overseers of their respective parishes. And James Oglethorpe, Esq., one of the trustees, went with them at his own. expense, to settle them.

On the 24th of the same month the people were all examined, whether any of them had any objections to the terms and conditions proposed to them, which they all declared they had not, but that they were fully satisfied with them, and executed articles under their hands and seals, testifying their consents thereto, which are now in the public office belonging to the trustees.

But four of them desiring that their daughters might inherit as well as sons, and that the widow's dower might be considered, the trustees immediately resolved, that every person who should desire the same, should have the privilege of naming a successor to the lands granted to them, who in case the possessor should die without issue male, should hold the same to them and their heirs male forever; and that the widows should have their thirds as in England, with which resolutions the people being all acquainted, were very well satisfied.

The trustees prepared forms of government agreeable to the powers given them by their charter; they established under their seal a court of judicature for trying causes as well criminal as civil in the town of Savannah, (the name which was given to the first town to be raised) by the name and style of the town court. They also appointed magistrates there, viz., three bailiffs and a recorder; and inferior officers, viz., two constables and two tithingmen. They chose for magistrates such as appeared to them the most prudent and discreet, but amongst a number of people who were all upon a level at their first setting out, it was impossible to make any choice or distinction which would not create some future uneasinesses among them.

On the 16th of November, 1732, when the one hundred and fourteen persons, and with them the Reverend Mr. Herbert, a clergyman of the Church of England, and a man from Piedmont, (engaged by the trustees to instruct the people in the art of winding silk) embarked on board the ship Anne, Captain Thomas; several of the trustees went to Gravesend, called over the people, and made a strict inquiry into their accommodations and provisions, and left the people very well satisfied. Soon after fifteen more persons were sent, eleven

of whom were sawyers, in order to assist the people in building their houses.

At the time of the embarkation, five thousand acres of land were granted to three of the colonists, in trust for them or the survivors of them, to make grants from time to time to every man of twenty-one years of age or upwards, (who should arrive in Georgia and desire the same) fifty acres of land to hold to him and his heirs male.

The common council of the trustees (in whom by the charter the disposal of money was lodged,) did resolve at their first meeting, that the Bank of England should be desired to keep the money belonging to the trust, which the bank accepted, and have continued so to do, paying no sums but by draughts signed by five of the common council.

*

The trustees desired by a letter, Sir Thomas Lombe's sentiments of the goodness of the raw silk produced in Carolina, and the proper methods of carrying on that undertaking with success, on which they received from Sir Thomas Lombe great encouragement to proceed in it, by his approbation of the silk produced in that climate, of which he had made experiments.

On the 28th February, 1732, the trustees received a letter from Mr. Oglethorpe, dated the 13th January, 1732, on board the ship Anne, of Charleston, in South Carolina, giving an account of his safe arrival there with the people, with the loss only of two children.

On the 18th of July, 1733, they received another letter from him, which is here inserted at length, as it gives an account of the situation where he planted the people.

From the Camp near Savannah, the 10th February, 1732–3.

GENTLEMEN,-I gave an account in my last, of our arrival at Charleston. The Governor and assembly have given us all possible encouragement. Our people arrived at Beaufort on the 20th of January, where I lodged them in some new barracks built for the soldiers, whilst I went myself to view the Savannah river. I fixed upon a healthy situation, about ten miles from the sea; the river here forms an half

moon, along the south side of which the banks are about forty feet high, and on the top a flat, which they call a bluff; the plain high ground extends into the country about five or six miles, and along the river side about a mile. Ships that draw twelve feet water can ride within ten yards of the bank. Upon the river side, in the centre of this plain, I have laid out the town, opposite to which is an island of very rich pasturage, which I think should be kept for the trustees' cattle; the river is pretty wide, the water fresh, and from the key of the town you see its whole course to the sea, with the island of Tybee, which forms the mouth of the river, for about six miles up into the country. The landscape is very agreeable, the stream being wide, and bordered with high woods on both sides. The whole people arrived here on the 1st of February; at night their tents were got up. Till the 10th we were taken up in unloading and making a crane, which I then could not get finished, so took off the hands, and set some to the fortification and began to fell the woods. I have marked out the town and common; half of the former is already cleared, and the first house was begun yesterday in the afternoon. A little Indian nation, the only one within fifty miles, is not only in amity, but desirous to be subjects to his Majesty King George, to have lands given them among us, and to breed their children at our schools; their chief, and his beloved man, who is the second man in the nation, desire to be instructed in the Christian religion.

I am, gentlemen, &c.

In this month of April, the trustees in another embarkation of seventeen persons, sent some Italians whom they had procured from Piedmont, in order to promote the silk business.

They received another letter from Mr. Oglethorpe, dated the 20th February, 1732, of which the following extract gives a further account of the people and their situation.

"Our people are all in perfect health. I chose the situation for the town upon an high ground, forty feet perpendicular above high water mark; the soil dry and sandy, the water of the river fresh, springs coming out from the sides of the hill. I pitched upon this place not only for the pleasantness of the situation, but because from the above mentioned and other signs, I thought it healthy; for it is sheltered

from the western and southern winds (the worst in this country,) by vast woods of pine trees, many of which are an hundred and few under seventy feet high. There is no moss on the trees, though in most parts of Carolina they are covered with it, and it hangs down two or three feet from them. The last and fullest conviction of the healthfulness of the place was, that an Indian nation, who knew the nature of this country, chose it for their situation."

The trustees endeavored very early to secure the friendship of the Indians, who by ranging through the woods would be capable of giving constant intelligence to prevent any surprise upon the people, and would be a good out-guard for the inland parts of the province. For this purpose they were treated with all possible candor and gentleness. They were acquainted that the English had no intention to hurt or distress them, but would be ready to assist and protect them on all occasions. They received several presents from the trustees, and were promised, that if any of the people of Georgia injured them, they should upon their complaints and proof of it find a ready redress. For which, in return, the Indians engaged never to take any revenge themselves, as it might breed ill blood between the English and them. And as they have since found, that justice has been always done to them upon proper complaints, they have been true to their engagements.

The Indians made a formal and voluntary cession of that part of the country to Mr. Oglethorpe for the king of Great Britain, by which a further right and title to it was acquired and added to that of the first discovery and cultivation; and a treaty of friendship and commerce with them was settled, which was soon after sent over to the trustees for their ratification.

In the month of May, 1733, the trustees sent over six

sons more.

per

The number of people sent on the charity from the beginning to the 9th June, 1733, (on which day of the month the trustees' account is yearly made up, which is directed to be delivered to the Lord Chancellor and the other persons named in the charter) amounted to one hundred and fiftytwo, of whom one hundred and forty-one were Britons, and eleven were foreign Protestants, and sixty-one were men.

The lands granted in trust this year in order to be granted out in smaller portions in Georgia, were the aforesaid five thousand acres.

The lands granted within this year to persons going at their own expense, were four thousand four hundred and sixty acres.

The money received from private persons this year amounted to 37231. 13s. 7d., whereof the trustees applied 2254l. 17s. 9d. of which they exhibited an account to the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, pursuant to their charter, and carried the remainder into their succeeding account.

From the 9th June, 1733, to the 9th June, 1734.

Besides the several works on which the people were employed at Savannah, as pallisading the town, clearing the place from pine trees, &c. and building of houses, some other works were carried on, viz. a public garden was laid out, which was designed as a nursery, in order to supply the people for their several plantations with white mulberry trees, vines, oranges, olives, and other necessary plants. A gardener was appointed for the care of it, and to be paid by the trustees. A crane was made for landing of goods upon the bluff; a battery raised which commands the river some distance below the town, and on the island of Tybee at the entrance of the river, a beacon was erected ninety feet high, which has been of great service not only to the ships entering the river Savannah, but to those likewise which sail by the coast, there being none like it all along the coast of America.

A fort was likewise built at the narrow passages of an inland river (called Ogechee) in order to protect the settlement from any inland invasion from Augustine. Two little villages were laid out and settled at about four miles distant from Savannah, inland from the river, and a mile from each other, which were called Hampstead and Highgate.

In the Carolina Gazette,* dated the 22d March, 1732, a

Appendix, No. 2.