548 A. E. Verrill — The Bermuda Islands. 



So much of the time and labor of the people was required for this 

 fortification work that the planting of corn and other crops was too 

 much neglected, so that a famine ensued in the winter of 1614-1615, 

 though this was probably not the only cause of it. Drought and 

 tempests had intervened to destroy their crops in 1613. The Lon- 

 don Company was chiefly to blame for this lack of food, for they 

 required of Mr. Moore, above all else, that he should fortify the 

 place at once, but they did not send out sufficient supplies of any 

 kind. As in many other colonization schemes, there was too much 

 ignorance, cupidity, and gross mismanagement on the part of the 

 Company. 



The " Elisabeth," with 30 colonists, arrived next, about March, 

 1613; the "Martha" arrived in June, 1613, with about 00 passen- 

 gers. The "Elisabeth " brought 40 more passengers in September, 

 1013,* and also the first potato roots. Tobacco was also planted in 

 1613, but it had been raised in 1610 and 1611 by the men left there. 



The population, in 1022, as stated by Governor Butler, was 1500, 

 but he may not have included the women and children. In 102!), it 

 was said by Capt. John Smith to have been between 2,000 and 

 3,000. 



The colonists began at once to cut down and burn the forests of 

 cedar and palmetto, not only in order to clear the land for planting, 

 but for building fortifications, for firewood, and for other purposes. 

 Governor Moore almost immediately began to fortify the hills and 

 islands near St. George's, as instructed by the Company and con- 

 firmed by a special vessel, sent out only six months later to warn 

 him of the expected war with Spain and a probable attack on the 

 islands. This compulsion to build forts before houses, and to mount 

 cannon before planting corn, kept the settlers from planting as 

 much corn and other edibles as they should have done, both at this 

 time and in later years. 



Their first crop of corn was good, according to Hughes (1014), 



* The sending out of these earlier vessels at such unusually short intervals 

 was mainly due to the desire of the Company to l'eceive the exceedingly large 

 and valuable mass of ambergris, weighing about 180 pounds, that the three men 

 that had been left on the islands for two years had found (see pp. 517, 546), and 

 which, at about that time, was valued at 3 pounds sterling to the ounce. 



Governor Moore discreetly divided the mass into three parts, and would only 

 send one portion at a time. As each vessel brought additional supplies, of 

 which they were greatly in need, this course was very beneficial to the people, 

 although it displeased the London Company, for they cai'ed only or chiefly for 

 immediate gain, and wished to cause a rapid rise in the price of the stock of the 

 Company. 



