ſuited to the deſign of providence for more ſpeedily peopling the earth, and ſuited to the wandering life of their owners, before any extenſive property in the ſoil or ground was eſtabliſhed. And there can be no doubt, but that moveables of every kind became ſooner appropriated than the permanent ſubſtantial ſoil: partly becauſe they were more ſuſceptible of a long occupancy, which might be continued for months together without any ſenſible interruption, and at length by uſage ripen into an eſtabliſhed right; but principallv becauſe few of them could be fit for uſe, till improved and meliorated by the bodily labour of the occupant: which bodily labour, beſtowed upon any ſubject which before lay in common to all men, is univerſally allowed to give the faireſt and moſt reaſonable title to an excluſive property therein.
The article of food was a more immediate call, and therefore a more early conſideration. Such, as were not contented with the ſpontaneous product of the earth, fought for a more ſolid refreſhment in the fleſh of beaſts, which they obtained by hunting. But the frequent diſappointments, incident to that method of proviſion, induced them to gather together ſuch animals as were of a more tame and ſequacious nature; and to eſtabliſh a permanent property in their ſtocks and herds, in order to ſuſtain themſelves in a leſs precarious manner, partly by the milk of the dams, and partly by the fleſh of the young. The ſupport of theſe their cattle made the article of water alſo a very important point. And therefore the book of Geneſis (the moſt venerable monument of antiquity, conſidered merely with a view to hiſtory) will furniſh us with frequent inſtances of violent contentions concerning wells; the excluſive property of which appears to have been eſtabliſhed in the firſt digger or occupant, even in ſuch places where the ground and herbage remained yet in common. Thus we find Abraham, who was but a ſojourner, aſſerting his right to a well in the country of Abimelech, and exacting an oath for his ſecurity, "becauſe he had digged that well[1]." And Iſaac, about ninety years afterwards, re-claimed this his fa-
- ↑ Gen. 21. 30.
