There were many who believed, because there were no women in our midst,
we should spare our labor in the way of keeping cleanly, and before we
had been in the new village a week, the floors of many of the dwellings
were littered with dirt of various kinds, until that which should have
been a home, looked more like a place in which swine are kept.
From the very first day we came ashore, good Master Hunt went about
urging that great effort be made to keep the houses, and the paths
around them, cleanly, saying that unless we did so, there was like to be
a sickness come among us. With some his preaching did good, but by far
the greater number, and these chiefly to be found among the self called
gentlemen, gave no heed.
It was as if these lazy ones delighted in filth. Again and again have
I seen one or another throw the scrapings of the trencher bowls just
outside the door of the tent or hut, where those who came or went
must of a necessity tread upon them, and one need not struggle hard to
realize what soon was the condition of the village.
After a heavy shower many of the paths were covered ankle deep with
filth of all kinds, and when the sun shone warm and bright, the stench
was too horrible to be described by ordinary words.