82 



marshes banked and drained, and then plowed and sowed, some years with 

 corn* and then with English Hay-seed, I do suppose it would be healthful, 

 and very little troubled with musketoes." 



Abstract of Letter from Qias. Gordon to Dr. John Gordon, 

 Doct. of Med. at Montrose — dated Woodbridge in East 

 Jersey, 7 of March, 1685 : 



"I find it wholesome for I am not (blessed be God) troubled with de- 

 fluctions, headakes, i.nd coughes as at Edinburgh, which is a great inducement 

 for me or any valetudinary man to stay in this country. People come from 

 Barbadoes to York and hither for their healths sake. If you design to come 

 hither yourself, you may come as a Planter or a Merchant, but as a Doctor 

 of Medicine I cannot advise you ; for I hear of no diseases here to cure 

 but some Agues and some cutted legs and fingers, and there are no want of 

 Empericks for these already ; I confess you would doe more than any yet 

 in America being versed both in Chirurgery and Pharmacie ; for here are 

 abundance of curious Herbs, shrubs and Trees and no doubt Medicinall ones 

 for making of drugs — but there is little or no Doctor's employment this 

 way. — 



"Acquaint me with the value of sweet-sent Gumm, which flows from the 

 wood — Gum trees, Sassafras, Sassaparella — and such other things as the 

 country naturally produceth. Be pleased to send me some Medicines for 

 Agues, and accidental cutts or sores, in case myself or servants be overtaken 

 with them." 



1740. Saltier s History of Monmouth & Ocean Counties: 



"A map or sketch made in 1740 of Mosquito Cove and the mouth of 

 Tom's River — has marked it Barnegat Tom's Wigwam — on north point of 

 Mosquito Cove." 



Peter Kalm. 1748: 



"The gnats, which are very troublesome at night here, are called mosqui- 

 toes. They are exactly like the gnats in Sweden, only somewhat smaller. 

 In the daytime or at night they come into the houses and when the people 

 have gone to bed they begin their disagreeable humming, approach nearer 

 to the bed, and at last suck up so much blood that they can hardly fly away. 

 Their bite causes blisters on people with delicate skins. 



"When the weather has been cool for some days, the mosquitoes disappear. 

 But when it changes again, and especially after a rain, they gather fre- 

 quently in such quantities about the houses that their numbers are* astonish- 

 ing. The chimneys which have no valves for shutting them out afford the 

 gnats a free entrance into the houses of the English. In sultry evenings the 

 mosquitoes accompany the cattle in great swarms from the woods to the 

 houses, or to town, and when the cattle are driven past the houses the gnats 

 fly in wherever they can. 



"In the greatest heat of the summer they are so numerous in some places, 

 that the air seems to be quite full of them, especially near swamps and stag- 



