In 1680, Thomas Ashe came to Charlestowne (Charleston) on His Majesty’s ship Richmond where he would spend the next two years exploring the area, and gaining information about the colony. The travel narrative was originally written not as a narrative, but as a letter to a friend in England at the end of Ashe’s travels in 1682. However, it was published as a pamphlet to advertise the Lord Proprietor’s real estate in Carolina. After publication, Thomas Ashe’s travel narrative quickly became popular in England. Its specific details of the land, the foliage and agriculture, and the intriguing creatures sparked interest in the European readers who quickly began to wonder if the colony of Carolina was the paradise that Ashe painted it out to be. Travel narratives that depict such a positive description of Carolina such as Ashe’s can be acknowledged as part of the reason that the colony managed to grow in numbers, later leading to the enormous economic growth that would define the name of Carolina in the New World.
Ashe gives vivid descriptions in his narrative about the condition of Carolina in 1682. He describes factors of the colony that would have been of great interest to curious farmers and merchants in England such as the condition of the soil, the abundance of various trees and crops, and an expected yield of harvest for the region. However, it is Ashe’s other descriptions that make his narrative so unique. It almost seems humorous for a modern scholar to read Ashe’s thorough summary of the sea turtle and the alligator, animals that are commonly known today, but it offers great insight into the colonists’ ignorance of the environment at this time. Furthermore, it is particularly interesting to read Ashe’s descriptions of the natives and their arts, such as the sweet-grass baskets that he so vaguely explains.
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“Carolina, or a Description of the Present State of that Country,” Thomas Ashe (1682)
Carolina derives her name either from our present Illustrious Monarch, under whose glorious Auspices it was first establisht an English Colony, in the Year One Thousand Six Hundred and Seventy, and under whose benign and happy Influence it now prospers and flourishes. Or from Charles the Ninth of that Name King of France, in whose Reign a Colony of French Protestants were transported thither, at the encouragement of Gasper Coligni, Admiral of that Kingdom; the place of their first Settlement named in Honour of their Prince Arx Carolina; but not long after, that Colony, with Monsieur Ribault their Leader, were by the Spaniard at once cut off and destroy’d. Since which, nor French, nor Spaniard have made any Attempt for its Re-Settlement. Carolina is the Northermost part of the spacious and pleasant Province of Florida; it. lies in the Northern temperate Zone, between the Latitude of Twenty Nine, and Thirty Six Degrees, and Thirty Minutes: It’s bounded on the East, with the Atlantick or Northern, on the West, with the Pacifick or Southern Ocean, on the North, with Virginia, on the South, with the remaining part of Florida. The Air of so serene and excellent a temper, that the Indian Natives prolong their days to the Extremity of Old Age. And where the English hitherto have found no Distempers either Epidemical or Mortal, but what have had their Rise from Excess or Origine from Intemperance. In July and August they have sometimes Touches of Agues and Fevers, but not violent, of short continuance, and never Fatal. English Children there born, are commonly strong and lusty, of sound Constitutions, and fresh ruddy Complexions. The Seasons are regularly disposed according to Natures Laws; the Summer not so torrid, hot and burning as that of their Southern, nor the Winter so rigorously sharp and cold, as that of their Northern Neighbours. In the Evenings and Mornings of December and January, thin congealed Ice, with hoary Frosts sometimes appear; but as soon as the Sun elevates her self, above the Horizon, as soon they disappear and vanish; Snow having been seen but twice in ten Years, or from its first being settled by the English.
The Soil near the Sea, of a Mould Sandy, farther distant, more clayey, or Sand and Clay mixt; the Land lies upon a Level in fifty or sixty Miles round, having scarce the least Hill or Eminency. It’s cloathed with odoriferous and fragrant Woods, flourishing in perpetual and constant Verdures, viz. the lofty Pine, the sweet smelling Cedar and Cyprus Trees, of both which are composed goodly Boxes, Chests, Tables, Scrittores, and Cabinets. The Dust and Shavings of Cedar, laid amongst Linnen or Woollen, destroys the Moth and all Verminous Insects: It never rots, breeding no Worm, by which many other Woods are consumed and destroyed. Of Cedar there are many sorts; this in Carolina is esteemed of equal Goodness for Grain, Smell and Colour with the Bermudian Cedar, which of all the West Indian is esteemed the most excellent; that in the Caribbe Islands and Jamaica being of a courser kind, Oyl and the Spirit of Wine penetrating it; but with this they make Heading for their Cask, which the sharpest and most searching Liquors does not pierce. With the Berry of the Tree at Bermudaz, by Decoction, they make a very wholesome and sovereign Drink. This Tree in the Sacred Writ is famous, especially those of Lebanon, for their Stately Stature; but those in the West Indies I observed to be of a low and humble height. The Sassafrass is a Medicinal Tree, whose Bark and Leaves yield a pleasing Smell: It profits in all Diseases of the Blood, and Liver, particularly in all Venereal and Scorbutick Distempers. There are many other Fragrant smelling trees, the Myrtle, Bay and Lawrel, several Others to us wholly unknown. Fruit Trees there are in abundance of various and excellent kinds, the Orange, Lemon, Pomegranate, Fig and Almond. Of English Fruits, the Apple, Pear, Plumb, Cherry, Quince, Peach, a sort of Medlar, and Chesnut. Wallnut Trees there are of two or three sorts; but the Black Wallnut for its Grain, is most esteem’d: the Wild Wallnut or Hiquery-Tree, gives the Indians, by boyling its Kernel, a wholesome Oyl, from whom the English frequently supply themselves for their Kitchen uses: It’s commended for a good Remedy in Dolors, and Gripes of the Belly; whilst new it has a pleasant Taste; but after six Moneths, it. decays and grows acid; I believe it might make a good Oyl, and of as general an use as that of the Olive, if it were better purified and rectified. The Chincopin Tree bears a Nut not unlike the Hazle, the Shell is softer: Of the Kernel is made Chocolate, not much inferiour to that made of the Cacoa.
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Trees for the Service of building Houses and Shipping, besides those and many more which we have not nam’d; they have all such as we in England esteem Good, Lasting, and Serviceable, as the Oak of three sorts, the White, Black and Live Oak, which for Toughness, and the Goodness of its Grain is much esteemed: Elm, Ash, Beech, and Poplar, etc. Into the Nature, Qualities, and Vertues of their Herbs, Roots and Flowers, we had little time to make any curious Enquiry: This we were assured by many of the knowing Planters, that they had Variety of such whose Medicinal Vertues were rare and admirable. The China grows plentifully there, whose Root infus’d, yields us that pleasant Drink, which we know by the Name of China Ale in England: in Medicinal Uses it’s far more excellent. Monsieur Tavernier, in his late Voyages to Persia, observes that Nation, by the frequent use of Water in which this Root is boyl’d, are never troubled with the Stone or Gout: It mundifies and sweetens the Blood: It’s good in Fevers, Scurvy, Gonorrhoea, and the Lues Venerea. They have three sorts of the Rattle-Snake Root which I have seen; the Comous, or Hairy, the Smooth, the Nodous, or Knotted Root: All which are lactiferous, or yielding a Milkie Juice; and if I do not very much in my Observations err, the Leaves of all these Roots of a Heart had the exact Resemblance: They are all Sovereign against the Mortal Bites of that Snake, too frequent in the West Indies: In all Pestilential Distempers, as Plague, Small Pox, and Malignant Fevers, it’s a Noble Specifick; when stung, they eat the Root, applying it to the Venemous Wound; or they boyl the Roots in Water; which drunk, fortifies and corroborates the Heart, exciteing strong and generous Sweats: by which endangered Nature is relieved, and the Poyson carried off, and expelled.
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What Wheat they have planted has been rather for Experiment and Observation, whether it would be agreeable to the Soil and Climate, than for any Substance for themselves, or for Transportation abroad; what they have sown, the Planters assured us grew exceeding well; as also Barly, Mr. Linch an ingenious Planter, having whilst we were there very good growing in his Plantation, of which he intended to make Malt for brewing of English Beer and Ale, having all Utensils and Conveniences for it. Tobacco grows very well; and they have of an excellent sort, mistaken by some of our English Smoakers for Spanish Tobacco, and valued from 5 to 8s. the Pound; but finding a great deal of trouble in the Planting and Cure of it, and the great Quantities which Virginia, and other of His Majesties Plantations make, rendring it a Drug over all Europe; they do not much regard or encourage its Planting, having already before them better and more profitable Designs in Action. Tarr made of the resinous Juice of the Pine (which boyl’d to a thicker Consistence is Pitch) they make great quantities yearly, transporting several Tuns to Barbadoes, Jamaica, and the Caribbe Islands. Indigo they have made, and that good: The reason why they have desisted I cannot learn.
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The Tortoise, more commonly call’d by our West Indians the Turtle, are of three sorts, the Hawks-Bill, whose Shell is that which we call the Turtle or Tortoise Shell; the Green Turtle, whose shell being thin is little regarded; but its Flesh is more esteemed than the Hawks-bill Tortoise: The Loggerhead Turtle, or Tortoise has neither good shell or Flesh, so is little minded or regarded. They are a sort of creatures which live both on Land and Water. In the day usually keeping the Sea, swiming on the surface of the Water, in fair Weather delighting to expose themselves to the Sun, oftentimes falling asleep, lying, as I have seen several times, without any Motion on the Waters, till disturbed by the approach of some Ship or Boat, being quick of hearing, they dive away. In the Night they often come ashore to feed and lay their Eggs in the Sand, which once covered, they leave to the Influence of the Sun, which in due time produces her young ones, which dig their Passage out of the sand immediately making their way towards the Water. At this Season, when they most usually come ashore, which is in April, May and June, the Seamen or Turtlers, at some convenient distance watch their opportunity, getting between them and the Sea, turn them on their Backs, from whence they are unable ever to rise, by which means the Seamen or Turtlers turn 40 or 50 in a night, some of 2, 3, 400 weight: If they are far distant from the Harbor or Market to which they design to bring them, they kill, cutting them to pieces, which Salted they Barrel: This is the way of killing at the Caymana’s, an Island lying to the Leeward of Jamaica. Turtle, Barrel’d and Salted, if well conditioned, is worth from 18 to 25 shillings the Barrel. If near their Market or Harbor they bring them in Sloops alive, and afterwards keep them in Crauls, which is a particular place of Salt Water of Depth and Room for them to swim in, pallisado’d or staked, in round above the Waters Surface, where, upon occasion they take them out, and kill them, and cutting them to pieces, sell their Flesh for two pence or three pence the pound: the Belly, which they call the Callope of the Turtle, pepper’d and salted, or roasted and baked, is an excellent Dish, much esteemed by our Nation in the West Indies: the rest of the Flesh boil’d, makes as good and nourishing Broath, as the best Capon in England, especially if some of the Eggs are mixt with it; they are some white, and others of a. yellow or golden Colour, in largeness not exceeding a Walnut, wrapt in a thin Skin or Membrane, sweet in Taste, nourishing and wholesome: and of this property, that they never grow hard by boiling: the Liver is black; it freely opens and purges the Body: if little of it be eaten, it dies the Excrements of a deep black Colour: The Fat in Color inclines to a Sea Green; in Taste it’s sweet and luscious, equalling, if not surpassing the best Marrow, if freely eaten it deeply stains the Urine of its Color: It’s of of (sic.) very penetrating piercing quality, highly comended in Strains and Aches: Of it the Turtlers oftentimes make an Oyl, which in Lamps burns much brighter and sweeter than common Lamp or Train Oyl. In general, the Flesh is commended for a good Antiscorbutique and an Antivenereal Diet; many in the former, and some that have been far gone in Consumptions, with the constant use alone of this Diet, have been thoroughly recovered and cured in 3 or 4 months. It hath 3 Hearts, by thin Pellicules only separated, which has caused some to Philosophize on its Amphibious Nature, alluding to those participating and assimulating Qualities which it has to the rest of the Universe, it swiming like a Fish, laying Eggs like a Fowl, and feeding on Grass like an Ox. This I am assured of, that after it’s cut to pieces, it retains a Sensation of Life three times longer than any known Creature in the Creation: Before they kill them they are laid on their Backs, where hopeless of Relief as if sensible of their future Condition, for some hours they mourn out their Funerals, the Tears plentifully flowing from their Eyes, accompanied with passionate Sobs and Sighs, in my Judgment nothing more like than such who are surrounded and overwhelmed with Troubles, Cares and Griefs, which raises in Strangers both Pity and Compassion. Compleatly six hours after the Butcher has cut them up and into pieces, mangled their Bodies, I have seen the Callope when going to be seasoned, with pieces of their Flesh ready to cut into Stakes, vehemently contract with great Reluctancy rise against the Knife, and sometimes the whole Mass of Flesh in a visible Tremulation and Concussion, to him who first sees it seems strange and admirable. There is farther to the Southward of Carolina, especially about the Shoars and Rivers of His[pa]niola and Cuba a Fish in Nature something like the former, call’d the Manacy or Sea-Cow, of an extraordinary Bigness, sometimes of 1000 pound weight: It feeds on the Banks and Shoar sides on the grassy Herbage, like a Tortoise; but that which is more wonderful of this Creature is, that she gives her young Ones Suck from her Duggs; she is headed like a Cow, of a green Colour, her Flesh by some esteemed the most delicate in the World, sweeter than the tenderest Veal, sold at Jamaica, where it’s sometimes brought for 6d. the pound: It hath a stone in the Head which is a gallant, Remedy against the Pains and Dolors of the Stone; so are the Bones of its Body to provoke Urine, when pulveriz’d and exhibited in convenient Liquors. Its Skin makes excellent Whips for Horses, if prudently us’d, which are very serviceable and lasting; with one of these Manaty Strapps, I have seen a Bar of Iron cut and dented: It cuts so severe and deep, that by the Public Authority at Jamaica, Masters are forbidden and prohibited with it to strike their White Servants.
There is in the mouth of their Rivers, or in Lakes near the Sea, a Creature well known in the West Indies, call’d the Alligator or Crocodile, whose Scaly Back is impenitrible, refusing a Musquet Bullet to pierce it, but under the Belly, that or an Arrow finds an easie Passage to destroy it; it lives both on Land and Water, being a voracious greedy Creature, devouring whatever it seizes on, Man only excepted, which on the Land it has not the courage to attacque, except when asleep or by surprize: In the Water it ’s more dangerous; it sometimes grows to a great length, from 16 to 20 foot, having a long Mouth, beset with sharp keen Teeth; the Body when full grown as large as a Horse, declining towards the Tail; it’s slow in motion, and having no Joynt in the Vertebraes or Back Bone, but with its whole length is unable to turn, which renders it the less mischievous; yet Nature by Instinct has given most Creatures timely Caution to avoid them by their strong musky Smell, which at a considerable distance is perceiveable, which the poor Cattle for their own Preservation make good use of: their Flesh cuts very white; the young ones are eatable; the Flesh of the older smells so strong of Musk, that it nauseates; their Stones at least so called, are commended for a rich, lasting perfume.
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The Natives of the Country are from time immemorial, ab Origine Indians, of a deep Chesnut Colour, their Hair black and streight, tied various ways, sometimes oyl’d and painted, stuck through with Feathers for Ornament or Gallantry; their Eyes black and sparkling, little or no Hair on their Chins, well limb’d and featured, painting their Faces with different Figures of a red or sanguine Colour, whether for Beauty or to render themselves formidable to their Enemies I could not learn. They are excellent Hunters; their Weapons the Bow and Arrow, made of a Read, pointed with sharp Stones, or Fish Bones; their Cloathing Skins of the Bear or Deer, the Skin drest after their Country Fashion.
Manufactures, or Arts amongst them I have heard of none, only little Baskets made of painted Reeds and Leather drest sometimes with black and red Chequers coloured. In Medicine, or the Nature of Simples, some have an exquisite Knowledge; and in the Cure of Scorbutick, Venereal, and Malignant Distempers are admirable: In all External Diseases they suck the part affected with many Incantations, Philtres and Charms: In Amorous Intrigues they are excellent either to procure Love or Hatred: They are not very forward in Discovery of their Secrets, which by long Experience are religiously transmitted and conveyed in a continued Line from one Generation to another, for which those skill’d in this Faculty are held in great Veneration and Esteem. Their Religion chiefly consists in the Adoration of the Sun and Moon: At the Appearance of the New Moon I have observed them with open extended Arms then folded, with inclined Bodies, to make their Adorations with much Ardency and Passion: They are divided into many Divisions or Nations, Govern’d by Reguli, or Petty Princes, which our English call Cacicoes. Their Diet is of Fish, Flesh, and Fowl, with Indian Maiz or Corn: their Drink Water, yet Lovers of the Spirits of Wine and Sugar. They have hitherto lived in good Correspondence and Amity with the English, who by their just and equitable Cariage have extreamly winn’d and obliged them; Justice being exactly and impartially administred, prevents Jealousies, and maintains between them a good Understanding, that the Neighbouring Indians are very kind and serviceable, doing our Nation such Civilities and good Turns as lie in their Power.
(Original spelling is used. Not all sections of the narrative are included.)