1836.] 



FARiMERS' REGISTER. 



389 



like stone parymidis, three or more ells high, with 

 a broad base, and composed of a solid material as 

 hard as stone : tliese are the storehouses and cas- 

 tles of the ants, from the summits ol" which they 

 discern sudden inundations, and saltily behold the 

 Hoating carcasses ot'less mdustrious animals. Else- 

 where I have seen an immense plain, so covered 

 with low ant-hills, that the liorse could not move 

 a step without stumbling. In the plains you may 

 olten observe a broad path, throuirh which you 

 would swear the legions ol" Xerxes might have 

 passed. The Spaniards hollow out these pyra- 

 midal heaps, and use them lor ovens, or reduce 

 them to a powder, which, mixed with water, serves 

 admirably to floor houses. Pavements of this 

 kind resemble stone in appearance and hardness, 

 and are said to prevent the breeding of fleas and 

 other insects. But hear u hat mischief ants com- 

 mit within doors. They flock in a lontj and al- 

 most endless company to the sacks of wheat, and 

 in a journey uninterrupted by day or night (if 

 there be a moon,) carry off by degrees some bush- 

 els. They will entirely strip fi-uit trees of their 

 leaves, unless you twist a cow's tail round the 

 trunk to hinder their ascent, and eat away the 

 crops so completely that you would think they 

 had been cut with a sickle. Moreover, ants of 

 various kinds are extremely destructive bolh to 

 vineyards and gardens, devouring vegetables and 

 pulse to the very root. Set a young plant in the 

 yround, and the next day you will seek it in vain. 

 They refrain from pepper on account of its pun- 

 genc}''. If you leave meat, either dressed or raw, 

 in your apartment, you will soon find it blackened 

 with swarms of ants. They devour all sorts of 

 trash, the very carcasses of beetles, toads, and 

 snakes. On returning to my apartment, I found 

 a little bird which I kept in a cage devoured by 

 ants. Nor do they abstain I'rom the bodies of 

 sleeping persons. In the dead ol the night an 

 army of ants will issue from the wall or pavement, 

 get upon the bed, and unless you instantly make 

 your escape, stinir you all over. This happen so 

 frequently in the Guarany colonies, that we were 

 obliged to burn a candle at night; for lighted 

 sheets of paper thrown upon the swarm are the 

 only means of driving them away. The Portu- 

 guese have an old saying, that the an's are queens 

 of Brazil. Certainly we have found them the so- 

 vereigns of Paraguay. There may be said to be 

 more trouble in conquering these insects, than all 

 the savages put together; for every contrivance 

 hitherto devised serves only to put them to flight, 

 not banish them effectually." 



THE MOST A^"CIE^'T DESCRIPTIOA' OF VIR- 

 GINIA. 



Extracted from "The Trve Travels, Adventvres and Observa- 

 tions of Cajitaine lohii Smith, in tlurope, Asia, Africlie, and 

 America." Published London 1621). 



The Sixt Voyage, 1606. to anoih&r part of Virgin- 

 ia, where now are planted our English Colonies, 

 whom God increase and preserue : Discovered 

 and described by Captaine Ihon Smith, some- 

 times Governour of the Chuntrey. 



By these former relations you max^see what in- 

 conveniences still crossed those good intents, and 

 how great a matter it was all this time to finde but 

 a harbour, althoujrh there be so many. But this 

 Virginia is a country in America bet weeue the de- 



grees of 34. and 45. of the North latitude. The 

 bounds thereof on the east side are the great 

 ocean: on the south lycth Florida: on the north 

 Nova Francia: as for the west thereotj the limits 

 are vnknowne. Of all this country we purpose 

 not to speake, but onely of that part which was 

 planted by the Eiitrlish men, in the yeare of our 

 Lord, 1606. And this is vnder the degrees 37. 38. 

 and 39. The temperature of this country doth 

 aixree well with English constitutions, being once 

 seasoned to the country. Which appeared by 

 this, that though by many occasions our people 

 f(3ll sicke ; yet did they recover by very small 

 meanes, and continued in health, though there 

 were other great cau.ses, not onely to haue made 

 them sicke, but even to end their dayes, &c. 



The sommer is hot asm Spaine; the winter cold 

 as in France or England. The heat of sommer 

 is in June, luly, and August, but commonly the 

 coole breeses asswage the vehemency of the heat. 

 The chiefe of winter is halle December, lanuary, 

 February, and halfe March. The colde is ex- 

 treame sharpe, but here the proverbc is true, that 

 no cxtreanie lono- coniinueth. 



In the yeare 1607. was an extraordinary frost in 

 most of Europe, and this frost was found as ex- 

 treame in Virginia. But the next yeare for 8 or 

 10 dayes of ill weather, other 14 dayes would be as 

 sommer. 



The vvindes here are variable, but the like thun- 

 der and lightning to purifie the ayre, I haue sel- 

 dome either scene or heard in Europe. From the 

 southwest came the greatest gusts with thunder 

 and heat. The northwest winde is commonly 

 coole and bringeth faire weather with it. From 

 the north is the greatest cold, and li^ora the east and 

 southeast as from the Bermudas, fogs and raines. 



Sometimes there are great droughts, other times 

 much raine, yet great necessitie of neither, by rea- 

 son we see not but that all the raritie of needful 

 fruits in Europe, may be there in great plentie, by 

 the industry of men, as appeareth by those we there 

 planted. 



There is but one entrance by sea into this coun- 

 try, and that is at the mouth of a very goodly 

 bay, IS or 20 myles broad. The cape on the 

 south is called Cape Henry, in honour of our most 

 noble Prince. The land white hilly sands like vn- 

 to the Downes, and all along the shores great 

 plentie of pines and firres. 



The north Cape is called Cape Charles, in hon- 

 our of the noble J)uke of Yorke. The Isles be- 

 fore it. Smith's Isles, by the name of the discover- 

 er. Within is a country that may haue the pre- 

 rogaliue overthe most pleasant-places knowne, for 

 large and pleasant navigable rivers: heaven and 

 earth never agreed better to fi-ame a place for mans 

 habitation, were it fully manured and inhabited 

 by industrious people. Here are mountaines, hils, 

 plaines, valleyes, rivers and brookes, all running 

 most pleasantly into a fiiire bay, compassed, but 

 for the mouth, with fruilfuU and delightsome land. 

 In the bay and rivers are many isles both great 

 and small, some woody, some plaine, most of them 

 low and not inhabited. This bay lyeth north and 

 south, in which the water floweth neare 200 myles 

 and hath a channel), for 140 m3'les, of depth be- 

 twixt 6 and 15 fi^idome, holding a breadih for the 

 most part 10 or 14 myles. From the head of the 

 bay to the northwest, the land is mountanous, and 

 so in a manner frona thence by a southwest line} 



