harm to the
Indian crops by hogs and cattle of the colony. Commissioners appointed
were to designate the time and number of English to aid in the
construction. Other commissioners were to view annually the boundaries
separating the two people.

The commissioners diligently enforced the provisions of these laws which
underwent few changes until the outburst of hostilities in Bacon's
Rebellion. In 1678 the additional expense of the Indian war led the
colony to modify temporarily its former provisions in order to obtain
more revenue from land. All territory recently assigned to the Indians
but then abandoned and any land then occupied that should later be
deserted were to be sold. The proceeds from the sale were to be used in
the public interest to defray the expense of the war.

This regulation applied only to land abandoned by the Indians. The
colony continued to protect the natives in other lands assigned them as
is exemplified in the region south of the James River. In 1665 the
Indian boundary line for the area was designated to run from the
southern branches of the Blackwater River to the Appomattox Indian town,
and from there to Manakin Town located only a few miles above the Fall
Line. By 1674 some of the colonists had crossed this line and were
settling on the territory of the Nottoway Indians. When the encroachment
was called to the attention of the Governor and Council, they ordered
the English to withdraw immediately, and in the next instructions to the
surveyor of the colony they again forbade the location of new grants in
the region designated as Indian land.

The number of the aborigines gradually dwindled in this section as in
other parts of the colony, due mainly to wars, smallpox epidemics,
spirituous liquors, migration, and the abridgement of territory of a
people who lived principally on the "spontaneous productions of nature."
Because of the decrease the Burgesses in 1685 appealed to Governor
Howard for permission to allow grants to some of the land in the area.
The Governor failed to comply with their requests. Later, in 1690, an
order was issued for the immediate removal of several persons who had
obtained illegal patents to land south of the main Blackwater Swamp. All
members of the colony were again forbidden to settle beyond the boundary
line, and any who had already constructed houses were ordered not to
repair them nor to finish any other uncompleted buildings. The sheriffs
and justices of th