DELAWAEE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 17 



call it a Desman Rat, running in Christina river. This animal 

 has it haunts in marshes on the river bank, where it, like the 

 beaver has its holes and anfractuousnesses underneath. It feeds 

 mostly on muscels and roots and is generally when water is at 

 its lowest to be found upon the clayey mire, where it takes its 

 repasts of a huge pile of oysters and mussels. During ebb it 

 gathers its shell fishes from the river bottom and carries them 

 on to land to be devoured in moments of leisure. It is as big 

 as a cat of the grossest size, but much more bulky. In color it 

 is like an otter. The hairs are however of a greater length. It 

 is the one most enjoyable among hunts here in America to go a 

 hunting those muskrats, for no sooner do they espy a person 

 rowing in the river than they each and all of them run into the 

 river where water bubbles arise to the surface and make known 

 their whereabouts. There they crawl upon the bottom and be- 

 cause they cannot lengthily exist under the water they must 

 needs up to the surface again for air's sake and the shooting is 

 made. As soon as one is shot the two vascula where is con- 

 tained the strong desman fat, must be cut out or the skin will 

 take to itself too intense a smell that would not be pleasing to 

 everybody and not make it of such usefulness, as otherwise is 

 the case, for furs. 



May 23. Numerous observations in particular of divers 

 things and incidents, that could have occurred to me, I have 

 nevertheless not thought of such an importance as to take them 

 down in my journal for this year, for each day as they hap- 

 pened, partly for the reason that things have become that habit- 

 ual to me from my long acquaintance to them, that I have not 

 thought them worth the pain to put on paper; partly also be- 

 cause my domestic affairs and thoughts of my journey home to 

 Sweden, whereupon I in the past year, November 11, 1722, re- 

 ceived a legal summons from my Fatherland. All this has not 

 allowed me to complete the description I had with all assiduity 

 commenced upon American conditions in totality, concerning 

 Christians as well as pagans, both in regard to the essentiality 

 of religious, as also of politics and of economies, most particu- 

 larly, however, do I bemoan that my collection in historia 

 natural!, together with all my books and clothing, and a multi- 



