About ten o'clock
Such little touches show what the care of families must have been in the woodland picnics , and why the ship was , on the whole , the safest refuge for the women and children . We are told , moreover , how the party who had struck off into the wilderness , `` having marched through boughs and bushes and under hills and valleys which tore our very armor in pieces , yet could meet with no inhabitants nor find any fresh water which we greatly stood in need of , for we brought neither beer nor water with us , and our victual was only biscuit and Holland cheese , and a little bottle of aqua vitae . So we were sore athirst . About ten o'clock we came into a deep valley full of brush , sweet gaile and long grass , through which we found little paths or tracks ; and we saw there a deer and found springs of water , of which we were heartily glad , and sat us down and drunk our first New England water with as much delight as we ever drunk drink in all our lives . '' Three such expeditions through the country , with all sorts of haps and mishaps and adventures , took up the time until near the 15th of December , when , having selected a spot for their colony , they weighed anchor to go to their future home . Plymouth Harbor , as they found it , is thus described : `` This harbor is a bay greater than Cape Cod , compassed with a goodly land , and in the bay two fine islands uninhabited , wherein are nothing but woods , oaks , pines , walnuts , beeches , sassafras , vines , and other trees which we know not . The bay is a most hopeful place , innumerable stores of fowl , and excellent good ; and it can not but be of fish in their season .