Travels in the United States of America Part 4

But to return to the _shad_, if it must be so called; it is an excellent fish, and comes up the rivers in prodigious shoals, in the months of April and May, to sp.a.w.n. The largest nets used in this fishery are on the Delaware, where that river is from one to two miles wide. These nets are from one hundred and fifty to three hundred yards long. The greatest hawl ever known was upwards of nine thousand, from four to nine pounds per fish.

The revolution has not yet done away a fanatical law pa.s.sed by the quakers, prohibiting the catching of these fish on a sunday; which, considering the short time they remain in the river, is highly impolitic.

There are thirteen fisheries within ten miles of Philadelphia; allowing only eight sundays in the season, and ten thousand shads lost in each of the twenty-four hours, a very moderate calculation, the aggregate loss to Philadelphia, and the adjacent country, is eighty thousand fish, weighing five pounds each, on an average. I say _loss_; for the return of the fish is the same now as it was a hundred and thirty years ago, when only a few dozen were taken in the season by the Indians.

There is also a small fish which comes up the rivers with the shad; the shoals this year have been uncommonly large; upwards of ten thousand have been taken at one hawl. Like the shad, it takes salt well; and, from it's having some resemblance to a _herring_, they give it that name, though very different from the herring which visits the sh.o.r.es of Europe. I believe there is no instance of a herring running a hundred and fifty miles up a fresh water river, or existing at all in water perfectly fresh.

The above particulars you may depend upon; they were communicated to me by Mr. West, who is proprietor of the largest shad-fisheries on the Delaware.

This river also abounds in cat-fish, perch, jack, eels, and a great variety of others; above all, in sturgeon; which are frequently caught by accident in the shad-nets, and either boiled for their oil, or suffered to rot on the, sh.o.r.es, being very seldom sent to market: when this is the case, they are sold for a mere trifle, chiefly to emigrants. The Americans have conceived a violent antipathy to this fish. I recollect no instance of seeing it at their tables. They have every externals appearance of the european sturgeon, but in other respects must be _very different_, or the Americans lose one of the best fisheries in the world.

Enclosed is an extract from general Lincoln's letter on the migration of fish. He endeavours to prove, that river fish, after their pa.s.sage to the sea, whatever time they remain there, always return to the original waters in which they were sp.a.w.ned, unless some unnatural obstructions are thrown in their way.

Yours, &c.

In an old History of Bermuda, published in the year 1661, is the following pa.s.sage:--

"There is great store of fish, which being mostly unknown to the English, they gave them such names as best _liked_ them, as _porgie-fish, hog-fish, yellow-tails, cony-fish_, &c."

EXTRACT.

"Whilst I resided in Philadelphia, in 1782, and 1783, I discovered that the shad brought to market from the Scuylkill were very superiour in flavour and firmness to those taken in the Delaware, which must proceed from their food in that river, previous to their going to the sea; as they are taken by the nets of the fishermen, before they are six hours in that river, on their return. I cannot think it a romantic idea, that the waters are impregnated with certain particles, on which they have been accustomed to feed; which is sufficient to allure them to where they were originally sp.a.w.ned; or that they are piloted there by some of the old fry. This idea will not appear improbable, when we consider the general laws which seem to control the whole finny tribe; and what would be the consequence should they be thrown down? The cod-fish which occupy the banks of Newfoundland, between the lat.i.tudes of 41 and 45, are very different, and are kept so distinct, and are so similar on the respective banks, that a man acquainted with that fishery will separate those caught on one bank from those of another, with as much ease as we separate the apple from the pear.

"I am, &c.

"Lincoln."

_Baltimore, 14th October, 1794._

DEAR FRIEND,

On the 7th of September I left the city of Brotherly Love, on my way to this town.

After sailing down the Delaware about two hours, in the water stage, our skipper run us on a sand bank. As there was no remedy but to wait patiently for the flow of tide, a party of us borrowed a boat, and went a shooting on the islands with which this part of the Delaware abounds. We landed at Fort Miflin, which was the princ.i.p.al obstruction to general Howe's progress up the river, in his way to Philadelphia, and obliged him to go several hundred miles round; this fort also kept the whole british fleet at bay, for some time after the army had taken possession of that city.

Fort Miflin, or Mud Fort (so called from it's low situation) is on an island in the Delaware, about one third nearer the Pennsylvania, than the Jersey sh.o.r.e.

During the first general attack of the british fleet the fort set fire to the Augusta, of 64 guns, and she shortly after blew up; and the Merlin sloop was so roughly handled, that she was hastily evacuated. The british admiral then procured a pilot, who carried two men of war, cut down for that purpose, on the Pennsylvania side of the island; a manoeuvre the Americans deemed impracticable. The works of the fort were now completely enfiladed, and on the 15th of November, the British began; a desperate attack, both from their s.h.i.+ps on each side the island, and from a battery on the Pennsylvania sh.o.r.e.

The fort was supported by a battery on, the opposite side, and some row-gallies.

The british fire was heavy and well directed: they are supposed to have fired 1030 shots, weighing from 12 to 32 pounds, every 20 minutes, which, by the middle of the day, nearly levelled the works with the mud. This was the moment to storm the fort, which being lost by the British, the remains of the brave garrison made their retreat good to the Jersey sh.o.r.e the same night.

The British now having the complete command of the Delaware, totally dismantled this fort: in which state it remained till last year, when a french engineer was engaged to put it again into a state of defence. The works are already in great forwardness: the parapets are, according to the new french improvements, without embrasures, and the guns mounted on false carriages.

We also landed on several of, the other islands, and had tolerable sport.

At high water we proceeded on our voyage, and about twelve the next day arrived at Newcastle; whence I walked to Glasgow, a small village within a few miles of the river Elk, where general Howe landed his troops, after sailing two hundred and fifty miles up the bay of Chesapeak. His head quarters were at the house where I slept; the landlord also informed me, that I lay on the same bed general Was.h.i.+ngton occupied four times a year, in his way to his seat at Mount Vernon; an honour I did not _exactly_ know the _value_ of till the next morning, when he brought in _his bill_; after satisfying my conscientious landlord, I walked to French Town, which consists of _two houses_. This _town_ is about 17 miles from the Delaware, and has a communication with the Chesapeak by means of the river Elk. But there is a nearer approximation of the Chesapeak to the Delaware, from a creek running into the latter at Apoquiminick, where the distance is only 7 miles: over this neck of land, all the trade between Philadelphia and Baltimore is conveyed in waggons. How soon would a ca.n.a.l be cut in such a situation in England!

I embarked in the Baltimore pacquet; had a pleasant sail down the Elk; in four hours entered the bay, and arrived here the same evening.

_September 12th._

The yellow fever is certainly in town. Is it not astonis.h.i.+ng the example of Philadelphia last year did not teach the inhabitants of Baltimore the necessity of building a lazaretto, and establis.h.i.+ng a strict quarantine on all vessels from the infected islands in the West Indies? The first was not even attempted, and the last so carelessly performed, that I am mistaken if the fever has not been imported into more than _one_ part of the town.

_Sept. 29th_.--The theatre closed at the request of the committee of health, the fever gaining ground rapidly, and the inhabitants quitting the town as fast as possible.

_October the 2d_.

The committee of health published their list of deaths, which they mean to continue every 24 hours. Died since the 1st of August 344 persons. The next day a violent cold and penetrating N.W. wind set in, with uncommon severity, which has entirely stopped the infection.

_Oct. 14th_.--The late cold weather has completely destroyed the yellow fever. The inhabitants are returned, and trade is restored to its usual course.

Yours, sincerely, &c.

Baltimore and the Point[Footnote: Or Fell's Point, the name given to a small but well-situated town about a mile lower down the bay.] may be considered but as one town, as the interval that parts them is already laid out for building.

There is not perhaps on the face of the earth so many excellent situations for a sea-port as in this vicinity; and yet they have fixed on the very spot where the town should _not_ be.

Baltimore, by being built so far from the bay of Chesapeak, has not depth of water for a vessel of two hundred tons, nearer than the Point. The lower part of the town is a dead flat, intersected with ca.n.a.ls and docks, filled with stagnated water from the Basin: owing to this circ.u.mstance the town is unhealthy at certain seasons, and subject, in the fall, to musquitoes: these inconveniences might have been avoided by building the town a mile lower, on either side the bay.

But there is a much better situation for a town and port on an inlet from the Patapsico, west of the town, round a point, which runs about W.N.W.

where I have marked No. 10.

On this spot is water for a vessel of eight hundred tons burden, sufficiently fresh to exclude the worms, and at the same time a current strong enough to prevent stagnation. A bay perfectly secure from the N.W.

and other dangerous winds, a gradual rise of ground consisting of a fine dry gravel to build upon; in short, every natural advantage. This was the original situation designed for the town; but the proprietor was concerned in a wharf in this neighbourhood, and fearing the new town would injure his business, positively refused his consent to the proposals made him on this occasion, and by that means, lost one of the first estates perhaps ever offered to an individual.

I was in this bay, on a fis.h.i.+ng party, a few days ago, with one of his descendants, who was lamenting the infatuation of his ancestor. This gentleman was so kind as to point out and explain the foregoing particulars.

You will naturally inquire how the town came to be built in it's present situation? The governor of the province was proprietor of most of the land. Is not _that_ a sufficient reason.

About forty years ago the two towns of Baltimore, and the Point, contained only _two_ brick houses, and a few wooden ones: in a late edition of Salmon's Geography, I find Baltimore described as consisting of a few straggling houses, scarcely deserving the _name_ of a _town_. Within these fifteen years it has increased in size and population beyond all precedent. It now contains nearly twenty thousand inhabitants; and, in point of trade, Baltimore is the fourth town in America.

The following anecdote will give you some idea of the growth of the town, and amazing increase in the value of land:--

An english gentleman, who emigrated to this country some years ago, built a small _country seat_ on the side of the race ground; this house is now in the possession of a colonel Rogers, and in the _centre street of Baltimore_. The colonel has sold the wings for two thousand guineas to build upon, and still retains the house.

But the improvements have not advanced in proportion to the buildings; there is scarcely a dozen lamps in the whole town, which is badly paved, &c.

All the inhabitants agree as to the necessity of establis.h.i.+ng a powerful, and energetic government, for the regulation of the town, _somewhere_; but though frequent town meetings have been called, they cannot agree about the _means_.

Something must soon be done, as the nuisances are every day increasing.

Yours sincerely, &c.