land of St. Simon's, and some very handsome Houses built by the Officers of the Regiment; and there has been Pot-Herbs, Pulse, and Fruit, produced upon the Island, of great Use towards supplying the Town and Garrison: But Corn, Beer, and Meat, they have from elsewhere.

BETWEEN this Island and Jekyll Island, is an Inlet of the Sea, called Jekyll Sound, which is a very fine Harbour, and is one of the best Entries the English have to the Southward of Virginia. This is an excellent Station for Ships to cruize on the Spaniards, it commanding the homeward bound Trade, which must come through the Gulph of Florida, and near St. Simon's; the Entry lies in 31 D. 10. M. The Place is barred, but upon the Bar there is Water sufficient every Tide to carry in Twenty-Gun Ships; and taking the best Opportunity, FortyGun Ships may be carried in to refit; a great Conveniency to a Squadron in this Place. Upon Jekyll Island there is but very little good Land, not above three or four hundred Acres, the rest being sandy Sea-Beach. Mr. Horton has his Lot upon this Island, and has made great Improvements there. To the Southward of Jekyll lies the Island of Cumberland, and the Fort of St. Andrew's, situated upon a fine commanding Ground; and on the S. E. of the same Island, is another strong Fort called Fort William, which commands Amelia Sound, and the inland Passage from Augustine. The next Island is Amelia; beyond that is St. John's, one of the Spanish Outguards; and between forty and fifty Miles from that is Augustine.

We are now fully acquainted with the Colony, and what it will produce; the inland Part is hilly, till it rises into Mountains, where all Kinds of Timber grow. Near the Sea the Ground is more level and flat, where Laurels, Cedars, Cyprus, Bays, and Live Oak, are of the Size of Timber-Trees: Among the Shrubs, some of the principal are Pomegranates, which will grow well in Hedges, Myrtle, Prickly Pears, Shumach, Sassafrass, China Root, several Sorts of Snake Root, &c. There is commonly black Mould in the low Lands; the rising Ground is frequently Clay, where Oak and Hickery mostly grow; as it also does in a great Part of the flat Land that is dry, where Walnut, Ash,

B

Gum-Tree, Oak of several Kinds, Hickery, Beech, wild Cherries, &c. are in great Plenty to be found. The higher Lands are of a sandy Surface, where Pines usually grow, all Parts producing Trees of some Kind or other, except the Savannahs, and Marshes, which bear Grass; and many of the low Land Swamps covered with Canes, which are excellent Feed for Cattle in the Winter. Where the Oak and Hickery grow, the Soil is in general of a strong Nature, and very well esteemed for Planting, being found by Experience to produce the best Crops of Indian Corn, and most Sorts of Grain, except Rice, which thrives best in swampy Ground: This is only spoken of the low. er Parts of Georgia, which reaches from the Sea-Shore to the Foot of the Hills, being a flat Country of sixty or seventy Miles, or more, in Breadth. The Hill Country is very different, there being Marble, Chalk, Gravel, Rocks, and all the same Variety of Soil that is in Europe; with respect to the Proportion of the different Kinds of Soil, it cannot be given, unless the Whole were surveyed; but the American Dialect distinguishes Land into Pine, Oak, and Hickery, Swamp, Savannah, and Marsh. Near the Town of Savannah we have found Stone, which is dug for Building; as there is also good Clay, whereof Bricks are made; and a Pottery Work is carried on with Success, where common Ware for most Uses is made in good Plenty, and exported to the neighbouring Provinces; and the Master, who is of an enterprizing Genius, has undertaken, as soon as he has made proper Furnaces, to make a superfine Sort, of such as shall not be inferior to Porcelian itself; but a little Time will discover his further Performances.

THE Coast is low, with a hard, sandy Beach: When we approach it at twenty-five Leagues Distance, we find Ground in twenty-five Fathom Water, and it shoals gradually to the Shore; the Sounding being so regular, makes it a safe Coast to fall in with, having good Anchoring all along, and no Rocks. The Mouths of the Rivers Savannah and Alatamaha make a great Number of Islands, and the Entries between them form good Harbours. To the Southward of Tybee are the following Entries, viz. Wassaw, Ossebah, St. Catharine's, Sapello, Doboy,

St. Simon's, which is the North-Entry to Frederica; Jekyll Sound, which is the South-Entry to Frederica, to which Place the Channel is navigable, from the ordinary Place of Anchoring in the Sound, for Ships of a good Burden up to the Town.

THE Staple of the Country of Georgia being presumed, and intended to be, principally Silk and Wine, every Year confirms more our Hopes of succeeding in those two, from the great Increase (as has been before observed) of the Vines and MulberryTrees, wherein Perseverance only can bring it to Perfection. Several other Things might be produced, and perhaps more immediately profitable to the Planters; but it is apprehended, that it is not any Business of this Colony, nor any Benefit to the Trade of England, to interfere with what other English Plantations have produced, such as Rice, &c.

As the Boundaries of the Colony are now known, together with the Climate, and Manner of Agriculture, more might be done henceforward in one Year, than could in several Years before we attained to that Knowledge; but our People are weak, being decreased, by great Numbers having been decoyed away to other Colonies: Many having taken to Idleness, upon shutting up the Store went away; but those who stayed, and now remain are still a Body of the most valuable People, that find Means to live comfortably, some by their Trades, some by Planting, and raising live Stock, and some by their Labour, either by Land or Water; and one of those remaining, are worth three that left us, for such Work: And if an Embarkation was to come in with the next Year, it would be of great Service to the Colony, the Saltzburghers wishing for more of their Countrymen, and having been very industrious.

THE Persons sent from England on the Charity were of the Unfortunate, many of whom have by their Industry proved that they deserved better, and have thriven; many also shewed they were brought into those Misfortunes by their own Faults; and when those who quitted their own Country, to avoid Labour, saw Labour stand before their Eyes in Georgia, they were easily persuaded to live in Carolina by Cunning, rather than work: This has been a great Misfortune also upon many Persons, who

brought over Servants indented to serve them, for a certain Number of Years, who being picked up in the Streets of London, or some such Manner, their Masters found them unfit for Labour, and many of them took such Opportunities as they could get, to desert and fly into Carolina, where they could be protected. Indeed, good and bad which came from England, were mostly Inhabitants of Towns there; but such seldom turn out good Husbandmen with their own Hands; yet some of them proved very useful in a new Colony, since they most readily compose Towns, which is the first Thing necessary to be a Receptacle for new Comers: And from thence, when all Demands of Labour, for Building and Trade are supplied, the laborious People may enlarge into the Country, and raise Provisions for the Use of the Towns: Whereas, if the first were all labouring Countrymen, they would naturally disperse to the most fertile Land, and perhaps succeed for a While; but for Want of Neighbourhood and Markets, would force most of them to remove, and the Country remain little or nothing the better improved, as it happened in Virginia, till the Government, with great Difficulty at last, raised Towns in that Province.

It ought not here to be passed over, how ready the Country is to receive a Number of German Families, accustomed to Husbandry, such as usually come once a Year down the Rhine to Holland, and embark thence for America, or the East-Indies; some of these we have already had Experience of, insomuch that the People here would take off a good Number of them: And it would be of great Service (as we apprehend) to this Colony, at present, to send a Ship over, loaden with Germans, on the same Terms Mr. Hope does to Philadelphia, only taking Care that Provisions for them on their Passage be more plentiful, and that they are less crowded than on board his Ships: The Terms are, they pay Half their Passage themselves on embarking, and six Weeks after their Arrival, to pay the other Half, which they Generally do, with private Contracts to People; but in case they do not, then they may be bound by the Ship's Master for four or five Years, if they are above twenty-one Years of Age; ; but if under, they may be bound until the Age of twenty

one if Men, and eighteen if Girls. It must be at the same Time confess'd, that divers of these Foreigners have, during the Time of their Servitude, shewn themselves of a dogged Disposition, surly and obstinate, discovering an Averseness to their Masters Orders, which proceeds (as we imagine) from a Dislike of their being subject to Strangers; whilst others again have behaved well; but it may be alledged with Truth, that when, or wheresoever among us, any of them have worked for their own Benefit, they are indefatigable, and out-done by none, which joined with great Parsimony, fits them for excellent Settlers when free.

To enable the industrious English Settlers to go on with Planting, who are truly desirous of Cultivating Land; we humbly conceive nothing could be a greater Inducement to it, than that the honourable Trustees would please to import yearly, so long as they see good, a Number of English or Welch Servants, such as are used to hard Labour in the Country, and Strangers to London, to be contracted with in England to serve the Trustees for five Years, from two to four Pounds yearly Wages, according to their Ability, for finding themselves in Apparel. Those Servants, on their Arrival, to be hired by the Inhabitants for one Year, the Person hiring to pay over and above the contracted Wages, one Pound yearly to the Trustees, so that in five Years the Passage-Money will be paid. And to enable the Planters to pay the said Wages, it is humbly proposed, that a Bounty be settled on every Product of the Land, viz. Corn, Pease, Potatoes, Wine, Silk, Cotton, Flax, &c. to what Value the honourable Trust shall judge meet to be limited in the following, or any other Manner, viz. For the first Years the said Bounty to be payable for Corn, Pease, Potatoes, &c. only; and thenceforward to cease wholly, and the Residue of Years wherein any Bounty should be allowed, to be payable only for Silk, Wine, Oil, &c. by which Means the Planter so assisted might be able to live, whilst at the same Time he propagates Vines, Mulberry-Trees, &c. from which he can expect no immediate Benefit before they come to some Maturity. A Rule to be made, that they who hire the said Servants shall employ them only in Plantation-Work of their own,