RETURN FROM PITTSBURG 315 



declared himself on the side of the King, and so lost his 

 rights ; and the state of Maryland, on the payment of 

 a seven-year ground-rent by the residents, has ad- 

 judicated to them as their possession what they once 

 held under lease from the Delancys. The place can- 

 not yet boast of any especially important trade. The 

 inhabitants are engaged in crafts and in agriculture. 

 There are some iron-works and a glass-furnace in the 

 South Mountain, but the product of these is neither 

 good nor sufficient, not so much from lack of materials 

 as of workmen. There is no navigable stream in the 

 region near by; the Monocasy, a small river four 

 miles north of here, is of too little consequence, and 

 the Potowmack, eight miles to the south, is obstructed 

 there by the neighboring falls. Baltimore and George- 

 town, both distant only some 50 to 60 miles, supply 

 this place with what they need from abroad. 



The greatest part of the inhabitants are Germans, 

 and the people are of all manner of religions ; those of 

 the English established church, the Presbyterians, Ger- 

 man Reformed, Lutherans, Catholics, and a few other 

 sects, have each their house of worship ; also there is 

 a Latin School here, and a handsome town-hall. 



Dr. Fisher at Frederick-town (also Apothecary and 

 at the time Sheriff), told the following remarkable 

 story and all those present confirmed it. A farmer, 

 Jacob Sim, living 8 miles from the town, was eleven 

 years ago in the month of July bitten by a rattle-snake. 

 Every year since, in the same month of July, he has 

 fallen ill and feverish, the skin over his whole body 

 becoming spotted blue and yellow. Carver observed 

 something like this, and mentions that it happens com- 

 monly that after the bite of a rattle-snake not only the 



