University of Virginia Library

48. Maryland, My Maryland
BY FATHER ANDREW WHITE (1634)

ON the third of March we sailed into the Chesapeake Bay, bending our course to the north that we might reach the Potomac River. The Chesapeake Bay, ten leagues broad, and four, five, six, and even seven fathoms deep, flows gently between its shores; it abounds in fish when the season of the year is favorable. A more beautiful body of water you can scarcely find.

A larger or more beautiful river than the Potomac I have never seen. The Thames compared with it can scarcely be considered a rivulet. It is not made impure by marshes, but on each shore of solid earth there are beautiful groves of trees, not choked up with an undergrowth of brambles and bushes, but looking as if the place were laid out by hand, in a manner so open that you might freely drive a four-horse coach in the midst of the trees.

At the very mouth of the river we beheld the natives armed. That night fires were kindled through the whole region, and since so large a ship had never been seen by them, messengers were sent everywhere to announce, "a canoe, as large as an island, has brought as many men as there are trees in the woods." We proceeded, however, to the Heron Islands, so called from the immense flocks of birds of this kind.

The first island that: presented itself we called by the name of St Clement's; the second, St. Catherine's, and the third St. Cecilia's; for, having arrived at the wished-for country we gave such names as we

liked to the places that we found. We landed first at St. Clement's, to which the approach is difficult, except by wading, because of the shelving nature of the shore. Here the young women, who had landed for the purpose of washing, were nearly drowned by the upsetting of the boat, and a great portion of my linen was lost no trifling misfortune in these parts

This island abounds in cedar, sassafras, and the herbs and flowers for making salads of every kind, and with the nut of a wild tree, which bears a very hard nut, in a thick shell, with a kernel very small but remarkably pleasant to taste.[179] Since this island was only four hundred acres in extent, however, it did not appear to be a place sufficiently large for a new settlement. Nevertheless, a site was sought for building a fort to shut out foreigners from the trade of the river, and to protect our boundaries.

On the day of the Annunciation of the Holy Virgin Mary, on the twenty-fifth of March, in the year 1634, we offered in this island, for the first time, the sacrifice of the mass: in this region of the world it had never been celebrated before.[180]