The Province is divided at present, so far as it is inhabited by English, into Counties, whereof there be ten, viz. St. Maries, Charles, Calvert, Anne Arandel, and Baltemore Counties, which first five lie on the West side of the Bay of Chesapeack; on the Eastern side whereof, commonly call’d The Eastern-Shore, lies Sommerset, Dorchester, Talbot, Cæcil, and Kent Counties, which last is an Island lying near the Eastern-shore of the said Bay.
Besides the Provincial Court aforenam’d, there are other inferior Courts, appointed to be held in every one of the Counties six times in the year, for the dispatch of all Causes, not relating to Life or Member, and not exceeding the value of three thousand weight of Tobacco; the decision of all other Causes being reserv’d to the Provincial or higher Court before-mention’d, and there lies Appeals from the County-Courts, to the Provincial Court.
There are Sheriffs, Justices of the Peace, and other Officers appointed by the Lord and Proprietary, or his Lordships Lieutenant for the time being, in the said respective Counties; and without four Justices, of which one to be of the Quorum, none of the said respective County-Courts can be held; any of his Lordships Privy Council may sit as Judge, in any of the said County-Courts, by vertue of his place.
These Courts are appointed to be held at convenient Houses in the said Counties, which commonly are not far distant from some Inn, or other House of Entertainment, for accommodation of Strangers; one of the said six County Courts in each County is held for settling of Widows and Orphans Estates.
There are Foundations laid of Towns, more or less in each County, according to his Lordships Proclamation, to that effect Issu’d forth in the year 1668. In Calvert County, about the River of Patuxent, and the adjacent Cliffs, are the Bounds of three Towns laid out, one over against Point Patience, call’d Harvy Town, another in Battel-Creek, call’d Calverton, and a third upon the Cliffs, call’d Herrington, and Houses already built in them, all uniform, and pleasant with Streets, and Keys on the Water side. In the County of St. Maries, on the East side of St. Georges River, is the principal and original Seat of this Province, where the general Assembly, and Provincial Courts are held, and is call’d St. Maries, being erected into a City by that Name, where divers Houses are already built: The Governor hath a House there call’d St. John’s; the Chancellor Mr. Philip Calvert, his Lordships Brother, hath another, and in this place is built and kept the Secretaries Office, where all the Records are kept, all Process, Grants, for Lands, Probates of Wills, Letters of Administration are issu’d out: the Plat of a Fort and Prison is lately laid there, upon a point of Land, term’d Windmil-Point, from a Windmil which formerly stood there, the situation is proper, for that it commands the breadth of the said River of Saint Georges; so that when it is finish’d, all Shipping may safely Ride before the Town, without the least fear of any sudden Assault, or Attempt of Pirats or other Enemy whatsoever. This City has formerly been the usual place of abode for his Lordships Lieutenants, and their Retinue; but of late years the present Governor, Mr. Charles Calvert, hath built himself a fair House of Brick and Timber, with all Out-houses, and other Offices thereto belonging, at a place call’d Mattapany, near the River of Patuxent before-mention’d, where he and his Family reside, being a pleasant, healthful, and commodious Seat, about eight Miles by Land distant from St. Maries.
Of the Indians in Mary-land.
The Indians in Mary-land are a People generally of streight, able, and well proportion’d Bodies, something exceeding the ordinary pitch of the English, their Complexion Swarthy, their Hair naturally long and black, without Curle, which generally they cut after some strange Fantastical Mode; nay, sometimes they Dye it with red and other preposterous Colours: They Liquor their Skins with Bears Grease, and other Oyls, which renders them more tawny, and less apt to receive injury from the Weather: They are subtile from their Infancy, and prone to learn any thing their Fancy inclines them to, in other things slothful.
There are as many distinct Nations among them as there are Indian Towns, (which are like Countrey-Villages in England, but not so good Houses) dispers’d throughout the Province: Each Town hath its King (by them term’d Werowance) and every forty or fifty Miles distance differs much from its Neighbors in Speech and Disposition: The Sasquahanocks, though but few in number, yet much exceed the rest in Valor, and Fidelity to the English; the rest being generally of a more Treacherous Spirit, and not so stout, and the number of the English do already exceed all the Indians in the Province.
The Werowance is assisted by Councellors, call’d Wisoes, who are commonly of the same Family, and are chosen at the pleasure of the Werowance: They have Captains in time of War which they term Cockorooses.
Most of their Governments are Monarchical, (except the Sasquahanocks, which is a Re-publick) but for succession they have a peculiar Custom, that the Issue of the Males never succeed, but the Issue-Male of the Female succeed in Government, as the surer side: They all submit to, and are protected by the Lord Proprietaries Government; and in case of any Assault or Murder, committed on any English, the Party offending is try’d by the Laws of the Province; and in case of any new Election of King or Emperor among them, they present the Person so Elected to the Governor for the time being, who as he sees cause, either alters or confirms their Choice.