ed in Virginia, besides abundance of excellent
oranges, and some commodities which are not found to the northward.
North Carolina, though not so opulent, is more populous than the
southern part. The colonists of North Carolina carry on a considerable
traffic in tar, pitch, turpentine, staves, shingles, lumber, corn, peas,
pork, and beef; tobacco, deer skins, indigo, wheat, rice, bee's-wax,
tallow, bacon, and hog's-lard, cotton, and squared timber; live cattle,
with the skins of beaver, racoon, fox, minx, wild-cat, and otter. South
Carolina is much better cultivated; the people are more civilized,
and the commerce more important. The capital of this province, called
Charles Town, is finely situated at the confluence of two navigable
rivers, having the advantage of a commodious harbour. Their trade,
exclusive of the articles we have already mentioned as common to this
government and that of North Carolina, consists of two chief staple
commodities, rice and indigo, which they cultivate with great success;
and they have likewise made some progress in the culture of silk.

The most southern of all our settlements on this coast is Georgia,
extending about sixty miles from north to South, along the sea-shore;
but widening in the inland parts to above one hundred and fifty,
and stretching almost three hundred from the sea to the Apalachian
mountains. This country differs very little from that of South Carolina,
with which it borders; yet the summer is here more hot, and the soil not
so fertile. Savannah, the capital, stands commodiously for trade, about
ten miles from the sea, on a river of the same name, navigable with
large boats two hundred miles farther up to the second town called
Augusta, a place that flourishes by the Indian trade of skins, which the
inhabitants carry on with their neighbours the Creeks, the Chickesaws,
and the Cherokees, who are the most numerous and powerful tribes in
America. Georgia is bounded on the south by the river Attamaha, at no
great distance from the Spanish fort of St. Augustine.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

THE FRENCH SURPRISE LOG'S TOWN.

Having thus exhibited a succinct view of the British colonies in North
America, for the information of the reader, we shall now resume the
thread of our history, and particularize the transactions by which
the present year was distinguished on this extensive continent. The
government of England having received nothing but evasive answers from
the co