AN ACCOUNT OF THE Province OF CAROLINA IN AMERICA TOGETHER WITH An Abstract of the PATENT and several other Necessary and Useful Particulars to such as have thoughts of Transporting themselves thither Published for their Information LONDON Printed by G. Larkin for Francis Smith at the Elephant and Castle in Cornhil 1682. To the Right Honourable William Earl of Craven Pallatine and the rest of the true and absolute Lords and Proprieters of the Province of CAROLINA May it please your Lordships FInding by my Conversation with People who have an Inclination to try their Fortunes in America that your Province of Carolina had not its due valuation for want of being made known to the World and not hearing of any that had undertaken it I looked upon it as a Duty incumbent upon me who have had the Honour to be your Secretary in your Carolina-Affairs now four years to Publish the ensuing Treatise whereby is made known the Greatness of your Soveraigns Gift to your Selves and to the World the Greatness of your Trust and Favour with Him and to those that have a desire of settling there to what kind of Countrey and Climate they Transport Themselves Wherein I have most strictly kept to the Rules of Truth there not being any thing that I have written in Commendation of your Province which I cannot prove by Letters from thence now in my possession and by Living Witnesses now in England I should not have been thus presumptuous to adventure upon this Work and to have crav'd for it your Lordships Patronage had not the Employment I have under you which hath given me frequent Opportunities of discovering the Humanity and Softness with which you Treat all Those who apply to you your constant Endeavours for the Good of all those who come under your Government in Carolina and the great care you have taken by your admirable Constitution of Government which you have there settled for the lasting security peace and well being of all the Inhabitants of your Province induc'd me to beleive that the same goodness with which you treat others will be extended to me and that you will pardon my present presumption and all the other Imperfections of May it please your Lordships Your Lordships most Faithful and Obliged Humble Servant SAMUEL WILSON AN ACCOUNT OF THE Province OF CAROLINA IN AMERICA CAROLINA is that part of Florida which lies between twenty nine and thirty six Degrees and thirty Minutes 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 healthy Fertile and pleasant part of Florida which is so much commended by the Spanish Authors This Province of Carolina was in the Year 1663. Granted by Letters Pattents in Propriety of his most Gracious Majesty unto the Right Honourable Edward Earl of Clarendon George Duke of Albemarle William Earl of Craven John Lord Berkely Anthony Lord Ashly now Earl of Shaftsbury Sir George Carteret and Sir John Colleton Knights and Barronets Sir William Berkeley Knight by which Letters Pattents the Laws of England 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 Priviledges as by the said Letters Pattents 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 Colonys 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 odd 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 perticular Description of that part but apply my self principally to discourse of the Collony at Ashly-River which being many Degrees more Southward than Virginia differs much from it in the Nature of its Clymate 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 Cloths Tools Ammunition and what else was thought necessary for a new Settlement and continued at this charge to supply the Collony 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 Collonys 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 there appointing the Port-Town for these two Rivers to be Built on the Poynt 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 Collonys 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
that within fifty miles of the Sea you can hardly place your self seven miles from a Navigable River and divers are navigable for good big Vessels above three hundred miles The Rivers abound with variety of excellent Fish and near the Sea with very good Oysters in many of which are Pearl the Author having seen Pearl that have been taken out of some of them bigger than Rouncival Pease and perfectly round On the Rivers and brooks are all the winter moneths vast quantitys of Swan wild Geese Duck Widgeon Teale Curlew Snype Shell Drake and a certaine 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 the 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 Heards or be able to do much in Planting any Comodity for Forreign 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 Collonys with salted Beef for their Shipping cheaper than they themselves with what is bred amongst 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 well Ewes have most commonly two or three Lambs at a time their Wool is a good Staple and they thrive very well but require a Shepherd to drive them to Feed and to bring them home at night to preserve them from the Wolves Hogs increase in Carolina abundantly and in a manner without any charge or trouble to the Planter only to make them Sheds wherein they may be protected from the Sun and Rain and Morning and Evening to give them a little Indian Corn or the pickings and parings of Potatoes Turnips or other Roots and at the same time blowing a Horn or making any other constant noyse to which being us'd they will afterwards upon hearing it repair home the rest of their Food they get in the Woods of Masts and Nuts of several sorts and when those fail they have Grass and Roots enough the ground being never frozen so hard as to keep them from Rooting these conveniencies breeds them large and in the Mast time they are very fat all which makes the rearing them so easy that there are many Planters that are single and have never a Servant that have two or three hundred Hogs of which they make great profit Barbados Jamaica and New-England affording a constant good price for their Pork by which means they get wherewithal to build them more convenient Houses and to purchase Servants and Negro-slaves There have been imported into Carolina about an hundred and fifty Mares and some Horses from New-York and Road-Island which breeds well and the Coalts they have are finer Lim'd and Headed than their Dams or Sires which gives great hopes of an excellent breed of Horses as soon as they have gotten good Stalions amongst them Negros By reason of the mildness of the Winter thrive and stand much better than in any of the more Northern Collonys require less clothes which is a great charge sav'd With the Indians the English have a perfect freindship they being both usefull to one another And care is taken by the Lords Proprietors that no Injustice shall be done them In order to which they have established a particular Court of Judicature compos'd of the soberest and most disinteressed Inhabitants to determine all differnces that shall happen between the English and any of the Indians this they do upon a Christian and Moral Consideration and not out of any apprehension of danger from them for the Indians have been always so ingaged in Wars one Town or Village against another their Government being usually of no greater extent that they have not suffered any increase of People there having been several Nations in a manner quite extirpated by Wars amongst themselves since the English setled at Ashly River This keeps them so thin of people and so divided that the English have not the least apprehensions of danger from them the English being already too strong for all the Indians within five hundred Miles of them if they were united and this the Indians as well know that they will never dare to break with the English or do an Injury to any particular person for fear of having it reveng'd upon their whole Nation The Lords Proprietors do at present grant to all persons that come there to Inhabit as follows viz. To each Master or Mistriss of a Family fifty acres and for every able son or man servant they shall carry or cause to be transported into Carolina fifty acres more and the like for each Daughter or woman servant that is marrigeable and for each child man or woman servant under sixteen years of age forty acres and fifty acres of Land to each servant when out of their time this Land to be injoy'd by them and their Heirs for ever they paying a Penny an Acre Quit-rent to the Lords Proprietors the Rent to commence in two years after their taking up their Land But forasmuch as divers persons who are already Inhabitants of Carolina and others that have Intentions to transport themselves into that Province desire not to be cumber'd with paying of a Rent and also to secure to themselves good large convenient tracts of Land without being forc'd to bring thither a great number of servants at one time The Lords Proprietors have been Prevail'd upon and have agreed to sell to those who have a mind to buy Land after the rate of fifty pound for a Thousand Acres reserving a Pepper-Corn per annum Rent when demanded The way of any ones taking up his Land due to him either by carrying himself or servants into the Country or by purchasing it of the Lords Proprietors is after this manner He first seeks out a place to his mind that is not already possessed by any other then applyes himself to the Governour and Proprietors Deputys and shew what rights he hath to Land either by Purchase or otherwise who
thereupon issue out their Warrant to the Surveyor-General to measure him out a Plantation containing the number of acres due to him who making Certificate that he hath measur'd out so much Land and the Bounds a Deed is prepar'd of course which is signed by the Governour and the Lords Proprietors Deputys and the Proprietors Seal affixed to it and Register'd which is is a good Conveyance in Law of the Land therein mention'd to the party and his Heirs for ever I have here as I take it described a pleasant fertile Country abounding in health and pleasure and with all things necessary for the sustenance of mankind and wherein I think I have written nothing but truth sure I am I have inserted no wilful falshood I have also told you how men are to have Land that go there to Inhabit But a rational man will certainly inquire When I have Land what shall I doe with it what Comoditys shall I be able to produce that will yeild me mony in other Countrys that I may be inabled to buy Negro slaves without which a Planter can never do any great matter and purchase other things for my pleasure and convenience that Carolina doth not produce To this I answer That besides the great profit that will be made by the vast heards of Cattle and Swine the Country appears to be proper for the Commoditys following viz. Wine There are growing naturally in the Country five sorts of Grapes three of which the French Vignaroons who are there judge will make very good Wine and some of the Lords Proprietors have taken care to send plants of the Rhenish Canary Clarret Muscatt Madera and Spanish Grapes of all which divers Vinyards are planted some wine was made this year that proved very good both in colour and taste and an indifferent good quantity may be expected the next year The Country hath gentle rising hills of fertile sand proper for Vines and farther from the Sea rock and gravel on which very good grapes grow naturally ripen well and together and very lushious in taste insomuch as the French Protestants who are there and skill'd in wine do no way doubt of producing great quantitys and very good Oyl There are severall Olive trees growing which were carryed thither some from Portugal and some from Bermeudas and flourish excedingly and the Inhabitants take great care to propagate more so that in all probability it will be an excellent Oyl-Country Silk There is in Carolina great plenty of Mulberry Trees such as are by experience found to feed the Silk-worm very well yea as well as the white Mulberry but there is of that sort also which are propagated with a great deal of ease a stick new cut and thrust into the ground seldom failing to grow and so likewise if the Seed if them be sown Tobacco Tobacco doth here grow very well and is nearer to the nature of the Spanish Tobacco than that of Virginia Indigo Indigo thrives well here and very good hath been made Cotton Cotton of the Cyprus and Smyrna sort will grow well and good plenty of the Seed is sent thither Flax Hemp Thrives exceedingly Good plenty of Pitch and Tar is there made there being particular persons that have made above a thousand barrels Here is great plenty of Oake for Pipe staves which are a good Commodity in the Maderas Canaryes Barbados the Leeward Islands Sumack Sumack growes in great abundance naturally so undoubtedly would Woad Madder Sa-Flower if planted Drugs Jallop Sassaparilla Turmerick Sassafras Snake-root divers others In short This Country being of the same Clymate and Temperature of Aleppo Smyrna Antioch Judea and the Province of Nanking the richest in China will I conceive produce any thing which those Countrys do were the Seeds brought into it The Tools that men who goe thither ought to take with them are these viz. An Ax a Bill and a broad Hoe grabbing Hoe for every man and a cross cut Saw to every four men a Whip-saw a set of Wedges and Fraus and Betle-Rings to every family and some Reaping Hooks and Sythes as likewise Nails of all sorts Hooks Hinges Bolts Locks for their Houses The Merchandizes which sell best in Carolina are Linnen and Woollen and all other Stufs to make clothes of with Thread Sowing Silk Buttons Ribbons Hats Stockings Shoes c. which they sell at very good rates and for these goods any man may purchase the Provision he hath need of The Passage of a man or woman to Carolina is five Pound Ships are going thither all times of the year Some of the Lords Proprietors or my self will be every Tuesday at 11 of the clock at the Carolina-Coffee-house in Burching-Lane near the Royal Exchange to inform all people what Ships are going or any other thing whatsoever An Abstract of the Pattent granted by the King the 30th of June in the 17th Year of his Reign under the Broad Seal of England unto Edward Earl of Clarendon George Duke of Albermarle William Earl of Craven John Lord Berkley Anthony Lord Ashly Sir George Carteret and Sir John Colleton Knights and Barronets and Sir William Berkeley Knight their Heirs and Assigns Impri AS a mark of our particular Favour we do give and Grant all that Province Territory or Tract of Land lying within our Dominions of America extending North and Eastward as far as the North-end of Caraliuck-River or inlet upon a streight Westerly Line to Wyanoake-Creek which lies within or about the Degrees of 36 and 30 Minutes Nothern Latitude and so West in a direct line as far as the South-Seas and South and Westward as far as the Degrees of 29 inclusive Nothern Latitude And so West in a direct line as far as the South-Seas 2. Also all Ports Harbours Bays Rivers and Inlets belonging to the Province and Territory aforesaid 3. All the Soyl Land Feild Woods Mountains Ferns Lakes Rivers Bays and Inlets within the limits before mentioned with the Fishing of all sorts of Fish together with the Royalty of the Sea upon that Coast And all Veins Mines and Quarries of Gold Silver Gems and Precious Stones or any other thing whatsoever 4. The Patronage and Advowsons of all Churches and Chappels with License to build and found Churches to exercise and enjoy as ample priviledges c. as any Bishop of Durham in our Kingdom of England 5. We do by these presents constitute the aforenamed Persons their Heirs and Assigns the true and absolute Lords and Proprietors of the said Province to be holden of Vs our Heirs and Successours as of our Mannor of East-Greewich in our County of Kent in free and common Soccage and not in capite nor by Knights service paying yearly for the same the fourth part of all Gold and Silver-Oar which shall from time to time be found besides the yearly Rent of twenty Mark 6. We do grant full power to the aforesaid Proprietors to make several Counties Baronies and Collonies within the said Province