of this Isle to which he gave the Name of Sancta Gloria where having lashed them together he lodged himself and his men on the Decks not daring to Land in regard the Inhabitants were numerous and there had like to have ended his Life and his Discoveries together the ungrateful Spaniard especially the malicious Governor of St. Domingo who hated him extreamly for his fortunate Success refused to send him any Relief with a Design that he should perish in that sad and disconsolate condition but having after two Months lying in that deplorable condition obtained the good opinion of the Natives he Landed and finding the Ground fertile and the Natives more Civil and Ingenious than what he had met withal in any of the other Islands he resolved to fall to Planting In order whereunto the Town called Metilla was presently begun by the Spaniards but before it was far advanced they deserted it again and setled ten Leagues further West where they met with a better Bay whereunto they gave the Name of St. Annes which it still retains Near this Place they built a handsom large Town called Sevil which hath been already described But finding in time that the South-side was more fruitful and pleasant about the Year 1590. the Spaniards forsook this likewise and removed thither where they built St. Jago St. Jago built which they enjoyed without any trouble or molestation till it was about 1638. surprized and taken by one Jackson Taken by Jackson with a Fleet of English Privateers but having no Design but Pillage when he had plundered the Town he surrendred it up again to the Spaniards for a thousand Beavers More fatal to the Spaniard was the next Attempt made on this Island for Cromwel Cromwel 's Pre having turned out the Rump usurp'd the Title of Protector and made peace with the Hollander found himself at leisure to try his Fortune in the Indies and endeavour by a strange kind of a sudden and unexpected Enterprize against the Spaniards with whom he was about this time highly offended for giving entertainment to his injured Sovereign to make his Name as terrible in those remoter parts of the Earth as his Treason and Usurpation had rendered it in Europe In order whereunto having with great hurry and silence got ready a great Fleet he sent it under Penn who was General at Sea and Venables who had the Command of the Land-Forces Having after their leaving the English Coast toucht at Barbados they sailed from thence directly towards Hispaniola without making any Declaration of War against the Spanish King and had certainly surprized and taken Domingo and consequently the whole Island had not his being ruled by some strange Councils of his own or as some report by his Wife ruined the whole Design and frustrated the Usurper of his Golden Expectations For so terrified were the Spaniards at the sudden approach of this mighty Fleet and the Fame of Cromwel's constant Success in all he undertook that in great amazement and fear they forsook the Town and left it as a prey to those new invaders had they been speedy enough in taking possession But seeing Venables land his Souldiers at so great a distance as 12 leagues to the westward of it they re-assumed their courage and betook themselves again to the defence of it The English finding no opposition at their Landing thought themselves Lords of the Indies and began in their own thoughts to share the Golden Mines among themselves which they had peradventure effected had not Venables's covetous humour and an insatiable desire to appropriate all to himself by forbidding the Souldiers by Proclamation made at the Head of the Army to meddle with any of that rich Booty or presume to kill any Cattle without leave together with their tedious and disconsolate March through thick Woods and deep scalding Sands ready to die with Thirst so damped their Spirits and lost their wonted Courage that they became an easie prey to the wary Spaniard who taking them at that advantage and setting upon them at unawares The English disappointed beaten destroyed them without resistance even till they were weary of killing and Major Gen. Haines and between six or seven hundred more left both their Lives and their expected Booty behind them to pay for Venables's Folly besides near as many more which were killed in stragling Parties the whole Execution being performed with the loss of sixty persons on the Spaniards side Having thus frustrated their Expectations by their unadvised Landing and lost all hope of winning that Town they resolve however not to lose the whole Voyage without gaining something from the Spaniard and therefore next directed their Course to Jamaica wherein was at that time but one only Town viz. St. Jago within which Place dwelt all the Spaniards that were in the Isle who kept their Slaves at several little Plantations in the Country from whence they were continually supplied with store of Fruits and Provisions which they luxuriously spent in their Houses that being a lazy People who are naturally so proud that they think it below them to take pains designing nothing more but only to live in ease and plenty their whole number Slaves and all not exceeding three Thousand Upon the Landing of the English Army They take Jamaica the Inhabitants of St Jago forsook the Town and betook themselves to the Mountains but after divers Skirmishes and Surprisals on both sides seeing but little hopes of regaining the Island several of the most considerable among them got into Cuba but were soon after commanded back again by the Vice-roy of Alexico with promises of a speedy supply to be sent after them The Vice-roy's Promise was long before it was performed and when the Succour came it was but five hundred men who refused to joyn with them in regard they were so few in number and by this time grown very sickly but fortified themselves at a place called St. Chereras expecting to receive more Recruits but the English finding them out before they came marched immediatly against them and defeated them and so they did about thirty Companies of Spanish Souldiers that arrived soon after which bad Success made the Spaniards despair of ever regaining the Island Whereupon the English began now to form themselves into a Body or Colony some setling themselves in Plantations and others venturing to Sea as Privateers the better to secure themselves against the Spaniards and force them to consent to a Peace by their frequent annoying them and seizing such of their Ships as they met withal in which they proved so very successful that Jamaica began to be much talked of and had in great esteem in England and fresh Supplies of Men Ammunition and other Necessaries were sent them thence and so by little and little it came to its present Potency wherein His Majesty will without doubt take care to preserve and support it upon the following Considerations 1. It s being so
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-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
hath been here And in their Complaints to any of the French Governours this is commonly the first Thy Mariners for so they call all strangers have taken away a Knife or some such small trifle out of my Cottage They are a People linked in one common intrest and love each other extreamly so that very rarely any difference ariseth amongst them but if they are by chance offended though it be by one of their own People they seldom ever forget it but study all imaginable ways of revenge and when their Sorcerers tell them such an one hath done them the Mischief that happens to them they watch all opportunities to kill him crying out He hath bewitched me I will be revenged on him They bear great respect to ancient people the younger sort complying in all things with their sentiments and wills Their Youths have no conversation either with their Maids or married Women and are generally less amorous than those of the Female Sex though both are very chast a Vertue worthy admiration in a barbarous People that go naked But by the pernicious Examples the Christians have set them they are now grown somewhat more loose They are great lovers of Neatness which is not very usual among Savages for if a man should but ease himself in their Garden where their Potatoes grow they will forsake them A DESCRIPTION OF NEW-JERSEY NEW-JERSEY is part of the Province of New-Albion aforementioned and is subdivided into East and West-Jersey East-Jersey lies between 39 and 41 Degrees of North-Latitude It s Situation being about 12 Degrees more to the South than the City of London it is bounded on the South-East by the main Sea East by that vast Navigable Stream called Hudson's River West by a Line of Division which separates it from West-Jersey and North upon the main Land and extends itself in length on the Sea-Coasts and along Hudson's River One hundred English Miles and upward The Proprietors Proprietors of this Province who in 1682. were William Penn Robert West Thomas Rudyard Samuel Groom Thomas Hart Richard Mew Thomas Wilcox Ambrose Rigg John Heywood Hugh Hartshorn Clement Plumstead and Thomas Cooper have published the following Account for the information and incouragement of all Persons who are inclined to settle themselves Families and Servants in that Country which may give sufficient satisfaction of the Situation Conveniencies and Product thereof The conveniency of Situation temperature of Air and fertility of Soyl is such that there is no less then seven considerable Towns viz. Shrewsbury Chief Towns Middle-Town Burgin Newark Elizabeth-Town Woodbridge and Piscataway which are all inhabited by a sober and industrious People who have necessary Provisions for themselves and Families and for the comfortable Entertainment of Strangers and Travellers And this Colony is experimentally found generally to agree well with English Constitutions For Navigation it hath these advantages Its Advantanges for Navigation not only to be situate along the Navigable part of Hudson's River but lies also fifty Miles on the main Sea And near the midst of this Province is that noted Bay for Ships within Sand-Hook very well known not to be inferiour to any in America where Ships not only harbour in greatest storms but ride safe with all winds and sail in and out thence as well in Winter as Summer For Fishery the Sea-banks there are very well stored with variety of Fish not only such as are profitable for Transsportation but fit for Food there As Whales It s Fish Cod-fish Cole and Hake-fish large Mackarel and many other sorts of flat and small Fish The Bay also and Hudson's River are plentifully stored with Sturgeon Great Basse and other Scale-fish Eels and Shell-fish as Oysters c. in great plenty and easie to take This Counrry is plentifully supplied with lovely Springs Waters Rivulets In-land Rivers and Creeks which fall into the Sea and Hudson's River in which is much plenty and variety of fresh-Fish and Water-Fowl There is also great plenty of Oak-Timber Trees fit for Shipping and Masts for Ships and other variety of Wood like the adjacent Colonies as Chesnut Walnut Poplar Cedar Ash Fir c. fit for building within the Countrey The Land or Soyl as in other places varies in goodness and richness It s Fertility but generally fertil and with much smaller labour than in England produceth plentiful Crops of all sorts of English Grain besides Indian Corn which English Planters find not only to be of vast encrease but very wholsome and good in use It also produceth good Flax and Hemp which they now spin and manufacture into Linnen Cloth There 's sufficient Meadow and Marish to their up-Up-lands and the very Barrens there as they are called are not like some in England but produce Grass fit for grazing Cattel in Summer season The Countrey is well stored with Wild Deer Fruits Fowls Conies and wild Fowl of several sorts as Turkeys Pigeons Partridges Plover Quails wild Swans Geese Ducks c. in great plenty It produceth variety of good delicious Fruits as Grapes Plums Mulberries Apricocks Peaches Pears Apples Quinces Water-Melons c. which are here in England planted in Orchards and Gardens These as also many other Fruits which come to perfection in England are the more natural product of this Country There are already great store of Horses Cows Hogs Cattel and some Sheep which may be bought at reasonable prices with English Money or English Commodities or Man's Labour where Moneys and Goods are wanting What sort of Mine or Minerals are in the Bowels of the Earth after-time must produce the Inhabitants not having yet employed themselves in search thereof But there is already a Melting-Furnace and Forge set up in this Colony where is made good Iron which is of great benefit to the Country It is exceedingly well furnished with safe and convenient Harbours Harbours for Shipping which is of great advantage to that Countrey and affords already for Exportation great plenty of Horses and also Beef Pork Pipe-staves Boards Bread Flower Wheat Barley Rie Indian Corn Butter and Cheese which they export for Barbadoes Jamaica Mevis and other adjacent Islands as also to Portugal Spain the Canaries c. Their Whale-Oyl and Whale-Fins Bever Monkey Racoon and Martin-Skins which this Countrey produceth they transport for England The Situation and Soyl of this Country may invite any who are inclined to transport themselves into those parts of America For 1. It being considerably peopled and situate on the Sea-coast with convenient Harbours and so near adjacent to the Province of New York and Long Island being also well peopled Colonies may be proper for Merchants Tradesmen and Navigators 2. It is likewise proper for such who are inclined to Fishery the whole Coast and very Harbours-mouths being fit for it which has been no small Rise to New-England People and may be here carried on also with great advantage 3. For its Soyl it is
of three and the rest are supplied by the understanding of the Hearer imperfect in their Tenses wanting in their Moods Participles Adverbs Conjunctions Interjections I have made it my business to understand it that I might not want an Interpreter on any occasion and I must say I know not a Language spoken in Europe that hath words of more sweetness or greatness in Accent and Emphasis than theirs for Instance Octorockon Rancocas Oricton Schakamazon Poquesin all which are Names of Places and have grandeur in them of words of sweetness Anna is Mother Issimus a Brother Netap a Friend Vsque oret very good Poru Bread Metse cat Matta no Hatta to have Payo to come Sepassen Passejou the Names of Places Tamane Secane Menanse Secatereus are the Names of Persons if one ask them of any thing they have not they will answer Matta ne hotta which to Translate is not I have instead of I have not Of their Customs and Manners Customs and Manners there is much to be said I will begin with Children So soon as they are born they wash them in Water and while very young and in cold Weather to chuse they plunge them in the Rivers to harden and embolden them Having wrapt them in a Clout they lay them on a strait thin Board a little more than the length breadth of the Child and swaddle it fast upon the Board to make it streight wherefore all Indians have flat Heads and thus they carry them at their Backs The Children will go very young at nine Months commonly they wear only a small Clout round their Waist till they are big if Boys they go a Fishing till ripe for the Woods which is about fifteen then they Hunt and having given some proofs of their Manhood by a good return of Skins they may Marry else it is shame to think of a Wife The Girls stay with their Mothers and help to Hoe the Ground Plant Corn and carry Burthens and they do well to use them to that Young which they must do when they are Old for the Wives are the true Servants of their Husbands otherwise the Men are very affectionate to them When the young Women are fit for Marriage they wear something upon their Heads for an Advertisement but so as their Faces are hardly to be seen but when they please The Age they Marry at if Women is about thirteen and fourteen if Men seventeen and eighteen they are rarely elder their Houses are Mats or Barks of Trees set on Poles in the fashion of an English Barn but out of the power of the Winds for they are hardly higher than a man they lie on Reeds or Grass In travel they lodge in the Woods about a great fire with the Mantle-Duffils they wear by day wrapt about them and a few Boughs stuck round them Their Diet is Maiz or Indian-Corn divers ways prepapared sometimes roasted in the Ashes sometimes beaten and boiled with Water which they call Homine they also make Cakes not unpleasant to eat they have likewise several sorts of Beans and Pease that are good nourishment and the Woods and Rivers are their Larder If an European comes to see them Their Enterment or calls for Lodging at their House or Wigwam they give him the best place and first cut If they come to viâ—â—t us they salute us with an It ah which is as much as to say Good be to you and set them down which is mostly on the ground close to their Heels their Legs upright may be they speak not a word more but observe all passages If you give them any thing to eat or drink well for they will not ask and be it little or much if it be with kindness they are well-pleased else they go away sullen but say nothing They are great concealers of their own resentments brought to it I believe by the revenge that hath been practised among them in either of these they are not exceeded by the Italians A Tragical Instance fell out since I came into the Country A King's Daughter thinking herself slighted by her Husband in suffering another Women to lie down between them rose up went out pluckt a Root out of the ground and eat it upon which she immediately died and for which last Week he made an Offering to her Kindred for Atonement Liberty and Marriage as two others did to the Kindred of their Wives that died a natural death for till Widowers have done so they must not Marry again Some of the young Women are said to take undue liberty before Marriage for a Portion but when Married chaste when with Child they know their Husbands no more till delivered and during their Month they touch no Meat they eat but with a stick lest they should defile it nor do their Husbands frequent them till that time be expired But in Liberality Their Liberality they excel nothing is too good for their Friend give them a fine Gun Coat or other thing it may pass twenty hands before it sticks light of heart strong affections but soon spent the most merry Creatures that live Feast and Dance perpetually they never have much nor want much Wealth circulateth like the Blood all parts partake and though none shall want what another hath yet exact observers of Property Some Kings have sold others presented me with several Parcels of Land the Pay or Present I made them were not hoarded by the particular owners but the neighbouring Kings and their Clans being present when the Goods were brought out the parties chiefly concerned consulted what and to whom they should give them to every King then by the hands of a person for that work appointed is a portion sent so sorted and folded and with that gravity that it is admirable then that King subdivideth it in like manner among the dependants they hardly leaving themselves an equal share with one of their Subjects and be it on such occasions as Festivals or at their common Meals the Kings distribute and to themselves last they care for little and the reason is a little contents them In this they are sufficiently revenged on us if they are ignorant of our pleasures they are also free from our pains They are not disquieted with Bills of Lading and Exchange nor perplexed with Chancery-Suits and Exchequer-Reckonings we sweat and toil to live their pleasure feeds them I mean their Hunting Fishing and Fowling and this Table is spread every where they eat twice a day Morning and Evening their Seats and Tables are the Ground Since the Europeans came into those parts they are grown great lovers of strong Liquors Rum especially and for it they exchange the richest of their Skins and Furs If they are healed with Liquors they are restless till they have enough to sleep and this is their cry Some more and I will go to sâ—â—ep but when drunk one of the most wretched'st spectacles in the world In sickness impatient to be cured for it
give any thing especially for their Children to whom they are extreamly natural they drink at those times a Teran or Decostion of some Roots in Spring-water and if they eat any flesh it must be of the Female of any Creature if they die they bury them with their Apparel be they Men or Women and the nearest of Kin slings in something precious with them as a token of their love their mourning is blacking of their faces which they continue for a Year they are choice of the Graves of their dead for lest they should be lost by time and fall to common use they pick off the Grass that grows upon them and heap up the fallen Earth with great care and exactness These poor people are under a dark Night in things relating to Religion Their Religion to be sure the Tradition of it yet they believe a God and Immortality without the helps of Metaphysicks for they say there is a great King that made them who dwells in a glorious Country to the Southward of them and that the Souls of the good shall go thither where they shall live again Their Worship consists of two parts Sacrifice and Cantico Their Sacrifice is their first Fruits the first and fattest Buck they kill goes to the Fire where he is all burnt with a mournful Ditty of him that performs the Ceremony but with such marvellous fervency and labour of Body that he will even sweat to a Foam the other part of their Cantico is performed by round Dances sometimes Words sometimes Songs then Shouts two being in the middle that begin and by singing and drumming on a Board direct the Chorus their Postures in the Dance are very antick and differing but all keep measure This is done with equal earnestness and labour but great appearance of Joy In the Fall when the Corn comes in they begin to feast one another there have been two great Festivals already to which all come that will I was at one my self their entertainment was a great Seat by a Spring under some shady Trees and twenty Bucks with hot Cakes of new Corn both Wheat and Beans which they make up in a square form in the Leaves of the Stem and bake them in the Ashes and after that they fell to dance but they that go must carry a small Present of their Money it may be six pence which is made in the Bone of a Fish the black is with them as Gold the white Silver they call it all Wampum Their Government Government is by Kings which they call Sachema and those by succession but always of the Mothers-side for instance the Children of him that is now King will not succeed but his Brother by the Mother or the Children of his Sister whose Sons and after them the Children of her Daughters will reign for no Woman inherits the Reason they render for this way of Descent is that their Issue may not be spurious Every King hath his Council and that consists of all the old and wise men of his Nation which perhaps is two hundred People Nothing of moment is undertaken be it War Peace selling of Land Traffick without advising with them and which is more with the young men too 'T is admirable to consider how powerful the Kings are and how they move by the Breath of the People I have had occasion to be in Council with them upon Treaties of Land and to adjust the Terms of Trade Their Order is thus The King sits in the middle of a half-Moon and hath his Council the old and wise on each hand behind them or at a little distance sit the younger Fry in the same Figure having consulted and resolved their Busisiness the King ordered one of them to speak to me and he in the Name of his King saluted me then took me by the hand and told me That he was ordered by his King to speak to me and that now it was not he but the King that spoke because what he should say was the King's Mind He first prayed me to excuse them that they had not complied with me the last time he feared there might be some fault in the Interpreter being neither Indian nor English besides it was the Indian custom to deliberate and take up much time in Council before they resolve and that if the young People and Owners of the Land had been as ready as he I had not met with so much delay Having thus introduced this Matter he fell to the Bounds of the Land they had agreed to dispose of and the Price which now is little and dear that which would have bought twenty Miles not buying now two During the time that this Person spoke not a man of them was observed to whisper or smile the Old grave the Young reverent in their deportment They do speak little but fervently and with elegancy I have never seen more natural sagacity considering them without the help of Tradition and he will deserve the Name of wise that out-wits them in any Treaty about a thing they understand When the Purchase was agreed great Promises passed between us of Kindness and good Neighbourhood and that the Indians and English must live in Love as long as the Sun gave Light which done another made a Speech to the Indians in the Name of all the Sachamakers or Kings first to tell them what was done next to charge and command them to love Christians and particularly to live in peace with me and the People under my Government That many Governors had been in the River but that no Governor had come himself to live and stay here before and having now such a one that had treated them well they should never do him or his any wrong At every Sentence of which they shouted and said Amen in their way The Justice Their Justice they have is pecuniniary in case of any wrong or evil fact be it Murder itself they atone by Feasts and Presents of their Wampum which is proportioned to the quality of the Offence or Person injur'd of the Sex they are of For in case they kill a Woman they pay double and the reason they render is That she breedeth Children which men cannot do 'T is rare that they fall out if sober and if drunk they forgive it saying it was the Drink and not the Man that abused them We have agreed that in all differences between us six of each side shall end the Matter Don't abuse them but let them have Justice and you win them The worst is they are the worse for the Christians who have propagated their Vices and yielded them Tradition for ill and not for good things But as low an Ebb as they are at and in as glorious as their condition looks the Christians have not out-liv'd their sight with all their Pretensions to an higher manifestation What Good then might not a good People graft where there is so distinct a Knowledge left between good and evil
the admiration of many I thought fit to signifie thus much knowing thou wouldst be glad to hear of the People and Provinces welfare The Lord preserve us all and make way for thy return which is much desired not only by our friends but all sorts I am c. thy truly Loving Friend Robert Turner Of further Improvements for Trade and Commerce These things that we have in Prospect for Staples of Trade Trade and Commerce are Wine Linnen Hemp Pot-ashes and Whale-oyl to say nothing of our Provisions for the Islands our Saw-Mills Sturgeon some Tobacco and our Furrs and Skins which of themselves are not contemptible I might add Iron perhaps Copper too for there is much Mines and it will be granted us that we want no Wood though I must confess I cannot know how to help preferring a Domestick or Self-subsistence to a life of much profit by the extream toyl of Foreign Traffick Advice to Adventurers how to imploy their Estates with fair profit It is sit now that I give some Advertisement to Adventurers Advice to Adventurers which way they may lay out their money to best advantage so as it may yield them fair returns and with content to all concerned which is the last part of my present task and I must needs say so much wanting that it has perhaps given some occasion to ignorance and prejudice to run without mercy measure or distinction against America of which Pensylvania to be sure has had its share 1. It is agreed on all hands that the poor are the hands and feet of the rich It is their labour that improves Countries and to encourage them is to promote the real benefit of the Publick Now as there are abundance of these People in many parts of Europe extreamly desirous of going to America so the way of helping them thither or when there and the return thereof to the Disbursers will prove what I say to be true 2. There are two sorts such as are able to transport themselves and Families but have nothing to begin with there and those that want so much as to transport themselves and Families thither 3. The first of these may be entertained in this manner Say I have five thousand Acres I will settle ten Families upon them in way of Village and build each an House an out-House for Cattel furnish every Family with stock as four Cows two Sows a couple of Mares and a yoke of Oxen with a Town-horse Bull and Boar. I find them with Tools and give each their first Ground-seed they shall continue seven years or more at half increase being bound to leave the Houses in repair and a Garden and Orchard I paying for the Trees and at least twenty Acres of Land within Fence and improved to Corn and Grass The charge will come to about sixty pounds English each Family at the seven years end the improvement will be worth as things go now one hundred and twenty pounds besides the value of the encrease of the Stock which may be near as much more allowing for casualties especially if the People are honest and careful or a man be upon the Spot himself or have an Overseer sometimes to inspect them The charge in the whole is eight hundred thirty and two Pounds I think I have been modest in my Computation These Farms afterwards are sit for Leases at full Rent or how else the owner shall please to dispose of them also the People will by this time be skilled in the Country and well provided to settle themselves with Stock upon their own Land 4. The other sort of poor People may be very beneficially transported upon these terms Say I have five thousand Acres I should settle as before I will give to each Family one hundred Acres which in the whole makes one thousand and to each Family thirty Pounds English half in hand and half there which in the whole comes to three hundred Pounds after four days are expired in which time they may be easie and in a good condition they shall each of them pay 5 l. and so yearly for ever as a Fee-farm-rent which in the whole comes to fifty Pounds a year Thus a Man that buys five thousand Acres may secure and settle his four thousand by the gift of one and in a way that hazard and interest allowed for amounts to at least ten per Cent. upon Land security besides the value it puts upon the rest of the five thousand Acres I propose that there be at the least two working hands besides the Wife whether Son or Servant and that they oblige what they carry and for further security bind themselves as Servants for some time that they will settle the said Land accordingly And when they are once seated their improvements are security enough for the Rent 5. There is yet another expedient and that is to give ten Families one thousand Acres for ever at a small acknowledgment and settle them in way of Village as afore by their seating thus the Land taken up is secured from others because the method of the Country is answered and the value such a settlement gives to the rest reserved is not inconsiderable I mean the four thousand Acres especially that which is contiguous for their Children when grown up and Handicrafts will soon covet to fix next them and such and such after settlements to begin at an improved rent in Fee or for long Leases or small acknowledgments and good improvements must advance the whole considerably I conceive any of these methods to issue in a sufficient advantage to Adventurers and they all give good encouragement to feeble and poor Families 6. That which is most advisable for People intended thither to carry with them is in short all things relating to Apparel Building Houshold-stuff Husbandry Fowling and Fishing some Spice Spirits and double Beer at first were not amiss But I advise all to proportion their Estates thus one third in Money and two thirds in Goods Upon Pieces of Eight there will be almost a third gotten for they go at six shillings and by Goods well bought at least fifty Pounds Sterling for every hundred Pounds so that a Man worth four hundred Pounds here is worth six hundred Pounds there without sweating Of the Natives 1. Because many stories have been Prejudicially progagated as if we were upon ill terms with the Natives The Natives and sometimes like Job's Kindred all cut off but the Messenger that brought Tidings I think it requisite to say thus much that as there never was any such Messenger so the dead People were alive at our last advices so far are we from ill Terms with the Natives that we have lived in great friendship I have made several Purchases and in Pay and Presents they have received at least twelve hundred Pounds of me Our humanity has obliged them so far that they generally leave their Guns at home when they come to our Settlements they offer us no
affront not so much as to one of our Dogs and if any of them break our Laws they submit to be punished by them And to this they have tyed themselves by an Obligation under their Hands We leave not the least indignity to them unrebuked nor wrong unsatisfied Justice gains and awes them They have some great Men amongst then I mean for Wisdom Truth and Justice I refer to my former Account about their Laws Manners and Religious Rites Of the Government The Government Their Government is according to the words of the Grant as near to the English as conveniently may be in the whole we aim at Duty to the King the preservation of Right to all the suppression of Vice and encouragement of Vertue and Arts with liberty to all People to Worship Almighty God according to their Faith and Perswasion Of the seasons of Going and usual time of Passage 1. Though Ships go hence all times of the Year The seasons of the Ships Passage it must be acknowledged that to go so as to arrive at Spring or Fall is best For the Summer may be of the hottest for fresh Comers and in the Winter the Wind that prevails is the North-West and that blows off the Coast so that sometimes it difficult to enter the Capes 2. I purpose therefore that Ships go hence about the middle of the Months call'd February and August which allowing two Months for Passage reaches time enough to plant in the Spring such things as are carried hence to plant and in the Fall to get a small Cottage and clear some Land against the next Spring I have made a discovery of about a hundred Miles West and find those back-back-Lands richer in Soil Woods and Fountains than that by Delaware especially upon the Sasquehanah River 3. I must confess I prefer the Fall to come thither as believing it most healthy to be followed with Winter than Summer though through the great goodness and mercy of God we have had an extraordinary portion of Health for so new and numerous a Colony notwithstanding we have not been so regular in time 4. The Passage is not to be set by any Man for Ships will be quicker and slower some having been four Months and some but one and as often generally between six and nine Weeks One Year or four and twenty Sail I think there was not three above nine and there was one or two under six Weeks in Passage 5. To render it more healthy it is good to keep as much upon Deck as may be for the Air helps against the offensive smells of a crowd and a close place Also to scrape often the Cabbins under the Beds and either carry store of Rue and Wormwood and some Rosemary or often sprinkle Vinegar about the Cabbin Pitch burnt is not amiss sometimes against faintness and infectious Scents I speak my experience for their benefit and direction that may need it And because some has urged my coming back as an argument against the place and the probability of its improvement adding that I would for that reason never return I think fit to say That next Summer God willing I intend to go back and carry my Family and the best part of my personal Estate with me And this I do not not only of Duty but Inclination and Choice God will bless and prosper poor America I shall conclude with this further notice That to the end such as are willing to embrace any of the foregoing Propositions for the improvement of Adventurers Estates may not be discouraged from an inability to find such Landlords Tenants Masters and Servants if they intimate that desire to my Friend Philip Ford living in Bow-lane in London they may in all probability be well accommodated few of any quality or capacity designed to the Province that do not inform him of their inclination and condition Now for you that think of going thither I have this to say by way of Caution If an hair of our heads fall not to the ground without the Providence of God remember your removal is of greater moment Wherefore have a due reverence and regard to his good Providence as becomes a People that profess a Belief in Providence Go clear in yourselves and of all others Be moderate in Expectation count on Labour before a Crop and Cost before Gain for such Persons will best endure difficulties if they come and bear the success as well as find the comfort that usually follows such considerate undertakings Worminghurst-place the 12th of the 10th Month 1685. William Penn. A DESCRIPTION OF THE Island of MONTSERRAT MOntserrat is a Island of a small extent It s Extent being not above Ten Miles long and Nine broad It was so called by the Spaniards at their discovery of it from a Mountain therein which resembles that of Montserrat near Barcelona in Spain It is Situated in the Latitude of seventeen degrees on this side the Line It s Situation 'T is very much inclined to Mountains which for the most part are very well cloathed with Cedar and other useful Trees the Valleys and Plains being likewise very pleasant and fruitful 'T is chiefly Inhabited by Irish Inhabitants intermixed with some English making together about seven Hundred Persons There is in it a very fair Church of a delightful Structure built by the liberal contributions of the Governour and Inhabitants the Pulpit Seats and all the rest of the Carpenters and Joyners Work being framed of the most precious sweet-sented Wood of its own Product There is sometimes taken upon the Coast of this Island a strange kind of Monster A strange Monster about four Foot long and proportionable in bulk having on its Head a great bunch like an Hedghog his Skin hard and rough like that of a Sea-Dog of a black colour his Head is flat having on the upper part of it many little risings and among them two very small black Eyes his Mouth is very wide his Teeth sharp and two of them crooked like a Boars he has two Finns and a broad forked Tail all which renders him of so terrible a look that they call him the Sea-Devil which Name was given it chiefly upon his having two liltle black Horns growing above the Eyes turning towards his Back like a Rams his Flesh is soft full of strings and of a poysonous quality causing strange Vomitings and Swoonings which prove mortal if not timely prevented by a specifick Antidote Another called the Sea-Vnicorn Sea-Vnicorn is no less wonderful some of them being eighteen Foot long of a curious Vermilion colour the Body covered with blew Scales intermix'd in some places with white about the bigness of a Crown piece it hath six large Finns like the end of Galley Oars a Head like a Horse and a fair streight Horn about nine Foot long issuing out of the fore-part of it waxing smaller and smaller to the very point which is so exceeding hard and sharp that it will
Complexion Stature Customs Dispositions Laws Religion Apparel Diet Houses c. are much the same with those of Virginia already treated of being likewise many different Tribes or sorts of People and each governed by their particular King There are many strange Rites and Ceremonies used by the Native Indians Their Religion they believe there are several Gods which they call Mantaac but of different sorts and degrees yet there is but one absolute God from all eternity who when he made the World created other Gods to be as a Means and Instrument used in the Creation and that the Sun Moon and Stars are petty Gods out of the Waters they affirm all the variety of Creatures were made for Mankind that Woman was made first who by the assistance of one of the Gods conceived and brought forth Children but know not how long it was since this was done having no Arithmetick nor Records but only Tradition from Father to Son they make the Images of their Gods in the shape of Men placing one at least in their Houses or Temple where they worship sing pray and make Offerings They believe that after this Life the Soul shall be disposed of according to its Works here either to the habitation of the Gods to enjoy perpetual happiness or to a great Pit or Hole in the furthest part of their Countrey toward Sun-set which they count the furthermost part of the World there to burn continually which place they call Popogusso and relate that one that was buried was the next day seen to move upon his Grave whereupon his Body was taken up again who when he was revived declared that his Soul was near entring into Popogusso had not one of the Gods saved him and suffered him to return and warn his Friends to avoid that terrible place another being taken up related that his Soul was alive while his Body was in the Grave and had been travelling in a long broad way on both sides whereof grew delicate Trees bearing excellent Fruits and at length arrived at most curious houses where he met his Father that was dead before who charged him to go back and shew his Friends what good they were to do to enjoy the pleasures of this Place and then to return to him again Whatever Tricks or Subtilty the Priests use the Vulgar are hereby very respectful to their Governors and careful of their actions though in criminal Causes they inflict punishments according to the quality of the Offence they are great Negromancers and account our Fire-works Guns and Writing to be the works of God rather than Men. When one of their Kings was sick he sent to the English to pray for him Some of them imagine that we are not mortal men nor born of Women but say we are an old Generation revived and believe that there are more of us yet to come to kill their Nation and take their places who are at present invisible in the Air without Bodies and that at their intercession they cause those of their Nation to die who wrong the English Their Idol they place in the innermost Room of the House of whom they relate incredible Stories they carry it with them to the Wars and ask counsel thereof as the Romans did of their Oracles they sing Songs as they march towards Battel instead of Drums and Trumpets their Wars are exceeding bloody and have wasted the people very much Once a year they hold a great Festival meeting together out of several Villages each having a certain Mark or Character on his Back whereby it may be discerned whose Subject he is the place where they meet is spacious and round about are Posts carved on the top like a Nuns Head in the midst are three of the fairest Virgins lovingly embracing and clasping each other about this living Image and artificial Circle they dance in their savage manner Their chief Idol called Kiwasa in made of wood four foot high the Face resembling the Inhabitants of Florida painted with flesh-colour the Breast white the other parts black the Legs only sported with white with Chains and Strings of Beads about his neck This Idol is the Keeper of the dead Bodies of their Kings which are advanced on Scaffolds nine or ten foot high this Kiwasa or Guardian being placed near them and underneath liveth a Priest who there mumbles his Devotions night and day This Province of mary-Mary-Land His Majesty King Charles the First in Anno 1632. granted by a Patent to the Right Honourable Caecilius Calvert Lord Baltemore and to his Heirs and Assigns and by that Patent created him and them the true and absolute Lords and Proprietors of the same saving the Allegiance and Sovereign Dominion due to His Majesty his Heirs and Successors thereby likewise granting to them all Royal Jurisdictions both military and Civil as Power of enacting Laws martial Laws making of Warand Peace Pardoning Offences conferring of Honours coyning of Money c. and in acknowledgment thereof yielding and paying yearly to his Majesty his Heirs and Successors two Indiâ—n Arrows at Windsor-Castle in the County of Berks on Easter-Tuesday together with the fifth part of all the Gold and Silver-Oar that shall be found there The Lord Baltemore hath his Residence at Mattapany about eight miles distance from St. Maries where he hath a pleasant Seat though the general Assemblies and Provincial Courts are kept at St. Maries and for the better inviting of People to settle here his Lordship by the Advice of the General Assembly of that Province hath long since established a Model of good and wholsom Laws for the ease and benefit of the Inhabitants with toleration of Religion to all sorts that profess the Faith of Christ which hath been a principal motive to many to settle under that Government rather than in another where Liberty of Conscience was denied them NEW ENGLAND And NEW YORK by Rob Morden i Charles Towne k Cambridg l Water town m Naâ—ton n Dabham o Medfeild p Chensford q Ballerica r Sudbury a Roxbury b Deâ—byster c Miltem d â—â—ymouth e Bâ—â—â—bry f Malden g Wiâ—â—sunt h Farmington The Inhabitants being in number about 16000 have begun the building of several Towns which in few years 't is hoped may come to some perfection as Calverton Herrington and Harvey-Town all commodiously seated for the benefit of Trade and conveniency of Shipping but the principal Town is St. Maries seated on St. Georges River being beautified with divers well-built Houses and is the chief Place or Scale of Trade for the Province A DESCRIPTION Of NEW-YORK ADjoyning to Mary-Land Northwards is a Colony called New-York from our present Gracious Sovereign when Duke of York the Proprietor thereof by Grant from His Majesty and is that part of New-England which the Dutch once possessed it was first discovered by Mr. Hudson It s Discovery and sold presently by him to the Dutch without Authority from his Sovereign the King of England in 1608. The Hollanders in 1614. began to
and a few inconsiderable Buildings for the Planters yea for want of good Conduct they were by degrees in a manner quite destitute of Laws and Government and left to shift for themselves This was the beginning of New-England when in the Year 1610. one Mr. Robinson a Presbyterian or rather Independent Preacher and several other English then at Leyden in Holland though they had been courteously entertained by the Dutch as Strangers yet foreseeing divers inconveniences might follow and that they could not so well provide for the good of their Posterity under the Government of a Foreign Nation they resolve to intreat so much Favour of their Sovereign Prince King James as to grant them Liberty under the Protection of his Royal Authority to place themselves in some place of New-England Having therefore obtained a Patent or Grant for some place about Hudsons River they set Sail from Plymouth in September for the Southern Parts of New-England but as they intended their Course thither-ward they were through many dangers at last about November the eleventh cast upon a bosom of the South Cape of the Massachusets Bay called Cape Cod. When Winter approached so fast that they had no opportunity to remove and finding some encouragement from the hopefulness of the Soyl and courtesie of the Heathen they resolved there to make their aboad laying the Foundation of a new Colony which from the last Town they Sailed from in England they called New-Plymouth containing no considerable Tract of Land scarce extending one hundred Mile in length through the whole Cape and not half so much in breadth where broadest From this time to the Year 1636. things were very prosperously and successfully carried on in New-England which was much increased in Buildings and Inhabitants at which time the Naraganset Indians who are the most Warlike and Fierce and much dreaded by all the rest committed divers outrages upon several of them and likewise upon the English and Dutch as they came occasionally to Trade with them barbarously murthering Capt. Stone Capt. Oldham with several others Whereupon the Inhabitants of all the Colonies unanimously falling upon them in 1637. they were easily suppressed about seven hundred of them being destroyed and the rest cut off by their neighbour Indians Upon which Miantonimoh the chief of the Magchins expecting to be sole Lord and Ruler over all the Indians committed many Insolencies upon some others who were in Confederacy with the English as well as himself and he being sent for to the Massacusets Court at Boston endeavoured to clear himself but was clearly convicted by one of his fellows named Vncas In revenge of which after his return home he made War upon Vncas by whom being taken Prisoner by the Advice and Counsel of the English he cut off his Head it being justly feared no firm Peace could be concluded while he was alive This happened in 1643. from whence to 1675. there was always an appearance of Amity and good Correspondence on all sides only in 1671. one Matoonas being vexed that an intended Design against the English did not take effect out of meer malice against them slew an Englishman on the Road the Murtherer was a Nipnet Indian and under the Command of the Sachem of Mount-Hope the Author of all the mischief against the English in 1675. Upon a due inquiry therefore of all the Transactions between the Indians and English from their first setling on these Coasts there will appear no ground of quarrel or provocation given by the English For when Plymouth Colony was first Planted in 1620. within three months after Massasoit the chief Sachem or Commander of all that side of the Country repairs thither to the English and entred solemnly into a League upon the following Articles 1. That neither he nor any of his should injure or do any hurt to any of their People 2. If any of his hurt the English he should send them the offender to punish 3. If any thing should be taken away by his he should see it restored and the English to do the like to them 4. If any made War unjustly against him they were to aid him and he likewise them 5. That he should certifie his neighbour Confederates hereof that they might be likewise comprised in the Peace 6. That when his men should come to the English they should leave their Arms behind which were then Bows and Arrows and were then their only Weapons though now they have learn the use of Guns and Swords as well as the Christians This League the same Sachem confirmed a little before his death in 1630. coming with his two Sons Alexander and Philip to Plymouth and renewing the same for Himself his Heirs and Successors yet it is apparent this Massasoit never loved the English and would have ingaged them never to have attempted to draw away any of his People from their old Pagan Superstition and Devilish Idolatry to the Christian Religion But finding they would make no Treaty with him upon such Conditions he urged it no further But this was a bad Omen that whatever kindness he pretended to the Englijh yet he hated them for being Christians which strain was more apparent in his Son that succeeded him and all the People Insomuch that some discerning Persons of that Jurisdiction were afraid that that part of the Indians would be all rooted out as it is since come to pass Neither was Passaconaway the great Sagamore or Sachim of Merimack River insensible of the fatal consequence of opposing the English for a Person of Quality relates that being invited by some Sachims to a great Dance in 1660. Passaconaway intending at that time to make his last and farewel Speech to his Children and People that were then all gathered together He addressing himself to them in this manner I am now going the way of all flesh or ready to die and not like to see you meet together any more I will now leave this word of Counsel with you that you take heed how you quarrel with the English for though you may do them much mischief yet assuredly you will all be destroyed and rooted off the Earth if you do For I was as much an Enemy to them at their first coming into these Parts as any one whatsoever and tryed all ways and means possible to have destroyed them at least to have prevented them sitting down here but could no way effect it therefore I advise you never to contend with the English nor make War with them And accordingly his eldest Son assoon as he perceived the Indians were up in Arms withdrew himself into some remote place that he might not be hurt either by the English or Indians But to proceed after this digression After the death of Massasoit his eldest Son Alexander succeeded about twenty years since who notwithstanding the League he had entred into with the English with his Father in 1639. had no affection to them nor their Religion but was Plotting to Rise against
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-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