l6l2.

Chap. X. ' from the I. of James I

1612. of the Country to the Virginia-Company,thatchey thought it worth their Whileto establish a Correspondence between itand England. Accordingly they soldthese Islands to a Hundred and twentyPersons of the same Society, who ob-tained a Charter of King James, andbecame Proprietors of them. Of thisnew erected Comyany, Sir VbomasSmith was the first Treasurer and Go-vernour here.

Three Men It is said, that when Sir George Som-e Jt ehmd. mgrs wag k ere ^ two 0 f hisMen stay-ed behind him, having committed lomeCrime, for which they would have suf-fered Death, if they had gone to Virgi-nia. They were still here when SirGeorge returned, and had built them aHut on St. George"' s Island. These twoMen, whose Names were ChristopherGarter and Edward Waters, stay’d stillbehind, when Sir George's second Com-pany departed, of whom they persuadedone Edward Chard to remain there withthem; And now they were sole Lordsbetiu f Var t b e Country ; But, like other Sove-

thef n near reigns, Power and Ambition set thembreaking out, together by the Ears among themselves.

Chard and Waters were coming to apitch'd Battle; But Carter, tho’ heequally hated them both, yet not liking^prevent- to b e i e f t a lone, prevented it, by threat-ning to declare against the Man whostruck the first Stroke,

Necessity, at last, made them goodFriends, and they joined together inmaking Discoveries; in one of whichExpeditions, they found the greatestPiece of Ambergrease among the Rocks,that ever was seen in one Lump, weigh-csAmbcr- Ze ln S eighty Pounds, besides other smal-greafefound. Hr Pieces. This Treasure, in Valuenine or ten Thousand Pounds, madethem almost mad. It turned theirHeads, they grew giddy with theThoughts of it; And that they mighthave an Opportunity of making Use ofit, they resolved on the most desperate^ Attempt that Men in Distraction could

&anTprX%' run u P on ’ which was to build a Boat,' after the best Manner they could, andfail to Virginia or Newfoundland, ac-cording as Wind and Weather shouldpresent.

■Arrival of BeFoxe they could put this extra va-g ant Project in Execution, a Ship arriv-ed from Er gland-, For Captain. Mat-thew Sommers, Sir George' s Brother, hadpromised to come to them, or send aVessel to their Relief, or they had notstay’d, neither the first Time nor the

to the Revolution.

last, Thecthip they discovered stand-ing in with the Shoar was the Elcvgh,which had sixty Persons on Board, lentby the New Bermudas-Companj, tomake a Settlement, over whom they hadplaced one Mr. Richard Moor for Go-vernour; an honest industrious Per-son.

HEpitch’d upon a Plain,in St. George's George’*Island, to settle on, and there first built Texan built.himself a House, or rather a Cabbin ofPalmeto Leaves, large enough for himhis Wife and Family, And the Rest ofthe Adventurers, following his Exam-ple, it became a Sort of Town, which,in Time grew to a considerable Bigness,and is now St. George's Town, one ofthe strongest and best-built in all ourAmerican Colonies, the Houses being ofCedar, and all the Forts of hewn Stone,according to the first Model made byMr. Moor.

In the first Year of his Government, Arrival of aanother Ship arrived, with a Recruit of Supply forProvisions, and thirty Passengers. By t3e 0 ony '‘this Time, he had found out the Bootyof Ambergrease, which Carter, Watersand Chard had concealed; But one ofthem afterwards discovering it, the Go-versiour seized it as belonging to theProprietors. He sent one third of it tothe Company at London, by the Shipwhich brought the Supply, and theRest, by the next Opportunity, in thesame Proportions, which gave such En-couragement to the Adventurers, that More Sup-,they continued to supply them with fCiessent.Provisions, Stores, and more Company,

’till they were in a Condition to defendand support themselves, by their ownStrength and Plantations; While Mr.

Moor , on his Side, made them verygood Returns in Ambergrease, Drugs, Returns sentCedar, Tobacco, and other Product of t0 England,the Island. And this was the first Be-ginning of this Colony.

Mr. Moor continued there three ^ r aYears, being relieved from Time to ftlcltf1 ime, ’till they amounted to above sixHundred Inhabitants, who built severalForts; But had like to have been them- "^s/ a . SUeselves destroyed by an infinite Numberof Rats, which encreased from a fewcoming aslioar out of a Ship, and con-tinued for four Years, devouring allthe Growth of the Country, notwith-standing all possible Means were usedto destroy them. They disappeared, 'Cj

however, at Length, as strangely asthey at first encreased, no Body knewhow, or in what Manner. But one

5 ^ Thing