Richard of Jamestown | Page 8

sport and to hunt, save
always either Captain Martin or Captain Kendall, who remained on
board to watch the poor prisoner, while he, my master, lay in his
narrow bed sweltering under the great heat.
During all this while, the seamen and our gentlemen got much profit
and sport from hunting and fishing, adding in no small degree to our
store of food. Had Captain Smith not been kept from going on shore by
the wickedness of those who were jealous because of his great fame as
a soldier, I dare venture to say our stay at this island of Nevis would

have been far more to our advantage.
From this place we went to what Master Hunt told me were the Virgin
islands, and here the men went ashore again to hunt; but my master,
speaking no harsh words against those who were wronging him, lay in
the small, stinging hot room, unable to get for himself even a cup of
water, though I took good care he should not suffer from lack of kindly
care.
Then on a certain day we sailed past that land which Captain Gosnold
told me was Porto Rico, and next morning came to anchor off the
island of Mona, where the seamen were sent ashore to get fresh water,
for our supply was running low.
Captain Newport, and many of the other gentlemen, went on shore to
hunt, and so great was the heat that Master Edward Brookes fell down
dead, one of the sailors telling Nathaniel that the poor man's fat was
melted until he could no longer live; but Captain Smith, who knows
more concerning such matters than all this company rolled into one,
save I might except Master Hunt, declared that the fat of a live person
does not melt, however great the heat. It is the sun shining too fiercely
on one's head that brings about death, and thus it was that Master
Brookes died.

A VARIETY OF WILD GAME
Our gentlemen who had the heart to make prisoner of so honest,
upright a man as my master, did not cease their sport because of what
had befallen Master Brookes, but continued at the hunting until they
had brought down two wild boars and also an animal fashioned like
unto nothing I had ever seen before. It was something after the manner
of a serpent, but speckled on the stomach as is a toad, and Captain
Smith believed the true name of it to be Iguana, the like of which he
says that he has often seen in other countries and that its flesh makes
very good eating.
If any one save Captain Smith had said this, I should have found it hard
to believe him, and as it was I was glad my belief was not put to the test.
Two days afterward we were come to an island which Master Hunt
says is known to seamen as Monica, and there it was that Nathaniel
went on shore in one of the boats, coming back at night to tell me a
most wondrous story.

He declared that the birds and their eggs were so plentiful that the
whole island was covered with them; that one could not set down his
foot, save upon eggs, or birds sitting on their nests, some of which
could hardly be driven away even with blows, and when they rose in
the air, the noise made by their wings was so great as to deafen a
person.
Our seamen loaded two boats full of the eggs in three hours, and all in
the fleet feasted for several days on such as had not yet been spoiled by
the warmth of the birds' bodies.
It was on the next day that we left behind us those islands which
Captain Smith told me were the West Indies, and the seaman who stood
at the helm when I came on deck to get water for my master, said we
were steering a northerly course, which would soon bring us to the land
of Virginia.

THE TEMPEST
On that very night, however, such a tempest of wind and of rain came
upon us that I was not the only one who believed the Susan Constant
must be crushed like an eggshell under the great mountains of water
which at times rolled completely over her, so flooding the decks that
but few could venture out to do whatsoever of work was needed to keep
the ship afloat. After this fierce tempest, when the Lord permitted that
even our pinnace should ride in safety, it was believed that we were
come near to the new world, and by day and by night the seamen stood
at the rail, throwing the lead every few minutes in order to discover if