The tobacco of Virginia was shipped to England in general bound up in loose bundles, or packed in casks of different sizes. It is stated that when Captain Grey in 1629 sold to the colonists the negroes whom he had seized on board an Angola slaver, he obtained in return for them eighty-five hogsheads and five butts.[1] The roll, however, was not uncommon at this time or a few years later.[2] One of the strongest grounds of opposition to contracts was that such agreements required that the tobacco should be prepared for transportation in this shape. It would seem that there were several reasons for objecting to the roll, both on the part of the planter and of the English or foreign purchaser. To compress the leaf into this form made necessary a degree of manipulation that prolonged the process beyond the time to which its shipment was by law restricted; it not only led to great delay and imposed serious labor, but it also caused much waste. The interests of the buyer were impaired by the fact that the shape of the roll allowed worthless leaf to be introduced with it in a position difficult to detect without breaking the whole mass; foreign substances could also be inserted with a view to increasing its weight.[3] The wrapper was a recognized term as early as 1625, tobacco of the finest quality bearing this name being doubtless used for the outer covering of the roll. It is not strange to find that the leaf when tied in bundles sold more readily, and at higher prices in all of the foreign markets than when made up in a more compact form.[4]
- ↑ Dom. Cor. Charles I, vol. 105, No. 35. See Chapter on Slaves.
- ↑ Records of Lower Norfolk County, Court Orders, May 25, 1640, folio p. 16.
- ↑ Governor Yeardley to the Privy Council, British State Papers, Colonial, vol. IV, No. 21; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1627, pp. 155, 156, Va. State Library.
- ↑ Considerations Touching new Contract of Tobacco, British State Papers, vol. III, No. 32; McDonald Papers, vol. I, p. 150, Va. State Library.
