It is impossible for us to see how the settlers struggled to maintain 
themselves, but we need to keep several things in the forefront of our 
imaginings...

The colonists chose an island far enough from the broad mouth of the 
James River to be able to see and, to some extent, oppose any Spanish 
ships sailing in their direction. The Spanish were the biggest threat 
they perceived initially.

The colonists who arrivedaboard the Discovery, the Susan Constant, and 
the Godspeed were more interested in finding the gold that laid in heaps 
on the ground, than in actual work, and thus the colony used up most of 
its remaining onboard supplies feeding a bunch of ne'er-do-wells who 
produced nothing. It took Captain John Smith's orders that "those who do 
not work shall not eat" (paraphrased) to get through to everyone that 
they, too, had to provide for themselves if the they were to survive.

The Indians had (I think I'm remembering correctly) fear of the white 
Spaniards, having heard horror stories from Indians further south, and 
were cautious about these other whites, too. Why would/should they aid 
the English in their stupidity?

The Indians were not hoarding excess amounts of food, but if careful 
were able to feed themselves each year through the winter. Each Indian 
family saved some of their corn by wrapping and burying it until spring, 
when they used it to plant new crops. When the English found these 
caches of seed corn, they devoured it, leaving the Indian families with 
no future crops. We are not talking about farming as we know it, but 
about unplowed ground that was not as rich and productive as any we now 
know.

When their supplies failed to arrive, they boiled their shoes, their 
belts, anything to have something to put in their stomachs. We have no 
idea what they suffered. And when Lord de la Warr and the relief ships 
finally arrived, they brought 500 more mouths to feed and insufficient 
supplies to sustain even them!

Don't look at those beleaguered few (60) as if they were just like the 
people you know. They weren't. We really can't imagine...

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