NOTE
Following the American Revolution these two french businessmen traveled to NY and made a survey, or attempt to speculate the land for settlement. Castor, french word for beaver. Malcombs purchase - divided the land in tracts. It was such a slipshod process, often finding your parcel had been bisected by a river, fucked by beavers. Mapmaking of this region was in early stages. Constant arduous traversal through canal systems by their flat bottomed Bateaux. There were no firsthand accounts of what these men were purchasing, simply plots and thus it was important for them to go there to this rough land and understand their prospectus. I actually was considering doing an upstate canal trip (This was also brought on by the canal systems in the UK, the narrowboats. https://eriecanaladventures.com/ You charter one.)
Mostly following hudson north, hitting albany, pushing through the nascent canals
If you google maps some of these areas, you find that they are still underdeveloped tracts or communities. This difficulty remains.
Bringing many books to a new land:
“Sept 14th 1793 - upon arrival to NY. Busy searching for a house, in vain. Our belongings were unloaded and taken to port for the albany ships. Our Desjardin’s trunk of books was seized, it being claimed that one man cannot make use of so many books (nearly 2,000 volumes.) His cases of wine were also confiscated for lack of declaration, whereas he also been tolde that whatever was for his own use did no need to be declared.
Mysterious Creatures:
“We saw the magnificent aurorae borealies and in the warm latitudes frequent rain. We gathered many tropical grapes. To this a small, pretty shellfiesh of the poly species attaches itself. When it put bnack in the water, it opensl and it’s proboscios similar to a feather’s fine barb makes a half circular movement as it moves forward and backl. The round seeds attached to this plant have given it the name of grape, and are the crustations envelope another kind of polyp. Near the tropic, the counts at sunset take on marvelous shapes which shine with sparkling fires.
American Love…
“Sept 21st 1793- At night, we had a chance to observe the American manner of making love. The merchant from Bennington courted the bell from New York, teased her etc all night long and got up five or six times to have her drink down little glasses od Madeira. Her married sister, present at all of this kept laughing as hard she could. This scadalized our french ladies while keeping thgem from falling asleep. These tender lovers, lying in turn on each others breast, rid each other of lice in a way that could not have been accomplished more amoursly, something of which again shocked the french sense of proprietary; but to each country its own costumes answer made our ladies promise not to act surprised by anything.
Cherry Valley
Figure 32 represents the Chippewa widow holding in her arms the substitute for the dead husband.
On returning from the grave the property of the deceased is destroyed, the cocoa palms being cut down, and all who have taken part in the funeral undergo a lustration in the river. Relatives cut off the hair, the men leaving a ridge along the middle from the nape of the neck to the forehead. Widows, according to some old writers, after supplying the grave with food for a year take up the bones and carry them on the back in the daytime, sleeping with them at night for another year, after which they are placed at the door or upon the house-top. On the anniversary of deaths, friends of the deceased hold a feast, called seekroe, at which large quantities of liquor are drained to his memory. Squier, who witnessed the ceremonies on an occasion of this kind, says that males and females were dressed in ule cloaks fantastically painted black and white, while their faces were correspondingly streaked with red and yellow, and they performed a slow walk around, prostrating themselves at intervals and calling loudly upon the dead and tearing the ground with their hands. At no other time is the departed referred to, the very mention of his name being superstitiously avoided. Some tribes extend a thread from the house of death to the grave, carrying it in a straight line over every obstacle. Fröebel states that among the Woolwas all property of the deceased is buried with him, and that both husband and wife cut the hair and burn the hut on the death of either, placing a gruel of maize upon the grave for a certain time.
The Choctaw widows mourn by never combing their hair for the term of their grief, which is generally about a year. The Chippeway men mourn by painting their faces black.
The widow was bound to supply the grave of her husband for a year, after which she took up the bones and carried them with her for another year, at last placing them upon the roof of her house, and then only was she allowed to marry again.