Inasmuch as this region lies in the same degree of latitude as Montpelier and Naples, but has a much richer soil, and that better watered by its many springs and rivulets, it is but reasonable to suppose that such a country must be well calculated to produce all kinds of fruit. The air is pure and serene, the summer is longer and warmer than it is in Germany, and we are cultivating many kinds of fruits and vegetables, and our labors meet with rich reward.

Of cattle we have a great abundance, but for want of proper accommodation they roam at large for the present. . . .

Although this far-distant land was a dense wilderness—and it is only quite recently that it has come under the cultivation of the Christians—there is much cause of wonder and admiration how rapidly it has already, under the blessing of God, advanced, and is still advancing, day by day. The first part of the time we were obliged to obtain our provisions from the Jerseys for money, and at a high price; but now we not only have enough for ourselves, but a considerable surplus to dispose of among our neighboring colonies. Of the most needful mechanics we have enough now; but day-laborers are very scarce, and of them we stand in great need. . . .

Our surplus of grain and cattle we trade to Barbados for rum, syrup, sugar, and salt. The furs, however, we export to England for other manufactured goods.

Source: Francis Daniel Pastorius, A Particular Geographical Description of the Lately Discovered Province of Pennsylvania, trans. Lewis H. Weiss (1700), reprinted in Old South Leaflets, No. 95 (Boston, 1898), 8–9.

Our Europeans, who are purchased [indentured servants and redemptioners], must always work hard, for new fields are constantly laid out; and so they learn that stumps of oak-trees are in America certainly as hard as in Germany. In this hot land they fully experience in their own persons what God has imposed on man for his sin and disobedience; for in Genesis we read the words: In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread. Who therefore wishes to earn his bread in a Christian and honest way, and cannot earn it in his fatherland otherwise than by the work of his hands, let him do so in his own country, and not in America; for he will not fare better in America. However hard he may be compelled to work in his fatherland, he will surely find it quite as hard, if not harder, in the new country. Besides, there is not only the long and arduous journey lasting half a year, during which he has to suffer, more than with the hardest work; he has also spent about 200 florins which no one will refund to him. If he has so much money, it will slip out of his hands; if he has it not, he must work his debt off as a slave and poor serf. Therefore let every one stay in his own country and support himself and his family honestly. Besides I say that those who suffer themselves to be persuaded and enticed away by the man-thieves, are very foolish if they believe that roasted pigeons will fly into their mouths in America or Pennsylvania without their working for them.

Source: Gottlieb Mittelberger, Gottlieb Mittelberger’s Journey to Pennsylvania in the Year 1750 and Return to Germany in the Year 1754, trans. Carl Theo. Eben (Philadelphia: John Jos. McVey, 1898), 30–31.