English: An Unexpected Calamity. — Newport returned with his party to Jamestown the last of May, and in June he sailed for England, leaving a bark or pinnace for the use of the colonists. He had hardly taken his departure before an unexpected disaster befell the settlers.The marshy peninsula was full of malaria ; and when July came, the men were attacked with such an epidemic of fever that at one time scarcely ten of them could stand. To add to their distress, the supply of food soon became insufficient, half a pint of wheat and as much barley boiled in water being each man's daily allowance. The noise of labor ceased, and no sounds were heard save the groans of the sick. At times as many as three or four died in a single night. Speaking of this period, Smith says, " Our drink was water and our lodgings castles in the air"; and George Percy wrote: " There were never Englishmen left in a foreign country in such misery as we were in this newly discovered Virginia." The facts show that this statement was not exaggerated ; for by September half the men were dead, the brave Gosnold being among the number, and the remaining fifty in a deplorable condition, weakened by disease and by the lack of nourishment. Half Survive. — When the supply of food had been exhausted, and the men were about to die of starvation, their wretched condition so moved the hearts of the sav-ages, that they gave them of their own fruit and provisions. Smith also obtained additional supplies by trading with the Indians and by intimidating them. The frosts of autumn brought health to the fever-stricken men ; and now an abundant supply of food came from an unexpected quarter. Wild fowl appeared in large numbers, swimming upon the bosom of the river; and deer and other game came near the settlement. So the men feasted and half were saved.