OF THE BOUNDS AND COAST OF VIRGINIA.

§ 1. Virginia, as you have heard before, was a name at first given to all the northern part of the continent of America; and when the original grant was made, both to the first and second colonies, that is, to those of Virginia and New England, they were both granted under the name of Virginia. And afterwards, when grants for other new colonies were made by particular names, those names for a long time served only to distinguish them as so many parts of Virginia; and until the plantations became more familiar to England, it was so continued. But in process of time, the name of Virginia was lost to all except to that tract of land lying along the bay of Chesapeake, and a little to the southward, in which are included Virginia and Maryland; both which, in common discourse, are still very often meant by the name of Virginia.

The least extent of bounds in any of the grants made to Virginia, since it was settled, and which we find upon record there, is two hundred miles north from Point Comfort, and two hundred miles south, winding upon the sea coast to the eastward, and including all the land west and northwest, from sea to sea, with the islands on both seas, within an hundred miles of the main. But these extents, both on the north and south, have been since abridged by the proprietary grants of Maryland on the north, and Carolina on the south.

§ 2. The entrance into Virginia for shipping is by the mouth of Chesapeake bay, which is indeed more like a river than a bay; for it runs up into the land about two hundred miles, being everywhere near as wide as it is at the mouth, and in many places much wider. The mouth thereof is about seven leagues over, through which all ships pass to go to Maryland.

The coast is a bold and even coast, with regular soundings, and is open all the year round; so that, having the latitude, which also can hardly be wanted upon a coast where so much clear weather is, any ship may go in by soundings alone, by day or night, in summer or in winter, and need not fear any disaster, if the mariners understand anything; for, let the wind blow how it will, and chop about as suddenly as it pleases, any master, though his ship be never so dull, has opportunity, (by the evenness of the coast,) either of standing off and clearing the shore, or else of running into safe harbor within the capes. A bolder and safer coast is not known in the universe; to which conveniences, there is the addition of good anchorage all along upon it, without the capes.

§ 3. Virginia, in the most restrained sense, distinct from Maryland, is the spot to which I shall altogether confine this description; though you may consider, at the same time, that there cannot be much difference between this and Maryland, they being contiguous one to the other, lying in the same bay, producing the same sort of commodities, and being fallen into the same unhappy form of settlements, altogether upon country seats, without towns. Virginia, thus considered, is bounded on the south by North Carolina, on the north by Potomac river, which divides it from Maryland, on the east by the main ocean, called the Virginia seas, and on the west and northwest by the Californian sea, whenever the settlements shall be extended so far, or now by the river Mississippi.

This part of Virginia, now inhabited, if we consider the improvements in the hands of the English, it cannot upon that score be commended; but if we consider its natural aptitude to be improved, it may with justice be accounted one of the finest countries in the world. Most of the natural advantages of it, therefore, I shall endeavor to discover, and set in their true light, together with its inconveniences, and afterwards proceed to the improvements.