undesirable
persons from Virginia. William Byrd II, who had an excellent
opportunity to observe conditions in North Carolina while running the
dividing line, bears testimony to the character of the immigrants to
that colony from Virginia and Maryland. "It is certain," he says,
"many slaves shelter themselves in this obscure part of the world, nor
will any of their righteous neighbors discover them. Nor were the
worthy borderers content to shelter runaway slaves, but debtors and
criminals have often met with the like indulgence. But if the
government of North Carolina has encourag'd this unneighbourly policy
in order to increase their people, it is no more than what ancient
Rome did before them."[188] Again he says, "The men ... just like the
Indians, impose all the work upon the poor women. They make their
wives rise out of their beds early in the morning, at the same time
that they lye and snore, til the sun has run one third of his
course.... Then, after stretching and yarning for half an hour, they
light their pipes, and, under the protection of a cloud of smoak,
venture out into the open air; tho' if it happens to be never so
little cold, they quickly return shivering into the chimney corner....
Thus they loiter away their lives, like Soloman's sluggard, with their
arms across, and at the winding up of the year scarcely have bread to
eat. To speak the truth, tis a thorough aversion to labor that makes
people file off to North Carolina, where plenty and a warm sun confirm
them in their disposition to laziness for their whole lives."[189] The
gangs of outlaws that infested North Carolina during the early years
of the 18th century and defied the authority of the governors, were
composed largely of runaway servants from Virginia. The laxness and
weakness of the government made it an inviting place for criminals,
while the numerous swamps and bogs, and the vast expanse of dense
woods offered them a safe retreat.[190]

Many freed servants took up in Virginia unpatented land, trusting that
their residence upon it might give to them in time a legal title.
Others settled upon tracts that had been deserted. In some instances,
where these people, or their descendants, had prospered and had built
homes and barns and stables on the property, or had otherwise improved
it, their claims to the land were confirmed by law. In other cases,
when patents were made out to land already occupied by "squatters,"
the lowly settlers were fo