University of Virginia Library

TO THOMAS JEFFERSON.[0]

Dear Sir,—I have met with a bundle of old pamphlets
belonging to the public library here, in which
is a map[1] published in 1650, which, from this and other

circumstances, I am pretty confident is of the same
impression with that of Dr. Smith's. It represents
the South Sea at about ten days' travel from the
heads or falls, I forget which, of James River. From
the tenor, however, of the pamphlet to which it is
immediately annexed, and indeed of the whole collection,
there is just ground to suspect that this representation
was an artifice to favor the object of the
publications, which evidently was to entice emigrants
from England by a flattering picture of the advantages
of this country, one of which, dwelt on in all the
pamphlets, is the vicinity of the South Sea, and the
facility it afforded of a trade with the Eastern world.
Another circumstance, which lessens much the value
of this map to the antiquary, is, that it is more modern
by twenty-five years than those extant in Purchase's
Pilgrim, which are referred to in the negotiations between
the British and French Commissaries touching
the bounds of Nova Scotia, as the first of authenticity
relating to this part of the world. If, notwithstanding
these considerations, you still desire that a copy
be taken from the map above described, I shall with
pleasure execute your orders; or if you wish that
a copy of Virginia, or of the whole country, may be
taken from those in Purchase, your orders shall be
equally attended to. I much doubt, however, whether
that book be so extremely scarce as to require a transcript
from it for the purpose you seem to have in view.

Congress have taken no step in the business of the
Western territory since the report of the Committee,
of which I have already given you an account, and
which, we hear, arrived at Richmond on the day of
the adjournment of the Assembly. We wish it to
undergo their consideration, and to receive their
instructions before we again move in it.