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Chapter VII
Colonization of Maryland.
the limits of
Virginia, by its second charter, ex-
tended two hundred miles north of
Old Point Comfort, and therefore included all the soil which subsequently formed the
state of Maryland.
It was not long before the country towards the head of the
Chesapeake was explored; settlements in Accomack were extended; and commerce was begun with the tribes which
Smith had been the first to visit.
Porey, the secretary of the colony, ‘made a discovery into the
great bay,’ as far as the
River Patuxent, which he ascended; but his voyage probably reached no farther to the north.
The English settlement of a hundred men, which he is represented to have found already established,
1 was rather a consequence of his voyage, and seems to have been on the eastern shore, perhaps within the limits of
Virginia.
2 The hope ‘of a very good trade of furs,’ animated the adventurers; and if the plantations advanced but slowly, there is yet evidence, that commerce with the Indians was earnestly pursued under the sanction of the colonial government.
3
An attempt was made to obtain a monopoly of this commerce
4 by
William Clayborne, whose resolute and