He stayed till June, when, taking a load of cedar, he returned to England, having among his passengers Captain John Martin, another of the council.
During the summer Smith spent much time exploring the Chesapeake Bay, Potomac, and Rappahannock rivers,[32] and in his absence things went badly at Jamestown.

The mariners of Newport's and Nelson's ships had been very wasteful while they stayed in Virginia, and after their departure the settlers found themselves on a short allowance again.
Then the sickly season in 1608 was like that of 1607, and of ninety-five men living in June, 1608, not over fifty survived in the fall.

The settlers even followed the precedent of the previous year in deposing an unpopular president, for Ratcliffe, by employing the men in the unnecessary work of a governor's house, brought about a mutiny in July, which led to the substitution of Matthew Scrivener.

At length, September 10, 1608, Captain Ratcliffe's presidency definitely expired and Captain Smith was elected president.
[Footnote 1: Purchas, _Pilgrimes_, IV., 1647-1651; Strachey, _Travaile into Virginia_, 153-158; John Smith, _Works_ (Arber's ed.), 332-340.] [Footnote 2: Purchas, _Pilgrimes_, IV., 1654-1656, 1659-1667.] [Footnote 3: Brown, _Genesis of the United States_, I., 27.] [Footnote 4: Brown, _Genesis of the United States_, I., 46.] [Footnote 5: Hening, _Statutes_, I., 57-66; see also Cheyney, _European Background of American History_, chap.

viii.] [Footnote 6: Brown, _First Republic_, 8.] [Footnote 7: Hening, _Statutes_, I., 67-75.] [Footnote 8: Ashley, _English Economic History_, II., 261-376.] [Footnote 9: Brown, _Genesis of the United States_, I., 50.] [Footnote 10: Brown, _Genesis of the United States_, I., 127-139.] [Footnote 11: Gorges, _Briefe Narration_ (Mass.Hist.