Arriving at Albany. All the boats which ply between Albany and New York belong to Albany. They go up and down the Hudson River as long as it is open and free from ice. They bring from Albany boards or planks, and all sorts of timber, flour, peas, and furs, which they get from the Indians, or which are smuggled from the French. They come home almost empty, and only bring a few kinds of merchandise with them, the chief of which is rum. This is absolutely necessary to the inhabitants of Albany. They cheat the Indians in the fur trade with it; for when the Indians are drunk they are practically blind and will leave it to the Albany whites to fix the price of the furs.The boats are quite large, and have a good cabin, in which the passengers can be very commodiously lodged. They are usually built of red cedar or of white oak. Frequently the bottom consists of white oak, and the sides of red cedar, because the latter withstands decay much longer than the former. The red cedar is likewise apt to split when it hits against anything, and the Hudson is in many places full of sand and rocks, against which the keel of the boat sometimes strikes. Therefore people choose white oak [333] for the bottom as being the softer wood, and not splitting so easily. The bottom being continually under water, is not so much exposed to weathering and holds out longer.
Canoes: The canoes which the boats always have along with them are made of a single piece of wood, hollowed out: they are sharp on both ends, frequently three or four fathoms long, and as broad as the thickness of the wood will allow. The people in it do not row sitting, but usually a fellow stands at each end, with a short oar in his hand, with which he controls and propels the canoe. Those which are made here at Albany are commonly of white pine. They can do service for eight or twelve years, especially if they be tarred and painted. At Albany they are made of white pine since there is no other wood fit for them; at New York they are made of the tulip tree, and, in other parts of the country of red or white cedars: but both these trees are so small in the neighborhood of Albany that they are unfit for canoes. There are no seats in them, for if they had any, they would be more liable to be upset, as one could not keep one's equilibrium so well. One has to sit in the bottom of these canoes.Battoes are another kind of boats which are much in use in Albany: they are made of boards of white pine; the bottom is flat, that they may row the better in shallow water. They are sharp at both ends, and somewhat higher towards the end than in the middle. They have seats in them, and are rowed as commonboats. They are long, yet not all alike. Usually they are three and sometimes four fathoms long. The height from the bottom to the to the top of the board (for the sides stand almost perpendicular) is from twenty inches to two feet, and the breadth in the middle about a yard and six inches. They are chiefly made use of for carrying goods along the river to the Indians, that is, when those rivers are open enough for the battoes to pass through, and when they need not be carried by land a great way. The boats made of the bark of trees break easily by knocking against a stone, and the canoes cannot carry a great cargo, and are easily upset; the battoes are therefore preferable to them both. I saw no boats here like those in Sweden or other parts of Europe.
French Manners and Customs. The difference between the manners and customs of the French in Montreal and Canada, and those of the English in the American colonies, is as great as that between the manners of those two nations in Europe. The women in general are handsome here; they are well bred and virtuous, with an innocent and becoming freedom. They dress up very fine on Sundays; about the same as our Swedish women, and though on the other days they do not take much pains with other parts of their dress, yet they are very fond of adorning their heads. Their hair is always curled, powdered and ornamented with glittering bodkins [ornamental hairpins] and aigrettes [clusters of gems]. Every day but Sunday they wear a little neat jacket, and a short skirt which hardly reaches halfway down the leg, and sometimes not that far. And in this particular they seem to imitate the Indian women. The heels of their shoes are high and very narrow, and it is surprising how they can walk on them. In their domestic duties they greatly surpass the English women in the plantations, who indeed have taken the liberty of throwing all the burden of housekeeping upon their husbands, and sit in their chairs all day with folded arms. The women in Canada on the contrary do not spare themselves, especially among the common people, where they are always in the fields, meadows, stables, etc. and do not dislike any work whatsoever. However, they seem rather remiss in regard to the cleaning of the utensils and apartments, for sometimes the floors, both in the town and country, are hardly cleaned once in six months, which is a disagreeable sight to one who comes from amongst the Dutch and English, where the constant scouring and scrubbing of the floors is reckoned as important as the exercise of religion itself. To prevent the thick dust, which is thus left on the floor from being noxious to the health, the women wet it several times a day, which lays the dust, and they repeat this as often as the dust is dry and begins to rise again. Upon the whole, however, they are not averse to the taking part in all the business of housekeeping, and I have with pleasure seen the daughters of the better sort of people and of the governor himself, not too finely dressed, going into kitchens and cellars to see that everything was done as it ought to be. And they also carry their sewing with them, even the governor's daughters.
The men are extremely civil and take their hats off to every person whom they meet in the streets. This is difficult for anyone whose duties demand that he be out doors often, especially in the evening when every family sits outside their door, near the street. It is customary to return a visit the day after you have received one, even though one should have several scores to pay in one day.
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