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 19, 1832
Sunday. In the morning, an osprey (Falco haliaëtus Linn.) was brought in. A young bird from this summer, it had been winged along the Lecha. The sky densely overcast; it rains intermittently. At twelve o’clock noon, the thermometer registers a temperature of [——] in the shade and in the open air. Last evening I received word from Mr. Krumbhaar Gebhard that my baggage had left New York for Philadelphia. The reports from New York and Philadelphia regarding cholera are gradually improving. From Nazareth, Pastor Seidel procured for me yesterday the nest of the Trochilus colubris, with the bird and two flying squirrels (Pteromys), one of which immediately escaped from us during the night. Mr. Bodmer, who went out to sketch, was driven home by heavy rain. He brought home a live [garter] snake (Coluber sirtalis), the adder with three stripes that lives near houses. I had already received three of them, always from the same place.