513 A. BE. Verrill—The Bermuda Islands. 101 
Capt. John Smith and Governor Butler both state that when a 
small vessel, the “‘ Garland,” of 45 tons, arrived in November, 1619, 
after a voyage of seventeen weeks, many passengers and sailors had 
died, and most of those remaining were ill. Most likely this illness 
was bubonic plague. 
Governor Butler relates that in August, 1620, the magazine ship 
“‘ Joseph” arrived with a very large number of sick persons on 
board; many had died, and the crew were so ill and feeble that they 
were barely able to bring the vessel into port. Twenty to thirty of 
the passengers and crew had died and been thrown overboard, and 
others died after they were landed. No quarantine was practised in 
those days, and scarcely any precautions were used, though the dis- 
ease was known to be infectious. Governor Butler considered it the 
genuine plague. He gave the following account of it:— 
“Truly ther could be noe other judgement or censure passed upon 
this infectious disease than that it was the plaine plague, the purple 
marcks being plentifully discerned upon many of them. And with- 
out doubt, had it bin almost in any other place, it would have 
enlarged itself to a dangerous desolation ; but the exceedinge excel- 
lent salubritie of the ayre surmounted all thes dangers and difficul- 
ties, and in a fewe weekes became such a conquerour as this dreadfull 
infection wholy ceased, and the former wonted health of the Ilands 
was fully recovered.” 
In this connection he also mentions that “in shypeing times” dis- 
eases had many times been brought into the islands and “thus 
recouvered.””* 
He relates that in consequence of his boats being employed in 
taking the sick ones ashore, some of the crews and others took the 
disease, and also mentions that many of the laborers sent out by the 
company were of the lowest classes, ten of the men having been 
taken from Newgate prison and some of the women from Bridewell, 
and intimates that the infection was thought to be due to this class 
of persons. But the wonder is that every vessel was not infected in 
those pestilent years, for we read of no disinfecting or fumigations. 
The fact that the houses in Bermuda were, at that time, all made 
of palmetto leaves, and that the people lived largely in the open air, 
and very plainly, will account for the speedy arrest of the disease. 
In Sept., 1621, the “Joseph” again arrived with many sick 
* Although a pious man, there is no record that Governor Butler ever issued 
a proclamation for fasting and prayer against the spread of the infection. He 
seems to have been in advance of his time in respect to the cause and cure of 
infectious diseases. 
May, 1902. 
co 
co 
TRANS. Conn. Acapb., Vou. XI. 
