Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/139

 of May to the end of June the sturgeon caught were rarely more than three feet long; up to the middle of September, very few shorter than nine feet were taken, and some were observed to be twelve feet. Drum fish six feet in length were also found.

In addition to the fish mentioned, there were in the waters of Virginia when first explored, grampus, porpoise, soles, butts, mullet, white salmon, seals, roach, plaice, eels, lampreys, cat, perch, tailor, sun, bass, chub, flounder, whiting, flatback, jack, carp, pike, and breme. In this list should also be included the stingray, one of which variety inflicted a severe wound on Smith in his voyage in the Chesapeake, and from that incident, it enjoys the permanent honor of having conferred its name upon a promontory of the Bay. There was a small fish resembling St. George&#8217;s Dragon, with legs and wings omitted, and also a fish that had the power to inflate itself until it appeared to be on the point of bursting its body to pieces. Strachey informs us that he had seen oysters in Virginia that were thirteen inches in length, but this estimate probably took the shell into account. Oyster banks rose above the surface at ebb tide in the mouth of the Elizabeth River like rocks in the bed of the stream, and equal quantities were discovered at points in the lower stretches of the Powhatan. In the fall of 1609, a large number of the famished colonists were sent to these banks as a means of preserving their lives, and there they remained for nine weeks sustaining existence on oysters, to which a pint of Indian corn for each man was added as a week&#8217;s