In the narratives that have come down to us from the men who took part in the early exploration of Virginia, there are found here and there details as to the special character of its soil at the time of the original settlement. A writer, who was one of the voyagers of 1607, informs us, that the present Cape Henry, at which point the first landing was made, was a low tract of sand, but as the Powhatan was followed the banks rose in height, and the soil became indescribably fertile. He reported that this soil was so aromatic that it imparted a spicy flavor to the roots of the herbs, plants, and trees springing from it. In appearance it was a dark sandy mould, that was sweet to the taste and very slimy to the touch. When penetrated to the depth of several feet, a substratum of red clay was exposed to view in many localities, while in others a substratum of marl, gravel, or stone. According to the same writer, fuller’s earth and a terra sigillata, similar to the variety found in Turkey, cropped out in abundance.[1]
Smith, who enjoyed still larger opportunities of examining the physical character of the new country, observed the same peculiarities in the soil.[2] The narrow point of land at Cape Henry, which the writer quoted described as a low sandy tract, reminded Smith in its drifted sands of the downs[3] of England. Describing the valley of the Powhatan, he declares that its great fertility was obvious
- ↑ Description of the New Discovered Country, British State Papers, Colonial, vol. I, 15, I; Winder Papers, vol. I, p. i, Va. State Library.
- ↑ Works of Capt. John Smith, pp. 48, 49. “The higher ground,” remarks Alexander Whitaker in his Good Newes from Virginia, “is much like unto the molde of France, clay and sand being proportionately mixed together at the top, but if we digge any depth (as we have done for our bricks), we finde it tobee redde clay full of glistening spangles.” Brown’s Genesis of the United States, p. 584.
- ↑ The word used is “down,” probably, in the sense of “dune.”
