Many Of The Women
Are Very Handy In Canoes, And Will Manage Them With Great Dexterity And Skill,
Which They Become Accustomed To In This Watry Country.
{Good Wives.}
They are ready to help their Husbands in any servile Work, as Planting,
when the Season of the Weather requires Expedition; Pride seldom banishing
good Houswifry.
The Girls are not bred up to the Wheel, and Sewing only;
but the Dairy and Affairs of the House they are very well acquainted withal;
so that you shall see them, whilst very young, manage their Business
with a great deal of Conduct and Alacrity. {Natives are docile.}
The Children of both Sexes are very docile, and learn any thing
with a great deal of Ease and Method; and those that have
the Advantages of Education, write good Hands, and prove good Accountants,
which is most coveted, and indeed most necessary in these Parts.
The young Men are commonly of a bashful, sober Behaviour; {No Prodigals.}
few proving Prodigals, to consume what the Industry of their Parents
has left them, but commonly improve it. The marrying so young,
carries a double Advantage with it, and that is, that the Parents see
their Children provided for in Marriage, and the young married People
are taught by their Parents, how to get their Living; for their Admonitions
make great Impressions on their Children. {Great Age of Americans.}
I had heard (before I knew this new World) that the Natives of America
were a short-liv'd People, which, by all the Observations I could ever make,
proves quite contrary; for those who are born here, and in other Colonies,
live to as great Ages as any of the Europeans, the Climate being free
from Consumptions, which Distemper, fatal to England, they are Strangers to.
And as the Country becomes more clear'd of Wood, it still becomes
more healthful to the Inhabitants, and less addicted to the Ague;
which is incident to most new Comers into America from Europe,
yet not mortal. A gentle Emetick seldom misses of driving it away,
but if it is not too troublesome, 'tis better to let the Seasoning have
its own Course, in which case, the Party is commonly free from it ever after,
and very healthful.
And now, as to the other Advantages the Country affords,
we cannot guess at them at present, because, as I said before,
the best Part of this Country is not inhabited by the English,
from whence probably will hereafter spring Productions that this Age
does not dream of, and of much more Advantage to the Inhabitants
than any things we are yet acquainted withal: And as for
several Productions of other Countries, much in the same Latitude,
we may expect, with good Management, they will become familiar to us,
as Wine, Oil, Fruit, Silk, and other profitable Commodities,
such as Drugs, Dyes, &c. And at present the Curious may have
a large Field to satisfy and divert themselves in, {Collections.}
as Collections of strange Beasts, Birds, Insects, Reptiles,
Shells, Fishes, Minerals, Herbs, Flowers, Plants, Shrubs, intricate Roots,
Gums, Tears, Rozins, Dyes, and Stones, with several other that yield
Satisfaction and Profit to those, whose Inclinations tend that Way.
And as for what may be hop'd for, towards a happy Life and Being,
by such as design to remove thither, I shall add this;
That with prudent Management, I can affirm, by Experience, not by Hear-say,
That any Person, with a small Beginning, may live very comfortably,
and not only provide for the Necessaries of Life, but likewise for those
that are to succeed him; {Provisions very cheap.} Provisions being
very plentiful, and of good Variety, to accommodate genteel House-keeping;
and the neighbouring Indians are friendly, and in many Cases
serviceable to us, in making us Wares to catch Fish in, for a small matter,
which proves of great Advantage to large Families, because those Engines take
great Quantities of many Sorts of Fish, that are very good and nourishing:
{Indians Hunters.} Some of them hunt and fowl for us at reasonable Rates,
the Country being as plentifully provided with all Sorts of Game,
as any Part of America; the poorer Sort of Planters often get them
to plant for them, by hiring them for that Season, or for so much Work,
which commonly comes very reasonable. Moreover, it is remarkable,
That no Place on the Continent of America, has seated an English Colony
so free from Blood-shed, as Carolina; but all the others have been
more damag'd and disturb'd by the Indians, than they have;
which is worthy Notice, when we consider how oddly it was first planted
with Inhabitants.
{Fishing-Trade.}
The Fishing-Trade in Carolina might be carried on to great Advantage,
considering how many Sorts of excellent Fish our Sound and Rivers afford,
which cure very well with Salt, as has been experienced
by some small Quantities, which have been sent abroad,
and yielded a good Price. {Whale-Fishing.} As for the Whale-fishing,
it is no otherwise regarded than by a few People who live on the Sand-Banks;
and those only work on dead Fish cast on shoar, none being struck
on our Coast, as they are to the Northward; altho' we have
Plenty of Whales there. Great Plenty is generally the Ruin of Industry.
Thus our Merchants are not many, nor have those few there be,
apply'd themselves to the European Trade. The Planter sits contented
at home, whilst his Oxen thrive and grow fat, and his Stocks daily increase;
The fatted Porkets and Poultry are easily rais'd to his Table,
and his Orchard affords him Liquor, so that he eats, and drinks away
the Cares of the World, and desires no greater Happiness,
than that which he daily enjoys. Whereas, not only the European,
but also the Indian-Trade, might be carried on to a great Profit,
because we lie as fairly for the Body of Indians, as any Settlement
in English-America; {Indian-Trade.} And for the small Trade
that has been carried on in that Way, the Dealers therein have throve
as fast as any Men, and the soonest rais'd themselves of any People
I have known in Carolina.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 35 of 106
Words from 35424 to 36459
of 110081
