THE SETTLEMENT OF EBENEZER.

113

of their wondrous deliverances and present joys, Ebenezer, (the stone of help ;) for they could truly say, with the prophet of old, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped

us."

Oglethorpe marked out for them a town; ordered workmen to assist in building houses; and soon the whole body of Germans went up to their new home at Ebenezer. The wanderings of the exiles were over; they were now at rest, where persecution could no more alarm, and where the heart and the tongue, free from the censorship of man in his spiritual life, acknowledged fealty and paid obedience alone to God. How the Salzburgers esteemed their place, may be learned from the Journal of Baron Von Reck, who states: "The lands are enclosed between two rivers which fall into the Savannah. The Salzburg town is to be built near the largest, which is called Ebenezer, in remembrance that God had brought them thither. It is navigable, being twelve feet deep. A little rivulet, whose water is clear as crystal, glides by the town; another runs through it; and both fall into the Ebenezer. The woods here are not so thick as in other places. The sweet zephyrs preserve a delicious coolness, notwithstanding the searching beams of the sun. There are very fine meadows, in which a great quantity of hay might be made with very little pains. The hillocks also are very fit for vines. The cedar, walnut, pine, cypress, and oak, make the greatest part of the woods. There are likewise a great quantity of myrtle-trees, out of which they extract, by boiling the berries, a green wax, very proper to make candles with. There is much sassafras, and a great quantity of those herbs of which indigo is made, and abundance of China roots.

114

OGLETHORPE VISITS ENGLAND.

"The earth is so fertile, that it will bring forth anything that can be sown or planted in it, whether fruits, herbs, or trees. There are wild vines, which run up to the tops of the tallest trees; and the country is so good, that one may ride full gallop twenty or thirty miles an end.

"As to game, here are eagles, wild turkeys, roebucks, wild goats, stags, wild cows, horses, hares, partridges, and buffaloes."

On the first of May, lots were drawn for the houses to be erected at Ebenezer; and a plan was adopted for building a chapel.

Prior to the arrival of the Salzburgers, Oglethorpe, with suitable attendants, had visited the coast and islands to the south. Skirting along the sea-board, and through the inland passages, they reached St. Simons island, and proceeded on to Jekyll; thence returning up the Ogeechee, landed at Fort Argyle, having made a valuable tour of observation along the ocean frontiers of Georgia. The results of this little voyage were of great consequence to the colony, as it placed in his possession a point of defence, which was ultimately to become the Thermopyla of Georgia.

Nothing further occurring to detain him in Georgia, Oglethorpe soon returned to Charleston; and, declining his original purpose of making the tour of the northern colonies, and consequently unable to accept the pressing invitation of the Governor, Council, and Assembly of Massachusetts to visit that province, he embarked in the Alborough, man-of-war, on Tuesday, the 7th of May, for his native land.

29

How stood the colony now? Fifteen months of colonial existence had expired, and the most encour

29 Gent. Mag., 1734, p. 460.

CONDITION OF THE COLONY.

115

aging results were visible. Savannah had been beautifully laid out, with open squares and wide streets, crossing each other at right angles. About forty houses had been built, which, being disposed of in as many large lots, gave an airy and pleasing appearance to the place. A court of judicature had been erected, and the town placed under appropriate municipal officers. To protect it from incursions landward, Oglethorpe had stretched around it a heavy barrier of palisade; while, to guard it seaward, he had erected on the east end of the bluff a small battery of five cannon, commanding the passage of the river. of the river. An ample storehouse, and a guardhouse, near which towered the flagstaff, stood upon the edge of the bluff, upon which goods were landed from vessels lying beneath, by means of a large crane and windlass. At the eastern extremity of the town, he had laid out ten acres as a public garden, and placed it under the care of an experienced gardener. The object of this was, to cultivate in this land, as a nursery, such plants and trees as the Trustees should deem profitable for the colony, and then, having tested their qualities, distribute them to the several settlers, to be cultivated on their respective farms.

To secure the best horticultural stock, the Trust, aided by benefactions from the Earl of Derby, the Duke of Richmond, and Sir Hans Sloane, had commissioned William Houston, an able botanist, to visit Madeira, the West India islands, and the northern parts of South America, to secure vines, roots, seeds, and cuttings of their best and most valuable plants and trees, to propagate in Georgia.

30

Sailing up the river fifteen miles, we find the village

30 Minutes of Common Council of Trustees, i. 5, where articles of agreement are inserted.

116

DESCRIPTION OF THE SETTLEMENTS.

of Abercorn, situated on a creek, three miles from the river, containing ten families. Further up still, we reach Ebenezer, on a river of the same name, emptying into the Savannah, where the energetic Salzburgers are busily engaged in clearing their lands, framing their dwellings, planting their crops, and stockading the town. Eastward of Savannah, on the island of Tybee, lying at the mouth of the river, was begun a large lighthouse, ninety feet high, which, when built, would be the loftiest in America. South from Savannah, four miles, we meet with two small villages, Hampstead and Highgate. East of these, upon Augustine creek, was a good timber fort; and three families at a place called Thunderbolt, so named from a meteoric explosion, which left its sulphurous effects plainly discernible, in the taste of some of its waters. Directly south of Savannah, and upon the banks of the Ogeechee, stood Fort Argyle-a small square fortification of wood, musket-proof, but having no cannon, and garrisoned by a party of rangers, and ten families.

These were the points occupied by the emigrants, and this the condition of the colony, when Oglethorpe left it for England. Some of the people, it is true, had misbehaved, and some had been sick; but their benefactor had appeased their tumults, and visited and nursed the sick; at all times blending the firmness of the magistrate with the humanity of a friend.

The thoughts of benevolence which, far away across the Atlantic, had arisen in the minds of a few philanthropists, were here developed in visible form; beautifully realizing their designs of mercy, making a hundred glad homes in the New World echo back praises to the charity of the old.

CHAPTER III.

PROGRESS OF COLONIZATION.

A VOYAGE of forty days brought Oglethorpe to the shores of England. He returned after an absence of more than eighteen months, having in that brief time led a colony across the Atlantic, planted it in a new country, established treaties of peace and amity with the Indian tribes, settled several frontier villages, advanced many improvements, explored large districts of country, and erected such fortifications as gave efficient protection to the newly-created province. Sharing with the colonists their humble fare, enduring with them their manifold toils, exposing himself for their sakes to the dangers of the climate and the pathless wilds, remaining with them until completely settled, he bore all the fatigues, and perils, and perplexities, and labours incident to the planting of a new colony, with a loftiness of heroism and grandeur of philanthropy truly sublime.

To enlarge the views and strengthen the friendship of the Indians, as well as to interest the people of England in these sons of the American forest, Oglethorpe brought over with him Tomochichi, the King of Yamacraw, Senanky, his wife, Tooanhouie, their nephew, Hillipili, the war captain, five chiefs of the Cherokees, and one of the chiefs of the Palachocalas.