A. D.I 775- 5% 



tries which were raw materials for Britifh manufadures, and bul- 

 lion. 



Maryland and Virginia almoft from their firfl fettlcment made to- 

 bacco the principal objedl of their culture, and it long continued to con- 

 flitute the mod valuable export of Britifli America. But the quantity 

 of tobacco was diminifliing in thefe provinces for many years before 

 the revolution, owing to the foil being cxhaufted by it ; and the plant- 

 ers had turned much of their tobacco land to the cultivation of wheat 

 and other grain *. Their tobacco could by law be exported only to 

 Great Britain : but their corn, flour, lumber, &c. were carried to the 

 Weft-Indies and clfewhere. 



North Carolina produced alfo fome tobacco ; and it furniflied pitch, 

 tar, and turpentine, of which about 130,000 barrels were annually ex- 

 ported, whereof the greateft part came to Britain. The exports to the 

 Weft-Indies confifted moftly of fait pork, Indian corn, peas, &c. But 

 the foreign trade of this province was very trifling in proportion to its 

 great extent, and even to the quantity of its productions, and was moft- 

 ly in the hands of the merchants of the adjacent provinces of Virginia 

 and Sourh Carolina, and of the New-Englanders. 



In South Carolina and Georgia rice and indigo were the ftaple ar- 

 ticles. The former grows on the marfliy grounds near the coaft, and 

 the later on the dry foil of the inland country. The planters had for 

 fome time applied to the culture of tobacco f ; and they made confider- 

 able quantities of lumber. Their exports confifted of thefe articles ; 

 and the merchants of Charleftown alfo fliipped fome flcins obtained by 

 trade with the neighbouring Indians, and part of the produce of North 

 Carolina. 



The following accounts, copied from thofe of the cuftom-houfe for 

 years nearly preceding the revolution, will ftiow the ftate of the naviga- 

 tion and commerce of the colonies, which now compofe the United 

 ftates of America. 



* Tlicfc two countries arc now next to Pcnnfyl- -j- It is only of Lte that the cultivation of the 

 vanin and New York in the exportation of flour excellent fpccics of cotton, which is now eiiricliinj 

 end corn. tlie pbntersot Georgia, was introduced. 



Vol. in. 4. C 



