Keeping well and healthy, even managing to stay alive in the unfamiliar Virginia wilderness during the first two decades of the Jamestown settlement, was no easy matter. In the group of 105 original settlers, 67 died during the first 8 months. During the hard winter of 1609-10 (known as the "starving time"), the population dwindled from 500 to about 60 as a result of sickness, Indian attacks, and famine. One of the members of the first colony was a surgeon, William Wilkinson by name. As the colony grew, other surgeons, physicians, and apothecaries, emigrated to Virginia. Their lot was not easy, for it appears that they were seldom idle in an island community having more than its share of "cruell diseases, Swellings, Flixes, Burning Fevers, warres and meere famine." During archeological explorations, drug jars, ointment pots, bleeding bowls, mortars and pestles, small bottles and vials, and parts of surgical instruments were recovered. These, undoubtedly, were used countless times at Jamestown by unknown "chirurgions," doctors of "physickes," and apothecaries--men who tried to keep the colonists well with their limited medical equipment and scant supply of drugs. Amusements and Pastimes The difficult and time-consuming job of conquering the Virginia wilderness (clearing the land, building homes, planting and harvesting crops, and warding off Indian attacks) left few hours for leisure and amusements. There were times, however (especially after the first few hard years had passed), when a colonist could enjoy himself by smoking his pipe, playing a game, practicing archery, bowling, playing a musical instrument, singing a ballad, or taking part in a lively dance. Excavated artifacts reveal that the settlers enjoyed at least these few amusements and pastimes. [Illustration: A PHYSICIAN BLEEDING A PATIENT. (Conjectural sketch by Sidney E. King.)] [Illustration: A FEW ITEMS UNEARTHED AT JAMESTOWN WHICH WERE USED BY DOCTORS AND APOTHECARIES. INCLUDED ARE DRUG JARS, OINTMENT POT, BLEEDING BOWL, MORTAR AND PESTLE FRAGMENTS, GLASS VIALS, AND PORTIONS OF SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS.] [Illustration: ENJOYING A SMOKE IN A TAVERN, ABOUT 1625. (Conjectural sketch by Sidney E. King.)] [Illustration: A FEW OF THOUSANDS OF CLAY PIPE FRAGMENTS UNEARTHED AT JAMESTOWN. THE ONES SHOWN RANGE IN DATE FROM 1600 TO 1700. DURING THIS 100-YEAR PERIOD, PIPES DEVELOPED FROM SMALL BOWLS TO FAIRLY LARGE ONES.] SMOKING The first colonists were quite familiar with the use of tobacco, and it is believed that many of them smoked clay pipes. Evidently there was some demand for tobacco pipes by the early planters as one of the men, Robert Cotten, who reached Jamestown in January 1608, was a tobacco pipemaker.