Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/247

 that this privilege should be granted them, and the request received an affirmative response. Being set at liberty, it is stated that they reaped an abundant harvest. It is a point of some interest to know what was the exact relation which they bore to the soil they cultivated in the summer of 1616. Some lands were held in the Colony at this time in fee simple. The probability is that the emancipated laborers of Charles Hundred became tenants, who occupied the same footing as the farmers during the administration of Dale; this seems to be confirmed by the fact that a granary was erected in this Hundred, which, upon the arrival of Argoll in the following year, was found to be full of grain contributed by the tenants.