Scale Fish Eels and Shell-Fish as Oysters c. in great plenty and easie to take This Country is plentifully supplied with lovely Springs Rivuolets In-land Rivers and Creeks which fall into the Sea and Hudsons-River in which is much plenty and variety of Fresh-Fish and Water-Fowl There is great plenty of Oak-Timber fit for Shipping and Masts for Ships and other variety of Wood like the adjacent Colonies as Chesnut Walnut Poplar Cedar Ash Fâ—rr c. fit for building within the Country The Land or Soyle as in other places varies in goodness and richness but generally fertile and with much smaller labour than in England produceth plentiful Corps of all sorts of English Grain Besides Indian Corn which the English Planters find not only to be of vast increase but very wholesome and good in use It also produceth good Flax and Hemp which they now Spin and Manufacture into Linen Cloth There 's sufficient Meadow and Marsh to their Vp-lands And the very Barrens there as they are call'd are not like some in England but produce Grass fit for Grazing Cattle in Summer Season The Country is well stored with wilde Deer Conies and wild Fowl of several sorts as Turkeys Pidgeons Partridges Plover Quailes Wilde Swans Geese Ducks c. in great plenty It produceth variety of good and delicious Fruits as Grapes Plumbs Mulberryes Apricocks Peaches Pears Apples Quinces Water-Melons c. which are here in England planted in O'rchards and Gardens These as also many other Fruits which come not to perfection in England are the more natural product of this Country There are already great store of Horses Cowes Hogs and some Sheep which may be bought at reasonable Prises with English Monys or English Commodities or mans Labour where Monys 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 Smelting-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 covenient Harbours for Shipping which is of great advantage to that Country and affords already for Exportation great plenty of Horses And also Beef Pork Pipestaves Boards Bread Flowre Wheat Barly Rie Indian Corn Butter and Cheese which they Export for Barbados Jamaica Mevis and other adjacent Islands as also to Portugal Spain the Canaries c. their Whale Oyle and Whale-Fins Bever Monky Racoon and Martin Skins which this Country produceth they Transport for England The Scituation and Soyle of this Country may invite any who are inclin'd to Transport themselves into those parts of America For 1. It being considerably Peopled and Scituate 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 Tradsemen and Navigators 2. It 's likewise proper for such who are inclined to Fishery the whole Coast and very Harbours Mouth 's being fit for it which has been no small Rise to the New-England people and may be here carryed on also with great advantage 3. For its Soyle it 's proper for all Industrious Husband-men and such who by hard Labour here on Rack Rents are scarce able to maintain themselves much less to raise any Estate for their Children may with God's blessing on their Labours there live comfortably and provide well for their Families 4. For Carpenters Bricklayers Masons Smiths Mill-wrights and 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 their cannot be comfortable or answer their expectation The Indian Natives in this Country are but few comparative to the Neighbouring Colonies and those that are there are so far from being formidable or injurious to the Planâ—ers and Inhabitants that they are really servicable and advantageous to the English not only in Hunting and taking the Deer and other wilde 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 Vermine and Poltry whose Skins and Furrs 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 Ferms 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 the Concessions but also an uninterrupted 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 farther setling 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 one Principal Town which by reason of Scituation must in all probability be the most considerable for Merchandize Trade and Fishery in those Parts It 's designed to be placed upon a Neck or Point of Rich-land called 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 of which is already drawn and those who shall desire to be satisfied therewith many 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 Monys 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 Expediâ—ion to dispatch Persons thither with whom they may Treat and who
shall have our full Power in the Premises As for Passage to this Province Ships are going hence the whole Year about as well in Winter as Summer Sandy-hook-Bay being never frozen The usual price is 5 l. per Head as well Master as Servant who are above 10 years of Age all under 10 years and not Children at the Breast pay 50 s. Sucking Children pay nothing Carriage of Goods is usually 40 s. per Ton and sometimes 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 Mary-land 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 Vtensils for Husbandry and Building and 2dly Linen and Wollen Cloths and S uffs fitting 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 conveniencies to Strangers of which unpeopled Countries are destitute as Lodging Victualling c. Yet all persons inclining unto those Parts must know that in their Settlement 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 Muscato Flyes Gnats and such like may in Hot and Fair Weather give them some disturbance where People provide not against them Which as Land is cleared are less troublesome The South and South West part of New-Jersey lying on the Sea and Dela ware River is called West Jersey of which Mr. Edward Billing is now Proprietor It hath all the Conveniencies and Excellencies of the other part aforementioned and may be made one of the best Colonies in America for the Scituation Air and Soil The Ports Creeks good Harbours and Havens being not inferior to any in that part of the World having no less than 30 Navigable Creeks ranging themselves at a Convenient distance upon the Sea and that stately River of Dela Ware the Shoars whereof are generally very deep and bold The English that are setled here 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 supplyed 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 bringing 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 loaden 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 Tast Peaches in such plenty that they bring them home in Carts they are very delicate Fruit and hang almost like our Onions tyed upon Ropes They receive 40 Bushels of good English Wheat for one Bushel sown Cherries they have in abundance and Fowl and Fish great plenty with several that are unknown in England There are likewise Bears Wolves Foxes Rattle Snakes and several other Creatures as I imagin saith my Author because the Indians bring such Skins to sell but I have travelled several hundreds of Miles to and fro yet never to my knowledge saw one of them except 2 Rattle-Snakes and I killed them both so that the fear of them iâ— more than the hurt neither are we troubled with the Muskato Fly in this place our Land lying generally high and Healthy and they being commonly in boggy ground with common and reasonable care there may in a few years be Horses Beef Pork Flouer Bisket and Pease to spare Yea this Country wjll produce Honey Wax Silk Hemp Flax Hops Woad Rapeseed Madder Potashes Anniseed and Salt Hides raw or tanned and there is a very large vast Creature called a Moose of whose Skins are made excellent Buff besides the natural product of Pitch Tar Rosin Turpentime c. As for furs there are Beaver black Fox and Otter with divers other sorts The Tobacco is excellent upon the River Dela Ware There may be very good fishing for Cod and Cusk as several have found by experience who have caught great plenty of well-grown Fish upon the whole matter this Province affords all that is either for the necessity conveniency Profit or Pleasure of humane life and it may therefore be reasonably expected that this Country with the rest of America may in a few Ages be throughly peopled with Christians I shall conclude with the Prophecy of the pious learned and Honourable Mr. George Herbert Oratour to the University of Cambridge written many years since Religion stands on Tiptoe in our Land Ready to pass to the American Strand When height of Malice and Prodigious Lusts Impudent Sinning Witchcraft and Distrusts The Mark of future Bane shall fill our Cup Vnto the Brim and make our meâ—sure up When Sein shall swallow Tyber and the Thames By letting in them both pollutes her Streams When Italy of us shall have her will And all her Kalender of sins fulfil Whereby one may foretel what sins next year Shall both in France and England domineer Then shall Religion to America flee They have their time of Gospel even as we CHAP. VII A Prospect of Pensylvania with the Scituation Product and Conveniencies thereof IT is the Jus Gentium or Law of Nations that whatever wast or unculted Country is the Discovery of any Prince it is the Right of that Prince who was at the charge of that Discovery Now this Province is a Member of that part of America which the King of Englands Ancestors have been at the charge of discoveing and which they and he have taken care to preserve and improve And his late Majesty of happy memory upon the Petition of William Penn Esq wherein he set forth his Fathers Services his own Sufferings and his Losses in relation to his Fathers Estate and lastly his long and costly attendance without success was pleased in right and consideration thereof to make a Grant to the sai'd William Penn of all that Tract of Land in America which is exprest in the following Declaration to the Inhabitants and Planters of the Province of Pensylvania CHARLES R. VVHereas His Majesty in consideration of the great merit and faithful services of Sir William Penn deceased and for divers other good Causes Him thereunto moving hath been graciously pleased by Letters Patents bearing Date the Fourth day of March last past to Give and Grant unto William Penn Esquire Son and Heir of the Sir William Penn all that
his Wings and Tail are yellow he hath a piercing sight and feeds on other Birds yet to shew his generosity he never sets upon the waeker sort but those that are armed with crooked beaks and sharp Tallons like himself nay it is observable he never seizes his prey on the ground or a Tree but stays till it has taken his flight that he may ingage it in the open air with equal advantage upon whom he furiously fastens his Tallons and having mastered them tears them in peices and devours them There is also a large Bird in these Islands called a Craw fowl about the bigness of a great Duck the feathers Ash colour and hiâ—eous to the eye it hath a long Flat beak a great head small eyes deep set in his heed and a short neck under which hangs a bag or Craw so big that it will contain two Gallons of Water they are commonly found on Trees by the Sea-side where as soon as they perceive a Fish at advantage they seize it and swallow it whole they are so attentive on their Fishing having their Eye constantly on the Sea that they are easily shot and become a Prey to others their sight is so admirable that they will discover a Fish at a great distance in the Sea and above a fathom under Water yet stay till they come almost even with it before they seize Their Flesh is not to be eaten Here are likewise found a kind of Pheasants which are called Pintado's because they are as it were painted with colours and have about them small points like so many Eyes on a Dark ground To conclude with these Fowls we shall give an Account of the Colibry or Humming Bird which is admirable for its beauty bulk sweet scent and manner of life for being the least of all Birds he gloriously confirm the saying of Pliny That nature is ever greatest in its least Productions Some of these Birds are no bigger bodied than the greater sorts of Flies yet of such beautiful feathers that the neck wings and back represent the Rain-bow there are others that have such a bright red under their neck that at a distance one would imagine it to be a Carbuncle the Belly and under the Wings are yellow as Gold the thighs Green like an Emerald the feet and beak as black as polished Ebony the two little eyes two diamonds set in an oval of the colour of burnished steel the Head is grass green which gives it such a lustre that it looks as if gilt The Male hath a little Tuft on the head in which may be seen all the colours that enamel this little Body the miralcle of the feathered Common wealth and one of the rarest productions of nature He moves that little Crown of Feathers at pleasure and is more beautiful than the Female As his bulk and plumage is miraculous so is the activity of his flight making a noise with his Wings as if a little Whirl-Wind were suddenly raised in the Air which surprizes those who hear him before they see him He lives only on the dew which he sucks from the Flowers of Trees with his Tongue which is longer than his beak hollow as a reed and about the bigness of a small needle 't is pleasant to look on him in that posture for spreading abroad his little crest one would think 〈◊〉 had on his head a Crown of Rubies and all sorts of â—â—ecions stones and the Sun adding to his Lustre makes him look like a composition of precious Stones animated and flying in the Air The female commonly lays but two Eggs which are oval about the bigness of a Pea or small Pearl And though he lose much of his beauty when dead yet there is so much left that some Ladies have worn them for Pendants and imagined they became them better than any other its smell being also excellent even like the finest Musk and Amber CHAP. XXI A Prospect of the Island of Barbadoes BArbadoes is the most considerable Island the English have among the Carribees lies in thirteen degrees and twenty Minutes on this side the Equator and though not above Twenty four Miles long and fifteen broad yet was many years ago accounted to have above Twenty thousand Inhabitants besides Negro Slaves who are thought a far greater number In the reign of K. James the first a Ship of Sr. William Curteens returning from Fernambuck in Brasil being driven by soul weather upon this Coast chanced to fall upon this Island and anchoring before it staid some time to inform themselves of the nature thereof which was so exceedingly over-grown with Woods that they could find no Champion or Savana's for men to dwell in nor any Beasts but a multitude of Swine which the Portugals put ashoar long before for breed if they should at any time be cast on that shoar in foul weather and the fruits and roots that grew there afforded so great plenty of food as they multiplied abundantly so that the Natives of the other Islands use to come thither a hunting This discovery being made and advice given to their Friends in England other Ships were sent and having cut down the Woods and cleered the ground they planted Potatoes Plantines and Maiz which with the Hogsflesh they found served only to keep Life and Soul together and their supplies from England coming so slow and uncertain they were oft driven to great extremities but in the year 1627. when they had more hands and having Tobacco Indico Cotton Wool and Fustick Wood to trade with some Ships were invited with hope of gain to visit them bringing for exchange such things as they wanted as working Tools of Iron and Steel Cloaths Shirts Drawers Hose Shoes Hats and more Planters So that in a short time they grew very considerable especially when their Sugar Canes were grown and they had learned the Art of making Sugar The Inhabitants which consist of English Scotch Irish with some few Dutch French and Jews were lately calculated to be above fifty Thousand and the Negro's about an hundred Thousand So that they can in a short time arm Ten Thousand fighting men which with the natural advantage of the place is able to defy the most potent Enemy as the Spaniards have sound to their cost having in vain assaulted it several times It hath only one River or rather a Lake which runs not far into the Land yet the Country lying low and level they have divers Ponds and are supplyed with Rain Water by making Cisterns in their Houses The Air is very hot for eight months and would be more insupportable were it not for the cool breezes which rise with the Sun and blow still fresher as that grows higher but always from the Northeast except in the Turnado and then it chop about to the South an hour or two and after returns as before the other four months are not so hot but like the air of England about the middle of May and though they sweat yet find
again to Sea and making for the Cape of Good Hope which is the utmost Point of Africk Southward they sailed upon that vast Atlantick Ocean before they could reach the Cape almost nine weeks running a Course of at least eighteen hundred and fifty Leagues without touching Land it being reckoned to be full 2000 Leagues from the Islands of Java to the Cape of Good Hope There lies about forty or fifty Leagues short of the Cape a certain Foreland called Cabo Falso because it is usually at its first discovery at Sea mistaken by Mariners for the true Cape From hence by June 18. 1588. they fall in sight of the Island of St. Helena which lieth in the main Ocean and as it were in the middle way between the Coast of Africk and Brasil in fifteen degrees and forty eight minutes of Southern Latitude distant from the Cape about six hundred Leagues It is a pleasant Island well stored with Oranges Lemons Pomegranats Pome-citrons Dates and so proper for Figgs that the Trees bear all the year long so that there are blossoms green and ripe Figgs at all times on the same Tree It affords also store of wild Fowl Partridges and Pheasants a kind of Turkies black and white and as big as ours in England great plenty of Goats and such abundance of Swine fat and large that they live in Herds upon the Mountains and are not to be taken but by hunting and that with great pain and industry From hence by August 24. they discover Flores and Corvo two of the Azores or Tercerae Islands and Sept. 9. having first suffered a terrible Stormupon the English Coast which carried away all their Sails and indâ—ngered the loss of all they had got yet at last by the mercy of God and favour of a good Wind they arrived safely at Plymouth X. The Right Honourable George Lord Clifford Earl of Cumberland had made several Voyages and Adventures against the Spaniards in and toward the parts of America in 1586. 89 92 and 94 with various success but in 1597. He more publickly and avowedly in his own Person undertook an expedition with eighteen or twenty good Ships and about a Thousand Men being himself Admiral and Commander in Chief He set out from Portsmouth March 6. 1597. with design at first to attend the coming out of the Carracks which go yearly from Spain to the West Indies but being disappointed of them through some Intelligence that the Spaniards had gotten of his Lordshitps being at Sea he Sailed on for the Coast of America resolving by the way with the consent of the Principal Commanders with him to make an attempt upon St. John de Porto Rico the Principal Town and Port of the Island of that name in nineteen Degrees of North Latitude a place where a few years before Sir Francis Drake had received some loss Sir Nicholas Clifford the Earls Brother being slain by a shot from one of the Platforms as he sat at Supper with the General in the Ship called the Defiance The Town stands in a Peninsula by it self yet closely joined to the main Island toward the North being a place very well seated and fortified with two strong Castles one for defence of the Haven the other of the Town about three or four Leagues off lies a fair sandy Bay or Beach which the Sea washeth on one side over which the English at their landing marched directly to the Town through a thick Wood and upon a Cawsey of some length but of breadth only to admit three Persons to march abreast at the end thereof was built a strong Bridge of Wood which reached from one Island to the other and joined them both together having also some Barricado's to defend it and a Block-house with Ordnance on the further side of the Water They were informed that at low Water they might pass the Bridge on either side the Cawsey whereupon waiting till two a Clock next Morning when the Ebb would be they attempt the Passage but could not gain it because the Great Guns played so directly against the Cawsey retreating with the loss of about Fifty Men killed and wounded Next day the General ordered another Fort standing upon the Principal Island should be attackt by Sea the place was of dangerous access yet by the help of some Musketeers that were gotten upon certain Rocks within the Island so near that they could play upon them in the Fort within an hour the Spaniards that kept it quitted the place and those from Sea entred it in Boats though the Ship that brought them near was her self cast away upon the Rocks at the first ebbing of the Water as it was at first feared she would The Spaniards who quitted the Fort with the chief of the Town who were not already fled retired to another Fort called Mora giving the English leave to enter the Town and block up the Fort wherein they were so that in few days they surrendred upon discretion and the English were Masters of all The General designed to have kept it but the English by the intemperature of the Air and their own intemperance especially in eating many strange and luscious Fruits contracted such sickness so many dying of the Calenture bloody Flux and other hot diseases that after ten weeks possession and 600 of his men dead his Lordship was forced to return for England doing no further hurt to the Town save only bringing away 80 peâ—â—â—s of Ordnance the Bells of their Church and some quantity of Sugar and Ginger sustaining no other loss in the Voyage than of sixty men slain upon taking the Town the six hundred dying of the Flux and other diseases the Ship Pegasus wrackt upon Goodwin Sands an old Frigot lost upon Vâ—hant on the Coast of Normandy with 40 men in them add a Bark lost by Tempest about Bermudas The Admiral at his return left Sir John Barclay behind with some Men and Ships to compound with the Spaniards for the Town but they seeing the General gone and the English by reason of sickness not like to continue long after him made no great hast to compound but delayed so long that at last the English were forced to leave it to them without burning or doing them any other mischief as the Admiral had left Order who sought Honour more than Spoil by this expedition as the Spaniards happily experienced XI Captain John Oxenham who had formerly been Servant Souldier and Mariner with Sir Francis Drake and together with him had sustained some loss by the Spaniards in the Port of Sir John De Vllua was resolved to recover that by force which he complained was by force taken from him and having by his former Adventures gained competent skill in Maritime Affairs being particularly acquainted with the Coast and Commodities of the West Indies in 1575 he got to be Captain of a Ship of an hundred and forty Tuns burden carrying seventy men with whom he sailed for America arrivâ—d at the Sound of
which they hide a Mile asunder when the Indians hunt him which is commonly in Winter they run him down sometimes in half a day otherwhile a whole day but never give over till he is tired the Snow being usually four Foot deep and the Beast very heavy he sinks every stâ—p and as he runs breaks down the Trees in his way with his Horns as big as a Mans Thigh at last they get up and pierce him with their Lances upon which the poor Creature groans and walks on heavily till at length he sinks and falls like a ruined Building making the Earth shake becoming a Sacrifice to the Victors who cut him up and making a Fire near the place they there Boil and eat their Venison fetching their drink from the next Spring being unacquainted with any other till the French and English taught them the use of that cursed Liquor called Rum Rumbullion or Kill-devil stronger than Spirit of Wine drawn from the dross of Sugar and Sugar Canes which they love dearer than their lives wherewith if they had it they would be perpetually drunk though it hath killed many of them especially old Women Their Wars are with their Neighbouring Tribes but the Mowhawks especially who are Enemies to all other Indians their Weapons were Bows and Arrows but of late he is a poor Indian that is not Master of two Guns which they purchase of the French with Powder and Shot the Victors Flea the Skin off the Skull of the Principal slain Enemies which they carry away in Triumph their Prisoners they bring home the old Men and Women they knock on the Head the young Women they keep and the Men of War they Torture to death as the Eastern Indians did two Mowhawks whilst I was there they bind him to a Tree and make a great Fire before him then with sharp Knives they cut off his Fingers and Toes then clap upon them hot Embers to sear the Veins thus they cut him to pieces joint after joint still applying Fire for stanching the Blood making the poor Wretch Sing all the while when Armes and Legs are gone they Flea the Skin off their Heads and presently apply thereto a Cap of burning Coals then they open his Breast and take out his Heart which while it is yet living in a manner they give to their old Squa's or Women who are every one to have a bit of it These Barbarous Customs they used more frequently before the English came but since there are endeavours to Convert them to Christianity by Mr. Eliot and his Son who Preach to them in their own Language into which they have likewise Translated the Bible these go Clothed like the English live in framed Houses have Stocks of Corn and Cattel about them which when Fat they bring to Market some of their Sons have been brought up Schollers in Harward Colledge new-New-England is seated in the midst of the Temperate Zone yet is the Clime more uncertain as to heat and cold than those European Kingdoms which are in the same Latitude The Air is cleer healthful and Agreeable to the English well watered with Rivers having variety of Beasts both tame and wild with several sorts of Trees and excellent Fruits the Commodities it yeildeth are rich Furs Flax Linnen Amber Iron Pitch Tarr Cables Masts and Timber to build Ships with several sorts of Grain wherewith they drive a considerable Trade to Barbado's and other English Plantations in America supplying them with Flower Bisket Salt Flesh and Fish and in return bring Sugars and other Goods To England they trade for Stuffs Silks Cloath Iron Brass and other Utensils for their Houses The weights and measures are the same with England The English posesss many potent Colonies being very numerous and powerful and are governed by Laws of their own making having several Courts of Judicature where they meet once a mouth so they be not repugnant to the Laws of England every Town sends two Burgesses to their great and solemn General Court The Government both Civil and Ecclesiastical is in the hands of the Independents or Presbyterians The Military part of their Government is by one Major General and three Serjeant Majors to whom belong the four Countys of Suffolk Middlesex Essex and Norfolk They have several fine Towns whereof Boston is the Metropolis likewise Dorchester Cambridg beautified with two Colledges and many well built Houses Reading Salem Berwick Braintree Bristoll Concorde Dartmouth Dedham Dover Exeter Falmouth Glocester Greensharbour Hampton Harford Haverhill Weymouth Yarmouth New Haven Oxford Salisbury Taunton Southampton Newbury Springfield Sudbury Ipswich Liâ— Hull Sandwich Malden Norwich Roxbury Sandwich Wenham Rowley Hingham and others most of them having the names of some Towns in England The present Governor for his Majesty of England is Henry Cranfield Esquire CHAP. V. A prospect of New York with the Scituation Plantation and Product thereof New York so called from our present gracious Sovereign when Duke of York formerly namelâ— New-Netherlands being part of that New-England which the Dutch one possessed it was first discovered by Mr Hudson and sold presently by him to the Dutch withouâ— Authority from his Sovereign the King of England in 1608. The Hollanders in 1614. began to plant there and called it New-Netherlands but Sir Samuel Argall Governor of Virginia routed them after which they goâ— leave of King James to put in there for fresh water in their passage to Brasile and did not offer to plant till a good while after the English were setled in the Country In 1664. his late Majesty King Charles the Second sent over four Commissioners to reduce the Colonies into bounds that had before incroached upon each other who marching with 300 Redcoats to Manhadees or Manhataes took from the Dutch their cheif Town then called New-Amsterdam now New-York and Aug. 29. turned out their Governor with a Silver Leg and all the rest but those who acknowledged subjection to the King of England suffering them to enjoy their Houses and Estates as before thirteen daies after Sir Robert Car took the Fort and Town of Aurania now called Albany and twelve daies after that the Fort and Town of Arosapha then Dela-ware Castle man'd with Dutch and Sweeds So that now the English are Masters of three handsome Towns three strong Forts and a Castle without the loss of one man the first Governor of these parts for the King of England was Colonel Nichols one of the Commissioners This Country is blessed with the richest soyl in all New-England I have heard it reported from men of Judgment saies my Author that one Bushel of European wheat hath yeilded an hundred in one year The Town of New-York is well seated both for Trade security and pleasure in a small Isle called Manahatan at the mouth of the great River Mohegan which is very commodious for Shipping and about two Leagues broad the Town is large built with Dutch Brick alla Moderna consisting of above 500 fair Houses the meanest not
valued under one hundred Pounds to the Landward it is incompassed with a Wall of good thickness and fortified at the entrance of the River so as to command any Ship which passes that way by a Fort called James-Fort It hath a Mayor Aldermen a Sheriff and Justices of Peace for their Magistrates the Inhabitants are most English and Dutch and have a considerable Trade with the Indians for Bever Otter Racoon Skins with other rich Furs likewise for Bear Deer and Elk Skins and are supplyed with Venison and Fowl in the Winter and Fish in the Summer by the Indians at an easy Price The Province of New-York formerly contained all that Land which lies in the North-parts of America betwixt New-England and Mary-Land the length toward the North is not fully known the breadth is about 200 Miles the principal Rivers are Hudsons River Raritan River and Delaaware Bay the chief Islands are the Manahatan Island Long Island and Staten Island Manahatan Island so called by the Indians lyeth within Land betwixt forty one and forty two Degrees of North Latitude and is about fourteen Miles long and two broad New-York is seated on the West end of this Island having a small Arm of the Sea which divides it from Long Island on the South Long Island runs Eastward above an hundred Miles and is in some places eight twelve and fourteen Miles broad Inhabited from one end to the other having an excellent Soil for all English Grain the Fruits Trees and Herbs very good in May you may see the Woods and Fields so curiously bedeckt with Roses and a multitude of other delightful Flowers as equal if not excel many Gardens in England there are several Navigable Rivers which run very swift and are well furnished with variety of Fish as the Land is with all sorts of English Cattel besides Deer Bear Wolves Racoons Otters and Wild Fowl in abundance There are now but few Indians upon the Island and these not unserviceable to the English being strangely decreased since the English first setled there for not long ago there were six Towns full of them which are now reduced to two Villages the rest being cut off by Wars among themselves or some raging mortal diseases They live principally by Hunting Fowling and Fishing their Wives tilling the Land and planting the Corn They feed on Fish Fowl and Venison likewise Polcats Turtles Racoon and the like They build small moveable Tents which they remove three times a year cheifly quartering where they plant their Corn besides their Hunting and Fishing Quarters Their Recreations are cheifly Football and Cards at which they will play away all they have except a Flap to cover their nakedness They are great Lovers of strong drink so that except they have enough to be drunk they care not to drink at all If there be so many in a company that there is noâ— sufficient to make them all drunk they usually chuse so many as are proportionable to that quantity and the rest must be Spectators if any chance to be drunk before he has taken his share which is ordinarily a Quart of Brandy Rum or Strong Waters to shew their Justice they will forcibly pour the rest down his throat In these debauâ—hes they often kill each other which the Friends of the dead revenge â— on the Murderer unless he purchase his life with money which is made of a Periwinkle shell both black and white strung like beads Their Worship is Diabolical and usually performed but once or twice a year unless upon some extraordinary occasion as making war or the like The time about Michaelmas when their Corn is ripe The day being appointed by their chief Priest or Pawaw most of them go a hunting for venison when they are all assembled if the Priest wants money he then tells them their God will accept no offering but money which the People believing every one gives according to their ability The Priest takes the money and putting it into some dishes sets them upon the top of their low flat-roofed Houses and falls to invocating their God to come and receive it which with many loud hollows and outcries striking the ground with sticks and beating themselves is performed by the Priest and seconded by the People After being thus wearied a Devil by this Conjuration appears amongst them sometimes in the shape of a Fowle a Beast or a Man at which the People being amazed not daring to stir the Priest improves the opportunity and stepping out makes sure of the money and then returns to lay the Spirit who is sometimes gone before he comes back having taken some of the Company along with him but if at such times any English come among them it puts a period to their proceeding and they will desire his absence saying their God will not come till they are departed In their Wars they fight no pitcht Battel but upon their enemies approach having first secured their Wives and Children in some Island or thick Swamp armed with Guns and Hatchets they way-lay their Enemies and 't is counted a great fight where seven or eight are slain When an Indian dies they bury him upright sitting upon a seat with his Gun money and goods to furnish him in the other World which they conceive is Westward where they shall have great store of Game for Hunting and live at ease At his buriall his nearest Relations paint their faces black and make sad lamentations at his Grave once or twice every day till by time the blackness is worn off their faces and after that once a year they mourn a fresh for him visiting and trimming up the Grave not suffering any Grass to grow neer it fencing it with a hedg and covering it with Mats for a shelter from the rain Notwithstanding all this bustle when an Indian is dead his name dies with him none daring ever after to mention his name it being not only a breach of their Law but an affront to his Friends and Relations as if done on purpose to renew their greife And every Person who hath the same Name instantly changes it for another which every one invents for himself some calling themselves Ratlesnake others Buckshorn or the like Yea if a Person die whose Name is some word used in common speech they change that word and invent a new one which makes a troublesome alteration in their Language When any one is sick after some means used by his Friends every one pretending skill in Physick that proving ineffectual they send for a Pawaw or Priest who sitting down by the sick Person without the least inquiry after the distemper expects a Fee or gift according to which he proportions his work beginning with a low voice to call sometimes upon one God and then another still raising his voice beating his naked breasts and sides till the sweat runs down and his breath is almost gone the little that remains he breathes upon the face of the sick Person three or four
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 neer them and underneath lives a Priest who there mumbleth his Devotions Night and Day The Countrey is generally plain and even the soyl rich and Fertile naturally producing all such Commodities as are found in New-England as to Fish Fruits Plants Roots c. The chief Trade of the English there is Tobacco which is not inconsiderable since an hundred sail of Ships have in one year traded thither from England and the neighbouring English Plantations It is divided into ten Counties in each of which a Court is held every two months for little Matters with Appeal to the Provincial Court at St. Maries which is the principal Town seated on St. Georges River and beautified with several well built Houses This Province is granted by Parent to the Right Honourable the Lord Baltimore and to his Heirs and Assigns with many Civil and Military-Prerogatives and Jurisdictions as conferring Honours Coyning money c. paying yearly as an acknowledgment to his Majesty and his Successors two Indian Arrows at Windsor Castle upon â—aster Tuesday The Lord Baltimore hath his residence at Mattapany about eight miles distant from St. Maries where he hath a pleasant seat though the General Assemblies and provincial Courts are kept at St. Maries And for incouraging People to settle here his Lordship by advice of the General Assembly hath long since established a Model of excellent Laws for the ease and security of the Inhabitants with Toleration of Religion to all that profess Faith in Christ which hath been a principal Motive to many to settle there CHAP. IX A Prospect of Virginia with the Discovery Plantation and Product thereof THis Countrey with the other adjoining Coasts was first discovered by Sebastian Cabot with his English Mariners in 1497. And may therefore be justly claimed by England it was afterward visited by Sir Francis Drake and called Virginia by Sir Walter Rawleigh in honour of his Virgin Mistress Queen Elizabeth In 1603. some Persons at Bristow by leave from Sir Walter Rawleigh who had the Propriety thereof made a Voyage thither who discovered Whitson-Bay in forty one Degrees the People used Snakeskins of six Foot long for Girdles and were exceedingly ravished with the Musick of a Gittern Boy dancing in a ring about him they were more afraid of two English Mastives than of twenty Men In 1607. Sir John Popham and others setled a Plantation at the mouth of the River Sagahadoc the Captain James Davis chose a small place almost an Island to set down in where having heard a Sermon read their Patent and Laws and Built a Fort they Sailed to discover further up the River and Countrey and encountred with an Island where was a great Fall of Water over which they haled their Boat with a Rope and came to another Fall shallow swift and unpassable they found the Countrey stored with white and red Grapes good Hops Onions Garlick Oaks Walnuts and the Soil good the Head of the River being in about forty five Degrees they called their Fort St. George Captain George Popham being President the People seemed much affected with our Mens Devotions and would say King James is a good King and his God a good God but our God Tanto a naughty God which is the name of the evil Spirit that haunts them every new Moon and makes them Worship him for fear he commanded the Indians not to converse nor come near the English threatning some to kill them and to inflict Sickness upon others if they disobeyed him beginning with two of their Sagaâ—nors or Kings Children affirming he had power to do the like against the English and would execute it on them the next new Moon The Natives told our Men of Cannibals near Sagadohoc with Teeth three Inches long but they saw them not In January they had in the space of seven hours Thunder Lightning Rain Frost and Snow all in abundance they found a Bath two Miles about so hot they could not drink of it One of the Savages for a Straw-hat and Knife stript himself of his Clothing of Bevers Skins worth in England 50 s or 3 l. to Present them to the President leaving only a Flap to cover his Nudities About this time Captain Gosnold set Sail for Virginia and arrived there after long contending with furious Storms and Tempests and soon after by the Industry of Captain Smith James-Town was Built the Savages supplying their necessities which were sometimes very extream the Winter approaching the Rivers afforded them plenty of Cranes Swans Geese Ducks wherewith they had Pease and Wild Beasts as Bevers Otters Martins and black Foxes upon which they daily Feasted but in the discovery of Chickahamine River George Casson was surprized and Smith with two others beset with two hundred Savages his Men Slain and himself in a Quagmire taken Prisoner but after a Month he procured not only his Liberty but was in great esteem among them being extreamly pleased with his Discourses of God Nature and Art and had Royal Entertainment from Powhatan one of their Emperours who sat in State upon his Bed of Matts his Pillow of Leather imbroidered with Pearl and white Beads attired with a Robe of Skins as large as an Irish Mantle at his Head sat a handsom young Woman and another at his Feet and on each side the Room twenty others their Heads and Shoulders painted red with a great Chain of white Beads about their Necks and a Robe of Skins large like an Irish Mantle before these sat his chiefest Men in their Orders in this Palace or Arbour one Newport who accompanied Captain Smith gave the Emperour a Boy in requital whereof Powhatan bestowed upon him Namontack his Servant who was after brought into England yet after this Powhatan treacherously contrived the Murther of sixteen of our Men which was happily prevented by Captain Smith who seized another of their Kings and thereby procured Peace from them on his own Terms This Powhatan had about thirty Kings under him his Treasure consisted of Skins Copper Pearls Beads and the like kept in a house on purpose against the time of his Burial this House was fifty or sixty Yards long frequented only by Priests at the four Corners stood four Images as Centinels one of a Bear another a Dragon a third a Leopard and the fourth a Giant he hath as many Women as he please whom when he is weary of he bestows upon his Favourites his Will and the Customs of the Countrey are his Laws Malefactors are punished by broiling to death incompassed with Fire and divers other Tortures Mr. White relates that about ten Mile from James-Town one of their Kings made a Feast in the Woods the People were monstrously painted some like black Devils with Horns and their Hair loose of divers Colours they continued two days dancing in a circle of a Quarter
that a Hare came into their Countrey and made the first men and after preserved them from a great Serpent and two other Hares coming thither the first killed a Deer for their entertainment which was then the only Deer in the World and strewing the hairs of that Deers hide every Hair proved a Deer Virginia after the first discovery cost no small pains and experience 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 certain Persons as a Corporation who were called The Company of Adventurers of Virginia But upon several misdemeanors miscarriages in 1623 the Patent was made void it hath been since free for all his Majesties Subjects to trade to It is Scituate South of Mary-land and hath the Atlantick Ocean on the East The Air is good and the Climate so agreeable to the English especially since the cleering it from Woods that few dy of the Countrey disease called Seasoning The Soil is so fruitful that an Acre of ground commonly yeilds 200 Bushels of Corn and produces 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 They have plenty of Beasts Fish and Fowl some of their Turkeys being affirmed to weigh six stone or 48 pound The Mockbird is very delightful imitating the notes of all other Birds The Produce of this Country are Flax Hemp Woad Madder Pot-ashes Hops Honey Wax Rape-seed Annise-seed Silk if they would make it since Mulberry Trees grow here in so great plenty several sweet Gums and excellent Balsoms Allum Iron Copper divers sorts of Woods and Plants used by Dyers together with Pitch Tar Rozin Turpentine and sundry sorts of rich Furs Elk-skins and other Hides but above all Tobacco which is their principal Commodity and the Standard whereby all the rest are prized This Countrey is well watered with many great and swift Rivers that lose themselves in the Gulf or Bay of Chesapeak which gives entrance into this Countrey as well as Mary-land being a very large and Capacious Bay and running up into the Countrey Northward above two hundred Miles The Rivers of most Account are James River navigable a hundred and fifty miles York River large and navigable above 60 miles and Rapahanok Navigable above a hundred and twenty miles Adjoining to these Rivers are the English setled for the conveniency of shipping having several Towns the chief whereof is James-Town commodiously seated on James-River very neat and well beautified with Brick Houses where are kept the Courts of Judicâ—â—ure and all Publick Offices which concern the Countrey Next to James is Elizabeth Town well built and seated on the mouth of a River so called Likewise the Towns of Bermuda Wicocomoco and Dales-Gift The Governour is sent over by his Majesty who at present is the Right Honourable the L. Howard of Essingham the Countrey governed by Laws agreeable to those of England for the better observing therof those Parts possessed by the English are divided into the Counties of Caroluck Charles Glocester Hartford Henrico James New Kent Lancaster Middlesex Nausemund Lower Norfolk Northampton Northumberland Rappahanock Surrey Warwick Westmoreland the Isle of Wight and York In each of which Counties are held petty Courts every Month from which there may be Appeals to the Quarter Court at James Town They have great store of Wild Beasts as Lyons Bears Leopards Tygers Wolves and Dogs like Wolves but bark not Buffelo's Elke whose flesh is as good as Beef Likewise Deer Hares Bevers Otters Foxes Martins Poulcats Weasels Musk-Rats Flying Squirrels c. And for tame Cattle Cows Sheep Goâ—ts Hogs and Horses in great plenty CHAP. X. A Prospect of Carolina with the Scituation and Product thereof CArolina so called from his late Majesty King Charles the Second of Glorious memory is a Colony not long since established by the English and is that part of Florida adjoining to Virginia between twenty nine and thirty six degrees of Northern Latitude On the East it is washed with the Atlantick Ocean and is bounded on the West by Mare Pacificum or the South Sea and within these bounds is contained the most fertile and pleasant part of Florida which is so much commended by the Spanish Authors Of which I cannot give a more ample Account than has been done already by an Englishman who has lived and was concerned in the settlement thereof and shall therefore repeat what he has deliveted in his own words This Province of Carolina was in the Year 1663. Granted by Letters Patents of his late Gracious Majesty in Propriety unto the Right Honourable Edward Earl of Clarendon George Duke of Albemarl William Earl of Craven John Lord Berkely Anthony Lord Ashly now Earl of Shaftsbury Sir George Carteret and Sir John Colleton Knights and Baronets Sir William Berkely Knight by which Letters Patents the Laws of Eagland are to be of force in Carolina but the Lords Proprietors have power with the consent of the Inhabitants to make By-Laws for the better Government of the said Province So that no Money can be raised or Law made without the consent of the Inhabitants or their Representatives They have also power to appoint and impower Governours and other Magistrates to Grant Liberty of Conscience make Constitutions c. With many other great Ptiviledges as by the said Letters Patents will more largely appear And the said Lords Proprietors have there setled a Constitution of Government whereby is granted Liberty of Conscience and wherein all possible care is taken for the equal Administration of Justice and for the lasting Security of the Inhabitants both in their Persons and Estates By the care and endeavours of the said Lords Proprietors and at their very great charge two Colonies have been setled in this Province the one at Albemarle in the most Northerly part the other at Ashly River which is in the Latitude of thirty two Degrees od Minutes Albemarle bordering upon Virginia and only exceeding it in Health Fertility and Mildness of the Winter is in the Growths Productions and other things much of the same nature with it Wherefore I shall not trouble the Reader with a particular Description of that part but apply my self principally to discourse of the Colony at Ashly-River which being many Degrees more Southward than Virginia differs much from it in the Nature of its Climate and Productions Ashly-River was first setled in April 1670. the Lords Proprietors having at their sole charge set out three Vessels with a considerable number of able Men eighteen Moneths Victuals with Clothes Tools Ammunition and what else was thought necessary for a new Settlement and continued at this charge to supply the Colony for divers years after until the Inhabitants were able by their own Industry to live of themselves in which condition they have been for divers years past and are arrived to a very great Degree
of Plenty of all sorts of Provisions Insomuch that most sorts are already cheaper there than in any other of the English Colonys and they are plentifully enough supplied with all things from England or other Parts Ashly-River about seven Miles in from the Sea divides it self into two Branches the Southermost retaining the name of Ashly-River the North Branch is called Cooper-River In May 1680. the Lords Proprietors sent their Orders to the Government their appointing the Port-Town for these two Rivers to be Built on the Point of Land that divides them and to be called Charles Town since which time about an hundred Houses are there Built and more are Building daily by the Persons of all sorts that come there to Inhabit from the more Northern English Colonys and the Sugar Islands England and Ireland and many Persons who went to Carolina Servants being Industrious since they came out of their times with their Masters at whose charge they were Transported have gotten good Stocks of Cattle and Servants of their own have here also Built Houses and exercise their Trades And many that went thither in that condition are now worth several Hundreds of Pounds and live in a very plentiful condition and their Estates still encreasing And Land is become of that value near the Town that it is sold for twenty Shillings per Acre though pillaged of all its valuable Timber and not cleared of the rest and Land that is clear'd and fitted for Planting and Fenced is let for ten Shillings per annum the Acre though twenty miles distant from the Town and six men will in six weeks time Fall Clear Fence in and fit for Planting six Acres of Land At this Town in November 1680. There Rode at one time sixteen Sail of Vessels some of which were upwards of 200 Tuns that came from divers parts of the Kings Dominions to trade there which great concourse of shipping will undoubtebly in a short time make it a considerable Town The Eastern Shore of America whether it be by reason of its having the great Body of the Continent to the Westward of it and by consequence the Northwest-Wind which blows contrary to the Sun the Freezing-Wind as the North-East is in Europe or that the Frozen Lakes which lie-in beyond Canada and lie North and West from the Shore Impregnate the Freezing Wind with more chill and congealing qualities or that the uncultivated Earth covered for the most part with large shading Trees breathes forth more nitrous Vapours than that which is cultivated or all these Reasons together it is certainly much more cold than any part of Europe in the same Degree of Latitude insomuch that New-England and those parts of America about the Latitude of thirty nine and forty and more North though above six hundred miles nearer the Sun than England is notwithstanding many degrees colder in the Winter The Author having been informed by those that say they have seen it that in those Parts it Freezeth about six Inches thick in a Night and great Navigable Rivers are Frozen over in the same space of time and the Country about Ashly-River though within nine Degrees of the Tropick hath seldom any Winter that doth not produce some Ice though I cannot yet learn that any hath been seen on Rivers or Ponds above a quarter of an Inch thick which vanisheth as soon as the Sun is an hour or two high and when the Wind is not at North-west the Weather is very mild So that the December and January of Ashly-River I suppose to be of the same Temperature with the latter end of March and beginning of April in England this small Winter causeth a fall of the Leaf and adapts the Countrey to the production of all the Grains and Fruits of England as well as those that require more Sun insomuch that at Ashly-River the Apple the Pear the Plum the Quince Apricock Peach Medlar Walnut Mulberry and Chesnut thrive very well in the same Garden together with the Orange the Lemon the Olive the Pomgranate the Fig and Almond nor is the Winter here cloudy Overcast or Foggy but it hath been observed that from the twentieth of August to the tenth of March including all the Winter Months there have been but eight overcast days and though Rains fall pretty often in the Winter it is most commonly in quick Showers which when past the Sun shines out clear again The Summer is not near so hot as in Virginia or â—â—e other Northern American English Colonies which may hardly gain belief with those that have not considered the reason which is its neerness to the Tropicks which makes it in a greater measure than those ports more Northward partake of those Breezes which almost constantly rise about eight or nine of the Clock within the Tropicks and blow fresh from the East till about four in the Afternoon and a little after the Sea-breeze dies away there rises a North-wind which blowing all night keeps it fresh and cool In short I take Carolina to be much of the same nature with those delicious Countries about Aleppo Antioch and Smyrna But hath the advantage of being under an equal English Government Such who in this Countrey have seated themselves near great Marshes are subject to Agues as those are who are so seated in England But such who are Swan wild Geese Duck Widgeon Teal Curlew Snipe Shell Drake and a certain sort of black Duck that is excellent meat and stayes there all the year Neat Cattle thrive and increase here exceedingly there being perticular Planters that have already seven or eight hundred head and will in a few years in all probability have as many thousands unless they sell some part he Cattle are not subject to any Disease as yet perceiv'd and are fat all the Year long without any Fother the little Winter they have not pinching them so as to be perceiv'd which is a great advantage the Planters here have of the more Northern Plantations who are all forc'd to give their Cattle Fother and must spend a great part of their Summers Labour in providing three or four Months Fother for their Cattle in the Winter or else would have few of them alive in the Spring which will keep them from ever having very great Herds or be able to do much in Planting any Commodity for Foreign Markets the providing Winter Food for their Cattle taking up so much of their Summers Labour So that many Judicious Persons think that Carolina will be able by Sea to supply those Northern Colonies with salted Beef for their Shipping cheaper than they themselves with what is bred among them for considering that all the Woods in Carolina afford good Pasturage and the small Rent that is paid to the Lords Proprietors for Land an Ox is raised at almost as little expence in Carolina as a Hen is in England And it hath by experience been found that Beef will take salt at Ashly-River any Month in the Year and save very