Sojourn in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and Excursions into the Surrounding Region
Bethlehem on the Lecha or Lehigh – Dr. Saynisch – His solicitude – Natural history specimens – Lecha islands – Lecha Mountain Nazareth Delaware Gap – Easton – Delaware Gap – Pocono Mountains – Tunkhannock and Tobyhanna Creek – Beaver and Bear Creek – Susquehanna Valley – Wilkes-Barre – Falls of Solomon Creek – Neskopeck Valley – Lausanne – Nesquehoning Valley – Mauch Chunk on the Lecha – Collieries – Lecha Valley – Mahoning Creek – Lehigh Valley – Mahoning Gap – Preparations for departure from Bethlehem – Nazareth – Allentown
August 10, 1832
At six thirty in the morning, temperature of the air 18°R [72.5°F, 22.5°C]. The sky overcast. Dreidoppel is still sick; my condition somewhat better. In the afternoon We—Dr. Saynisch and I—undertook a hunting excursion into the forest along the road to Pittsburgh. We found several interesting plants, obtained only a few birds, and returned about twelve o’clock, when the heat was already great. In the newly planted vineyard, the workers gave us some young, freshly hatched turtles that were still alive. They had soft pliable shells, and their color was ash gray. Later our landlord, Mr. Wöhler, brought me three tortoises. The young ones were also of that species, and in the afternoon, just when Bishop Anders was paying us a visit, I received a perfect, very splendid specimen of Ondatra (muskrat), which was a female. By chance, our neighbor Weiss had caught this interesting animal, smelling very strongly of musk, in his garden in a fishnet, where it had drowned. In the evening a bat was killed, and during the night several persons went into the forest with dogs to hunt large nocturnal animals such as skunks, opossums, and the like but found only one skunk, which they did not get.