250 The Winning of the West 



whiskey at two shillings and six pence a gallon, 

 peach or apple brandy at three shillings per gallon, 

 and country-made sugar at one shilling per pound. 

 Skins, however, formed the ordinary currency ; otter, 

 beaver, and deer being worth six shillings apiece, 

 and raccoon and fox one shilling and three pence. 

 The Governor's salary was set at two hundred 

 pounds, and that of the highest judge at one hun 

 dred and fifty. 



The new Governor sent a formal communication 

 to Governor Alexander Martin of North Carolina, 

 announcing that the three counties beyond the moun 

 tains had declared their independence, and erected 

 themselves into a separate State, and setting forth 

 their reasons for the step. Governor Martin an 

 swered Sevier in a public letter, in which he went 

 over his arguments one by one, and sought to re 

 fute them. He announced the willingness of the 

 parent State to accede to the separation when the 

 proper time came; but he pointed out that North 

 Carolina could not consent to such irregular and 

 unauthorized separation, and that Congress would 

 certainly not countenance it against her wishes. ' In 

 answering an argument drawn from the condition 

 of affairs in Vermont, Martin showed that the Green 

 Mountain State should not be treated as an example 

 in point, because she had asserted her independence, 

 as a separate commonwealth, before the Revolution, 

 and yet had joined in the war against the British. 



One of the subjects on which he dwelt was the 

 relations with the Indians. The mountain men ac- 



