[Michel continues with his discussion of practices of the Virginia settlers.] "Very few garden plants are planted except lettuce. Fresh seeds must be imported every year, for if the seed of this country is planted, it turns wild again."
"The custom of the country, when the harvest is to be gathered in, is to prepare a dinner, to which the neighbors are invited. There are often thirty to fifty persons cutting grain, so that they have work for only two hours. This is one of the principal festivals or times of rejoicing. When I was unable to travel at one time, because of the rain, I stayed at a house, where they intended to cut wheat that day. It looked in the morning as if the weather was going to be favorable. Ten persons had already arrived when the weather changed and turned to a violent rain so that the hope to harvest in a few days came to nothing. Fresh meat cannot be kept in the summer longer than twenty-four hours, hence the good people were compelled, not wanting the sheep and chicken to spoil, to entertain us which lasted a day and a half."
"Fruit trees grow in great abundance. The apple trees are very numerous though the trees are not very large like the pear trees. In my travels I could not estimate the large quantities which were rotting. Cider is made from them which is drunk mostly during the winter. Without good cellars, this drink turns sour in the summer. There are also pears and peaches and the people cannot eat more than one fourth of the peaches. The rest are fed to the pigs. Cherries are found in good abundance and wine is made from them."
"Berries grow wild and on the plantations. There are many kinds and so many of them that one just helps himself to them. They are also eaten by the pigs and the birds. But not many are eaten because there is so much else to eat. There are plums also but not so many of these. And there are other kinds of fruit which I do not know. One kind of bean is grown with the corn and it grows up along the corn stalks. Another kind of bean grows on along the ground. They also have peas. There are many potatoes and different kinds of melons. Some of these are cooked but the water melons are eaten raw and are very good in the summer. Many of these are grown."
"The water is also very prolific and an indescribably large number of big and little fish are in the many creeks and in the large rivers. They are easily caught to my surprise with a line or a spear. Many fish are dried, especially those that are fat. One unusual fish is the porpoise which, due to its jumping and large size, is a danger to canoes and swimmers. There are many turtles and oysters. The oysters are so thick that they build up shoals which are a danger to boats. We once got stuck on an oyster bed and had to wait for the tide to free us. The oysters are so large that I usually cut them up before eating them."
"There are frogs in the water and they make a wonderful noise. Some are very large and sound like an ox bellowing. Some of them are a foot long. There are also water snakes and all kinds of costly animals in the water such as beavers, otters, and muskrats. One can trade rum to the Indians for the skins of these animals. The beaver skin brings a very good price in London where they are made into castors."
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