nly some quantity of
sassafras, tobacco, pitch, tar, and clapboard--things of no great value,
unless there were plenty and nearer hand. All I can hear of it is, that
the country is good to live in, if it were stored with people, and might
in time become commodious. But there is no present profit to be
expected."[116:D]

Reverting to the condition of affairs in the colony, it is to be
observed, that the oligarchical government of the president and council,
with all its odious features, had long before this come to an end; order
and diligence had now taken the place of confusion and idleness; peace
with the Indians had given rise to a free trade with them, and the
English acquired their commodities by lawful purchase instead of
extorting them by force of arms. The places inhabited by the whites, at
this time, were Henrico and the limits, Bermuda Nether Hundred, West and
Shirley Hundred, Jamestown, Kiquotan, and Dale's Gift. At Henrico there
were thirty-eight men and boys, of whom twenty-two were farmers. The
Rev. William Wickham was the minister of this place. It was the seat of
the college established for the education of the natives; they had
already brought hither some of their children, of both sexes, to be
taught. At Bermuda Nether Hundred (Presquile) the number of inhabitants
was one hundred and nineteen. Captain Yeardley, deputy governor, lived
here for the most part. The minister here was Master Alexander Whitaker.
At West and Shirley Hundred there were twenty-five men under Captain
Madison. At Jamestown fifty, under Captain Francis West; the Rev. Mr.
Bucke minister. At Kiquotan Captain Webb commanded; Rev. Mr. Mease the
minister. Dale's Gift, on the sea-coast, near Cape Charles, was occupied
by seventeen men under Lieutenant Cradock. The total population of the
colony, at this time, was three hundred and fifty-one.[117:A] Yeardley
directed the attention of the colony to tobacco, as the most saleable
commodity that they could raise, and its cultivation was introduced into
Virginia in this year, 1616, for the first time. The English now found
the climate to suit their constitutions so well, that fewer people died
here in proportion than in England. The Chickahominies refusing to pay
the tribute of corn agreed upon by the treaty, Yeardley went up their
river with one hundred men, and, after killing some and making some
prisoners, brought off much of their corn. On his return he met
Opechancanough at Ozinies, about t