The Life of the Rev. George Whitefield, Volume 1 (of 2)Tyerman, L. (Luke)
History
The Life of the Rev. George Whitefield, Volume 1 (of 2)
Tyerman, L. (Luke)
Whitefield, George, 1714-1770
Many immense tracts of country could scarcely be said to have any
population whatever; and yet there was an almost countless number of
Indian tribes, differing but little from each other in their usages
and manners, and forming a striking picture of human antiquity. Most
of them were tall and strong, their countenances fierce, and their
skins brown, and not improved by the constant use of rude cosmetics.
The only occupations of the men were war and hunting. Agriculture
was left to the women. Most of their time, however, was spent in
sleeping, loitering, jesting among their friends, and eating and
drinking enormously. Some held the existence of a Supreme Being;
but none knew how to worship Him. They abounded in superstitions,
observed omens and dreams, pryed into futurity with the utmost
eagerness, and greatly relied on diviners, augurs, and magicians, in
all affairs that concerned them, whether of health, war, or hunting.
But enough of this. For the present, Georgia only was Whitefield's
sphere of labour. In the year 1732, the Government of England,
observing that a large tract of land, between Carolina and the
borders of the Spanish Florida, was uncultivated and unsettled,
resolved to erect it into a separate province, and to found a
colony. They were induced to do this, (1) because the land lay on
the frontier of all the English provinces, naked and defenceless,
and exposed Carolina especially to attacks from the Spaniards and
Indians; and (2) because it was believed that the region might
be utilised by the growth of wine, oil, and silk. This useless
territory extended along the Atlantic coast for a distance of about
sixty miles; and into the interior, from a hundred and fifty to
three hundred miles, as far as the Alleghany mountains.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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