irginia, in preparing a report that was received by the Board in
October, 1697, under the title _An Account of the Present State &
Government of Virginia_. The three authors of the report were English
or Scottish born and represented essentially the same point of view of
royal appointees who became residents of the colony and who favored an
extensive use of royal authority. All three had married into Virginia
families and had had numerous occasions for observation. The report
reflected a greater concern for royal revenue than for the internal
development of the colony, and it definitely displayed the bias of the
three men, particularly Blair, against Governor Andros.

Their comments on the land system confirmed some of the conditions as
set forth by Randolph's report. Stating that the country was "ill
peopled" despite the headright system, they explained that "The first
great abuse of this design arose from the ignorance and knavery of
surveyors, who often gave out drafts of surveys without even coming on
the land. They gave their descripton [sic] by some natural bounds and
were sure to allow large measure, that so the persons for whom they
surveyed should enjoy much larger tracts than they paid quit-rents
for." The issuing of certificates for rights by the courts and
secretary's office had been abused, especially the latter "which was
and still is a constant mint of those rights, where they may be
purchased at from one shilling to five shillings _per_ right." And in
another criticism of the land system, the authors concluded that the
"Fundamental error of letting the King's land run away to lie waste,
together with another of not seating in townships, is the cause that
Virginia to-day is so ill peopled."

The Board of Trade considered reforms to correct the existing evils of
the land system. Questions about these evils were posed to Sir Edmund
Andros, Governor of Virginia from 1692 to 1698; but his answers were
either evasive or otherwise unsatisfactory. Francis Nicholson was then
returned to the colony as Governor in 1698 with instructions for a "new
method of granting land in Virginia." To prevent land from being
patented without being cultivated, to encourage trade, and to increase
royal revenue, land title was not to be obtained "by merely importing or
buying of servants"; rather anyone who would seat and plant vacant lands
was to receive 100 acres for himself and the same amount for each
laborer that was brought