Penfyhania, Philadelphia. 157 



and have obliged the people to pull them down 

 again. On digging deeper, for a very hard 

 ground to build upon, they have found a quan- 

 tity of the above flime, wood, roots, &c. 



ARE notthefe reafons fufficient to make one 

 fuppofe, that thofe places in Philadelphia, which 

 are at prefent fourteen feet and more under 

 ground, formerly were the bottom of the fea, 

 and that, by feveral accidents, fand, earth, and 

 other things, were carried upon it ? or, that the 

 Delaware formerly was broader than it is at pre- 

 fent ? or, that it has changed its courfe ? This 

 laft ftill often happens at prefent; the river 

 breaking oft the bank on one fide, and forming 

 one on the other. Both the Swedes and Englifo 

 often mewed me fuch places. 



Oft. 1 8th. AT prefent I did not find above 

 ten different kinds of plants in bloflbm : they 

 were, a Gent tana, two fpecies of After, the com- 

 mon Golden Rod, or Solidago Virga aurea, a fpe- 

 cies of Hieracium y the yellow Wood Sorrel, or 

 Oxah's corniculata y the Fox Gloves, or Digitalis 

 purpurea, the Hamamelis Virginiana, or Witch 

 Hazel, our common Millefoil, or Acbillaa Mil- 

 lefolium, and our Dandelion, or Leontodon a~ 

 raxacum. All other plants had for this year laid 

 afide their gay colours. Several trees, especially 

 thofe which were to flower early in fpring, had 

 already formed fuch large buds, that on opening 

 them all the parts of fr unification , fuch as Calyx, 

 Corolla, Stamina, and Piftillum, were plainly dif- 

 tinguifhable. It was therefore eafy to determine 

 the genus to which fuch trees belonged. Such 

 were the red maple, or Acer rubrum, and the 



Lauras 



