olonies. The niceties of shipbuilding
were beyond his capacities, he was not needed as a fisherman, he was not
a good sailor, he was useless in the system of intensive agriculture in
vogue north of Maryland. But in the tobacco field he would do. He could
not at first tend so many plants as his white rival, he could not
produce tobacco of such fine quality, but what he lacked in efficiency
he more than made up for in cheapness.

The African seems to have withstood remarkably well the diseases
indigenous to eastern Virginia. There are occasional reports of
epidemics among the slaves, but usually they were fairly immune both to
malaria and dysentery. A census taken in 1714, when there were perhaps
15,000 negroes in the colony, records burials for sixty-two slaves
only.[7-39] The births of slaves for the same year totalled 253.[7-40]
These figures indicate not only the excellent physical condition in
which these black workers were kept by their masters, but the rapidity
with which they were multiplying. The low death rate is in part
explained by the fact that only strong men and women were transported to
the colonies, but it is none the less clearly indicative of the ease
with which the African accustomed himself to the climate of tidewater
Virginia.

As a rule the negro was more docile than the white servant, especially
if the latter happened to be from the ruder elements of English society.
He was not so apt to resist his master or to run away to the mountains.
Yet plots among the blacks were not unknown. In 1710 a conspiracy was
discovered among the slaves of Surry and James City counties which was
to have been put into execution on Easter day. The negroes planned to
rise simultaneously, destroy any who stood in their way, and make good
their escape out of the colony. Among the chief conspirators were Jamy,
belonging to Mr. John Broadnax, Mr. Samuel Thompson's Peter, Tom and
Cato of Mr. William Edwards, Great Jack and Little Jack of Mr. John
Edwards, and Will belonging to Mr. Henry Hart. "Two or three of these
were tried this general court," wrote Colonel Jennings, "found guilty
and will be executed. And I hope their fate will strike such a terror
in the other Negroes as will keep them from forming such designs for the
future."[7-41] The lesson did not prove lasting, however, for in 1730 a
number of slaves from Norfolk and Princess Anne counties assembled while
the whites were at church, and chose officers to command th