Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 2.djvu/401

 and the Cheskiack in Gloucester were to be permitted to trade with the English under special regulations adopted by the authorities of the counties in which they resided. Three years subsequent to the passage of this Act, the rules it laid down were found to be the source of so much inconvenience that all obstructions to an absolute free trade with the friendly tribes were removed and the colonists were left at liberty to exchange commodities with them wherever and whenever the interests of both sides dictated. This rule was to remain in force only until the next Assembly convened, but in a few years it was re&euml;nacted in still more explicit terms. It was made &#8220;lawful for all persons at all times and at all places to carry on a free and open trade with all Indians whatsoever.&#8221;

No description of the mercantile condition of Virginia in the seventeenth century would be complete without some reference to the repeated but unsuccessful attempts to establish regular markets in the Colony. The fair was one of the oldest of the trade institutions of the mother country, having its origin and principal encouragement in an age when population was sparse, and when it was therefore necessary to have fixed occasions on which people could come together from a distance and exchange their products. The introduction of the fair into Virginia would have been natural not only on account of the commercial traditions of the inhabitants as scions of the English stock, but also because of the scattered population of the Colony. In 1619, it was decided to hold markets every week at Jamestown, which was one form of the English fair. These markets were to be restricted to Wednesdays and Saturdays. The boundaries of the marketplace were to be carefully laid off. Execution was to issue upon any written and properly attested evidence