e
Jamestown, found means to procure an abundant supply of fish. On the
banks of that river the red men themselves were now seldom seen, but
their fires were occasionally observed in the woods.[181:A]

There was no family in the colony so poor as not to have a sufficient
stock of tame hogs. Poultry was equally abundant; bread plenty and good.
For drink the colonists made use of a home-made ale; but the better sort
of people were well supplied with sack, aqua-vitae, and good English
beer. The common diet of the servants was milk-hominy, that is, bruised
Indian-corn, pounded and boiled thick, and eaten with milk. This dish
was also in esteem with the better sort. Hominy, according to Strachey,
is an Indian word; Lord Bacon calls it "the cream of maize," and
commends it as a nutritious diet. The planters were generally provided
with arms and armor, and on every holiday each plantation exercised its
men in the use of arms, by which means, together with hunting and
fowling, the greater part of them became excellent marksmen. Tobacco was
the only staple cultivated for sale. The health of the country was
greatly improved by clearing the land, so that the sun had power to
exhale up the humid vapors. Captain Francis West continued governor till
March, 1628, and he then being about to embark for England, John Pott
was elected governor by the council.

In the year 1629 most of the land about Jamestown was cleared; little
corn planted; but all the ground converted into pasture and gardens,
"wherein doth grow all manners of English herbs and roots and very good
grass." Such is the cotemporaneous statement, but after the lapse of
more than two centuries Eastern Virginia depends largely on the Northern
States for her supply of hay. The greater portion of the cattle of the
colony was kept near Jamestown, the owners being dispersed about on
plantations, and visiting Jamestown as inclination prompted, or, at the
arrival of shipping, come to trade. In this year the population of
Virginia amounted to five thousand, and the cattle had increased in the
like proportion. The colony's stock of provisions was sufficient to feed
four hundred more than its own number of inhabitants. Vessels procured
supplies in Virginia; the number of arrivals in 1629 was twenty-three.
Salt fish was brought from New England; Kecoughtan supplied peaches.

Mrs. Pearce, an honest industrious woman, after passing twenty years in
Virginia, on her return to England rep