Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History BookOpen Original Text uch a pond of water so suddenly broken in,
and which he knew could not (with present avoiding) but instantly sink
him. . . .
Once so huge a Sea brake upon the poop and quarter, upon us, as it
covered our ship from stern to stem, like a garment or a vast cloud.
It filled her brimful for a while within, from the hatches up to the
spar deck. . .
Tuesday noon till Friday noon, we bailed and pumped two thousand tun,
and yet, do what we could, when our ship held least in her (after
Tuesday night second watch) she bore ten feet deep, at which stay our
extreme working kept her one eight glasses, forbearance whereof had
instantly sunk us; and it being now Friday, the fourth morning, it
wanted little but that there had been a general determination, to have
shut up hatches and commending our sinful souls to God, committed the
ship to the mercy of the sea. Surely that night we must have done it,
and that night had we then perished; but see the goodness and sweet
introduction of better hope by our merciful God given unto us. Sir
George Summers, when no man dreamed of such happiness, had discovered
and cried, "Land!" Indeed, the morning, now three-quarters spent, had
won a little clearness from the days before, and it being better
surveyed, the very trees were seen to move with the wind upon the
shore-side.
FOOTNOTE:
[3] Pronounced Str[va]k´ey.
JOHN LAWSON.
~Died 1712.~
JOHN LAWSON was a Scotch gentleman who came to America in 1700. In his
own words: "In the year 1700, when people flocked from all parts of
the Christian world, to see the solemnity of the grand jubilee at
Rome, my intention being at that time to travel, I accidentally met
with a gentlemen, who had been abroad, and was very well acquainted
with the ways of living in both Indies; of whom having made inquiry
concerning them, he assured me that Carolina was the best country I
could go to; and, that there then lay a ship in the Thames in which I
might have my passage." He resided in Carolina eight years. As "Gent.
Surveyor-General of North Carolina," he wrote his History of North
Carolina, which is an original, sprightly, and faithful account of the
eastern section of the State, and contains valuable matter for the
subsequent historian. It is dedicated to the Lords Proprietors of
Carolina, and was published in 1714.
He was taken captive by the Tuscarora Indians, while on a surveying
trip, and was by them put to death in 1712 on the Neuse River in
North Carolina, because, said they, "he had taken their land," by
marking it off into sections.
WORK.
History of North Carolina [rare].
NORTH CAROLINA IN 1700-1708.
(_From History of North Carolina, 1714._)
The first discovery and settlement of this country was by the
procurement of Sir Walter Raleigh, in conjunction with some public
spirited gentlemen of that age, under the protection of queen
Elizabeth; for which reason it was then named Virginia, being begun on
that part called Ronoak Island, where the ruins of a fort are to be
seen at this day, as well as some old English coins which have been
lately found; and a brass gun, a powder horn, and one small
quarter-deck gun, made of iron staves, and hooped with the same metal;
which method of making guns might very probably be made use of in
those days for the convenience of infant colonies. . . . . .
I cannot forbear inserting here a pleasant story that passes for an
uncontested truth amongst the inhabitants of this place; which is,
that the ship which brought the first colonies does often appear
amongst them, under sail, in a gallant posture, which they call Sir
Walter Raleigh's ship. And the truth of this has been affirmed to me
by men of the best credit in the country.
[Illustration: ~Sir Walter Raleigh.~]
A second settlement of this country was made about fifty years ago, in
that part we now call Albemarl county, and chiefly in Chuwon precinct,
by several substantial planters from Virginia and other plantations;
who finding mild winters, and a fertile soil beyond expectation,
producing everything that was planted to a prodigious increase;
. . . . so that everything seemed to come by nature, the husbandman
living almost void of care, and free from those fatigues which are
absolutely requisite in winter countries, for providing fodder and
other necessaries; these encouragements induced them to stand their
ground, although but a handful of people, seated at great distances
one from another, and amidst a vast number of Indians of different
nations, who were then in Carolina.
Nevertheless, I say, the fame of this new discovered summer country
spread through the neighboring colonies, and in a few years drew a
considerable number of families thereto, who all found land enough to
settle themselves in (had they been many thousands more), and that
which was very good and commodiously seated both for profit and
pleasure.
And, indeed, most of the plantations in Carolina naturally enjoy a
noble prospect of large and spacious rivers, pleasant savannas and
fine meadows, with their green liveries interwoven with beautiful
flowers of most glorious colors, which the several seasons afford;
hedged in with pleasant groves of the ever famous tulip tree, the
stately laurels and bays, equalizing the oak in bigness and growth,
myrtles, jessamines, woodbines, honeysuckles, and several other
fragrant vines and evergreens, whose aspiring branches shadow and
interweave themselves with the loftiest timbers, yielding a pleasant
prospect, shade and smell, proper habitations for the sweet singing
birds, that melodiously entertain such as travel through the woods of
Carolina.
The Planters possessing all these blessings, and the produce of great
quantities of wheat and indian corn, in which this country is very
fruitful, as likewise in beef, pork, tallow, hides, deer skins, and
furs; for these commodities the new England men and Bermudians visited
Carolina in their barks and sloops, and carried out what they made,
bringing them in exchange, rum, sugar, salt, molasses, and some
wearing apparel, though the last at very extravagant prices.
As the land is very fruitful, so are the planters kind and hospitable
to all that come to visit them; there being very few housekeepers but
what live very nobly, and give away more provisions to coasters and
guests who come to see them than they expend amongst their own
families. . .
The easy way of living in that plentiful country makes a great many
planters very negligent, which, were they otherwise, that colony might
now have been in a far better condition than it is, as to trade and
other advantages, which an universal industry would have led them
into. The women are the most industrious sex in that place, and, by
their good housewifery, make a great deal of cloth of their own
cotton, wool and flax; some of them keeping their families, though
large, very decently appareled, both with linens and woolens, so that
they have no occasion to run into the merchants' debt, or lay their
money out on stores f Previous Next |