born so swarthy as they appear Their Complexion their hair is generally black and flaggy which they wear long few men have Beards because they pluck out the Hairs that would grow their oyntments and smoaky houses do in a great measure cause their Blackness whereby they look like Bacon they are of a ready wit very subtle and treacherous not much addicted to Labour being too great lovers of their ease and much given to hunting They have one Wife many Concubines and are likewise Sodomites the ancient Women are used for Cooks Barbers and other Services the younger for Dalliance they are modest in their Carriage and seldom quarrel in entertaining a Stranger they spread a Mat for him to sit down and then dance before him they wear their Nails long to flea their Deer and put Bows and Arrows into the hands of their Children before they are six years old In each Ear they have generally three great holes wherein they commonly hang Chains Bracelets or Copper some wear a Snake therein coloured green and yellow near half a yard long which crawls about their necks and offers to kiss their Lips others have a dead Rat tied by the Tail The women raze their Bodies Legs and Thighs with an Iron incurious knots and shapes of Fowls Fishes and Beasts and rub a painting therein which will never come out The Queen of Apometica was attired with a Cornet beset with many white bones with Copper in her Ears and a Chain of the same six times encompassing her Neck The Sasquchanocks are a Giant-like People very monstrous in proportion behaviour and attire their Voice sounds as out of a Cave their Garments are Bear-skins hanged with Bears Paws a Wolfes Head and such odd Jewels their Tobacco-pipes three quarters of a yard long with the Head of some Beast at the end so weighty as to beat out the Brains of a Horse The Calf of one of their Legs was measured three quarters of a yard about their other Limbs being proportionable They have several ridiculous Conceits concerning their Original as that a Hare came into their Countrey and made the first men and after preserved them from a great Serpent and two other Hares came thither the first killed a Deer for their entertainment which was then the only Deer in the world and strewing the hairs of that Deer every hair became a Deer In the Reign of King James the First one Tomacona an Indian and Councellor to one of their Kings came into England who landing in the West was much surprized at our plenty of Corn and Trees imagining we ventured into their Countrey to supply those defects he began then to number the Men he met with but his Arithmetick soon failed him He related that Okee their God did often appear to him in his Temple to which purpose four of their Priests go into the House and using certain strange words and gestures eight more are called in to whom he discovers what his Will is upon him they depend in all their Proceedings as in taking Journeys or the like sometimes when they resolve to go a hunting he by some known token will direct where they shall find Game which they with great chearfulness acknowledging follow his Directions and many times succeed therein he appears like an handsom Indian with long black Locks of Hair after he has staid with his twelve Confederates for some time he ascendeth into the Ayr from whence he came The Natives think it a disgrace to fear Death and therefore when they must die they do it resolutely as it happened to one that robbed an Englishman and was by Pawhatan upon complaint made against him fetched sixty miles from the place where he lay concealed and by this Tomocomo executed in the presence of the English his Brains being knockt out without the least shew of fear or terror Their Apparel Their Apparel is but mean only contenting themselves with something to cover their nakedness and for the better defending themselves from the Weather they anoint their bodies with certain Oyles mixt with Bears-Grease Their Houses Their Houses are no better than our English Hogsties being made of Boughs and covered with Barks of Trees and in the midst thereof is placed their Chimney or Fire-place Their Diet Their Diet. in meanness is answerable to their Houses not endeavouring to please their Palats with curious Sauces or pampering their Bodies with provocative Meats A DESCRIPTION OF MARY-LAND THE Province of Mary-Land is situated between the degrees of 37 and 50 min. or thereabouts Situation and 40 deg of Northern Latit It is bounded on the North with Pennsylvania New-England and New-York formerly part of New-England on the East the Atlantick Ocean and Delaware Bay on the South by Virginia from whence it is parted by the River Patowmeck whose Southern Banks divide the Province from Virginia The Bay of Chesopeack giving entrance to Ships both into this Countrey and Virginia passing through the heart of this Province being found near 200 miles in the Land into which falls several considerable River Its Rivers as Patowmeck Patuxent Ann-Arundel alias Severn and Sasquesahanough lying on the West-side of the Bay and to the East of the said Bay those of the Choptanke Nantecoke Pocomocke and several other Rivers and Rivulets to the great improvement of the Soyl and Beauty of the Province The Climate The Climate of late is very agreeable to the English Constitution especially since the felling of the Woods and the People accustoming themselves to English Diet is very healthful and agreeable to the constitution of the English few now dying at their first coming of the Country Disease or seasoning neither is the Heat extream in Summer being much qualified by the cool and gentle Briezes of winds from the Sea and refreshing Showers of Rain and the Cold in Winter being of so little durance that the Inhabitants cannot be said to suffer by either The Countrey is generally plain and even yet rising in some places into small and pleasant Hills which heighten the Beauty of the adjacent Vallies The Soyl is rich and fertil naturally producing all such Commodities as are particularly set down to its neighbouring Colony Virginia as all sorts of Beasts and Fowl both tame and wild Fish Fruits Plants Roots Herbs Gums Trees Balsoms c. as likewise all Commodities produced by Industry are here found in as great plenty and perfection But the chief Trade of Mary-Land depends upon Tobacco which is esteemed better for a foreign Market than that of Virginia finds greater vent abroad which Trade is not inconsiderable since a hundred Sail of Ships have in one year traded thither from England and the neighbouring English Plantations There is a competent stock of ready Money in this Province both of English and Foreign and his Lordships own Coin yet their chief way of Commerce is by way of Barter or Exchange of Commodities The Natives The Natives as to their
have formerly been Fields of Indian Maiz or Wheat but the Spaniards when they made themselves Masters of the Isle and had destroyed all the Natives to the number of about sixty thousand Persons converted them to Pasture for the feeding of Horses Cows Hogs and other Cattel which they brought with them for Breed which they did so fast that there are now great Heards of Horses and other Cattel running wild in the Woods These Savanaes are accounted the most barren parts of the Island in regard they have lain so long without Tillage which notwithstanding doth produce such vast quantities of Grass that the Planters are oftentimes constrained to burn it up The Air is there very serene and clear It s Temperature and more temperate than in any other Islands in those parts and in reference to Heat is as mild as in any place that lieth between the Tropicks in regard it is continually fann'd and cool'd by fresh Breezes which continually blow Eastwardly beside which 't is refreshed with frequent Showers of Rain and great Dews which fall in the night and conduce very much to the quickning the growth of what is planted so that it may truly be called temperate and healthful and its continual Verdure commends it as one of the most delightful Places in the World to live in especially the South part of the Isle the East and West parts being somewhat more subject to Rains and Winds and in regard the Mountainous and Woody renders the Air less wholsom and agreeable than it is in the North but especially the Southern which gave the occasion to the English to build Port-Royal there it being thought convenient that the chief Port and Capital City be upon the best Spot they could find out in the Island However no part of this Island is in the least subject to those violent and injurious Storms called Hurricans wherewith the Caribbies and some other places in those parts are sometimes pestered which with a sudden fury drive their Ships from Harbour cast them on shore blow down their Houses tear up their Canes and hurry all into confusion And had not this Island afforded Relief to many of the wracked Inhabitants when they had been thus distressed they must in all probability have perished Nor doth any part of this Island unavoidably necessitate any of its new Inhabitants to any particular Distemper as Virginia and other places do but if those who go thither will upon their Arrival but forbear excess of eating and drinking use moderate exercise and make choice of such places for their settlement as lie not too low in Vallies where there comes but little Air or too near Rivers where they may peradventure be incommoded with too much moisture or at the Foot of Mountains or Morasses where probably you may have more Rain than you 'l desire nor by the Sea side or upon Bays where besides the inconvenience of its Sandiness it will occasion your want of good Water you will be mightily afflicted with the violent Reflections of the Sun's Beams which are much fiercer here than in other parts of the Isle It hath been observed by some who have lived in the Island that the Mountains which run along through the midst of the Isle from one extream point to the other are much cooler than the other parts insomuch that sometimes in the Morning early there are small white Frosts As for the Weather it is less certain in Jamaica than in the rest of the Caribby Islands The Air. but wet Seasons are most expected in May and November The Winds blow constantly from the East without the least variation which they call Briezes They usually rise about Nine in the Morning and blow fresher as the Sun mounts higher so that Travel and Labour are tolerable at Mid-day These Easterly Winds commonly blow till about six or seven in the Afternoon and then they change to the West which the Islanders call Land-Briezes because they blow off the Shoar and carry their Ships and Vessels out of their Harbors There is no apparent Winter only they have somewhat more Rain and Thunder in the Winter-Months than at other times nor doth the length of the Days and Nights vary much but they continue almost all the year round of an equal length viz. about fifteen hours day And that which seems much stranger is the Seas having seldom been observed to ebb or flow above a foot or thereabouts nor hath any Pilot ever yet been able to give a certain account of the Currents of those Seas in regard they are so various and uncertain nor could any ever give a reason why the Hurricans and Earthquakes should never reach Jamaica although they have so grievously afflicted the adjacent Islands The Rivers of this Island are none of them fair or navigable up into the Country It s Road and Harbors in regard the Island is very mountainous and their original is for the most part in those Hills that run through its Center which running East and West the Rivers that rise in them disembogue themselves North and South and falling out of those high Mountains are very fierce and rapid in their motion being likewise in regard of the great Rains subject to great and sudden Inundations at which times they fall with such fury that great Stone-Rocks and large pieces of Timber are born down and carried along by the violence of the Torrent which makes their usual passage so foul and troublesom that they are thereby rendred altogether unpassable by Boats and other small Vessels Besides which there are divers of them which at some times have not one drop of Water in them but are wholly dried up which renders them likewise useless for Navigation as particularly that of Minoa that runs through Clarendon which sometimes hath not a drop of Water and yet at other Seasons hath as much as the River of Thames at high-water But although the Rivers are thus useless yet towards the Sea the Island abounds with great plenty of very good Bays Roads and Harbours the principal whereof are 1. Port-Royal Port-Royal which at it first setling by the English soon after they took the Island from the Spaniards received the Name of Cagway but when the Town began to encrease and draw towards its perfection it obtained in Sir Charles Littleton's time the Name of Port-Royal in regard of the excellency of its Harbour It is situated on the extream end of that long point of Land that makes the Harbour running about twelve Miles from the Main Westerly having the Sea on its South and the Harbour on the North which Harbour is so exceeding safe and commodious for Shipping that they are secure in all Weathers and can unlade themselves afloat at the Merchants-Key being likewise during their Riding there secured from any Attempts that might be made on them by an Enemy by one of the strongest and most considerable Castles that His Majesty hath in all Amemerica which is well
large and capacious that it is capable of entertaining a far greater number of People than any other Island enjoyed by the English in that part of the World 2. It s being so seated in the heart of the Spanish Territories in America that their Ships as they come thither and pass from Port to Port make this Isle or may be easily met with by those Ships that ply upon the Coast for all the Plate-Fleet in their return from Carthagena steer directly from St. Domingo and pass by one of the ends of this Isle to recover Havana which is the common Rendezvouz of the Spanish Armado before they sail home through the Gulph of Florida Nor indeed is there any other way for the Voyage would be too unreasonable long should they turn it to the Windward of Hispaniola by which means besides the great difficulty of its performance they would lose the benefit of uniting the Fleets from Mexicos Nombre de Dios and other places at their common Rendezvouz at Havana wherein their greatest Security lies for from thence they sail all home in company together 3. In regard Jamaica exceeds all the rest of our Plantations in America for the goodness of those Commodities proper to their several Colonies and is besides its being so profitable in furnishing us with excellent Commodities it likewise takes off abundance of our Manufactures both of the product of this Kingdom and such as are brought us from Parts beyond the Seas 4. Because it appears to be a place considerable enough to deserve His Majesties Care for its preservation not only by its subsisting of its self when first taken but likewise by its increasing its Potency and Grandeur so that it will in all probability become in a little time very profitable both to the King and Kingdom and bring into His Majesties Treasury several hundred thousand Pounds per Annum 5. This Island being when setled of its self able to carry on a War against the Spaniards when the Affairs of England shall require it 6. The considerable progress already made in the Settlement of this Isle nor can its distance be any real disadvantage since the greater number of Ships are thereby employed and consequently the more Saylors Ship-wrights and other Tradesmen whose Livelihood depends upon trade at Sea Besides if it lay nearer we could expect no such Commodities as we receive from thence in regard they are appropriated to that Clime And it must certainly be a great advantage to His Majesty to have such Merchandize within His own Dominions as are both valued and needed by His Subjects and Neighbours as the Cacao is though it be at a distance 7. The Coast of Virginia and some of the Caribby-Islands are subject to such Gusts of Wind that Ships are often driven to put to Sea and fly for shelter to some or other of the Spanish Leeward Ports where they were wont to be made Prizes of but Jamaica since it hath fallen into our hands hath proved a convenient Harbour for such Ships or Vessels as are at any time thus distressed which is an Argument sufficient to perswade His Majesty to undertake its Support and Defence A DESCRIPTION OF THE Island of BARBADOS The Island of BARBADOS By Robert Morden It was first discovered in the Reign of King James the First Its first Discovery by Sir William Curteen who returning homewards from Fernambuck in Brazil was driven by a storm upon this Coast and anchoring before the Isle he went with some of his Company ashore to inform himself of the Nature of the Place which he found so exceedingly overgrown with Woods that they could find no plain or champaign ground sit to inhabit nor any ether Beasts but Swine which the Portugals having formerly put on shore here to furnish them with Provisions in case they should be cast on that shoar by foul weather had by this time multiplied abundantly the Fruits and Roots that grew there serving them for food so that the Natives of the adjacent Islands for there were none in this were used to come thither frequently to kill them Having made this Discovery and informed himself as well as he could of the Nature and Condition of the Island he gave notice thereof to his Friends in England from whence divers Ships were with all convenient speed dispatched thither who upon their Arrival applied themselves to the rendering the Island sit for Habitation In order to which they cut down the Woods and planted Potatoes and Maiz which together with the Swine which they found there did but just keep Life and Soul together for having as yet nothing to trade withal Ships from England visited them but slowly so that they were oft-times driven to great extremities But having about the year 1627. increas'd the number of its Inhabitants and Tobacco Indico Cotton-wool Fustick-wood and the like begun to grow there and afford great increase the Island began to gain more repute in England and invited divers Ships in hope of gain to trade with them exchanging divers sorts of working-tools made of Iron and Steel together with Cloth Shirts Drawers Hose Shoes Hats Servants and other things which they needed for Tobacco and other things which the Island produced After which they grew and increased wonderfully both in number and wealth especially when their Sugar-Canes were grown and they had learned the Art of making Sugar This Isle is very hot especially for eight Months It s Temperature and would be more insupportable were it not for the cool Briezes of Wind which rise with the Sun and blow fresher as the Sun mounteth higher And these Briezes blow alway from the North-East except it be in the time of the Turnado and then for an hour or two it chops into the South but after returns to the same Point again And it is observed that although the People do so much sweat yet they find not that faintness as with us in England in the Months of July and August neither are they so thirsty unless over-heated by excess of Labour or drinking of strong Liquors which the People here are too much addicted unto to their great hurt which if moderately taken would be as a great preservative to comfort and refresh their inward parts which are left cold and faint through their sweating Besides our Bodies being accustomed to colder Climates our Spirits are not so vigorous without them in a moderate manner This Isle is not over-plentifully watered with Rivers or fresh Springs Its Waters there being but one that can appropriate to itself that Name or rather a Lake which runs not far into the Land yet notwithstanding the Inhabitants are not destitute thereof for the Country lying low and level there are several Pools or Ponds and besides they are supplied with Rain-water by having Wells and Cisterns in their Houses Here is also a River which the Inhabitants call Tuigh-River from the top of whose water is gathered an Oyl which serveth them to
proper for all industrious Husbandmen and such who by hard Labour here on Rack-Rents are scarce able to maintain themselves much less to raise an Estate for their Children may with God's Blessing on their Labours there live comfortably and provide well for their Families 4. For Carpenters Brick-layers Masons Smiths Mill-wrights Wheel-wrights Bakers Tanners Taylors Weavers Shoomakers Hatters and all or most Handicrafts where their Labour is much more valued than in these parts and Provisions much cheaper 5. And chiefly for such of the above-mentioned or any other who upon solid Grounds and weighty Considerations are inclined in their minds to go into those parts without which their going there cannot be comfortable or answer their expectation The Indian Natives are but few The Inhabitants comparative to the neighbouring Colonies and those that are there are so far from being formidable or injurious to the Planters and Inhabitants that they are really serviceable and advantageous to the English not only in hunting and taking the Deer and other wild Creatures and catching of Fish and Fowl fit for Food in their Seasons but in the killing and destroying of Bears Wolves Foxes and other Vermin and Poltry whose Skins and Furs they bring the English and sell at a less price than the value of Time an Englishman must spend to take them As for the Constitutions of the Country they were made in the time of John Lord Barclay and Sir George Carteret the late Proprietors thereof in which such provision was made for Liberty in Matters of Religion and Property in their Estates that under the Forms thereof that Colony has been considerably peopled and that much from the adjacent Countries where they have not only for many years enjoyed their Estates according to the Concessions but also to an interrupted exercise of their particular Perswasions in Matters of Religion and we the present Proprietors so soon as any persons here in England or elsewhere are willing to be engaged with us shall be ready and desirous to make such farther Additions and Supplements to the said Constitutions as shall be thought fit for the encouragement of all Planters and Adventurers and for the said Colony with a sober and industrious People Having with all possible brevity given an account of the Country we shall say something as to the disposition of Lands there 1. Our purpose is with all convenient expedition to erect and build our principal Town which by reason of Scituation must in all probability be the most considerable for Merchandize Trade and Fishery in those parts It is designed to be placed upon a Neck or Point of rich Land call'd Ambo-Point lying on Raritor-River and pointing to Sandy-Hook Bay and near adjacent to the place where Ships in that great Harbour commonly ride at Anchor a Scheme whereof is already drawn and those who shall desire to be satisfied therewith may treat for a share thereof 2. As for encouragement of Servants c. we allow the same Priviledges as were provided in the Concessions at first 3. Such who are desirous to purchase any Lands in this Province free from all charge and to pay down their Purchase Moneys here for any quantities of Acres or that desire to take up Lands there upon any small quit Rents to be reserved shall have Grants to them and their Heirs on moderate and reasonable terms 4. Those who are desirous to Transport themselves into those parts before they Purchase if any thing there present to their satisfaction we doubt not but the Terms of Purchase will be so moderate equal and encouraging that may engage them to settle in that Colony Our purpose being with all possible Expedition to dispatch Persons thither with whom they may Treat and who shall have our full power in the Premisses As for Passages to this Province Ships are going hence the whole year about as well in Winter as Summer Sandâ—y-hook-Bay being never Frozen the usual Price is 5 l. per Head Passengers Prizes as well Master as Servant who are above ten years of Age and under ten years and not Children at the Breast pay 50 s. Sucking Children pay nothing Carriage of Goods For Carriage of Goods is ususally 40 s. per Tun and sometime less as we can agree The cheapest and chiefest time of the year for Passage is from Midsummer till the later end of September when many Virginia and Maryland Ships are going out of England into those Parts and such who take then their Voyage arrive usually in good time to Plant Corn-sufficient for next Summer The Goods to be carried there are first for Peoples own use all sorts of Apparel and Houshold-stuff and also Utensils for Husbandry and Building and secondly Linnen and Wollen Cloaths and Stuffs sitting for Apparel c. which are fit for Merchandize and Truck there in the Country and that to good advantage for the Importer Lastly Although this Country by reason of its being already considerably inhabited may afford many Conveniences for Strangers of which Unpoepled Countries are destitute as Lodging Victualling c. yet all Persons inclined unto those Parts must know that in their Settlements there they will find they must have their Winter as well as Summer they must Labour before they Reap and till their Plantations be cleared in Summer time they must expect as in all those Countries the Musketo Flies Gnats and such like may in hot and fair Weather give them some disturbance where people provide not against them which as the Land is cleared are less troublesom The South and West Part of New-Jersey lying on the Sea and Dela-ware River is called West-Jersey West-Jersey of which Mr. Edward Billing is now Proprietor it hath all the Conveniencies and Excellencies of the other Part afore-mention'd and may be made one of the best Colonies in America for the Situation Air and Soil the Ports Creeks good Harbours and Havens being not Inferiour to any in that Part of the World having no less than thirty Navigable Creeks ranking themselves at a convenient distance upon the Sea and that stately River of Dela-ware the Shores thereof are generally very deep and bold The English that are settled here Buying of Lands buy the Lands of the Natives and give them real satisfaction for the same whereby they are assured of their love and friendship for ever and the poor Creatures are never the worse but much better as themselves confess being now supplied by way of Trade with all they want or stand in need of Hunting and Fishing as they did before except in inclosed or planted Ground bring home to the English seven or eight fat Bucks in a day There is a Town called Burlington which will quickly be a place of great Trade their Orchards are so laden with Fruit that the very Branches have been torn away with the weight thereof it is delightful to the eye and most delicious to the taste Peaches in such plenty that they bring them home in
more Clothes than in England The reason of this cold is given from the great Lakes that are fed by the Fountains of Canada The Winter before was as mild scarce any Ice at all while this for a few days froze up our great River Delaware From that Month to the Month called June we enjoyed a sweet Spring no Gusts but gentle Showers and a fine Sky Yet this I observe that the Winds here as there are most inconstant Spring and Fall upon that turn of Nature than in Summer or Winter From thence to this present Month which ended the Summer commonly speaking we have had extraordinary heats yet mitigated sometimes by cold Breezes The Wind that rules the Summer-season is the South-West but Spring Fall and Winter 't is rare to want the wholesom North-Western seven days together and whatever Mists Fogs or Vapours foul the Heavens by Easterly or Southerly Winds in two hours time are blown away the one is always followed by the other A Remedy that seems to be a peculiar Providence in it to the Inhabitants the multitude of Trees yet standing being liable to retain Mists and Vapours and yet not one quarter so thick as I expected The natural product of the Country of Vegetables Vegetables is Trees Fruits Plants Flowers the Trees of most Note are the Black Walnut Cedar Cyprus Chesnut Poplar Gum-wood Hickery Sassafras Ash Beech and Oak of divers sorts as Red White and Black Spanish Chesnut and Swamp the most durable of all of all which there is plenty for use of Man The Fruits Fruits that I find in the Woods are the white and black Mulberry Chesnuts Walnut Plums Strawberries Cranberries Hurtleberries and Grapes of divers sorts the great red Grape now Ripe called by ignorance the Fox-Grape because of the relish it hath with unskilful palates is in it self an extraordinary Grape and by art doubtless may be cultivated to an excellent Wine if not so sweet yet little inferiour to the Frontiniack as it is not much unlike in taste ruddiness set aside which in such things as well as Mankind differs the case much There is a white kind of Muskadel and a little black Grape like the cluster of Grapes in England not yet so ripe as the other but they tell me when ripe sweeter and that they only want skilful Vinerons to make good use of them I intend to venture on it with my French Man this Season who shews some knowledge in those things Here are also Peaches very good and in great quantities not an Indian Plantation without them but whether naturally here at first I know not however one may have them by Bushels for little they make a pleasant Drink and I think not inferiour to any Peach you have in England except the true Newington 'T is disputable with me whether it be best to fall to Fining the Fruits of the Country especially the Grapes by the care and skill of Art or send for Forreign Stems and Sets already good and approved it seems most reasonable to believe that not only a thing groweth best where it naturally grows but will hardly be equall'd by another's Species of the same kind that doth not naturally grow there But to resolve this doubt I intend if God give me life to try both and hope the Consequences will be as good Wine as any European Countries of the same Latitude do yield The artificial Product It s Product of the Country is Wheat Barley Oats Rye Pease Beans Squashes Pumkins Water-Melons Musk-Melons and all Herbs and Roots that our Gardens in England usually bring forth Of Living Creatures Living Creatures as Fish Fowl and the Beast of the Woods here are divers sorts some for Food and Profit and some for Profit only for food as well as profit the Elk as big as a small Ox Deer bigger than ours Beaver Racoon Rabbits Squirrils and some eat young Bear and commend it Of Fowls of the Land there is the Turkey forty or fifty pound weight which is very great Pheasants Heath-Birds Pidgeons and Patridges in abundance Of the Water the Swan Goose white and gray Ducks Teal also the Snipe and Curloe and that in great numbers but the Duck and Teal excel nor so good have I ever eat in other Countries Of Fish there is the Sturgeon Herring Rock Shad Catshead Eel Smelt Pearch Roch and in Inland Rivers Trout some say Salmon above the Falls Of Shell-fish we have Oysters Crabs Cockles Concks Museta's some Oysters six Inches long and one sort of Cockles as big as the stewing Oyster they make a rich Broth. The Creatures for profit only by Skin or Furr and that are natural to those Parts are the Wild-Cat Panther Otter Wolf Fox Fisher Minx Musk-Rat And of the Water the Whale for Oyl of which we have good store and two companies of Whalers whose Boats are built will soon begin their work which hath the appearance of a considerable improvement to nothing of our reasonable hopes of good Cod in the Bay We have no want of Horses and some are very good shapely enough two Ships have been fraighted to Barbadoes with Horses and Pipe-staves since my coming in here is also plenty of Cow-Cattel and some Sheep the People Plow mostly with Oxen. There are divers Plants Plants that not only the Indians tell us but we have had occasion to prove by Swellings Burns Cuts c. that they are of great virtue suddenly curing the Patient and for smell I have observed several especially one the wild Mirtle the other I know not what to call but are most fragrant the Woods are adorned with lovely Flowers for colour greatness figure and variety I have seen the Gardens of London best stored with that sort of beauty but think they may be improved by our Woods I have sent a few to a Person of Quality this year for a Tryal Thus much of the Country next of the Natives or Origines The Natives I shall consider in their Persons Language Manners Religion and Government with my sense of their Original For their Persons Their Persons they are generally tall streight well built and of singular proportion they tread strong and clever and mostly walk with a lofty Chin of Complexion black but by design as the Gypsies in England they grease themselves with Bear 's Fat clarifi'd and using no defence against Sun or Weather there Skins must needs be swarthy their Eye is little and black not unlike a streightlook'd Jew the thick Lip and flat Nose so frequent to the East-Indians and Blacks are not common to them for I have seen as comely European-like Faces among them of both as on your side the Sea and truly an Italian Complexion hath not much more of the White and the Noses of several of them have as much of the Roman Their Language Their Language is lofty yet narrow but like the Hebrew in Signification full like Short-hand in Writing one word serveth in the place
I beseech God to encline the hearts of all that come into these parts to out-live the Knowledge of the Natives by a fixt obedience to their greater Knowledge of the Will of God for it were miserable indeed for us to fall under the just censure of the poor Indian Conscience while we make profession of things so far transcending For their Original Their Original I am ready to believe them of the Jewish Race I mean of the stock of the Ten Tribes and that for the following Reasons First They were to go to a Land not planted or known which to be sure Asia and Africa were if not Europe and he that intended that extraordinary Judgment upon them might make the Passage not uneasie to them as it is not unpossible in itself from the Eastermost parts of Asia to the Westermost parts of America In the next place I find them of like countenance and their Children of so lively resemblance that a man would think himself in Dukes-Place or Berry-Street in London when he seeth them But this is not all they agree in Rites they reckon by Moons they offer their first Fruits they have a kind of Feast of Tabernacles they are said to lay their Altar upon twelve Stones their mourning a year Customs of Women with many things that do not now occur So much for the Natives next the old Planters The old Planters will be consider'd in their Relation before I come to our Colony and the Concerns of it The first Planters in these parts were the Dutch and soon after them the Swedes and Finns The Dutch applied themselves to Traffick the Swedes and Finns to Husbandry There were some Deputies between them some years The Dutch looked upon them as intruders upon their Purchase and Possession which was finally ended in the surrender made by John Rizeing the Swedes Governor to Peter Styresant Governor for the States of Holland Anno 1655. The Dutch inhabit mostly those parts of the Province that lye upon or near the Bay and the Swedes the Freshes of the River Delaware There is no need of giving any description of them who are better known there than here but they are a plain strong industrious People yet have made no great progress in Culture or propagation of Fruit-trees as if they desired rather to have enough than Plenty or Traffick But I presume the Indians made them more careless by furnishing them with the means of Profit to wit Skins and Furs for Rum and such strong Liquors They kindly received me as well as the English who were few before the People concerned with me came among them I must needs commend their respect to Authority and kind behaviour to the English they do not degenerate from the old Friendship between both Kingdoms As they are People proper and strong of Body so they have fine Children and almost every house full rare to find one of them without three of four Boys and as many Girls some six seven and eight Sons And I must do them that right I see few young men more sober and laborious The Dutch have a Meeting-place for Religious Worship at Newcastle and the Swedes three one at Christina one at Tenecum and one at Wicoco within half a Mile of this Town There rests that I speak of the Condition we are in and what settlement we have made in which I will be as short as I can for I fear and not without reason that I have tired your Patience with this long Story The Countrey lieth bounded on the East It s Scituation by the River and Bay of Delaware and Eastern Sea it hath the advantage of many Creeks or Rivers Its Rivers rather that run into the main River or Bay some navigable for great Ships some for small Craft Those of most eminency are Christina Brandy-wine Shilpot and Skulkil any one of which have room to lay up the Royal Navy of England there being from four to eight fathom water the lesser Creeks or Rivers yet convenient for Sloops and Ketches of good Burden are Lewis Mespilon Ceda Dover Cranbrook Feversham and Georges below and Chichester Chester Toacawry Pemmapecka Fortquessin Neshimene and Pennberry in the Freshes many lesser that admit Boats and Shallops Our People are mostly setled upon the upper Rivers which are pleasant and sweet and generally bounded with good Land The planted part of the Province and Territories is cast into six Counties Their Counties Philadelphia Buckingham Chester Newcastle Kent and Sussex containing about four thousand Souls Two General Assemblies have been held and with such Concord and Dispatch that they sate but three weeks and at least seventy Laws were past without one Dissent in any material thing But of this more hereafter being yet raw and new in our Geer However I cannot forget their singular respect to me in this Infancy of things who by their own private expences so early considered mine for the certain Goods imported and exported which after my acknowledgement of their Affection I did as freely remit to the Province and the Traders to it And for the well-government of the said Counties Courts of Justice Courts of Justice erected are establish'd in every County with proper Officers as Justices Sheriffs Clerks Constables c. Which Courts are held every two Months But to prevent Law-suits there are three Peace-makers chosen by each County-Court in the nature of common Arbitrators to hear and end Differences between man and man and Spring and Fall there is an Orphans-Court in each County to inspect and regulate the Affairs of Orphans and Widows Philadelphia Philadelphia the Expectation of those that are concerned in this Province is at last laid out to the great content of those here that are any ways interessed therein The Situation is a Neck of Land and lieth between two navigable Rivers Delaware and Skulkil whereby it hath two Fronts upon the Water each a Mile and two from River to River Delaware is a glorious River but the Skulkil being an hundred Miles Boatable above the Falls and its Course North-East towards the Fountain of Susqitahannah that tends to the heart of the Province and both sides our own it is like to be a great part of the Settlement of this Age in which those that are Purchasers of me will find their Names and Interest But this I will say for the good Providence of God That of all the many Places I have seen in the world I remember not one better seated so that it seems to me to have been apointned for a Town whether we regard the Rivers or the conveniency of the Coves Docks Springs the loftiness and soundness of the Land and the Ayr held by the People of those Parts to be very good It is advanced within less than a Year to about fourscore Houses and Cottages such as they are where Merchants and Handicraftsmen are following their Vocations as fast as they can while the Countrey-men are close
in their Farms Some of them got a little Winter-Corn in the Ground last Season and the generality have had a handsom Summer-Crop and are preparing for their Winter-Corn They reaped their Barley this Year in the Month called May the Wheat in the Month following so that there is time in these parts for another Crop of divers things before the Winter-Season We are dayly in hopes of Shipping to add to our Number for blessed be God there is both room and accommodation for them the Stories of our Necessity being either the Fear of our Friends or the Scare-crows of our Enemies for the greatest hardship we have suffered hath been Salt-Meat which by Fowl in Winter and Fish in Summer together with some Poultry Lamb Mutton Veal and plenty of Venison the best part of the Year hath been very passable I bless God I am fully satisfied with the Country and Entertainment I can get in it for I find that particular content which hath always attended me where God by his Providence hath made it my Place and Service to reside You cannot imagine my Station can be at present free of more than ordinary an ordinary Business and as such I may say it is a troublesom Work but the Method things are putting in will facilitate the Charge and give an easier motion to the Administration of Affairs However as it is some mens Duty to plow some to sow some to water and some to reap so it is the Wisdonm as well as Duty of a man to yield to the Mind of Providence and chearfully as well as carefully embrace and follow the Guidance of it The City of Philadelphia The Extent of Philadelphia as now laid out extends in length from River to River two Miles and in breadth near a Mile and the Governour as a further manifestation of his kindness to the Purchasers hath freely given them their respective Lots in the City without defalcation of any of their Qualities of Purchased Lands and as it is now placed and modelled between two Navigable Rivers upon a neck of Land and that Ships may ride in good Anchorage in six or eight fathom Water in both Rivers close to the City and the Land of the City level dry and wholsom such a situation is scarce to be parallell'd The City is so ordered now by the Governour 's Care and Prudence that it hath a Front to each River one half at Delaware the other at Skulkil and though all this cannot make way for small Purchasers to be in the Fronts Yet they are placed in the next Streets contiguous to each Front viz. all Purchasers of one thousand Acres and upwards have the Fronts and the High-Street and to every five thousand Acres purchase in the Front about an Acre and the smaller Purchasers about half an Acre in the backward Street by which means the least hath room enough for a House Garden and a small Orchard to the great content and satisfaction of all here concerned The City consists of a large Front-Street to each River and a High-Street near the middle front or River to front of one hundred foot broad and a broad Street in the middle of the City from side to side square of ten Acres at each Angle are to be Houses for Publick Affairs as a Meeting-House Assembly or State-House Market-House School-House and several other Buildings for other concerns There are also in each Quarter of the City a Square of eight Acres to be for the like uses as the Moor-fields in London and eight Streets beside the High-Street that run from Front to Front and twenty Streets besides the broad Street that run cross the City from side to side all these Streets are of fifty foot breadth After he had continued there above a Year from the time or giving this Relation he came for England upon the account of some Qarrels that arose between him and the Lord Baltamore who claimed the Lands of Delaware but after several Hearings before the Lords of the Committee the Matter was decided after which he published a further Account of the Progress they made in that Plantation which is as followeth 1. We have had about Ninety Sail of Ships with Passengers Its Passengers since the beginning of the Year 1682 and not one Vessel designed to this Province through God's mercy hitherto miscarried The Estimate of the People may be thus made Eighty to each Ship which comes to Seven thousand two hundred Persons at least a Thousand there before with such as from other places in our neighbourhood are since come to reside among us and I presume the Births at least equal to the Burials for having made our first Settlement high in the Freshes of the River we do not find our selves subject to those seasonings that affect some other Countries upon the same Coast The People are a Collection of divers Nations in Europe Its Inhabitants As French Dutch Germans Swedes Danes Finns Scotch Irish and Englsh and of the last equal to all the rest and which is admirable not a reflection upon that account But as they are of one kind and in one place and under one Allegiance so they live like People of one Country which civil union has had a considerable Influence towards the prosperity of that place 2. Philadelphia Philadelphia farther describ'd and our intended Metropolis as I formerly writ is two Miles long and a Mile broad and at each end it lies that Mile upon a Navigable River the Situation high and dry yet replenished with running streams besides the High-Street that runs in the middle from River to River and is an hundred foot broad it has eight Streets more that run the same course the least of which is fifty foot in breadth and besides Broad-street which crosseth the Town in the middle and is also an hundred Foot wide there are twenty Streets more that run the same course and are also fifty foot broad The Names of those Streets are mostly taken from the things that spontaneously grow in the Countrey As Vine-street Mulberry-sreet Chesnut-street Walnut-street Strawberry-street Cranberry-street Plum-street Hickery-street Pine-street Oak-street Beach-street Ash-street Popler-street Sassafras-street and the like 3. I mentioned in my last Account Increase of Building that from my arrival in 1682 to the date hereof being ten Months we had got up fourscore Houses at our Town and that some Villages were settled about it from that time to my coming away which was a Year within a few weeks the Town advanced to 357 Houses divers of them large well built with good Cellars three Stories and some Balconies 4. There is a fair Key A fair Key of about 300 foot square built by Samuel Carpenter to which a Ship of 500 Tuns may lay her broad-side and others intend to follow his example We have also a Rope-walk made by B. Wilcox and Cordage for Ships already spun at it 5. There inhabits most sorts of useful Tradesmen As
frozen Lakes which lie beyond Canada or from the uncultivated Earth which being for the most part covered with large shading Trees or from all those reasons together but certain it is much more moderate both in heat and cold than any other place that lies in the same Latitude December and January which are the coldest Months are much of the same temperature as the latter end of March or beginning of April in England which small Winter causes a Fall of the Leaf and doth as it were adopt the Country-Production of all the Grains and Fruit that grow with us in England as well as those that require a greater degree of heat so that the Apple the Pear the Plum the Quince the Apricock the Peach the Walnut the Mulberry and the Chesnut thrive very well in the same Garden with the Orange the Limon the Pomgranate the Figg and the Almond Nor is the Winter subject to Clouds and Fogs but the Rain though it fall often in the Winter Months usually comes in quick Showers and are no sooner past but the Sun presently shines out again The Summer is not so hot as in Virginia Climate which is chiefly occasioned as I said before from those Briezes which constantly rise about Eight of the Clock in the Morning and blow from the East till about Four in the Afternoon about which time it ceaseth and a North-wind riseth which blowing all Night keeps it exceeding fresh and cold Such as are seated near Marshy places are somewhat inclined to Agues but in other places 't is so exceeding healthy that in the first nine years there died but one of those Masters of Families that went over and he was seventy five years of Age before he came their insomuch that divers from the Bermudas removed thither though they could never be prevailed upon to forsake that for any other Countrey than Carolina where there is a fairer Prospect both of Health Pleasure and Profit than in any other place in all the West-Indies several persons who went out of England sickly and consumptive having presently upon their Arrival there recovered their health The Soyl is generally very fruitful It s Fertility and besides what is proper to the Climate produces good Wheat Rye Barley Oats and Pease Turnips Carrots Parsnips and Potatoes and near twenty sorts of Pulse which we have not in England so that our Garden-Bean is not regarded there Near the Sea the Trees The Trees are not very large but further up they are bigger and grow further asunder and so free from Under-wood than you may see near half a Mile between the Bodies of those Trees whose tops meeting make a pleasing shade without hindering the Grass Mirtle and other sweet-sented Shrubs from growing under them There grow besides the Cedar Cypress and the like the Oak Ash Elm Poplar Beech and all other useful Timber Their Woods likewise abound with Hares Squirrels Racoons Beasts and Cattel Conies and Deer which last are so plentiful that an Indian Hunter killed nine fat ones in a day and the considerable Planters have one of those Indian Hunters for less than twenty shillings a year who will find the Family consisting of thirty People with as much Venison and Fowl as they can well eat their Woods and Fields being likewise stored with great plenty of wild Turkeys Partridges Doves Paraquetes Pigeons Cranes and divers other Birds whose flesh is delicate Meat They have likewise plenty of Sheep and Hogs both which increase wonderfully there Carolina doth so well abound with Rivers Its Rivers that within fifty miles of the Sea you can scarcely place your self seven miles from one that is navigable and some of them are navigable for big Vesels above three hundred miles up into the Countrey Their Rivers and Brooks abound with great variety of excellent Fish and near the Sea with good Oysters in some whereof Pearls are often found The English have a perfect Friendship with the Natives and the Proprietors have taken care that no injustice shall be done them a particular Court of Judicature compos'd of the soberest and disinterested Persons being established by their order to determine all differences that shall happen between the English and them They are a People of a ready wit and though illiterate are generally found to be of a good understanding For their keeping an account of Time they make use of Hieroglyphicks and instruct their Children in such matters as relate to their Family and Countrey which is so preserved from one generation to another Where a Battel hath been fought or a Colony setled they raise a small Pyramid of Stones consisting of the number of the slain or those setled at the Colony and for Religious Rites as Sacrifices Burials and the like they make round Circles with Straws or Reeds by the differing placing whereof it is known for what it is made and to meddle with any of those Circles is accounted by them no better than Sacrilege They are generally well proportioned and so well affected to the English that they are ready upon all occasions to contribute their Assistance to them they are generally of a good and honest meaning being no ways addicted to Vice or any Extravagancies and always content themselves with a mean Diet and Apparel for their present subsistance without taking much care for the time to come They are much addicted to Mirth and Dancing and to Acts of Courage and Valour which they prefer above all other Virtues and are therefore almost continually engaged in War one Town or Village against another their Governments generally being of no greater extent and that side which Fortune crowns with Victory rejoyce with triumphant Jollities By which means several Nations have been in a manner quite destroyed since our first Settlement at Ashley River which keeps them so thin of People and so divided among themselves that were they less affected to the English yet they would have no reason to entertain the least apprehensions of Danger from them being already too strong for all the Indians that inhabit within five hundred miles of them if they were perfectly united which the Indians know so well that they will never adventure to fall out with them nor offer the least injury to any of thy English Nation They worship Their Worship one God as the creator of all things whom they call Okee and to whom their High Priest offers Sacrifice but believes he hath something else to do than to mind humane affairs which they fancy he commits to the Government of less Deities that is to good and evil Spirits to whom their inferior Priests make their Devotion and Sacrifices They believe the transmigration of Souls and when any of them die their Friends inter with their Corps Provisions and Houshold-stuff for their Elizium Shades which they imagine to be beyond the Mountains from the Indian Ocean They are very superititious in their Marriages and from a strange kind of Belief which
against Law Custom or Discipline Military as freely and in as ample manner and form as any Captain-General of an Army by vertue of his Office might or hath accustomed to use the same And Our further pleasure is and by these presents for Us Our Heirs and Successours We do grant unto the said Edward Earl of Clarendon c. their Heirs and Assigns and to the Tenents and Inhabitants of the said Province or Territory both present and to come and to every of them the said Province or Territory and the Tenents and Inhabitants thereof shall not from henceforth be held or reputed any member or part of any Colony whatsoever in America or elsewhere now transported or made or hereafter to be transported or made nor shall be depending on or subject to their Government but be absolutely divided and separated from the same And Our Pleasure is that they be separated and that they be subject immediately to our Crown of England as depending thereof for ever and that the Inhabitants of the said Province or Territory nor any of them shall hereafter be compelled or compellable or be any ways subject or liable to appear or answer to any Matter Suit Causes or Plaints whatsoever out of the Province or Territory aforesaid in any other of our Islands Colonies or Dominions in America or elsewhere other than in Our Realm of England or Dominion of Wales and because it may happen that some of the People and Inhabitants of the said Province cannot in their Private Opinions conform to the Publick Exercise of Religion according to the Liturgy Forms and Ceremonies of the Church of England or take or subscribe the Oaths and Articles made and established in that behalf And that the same by reason of the remote distance of those places will as we hope be no breach of the Unity and Uniformity established in this Nation Our Will and Pleasure therefore is and We do by these presents for Us Our Heirs and Successours give and grant unto the said Edward Earl of Clarendon c. their Heirs and Assigns full and free License Liberty and Authority by such ways and means as they shall think fit to give and grant to such person or persons inhabiting and being within the said Province and Territory hereby or by the said recited Letters Patents mentioned to be granted as aforesaid or any part thereof such Indulgences and Dispensations in the behalf for and during such time and times and with such limitations and restrictions as the said Edward Earl of Clarendon c. their Heirs or Assigns shall in their direction think fit and reasonable And that no person or persons unto whom such liberty shall be given shall be any way molested punished disquieted or called in question for any difference in Opinion or practises in Matters of Religious Concernment who do not actually disturb the Civil Peace of the Province County or Colony that he or they shall make their abode in but all and every such person and persons may from time to time and at all times freely and quietly have and enjoy their Judgment and Consciences in Matters of Religion throughout the whole Province or Colony they behaving themselves peaceably and not using this Liberty to Licentiousness nor to the Civil Injury or outward disturbance of others any Laws Statutes or Clause contained or to be contained Usage or Custom of Our Realm of England to the contrary hereof in any wise notwithstanding And in case it shall happen that any Doubts or Questions should arise concerning the true sence and understanding of any Word Clause or Sentence contained in this Our present Charter We Will Ordain and Command that at all times and in all things such Interpretations be made thereof and allowed in all and every of Our Courts whatsoever as lawfully maybe adjudged as most advantagious and favourable to the said Edward Earl of Clarendon c. their Heirs and Assigns although express mention of the true yearly value or certainty of the Premises or of any of them or of any other Gifts or Grants by Us or by any of Our Progenitors or Predececessors heretofore made to the said Edward Earl of Clarendon c. in these presents is not made or any Statute Act Ordinance Provision Proclamation or Restriction heretofore had made enacted ordnined or provided or any other Matter Cause or Thing whatsoever to the contrary hereof in any wise notwithstanding In witness whereof We have caused these Our Letters to be made Patents Witness Ourself at Westminster the Thirtieth Day of June in the Seventeenth Year of Our Reign By the KING Copia Vera. VYNER A DESCRIPTION OF VIRGINIA THis Country of Virginia now so called hath for its Southern limits Carolina for its Eastern the Atlantick Ocean for its Northern It s Situation Mariland and for its Western that vast Tract of Land which runneth into the South-sea A New Map of VIRGINIA MARYLAND PENSILVANIA NEW YARSEY By Robt. Morden B. Baltimore C A Arundelton C Cal. Calâ—erton C Ch. Charles C M Mary C Cae Caecil C F Talhot C D Doreliâ—ster C K Kent C We Westmorland No Northumberland La Lancaster Mi Middlesex Gl Glocester C Charles C Y York C W Warâ—â—ck E Elizabeth I. N Lower Norfolk Na Nantimond Co Corratuck N Northampton Ac Accomâ—â—o Ar. â—râ—idia This Country was first discovered in the Year 1497. Its Discovery by Sebastian Cabot a Portuguese but his Mariners were all English and therefore may justly be claimed by us But it was more fully discovered together with all that Tract of Sea-Coast by Sir Francis Drake and was called Virginia by Sir Walter Rawleigh who visited it soon after in honour of his Virgin Mistris Queen Elizabeth In the Year 1603. divers persons who obtained the Propriety of it from Sir Walter made a Voyage thither who discovered Whitson-Bay in forty one Degrees The People used Snake-skins of six Foot long for Girdles and were exceedingly ravished with the Musick of a Gittern a Boy dancing in a Ring about him they were more afraid of two English Mastives than of twenty Men. There being much time spent in the discovery of this Country and not without vale Expences in the setting forth of Ships and that not without the loss of several Mens lives before it could be brought to perfection but at length in the Year 1607. Sir John Popham and others settled a Plantation at the Mouth of the River Saghadoc but Captain James Davis having chosen a small place almost an Island to set down in where having heard a Sermon read their Patent and Laws and after he had built a Fort sailed further up the River and Country where finding an Island that had a great fall of Water and having haled their Boat over with a Rope they came to another fall which by reason of its being very shallow and swift proved unpassable the Head of the River lying in about forty five Degrees They â—all their Fort St. George
and treacherously executed by them though perhaps not sacrificed and none had escaped if their Ambush had succeeded Powhatan invited one Captain Ratcliff and thirty others to trade for Corn and having brought them within his Ambush murdered them all Virginia after its discovery cost no small pains before it was brought to perfection with the loss of many Englishmens Lives In the Reign of King James the First a Patent was granted to several Persons as a Corporation and called the Company of Adventurers of Virginia But upon several Misdemeanors and Miscarriages in 1623. the Patent was made null since which it hath been free for all his Majesties Subjects to Trade into these Parts This Countrey is blest with a sweet and wholsom Ayr Temperature and the Climate so agreeable to the English since the clearing it from Woods that few die of the Countrey-Disease called Seasoning It is every where interlaced with delectable Hills and rich Vallies It s Fertility and of a Soil so fertile that an Acre of Ground commonly yieldeth 200 Bushels of Corn and produceth readily the Grain Fruits Plants Seeds and Roots which are brought from England besides those that are natural to this Countrey and the rest of America Here are excellent Fruits in great abundance Its Fruits which may be compared to those of Italy or Spain as Apricocks Peaches Melons Apples Pears Plums Cherries Grapes Figs Quinces Marrocks Punchamins Chesnuts Walnuts Olives Strawberries Rasberries Gooseberries and Mulberries in great abundance Of their Apples they make Sider of their Pears Perry and of their Grapes Wine They have several sorts of Roots as Potatoes Carrots Turnips Their Roots Artichokes Onions Cabbages Colliflowers Asparagus c. with most sorts of Garden-Herbs known to us in great plenty They have great plenty of Fowl as wild Turkeys Their Fowl which usually weigh six Stone or forty eight pound Partridges Swans Geese Ducks Teal Wigeons Dotterels Heath-cocks Oxe-eyes Brants Pigeons Cranes Herons Eagles and several sorts of Hawks and for small Birds innumerable quantities of sundry sorts as Black-birds Thrushes Red-birds and above all the Mock-bird which counterfeits the Noise of all Birds They have great store of wild Beasts as Lions Bears Leopards Wild Beasts Tygers Wolves and Dogs like Wolves but bark not Buffeloes Elks whose Flesh is as good as Beef Rosconnes Vtchunquois Deer Hares Bevers Otters Foxes Martins Polcats Wesels Musk-Rats Flying Squirrels c. And for tame Cattel Cows Sheep Goats Hogs and Horses in great plenty There is great plenty of excellent Fish as well in the Sea Their Fish and Bay of Chesopeack as in the Rivers viz. Cods Thornback Sturgeon Crampusses Porpusses Drums Cat-Fish Basses Sheeps-heads which makes Broth like that of Mutton Coney-fish Rock-fish Cray-fish White Salmons Soals Plaice Mullets Makarel Trouts Perches Conger-Eels Herrings Oysters Shrimps Cockles Muscles c. The Commodities Commodities which the Countrey doth or may produce are Hemp Flax Hops Rape-seed Annise-seed Woad Madder Pot-Ashes Honey Wax Silk if they would make it since Mulberry-leaves grow in so great plenty several sweet Gums and excellent Balsoms of sovereign Vertues several sorts of Plants and Woods used by Dyers Here are Veins of Allum Iron and Copper together with sundry sorts of rich Furs Elk-Skins which maketh excellent Buff and other Hides Pitch Tar Rozen Turpentine Butter Cheese salted Fish and Flesh which find vent at Barbados and other Charibby-Islands but above all Tobacco which is their principal Commodity and the Standard whereby all the rest are prized There grows a kind of Flax called Silk-grass of which the Indians make Thred and Strings and is good to make Linnen Cloth and Shifts and and would make excellent strong Cables Here all Tradesmen especially Handicrafts find good encouragement and for those Commodities aforesaid the English who have the sole Trade bring them all sorts of Apparel all manner of Utensils belonging to Houshold-stuff or necessary for their Plantations or otherwise also Wine Brandy and other strong Drinks likewise all Silks Stuff and Cloth both Linnen and Woollen which they convert to several Uses according to their slancies being now supplied with Taylors Here groweth likewise sundry sorts of Trees Their Trees as the red and white Oak black Walnut Cedar Pine Cypress Chesnut Poplar Ash Elm c. many of which are very good for the building of Ships and other Uses This Countrey is well watered with several great and swift Rivers Their Rivers which lose themselves in the Gulph or Bay Chesopeak which gives entrance for Shipping into this Countrey and also to Maryland next adjoyning which said Bay is very large capacious and commodious for Shipping being said to run up into the Countrey Northwards 75 Leagues in breadth in many places being 5 6 or 7 Leagues and sometimes more and 6 or 7 fathom deep and its opening to the South between Cape Henry which beginneth Virginia and Cape Charles on the other side opposite being about 10 or 12 Leagues wide The principal of these Rivers beginning at Cape Henry are Pawhonan now called James's River being found navigable about 50 Leagues Pamaunke now York-River also large and navigable about 20 Leagues Rapahanock or Topahanock likewise a good River and navigable about 40 Leagues which is the last River of Virginia northwardly that falls into the Bay of Chesopeak Upon or near these Rivers for the conveniency of Shipping the English are seated which at present do amount unto the number of about thirty or forty thousand and have some Towns the chief amongst which is James-Town or rather James-City commodiously seated on James-River the Town is beautified with many fair and well-built Brick Houses and as it is the chief Town of the Countrey here are kept the Courts of Judicatory and Offices of publick Concern Next to James-Town may be reckoned that of Elizabeth seated at the bottom of the said River a well built Town Also Dales-Gift Wicocomeco Bermuda and others The Governour is sent over by His Majesty who at present is the Right Honourable the Lord Howard of Effingham and the Countrey is governed by Laws agreeable with those of England for the decision of all Causes both Civil and Criminal which said Laws are made by the Governour with the consent of the General Assembly which doth consist of his Council and the Burgesses chosen by the Freeholders And for the better Government the Countrey possessed by the English is divided into several Counties in each of which are Sheriffs Justices of the Peace and other Officers which are from time to time appointed by the Governor The Names of the Counties are those of Carotuck Their Counties Charles Glocester Hartford Henrico James New-Kent Lancaster Middlesex Nansemund Lower-Norfolk Northampton Northumberland Rappahanock Surrey Warwick Westmorland Isle of Wight and York and in each of these Counties are held petty Courts every Month from which there may be Appeals to the Quarter-Court held at James-Town The Virginians are not
by his Mother at Casco in 1669. Their Apparel Their Apparel before the English came among them was the Skin of wild Beasts with the hair on Buskins of Deer Skins or Moose drest and drawn with lines into several works the lines being coloured with yellow blew or red Pumps too they have made of tough Skins without soles In the Winter when Snow will bear them they fasten to their Feet Snow-Shoes made like a large Racket for Tennis Play laced on before and behind they wear a square piece of Leather tied about their Middle with a string to hide their Secrets But since they have had to do with the English they buy of them a Cloth called Trading-Cloth of which they make Mantles Coats with short Sleeves and Caps for their Heads but the Men keep their old Fashion They are very proud as appears by decking themselves with white and blew Beads of their making and painting their Faces with variety of Colours and sometimes weave curious Coats with Turkey Feathers for their Children c. This Countrey is well watered with Rivers the chief among which are Agamentico Conecticut Kinebequy Merrimick Mishum Mistick Neragansat Pascataway Pemnaquid Tachobacco c. And in these Rivers together with the Sea are taken excellent Fish as Cod Thorn-back Sturgeon Porpusses Haddock Salmons Herrings Mackarel Oysters Crab-fish Tortoise Cockles Muscles Clams Smelts Eels Lamprons Alewives Basses Hallibuts Shacks Scales Grampus and Whales Here are great variety of Fowls as Pheasants Patridges Heath-Cocks Turkeys Geese Ducks Herons Cranes Cormorants Swans Widgeons Sheldrakes Snipes Doppers Black-birds the Humbird Loor c. The wild Beasts of chief note are Lions Bears Foxes Rackoons Mooses Musquashs Otters Beavers Deer Hares Coneys c. and for tame Beasts Cows Sheep Goats Swine and Horses Amongst the hurtful things in this Countrey the Rattle-Snake is most dangerous Here is also several sorts of stinging Flies which are found very troublesom to the Inhabitants Here are several sorts of Trees as the Oak Cyprus Pine Chesnut Cedar Walnut Firr Ash Asp Elm Alder Maple Birch Sassaphras Sumach several Fruit-Trees as Apples Pears Plums with several others that are growing in Virginia and Mary-Land which hath already been taken notice of This Countrey affordeth several sorts of rich Furrs Flax Linnen Amber Iron Pitch Tarr Cables Masts and Timber to build Ships also several sorts of Grain wherewith they drive a considerable Trade to Barbadoes and other English Plantations in America supplying them with Flower Bisket Salt Flesh and Fish c. and in return bring Sugars and other Commodities They also drive a considerable Trade with England for wearing Apparel Stuffs Cloth Iron Brass and other Utensils for their Houses and such like things that are useful to Man and not found amongst them As to the Coins Weights and Measures of New-England and the rest of the American Plantations belonging to his Majesty are the same with those of England but as to Coins they are not much made use of in Trade their way being Bartering of one Commodity for another c. The English now Inhabiting in New-England are very numerous and powerful possessing many Potent Colonies and are governed by Laws of their own making having having several Courts of Judicature where they assemble together once a Month as well for the making of new Laws abolishing of old hearing and determining of Causes As for the Electing of a Governor Deputy-Governor Assistants Burgesses and other Magistrates every Town having two Burgesses each County annually Electing such like Officers The Government both Civil and Ecclesiastical is in the hands of Independents or Presbyterians The Military part of their Government is by one Major-General and three Serjeant-Majors to whom belong the four Counties of Suffolk Middlesex Essex and Norfolk Here are several fine Towns as Boston the Metropolis of New-England commodiously seated for Traffick on the Sea-shore it is at present a very large and spacious Town or rather City composed of several well-ordered Streets and graced with several fair and beautiful Houses which are well Inhabited by Merchants and Tradesmen who drive a considerable Trade for such Commodities as the Country affordeth to Barbadoes and other Caribbee Isles as also to England and Ireland taking in exchange such Commodities as each place affordeth or are found useful to them It is a place of good strength having two or three Hills adjoyning on which are raised Fortifications with great Pieces mounted thereon which are well guarded Charles-Town seated on and between the Rivers Charles and Mistick it is beautified with a large and well-built Church and near the River-side is the Market-place from which runneth two Streets in which are several good Houses Dorchester situated near the Sea where there falls two Rivulets an indifferent Town Cambridge formerly New-Town seated on the River Merrimick This Town consists of several Streets and is beautified with two Colledges and divers fair and well-built Houses St. Georges Fort seated on the mouth of the River Sagadebock New-Plymouth seated on that large Bay of Patuxed Reading commodiously seated above a great Pond and well Watered and Inhabited In this Town are two Mills one for Corn and the other for Timber Salem pleasantly seated between two Rivers Other Towns placed Alphabetically Berwick Braintree Bristol Concord Dartmouth Dedham Dover Exeter Falmouth Glocester Greens-Harbour Hampton Hartford Haverhil Hingham Hull Ipswich Lin Mulden New-bury New-Haven Northam Norwich Oxford Rowley Roxbury Salisbury Sandwich Southampton Springfield Sudbury Wenham Weymouth Woburne and Tarmouth Most of these having their Names from some Towns in England many of them being of good account and commodiously seated either on the Sea Shore or on Navigable Rivers and are well Inhabited And most of these Towns are known to the Indians by other Names The present Governour for his Majesty is Henry Cranfield Esq A DESCRIPTION OF NEW-FOVND-LAND NEw-found-land is an Island in Extent It s Extent equal to England from whence it is distant little above six hundred Leagues lying near half way between Ireland and Virginia It is situated between 46 and 53 Degrees North Latitude It s Situation the North part being better Inhabited than the South though fitter for Habitation and it is only severed from the Continent of America by an Arm of the Sea like that which separates England from France Its Bays Rivers Fish Fowls Beasts c. It is famous for many spacious and excellent Bays and Harbours and within the Land for the variety of fresh Springs whose Waters are excellent delicious It is enriched by Nature with plenty of Fish Land and Water Fowl and sufficiently stocked with Deer Hares Otters Foxes Squirrels and other Beasts which yield good Furrs Cod-Fish Herrings Salmons Thorn-back Oysters Muscles c. And though not over-run generally with Woods it doth afford besides store of Fewel abundance of stately Trees fit for Timber Masts Planks and sundry other uses The Soyl in most places is reputed fertile It s Fertility the Climate