General Oglethorpe received a letter, dated Ebenezer, March 13, 1739, signed by forty-nine men of the Saltzburgers and verified by their Ministers, in which they assured him that they were well settled and pleased with the climate and condition of the country; that although the season was hotter than that of their native land, having become accustomed to it, they found it tolerable and convenient for working people; and that their custom was to commence their out-door labor early in the morning and continue it until ten o’clock; resuming it again from three in the afternoon until sun-set. During the heated term of mid-day, matters within their houses engaged their attention. The General was also informed that they had practically demonstrated the falsity of the tale told them on their arrival that rice could be cultivated only by negroes. “We laugh at such a Talking,”—so they wrote, “seeing that several People of us have had, in last Harvest, a greater Crop of Rice than they wanted for their own Consumption. Of Corn, Pease, Potatoes, Pumpkins, Cabbage, &c., we had such a good Quantity that many Bushels are sold, and much was spent in feeding Cows, Calves and Hogs.” The letter concludes with an earnest petition that negroes should be excluded from their town and neighborhood, alleging as a reason that their houses and gardens would be robbed by them, and that, “besides other great inconveniences, white people were in danger of life from them.”[15] Of humble origin and moderate education, of primitive habits, accustomed to labor, free from covetousness and ambition, temperate, industrious, frugal and orderly, solicitous for the education of their children and the maintenance of the needy and the orphan, meddling not in the affairs of their neighbors, acknowledging allegiance to the Trustees and the King of England, maintaining direct connection with the Lutheran Church in Germany, and submitting without question to the decisions of their ministers and elders in all matters, whether of a civil or ecclesiastical nature, engaging in no pursuits save of an agricultural or a mechanical character, and little given either to excitement or wandering, these Saltzburgers for years preserved the integrity of their community and their religion, and secured for themselves a comfortable existence. As early as 1738 the Saltzburgers at Ebenezer made some limited experiment in growing cotton and were much encouraged;—the yield being abundant, and of an excellent quality. The Trustees, however, having fixed their hopes upon silk and wine, the cultivation of this plant was not countenanced.[16] It was estimated by Mr. Benjamin Martyn, Secretary of the Trustees, that up to the year 1741, not less than twelve hundred German Protestants had arrived in the Colony. Their principal settlements were at Ebenezer, Bethany, Savannah, Frederica, Goshen, and along the road leading from Savannah to Ebenezer. They were all characterized by industry, sobriety, and thrift.