s first directed to the south. A settlement was made at Port Royal,
under the conduct of William Sayle, who had been appointed governor of
that part of the coast which lies south-west of cape Carteret. He was
accompanied by Joseph West, who was intrusted with the commercial
affairs of the proprietors, and who, with the governor, conducted the
whole mercantile business of the colony.

William Sayle, after leading the first colony to Port Royal, and
convening a parliament in which there were neither landgraves nor
caciques, became the victim of the climate; after which, the authority
of sir John Yeamans, who had hitherto governed the settlement at cape
Fear, was extended over the territory south-west of cape Carteret. In
the same year, the foundation of _old Charlestown_ was laid, which
continued, for some time, to be the capital of the southern
settlements.

While these exertions were making in the south, great dissatisfaction
was excited in Albemarle. In 1670, Stevens, the governor, had been
ordered to introduce into that settlement, the constitution prepared
by Mr. Locke. This innovation was strenuously opposed; and the
discontent it produced was increased by a rumour, which was not the
less mischievous for being untrue, that the proprietors designed to
dismember the province. There was also another cause which increased
the ill humour pervading that small society. The proprietors attempted
to stop the trade carried on in the vessels of New England, and the
attempt produced the constant effect of such measures--much ill temper
both on the part of those who carried on the traffic, and of those for
whom it was conducted.

At length, these discontents broke out into open insurrection. The
insurgents, led by Culpeper, who had been appointed surveyor-general
of Carolina, obtained possession of the country, seized the revenues,
and imprisoned the president, with seven deputies who had been named
by the proprietors. Having taken possession of the government, they
established courts of justice, appointed officers, called a
parliament, and, for several years, exercised the powers of an
independent state; yet they never, formally, disclaimed the power of
the proprietors.

All this time, the titheables of Albemarle, a term designating all the
men, with the negroes and Indian women, between sixteen and sixty
years of age, amounted only to fourteen hundred; and the exports
consisted of a few cattle, a small quantity of Indian