166 LAWSOX'S HISTORY 



coat on, it looks and smells much like a lemon. 

 The maple, of which we have two sorts, is used 

 to make trenchers, spinning-wheels, &c., withal. 



Chinkapin is a sort of chesnut, whose nuts are 

 most commonly very plentiful, insomuch that the 

 hogs get fat with them. They are rounder and 

 smaller than a chesnut, but much sweeter. The 

 wood is much of the nature of chesnut, having a 

 leaf and grain almost like it. It is used to timber 

 boats, shallops, &c., and makes anything that is 

 to endure the weather. This and the hickory are 

 very tough rods, used to whip horses withal ; yet 

 their wood in substance is very brittle. This tree 

 the vine much delights to twist about. Its good 

 firewood but very sparkling, as w^ell as sassafras. 



The birch grows all on the banks of our rivers, very 

 high up. I never saw a tree on the salts. It dif- 

 fers something in bark, from the European birch. 

 Its buds in April are eaten by the parrakeetos, 

 which resort from all parts at that season to feed 

 thereon. "Where this wood growls we are not yet 

 seated ; and as to the wine or other profits it 

 would yield, we are, at present, strangers to. 



The willow here likewise differs both in bark 

 and leaf. It is frequently found on the banks of 

 fresh water, as the birch is. 



The sycamore in these parts grows in a low, 

 swampy land, by river sides. Its bark is quite 

 different from the English, and the most beautiful 

 I ever saw, being mottled and clouded with sever- 

 al colors, as white, blue, &c. It bears no keys 



