pe. Yet notwithstanding these
advantages which prefer Virginia before Rochel, the French king
raises a large proportion of his revenues out of that staple
yearly, with which he supplies a great part of Christendom.

Nor would it be such a long interval (salt being first made)
betwixt the undertaking of this fishing, and the bringing it to
perfection, for if every servant were enjoined to practice rowing,
to be taught to handle sails, and trim a vessel, a work easily
practised, and suddenly learned, the pleasantness of weather in
fishing season, the delicacy of the fish, of which they usually
feed themselves with the best, the encouragement of some share in
the profit, and their understanding what their own benefit may be
when their freedom gives them an equality, will make them willing
and able fishermen and seamen. To add further to this, if we
consider the abundance, largeness, and peculiar excellency of the
sturgeon in that country, it will not fall into the least of
scruples, but that one species will be of an invaluable profit to
the buyer, or if we repeat to our thoughts the singular plenty of
herrings and mackerel, in goodness and greatness much exceeding
whatever of that kind these our seas produce, a very ordinary
understanding may at the first inspection perceive that it will be
no great difficulty to out-labor and out-vie the Hollander in that
his almost only staple.

This flowery author goes on to make ingenious suggestions about raising
fish in captivity, like domesticated animals, by inclosing a creek
against their egress but keeping it sluiced to permit the action of
tides. He even guesses that a nutritious and medicinal oil could be
produced from fish livers. It is worth noting that both these
suggestions have been proved practical but they had to wait until
modern times to be carried out.

In the anonymous _A Perfect Description of Virginia_, published in
1649, the population is given as 15,000 English and 300 negroes. The
count of boats, remembering the shortage of 40 years before, is
impressive: "They have in their Colony pinnaces, barks, great and small
boats many hundreds, for most of their plantations stand upon the river
sides or up little creeks, and but a small way into the land so that
for transportation and fishing they use many boats."

The enmity of the Indians had been a constant irritation, and wors