the river Delaware, in which many of them passed the first winter. * They found a "sky as clear in winter, as in summer, not foul thick or black," and the "air, though cold and piercing, yet did not require more clothes than in England," a circumstance easily explained by the fact, that it was "dry." The grateful nourishing grain Mayz, or Indian corn, was found native, and wild animals abounded,† and such was their tameness, that they became an easy prey. The river furnished varieties of fish, the land was fertile, and as the habits of the settlers induced them to omit no opportunity of providing against the future, famine, which had desolated some of the other American colonies, never visited Pennsylvania. Dean Prideaux says‡ that Penn had the celebrated city of Babylon in view as a model for his American town, and from the draft given by the learned divine, the idea as far as regularity was concerned, appears to have been well founded. It would seem also that Penn wished, or thought it practicable to emulate the size at least of the Chaldean capital, for he gave orders to his commissioners to lay out a town in the proportion of two hundred acres for every ten thousand sold, in which the purchasers of five hundred acres were to have ten. The whole amount sold, having been nearly four hundred thousand acres, the city would have covered an area of eight thousand * In one of these caves the first Pennsylvanian, John Key was born, who lived to see a regular city built where a wilderness had stood. He died 1767, aged 85. † Penn's letter to the society of "Free Traders.” A deer cost two shillings, a large turkey one shilling; corn was two and sixpence per bushel-Townsend's testimony in Proud's history, vol. 1. p. 229. History of the connexion of the old and new Testament, vol. 1. B acres. It was soon perceived that a town in which some of the purchasers were entitled to 400 acres each, some to 200 acres, more to 100 and other large proportions, would never answer the end of a city in a new country, where from the numerous wants necessarily incident to first settlers in a wilderness, and especially of protection, trade, and society, a thick settled neighbourhood was of the first consequence. Instead therefore of a town of twelve and a half square miles, which the original plan had it been executed, would have occupied, one of less than two square miles, or about twelve hundred acres was laid out. According to this plan, a draught of which was made by the surveyor general, Thomas Holme, and is still extant, the city extended two squares over the Schuylkill; this plan was transmitted by the proprietary to London, and there prefixed to a long printed letter addressed to a large company of original purchasers under the title of "the society of free traders," in which a general description of the country, its production, and of the natives is given. But this plan was again contracted, and by charter of 1701, the city was declared to be bounded by the two rivers Delaware and Schuylkill; and Vine and Cedar streets, as North and South boundaries. a The first house erected in Philadelphia was á wooden one, on the East side of Front street, a little North of the place now called "the Dock;" and is said not to have been finished when Wm. Penn first arrived. The owner, George Guest, kept a public house there, for many years; his sign was a blue anchor; this house in early times was a distinguished place of resort from its vicinity to one of the two landings, with which the town was accommodated. The back part of the house now occupied by J. Keen, currier, in Chesnut, opposite Carpenter's court, was among the first (if not the first) brick buildings in the city; it was built by David Brientnall. William Penn's country house was on the Delaware, at Pennsbury manor above Bristol, the frame of which had been sent out from England in the first fleet, but the building was not completed when he arrived. Here he had a large hall of audience for the reception of the sovereigns of the soil, with whom nineteen treaties were held by him. His oaken arm chair is preserved in the Pennsylvania hospital. Topographical Description. Philadelphia lies on a plain nearly level, and on the Western bank of the river Delaware, in 39 degrees 57 minutes of North latitude, and 75 degrees 8 minutes of longitude, West of London. It is about 120 miles distant from the ocean, by the course of the river, and 60 in a direct line: its elevation above low water mark ranges from two to forty-six feet, the highest part being between Seventh and Eighth streets, from Schuylkill. It derived its name from a city in Asia Minor, celebrated in sacred history, for its having been the seat of an early christian church.*— -The Indian name of the place where the city now stands, was Co-a-que-na-que. The immediate substratum of Philadelphia is clay of various hues and degrees of tenacity, mixed with more or less sand, or sand and gravel. *The city is about twenty-four miles East of Sardis, and seventy-two from Smyrna, and was the last city in those quarters that submitted to the Turks, after a terrible siege of six years. It was to this church that St. John was directed to write a consolatory and directive epistle. Rev. iii.-7. 13. The name is composed of two Greek words Philos, a friend, and Adelphos, a brother. Underneath, at various depths, from twenty to nearly forty feet, and also on the opposite shore of NewJersey, are found a variety of vegetable remains, which evidently appear to have been left there in remote periods of time by the retiring waters: hickory nuts were found a few years since in digging a well, upwards of thirty feet beneath the surface, and the trunk of a Sycamore (buttonwood) tree was discovered in Seventh near Mulberry street, near forty feet below, imbedded in black mud, abounding with leaves and acorns. About 60 feet distance from that place, and nearly at the same depth, a bone was found; the stratum above was a tough potter's clay. In various other parts of the city, and even at the distance of several miles in the country, similar discoveries have. been made. Shark's teeth are occasionally dug up many feet below the surface, near Mount Holly. All these facts seem to prove the truth of the opinion first delivered by our countryman, Lewis Evans, that the site of Philadelphia formed part of the sea, whose coast was bounded by a reef of rocks*, some two, three, or six miles broad, rising generally a little higher than the adjoining land, and extending from New York, westwardly by the falls of Delaware, Schuylkill, Susquehannah, Gunpowder, Patapsco, Potomack, Rappahannock, James River, and Roanoak, which was the ancient maritime boundary, and forms a regular curve. The clay and other soil which compose the borders of the rivers descending from the upland through this tract, are formed by the soil washed down with the floods, and mixed with the sand left by the sea. They are formed of Gneiss, Micaceous Schistus and other primitive rocks. A few streams of water originally crossed part of the city plot; but these in the course of improvement have entirely disappeared. The depths of the wells are various in different parts of the city. In the vicinity of the river, water is found at the depth of ten or twelve feet. From the number of causes serving to contaminate the springs in all cities, the water may be reasonably supposed to be impure and of a disagreeable taste. In 1799 Mr. Hunter, apothecary, evaporated 220 gallons of water from a pump in Second below Dock street, and found it to contain the following ingredients, 12 oz. Chalk. 17 oz. Magnesia. 24 oz. Common sea salt. Various Plans of the City. The original plan was made by Thomas Holme, the first Surveyor General, in the year 1683, and sent to England, where it was published, and annexed to William Penn's letter addressed to "the Society of Free Traders," who were the largest original purchasers of land. By this the city consisted of nine streets running East and West, including High street, near the centre of one hundred feet broad, and twenty streets (besides Broad street of one hundred feet,) crossing the others at right angles. Front street on both rivers was sixty feet broad, all the rest were fifty feet. In the center was left a square of ten acres, at each angle of which, public buildings were to be erected, and in each quarter of the city, a square of eight acres" for "the like uses as the Moorfields in London."* How little this excellent pro *Moorfields were the great gymnasium of London, the resort of wrestlers, runners, and foot-ball players, and every manly recreation, Pennant's account of London. |