Journal of my journey over the mountains: while surveying for Lord Thomas Fairfax, baron of Cameron, in the northern neck of Virginia, beyond the Blue Ridge, in 1747-8.Washington, George
History
Journal of my journey over the mountains: while surveying for Lord Thomas Fairfax, baron of Cameron, in the northern neck of Virginia, beyond the Blue Ridge, in 1747-8.
Washington, George
Shenandoah River Valley (Va. and W. Va.) -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800; Virginia -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800; Washington, George, 1732-1799 -- Diaries; Washington, George, 1732-1799 -- Travel -- Shenandoah River Valley (Va. and W. Va.)
[Footnote 30: The wild turkey.--This is the largest and finest of
our game birds and, although native to North America, it bears a
foreign name from the following circumstances. Specimens of the
living bird, as well as its eggs, were sent by the early Jesuit
missionaries to the old world on Spanish and Portuguese ships,
entering Europe through Portugal. It was as yet unnamed, and was
at first referred to by writers of that period merely as the
"Jesuit bird." As it became known, the demand for the stranger was
supplied chiefly from Turkey where, for some reason, it thrived
exceedingly well, and in time it came to be familiarly spoken of
as "the turkey." Gradually becoming tame, and proving to be quite
prolific, it was recognized as a great addition to the luxuries of
the table. Speedily becoming a favorite in every country to which
it was taken, the great forests and game preserves throughout
Europe were gradually stocked with it and it was also raised as
a domestic fowl. To-day the American turkey, derived as stated,
is found wild in all the great forests of the old world, while
the domesticated bird is abundantly raised everywhere in Europe
for the markets. In ancient times, we are told, the choicest game
fowls brought to a feast were pheasants and peacocks. Emigrants
to America brought over with them the domesticated bird to its
native land, but under a borrowed name. Washington, in his journal,
April 7, 1748, records the fact that one of his men that day had
killed a wild turkey weighing 20 pounds. The domesticated bird,
when permitted to attain the age of two or three years, and being
well fed during the winter months, often reaches the weight of 30
pounds or more. As marking in a degree the devastation of the late
war and the enforced abandonment of plantations in the section of
Virginia adjacent to the city of Washington, it is a fact worthy
of record, that in 1876 the newspapers chronicled the news that
the thickets and pine forests which were grown up since the armies
left were tenanted by wild deer and turkeys; foxes, etc. And to
this day, December 25, 1890, wild turkeys are brought to the
Washington market killed in Fairfax county, Va., within ten miles
of Washington city.--_Gentlemen's Magazine._]
March 29^{th}: 1748 Survey'd for M^r James Rutlidge y^e following
a piece of Land Beginning at 3 W. O. in y^e Mannor Line[31] by a
Path leading to y. Clay Lick[32] & Extending thence N^o 44° W^t 164
po. to a White Oak by a Drain at y^e foot of a Mountain thence N^o
46° E^t 487 po. to 2 White Oaks near a Branch call'd Clay Lick Run
thence S^o 44° E^t 164 po. to 2 W: O: & a Hickory in y^e Mannor
line Finally along y^e Mannor line Reversed S^o 46° W^t 487 po to
y. Beginning
HENRY ASHBY } _Chainmen_
RICHARD TAYLOR }
W^M DUNCAN _Marker_
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