New Jerfey, Raccoon. 2S7 



in their youth were full of water, even in 

 the hotteft feafon, now hardly formed a 

 narrow brook in fummer, except after 

 heavy rains ; but it did not appear to them 

 that the rivers had loft any water. 



AoKE Helm, found (on digging a well) 

 firft fand and little ftones, to the depth of 

 eight feet; next a pale coloured clay, and 

 then a black one. At the depth of fifteen 

 feet he found a piece of hard wood, and 

 feveral pieces of mundick or pyrites. He 

 told me that he knew feveral places in the 

 Delaware, where the people went in boats, 

 when he was young j but which at prefent 

 were changed into little iflands, fome of 

 which were near an Englijh mile in length. 

 Thefe iflands derive their origin from a fand 

 or bank in the river ^ on this the water 

 wafhes fome clay, in which ru£hes come 

 up, and thus the reft is generated by de- 

 grees. 



On a meeting of the oldeft Swedes \n the 

 parifti of Raccoon, I obtained the following 

 anfwers to the queftions which I afked them 

 on this account. Whenever they dig a well 

 in this neighbourhood, they always find at 

 the depth of twenty or thirty feet, great 

 numbers of oyftcr fliells and clams ; the 

 latter are, as was above-mentioned, a kind 

 Z3 of 



