Captain Smith, later a governor, was absent much of the time, buying food from the Indians. Two years afterward he went home, and the months that followed were called the “Starving Time,” when all but sixty of the four hundred settlers died. Yet, through many tribulations, Jamestown lived. In 1608 it was burned, and other cabins were built. In 1619 word was received that a representative government had been granted. The settlers were each to have a portion of ground, and plantations were gradually laid out along the James. In spite of Indian massacres the colony and all Virginia grew. In 1676 Jamestown was burned by Nathaniel Bacon, who had risen against the autocratic rule of the governor. In 1691 the capital of Virginia was removed from Jamestown to Williamsburg, and the importance of the old colony ceased, until it is now but a site of ruins. It was on low and marshy ground that later became an island. There are monuments erected in commemoration of the colony, of Captain Smith and Pocahontas, and a church that resembles the one first built. The Jamestown Exposition in 1907 was held near Norfolk, forty miles down the river. PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 1, No. 32, SERIAL No. 32 COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC. [Illustration: PLYMOUTH ROCK] _HISTORIC SPOTS OF AMERICA_ _Plymouth Rock_ TWO The little ship hove to and the sails were furled upon the yards. The long journey was over. There, on the harbor’s edge, rose the hill that was to become so familiar in after years to those who had spent these many weeks at sea. There too, below the hill and on the very shore, projected the great boulder of granite upon which they were to make their landing, which would ever afterward be famous. Here, at last, was freedom in a new land, freedom to think and worship as they pleased! And the voyagers were jubilant. It was cold, for Christmas was only four days off; but the spirits of the Pilgrims were not dampened. The armed men went ashore to reconnoiter, and soon returned with the word that it was a likely spot. Then for many days there was a sound of axes clearing the land and felling trees to build houses with; the smoke of many fires brought with it the odor of burning pine. But the buoyant spirits of the colonists could not long withstand the penetrating cold. Food was poor and scarce, and none was to be had from the surrounding country. Sickness came, and death broke into the ranks. Indeed, before the close of that first winter nearly half of the colonists had perished. They were buried upon the hill near the harbor, and in the spring grain was sowed over their graves that the Indians might not see how terribly the little company had suffered. Friendly Indians showed them how to plant their corn, putting fish into the hills to fertilize it. Other colonists came; other colonies were established--and so New England was born.