Resolved, That the Committee last mentioned be directed to make trial in this Town of the process mentioned in said Report.

Resolved, That Joseph Greenleaf, Esq., with such other person as he may choose, be, and hereby is appointed to repair immediately to Brookfield, to make experiment of a certain earth there, said to be impregnated with a matter proper for the production of Sulphur.

Ordered, That Captain Batchelder and Major Smith be appointed on the Committee to bring in a Militia Bill, in the room of Colonel Godfrey and Colonel Porter, absent.

Saturday, October 7, 1775.

Samuel Holten, Esq., brought down the Report of a Committee of both Houses on the Petition of Thomas Crandon and Nathaniel Hammond; and also on the application made by the Committee of Correspondence for the Town of Dartmouth, viz:

“The Committee of both Houses, appointed on the Petition of Thomas Crandon and Nathaniel Hammond, and also on the application made by the Committee of Correspondence for the Town of Dartmouth, have attended that service, and beg leave to report as their opinion, that four of the prisoners named therein, viz: Edward Webb, Thomas Newman, Charles Clarice, and John Wooden, be forthwith sent to Taunton Jail, in this Colony, there to be confined until the further order of this Court; and the other two appearing to be impressed men, (viz: Benjamin Bowers and John Burn, ) therefore report that they be discharged. Also report, that the said Brigantine, mentioned by said Committee, said to be the property of Henry Bowers and Henry Bowers, Jun., be forthwith discharged, and delivered to the said Bowerses, or their orders.

“In Council: Read and accepted; and thereupon

“Resolved, That the said Edward Webb, Thomas Newman, Charles Clarke, and John Wooden, be forthwith sent to Taunton Jail, in this Colony, there to be confined until the further order of this Court; and that the said Benjamin Bowers and John Burn be forthwith discharged.

“And it is further Resolved, That the said Brigantine be forthwith discharged, and delivered over to Messrs. Henry Bowers and Henry Bowers, Jun., who are the rightful owners thereof.”

Read and concurred.

Charles Chauncy, Esquire, brought down a Petition of James Hayward, of Braintree, praying this Court to suspend the proceedings of the Committee of Correspondence of said Town, with respect to the Estate of the late John Borland, Esq., until he can have a hearing thereupon before this Court, with the following vote of Council thereon:

“In Council, October 6, 1775.

“Read, and Ordered, That the Petitioner serve the Committee of Correspondence with a copy of this Petition and Order; that they show cause to this Court, if any they have, on Thursday, the 12th inst., why the prayer thereof should not be granted; and that they stay all further proceedings, in regard to the said Estate, in the mean time.”

Read and concurred.

Monday, October 9, 1775.

Resolved, That four o’clock, in the afternoon, be assigned for the consideration of a Letter to the Continental Congress, and an Account reported by the Committee to prepare Accounts, &c.

Ordered, That Mr. Sullivan prepare an Address to the majority of the honourable Council relative to an information received by this House, of thirteen Ships and two other Vessels arrived at Long-Island, near Penobscot.

John Whitcomb, Esq., brought down a Letter or Speech from Ambroise and Pierre Toma, Heads of the St. John’s Tribe, viz:

Penobscot Falls, September 12, 1775.

“To the Honourable the Council of the MASSACHUSETTS-BAY:

“SIR: Ambroise and Pierre Toma, two of the heads of the St. John’s Tribe of Indians, came in here this day and desired me to write you the following letter, from their own mouths, and forward it to you by the first opportunity, and to request an answer from you.

“I am, Gentlemen, with the greatest respect, your most obedient humble servant,

JONATHAN LOWDER.”

“At the Truck–House, Penobscot Falls, Sept. 12, 1775.

“Capt. Thomas Fletcher and Lieutenant Andrew Gilman, interpreters, present.

“We, Ambroise and Pierre Toma, the heads of the St. John’s Tribe, and in behalf of said tribe and the Mickamack Tribe, salute the chiefs of the Colony of the Massachusetts, and wish you health, and that God would prosper you in your present war with Great Britain. We have talked with the Penobscot Tribe, and by them we hear you are engaged in

of success, without knowing the cause, were about to give over; but hearing that one Mr. Kibbe, of Windsor, Goshen, had discovered a successful method of making saltpetre, they immediately applied to him for instructions, who acquainted them that he had, by repeated experiments, found out a method by which he could make fifteen or sixteen weight of saltpetre in a day, but utterly refused to give them any information until they had given him a fee of four Pounds, lawful money. Upon which ho told them as follows, viz: That saltpetre, he found, might be extracted from almost any earth in some quantity. He had tried common earth, taken up directly from the ground, which had never been under any cover, and from his vat full, (containing between fifty and sixty bushels, ) he had made six pounds of good saltpetre; but the best earth he could find was from under old buildings, standing on pretty high land, of a light, sandy, or loamy nature. In using this earth, he found the light loose dirt on the surface contained the largest proportion of nitre; but when he got below this, the lower he dug the better it yielded, as he had gone, which was about three feet deep. With this earth he filled his vat, as he had but one, leaving it hollow on the top. He then sprinkled on the earth, in the vat, lie, drawn from common ashes, in the proportion of about a pint to a bushel of earth. He then poured on water, sufficient to wet the earth, about milk-warm. He then poured on cold water until he had added about as much as there was of the earth, letting it run through the earth as soon as it would; if the first running was foul, he returned it on to the earth until it came through perfectly clear. He continued to save the lie, for boiling, as long as it came through clear; but as soon as it began to change to a yellow or brown colour, he put all that came through after that into his next vat of earth, alleging, very justly, that the nitre, being easily dissolved by water, came through first, and that when the colour changed, the unctuous, bituminous parts of the earth were coming through, which, though they contained some nitro, yet would so clog and entangle the nitrous salts, as to prevent their freely shooting into crystals. When he had collected a sufficient quantity of lie to fill his two kettles, he began to boil; and as the lie consumed in the kettles, he constantly filled the kettle he intended to boil off in with hot liquor, out of the other kettle, and filled that other kettle with cold lie from the vats, observing carefully, through the whole boiling, to skim off what arose to the top of the boiling liquor; which scum he saved to put into his next vat of earth. When he had got all the liquor he designed for one boiling, into one kettle, and had reduced it to about double or treble the quantity he expected to reduce it to for crystallizing, he poured it into a tub, previously fixed for the purpose, by being let nearly on a level, being perforated, and a tap fixed within about an inch of the bottom. After letting it stand in this tub a sufficient time for all the gross matter to settle to the bottom, he drew it off by the abovementioned tap, which left the sediment in the bottom of the tub, below the tap. He then returned it into his kettle, and boiled it gently, throwing in at this time a small quantity of alurn, viz: about two spoonfuls into a quantity of liquor, from which he expected fifteen pounds of nitre. This would occasion it to throw up the impurities, plentifully, to the surface of the boiling liquor, which he carefully skimmed off, until by setting a little of the liquor in a cool place, in a spoon, he found it begin to shoot into crystals. He then dipped it out of the kettle into the abovementioned perforated tub, being clean washed. Here he let it stand long enough for the gross matter again to subside, taking care, however, to draw it off into his coolers before it grew so cold as to crystallize in the tub. For crystallizing vessels, he preferred wooden trays to any other, into which he now drew his liquor, and set it in a cool place, where, in about twelve hours, it would be sufficiently crystallized. He then carefully drained off the liquor from the crystals, and boiled it again, until he found it would again crystallize. He then poured it into his tub, in order for the sediment to subside as before, and then drew it off and set it to crystallize. This he repeated twice after the first crystallizing, and the remaining liquor he put into his next vat of earth. His method of refining was exactly similar to that recommended from Virginia, published in the pamphlet ordered by the Continental Congress.

By exactly following these directions, these gentlemen informed me they had produced the fine crop of crystals I there saw; and by computing from the success they had there had, and even making some allowance, they should be able (in that works, consisting of throe vats, holding about forty-five bushels each, and two potash kettles to boil in) to make fifty weight a week.

Having got this intelligence from these gentlemen, I went to visit Mr. Kibbe, who appeared very reserved on the subject; but he told me that he had honestly told those gentlemen all he knew at that time, and that the knowledge I had got in the business was sufficient to carry it on with success; but that he had, in the course of his experiments, since he informed them, made some very useful, advantageous discoveries; but as he had obtained his knowledge by great expense of time, and painful assiduity, he did not think it his duty to give it away; but as their Assembly was to sit soon, he intended to make them an offer of his skill, on reasonable terms, which, if they complied with, no doubt the whole would be soon published. He told me, positively, that he could make fifteen pounds a day, and confirmed the above accounts those gentlemen had given me, respecting the nitrous qualities of the earth, from his own experience.

WILLIAM WHITING.