This village was the firft that was bvilt, and the firft
that was cultivated on the idand. It hath not been, how-
ever, fo much on acco^int of its antiquity as of its conve-
nience, that it enjoys the advantage of having become the
centre of communication between the colony and >he mo«
ther country. At .firft, St. Peters was the ilofehoufe for
the commodities of fome diftri6ls» which lay along fuch
dreary and tempeiluous coafts, that no (hip could ever get
at them ; fo that the inhabitants could carry on no traule
without removing elfewhere. The agents for thefe colon*
lib in thofe early times, were only the mafters of fmall
^elfels, who having made themfelves known, by continually
failing about the ifland, were enticed, by the profpe6l of
gain, to fix upon a fettled place for their refidence. Ho-
nefty was the only fupport of this intercourfe ; moft. of
theft agents < could not read. None of them kept any
books or journals. They had a ttunk, in which they kept



3cok XIIT. IN THE KAST AND WEST INDHE5, JJI

a ieparate bag for each perfoa^ wboiie bafindb they traoT*
a6k^« Into this bag they put the produce of the £aks»
ai>d took out what money ^ey wanted for the purdhtfes*
When the bag was empty, the commifiuui was at an end*
This confidence, which muft appear ifebulous in our dap of
degeneracy and difhonefty, was yet common at the b^^in*
ning of this century. There are Ibme perfons ftill livmg^
who have carried oa this trade,, where the employer had no
other .(eourrty for the fideh'ty of his agent, but the benefit
refulting from it.
