e,
ever since the first days. As soon as it became possible to do so,
effort was made to cut them off from the resources of the tidal waters.
It was reasoned, and as it turned out, rightly, that with them unable
to supplement their food supplies with fish and shellfish, especially
oysters, they would be weakened in body and more easily subdued. The
word early went out: Keep the Indians away from the water. This
strategy worked so successfully that by 1662 it was deemed safe to ease
the pressure. Thus another milestone was reached: the first oyster
licensing law, as recorded in Hening's _Statutes_:

Be it further enacted that for the better relief of the poor
Indians whom the seating of the English had forced from their
wonted convenience of oystering, fishing ... that the said Indians
upon address made to two of the justices of that county they desire
to oyster ... they, the said justices, shall grant a license to the
said Indians to oyster ... provided the said justices limit the
time the Indians are to stay, and the Indians bring not with them
any guns, or ammunition or any other offensive weapon but only such
tools or implements as serve for the end of their coming. If any
Englishman shall presume to take from the Indians so coming in any
of their goods, or shall kill, wound, maim any Indian, he shall
suffer as he had done the same to an Englishman and be fined for
his contempt.

This was followed, according to Hening, in 1676 by another cavalier
gesture to the oppressed:

... It is hereby intended that our neighbor Indian friends be not
debarred from fishing and hunting within their own limits and
bounds, using bows and arrows only. Provided also that such
neighbor Indian friends who have occasion for corn to relieve their
lives and it shall and may be lawful for any English to employ in
fishing or deal with fish, canoes, bowls, mats, or baskets, and to
pay the said Indians for the same in Indian corn, but no other
commodities....

Thomas Glover, author of _An Account of Virginia_, addressed to the
Royal Society in London, published in 1676, sides with the optimists.
His catalogue has a familiar sound but it is valuable as substantiating
many of the earlier reports. One impression to be gained from it is
that after more than 60 years of occupancy of the new territory, the
settlers had in no way depleted their fishery resources,