172                                                 smith's Virginia.
comes fatter and better ; by this means, the country is fo replenifhed with hens and
turkies, within the fpace of three or four years, that many of them being neglected,
forfake the houfes, and become wild, and fo live in great abundance ; the like increafe
there is in hogs, tame conies, and other cattle, according to their kinds. There feems
to be a continual fpring, which is the caufe fome things come not to that maturity and
perfection as were requifite ; and though the trees fhed their leaves, yet they are al-
ways full of green ; the corn is the fame they have in Virginia and the Weft-Indies :
of this and many other things without plowing or much labour, they have two
harvefts every year, for they fet about March, which they gather in July ; and again in
Auguft, which they reap in December ; and little flips of fig-trees and vines do ufually
bear fruit within the year, and fometimes in lefs ; but we find not the grapes as yet
come to any perfection ; the like fertility it hath in oranges and lemons, pomegranates,
and other things. Concerning the ferenity and beauty of the fky, it may as truly be
faid of thofe iflands as ever it was faid of the Rhodes, that there is no one day through-
out the twelve months, but that in fome hour thereof, the fun looks fingularly and
clear upon them, for the temperature it is beyond all others moft admirable ; no cold
¦ there is beyond an Englifh April, nor heat much greater than an ordinary July in
France, fo that froft and fnow is never feen here, nor ftinking and infectious mills very
feldom, by reafon of the main ocean, there is fome wind ftirring that cools the air ; the
winter they have obferves the time with ours, but the longeft days and nights are
Ihorter than ours almoft by two hours.
We found it at firft all overgrown with weeds and plants of feveral kinds, as many
tall and goodly cedars, infinite ftore of palmetoes, numbers of mulberries, wild olive-
trees ftore, with divers others, unknown both by name and nature, fo that as they be-
come loft to many ufeful employments, which time and induftry, no doubt, will one
day difcover, and even already certain of the moft notorious of them have gotten them
appellations from their apparent effects, as the prickle-pear which grows like a fhrub
by the ground, with broad thick leaves, all over armed with long and fharp dangerous
thorns, the fruit being in form not much unlike a fmall green pear, and on the outfide
of the fame colour, but within blood red, and exceeding full of juice, with grains not
much unlike the pomegranate, and colouring after its nature. The poifoned weed is
much in fhape like our Englifh juy, but being but touched, caufeth rednefs, itching»
-and laftly, blifters, the which, howfoever, after a while pafs away of themfelves, with-
out further harm ; yet becaufe for the time they are fomewhat painful, it hath got
itfelf an ill name, although queftionlefs of no ill nature. Here is alfo frequently grow-
ing a certain tall plant, whofe ftalk being all over covered with a red rind, is thereupon
termed the red weed, the root whereof being foaked in any liquor, or but a fmall
quantity of the juice drunk alone, procures a very forcible vomit, and yet- is generally
ufed by the people, and found very effectual againft the pains and diftempers of
the flomach.
A kind of woodbine there is likewife by the fea very commonly to be found, which
runs upon trees, twining itfelf like a vine ; the fruit fomewhat refembles a bean, but
fomewhat flatter, the which, any way eaten, worketh excellently in the nature* of a
purge, and though very vehemently, yet without all peril. Contrary to this, another
fmall tree there is, which caufeth coftivenefs : there is alfo a certain plant like a bramble-
bufh, which bears a long yellow fruit, having the fhell very hard, and within it a grey
berry, that beaten and taken inwardly purgeth gently. There is another fruit, much
like our barberries, which being beaten or bruifed between the teeth, fets all the mouth
©n an extreme heat, very terrible for the time ; to avoid which, they are fwallowed
down