178 lawson's history 



coveted, than any of those we enjoy, to the east- 

 ward of the mountains. Yet when I came to dis- 

 course some of the idolizers of that country, I 

 found it to be rather novelty than truth and real- 

 ity, that induced those persons to allow it such ex- 

 cellencies above others. It may be a brave and 

 fertile country, as I believe it is ; but I cannot be 

 persuaded that it can be near so advantageous 

 as ours, which is much better situated for trade, 

 being faced all along with the ocean, as the Eng- 

 lish America is ; when the other is only a direct 

 river, in the midst of a wild unknown land, great- 

 est part of whose product must be fetched, or 

 brought a great way, before it can come to a mar- 

 ket, moreover, such great rivers commonly allow 

 of more princes' territories than one, and thus 

 nothing but war and contention accompanies the 

 inhabitants thereof. 



But not to trouble our readers with any more of 

 this, we will proceed, in the next place, to show, 

 what exotic fruits we have, that thrive well in 

 Carolina, and w^hat others it may reasonably be 

 sup]30sed would do there, were they brought 

 thither and planted. In pursuance of which I 

 will set down a catalogue of what fruits we have ; 

 I mean species, for shouIJ I pretend to give a reg- 

 ular name to every one, it's neither possible tor 

 me to do it, nor for any one to understand it when 

 done, if we consider that the chiefest part of our 

 fruit came from the kernel, and some others from 



