their time fashioning clapboard and wainscoting
from the trees cut from the surrounding forests.

THE COLONISTS LIVE OFF THE LAND

Finding their limited food supplies spoiled by mold or eaten by a horde
of rats, the offspring of rodents which arrived also on the first ships,
the colonists were forced to the necessity of "living off the country."
In the spring they planted some thirty or forty acres hoping for a
plentiful crop before midsummer. Also, upon taking an inventory of
livestock, they found in all sixty odd pigs, the offspring of three sows
which they originally possessed; and some 500 chickens roamed around
their habitations, feeding from the countryside. Yet, in order not to
tax this supply, sixty or eighty of the colonists were sent down the
river to live on oysters and other seafood, obtainable at and near Old
Point. Sturgeon was plentiful; in fact, there being a greater supply
than could be used, some of the surplus was dried, then pounded, mixed
with the roe and sorrel to provide both bread and meat. Also, an edible
root called _tockwough_ (tuckahoe, a tuberous plant growing in fresh
marshes, with a root similar to that of a potato) was gathered, and
after the Indian fashion, pounded into a meal from which bread was made.

In order to conserve their scarce food supply, the colonists sought to
acquaint themselves with the use of the native resources. To this end, a
number of the settlers were billetted with the Indians. They not only
learned to distinguish the edible roots, berries, leafy plants and
fruits, and how to prepare them, but found the whereabouts of Indian
trails, the location of their villages, and fields where they cultivated
corn, beans, and _apooke_ (tobacco).

[Illustration: Photo of a group in the U. S. National Museum,
Washington, D. C.

Captain John Smith and companions trading with the Indians in Virginia,
1607. The colonists seek corn and furs from the natives in exchange for
beads, trinkets, utensils and cloth.]

SICKNESS AND DISCOURAGEMENT

Yet, a scarce two years in the wilderness hardly equipped the Englishmen
to cope with the altogether new situations which they encountered. Aside
from the lack of adequate provisions for the heavy diet in beef, mutton
and pork to which they were accustomed in England, there were at least
two months of hot, humid weather to which they were not acclimated.
Moreover, during this period, the "sickness"--probably malaria and
yellow fever fro