The Westover Manuscripts - Pages 1-21



Page 1

                                 HISTORY
                                   OF
                            THE DIVIDING LINE:
                           RUN IN THE YEAR 1728.

   BEFORE I enter upon the journal of the line between Virginia and North 
Carolina, it will be necessary to clear the way to it, by showing how the 
other British colonies on the Main have, one after another, been carved 
out of Virginia, by grants from his majesty's royal predecessors. All that 
part of the northern American continent now under the dominion of the king 
of Great Britain, and stretching quite as far as the cape of Florida, went 
at first under the general name of Virginia.

   The only distinction, in those early days, was, that all the coast to 
the southward of Chesapeake bay was called South Virginia, and all to the 
northward of it, North Virginia.

   The first settlement of this fine country was owing to that great 
ornament of the British nation, sir Walter Raleigh, who obtained a grant 
thereof from queen Elizabeth of ever-glorious memory, by letters patent, 
dated March the 25th, 1584.

   But whether that gentleman ever made a voyage thither himself is 
uncertain; because those who have favoured the public with an account of 
his life mention nothing of it. However, thus much may be depended on, 
that sir Walter invited sundry persons of distinction to share in his 
charter, and join their purses with his in the laudable project of fitting 
out a colony to Virginia.

   Accordingly, two ships were sent away that very year, under the command 
of his good friends Amidas and Barlow, to take possession of the country 
in the name of his royal mistress, the queen of England.

   These worthy commanders, for the advantage of the trade winds, shaped 
their course first to the Charibbe islands, thence stretching away by the 
gulf of Florida, dropped anchor not far from Roanoke inlet. They ventured 
ashore near that place upon an island now called Colleton island, where 
they set up the arms of England, and claimed the adjacent country in right 
of their sovereign lady, the queen; and this ceremony being duly 
performed, they kindly invited the neighbouring Indian to traffick with 
them.

   These poor people at first approached the English with great caution, 
having heard much of the treachery of the Spaniards, and not knowing but 
these strangers might be as treacherous as they. But, at length, 
discovering a kind of good nature in their looks, they ventured to draw 
near, and barter their skins and furs for the bawbles and trinkets of the 
English.

   These first adventurers made a very profitable voyage, raising at least 
a thousand per cent. upon their cargo. Amongst other Indian commodities, 

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they brought over some of that bewitching vegetable, tobacco. And this 
being the first that ever came to England, sir Walter thought he could do 
no less than make a present of some of the brightest of it to his royal 
mistress, for her own smoking. The queen graciously accepted of it, but 
finding her stomach sicken after two or three whiffs, it was presently 
whispered by the earl of Leicester's faction, that sir Walter had 
certainly poisoned her. But her majesty soon recovering her disorder, 
obliged the countess of Nottingham and all her maids to smoke a whole pipe 
out amongst them.

   As it happened some ages before to be the fashion to saunter to the 
Holy Land, and go upon other Quixote adventures, so it was now grown the 
humour to take a trip to America. The Spaniards had lately discovered rich 
mines in their part of the West Indies, which made their maritime 
neighbours eager to do so too. This modish frenzy being still more 
inflamed by the charming account given of Virginia, by the first 
adventurers, made many fond of removing to such a paradise.

   Happy was he, and still happier she, that could get themselves 
transported, fondly expecting their coarsest utensils, in that happy 
place, would be of massy silver.

   This made it easy for the company to procure as many volunteers as they 
wanted for their new colony; but, like most other undertakers who have no 
assistance from the public, they starved the design by too much frugality; 
for, unwilling to launch out at first into too much expense, they shipped 
off but few people at a time, and those but scantily provided. The 
adventurers were, besides, idle and extravagant, and expected they might 
live without work in so plentiful a country.

   These wretches were set ashore not far from Roanoke inlet, but by some 
fatal disagreement, or laziness, were either starved or cut to pieces by 
the Indians.

   Several repeated misadventures of this kind did, for some time, allay 
the itch of sailing to this new world; but the distemper broke out again 
about the year 1606. Then it happened that the earl of Southampton and 
several other persons, eminent for their quality and estates, were invited 
into the company, who applied themselves once more to people the then 
almost abandoned colony. For this purpose they embarked about a hundred 
men, most of them reprobates of good families, and related to some of the 
company, who were men of quality and fortune.

   The ships that carried them made a shift to find a more direct way to 
Virginia, and ventured through the capes into the bay of Chesapeake. The 
same night they came to an anchor at the mouth of Powhatan, the same as 
James river, where they built a small fort at a place called Point Comfort.

   This settlement stood its ground from that time forward in spite of all 
the blunders and disagreement of the first adventurers, and the many 
calamities that befel the colony afterwards.(1)

(1. The six gentlemen who were first named of the company by the crown, 
and who were empowered to choose an annual president from among 
themselves, were always engaged in factions and quarrels, while the rest 
detested work more than famine. At this rate the colony must have come to 
nothing, had it not been for the vigilance and bravery of captain Smith, 
who struck a terror into all the Indians round about. This gentleman took 
some pains to persuade the men to plant Indian corn, but they looked upon 
all labour as a curse. They chose rather to depend upon the musty 
provisions that were sent from England: and when they failed they were 
forced to take more pains to seek for wild fruits in the woods, than they 
would have taken in tilling the ground. Besides, this exposed them to be 
knocked on the head by the Indians, and gave them fluxes into the bargain, 
which thinned the plantation very much. To supply this mortality, they 
were reinforced the year following with a greater number of people, 
amongst which were fewer gentlemen and more labourers, who, however, took 
care not to kill themselves with work.)

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   These found the first adventurers in a very starving condition, but 
relieved their wants with the fresh supply they brought with them. From 
Kiquotan they extended themselves as far as James-town, where, like true 
Englishmen, they built a church that cost no more than fifty pounds, and a 
tavern that cost five hundred.

   They had now made peace with the Indians, but there was one thing 
wanting to make that peace lasting. The natives could, by no means, 
persuade themselves that the English were heartily their friends, so long 
as they disdained to intermarry with them. And, in earnest, had the 
English consulted their own security and the good of the colony--had they 
intended either to civilize or convert these gentiles, they would have 
brought their stomachs to embrace this prudent alliance.

   The Indians are generally tall and well-proportioned, which may make 
full amends for the darkness of their complexions. Add to this, that they 
are healthy and strong, with constitutions untainted by lewdness, and not 
enfeebled by luxury. Besides, morals and all considered, I cannot think 
the Indians were much greater heathens than the first adventurers, who, 
had they been good Christians, would have had the charity to take this 
only method of converting the natives to Christianity. For, after all that 
can be said, a sprightly lover is the most prevailing missionary that can 
be sent amongst these, or any other infidels.

   Besides, the poor Indians would have had less reason to complain that 
the English took away their land, if they had received it by way of 
portion with their daughters. Had such affinities been contracted in the 
beginning, how much bloodshed had been prevented, and how populous would 
the country have been, and, consequently, how considerable? Nor would the 
shade of the skin have been any reproach at this day; for if a Moor may be 
washed white in three generations, surely an Indian might have been 
blanched in two.

   The French, for their parts, have not been so squeamish in Canada, who 
upon trial find abundance of attraction in the Indians. Their late grand 
monarch thought it not below even the dignity of a Frenchman to become one 
flesh with this people, and therefore ordered 100 livres for any of his 
subjects, man or woman, that would intermarry with a native.

   By this piece of policy we find the French interest very much 
strengthened amongst the savages, and their religion, such as it is, 
propagated just as far as their love. And I heartily wish this well-
concerted scheme does not hereafter give the French an advantage over his 
majesty's good subjects on the northern continent of America.

   About the same time New England was pared off from Virginia by letters 
patent, bearing date April the 10th, 1608. Several gentlemen of the town 
and neighborhood of Plymouth obtained this grant, with the lord chief 
justice Popham at their head.

   Their bounds were specified to extend from 38 to 45 degrees of northern 
latitude, with a breadth of one hundred miles from the sea shore. The 
first fourteen years, this company encountered many difficulties, and lost 
many men, though far from being discouraged, they sent over numerous 
recruits of presbyterians, every year, who for all that, had much ado to 
stand their ground, with all their fighting and praying.

   But about the year 1620, a large swarm of dissenters fled thither from 
the severities of their stepmother, the church. These saints conceiving 
the same aversion to the copper complexion of the natives, with that of 
the first adventurers to Virginia, would, on no terms, contract alliances 
with them, afraid perhaps, like the Jews of old, lest they might be drawn 
into idolatry by those strange women.

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   Whatever disgusted them I cannot say, but this false delicacy creating 
in the Indians a jealousy that the English were ill affected towards them, 
was the cause that many of them were cut off, and the rest exposed to 
various distresses.

   This reinforcement was landed not far from cape Cod, where, for their 
greater security, they built a fort, and near it a small town, which, in 
honour of the proprietors, was called New Plymouth. But they still had 
many discouragements to struggle with, though, by being well supported 
from home, they by degrees triumphed over them all.

   Their brethren, after this, flocked over so fast, that in a few years 
they extended the settlement one hundred miles along the coast, including 
Rhode Island and Martha's Vineyard.

   Thus the colony throve apace, and was thronged with large detachments 
of independents and presbyterians, who thought themselves persecuted at 
home.

   Though these people may be ridiculed for some pharisaical 
particularities in their worship and behaviour, yet they were very useful 
subjects, as being frugal and industrious, giving no scandal or bad 
example, at least by any open and public vices. By which excellent 
qualities they had much the advantage of the southern colony, who thought 
their being members of the established church sufficient to sanctify very 
loose and profligate morals. For this reason New England improved much 
faster than Virginia, and in seven or eight years New Plymouth, like 
Switzerland, seemed too narrow a territory for its inhabitants.

   For this reason, several gentlemen of fortune purchased of the company 
that canton of New England now called Massachusetts colony. And king James 
confirmed the purchase by his royal charter, dated March the 4th, 1628. In 
less than two years after, above one thousand of the puritanical sect 
removed thither with considerable effects, and these were followed by such 
crowds, that a proclamation was issued in England, forbidding any more of 
his majesty's subjects to be shipped off. But this had the usual effect of 
things forbidden, and served only to make the wilful independents flock 
over the faster. And about this time it was that Messrs. Hampden and Pym, 
and (some say) Oliver Cromwell, to show how little they valued the king's 
authority, took a trip to New England.

   In the year 1630, the famous city of Boston was built, in a commodious 
situation for trade and navigation, the same being on a peninsula at the 
bottom of Massachusetts bay.

   This town is now the most considerable of any on the British continent, 
containing at least 8,000 houses and 40,000 inhabitants. The trade it 
drives, is very great to Europe, and to every part of the West Indies, 
having near 1,000 ships and lesser vessels belonging to it.

   Although the extent of the Massachusetts colony reached near one 
hundred and ten miles in length, and half as much in breadth, yet many of 
its inhabitants, thinking they wanted elbow room, quitted their old seats 
in the year 1636, and formed two new colonies: that of Connecticut and New 
Haven. These king Charles II. erected into one government in 1664, and 
gave them many valuable privileges, and among the rest, that of choosing 
their own governors. The extent of these united colonies may be about 
seventy miles long and fifty broad.

   Besides these several settlements, there sprang up still another, a 
little more northerly, called New Hampshire. But that consisting of no 
more than two counties, and not being in condition to support the charge 
of a distinct government, was glad to be incorporated with that of 
Massachusetts, but upon condition, however, of being named in all public 
acts, for fear of being quite lost and forgotten in the coalition.

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   In like manner New Plymouth joined itself to Massachusetts, except only 
Rhode Island, which, though of small extent, got itself erected into a 
separate government by a charter from king Charles II., soon after the 
restoration, and continues so to this day.

   These governments all continued in possession of their respective 
rights and privileges till the year 1683, when that of Massachusetts was 
made void in England by a quo warranto.

   In consequence of which the king was pleased to name sir Edmund Andros 
his first governor of that colony. This gentleman, it seems, ruled them 
with a rod of iron till the revolution, when they laid unhallowed hands 
upon him, and sent him prisoner to England.

   This undutiful proceeding met with an easy forgiveness at that happy 
juncture. King William and his royal consort were not only pleased to 
overlook this indignity offered to their governor, but being made sensible 
how unfairly their charter had been taken away, most graciously granted 
them a new one.

   By this some new franchises were given them, as an equivalent for those 
of coining money and electing a governor, which were taken away. However, 
the other colonies of Connecticut and Rhode Island had the luck to remain 
in possession of their original charters, which to this day have never 
been called in question.

   The next country dismembered from Virginia was New Scotland, claimed by 
the crown of England in virtue of the first discovery by Sebastian Cabot. 
By colour of this title, king James I. granted it to sir William Alexander 
by patent, dated September the 10th, 1621.

   But this patentee never sending any colony thither, and the French 
believing it very convenient for them, obtained a surrender of it from 
their good friend and ally, king Charles II., by the treaty of Breda. And, 
to show their gratitude, they stirred up the Indians soon after to annoy 
their neighbours of New England. Murders happened continually to his 
majesty's subjects by their means, till sir William Phipps took their town 
of Port Royal, in the year 1690. But as the English are better at taking 
than keeping strong places, the French retook it soon, and remained 
masters of it till 1710, when general Nicholson wrested it, once more, out 
of their hands.

   Afterwards the queen of Great Britain's right to it was recognized and 
confirmed by the treaty of Utrecht.

   Another limb lopped off from Virginia was New York, which the Dutch 
seized very unfairly, on pretence of having purchased it from captain 
Hudson, the first discoverer. Nor was their way of taking possession of it 
a whit more justifiable than their pretended title. Their West India 
company tampered with some worthy English skippers (who had contracted 
with a swarm of English dissenters to transport them to Hudson river) by 
no means to land them there, but to carry them some leagues more northerly.

   This Dutch finesse took exactly, and gave the company time soon after 
to seize Hudson river for themselves. But sir Samuel Argall, then governor 
of Virginia, understanding how the king's subjects had been abused by 
these republicans, marched thither with a good force, and obliged them to 
renounce all pretensions to that country. The worst of it was, the knight 
depended on their parole to ship themselves for Brazil, but took no 
measures to make this slippery people as good as their word.

   No sooner was the good governor retired, but the honest Dutch began to 
build forts and strengthen themselves in their ill-gotten possessions; nor 
did any of the king's liege people take the trouble to drive these 
intruders thence. The civil war in England, and the confusions it brought 
forth, allowed no leisure for such distant considerations. Though it is 
strange that the protector, 

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who neglected no occasion to mortify the Dutch, did not afterwards call 
them to account for this breach of faith. However, after the restoration, 
the king sent a squadron of his ships of war, under the command of sir 
Robert Carr, and reduced that province to his obedience.

   Some time after, his majesty was pleased to grant that country to his 
royal highness, the duke of York, by letters patent, dated March the 12th, 
1664. But to show the modesty of the Dutch to the life, though they had no 
shadow of right to New York, yet they demanded Surinam, a more valuable 
country, as an equivalent for it, and our able ministers at that time had 
the generosity to give it them.

   But what wounded Virginia deepest was the cutting off Maryland from it, 
by charter from king Charles I. to sir George Calvert, afterwards lord 
Baltimore, bearing date the 20th of June, 1632. The truth of it is, it 
begat much speculation in those days, how it came about that a good 
protestant king should bestow so bountiful a grant upon a zealous Roman 
catholic. But it is probable it was one fatal instance amongst many other 
of his majesty's complaisance to the queen.

   However that happened, it is certain this province afterwards proved a 
commodious retreat for persons of that communion. The memory of the 
gunpowder treason-plot was still fresh in every body's mind, and made 
England too hot for papists to live in, without danger of being burnt with 
the pope, every 5th of November; for which reason legions of them 
transplanted themselves to Maryland in order to be safe, as well from the 
insolence of the populace as the rigour of the government.

   Not only the gunpowder treason, but every other plot, both pretended 
and real, that has been trumped up in England ever since, has helped to 
people his lordship's propriety. But what has proved most serviceable to 
it was the grand rebellion against king Charles I., when every thing that 
bore the least tokens of popery was sure to be demolished, and every man 
that professed it was in jeopardy of suffering the same kind of martyrdom 
the Romish priests do in Sweden.

   Soon after the reduction of New York, the duke was pleased to grant out 
of it all that tract of land included between Hudson and Delaware rivers, 
to the lord Berkley and sir George Carteret, by deed dated June the 24th, 
1664. And when these grantees came to make partition of this territory, 
his lordship's moiety was called West Jersey, and that to sir George, East 
Jersey.

   But before the date of this grant, the Swedes began to gain footing in 
part of that country; though, after they saw the fate of New York, they 
were glad to submit to the king of England, on the easy terms of remaining 
in their possessions, and rendering a moderate quit-rent. Their posterity 
continue there to this day, and think their lot cast in a much fairer land 
than Dalicarlia.

   The proprietors of New Jersey, finding more trouble than profit in 
their new dominions, made over their right to several other persons, who 
obtained a fresh grant from his royal highness, dated March the 14th, 1682.

   Several of the grantees, being quakers and anabaptists, failed not to 
encourage many of their own persuasion to remove to this peaceful region. 
Amongst them were a swarm of Scots quakers, who were not tolerated to 
exercise the gifts of the spirit in their own country.

   Besides the hopes of being safe from persecution in this retreat, the 
new proprietors inveigled many over by this tempting account of the 
country: that it was a place free from those three great scourges of 
mankind, priests, lawyers, and physicians. Nor did they tell them a word 
of a lie, for the people were yet too poor to maintain these learned 
gentlemen, who, every where, love to be well paid for what they do; and, 
like the Jews, cannot breathe in a climate where nothing is to be gotten.

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   The Jerseys continued under the government of these proprietors till 
the year 1702, when they made a formal surrender of the dominion to the 
queen, reserving however the property of the soil to themselves. So soon 
as the bounds of New Jersey came to be distinctly laid off, it appeared 
there was still a narrow slip of land, lying betwixt that colony and 
Maryland. Of this, William Penn, a man of much worldly wisdom, and some 
eminence among the quakers, got early notice, and, by the credit he had 
with the duke of York, obtained a patent for it, dated March the 4th, 1680.

   It was a little surprising to some people how a quaker should be so 
much in the good graces of a popish prince; though, after all, it may be 
pretty well accounted for. This ingenious person had not been bred a 
quaker; but, in his earlier days, had been a man of pleasure about the 
town. He had a beautiful form and very taking address, which made him 
successful with the ladies, and particularly with a mistress of the duke 
of Monmouth. By this gentlewoman he had a daughter, who had beauty enough 
to raise her to be a dutchess, and continued to be a toast full 30 years. 
But this amour had like to have brought our fine gentleman in danger of a 
duel, had he not discreetly sheltered himself under this peaceable 
persuasion. Besides, his father having been a flag-officer in the navy, 
while the duke of York was lord high admiral, might recommend the son to 
his favour. This piece of secret history I thought proper to mention, to 
wipe off the suspicion of his having been popishly inclined.

   This gentleman's first grant confined him within pretty narrow bounds, 
giving him only that portion of land which contains Buckingham, 
Philadelphia and Chester counties. But to get these bounds a little 
extended, he pushed his interest still further with his royal highness, 
and obtained a fresh grant of the three lower counties, called Newcastle, 
Kent and Sussex, which still remained within the New York patent, and had 
been luckily left out of the grant of New Jersey. The six counties being 
thus incorporated, the proprietor dignified the whole with the name of 
Pennsylvania.

   The quakers flocked over to this country in shoals, being averse to go 
to heaven the same way with the bishops. Amongst them were not a few of 
good substance, who went vigorously upon every kind of improvement; and 
thus much I may truly say in their praise, that by diligence and 
frugality, for which this harmless sect is remarkable, and by having no 
vices but such as are private, they have in a few years made Pennsylvania 
a very fine country. The truth is, they have observed exact justice with 
all the natives that border upon them; they have purchased all their lands 
from the Indians; and though they paid but a trifle for them, it has 
procured them the credit of being more righteous than their neighbours. 
They have likewise had the prudence to treat them kindly upon all 
occasions, which has saved them from many wars and massacres wherein the 
other colonies have been indiscreetly involved. The truth of it is, a 
people whose principles forbid them to draw the carnal sword, were in the 
right to give no provocation.

   Both the French and Spaniards had, in the name of their respective 
monarchs, long ago taken possession of that part of the northern continent 
that now goes by the name of Carolina; but finding it produced neither 
gold nor silver, as they greedily expected, and meeting such returns from 
the Indians as their own cruelty and treachery deserved, they totally 
abandoned it. In this deserted condition that country lay for the space of 
ninety years, till king Charles II., finding it a derelict, granted it 
away to the earl of Clarendon and others, by his royal charter, dated 
March the 24th, 1663. The boundary of that grant towards Virginia was a 
due west line from Luck island, (the same as Colleton island,) lying in 36 
degrees of north latitude, quite to the South sea.

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   But afterwards sir William Berkley, who was one of the grantees and at 
that time governor of Virginia, finding a territory of 31 miles in breadth 
between the inhabited part of Virginia and the above-mentioned boundary of 
Carolina, advised the lord Clarendon of it. And his lordship had interest 
enough with the king to obtain a second patent to include it, dated June 
the 30th, 1665.

   This last grant describes the bounds between Virginia and Carolina in 
these words: "To run from the north end of Coratuck inlet, due west to 
Weyanoke creek, lying within or about the degree of thirty-six and thirty 
minutes of northern latitude, and from thence west, in a direct line, as 
far as the South sea." Without question, this boundary was well known at 
the time the charter was granted, but in a long course of years Weyanoke 
creek lost its name, so that it became a controversy where it lay. Some 
ancient persons in Virginia affirmed it was the same with Wicocon, and 
others again in Carolina were as positive it was Nottoway river.

   In the mean time, the people on the frontiers entered for land, and 
took out patents by guess, either from the king or the lords proprietors. 
But the crown was like to be the loser by this uncertainty, because the 
terms both of taking up and seating land were easier much in Carolina. The 
yearly taxes to the public were likewise there less burthensome, which 
laid Virginia under a plain disadvantage.

   This consideration put that government upon entering into measures with 
North Carolina, to terminate the dispute, and settle a certain boundary 
between the two colonies. All the difficulty was, to find out which was 
truly Weyanoke creek. The difference was too considerable to be given up 
by either side, there being a territory of fifteen miles betwixt the two 
streams in controversy.

   However, till that matter could be adjusted, it was agreed on both 
sides, that no lands at all should be granted within the disputed bounds. 
Virginia observed this agreement punctually, but I am sorry I cannot say 
the same of North Carolina. The great officers of that province were loath 
to lose the fees accruing from the grants of land, and so private interest 
got the better of public spirit; and I wish that were the only place in 
the world where such politics are fashionable.

   All the steps that were taken afterwards in that affair, will best 
appear by the report of the Virginia commissioners, recited in the order 
of council given at St. James', March the 1st, 1710, set down in the 
appendix.

   It must be owned, the report of those gentlemen was severe upon the 
then commissioners of North Carolina, and particularly upon Mr. Moseley. I 
will not take it upon me to say with how much justice they said so many 
hard things, though it had been fairer play to have given the parties 
accused a copy of such representation, that they might have answered what 
they could for themselves.

   But since that was not done, I must beg leave to say thus much in 
behalf of Mr. Moseley, that he was not much in the wrong to find fault 
with the quadrant produced by the surveyors of Virginia, because that 
instrument placed the mouth of Nottoway river in the latitude of 37 
degrees; whereas, by an accurate observation made since, it appears to lie 
in 36 degrees 30' 30", so that there was an error of near 30 minutes, 
either in the instrument or in those who made use of it.

   Besides, it is evident the mouth of Nottoway river agrees much better 
with the latitude, wherein the Carolina charter supposed Weyanoke creek, 
(namely, in or about 36 degrees 30',) than it does with Wicocon creek, 
which is about fifteen miles more southerly.

   This being manifest, the intention of the king's grant will be pretty 
exactly 

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answered, by a due west line drawn from Coratuck inlet to the mouth of 
Nottoway river, for which reason it is probable that was formerly called 
Weyanoke creek, and might change its name when the Nottoway Indians came 
to live upon it, which was since the date of the last Carolina charter.

   The lieutenant governor of Virginia, at that time colonel Spotswood, 
searching into the bottom of this affair, made very equitable proposals to 
Mr. Eden, at that time governor of North Carolina, in order to put an end 
to this controversy. These, being formed into preliminaries, were signed 
by both governors, and transmitted to England, where they had the honour 
to be ratified by his late majesty and assented to by the lords 
proprietors of Carolina.

   Accordingly an order was sent by the late king to Mr. Gooch, afterwards 
lieutenant governor of Virginia, to pursue those preliminaries exactly. In 
obedience thereunto, he was pleased to appoint three of the council of 
that colony to be commissioners on the part of Virginia, who, in 
conjunction with others to be named by the governor of North Carolina, 
were to settle the boundary between the two governments, upon the plan of 
the above-mentioned articles.

   February, 1728. Two experienced surveyors were at the same time 
directed to wait upon the commissioners, Mr. Mayo, who made the accurate 
map of Barbadoes, and Mr. Irvin, the mathematic professor of William and 
Mary College. And because a good number of men were to go upon this 
expedition, a chaplain was appointed to attend them, and the rather 
because the people on the frontiers of North Carolina, who have no 
minister near them, might have an opportunity to get themselves and their 
children baptized.

   Of these proceedings on our part, immediate notice was sent to sir 
Richard Everard, governor of North Carolina, who was desired to name 
commissioners for that province, to meet those of Virginia at Coratuck 
inlet the spring following. Accordingly he appointed four members of the 
council of that province to take care of the interests of the lords 
proprietors. Of these, Mr. Moseley was to serve in a double capacity, both 
as commissioner and surveyor. For that reason there was but one other 
surveyor from thence, Mr. Swan. All the persons being thus agreed upon, 
they settled the time of meeting to be at Coratuck, March the 5th, 1728.

   In the mean time, the requisite preparations were made for so long and 
tiresome a journey; and because there was much work to be done and some 
danger from the Indians, in the uninhabited part of the country, it was 
necessary to provide a competent number of men. Accordingly, seventeen 
able hands were listed on the part of Virginia, who were most of them 
Indian traders and expert woodsmen.

   Feb. 27th. These good men were ordered to come armed with a musket and 
a tomahawk, or large hatchet, and provided with a sufficient quantity of 
ammunition. They likewise brought provisions of their own for ten days, 
after which time they were to be furnished by the government. Their march 
was appointed to be on the 27th of February, on which day one of the 
commissioners met them at their rendezvous, and proceeded with them as far 
as colonel Allen's. This gentleman is a great economist, and skilled in 
all the arts of living well at an easy expense.

   28th. They proceeded in good order through Surry county, as far as the 
widow Allen's, who had copied Solomon's complete housewife exactly. At 
this gentlewoman's house, the other two commissioners had appointed to 
join them, but were detained by some accident at Williamsburg, longer than 
their appointment.

   29th. They pursued their march through the Isle of Wight, and observed 
a most dreadful havoc made by a late hurricane, which happened in August, 
1726. The violence of it had not reached above a quarter of a mile in 

Page 10

breadth, but within that compass had levelled all before it. Both trees 
and houses were laid flat on the ground, and several things hurled to an 
incredible distance. It is happy such violent gusts are confined to so 
narrow a channel, because they carry desolation wherever they go. In the 
evening they reached Mr. Godwin's, on the south branch of Nansemond river, 
where they were treated with abundance of primitive hospitality.

   March 1st. This gentleman was so kind as to shorten their journey, by 
setting them over the river. They coasted the north-east side of the 
Dismal for several miles together, and found all the grounds bordering 
upon it very full of sloughs. The trees that grew near it looked very 
reverend, with the long moss that hung dangling from their branches. Both 
cattle and horses eat this moss greedily in winter when other provender is 
scarce, though it is apt to scour them at first. In that moist soil too 
grew abundance of that kind of myrtle which bears the candle-berries. 
There was likewise, here and there, a gall bush, which is a beautiful 
evergreen, and may be cut into any shape. It derives its name from its 
berries turning water black, like the galls of an oak. When this shrub is 
transplanted into gardens, it will not thrive without frequent watering.

   The two other commissioners came up with them just at their journey's 
end, and that evening they arrived all together at Mr. Craford's, who 
lives on the south branch of Elizabeth river, over against Norfolk. Here 
the commissioners left the men with all the horses and heavy baggage, and 
crossed the river with their servants only, for fear of making a famine in 
the town.

   Norfolk has most the air of a town of any in Virginia. There were then 
near 20 brigantines and sloops riding at the wharves, and oftentimes they 
have more. It has all the advantages of situation requisite for trade and 
navigation. There is a secure harbour for a good number of ships of any 
burthen. Their river divides itself into three several branches, which are 
all navigable. The town is so near the sea, that its vessels may sail in 
and out in a few hours. Their trade is chiefly to the West Indies, whither 
they export abundance of beef, pork, flour and lumber. The worst of it is, 
they contribute much towards debauching the country by importing abundance 
of rum, which, like gin in Great Britain, breaks the constitutions, 
vitiates the morals, and ruins the industry of most of the poor people of 
this country. This place is the mart for most of the commodities produced 
in the adjacent parts of North Carolina. They have a pretty deal of lumber 
from the borderers on the Dismal, who make bold with the king's land 
thereabouts, without the least ceremony. They not only maintain their 
stocks upon it, but get boards, shingles and other lumber out of it in 
great abundance.

   The town is built on a level spot of ground upon Elizabeth river, the 
banks whereof are neither so high as to make the landing of goods 
troublesome, or so low as to be in danger of overflowing. The streets are 
straight, and adorned with several good houses, which increase every day. 
It is not a town of ordinaries and public houses, like most others in this 
country, but the inhabitants consist of merchants, ship-carpenters and 
other useful artisans, with sailors enough to manage their navigation. 
With all these conveniences, it lies under the two great disadvantages 
that most of the towns in Holland do, by having neither good air nor good 
water. The two cardinal virtues that make a place thrive, industry and 
frugality, are seen here in perfection; and so long as they can banish 
luxury and idleness, the town will remain in a happy and flourishing 
condition.

   The method of building wharves here is after the following manner. They 
lay down long pine logs, that reach from the shore to the edge of the 
channel. These are bound fast together by cross pieces notched into them, 
according to the architecture of the log-houses in North Carolina. A wharf 
built thus 

Page 11

will stand several years, in spite of the worm, which bites here very 
much, but may be soon repaired in a place where so many pines grow in the 
neighbourhood.

   The commissioners endeavoured, in this town, to list three more men to 
serve as guides in that dirty part of the country, but found that these 
people knew just enough of that frightful place to avoid it. They had been 
told that those Netherlands were full of bogs, of marshes and swamps, not 
fit for human creatures to engage in, and this was reason enough for them 
not to hazard their persons. So they told us, flat and plain, that we 
might even daggle through the mire by ourselves for them.

   The worst of it was, we could not learn from any body in this town, 
what route to take to Coratuck inlet; till at last we had the fortune to 
meet with a borderer upon North Carolina, who made us a rough sketch of 
that part of the country. Thus, upon seeing how the land lay, we 
determined to march directly to Prescot landing upon North-west river, and 
proceed thence by water to the place where our line was to begin.

   4th. In pursuance of this resolution we crossed the river this morning 
to Powder point, where we all took horse; and the grandees of the town, 
with great courtesy, conducted us ten miles on our way, as far as the long 
bridge built over the south branch of the river. The parson of the parish, 
Mr. Marston, a painful apostle from the society, made one in this 
ceremonious cavalcade.

   At the bridge, these gentlemen, wishing us a good deliverance, 
returned, and then a troop of light horse escorted us as far as Prescot 
landing, upon North-west river. Care had been taken beforehand to provide 
two periaugas to lie ready at that place to transport us to Coratuck 
inlet. Our zeal was so great to get thither at the time appointed, that we 
hardly allowed ourselves leisure to eat, which in truth we had the less 
stomach to, by reason the dinner was served up by the landlord, whose nose 
stood on such ticklish terms, that it was in danger of falling into the 
dish. We therefore made our repast very short, and then embarked with only 
the surveyors and nine chosen men, leaving the rest at Mr. W----n's to 
take care of the horses and baggage. There we also left our chaplain, with 
the charitable intent, that the gentiles round about might have time and 
opportunity, if they pleased, of getting themselves and their children 
baptized.

   We rowed down North-west river about 18 miles, as far as the mouth of 
it, where it empties itself into Albemarle sound. It was really a 
delightful sight, all the way, to see the banks of the river adorned with 
myrtle, laurel and bay trees, which preserve their verdure the year round, 
though it must be owned that these beautiful plants, sacred to Venus and 
Apollo, grow commonly in a very dirty soil. The river is, in most places, 
fifty or sixty yards wide, without spreading much wider at the mouth. It 
is remarkable it was never known to ebb and flow till the year 1713, when 
a violent storm opened a new inlet, about five miles south of the old one; 
since which convulsion, the old inlet is almost choked up by the shifting 
of the sand, and grows both narrower and shoaler every day.

   It was dark before we could reach the mouth of the river, where our 
wayward stars directed us to a miserable cottage. The landlord was lately 
removed, bag and baggage, from Maryland, through a strong antipathy he had 
to work and paying his debts. For want of our tent, we were obliged to 
shelter ourselves in this wretched hovel, where we were almost devoured by 
vermin of various kinds. However, we were above complaining, being all 
philosophers enough to improve such slender distresses into mirth and good 
humour.

   5th. The day being now come, on which we had agreed to meet the 
commissioners 

Page 12

of North Carolina, we embarked very early, which we could the easier do, 
having no temptation to stay where we were. We shaped our course along the 
south end of Knot's island, there being no passage open on the north. 
Further still to the southward of us, we discovered two smaller islands, 
that go by the names of Bell's and Church's isles. We also saw a small New 
England sloop riding in the sound, a little to the south of our course. 
She had come in at the new inlet, as all other vessels have done since the 
opening of it. This navigation is a little difficult, and fit only for 
vessels that draw no more than ten feet water. The trade hither is 
engrossed by the saints of New England, who carry off a great deal of 
tobacco, without troubling themselves with paying that impertinent duty of 
a penny a pound.

   It was just noon before we arrived at Coratuck inlet, which is now so 
shallow that the breakers fly over it with a horrible sound, and at the 
same time afford a very wild prospect. On the north side of the inlet, the 
high land terminated in a bluff point, from which a spit of land extended 
itself towards the south-east, full half a mile. The inlet lies between 
that spit and another on the south of it, leaving an opening of not quite 
a mile, which at this day is not practicable for any vessel whatsoever. 
And as shallow as it now is, it continues to fill up more and more, both 
the wind and waves rolling in the sands from the eastern shoals.

   About two o'clock in the afternoon we were joined by two of the 
Carolina commissioners, attended by Mr. Swan, their surveyor. The other 
two were not quite so punctual, which was the more unlucky for us, because 
there could be no sport till they came. These gentlemen, it seems, had the 
Carolina commission in their keeping, not withstanding which, they could 
not forbear paying too much regard to a proverb--fashionable in their 
country--not to make more haste than good speed.

   However, that we who were punctual might not spend our precious time 
unprofitably, we took the several bearings of the coast. We also surveyed 
part of the adjacent high land, which had scarcely any trees growing upon 
it, but cedars. Among the shrubs, we were showed here and there a bush of 
Carolina tea called Japon, which is one species of the Phylarrea. This is 
an evergreen, the leaves whereof have some resemblance to tea, but differ 
very widely both in taste and flavour. We also found some few plants of 
the spired leaf silk grass, which is likewise an evergreen, bearing on a 
lofty stem a large cluster of flowers of a pale yellow. Of the leaves of 
this plant the people thereabouts twist very strong cordage.

   A virtuoso might divert himself here very well, in picking up shells of 
various hue and figure, and amongst the rest, that species of conch shell 
which the Indian peak is made of. The extremities of these shells are blue 
and the rest white, so that peak of both these colours are drilled out of 
one and the same shell, serving the natives both for ornament and money, 
and are esteemed by them far beyond gold and silver.

   The cedars were of singular use to us in the absence of our tent, which 
we had left with the rest of the baggage for fear of overloading the 
periaugas. We made a circular hedge of the branches of this tree, wrought 
so close together as to fence us against the cold winds. We then kindled a 
rousing fire in the centre of it, and lay round it, like so many knights 
templars. But, as comfortable as this lodging was, the surveyors turned 
out about two in the morning to try the variation by a meridian taken from 
the north star, and found it to be somewhat less than three degrees west.

   The commissioners of the neighbouring colony came better provided for 
the belly than the business. They brought not above two men along with 
them that would put their hands to any thing but the kettle and the 
fryingpan. These spent so much of their industry that way, that they had 
as little spirit as inclination for work.

Page 13

   6th. At noon, having a perfect observation, we found the latitude of 
Coratuck inlet to be 36 degrees and 31 minutes.

   Whilst we were busied about these necessary matters, our skipper rowed 
to an oyster bank just by, and loaded his periauga with oysters as savoury 
and well-tasted as those from Colchester or Walfleet, and had the 
advantage of them, too, by being much larger and fatter.

   About three in the afternoon the two lag commissioners arrived, and 
after a few decent excuses for making us wait, told us they were ready to 
enter upon business as soon as we pleased. The first step was to produce 
our respective powers, and the commission from each governor was 
distinctly read, and copies of them interchangeably delivered.

   It was observed by our Carolina friends, that the latter part of the 
Virginia commission had something in it a little too lordly and positive. 
In answer to which we told them it was necessary to make it thus 
peremptory, lest the present commissioners might go upon as fruitless an 
errand as their predecessors. The former commissioners were tied down to 
act in exact conjunction with those of Carolina, and so could not advance 
one step farther, or one jot faster, than they were pleased to permit 
them. The memory of that disappointment, therefore, induced the government 
of Virginia to give fuller powers to the present commissioners, by 
authorizing them to go on with the work by themselves, in case those of 
Carolina should prove unreasonable, and refuse to join with them in 
carrying the business to execution. And all this was done lest his 
majesty's gracious intention should be frustrated a second time.

   After both commissions were considered, the first question was, where 
the dividing line was to begin. This begat a warm debate; the Virginia 
commissioners contending, with a great deal of reason, to begin at the end 
of the spit of sand; which was undoubtedly the north shore of Coratuck 
inlet. But those of Carolina insisted strenuously, that the point of high 
land ought rather to be the place of beginning, because that was fixed and 
certain, whereas the spit of sand was ever shifting, and did actually run 
out farther now than formerly. The contest lasted some hours, with great 
vehemence, neither party receding from their opinion that night. But next 
morning, Mr. Moseley, to convince us he was not that obstinate person he 
had been represented, yielded to our reasons, and found means to bring 
over his colleagues.

   Here we began already to reap the benefit of those peremptory words in 
our commission, which in truth added some weight to our reasons. 
Nevertheless, because positive proof was made by the oaths of two credible 
witnesses, that the spit of sand had advanced 200 yards towards the inlet 
since the controversy first began, we were willing for peace' sake to make 
them that allowance. Accordingly we fixed our beginning about that 
distance north of the inlet, and there ordered a cedar post to be driven 
deep into the sand for our beginning. While we continued here, we were 
told that on the south shore, not far from the inlet, dwelt a marooner, 
that modestly called himself a hermit, though he forfeited that name by 
suffering a wanton female to cohabit with him. His habitation was a bower, 
covered with bark after the Indian fashion, which in that mild situation 
protected him pretty well from the weather. Like the ravens, he neither 
ploughed nor sowed, but subsisted chiefly upon oysters, which his handmaid 
made a shift to gather from the adjacent rocks. Sometimes, too, for change 
of diet, he sent her to drive up the neighbour's cows, to moisten their 
mouths with a little milk. But as for raiment, he depended mostly upon his 
length of beard, and she upon her length of hair, part of which she 
brought decently forward, and the rest dangled behind quite down to her 
rump, like one of Herodotus' East Indian pigmies. 

Page 14

Thus did these wretches live in a dirty state of nature, and were mere 
Adamites, innocence only excepted.

   7th. This morning the surveyors began to run the dividing line from the 
cedar post we had driven into the sand, allowing near three degrees for 
the variation. Without making this just allowance, we should not have 
obeyed his majesty's order in running a due west line. It seems the former 
commissioners had not been so exact, which gave our friends of Carolina 
but too just an exception to their proceedings. The line cut Dosier's 
island, consisting only of a flat sand, with here and there an humble 
shrub growing upon it. From thence it crossed over a narrow arm of the 
sound into Knot's island, and there split a plantation belonging to 
William Harding.

   The day being far spent, we encamped in this man's pasture, though it 
lay very low, and the season now inclined people to aguish distempers. He 
suffered us to cut cedar branches for our enclosure, and other wood for 
firing, to correct the moist air and drive away the damps. Our landlady, 
in the days of her youth, it seems, had been a laundress in the Temple, 
and talked over her adventures in that station, with as much pleasure as 
an old soldier talks over his battles and distempers, and I believe with 
as many additions to the truth. The soil is good in many places of this 
island, and the extent of it pretty large. It lies in the form of a wedge: 
the south end of it is several miles over, but towards the north it 
sharpens into a point. It is a plentiful place for stock, by reason of the 
wide marshes adjacent to it, and because of its warm situation. But the 
inhabitants pay a little dear for this convenience, by losing as much 
blood in the summer season by the infinite number of mosquitoes, as all 
their beef and pork can recruit in the winter.

   The sheep are as large as in Lincolnshire, because they are never 
pinched by cold or hunger. The whole island was hitherto reckoned to lie 
in Virginia, but now our line has given the greater part of it to 
Carolina. The principal freeholder here is Mr. White, who keeps open house 
for all travellers, that either debt or shipwreck happens to cast in his 
way.

   8th. By break of day we sent away our largest periauga, with the 
baggage, round the south end of Knot's island, with orders to the men to 
wait for us in the mouth of North river. Soon after, we embarked ourselves 
on board the smaller vessel, with intent, if possible, to find a passage 
round the north end of the island.

   We found this navigation very difficult, by reason of the continued 
shoals, and often stuck fast aground; for though the sound spreads many 
miles, yet it is in most places extremely shallow, and requires a skilful 
pilot to steer even a canoe safe over it. It was almost as hard to keep 
our temper, as to keep the channel, in this provoking situation. But the 
most impatient amongst us stroked down their choler, and swallowed their 
curses, lest, if they suffered them to break out, they might sound like 
complaining, which was expressly forbidden, as the first step to sedition.

   At a distance we described several islands to the northward of us, the 
largest of which goes by the name of Cedar island. Our periadga stuck so 
often that we had a fair chance to be benighted in this wide water, which 
must certainly have been our fate, had we not luckily spied a canoe that 
was giving a fortune-teller a cast from Princess Anne county over to North 
Carolina. But, as conjurers are sometimes mistaken, the man mistrusted we 
were officers of justice in pursuit of a young wench he had carried off 
along with him. We gave the canoe chase for more than an hour, and when we 
came up with her, threatened to make them all prisoners unless they would 
direct us into the right channel. By the pilotage of these people we rowed 
up an arm of the sound, called the Back bay, till we came to the head of 
it. There 

Page 15

we were stopped by a miry pocoson full half a mile in breadth, through 
which we were obliged to daggle on foot, plunging now and then, though we 
picked our way, up to the knees in mud. At the end of this charming walk 
we gained the terra firma of Princess Anne county. In that dirty condition 
we were afterwards obliged to foot it two miles, as far as John Heath's 
plantation, where we expected to meet the surveyors and the men who waited 
upon them.

   While we were performing this tedious voyage, they had carried the line 
through the firm land of Knot's island, where it was no more than half a 
mile wide. After that they traversed a large marsh, that was exceedingly 
miry, and extended to an arm of the Back bay. They crossed that water in a 
canoe, which we had ordered round for that purpose, and then waded over 
another marsh, that reached quite to the high land of Princess Anne. Both 
these marshes together make a breadth of five miles, in which the men 
frequently sank up to the middle, without muttering the least complaint. 
On the contrary, they turned all these disasters into merriment.

   It was discovered, by this day's work, that Knot's island was 
improperly so called, being in truth no more than a peninsula. The north-
west side of it is only divided from the main by the great marsh above-
mentioned, which is seldom totally overflowed. Instead of that, it might, 
by the labour of a few trenches, be drained into firm meadow, capable of 
grazing as many cattle as Job, in his best estate, was master of. In the 
miry condition in which it now lies, it feeds great numbers in the winter, 
though, when the weather grows warm, they are driven thence by the mighty 
armies of mosquitoes, which are the plague of the lower part of Carolina, 
as much as the flies were formerly of Egypt, and some rabbins think those 
flies were no other than mosquitoes.

   All the people in the neighbourhood flocked to John Heath's, to behold 
such rarities as they fancied us to be. The men left their beloved chimney 
corners, the good women their spinning wheels, and some, of more curiosity 
than ordinary, rose out of their sick beds, to come and stare at us. They 
looked upon us as a troop of knights errant, who were running this great 
risk of our lives, as they imagined, for the public weal; and some of the 
gravest of them questioned much whether we were not all criminals, 
condemned to this dirty work for offences against the state. What puzzled 
them most was, what could make our men so very light-hearted under such 
intolerable drudgery. "Ye have little reason to be merry, my masters," 
said one of them, with a very solemn face, "I fancy the pocoson you must 
struggle with to-morrow will make you change your note, and try what metal 
you are made of. Ye are, to be sure, the first of human race that ever had 
the boldness to attempt it, and I dare say will be the last. If, 
therefore, you have any worldly goods to dispose of, my advice is that you 
make your wills this very night, for fear you die intestate to-morrow." 
But, alas! these frightful tales were so far from disheartening the men, 
that they served only to whet their resolution.

   9th. The surveyors entered early upon their business this morning, and 
ran the line through Mr. Eyland's plantation, as far as the banks of North 
river. They passed over it in the periauga, and landed in Gibbs' marsh, 
which was a mile in breadth, and tolerably firm. They trudged through this 
marsh without much difficulty as far as the high land, which promised more 
fertility than any they had seen in these lower parts. But this firm land 
lasted not long before they came upon the dreadful pocoson they had been 
threatened with. Nor did they find it one jot better than it had been 
painted to them. The beavers and otters had rendered it quite impassable 
for any creature but themselves.

   Our poor fellows had much ado to drag their legs after them in this 
quagmire, 

Page 16

but disdaining to be balked, they could hardly be persuaded from pressing 
forward by the surveyors, who found it absolutely necessary to make a 
traverse in the deepest place, to prevent their sticking fast in the mire, 
and becoming a certain prey to the turkey buzzards.

   This horrible day's work ended two miles to the northward of Mr. 
Merchant's plantation, divided from North-west river by a narrow swamp, 
which is causewayed over. We took up our quarters in the open field, not 
far from the house, correcting, by a fire as large as a Roman funeral 
pile, the aguish exhalations arising from the sunken grounds that 
surrounded us.

   The neck of land included betwixt North river and North-west river, 
with the adjacent marsh, belonged formerly to Governor Gibbs, but since 
his decease to Colonel Bladen, in right of his first lady, who was Mr. 
Gibbs' daughter. It would be a valuable tract of land in any country but 
North Carolina, where, for want of navigation and commerce, the best 
estate affords little more than a coarse subsistence.

   10th. The sabbath happened very opportunely to give some ease to our 
jaded people, who rested religiously from every work, but that of cooking 
the kettle. We observed very few corn-fields in our walks, and those very 
small, which seemed the stranger to us, because we could see no other 
tokens of husbandry or improvement. But, upon further inquiry, we were 
given to understand people only made corn for themselves and not for their 
stocks, which know very well how to get their own living. Both cattle and 
hogs ramble into the neighbouring marshes and swamps, where they maintain 
themselves the whole winter long, and are not fetched home till the 
spring. Thus these indolent wretches, during one half of the year, lose 
the advantage of the milk of their cattle, as well as their dung, and many 
of the poor creatures perish in the mire, into the bargain, by this ill 
management. Some, who pique themselves more upon industry than their 
neighbours, will, now and then, in compliment to their cattle, cut down a 
tree whose limbs are loaded with the moss afore-mentioned. The trouble 
would be too great to climb the tree in order to gather this provender, 
but the shortest way (which in this country is always counted the best) is 
to fell it, just like the lazy Indians, who do the same by such trees as 
bear fruit, and so make one harvest for all. By this bad husbandry milk is 
so scarce, in the winter season, that were a big-bellied woman to long for 
it, she would lose her longing. And, in truth, I believe this is often the 
case, and at the same time a very good reason why so many people in this 
province are marked with a custard complexion.

   The only business here is raising of hogs, which is managed with the 
least trouble, and affords the diet they are most fond of. The truth of it 
is, the inhabitants of North Carolina devour so much swine's flesh, that 
it fills them full of gross humours. For want too of a constant supply of 
salt, they are commonly obliged to eat it fresh, and that begets the 
highest taint of scurvy. Thus, whenever a severe cold happens to 
constitutions thus vitiated, it is apt to improve into the yaws, called 
there very justly the country distemper. This has all the symptoms of 
syphilis, with this aggravation, that no preparation of mercury will touch 
it. First it seizes the throat, next the palate, and lastly shows its 
spite to the poor nose, of which it is apt in a small time treacherously 
to undermine the foundation. This calamity is so common and familiar here, 
that it ceases to be a scandal, and in the disputes that happen about 
beauty, the noses have in some companies much ado to carry it. Nay, it is 
said that once, after three good pork years, a motion had like to have 
been made in the house of burgesses, that a man with a nose should be 
incapable of holding any place of profit in the province; which 
extraordinary motion could never have been intended without some hopes of 
a majority.

   Thus, considering the foul and pernicious effects of eating swine's 
flesh in 

Page 17

a hot country, it was wisely forbidden and made an abomination to the 
Jews, who lived much in the same latitude with Carolina.

   11th. We ordered the surveyors early to their business, who were 
blessed with pretty dry grounds for three miles together. But they paid 
dear for it in the next two, consisting of one continued frightful 
pocoson, which no creatures but those of the amphibious kind ever had 
ventured into before. This filthy quagmire did in earnest put the men's 
courage to a trial, and though I cannot say it made them lose their 
patience, yet they lost their humour for joking. They kept their gravity 
like so many Spaniards, so that a man might then have taken his 
opportunity to plunge up to the chin, without danger of being laughed at. 
However, this unusual composure of countenance could not fairly be called 
complaining. Their day's work ended at the mouth of Northern's creek, 
which empties itself into North-west river; though we chose to quarter a 
little higher up the river, near Mossy point. This we did for the 
convenience of an old house to shelter our persons and baggage from the 
rain, which threatened us hard. We judged the thing right, for there fell 
a heavy shower in the night, that drove the most hardy of us into the 
house. Though, indeed, our case was not much mended by retreating thither, 
because that tenement having not long before been used as a pork store, 
the moisture of the air dissolved the salt that lay scattered on the 
floor, and made it as wet within doors as without. However, the swamps and 
marshes we were lately accustomed to had made such beavers and otters of 
us that nobody caught the least cold. We had encamped so early, that we 
found time in the evening to walk near half a mile into the woods. There 
we came upon a family of mulattoes that called themselves free, though by 
the shyness of the master of the house, who took care to keep least in 
sight, their freedom seemed a little doubtful. It is certain many slaves 
shelter themselves in this obscure part of the world, nor will any of 
their righteous neighbours discover them. On the contrary, they find their 
account in settling such fugitives on some out-of-the-way corner of their 
land, to raise stocks for a mean and inconsiderable share, well knowing 
their condition makes it necessary for them to submit to any terms. Nor 
were these worthy borderers content to shelter runaway slaves, but debtors 
and criminals have often met with the like indulgence. But if the 
government of North Carolina has encouraged this unneighbourly policy in 
order to increase their people, it is no more than what ancient Rome did 
before them, which was made a city of refuge for all debtors and 
fugitives, and from that wretched beginning grew up in time to be mistress 
of a great part of the world. And, considering how fortune delights in 
bringing great things out of small, who knows but Carolina may, one time 
or other, come to be the seat of some other great empire?

   12th. Every thing had been so soaked with the rain, that we were 
obliged to lie by a good part of the morning and dry them. However, that 
time was not lost, because it gave the surveyors an opportunity of 
platting off their work and taking the course of the river. It likewise 
helped to recruit the spirits of the men, who had been a little harassed 
with yesterday's march. Notwithstanding all this, we crossed the river 
before noon, and advanced our line three miles. It was not possible to 
make more of it, by reason good part of the way was either marsh or 
pocoson. The line cut two or three plantations, leaving part of them in 
Virginia, and part of them in Carolina. This was a case that happened 
frequently, to the great inconvenience of the owners, who were therefore 
obliged to take out two patents and pay for a new survey in each 
government. In the evening, we took up our quarters in Mr. Ballance's 
pasture, a little above the bridge built over North-west river. There we 
discharged the two periaugas, which in truth had been 

Page 18

very serviceable in transporting us over the many waters in that dirty and 
difficult part of our business. Our landlord had a tolerable good house 
and clean furniture, and yet we could not be tempted to lodge in it. We 
chose rather to lie in the open field, for fear of growing too tender. A 
clear sky, spangled with stars, was our canopy, which being the last thing 
we saw before we fell asleep, gave us magnificent dreams. The truth of it 
is, we took so much pleasure in that natural kind of lodging, that I think 
at the foot of the account mankind are great losers by the luxury of 
feather beds and warm apartments.

   The curiosity of beholding so new and withal so sweet a method of 
encamping, brought one of the senators of North Carolina to make us a 
midnight visit. But he was so very clamorous in his commendations of it, 
that the sentinel, not seeing his quality, either through his habit or 
behaviour, had like to have treated him roughly. After excusing the 
unseasonableness of his visit, and letting us know he was a parliament 
man, he swore he was so taken with our lodging, that he would set fire to 
his house as soon as he got home, and teach his wife and children to lie, 
like us, in the open field.

   13th. Early this morning our chaplain repaired to us with the men we 
had left at Mr. Wilson's. We had sent for them the evening before to 
relieve those who had the labour-oar from Coratuck inlet. But to our great 
surprise, they petitioned not to be relieved, hoping to gain immortal 
reputation by being the first of mankind that ventured through the great 
Dismal. But the rest being equally ambitious of the same honour, it was 
but fair to decide their pretensions by lot. After fortune had declared 
herself, those which she had excluded offered money to the happy persons 
to go in their stead. But Hercules would have as soon sold the glory of 
cleansing the Augean stables, which was pretty near the same sort of work. 
No sooner was the controversy at an end, but we sent those unfortunate 
fellows back to their quarters, whom chance had condemned to remain upon 
firm land and sleep in a whole skin. In the mean while the surveyors 
carried the line three miles, which was no contemptible day's work, 
considering how cruelly they were entangled with briers and gall bushes. 
The leaf of this last shrub bespeaks it to be of the alaternus family.

   Our work ended within a quarter of a mile of the Dismal above-
mentioned, where the ground began to be already full of sunken holes and 
slashes, which had, here and there, some few reeds growing in them. It is 
hardly credible how little the bordering inhabitants were acquainted with 
this mighty swamp, notwithstanding they had lived their whole lives within 
smell of it. Yet, as great strangers as they were to it, they pretended to 
be very exact in their account of its dimensions, and were positive it 
could not be above seven or eight miles wide, but knew no more of the 
matter than star-gazers know of the distance of the fixed stars. At the 
same time, they were simple enough to amuse our men with idle stories of 
the lions, panthers and alligators, they were like to encounter in that 
dreadful place. In short, we saw plainly there was no intelligence of this 
terra incognita to be got, but from our own experience. For that reason it 
was resolved to make the requisite dispositions to enter it next morning. 
We allotted every one of the surveyors for this painful enterprise, with 
twelve men to attend them. Fewer than that could not be employed in 
clearing the way, carrying the chain, marking the trees, and bearing the 
necessary bedding and provisions. Nor would the commissioners themselves 
have spared their persons on this occasion, but for fear of adding to the 
poor men's burthen, while they were certain they could add nothing to 
their resolution.

   We quartered with our friend and fellow traveller, William Wilkins, who 
had been our faithful pilot to Coratuck, and lived about a mile from the 
place 

Page 19

where the line ended. Every thing looked so very clean, and the furniture 
so neat, that we were tempted to lodge within doors. But the novelty of 
being shut up so close quite spoiled our rest, nor did we breathe so free 
by abundance, as when we lay in the open air.

   14th. Before nine of the clock this morning, the provisions, bedding 
and other necessaries were made up into packs for the men to carry on 
their shoulders into the Dismal. They were victualled for eight days at 
full allowance, nobody doubting but that would be abundantly sufficient to 
carry them through that inhospitable place; nor indeed was it possible for 
the poor fellows to stagger under more. As it was, their loads weighed 
from 60 to 70 pounds, in just proportion to the strength of those who were 
to bear them. It would have been unconscionable to have saddled them with 
burthens heavier than that, when they were to lug them through a filthy 
bog, which was hardly practicable with no burthen at all. Besides this 
luggage at their backs, they were obliged to measure the distance, mark 
the trees, and clear the way for the surveyors every step they went. It 
was really a pleasure to see with how much cheerfulness they undertook, 
and with how much spirit they went through all this drudgery. For their 
greater safety, the commissioners took care to furnish them with Peruvian 
bark, rhubarb and hipocoacanah, in case they might happen, in that wet 
journey, to be taken with fevers or fluxes. Although there was no need of 
example to inflame persons already so cheerful, yet to enter the people 
with the better grace, the author and two more of the commissioners 
accompanied them half a mile into the Dismal. The skirts of it were thinly 
planted with dwarf reeds and gall bushes, but when we got into the Dismal 
itself, we found the reeds grew there much taller and closer, and, to mend 
the matter, were so interlaced with bamboo-briers, that there was no 
scuffling through them without the help of pioneers. At the same time, we 
found the ground moist and trembling under our feet like a quagmire, 
insomuch that it was an easy matter to run a tenfoot pole up to the head 
in it, without exerting any uncommon strength to do it. Two of the men, 
whose burthens were the least cumbersome, had orders to march before, with 
their tomahawks, and clear the way, in order to make an opening for the 
surveyors. By their assistance we made a shift to push the line half a 
mile in three hours, and then reached a small piece of firm land, about 
100 yards wide, standing up above the rest like an island. Here the people 
were glad to lay down their loads and take a little refreshment, while the 
happy man, whose lot it was to carry the jug of rum, began already like 
Æsop's bread-carriers, to find it grow a good deal lighter.

   After reposing about an hour, the commissioners recommended vigour and 
constancy to their fellow-travellers, by whom they were answered with 
three cheerful huzzas, in token of obedience. This ceremony was no sooner 
over but they took up their burthens and attended the motion of the 
surveyors, who, though they worked with all their might, could reach but 
one mile farther, the same obstacles still attending them which they had 
met with in the morning. However small this distance may seem to such as 
are used to travel at their ease, yet our poor men, who were obliged to 
work with an unwieldy load at their backs, had reason to think it a long 
way; especially in a bog where they had no firm footing, but every step 
made a deep impression, which was instantly filled with water. At the same 
time they were labouring with their hands to cut down the reeds, which 
were ten feet high, their legs were hampered with the briers. Besides, the 
weather happened to be warm, and the tallness of the reeds kept off every 
friendly breeze from coming to refresh them. And, indeed, it was a little 
provoking to hear the wind whistling among the branches of the white 
cedars, which grew here and there amongst the reeds, and at the same time 
not to have the comfort to feel the least breath of it.

Page 20

   In the mean time the three commissioners returned out of the Dismal the 
same way they went in, and, having joined their brethren, proceeded that 
night as far as Mr. Wilson's. This worthy person lives within sight of the 
Dismal, in the skirts whereof his stocks range and maintain themselves all 
the winter, and yet he knew as little of it as he did of Terra Australis 
Incognita. He told us a Canterbury tale of a North Briton, whose curiosity 
spurred him a long way into this great desert, as he called it, near 
twenty years ago, but he having no compass, nor seeing the sun for several 
days together, wandered about till he was almost famished; but at last he 
bethought himself of a secret his countrymen make use of to pilot 
themselves in a dark day. He took a fat louse out of his collar, and 
exposed it to the open day on a piece of white paper, which he brought 
along with him for his journal. The poor insect, having no eye-lids, 
turned himself about till he found the darkest part of the heavens, and so 
made the best of his way towards the north. By this direction he steered 
himself safe out, and gave such a frightful account of the monsters he 
saw, and the distresses he underwent, that no mortal since has been hardy 
enough to go upon the like dangerous discovery.

   15th. The surveyors pursued their work with all diligence, but still 
found the soil of the Dismal so spongy that the water oozed up into every 
footstep they took. To their sorrow, too, they found the reeds and briers 
more firmly interwoven than they did the day before. But the greatest 
grievance was from large cypresses, which the wind had blown down and 
heaped upon one another. On the limbs of most of them grew sharp snags, 
pointing every way like so many pikes, that required much pains and 
caution to avoid. These trees being evergreens, and shooting their large 
tops very high, are easily overset by every gust of wind, because there is 
no firm earth to steady their roots. Thus many of them were laid 
prostrate, to the great encumbrance of the way. Such variety of 
difficulties made the business go on heavily, insomuch that, from morning 
till night, the line could advance no farther than one mile and thirty-one 
poles. Never was rum, that cordial of life, found more necessary than it 
was in this dirty place. It did not only recruit the people's spirits, now 
almost jaded with fatigue, but served to correct the badness of the water, 
and at the same time to resist the malignity of the air. Whenever the men 
wanted to drink, which was very often, they had nothing more to do but to 
make a hole, and the water bubbled up in a moment. But it was far from 
being either clear or well tasted, and had besides a physical effect, from 
the tincture it received from the roots of the shrubs and trees that grew 
in the neighbourhood.

   While the surveyors were thus painfully employed, the commissioners 
discharged the long score they had with Mr. Wilson, for the men and horses 
which had been quartered upon him during our expedition to Coratuck. From 
thence we marched in good order along the east side of the Dismal, and 
passed the long bridge that lies over the south branch of Elizabeth river. 
At the end of 18 miles we reached Timothy Ivy's plantation, where we 
pitched our tent for the first time, and were furnished with every thing 
the place afforded. We perceived the happy effects of industry in this 
family, in which every one looked tidy and clean, and carried in their 
countenances the cheerful marks of plenty. We saw no drones there, which 
are but too common, alas, in that part of the world. Though, in truth, the 
distemper of laziness seizes the men oftener much than the women. These 
last spin, weave and knit, all with their own hands, while their husbands, 
depending on the bounty of the climate, are slothful in every thing but 
getting of children, and in that only instance make themselves useful 
members of an infant colony.

   There is but little wool in that province, though cotton grows very 
kindly, and, so far south, is seldom nipped by the frost. The good women 
mix this 

Page 21

with their wool for their outer garments; though, for want of fulling, 
that kind of manufacture is open and sleazy. Flax likewise thrives there 
extremely, being perhaps as fine as any in the world, and I question not 
might, with a little care, be brought to rival that of Egypt; and yet the 
men are here so intolerably lazy, they seldom take the trouble to 
propagate it.

   16th. The line was this day carried one mile and a half and sixteen 
poles. The soil continued soft and miry, but fuller of trees, especially 
white cedars. Many of these too were thrown down and piled in heaps, high 
enough for a good Muscovite fortification. The worst of it was, the poor 
fellows began now to be troubled with fluxes, occasioned by bad water and 
moist lodging: but chewing of rhubarb kept that malady within bounds.

   In the mean time the commissioners decamped early in the morning, and 
made a march of twenty-five miles, as far as Mr. Andrew Mead's, who lives 
upon Nansemond river. They were no sooner got under the shelter of that 
hospitable roof, but it began to rain hard, and continued so to do great 
part of the night. This gave them much pain for their friends in the 
Dismal, whose sufferings spoiled their taste for the good cheer, wherewith 
they were entertained themselves. However, late that evening, these poor 
men had the fortune to come upon another terra firma, which was the 
luckier for them, because the lower ground, by the rain that fell, was 
made a fitter lodging for tadpoles than men. In our journey we remarked 
that the north side of this great swamp lies higher than either the east 
or the west, nor were the approaches to it so full of sunken grounds. We 
passed by no less than two quaker meeting houses, one of which had an 
awkward ornament on the west end of it, that seemed to ape a steeple. I 
must own I expected no such piece of foppery from a sect of so much 
outside simplicity. That persuasion prevails much in the lower end of 
Nansemond county, for want of ministers to pilot the people a decenter way 
to heaven. The ill reputation of tobacco planted in those lower parishes 
makes the clergy unwilling to accept of them, unless it be such whose 
abilities are as mean as their pay. Thus, whether the churches be quite 
void or but indifferently filled, the quakers will have an opportunity of 
gaining proselytes. It is a wonder no popish missionaries are sent from 
Maryland to labour in this neglected vineyard, who we know have zeal 
enough to traverse sea and land on the meritorious errand of making 
converts. Nor is it less strange that some wolf in sheep's clothing 
arrives not from New England to lead astray a flock that has no shepherd. 
People uninstructed in any religion are ready to embrace the first that 
offers. It is natural for helpless man to adore his Maker in some form or 
other, and were there any exception to this rule, I should suspect it to 
be among the Hottentots of the cape of Good Hope and of North Carolina.

   There fell a great deal of rain in the night, accompanied with a strong 
wind. The fellow-feeling we had for the poor Dismalites, on account of 
this unkind weather, rendered the down we laid upon uneasy. We fancied 
them half-drowned in their wet lodging, with the trees blowing down about 
their ears. These were the gloomy images our fears suggested; though it 
was so much uneasiness clear gain. They happened to come off much better, 
by being luckily encamped on the dry piece of ground afore-mentioned.

   17th. They were, however, forced to keep the sabbath in spite of their 
teeth, contrary to the dispensation our good chaplain had given them. 
Indeed, their short allowance of provision would have justified their 
making the best of their way, without distinction of days. It was 
certainly a work both of necessity and self-preservation, to save 
themselves from starving. Nevertheless, the hard rain had made every thing 
so thoroughly wet, that it was quite impossible to do any business. They 
therefore made a virtue of what they could not help, and contentedly 
rested in their dry situation.