Selected quad for the lemma: ground_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
ground_n	bring_v	good_a	tree_n	2,634	5	8.6907	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A04691	A plaine description of the Barmudas, now called Sommer Ilands VVith the manner of their discouerie anno 1609. by the shipwrack and admirable deliuerance of Sir Thomas Gates, and Sir George Sommers, wherein are truly set forth the commodities and profits of that rich, pleasant, and healthfull countrie. With an addition, or more ample relation of diuers other remarkeable matters concerning those ilands since then experienced, lately sent from thence by one of the colonie now there resident.; Discovery of the Barmudas, otherwise called the Ile of Divels	Jourdain, Silvester, d. 1650.	1613 (1613)	STC 14817; ESTC S109247	18,076	52

did suffice the whole company one day And fish is there so abundant that if a man steppe into the water they will come round about him so that men were faine to get out for feare of byting These fishes are very fat and sweete and of that proportion and bignesse that three of them will conueniently lade two men those we called rock-fish Besides there are such abundance of Mullets that with a seane might be taken at one draught one thousand at the least and infinite store of pilchards with diuers kinds of great fishes the names of them vnknowne to me of crayfishes very great ones and so great store as that there hath beene taken in one night with making lights euen sufficient to feed the whole company a day The Countrie affordeth great abundance of Hogges as that there hath beene taken by Sir George Sommers who was the first that hunted for them to the number of two and thirtie at one time which he brought to the company in a boate built by his owne hāds There is Fowle in great number vpon the Ilands where they breed that there hath beene taken in two or three houres a thousand at the least the bird being of the bignes of a good Pidgeon and layeth egges as big as Hen egges vpon the sand where they come and lay them dayly although men sit downe amongst them that there hath beene taken vp in one morning by Sir Thomas Gates men one thousand of egges and Sir George Sommers men comming a little distance of time after them haue stayed there whilst they came and layed their eggs amongst them that they brought away as many more with them with many young birds very fat and sweet Another Sea fowle there is that lyeth in litle holes in the ground like vnto a cony-hole and are in great numbers exceeding good meate very fat and sweet those we had in the winter and their eggs are white and of that bignesse that they are not to be knowne from Hen egges The other birds egges are speckled and of a different colour there are also great store and plenty of Herons and those so familiar and tame that wee beate them downe from the trees with stones and staues but such were young Herons besides many white Herons without so much as a blacke or gray feather on them with other small birds so tame and gentle that a man walking in the woods with a sticke and whistling to them they wil come and gaze on you so neare that you may strike and kill many of them with your sticke and with singing and hollowing you may doe the like There are also great store of Tortoses which some call Turtles and those so great that I haue seene a bushel of egges in one of their bellies which are sweeter then any Henne egge and the Tortose it selfe is all very good meate and yeeldeth great store of oyle which is as sweete as any butter and one of them will suffice fifty men a meale at the least and of these hath heene taken great store with two boates at the least forty in one day The Country yeeldeth diuers fruits as prickled peares great aboundance which continue greene vpon the trees all the yeare also great plenty of Mulberries white and red and on the same are great store of Silke-wormes which yeeld cods of silke both white and yellow being some course and some fine And there is a tree called a Palmito tree which hath a very sweet berry vpon which the hogs doe most seede but our men finding the sweetnesse of them did willingly share with the hogs for them they being very pleasant and wholesome which made them carelesse almost of any bread with their meate which occasioned vs to carry in a manner all that store of flower and meale wee did or could saue for Virginia The head of the Palmito tree is verie good meate either raw or sodden it yeeldeth a head which weigheth about twentie pound and is farre better meate then any cabbidge There are an infite number of Cedar trees the fairest I thinke in the world and those bring forth a verie sweete berrie and wholesome to eate The Countrey for as much as I could find my self or heare by others affords no venimous creature or so much as a Rat or Mouse or any other thing vnwholesome There is great store of Pearle and some of them very faire round and Orientall and you shall finde at least one hundred seede of Pearle in one Oyster there hath beene likewise found some good quantitie of Amber Greece and that of the best sort There are also great plentie of whales which I conceaue are verie easie to bee killed for they come so vsually and ordinarilie to the shore that wee heard them oftentimes in the night a bed and haue seene many of them neare the shoare in the day time There was borne vpon the Barmudas at the time of our being there two children the one a man child there baptised by the name of Barmudas and a woman childe baptised by the name of Barmuda as also there was a marriage betweene two English people vpon that Iland This Iland I meane the maine Iland with all the broken Ilands adiacent are made in the forme of a halfe Moone but a little more rounder and diuided into many broken Ilands and there are many good harbours in it but we could find but one especiall place to goe in or rather to goe out from it which was not altogether free from some Danger where there is three Fathoms water at the entrance thereof but within sixe seauen or eight Fathoms at the least where you may safely lie Land-locked from the daunger of all Winds and Weathers and moore to the Trees The comming into it is so narrow straight betweene the Rockes as that it will with small store of Munition bee fortified and easily defended against the forces of the Potentest King of Europe such aduantage the place affoords There are also plentie of Hawkes and verie good Tobacco as I thinke which through forgetfulnesse I had almost omitted Now hauing finished and rigged our ship and Pinnesse the one called the Deliuerance the Pinnace which wee built there the Patience wee prepared and made our selues readie to ship for Virginia hauing powdred some store of Hogges flesh for prouision thither and the company thereof for some reasonable time but were compelled to make salt there for the same purpose for all our salt was spent and spoiled before wee recouered the shore We carried with vs also a good portion of Tortoise-oyle which either for frying or baking did vs very great pleasure it being very sweete nourishing and wholesome the greatest defects we found there was tarre and pitch for our ship and pinnace in stead whereof wee were forced to make lime there of a hard kinde of stone and vse it which for the present occasion and necessitie with some war wee found cast vp by the Sea from some ship wracke serued

busines and all things safe and in order with a hooke and line wee tooke more then all our whole company was able to eate so that there was enough to feed many more The next day after the Sabbath wee went with our net and boat and if we would haue loaded two boats we might and so may you doe day by day Fishes doe so abound and they be of these sorts Mullets Breames Hogge-fish Rock-fish and Lobstars with more sorts of other Fish which I cannot name Turkles there bee of a mightie bignesse one Turkle will serue or suffice three or foure score at a meale especially if it bee a shee Turkle for she will haue as many egges as will suffice fiftie or threescore at a meale this I can assure you they are very good and wholesome meate none of it bad no not so much as the very guts and maw of it for they are exceeding fat and make as good tripes as your beastes bellies in England And for Fowle wee went the third day of our arriuall vnto the Bird-Ilands as we call them and vsing neither sticke nor stone-bow nor gunne wee tooke them vp with our hands so many as we would that euery one of the company were to haue some three some foure a peece three for a childe boy or girle for a man foure then reckon what those that serued some fourescore people did amount vnto But this is for certaine if we would haue brought away twice so many more wee might but our order is not to take Fish or Fowle but for one or two meales because that by reason of the flies and heate of the countrey they will not keepe especially these two monthes Iune and Iuly and some part of August Some sixe dayes after our comming we sent out for Hogges so the company which went out brought home some for the meat of them I hould your mutton of England not of so sweet and pleasant a taste Fowles there are of diuers sorts but amongst all there is a bird like vnto yours which you call in England a Crow which though they talke in the Barmuda language yet their tongues shall walke as fast as any English womans wee cannot goe vp into the woods but they will follow after vs with such an outcry that it would fret a man to heare them they are very good meat fat and as white flesh as a Chicken we many times make some of them leaue their talking with stones or cudgels for they will sit and face you hard at your hand And whereas it is reported that this Land of the Barmudas with the Ilands about it which are many at the least an hundred are inchanted and kept with euill and wicked spirits it is a most idle and false report God grant that wee haue brought no wicked spirits with vs or that there comes none after vs for we found none there so ill as our selues nor the three men neuer saw any euill or hurtfull thing in the Land all the time since their comming and wee hane found the like since our landing no nor any noysome thing or hurtfull more then a poore flie which tarries not aboue two or three moneths For the inclination of the weather considering in what climate it lies wee haue had for the space of some fortie dayes no raine but very coole and fresh gales of winde yet in the day-time very hotte but wee agree with it very wel and not a man that hath lien sicke or diseased but all likes well and followes imployes themselues to one businesse or other For the fruits which the Land yeelds they bee the Mulberie great store and Peares which haue in them a red liquor as the Pomgranat hath or somewhat redder but very wholesome if you eat an hundred at one time you shall neuer surfet of them if you eat som proportion of them they will bind but if you exceed in eating of them then are they of the contrary operation yet neuer any that hurt themselues by them eat they neuer so many It is certaine that one man eat aboue a peck of them in some ten houres and was neuer the worse We haue a kinde of Berrie vpon the Cedar tree verie pleasant to eat and for the Palmito tree the toppe of it is a great deale sweeter and wholesomer then any Cabedge In some of our Ilands there growes Pepper but not so good as our Indian Pepper diuers sorts of other good things there is which the seuerall times of the yeare bring forth one after another but the top of the Palmito tree is in season and good all the yeare For the ground I hold it the richest ground to beare forth fruit whatsoeuer one shall lay into it that is in the world and very easie and light for digging so that if a man wil labour he may turne vp a great quantitie in a day for it is a fat sandy ground of colour a brownered After the time of our landing many of the company digged certaine plats of ground and sowed diuers sortes of seedes to make triall of the ground and for certaine they were seene aboue the ground sprung vp the fourth day after their sowing and amongst all the rest of the seeds the Cowcumber and the Mellon were forward we haue set and sowed fourescore and one sorts of seeds it was ten dayes before the shippes comming away and for the most part they are all come vp Of necessitie I must needs mention the Palme-tree once againe I haue found it so good take a hatchet and cut him or an augar and bore him and it yeelds a very pleasant liquour much like vnto your sweete wines it beares likewise a berry in bignes of a prune and in taste much like Also we haue Oliues grow with vs but no great store many other good excellent things we haue grow with vs which this short time will not permit me to write of so largely as I might but this is of truth that Hogges Turkles Fish and Fowle doe abound as dust of the earth for Amber-greece and Pearle wee haue not had leasure in so few dayes since our arriuall to goe looke out for the one or to fish for the other but the three men which were left there haue found of them both Also they haue made a great deale of Tobacco and if some would come that haue skill in making it it would bee very commodious both to the Merchant and to the maker of it And for the Silke-worme if any were brought ouer and some of skill to vse them there would be very much good done with them for the verie Spider in these our Ilands doth weaue perfect fine Silke both yellow and white The Timber of the Countrey consisteth of three sorts the one is the Cedar verie fine Timber to worke vpon of colour redde and verie sweete the other sorts wee haue no name for for there is none in the company hath seene the like in other Countries before we came some