He told me there was no question in his mind but that we were come
to the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, where it had been agreed with the
London merchants we were to go on shore.
Standing at the head of the companionway, but not venturing out
on deck lest I should be sent to some other part of the ship, and
thus be unable to give my master the information which he desired,
I looked out upon what seemed to me the most goodly land that could
be found in all the wide world.
Trees there were of size fit for masts to the king's ships; flowers
bordered the shore until there were seemingly great waves of this
color, or of that, as far as eye could reach, and set within this
dazzling array of green and gold, and of red and yellow, was a
great sea, which Captain Smith said was called the Chesapeake Bay.
We entered for some distance, mayhap three or four miles, before
coming to anchor, and then Master Wingfield, Captain Gosnold, and
Captain Newport went on shore with a party of thirty, made up of
seamen and gentlemen, and my master, who had not so much as stretched
his legs since we sailed from Martinique, was left in his narrow
cabin with none but me to care for him!
I had thought they would open the box containing the instructions
from London, before doing anything else; but Captain Smith was
of the mind that such business could wait until they had explored
sufficiently to find a place where the new town might be built.
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