amatic by the manner in which Percy
introduced the subject. Having described the voyage over, which was
relatively pleasant with the stopover in the beautiful West Indian
islands, and having entertained the reader with startling accounts of
the habits of the savages in Virginia ("making many devillish gestures
with a hellish noise, foming at the mouth, staring with their eyes,
wagging their heads and hands in such a fashion and deformitie as it
was monstrous to behold"), Percy abruptly began listing the names of
the dead as his narrative moved into the late summer months:

The sixt of August there died John Asbie of the bloudie flixe. The
ninth day died George Flowre of the swelling.... The fifteenth day,
their died Edward Browne and Stephen Galthorpe. The sixteenth day,
their died Thomas Gower Gentleman. The seventeenth day, their died
Thomas Mounslic....

The remainder of the description of the significant events of the month
of August is given over entirely to the listing of the deaths. Seldom
did Percy give the cause of individual deaths, but as the narrative
moved into September and near the end of the seasoning period, Percy
stopped his grim listing to comment in general terms upon the unhappy
experience.

According to his diagnosis--and perhaps he was enlightened by Thomas
Wotton and Will Wilkinson, the two surgeons who arrived with the first
settlers--the heavy death toll of August resulted from such ailments as
fluxes, swellings, and burning fevers as well as from famine and
attacks by the Indians.

Percy was of the opinion that the colonists at Jamestown suffered more
during the summer and winter of 1607 than any other Englishmen have
during a colonization venture. Weakened by the debilitating summer and
unable during that period to make the necessary provisions for the
winter, the settlers, their ranks depleted, also fared poorly during
the next five months.

In describing their distress, he revealed the conditions that bred the
diseases and illnesses to which the colonists fell prey. They lay on
the bare ground through weather cold and hot, dry and wet, and their
ration of food consisted of a small can of barley sod in water--one can
for five men. Drinking water came from the river which in turn was salt
at high tide, and slimy and filthy at low. With such food and drink,
the small contingent within the fort lay about for weeks "night and day
groaning in every corner ... most pittif