83 



nant water, such as the river Morris in New Jersey. The inhabitants there- 

 fore make a big fire before the houses to expel these disagreeable guests by 

 the smoke. The old Swedes here say that gnats have formerly been much 

 more numerous; that even at present they swarm in vast quantities on the 

 seashore near the salt water ; and that those which troubled us this autumn 

 in Philadelphia were of a more poisonous kind than they commonly used to 

 be. This last quality appeared from the blisters which were formed on the 

 spots where the gnats had made their sting. In Sweden I never felt any 

 other inconvenience from their sting than a little itching while they sucked. 

 But when they stung me here at night my face was so disfigured by little 

 red spots and blisters that I was almost ashamed to show myself." 



Peter Kalm, again 1748. Travels in North America. Elizabeth- 

 town Point: 



"The country was low on both sides of the river, and consisted of 

 meadows. But there was no other hay to be got, than such as commonly 

 grows in swampy grounds; for as the tide comes up in this river, these 

 low plains were sometimes overflowed when the water was high. 



"The people hereabouts are said to be troubled in summer with immense 

 swarms of gnats or musquetoes which sting them and their cattle. This 

 was ascribed to the low swampy meadows, on which these insects deposit 

 their eggs, which are afterwards hatched by the heat." 



Rev; Andrew Burnaby, Travels through the Middle Settlements 

 in North America, 1 759-1760, 3d Edition, 1798, Page 

 105: 



"The next morning I rode out, in order to visit Passaic Falls, distant 

 about twenty-three miles, and had a very agreeable tour. After riding six 

 miles I came to a town called Newark, built in an irregular scattered manner, 

 after the fashion of some of our villages in England, nearly two miles in 

 length. It has a church erected in the Gothic taste with a spire, the first 

 I had seen in America ; and some other inconsiderable public buildings. 

 Immediately on my leaving this place, I came upon the banks of Second, 

 or Passaic River, along which I travelled seventeen or eighteen miles to the 

 Falls, through a rich country, interspersed with fine fields and gentlemen's 

 seats. * * * 



"From hence I returned, and in my way crossed over the river to Colonel 

 John Schuyler's copper mines, where there is a very rich vein of ore, and 

 a fire-engine erected upon common principles. 



"After this I went' down two miles farther to the park and gardens of 

 this gentleman's brother, Colonel Peter Schuyler. In the gardens is a very 

 large collection of citrons, oranges, limes, lemons, balsams of Peru, aloes, 

 pomegranates, and other tropical plants ; and in the park I saw several 

 American and English deer, and three or four elks or moose-deer. I arrived 

 at Elizabethtown in the evening, not a little entertained with my expedi- 

 tion, but exceedingly fatigued with the violent heat of the weather and the 

 many mosquitoes that had infested me." 



