If this story is true, it is
very remarkable indeed; and I thought it worth telling, because the
author was a person who, they say, might be credited.
This town has a kind of jurisdiction upon the River Tamar down to
the mouth of the port, so that they claim anchorage of all small
ships that enter the river; their coroner sits upon all dead bodies
that are found drowned in the river and the like, but they make not
much profit of them. There is a good market here, and that is the
best thing to be said of the town; it is also very much increased
since the number of the inhabitants are increased at the new town,
as I mentioned as near the dock at the mouth of Hamoaze, for those
people choose rather to go to Saltash to market by water than to
walk to Plymouth by land for their provisions. Because, first, as
they go in the town boat, the same boat brings home what they buy,
so that it is much less trouble; second, because provisions are
bought much cheaper at Saltash than at Plymouth. This, I say, is
like to be a very great advantage to the town of Saltash, and may
in time put a new face of wealth upon the place.
They talk of some merchants beginning to trade here, and they have
some ships that use the Newfoundland fishery; but I could not hear
of anything considerable they do in it. There is no other
considerable town up the Tamar till we come to Launceston, the
county town, which I shall take in my return; so I turned west,
keeping the south shore of the county to the Land's End.
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