re sanguine anticipations of the profits
to be derived from that source. There were wind-mills and water-mills,
horse-mills and hand-mills: a saw-mill was greatly needed, it being
considered equivalent to the labor of twenty men. There came yearly to
trade above thirty vessels, navigated by seven or eight hundred men.
They brought linens, woollens, stockings, shoes, etc. They cleared in
March, with return cargoes of tobacco, staves, and lumber. Many of the
masters and chief mariners of these vessels had plantations, houses, and
servants, in the colony. Pinnaces, boats, and barges were numerous, the
most of the plantations being situated on the banks of the rivers. Pitch
and tar were made. Mulberry-trees abounded, and it was confidently
believed that silk could be raised in Virginia as well as in France.
Hopeful anticipations of making wine from the native grape were
entertained, but have never been realized. Virginia was now considered
healthy; the colonists being so amply provided with the necessaries and
comforts of life, the number of deaths was believed to be less,
proportionally, than in England. The voyage from England to Virginia
occupied about six weeks; the outward-bound voyage averaging about
twenty-five days.

At this time a thousand colonists were seated upon the Accomac shore,
near Cape Charles, where Captain Yeardley was chief commander. The
settlement was then called Northampton; the name of Accomac having been
changed in 1643 to Northampton, but the original name was afterwards
restored. Lime was found abundant in Virginia; bricks were made, and
already some houses built of them. Mechanics found profitable
employment, such as turners, potters, coopers, sawyers, carpenters,
tilemakers, boatwrights, tailors, shoemakers, tanners, fishermen, and
the like. There were at this time twelve counties. The number of
churches was twenty, each provided with a minister, and the doctrine and
orders after the Church of England. The ministers' livings were worth
one hundred pounds, or five hundred dollars, per annum, paid in tobacco
and corn. The colonists all lived in peace and love, happily exempt by
distance from the horrors of civil war that convulsed the mother
country. The Virginia planters were intending to make further
discoveries to the south and west. A colony of Swedes had made a
settlement on the banks of the Delaware River, within the limits of
Virginia, and were carrying on a profitable traffic in furs. The