they
named the promontory at the entrance of Hampton Roads "Point Comfort,"
and the broad river which opened beyond after the king who gave them
their charter. At length they decided upon a tract of land in the
Paspahegh country, distant about thirty-two miles from the river's
mouth; and though a peninsula they called it an island, because of the
very narrow isthmus (long worn away) connecting it with the main-land.
There they landed May 14, 1607 (May 24 New Style), and at the west
end, where the channel of the river came close to the shore, they
constructed a triangular fort with bulwarks in each corner, mounting
from three to five cannon, and within it marked off the beginnings of
a town, which they called Jamestown.[21]

The colonists were at first in high spirits, for the landing occurred
in the most beautiful month of all the year. In reality, disaster was
already impending, for their long passage at sea had much reduced the
supplies, and the Paspaheghs bitterly resented their intrusion.
Moreover, the peninsula of Jamestown was not such a place as their
instructions contemplated. It was in a malarious situation, had no
springs of fresh water, and was thickly covered with great trees and
tall grass, which afforded protection to Indian enemies.

May 22 Captain Newport went up in a shallop with twenty others to look
for a gold-mine at the falls of James River. He was gone only a week,
but before he returned the Indians had assaulted the fort, and his
assistance was necessary in completing the palisades. When Newport
departed for England, June 22, he left one hundred and four settlers
in a very unfortunate condition:[22] they were besieged by Indians; a
small ladle of "ill-conditioned" barley-meal was the daily ration per
man; the lodgings of the settlers were log-cabins and holes in the
ground, and the brackish water of the river served them for drink.[23]
The six weeks following Newport's departure were a time of death and
despair, and by September 10 of the one hundred and four men only
forty-six remained alive.

Under such circumstances dissensions might have been expected, but
they were intensified by the peculiar government devised by the king.
In a short time Gosnold died, and Kendall was detected in a design to
desert the colony and was shot. Then (September 10) Ratcliffe, Smith,
and Martin deposed Wingfield from the government and elected as
president John Ratcliffe.

In such times men of strong character