Quotes from the Diary of John Bartram.

At night I hung up my blanket like a hammock,

that I might lay out of the reach of the fleas,

troublefome and conftant guefts in an Indian

hut ; but I found my contrivance too cool for

a place open on all fides,

About break of day it began to rain,

and the Indians made us a covering of bark

got after this manner: They cut the tree

round through the bark near the root, and

make the like incifion above 7 feet above

it, there horizontal ones are joined by a

perpendicular cut, on each fide of which they

after loofen the bark from the wood, and

hewing a pole at the fmall end, gradually tapering

like a wedge about 2 feet, they force

it in till they have compleated the feparation

all round, and the bark parts whole from the tree,

one of which, a foot diameter,

yields a piece 7 feet long and above

3 wide : And having now prepared four forked

fticks, they are fet into the ground the longer

in front ; on these they lay the crofs-poles

and on them the bark. This makes a good

tight fhelter in warm weather. The rain was

quickly over, but as it continued cloudy, we

did not care to leave our fhed. Here our Ihdians

fhot a young deer, that afforded us a

good feaft.

Their way of roafting eels is thus;

they cut a ftick about three foot long, and as

thick as one's thumb, they fplit it about a

foot down, and when the eel is gutted, they

coil it between the two fides of the ftick,

and bind the top clofe, which keeps the eel

flat, and then ftick one end in the ground before

a good fire.

the night following it

thundred and rained very faft, and took us

at a difadvantage, for we had made no fhelter

to keep off the rain, neither could we fee it

till juft over our heads, and it began to fall.

One of our Indians cut 4 fticks 5 feet long,

and ftuck both ends into the ground, at 2 foot

diftance, one from another ; over thefe he fpread

his match coat and crept through them, and

then fell to finging : in the mean time we were

fetting poles nflantwife in the ground, tying

others crofs them, over which we' fpread our

blanket and crept clofe under it with a fire

before us and fell faft afleep.

I waked a little after midnight, and found

our fire almoft out, fo I got the hatchet and

felled a few faplings which I laid on, and made

a roufing fire, tho' it rained ftoutly, and laying

down once more, I flept found all night.

John Bartram 1743. Travells from Pennsylvania to Canada.