surrounding air with the germs of fever, as the Englishmen soon discovered to their cost.[1] The Council had been careful to enjoin that some spot distinguished for its dryness should be selected, but this characteristic was not to be numbered among the physical features of the neighborhood of Jamestown; nor were there any open fields in the immediate vicinity, a fair indication that the Indians did not look upon its soil as of extraordinary fertility, and therefore peculiarly adapted to the production of large crops of maize and vegetables. The primæval woods, which reached to the shore, afforded a secure lurking-place for the savages when meditating an attack, the only means of obstructing their sudden incursions, as well as of providing land for gardens and wheatfields, being to remove the heavy growth of forest, a task tedious in itself, and dangerous in the exposure and exertion to which it led.[2] All these impediments to the success of the Colony might have been avoided in the beginning by the choice of a site where the soil was stripped of woods, and needing only the touch of the hoe and spade to give forth in abundance. The constant struggle against famine might thus have been prevented, and the necessity of depending even partially upon England and the Indians for supplies diminished; the approach of hostile savages could also have been observed and met with the degree of resistance called
- ↑ Clayton, writing in 1688, says: “There’s a swamp runs diagonal wise over the island whereby is lost at least 150 acres of land . . . besides, it is the great annoyance of the town, and no doubt but makes it more unhealthy.” Clayton’s Virginia, p. 23, Force’s Historical Tracts, vol. III. The marshy ground must have been more extensive when the English first took possession of the island. See also Bacon’s Proceedings, p. 24, Force’s Historical Tracts, vol. I.
- ↑ Smith describes the site of Jamestown before the foundation of the settlement as a “thick grove of trees.” Works of Capt. John Smith, p. 610. Hamor refers to the island as being when first seated a “thick wood.” True Discourse, p. 32.
