268 November 17^:. 



joiner (hewed me a bed , which he had made for him- 

 ielf, the pofts of which were of faffafras wood> 

 but as it was ten or twelve years old, there were 

 fo many bugs in it, that it feemed likely, they 

 would not let him deep peaceably. Some Eng- 

 lifhmen related, that fomeyears ago it had been cufto- 

 mary in London to drink a kind of tea of the flowers 

 of iaffafras, becaufe it was looked upon as very 

 ialutary -, but upon recollecting that the fame po- 

 tion was much ufed againft the venereal difeafe, 

 it was foon left off, left thofe that ufed it, fhould 

 be looked upon as infeded with that difeafe. In 

 Penfyhania fome people put chips of faflafras in- 

 to their cherts, where they keep all forts of 

 woollen fluffs, in order to expel the moths (or 

 Larvtfy or caterpillars of moths or tinies) which 

 commonly fettle in them in fummer. The root 

 keeps its fmell for a long while : I have feen one 

 which had lain five or fix years in the drawer of 

 a table, and flill preferved the flrength of its 

 fcent. 



A SWEDE, named Ramlo> related that the In-* 

 dians formerly dyed all forts of leather red with 

 the bark of the chefnutoak. 



Nov. 22d. AOKE HELM was one of the 

 moil considerable Swedes in this place, and his 

 father came over into this country along with the 

 Swcdijh governor Prince ; he was upwards of fe- 

 venty years of age* This old man told us, that 

 in his youth there was grafs in the woods, which 

 grew very clofe, and was every where two feet 

 high ; but that it was fo much leffened at pre- 

 lent, that the cattle hardly find food enough, and 

 that therefore four cows now give no more milk 



thau 



