August the 5th. 1748.

I with my servant Lars Yungstrœm (who joined to his abilities as gardener, a tolerable skill in mechanics and drawing) went at Gravesend on board the Mary Gally, Captain Lawson, bound for Philadelphia; and though it was so late as six o’clock in the afternoon, we weighed anchor and sailed a good way down the Thames before we again came to anchor.

August the 6th. Very early in the morning we resumed our voyage, and after a few hours sailing we came to the mouth of the Thames, where we turned into the channel and sailed along the Kentish coast, which consists of steep and almost perpendicular [2]chalk hills, covered at the top with some soil and a fine verdure, and including strata of flints, as it frequently is found in this kind of chalk-hills in the rest of England. And we were delighted in viewing on them excellent corn fields, covered for the greatest part with wheat, then ripening.

At six o’clock at night, we arrived at Deal, a little well known town, situate at the entrance of a bay exposed to the southern and easterly winds. Here commonly the outward bound ships provide themselves with greens, fresh victuals, brandy, and many more articles. This trade, a fishery, and in the last war the equipping of privateers, has enriched the inhabitants.

August the 7th. When the tide was out, I saw numbers of fishermen resorting to the sandy shallow places, where they find round small eminences caused by the excrements of the log worms, or sea worms, (Lumbrici marini. Linn.) who live in the holes leading to these hillocks, sometimes eighteen inches deep, and they are then dug out with a small three tacked iron fork and used as baits.

August the 8th. At three o’clock we tided down the channel, passed Dover, and saw plainly the opinion of the celebrated Camden in his Britannia confirmed, that [3]here England had been formerly joined to France and Flanders by an isthmus. Both shores form here two opposite points; and both are formed of the same chalk hills, which have the same configuration, so that a person acquainted with the English coasts and approaching those of Picardy afterwards, without knowing them to be such, would certainly take them to be the English ones.1

August the 9th–12th. We tided and alternately sailed down the channel, and passed Dungness, Fairlight, the Isle of Wight, Portsmouth, the Peninsula of Portland and Bolthead, a point behind which Plymouth lies; during all which time we had very little wind.

August the 13th. Towards night we got out of the English channel into the Bay of Biscay.

August the 14th. We had contrary wind, and this increased the rolling of the ship, for it is generally remarked that the Bay of Biscay has the greatest and broadest waves, which are of equal size with those between America and Europe; they are commonly half an English mile in length, and have a height proportionable to it. The Baltic [4]and the German ocean has on the contrary short and broken waves.

Whenever an animal is killed on board the ship, the sailors commonly hang some fresh pieces of meat for a while into the sea, and it is said, it then keeps better.

August the 15th. The same swell of the sea still continued, but the waves began to smooth, and a foam swimming on them was said to forebode in calm weather, a continuance of the same for some days.

About noon a north easterly breeze sprung up, and in the afternoon it blew more, and this gave us a fine spectacle; for the great waves rolled the water in great sheets, in one direction, and the north easterly wind curled the surface of these waves quite in another. By the beating and dashing of the waves against one another, with a more than ordinary violence, we could see that we passed a current, whose direction the captain could not determine.

August the 16th–21st. The same favourable breeze continued to our great comfort and amazement, for the captain observed that it was very uncommon to meet with an easterly or north-easterly wind between Europe and the Azores (which the sailors call the Western Islands) for more than two days together; for the more common [5]wind is here a westerly one: but beyond the Azores they find a great variety of winds, especially about this time of the year; nor do the westerly winds continue long beyond these isles; and to this it is owing, that when navigators have passed the Azores, they think they have performed one half of the voyage, although in reality it be but one third part. These isles come seldom in sight; for the navigators keep off them, on account of the dangerous rocks under water surrounding them. Upon observation and comparison of the journal, we found that we were in forty-three deg. twenty-four min. north lat. and thirty and a half degrees west long. from London.

August the 22d. About noon the captain assured us, that in twenty-four hours we should have a south-west wind: and upon my enquiring into the reasons of his foretelling this with certainty, he pointed at some clouds in the south-west, whose points turned towards north-east, and said they were occasioned by a wind from the opposite quarter. At this time I was told we were about half way to Pensylvania.

August the 23d. About seven o’clock in the morning the expected south-west wind sprung up, and soon accelerated our [6]course so much, that we went at the rate of eight knots an hour.

August the 24th. The wind shifted and was in our teeth. We were told by some of the crew to expect a little storm, the higher clouds being very thin and striped and scattered about the sky like parcels of combed wool, or so many skains of yarn, which they said forebode a storm. These striped clouds ran north-west and south-east, in the direction of the wind we then had. Towards night the wind abated and we had a perfect calm, which is a sign of a change of wind.

August the 25th. and 26th. A west wind sprung up and grew stronger and stronger, so that at last the waves washed our deck.

August the 27th. In the morning we got a better wind, which went through various points of the compass and brought on a storm from north-east towards night.

Our captain told me an observation founded on long experience, viz. that though the winds changed frequently in the Atlantic ocean, especially in summer time, the most frequent however was the western, and this accounts for the passage from America to Europe commonly being shorter, [7]than that from Europe to America. Besides this, the winds in the Atlantic during summer are frequently partial, so that a storm may rage on one part of it, and within a few miles of the place little or no storm at all may be felt. In winter the winds are more constant, extensive and violent; so that then the same wind reigns on the greater part of the ocean for a good while, and causes greater waves than in summer.

August the 30th. As I had observed the night before some strong flashes of lightening without any subsequent clap of thunder, I enquired of our captain, whether he could assign any reasons for it. He told me these phœnomena were pretty common, and the consequence of a preceding heat in the atmosphere; but that when lightenings were observed in winter, prudent navigators were used to reef their sails, as they are by this sign certain of an impendent storm; and so likewise in that season, a cloud rising from the north-west, is an infallible forerunner of a great tempest.

September the 7th. As we had the first day of the month contrary wind, on the second it shifted to the north, was again contrary the third, and fair the fourth and following days. The fifth we were in forty deg. [8]three min. north lat. and between fifty-three and fifty-four deg. west long. from London.

Besides the common waves rolling with the wind, we met on the 4th. and 5th. inst. with waves coming from south-west, which the captain gave as a mark of a former storm from that quarter in this neighbourhood.

September the 8th. We crossed by a moderate wind, a sea with the highest waves we met on the whole passage, attributed by the captain to the division between the great ocean and the inner American gulf; and soon after we met with waves greatly inferior to those we observed before.

September the 9th. In the afternoon we remarked that in some places the colour of the sea (which had been hitherto of a deep blue) was changed into a paler hue; some of these spots were narrow stripes of twelve or fourteen fathoms breadth, of a pale green colour, which is supposed to be caused by the sand, or as some say, by the weeds under water.

September the 12th. We were becalmed that day, and as we in this situation observed a ship, which we suspected to be a Spanish privateer, our fear was very great; but we saw some days after our arrival at [9]Philadelphia the same ship arrive, and heard that they seeing us had been under the same apprehensions with ourselves.

September the 13th. Captain Lawson, who kept his bed for the greater part of the voyage, on account of an indisposition, assured us yesterday we were in all appearance very near America: but as the mate was of a different opinion, and as the sailors could see no land from the head of the mast, nor find ground by the lead, we steered on directly towards the land. About three o’clock in the morning the captain gave orders to heave the lead, and we found but ten fathom: the second mate himself took the lead and called out ten and fourteen fathoms, but a moment after the ship struck on the sand, and this shock was followed by four other very violent ones. The consternation was incredible; and very justly might it be so; for there were above eighty persons on board, and the ship had but one boat: but happily our ship got off again, after having been turned. At day break, which followed soon after (for the accident happened half an hour past four) we saw the continent of America within a Swedish mile before us: the coast was whitish, low, and higher up covered with firs. We found out, that the sand we struck on, lay opposite [10]Arcadia in Maryland, in thirty-seven deg. fifty min. North lat.

We coasted the shores of Maryland all the day, but not being able to reach cape Hinlopen, where we intended to take a pilot on board, we cruized all night before the bay of Delaware. The darkness of the night made us expect a rain, but we found that only a copious fall of dew ensued, which made our coats quite wet, and the pages of a book, accidently left open on the deck, were in half an hours time after sun-setting likewise wet, and we were told by the captain and the sailors that both in England and in America a copious dew was commonly followed by a hot and sultry day.

September the 14th. We saw land on our larboard in the west, which appeared to be low, white, sandy, and higher up the country covered with firs, cape Hinlopen is a head of land running into the sea from the western shore, and has a village on it. The eastern shore belongs here to New Jersey, and the western to Pensylvania. The bay of Delaware has many sands, and from four to eleven fathom water.

The fine woods of oak, hiccory and firs covering both shores made a fine appearance, and were partly employed in ship-building [11]at Philadelphia; for which purpose every year some English captains take a passage in autumn to this town, and superintend the building of new ships during winter, with which they go to sea next spring: and at this time it was more usual than common, as the French and Spanish privateers had taken many English merchant ships.

A little after noon we reached the mouth of Delaware river, which is here about three English miles broad, but decreases gradually so much, that it is scarcely a mile broad at Philadelphia.

Here we were delighted in seeing now and then between the woods some farm houses surrounded with corn fields, pastures well-stocked with cattle, and meadows covered with fine hay; and more than one sense was agreeably affected, when the wind brought to us the finest effluvia of odoriferous plants and flowers, or that of the fresh made hay: these agreeable sensations and the fine scenery of nature on this continent, so new to us, continued till it grew quite dark.

Here I will return to sea, and give the reader a short view of the various occurrences belonging to Natural-History, during our crossing the Ocean. [12]

Of sea weeds (Fucus linn.) we saw August the 16th. and 17th. a kind which had a similarity to a bunch of onions tied together, these bunches were of the size of the fist, and of a white colour. Near the coast of America within the American gulf, September the 11th. we met likewise with several sea weeds, one species of which was called by the sailors rock-weed; another kind looked like a string of pearls, and another was white, about a foot long, narrow, every where equally wide and quite strait. From August the 24th. to September the 11th. we saw no other weeds, but those commonly going under the name of Gulf-weed, because they are supposed to come from the gulf of Florida; others call it Sargazo, and Dr. Linnæus, Fucus natans. Its stalk is very slender, rotundato-angulated, and of a dark green, it has many branches and each of them has numerous leaves disposed in a row, they are extremely thin, are serrated, and are a line or a line and a half wide, so that they bear a great resemblance to the leaves of Iceland-moss; their colour is a yellowish green. Its fruit in a great measure resembles unripe juniper berries, is round, greenish yellow, almost smooth on the outside, and grows under the leaves on short footstalks, of two or three [13]lines length; under each leaf are from one to three berries, but I never have seen them exceed that number. Some berries were small, and when cut were quite hollow and consisted of a thin peel only, which is calculated to communicate their buoyancy to the whole plant. The leaves grow in proportion narrower, as they approach the extremities of the branches: their upper sides are smooth, the ribs are on the under sides, and there likewise appear small roots of two, three or four lines length. I was told by our mate that gulf weed, dried and pounded, was given in America to women in childbed, and besides this it is also used there in fevers. The whole ocean is as if it were covered with this weed, and it must also be in immense quantities in the gulf of Florida, from whence all this driving on the ocean is said to come. Several little shells pointed like horns, and Escharæ or Horn wracks are frequently found on it: and seldom is there one bundle of this plant to be met with, which does not contain either a minute shrimp, or a small crab, the latter of which is the Cancer minutus of Dr. Linnæus. Of these I collected eight, and of the former three, all which I put in a glass with water: the little shrimp moved as swift as an arrow round the glass, but sometimes [14]its motion was slow, and sometimes it stood still on one side, or at the bottom of the glass. If one of the little crabs approached, it was seized by its forepaws, killed and sucked; for which reason they were careful to avoid their fate. It was quite of the shape of a shrimp; in swimming it moved always on one side, the sides and the tail moving alternately. It was capable of putting its forepaws entirely into its mouth: its antennæ were in continual motion. Having left these little shrimps together with the crabs during night, I found on the morning all the crabs killed and eaten by the shrimps. The former moved when alive with incredible swiftness in the water. Sometimes when they were quite at the bottom of the glass, with a motion something like to that of a Puceron or Podura of Linnæus; they came in a moment to the surface of the water. In swimming they moved all their feet very close, sometimes they held them down as other crabs do, sometimes they lay on their backs, but as soon as the motion of their feet ceased, they always sunk to the bottom. The remaining shrimps I preserved in spirits, and the loss of my little crabs was soon repaired by other specimens which are so plentiful in each of the floating bundles of gulf-weed. [15]For a more minute description of which I must refer the reader to another work, I intend to publish. In some places we saw a crab of the size of the fist, swimming by the continual motion of its feet, which being at rest, the animal began immediately to sink. And one time I met with a great red crawfish, or lobster, floating on the surface of the sea.

Blubbers, or Medusæ Linn., we found of three kinds: the first is the Medusa aurita Linn.; it is round, purple coloured, opens like a bag, and in it are as if it were four white rings, their size varies from one inch diameter to six inches; they have not that nettling and burning quality which other blubbers have, such for instance as are on the coast of Norway, and in the ocean. These we met chiefly in the channel and in the Bay of Biscay.

After having crossed more than half of the ocean between Europe and America, we met with a kind of blubber, which is known to Sailors by the name of the Spanish or Portugueze man of War, it looks like a great bladder, or the lungs of a quadruped, compressed on both sides, about six inches in diameter, of a fine purple-red colour, and when touched by the naked skin of the human body, it causes a greater burning than [16]any other kind of blubber. They are often overturned by the rolling of the waves, but they are again standing up in an instant, and keep the sharp or narrow side uppermost.

Within the American gulf we saw not only these Spanish men of War, but another kind too, for which the Sailors had no other name but that of a blubber. It was of the size of a pewter plate, brown in the middle, with a pale margin, which was in continual motion.

Of the Lepas anatifera Linn. I saw on the 30th. of August a log of wood, which floated on the ocean, quite covered. Of insects I saw in the channel, when we were in sight of the Isle of Wight several white butterflies, very like to the Papilio Brassicæ Linn. They never settled, and by their venturing at so great a distance from land they caused us just astonishment.

Some common flies were in our cabbin alive during the whole voyage, and it cannot therefore be determined whether they were originally in America, or whether they came over with the Europeans.

Of Cetaceous fish we met with Porpesses, or as some sailors call them Sea-hogs2 (Delphinus [17]Phocæna, Linn.) first in the channel and then they continued every where on this side the Azores, where they are the only fish navigators meet with; but beyond these isles they are seldom seen, till again in the neighbourhood of America we saw them equally frequent to the very mouth of Delaware river. They always appeared in shoals, some of which consisted of upwards of an hundred individuals; their swimming was very swift, and though they often swam along side of our ship, being taken as it were with the noise caused by the ship cutting the waves, they however soon outwent her, when they were tired with staring at her. They are from four to eight feet long, have a bill like in shape to that of a goose, a white belly, and leap up into the air frequently four feet high, and from four to eight feet in length; though their snoring indicates the effort which a leap of [18]that nature costs them. Our sailors made many vain attempts to strike one of them with the harp iron from the forecastle, when they came within reach, but their velocity always eluded their skill.

Another cetaceous fish, of the Dolphin kind,3 with which we met, is called by the sailors Bottle-nose, it swims in great shoals, has a head like a bottle, and is killed by a harpoon, and is sometimes eaten. These fish are very large, and some fully twelve feet long; their shape, and manner of tumbling and swimming make them nearly related to Porpesses. They are to be met with every where in the ocean from the channel to the very neighbourhood of America.

One Whale we saw at a distance, and knew it by the water which it spouted up.

A Dog-fish of a considerable size followed the ship for a little while, but it was soon out of sight, without our being able to determine to which species it belonged: [19]this was the only cartilaginous fish we saw on the whole passage.

Of the bony fish, we saw several beyond the Azores, but never one on this side of those isles, one of them was of a large size, and we saw it at a distance; the sailors called it an Albecor, and it is Dr. Linnæus’s Scomber Thynnus.

The Dolphin of the English is the Dorado of the Portugueze, and Dr. Linnæus calls it Coryphæna Hippuris; it is about two feet and a half long, near the head six inches deep, and three inches broad; from the head the Dolphin decreases on all sides towards the tail, where its perpendicular depth is one inch and a half, and its breadth hardly one inch. The colour of the back near the head is a fine green on a silver ground, but near the tail of a deep blue; the belly is white, and sometimes mixed with a deep yellow, on the sides it has some round pale brown spots. It has six and not seven fins as was imagined; two of them are on the breast, two on the belly, one at the tail extending to the anus, and one along the whole back, which is of a fine blue: when the fish is just taken the extremities of the most outward rays in the tail were eight inches one from another. Their motion when they [20]swam behind, or along side of the ship was very slow, and gave a fair opportunity to hit them with the harpoon, though some are taken with a hook and line, and a bait of chicken bowels, small fish, or pieces of his own species, or the flying fish, which latter are their chief food: and it is by their chasing them, that the flying fish leave their element to find shelter in one to which they are strangers. The Dolphins sometimes leap a fathom out of the water, and love to swim about casks and logs of wood, that sometimes drive in the sea. They are eaten with thick butter, when boiled, and sometimes fried, and afford a palatable food, but rather somewhat dry. In the bellies of the fish of this species which we caught, several animals were found, viz. an Ostracion; a little fish with blue eyes, which was yet alive, being just the moment before swallowed, and measuring two inches in length; another little fish; a curious marine insect, and a flying fish, all which not yet being damaged by digestion, I preserved in spirits.

The Flying Fish (Exocoetus volitans, Linn.) are always seen in great shoals, sometimes of an hundred or more getting at once out of the water, being pursued by greater fish, and chiefly by Dolphins; they rise about a yard, and even a fathom above the water [21]in their flight, but this latter height they only are at, when they take their flight from the top of a wave; and sometimes it is said they fall on the deck of ships. The greatest distance they fly, is a good musket-shot, and this they perform in less than half a minute’s time; their motion is somewhat like that of the yellow-hammer, (Emberiza Citrinella, Linn.). It is very remarkable that I found the course they took always to be against the wind, and though I was contradicted by the sailors, who affirmed that they went at any direction, I nevertheless was confirmed in my opinion by a careful observation during the whole voyage, according to which they fly constantly either directly against the wind, or somewhat in an oblique direction.4

We saw likewise the fish called Bonetos, (Scomber Pelamys, Linn.) they were likewise in shoals, hunting some smaller fish, which chase caused a noise like to that of a cascade, because they were all swimming close in a body; but they always kept out of the reach of our harpoons. [22]

Of amphibious animals, or reptiles; we met twice with a Turtle, one of which was sleeping, the other swam without taking notice of our ship; both were of two feet diameter.

Birds are pretty frequently seen on the ocean, though Aquatic Birds are more common than Land Birds.

The Petrel (Procellaria Pelagica, Linn.) was our companion from the channel to the shores of America. Flocks of this bird were always about our ship, chiefly in that part of the sea, which being cut by the ship, forms a smooth surface, where they frequently seem to settle, though always on the wing. They pick up or examine every thing that falls accidentally from the ship, or is thrown over board: little fish seem to be their chief food; in day time they are silent, in the dark clamorous; they are reputed to forebode a storm, for which reason the sailors disliking their company, complimented them with the name of witches; but they are as frequent in fair weather, without a storm following their appearance. To me it appeared as if they stayed sometimes half an hour and longer under the waves, and the sailors assured me they did. They look like swallows, and like them they skim sometimes on the water. [23]

The Shearwater (Procellaria Puffinus, Linn.) is another sea-bird, which we saw every where on our voyage, from the channel to the American coasts; it has much the appearance and size of the dark-grey Sea-gull, or of a Duck; it has a brown back, and commonly a white ring round its neck, and a peculiar slow way of flying. We plainly saw some of these birds feed on fish.

The Tropic bird (Phaëton æthereus, Linn.) has very much the shape of a gull, but two very long feathers, which it has in its tail, distinguish it enough from any other bird; its flight is often exceedingly high: the first of this kind we met, was at about forty deg. north lat. and forty-nine or fifty deg. west long. from London.

Common Gulls (Larus canus, Linn.) we saw, when we were opposite the Land’s End, the most westerly cape of England, and when according to our reckoning we were opposite Ireland.

Terns (Sterna hirundo, Linn.) though of a somewhat darker colour than the common ones, we found after the forty-first deg. of north lat. and forty-seventh deg. west long. from London, very plentifully, and sometimes in flocks of some hundreds; sometimes they settled, as if tired, on our ship. [24]

Within the American gulph we discovered a sea-bird at a little distance from the ship, which the sailors called a Sea-hen.

Land-birds are now and then seen at sea, and sometimes at a good distance from any land, so that it is often difficult, to account for their appearance in so uncommon a place. August the 18th. we saw a bird which settled on our ship, and was perfectly like the great Titmouse, (Parus major, Linn.) upon an attempt to catch it, it got behind the sails, and could never be caught.

September the 1st. We observed some Land-birds flying about our ship, which we took for Sand Martins (Hirundo riparia, Linn.) sometimes they settled on our ship, or on the sails; they were of a greyish brown colour on their back, their breast white, and the tail somewhat furcated; a heavy shower of rain drove them afterwards away, September the 2d. a Swallow fluttered about the ship, and sometimes it settled on the mast; it seemed to be very tired; several times it approached our cabin windows, as if it was willing to take shelter there. These cases happened about forty deg. north lat. and between forty-seven and forty-nine deg. west long. from London, and also about twenty deg. long. or [25]more than nine hundred and twenty sea miles from any land whatsoever.

September the 10th. within the American gulph a large bird, which we took for an Owl, and likewise a little bird settled on our sails.

September the 12th. a Wood-pecker settled on our rigging: its back was of a speckled grey, and it seemed extremely fatigued. And another land-bird of the passerine class, endeavoured to take shelter and rest on our ship.

Before I entirely take leave of the sea, I will communicate my observations on two curious phœnomena.

In the channel and in the ocean we saw at night time, sparks of fire, as if flowing on the water, especially where it was agitated, sometimes one single spark swam for the space of more than one minute on the ocean before it vanished. The sailors observed them commonly to appear during, and after a storm from the north, and that often the sea is as if it were full of fire, and that some such shining sparks would likewise stick to the masts and sails.

Sometimes this light had not the appearance of sparks, but looked rather like the phosphorescence of putrid wood.

The Thames-water which made our provision of fresh water, is reputed to be the [26]best of any. It not only settled in the oak casks it is kept in, but becomes in a little time stinking, when stopped up; however this nauseous smell it soon looses, after being filled into large stone juggs, and exposed to the open fresh air for two or three hours together. Often the vapours arising from a cask which has been kept close and stopped up for a great while take fire, if a candle is held near them when the cask is opened, and the Thames water is thought to have more of this quality than any other; though I was told that this even happened with any other water in the same circumstances.

Now I can resume my narrative, and therefore observe that we afterwards sailed on the river with a fair wind, pretty late at night. In the dawn of the evening we passed by Newcastle, a little town on the western shore of the river Delaware. It was already so dark, that we could hardly know it, but by the light which appeared through some of the windows. The Dutch are said to have been the first founders of this place, which is therefore reckoned the most ancient in the country, even more ancient than Philadelphia. But its trade can by no means be compared with the Philadelphia trade, though its situation has more advantages in several respects; one of which is, [27]that the river seldom freezes before it, and consequently ships can come in and go out at any time. But near Philadelphia it is almost every winter covered with ice, so that navigation is interrupted for some weeks together. But the country about Philadelphia and farther up, being highly cultivated, and the people bringing all their goods to that place, Newcastle must always be inferior to it.

I mentioned, that the Dutch laid the foundations of this town. This happened at the time, when this country was as yet subject to Sweden. But the Dutch crept in, and intended by degrees to dispossess the Swedes, as a people who had taken possession of their property. They succeeded in their attempt; for the Swedes not being able to bear with this encroachment, came to a war, in which the Dutch got the better. But they did not enjoy the fruits of their victory long: for a few years after, the English came and deprived them of their acquisition, and have ever since continued in the undisturbed possession of the country. Somewhat later at night we cast anchor, the pilot not venturing to carry the ship up the river in the dark, several sands being in the way.

September 15th. In the dawn of the [28]morning we weighed anchor, and continued our voyage up the river. The country was inhabited almost every where on both sides. The farm-houses were however pretty far asunder. About eight o’clock in the morning we sailed by the little town of Chester, on the western side of the river. In this town, our mate, who was born in Philadelphia, shewed me the places, which the Swedes still inhabit.

At last we arrived in Philadelphia about ten o’Clock in the morning. We had not been more than six weeks, or (to speak more accurately) not quite forty one days on our voyage from Gravesend to this place, including the time we spent at Deal, in supplying ourselves with the necessary fresh provisions, &c. our voyage was therefore reckoned one of the shortest. For it is common in winter time to be fourteen, nineteen, or more weeks in coming from Gravesend to Philadelphia. Hardly any body ever had a more pleasant voyage over this great ocean, than we had. Captain Lawson affirmed this several times. Nay he assured us he had never seen such calm weather in this ocean, though he had crossed it very often. The wind was generally so favourable that a boat of a middling size might have sailed in perfect safety. The [29]sea never went over our cabin, and but once over the deck, and that was only in a swell. The weather indeed was so clear, that a great number of the Germans on board slept on the deck. The cabin windows needed not the shutters. All these are circumstances which show the uncommon goodness of the weather.

Captain Lawson’s civility increased the pleasure of the voyage. For he shewed me all the friendship, that he could have shewn to any of his relations.

As soon as we were come to the town, and had cast anchor, many of the inhabitants came on board, to enquire for Letters. They took all those which they could carry, either for themselves or for their friends. Those, which remained, the captain ordered to be carried on shore, and to be brought into a coffee-house, where every body could make enquiry for them, and by this means he was rid of the trouble of delivering them himself. I afterwards went on shore with him. But before he went, he strictly charged the second mate, to let no one of the German refugees out of the ship, unless he paid for his passage, or some body else paid for him, or bought him.

On my leaving London I received letters [30]of recommendation from Mr. Abraham Spalding, Mr. Peter Collinson, Dr. Mitchel, and others to their friends here. It was easy for me therefore to get acquaintance. Mr. Benjamin Franklin, to whom Pensylvania is indebted for its welfare, and the learned world for many new discoveries in Electricity, was the first, who took notice of me, and introduced me to many of his friends. He gave me all necessary instructions, and shewed me his kindness on many occasions.

I went to day accompanied by Mr. Jacob Bengtson, a member of the Swedish consistory and the sculptor Gustavus Hesselius, to see the town and the fields which lay before it. (The former is brother of the rev. Messrs. Andrew and Samuel Hesselius, both ministers at Christiana in new Sweden, and of the late Dr. John Hesselius in the provinces of Nerik and Wermeland). My new friend had followed his brother Andrew in 1711 to this country, and had since lived in it. I found that I was now come into a new world. Whenever I looked to the ground, I every where found such plants as I had never seen before. When I saw a tree, I was forced to stop, and ask those who accompanied me, how it was called. The first plant which struck my [31]eyes was an Andropogon, or a kind of grass, and grass is a part of Botany I always delighted in. I was seized with terror at the thought of ranging so many new and unknown parts of natural history. At first I only considered the plants, without venturing a more accurate examination.

At night I took up my lodging with a grocer who was a quaker, and I met with very good honest people in this house, such as most people of this profession appeared to me, I and my Yungstrœm, the companion of my voyage, had a room, candles, beds, attendance, and three meals a day, if we chose to have so many, for twenty shillings per week in Pensylvania currency. But wood, washing and wine, if required, were to be paid for besides.

September the 16th. Before I proceed I must give a short description of Philadelphia, which I shall frequently mention in the sequel of my travels. I here put down several particulars which I marked during my stay at that place, as a help to memory.

Philadelphia, the capital of Pensylvania, a province which makes part of what formerly was called New Sweden is one of the principal towns in North-America; and next to Boston the greatest. It is situated [32]almost in the center of the English colonies, and its lat. is thirty nine deg. and fifty min. but its west long. from London near seventy five deg.

This town was built in the year 1683, or as others say in 1682, by the well known quaker William Pen, who got this whole province by a grant from Charles the second, king of England; after Sweden had given up its claims to it. According to Pen’s plan the town was to have been built upon a piece of land which is formed by the union of the rivers Delaware and Skulkill, in a quadrangular form, two English miles long and one broad. The eastern side would therefore have been bounded by the Delaware, and the western by the Skulkill. They had actually begun to build houses on both these rivers; for eight capital streets, each two English miles long, and sixteen lesser streets (or lanes) across them, each one mile in length, were marked out, with a considerable breadth, and in strait lines. The place was at that time almost an entire wilderness covered with thick forests, and belonged to three Swedish brothers called Sven’s-Sœner (Sons of Sven) who had settled in it. They with difficulty left the place, the situation of which was very advantageous, But at last they were [33]persuaded to it by Pen, who gave them a few English miles from that place twice the space of country they inhabited. However Pen himself and his descendants after him, have considerably lessened the ground belonging to them, by repeated mensurations, under pretence that they had taken more than they ought.

But the inhabitants could not be got in sufficient number to fill a place of such extent. The plan therefore about the river Skulkill was laid aside till more favourable circumstances should occur, and the houses were only built along the Delaware. This river flows along the eastern side of the town, is of great advantage to its trade, and gives a fine prospect. The houses which had already been built upon the Skulkill were transplanted hitherto by degrees. This town accordingly lies in a very pleasant country, from north to south along the river. It measures somewhat more than an English mile in length; and its breadth in some places is half a mile or more. The ground is flat and consists of sand mixed with a little clay. Experience has shewn that the air of this place is very healthy.

The streets are regular, fine, and most of them are fifty foot, English measure, broad; [34]Arch-street measures sixty six feet in breadth, and Market-street or the principal street, where the market is kept, near a hundred. Those which run longitudinally, or from north to south are seven, exclusive of a little one, which runs along the river, to the south of the market, and is called Water-street. The lanes which go across, and were intended to reach from the Delaware to the Skulkill, are eight in number. They do not go quite from east to west, but deviate a little from that direction. All the streets except two which are nearest to the river, run in a straight line, and make right angles at the intersections. Some are paved, others are not; and it seems less necessary since the ground is sandy, and therefore soon absorbs the wet. But in most of the streets is a pavement of flags, a fathom or more broad, laid before the houses, and posts put on the outside three or four fathom asunder. Under the roofs are gutters which are carefully connected with pipes, and by this means, those who walk under them, when it rains, or when the snow melts, need not fear being wetted by the dropping from the roofs.

The houses make a good appearance, are frequency several stories high, and built either of bricks or of stone; but the [35]former are more commonly used, since bricks are made before the town, and are well burnt. The stone which has been employed in the building of other houses, is a mixture of black or grey glimmer, running in undulated veins, and of a loose, and quite small grained limestone, which run scattered between the bendings of the other veins, and are of a grey colour, excepting here and there some single grains of sand, of a paler hue. The glimmer makes the greatest part of the stone; but the mixture is sometimes of another kind, as I shall relate hereafter under the article, eleventh of October. This stone is now got in great quantities in the country, is easily cut, and has the good quality of not attracting the moisture in a wet season. Very good lime is burnt every where hereabouts, for masonry.

The houses are covered with shingles. The wood for this purpose is taken from the Cupressus thyoides, Linn. or a tree which Swedes here call the white juniper-tree, and the English, the white cedar. Swamps and Morasses formerly were full of them, but at present these trees are for the greatest part cut down, and no attempt has as yet been made to plant new ones. The wood is very light, rots less than any other in [36]this country, and for that reason is exceeding good for roofs. For it is not too heavy for the walls, and will serve for forty or fifty years together. But many people already begin to fear, that these roofs will in time be looked upon as having been very detrimental to the city. For being so very light, most people who have built their houses of stone, or bricks, have been led to make their walls extremely thin. But at present this kind of wood is almost entirely destroyed. Whenever therefore in process of time these roofs decay, the people will be obliged to have recourse to the heavier materials of tiles, or the like, which the walls will not be strong enough to bear. The roof will therefore require supports, or the people be obliged to pull down the walls and to build new ones, or to take other steps for securing them. Several people have already in late years begun to make roofs of tiles.

Among the publick buildings I will first mention churches, of which there are several, for God is served in various ways in this country.

1. The English established church stands in the northern part of the town, at some distance from the market, and is the finest of all. It has a little, inconsiderable [37]steeple, in which is a bell to be rung when it is time to go to church, and on burials. It has likewise a clock which strikes the hours. This building which is called Christ church, was founded towards the end of the last century, but has lately been rebuilt and more adorned. It has two ministers who get the greatest part of their salary from England. In the beginning of this century, the Swedish minister the Rev. Mr. Rudmann, performed the functions of a clergyman to the English congregation for near two years, during the absence of their own clergyman.

2. The Swedish church, which is otherwise called the church of Weekacko, is on the southern part of the town, and almost without it, on the river’s side, and its situation is therefore more agreeable than that of any other. I shall have an opportunity of describing it more exactly, when I shall speak of the Swedes in particular, who live in this place.

3. The German Lutheran church, is on the north-west side of the town. On my arrival in America it had a little steeple, but that being but up by an ignorant architect, before the walls of the church were quite dry, they leaned forwards by its weight, and therefore they were forced [38]to pull it down again in the autumn of the year 1750. About that time the congregation received a fine organ from Germany. They have only one minister, who likewise preaches at another Lutheran church in Germantown. He preaches alternately one sunday in that church, and another in this. The first clergyman which the Lutherans had in this town, was the Rev. Mr. Muhlenberg, who laid the foundations of this church in 1743, and being called to another place afterwards, the rev. Mr. Brunholz from Sleswick was his successor, and is yet here. Both these gentlemen were sent to this place from Hall in Saxony, and have been a great advantage to it by their peculiar talent of preaching in an edifying manner. A little while before this church was built, the Lutheran Germans had no clergyman for themselves, so that the every-where beloved Swedish minister at Weekacko, Mr. Dylander, preached likewise to them. He therefore preached three sermons every sunday; the first early in the morning to the Germans; the second to the Swedes, and the third in the afternoon to the English, and besides this he went all the week into the country and instructed the Germans who lived separately there. He therefore frequently preached sixteen [39]sermons a week. And after his death, which happened in November 1741, the Germans first wrote to Germany for a clergyman for themselves. This congregation is at present very numerous, so that every sunday the church is very much crowded. It has two galleries, but no vestry. They do not sing the collects, but read them before the altar.

4. The old Presbyterian church, is not far from the market, and on the south-side of market-street. It is of a middling size, and built in the year 1704, as the inscription on the northern pediment shews. The roof is built almost hemispherical, or at least forms a hexagon. The whole building stands from north to south, for the presbyterians do not regard, as other people do, whether their churches look towards a certain point of the heavens or not.

5. The new Presbyterian church was built in the year 1750, by the New-lights in the north-western part of the town. By the name of New-lights, are understood the people who have, from different religions, become proselytes to the well known Whitefield, who in the years 1739, 1740, and likewise in 1744 and 1745 travelled through almost all the English colonies. His delivery, his extraordinary zeal, and [40]other talents so well adapted to the intelects of his hearers, made him so popular that he frequently, especially in the two first years, got from eight thousand to twenty thousand hearers in the fields. His intention in these travels, was to collect money for an orphans hospital which had been erected in Georgia. He here frequently collected seventy pounds sterling at one sermon; nay, at two sermons which he preached in the year 1740, both an one sunday, at Philadelphia, he got an hundred and fifty pounds. The proselytes of this man, or the above-mentioned new-lights, are at present merely a sect of presbyterians. For though Whitefield was originally a clergyman of the English church, yet he deviated by little and little from her doctrines; and on arriving in the year 1744 at Boston in New England, he disputed with the Presbyterians about their doctrines, so much that he almost entirely embraced them. For Whitefield was no great disputant, and could therefore easily be led by these cunning people, whithersoever they would have him. This likewise during his latter stay in America caused his audience to be less numerous than during the first. The new-lights built first in the year 1741, a great house in the western part of the [41]town, to hold divine service in. But a division arising amongst them after the departure of Whitefield, and besides on other accounts, the building was sold to the town in the beginning of the year 1750, and destined for a school. The new-lights then built a church which I call the new Presbyterian one. On its eastern pediment is the following inscription, in golden letters: Templum Presbyterianum, annuente numine, erectum, Anno Dom. MDCCL.

6. The old German reformed church is built in the west north-west part of the town, and looks like the church in the Ladugoordfield near Stockholm. It is not yet finished, though for several years together, the congregation has kept up divine service in it. These Germans attended the German service at the Swedish church, whilst the Swedish minister Mr. Dylander lived.—But as the Lutherans got a clergyman for themselves on the death of the last, those of the reformed church made likewise preparations to get one from Dordrecht; and the first who was sent to them, was the Rev. Mr. Slaughter, whom I found on my arrival. But in the year 1750, another clergyman of the reformed church arrived from Holland, and by his artful behaviour, so insinuated himself into the favour of the Rev. Mr. [42]Slaughter’s congregation, that the latter lost almost half his audience. The two clergymen then disputed for several sundays together, about the pulpit, nay, people relate that the new comer mounted the pulpit on a saturday, and stayed in it all night. The other being thus excluded, the two parties in the audience, made themselves the subject both of the laughter and of the scorn of the whole town, by beating and bruising each other, and committing other excesses. The affair was inquired into by the magistrates, and decided in favour of the rev. Mr. Slaughter, the person who had been abused.

7. The new reformed church, was built at a little distance from the old one by the party of the clergyman, who had lost his cause. This man however had influence enough to bring over to his party almost the whole audience of his antagonist, at the end of the year 1750, and therefore this new church will soon be useless.

8. 9. The Quakers have two meetings, one in the market, and the other in the northern part of the town. In them are according to the custom of this people, neither altars, nor pulpits, nor any other ornaments usual in churches; but only seats and some sconces. They meet thrice every [43]sunday in them, and besides that at certain times every week or every month. I shall mention more about them hereafter.

10. The Baptists, have their service, in the northern part of the town.

11. The Roman Catholicks, have in the south-west part of the town a great house, which is well adorned within, and has an organ.

12. The Moravian Brethren, have hired a great house, in the northern part of the town, in which they performed the service both in German and in English; not only twice or three times every sunday, but likewise every night after it was grown dark. But in the winter of the year 1750, they were obliged to drop their evening meetings; some wanton young fellows having several times disturbed the congregation, by an instrument sounding like the note of a cuckoo, for this noise they made in a dark corner, not only at the end of every stanza, but likewise at that of every line, whilst they were singing a hymn.

Those of the English church, the New-lights, the Quakers, and the Germans of the reformed religion, have each of them their burying places on one side out of town, and not near their churches, though the first of these sometimes make an exception. All the others bury their dead in [44]their church-yards, and Moravian brethren bury where they can. The Negroes are buried in a particular place out of town.

I now proceed to mention the other publick buildings in Philadelphia.

The Town-hall, or the place where the assemblies are held, is situated in the western part of the town, it is a fine large building, having a tower with a bell in the middle, and is the greatest ornament to the town. The deputies of each province meet in it commonly every October, or even more frequently if circumstances require it, in order to consider of the welfare of the country, and to hold their parliaments or diets in miniature. There they revise the old laws, and make new ones.

On one side of this building stands the Library, which was first begun in the year 1742, on a publick spirited plan, formed and put in execution by the learned Mr. Franklin. For he persuaded first the most substantial people in town to pay forty shillings at the outset, and afterwards annually ten shillings, all in Pensylvania currency, towards purchasing all kinds of useful books. The subscribers are entitled to make use of the books. Other people are likewise at liberty to borrow them for a certain time, but must leave a pledge and [45]pay eight-pence a week for a folio volume, six-pence for a quarto, and four-pence for all others of a smaller size. As soon as the time, allowed a person for the perusal of the volume, is elapsed, it must be returned, or he is fined. The money arising in this manner is employed for the salary of the librarian, and for purchasing new books. There was already a fine collection of excellent works, most of them English; many French and Latin, but few in any other language. The subscribers were so kind to me, as to order the librarian, during my stay here, to lend me every book, which I should want, without requiring any payment of me. The library was open every saturday from four to eight o’clock in the afternoon. Besides the books, several mathematical and physical instruments, and a large collection of natural curiosities were to be seen in it. Several little libraries were founded in the town on the same footing or nearly with this.

The Court House stands in the middle of Market street, to the west of the market, it is fine building, with a little tower in which there is a bell. Below and round about this building the market is properly kept every week.

The building of the Academy, is in the [46]western part of the town. It was formerly as I have before mentioned, a meeting-house of the followers of Whitefield, but they sold it in the year 1750, and it was destined to be the seat of an university, or to express myself in more exact terms, to be a college, it was therefore fitted up to this purpose. The youths are here only taught those things which they learn in our common schools; but in time, such lectures are intended to be read here, as are usual in real universities.

At the close of the last war, a redoubt was erected here, on the south side of the town, near the river, to prevent the French and Spanish privateers from landing. But this was done after a very strong debate. For the quakers opposed all fortifications, as contrary to the tenets of their religion, which allow not christians to make war either offensive or defensive, but direct them to place their trust in the Almighty alone. Several papers were then handed about for and against the opinion. But the enemy’s privateers having taken several vessels belonging to the town, in the river, many of the quakers, if not all of them, found it reasonable to forward the building of the fortification as much as possible, at least by a supply of money.

Of all the natural advantages of the [47]town, its temperate climate is the most considerable, the winter not being over severe, and its duration but short, and the summer not too hot; the country round about bringing forth those fruits in the greatest plenty, which are raised by husbandry. Their September and October are like the beginning of the Swedish August. And the first days in their February are frequently as pleasant, as the end of April and the beginning of May in Sweden. Even their coldest days in some winters have been no severer, than the days at the end of autumn are in the middlemost parts of Sweden, and the southern ones of Finland.

The good and clear water in Philadelphia, is likewise one of its advantages. For though there are no fountains in the town, yet there is a well in every house, and several in the streets, all which afford excellent water for boiling, drinking, washing, and other uses. The water is commonly met with at the depth of forty feet. The water of the river Delaware is likewise good. But in making the wells, a fault is frequently committed, which in several places of the town, spoils the water which is naturally good; I shall in the sequel take an opportunity of speaking further about it.

The Delaware is exceeding convenient [48]for trade. It is one of the greatest rivers in the world: is three English miles broad at its mouth, two miles at the town of Wilmington, and three quarters of a mile at Philadelphia. This city lies within ninety or an hundred English miles from the sea, or from the place where the river Delaware discharges itself into the bay of that name. Yet its depth is hardly ever less than five or six fathom. The greatest ships therefore can sail quite up to the town and anchor in good ground in five fathoms of water, on the side of the bridge. The water here has no longer a saltish taste, and therefore all destructive worms, which have fastened themselves to the ships in the sea, and have pierced holes into them, either die, or drop off, after the ship has been here for a while.

The only disadvantage which trade labours under here, is the freezing of the river almost every winter for a month or more. For during that time the navigation is entirely stopped. But this does not happen at Boston, New York, and other towns which are nearer the sea.

The tide comes up to Philadelphia, and even goes thirty miles higher, to Trenton. The difference between high and low water is eight feet at Philadelphia.

The cataracts of the Delaware near [49]Trenton, and of the Skulkill at some distance from Philadelphia, make these rivers useless further up the country, in regard to the conveyance of goods either from or to Philadelphia. Both must therefore be carried on waggons or carts. It has therefore already been thought of to make these two rivers navigable in time, at least for large boats and small vessels.

Several ships are annually built of American oak, in the docks which are made in several parts of the town and about it, yet they can by no means be put in comparison with those built of European oak, in point of goodness and duration.

The town carries on a great trade, both with the inhabitants of the country, and to other parts of the world, especially to the West Indies, South America, and the Antilles; to England, Ireland, Portugal, and to several English colonies in North America. Yet none but English ships are allowed to come into this port.

Philadelphia reaps the greatest profits from its trade to the West Indies. For thither the inhabitants ship almost every day a quantity of flour, butter, flesh and other victuals; timber, plank and the like. In return they receive either sugar, molasses, rum, indigo, mahogany, and other goods, [50]or ready money. The true mahogany which grows in Jamaica, is at present almost all cut down.

They send both West India goods, and their own productions to England; the latter are all sorts of woods, especially black walnut, and oak planks for ships; ships ready built, iron, hides and tar. Yet this latter is properly bought in New Jersey, the forests of which province are consequently more ruined than any others. Ready money is likewise sent over to England, from whence in return they get all sorts of goods there manufactured, viz. fine and coarse cloth, linen, iron ware, and other wrought metals, and East India goods. For it is to be observed that England supplies Philadelphia with almost all stuffs and manufactured goods which are wanted here.

A great quantity of linseed goes annually to Ireland, together with many of the ships which are built here. Portugal gets wheat, corn, flour and maize which is not ground. Spain sometimes takes some corn. But all the money, which is got in these several countries, must immediately be sent to England, in payment for the goods which are got from thence, and yet those sums are not sufficient to pay all the debts.

But to shew more exactly, what the town and province have imported from [51]England, in different years, I shall here insert an extract from the English custom-house books, which I got from the engineer, Lewis Evans, at Philadelphia, and which will sufficiently answer the purpose. This gentleman had desired one of his friends in London to send him a compleat account of all the goods shipped from England to Pensylvania in several years. He got this account, and though the goods are not enumerated in it, yet their value in money is calculated. Such extracts from the custom-house books have been made for every North-American province, in order to convince the English parliament, that those provinces have taken greater quantities of the goods in that kingdom, ever since they have turned their money into bills.

I have taken the copy from the original itself, and it is to be observed that it begins with the christmas of the year 1722, and ends about the same time of the year 1747. In the first column is the value of the foreign goods, the duty for which has already been paid in England. The second column shews the value of the goods manufactured in England and exported to Pensylvania. And in the last column these two sums are added together, but at the bottom each of the columns is cast up. [52]

But this table does not include the goods which are annually shipped in great quantities to Pensylvania from Scotland and Ireland, among which is a great quantity of linen.