Note 106 — Chapter I · HISTORY OF THE PEACH (continued 2)

Lawson, John History of Carolina, 181-183. 1714. Reprinted at Raleigh, 1860. Lawson's History of Carolina contains the best description of the natural resources of the southern Atlantic seaboard published in colonial times. It is a book of nature rather than of history and one of fascinating interest which cannot be read without admiring and loving the author and mourning his sad fate. Poor Lawson was burned at the stake by the Indians in 1711. We cannot refrain from quoting his description of North Carolina as printed on page 79 of his history: "A delicious country, being placed in that girdle of the world which affords wine, oil, fruit, grain, and silk, with other rich commodities, besides a sweet air, moderate climate, and fertile soil. These are the blessings, under Heaven's protection, that spin out the thread of life to its utmost extent, and crown our days with the sweets of health and plenty, which, when joined with content, render the possessors the happiest race of men upon earth."