Penfylvania, Philadelphia. 



the moft hafdy wood in the country. The bot- 

 tom is made of black oak, becaufe that wood is' 

 very tough. For the river being full of ftones^ 

 and the boats frequently running again ft them, 

 the black oak gives way, and therefore does not: 

 eafily crack. But the cedar would not do for 

 this purpofe, becaufe it is hard and brittle. The 

 oak likewife is not fo much attacked by putrefac- 

 tion, when it is always kept under water. 



IN autumn, I could always get good pears here ; 

 but every body acknowledged that this fruit 

 would not fucceed well in the country. 



ALL my obfervations and remarks on the qua-* 

 lities of the Rattle-fnake, are inierted in the Me-c 

 moirs of the bwedifo Academy of Sciences, for 

 the year 1752, p. ;i6, and for the year 1753, 

 p. 54, and thither I refer the reader. * 



BEARS are very numerous higher up in the 

 country, and do much mifchief. Mr. Bartram 

 told me, that when a bear catches a cow, he kills 

 her in the following manner : he bites a hole; 

 into the hide, and blows with all his power into. 

 it, till the animal fwells exceffively and dies \ for 

 the air expands greatly between the flcfli and the. 

 hide, -j- An old Swede, called Nils Gii/iavesfon, 



who 



* Vide Medical, &c. cafes and experiments, tranflated from 

 jthe Sivedijh, London 1758. p. 282. P. 



t THIS has ail the appearance of a vu]?ar error : neither doe.8- 

 the fucceeding account of the American b.-ar- hein? carnivorous, 

 agree with the obfqrvations of the moA judicious travellers, who 

 deny the faft. P. 



BUT however, it might be feasible to reconcile both opinions,. 

 For Europe has two or three kinds of bears, one foecies of wMch. 

 is carnivorous, the other lives only on vegetables : the large, 

 brown fpecies, with its fmall variety, axe reputed to be cam- o- 



J-OU5, 



