erect commodious dwellings. The location,
at their desire, was called "Darien;" which name the District still
bears, and the town they called "New Inverness," a name no longer
retained.[1]
[Footnote 1: In the early publications this is written with the
article--"the Darien."]
While Oglethorpe was in England, what was intended for a letter
was sent over to the Trustees. It was composed by a chief of the
Cherokees, drawn and curiously marked in red and black figures on the
skin of a young buffalo, neatly dressed. A translation into English
had been made from the Indian interpretation, when first delivered,
in the presence of above fifty of their chiefs, and of the principal
inhabitants of Savannah. It contained the grateful acknowledgment of
the Indians of the honors and civilities shown to Tomo Chichi and his
companions; their admiration of the grandeur of the British Court and
kingdom; and declared their strong attachment to General Oglethorpe.
This hieroglyphic painting was set in a frame, and hung up in the
Georgia office in Westminster.[1]
[Footnote 1: _American Gazetteer_. Lond. 1762. 12mo. Vol. II., article
"Georgia."]
To provide for the raising of silk-worms and winding the thread
from the cocoons, was an early purpose of the Trustees. Liberal
encouragement was given by the Government and the Board of Trade to
the importation of all that could be produced. Samples had been sent
to England which gave promise of success. In the beginning of May,
this year, the Trustees and Sir Thomas Lombe, waited on the Queen with
a specimen, who was highly gratified with learning that a British
Colony had produced such silk, and desired that the fabric into which
it should be wrought might be shewn her. Accordingly, on the 21st of
October, these gentlemen, with Mr. Booth, the weaver, again waited on
her Majesty with a piece of the manufactured silk; and she expressed
great admiration of the beauty and fineness of the silk, and
the richness of the pattern; and, as a further testimony of her
satisfaction both with the produce and the manufacture, she ordered a
suit to be made up immediately for her own wear, in which she appeared
on her birth-day.[1] To this, a poet of the time, in a description of
the products of Georgia, thus alludes--
[Footnote 1: _Political State of Europe_, Vol. L. p. 242, and 469.]
"The merchant hence the unwrought silk imports,
To which we owe the attire of Queens and Courts."[1]
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