| Richard of Jamestown|
|by James Otis|
|Follow the fortunes of orphan Richard Mutton as he travels to the New World with Captain John Smith and takes up residence with him in the new colony of Jamestown. See the struggles they go through to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table while the majority of their fellow colonists shirk the work of establishing the colony for the pursuit of gold. Observe how their relationships with the native Americans change over time and how, when they are just on the point of abandoning the colony, a new contingent of colonists arrives to bring fresh hope to the Jamestown settlement. Numerous black and white illustrations complement the text. Ages 8-10 |
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.
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