‘But the principal object I have had in view, and what I look upon to be the most interesting and deserving part of this work, is the account I have given of the interior parts of North America, which though concise, and vastly short of what I should be glad to exhibit, I flatter myself is as full and perfect as any at present to be come at. Certain I am, that no one man besides has traveled over and seen so much of this part of the country as I have done; and if my remarks and observations relative thereto are injudicious or wrongly placed, it is not owing to any want of attention to the subject, but merely to a want of skill. What is comprehended under the appellation of the interior country of America, is of itself a larger territory than all the continent of Europe, and is at present mostly a desart, uninhabited, except by savages: it cannot therefore be reasonably expected that any one man has it in his power to give a just and minute account of its several parts, but that he must pass over large tracts of country in very general terms, and in many things depend upon the reports of others, or proceed upon his own uncertain conjectures.
‘This wide-extended country may naturally enough be considered under three general divisions, occasioned by the three great rivers that take their rise near the center of it, namely, St. Lawrence, the Christino, and the Mississipi. The first of these I have traced, and am pretty well acquainted with the country adjacent to it as far up as Lake Superior, and with the country from the Green Bay westward to the Mississipi, and from thence down to the mouth of the Mississipi at the gulph of Mexico. I have also travelled the country adjacent to the Ohio and its principal branches, and that between the Ohio and the Lakes Erie and Meshigan, and the countries of the southern Indians. But as to the country above Lake Superior, I have my intelligence chiefly from Indians, or from prisoners that have travelled with them into it. The same is the case as to the country at the head of the Mississipi, and that adjacent to the river Misauris. The Christino I have taken wholly from the Indians: and though the accounts they have given me of these countries are large, and in some particulars very inviting, yet I shall do little more than mention their names, till I have better authority to go upon.
‘In the account I have subjoined of the Indians, their customs, manners, &c. I have purposely omitted many things related by others who have wrote on that subject: some, because they are false, and others, because they are trite and trifling; and have only mentioned such as I thought most distinguishing and absolutely necessary to give a just idea of the genius and policy of that people, and of the method in which they are to be treated, in order to our having any safe and advantageous commerce with them. And, without vanity, I may say, that the long and particular acquaintance I have had with several tribes and nations, both in peace and war, has at least furnished me with materials to treat the subject with propriety.’
As we have had many contradictory accounts of the two Floridas, part of our newly acquired territories; and as many of our Readers may be at a loss what idea to form of those settlements, we shall present them with Major Rogers’s account of them entire: which will likewise serve as a specimen of his brief way of mentioning the elder Colonies, most of which he has described with nearly the same brevity.
‘The country south of Georgia, and between that and the Mississippi river, an extent of about 600 miles, was by the Spaniards called Florida, which name it still retains; but is now divided by the English into two provinces, viz. East and West Florida.
‘East Florida is bounded north by Georgia, or St. John’s river, which divides them; eastwardly and southwardly, by the gulph of Florida; south-west, by West Florida; and north-west, by the country of the Creek Indians.
‘The Spaniards attempted a settlement at St. Augustine in this province in 1512; however they were obliged to abandon this attempt, by reason of the savages, and other inconveniences, they not being properly supplied with necessaries to go through with it. In 1565 they again took possession, and erected a fort called St. Augustine, which commanded a convenient harbour for their ships trading between Spain and America; but there being a constant war between the Spaniards and Creek Indians, greatly prevented the enlarging their settlements here. They maintained their garrison (though several attempts were made to reduce it by the Carolinians, and afterwards by General Oglethorpe) till the conclusion of the late war, when the garrison and the whole territory of Florida was ceded to the crown of Great Britain, by the treaty of Fountainbleau, in 1762. His Britannic Majesty being absolute sovereign of the soil, has the appointment of the governors in both of the Floridas.
‘The soil of East Florida is not so good as that of Georgia in general; but the northerly part of it adjacent to Georgia is much like it, and may be improved to all the purposes that Georgia is, viz. for raising of corn, rice, indigo, silk, wine, &c. and again, in the west part of the province is some very good land, capable of being improved to great advantage.
‘The centre or Cape of Florida is a more sandy soil; however, there are some good settlements begun in this province, under the direction of Colonel Grant, the present Governor of it, and there is a prospect of it soon becoming a flourishing province; and as inhabitants are flocking to it from several countries in Europe, there is no doubt but in a short time it will be considerable.
‘Their exports at present are but small, the produce of their trade with the Indians being the chief they have to spare. As the country was three years since almost entirely uncultivated, and the number of inhabitants as yet but small, no great improvements and productions are at present to be expected; but, undoubtedly, this country is capable of producing rice, indigo, silk, wine, oil, and other valuable commodities in great abundance. As the country is new, it has great plenty of all kinds of wild game, common to the climate. The metropolis of the province is St. Augustine. The number of inhabitants, exclusive of his majesty’s troops garrisoned there, is, as I am told, about 2000.