The earlier explorers had written glowingly about Virginia. It was
touted as a re-creation of the garden of Eden where fruits and vegetables
flourished, wild animals virtually walked into the cooking pot, the natives
were friendly, and with little effort every man would live like a king. But a
Spanish observer, Alonso Suarez de Toledo, who was experienced in the
New World, was closer to the reality the colonists would find: “The land
itself would wage war against them!”
It did. As they stepped ashore, the colonists faced the massive defen-
sive wall of that land—forest, stretching as far as the eye could see.
Brambles and thickets grew out of the swampy ground; and for the first
days the settlers must have just huddled, uncomfortably, on the muddy
riverbank, plagued by mosquitoes and occasional downpours of rain. Once
they got themselves and their supplies ashore and made tents out of sail-
cloth or cobbled together temporary huts, their troubles really began. The
location was poorly chosen, and the colonists did everything they could to
worsen their situation. They argued among themselves, infuriated the origi-
nally friendly natives by stealing corn, and refused to dirty their hands in
American soil. Their toehold on the American continent would have
slipped from under their feet had it not been for the flamboyant soldier of
fortune, Captain John Smith.
Whether or not Smith exaggerated his own role—his determined enemy
George Percy certainly thought so, calling him “an Ambityous, unworthy,
and vayneglorious fellowe Attempteinge to take all Mens Authoreties from
them”—Smith certainly played a constructive part in the new colony. He had
come to America under particularly unhappy circumstances. Accused of
conspiring to mutiny, he was clapped in irons and locked belowdecks. When
the ship’s captain opened his sealed instructions, he was horrified to find
that they named Smith as one of seven members of the colony’s ruling coun-
cil. The other members promptly ejected Smith; so when the ship landed,
Smith went off on his own to explore the hinterland.
Also exploring was George Percy, who shared Smith’s romantic view of
the wilderness. For Percy, it was
flowing over with fair flowers of sundry colours and kinds, as though it
has been in any garden or orchard in England. There be many strawber-Early Days in the Colonies 107