7x =* oy 7 ip 4 SUG vy COR- NEW-ENGLAND’S RARITIES. : | a: o) Blk ali & OW. 12.\ 1630 NEW-ENGLAND’S Rea I 1 1 JE Ss DISCOVERED IN BIRDS, BEASTS, FISHES, SERPENTS, AND PLANTS OF THAT COUNTRY: By ¥OHN FOSSELYN, Gent. With an Rutvovuction and Notes, By HDWARD TOCKELRMAN, M.A. Boston: WILLIAM VEAZIE, MDCCCLXYV. Seventy-five Copies printed, Medium Quarto. BOSTON: PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON. a) N 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 en- hance 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 orthog- raphy, 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. Tuck- ERMAN, incorporated in this edition, have been previously viii Publisher's Adbertisement. issued in vol. iv. of “The Transactions of the American 5 Antiquarian Society,” which contains a reprint of “ The Rarities ” in a more modern style. The notes have, how- ever, 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. INTRODUCTION. Fava R. JOHN JOSSELYN, the writer of {| this book, was only brother, as he fays, to Henry Joflelyn, Efq., many years of Black Point in Scarborough, Me.; and both were fons to Sir Thomas Joffelyn, Lettie \omiad}] Knt., of Kent, whofe 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 Jofflelyn was at Pifcataqua, in the intereft of Capt. John Mafon, at leaft 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 reft of his life. He fucceeded in 1643, by the will of Capt. Thomas Cammock, to his patent at Black Point, and foon after married his widow. He is afterwards Deputy-Governor of the Province; and until 1676, when the Indians attacked and compelled him to furrender his fort, he was, fays Mr. Willis, — whofe valuable papers are cited below, — one of the moft aétive A 2 Family of John Josselon. and influential men in it;” holding, “during all the changes of proprietorfhip and government, the moft im- portant offices.” He is then a magiftrate of the Duke of York’s Province of Cornwall, and, as late as 1680, a refi- dent of Pemaquid; when he is fpoken of, in a letter of Gov. Andros to the commander of the fort at Pemaquid, as one “whom I would have you ufe with all fitting re{pect, confidering what he hath been and his age.” He is living in 1682; but had died before the roth of May, 1683,’ leaving no defcendants. ? Notwithftanding the evidence, above afforded, of the focial pofition of the family of which Henry and John Joffelyn were members, the prefent writer failed in tracing it, doubtlefs from not knowing in which county it had its principal feat. In this uncertainty, it occurred to him to make application to the eminent Englifh an- tiquary, — the Rev. Jofeph Hunter, Vice-Prefident of the Society of Antiquaries of London,—to whom he was indebted for former kind attentions; and was favored by this gentleman with fuch directions as left nothing to be ~defred. “The Jofilines,” «wimtess: Mie Hunter (“the name is written in fome variety of ortho- 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, DS} or ever had any.” Family of John Josselon. 3 graphies, and now more ufually Joceline), are quite one of the old ariftocratic families of England, having feve- ral knights in the early generations; being admitted into the order of baronets, and fubfequently into the peerage. ... Their main fettlement was in Hertford- fhire, at or near the town of Sabridgeworth; and ac- counts of them may be read in the hiftories — 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, Dub- lin: 4 vols. 8vo, 1754.”? According to Lodge, the family begins with a Sir Egidius, who paffed into England in the time of Ed- ward the Confeffor, and was defcended from “Carolus Magnus, King of France, with more certainty than the houfes of Lorraine and Guife.” 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 Geof- fry is traced back John Jocelyn, living in 1226; who mar- ried Catherine, fecond daughter and co-heir to Sir Thomas Battell, and had Thomas, who married Maud, daughter and co-heirefs of Sir John Hide, of Hide Hall in Sa- bridgeworth, county of Hertford, Knt., by his wife Eliza- beth, daughter of John Sudeley, Baron Sudeley, in the county of Gloucefter. He had Thomas Jocelyn, Efq., who 1 Letter of Rev. J. Hunter, 12th April, 1859. 4 Family of John Josselvn. married Joan, daughter of John Blunt, and had Ralph, who married Maud, daughter of Sir John Sutton alas 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 fons and two daughters. Of thefe, the eldeft was Thomas Jocelyn, Efq., living in the reign of Edward IV., who married Alice, daughter of Lewis Duke of Dukes in Effex, Efq., by his wife Anne, daughter of John Cotton, Efq., and had ifflue George, his heir, called Jocelyn the Courtier, who married Maud, daughter and heir to Edmond Bardolph,— Lord Bardolph,— and had one daughter and three fons. John Jocelyn, Efq.,— “ auditor of the augmentations, upon the diffolution of the abbeys by King Henry VIII.,’— was fon and heir to the laft- mentioned George, and married Philippa, daughter of William Bradbury, of Littlebury in Effex; by whom he had Sir Thomas, of Hide Hall, — created a Knight of the Bath at the coronation of King Edward VI.,— who mar- ried Dorothy, daughter of Sir Geoffry Gales or Gates, Knt., and had iffue;* one daughter .marrying Roger Har- lakenden, of Carnarthen in Kent, Efq.; and the fifth fon being Henry Jocelyn, Efq., who married Anne, daughter 1 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 de- ’ rived. Family of John Dosselvn. 5 and heir to Humphrey Torrell, otherwife Tyrrell, of Tor- rell’s Hall in Effex,— became seated there, and had fix fons and fix daughters. The fecond fon of this family was Sir Thomas Jocelyn (father to our author), who was twice married. His firft wife was Dorothy, daughter of John Frank, Efq.; by whom he had fix fons and five daugh- ters, — Torrell, born 28th May, 1690; Henry, and Henry, both died infants; Thomas, who died without iffue, 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 roth May, 1602; Anne, married to William Mildmay, Efq., by whom fhe had Robert, John, Anne, and Elizabeth; Dorothy, married to John Brewfter, Efq., and left no iffue; Elizabeth, married to Francis Neile, Efq., and had Francis, John, and Mary; Frances, born 26th March, 1600, and married Rev. Clement Vincent; and Mary, died unmarried. The fecond wife of Sir Thomas Jocelyn was Theodora, daughter to Edmond Cooke, of Mount Mafchall in Kent, Efq.; and by her he had Henry, John, Theodora, and Thomazine. ‘Torrell, the eldeft fon, married, firft, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Rich- ard Brooke of Chefhire, — heir to her grandfather (by the mother), Dr. Chaderton, Bifhop of Lincoln, — by whom he had a daughter, Theodora, married to Samuel Fortrie, Efq.,’ to whom our author dedicates the prefent volume, with acknowledgment of the “bounty” of his “honored friend and kinfman.” 1 Lodge, Peerage of Ireland, vol. iii. p. 65, and anze. 6 Povages of John Josselvn. The principal line of the family was continued by Rich- ard, heir to Sir Thomas of Hide Hall; the faid Richard being brother to our author, John Joffelyn’s grandfather. In 1665, Sir Robert Jocelyn of Hide Hall was advanced to the dignity of baronet. The fifth fon of this Sir Robert was Thomas; whofe fon, Robert Jocelyn, Efq., 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 Vifcount Jocelyn in 1755. Robert, fon and fucceffor of this nobleman, was created, in 1771, Earl of Roden, of High Roding, County of Tipperary; and was anceftor to the prefent Lord — Roden.* Our author, John Joffelyn, made his firft voyage to New England in 1638; arriving in Bofton Harbor the 3d of July, and remaining with his brother at Black Point till the toth of October of the following year. While at Bofton, he paid his refpeéts to the Governor and to Mr. Cotton, being the bearer to the latter of fome poetical pieces from the poet Quarles; and, as he fays, “being civilly treated by all I had occafion to converfe with.” In the account of his firft voyage, there is no appearance of that diflike to the Maffachufetts government and people which is obferv- able in the narrative of the fecond, and may there not unfairly be conneéted with his brother’s political and reli- gious differences with Maffachufetts.? His fecond voyage 1 Lodge, ubz sufra. Annual Register, 1771, p. 174. 2 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 Povages of John Josselvw. 7 was made in 1663. He arrived at Nantasket the 27th of July, and foon proceeded to his brother’s plantation, where he tells us he ftaid eight years, and got together the matter of the book before us. This was firft printed in 1672, but occurs alfo 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 fhip, with the Charges; the 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 exe- cuted. 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 im- prisoned several times, by reason whereof he was discountenanced by the pre- tended 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 non- conformists; 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. ud sup. 8 Dovages of John Josselvn. Prices of all Neceffaries for furnifhing a Planter and his Family at his firft Coming; a Defcription of the Country, Natives, and Creatures; the Government of the Countrey as it is now poffeffed by the Englifh, &c. A large Chron- ological Table of the moft Remarkable Paffages, from the firft Difcovering of the Continent of America to the Year 1673.” 12mo, pp. 279. Reprinted in the third volume ot the Third Series of the Colleétions of the Hiftorical So- ciety; which edition is quoted here. yee) N the year of our Lord 1663. May 28. Ke upon an Invitation from my only Brother, s SS I departed from London, and arrived at \/A| Bo/fon, the chief Town in the Maffachu- aM] /ezés, a Colony of Exgli/hmen in New- KPa? | England, the 28¢h of Fuly following. Bofton (whofe longitude is 315 deg. and 42 deg. 30 min. of North Latitude) is built on the South-weft fide of a Bay large enough for the Anchorage of 500 Sail of Ships, the Buildings are handfome, joyning one to the other as in Loxdon, with many large {treets, moft of them paved with pebble ftone, in the high ftreet towards the Common, there are fair buildings, fome of ftone, and at the Eaft End of the [2] Town one amongft the reft, built by the Shore by Mr. Gzds, a Merchant, being a ftately Edifice, which it is thought will ftand him in little lefs E 34 Pew-Englandss Warities. than 3000 Z. before it be fully finifhed.. The Town is not divided into Parifhes, yet they have three fair Meeting- houfes or Churches, which hardly fuffice to receive the Inhabitants and Strangers that come in from all parts.’ Having refrefhed my felf here for fome time, and oppor- tunely lighting upon a paflage in a Bark belonging to a Friend of my Brothers, and bound to the Eaftward, I put to sea again, and on the Fifteenth of Augu/f, I arrived at Black-point, otherwife called Scarborow, the habitation of my beloved Brother,’ being about an hundred leagues to the 1 This house was one Mr. Robert Gibbs’s ‘‘of an ancient family in Devon- shire,” 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 Eliza- beth, 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 Water- town, and had other children; and the family continues to this day. 2 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. 8 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 zzfra), 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 New-Englands IWarities. 35 Eaftward of Boffon; here I refided eight years, and made it my bufinefs to difcover all along the Natural, Phyfical, and Chyrurgical Rarities of this New-found World. New-England is faid 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 Coafts are accounted wholfomeft, the Eaft and South Winds coming [3] from Sea produceth warm weath- er, the Northweft coming over land caufeth extremity of Cold, and many times ftrikes the Inhabitants both Lug@/h and /uzdzan with that fad Diseafe called there the Plague of the back, but with us Avzzpzema.’ The Country generally is Rocky and Mountanous, and extremely overgrown with wood, yet here and there beau- tified with large rich Valleys, wherein are Lakes ten, twenty, yea fixty miles in compafs, out of which our great Rivers have their Beginnings.” Fourfcore miles (upon a direét line) to the Northweft of Scarborow, a Ridge of Mountains run Northweft and 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. 1 Empyema is a result of disease of the lungs. See Voyages, p. 121. 2 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. 36 New-Englanss Marities. Northeaft 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 rifing ground from the Sea fhore to thefe Hills, and they are inacceflible but by the Gullies which the diffolved Snow hath made; in thefe Gullies grow Savex Bufhes, which being taken hold of are a good help to the climbing Dif- coverer; upon the top of the higheft of thefe 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 Sugarv-Loaf, to out- ward appearance a rude heap of maflie ftones piled one upon another, and you may as you afcend ftep from one {tone to another, as if you were going up a pair of ftairs, but winding {till 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 alfo a Level of about an Acre of ground, with a pond of clear water in the midft of it; which you may hear run down, but how it afcends is a myftery. From this rocky Hill you may fee 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 thefe Hills Northward is daunting terri- ble, being full of rocky Hills, as thick as Mole-hills in a Meadow, and cloathed with infinite thick Woods." 1 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, New-Englands Marities. 34 New-England is by fome affirmed to be an Ifland, bounded on the North with the [5] River Canada, (fo edit. 1, vol. ii. pp. 67, 89). Darby Field, ‘‘an Irishman living about Pascata- quack,” 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 Pro- vince 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 call- ing 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 ex- tend 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 capa- cious 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. 38 Pew-Englands Rarities. called from Monfieur Caze) on the South with the River Mohegan, or Hludfons River, fo called becaufe he was the firft that difcovered it? Some will have America to be an Ifland, which out of queftion muft needs be, if there be a Northeaft paffage found out into the South Sea; it con- tains 1152400000 Acres. The difcovery of the North- weit paffage (which lies within the River of Canada) was undertaken with the help of fome Proteftant Frenchmen, which left Cazada and retired to Boffon about the year 1669. The Northeaft people of America i.e. New England, Se. are judged to be Zartars called Samoades, being alike in complexion, fhape, habit and manners, (fee the Gloéde :) Their Language is very fignificant, ufing but few words, every word having a diverfe fignification, which is expreft by their gefture; as when they hold their head of one fide the word fignifieth one thing, holding their hand up when they pronounce it fignifieth another thing. Their Speech- es in their Affemblies are very gravely delivered, com- monly in perfect HZexamiter Verfe, with great filence and attention, and anfwered again ex dempore after the fame manner. [6] Having given you fome fhort Notes concerning the Country in general, I fhall now enter upon the propofed Difcovery of the Natural, Phyfical, and Chyrurgical Rari- ties; and that I may methodically deliver them unto you, 1 Compare, as to the insulation of the tra& understood by Josselyn as New England, Palfrey, Hist. N. E., vol. i. pp. 1, 2, and note, and the accompanying map. 2 See the author’s larger account of the natives in his Voyages, pp. 123-150. Actu-Englandss Marities. 39 ieihall caft them into this form: 1. Birds: 2. Beafts. 3. Fifhes. 4. Serpents and Infects. 5. Plants, of thefe, 1. fuch Plants as are common with us, 2. of fuch Plants as are proper to the country, 3. of fuch Plants as are proper to the Country and have no name known to us, 4. of fuch Plants as have fprung up fince the Exgl/k Planted and kept Cattle there; 5. of fuch Garden Herbs (amongft us) as do thrive there and of fuch as do not. 6. Of Stones, Minerals, Metals, and Earths. Firft, Of Birds.’ The Humming Bird. He Humming Bird, the leatt of all Birds, little bigger than a Dor, of variable glittering Colours, they feed upon Honey, which they fuck out of Blofloms [7] and Flowers with their long Needle-like Bills; they fleep all Winter, and are not to be feen till the Spring, at which time they breed in little Nefts, made up like a bottom of foft, Silk-like matter, their Eggs no bigger than a white Peafe, they hatch three or four at a time, and are proper to this Country. 1 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. 40 New-Englands Rarities. The Troculus2 The Zvoculus, a fmall Bird, black and white, no bigger than a Swallow, the points of whofe Feathers are fharp, which they ftick into the fides of the Chymney (to reft themfelves, their Legs being exceeding fhort) where they breed in Nefts made like a Swallows Neft, but of a glewy fubftance, and which is not faftened to the Chymney as a Swallows Neft, but hangs down the Chymney by a clew- like {tring a yard long. They commonly have four or five young ones, and when they go away, which is much about the time that Swallows ufe 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 obferved, that againft the ruin of the Family thefe Birds will fuddenly forfake the houfe and come no more. [8] Zhe Pelhannaw- The Pilhannaw or Mechquan, much like the defcrip- tion of the Zzazax Ruck, a monftrous great Bird, a kind 1 Chimney-swallow. 2 «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.” — Fosselyn’s Voyages, p. 95. These notices have been taken HNew-Englandss Marities. 41 in her head as long as Geefes Feathers they make Pens of the Quills of thefe Feathers are purple, as big as Swans Quills and tranfparent; her Head is as big as a Childs of a year old, a very Princely Bird; when fhe > foars abroad, all fort of feathered Creatures hide them- felves, yet fhe never preys upon any of them, but upon frawns and Faccals: She Ayries in the Woods upon the high Hills of Ofapy, and is very rarely or feldome feen. The Turkie} The Zurkze, who is blacker than ours; I have heard feveral credible perfons affirm, they have feen Turkze 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 (Malco Harfyja, Gmel.); two: notices of which (cited by Linneus) 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. 1 “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 F of Hawk, fome fay an Eagle, four times as big as a Gof- 7 hawk, white Mail’d, having two or three purple Feathers *“~* 42 , New-Englands Rarities. Cocks that have weighed forty, yea fixty pound; but out of my perfonal experimental knowledge I can affure you, that I have eaten my fhare of a Turkie Cock, that when he was pull’d and garbide’d, weighed thirty [9] pound; and I have alfo feen threefcore broods of young Zurkzes on the fide of a marfh, sunning of themfelves in a morning betimes, but this was thirty years fince, the Axgl/h and the /udians having now deftroyed the breed, fo that ’tis very rare to meet with a wild Zurkze in the Woods; But fome of the Axgf/h bring up great ftore of the wild kind, which remain about their Houfes as tame as ours in England. The Goofe. The Goo/fe, of which there are three kinds; the Gray Goofe, the White Goofe, and the Brant: The Goo/fe will 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. 1 “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 six- pence. 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 scaxce 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 New-Englands Maritics. 43 live a long time; I once found in a White Goofe three Hearts, fhe was a very old one, and fo tuff, that we gladly gave her over although exceeding well roafted. The Bloody-flux Cured. A Friend of mine of good Quality living fometime in Virginia was fore troubled for a long time with the Bloody-Flux, having tryed feveral Remedies by the advice of his Friends without any good effect, at laft was in- duced with a longing defire to drink the fat Dripping [to] of a Goofe newly taken from the Fire, which abfo- lutely cured him, who was in defpair 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 A7zées,' preying upon 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, NV. E. Prospect, Z.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. 1 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-Eug. 44 New-Englands Rarities. Fifh caft up on the fhore. In the year 1668. there was a great mortality of Eels in Ca/co Bay, thither reforted at the fame time an infinite number of Grzges, infomuch that being fhot by the Inhabitants, they fed their Hogs with them for fome weeks; at other times you fhall fel- dom fee above two or three in a dozen miles travelling. The Quzll Feathers in their Wings make excellent Zext Pens, and the Feathers of their Tail are highly efteemed by the /zdzans for their Arrows, they will not fing in flying; a Gripes Tail is worth a Beavers Skin, up in the Country. 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. Prospe¢t, 7. 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 big- ness 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, per- haps, the king-bird’s half-cousin, as Wilson calls him, — the purple-martin. Netw-Englands Rarities. 45 A Remedy for the Coldne/s and pain of the Stomach. The Skin of a Grzfe dreft with the doun on, is good to wear upon the Stomach for the Pain and Coldnefs of it. [rr] Zhe Ofprey. The O/prey, 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 Wobbles The Woddl, an ill fhaped Fowl, having no long Feath- ers in their Pinions, which is the reafon they cannot fly, not much unlike the Pexgwix,; they are in the Spring very fat, or rather oyly, but pull’d and garbidg’d, and laid to the Fire to roaft, they yield not one drop. for Aches. Our way (for they are very foveraign for Aches) is to make Mummy of them, that is, to falt them well, and dry them in an earthern pot well glazed in an Oven; or elfe (which is the better way) to burn them under ground for a day or two, then quarter them and {tew them in a Tin Stewpan with a very little water. 1 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. 1o1) makes mention of the ‘‘ wobble” and the ‘‘ wilmote” (that is, guillemot) as distinct; but 42s wilmot was ‘‘ a kind of teal.” 46 New-Englands Rarities. [12] Zhe Loone. The Loone is a Water Fow], alike in fhape to the Wod- éle, and as virtual for Aches, which we order after the fame manner.! The Owl. The Owl, Avis devia, -which are of three kinds; the great Gray Owl with Ears, the little Gray Owd, and the White Owl which is no bigger than a Thrufh? The Turkie Buzzard. The Zurkie Buzzard, a kind of Kite, but as big as a Turkie, brown of colour, and very good meat.’ What Birds are not to be found in New-England. Now, by what the country hath not, you may ghefs at what it hath; it hath no Wzghtingals, nor Larks, nor Bul- finches, nor Sparrows, nor Blackbirds, nor Mag| 12 |pzes, 1 “fe maketh a noise sometimes like a sow-gelder’s horn.” — WV. Eng. Prospect, l. c. 2 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” (2. c.); and the third, the Acadian or little owl. There are but two owls reckoned in New-England’s Prospeé&t; the second of which— ‘a great owl, almost as big as an eagle; his body being as good meat as a partridge” (2. c.) —is, perhaps, the snowy owl, which, according to Audubon, is good eat- ing. — Peabody Report on Birds of Mass., p. 275. 3 It is not clear what is meant here. The author merely mentions the bird again, in Voyages, p. 96. New-Englands Waritics. 47 nor Fackdawes, nor Popinjays, nor Rooks, nor Pheafants, nor Woodcocks, nor Quatls, nor Robins, nor Cuckoes, &c.' 1 So Wood: ‘There are no magpies, jackdaws, cuckoos, jays, Nc.” — Vew- England’s Prosped, 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 chaf- finch, 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, paint- ed 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 tro- culus, 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 conneétion, 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 cormo- rant, shape or sharke” (pp. 99-103). 48 New-Englands Rarities. Secondly, Of Beats.’ The Bear, which are generally Black? He Bear, they live four months in Caves, that is all Winter; in the Spring they bring forth their young ones, they feldome 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 Venifon; their Brains are venomous; They feed much upon water Plantane in the Spring and Summer, and Berries, and alfo upon a fhell-fith called a Horfe-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 noife with roaring, which you may hear a mile or two before they come fo near to endanger the Traveller. About four years fince, Acorns being very fcarce up in the Country, fome numbers of them came down [14] amongft the Engh/h Plantations, which generally are by the Sea fide; 1 Compare the account given in the Voyages, pp. 82-95, which is much fuller; as also New-England’s Prospeét, chap. vi. 2 “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. Prospe, 1. c., which see farther; and also Josselyn’s Voyages, pp. 91-2. New-Englanys IWaritics. 49 at one Town called Gorgzana in the Province of Meynx (called alfo Mew-Sommerfet/hirc) they kill’d fourfcore. for Aches and Cold Swellings. Their Greafe is very good for Aches and Cold Swel- lings, the /zdzans anoint themfelves therewith from top to toe, which hardens them again{ft the cold weather. A black Bears Skin heretofore was worth forty fhillings, now you may have one for ten, much ufed by the Exglj/h for Beds and Coverlets, and by the /zdzanus for Coats. for Pain and Lamene/s upon Cold. One Edw. Andrews being foxt,' and falling backward crofs a Thought? in a Shallop or Fifher-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 fome upon him, fo that he fweat every night. The Wolf? The Wolf, of which there are two kinds; one with a round-ball’d Foot, and [15] are in fhape like mungrel 1 Stupefied with drink. — Webster, Eng. Dict. 2 Thwart. 3 «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: G 50 New-Englands Rarities. Mattiffs; the other with a flat Foot, thefe are liker Grey- hounds, and are called Deer Wolfs, because they are accuftomed to prey upon Deer. A Wolf will eat a Wolf new dead, and fo do Sears as I fuppofe, for their dead Carkafes are never found, neither by the /zadzax nor Enghjh. They go aclicketing twelve days, and have as many Whelps at a Litter as a Bitch. The /rzdian Dog’ 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, fome- times ten, twenty, more or fewer, and fo cunning, that feldome any are kill’?d with Guns or Traps; but of late they have invented a way to deftroy them, by binding four Maycril Hooks a cro{fs with a brown thread, and then wrapping fome Wool about them, they dip them in melted Tallow till it be as round and as big as an Egg; thefe (when any Beaft hath been kill’d by the Wolves) they fcatter by the dead Carkafe, after they have beaten off the Wolves ; about Midnight the Wolves are fure to return again to the place where they left the flaughtered Beatt, and the (16) firft thing they venture upon will be thefe balls of fat. 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 inconven- iency the country hath.” — New-England’s Prospect, l. c. 1 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). Pew-Englands Rarities. SI for old Aches. A black Wolfs Skin is worth a Beaver Skin among the Indians, being highly efteemed for helping old Aches in old people, worn as a Coat; they are not mankind, as in Lreland and other Countries, but do much harm by deftroying of our Exgli/h Cattle. The Ounce. The Ounce or Wild Cat, is about the bignefs of two lufty Ram Cats, preys upon Deer and our Angli/h Poul- trey: I once found fix whole Ducks in the belly of one I killed by a Pond fide: Their flefh roafted is as good as Lamb, and as white. for Aches and fhrunk Sinews. Their Greafe is foveraign for all manner of Aches and fhrunk Sinews: Their Skins are accounted good Fur, but fomewhat courfe. 1 Called also ‘“‘lusern, or luceret,” in the Voyages, p. 85; the loup-cervier of Sagard (Hist. Can., 1636, cz¢. 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.” — Vew-Eug. Prospect, l.c. Audubon and Bachman (/. c., p. 14) give a similar good account of the flesh of the bay- lynx, or common wild-cat. 3 Aew-Englands Rarities. [17] Zhe Raccoon. The Raccoon liveth .in hollow trees, and is about the fize of a G7zb Cat; they feed upon Mafs, and do infeft our /zdian Corn very much; they will be exceeding fat in Autumn; their flefh is fomewhat dark, but good food roafted. for Brutfes and Aches. Their Fat is excellent for bruifes and Aches. Their Skins are efteemed a good deep Fur; but yet as the Wild Cats fomewhat coarfe. The Porcupine. The Porcupine, in fome parts of the Countrey Eaftward towards the French, are as big as an ordinary Mungrel Cur; a very angry Creature, and dangerous, fhooting a whole fhower of Quills with a rowfe at their enemies, which are of that nature, that wherever they ftick in the flefh, they will work through in a fhort time, if not pre- vented by pulling of them out. The /zdzaxs make ufe of their Quills, which are hardly a handful long, to adorn [18] the edges of their birchen difhes, and weave (dying 1 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 Euro- pean naturalists became acquainted. Linnzeus (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, 1. c. ANew-Englands IBarities. 53 fome of them red, others yellow and blew) curious bags or pouches, in works like Turkze-work.’ The Beaver, Canis Ponticus, Amphybious? The Beaver, whofe old ones are as big as an Ofter, or rather bigger, a Creature of a rare inftinct, as may appar- ently be feen in their artificial Dam-heads to raife the water in the Ponds where they keep, and their houfes having three ftories, which would be too large to dif- courfe” They have all of them four Cods hanging out- wardly between their hinder legs, two of them are foft or oyly, and two folid or hard; the /zdzaus fay they are Flermaphrodites. for Wind in the Stomach. Their folid Cods are much ufed in Phyfick: Our Exghi/h- women in this Country ufe the powder grated, as much as will lye upon a fhilling in a draught of /7z0/ Wine, for Wind in the Stomach and Belly, and venture many times in fuch cafes 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 exceed- ing good meat, being all Fat, and as {weet as Marrow. 1 The author’s account of the Indian works in birch-bark and porcupine-quills is much fuller in his Voyages, p. 143. 2 Wood’s account is far better. — Mew-Eng. Prospect, chap. vii. See page 53 of the Rarities for mention of the musk quash. Ce Acwo-Englands Rarities. The Moofe-Deer. The Aoofe Deer, which is a very goodly Creature, fome of them twelve foot high, with exceeding fair Horns with broad Palms, fome of them two fathom from the tip of one Horn to the other; they commonly have three fawns at a time, their flefh is not dry like Deers flefh, but moift and lufhious fomewhat like Horfe flefh (as they judge that have tafted of both) but very wholfome. The flefh of their /awzs is an incomparable difh, beyond the flefh of an Affes Foal fo highly efteemed by the Romans, or that of young Spaniel Puppies fo much cried up in our days in France and England. Moofe Horns better for Phyfick Ufe than Harts Horns. Their Horns are far better (in my opinion) for Phyfick than the Horns of other Deer, as being of a ftronger nature: As for their Claws, which both Exgli/hmen and French make ufe of for £7é, I cannot [20] approve fo to be from the Effects, having had fome trial of it; befides, 1 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, /. c. p. 222, and note, and Rasles’ Did. Abnaki, zz loco. It is called mongsiéa 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.” — Mew-Eng. Pros- ped, 1. c. On hunting the moose, as practised by the Indians, see Josselyn’s Voyages, p. 136. New-Englands Maritics. 55 all that write of the ZZ defcribe him with a tuft of hair on the left Leg behind, a little above the paftern joynt on the outfide of the Leg, not unlike the tuft (as I conceive) that groweth upon the breaft of. a Zurkie Cock, which I could never yet fee upon the Leg of a Moo/e, and I have feen fome number of them. Lor Children breeding Teeth. The /udian Webbes make ufe 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 Joo/e, dried in the fmoak after the /zdzax manner, is a difh for a Sagamor. The Maccaribs The Maccarib, Caribo, or Pohano, a kind of Deer, as big as a Stag, round hooved, {mooth hair’d and foft as filk; 1 Wood (N. E. Prospeét, 7. 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, oftuck (compare attuck or noonatch, deer, —R. Williams, 7@. 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 56 New-Englands Maritics. their Horns grow backwards a long their backs to their rumps, and turn again a handful beyond their Nofe, hav- ing another Horn in the middle of their Forehead, about half a yard long, very ftraight, but [21] wreathed like an Unicorns Horn, of a brown jettie colour, and very {mooth: The Creature is no where to be found, but upon Cape Sad/e in the french Quarters, and there too very rarely, they being not numerous; fome few of their Skins and their ftreight Horns are (but very fparingly) brought to the Lngli/h. The Fox. The Fox, which differeth not much from ours, but are fomewhat lefs; a black “or Skin heretofore was wont to 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 mazroos, rendered ‘“‘cerf,” of Rasles’ Dié., 7. c., p. 382; and, in such connection, is hardly referable to other than the carzbou, 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 maccarzb might lead us to take this for the carzbou 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 dark- ling hearsay, could deck it with the honors of the ‘‘ unicorn.” 1 “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.” — Fosse- Netw-Enalands Marities. 57 be valued at fifty and fixty pound, but now you may have them for twenty fhillings; indeed there is not any in Vew- England that are perfectly black, but filver hair’d, that is fprinkled with grey hairs. The Faccal) The Yaccal, is a Creature that hunts the Zzozs prey, a fhrew’d fign that there are Zzozs upon the Continent; there are thofe that are yet living in the Countrey, that do con- {tantly affirm, that about fix or feven and thirty years fince an Zudian [22] fhot a young Lzox,* fleeping upon the body lyn’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” (Z. c.) Williams (Z. c.) has ‘“‘ mishguashim, a red fox; peguawus, 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 manit- tooes.” Beside the common red fox, or mishguashim, we have in all these ac- counts — 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 (Z. 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. 1 “A creature much like a fox, but smaller.” — Voyages, p. 83. Probably the gray fox, called Jeguawus by R. Williams (Vulpes Virginianus, Schreb.); which has not the rank smell of the red fox. — Aud. and Bachm., l. c., p. 168. 2 “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 H 58 Acw-Englands Rarities. of an Oak blown up by the roots, with an Arrow, not far from Cape Axzne, and fold the Skin to the Axgh/h. But to fay fomething of the Yaccal, they are ordinarily lefs than foxes, of the colour of a gray Rabbet, and do not {cent nothing near fo ftrong as a fox; some of the /xz- dans will eat of them: Their Greafe is good for all that fox Greate is good for, but weaker; they are very numer- ous. The Hares The Flare in New- England is no bigger than our fingl/h Rabbets, of the fame colour, but withall having yellow and black f{trokes 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.” 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. 1 <¢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 them- selves 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 (Lefus sylvaticus, Aud. and Bachm., Z. 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., J. c., P- 93). 2 The Voyages mention, beside the quadrupeds above named, also the skunk (ségankoo of Rasles’ Dié., 2. c.); the musquash (mooskooéssoo of Rasles, 7. c.), for Netw-Englands IMaritics. 59 [23] Thirdly, Of Fithes.’ Liny and L/fadore write there are not above 144 Kinds of Fifhes, but to my knowledge there are nearer 300: I fuppofe America was not known to Puy and Lfadore. 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 . . . Inever 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 “‘ azeguus, a little coloured squirrel” of R. Williams, 7. c.; and the antkoosess (rendered suzsse) of Rasles, 7. c. The mattrise of our author is, accord- ing 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, 7. c. ; but this is rendered Z/e¢vre. Wood adds to this list of our quadrupeds, mistakenly, the ferret; and R. Williams, the ‘‘ ockguutchaun- nug, —awild 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. 1 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 inhabi- tants 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. 60 New-Englands Rarities. A Catalogue of Fifh, that ts, of thofe that are to be Seen between the Engh/h Coaft and America, and thofe proper to the Countrey. Alderling. Alize, Alewife, becaufe great-bellied ; Olafle, Oldwife, Allows Anchova or Sea Minnow. Aleport. A lbicore? Larble. Barracha. Barracoutha, a fith peculiar to the We/f-Lndies? Barfticle. Baffe. 1 “ 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. — /tees’s Cyc., zm 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. 2 The tunny is so called on the coast of New England. — Storer’s Report on the Fishes of Mass., p. 48. 3 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. 4 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. | Neww-Englands IMarities. 61 Sea Bifhop, proper to the Morway Seas. [24] ever Bleak or Bley, a River Swallow. Sea Bleak or Bley, or Sea Camelion. Blew Fifh or Hound Fifh, two kinds, /peckled Hound fifh, and Blew Hound Fifh called Horfe Fifh- Bonito or Dozado, or Spanifh Dolphin? River Bream. Sea Bream? Cud Bream. Bullhead or Indian Mufcle. River Bulls. Burfifh. Burret. .Cackarel or Laxe. Calemarie or Sea Clerk. Catfifh. Carp. Chare, a Fifh proper to the River Wimander in Lancafhire. Sea Chough. Chub or Chevin. Cony fifh. ili. 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.” 1 See p. 96 as to the blue-fish, or horse-mackerel; and Storer, J. c., p. 57- 2 The bonito of our fishermen is the skipjack. — Storer, J. c., p. 49. 8 See p. 95. * See p. 96. Josselyn’s character of the fish as food is confirmed by Dr. Storer, 2. c., p. 69. 62 Aew-Englands Rarities. Clan or Clamp." Sea Cob. Cockes, or Coccles, or Coguzl? Cook Fifh. Rock Cod. Sea Cod or Sea Whiting? [25] Cvad, divers kinds, as the Sea Crab, Boatjifh, River Crab, Sea Lion, &c. 1 The clam is one of the eight fishes mentioned at p. 37 as most prized by the Indians. ‘‘ Sick’shuog (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 (Aya arenaria, L.); but the Joguau- hock, or quahog (Venus mercenaria, L.), ‘* which the Indians wade deep and dive for” (R. Williams, 2. c., p. 224), was also eaten by them, and the black part of the shell used for making their swckauhock, 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, 2. c.); doubtless the giant clam (Mactra solidissima, Chemn.) of Gould (Report on Invertebr. of Mass., p. 51), which is still esteemed as food. 2 See p. 36; by which it appears that the author has in view the mefeauhock of the Indians; ‘‘the periwinkle, of which they make their wompam, or white money, of half the value of their swckauhock, or black money” (R. Williams, Z. c.) : supposed to be Bucctnum undatum, L. (Gould, 2. c., p. 305); and possibly, also, one or two other allied shell-fish. 8 «‘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. Prosped, l. c. Compare Storer, 2. c., p. 121. Josselyn has an entertaining account of the sea-fishery, in his Voyages, pp. 210-13. & Pew-Englands Rarities. 63 Sea Cucumber. Cunger or Sea Eel. Cunner or Sea Roach. Cur. Currier, Poft, or Lacguey of the Sea. Crampfifh or Torpedo. Cuttle, or Sleeves, or Sea Angler. Clupea, the Tunnies enemy. Sea Cornet. Cornuta or Horned Fifh. Dace, Dare, or Dart. Sea Dart, Favelins. Dog-fifh or Tubarone. Dolphin. Dorce. Dorrie, Goldfifh. Golden-eye, Gilt-pole, or Godline, Yellow-heads. Sea Dragon or Sea Spider, Quaviner. Drum, a Fith frequent in the Weft Indes. Sea Emperour or Sword fifh. Eel, of which divers kinds." Sea Elephant, the Leather of this Fifh will never rot, excellent for Thongs. Fars of the Sea. 1 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. 64 New-Englands Rarities. Llayl-fifh. [26] /lownder or Flook, the young ones are called Dads. Sea Llownder or Flowre. Sea Fox. lrogfifh. Frofififte frutola, a broad plain Fifh with a Tail like a half Moon. Sea flea. Gallyfifh. Grandpi/s” or Herring Flog, this, as all Fifth of extraordi- nary fize, are accounted Regal Fifhes. Grayling. Greedigut. Groundling. Gudgin. Gulf. Sea Grape. Gull. Gurnard. flake. Flaccle or Sticklebacks. Fladdock. Florfe Foot or Affes Hoof. Flerring. 1 See p. 37, where it is said to be one of the fishes which ‘‘ the Indians have in greatest request.” — ‘‘ Poponaumsuog” of R. Williams, @. 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.” 2 “Grampoise; Fr. grandpoisson ;” corrupted grampus. — Webster, Did. New-Englands Marities. 65 . Flalhibut or Sea Pheafant. Some will have the 7zrdu¢z all one, others diftinguifh [27] them, calling the young Fith of the firft Buzt7s, and of the other &zrz. There is no queftion to be made of it but that they are diftinct kinds of Fifh.* Sea flare? Sea Hawk. Flartfifh. Sea flermtt. Flenfifh. Sea Hind. Flornbeak, Sea Ruff and Reeves. Sea Horfeman. flog or Flying Fifh. Sea Kite or Flying Swallow. Lampret or Lamprel. Lampreys or Lamprones.? Limpin. Ling, Sea Beef; the fmaller fort is called Cush. Sea Lanthorn. Sea Liver. 1“ These hollibut be little set by while bass is in season.” — Wood, J. c., chap. ix. 2 ««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 martnus of the old writers is a naked mollusk of the Mediterranean; Laflysta depilans, L.: but Josselyn’s was a very different animal. 3 One of the fishes most valued by the Indians (p. 37); but ‘‘not much set by” by the English, according to Wood, J. c. I 66 New-Englands Waritices. Lobfters Sea Lizard. Sea Locufts. Lump, Poddle, or Sea Owl. Lanter. Lux, peculiar to the river Rhyne. Sea Lights. [28] Zaza, a very fmall Fifth, but exceeding beautiful, broad-bodied and blewifh of colour; when it fwims, the Fins make a Circle like the Moon. Maycrit. Matd. Manatee. Mola, a Fith like a lump of Flefh, taken in the Venetian Sea. Millers Thumb, Mulcet or Pollard. Molefifh. Minnow, called likewife a Pzxk; the fame name is given to young Salmon; it is called alfo a W2thn. Monkejifh? 1 “T 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 (J. 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.” — Fosselyn’s Voyages, p. 110. See the Indian way of catching lobsters, in Voyages, p. 140. 2 ““Munk-fish, a flat-fish like scate; having a hood like a fryer’s cowl” (p. 96)- Lophius Americanus, Cuy., the sea-devil of Storer (Synops. of Amer. Fishes, in w Hew-Englands Baritics. 67 Morfe, River or Sea Horfe,' freth water Mullet. Sea Mullet, Botargo or Petargo is made of their Spawn. Mufcle, divers kinds. Navelfifh. Nunfifh. Needlefifh. Sea Nettle. Oyfter? Occulata. Perch or River Partridge. Pollack. [29] Pzper or Gavefifh. Periwig. Periwincle or Sea Snail or Whelk. Prke, or Frefh-water Wolf, or River Wolf, Luce and Lucerne, which is an overgrown P2ke. Pilchard, when they are dried as Red Herrings they are called /umadoes. Pilot Fifh. Plaice or Sea Sparrow. Polipe or Pour-Contrel. Mem. Amer. Acad., N. S., vol. ii. p. 381), is called monk-fish in Maine. — W7l- liamson, Hist., vol. i. p. 157. 1 See p. 97. 2 “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 ac- count 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. 3 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 68 Neww-Englands Rarities. Porpuife or Porpifs, Molebut, Sea Hog, Turfion. Pricft Fifh or Sea Prieft. Prawn or Crangone. Punger. Patella. Powt, the Feathered Fifh, or Fork Fifh. River Powt. Purfefifh, or Indian Reverfus, like an Eel; Sus Marinus, having a Skin fo) on the hinder part of her Head, like a Purfe, with ftrings, which will open and fhut. Parratfifh. Purplefifh. Porgee. Remora, or Suck Stone, or Stop Ship. Sea Raven. [30] Rock or Roach. Rochet or Rouget. huff or Pope. Sea Ram. Salmons Salih. every spring-tide.” — New-Eng. Prosped, chap. ix. This was in the waters of Massachusetts Bay, where Higginson (New-Eng. Plantation, 7. 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). 1 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. Prosped, chap. ix. HNew-Englands Marities. 69 Scallope or Venus Coccle. Scate, or Ray, or Grifilefifh; of which divers kinds; as sharp snowted Ray, Rock Ray, Se. Shad Shallow. Sharpling. Spurling. Sculpin. Sheepfhead? Soles, or Tonguefi{h, or Sea Capon, or Sea Partridge. Seal, or Sozl, or Zeal Sea Calf, and (as fome will have it) Molebut. Sheath ifn. Sea Scales. Sturgeon; of the Roe of this Fith they make Cavzare, or Cavialtie? 1 “The shads be bigger than the English shads, and fatter.” — Wood, l. c. 2 « Taut-auog (sheep’s-heads).” So Roger Williams’s Key, /. 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, 1. c., p. 36. 3 See p. 34; and Wood, /. c., chap. ix. * 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. 5 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 na- tives, 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, 7. 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. 70 New-Englands Rarities. Shark or Bunch, several kinds." Smelt. Szaccot. [31] Shrimp. Spypyfh. Spitesif{h. Sprat. Spungesi/n. Sgurll. Sguid? Sunfifh. Starfifh.’ Swordfifh. Tench. Thornback or Neptunes Beard. Thunnie, they cut the Fifh in pieces like fhingles and powder it, and this they call AZelandria. Sea Toad. Tortotfe, Torteife, Tortuga, Tortiffe, Turcle or Turtle, of divers kinds.* Trout? 1 See Voyages, pp. 105-6. 2 «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. 3 Described at p. 95. 4 See p. 34 of this, and p. 109 of the Voyages, where the author says, ‘‘ Of sea-turtles, there are five sorts; of Iand-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 ovservations on sea- turtles, at p. 39 of the Voyages. 5 “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. New-Englands Rarities. ye! Turbut.' Sea Tun. Sea Tree. Uraniscopus. Ulatife or Sawfifh, having a Saw in his Forehead three foot long, and very fharp. Umber. Sea Urchin. [32) Sea Unicorn or Sea Mononeros. Whale, many kinds.” Whiting or Merling, the young ones are called Weerlings and Mops. Whore? Yardjifh, Affes Prick or Shamefifh. The Sturgeon. The Sturgeon, of whofe Sounds is made Ifinglafs, a kind of Glew much ufed in Phyfick: This Fifh is here in great plenty, and in fome Rivers fo numerous, that it is hazardous for Canoes and the like {mall Veffels to pafs to and again, as in Pechzp/cut River to the Eaftward. The Cod. The Cod, which is a ftaple Commodity in the Country. 1 See Storer’s Report, p. 146. 2 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.” — &. Williams, Key, l. c., p. 224. 3 See Voyages, p. 110. This is the common sea-egg; Lchinus granulatus, Say. — Gould’s Rep., p. 344. 72 New-Englands IMaritics. To ftop Fluxes of Blood. In the Head of this Fifh is found a Stone, or rather a Bone, which being pulveriz’d and drank in any convenient liquor, will ftop Womens overflowing Courfes notably: Likewife, [33] or the Stone. There is a Stone found in their Bellies, in a Bladder againft their Navel, which being pulveriz’d and drank in White-wine Poffet or Ale, is prefent Remedy for the Stone. To heal a green Cut. About their Fins you may find a kind of Lowfe, which healeth a green Cut in fhort time. To vefiore them that have melted their Greafe. Their Livers and Sounds eaten, is a good Medicine for to reftore them that have melted their Greafe. The Dogfifh. The Dogji/h, a ravenous Fifh. For the Toothach. Upon whofe Back grows a Thorn two or three Inches long, that helps the Toothach, {carifying the Gums there- with. Their Skins are good to cover Boxes and Inftrument Cafes. New-Englands Marities, 73 [34] Zhe Stingray. The Stingray, a large Fifh, of a rough Skin, good to cover Boxes and Hafts of Knives, and Rapier fticks. The Tortous. The Zurtle or Tortous, of which there are three kinds: 1. The land 7urtle; they are found in dry fandy Banks, under old Houfes, and never go into the water. for the Ptifick, Confumption, and Morbus Galhcus. They are good for the Ptifick and Confumptions, and fome fay the Morbus Gallicus. 2. The River 7urtle, which are venomous and {ftink. 3. The Zurtle that lives in Lakes and is called in Virginia a Terrapine. The Sozle. The Sozle or Sea Calf, a Creature that brings forth her young ones upon dry land, but at other times keeps in the Sea preying upon Fifh. [35] Lor Scalds and Burns, and for the Mother. The Oyl of it is much ufed by the Zzdzans, who eat of it with their Fifh, and anoint their limbs therewith, and their Wounds and Sores: It is very good for Scalds and Burns; and the fume of it, being caft upon Coals, will bring Women out of the Mother Fits. The Hair upon J 74 Neto-Englands Rarities. the young ones is white, and as foft as filk; their Skins, with the Hair on, are good to make Gloves for the Winter. - The Sperma Ceti Whale. The Sperma Cette Whale differeth from the Whales that yield us Whale-bones, for the firft hath great and long Teeth, the other is nothing but Bones with Taffels hang- ing from their Jaws, with which they fuck in their prey. What Sperma Cetz 2s. It is not long fince a Sperma Cette Whale or two were caft upon the fhore, not far from Loffox in the Maffachu- Jetts Bay, which being cut into {mall pieces and boiled in Cauldrons, yielded plenty of Oyl; the Oyl put up into Hogfheads, and ftow’d into Cellars for fome time, Candies at the [36] bottom, it may be one quarter; then the Oy] is drawn off, and the Candied Stuff put up into convenient Veffels is fold for Sperma Cetz, and is right Sperma Cetz. for Brutfes and Aches. The Oy] that was drawn off Candies again and again, if well ordered; and is admirable for Bruifes and Aches. What Ambergrecce ts. Now you muft underftand this Whale feeds upon Am- bergreece, as is apparent, finding it in the Whales Maw in great quantity, but altered and excrementitious: I con- ceive that Amébergreece is no other than a kind of Mufh- room growing at the bottom of fome Seas; I was once New-Englands Rarities. 75 fhewed (by a Mariner) a piece of Amdédergreece having a root to it like that of the land Mufhroom, which the Whale breaking up, fome fcape his devouring Paunch, and is afterwards caft upon fhore. The Coccles A kind of Coccle, of whofe Shell the Zzdzans make their Beads called Wompampeag and Mohaicks, the firft are white, the other blew, both Orient, and beau| 37 |tified with a purple Vein. The white Beads are very good to ftanch Blood. The Scarlet Mufcle. The Scarlet Mufcle, at Pafchatawey a Plantation about fifty leagues by Sea Eaftward from ofon, in a {mall Cove called Bakers Cove there is found this kind of JZu/cle which hath a purple Vein, which being prickt with a Needle yieldeth a perfect purple or fcarlet juice, dying Linnen fo that no wafhing will wear it out, but keeps its luftre many years: We mark our Handkerchiefs and Shirts with it? Lifh of greatest Efteem in the Weft [ndies. The /udians of Peru efteem of three Fifhes more than any other, vzz. the Sea Torterfe, the Tubaron, and the 1 See p. 24 and note. 2 Our author’s account of the fishes of New England may take this of old Wood (N. E. Prospect, 2. c.) for a tail-piece. ‘‘The chief fish for trade,” says 76 New-Englands BWarities. Manate, or Sea Cow; but in New-England the [ndians have in greateft requeft, the Ba/s, the Sturgeon, the Sal- mon, the Lamprey, the Eel, the Froft-fi/h, the Lobfter and the Clam. [38] Fourthly, Of Serpents, and Inseéts,’ The Pond Frog? He Pond frog, which chirp in the Spring like Sfa- vows, and croke like Toads in Autumn: Some of thefe when they fet upon their breeeh are a Foot high; he, ‘‘is a cod; but, for the use of the country, there is all manner of fish, as fol- loweth : — “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.” 1 See p. 97- 2 The account in the Voyages (pp. 114-23) is better; and Wood’s, in New- England’s Prospeét, chap. xi. (to which last, Josselyn was possibly indebted), far better. 3 See ‘“‘the generating of these creatures,” in Voyages, p. 119. ‘‘ Here, like- New-Englands aritics. TT the /udzans will tell you, that up in the Country there are Pond /yrogs as big as a Child of a year old. for Burns, Scalds, and Inflammations. They are of a gliftering brafs colour, and very fat, which is excellent for Burns and Scaldings, to take out the Fire, and heal them, leaving no Scar; and is alfo very good to take away any Inflammation. The Rattle Snake. The Rattle Snake, who poyfons with a Vapour that comes thorough two crooked Fangs in their Mouth; the hollow of thefe Fangs are as black as Ink: The /xdans, 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 fay refrefheth them. lor frozen Limbs, Aches, and Brutfes. They have Leafs of Fat in their Bellies, which is ex- cellent to annoint frozen Limbs, and for Aches and wise,” 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.” — NV. 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. IIQ). 1 Wood’s account (New-Eng. Prospet¢t, 7. c.) is worth comparing with Higgin- son’s (New-England’s Plantation, Z. c.) and with Josselyn’s, both here and at pp. 78 New-Englands Marities. Bruifes wondrous foveraign. Their Hearts fwallowed frefh, is a good Antidote againft their Venome, and their Liver (the Gall taken out) bruifed and applied to their Bitings is a prefent Remedy. 23 and 114 of the Voyages. Wood justly says of this ‘‘ most poisonous and dan- gerous 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” (2. c.). Of other serpents, Wood mentions the black snake; and Josselyn, in his Voyages (2. 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” (2. 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 Piscat- away by an Indian; ” which, indeed, was possibly not without foundation. And as to the serpent, compare a Report of a Committee of the Linnean 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. HNew-Englands Warities. 79 Of Inseéts.’ A Bug. Here is a certain kind of Bug like a Beetle, but of a gliftering brafs colour, with four ftrong Tinfel Wings; their Bodies are full of Corruption or white Matter like a Maggot; being dead, and kept awhile, they will ftench odioufly; they beat the Yumming Birds from the Flowers. [40] The Wa/fp. The Wa/ps 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 Afh Colour, but of what matter its made no man knows; wax it is not, neither will it melt nor fry, but will take fire fuddenly like Tinder: this they faften to a Bow, or build it round about a low Bufh, a Foot from the ground. The flying Gloworm. The flying Gloworm, flying in dark Summer Nights like {parks of Fire in great number; they are common liewife, in Paleftina. 1 The author continues his entomological observations, in his Voyages, p. 115 ; and the account is fuller than Wood’s; Mew-England’s Prospect, chap. xi. 80 ANew-Englanys Rarities. [41] Fifthly, Of Plants. AND 1. Of fuch Plants as are common with us in ENGLAND. Ldghog-gra/s.' Mattweed. Cats-tatl? 1 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., 2. c., 1785) mentions three genera of Cyferacee, but not Carex; nor did he ever pub- lish that description of our true Gramznxee ‘‘and other native grasses,” which; he says (Z. 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 in- creased to seventeen in the second edition (1824); the list embracing the most common and conspicuous forms. The genus has since been made an objec 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. 2 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 Calamagrost’s arenaria (L.) Roth, of Gray, Man., p. 548; called sea-matweed in England, and common to Europe and America. But if the author only in- tended to refer to Gerard’s ‘‘ Chapter 34, of Mat-weed,”— which is perhaps, on the whole, unlikely, — his name is of no value. 8 Gerard, p. 46, — Typha latifolia, L., common to America and Europe. HNew-Englands Rarities. 81 Stichwort, commonly taken here by ignorant People for Eyebright; it blows in Fune.' Blew Flower-de-luce; the roots are not knobby, but long and ftreight, and very white, with a multitude of ftrings, To provoke Vonit and for Brutfes. It is excellent for to provoke Vomiting, and for Bruifes on the Feet or Face. They Flower in Yune, and grow upon dry fandy Hills as well as in low wet Grounds. Yellow baftard Daffodil; it flowereth in Jay, the green leaves are {potted with black fpots.’ Dogftones, a kind of Satyrion, whereof there are feveral kinds groweth in our Salt Marfhes.* [42] Zo procure Love. I once took notice of a wanton Womans compounding the folid Roots of this Plant with Wine, for an Amorous Cup; which wrought the defired effect. 1 Gerard, p. 47, — Stellaria graminea, L.; for which our author mistook, as did Cutler a century after, the nearly akin S. longifolia, Muhl. 2 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 charaGer 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. 3 Not one of Gerard’s bastard daffodils, but his dog’s-tooth, p. 204 (Zrythro- nium, L.). Our common dog’s-tooth was at first taken for a variety of the European, but is now reckoned distina. * Gerard, p. 205, — Orchis, L., etc. It is here clear that the name is used only in a general way. The second name (Sa¢yriox), 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. K 82 New-Englands Rarities, Watercreffes. Red Lilhes grow all. over the Country innumerably amongft the fmall Bufhes, and flower in Fune. Wild Sorrel? Adders Tongue comes not up till Yuxe; I have found it upon dry hilly grounds, in places where the water hath ftood all Winter, in Azgu/z, and did then make Oyntment of the Herb new gathered; the faireft Leaves grow amongtt fhort H/aw¢horn Buthes, that are plentifully grow- ing in fuch hollow places.‘ One Blade. Lilly Convalhe, with the yellow Flowers grows upon rocky banks by the Sea.® 1 Gerard, em. p. 257, —Wasturtium officinale, LL. Reckoned also by Cutler, and indeed naturalized in some parts of the country (Gray, Man., p. 30); but our author had probably WV. 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, J. c. 2 Gerard, p. 192. Lilium bulbiferum (the garden red lily) is meant; for which our author mistook our own red lily (ZL. Phéladelphicum, L.). 3 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. * Gerard, em., p. 404, — Ophioglossum vulgatum, L.; common to us and Europe. 5 Gerard, em., p. 409, — Smdlacina bifolia (L.), Ker; common to us and Europe. ® 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 Smlacina ¢trifolia (L.), Desf. But it may be that Cléntondéa borealis (Ait.) Raf., was intended. PNew-Englands Rarities. 83 Water Plantane, here called Water fuck-leaves.' For Burns and Scalds, and to draw Water out of fwell’d Legs. It is much ufed for Burns and Scalds, and to draw water out of fwell’d Legs. ears feed much upon this Plant, fo do the Moofe Deer. [43] Sea Plantane, three kinds. Small-water Archer? Autumn Bell Flower? White Flellibore, which is the firft Plant that fprings up in this Country, and the firft that withers; it grows in deep black Mould and Wet, in fuch abundance, that you may in a fmall compafs gather whole Cart-loads of it2 1 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.” — Fosselyn’s Voyages, p- 80. As to its medicinal properties, see Gerard, p. 419; and Wood and Bache, Dispens., p. 1293. 2 Plantago maritima, L. (Gerard, p. 423), a native of Europe and America, is our only sea-plantain. One of the others was probably Zriglochin. 8 Sagittaria sagitttfolia, L. (now called arrowhead), common to Europe and America; though here passing into some varieties which are unknown in the European Floras. * Gentiana saponaria, L., peculiar to America, but nearly akin to the Euro- pean G. preumonanthe, L., which our author intended. — Yohnson’s Gerard, edit. CaS jo rlexer 5 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. 84 New-Englands Rarities. Wounds and Aches Cured by the Indians. for the Tooth- ach. lor Herpes milhares. The /zdians Cure their Wounds with it, annointing the Wound firft with Raccoons greefe, or Wild-Cats greefe, and ftrewing upon it the powder of the Roots; and for Aches they fcarifie the grieved part, and annoint it with one of the forefaid Oyls, then ftrew upon it the powder: The powder of the Root put into a hollow Tooth, is good for the Tooth-ach: The Root fliced thin and boyled in Vineager, is very good againftt Herpes Milharvs. Arfmart, both kinds. Spurge Time, it grows upon dry fandy Sea Banks, and is very like to Rupter-wort, it is full of Milk. Rupter-wort, with the white flower.’ 1 Polygonum lapathtfolium, L. (Hydropiper of Gerard, p. 445), — for which, perhaps, P. hydropfiper, L., was mistaken, —and P. Perstcaria, L. (Persicaria maculosa of Gerard, Z. 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. Perstcaria 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. 2 Chamesyce, or spurge-time, of Gerard (edt. cit., p. 504), is Euphorbia chamesyce, 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, czt. LZ.) recognizes the affinity of the same plants, calling the latter Chamesyce altera Virginiana. Josselyn’s spurge-time may be E. maculata; but quite possibly, taking the station which he gives into the account, £. polygontfolia, L. 8 There are “several sorts of spurge,” according to the Voyages (p. 78); of which this, which I cannot specifically refer, is possibly one. Pew-Englandss Rarities. 85 Jagged Rofe-penny-wort.’ [44] Soda barigha, or maffacote, the Afhes of Soda, of which they make Glaffes. Glafs-wort, here called Berrela, it grows abundantly in Salt Marfhes.? St. John’s- Wort? St. Peter’s- Wort. 1 To this species of Saxifraga, L., unknown to our Flora (Gerard, p. 528), our author, with little doubt, referred the pretty S. Virginzensis, Michx. — See p. 58 of this, note. 2 Gerard, em., p. 535, — Salicornia herbacea, L. But Linneus referred one of Clayton’s Virginia specimens (the rest he did not distinguish from S. herbacea) to a variety, 8. Virgtnica (which he took to be also European; S%. Pl.), and afterwards raised this to a species, as S. Virginica, Syst. Nat., vol. ii. p. 52, Willd. SZ. 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. Aerbacea, B. mucronata, articu- lorum dentibus squamisque mucronatis, Euuwm. Pl. Cantab., Ms.; and S. Vir- ginica may well be another) of a species common to us and Europe. It is certain that we have plants stri€¢tly 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 Eu- ropean 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. ‘‘Linnzus ut Tournefortii errores corrigeret, varietates nimis con- traxit.”— Link, Phil. Bot., p. 222. 8 Hypericum perforatum, L. (‘ Hypericum, S. Fohn’s-wort; in shops, Perfo- rata.” — Gerard, edit. cit., p. 539). The species is considered to have been in- troduced, by most American authors; and it is possible that Josselyn had H. corymbosum, Muhl., in his mind. 4 Hypericum quadrangulum, L. (Gerard, p. 542); for which our author doubt- less mistook H. mutélum, L. (H. parviflorum, Willd.), a species peculiar to America; to which Cutler’s H. guadrangulum (Account of Indig. Veg., 2. c., p. 474) is probably also to be referred. 86 Pew-Englanys Barities. Speed-well Chick-weed. Male fluellin, or Speed-well? Upright Peniroyal. Wild-Mint? Cat-Mint? L-grimony& The leffer Clo+Bur.' Water Lilly, with yellow Flowers, the Juzdzans Eat the Roots, which are long a boiling, they taft like the Liver of a Sheep, the A7Zoofe Deer feed much upon them, at which time the /zazans kill them, when their heads are under water.’ Dragons, their leaves differ from all the kinds with us, they come up in une. 1 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. 2 Veronica, L. The species is perhaps V. offcznalis, L.; which, together with V. serpyllifolia, L.., is considered by Prof. Gray to be both indigenous and intro- duced here. — Man. Bot., pp. 200-1. 3 Hedeoma pulegiotdes (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 (/. c., p. 461) mistook it. But the former is peculiar to America. 4 Mentha aquatica, L. Sp. Pl. (Gerard, p. 684); for which it is likely our author (and also Cutler, Z. c., p. 460) mistook M. Canadensis, L., Gray. 5 Nepeta cataria, L. (Gerard, em., p. 682); considered by American botanists to have been introduced from Europe. 6 Agrimonia Eupatoria, L. (Gerard, em., p. 712); common to America and Europe. 7 Xanthium strumarium, L., Gray (Gerard, p. 809); common, as a species, to both continents; but in part, also, introduced. — Gray, Man., p. 212. 8 Nuphar advena, Ait.,—the common American species, —is meant; and this, though resembling WV. dutea, Sm., of Europe, is distinét from it. 9 Arum, L. (Gerard, p. 381). The New-England species ‘“ differ,” as our author says, ‘“‘ from all the kinds” in the Old World. Netw-Englands IBRarities. 87 Violets of three kinds, the White Violet which is fweet, but not fo ftrong as our Blew Violets; Blew Violets without fent, and a Reddifh Violet without fent; they do not blow till Fz. [45] for foell’d Legs. Wood-bine, good for hot fwellings of the Legs, foment- ing with the decoétion, and applying the Feces in the form of a Cataplafme. Salomons-Seal, of which there is three kinds; the firft common in Lzgland, the fecond, Virgenia Salomons-Seal, and the third, differing from both, is called 7yeacle Berries, having the perfect taft of Treacle when they are ripe; and will keep good along while; certainly a very whol- fome Berry, and medicinable.’ 1 None of the species, presumably here meant, are common to America and Europe. Our author’s white violet is Vzola blanda, Willd. 2 All our true honeysuckles (‘‘ woodbinde, or honisuckles,” — Gerard, p. 891; Caprifolium, Juss.) are distin from those of Europe; but what the author meant here is uncertain. 8 Convallaria, L.; Polygonatum, Tourn.; Smzlacina, Desf. Many botanists have referred our smaller Solomon’s seal to the nearly akin C. multifora of Eu- rope; but Dr. Gray (Manual, p. 466) pronounces the former a distinét American species. The second of Josselyn’s species is the ‘‘ Polygonatum Virgintanum, or Virginian’s Salomon’s seale” of Johnson’s Gerard (p. 905), and also of Morison (Hist., cz#. Z.), and earliest described and figured by Cornuti as P. Canadense, &c., which is Smzlacina 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 Smclactna 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. 88 Pew-Englands Rarities. Doves-Foot. fTerb Robert. Knobby Cranes Bills for Agues. Ravens-Claw, which flowers in May, and is admirable for Agues." Cinkfoil. Tormentile2 Avens, with the leaf of Mountane-Avens, the flower and root of Englifh Avens? Strawberries} 1 Geranium, L. The first is G. Carolintanum, L., which nearly resembles Gerard’s dove’s-foot (p. 938); the second is G. 2obertianum, L., common to us and Europe; and the third (Gerard, p. 940) — which cannot be G. disseum — 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 batrachiotdes, 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. 2 The genus Pofentilla, L., in general, is perhaps intended by cinque-foil ; and although our author probably confounded the common and variable Poten- tilla 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. Canadenszs, which resem- bles P. reptans, L., as remarked above (and was, indeed, mistaken for it by Cut- ler, —Z. c., p. 453), as this does Tormentilla reptans, L. 3 Geum stridum, 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. 4 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 New-Englands Marities. 89 Wild Angelica, majoris and minoris. Alexanders, which grow upon Rocks by the Sea fhore.? [46] Yarrow, with the white Flower.’ Columbines, of a flefh colour, growing upon Rocks.‘ Oak of Hierufalem? Pond in Cambridge. Our more common strawberry was not separated from the European by Linnzus, but is now reckoned a distin& species. ‘‘There is like- wise strawberries in abundance,” says Wood (New-England’s Prospedt, /. 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. 1 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 luctda Canadensis of Cornuti, which is A. luctda, L. (and probably, as the French botanist describes the fruit as ‘‘ minus foliacea vulgari- bus,” also Archangelica peregrina, Nutt.); and his Angelica sylvestris major being A. atropurpurea Canadensis of Cornuti, or A. atropurpurea, L. 2 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. 8 Achillea millefolium, L. Oakes has marked this as introduced (Catal. Ver- mont, 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. 4 Aquilegia Canadensis, L. As elsewhere, the author probably means here only that the genus is common to both continents. 5 At p. 56, both of these are set down among the ‘‘ plants proper to the coun- try.” 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 L s 90 New-Englanys Rarities. Acharifion is an excellent Medicine for ftopping of the Lungs upon Cold, Ptifick, &c. Oak of Cappadocia, both much of a nature, but Oak of Hzerufalem is ftronger in operation; excellent for ftuf- fing of the Lungs upon Colds, fhortnefs of Wind, and the Ptifick; maladies that the Natives are often troubled with: I helped feveral of the /zdzans with a Drink made of two Gallons of Moloffes wort, (for in that part of the Country where I abode, we made our Beer of Moloffes, Water, _ Bran, chips of Saffafras Root, and a little Wormwood, well boiled,) into which I put of Oak of /Yieru/alem, Cat- mint, Sowthiftle, of each one handful, of Exula Campana Root one Ounce, Liquorice fcrap’d brufed and cut in pieces, one Ounce, Saffafras Root cut into thin chips, one Ounce, Anny-feed and fweet Fennel-feed, of each one Spoonful bruifed; boil thefe in a clofe Pot, upon a foft Fire to the confumption of one Gallon, then take it off, and ftrein it gently; you may if you will [47] boil the ftreined liquor with Sugar to a Syrup, then when it is Cold, put it up into Glafs Bottles, and take thereof three or four fpoonfuls at a time, letting it run down your throat as leafurely as poflibly you can; do thus in the morning, in the Afternoon, and at Night going to Bed. Goofe-Gra/s, or Chivers. oak of Cappadocia (Gerard, p. 1108) is an American species, — Amérosza elatior, L. Cutler says of it (2. c., p. 489), ‘‘It has somewhat the smell of camphire. It is used in antiseptick fomentations.” 1 Galium aparine, L. (Gerard, edzt. czt., p. 1122), common to America and Europe. — Compare Gray, Man., p. 170. New-Englandss Warities. gI Fearn. Brakes. Wood forrel, with the yellow flower.’ Elm. Line Tree, both kinds.‘ A way to draw out Oyl of Akrons, or the like, &c. Maple; of the Afhes of this Tree the /zdzans make a lye, with which they force out Oyl from Oak Akorns that is highly efteemed by the /zazans.° Dew-Gra/s Earth-Nut, which are of divers kinds, one bearing very beautiful Flowers.’ 1 The “ Filix mas, or male ferne,” of Gerard, ed¢t. czt., 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 Aspidzum ; of which all, according to Pursh, and certainly three, are natives of both conti- nents, — AA. cristatum, Filix mas, Filix foemina, and aculeatum, Willd. ‘‘ Filix femina (female ferne, or brakes,” of Gerard, 2. c.) is Pteris aguilina, L.; also common to us and Europe. The other /7/éces mentioned by our author are Ophioglossum vulgatum, L. (p. 42); and Adtantum pedatum, L. (p. 55). 2 Oxalis corniculata, L. (Gerard, em., p. 1202), common to Europe and America. 3 Ulmus, L. There are no species common to America and Europe. 4 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 Tiléa Americana, L., —a species peculiar to America. 5 See p. 48; and Voyages, p. 69. None of our species are found in Europe. 6 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. 7 «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 92 Neto-Englands Warities. fufs-Balls, very large.’ Mufhrooms, fome long and no bigger than ones finger, others jagged flat, round, none like our great Mufhrooms in Exgland, of thefe fome are of a Scarlet colour, others a deep Yellow, &c.1 [48] Blew flowered Pzmpernel? Noble Zzver-wort, one fort with white flowers, the other with blew.® Black-Berry? country”). The author refers here, doubtless, to Ajgzos 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 estivum Phoebus conscenderit axem. His nucleis laute versutus vescitur Indus: His exempta fames segnis nostratibus omnis Dulcibus his vires revocantur victibus alme.” 1 See p. 52 and Voyages (pp. 70, 81) for other notices of Fungi; and Voyages, p- 81, for the only mention of Alge. 2 Female pimpernell (Gerard, em., p. 617), — Anagallis arvensis, y,Sm.; A. cerulea, Schreb., — but scarcely differing, except in color, from the scarlet pim- pernel, which has long (‘‘in clayey ground,” — Cwdler, l. c., 1785) been an inhab- itant of the coasts of Massachusetts Bay, though doubtless introduced. 38 Hepatica triloba, Chaix. (Anemone hepatica, L.), common to Europe and America; occurring occasionally with white flowers. — Gerard, em., p. 1203. 4 Rubus, L. The red raspberry of this-country is hardly other than an Amer- ican variety of the European (2. deus, var. strigosus, caule petiolis pedunculis Netw-Englands Marites. 93 Dew-Berry. Ra/p-Berry, here called Mul-berry. Goofe-Berries, of a deep red Colour.! fHaw-thorn, the Haws being as big as Services, and very good to eat, and not fo aftringent as the Haws in England? Toad flax? calyceque aculeato-hispidissimis, Enum. Pl. Agri Cantab, 1843, Ms.) ; upon which see Gray (Man., p. 121; and Statistics, &c., 7. c., p. 81). &. ¢riflorus, Richards., is also very near to, and was once considered the same as, the European #. saxatilis, L. The rest of our New-England raspberries and blackberries appear to be spe- cifically 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 chamemorus, L., which is common to both continents. 1 The New-England gooseberries are peculiar to this country. The author no doubt intends Rzbes hirtellum, Michx. (Gray, Man., p. 137); as see further his Voyages, p. 72. 2 Crategus, L. But the species are peculiar to this country, as Josselyn im- plies 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, 7. c., p. 119) speaks of our haws almost as highly as Wood. 8 Great toad-flax (Gerard, em., p. 550); Lénariéa 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” (Z. c., 1785): though he strangely prefixes the Linnean phrase for Antirrhinum Canadense, L..; and there seems no reason to doubt that Josselyn may very well have seen it in 1671. 94 PNew-Englands MRarities. Pellamount, or Mountain time.! Moufe-car Minor? The making of Oylof Akrons. To firengthen weak Mem- bers. or 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 Veffels for the Sea, and for Claw-board, and Pipe-ftaves, the black is good to make Waynfcot of; and out of the white Oak Acorns, (which is the Acorn Bears delight to feed upon): The Natives draw an Oy], taking the rotteneft Maple Wood, which being burnt to afhes, they make a {trong Lye therewith, wherein they boyl their white Oak-Acorns until the Oyl fwim on the top in great quantity; this [49] they fleet off, and put into bladders to annoint their naked Limbs, which corroba- rates them exceedingly; they eat it likewife with their Meat, it is an excellent clear and fweet Oyl: Of the Mofs that grows at the roots of the white Oak the /zdef/es make a {trong decoétion, with which they help their Papou/es or young Childrens {fcall’d Heads.’ 1 Gerard, p. 653 (Teucrium, L.). The author may have intended to reckon the genus only. Our species is peculiar to this continent. 2 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 Antenxnaria plantaginifolia, Hook. (mouse- ear of New England), which is very near to A. dzoica of Europe. — Gray, Statis- tics, &c., l. c., p. 81. 8 Quercus alba, L.; Q. rubra, L.; and Q. tinctoria, Bartr. Wood’s account of the oaks (New-England’s Prospect, chap. vy.) is similar. In his Voyages, p. 61, Josselyn gives us ‘‘ the ordering of red oake for wainscot. When they have cut it PNetw-Englands IKarities. 95 Juniper, which Cardanus faith is Cedar in hot Coun- tries, and Juniper in cold Countries; it is hear very dwarfifh and fhrubby, growing for the moft part by the Sea fide." Willow? Spurge Lawrel, called here Poy/on berry, it kills the Engh/h Cattle if they chance to feed upon it, efpecially Calves.’ Gaul, or noble Mirtle.* Elder? Dwarf Elder’ 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.” 1 Funtperus communis, L.; common to both continents. But the author did not probably distinguish from it ¥. Virgtntana, L.; which is frequent, and often dwarfish, near the sea. 2 Salix, L.; the genus only meant here, it is likely. 8 Daphne Laureola, L. (Gerard, p. 1404), with which Josselyn may have considered Kalmza angustifolia, L., in some sort allied. The latter has long been known in New England as dwarf or low laurel. * Myrica Gale, L. (Gerard, p 1414); common to Europe and America. 4 5 Sambucus, L. Our S. Canadens?s, 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. 6 “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 Prospe¢t, chap. v.) speaks of — “Small eldern, by the Indian fletchers sought; ” — which was perhaps arrow-wood, or Viburnum dentatum, L. 96 New-Englands Rarities. For a Cut with a Brufe. Alder; An Jndian Bruifing and Cutting of his Knee with a fall, ufed no other remedy, than Alder Bark, chewed fafting, and laid to it, which did foon heal it.’ To take Fire out of a Burn. The decoction is alfo excellent to take [50] the Fire out of a Burn or Scalld. for Wounds and Cuts. For Wounds and Cuts make a ftrong decoétion of Bark of Alder, pour of it into the Wound, and drink thereof. Flafel? For fore Mouths, falling of the Pallat. Filberd, both with hairy husks upon the Nuts, and fet- ting hollow from the Nut, and fill’d with a kind of water of an aftringent tafte; it is very good for fore Mouths, and falling of the Pallat, as is the whole green Nut before it comes to Kernel, burnt and pulverized. The Kernels are feldom without maggots in them.? 1 Alnus, Tourn. One of the three New-England species (A. zzcana, 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., 2. ¢., p. 83. A. viridis, our third species, is common to Europe and this country. 2 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). New-Englanys Rarities. 97 The Figure of the Walnut. Walnut; the Nuts differ much from ours in Luvrope, they being {mooth, much like a Nutmeg in fhape, and not much bigger; fome three cornered, all of them but thinly replenifhed with Kernels.’ [51] Cheftnuts; very fweet in tafte, and may be (as 1 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” (Fuglans 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,— Ulimus montana, Bauh., Lindl.; as see Gerard, p. 1481: but Carfznus, ‘‘in Essex, is called witch-hasell,” — zb.), 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. Prospe¢t, 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 (Fuglans 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, Z. 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 (JZ. 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.” M 98 APew-Englands Warities. they ufually are) eaten raw; the Jzdzans fell them to the Lxgli/h for twelve pence the bufhel.’ Beech? Af? Quick-beam, or Wild-A/sh+ Coals of Birch pulverized and wrought with the white of an Legg toa Salve, 1s a gallant Remedy for dry fcurfy Sores upon the Shins; and for Brutfed Wounds and Cuts. Birch, white and black; the bark of Birch is ufed by the /zdians for bruifed Wounds and Cuts, boyled very tender, and ftampt betwixt two ftones to a Plaifter, and the decoétion thereof poured into the Wound; And alfo to fetch the Fire out of Burns and Scalds.° 1 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.” — FR. Williams, l. c. 2 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 repre- sentative species.” — Stazzstics, &c., 1. c., p. 81. ; 3 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.” — Mew-Eng. Prosped, chap. vi. 4 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. aucuparéa, L.); but hardly, perhaps, to be reduced to an American variety of it, as the elder Michaux (F7. Amer., vol. i. p. 290) proposed. Compare Gray, Statistics, &c., l.c., p. 82. 5 Except the small white birch (B. populzfolia, Ait.), which Mr. Spach reduces to a variety of the European B. aléa, L., —in which he is sustained by Prof. Gray (Man., p. 411), — and the dwarf-birch (B. zaza, L.) of our alpine regions, all our New-Englands Barities. 99 Poplar, but differing in leaf.’ Plumb Tree, feveral kinds, bearing fome long, round, white, yellow, red, and black Plums; all differing in their Fruit from thofe in Exgland? Wild Purcelane? Wood-wax, wherewith they dye many pretty Colours.‘ species are peculiar to this continent. — See the author’s Voyages, p. 69, for an- other mention of the birches. 1 Populus, L. Our species are peculiar to the country, as the author’s remark suggests. Wood (J. c.) notices ‘‘ the ever-trembling asps.” 2 «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 reason- able good taste.” — New-Eng. Prospect, chap. vy. 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.” 8 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; Ac- count of Indigenous Vegetables (1785), @. c., p. 447. Considered to have been introduced here; but our author enables us to carry back the date of its introduc- tion, 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 specifi- cally distiné by Dr. Engelmann. * Genista tinctoria, L. (Genistella tintoria, — 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, 7. 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 100 HPew-Englandss IMRarities. Red and black Curvrans3 [52] Lor the Gout, or any Ach. Spunck, an excrefcence growing out of black Birch, the /rzdzans ufe it for Touchwood; and therewith they help the Sczatca, 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.” Massachusetts Bay, before February, 1628, to be sent to New England (Mass. Col. Rec., vol. i. p. 24); and though Jsaz¢s ¢éncforia, L., is true woad, feseda luteola, L. (wold, or weld), and our Gezzsta (woadwaxen), have, it is said (Rees’s Cycl., zz loco), been known ‘‘in English herbals under that name.” 1 “‘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 Rzbes foridum, Herit.,—considered by Linneus (Sp, PL, p. 291) only a variety of 2. nigrum, L., the true black currant of the gar- dens; and our red currant, which I have gathered in the White Mountains, — far below the region of &. rzgens, Michx., the more common red currant there, — appears to be undistinguishable from 2. rubrum, L. (the red currant of gardens) ; unless, possibly, as an American variety of it. This is probably &. albimervium, Michx. (FI., vol. i. p. 110; Pursh, Fl., vol. i. p. 163). ' 2 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-Eng- land’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,” Xc. This was our American hornbeam (Car- pinus Americana, L.). And the same author again alludes to it, in verse, as — ‘ My, om ya @) nr rn ofr \ 4 ee Follow Leaved Lavender. and Flowers as red as blood, excepting the Flower which hath fome yellow admixt. N I wonder where the 106 New-Englands BWarities. knowledge of this Plant hath flept all this while, ze. above Forty Years.’ for all manner of Fluxes. It is excellent for all manner of Fluxes. Live for ever, a kind of Cua-weed? Tree Primerofe, taken by the Ignorant for Scadzous.’ A Solar Plant, as fome will have tt. 1 The figure sufficiently exhibits Sarracenia purpurea, L. 2 «Vive-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) ‘‘ to- bacco, 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 John- son in his edition of the former (p. 641), and first published by Clusius (Gzrapha- lium 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 to- bacco, and no doubt called by them Joke, may have been mistaken by Wood for colt’s-foot, the leaves of which were ‘‘ smoked by the ancients in pulmonary com- plaints; . . . 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 Acuuzkinntk (Gray, Man., p. 161); furnished, in its inner bark (on the medicinal properties of which, see especially Rees’s Cycl., Amer. ed., zz doco), a substitute for Mcotéana, — very widely approved among the native Americans. The name, Indian tobacco, given to Lobelia inflata, L. (the emetic-weed of Cutler, Z. 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. 38 Cnothera biennis, L. (Johnson’s Gerard, p. 475),— known to Europeans, according to Linnzeus (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, ct. 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 de- scribes the plant in his Voyages, p. 78. New-Englands Rarities. 104 Maiden Hair, or Cappellus veneris verus, which ordina- rily is half a Yard in height. The Afothecaries for fhame now will fubftitute Wall-Rue no more for AZazden ffair, fince it grows in abundance in Mew-Lxgland, from whence they may have good {ftore.’ Pirola, Two kinds. See the Figures, both of them excellent Wound Herbs.’ Flomer’s Molley? [56] Lyfmachus or Loofe 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, ftanding upon a {mall fheath or cod, which when it is ripe breaks and puts forth a white filken doun, the ftalk is red, and as big as ones Finger.* Marygold of Peru, of which there are two kinds, one bearing black feeds, the other black and white ftreak’d, this beareth the faireft flowers, commonly but one upon the very top of the ftalk.® 1 Adiantum pedatum, L.—The European A. Cafpillus venerts, L., long used as a pectoral (the s¢vop de capillatre of French shops being made of it), is, ac- cording to Messrs. Wood and Bache (Dispens., p. 1290), ‘‘feebler” than our species, which Josselyn recommends. 2 See pp. 67, 68. 8 Johnson’s Gerard, p. 183: which is perhaps All‘um magicum, L.; for which our A. ¢ricoccum, Ait., may have been mistaken. — See also p. 54 of this; note. 4 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.” Flelianthus, 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 @ 108 New-Englandss Rarities. Treacle-Berries. See before Salomons Seal. Oak of Hrerufalem. See before. Oak of Cappadocea. See before. Larth-Nuts, differing much from thofe in Exgland, one fort of them bears a moft beautiful Flower. for the Scurvy and Dropfie. Sea-Tcars, they grow upon the Sea banks in abun- dance, they are good for the Scurvy and Dropfie, boiled and eaten as a Sallade, and the broth drunk with it? Indian Beans, better for Phyfick ufe than other Beans. L[udian Beans, falfly called French beans, are better for Phyfick and Chyrurgery [57] than our Garden Beans. Probatum eft:* the second one above mentioned, and perhaps HZ. strumosus, L., Gray. The other kind, with ‘‘ black seeds,” was probably H. dévaricatus, L. 1 See p. 47. The earth-nuts of Gerard (p. 1064) are species of Bulbocastanum of authors. 2 Not clear to me. But, taking the alleged virtues and the station into’ ac- count, our author may mean here the rather striking American sea-rocket (Cale Americana, Nutt.); which, it is likely, occurred to him. Spurge-time (p. 43) "also grows on ‘‘sea-banks.” 3 “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 Bonzuzs, 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.” — Fosselyn’s Voyages, p. 73-4. R. Williams (Key, 7. 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 speci- mens; as in the case of Asclepias Cornut?, Decsne, which he published as A. Syriaca) figures and describes, at pp. 184-5, Phaseolus multifiorus, L.; and this Neww-Englands Maritics. 109 Sguafhes, but more truly Sguonterfquafhes, a kind of Mellon, or rather Gourd, for they oftentimes degenerate into Gourds; fome of thefe are green, fome yellow, fome longifh like a Gourd, others round like an Apple, all of them pleafant food boyled and buttered, and fea- fon’d with Spice; but the yellow Sgua/h called an Apple Sguafh, becaufe like an Apple, and about the bignefs of a Pome-water is the beft kind;’ they are much eaten by the Judians and the Exel/h, yet they breed the fmall white Worms (which Phyfitians call A/carides,) in the long Gut that vex the Fundament with a perpetual itch- ing, and a defire to go to ftool. Water-Mellon, it is a large Fruit, but nothing near fo big as a Pompion, colour, fmoother, and of a fad Grafs green rounder or more rightly Saf-green ; with fome yellownefs admixt when ripe; the feeds are black, the flefh or pulpe exceeding juicy.’ 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 doubt- less what Josselyn has mainly in view, as cultivated by the native Americans. 1 “ Askutasqguash, — their vine-apples, —which the English, from them, call squashes: about the bigness of apples of several colours.” — R. Williams, Key, éc., 1. c., p. 222. ‘*In summer, when their corn is spent, zsgvotersguashes 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. 2 “ Pompions and water-mellons, too, they have good store,’ (Voyages, p. 130); and again, at p. 74 of the same, ‘“‘ The water-melon is proper 5) says our author ie IIo HNew-Englands Rarities. For heat and thirft in Feavers. It is often given to thofe fick of Feavers, and other hot Difeafes with good fuccefs. [58] Mew-England Dayfie, or Primrofe, is the fecond kind of Mavel Wort in Fohnfon upon Gerard; it flowers in JZay, and grows among{t Mofs upon hilly Grounds and Rocks that are fhady.’ 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, 7. c.). Cucurbita pepo, Li. (Gr. xénuv; 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 tobac- co, — 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, Z. c., p. 124) adds, musk-melons. See further, especially, Champlain (Voy. de la Nouv. France, Jass¢m) 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., Z. c.); such derivation being explainable, in the case of America, by old migrations from Asia through Polynesia. — Pickering, Races of Man, chap. 17. 1 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 Virgintensis, 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.). Pew-Englands IRKarities. ata for Burns and Scalds. It is very good for Burns and Scalds. An Acharifion, or Medicine deferving thanks. An Lndian whofe Thumb was fwell’d, and very much inflamed, and full of pain, increafing and creeping along to the wrift, with little black fpots under the Thumb againft the Nail; I Cured it with this Umdelhicus veneris Root and all, the Yolk of an Egg, and Wheat flower, f. Cada- plafme. Briony of Peru, (we call it though it grown hear) or rather Scammony; fome take it for Mechoacan: The green Juice is abfolutely Poyfon; yet the Root when dry may fafely be given to {trong Bodies." Red and Black Currence. See before. Wild Damask Rofes, fingle, but very large and fweet, but ftiptick Sweet Fern, the Roots run one within another like a 1 Convolvulus sepium, L. (great bind-weed) is exceedingly like to C. Scam- monza, L., the inspissated juice of which is the officinal scammony; and is com- mon 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., Z. 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. 2 Rosa Carolina, L. (Carolina rose), probably. — See Cutler’s observations, Z.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. 3 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 rie HPew-Englands Marities. Net, being very long and fpreading abroad under the upper cruft of [59] the Earth, fweet in tafte, but withal aftringent, much hunted after by our Swine: The Sco¢ch- men that are in Vew-England have told me that it grows in Scotland. for Fluxes. The People boyl the tender tops in J7olofes Beer, and in Poffets for Fluxes, for which it is excellent. Sarfapartla, a Plant not yet fufficiently known by the Engh/h: Some fay it is a kind of Bind Weed; we have, in Mew-England two Plants, that go under the name of Sarfaparila: the one not above a foot in height without Thorns, the other having the fame Leaf, but is a fhrub as high as a Goofe Lerry Bufh, and full of fharp Thorns; this I efteem as the right, by the fhape and favour of the Roots, but rather by the effects anfwerable to that we have from other parts of the World; It groweth upon dry Sandy banks by the Sea fide, and upon the banks of Rivers, fo far as the Salt water flowes; and within Land up in the Country, as fome have reported." the country,” may very well be what has long been called sweet-fern in New England, — Comfptonia asplentfolia (L.) Ait.; still used in ‘‘molasses beer,” and medicinal in the way mentioned. — Emerson, Trees and Shrubs of Mass., p- 226. 1 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. Pew-Englands Warities. 1m Bill Berries, two kinds, Black and Sky Coloured, which is more frequent.’ [60] Zo cool the heat of Feavers, and quench Thirft. They are very good to allay the burning heat of Feavers, and hot Agues, either in Syrup or Conferve. A moft excellent Summer Difh. They ufually eat of them put into a Bafon, with Milk, and fweetned a little more with Sugar and Spice, or for cold Stomachs, in Sack. The /zdzaxs dry them in the Sun, and fell them to the Axgli/h by the Bu/hell, who make ufe of them inftead of Currence, putting of them into Puddens, both boyled and baked, and into Water Gruel. Knot Berry, or Clowde Berry, feldom ripe? 1“ 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.” — F. 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 commen black whortleberry (Gaylussacta restnosa, Torr. and Gray) differs no less in quali- ty than in structure. Sa‘¢é (compare sautaashk, above), in Rasles Dict. of the Abnaki Language, /. c., p. 450, is rendered “‘ f/razs, sans etre secs; lors@ ils st secs, stkisa’tar.” 2 The cloud-berry — Peubus chamemorus, 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 ; O 114 Pew-Englands Warities. Sumach, differing from all that I did ever fee in the Herbalifts; our Zxgl/h Cattle devour it moft abominably, leaving neither Leaf nor Branch, yet it fprouts again next Spring.’ for Colds. The Axzgh/h ule to boyl it in Beer, and drink it for Colds; and fo do the /zdzans, from whom the Englij/h had the Medicine. Wild Cherry, they grow in clufters like [61] Grapes, of the fame bignefs, blackifh, red when ripe, and of a harfh tafte? Lor Fluxes. They are alfo good for Fluxes. Tranfplanted and manured, they grow exceeding fair. and perhaps, therefore, as our author gives his cloud-berry a place in this division of his book, he may have meant something else. 1 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 (Z. c.), agrees so well with what Ge- rard says of the properties of the European tanner’s sumach (2. cordaréa, L.), that the latter may very likely have, in part, suggested the former. But see Cut- ler, 2. c., p. 4247. 2 «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 order- ing 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. serotéza (Ehrh.) DC.) are meant. Petw-Englandss Rarities. Tas Board Pine, is a very large Tree two or three Fadom about.! For Wounds. It yields a very foveraign Turpentine for the Curing of defperate Wounds. for Stabs. The /zdians make ufe of the AZofs boiled in Spring Water, for Stabbs, pouring in the Liquor, and applying the boiled Mofs well ftamp’d or beaten betwixt two ftones. For Burning and Scalding. And for Burning and Scalding, they firft take out the fire with a ftrong decoétion of Alder Bark, then they lay upon it a Playfter of the bark of Board Pine firft boyled tender, and beat to a Playfter betwixt two ftones. To take Fire out of a Burn. One Chriftopher Luxe, a Fifher-man, having burnt his Knee Pan, was healed [62] again by an Zudian Webd, or Wife, (for fo they call thofe Women that have Husbands;) She firft made a ftrong decoction of Alder bark, with which fhe took out the Fire by Imbrocation, or letting of 1 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.” — Fosselyn’s Voyages, p. 643 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.” — Vew- Eng. Prospect, chap. v. 116 PNew-Englands Barities. it drop upon the Sore, which would fmoak notably with it; then fhe Playftered it with the Bark of Board Pine, or flentlock Tree, boyled foft and ftampt betwixt two ftones, till it was as thin as brown Paper, and of the fame Colour, fhe annointed the Playfter with Soyles Oy/, and the Sore likewife, then fhe laid it on warm, and fometimes fhe made ufe of the bark of the Larch Tree. To eat out proud Flefh in a Sore. And to eat out the proud Flefh, they take a kind of Larth Nut boyled and ftamped, and laft of all, they apply to the Sore the Roots of Water Lilhes boiled and ftamped betwixt two ftones, to a Playfter. For Stitches. The Furr Tree, or Pitch Tree; the Tar that is made of all forts of Pztch Wood is an excellent thing to take away thofe defperate Stitches of the Sides, which perpetually afflicteth thofe poor People that are [63] ftricken with the Plague of the Back. 1 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 oynt- ments. 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 (Z. 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. Pew-Englands Rarities. 117 Note, You muft make a large Toaft, or Cake flit and dip it in the Tar, and bind it warm to the Side. The mofe common Difeafes in New England. The Black Pox, the Spotted Feaver, the Griping of the Guts, the Dropfie, and the Sczatica, are the killing Difeafes in Mew-England. The Larch Tree, which is the only Tree of all the Pines, that fheds his Leaves before Winter; The other remaining Green all the Year: This is the Tree from which we gather that ufeful purging excrenfe, Agarick.’ For Wounds and Cuts. The Leaves and Gum are both very good to heal Wounds and Cuts. for Wounds with Brutfes. I cured once a defperate Bruife with a Cut upon the Knee Pan, with an Ungent made with the Leaves of the Larch Tree, and Hogs Greafe, but the Gum is beft. Spruce is a goodly Tree, of which they make Matts for Ships, and Sail Yards: It is generally conceived by thofe 1 Larix Americana, Michx. (Larch; ‘‘ taccamahac,” Cutler; tamarack ; hack- matack.) ‘*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.” — Fosselyn’s Voyages, p. 68. ‘* The turpentine that issueth from the cones of the larch-tree (which comes nearest of any to the right turpen- tine) 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.” — Jd7d., p. 66. 118 HNew-Englands Rarities. that have [64] skill in Building of Ships, that here is abfolutely the beft Trees in the World, many of them being three Fathom about, and of great length. An Acharifion for the Scurvy. The tops of Green Sfruce Boughs boiled in Bear, and drunk, is affuredly one of the beft Remedies for the Scur- vy, reftoring the Infected party in a fhort time; they alfo make a Lotion of fome of the decoction, adding Hony and Allum. Hemlock Tree, a kind of Spruce, the bark of this Tree ferves to dye Tawny; the Fifhers Tan their Sails and Nets with it. 1 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.” — Fosselyn’s Voyages, p. 67. 2 Abies Canadensis (L.), Michx. (hemlock spruce). Beside the coniferous trees here set down, our author mentions in his Voyages (p. 67) ‘‘ the white ce- dar, ... a stately tree, and is taken by some to be tamarisk.” This, which is probably our white cedar (Cufressus thyotdes, 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. Prospeét, 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 vite (Thya occidentalis, L.); also called white-cedar. — Com- pare Emerson, Trees and Shrubs of Mass., pp. 96, 100. For mention of the juni- per, see ante, p. 49. New-Englands Waritics. 119 To break Sore or Swelling. The /zdians break and heal their Swellings and Sores with it, boyling the inner Bark of young Hemlock very well, then knocking of it betwixt two ftones to a Playtfter, and annointing or foaking it in Soyls Oyl, they apply it to the Sore: It will break a Sore Swelling fpeedily. One Berry, Herba Paris, or True Love. Saffafras, or Ague Tree? [65] or heat in Feavers. The Chips of the Root boyled in Beer is excellent to allay the hot rage of Feavers, being drunk. for Bruifes and dry Blowes. The Leaves of the fame Tree are very good made into an Oyntment, for Bruifes and dry Blows. The Bark of the Root we ufe inftead of Cinamon; and it is Sold at the Barbadoes for two Shillings the Pound. And why may not this be the Bark the Jefuits Powder was made of, that was fo Famous not long fince in £7g- land, for Agues? Cran Lerry, or Bear Berry, becaufe Bears ufe much to 1 See p. 81; and ante, p. 54. 2 Sassafras officinale, Nees. ‘‘ This tree growes not beyond Black Point, eastward.” — Fosselyn’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. Emer- son (Trees and Shrubs of Mass., p. 322), it is ‘‘found as far north as Canada,” though . . . ‘‘there a small tree.” 120 Petw-Englands Marities. feed upon them, is a fmall trayling Plant that grows in Salt Marfhes that are over-grown with Mofs; the tender Branches (which are reddifh) run out in great length, lying flat on the ground, where at diftances, they take Root, over-fpreading fometimes half a fcore Acres, fome- times in {mall patches of about a Rood or the like; the Leaves are like Box, but greener, thick and gliftering; the Bloffoms are very like the Flowers of [66] our Engli/h Night Shade, after which fucceed the Berries, hanging by long {mall foot ftalks, no bigger than a hair; at firft they are of a pale yellow Colour, afterwards red, and as big as ° a Cherry; fome perfectly round, others Oval, all of them hollow, of a fower aftringent tafte; they are ripe in Augufe and September. for the Scurvy. They are excellent againft the Scurvy. 1 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 Josse- lyn) here, by both Indians and English. Linneus speaks of the European fruit in much the same way, in 1737, in his Flora of Lapland, where he says, ‘‘ Bacce he a Lappontbus tn usum ctharium non vocantur, nec facile ab alits nationtbus, cum nimis acide sint” (Fl. Lapp., p. 145): but corrects this in a paper on the esculent plants of Sweden, in 1752; asking, not without animation, ‘‘ Yarum vero cum saccharo preparata gelatina, guid tn mensts nostris jucundius?” (Amen. Acad., t. ili. p. 86.) Our American cranberry was probably the “‘ saseminxeash — another sharp, cooling fruit, growing in fresh waters all the winter; excellent in conserve against fevers”—of R. Williams, Key, 7. c., p. 221.—Compare Masimin, rendered [ fruzts] ‘‘ rouges petits.” — Rasles’ Dict., Abnaki, l. c., p. 460. Pew-Englands Marities. 121 For the heat in Feavers. They are alfo good to allay the fervour of hot Difeafes. The Jxdtans and Exgl/h ufe them much, boyling them with Sugar for Sauce to eat with their Meat; and it isa delicate Sauce, efpecially for roafted Mutton: Some make Tarts with them as with Goofe Berries. Vine, much differing in the Fruit, all of them very flefhy, fome reafonably pleafant; others have a tafte of Gun Powder, and thefe grow in Swamps, and low wet Grounds." [67] 3. Of fuch Plants as are proper to the Country, and have no Name. (1.) Irola, or Winter Green, that kind which grows with us in Exgland is common in New-England,? but 1 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. Pros- ped, 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 Hig- ginson, ‘‘hath already planted a vineyard, with great hope of encrease.” — Vew- England’s Plantation, l.c., p. 119. Vitis Labrusca, L. (fox-grape), — for some principal varieties of which, see Emerson, /. c., p. 468, — furnished, probably, most of the sorts known favorably to the first settlers; but V. es¢¢val’s, Michx. (summer grape), also occurs on our seaboard. 2 Pyrola, L., emend. (Gerard, p. 408). All but one of our species are common also to Europe. P 122 Pew-Englands Rarities. there is another plant which I judge to be a kind of Pzvrola, and proper to this Country, a very beautiful Plant; The fhape of the Leaf and the juft bignefs of it you may fee in the Figure. The Leaf of the Plant judged to be a kind of Pirola. a 6 w ate The Ground whereof is a Sap Green, embroydered (as it were) with many pale yellow Ribs, the whole Plant in fhape is [68] like Semper vivum, but far lefs, being not above a handful high, with one flender ftalk, adorned with fmall pale yellow Flowers like the other Pzvola. It groweth not every where, but in fome certain {mall {pots overgrown with Mofs, clofe by fwamps and fhady; they are green both Summer and Winter.’ For Wounds. They are excellent Wound Herbs, but this I judge to be the better by far. Pvrodbatum eft. 1 Goodyera pubescens (Willd.), R. Br., is plainly meant by the author; and the common name of the plant— rattlesnake plantain — still preserves the mem- ory 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 Pyrole (as if by some confusion of Goodyera with Chimophila maculata) was a bad mistake. New-Englands Rarities. 123 2. This Plant was brought to me by a neighbour, who (wandering in the Woods to find out his ftrayed Cattle,) loft himfelf [69] for two Dayes, being as he gheffed eight or ten Miles from the Sea-fide. ‘The Root was pretty thick and black, having a number of fmall black {trings growing from it, the ftalks of the Leaves about a handful long, the Leaves were round and as big as a Silver five Shilling piece, of a fap or dark green Colour, with a line or ribb as black as Jeat round the Circumfer- ence, from whence came black lines or ribs at equal diftance, all of them meeting in a black fpot in the Center.’ 1 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 neighhor 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 Fvlix Hemionitis dicta Maderensis ; which is Adzantum rentforme, L. iy Pew-Englands Rarities, If I had ftaid longer in the Country, I fhould have pur- pofely made a Journey into thofe Parts where it was gathered, to difcover if poffible, the Stalk and Flower; but now I fhall refer it to thofe that are younger, and better able to undergo the pains and trouble of finding it out; for I underftood by the Natives, that it is not com- mon, that is, every where to be found, no more then the embroydered Pzrola, which alfo is a moft elegant Plant, and which I did endeavour to bring over, but it perifhed at Sea. for Wounds. Clownes all heal, of New-England, is another Wound Herb not Inferiour to [7o] ours, but rather beyond it: Some of our Lxglj/h practitioners take it for Vervene, and ufe it for the fame, wherein they are grofly miftaken. The Leaf is like a Nettle Leaf, but narrower and longer; the ftalk about the bignefs of a Nettle ftalk, Champhered and hollow, and 6f a dusky red Colour; _ the Flowers are blew, fmall, and many, growing in fpoky tufts at the top, and are not hooded, but having only four round Leaves, after which followeth an infinite of fmall longifh light brown Seed; the Roots are knotty and matted together with an infinite number of fmall white ftrings; the whole Plant is commonly two Cubits high, bitter in tafte, with a Rofenie favour.’ 1 “Phere 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 Netw-Englands Rarities. m2 This Plant is one of the firft that fprings up after White 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. offcznalzs, 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, 7. 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. 126 New-Englands Rarities. fTellibore, in the like wet and black grounds, commonly by fTellibore, with a fheath or Hood like Dragons, but the peftle is of another fhape, that is, having a round Purple Ball on the top of it, befet (as it were) with Burs; the hood fhoots forth immediately from the Root, before any Leaf appears, having a Green [72] fprig growing faft by it, like the fmaller fforfe 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 under- neath the Leaves, which fpread in time out of the Bud, grow from the root with a ftalk a Foot long, and are as big as the great Bur Dock Leaves, and of the colour; the Roots are many, and of the bignefs of the fteel of a Tobacco Pipe, and very white; the whole Plant fents as {trong as a Fox; it continues till Augu/ft [74] (4) This Plant the Humming Bird feedeth upon, it groweth likewife in wet grounds, and is not at its full growth till 1 Symplocarpus fetidus (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 de- scription, in 1785 (Account of Indig. Veg., 7. 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 Filzces, at p. 47, note 2, 3. Pew-Englands Rarities. 1247 [73] A Branch of the Humming Bird Tree. July, and then it is two Cubits high and better, the Leaves are thin, and of a pale green Colour, fome of them as big as a Nettle Leaf, it fpreads into many Branches, knotty at the fetting on, and of a purple Colour, and gar- nifhed on the top with many hollow dangling Flowers of a bright yellow Colour, fpeckled with a deeper yellow as 128 Pew-Englands Rarities. it were fhadowed, the Stalkes are as hollow as a Kix, and fo are the Roots, which are tranfparent, very tender, and full of a yellowifh juice.’ for Bruifes and Aches upon firoaks. The Zzdians make ufe of it for Aches, being bruifed between two ftones, and laid tocold, but made (after the Englijh manner) into an unguent with Hogs Greafe, there is not a more foveraign remedy for bruifes of what kind foever; and for Aches upon Stroaks. In Auguft, 1670. in a Swamp amongft Alders, I found a fort of Tree Sow Thiftle, the Stalks of fome two or three Inches, [75] about, as hollow as a Kix and very brittle, the Leaves were {mooth, and in fhape like Soxchus levis, i.e. Hares Lettice, but longer, fome about a Foot, thefe grow at a diftance one from another, almoft to the top, where it begins to put forth Flowers between the Leaves 1 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 hum- ming-birds darting about, and fighting with and pursuing each other.” — Amer. Orutthol., 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., czgue ; Lat. cécuta); 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 bal- sam, — 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. PNew-Englands Karities. 129 and the Stalk, the top of the ftalk runs out into a fpike, befet about with Flowers like Sow Thiftle, of a blew or” azure colour: I brought home one of the Plants which was between twelve and thirteen Foot in length, I won- dered at it the more for that fo large and tall a Plant fhould grow from fo fmall a Root, confifting of flender white ftrings little bigger than Bents, and not many of them, and none above a Finger long, fpreading under the upper cruft of the Earth; the whole Plant is full of Milk, and of a ftrong favour. [76] The Plant when it fprings up firft. (5-) This Plant I found in a gloomy dry Wood under an Oak, 1670. the 182 of Augu/ff, afterwards I found it in 1 Mulgedium leucophaum, DC. (Gray, Manual, p. 241). This fine plant is peculiar to America. aly 130 Pew-Englands Rarities. [77] The Figure of the Plant when it is at full growth. open Champain grounds, but yet fomewhat fcarce: The Root is about the bignefs of a French Walnut, the Bark thereof is brown, and rugged, within of a yellowith Colour, from whence arifeth a flender ftalk, no bigger than an Oat ftraw, about two Cubits in height, fome- what better than a handful above the Root fhooteth out one Leaf of a Grafs Green colour, and an Inch or two above that, another Leaf, and fo four or five at a greater diftance one from another, till they come within a handful of the top, where upon {lender foot ftalks grow the Flow- New-Englands Rarities. Iai ers four or five, more or fewer, cluftering together in pale long green husks milk white, confifting of ten {mall Leaves, {nipt a little on the edges with purple hair threads in the midft; the whole Plant is of a brakifh taft: When it is at its full growth the ftalks are as red as Blood." [78] Gk > NS, ‘e@ 6 —L_— tl ie ae es = . —_— tT 1 Nabalus albus (L.) Hook. (Snake-weed) : the genus peculiar to America. 132 Netw-Englands Rarities. L79] (6) This Plant Flowers in Auguf, and grows in wet Ground; it is about three or four foot in height, having a fquare flender ftalk, chamfered, hollow and tuff, the Leaves grow at certain diftances one againft another, of the colour of Aerimony Leaves fharpe pointed, broadett in the midft about an Inch and half, and three or four Inches in length, {nipt about the edges like a Nettle Leaf, at the top of the Stalk for four or five Inches thick, fet with pale green husks, out of which the Flowers grow, confifting of one Leaf, fhaped 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 fmall, gliftering, green button, covered with a little white woolly matter, by which they are with the pointels faftened clofe together and fhore up the tip of the upper chap, the crooked pointels are very ftiff and hard, from the bottom of the husks, wherein the Flower ftands, from the top of the Seed Veffel fhoots out a white thread which runs in at the bottom of the Flower, and fo [80] out at the mouth; the whole Flower is milk white, the infide of the chaps reddifh, the Root I did not obferve.” 1 Chelone glabra, L. (snake-head). Plukenet quotes this figure under Dzg7- talis Verbesine foltis, &c. (Amalth., p. 71; Mant., p. 64); which is referred by Linneus to Gerardia pedicularits, L. Plukenet has himself figured our plant, and but little better than Josselyn, in Phytogr., t. 348, fig. 3. The genus is pecul- iar to America. Pew-Englands Rarities. 133 [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 peafe, of a light red colour when they are ripe, and clufter- ing together in a round form as big as a Pullets Ege, which at diftance fhews but as one Berry, very pleafant in tafte, and not unwholfome; the Root, Leaf, and 134 New-Englands Rarities. Flower differ not from our Exg//h kind, and their time of blooming and ripening agree, and therefore doubtlefs a kind of Hlerba Paris} [82] The /mall Sun Flower, or Marygold of America. 1 Upon this figure, Plukenet founds his Solanum quadrifolium Nov Angli- canum, flore lacteo polycoccum (Amalth., p. 195); clearly taking the plant, as Josselyn did, for ‘‘a kind of Herba Paris” (Parts quadrtfolia, L.), which is Sola- num quadrifolium bacciferum of Bauhin (Pin., p. 167, czt. L.). The plant is HPew-Englands Maritics. 135 [83] Ges [84] (8.) This Plant is taken by our Simplifts to be a kind of doubtless Cornus Canadensis, L. (dwarf-cornel; bunch-berry); and it certainly resembles the figure of (erd Parts, given by Gerard (p. 405), much more than that of Cornus suecica, L. (European dwarf-cornel, p. 1296), —a shrub ill under- stood by the old botanists. 136 Pew-Englandss Rarities. Golden Rod, by others for Sarazens Confound. 1 judge it to be a kind of {mall Suz Flower, or Marygold of the Weft Indies; the Root is brown and flender, a foot and half in length, running a flope under the upper face of the Earth, with fome {ftrings here and there, the ftalk as big as the {teal of a Tobacco pipe, full of pith, commonly brown- ifh, fometimes purple, three or four foot high, the Leaves grow at a diftance one againft another, rough, hard, green above, and gray underneath, flightly f{nipt and the ribs appear moft on the back fide of the Leaf, the Flower is of a bright yellow, with little yellow cups in the midft, as in the Marygold of Peru, with black threads in them with yellow pointels, the Flower fpreads it felf abroad out of a cup made up of many green beards, not unlike a Thiftle; Within a handful of the top of the ftalk (when the Flower is fallen, growes an excrenfe or knob as big as a Walnut, which being broken yieldeth a kind of Turpentine or rather Ro/en.' What Cutchenele ts. The ftalk beneath and above the knob, covered with a multitude of {mall Bugs, about the bignefs of a great flea, which I prefume will make good Cutchenele, ordered as they fhould be before they come to have Wings: They make a perfeét Scarlet Colour to Paint with, and durable. 1 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. Pew-Englands Barities. 137 4. Of fuch Plants as have fprung up fince the Englifh Planted and kept Cattle in New-England.' Ouch Grafs. Shepherds Purfe. Dandelion’ Groundfel? Sow Thiftle.® 1 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. 2 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 Zyrz¢icum repens, L. 3 Gerard, p. 276, — Capsella Bursa Pastoris (L.), Moench. ‘ Cornfields, and about barns,” — Cutler (1785), 2. c. Naturalized. * Gerard, p. 290, — Taraxacum Dens Leon?s, Desf.; looked, to our author, like a new-comer. Dr. Gray (Man., p. 239; and comp. Torr. and Gray, FI., vol. il. p. 494) regards it as ‘‘ probably indigenous in the north,” but only naturalized in other regions. ‘‘ Grass land,” — Cutler (1785), 2. c. 5 Gerard, p. 278, — Senecio vulgaris, L.; one of the adventive naturalized plants, as defined by Mr. De Candolle (Z. c., vol. ii. p. 688; and Gray, Man. Bot., pref., p. viii.), according to the evidence of Dr. Darlington (FI. Cestr., p. 152), and Gray, Z.c. It has long been a common weed in eastern New England. 6 Sonchus, L. SS. oleraceus, L., as understood by Linneus, was no doubt intended: but this is now taken to include two species, both recognized in this country (Gray, 7. c., p. 241); between which there is no evidence to authorize a decision. R 138 Neww-Englands IBRaritics. Wild Arrach. Night Shade, with the white Flower.’ Nettlesfinging, which was the firft Plant taken notice of.’ Mallowes. [86] Plantain, which the /udians call Englif/h-Mans Foot, as though produced by their treading.° 1 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 Azriplex 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, /. c., p. 363); and the former is, according to Bige- low (FI. 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. ; 2 Garden nightshade (Gerard, p. 339); Solanum nigrum, L. ‘‘ Common among rubbish,” — Cutler (1785), 7. c. Naturalized. 3 Common stinging-nettle, or great nettle (Gerard, p. 706), — Urtica drtoica, L. 4 Field-mallow (Gerard, p. 930), Malva sylvestris, L., and wild. dwarf-mallow (tbid.), 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. 5 «Tt 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 Hix New-Englands Baritics. 139 Black Henbane. Wormwood? Sharp pointed Dock? Patience the plant in Northern languages—as Wegerich and Wegetritt of the German, Weegblad and Weegbree of the Dutch, Vecbred 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 termina- tion 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, ‘‘ fer excellentiam, guast plantam prestantissimam” (Tournef., Inst., vol. i. p. 128), though less open to question than that of Linnzus (‘“‘ 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-inci- dence of thought, not unworthy of attention. Something else of the same sort is to be found in R. Williams, where he says (Key, Z. c., p. 218) that the Massachu- setts Indians called the constellation of the Great Bear mosk, or pawkunnawaw ; that is, the bear. 1 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, 2. c.), and perhaps long known on the coasts of Massachusetts Bay. 2 Broad-leaved wormwood, ‘‘our common and best-knowne wormwood ” (Ge- rard, p. 1096), — Artemisia absynthium, L. ‘*‘ Roadsides and amongst rubbish,” 1785, — Cutler, 1. c. Omitted by Bigelow, and not very frequent. 3 Gerard, p. 388. If this is to be taken for Rumex acutus, Sm. (FI. Brit.), which seems not to be certain, it is now referable to 2. conglomeratus, Murr., ‘which is “sparingly introduced” with us, according to Gray (Man., p. 377). But it is more likely that Josselyn had &. cr/sfus, 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. * Gerard, p. 389, — Rumex Patientia, L. This and the next were garden pot- u 140 New-Englands Rarities. Bloodwort.' And I fufpe&t Adders Tongue. Knot Grafs} Cheek weeds Compherie, with the white Flower.° May weed, excellent for the Mother; fome of our Engli/h Houfwives call it fron Wort, and make a good Un- guent for old Sores.® 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 (#. 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. — Within Os Sylye 1 Gerard, p. 390, — Rumen sanguincus, L., ‘‘sown for a pot-herb in most gar- dens” (Gerard); and so our author, p. 90. Linnzus 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. 2 Gerard, p. 404. — Compare p. 42 of this; where our author more correctly reckons it among plants truly common to Europe and America. 3 “ Common knot-grasse” (Gerard, p. 565), — Polygonum aviculare, L. Com- mon 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. 4 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. — Cudler, Z. c. Few plants have spread so widely over the earth as Stellarza media. 5 Great comfrey (Gerard, p. 806), — Symphytum officinale, L.: also in the list of garden herbs at p. 90. ‘Sometimes found growing wild,” — Cutler (1785), Z.c. Not admitted by Dr. Bigelow (FI. Bost.), but included by Dr. Gray as an adventive. — Man., p. 320. ® 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. Pew-Englands Rarities. 141 The great Clot Bur. Mullin, with the white Flower.’ QO. What became of the influence of thofe Planets that produce and govern thefe Plants before this time! I have now done with fuch Plants as grow wild in the Country in great plenty, (although I have not mentioned all) I fhall now in the Fifth place give you to under [87 | ftand what Zxgl/kz Herbs we have growing in our Gardens that profper there as well as in their proper Soil, and of fuch as do not, and alfo of fuch as will not grow there at all. 5. Of fuch Garden Flerbs (amongft us) as do thrive there, and of fuch as do not. A bbidge growes there exceeding well. Lettice. 1 “‘Great burre-docke, or clott-burre” (Gerard, p. 809), —Laffa major, Gaertn. ‘“* About barns,” — Cutler (1785), 2. c. 2 « White-floured mullein” (Gerard, p. 773), — perhaps Verbascum Lychuitis, L.; which is edventive 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. Thkapsus, L.) was ‘‘common” in Cutler’s time. The moth-mullein (V. Blattaria, L.) he only knew ‘“ by roadsides in Lynn” (Z. c., p. 419). Other plants referable to this list of naturalized weeds are ‘“ wild sorrel,” p. 42; Polygo- num 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. go. 3 The earliest, almost the only account that we have of the gardens of our fathers, after they had settled themselves in their Mew England, and had tamed 142 Petw-Englands Maritics. Sorrel. Parfley. Marygold. 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, pars- ley, 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 coun- trey 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 Cap- tain’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. ‘ah New-Englands Marites. 143 french Mallowes. Chervel. Burnet. Winter Savory. Summer Savory. Time. Sage. Carrats. Parfnips of a prodigious fize. Red Beetes. (88) Radifhes. Turnips. Purflain. Wheat Lye. Barley, which commonly degenerates into Oadés. Oats. ; Peafe of all forts, and the beft in the World; I never heard of, nor did fee in eight Years time, one Worm eaten Pea. Garden Beans.’ 1 Portulaca oleracea,; VL. B. 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). 2 See Josselyn’s Voyages, p. 188. 8 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. 144 HNew-Englands Rarities. Naked Oats,' there called Sz/pee, an excellent grain ufed infteed of Oat Meal, they dry it in an Oven, or in a Pan upon the fire, then beat it fmall in a Morter. Another fanding Difh in New-England. And when the Milk is ready to boil, they put into a pottle of Milk about ten or twelve fpoonfuls of this Meal, fo boil it leafurely, ftirring of it every foot, leaft it burn too; when it is almoft boiled enough, they hang the Kettle up higher, and let it ftew only, in fhort time it will thicken like a Cuftard; they feafon it [89] with a little Sugar and Spice, and fo ferve it to the Table in deep Bafons, and it is altogether as good as a White-pot. lor People weakned with long Sickne/s. It exceedingly nourifheth and ftrengthens people weak- ned with long Sicknefs. Sometimes they make Water Gruel with it, and fome- 1 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 S77fee (comparable with apee, a leaf; ¢oopee, a root; akfee, a bow, in the Micmac language, — Mass. Fist. Coll., vol. vi., pp. 20, 24) was really the American name of the well-known water-oats, or Canada rice, — Zzzania 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. Pew-Englands Rarities. 145 times thicken their Flefh Broth either with this or Hlom- mincy, if it be for Servants. Spear Mint. Rew, will hardly grow. Fetherfew profpereth exceedingly. Southern Wood, is no Plant for this Country. Nor, Rofemary. Nor Bayes? White Satten groweth pretty well, fo doth Lavender Cotton> But Lavender is not for the climate. Penny Royal. Smalledge. Ground Ivy, or Ale Floofs Gilly Flowers will continue two Years.? [90] Fennel muft be taken up, and kept in a warm Cellar all Winter. 1 Gerard, p. 680, — Mentha viridis, L. It perhaps soon became naturalized. “In moist ground” (1785). — Cudéler, 1. c. 2 Perhaps only an inference of the author’s, from the southern origin of these three shrubs. Lavender also belongs naturally to a warmer climate. 8 Gerard, p. 1109, — Santolina Chame Cyparissus, L. 4 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 WMefeta, but substitutes a new specific name for that given by Linnzus, which is based on the ancient names, and has at least the right of priority. 5 “ Gilliflowers thrive exceedingly there, and are very large. The collibuy, or humming-bird, is much pleased with them.” — Fosselyn’s Voyages, p. 188. Ss 146 New-Englands Maritics. FToufleck profpereth notably. | Flolly hocks. Enula Campana, in two Years time the Roots rot." Comferie, with white Flowers. Coriander, and Dill. and Annis thrive exceedingly, but Aznzzs Seed, as alfo the Seed of Fennel feldom come to maturity; the Seed of Annis is commonly eaten with a fly. Clary never lafts but one Summer, the Roots rot with the Froft. Staragus thrives exceedingly, fo does Garden Sorrel, and Sweet Bryer, or Eglantine? Bloodwort but forrily, but Patience, and Englifh Rofes, very pleafantly.* 1 Elecampane (Gerard, p. 793), — Znula Helenium, L. ‘‘ Roadsides” (1785), — Cutler, l. c. ; and now extensively naturalized in New England. 2 Gerard, p. 1272,— Rosa rubiginosa, L.; and F. micrantha, Sm. Since naturalized, especially in Eastern New England, and not uncommon on road- sides 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 hand- some with cutting.” — Fosselyn’s Voyages, p. 188. And what next goes before seems to show that the author picked up this information here; which is not uninteresting. 8 See p. 86. + Brier-rose, or hep-tree (Gerard, p. 1270); ‘‘also called Rosa cantina, which is a plant so common and well knowne, that it were to small purpose to use many HNetw-Englands Warities. 1447 Celandine, by the Weft Country men called Kenning Wort, grows but flowly.’ Mufchata, as well as in Exgland. Dittander, or Pepper Wort, flourifheth notably, and fo doth. Tanfie+ Mufk: Mellons are better than our Lxgli/h, and. [or] Cucumbers. Ponpions, there be of feveral kinds, fome proper to the Country,’ they are dryer then our Zxgi/h Pompions, and better tafted; you may eat them green. 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 pleas- ure thereof,” &c. (Gerard, 7. c.). Fosa cantina, L., was once the collective name of what are now understood as many distinét 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 gar- dens 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,—?. Carolina, L., — which it has not kept; and he also makes it equivalent to the officinal 22. canzna. Our Flora will possibly one day include one or two other garden-roses. A dam- ask 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 cin- namon-rose, which is now naturalized in England, may yet become wild with us. 1 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,” — Chelidontum majus, L. Small celandine (Ranun- culus Ficaria, L.) was quite another thing. The former had got to be “‘ common by fences and amongst rubbish” in 1785 (Cutler, 7. c.), and is now naturalized in Eastern New England. 2 Gerard, p. 650, — Tanacetum vulgare, L. In “ pastures” (1785). — Cudler, Z.c. Now widely naturalized in New England. 3 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. 148 Netw-Englands Rarities. The ancient New-England ftanding Difh. But the Houfwives manner is to flice them when ripe, and cut them into dice, and fo fill a pot with them of two or three Gallons, and ftew them upon a gentle fire a whole day, and as they fink, they fill again with frefh Pompions, not putting any liquor to them; and when it is ftew’d enough, it will look like bak’d Apples; this they Dith, putting Butter to it, and a little Vinegar, (with fome Spice, as Ginger, &c.) which makes it tart like an Apple, and fo ferve it up to be eaten with Fifh or Flefh: It provokes Urin extreamly and is very windy. [92] Sixthly and laftly, Of Stones, Minerals, Metals and Earths. S firft, the Zirald which grows in flat Rocks, and is very good. Rubies, which here are very watry. 1 “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 lhe 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 New-Englands Rarities. 149 I have heard a ftory of an /zdzan, that found a ftone, 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 ftory. Diamond, which are very brittle, and therefore of little worth. ; Cryftal, called by our Weft Country Men the Kenning Stone; by Sebegug Pond is found in confiderable quantity, not far from thence is a Rock of Cryftal called the JZoo/e Rock, becaufe in fhape like a AZoofe, and Mufcovy Glafs, both white and purple of reafonable content. 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 wa- ters 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 settle- ment, 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, 7. 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.” Argil- laceous 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. 150 New-Englands Rarities. Black Lead? Bole Armontack. [93] Red and Yellow Oker. Terra Sigilla. Vitriol. Antimony. Arfnick, too much. Lead.” Tin. Tin Gla/s. Szlver. Iron, in abundance, and as good bog Iron as any in the World. Copper. It is reported that the French have a Coffer Mine at Port Royal, that yieldeth them twelve Ounces of pure Copper out of a Pound of Oar. 1 “Mr. John Winthrope, jun., is granted y°® 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).— AZass. Col. Fec., vol. ii. p. 823 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. 2 «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. — Fosselyn’s Voyages, Pp. 44. Neww-Englands Rarities. Tot I fhall conclude this Section with a ftrange Cure effected upon a Drummers Wife, much afflicted with a Wolf in her Breaft; the poor Woman lived with her Husband at a Town called by the /zdianus, Ca/co, but by the Engli/h, Famouth; where for fome time fhe fwaged the Pain of her Sore, by bathing it with ftrong Malt Beer, which it would [94] fuck in greedily, as if fome living Creature: When fhe could come by no more Beer, (for it was brought from Bofion, along the Coafts by Merchants,) fhe made ufe of Rhum, a ftrong Water drawn from Sugar Canes, with which it was lull’d a fleep; at laft, (to be rid of it alto- gether) fhe put a quantity of Av/nick to the Rhum, and bathing of it as formerly, fhe utterly deftroyed it, and Cured her felf; but her kind Husband, who fucked out the Poy- fon as the Sore was healing, loft all his Teeth, but without further danger or inconvenience. [95] Adz - : 7 : 7 - arg we “~ 4 we oe 5 4 Uy : AAR iG : SA Aa Y RERUN AWE Hah ‘ mea nh eth