The History of Virginia, in Four Parts

CHAPTER III. (2)

OF THE EARTH AND SOILS.

§ 7. The soil is of such variety, according to the difference of situation, that one part or other of it seems fitted to every sort of plant that is requisite either for the benefit or pleasure of mankind. And were it not for the high mountains to the northwest, which are supposed to retain vast magazines of snow, and by that means cause the wind from that quarter to descend a little too cold upon them, 'tis believed that many of those delicious summer fruits, growing in the hotter climates, might be kept there green all the winter without the charge of housing, or any other care, than what is due to the natural plants of the country, when transplanted into a garden. But as that would be no considerable charge, any man that is curious might, with all the ease imaginable, preserve as many of them as would gratify a moderate luxury; and the summer affords genial heat enough to ripen them to perfection.

There are three different kinds of land, according to the difference of situation, either in the lower parts of the country, the middle, or that on the heads of the rivers.

1. The land towards the mouth of the rivers is generally of a low, moist, and fat mould, such as the heavier sort of grain delight in: as rice, hemp, Indian corn, &c. This also is varied here and there with veins of a cold, hungry, sandy soil, of the same moisture, and very often lying under water. But this also has its advantages; for on such land generally grow the huckleberries, cranberries, chinkapins, &c. These low lands are, for the most part, well stored with oaks, poplars, pines, cedars, cypress and sweet gums; the trunks of which are often thirty, forty, fifty, some sixty or seventy feet high, without a branch or limb. They likewise produce great variety of evergreens, unknown to me by name, besides the beauteous holly, sweet myrtle, cedar, and the live oak, which for three quarters of the year is continually dropping its acorns, and at the same time budding and bearing others in their stead.

2. The land higher up the rivers, throughout the whole country, is generally a level ground, with shallow valleys, full of streams and pleasant springs of clear water, having interspersed here and there among the large levels some small hills and extensive vales. The mould in some places is black, fat, and thick laid; in others looser, lighter and thin. The foundation of the mould is also various; sometimes clay, then gravel and rocky stones, and sometimes marl. The middle of the necks, or ridges between the rivers, is generally poor, being either a light sand, or a white or red clay, with a thin mould. Yet even these places are stored with chestnuts, chinkapins, acorns of the shrub oak, and a reedy grass in summer, very good for cattle. The rich lands lie next the rivers and branches, and are stored with large oak, walnut, hickory, ash, beech, poplar, and many other sorts of timber, of surprising bigness.

3. The heads of the rivers afford a mixture of hills, valleys and plains, some richer than others, whereof the fruit and timber trees are also various. In some places lie great plats of low and very rich ground, well timbered; in others, large spots of meadows and savannahs, wherein are hundreds of acres without any tree at all, but yields reeds and grass of incredible height; and in the swamps and sunken grounds grow trees as vastly big as I believe the world affords, and stand so close together, that the branches or boughs of many of them lock into one another; but what lessens their value is, that the greatest bulk of them are at some distance from water-carriage. The land of these upper parts affords greater variety of soil than any other, and as great variety in the foundations of the soil or mould, of which good judgment may be made by the plants and herbs that grow upon it. The rivers and creeks do in many places form very fine large marshes, which are a convenient support for their flocks and herds.

§ 8. There is likewise found great variety of earths for physic, cleansing, scouring, and making all sorts of potter's ware; such as antimony, talk, yellow and red oker, fuller's-earth, pipe-clay, and other fat and fine clays, marl, &c.; in a word, there are all kinds of earth fit for use.

They have besides, in those upper parts, coal for firing, slate for covering, and stones for building, and flat paving in vast quantities, as likewise pebble stones. Nevertheless, it has been confidently affirmed by many, who have been in Virginia, that there is not a stone in all the country. If such travelers knew no better than they said, my judgment of them is, that either they were people of extreme short memories, or else of very narrow observation. For though generally the lower parts are flat, and so free from stones, that people seldom shoe their horses; yet in many places, and particularly near the falls of the rivers, are found vast quantities of stone, fit for all kinds of uses. However, as yet, there is seldom any use made of them, because commonly wood is to be had at much less trouble; and as for coals, it is not likely they should ever be used there in anything but forges and great towns, if ever they happen to have any, for, in their country plantations, the wood grows at every man's door so fast, that after it has been cut down, it will in seven years time grow up again from seed, to substantial fire-wood; and in eighteen or twenty years it will come to be very good board timber.

§ 9. For mineral earths, it is believed they have great plenty and variety, that country being in a good latitude, and having great appearances of them. It has been proved, too, that they have both iron and lead, as appears by what was said before concerning the iron works set up at Falling creek in James river, where the iron proved reasonably good; but before they got into the body of the mine, the people were cut off in that fatal massacre, and the project has never been set on foot since, till of late; but it has not had its full trial.

The golden mine, of which there was once so much noise, may, perhaps, be found hereafter to be some good metal, when it comes to be fully examined. But be that as it will, the stones that are found near it, in great plenty, are valuable, their lustre approaching nearer to that of the diamond than those of Bristol or Kerry. There is no other fault in them but their softness, which the weather hardens, when they have been sometime exposed to it, they being found under the surface of the earth. This place has now plantations on it.

This I take to be the place in Purchase's fourth book of his pilgrim, called Uttamussack, where was formerly the principal temple of the country, and the metropolitan seat of the priests in Powhatan's time. There stood the three great houses, near sixty feet in length, which he reports to have been filled with the images of their gods; there were likewise preserved the bodies of their kings. These houses they counted so holy, that none but their priests and kings durst go into them, the common people not presuming, without their particular direction, to approach the place.

There also was their great Pawcorance, or altar stone, which, the Indians tell us, was a solid crystal, of between three and four feet cube, upon which, in their greatest solemnities, they used to sacrifice. This, they would make us believe, was so clear, that the grain of a man's skin might be seen through it; and was so heavy too that when they removed their gods and kings, not being able to carry it away, they buried it thereabouts; but the place has never been yet discovered.

Mr. Alexander Whittaker, minister of Henrico, on James river, in the company's time, writing to them, says thus: "Twelve miles from the falls there is a crystal rock, wherewith the Indians do head many of their arrows; and three days journey from thence, there is a rock and stony hill found, which is on the top covered over with a perfect and most rich silver ore. Our men that went to discover those parts had but two iron pickaxes with them, and those so ill tempered that the points of them turned again, and bowed at every stroke, so that we could not search the entrails of the place; yet some trial was made of that ore with good success."

§ 10. Some people that have been in that country, without knowing any thing of it, have affirmed that it is all a flat, without any mixture of hills, because they see the coast to seaward perfectly level: or else they have made their judgment of the whole country by the lands lying on the lower parts of the rivers, (which, perhaps, they had never been beyond,) and so conclude it to be throughout plain and even. When in truth, upon the heads of the great rivers, there are vast high hills; and even among the settlements there are some so topping that I have stood upon them and viewed the country all round over the tops of the highest trees for many leagues together; particularly, there are Mawborn hills in the freshes of James river; a ridge of hills about fourteen or fifteen miles up Mattapony river; Toliver's mount, upon Rappahannock river; and the ridge of hills in Stafford county, in the freshes of Potomac river; all which are within the bounds of the English inhabitants. But a little farther backward, there are mountains, which indeed deserve the name of mountains for their height and bigness; which by their difficulty in passing may easily be made a good barrier of the country against incursions of the Indians, &c., and shew themselves over the tops of the trees to many plantations at 70 or 80 miles distance very plain.

These hills are not without their advantages; for, out of almost every rising ground, throughout the country, there issue abundance of most pleasant streams, of pure and crystal water, than which certainly the world does not afford any more delicious. These are every where to be found in the upper parts of this country, and many of them flow out of the sides of banks very high above the vales, which are the most suitable places for gardens—where the finest water works in the world may be made at a very small expense.

There are likewise several mineral springs, easily discoverable by their taste, as well as by the soil which they drive out with their streams. But I am not naturalist skilful enough to describe them with the exactness they deserve.

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