The toll for grinding was also regulated by the Assembly at this time, to the effect that no master or miller should demand or receive for grinding above one-sixth part of every bushel of Indian corn and one-eighth part of every bushel of wheat, upon penalty of 1000 pounds of tobacco to the uses of his Majesty.

To those who associate the wild animals of Mr. Seton's acquaintance with the regions of the Far West, it will be surprising to learn, perhaps, that 'the English found buffaloes, elks, lions, bears, wolves and deer "in great store" in Maryland, also foxes, beavers, otters and many other sorts of beasts.

They had to import from Virginia and from England their sheep, hogs, cattle and horses. That there was no dearth of flesh, fish and fowl in Maryland and her waters in the beginning of her history we can readily believe when reading the enthusiastic descriptions given by those who first feasted on them.

The wild turkeys are mentioned as plentiful and as weighing fifty pounds and upward. Partridges then filled the meadows and woodlands. In addition to these delicacies were enumerated "swans, cranes, geese, herons, duck, teal, widgeon, brants and pigeons and other sorts whereof are none in England."

Of the fish that inhabit the waters of Maryland, Lord Baltimore says they are "whales, sturgeons, very large and good, in great abundance. There are grampus, porpuses, mullets, trouts, soules, place, mackerall, perch, crabs, oysters, cockles and mussels, but, above all, the fish that have no English names are the best." These must have been our shad, taylor and rock.

No mention is made of the now world-famous diamond

back terrapin, which was so commonly used in Colonial days that it has become a dainty beyond the enjoyment of all but the rich, who now pay fancy prices for the dish which the indentured apprentices refused to eat as a steady diet.

It is not certain to what extent we are indebted to the red man for many secrets in the art of healing, but certainly the settlers acknowledge that "the country affords many excellent things for physick and surgery, the perfect use of which the English cannot yet learn from the natives. They have a root which is an excellent preservative against poison, called by the English snake root. Other roots and herbs they have wherewith they cure all manner of wounds; also saxafas, gummes and balsum." An instance of the Indian's skill in healing is given in which a settler who was suffering with toothache received quick relief by holding in his mouth a piece of a tree root given him for the purpose by an Indian.

In the letters of an indentured apprentice, written to relatives in London some years later, and after the colony was firmly seated and established as a trading point, we learn that between November and January "there arrive in this province shipping to the number of 20 sail and upward, all merchantmen, laden with Commodities to trafique and dispose of, trucking with the Planter for silks, Hollands, serges and with other necessary goods, prized at such and such rates as shall be judged on is fair and legal, for tobacco at so much the pound and advantage on both sides considered-the Planter for his work-the Merchant for adventuring himself and his commodity into so far a country."

We are told by this writer that "the Ketches and Barkes

from New England arrive in September, and bring mostly Wicker Chairs, tin candle sticks, Medeira Wines, salt and sugars." The light thrown on the characteristics of the early Maryland planters by this witty and picturesque Colonial writer is too valuable to pass unnoted.

"Sir," he says to his friend in London, "if you send any adventure to this Province, let me beg to give you this advice in it: That the Factor (or agent) you imploy be a man of brain, otherwise the Planter will go near to make a skimming dish of his skull. I know your genius can interpret my meaning. The people of this place," he continues, "whether the saltness of the ocean gave them any alteration when they first went over, or their continual dwelling under the remote clyme where they now inhabit I know not, are a more acute people in general in matters of trade and commerce than in any other place of the world-to be short he that undertakes merchants' imployment for Maryland must have more Knave than fool in him."