22 
THE HISTORY OF 
to belong to Carolina, whore they pay no tribute, either to God or to Caesar. 
Another reason was, that the government there is so loose, and the laws are 
so feebly executed, that, like those in the neighbourhood of Sidon formerly, 
every one. does just what seems good in his own eyes. If the governor’s 
hands have been weak in that province, under the authority of the lords pro- 
prietors, much weaker then were the hands of the magistrate, who, though 
he might have had virtue enough to endeavour to punish otfenders, which 
very rarely happened, yet that virtue had been quite impotent, for want of 
ability to put it in execution. Besides, there might have been some danger, 
perhaps, in venturing to be so rigorous, for fear of undergoing the fate of an 
honest justice in Coratuck precinct. This bold magistrate, it seems, taking 
upon him to order a fellow to the stocks, for being disorderly in his drink, 
was, for his intemperate zeal, carried thither himself, and narrowly escaped 
being whipped by the rabble into the bargain. 
This easy day’s work carried the line to the banks of Somerton creek, 
that runs out of Chowan river, a little below the mouth of Nottoway. 
2d. In less than a mile from Somerton creek the line was carried to Black- 
water, which is the name of the upper part of Chowan, running some miles 
above the mouth of Nottoway. It must be observed that Chowan, after 
taking a compass round the most beautiful part of North Carolina, empties itself 
into Albemarle sound, a few miles above Edenton. The tide flows seven or 
eight miles higher than where the river changes its name, and is navigable 
thus high for any small vessel. Our line intersected it exactly half a mile to 
the northward of Nottoway. However, in obedience to his majesty’s com- 
mand, we directed the surveyors to come down the river as far as the mouth 
of Nottoway, in order to continue our true west line from thence. Thus we 
found the mouth of Nottoway to lie no more than half a minute farther to the 
northward than Mr. Lawson had formerly done. That gentleman’s observa- 
tion, it seems, placed it in 36° 30', and our working made it out to be 36° 
30|^' — a very inconsiderable variance. 
The surveyors crossed the river over against the middle of the mouth of 
Nottoway, where it was about eighty yards wide. From thence they ran the 
line about half a mile through a dirty pocoson, as far as an Indian field. 
Here we took up our lodging in a moist situation, having the pocoson above 
mentioned on one side of us, and a swamp on the other. 
In this camp three of the Meherrin Indians made us a visit. They told us 
that the small remains of their nation had deserted their ancient town, situated 
near the mouth of the Meherrin river, for fear of the Catawbas, who had killed 
fourteen of their people the year before ; and the few that survived that cala- 
mity, had taken refuge amongst the English, on the east side of Chowan. 
Though, if the complaint of these Indians were true, they are hardly used by 
Gur Carolina friends. But they are the less to be pitied, because they have 
ever been reputed the most false and treacherous to the English of all the 
Indians in the neighbourhood. 
Not far from the place where we lay, I observed a large oak which had 
been blown up by the roots, the body of which was shivered into perfect 
strings, and was, in truth, the most violent effects of lightning I ever saw. 
But the most curious instance of that dreadful meteor happened at York, 
where a man was killed near a pine tree in which the lightning made a hole 
before it struck the man, and left an exact figure of the tree upon his breast, 
with all its branches, to the wonder of all that beheld it, in which I shall be 
more particular hereafter. 
We made another trial of the variation in this place, and found it some 
minutes less than we had done at Coratuck inlet; but so small a difference 
might easily happen through some defect in one or other of the observations, 
and, therefore, we altered not our compass for the matter. 
