Slike stranica
PDF
ePub

Early in the late war, a powder-mill was erected in Morristown by Col. Ford, who was enabled, by the ample fupply of faltpetre furnished by the patriotic inhabitants, to make a confiderable quantity of that valuable and neceflary article, at a time when it was moft needed; and when the enemy were at the door, it afforded a timely fupply.

Although the bulk of the inhabitants in this ftate are farmers, yet agriculture has not been improved (a few inftances excepted) to that degree which, from long experience, we might rationally expect, and which the fertility of the foil, in many places, feems to encourage. A great part of the inhabitants are Dutch, who, although they are in general neat and industrious farmers, have very little enterprize, and feldom adopt any new improvements in husbandry, because, through habits, and want of education to expand and liberalize their minds, they think their old modes of tilling the beft. Indeed this is the cafe with the great body of the common people, and proves almost an infurmountable obftacle to agricultural improvements.

Mines and Minerals.] This ftate embofoms vaft quantities of iron and copper ore. The iron ore is of two kinds; one is capable of being manufactured into malleable iron, and is found in mountains and in low barrens; the other, called bog-ore, grows in rich bottoms; and yields iron of a hard, brittle quality, and is commonly manufactured into hollow ware, and used fometimes instead of stone in building.

A number of copper mines have been difcovered in different parts of the state. One is in Bergen county, which when worked by the Schuylers, (to whom it belonged) was confiderably productive; but they have for many years been neglected.

The following account of a copper mine at New-Brunfwick, is given by a gentleman of diftinction, well informed upon the subject.

"About the years 1748, 1749, 1750, feveral lumps of virgin copper from five to thirty pounds weight, (in the whole upwards of 200 pounds) were ploughed up in a field, belonging to Philip French, Efq; within a quarter of a mile of New-Brunfwick. This induced Mr. Elias Boudinot, of the city of Philadelphia, to take a leafe of Mr. French of this land, for ninety-nine years, in order to fearch for copper ore, a body of which he concluded must be contained in this hill. He took in feveral partners, and about the year 1751 opened a pit in the low grounds, about two or 300 yards from the river. He was led to this fpot by a friend of his, who, a little before, paffing by at three o'clock in the morning, obferved a body of flame arife out of the ground, as large as a common fized man, and foon after die away. He drove a ftake on the spot. About fifteen feet deep, Mr. Boudinot came on a vein of bluish ftone, about two feet thick, between two perpendicular loose bodies of red rock, covered with a fheet of pure virgin copper, a little thicker than gold leaf. This bluish ftone was filled with fparks of virgin copper, very much like copper filings, and now and then a large lump of virgin copper from five to thirty

Some perfons perhaps will be furprized at my faying that ore grows, but that it does in fact grow is well known to many curious naturalifts who have carefully obferved it.

[ocr errors]

pounds

pounds weight. He followed this vein almoft thirty feet, when, the water coming in very faft, the expence became too great for the company's capital. A ftamping-mill was erected, when by reducing the bluish ftone to a powder, and washing it in large tubs, the ftone was carried off, and the fine copper preserved, by which means many tons of the pureft copper was fent to England without ever paffing through the fire; but labour was too high to render it poffible for the company to proceed. Sheets of copper about the thickness of two pennies, and three feet fquare, on an average, have been taken from between the rocks, within four feet of the furface, in feveral parts of the hill. At about fifty or fixty feet deep, they came to a body of fine folid ore, in the midst of this bluish vein, but between rocks of a white flinty fpar, which, however, was worked out in a few days. Thefe works lie now wholly neglected, although the vein when left was richer than ever it had been. There was also a very rich vein of copper ore difcovered at Rocky Hill, in Somerset county, which has also been neglected from the heavy expence attending the working of it. There have been various attempts made to fearch the hills beyond Boundbrook, known by the name of Van Horne's Mountain, but for the fame reafon it is now neglected. This mountain discovers the greatest appearance of copper ore, of any place in the ftate. It may be picked up on the furface of many parts of it. A fmelting furnace was erected, before the revolution, in the neighbourhood by two Germans, who were making very confiderable profit on their work, until the British deftroyed it in the beginning of the war. The inhabitants made it worth their while, by collecting the ore from the furface, and by partially digging into the hill, to fupply the furnace. Befides, a company opened a very large fhaft on the fide of the hill, from which also a great deal of valuable ore and fome virgin copper were taken. Two lumps of virgin copper were found here in the year 1754, which weighed 1900 pounds."

Curious Springs.] In the upper part of the county of Morris, is a cold mineral fpring, which is frequented by valetudinarians, and its waters have been used with very confiderable fuccefs. In the township of Hanover, in this county, on a ridge of hills, are a number of wells, which regularly ebb and flow about fix feet twice in every twenty-four hours. Thefe wells are nearly forty miles from the fea, in a fraight line. In the county of Cape May, is a fpring of fresh water, which boils up from the bottom of a falt water creek, which runs nearly dry at low tide; but at flood tide, is covered with water directly from the ocean to the depth of three or four feet; yet in this fituation, by letting down a bottle well corked, through the falt water into the fpring, and immediately drawing the cork with a ftring prepared for the purpofe, it may be drawn up full of fine, untainted freth water. There are fprings of this kind in other parts of the flate. In the county of Hunterdon, near the top of Muskonetkony mountain, is a noted medicinal fpring, to which invalids refort from every quarter. It iffues from the fide of the mountain in a very romantic manner, and is conveyed into an artificial refervoir for the accommodation of those who with to bathe in, as well as to drink, the waters. It is a strong chalybeate, and very cold. Thefe waters have been used with very confiderable fuccefs; but perhaps the exercife neceflary to get to them,

them, and the purity of the air in this lofty fituation, aided by a lively imagination, have as great efficacy in curing the patient as the waters.

Caves, Mountains, &c.] In the township of Shrewsbury, in Monmouth county, on the side of a branch of Navefink river, is a remarkable cave, in which there are three rooms. The cave is about thirty feet long, and fifteen feet broad. Each of the rooms is arched. The center of the arch is about five feet from the bottom of the cave; the fides not more than two and an half. The mouth of the cave is fmall; the bottom is a loose fand; and the arch is formed in a foft rock, through the pores of which the moisture is flowly exudated, and falls in drops on the fand below.

On Sandy Hook, about a mile from the light-houfe, is a monument, which was erected to commemorate a very melancholy event that took place juft at the close of the late war. The following infcription, which is upon a marble plate on one fide of the monument, will afford fufficient information of the matter.

"Here lies the remains of the Honourable Hamilton Douglafs Halliburton, son of Sholto Charles Earl of Morton, and heir of the ancient family of Halliburton of Pitcurr in Scotland; who perifhed on this coaft with twelve more young gentlemen, and one common failor, in the fpirited difcharge of duty, the 30th or 31st of December, 1783: Born October the 10th, 1763; a youth who, in contempt of hardship and danger, though poffefled of an ample fortune, ferved feven years in the British navy with a manly courage. He feemed to be deferving of a better fate. To his dear memory, and that of his unfortunate companions, this monumental ftone is erected by his unhappy mother, Katharine, Countess Dowager of Morton.

JAMES CHAMPION, Lieutenant of Marines.
ALEXANDER JOHNSTON,
GEORGE PADDY,

ROBERT HEYWOOD,

CHARLES GASCOIGNE,

ANDREW HAMILTON,

WILLIAM SCOTT,

DAVID REDDIE,

gentlemen

Young

Midshipmen.

WILLIAM TOMLINSON,
JOHN MCHAIR,
WILLIAM SPRAY,

ROBERT WOOD.

GEORGE TOWERS, Sailor.

Caft away in purfuit of deferters; all found dead; and buried in this

[blocks in formation]

Character, Manners, and Customs.] Many circumftances concur to render thefe various in different parts of the ftate. The inhabitants are a collection of Low Dutch, Germans, English, Scotch, Irish, and New-Englanders, or their defcendents. National attachment and mutual convenience have generally induced thefe feveral kinds of people to fettle together in a body-and in this way their peculiar national manners, cuftoms, and character, are ftill preferved, efpecially among the lower clafs of people, who have little intercourfe with any but thofe of their own nation. Religion, although its tendency is to unite people in thofe things that are

U 2

effential

292

effential to happinefs, occafions wide differences as to manners, cuftoms, and even character. The Prefbyterian, the Quaker, the Epifcopalian, the Baptift, the German and Low Dutch Calvinift, the Methodist and the Moravian, have each their distinguishing characteristics, either in their worship, their difcipline, or their drefs. There is ftill another very perceptible characteristical difference, diftinct from either of the others, which arifes from the intercourfe of the inhabitants with different ftates. The people in Weft-Jerfey trade to Philadelphia, and of courfe imitate The inhabitants of Eaft-Jerfey their fashions, and imbibe their manners. trade to New-York, and regulate their fashions and manners according to thofe of New-York. So that the difference in regard to fafhions and manners between Eaft and Weft-Jerfey, is nearly as great as between New-York and Philadelphia.-Add to all thefe the differences common in all countries, arifing from the various occupations of men, fuch as the Civilian, the Divine, the Lawyer, the Phyfician, the Mechanic, the clownish, the decent, and the refpectable Farmer, all of whom have different purfuits, or purfue the fame thing differently, and of course must have a different set of ideas and manners;—when we take into view all thefe differences, (and all thefe differences exist in New-Jerfey, and many of them in all the other ftates) it cannot be expected that many general obfervations will apply. It may, however, in truth be faid, that the people of New-Jerley are generally induftrious, frugal and hofpitable. There are comparatively but few men of learning in the ftate, nor can it be faid that the people in general have a tafte for the fciences. The lower clafs, in which may be included three-fifths of the inhabitants of the whole ftate, are ignorant, and are criminally neglectful in the education of their children. There are, however, a number of gentlemen of the firft rank in abilities and learning in the civil offices of the state, and in the feveral learned profeffions.

It is not the bufinefs of a geographer to compliment the ladies; nor would we be thought to do it when we fay, that there is at least as great a number of induftrious, difcreet, amiable, genteel and handfome women in New-Jersey, in proportion to the number of inhabitants, as in any of the thirteen ftates. Whether an adequate degree of folid mental improvement, anfwering to the perfonal and other useful qualities we have mentioned, is to be found among the fair of this ftate, is a more weighty concern. Perhaps it may be faid with juftice, that in general, though there is not the fame univerfal tafte for knowledge, difcernible the ladies here, as in fome other of the ftates, owing in a great among measure to the fate of fociety, and the means of improvement, there are, however, many fignal inftances of improved talents among them, not furpaffed by thofe of their fifters in any of the other states.

Religion.] There are, in this ftate, about fifty Prefbyterian congregations, fubject to the care of three Prefbyteries, viz. that of New-York, of New-Brunfwick, and Philadelphia. A part of the charge of NewYork and Philadelphia Prefbyteries lies in New-Jerfey, and part in their own refpective ftates. To fupply thefe congregations, there are at prefent about twenty-five minifters.

There

There are upwards of forty congregations of Friends, commonly called Quakers; who are in general fober, plain, induftrious, good citizens. For an account of their religious tenets fee Pennsylvania.

There are thirty affociated congregations of Baptifts, in New-Jersey, whofe religious tenets are fimilar to thofe already mentioned under Connecticut, (page 220.)

The Epifcopalian intereft confifts of twenty-five congregations.

There are, in this ftate, two claffes belonging to the Dutch Reformed Synod of New-York and New-Jerfey. The claffis of Hakkenfak, to which belongs thirteen congregations; and the claffis of New-Brunfwick, to which belong fifteen congregations. We have already given an account of their church government, difcipline, &c. (page 26.)

The Moravians have a flourishing fettlement at Hope, in Suffex county. This fettlement was begun in 1771, and now confifts of upwards of 100 fouls.

The Methodist intereft is fmall in this ftate. The Swedes have a church in Gloucefter county: and there are three congregations of the Seventh-Day Baptifts. All these religious denominations live together in peace and harmony; and are allowed, by the conftitution of the ftate, to worship Almighty God agreeably to the dictates of their own confciences; and are not compelled to attend or fupport any worship contrary to their own faith and judgment. All Proteftant inhabitants, of peaceable behaviour, are eligible to the civil offices of the state.

Colleges, Academies, and Schools.] There are two colleges in New-Jerfey; one at Princeton, called Naffau Hall, the other at Brunswick, called Queen's College. The college at Princeton was first founded by charter from John Hamilton, Efq; Prefident of the Council, about the year 1738, and enlarged by Governor Belcher in 1747. The charter delegates a power of granting to "the ftudents of faid college, or to any others thought worthy of them, all fuch degrees as are granted in either of our univerfities, or any other college in Great-Britain." It has twenty-three trustees. The governor of the ftate, and the prefident of the college are, ex officiis, two of them. It has an annual income of about £.900 currency; of which 200 arifes from funded public fecurities and lands, and the reft from the fees of the students.

The prefident of the college is alfo profeffor of eloquence, criticism, and chronology. The vice-prefident is alfo profeffor of divinity and moral philofophy. There is alfo a profeffor of mathematics, and natural philofophy, and two matters of languages. The four claffes in college contain about feventy ftudents. There is a grammar-fchool, of about thirty fcholars, connected with the college, under the fuperintendance of the prefident, and taught by two mafters.

Before the war this college was furnished with a philofophical apparatus, worth £.500, which (except the elegant orrery conftructed by Mr. Rittenhoufe) was almost entirely deftroyed by the British army in the late war, as was alfo the library, which now confifts of between 2 and 3000 volumes.

The college edifice is handfomely built with flone, and is 180 feet in length, 54 in breadth, and 4 ftories high; and is divided into forty-two

U 3

convenient

« PrethodnaNastavi »