In 1682, a dressed buckskin was appraised at two shillings four pence and three-quarters, and one undressed at a shilling and two and a quarter pence; the value of a dressed doeskin was fixed at one shilling and nine and a half pence; if undressed, at eleven pence.[1] In the Act for Ports, passed in 1691, but never put in operation, an export duty was laid upon all skins and furs shipped from the Colony, thus being tantamount to a repeal of the law forbidding their exportation. On every raw hide, the export duty was one shilling; on every tanned hide, two shillings; on every buckskin, dressed or undressed, eight pence; on every doeskin, dressed or undressed, five pence; on every elkskin, one shilling. A duty was also placed on the skins of beaver, otter, raccoon, wild-cat, mink, and muskrat.[2]
In 1693, an export duty was laid on skins for the benefit of William and Mary College; on every raw hide, the tax was three pence; on every tanned hide, six pence; on every dressed buckskin, one penny and three farthings; on every undressed buckskin, one penny; on every doeskin dressed, one penny halfpenny; on every undressed doeskin, three farthings. A graduated tax was also laid on the skins of the beaver, otter, raccoon, wild-cat, minx, fox, and muskrat.
Passing from articles of a general character to certain forms of food, or ingredients of food, manufactured in the Colony, it is found that an attempt to produce salt was made as early as 1616. Seventeen men, who were provided for at the expense of the Company, were established at Dale’s Gift at Cape Charles in the course of that year
