132 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



however greatly in debt, and that they were supported 

 by others who had claims on the state, but that the 

 people in general were against the measure. There- 

 fore, to place an amount as much as 100,000 Pd. the 

 more easily in circulation, and in order to make the 

 paper more acceptable and give the inhabitants time to 

 recover themselves and bring more order into their 

 affairs, a law was passed which made all legal claims 

 and actions in cases of debt of no effect for the space 

 of one year. 



The taxes at this time in North Carolina amount, 

 under divers heads, to about i l / 2 per centum of all 

 property. The land-tax in itself is very small, only 3 

 pence in the pound, and besides lands are assessed very 

 low, greatly under their true value, the valuation being 

 made by 9 sworn men (Assizers) in each county. 

 For example, the dry pine-land, or ' pine-barren/ is 

 fixed at a shilling the acre, and thus 20 acres of such 

 land pay 3 pence, and 100 acres only 15 pence. So 

 trifling a tax does not fall heavy even on those who 

 own great tracts of land, one man, for instance, in 

 North Carolina owning 50,000 acres, and many 

 20,000 to 10,000 acres ; * their practice being to keep 

 so much together as long as they can raise the taxes 

 without difficulty. Such extensive possessions as 

 these never being sufficiently cultivated or utilized, it 

 appears at once that an increase in the land-tax would 

 further industry and be an advantage to the country; 

 but the poorer part of the inhabitants resists any in- 

 crease, and if it was made, would rather withdraw to 



* By the above valuation the land-tax on 10,000 acres pine- 

 land amounts to only 6 Pd. 5 shillings, about equal to 37 fl. 

 30 kr. Rhenish- 



