106 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



their fine sense of smell, clambering up such trees for 

 the store if hunters wandering about the woods re- 

 mark this, they commonly take the skin of the bear and 

 the honey discovered by him. 



People working in these forests during the summer 

 find the wood-louse (Ticks, Seed-ticks, A cams ameri- 

 canus L.) a great plague, at many times and places 

 very numerous. Their bite causes great pain and 

 wicked boils ; with their proboscis they bore deep into 

 the skin, and when they have become fast lodged, 

 must be quite probed out, if possible. During my 

 time in the northern provinces, little was heard of this 

 pest, but according to Kalm it was abundantly felt 

 there in the years 1748, 1749, and 1750, more so in- 

 deed than ever before. 



James River passed, the parasitical plant commonly 

 called moss grew more and more frequent, and often 

 the largest trees were almost covered with it. This 

 strange plant at first sight appears very similar to 

 hanging garlands; it consists of thin, soft, woolly- 

 white, branching threads, which pend one to two or 

 more feet from the trunks and branches of trees. It 

 is the Tillandsia usneoides L. It is seen vastly oftener 

 on oaks and other deciduous trees than on pines ; and 

 oftener and more luxuriant on dead trees than on 

 living. Whether the plant prefers dead trees, thriv- 

 ing better there, or whether its encroaching growth 

 kills the tree, I will not decide. If the outer, woolly 

 covering is stripped off, (more easily done with the 

 dry plant), black, pliant, strong threads are obtained, 

 which make good material for mattrasses, cushions 

 &c, and the entire plant is very serviceable for pack- 

 ing breakable wares. The fresh plant has an insipid, 



