The Preservation of the Woods. 91 



like money for a guard, and he needed two deputies for the 

 Piscataqua on which there were seventy saw-mills. He further 

 desired that an order should be sent to the various customs 

 offices to send him a quarterly account of what quantity of each 

 species of stores was annually exported.^ The task which an 

 officer of this character had before him was not easy, for the 

 distances were great, necessitating much travel by bad roads, 

 or no roads at all, in all kinds of weather. Governor Dudley, 

 in writing to the Lords of Trade, spoke most appreciatively of 

 the discouragements of the undertaking, and expressed his 

 opinion that Mr. Bridger ought to have two or three deputies 

 to the eastward, and at least one in the south, in order to do his 

 duty properly.- Bridger himself wrote that he had been obliged 

 to appoint three men to take charge of the loggers at the three 

 great rivers, for although the people seemed greatly inclined 

 to promote the raising of stores, there was still enormous de- 

 struction going on by reason of the wasteful methods of the log- 

 gers and their illegal encroachments on the king's woods. 

 Later he wrote that he had proper directions for making tar 

 printed, but the people were so fond of their own way that noth- 

 ing could draw them ofT. Unless they could see the new 

 method tried before their eyes, they would not consent to take 

 the trouble to go to work properly. The only remedy would 

 seem to be to appoint him to make such a trial or else to incor- 

 porate a company to set about the trade heartily.^ 



In the meantime, according to the instructions received from 

 the government. Governor Dudley issued a proclamation call- 

 ing all persons to the due observance of the charter and to the 

 assistance of the surveyor.* Bridger drew up a bill for the 

 preservation of the woods, forbidding anyone but the surveyor 

 or his deputy to mark any trees with the broad arrow, on penalty 



iMr. Bridger to the Board of Trade, B. T. New Eng., Q: 52. 



2Gov. Dudley to the Board of Trade, B. T. New Eng., R: 27. 



3 Mr. Bridger to the Board of Trade, Oct. 24, 1706, B. T. New Eng., 

 Q: 53. This was at the time of the Penn. Co.'s petition for a charter. 



^Proclamation by Gov. Dudley, issued Dec. 15, 1707, B. T. New 

 Eng., R: 69. 



