Ch. iv. Of Em'igrat'wn. 51 



dians. The third experienced the same dismal 

 fate ; and the remains of the fourth, after it had 

 been reduced by famine and disease in the course 

 of six months from 500 to CO persons, were re- 

 turning in a famishing and desperate condition to 

 England, when they were met in the mouth of the 

 Chesapeak bay by Lord Delaware, with a squadron 

 loaded with provisions, and every thing for their 

 relief and defence.* 



The first puritan settlers in New England were 

 few in number. They landed in a bad season, 

 and were only supported by their private funds. 

 The winter was premature and terribly cold ; the 

 country was covered with wood, and afforded very 

 little for the refreshment of persons sickly with 

 such a voyage, or for the sustenance of an infant 

 people. Nearly half of them perished by the 

 scurvy, by want, and the severity of the climate ; 

 yet those who survived were not dispirited by 

 their hardships, but, supported by their energy of 

 character, and the satisfaction of finding them- 

 selves out of the reach of the spiritual arm, re- 

 duced this savage country by degrees to yield a 

 comfortable subsistence. ^ 



Even the plantation of Barbadoes, which in- 

 creased afterwards with such extraordinary rapi- 

 dity, had at first to contend with a country utterly 

 desolate, an extreme want of provisions, a difficulty 

 in clearing the ground unusually great from the 



* Burke's America, vol. ii. p. 219. Robertson, b. ix. p. 83, 86. 

 t Burke's America, vol. ii. p. 144. 



e2 



