discovered in the neighborhood of the larger streams. Smith remarks upon the presence of the gooseberry in Virginia, and this was, doubtless, the wild variety so common in the forests of the State to-day,[1] but there is no reference in any of the early records to the blackberry or the dewberry, although the latter must have been frequently seen in the deserted Indian fields at the time of the first settlement, and the blackberry was, probably, equally as common. Nor is there any specific reference to the pawpaw apple, a fruit as rich in flavor as the most cloying fruits of the tropics, growing upon small trees that love the deep shade and the fertile mould of the darkest forest bottoms.[2]
In whatever direction the first adventurers made their explorations, they observed a remarkable abundance of wild grapes; the vines, at the point where they issued from the ground, were frequently as large as the thigh of a man,[3] and they sprang up to the top of the largest trees, to which they clung for support. It was noticed at an early period that only the vines in the vicinity of the Indian habitations and along the edges of the creeks, rivers, and swamps bore any great quantity of fruit, and this was justly attributed to the fact that it was only in these open spaces that the rays of the sun could reach them. There were four varieties of grapes.[4] First there
- ↑ Beverley expresses the opinion that Smith, in referring to the Indian Rawcomene (see Works, p. 57) as a gooseberry, had the cranberry really in mind (Beverley’s History of Virginia, p. 104). There is some reason to doubt the correctness of this surmise, as the wild gooseberry, which is found in great abundance in Virginia to-day, differs but little in appearance, although considerably in taste, from the domestic variety.
- ↑ It seems, however, to have been found in the country north of the present limits of Virginia. See Evelyn’s New Albion, p. 27, Force’s Historical Tracts, vol. II.
- ↑ Percy’s Discourse, p. lxvi.
- ↑ Beverley’s History of Virginia, p. 106.
