[Sidenote: =The Jamestown colony prospers=]
=41. How the Virginia Colonists Lived.= After the first hardships the
colony grew and prospered. Ships continued to bring settlers from
England and other countries of Europe. In a few years the little
settlement at Jamestown was surrounded on all sides by newly cleared
farms.
[Sidenote: =The planters grow rich=]
To any one living to-day the old colony would seem strange indeed.
There were practically no towns; almost every one lived on a large
farm, called a plantation. On these plantations were great fields of
tobacco, whose broad leaves in summer almost concealed the ground. Here
and there a field of corn could be seen, but little else was grown.
After a time the owners, or planters, built themselves great houses
and kept an army of servants to grow the crops and do the work about
the house. The planters did no work with their hands, but looked after
their estates and enjoyed such pleasures as hunting and horseback
riding. Many of these old places were the scenes of brilliant dinners
and balls at which the fine ladies and gentlemen of the colony gathered.
[Sidenote: =Negro slaves are brought to Virginia=]
Many poor people in England wanted to come to America, but had no
money. To pay for the cost of bringing them over, these people were
forced to work for the planters, often for six years or more. During
this time they were almost slaves, but at the end of their service they
became free. Then negroes were brought from Africa, and soon most of
the work was done by black slaves.
Tobacco supported the colony and made the planters wealthy. It bought
the food, clothes, and luxuries, and paid the taxes. It was even used
as money, and people reckoned the value of an article in pounds of
tobacco, as we do in dollars and cents. Most of the crop was shipped
to England. The plantations lay along creeks or rivers up which boats
could sail from the sea. When the tobacco was cured, it was packed in
hogsheads, which were then rolled on board ship.
[Sidenote: =A famous robber and trader=]
=42. Blackbeard the Pirate.= The streams on which the planters shipped
their goods also served as hiding places for pirates. When these sea
robbers had plundered a ship on the open sea, they would hide away in a
bend of one of the wooded streams. Most famous of these lawless men was
Blackbeard. For years his very name was a terror to sailors along the
coast. He plundered scores of merchant ships before he was run down and
captured.