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Christoph von Graffenried, "Relation of my American Project", Von Graffenried's Account of the Founding of New Bern, circa 1714

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MEMORIAL.

Various matters relating to Carolina translated from the English.

1. To have land surveyed in South Carolina costs one penny, Carolinian money, per acre, but in North Carolina a half penny. A certificate, registration, and copy, costs twenty-seven shillings for every piece of land which is bought, whether it be great or small.

2. Regarding exchange: There is no law of exchange between Carolina except by the piece of eight. The difference is about thirtyfive per cent more in Carolina than in England.

3. Regarding the wares which are to be taken: The most useful is to bring over all kinds of assorted wares of English manufacture; about which we can inform you in a report, when we shall know what kind of people and how many shall come over.

4. An assortment of wares proportioned according to our direction can give in Carolina a profit of two hundred to two hundred fifty per cent when it is bought, but certain special wares give a profit up to three hundred per cent.

5. Every person whether man, woman or child, native or foreign, who has himself transported to Carolina at his own cost, has the privilege to take up forever for each person, fifty acres of land and to pay to the Lords Proprietors one penny quit-rent per acre.

6. Renting out land to tenants: A person who purchases a certain amount of land can divide it off again into different plantations, of which each can contain as desired, two, three, four, to five hundred acres. Afterwards the land-owner can make an agreement with the tenant, whereby the owner obligates himself to give his tenant a certain quantity of tools, nails, locks, bolts, pans, windowglasses, etc.,

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in order to build a house; also to supply him with the necessary animals, as horses, cows, swine, etc., and likewise necessary crops for seed and subsistence, until the first harvest; in return for which the tenant gives to the planter or owner yearly, of all the increase of the cattle two thirds, together with a certain amount of rice, wheat, etc., according to the tenor of their agreement. On which subjects I informed myself well regarding the usual conditions, and reckoned up what the owner takes of the increase of all the crops from the tenant.

7. Regarding the production of the lands. It is certain that it produces the best rice, Indian corn, wheat, oats, beans, peas, etc., especially in North Carolina. They sow, ordinarily, a level piece of land without plowing. It may be advisable to change the seed occasionally, as need may require, as the neighboring planters can also testify.

8. Fresh and good land is without doubt the best for rice, namely that which is somewhat damp and wet; but if it is too wet it is necessary to dry it with long furrows and the constructing of fascines makes it more convenient for cultivation. It is also feasible to keep a certain amount of such damp land for the planting of rice, but to use the dry soil for wheat and other crops.

9. The centner of rice contains one hundred and twelve pounds. It is sold at from fifteen to sixteen shillings, the Indian corn at two and one half shillings a bushel, reckoned at four pecks; wheat at three and one half shillings a bushel. As far as barley, oats, peas, beans, are concerned, I have heard of no certain price, as these are less used. Regarding the increase of each kind of crop, one can read in Lawson's book, which description I consider very modest and it is certain that the land produces that increase. In respect to the price of animals: Horses are sold at from four to six pounds, a cow with its calf at about two and a half to three pounds, a sow with its pigs at twelve shillings, a boar at fifteen shillings, all reckoned according to the Carolina standard; so that these animals may be bought for about three-eighths of the above mentioned value laid out in English wares. With respect to the sheep: These are at this time scarce, but their number may be easily increased with attention and industry, since one can drive them at night into an especial sheepfold in order to be safe from the wolves. The form of this fold cannot be represented here, but can be reported better by word of mouth. Animals increase just as in England. Cows and mares breed once a year, hogs three times, and each time twelve, fourteen, to sixteen at a time. Their food for the most part is what they find in the forests, which are called ranges for the cattle. And so every plantation consisting of five hundred acres has pasture for cattle, for they have no need of cutting hay in their lowland or meadows, as they do in England where the cattle are fed through the winter. Al-

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though the winters are much shorter in Carolina than in England, the stock in this time becomes lean and thin. But the forests, which produce all sorts of nuts and acorns to our especial advantage, serve for the swine. At the beginning of winter and a little before the time when the swine are butchered one takes from the herd as many as one intends to kill and feeds these two or three weeks longer with Indian corn, beans, or peas. They can also be very well kept in the orchards, some of which contain two, three, to four acres of all sorts of apples, pears, cherries, peaches, apricots, etc. They feed themselves in the beginning of the year with grass, afterwards with the fallen fruit; and when this is past they are again driven into the forest. In order that they may not become entirely wild, they are, every ten days, gotten into the habit of coming to the house by the blowing of a horn, and then a little Indian corn is thrown down before them. Now when they hear the horn blow they run straight for home. Hay for the stock could without doubt be gotten very well from the lowlands or savannas because a great deal of grass grows in such places. From lack of mowing it becomes coarse and inedible. But if, as is the custom in England, it were mowed often, new fresh grass suitable for hay could grow. If the cattle were fed with that they could be kept in good condition, for with this fodder and the pea vines the cattle become vigorous and fat.

10. The passage for each person costs six pounds, so that accordingly, a hundred persons, for passage alone, will cost six hundred pounds. From Holland to England costs five shillings per person, which, with baggage, costs twenty shillings or one pound sterling, which in all makes a hundred pounds.

11. For this reason it is advisable to appoint an able person whom we can recommend to them, in order to purchase an English captured ship of about one hundred and twenty tons in a French seaport; which, by the way, may cost two hundred and fifty pounds. The refitting of this ship with sails and other essentials can be done best and cheapest in Holland. But the food and the provisions are to be gotten in England. These can be held ready for putting on board until the arrival of the ship. This fitting out of the ship and provisioning of the hundred persons to last as far as Carolina would thus amount, at most, to four hundred and fifty pounds. So that the ship equipped and provisioned would be your own for seven hundred pounds, and hereby would cost some little more than the cost of passage. But there are still the captain and sailors to be provided for, of which sailors two thirds must be Englishmen, that is to say, nine men and a boy or eight men and two boys, whom we can also procure. Their wages amount to from twenty to twenty-four pounds monthly.

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The length of their journey from Holland to England, the wait for wind and other hinderances until they are away from shore and until they arrive in Carolina cannot amount to four months at most. I assume, then, that the crew along with unexpected expenses from the time the ship sails from Holland to England and Carolina may amount to a hundred pounds sterling. Is that not a cheap ship? And is that not more advisable than to rent a freight ship and pay seven hundred pounds, with which one can do nothing else besides transport the colony to the Carolina coast, and unload them where they have to look out for themselves and rent shallops in order to transport themselves and their goods into the country?

I assume, now, that such a ship, with fitting out and provisioning would cost eight hundred pounds, plus one hundred pounds for the crew for four months, making altogether nine hundred pounds. Subtracted from this the seven hundred pounds for the above mentioned one hundred persons, as well as fifty pounds additional for carrying people in Carolina from the coast into the country, there remains one hundred fifty pounds which the ship would still cost. I assume now, that to reprovision the ship in Carolina for the crew would cost thirty to forty pounds sterling. I assume further that the ship would stay there about three months to wait upon the people with the boat, and to get freight again for England. Within these three months one can rely upon getting this in North or South Carolina or Virginia, and it is easy to believe that the same might amount to from five hundred and fifty to six hundred pounds. The entire delay of bringing the people into the country and procuring a complete cargo for the ship may be prolonged into six months. The pay for the crew for this six months and other incidental expenditures amounting altogether to one hundred fifty pounds, subtracted from the above freight of the goods, there remains four hundred and fifty pounds with which the ship may be refitted in England and of this there will still be left one hundred and fifty pounds; which money can be laid out in English wares for your own account. The ship can also be sent again into Carolina with a fresh supply of people, and there be loaded with goods. From which it is easy to be seen that it would be to your interest to purchase such a ship.

It is also worth while to consider how serviceable such a ship would be to you, in case the people should come to Carolina in a time when they could not find sufficient supplies there for the establishment. In case of a lack of the same, the above mentioned ship could carry some other English goods to Pennsylvania or other neighboring coasts, and in return, buy there that which is necessary to the further subsistence of the colony. It is also advisable to take a ship carpenter

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with you, who, with the help of one or two house carpenters or others of the people, could in a short time build a shallop which would hold about forty tons of cargo. The iron materials, cordage, sails, must be brought over with you from England, and may cost about eighty or ninety pounds. Such a shallop can continually be put to good use, by purchasing English goods in different places, such as rice, salt, pork and beef, household goods, wine-cask staves, heads, and hoops, and carrying them to another place to sell; also to get occasionally, a cargo of salt in Tortuga, or elsewhere, so that we shall not have to buy it from another hand so much the dearer. For which considerations and many others still it is plain that it would be eminently useful to you, as .well for your own convenience as because of the profits, to have such a ship and shallop. In the future, trees could be felled out of which other shallops might be built, in order to visit the planters living on the neighboring rivers, at the opportune time, with English goods, of which they have need at all times, and through which you could enjoy great profits and at the same time assist the people with all sorts of necessaries, who thereby are induced to use more industry and to labor the longer, because they can exchange in such a manner the productions of the country for the necessary clothing, tools, household utensils; upon which I can give you special reports and exact direction. And for my part I am willing to undertake it on commission in England.

Besides this your English neighbors in Carolina will be happy to embark their goods in your ship and shallops for freight money, or to exchange their rice, crops, beef and pork, hides, pelts, as well as live stock for your English goods, which you can bring to your ships at convenient places; for instance rice, hides, pelts and skins, rosin and pitch to England; pork and beef salted down in barrels, cask staves, heads and hoops, meal and rice, to Jamaica, Barbadoes, Antigua. From there one can bring back as much sugar, rum, royal sugar, grain sugar, as you will find necessary, and it can be brought over into Carolina and sold. The rest of the sugar bought there can then be sent to England in English ships, which are always to be found in these islands, and there turned to silver or sent by us to Dortrecht or Rotterdam, and from there into Switzerland. I can give you directions then how you could in time be brought into a condition to provide all Switzerland with sugar. Another shallop may also be loaded with cask staves, hoops, and heads, and sent to the Madeiras, to exchange these wares for wine and to bring the same into Carolina, where, as also in Virginia, it can be sold for a good price. We can also recommend them to certain correspondents in the places named. But if you should find it necessary in the beginning to transport

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more than a hundred persons, we could in such a case, rent another ship for you and transport the remainder with their goods, but the freight of the ship must be paid in London.

If you could provide yourself with possibly one family which understood how to handle silk worms and silk, a number of women and children could be occupied with this work. This commodity, which is produced easily and with little labor in Carolina would be of great benefit and profit, as experience has demonstrated in a few instances. If there were only hands enough a big business might come from it, because an abundance of red and white mulberries is to be found there. It is scarcely credible what great benefit might be expected from it, if only there were present enough industrious workers, as well as some of those who understood the business. A single family on hand which had a good knowledge of it could teach many others.

The indigo has also been planted in Carolina in order to show what may be done with it. It is found as good as any brought from other places. It will be of great necessity to take various working people with you, woodworkers of all sorts, to make utensils, of which one must have a great many; carpenters to build houses, which are entirely of wood, except the chimneys of brick, for which reason one or two brick-makers will be necessary; cabinet makers in order to have gunstocks, chairs, bedsteads, tables and other such like household furniture made. Smiths are also of absolute necessity, not alone to repair all kinds of iron work useful in the house, field, and forest, but also to repair muskets and to manufacture all kinds of iron tools.

The price of pork and beef, meal, etc., is as follows: Beef salted down in casks, each holding two hundred and fifty-two pounds, which we call two and a quarter centners, the centner being a hundred and twelve pounds, is sold in Carolina for from thirty to thirty five shillings a cask, in the Barbados or Jamaica and other English islands, according as it is on the market in less or greater quantity, for from forty to forty-five shillings a cask; pork salted down in casks holding two and quarter centners is worth in Carolina from forty to forty-five shillings, and is sold in the islands mentioned for from fifty to seventy shillings, according to how the market is supplied with it. Flour is sold in Carolina for from twelve to sixteen shillings a centner. It is worth in the Barbados twenty to twenty-four shillings.

Of barrel hoops, staves, and heads, the price in Carolina is not known to me; but in the Barbados they are sold for eight pounds per thousand, and occasionally for only four, or three and one half pounds. Such things also, as the hoops, staves, and heads, are merely laid in the ship, but the hoops are bound together in bundles. One thousand hoops are reckoned as a ton of freight. The best staves are made of

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white oak, expecially for the Madeiras. There, no others are saleable. But in the Barbados staves from red oak and other woods can also be used for sugar. Casks for wine, rum, molasses, and all wet goods must be of white oak. The cost of transporting sugar from the Barbados, Jamaica, Antigua to London, or wine from the Madeiras to Carolina cannot be specified because the freight costs sometimes more, sometimes less than in these war times. Eight to ten shillings per centner has been paid. But in times of peace one can get it for from two, to two and one half shillings per hundred.

Wine in the Madeiras is worth sometimes from seven, to seven and a half, to eight pounds per pipe. Each pipe holds two hogsheads. Each hogshead holds sixty-three gallon. A gallon makes four quarts English measure. So that a pipe holds a hundred and twenty-six gallons or five hundred four measures. Such a pipe is sold in Carolina and Virginia at fifteen to sixteen pounds, etc.

The land when it is purchased from the proprietors, is without question the purchaser's own private possession, and he has power to dispose and sell it again, or only a part of it, without the consent of the lords of the property. If the purchaser of the land is a subject of Great Britain, either free born or naturalized, he can sell the land, indeed, to whomsoever he will, but it is not advisable to sell it to foreign Protestants who are not naturalized, in order that disputes may not arise over it. But if the purchaser is naturalized, and other people who are not naturalized should be inclined to have a part of it, sale may very well be made if they can put their confidence in the naturalized person. But because an act of Parliament was made for the naturalization of all foreign Protestants, and the cost also does not amount to more than three or four shillings, it is more advisable for all those who wish to have a share in the land to have themselves naturalized. After this they may live in Germany, Switzerland, or wheresoever they please.

In case you should wish to purchase a small ship we can provide it with master and crew and other things needed, and send it to Rotterdam, where the people can be embarked. The money for carrying this into effect can be given over to Abraham Edens, a merchant in Amsterdam, or to Egbert Edens, merchant in Rotterdam, and it will be as well cared for as though you should remit to London. The Abraham and Egbert Edens mentioned, are brothers, and common as well as very well-to-do people, who can give the settlers valuable assistance on their arrival in Rotterdam, in case you should remit the money into their hands, a thing which you can do with the greatest safety.

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It is certainly the most advisable course to take people such as can pay their transportation themselves, and who would still have the ability, on their arrival in Carolina, to make their settlement, by themselves, to provide themselves with grain and stock, etc. To such, one can rent out his land in leases of eleven, fourteen, or twenty-four years at two pennies sterling per acre yearly, quit-rent, and grant the liberty of renewing the same lease on fair conditions after the expiration of the time. It is certainly more useful for these people to give two or even three pennies for such land as lies near or in a colony, whose leader can accommodate them with ships and shallops for the sale and transportation of their wares from place to place, or with the exchange of the same for English wares, as tools, clothing p. c. I say it is much better for such people to pay two or three pennies where they can enjoy such conveniences, than to take up land from the Lords Proprietors, at one penny per acre for land. For if they take up farms from the Lords' land they have to look out for themselves in everything, and they cannot enjoy these above mentioned conveniences, from the lack of which the products of their land cannot yield them so much by far.

The expenses of transporting people from England into Carolina will be according to how they are provided with clothes, bed-clothes, tin and copper utensils, tools for building and for cultivation of the soil. And if the people which come over have a certain amount of these things, and money to pay their own passage, you have nothing further to do than to provide yourselves also with a certain quantity of these English goods which will be the most advisable to take over with you so as to have cattle, food, and seed, with which to barter; as well as a store of goods with which to trade with the English, and with the Indian neighbors, who will certainly visit you in order to exchange the products of their country for your European goods. The Indians will then seek to trade their stag and deer hides, pelts; etc., with you, for wares which are suitable to them. This kind of traffic, where wares are exchanged for wares, will be very useful to you; wherefore we can give you instructions regarding the best kind of goods to bring,. as well as how you can exchange them with the people in the country. Such an assortment of goods will cost fifteen to sixteen hundred pounds sterling, which may be sufficient; but we must have two or three months notice, and money to get all these things together. About this we can prepare the complete report in writing; namely for what amount every sort of these goods could be sold in Carolina. As regards your people, namely those who do not have the ability to settle themselves, to them you will have to give credit until they enjoy the productions of the country and can give you due reimbursement for

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this advance. Through this you will be in a capacity to enjoy a good portion of the people's labor. On this point we have the necessary instructions ready for you and are delivering them. It will also be advisable to take over with you some serviceable things, in order to make a present to the chief Indians. These need not cost much. By this means you can make them good neighbors to you and create a good will to trade with you, whereby your plantations will be quiet and secure.

It will also be advisable to take over with you all sorts of garden seeds, as cabbage, turnip, beet, salad, potatoes, etc., which the people will take out of Switzerland. But what is not to be found there can be bought in England.

They can also take with them some coarse linen cloth of small price, from Switzerland, which is serviceable for the common household use; and if it is found worth while, one can order a greater quantity. One could also make a trial with a few casks of wine, whether it could be disposed of with profit in London, in which case more could be disposed of; for what we purpose in this undertaking can be to the advantage of both sides; not only for those who purchase land and go into Carolina, but also in general for all Switzerland, which advantage it could enjoy through commerce. An example which serves as an illustration I have already adduced, namely, the productions in Carolina can be exchanged for sugar in the Barbados and Jamaica. This can be sent to England, .and from there to Rotterdam or Dortrecht, and so on to Switzerland; but the rice will be disposed of to the great advantage of the associates in Switzerland, after that in Holland, Spanish Netherlands, Bremen, and Hamburg; from which places those interested in Switzerland get their money by note. If linen, wine, and certain other commodities can be disposed of with some profit in England, even if it were small, it could be to the great advantage of the country.

It will also be necessary to take two or three men with you, who understand the construction of mills, in order to make water wheels or mills, for corn as well as for rice. For which nevertheless, other mills are demanded than merely common corn mills; and if one cannot find enough of these people in Switzerland you will have to secure them from England or elsewhere. And while it is of absolute necessity to keep shallops and boats upon the rivers, which would serve as a great convenience to the people, indeed, they are more serviceable than one would imagine, and it is so profitable for those to whom shallops belong; it would be necessary to take the equipment for them from England with you; while one could construct the ship in Carolina where the wood could be found more easily. But if the equip-

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ment for such a shallop could be secured from England it could serve in the future as a pattern, Such an equipment may cost in England about thirty to thirty-five pounds. Sails, anchors, iron, and cordage for a shallop must be purchased in England. It would cost ninety to a hundred pounds at the most.

From such observations it is easily to be seen how much the costs would run up too, if one should wish to transport and establish four or five hundred persons. If I had had the time I should have been able to bring these observations before you in better order, but must postpone it this time; yet I hope the present report will be sufficient to enable you to conclude what would be necessary for such an undertaking. It is also my desire that Mr. Ludwig Michel should read it, and that he might take a copy of it, if he considers it worth the effort.

It would be very useful to purchase a ship of about ninety tons burden. A ship with three masts is better than a brigantine, and when it is loaded it must not go deeper than eight feet in the water; in fact, a half foot less rather than more. You can get the sails and cordage in Holland, and it must be supplied with everything double, as well as the necessary anchors. It must be sheathed in order to be assured against worms. These worms attack ships at all times from May to September. You could bring over some people from Holland in this ship, and from there into North Carolina.

So then, when the ship is loaded and draws seven and a half, or at most, eight feet, you can travel with it into the country and up into the Neuse. A little ship such as that strongly built of good wood and well nailed can always be used; sometimes to transport pork, beef, flour, cask staves, hoops, etc., to the Barbados; and from there by barter, to take sugar, cotton, rum, molasses to Carolina; occasionally to carry Carolina goods to the Madeiras to exchange for wine; to go occasionally, with a load of rice, hides, peltry, tar and pitch to England, to unload the tar, pitch, hides and peltry in a harbor in that country, but to bring the rice to Holland and sell it; and so bring into Carolina all sorts of English goods, as iron ware, woolen stuff, duffles cloth, blankets for the savages, coarse linen, hats, stockings, shoes, powder, shot, muskets and whatever else would be advisable.

But you could not purchase such a ship yourselves. On the contrary you would have to use Egbert and Abraham Edens for this; with whom you would have to agree regarding the time, as well as the terms. I have no doubt that they will be modest and get it as cheaply as possible. They must sell it to you and deliver a bill of sale written on parchment, sealed and signed, so that when it comes to England you can show that you have purchased it from the Dutch and not from the French. Otherwise it cannot have entry. On

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further investigation I have found that it must be an English built ship, otherwise it cannot have free entry. You must also know at what place it was built and under what name it was registered in England, otherwise it cannot be registered again. The ship must be within one hundred and fifty feet long and eighteen broad.

If the people are able to pay their own passage and to purchase themselves a certain quantity of bed-stuff, tools, provisions, stock, and seed, you would have nothing more to pay for than the land within a four years term; the ship, the hull for a shallop, sails, anchors, cables, and cordage for two shallops and a sufficient provision of all kinds of English goods. This all may cost at the most three thousand pounds sterling, and we should be supplied with more than enough. If then your ship should embark one hundred persons at Rotterdam and transport them to Carolina, and should be used there two or three months in their service, it could earn thereby eight pounds per person, which makes 800-?

Remaining ............................. 2200-
The first payment for the land.......... 200-
Incidental expenditures................. 100-

S.a ................................... 2500-£

The ship and the shallop will bring a profit every year. When you shall know the number of your people you are bringing with you, you can inform me, in order that I can rent a ship in time for those who cannot be loaded into your ship. After the first passage you will have no need to rent a ship, but your ship will be sent every year from Carolina to England loaded with goods, and from there it will return again with fresh people.