VIRGINIA 97 



very incommodious to foot-passengers; stones are not 

 to be had, for paving ; and in order to get a little firm 

 ground before the houses they mix with the sand a 

 sufficient quantity of pitch and tar, and let it harden. 

 The Nansemond is navigable for small vessels as far 

 as this ; a dilapidated wooden bridge and shallow water 

 prevent them going higher ; a mile above it is possible 

 to wade the stream, which with its other branch falls 

 into James River about Hampton Road. Most of the 

 articles for export of these parts, tar, turpentine, pitch, 

 lumber, salted meat &c. go to the West Indies, whence 

 the shopkeepers and merchants here draw sugar, rum, 

 coffee &c, turning these over very profitably in ex- 

 change for the foresaid articles of produce. This 

 West Indian trade is carried on in small vessels, 

 shalops of 20-30-50 tons, and consequently no great 

 capital is necessary, the way being short, the fitting-out 

 not expensive, and commonly no more than 2 or 3 

 negroes, with one white man, being aboard. Salt, in 

 these times of slaughter, is indispensable and forms a 

 considerable article of trade, used in the preparation 

 of a domestic store of meat for winter, and in making 

 ready that intended for export. When the ships that 

 bring it from Toriola, Turk's Island, and other of the 

 West Indies, are past due, the price rises 3 and 4-fold, 

 to the great advantage of those shopkeepers who have 

 a supply. During the war, when shipping was so un- 

 certain, and great inconvenience was felt for lack of 

 salt, the attempt was made to prepare it on the sea- 

 coast, but the experiments in ponding the sea-water 

 and letting it crystallize did not turn out well on this 

 coast below the 36 and 37 degree of latitude, although 

 in Europe there are good results under the 46 and 47th 



