EUTOPIAN VIRGINIA 129 



trees, some s<> large thai the Leaves thereof have by 

 Frenchmen beene esteemed worth 51. in which the 

 indigenall and natural] Worrae hath beene fonnd as 

 bigge as Wallnuts." Williams recalls that Virginia 

 "is parallel] with China, and the happiesl Conntries 

 of the East and Westerne World in scitnation," and 

 it is "comparable to Persia." It is little wonder, 

 then, that he should foresee that the colony was 



destined to 1. ie of the greatest Bilk- producing 



countries of the world, particularly as the experiment 

 had not yel been fully tried. 



Hut Williams was not alone in these fertile prophe- 

 of Virginia. The writings of most of his contem- 

 poraries, touching th.- climate and natural resources oi 

 this new land, can he compared to nothing else than 

 the burning pictures which have been painted of our 

 Pacific coasl within our own time. Nothing was im- 

 ble in Virginia ami the adjoining lands to the 

 southward. Bere, in Virginia, the ragar-cane, cotton, 

 indigo, ginger, rice and pepper, may grow alongside 

 "all the Spiceryes of the Philippines" ; corn (grain) 

 will yield tun hi- three harvests in the season; there 



are riches in copper and iron ore, "with greal proba- 



bility of a Golden Mine"; the native bruits "are various 

 and delicate"; the ashes "for number and tast com- 

 parable to any other"; the beasts are many, of excel- 

 l'-nt flesh, "tic- Bides of divers nsefull, and the Purree 

 extraordinary rich"; in Bhort, as Williams thinks of it. 

 "Virginia duly considered for exactnesse of temperature, 

 goodnesse of Boyle, variety of Staples, and capability "t 



1 siving what ever i- produced in any other part of 



the World, gives the rjght hand of preheminenoe t-> no 

 Province under Heaven." 



