On Gypsum. 159 



advanced age. He informed me, that he had commu- 

 nicated his knowledge of it to one or two persons in the 

 countr}^ ; I think to the late Mr. Thomas Clifford and 

 another. He shewed me a letter, in German^ from one 

 who had gone over from Pennsylvania to Germany^ for 

 redemptioners ; as was customary at that day. The 

 writer sent over a specimen of the gypsum ; and desired 

 Mr. Barge to seek for land in this then Province^ in 

 which it could be found. It was, probably, to assist in 

 this object, among other considerations, that I was taken 

 into a secret, then utterly unknown to others in this 

 countn^ But from that time to this, I have not been 

 able to discover any quarries oigijpsum^ proper for hus- 

 bandry, in this, or any other of the United States, Tliere 

 are, in a variety of places, gypseous substances. On the 

 waters, far south, to ^^ it, on the Alatamaha; and the otiier 

 parts of that region, gypsum^ of the purest and best qua- 

 lity, and in immense quantities, is to be found, easily 

 accessible. The mountains skirting the Alatamaha^ are 

 formed of nuirhle and gypsum^ in many parts ; appearing 

 like artificial walls on the sides of the riven The quar- 

 ries in Nova Scotia^ were to us unknown at the Xiirie of 

 the introduction of the gypsum here. Burr mill stone 

 makers^ and stucco plaisterers^ were the only persons 

 acquainted with any of its uses. From one of the fonn- 

 er (the late John Br own J I procured a bushel; which 

 enabled me to begin my agricultural experiments; and 

 I faithfully pursued and extended them, as I obtained 

 more means. A quantity imported as ballast (I believe 

 20 tons) by the late captain Nathaniel Faulkner of Phi- 

 ladelphia^ then in the London trade ; and thrown out on 

 a wharf, without knowledge of its value, was the first 



