Carolina

Sources from old books

1695. A New Body of Geography by A. Sewall & T. Child.

Carolina, so call'd from the King of Great Britain, Charles II. is a part of Florida, and Peopl'd with an English Colony by the Proprietors, the Earl of Clarendon, George Duke of Albemarl, &c. in the year 1670. It lyes betwen the 29th and 36th Degree of Northern Latitude, having Virginia on the North, the Atlantick Ocean on the East, and the Pacifick Sea on the West, and Tegesta on the South.

The Air of it is wholsom and temperate, neither troublesome in Winter or Summer. The Soil is generally very Fruitful, and produces besides what is proper to the Climate, good Wheat, Barley and all other English Corn; as also Turnips, Carrots, Parsnips, Potatoes, and twenty sorts of Pulse, which we have not in England. In their Woods they have not only all Trees useful for Timber, but many sweet smelling Trees and Shrubs, as Cedar, Cypress and Mirtles; among which there harbour Hares, Squirrels, Racoons, Coneys, and plenty of fat Deer; as also store of wild Turkies, Partridges, Paroquets, Doves, Cranes, and divers other Birds, whose Flesh is delicate. They have also plenty of Hogs and Sheep, which encrease there wonderfully. Here are also met with some strange and Monstrous Creatures, as Rattle-snakes of two Yards and an half long, Wild-cats bigger than a Fox; as also Otters, Bears, Lepards and Wolves; but no Lyons. They export also several sorts of Wine, Oil, Olives, Cotton, Indico, Silks, Ginger, Tobacco, Sassaparilla, Turmerick, Sassafras and Snakes-root, which arise from their Tillage and Manufacture.

The Natives have a perfect Friendship with the English, and are ready upon all occasions to serve them. They are generally of a good Meaning and Honest, no ways addicted to Vice, moderate in their Diet and Apparel, addicted to Mirth, admirers of Valour and Courage, and therefore continually in War, so that they are almost Destroyed.

They Worship one God as the Creator of all things, whom they call Okee, and their High Priests Offer Sacrifice to him; but they believe that he minds not human affairs himself, but committs the Government of them to lesser Deities. They believe the Transmigration of Souls, and Happiness after Death. They Bury their Dead in four several Burying-places, according to their four several Tribes. The English enjoy a liberty of Conscience by the Constitution of their Government, so that they are of different Judgments.

The Natives are govern'd by Kings, whose Will is their Law. The English, by the Laws of England and such By-laws as their Governors find necessary for that Province. No Mony can be raised nor Laws made without the consent of the People or their Representatives in a general Assembly. They have Magistrates to execute their Laws.

This Country hath many great Rivers, and some of them Navigable; Ashley River is the biggest. They have several Towns, but Charles-Town is the Principal.