In a Sea-side Forest. 185 



had taken in the Jersey coast as well as Jersey- 

 inland. He would have found more to praise and 

 less to criticise. His remark, "the rattlesnakes, 

 horned snakes, red-bellied, green, and other poison- 

 ous snakes . . . are in great plenty here," would 

 never have been written of the coast, and, in truth, 

 did not apply to the Delaware valley, where he 

 wrote the above. In all probability rattlers were 

 never very numerous, the horned snake is a 

 myth, and all others harmless. And to all these 

 demerits of dear Jersey, Kalm adds another: 

 " To these I must add," he writes, " the wood-lice, 

 with which the forests are so pestered that it is 

 impossible to pass through a bush without having 

 a whole army of them on your clothes, or to sit 

 down, though the place be ever so pleasant." 

 While in much, to my mind, the world has moved 

 backward, it has improved in this. I have passed 

 through many bushes, and sat down often, but 

 never with so inconvenient a result. 



Why this luxuriant vegetation on a sandy island 

 by the sea ? The soil suggests barrenness only. 

 Except the faint traces of decayed vegetation, it 

 is a matter of pure white sand. It is known that 



1 6* 



