Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/518

 Jamestown, in a conference between Necotowance, the new Indian ruler, and representatives of the colonial government, the former, in the name of his people, agreed to abandon all that area of country which extended between the James and York from a line drawn from the falls of the Powhatan to the falls of the modern Pamunkey. No attempt was to be made to disturb their tenure of the region lying between the York and Rappahannock. If any one of the colonists visited the north side of the former stream without having been driven across by stress of weather, or having gone thither for the purpose of gathering sedge, or cutting timber, he was to be considered a felon and punished as such. Necotowance was required to acknowledge that he held his kingdom under the authority of the sovereign of England.

Two years later, the statute declaring it to be a felony in all who sought to establish themselves on the north side of the modern York was repealed. It was now pronounced entirely lawful to make a settlement even on the north side of the Rappahannock. The agreement with the Indians had broken down, the reason given for the infraction of the treaty being that the lands owned by a large proportion of the planters in the country between the York and the James had become incapable of producing good crops of tobacco, and it was, therefore, necessary to grant them the right to remove to parts of the Colony where the soil was still in its virgin condition.

In 1653, the Assembly adopted regulations which assured to the Pamunkey and Chickahominy Indians the fullest protection against all intrusions on their grounds. The right was now given to some of the tribes to dispose of their lands by bargain and sale, provided that the Governor and Council had, after an examination, expressed