Accompanying Papers, 1676-7. 199

said Claiborne had could not amount unto above the said
number of 900 or 1000 Beavers, and for all the yeares following
this deponent knoweth that the trade hath growne deerer and
deerer, and the said Claiborne did give greater rates and
greater presents then formerly to induce the Indians to sell
theire Beaver unto him, and this deponent beleeveth that the
ordinary prize of Beaver in the yeares aforesaid in Virginia
betweene the English hath beene formerly 8^s or 9^s a pound,
and att this time about 6^s the pound.
Ad 12. dicit et deponit That the said Claborne did bring
to the said Hand divers Neate Cattle out of Virginia to the
number of 28 or 30 at least as this deponent beleeveth for ells
such a stocke of Cattle as the said Claiborne had att his goeing
of, of the said Hand being 150 at the least could not have beene
soe soone raised with a lesse number, and the milke of the
said Cattle was a great nourishment to the people on the said
Hand both in sicknes and in health And that_ this deponent
and most or all of the freemen on the said Plantation would
have beene willing to have given above 100^lbs of Tobacco
yearely for the milke of everie Cowe and they the said freemen
to have kept the said Cows and att the end of the yeare to
have restored the said Cowes with theire encrease, the like
bargaine of hiring, lending and restoring of Cattle is usuall in
Virginia, And that if the grasse on the said Hand bee not fedd
it wasteth, fadeth and burneth away, and is of noe value, And
further deposeth not.
Ad 13. dicit et deponit That the said Claborne did most of
the time of his trading with the Indians want truckingstuffe
especially the 2 first yeares after the said fire, and that the said
Claborne told this deponent he did daylye expect to receive a
supplie from his partners in England, and that the said Cla-
borne thereupon did provide boates, men and all things neces-
sary, And (as this deponent beleeveth) if the said Claiborne
had not wanted truckingstuffe the said two yeares being before
the Marylanders came to Maryland, he might have yearely
bought 3000 skinns at least more then he did with the same
boates, men and meanes soe provided as aforesaid or with
little more charge, soe that the want of trucking stuffe and the
unnecessary providing of necessaries in expectation of trucke
was a great damage to the said Joint stocke and harmed not
by any default or neglect in the said Claborne soe farr as this
deponent could conceave, And further deposeth not.
Ad 14, dicit et deponit That all or most of the time of the
said Claborne's aboade on the said Hand after the foresaid fire,
there was great want of Ammunition as Powder, shott and
Gunns whereby the said Trade was hindred and the Plantation
was in great danger to bee lost and the men cutt of by the

P. R. O.

Colonial
Papers.