Selected quad for the lemma: water_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
water_n	female_a	year_n	young_a	40	3	7.2631	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A46301	An account of two voyages to New-England wherein you have the setting out of a ship, with the charges, the prices of all necessaries for furnishing a planter and his family at his first coming, a description of the countrey, natives, and creatures, with their merchantil and physical use, the government of the countrey as it is now possessed by the English, &c., a large chronological table of the most remarkable passages, from the first dicovering of the continent of America, to the year 1673 / by John Josselyn, Gent.	Josselyn, John, fl. 1630-1675.	1674 (1674)	Wing J1091; ESTC R20234	110,699	292

Owl the most flagging Bird that is of which there are three sorts a great grey Owl with ears a little grey Owl and a white Owl which is no bigger than a Thrush Plinie writes that the brains of an Owl asswageth the pain inflammation in the lap of the ear And that Eggs of an Owl put into the liquour that a to spot useth to be drunk with will make him loath drunkenness ever after But now peradventure some will say what doth this man mean to bring Owls to Athens verily Sirs I presume to say had I brought over of the little white Owls they would have been acceptable they are good mousers and pretty Birds to look upon the Athenians no question are better imployed than to take notice of my Owls poor ragged Birds they are and want those glistering golden feathers that Draiton's Owl is adorned with yet they are somewhat of that nature if an Athenian chance in this season of divertisement to cast an eye upon them I shall be glad but more glad if he vouchsafe to prune and correct their feathers which I confess are discomposed for want of Art plain Birds they are and fit for none but plain men to manage Sirs do not mistake me there 's no man living honours an Athenian more than I do especially where I perceive great abilities concomiting with goodness of nature A good nature saith Mr. Perkins is the Character of God and God is the father of learning knowledge and every good gift and hath condescended to become a School-master to us poor mortals furnishing of us with Philosophy Historie Divinity by his holy Scriptures which if we diligently learn and practise we shall in time be brought into his Heavenly Academy where we shall have fulness and perfection of knowledge eternally But there are a Generation of men and women in this prophane age that despise Gods learning and his Ushers to the Athenians choosing to wallow in the pleasures of sin for a season I shall conclude this excursion with that which a Poet writ sometime since and then return to the trimming of my Owl Say thou pour'st them Wheat And they would Acorns eat 'T were simple fury in thee then to wast Thy self on them that have no tast No give them draff their fill Husks Grains and swill They that love Lees and leave the lustie Wine Envy them not their palats with the Swine The Raven is here numerous and Crowes but Rooks Danes Popinjaes Megpies there be none It is observed that the female of all Birds of prey and Ravin is ever bigger than the male more venturous hardy and watchful but such Birds as do not live by prey and Ravin the male is more large than the female So much for Birds of prey the next are Birds for the dish and the first of these is The Turkie which is in New-England a very large Bird they breed twice or thrice in a year if you would preserve the young Chickens alive you must give them no water for if they come to have their fill of water they will drop away strangely and you will never be able to rear any of them they are excellent meat especially a Turkie-Capon beyond that for which Eight shillings was given their Eggs are very wholesome and restore decayed nature exceedingly But the French say they breed the Leprosie the Indesses make Coats of Turkie-feathers woven for their Children The Partridge is larger than ours white flesht but very dry they are indeed a sort of Partridges called Grooses The Pidgeon of which there are millions of millions I have seen a flight of Pidgeons in the spring and at Michaelmas when they return back to the Southward for four or five miles that to my thinking had neither beginning nor ending length nor breadth and so thick that I could see no Sun they ●oyn Nest to Nest and Tree to Tree by their Nests many miles together in Pine-Trees But of late they are much dimi●ished the English taking them with Nets 〈◊〉 have bought at Boston a dozen of Pidgeons ready pull'd and garbidgd for three penc Ring Doves they say are there too but I could never see any The Snow-Bird is like a Chaf-Finch go in flocks and are good meat The singing Birds are Thrushes with red breasts which will be very fat and are good meat so are the Thressels Filladies are small singing Birds Ninmurders little yellow Birds New-England Nightingales painted with orient colours black white blew yellow green and scarlet and sing sweetly Wood-larks Wrens Swallows who will sit upon Trees and Starlings black as Ravens with scarlet pinions other sorts of Birds there are as the Troculus Wag-tail or Dish-water which is here of a brown colour Titmouse two or three sorts the Dunneck or hedge Sparrow who is starke naked in his winter nest The golden or yellow hammer a Bird about the bigness of a Thrush that is all over as red as bloud Wood Peckers of two or three sorts gloriously set out with variety of glittering colours The Colibry Viemalin or rising or waking Bird an Emblem of the Resurrection and the wonder of little Birds The water-sowl are these that follow Hookers or wild Swans Cranes Geese of three sorts grey white and the brant Goos● the first and last are best meat the white are lean and tough and live a long time whereupon the proverb Older than a white Goose of the skins of the necks of grey Geese with their Bills the Indians makes Mantles and Coverlets sowing them together and they shew prettily There be four sorts of Ducks a black Duck a brown Duck like our wild Ducks a grey Duck and a great black and white Duck these frequent Rivers and Ponds but of Ducks there be many more sorts as Hounds old Wives Murres Doies Shell-drakes Shoulers or Shoflers Widgeons Simps Teal Blew wing'd and green wing'd Divers or Didapers or Dipchicks Fenduck Duckers or Moorhens Coots Pochards a water-fowl like a Duck Plungeons a kind of water-fowl with a long reddish Bill Puets Plovers Smethes Wilmotes a kind of Teal Godwits Humilities Knotes Red-Shankes Wobbles Loones Gulls white Gulls or Sea Cobbs Caudemandies Herons grey Bitterns Ox-eyes Birds called Oxen and Keen Petterels Kings fishers which breed in the spring in holes in the Sea-banks being unapt to propagate in Summer by reason of the driness of their bodies which becomes more moist when their pores are closed by cold Most of these Fowls and Birds are eatable There are little Birds that frequent the Sea-shore in flocks called Sanderlins they are about the bigness of a Sparrow and in the fall of the leaf will be all fat when I was first in the Countrie the English cut them into small pieces to put into their Puddings instead of suet I have known twelve score and above kill'd at two shots I have not done yet we must not forget the Cormorant Shape or Sharke though I cannot commend them to our curious palats the Indians will eat them when they are

58 and in 166 ● 3. January 26 27 28. which was the year before I came thither there were Earthquakes 6 or 7 times in the space of three dayes Earthquakes are frequent in the Countrie some suppose that the white mountains were first raised by Earthquakes they are hollow as may be guessed by the resounding of the rain upon the level on the top The Indians told us of a River whose course was not only stopt by an Earthquake in 1668. as near as I can remember but the whole River swallowed up And I have heard it reported from credible persons that whilst I was there in the Countrie there happened a terr●ble Earthquake amongst the French rending a huge Rock asunder even to the center wherein was a vast hollow of an immeasurable depth out of which came many infernal Spirits I shall conclude this discourse of Earthquakes with that which came from the Pen of our Royal Martyr King Charles the First A storm at Sea wants not its terrour but an Earthquake shaking the very foundation of all the World hath nothing more of horrour And now I come to the plants of the Countrie The plants in New England for the variety number beauty and vertues may stand in Competition with the plants of any Countrey in Europe Johnson hath added to Gerard's Herbal 300. and Parkinson mentioneth many more had they been in New England they might have found 1000 at least never heard of nor seen by any Englishman before 'T is true the Countrie hath no Bonerets or Tartarlambs no glittering coloured Tuleps but here you have the American Mary Gold the Earth-nut bearing a princely Flower the beautiful leaved Pirola the honied Colibry c. They are generally of somewhat a more masculine vertue than any of the same spicies in England but not in so terrible a degree as to be mischievous or ineffectual to our English bodies It is affirm by some that no forraign Drugg or Simple can be so proper to Englishmen as their own for the quantity of Opium which Turks do safely take will kill four Englishmen and that which will salve their wounds within a day will not recure an Englishman in three To which I answer that it is custom that brings the Turks to the familiar use of Opium You may have heard of a Taylor in Kent who being afflicted with want of sleep ventured upon Opium taking at first a grain and increasing of it till it came to an ounce which quantitie he took as familiarly as a Turk without any harm more than that he could not sleep without it The English in New-England take white Hellebore which operates as fairly with them as with the Indians who steeping of it in water sometime give it to young lads gathered together a purpose to drink if it come up they force them to drink again their vomit which they save in a Birchen-dish till it stayes with them he that gets the victory of it is made Captain of the other lads for that year There is a plant likewise called for want of a name Clownes wound wort by the English though it be not the same that will heal a green wound in 24 hours if a wise man have the ordering of it Thus much for the general I shall now begin to discover unto you the plants more particularly and I shall first begin with Trees and of them first with such as are called in Scripture Trees of God that is great Trees that grow of themselves without planting Psal 104.16 17. Satiantur arbores Jehovae cedri libani quas plantavit ubi aviculae nidificent abietes domicilia ciconiae The Herons take great delight to sit basking upon the tops of these Trees And I shall not be over large in any having written of them in my Treatise of the rarities of New England to which I refer you The Oake I have given you an account of and the kinds I shall add the ordering of Red Oake for Wainscot When they have cut it down and clear'd it from the branches they pitch the body of the Tree in a muddy place in a River with the head downward for some time afterwards they draw it out and when it is seasoned sufficiently they saw it into boards for Wainscot and it will branch out into curious works There is an admirable rare Creature in shape like a Buck with Horns of a gummy substance which I have often found in the fall of the leaf upon the ground amongst the withered leaves a living Creature I cannot call it having only the sign of a mouth and eyes seldom or never shall you meet with any of them whole but the head and horns or the hinder parts broken off from the rest the Indians call them Tree Bucks and have a superstitious saying for I believe they never see any of them living that if they can see a Tree Buck walking upon the branches of an Oake when they go out in a morning to hunt they shall have good luck that day What they are good for I know not but certainly there is some more than ordinary vertue in them It is true that nothing in nature is superfluous and we have the Scripture to back it that God created nothing in vain The like Creatures they have at the Barbadoes which they call Negroes heads found in the Sands about two inches long with forehead eyes nose mouth chin and part of the neck they are alwayes found loose in the Sands without any root it is as black as Jet but whence it comes they know not I have read likewise that in the Canaries or Fortunate-Islands there is found a certain Creature which Boys bring home from the mountains as oft as they would and named them Tudesquels or little Germans for they were dry'd dead Carcases almost three footed which any boy did easily carry in one of the palms of his hand and they were of an humane shape but the whole dead Carcase was clearly like unto Parchment and their bones were flexible as it were griftles against the Sun also their bowels and intestines were seen Surely saith my Authour the destroyed race of the Pigmies was there There is also many times sound upon the leaves of the Oake a Creature like a Frog being as thin as a leaf and transparent as yellow as Gold with little fiery red eyes the English call them Tree-frogs or Tree-toads but of Tree-toads I shall have occasion to speak in another place they are said to be venemous but may be safely used being admirable to stop womens over-flowing courses hung about their necks in a Taffe●ie bag Captain Smith writes that in New-England there growes a certain berry called Kermes worth 10 shillings a pound and had been formerly sold for 30 or 40 shillings a pound which may yearly be gathered in good quantity I have sought for this berry he speaks of as a man should seek for a needle in a bottle of Hay but could never light upon it unless

that the English are afflicted with are the same that they have in England with some proper to New England griping of the belly accompanied with Feaver and Ague which turns to the bloudy-fl●x a common disease in the Countrey which together with the small pox hath carried away abundance of their children for this the common medicines amongst the poorer sort are Pills of Cotton swallowed or Sugar and Sallet-oyl boiled thick and made into Pills Alloes pulverized and taken in the pap of an Apple I helped many of them with a sweating medicine only Also they are troubled with a disease in the mouth or throat which hath proved mortal to some in a very short time Quinsies and Impostumations of the Almonds with great distempers of cold Some of our New-England writers affirm that the English are never or very rarely heard to sneeze or cough as ordinarily they do in England which is not true For a cough or stitch upon cold Wormwood Sage Marygolds and Crabs-claws boiled in posset-drink and drunk off very warm is a soveraign medicine Pleurisies and Empyemas are frequent there both cured after one and the same way but the last is a desperate disease and kills many For the Pleurisie I have given Coriander-seed prepared Carduus-seed and Harts-horn pulverized with good success the dose one dram in a cup of Wine The Stone terribly afflicts many and the Gout and Sciatica for which take Onions roasted peeled and stampt then boil them with neats-feet oyl and Rhum to a plaister and apply it to the hip Head-aches are frequent Palsies Dropsies Worms Noli-me-tangeres Cancers pestilent Feavers Scurvies the body corrupted with Sea-diet Beef and Pork tainted Butter and Cheese corrupted fish rotten a long voyage coming into the searching sharpness of a purer climate causeth death and sickness amongst them Men and Women keep their complexions but lose their Teeth the Women are pittifully Tooth-shaken whether through the coldness of the climate or by sweet-meats of which they have store I am not able to affirm for the Toothach I have found the following medicine very available Brimstone and Gunpowder compounded with butter rub the mandible with it the outside being first warm'd For falling off of the hair occasioned by the coldness of the climate and to make it curl take of the strong water called Rhum and wash or bath your head therewith it is an admirable remedie For kibed heels to heal them take the yellowest part of Rozen pulverize it and work it in the palm of your hand with the tallow of a Candle to a salve and lay of it to the sore For frozen limbs a plaister framed with Soap Bay-salt and Molosses is sure or Cow-lung boiled in milk and applyed For Warts and Corns bathe them with sea-Sea-water There was in the Countrey not long since living two men that voided worms seven times their length Likewise a young maid that was troubled with a sore pricking at her heart still as she lean'd her body or stept down with her soot to the one side or the other this maid during her distemper voided worms of the length of a finger all hairy with black heads it so fell out that the maid dyed her friends desirous to discover the cause of the distemper of her heart had her open'd and found two crooked bones growing upon the top of the heart which as she bowed her body to the right or left side would job their points into one and the same place till they had worn a hole quite through At Cape-Porpus lived an honest poor planter of middle-ige and strong of body but so extreamly troubled with two lumps or wens as I conjectured within him on each side one that he could not rest for them day nor night being of great weight and swagging to the one side or the other according to the motion or posture of his body at last he dyed in Anno 1668 as I think or thereabouts Some Chirurgeons there were that proffered to open him but his wife would not assent to it and so his disease was hidden in the Grave It is the opinion of many men that the blackness of the Negroes proceeded from the curse upon Cham's posterity others again will have it to be the property of the climate where they live I pass by other Philosophical reasons and skill only render you my experimental knowledge having a Barbarie-moor under cure whose finger prickt with the bone of a fish was Impostumated after I had lanc'd it and let out the Corruption the skin began to rise with proud flesh under it this I wore away and having made a sound bottom I incarnated it and then laid on my skinning plaister then I perceived that the Moor had one skin more than Englishmen the skin that is basted to the flesh is bloudy and of the same Azure colour with the veins but deeper than the colour of our Europeans veins Over this is an other skin of a tawny colour and upon that Epidermis or Cuticula the flower of the skin which is that Snakes cast and this is tawny also the colour of the blew skin mingling with the tawny makes them appear black I do not peremptorily affirm this to be the cause but submit to better judgment More rarities of this nature I could make known unto you but I hasten to an end only a word or two of our English Creatures and then to Sea again I have given you an Account of such plants as prosper there and of such as do not but so briefly that I conceive it necessary to afford you some what more of them Plantain I told you sprang up in the Countrey after the English came but it is but one sort and that is broad-leaved plantain Gilliflowers thrive exceedingly there and are very large the Collibuy or humming-Bird is much pleased with them Our English dames make Syrup of them without fire they steep them in Wine till it be of a deep colour and then they put to it spirit of Vitriol it will keep as long as the other Eglantine or sweet Bryer is best sowen with Juniper-berries two or three to one Eglantine-berry put into a hole made with a stick the next year separate and remove them to your banks in three years time they will make a hedge as high as a man which you may keep thick and handsome with cutting Our English Clover-grass sowen thrives very well Radishes I have seen there as big as a mans Arm. Flax and Hemp flourish gallantly Our Wheat i. e. summer Wheat many times changeth into Rye and is subject to be blasted some say with a vapour breaking out of the earth others with a wind North-east or North-west at such time as it flowereth others again say it is with lightning I have observed that when a land of Wheat hath been smitten with a blast at one Corner it begins at the stem which will be spotted and goes upwards to the ear making it fruitless in 1669 the pond that lyeth between