Horse Ratsine In CotontAL New ENGLAND 903 
the reasons given, the numbers exported soon exceeded those from the 
English ports. Concerning the beginning of this trade Winthrop writes 
in 1647: ‘‘ It pleased the Lord to open to us a trade with Barbados 
and the other islands . . . which as it proved gainful, so the 
commodities which we had in exchange for our cattle and provisions, 
as sugar, cotton, tobacco, and indico were a good help to discharge our 
engagements with England ’’ (75). 
As to whether there were any horses among these ‘‘ cattle ’’ which 
Winthrop states were being sent to the West Indies, there is no evi- 
dence. The record of such exports is, in fact, much like that of the 
early imports into the country, and specific mention of such ship- 
ments is not frequent, even though more general statements, such as 
those to be found in the reports to the Board of Trade in London, 
indicate that they were taking place. In 1648 Winthrop notes in his 
journal the presence of a ship ‘‘ lying before Charlestown with eighty 
horses on board bound for Barbadoes ’’ (76), and this is probably the 
first recorded exportation of horses from New England to the West 
Indies. Wallace states (77) that there was a shipment of eighty head 
in 1640, but he does not give the source of his information and it: is 
more than probable that it is this exportation of 1648 to which he refers, 
inasmuch as the demand for horses had hardly begun in Barbados as 
early as 1640. 
The exportation of horses from New England in 1648 or before was 
evidently not limited to this one cargo, however, for a writer who styles 
himself Beauchamp Plantagenet, describing a visit to Barbados in that 
year, states that ‘‘ New England sendeth horses and Virginia oxen ”’ 
to turn the sugar mills in the island (78). In 1649 the Massachusetts 
Bay court passed an act forbidding the exportation of mares and plac- 
ing a tax of sixpence on every gelding sent out of the country (79). 
This was obviously an effort in the main to protect the breeding stock 
of the area, and Massachusetts Bay urged that similar prohibitions be 
adopted by all the United Colonies of New England. The colony at 
New Haven was tke only one to act on the recommendation (80), and 
in Plymouth and Rhode Island there continued to be no restriction on 
such shipments. That such a law was found desirable in Massachusetts 
was due partly to military considerations, but the fact serves also as 
