Virginia, too, was “the mother of colonies;” and in 1622, “the adventurous Porey, then secretary of Virginia, travelled overland to the banks of the Chowan, or South River, reporting on his return most favourably of the kindness of the natives, the fertility of the country, and the happy climate, which yielded two harvests in the year.” During the succeeding forty years, his explorations were followed up, and when religious persecution took place in Virginia, dissenters emigrated largely. The country around Albemarle Sound was established by Nonconformists, who had purchased a right to their lands from the aborigines. These settlements were claimed by the new proprietaries of Carolina, and Sir William Berkeley, governor of Virginia and one of the joint proprietors, was ordered by his colleagues to assume jurisdiction over them in their name. Berkeley, however, who knew too well the character of these pioneer-settlers, did not venture to enforce his orders too strictly. Instead of this, he appointed William Drummond, one of the settlers, “a man of prudence and popularity,” to be the governor; and instituting a simple form of government, a council of six members, and an easy tenure of land, left the colony to take care of itself, to enjoy liberty of conscience and the management of its own affairs. “Such,” says Bancroft, “was the origin of fixed settlements in North Carolina. The child of ecclesiastical oppression was swathed in independence.” Besides these settlements of New England and Virginia, several planters of Barbadoes had purchased from the Indians a tract of land thirty-two miles square on Cape Fear River, where the New Englanders had first settled themselves, and now applied to the new proprietaries for a confirmation of their purchase and a charter of government. All their wishes were not granted, but Sir John Yeamans, a cavalier and the head of these Barbadoes planters, was appointed governor, with a jurisdiction extending from Cape Fear to the St. Matheo, the country being called Clarendon. This settlement absorbed that of the New Englanders, who, however, were so far respected that Yeamans was instructed to be “very tender” towards them, to “make things easy to the people of New England, that others might be attracted there.” The colony immediately applied itself to the preparation of boards, shingles and staves, to be shipped to the West Indies, and the same continues to this day to be the staple of that region of pine forests and sterile plains.