Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 2.djvu/537

 be gained by transporting it either across country or by water to some far-off point which might have been fixed upon by law as a port of entry. There was not the slightest justification for such a course of action in any advantage which it might secure. On the contrary, every interest of the planter was opposed to it. There was a risk attending the shipment for a long distance in the shallop to be incurred, as well as the increased freight charges to be paid. By rolling his hogsheads directly on board of a seagoing vessel which had dropped anchor at his own wharf, or only a few miles away, he not only escaped all the perils to which his crop would have been exposed if conveyed for a distance in a frail boat heavily loaded, but he also retained the amount which he would otherwise have been compelled to expend in freight. The charge for transportation from his own wharf to England was the same as the charge from Jamestown or any other authorized port of entry. The cost of hiring a shallop was saved, or the inconvenience and loss of valuable time entailed in sending his servants and slaves in his own boats avoided.

The presence of a navigable stream near every plantation not only furnished its owner with a convenient highway for the removal of his tobacco to market, but it also enabled him to secure his imported supplies without the expense, inconvenience, or delay of sending for them beyond the bounds of his own estate. The ship could unload its cargo at his wharf, and there, too, he made his purchases or received the articles consigned to him by his English merchant.

The only place in Virginia previous to 1700 to which the name of a town could, with any degree of appropriateness, be applied, was Jamestown, and even this settlement never rose to a dignity superior to that of a village. The first structure bearing a resemblance to a house erected on