verely chastise their insolence and temerity. Such a measure, too. besides affording the people in these quarters greater security than they have ever yet had, it is supposed will be less expensive to the Government than any other that seems to promise equal success. Good judges of work are of opinion that each of these forts, together with its necessary buildings, will not cost more than between £40 and £50, provided the several companies be obliged to assist the undertaker in felling, hewing, sawing, and conveying into place the timber, in digging the trenches for the stockades, and in other services of that nature; and provided forts, built after the model, in the manner, and of the dimensions of that of which you herewith receive a plan, be judged sufficient to answer the end. Men, too. may be had to garrison them with very little bounty; many, perhaps, without any, provided the Government would give them an assurance that they should not be obliged to enter into any other service. When enlisted, they would be less apt to desert than men are from corps of a different denomination, and destined for services of a different nature.
Moreover, the Indians in these garrisons will certainly require less costly clothing, and perhaps be satisfied with lower wages than soldiers are commonly allowed. The white men, too, would be clothed as cheaply, perhaps more so, than soldiers regularly regimented. Several officers thought necessary in corps of this latter denomination, would here be needless; such as colonel, lieutenant-colonel, major, adjutant, quarter-master, pay-master, commissary, and perhaps some others. If I am not mistaken in the pay these several officers receive in the Virginia Regiment, which, according to my calculation amounts to £177 10s. per month, the six hundred men in these forts will be cheaper to the Colony by £2,130
