Trade and the
cultivation of the soil was foreign to their designs and intention on
coming to the continent of the new world, and they were consequently,
disappointed when failing of success. "At a time when the precious
metals were conceived to be the peculiar and only valuable productions
of the new world, when every mountain was supposed to contain a
treasure, and every rivulet was searched for its golden sands, this
appearance was fondly considered as an infallible indication of the
mine. Every hand was eager to dig."...
"There was now," says Smith, "no talk, no hope, no work; but dig gold,
wash gold, refine gold. With this imaginary wealth, the first vessel
returning to England was loaded, while the _culture of the land_, and
every useful occupation was _totally neglected_."...
The colonists, thus left, were in miserable circumstances for want of
provisions. The remainder of what they had brought with them, was so
small in quantity, as to be soon expended--and so damaged in the course
of a long voyage, as to be a source of disease.... In their expectation
of getting gold, the people were disappointed, the glittering substance
they had sent to England, proving to be a valueless mineral. "Smith, on
his return to Jamestown, found the colony reduced to thirty-eight
persons, who, in despair, were preparing to abandon the country.
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