624 INDIAN LAND CESSIONS IN THE UNITED STATES [eth.ann.18 



ami their lauds wholly subject to its control. From 1709 onward the 

 assembly was frequently called upon to exercise its authority for their 

 protection and relief. Commissioners were from time to time appointed 

 to oversee and lease their lands. As time went on there was some 

 change in the mode of management; laws prohibiting the purchase of 

 lands were i-epeated, and the guardianship of the legislature was 

 kindly exercised for these natives as their numbers continued to 

 dwindle. 



Evidences of the method followed by the people of this colony might 

 be multiplied, but what has been given is sufticient to show that the 

 policy was a just and humane one, that was seldom if ever marred by 

 official acts of injustice in this respect. 



NORTH C:AR0LINA 



History does not make clear the policy of the North Carolina colony 

 in dealing with the Indians in regard to their lauds; in truth, it does 

 not appear that any official policy was adopted until near the close of 

 its colonial existence. 



As a general rule, which had but few interruptions, the relations ex- 

 isting between the settlers and natives were friendly and peaceful up 

 to the year 1711. The editor of the Colonial IJecords expresses some 

 doubt on this point in his "prefatory notes," but the evidence appears 

 to sustain the statement of historians. After the conquest of the Tus- 

 karora there was no other tribe, except the Cherokee, on their western 

 frontier which the colonists deemed worthy of consideration. It may 

 also be added that during the first half of its existence the colony was 

 without any stable government, its political affairs being interrupted 

 more than once by rebellion, and once or twice reduced almost to a 

 chaotic condition. Add to these considerations the fact that the Albe- 

 marle or first settlement was made on territory claimed to be within 

 the jurisdiction of Virginia, and the reason why no settled policy was 

 adopted by the North Carolina colony in regard to its dealings with 

 Indians for their lauds will readily be understood. 



Notwithstanding these serious drawbacks, individual enterprise, 

 energy, and patriotism were sufficient for the emergencies, and suc- 

 ceeded at length iu bringing order and system out of misrule. As 

 might be expected, the transactions with the natives in regard to lauds 

 during this period were chiefly by individuals, the only exceptions beiug 

 where attempts were made to found sepanite colonies. 



As above stated, the first settlement within the bounds of the state 

 was about Albemarle sound, a region believed to be within the limits of 

 the Virginia charter, and was made by emigrants from that colony, who 

 were in search of rich and unoccupied lauds. The first purchase of 

 land made from the Indians of this region, of which history makes any 

 meutiou, appears to have been by Francis Yeardly, son of Sir George 



