e of prosperity famines
occurred that bore with fearful weight upon the servants. In 1636
there was great scarcity of food and in that year 1,800 persons
perished. A servant, in 1623, complained in a letter to his parents
that the food that was given him would barely sustain life, and that
he had often eaten more at home in a day than was now allowed him for
a week.[186]

But if the servant survived all these dangers, if he escaped disease,
starvation and the tomahawk, his task was not yet finished. He had
then to build for himself a place in society. When the servant was
discharged, upon the expiration of his term, he was always given some
property with which to start life as a freeman. In the days of the
Company, each was granted 100 acres of land, and, when this was
seated, each was probably entitled to an additional tract of the same
extent. After 1624 the servant received, at the end of his term of
indenture, no allotment of land, but was given instead enough grain to
sustain him for one year. Also he was to receive two sets of apparel,
and in Berkeley's time a gun worth twenty shillings.[187] The
cheapness of land made it easy for these men to secure little farms,
and if they were sober and industrious they had an opportunity to
rise. They might acquire in time large estates; they might even become
leaders in the colony, but the task was a hard one, and those that
were successful were worthy of the social position they obtained.

It is of importance to note that of the servants that came to the
colony but a small number married and left descendants. Women were by
no means plentiful. During the earlier years this had been a drawback
to the advancement of the colony, for even the most prosperous
planters found it difficult to secure wives. It was this condition of
affairs that induced the Company to send to Virginia that cargo of
maids that has become so famous in colonial history. As years went on,
the scarcity of women became a distinct blessing, for it made it
impossible for the degraded laborer, even though he ultimately secured
his freedom, to leave descendants to perpetuate his lowly instincts.
Of the thousands of servants whose criminal instincts or lack of
industry made it impossible for them to become prosperous citizens,
great numbers left the colony. Many went to North Carolina. As
Virginia had served as a dumping ground for the refuse of the English
population, so did this new colony furnish a vent for