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. . . As for those women that do not expose themselves to the weather,
they are often very fair, and generally as well featured as you shall
see anywhere, and have very brisk, charming eyes which sets them off
to advantage. . . . .
Both sexes are generally spare of body and not choleric, nor easily
cast down at disappointments and losses, seldom immoderately grieving
at misfortunes, unless for the loss of their nearest relations and
friends, which seems to make a more than ordinary impression upon
them. 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 watery country. 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 housewifery. The girls are
not bred up to the wheel and sewing only, but the dairy and the
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. The children of both sexes are very
docile and learn any thing with a great deal of care and method, and
those that have the advantages of education write very 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; few proving prodigals to consume what the industry of
their parents has left them, but commonly improve it.
HARVEST HOME OF THE INDIANS.
(_From History of North Carolina._)
They have a third sort of feasts and dances, which are always when the
harvest of corn is ended, and in the spring. The one to return thanks
to the good spirit for the fruits of the earth; the other, to beg the
same blessings for the succeeding year. And to encourage the young men
to labour stoutly in planting their maiz and pulse, they set up a sort
of idol in the field, which is dressed up exactly like an Indian,
having all the Indians habit, besides abundance of Wampum and their
money, made of shells, that hangs about his neck. The image none of
the young men dare approach; for the old ones will not suffer them to
come near him, but tell them that he is some famous Indian warrior
that died a great while ago, and now is come amongst them to see if
they work well, which if they do, he will go to the good spirit and
speak to him to send them plenty of corn, and to make the young men
all expert hunters and mighty warriors. All this while, the king and
old men sit around the image and seemingly pay a profound respect to
the same. One great help to these Indians in carrying on these
cheats, and inducing youth to do as they please, is, the uninterrupted
silence which is ever kept and observed with all the respect and
veneration imaginable.
At these feasts which are set out with all the magnificence their fare
allows of, the masquerades begin at night and not before. There is
commonly a fire made in the middle of the house, which is the largest
in the town, and is very often the dwelling of their king or war
captain; where sit two men on the ground upon a mat; one with a
rattle, made of a gourd, with some beans in it; the other with a drum
made of an earthen pot, covered with a dressed deer skin, and one
stick in his hand to beat thereon; and so they both begin the song
appointed. At the same time one drums and the other rattles, which is
all the artificial music of their own making I ever saw amongst them.
To these two instruments they sing, which carries no air with it, but
is a sort of unsavory jargon; yet their cadences and raising of their
voices are formed with that equality and exactness that, to us
Europeans, it seems admirable how they should continue these songs
without once missing to agree, each with the others note and tune.
WILLIAM BYRD.
~1674=1744.~
WILLIAM BYRD, second of the name, and the first native Virginian
writer, was born at Westover, his father's estate on the James below
Richmond.
[Illustration: ~Westover, Home of William Byrd.~]
The following inscription on his tomb at Westover gives a sketch of
his life and services well worth preserving:
"Here lies the Honourable William Byrd, Esq., being born to one of the
amplest fortunes in this country, he was sent early to England for
his education, where under the care and direction of Sir Robert
Southwell, and ever favoured with his particular instructions, he made
a happy proficiency in polite and various learning. By the means of
the same noble friend, he was introduced to the acquaintance of many
of the first persons of that age for knowledge, wit, virtue, birth, or
high station, and particularly contracted a most intimate and bosom
friendship with the learned and illustrious Charles Boyle, Earl of
Orrery.
"He was called to the bar in the Middle Temple, studied for some time
in the Low Countries, visited the Court of France, and was chosen
Fellow of the Royal Society. Thus eminently fitted for the service and
ornament of his country, he was made receiver-general of his Majesty's
revenues here, was then appointed public agent to the Court and
Ministry of England, being thirty-seven years a member, at last became
president, of the Council of this Colony.
"To all this were added a great elegancy of taste and life, the
well-bred gentleman, and polite companion, the splendid economist and
prudent father of a family, with the constant enemy of all exorbitant
power, and hearty friend to the liberties of his country. Nat. Mar.
28, 1674. Mort. Aug. 26, 1744. An. aetat. 70."
His daughter Evelyn was famous both in England and Virginia for her
beauty, wit, and accomplishments. She died at the age of thirty,
1737.--See Century Magazine, 1891, Vol. 20, p. 163.
WORKS.
Westover Manuscripts:
(1) History of the Dividing Line [the survey to settle the line
between Virginia and North Carolina, 1728.]
(2) A Journey to the Land of Eden [North Carolina, of which
Charles Eden was governor 1713-19.]
(3) A Progress to the Mines [Iron mines in Virginia which
Ex-Governor Alexander Spotswood and others were beginning
to open and work.]
[Illustration: ~Evelyn Byrd.~
Considered one of the most beautiful women in Virginia, or of her
time.
[FROM AN OLD PAINTING.]]
His writings are among the most interesting that we have, being
remarkable for their wit and culture, a certain poetic vein, a keen
interest in nature, a simple religious faith, a fund of cheerful
courage and good sense, and a fine consideration for others.
SELECTING THE SITE OF RICHMOND AND PETERSBURG, SEPT., 1733.
(_From A Journey to the Land of Eden._)
When we got home, we laid the foundations of two large Citys. One at
Shacco's, to be called Richmond, and the other at the Point of
Appamattuck River, to be nam'd Petersburgh. These Major Mayo offered
to lay out into Lots without Fee or Reward. The Truth of it is, these
two places being the uppermost Landing of James and Appamattux Rive Previous Next |