft takes his spouse,
Who twines embracing arms about his boughs.”
A pleasant enough illustration of what taught classical
husbandry,—“_ulmis adjungere vites_.”—_Georg._, i. 2.
[190] See also the Voyages, p. 73. “It is almost incredible,” says
Higginson (New-England’s Plantation, _l. c._, p. 118), “what great
gaine some of our English planters have had by our Indian corne.
Credible persons have assured me,—and the partie himselfe avouched
the truth of it to me,—that, of the setting of thirteen gallons of
corne, hee hath had encrease of it 52 hogsheads; every hogshead
holding seven bushels, of London measure: and every bushell was
by him sold and trusted to the Indians for so much beaver as was
worth 18 shillings. And so, of this 13 gallons of corne, which was
worth 6 shillings 8 pence, he made about 327 pounds of it the yeere
following, as by reckoning will appeare; where you may see how
God blessed husbandry in this land. There is not such greate and
plentifull eares of corne, I suppose, any where else to bee found
but in this countrey; because, also of varietie of colours,—as red,
blew, and yellow, &c.: and of one corne there springeth four or
five hundred.” Roger Williams (Key, _l. c._, pp. 208, 221) has some
interesting particulars of the Indian use of their corn. According
to him, the Indian _msickquatash_ (that is succotash, as we call it
now) was “boiled corn whole,” and _nawsaump_, a kind of meal pottage
unparched. From this the English call their samp; which is the
Indian corn beaten and boiled, and eaten, hot or cold; with milk or
butter,—which are mercies beyond the natives’ plain water, and which
is a dish exceeding wholesome for the English bodies.
[191] _Acorus Calamus_, L.; common to Europe and America. In his
Voyages, p. 77, the author drops properly, in mentioning this, the
injurious prefix. It seems that our New-England forefathers used the
leaves to cover their cold floors, as they had used rushes at home;
and, according to Sir W. J. Hooker (Br. Fl., vol. i. p. 159), the
pleasant smell of the plant has recommended it, in like manner, “for
strewing on the floor of the cathedral at Norwich, on festival days.”
[192] _Allium Canadense_, L., probably.—See also p. 55, note 4.
[193] “Knaves’-mustard (for that it is too bad for honest
men).”—_Gerard_, p. 262. The “New-England mustard,” which was like
it, may be _Lepidium Virginicum_, L.; which, having “a taste like
common garden-cress, or peppergrass” (Bigel., Fl. Bost., _in loco_),
perhaps attracted the first settlers.
[194] The “many flowers,” with reflexed sepals, perhaps refer this to
our noble American Turk’s-cap (_Lilium superbum_, L.), rather than to
the yellow lily (_L. Canadense_, L.).
[195] See p. 81.
[196] “They take their _wuttammauog_,—that is, a weak tobacco,—which
the men plant themselves, very frequently. Yet I never see any take
so excessively as I have seen men in Europe; and yet excess were
more tolerable in them, because they want the refreshing of beer and
wine, which God had vouchsafed Europe.”—_R. Williams_, _Key_, _l.
c._, p. 213. And, in another place, the same writer says that tobacco
is “commonly the only plant which men labour in” (he is speaking of
the Indians); “the women managing all the rest” (p. 208). Wood, in
his list of Indian words (New-Eng. Prospect, _ad ult._), spells the
Indian word, above given, _ottommaocke_,—(perhaps both are comparable
with “_wuttahimneash_, strawberries” Williams, _l. c._, p. 220),
and “_weetimoquat_, it smells sweet” (Vocab. of Narraganset Lang.,
in Hist. Coll., vol. v. p. 82); _og_, _ock_, and _ash_, being all
plural terminations; between which and “the noun in the singular one
or more consonants or vowels are frequently interspersed” (_ibid._,
vol. iii. p. 222, note); and _oquat_, from the context, the verbal;
and the root appearing possibly the same,—and also defines it as
tobacco. There is much other testimony that the New-England savages
were found using “tobacco” (as Mourt’s Relation, _l. c._, p. 230;
and Winslow’s Relation, _l. c._, p. 253); but our author’s text,
above, appears to distinguish the true herb, “not much planted,”
from “a small kind called _pooke_,” which “the Indians make use of.”
And again, more clearly, in his Voyages, we have to the same effect:
“the Indians in New England use a small, round-leafed tobacco, called
by them or the fishermen _poke_. It is odious to the English.... Of
marchantable ... tobacco, ... there is little of it planted in New
England; neither have they” (both clauses appear to refer to the
English) “learned the right way of curing of it.” This “marchantable
tobacco” was no doubt mainly _Nicotiana tabacum_, L.; but the other
kind, the weak tobacco,—cultivated, as Williams tells us, by the
Indians, and recognized as tobacco by the English,—was not, as Wood
says (N. E. Prospect, _l. c._), colt’s-foot, but _Nicotiana rustica_,
L. (the yellow henbane of Gerard’s Herbal, p. 356), well known to
have been long in cultivation among the American savages, and now a
naturalized relic of that cultivation in various parts of the United
States. The name, _poke_, or _pooke_,—if it be, as is supposable,
the same with “_puck_, smoke,” of the Narraganset vocabulary of R.
Williams (Hist. Coll., vol. v. p. 84),—was perhaps always indefinite,
and, since Cutler’s day, has been applied in New England to the green
hellebore (_Veratrum viride_, Ait.); but this was not, it is evident,
the poke of the first settlers. The name is also given to _Phytolacca
decandra_, L. (the _skoke_ of Cutler), and the hellebore apparently
distinguished from this as Indian poke; but the application of the
name to the former, at least, probably had its origin among the
whites.
[197] The figure sufficiently exhibits _Sarracenia purpurea_, L.
[198] “Live-for-ever. It is a kind of cud-weed.... It growes
now plentifully in our English gardens.... The fishermen, when
they want” (that is, lack) “tobacco, take this herb; being cut
and dryed.”—_Voyages_, p. 78; where the author adds the peculiar
medicinal virtues of the plant, which are the same as those assigned
by Gerard (p. 644) to the genus. Compare, as to this, Wood and
Bache, Dispens., p. 1334. The species intended by Josselyn is our
everlasting (_Antennaria margaritacea_ (L.) Br.), described by
Gerard, and figured by Johnson in his edition of the former (p. 641),
and first published by Clusius (_Gnaphalium Americanum_, Rar. Pl.
Hist., vol. i. p. 327) in 1601. Clusius had it from England, says
Johnson. The dried herb, used by the fishermen instead of tobacco,
and no doubt called by them _poke_, may have been mistaken by Wood
for colt’s-foot, the leaves of which were “smoked by the ancients
in pulmonary complaints; ... and, in some parts of Germany, are at
the present time said to be substituted for tobacco.”—_Wood and
Bache_, _Dispens._, p. 1401. _Cornus sericea_, L.,—“called by the
natives squaw-bush” (Williamson’s Hist. Maine, vol. i. p. 125),
and by the western Indians _kinnikinnik_ (Gray, Man., p. 161);
furnished, in its inner bark (on the medicinal properties of which,
see especially Rees’s Cycl., Amer. ed., _in loco_), a substitute for
_Nicotiana_,—very widely approved among the native Americans. The
name, Indian tobacco, given to _Lobelia inflata_, L. (the emetic-weed
of Cutler, _l. c._, p. 484; who “first attracted to it the attention
of the profession”), by the whites, is in some connections confusing,
and might well be displaced by wild tobacco, which is also in popular
use.
[199] _Œnothera biennis_, L. (Johnson’s Gerard, p. 475),—known to
Europeans, according to Linnæus (Sp. Pl., p. 493), as early as 1614;
but first described and figured by Prosper Alpinus, in his posthumous
_De Pl. Exoticis_, p. 325, t. 324, _cit._ L. Johnson says that
Parkinson gave it the English name of tree-primrose, which it still
keeps. It is “vulgarly known by the name of scabish (a corruption,
probably of scabious)” in the country.—_Bigel. Fl. Bost._, _in loco_.
Josselyn describes the plant in his Voyages, p. 78.
[200] _Adiantum pedatum_, L.—The European _A. Camillus veneris_, L.,
long used as a pectoral (the _sirop de capillaire_ of French shops
being made of it), is, according to Messrs. Wood and Bache (Dispens.,
p. 1290), “feebler” than our species, which Josselyn recommends.
[201] See pp. 67, 68.
[202] Johnson’s Gerard, p. 183: which is perhaps _Allium magicum_,
L.; for which our _A. tricoccum_, Ait., may have been mistaken.—See
also p. 54 of this; note.
[203] _Epilobium angustifolium_, L. (rosebay willow-herbe of Gerard
by Johnson); which last figures it at p. 477: common to Europe
and America; but some botanists have, like Josselyn, reckoned the
American plant “proper to the country.”
[204] _Helianthus_, L. (Gerard, p. 751), a genus peculiar to America;
called “American marygold” in the Voyages (p. 59), where it is set
down among the more striking of our New-England flowers. At p. 82 of
this book, the author gives a cut of the “marygold of America,” which
he describes. It is probably the second one above mentioned, and
perhaps _H. strumosus_, L., Gray. The other kind, with “black seeds,”
was probably _H. divaricatus_, L.
[205] See p. 47. The earth-nuts of Gerard (p. 1064) are species of
_Bulbocastanum_ of authors.
[206] Not clear to me. But, taking the alleged virtues and the
station into account, our author may mean here the rather striking
American sea-rocket (_Cakile Americana_, Nutt.); which, it is likely,
occurred to him. Spurge-time (p. 43) also grows on “sea-banks.”
[207] “French beans; or, rather, American beans. The herbalists call
them kidney-beans, from their shape and effects; for they strengthen
the kidneys. They are variegated much,—some being bigger, a great
deal, than others; some white, black, red, yellow, blue, spotted:
besides your _Bonivis_, and _Calavances_, and the kidney-bean that
is proper to Ronoake. But these are brought into the country: the
other are natural to the climate.”—_Josselyn’s Voyages_, p. 73-4.
R. Williams (Key, _l. c._, p. 208) gives _manusquussedash_ as the
Indian word for beans. Cornuti (whose book, indeed, is not confined
to Canadian plants; though, on the other hand, he was sometimes ill
informed of the true locality of his specimens; as in the case of
_Asclepias Cornuti_, Decsne, which he published as _A. Syriaca_)
figures and describes, at pp. 184-5, _Phaseolus multiflorus_, L.;
and this may possibly have been raised from seeds procured by French
missionaries from the Canadian savages: but _P. vulgaris_, L., our
well-known bush-bean, is doubtless what Josselyn has mainly in view,
as cultivated by the native Americans.
[208] “_Askutasquash_,—their vine-apples,—which the English,
from them, call squashes: about the bigness of apples of several
colours.”—_R. Williams_, _Key, &c._, _l. c._, p. 222. “In summer,
when their corn is spent, _isquotersquashes_ is their best bread;
a fruit much like a pumpion.”—_Wood_, _New-Eng. Prospect_, part 2,
chap. vi. The late Dr. T. W. Harris made the ill-understood edible
gourds a special object of study, and devoted particular attention
to the ascertaining of the kinds cultivated by the American savages;
but his papers have not as yet seen the light. The warted squash
(_Cucurbita verrucosa_, L.) and the orange-gourd (_C. aurantium_,
Willd.)—the fruit of which last is of the size and color of an
orange, and “more tender than the common pompion” (Loudon, Encycl.
Pl.)—are perhaps, in part, intended by our author.
[209] “Pompions and water-mellons, too, they have good store,” says
our author (Voyages, p. 130); and again, at p. 74 of the same, “The
water-melon is proper to the countrie. The flesh of it is of a
flesh-colour; a rare cooler of feavers, and excellent against the
stone.” The water-melon (_Cucurbita citrullus_, L.) is “the only
medicine the common people use in ardent fevers,” in Egypt (Loudon,
_l. c._). _Cucurbita pepo_, L. (Gr. πέπων; Low Dutch, _pepoen_,
_pompoen_; Fr., _pompone_), is our English pompion, or pumpkin. At
p. 91, Josselyn speaks of pompions “proper to the country.” Compare
Gerard’s chapter “of melons, or pompions” (Johnson’s Gerard, p. 918),
where are two Virginian sorts; and see “the ancient New-England
standing dish,” at p. 91 of this book. The evidence appears to be
sufficient, that our savages had in cultivation, together with
their corn and tobacco,—and, like these, derived originally from
tropical regions,—several sorts of what we call squashes, some
kinds of pompion, and also water-melons; and, Graves’s letter
(New-England Plantation, _l. c._, p. 124) adds, musk-melons. See
further, especially, Champlain (Voy. de la Nouv. France, _passim_)
and L’Escarbot (Hist. de la Nouv. France, vol. ii. p. 836). Mr. A. De
Candolle (Geogr. Bot., vol. ii. pp. 899, 904) disputes the American
origin of the edible gourds, but does not appear to have examined all
the early authorities for their cultivation by the savages before the
settlement of this country. Such cultivation appears to be made out,
and to indicate that these vegetables have probably been known, from
very remote antiquity, in the warmer parts of America. But this does
not touch the difficult question of origin; and it may still appear
that the gourds are equally ancient in Europe, and derived, both
here and there, from Asia (De Cand., _l. c._); such derivation being
explainable, in the case of America, by old migrations from Asia
through Polynesia.—_Pickering_, _Races of Man_, chap. 17.
[210] Johnson’s Gerard, p. 528; where the same plant is also called
“jagged or rose penniwoort,” and is probably what our author
intends at p. 43 of this. It was no doubt our pretty _Saxifraga
Virginiensis_, Michx., which Josselyn had in view. In his Voyages, p.
80, he assigns to it the medicinal virtues which Gerard attributes
to the great navel-wort, or wall-pennywort (_Cotyledon umbilicus_,
Huds.).
[211] _Convolvulus sepium_, L. (great bind-weed) is exceedingly
like to _C. Scammonia_, L., the inspissated juice of which is the
officinal scammony; and is common to Europe and North America.
Gerard’s bryony of Peru (p. 872-3), to which Josselyn refers, is,
whatever it be, not found here. Compare Cutler’s remarks on _C.
sepium_ (Account of Veg., &c., _l. c._, p. 416). _Mechoacan_,
“called ... Indian briony, or briony, or scammony of America,” from
the Caribbee Islands, &c., is described in Hughes, Amer. Physitian
(1672), p. 94; and see Wood and Bache, Dispens., p. 424, note.
[212] _Rosa Carolina_, L. (Carolina rose), probably.—See Cutler’s
observations, _l. c._, p. 451. Higginson also notices “single damaske
roses, verie sweete.”—_New-Eng. Plantation_, _l. c._, p. 119. Our
Carolina rose is said to be common in English shrubberies.
[213] See also Voyages, p. 72. Our author is the earliest authority
that I have met with for this name; and his plant, which is placed
among those “proper to the country,” may very well be what has long
been called sweet-fern in New England,—_Comptonia asplenifolia_
(L.) Ait.; still used in “molasses beer,” and medicinal in the way
mentioned.—_Emerson_, _Trees and Shrubs of Mass._, p. 226.
[214] See Josselyn’s Voyages, p. 77. The first of the two plants
which the author mentions here is probably _Aralia nudicaulis_, L.
(wild sarsaparilla); and the other, _A. hispida_, Michx. The last,
which is what is spoken of in the Voyages, has been recommended for
medicinal properties by Prof. Peck.—_Wood and Bache_, _Dispens._, p.
116.
[215] “_Attitaash_ (whortleberries), of which there are divers
sorts; sweet, like currants; some opening, some of a binding nature.
_Sautaash_ are these currants dried by the natives, and so preserved
all the year; which they beat to powder, and mingle it with their
parched meal, and make a delicate dish which they call _sautauthig_,
which is as sweet to them as plum or spice cake to the English.”—_R.
Williams_, _Key, &c._, _l. c._, p. 221. The fruitful and wholesome
American whortleberries, or bilberries, were, it is likely, a very
pleasant discovery to our forefathers. It was, no doubt, those
species that we call blueberries which they made most of, and
particularly the low blueberry (_Vaccinium Pennsylvanicum_, Lam.)
and the swamp-blueberry (_V. corymbosum_, L.). From these the common
black whortleberry (_Gaylussacia resinosa_, Torr. and Gray) differs
no less in quality than in structure. _Sa’té_ (compare _sautaash_,
above), in Rasles Dict. of the Abnaki Language, _l. c._, p. 450, is
rendered “_frais, sans etre secs; lorsq’ils s’t secs, sikisa’tar_.”
[216] The cloud-berry—_Rubus chamæmorus_, L. (Gerard, p. 1420)—is
found in some parts of the subalpine region of the White Mountains;
and Mr. Oakes detected it at Lubec, on the coast of Maine. It is
common to both continents; and perhaps, therefore, as our author
gives his cloud-berry a place in this division of his book, he may
have meant something else.
[217] _Rhus_, L.; the species differing, as our author repeats in
his Voyages (p. 71), “from all the kinds set down in our English
herbals.” Wood (N. Eng. Prospect, chap, v.) calls it “the dear
shumach.” Josselyn’s account of the virtues of our species, here,
and especially in the Voyages (_l. c._), agrees so well with what
Gerard says of the properties of the European tanner’s sumach (_R.
coriaria_, L.), that the latter may very likely have, in part,
suggested the former. But see Cutler, _l. c._, p. 427.
[218] “The cherry-trees yield great store of cherries, which grow on
clusters like grapes. They be much smaller than our English cherry;
nothing near so good, if they be not fully ripe. They so furr the
mouth, that the tongue will cleave to the roof, and the throat wax
hoarse with swallowing those red bullies (as I may call them);
being little better in taste” (that is, than bullaces). “English
ordering may bring them to an English cherry; but they are as wild
as the Indians.”—_New-England’s Prospect_, chap. v. The choke-cherry
(_Cerasus Virginiana_ (L.) DC.) and the wild cherry (_C. serotina_
(Ehrh.) DC.) are meant.
[219] _Pinus Strobus_, L. (white pine). “Of the body the English
make large canows of 20 foot long, and two foot and a half over;
hollowing of them with an adds, and shaping of the outside like
a boat.”—_Josselyn’s Voyages_, p. 64; where is more concerning
the use of this tree in medicine. “I have seen,” says Wood, “of
these stately, high-grown trees, ten miles together, close by the
river-side; from whence, by shipping, they might be conveyed to any
desired port.”—_New-Eng. Prospect_, chap. v.
[220] _Abies balsamea_ (L.) Marsh, (balsam-fir). “The firr-tree is a
large tree, too; but seldom so big as the pine. The bark is smooth,
with knobs, or blisters, in which lyeth clear liquid turpentine,—very
good to be put into salves and oyntments. The leaves, or cones,
boiled in beer, are good for the scurvie. The young buds are
excellent to put into epithemes for warts and corns. The rosen is
altogether as good as frankincense.... The knots of this tree and
fat-pine are used by the English instead of candles; and it will burn
a long time: but it makes the people pale” (Josselyn’s Voyages, p.
66); besides being, as Wood says (_l. c._, speaking of the pine),
“something sluttish.” But Higginson says they “are very usefull in a
house, and ... burne as cleere as a torch.”—_New-Eng. Plantation_,
_l. c._, p. 122.
[221] _Larix Americana_, Michx. (Larch; “_taccamahac_,” Cutler;
_tamarack_; _hackmatack_.) “Groundsels, made of larch-tree, will
never rot; and the longer it lyes, the harder it growes, that
you may almost drive a nail into a bar of iron as easily as into
that.”—_Josselyn’s Voyages_, p. 68. “The turpentine that issueth
from the cones of the larch-tree (which comes nearest of any to
the right turpentine) is singularly good to heal wounds, and to
draw out the malice (or thorn, as Helmont phrases it) of any ach;
rubbing the place therewith, and throwing upon it the powder of
sage-leaves.”—_Ibid._, p. 66.
[222] _Abies nigra_, Poir. (black or double spruce), and probably
also _A. alba_, Michx. (white or single spruce). “At Pascataway there
is now a spruce-tree, brought down to the water-side by our mass-men,
of an incredible bigness, and so long that no skipper durst ever
yet adventure to ship it; but there it lyes and rots.”—_Josselyn’s
Voyages_, p. 67.
[223] _Abies Canadensis_ (L.), Michx. (hemlock spruce). Beside the
coniferous trees here set down, our author mentions in his Voyages
(p. 67) “the white cedar, ... a stately tree, and is taken by some
to be tamarisk.” This, which is probably our white cedar (_Cupressus
thyoides_, L.), he says “the English saw into boards to floor their
rooms; for which purpose it is excellent, long-lasting, and wears
very smooth and white. Likewise they make shingles to cover their
houses with, instead of tyle. It will never warp.” Wood (New-Eng.
Prospect, chap. v.) makes mention of a “cedar-tree, ... a tree of
no great growth; not bearing above a foot and a half, at the most;
neither is it very high.... This wood is more desired for ornament
than substance; being of colour red and white, like eugh; smelling
as sweet as juniper. It is commonly used for ceiling of houses, and
making of chests, boxes, and staves.” This seems likely to have been
the American _Arbor vitæ_ (_Thya occidentalis_, L.); also called
white-cedar.—Compare Emerson, Trees and Shrubs of Mass., pp. 96, 100.
For mention of the juniper, see _ante_, p. 49.
[224] See p. 81; and _ante_, p. 54.
[225] _Sassafras officinale_, Nees. “This tree growes not beyond
Black Point, eastward.”—_Josselyn’s Voyages_, p. 68. Michaux (Sylva,
vol. ii. p. 144) says, “The neighbourhood of Portsmouth ... may be
assumed as one of the extreme points at which it is found towards
the north-east;” but, according to Mr. Emerson (Trees and Shrubs of
Mass., p. 322), it is “found as far north as Canada,” though ...
“there a small tree.”
[226] _Vaccinium macrocarpum_, Ait. Our author seems not to have
known the European cranberry (_V. oxycoccus_, L., the marish-wortes,
or fenne-berries, of Gerard, p. 1419); which is also found in our
cold bogs, especially upon mountains. This is called by Sir W. J.
Hooker (Br. Fl., vol. i. p. 178), “far superior to the foreign _V.
macrocarpon_;” but, from Gerard’s account, it should appear that it
was formerly much less thought of in England than was ours (according
to Josselyn) here, by both Indians and English. Linnæus speaks of
the European fruit in much the same way, in 1737, in his Flora of
Lapland, where he says, “_Baccæ hæ a Lapponibus in usum cibarium non
vocantur, nec facile ab aliis nationibus, cum nimis acidæ sint_” (Fl.
Lapp., p. 145): but corrects this in a paper on the esculent plants
of Sweden, in 1752; asking, not without animation, “_Harum vero cum
saccharo præparata gelatina, quid in mensis nostris jucundius?_”
(Amæn. Acad., t. iii. p. 86.) Our American cranberry was probably the
“_sasemineash_—another sharp, cooling fruit, growing in fresh waters
all the winter; excellent in conserve against fevers”—of R. Williams,
Key, _l. c._, p. 221.—Compare _Masimin_, rendered [_fruits_] “_rouges
petits_.”—_Rasles’ Dict._, _Abnaki_, _l. c._, p. 460.
[227] Wood says the “vines afford great store of grapes, which are
very big, both for the grape and cluster; sweet and good. These be of
two sorts,—red and white. There is likewise a smaller kind of grape
which groweth in the islands” (that is, of Massachusetts Bay), “which
is sooner ripe, and more delectable; so that there is no known reason
why as good wine may not be made in those parts, as well as Bordeaux
in France; being under the same degree.”—_New-Eng. Prospect_, chap.
v. “Vines,” says Mr. Graves (in New-Eng. Plantation, Hist. Coll.,
vol. i. p. 124) “doe grow here, plentifully laden with the biggest
grapes that ever I saw. Some I have seene foure inches about.”—“Our
Governour,” adds Higginson, “hath already planted a vineyard, with
great hope of encrease.”—_New-England’s Plantation_, _l. c._, p.
119. _Vitis Labrusca_, L. (fox-grape),—for some principal varieties
of which, see Emerson, _l. c._, p. 468,—furnished, probably, most of
the sorts known favorably to the first settlers; but _V. æstivalis_,
Michx. (summer grape), also occurs on our seaboard.
[228] _Pyrola_, L., emend. (Gerard, p. 408). All but one of our
species are common also to Europe.
[229] _Goodyera pubescens_ (Willd.), R. Br., is plainly meant by the
author; and the common name of the plant—rattlesnake plantain—still
preserves the memory of its supposed virtues as a wound-herb.
It seems, by the next page, that Josselyn tried to carry living
specimens to England; but they “perished at sea.” The putting this
among the _Pyrolæ_ (as if by some confusion of _Goodyera_ with
_Chimophila maculata_) was a bad mistake.
[230] See p. 55; where the author refers to his figures of two
kinds of “_Pyrola_” of which this must be one. The Voyages (p. 202)
also make mention of an adventure of a neighbor of Josselyn’s,
who, “rashly wandering out after some stray’d cattle, lost his
way; and coming, as we conceived by his Relation, near to the
head-spring of some of the branches of Black-Point River or Saco
River, light into a tract of land, for God knows how many miles,
full of delfes and dingles and dangerous precipices, rocks, and
inextricable difficulties, which did justly daunt, yea, quite deter
him from endeavouring to pass any further.” And this account may
quite possibly relate to the same occasion of our author’s getting
acquainted with his “elegant plant.” Plukenet (Amalth., p. 94;
Phytogr., tab. 287, f. 5) mistakenly refers Josselyn’s “sufficiently
unhappy figure” to his _Filix Hemionitis dicta Maderensis_; which is
_Adiantum reniforme_, L.
[231] “There is a plant, likewise,—called, for want of a name,
clowne’s wound-wort, by the English; though it be not the same,—that
will heal a green wound in 24 hours, if a wise man have the ordering
of it.”—_Voyages_, p. 60. _Verbena hastata_, L. (blue vervain), is
perhaps, notwithstanding the author’s disclaimer, what he had in
view. This is certainly different from the common, once officinal,
vervain of Europe (_V. officinalis_, L.),—on the virtues of which, as
a wound-herb, see Gerard, p. 718; but yet more so from true clown’s
all-heal (Gerard, p. 1005), which is _Stachys palustris_, L. As to
other medicinal properties of our vervains, compare Cutler, _l. c._,
p. 405,—where they are said to have been used by the surgeons of our
army in the Revolutionary War,—and Wood and Bache, Dispens., p. 1403.
[232] _Symplocarpus fœtidus_ (L.) Salisb. (skunk-cabbage). Our
author’s appears to be the first figure and account of this curious
plant, which he rightly places among such “as are proper to the
country, and have no name.” Cutler’s description, in 1785 (Account of
Indig. Veg., _l. c._, pp. 407-9),—which is followed by the remark,
that “the fructification so essentially differs from all the genera
of this order, it must undoubtedly be considered as a new genus,”—was
the next contribution of importance, and so continued till Dr.
Bigelow’s elaborate history;—_Amer. Med. Bot._, vol. ii. p. 41, pl.
xxiv. Josselyn’s “sprig” of a horse-tail might perhaps be added to
his _Filices_, at p. 47, note 2, 3.
[233] _Impatiens fulva_, Nutt, (touch-me-not; balsam). Wilson says
this plant “is the greatest favorite with the humming-bird of all our
other flowers. In some places where these plants abound, you may see
at one time ten or twelve humming-birds darting about, and fighting
with and pursuing each other.”—_Amer. Ornithol._, _by Brewer_, p.
120. As to Josselyn’s note on its use in medicine by the Indians,
compare Wood and Bache, Disp., p. 1345. A kix, or kex, or kexy,—used
in the expression, “hollow as a kix,”—is a provincialism, in various
parts of England, for hemlock; “the dry, hollow stocks of hemlock”
(whence Webster’s query,—Fr., _cique_; Lat. _cicuta_); and also of
cow-parsley, according to Holloway (Dict. of Provincialisms): that is
to say, secondarily, any hollow-stemmed plant like hemlock. Gerard’s
figure of _Impatiens noli tangere_, L., the European balsam,—of which
the earlier botanists considered our species to be varieties,—is so
poor, and the plant so rare in Britain, that it is perhaps little
wonder that our author took the showy American balsam to be quite new.
[234] _Mulgedium leucophœum_, DC. (Gray, Manual, p. 241). This fine
plant is peculiar to America.
[235] _Nabalus albus_ (L.) Hook. (Snake-weed): the genus peculiar to
America.
[236] _Chelone glabra_, L. (snake-head). Plukenet quotes this figure
under _Digitalis Verbesinæ foliis_, &c. (Amalth., p. 71; Mant., p.
64); which is referred by Linnæus to _Gerardia pedicularis_, L.
Plukenet has himself figured our plant, and but little better than
Josselyn, in Phytogr., t. 348, fig. 3. The genus is peculiar to
America.
[237] Upon this figure, Plukenet founds his _Solanum quadrifolium
Nov’ Anglicanum, flore lacteo polycoccum_ (Amalth., p. 195); clearly
taking the plant, as Josselyn did, for “a kind of _Herba Paris_”
(_Paris quadrifolia_, L.), which is _Solanum quadrifolium bacciferum_
of Bauhin (Pin., p. 167, _cit._ L.). The plant is doubtless _Cornus
Canadensis_, L. (dwarf-cornel; bunch-berry); and it certainly
resembles the figure of _Herb Paris_, given by Gerard (p. 405), much
more than that of _Cornus suecica_, L. (European dwarf-cornel, p.
1296),—a shrub ill understood by the old botanists.
[238] _Helianthus_, L., sp. (sun-flower); a genus peculiar to
America. The species is perhaps _H. strumosus_, L. (Gray, Man., p.
218).—See p. {56} of this book; note.
[239] The importance of this list has been already spoken of. Its
value depends on its having been drawn up by a person of familiarity
with some of the botanical writers of his day, as part of a botanical
treatise; and the (in this case) not unfair presumption that the
names cited are meant to be accurate. Mr. A. De Candolle (_Geogr.
Botanique_, vol. ii. p. 746) appears to be unacquainted with any
authority for the naturalized plants of the Northern States earlier
than the first edition of the _Florula_ of Dr. Bigelow, in 1814. The
treatise of Cutler extends this limit to 1785; and that of Josselyn,
so far as it goes, to 1672.
[240] Doubtful. Gerard’s couch-grass, p. 23, appears to be _Holcus
mollis_, L.,—“the true couch-grass of sandy soils” in England; and
English agricultural writers reckon yet other grasses of this name,
beside the well-known _Triticum repens_, L.
[241] Gerard, p. 276,—_Capsella Bursa Pastoris_ (L.), Moench.
“Cornfields, and about barns,”—_Cutler_ (1785), _l. c._ Naturalized.
[242] Gerard, p. 290,—_Taraxacum Dens Leonis_, Desf.; looked, to our
author, like a new-comer. Dr. Gray (Man., p. 239; and comp. Torr, and
Gray, Fl., vol. ii. p. 494) regards it as “probably indigenous in the
north,” but only naturalized in other regions. “Grass land,”—_Cutler_
(1785), _l. c._
[243] Gerard, p. 278,—_Senecio vulgaris_, L.; one of the _adventive_
naturalized plants, as defined by Mr. De Candolle (_l. c._, vol.
ii. p. 688; and Gray, Man. Bot., pref., p. viii.), according to the
evidence of Dr. Darlington (Fl. Cestr., p. 152), and Gray, _l. c._ It
has long been a common weed in eastern New England.
[244] _Sonchus_, L. _S. oleraceus_, L., as understood by Linnæus, was
no doubt intended: but this is now taken to include two species, both
recognized in this country (Gray, _l. c._, p. 241); between which
there is no evidence to authorize a decision.
[245] The _genera Chenopodium_, L., and _Atriplex_, L., were much
confused in Josselyn’s day; and his wild orach may belong to
either. Gerard’s wild orach is in part _Atriplex patula_, L. (p.
326); but the first species to which he gives this name (p. 325)
is _Chenopodium polyspermum_, L. The latter is a rare, _adventive_
member of our Flora (Gray, _l. c._, p. 363); and the former is,
according to Bigelow (Fl. Bost., ed. 3, p. 401), the well-known orach
of our salt-marshes: but Dr. Gray now refers this (Man., p. 365)
to the nearly allied _A. hastata_, L. This plant, in either case,
is reckoned truly common to both continents. It is possible that
Josselyn intended it.
[246] Garden nightshade (Gerard, p. 339); _Solanum nigrum_, L.
“Common among rubbish,”—_Cutler_ (1785), _l. c._ Naturalized.
[247] Common stinging-nettle, or great nettle (Gerard, p.
706),—_Urtica dioica_, L.
[248] Field-mallow (Gerard, p. 930), _Malva sylvestris_, L., and wild
dwarf-mallow (_ibid._), _M. rotundifolia_, L., are the only sorts
likely to have been in view. The latter was, I doubt not, intended;
and the former, _adventive_ only with us, may also have occurred at
any period after the settlement.
[249] “It is but one sort, and that is broad-leaved plantain”
(Josselyn’s Voyages, p. 188). Broad-leaved plantain (Gerard, p.
419),—_Plantago major_, L.; one of the most anciently and widely
known of plants, and inhabiting, at present, all the great divisions
of the earth. An account, similar to our author’s, of the name given
to it by the American savages, is found in Kalm’s Travels. “Mr.
Bartram had found this plant in many places on his travels; but he
did not know whether it was an original American plant, or whether
the Europeans had brought it over. This doubt had its rise from
the savages (who always had an extensive knowledge of the plants
of the country) pretending that this plant never grew here before
the arrival of the Europeans. They therefore gave it a name which
signifies the Englishman’s foot; for they say, that, where a European
had walked, there this plant grew in his footsteps.”—_Kalm’s Travels
into North America_, by Forster, vol. i. p. 92. But Dr. Pickering
considers it possible, that, in North-west America at least, the
plantain was introduced by the aborigines (Races of Man, pp. 317,
320): and, uncertain as this is admitted to be, the old vulgar names
of the plant in Northern languages—as _Wegerich_ and _Wegetritt_ of
the German, _Weegblad_ and _Weegbree_ of the Dutch, _Veibred_ of the
Danish, and _Weybred_ of old English, all pointing to the plantain’s
growing on ways trodden by man—suggest, perhaps, a far older supposed
relation between this plant and the human foot than that mentioned
above; and thus favor the derivation of the original Latin name (as
old as Pliny, H. N., vol. xxv. 8, in § 39) from _planta_, the sole
of the foot,—whether because the plantain is always trodden on, or,
taking the termination _go_ in _plantago_, as some philologists
take it, to signify likeness (as doubtless in _lappago_, _mollugo_,
_asperugo_; but this signification does not appear so clear in some
other words with the like ending), because its leaves resemble the
sole of the foot in flatness, breadth, marking, and so on. The
possible derivation from planta, a plant, “_per excellentiam, quasi
plantam præstantissimam_” (Tournef., Inst., vol. i. p. 128), though
less open to question than that of Linnæus (“_planta tangenda_,”
Phil. Bot., § 234), is certainly less significant than the other;
which, with the statements (independent, so far as appears, of each
other) of Josselyn and Kalm, if these may be relied on, seems to
point to a very ancient co-incidence of thought, not unworthy of
attention. Something else of the same sort is to be found in R.
Williams, where he says (Key, _l. c._, p. 218) that the Massachusetts
Indians called the constellation of the Great Bear _mosk_, or
_pawkunnawaw_; that is, the bear.
[250] Gerard, p. 353,—_Hyoscyamus niger_, L. _Adventive_ only: having
“escaped from gardens to roadsides,” according to Dr. Gray (Man., p.
340); but “common amongst rubbish and by roadsides,” in 1785 (Cutler,
_l. c._), and perhaps long known on the coasts of Massachusetts Bay.
[251] Broad-leaved wormwood, “our common and best-knowne wormwood”
(Gerard, p. 1096),—_Artemisia absynthium_, L. “Roadsides and amongst
rubbish,” 1785,—_Cutler_, _l. c._ Omitted by Bigelow, and not very
frequent.
[252] Gerard, p. 388. If this is to be taken for _Rumex acutus_, Sm.
(Fl. Brit.), which seems not to be certain, it is now referable to
_R. conglomeratus_, Murr., which is “sparingly introduced” with us,
according to Gray (Man., p. 377). But it is more likely that Josselyn
had _R. crispus_, L. (curled dock), in view: which is, I suppose, the
“varietie” of sharp-pointed dock, “with crisped or curled leaves,” of
Johnson’s Gerard, p. 387; and is the only mention of the species by
those authors.
[253] Gerard, p. 389,—_Rumex Patientia_, L. This and the next were
garden pot-herbs of repute: and, at p. 90, our author brings them in
again as such; telling us that bloodwort grows “but sorrily,” but
patience “very pleasantly.” This may very likely have crept out of
some garden: but the great water-dock (_R. Hydrolapathum_, Huds.) is,
says Gerard, “not unlike to the garden patience” (p. 390); and Dr.
Gray says the same of the American variety of the former.—_Man._, p.
377.
[254] Gerard, p. 390,—_Rumex sanguineus_, L., “sown for a pot-herb
in most gardens” (Gerard); and so our author, p. 90. Linnæus took it
to be originally American: but it is common in Europe; and Dr. Gray
marks the American plant as naturalized. Dr. Torrey indicated the
species as occurring about New York in 1819 (Catal. Pl., N.Y.); but
New-England botanists do not appear to have recognized it. Josselyn’s
plant was perhaps the offcast of some garden.
[255] Gerard, p. 404.—Compare p. 42 of this; where our author more
correctly reckons it among plants truly common to Europe and America.
[256] “Common knot-grasse” (Gerard, p. 565),—_Polygonum aviculare_,
L. Common to all the great divisions of the earth, and reckoned
indigenous in America.—_De Cand. Geogr. Bot._, vol. i. p. 577; _Gray,
Man._, p. 373.
[257] There are many chickweeds in Gerard; but that most likely to
have been in the author’s view here is the universally known common
chickweed,—the middle or small chickweed of Gerard, p. 611. This was
“common in gardens and rich cultivated ground” in 1785.—_Cutler, l.
c._ Few plants have spread so widely over the earth as _Stellaria
media_.
[258] Great comfrey (Gerard, p. 806),—_Symphytum officinale_, L.:
also in the list of garden herbs at p. 90. “Sometimes found growing
wild,”—_Cutler_ (1785), _l. c._ Not admitted by Dr. Bigelow (Fl.
Bost.), but included by Dr. Gray as an _adventive_.—_Man._, p. 320.
[259] Gerard, p. 757,—_Maruta cotula_ (L.), DC.; a naturalized member
of our Flora, now become a very common ornament of roadsides; where
Cutler notices it, also, in 1785.
[260] “Great burre-docke, or clott-burre” (Gerard, p. 809),—_Lappa
major_, Gaertn. “About barns,”—_Cutler_ (1785), _l. c._
[261] “White-floured mullein” (Gerard, p. 773),—perhaps _Verbascum
Lychnitis_, L.; which is _adventive_ in some parts of the United
States (Gray, Man., p. 283), but is not otherwise known to have made
its appearance in New England. Great mullein (_V. Thapsus_, L.) was
“common” in Cutler’s time. The moth-mullein (_V. Blattaria_, L.) he
only knew “by roadsides in Lynn” (_l. c._, p. 419). Other plants
referable to this list of naturalized weeds are “wild sorrel,” p. 42;
_Polygonum Persicaria_, p. 43; St. John’s wort, speedwell, chickweed,
male fluellin, cat-mint, and clot-bur, p. 44; yarrow, and oak of
Jerusalem, p. 46; pimpernel, and toadflax, p. 48; and wild purslain,
and woad-waxen, p. 51. See also spearmint, and ground-ivy, p. 89; and
elecampane, celandine, and tansy, p. 90.
[262] The earliest, almost the only account that we have of the
gardens of our fathers, after they had settled themselves in their
_New_ England, and had tamed its rugged coasts to obedience to
English husbandry. What with their garden beans, and Indian beans,
and pease (“as good as ever I eat in England,” says Higginson in
1629); their beets, parsnips, turnips, and carrots (“our turnips,
parsnips, and carrots are both bigger and sweeter than is ordinary
to be found in England,” says the same reverend writer); their
cabbages and asparagus,—both thriving, we are told, exceedingly;
their radishes and lettuce; their sorrel, parsley, chervil, and
marigold, for pot-herbs; and their sage, thyme, savory of both
kinds, clary, anise, fennel, coriander, spearmint, and pennyroyal,
for sweet herbs,—not to mention the Indian pompions and melons and
squanter-squashes, “and other odde fruits of the country,”—the
first-named of which had got to be so well approved among the
settlers, when Josselyn wrote in 1672, that what he calls “the
ancient New-England standing dish” (we may well call it so now!)
was made of them; and, finally, their pleasant, familiar flowers,
lavender-cotton and hollyhocks and satin (“we call this herbe, in
Norfolke, sattin,” says Gerard; “and, among our women, it is called
honestie”) and gillyflowers, which meant pinks as well, and dear
English roses, and eglantine,—yes, possibly, hedges of eglantine
(p. 90 note),—surely the gardens of New England, fifty years after
the settlement of the country, were as well stocked as they were
a hundred and fifty years after. Nor were the first planters long
behindhand in fruit. Even at his first visit, in 1639, our author was
treated with “half a score very fair pippins,” from the Governor’s
Island in Boston Harbor; though there was then, he says (Voyages,
p. 29), “not one apple tree nor pear planted yet in no part of the
countrey but upon that island.” But he has a much better account
to give in 1671: “The quinces, cherries, damsons, set the dames a
work. Marmalad and preserved damsons is to be met with in every
house. Our fruit-trees prosper abundantly,—apple-trees, pear-trees,
quince-trees, cherry-trees, plum-trees, barberry-trees. I have
observed, with admiration, that the kernels sown, or the succors
planted, produce as fair and good fruit, without graffing, as the
tree from whence they were taken. The countrey is replenished with
fair and large orchards. It was affirmed by one Mr. Woolcut (a
magistrate in Connecticut Colony), at the Captain’s messe (of which
I was), aboard the ship I came home in, that he made five hundred
hogsheads of syder out of his own orchard in one year.”—_Voyages_,
p. 189-90. Our barberry-bushes, now so familiar inhabitants of the
hedgerows of Eastern New England, should seem from this to have
come, with the eglantines, from the gardens of the first settlers.
Barberries “are planted in most of our English gardens,” says Gerard.
[263] _Portulaca oleracea_,; L. β. _sativa_, L. (garden purslain).
The wild variety is also reckoned by our author, in his list of
plants, common to us and the Old World (p. 51).
[264] See Josselyn’s Voyages, p. 188.
[265] _Vicia Faba_, Willd., of which the Windsor bean is a variety.
The author compares it, at p. 56, with kidney-beans (_Phaseolus
vulgaris_, L.), called Indian beans by the first settlers, who had
them from the savages, to the advantage of the last-mentioned sort;
which probably soon drove the other out of our gardens.—Compare
Cobbett’s American Gardener, p. 105.
[266] Gerard, p. 75,—_Avena nuda_, L.; derived from common oats (_A.
sativa_, L.) according to Link; and also (in Gerard’s time, and even
later) in cultivation. It was called pillcorn, or peelcorn, because
the grains, when ripe, drop naked from the husks. But is it not
possible that our author’s _Silpee_ (comparable with _apee_, a leaf;
_toopee_, a root; _ahpee_, a bow, in the Micmac language,— _Mass.
Hist. Coll._, vol. vi., pp. 20, 24) was really the American name of
the well-known water-oats, or Canada rice,—_Zizania aquatica_, L.;
the deciduous grains of which are said to afford “a very good meal”
(Loudon, Encycl., p. 788), with the qualities of rice?—See _Bigel.,
Fl. Bost._, edit. 3, p. 369. This has long been used by our savages;
but I have not met with any mention of it in the early writers. The
“standing dish in New England” has its interest, if it were really
made of Canada rice.
[267] Gerard, p. 680,—_Mentha viridis_, L. It perhaps soon became
naturalized. “In moist ground” (1785).—_Cutler, l. c._
[268] Perhaps only an inference of the author’s, from the southern
origin of these three shrubs. Lavender also belongs naturally to a
warmer climate.
[269] Gerard, p. 1109,—_Santolina Chamæ Cyparissus_, L.
[270] Gerard, p. 856,—_Glechoma hederacea_, L.; once of great
medicinal repute: which accounts for our author’s finding it, as it
should seem, among garden-herbs. It has become naturalized and very
familiar in New England. Cutler finds it wild in 1785. Mr. Bentham
refers it to _Nepeta_, but substitutes a new specific name for that
given by Linnæus, which is based on the ancient names, and has at
least the right of priority.
[271] “Gilliflowers thrive exceedingly there, and are very large. The
collibuy, or humming-bird, is much pleased with them.”—_Josselyn’s
Voyages_, p. 188.
[272] Elecampane (Gerard, p. 793),—_Inula Helenium_, L. “Roadsides”
(1785),—_Cutler, l. c._; and now extensively naturalized in New
England.
[273] Gerard, p. 1272,—_Rosa rubiginosa_, L.; and _R. micrantha_,
Sm. Since naturalized, especially in Eastern New England, and not
uncommon on roadsides and in pastures. First indicated as a member
of our Flora by Bigelow in 1824.—_Fl. Bost., in loc._ “Eglantine, or
sweet-bryer, is best sowen with juniper-berries,—two or three to one
eglantine-berry, put into a hole made with a stick. The next year,
separate and remove them to your banks. In three years’ time, they
will make a hedge as high as a man; which you may keep thick and
handsome with cutting.”—_Josselyn’s Voyages_, p. 188. And what next
goes before seems to show that the author picked up this information
here; which is not uninteresting.
[274] See p. 86.
[275] Brier-rose, or hep-tree (Gerard, p. 1270); “also called _Rosa
canina_, which is a plant so common and well knowne, that it were
to small purpose to use many words in the description thereof:
for even children with great delight eat the berries thereof,
when they be ripe,—make chaines and other prettie gewgawes of the
fruit; cookes and gentlewomen make tarts, and such like dishes,
for pleasure thereof,” &c. (Gerard, _l. c._). _Rosa canina_, L.,
was once the collective name of what are now understood as many
distinct species; but that which still retains the name of dog-rose
is reckoned the finest of native English roses. This familiar plant
may well have been reared with tender interest in some New-England
gardens of Josselyn’s day; but it did not make a new home here, like
the eglantine. Cutler gives the name of dog-rose to the Carolina
rose,—_R. Carolina_, L.,—which it has not kept; and he also makes
it equivalent to the officinal _R. canina_. Our Flora will possibly
one day include one or two other garden-roses. A damask rose is well
established and spreading rapidly in mowing-land of the writer’s, and
elsewhere on roadsides of this country; and that general favorite,
the cinnamon-rose, which is now naturalized in England, may yet
become wild with us.
[276] Great celandine (Gerard, p. 1069), as the west-country name of
kenning-wort—that is, sight-wort—makes manifest; the juice being once
thought to be “good to sharpen the sight,”—_Chelidonium majus_, L.
Small celandine (_Ranunculus Ficaria_, L.) was quite another thing.
The former had got to be “common by fences and amongst rubbish” in
1785 (Cutler, _l. c._), and is now naturalized in Eastern New England.
[277] Gerard, p. 650,—_Tanacetum vulgare_, L. In “pastures”
(1785).—_Cutler, l. c._ Now widely naturalized in New England.
[278] See p. 57, note. “The ancient New-England standing dish” was
doubtless far better than Gerard’s fried pompions (p. 921), and has
more than held its own.
[279] “For such commodities as lie under ground, I cannot, out of
mine own experience or knowledge, say much; having taken no great
notice of such things: but it is certainly reported that there is
iron-stone; and the Indians informed us that they can lead us to the
mountains of black-lead; and have shown us lead-ore, if our small
judgment in such things does not deceive us; and though nobody dare
confidently conclude, yet dare they not utterly deny, but that the
Spaniard’s-bliss may lie hid in the barren mountains. Such as have
coasted the country affirm that they know where to fetch sea-coal, if
wood were scarce. There is plenty of stone, both rough and smooth,
useful for many things; with quarries of slate, out of which they
get coverings for houses; with good clay, whereof they make tiles
and bricks and pavements for their necessary uses. For the country
it is well watered as any land under the sun; every family, or every
two families, having a spring of sweet water betwixt them; which
is far different from the waters of England, being not so sharp,
but of a fatter substance, and of a more jetty colour.... Those
that drink it be as healthful, fresh, and lusty as they that drink
beer.”—_Wood, New-Eng. Prospect_, chap. v. “The humour and justness
of” this writer’s “account recommend him,” says the editor of 1764,
“to every candid mind.” There is certainly no view of New England, as
it was at its settlement, that surpasses Wood’s in understanding, and
homeborn English truth, not always without beauty. What he says in
this place of “quarries of slate” points to a very early discovery.
Higginson says, in 1629 (New-Eng. Plantation, _l. c._, p. 118), “Here
is plenty of slates at the Isle of Slate in Masathulets Bay:” and
there is a court order of July 2, 1633, granting “to Tho: Lambe, of
slate in Slate Ileand, 10 poole towards the water-side, and 5 poole
into the land, for three yeares; payeing the yearely rent of ijs.
vjd.”—_Mass. Col. Rec._, vol. i. p. 106. There are other later grants
of the same island, which “lies between Bumkin Island and Weymouth
River.”—_Pemberton, Desc. Bost., Mass. Hist. Coll._, vol. iii. p.
297. Josselyn, in his Voyages, p. 46, says that tables of slate could
be got out (he does not tell us where), “long enough for a dozen men
to sit at.” Argillaceous slate is, according to Dr. Hitchcock, “the
predominating rock on the outermost of these islands;” and he adds,
that “there can be but little doubt that the peninsula of Boston has
a foundation” of this rock.—_Report on Geol. of Mass._, p. 270.
[280] “Mr. John Winthrope, jun., is granted y^e hill at Tantousq,
about 60 miles westward, in which the black-leade is; and liberty
to purchase some land there of the Indians” (13th November,
1644).—_Mass. Col. Rec._, vol. ii. p. 82; and _Savage, in Winthrop,
N. E._, vol. ii. p. 213, note. The place mentioned is what is
now Sturbridge; which is called “the most important locality” of
black-lead in Massachusetts, by Dr. Hitchcock.—_Geol._, pp. 47, 395.
[281] “The mountains and rocky hills are richly furnished with mines
of lead, silver, copper, tin, and divers sorts of minerals, branching
out even to their summits; where, in small crannies, you may meet
with threds of perfect silver: yet have the English no maw to open
any of them;” and so forth.—_Josselyn’s Voyages_, p. 44.
[282] _Asterias rubens_, L.—_Gould, Report on Invert._, p. 345.
[283] See the chapter on Fishes, p. 23, for this and the others here
spoken of.
[284] “Numerous about the Isle of Sables; i.e., the Sandy
Isle.”—_Voyages_, p. 106. “Mr. Graves” (year 1635) “in the ‘James,’
and Mr. Hodges in the ‘Rebecka,’ set sail for the Isle of Sable for
sea-horse, which are there in great number,” &c.—_Winthrop’s N. E.,
by Savage_, vol. i. p. 162. And I cite one other mention of this
pursuit: “Eastward is the Isle of Sables; whither one John Webb,
_alias_ Evered (an active man), with his company, are gone, with
commission from the Bay to get sea-horse teeth and oyle.”—_Lechford’s
Newes from New England_ (1642), _Mass. Hist. Coll._, vol. iii.
3d series, p. 100. The Magdalen Islands, in the Gulf of St.
Lawrence, are the most southern habitat of the animal spoken of by
Godman.—_Amer. Nat. Hist._, vol. i. p. 249.
[285] Compare Cutler (Account of Indig. Veg., _l. c._, p. 456) and
Wood and Bache (Dispens., p. 1369).
[286] The author has something to the same effect in his Voyages, p.
124; but Wood’s account of the Indian women (New-England’s Prospect,
part ii. chap. xx.) is far better worth reading. Both appreciated, in
one way or another, their savage neighbors. Wood has a pleasant touch
at the last. “These women,” he says, “resort often to the English
houses, where _pares cum paribus congregatæ_,—in sex, I mean,—they do
somewhat ease their misery by complaining, and seldom part without
a relief. If her husband come to seek for his squaw, and begin to
bluster, the English woman betakes her to her arms, which are the
war-like ladle and the scalding liquors, threatning blistering to the
naked runaway, who is soon expelled by such liquid comminations. In
a word, to conclude this woman’s history, their love to the English
hath deserved no small esteem; ever presenting them something that is
either rare or desired,—as strawberries, hurtleberries, rasberries,
gooseberries, cherries, plumbs, fish, and other such gifts as their
poor treasury yields them” (_l. c._). And, if Lechford’s Newes from
New England (_l. supra c._, p. 103) can be trusted, the savages
became “much the kinder to their wives by the example of the English.”
[287] In the author’s Voyages, this chronological table is greatly
extended; beginning with “_Anno Mundi_, 3720,” and ending with A.D.
1674.
[288] Set right by the author in Voyages, p. 248.
[289] The author, in the “chronological observations” appended to his
Voyages, enlarges this, but confounds Conant’s Plantation at Cape
Ann, and Endicott’s, as follows: “1628. Mr. John Endicot arrived in
New England with some number of people, and set down first by Cape
Ann, at a place called afterwards Gloster; but their abiding-place
was at Salem, where they built the first town in the Massachusets
Patent.... 1629. Three ships arrived at Salem, bringing a great
number of passengers from England.... Mr. Endicot chosen Governour.”
The next year, Josselyn continues as follows: “1630. The 10th of
July, John Winthrop, Esq., and the Assistants, arrived in New England
with the patent for the Massachusetts.... John Winthrop, Esq.,
chosen Governour for the remainder of the year; Mr. Thomas Dudley,
Deputy-Governour; Mr. Simon Broadstreet, Secretary.”—_Voyages_,
p. 252. The title of Governor was used anciently, as it still is
elsewhere, in a looser sense than has been usual in New England;
and derived all the dignity that it had from the character and
considerableness of the government. Conant and Endicott were
directors or governors of settlements in the Massachusetts Bay
before Winthrop’s arrival; but when the Massachusetts Company in
London proceeded, on the 20th October, 1629, to carry into effect
their resolution to transfer their government to this country,—and
chose accordingly Winthrop to be their Governor; Humphrey, their
Deputy-Governor; and Endicot and others, Assistants (Young, Chron. of
Mass., p. 102),—the record appears sufficient evidence that they had
in view something quite different from the fishing plantation which
Conant had had charge of at Cape Ann, or the little society (“in all,
not much above fifty or sixty persons,” says White’s Relation in
Young, Chron., p. 13; which the editor, from Higginson’s narrative,
raises to “about a hundred”) “of which Master Endecott was sent out
Governour” (White, _l. c._) at Naumkeak.
[290] That is, Noddle’s Island was already planted on (by Mr.
Maverick) when the government was established.—Compare Johnson, cited
by Prince, N. E. Chronol., edit. 2, p. 308, note.
[291] The date set right in Prince, N. E. Chronol., p. 367.
[292] The date corrected in Prince, N. E. Chronol., edit. 2, p. 367.
[293] Compare Prince, p. 367, and Mass. Col. Rec., vol. i. p. 128.
“The will,” says Dr. Mather, “because it bequeathed a thousand pounds
to New England, gave satisfaction unto our Mr. Wilson; though it was
otherwise injurious to himself.”—_Magnalia_, vol. iii. p. 45, _cit._
Davis, _in Morton’s Memorial_, p. 334, note.
[294] Compare Winthrop, N.E., vol. i. p. 265; Johnson’s
Wonder-working Prov. lib. ii. c. 12, _cit._ Savage; and Morton’s
Memorial, by Davis, p. 209, and note, p. 289.
[295] Morton’s Memorial, by Davis, p. 244.
[296] 1664, “December, a great and dreadful comet, or blazing star,
appeared in the south-east in New England for the space of three
moneths; which was accompanied with many sad effects,—great mildews
blasting in the countrey the next summer.”—_Josselyn’s Voyages,
Chronol. Obs._, p. 273; and see p. 245 of the same for a fuller
account.—Compare Morton’s Memorial, by Davis, p. 304. As to the
blasting and mildew of 1665, see the same, p. 317; and that of 1664,
p. 309.
[297] See Josselyn’s Voyages, p. 204 and p. 277, where the “hole”
is said to have been, not “two,” but “forty, yards square:” and we
are farther told that “the like accident fell out at Casco, one and
twenty miles from it to the eastward, much about the same time;
and fish, in some ponds in the countrey, thrown up dead upon the
banks,—supposed likewise to be kill’d with mineral vapours.” Hubbard
(Hist. N.E., chap. 75) tells this, partly in the same words with the
account in the Voyages, and adds, “All the whole town of Wells are
witnesses of the truth of this relation; and many others have seen
sundry of these clay pellets, which the inhabitants have shown to
their neighbours of other towns.” And compare also the following,
at p. 189 of the Voyages: “In 1669, the pond that lyeth between
Watertown and Cambridge cast its fish dead upon the shore; forc’t by
a mineral vapour, as was conjectured.”
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Footnote [54] is referenced twice from page 53.
Footnote [143] is referenced four times from page 88.
Footnote [144] is referenced twice from page 88.
Footnote [153] is referenced twice from page 91.
Footnote [160] is referenced twice from page 92.
Footnote [177] is referenced twice from page 96.
Footnote [291] is referenced three times from page 162.
A few minor typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.
Hyphenation is inconsistent in this book but has not been changed.
Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been preserved.
Introduction:
Pg 24: ‘the Linnean system’ replaced by ‘the Linnæan system’.
Title page:
Pg 29: ‘Ilustrated with CUTS’ replaced by ‘Illustrated with CUTS’.
Errors likely introduced in this 1865 printing:
Pg 76: ‘upon their breeeh’ replaced by ‘upon their breech’.
Pg 79: ‘are common liewise’ replaced by ‘are common likewise’.
Pg 115: ‘two or three Fadom’ replaced by ‘two or three Fathom’.
Changes made to the inserted original page numbering {}:
Pg 46: ‘nor Mag{12}pies’ replaced by ‘nor Mag{13}pies’.
Pg 125: Missing {71} inserted before ‘[Illustration]’.
Pg 137: Missing {85} inserted before ‘4. Of such plants ...’.
Pg 156: Missing {99} inserted before ‘[Illustration:’.
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