Travels Through North America 



ernor inhabits, is hired by the province at 80 1. cur- 

 rency per annum. 



There is very Httle trade carried on from this 

 place, and the chief of the inhabitants are store- 

 keepers or pubHc officers. They build two or three 

 ships annually, but seldom more. There are no 

 fortifications, except a miserable battery of fifteen 

 six-pounders. 



Maryland is situated between the 38th and 40th 

 degree of north latitude, and the 75th and 80th of 

 west longitude from London. It is bounded on the 

 east by the Atlantic ocean, and the three lower 

 counties of Delaw^are; on the south and west by 

 Virginia; and by Pennsylvania on the north. The 

 climate, soil, and natural productions of it are nearly 

 the same as those of Virginia. It is watered by 

 many fine rivers, and almost innumerable creeks; 

 but it is far from being well cultivated, and is ca- 

 pable of much improvement. It is divided into 

 fourteen counties, and between forty and fifty 

 parishes; and there are several little towns in it 

 which are neatly built. The inhabitants, exclusive 

 of slaves, are supposed to be about ninety thousand: 

 of which the militia, including all white m.ales be- 

 tween sixteen and fifty, amounts to eighteen. The 

 slaves are about thirty-two thousand. The staple 

 of the country is tobacco; and, communihus annis, 

 they export near 30,000 hogsheads: last year their 



