Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/326

 been suggested, as early as 1623, that a pale should be built from a point on James River, in the limits of Martin&#8217;s Hundred, to Cheskiack on the Charles, a distance of six miles; by this means, an area that was three hundred thousand acres in extent would be enclosed, furnishing a vast body of land, to serve as a range for cattle. It could also in part be used for supporting a large population. In 1626, Samuel Mathews and William Claiborne offered to erect the palisade, and to build houses at a short interval along its line; they calculated the whole cost of construction at twelve hundred pounds sterling, and the expense of maintaining the houses and the palisade in good repair at one hundred pounds sterling a year. They required, as a condition of their contract to carry out this project, that a grant should be made to them of the soil along the line of the palisade to the extent of six score poles on either side. Within these limits, they were to seat men, who would perform the important service of guards. The design at the time was to raise a large stock of oxen, horses, and asses in this protected enclosure, to be used in expeditions against the Indian tribes inhabiting the surrounding country.

In 1630, the price of Virginian tobacco sank to less than one penny a pound. The planters had for several years found themselves cultivating this crop at little if any