minds of the more cultivated and refined members of the band. The dogwood was then in bloom and in itself was sufficient to decorate the long aisles of the primæval woods; there were a thousand other wild flowers to mingle their varied hues with the deep verdure of the trees, but of these flowers, the violet and the rose were among the few mentioned by name in the early narratives, although there must have been many species familiar to English eyes.[1] The briar, honeysuckle, and alder were doubtless as numerous then as they are now, as well as other varieties equally well known in the present age.
One of the most striking features of the primæval forests of Virginia was the number of brooks flowing through them. Immediately upon the first landing at Cape Henry this characteristic was observed, the charm of the clear and copious streams in that vicinity, which found their way through the woods to the sea, being described as ravishing, the delight they excited in the adventurers being all the keener because a long voyage had just been brought to a close.[2] In that age the drinking water of ships was a very frequent cause of pestilence among the passengers, owing to the inferior contrivances for keeping it wholesome. It is an interesting fact to recall that the spot where the excellence of Virginian water was first recognized by English-speaking people was near to the famous Drummond Lake in the Dismal Swamp, which for so long a period enjoyed a special reputation among mariners on account of the length of
- ↑ The violet suggested to the minds of the practical colonists only thoughts of “brothes and sallets.” Works of Capt. John Smith, p. 58. Glover gives the names of a number of plants which he observed in Virginia in the course of his visit to the Colony towards the end of the seventeenth century. See Philo. Trans. Royl. Soc., 1676-1678, vols. XI-XII, p. 629. See also Clayton’s Flora Virginianica.
- ↑ Percy’s Discourse, p. lxi.
