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 Pocahontas 
 
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Pocahontas 
 
 By 
 ELIZABETH EGGLESTON SEELYE 
 
 Author of " Lake George in History " 
 Assisted by EDWARD EGGLESTON 
 
 Chicago: 
 M. A. DoNOHUB & Co. 
 
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COPVBtGHT, l879« 
 BT 
 
 DODD, MEAD & COMPANV, 
 
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PREFACE. 
 
 This book, like those that have gone before it 
 in this series, is intended for popular use, and 
 especially is it meant to attract young people to 
 the early history of our own country. We have 
 not sought, therefore, to confine our story to a 
 personal biography of Pocahontas, for which the 
 materials are not very abundant. The adven- 
 tures of Smith in the Turkish wars, as related by 
 himself, and the explorations, trials, and battles 
 of the early settlers at Jamestown, serve to make 
 a romantic passage in history. The story has not 
 often been told so fully before, and we sincerely 
 hope that the book will prove of interest even to 
 those already acquainted with its general feat- 
 ures, and that it will stimulate many young read- 
 ers to go farther in the study of the history of 
 their own country. 
 
 While we have sought to be interesting we 
 have tried sincerely to be correct ; at most, what- 
 ever romancing there is in the story is the fault 
 
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X PREFACE. 
 
 of the early writers. It is not easy to come at 
 the truth about Jamestown. We have usually 
 followed Smith's " General History of Virginia," 
 consulting also the accounts of Newport, Wing- 
 field, Strachey, and Smith's "True Relation," 
 with Stith's " History of Virginia," and Neill's 
 ' ' Letters of the Virginia Company, ' ' besides 
 many other works of less importance as authori- 
 ties, Where we could preserve the very words 
 of the old chroniclers we have done so, believing 
 that it would add to the interest of the reader to 
 see the quaint but vigorous English in use at that 
 time. We have also reproduced some of the cuts 
 which adorned Smith's General History. 
 
 The most important of the disputed questions 
 we have discussed briefly in the Appendix. 
 
 The Authors. 
 
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CHAPTER I. 
 
 EARLY EXPLORERS AND GOLD-SEEKERS. 
 
 Gold and a route to the East Indies were the 
 dominant ideas in the minds of the early discov- 
 erers and explorers of the American continent. 
 Columbus believed to the day of his death that 
 the islands which he had discovered were but 
 the outskirts of eastern Asia. He valued his 
 discovery only as a means of opening a profitable 
 traffic with the East. English commercial ambi- 
 tion long sought an easy route to the East Indies. 
 John Cabot, a Venetian, undertook the first voy- 
 age of discovery sent to the New World from 
 England. 
 
 In 1497, only five years after the first West In- 
 dian discovery of Columbus, Cabot reached the 
 shores of America, or the territory of the Grand 
 Cham in Asia:, as he supposed, and returned 
 home, the first discoverer of the American con- 
 tinent. In the following year, while the aged 
 Columbus sailed to the mainland of South Amer- 
 ica, and the daring young Vasco da Gama of 
 
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12 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 Portugal rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and 
 sailed with streamers flying and trumpets sound- 
 ing into the harbor of Calcutta, the Venetian dis- 
 coverer's son, Sebastian Cabot, a young man 
 barely twenty-one years old, explored the coast 
 of North America from Newfoundland as far 
 south as Chesapeake Bay. Nevertheless he con- 
 sidered his voyage a failure, since he had not dis- 
 covered the shortest route to Cathay and Japan, 
 which he reasoned would be by way of the far 
 north. For many years after this, while Spain 
 was making rich conquests in Mexico and Central 
 America, England had no connection with the 
 New World except through the fisheries of New- 
 foundland, which were frequented by her vessels. 
 In the sixteenth century the world's work 
 seem to the men of that day almost accom- 
 plished. An English navigator, named Martin 
 Frobisher, deemed the discovery of a north-west- 
 ern passage to Asia " the only thing in the world 
 that was yet left undone by which a notable mind 
 might be made famous and fortunate. ' ' The mak- 
 ing of this discovery was the desire of Frobisher's 
 heart. For fifteen years he solicited help for his 
 project in vain. He was at last aided by Dudley, 
 Earl of Warwick, and in 1576, with a fleet of two 
 small barks and a pinnace, he prepared to cross 
 
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EARLY EXPLORERS AND GOLD-SEEKERS. 1 3 
 
 the ocean. Queen Elizabeth sent a message of ap- 
 probation to Frobisher, and waved her hand as 
 the little fleet dropped down the Thames. The 
 pinnace of but ten tons burden was soon lost in a 
 storm, and the frightened sailors in one of the 
 other vessels turned homeward, leaving Frobisher 
 to pursue his course alone. In his small bark he 
 discovered Labrador, and reached an inlet north 
 of Hudson's Bay. He imagined the land on the 
 north to be Asia, that on the south to be America, 
 and that the strait which he had discovered led 
 into the Pacific. Frobisher landed on an arctic 
 island, which he took possession of in the name of 
 Elizabeth, and gathered some stones, with which 
 he returned home. One of these stones was pro- 
 nounced by the clumsy London refiners of that 
 day to contain gold. Immediately there were 
 men who desired to purchase these northern gold 
 lands from Queen Elizabeth. But Frobisher was 
 provided with a fleet for the purpose of securing 
 the treasure. Volunteers were plenty for this 
 expedition. The queen, who had vouchsafed 
 only royal favor to the voyage of discovery, sent 
 a large ship of her own on the voyage for gold. 
 With " a merrie wind " they sailed from England, 
 but they encountered much danger from icebergs 
 before the shores of America were reached. 
 
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14 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 This great fleet did not penetrate so far as Fro- 
 bisher had in his little bark. They contented 
 themselves with an island where there were heaps 
 of earth, which to their eyes plainly contained 
 gold. More than this, the island abounded in 
 spiders, and ' ' spiders were true signs of a great 
 store of gold.'" Admiral and men toiled like 
 slaves to lade the vessels with common earth. 
 But the faith of gold-dreamers was unshaken. A 
 colony must be planted in this land of frost in or- 
 der to secure so rich a country to England. Gen- 
 tlemen's sons volunteered, Elizabeth bore part of 
 the expense, and in 1578 fifteen vessels set sail — 
 three to remain with the settlement and twelve 
 to hasten back with the coveted ore. The fleet 
 became entangled among great icebergs melting 
 in the summer's sun and adorned with waterfalls. 
 One vessel was crushed, though the men were 
 saved. Bewildered among mists and icebergs, 
 Frobisher lost his course and entered Hudson's 
 strait south of the land of gold. Here the Ad- 
 miral believed he could sail through to the Paci- 
 fic. But he pushed on in a search of the golden 
 island, " getting in at one gap and out at another, ' ' 
 among many dangers from hidden rocks on an 
 unknown coast. When he reached the Countess 
 of Warwick's Sound the enthusiastic colonists 
 
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EARLY EXPLORERS AND GOLD-SEEKERS. 1 5 
 
 were discouraged, and the sailors were ready to 
 mutiny. One vessel containing much of the pro- 
 vision of the expedition deserted and returned 
 home. The disheartened gold-seekers discovered 
 an island, however, containing enough of the sup- 
 posed gold ore ' ' to suffice all the gold-gluttons of 
 the world," but no one proposed to colonize it 
 for the benefit of England. The vessels were 
 freighted and returned home. Neither the pro- 
 jectors of the expedition nor the adventurers who 
 embarked upon it tell us how the lading was 
 disposed of. Thus ended the first attempt of the 
 English to colonize America. 
 
 In 1578 Sir Humphrey Gilbert procured from 
 the queen a charter, which made him proprietary 
 lord of whatever land he might discover and col- 
 onize within six years. In 1579 he set sail, accom- 
 panied by his half brother, Walter Raleigh. The 
 loss of a vessel and various misfortunes defeated 
 this venture. Sir Humphrey Gilbert's fortune 
 became too much reduced for him to undertake 
 another expedition. He made various grants of 
 land, but none of them resulted in a successful 
 colony. 
 
 In 1583, beiore the patent had expired, Gilbert, 
 assisted by Raleigh, fitted another fleet for settle- 
 ment in America. On the eve of his departure 
 
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l6 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 Sir Humphrey Gilbert received from the queen 
 a token in the form of " a golden anchor guided 
 by a lady ' ' — whatever that may mean. Two days 
 after leaving Plymouth, the largest ship of the 
 fleet, which had been furnished by Raleigh, de- 
 serted under the excuse of infectious disease. 
 The commander conducted his remaining vessels 
 to the banks of Newfoundland. He took formal 
 possession of the country, summoning the Spanish 
 and Portuguese fishermen to witness the cere- 
 mony. The ' ' mineral-man ' ' of the fleet pro- 
 nounced a certain ore to contain silver. Some of 
 this was carried on board with great secrecy, in 
 order that the Spanish and Portuguese might not 
 suspect its value. A further voyage of discovery 
 along the coast was undertaken, but Gilbert's men 
 were unmanageable. Through the carelessness 
 of the sailors the largest vessel struck, and nearly 
 one hundred persons, were lost, with the ' ' mine- 
 ral-man" and the ore. It now seemed necessary 
 to return home. Sir Humphrey Gilbert insisted 
 on remaining in the Squirrel, the little bark in 
 which he had sailed, on account of its convenience 
 for exploring the coast. He said he would not 
 desert the little crew with which he had encoun- 
 tered so many dangers. The voyage was rough. 
 ' ' A more outrageous sea ' ' had not been seen by 
 
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EARLY EXPLORERS AND GOLD-SEEKERS. 1 7 
 
 the oldest sailors. Sir Humphrey was seen from 
 the larger vessel sitting on deck with a book in 
 his hand, and when she would approach within 
 hearing he would call out, " Be of good cheer, my 
 friends ; it is as near to heaven by sea as by 
 land. ' ' The little vessel labored painfully in the 
 storm, and about midnight her lights suddenly 
 disappeared, never to be seen again. 
 
 Raleigh was ambitious to be lord over lands in 
 the New World. He now planned a settlement in 
 a pleasanter climate than that of Newfoundland. 
 From the queen he obtained as ample a patent 
 as that of his half-brother. Two vessels were 
 freighted with men and provisions. Under the 
 command of Philip Amidas and Arthur Barlow 
 they followed the circuitous route of the day — by 
 way of the Canaries and West Indies. When 
 they neared the coast of North Carolina it was 
 in all its midsummer beauty. The odor which 
 reached them was " as if they had been in the 
 midst of some delicate garden." The smooth 
 sea, dotted with islands, sparkled in the sun ; the 
 land was covered with noble trees festooned 
 with vines. This land seemed a paradise to the 
 colonists, who knew nothing of the terrors of the 
 coast at a more unfavorable season. A settle- 
 ment was made on the island of Wocokon, and the 
 
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l8 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 time was occupied with excursions of discovery. 
 The result of their observations of the savages 
 were that ' ' the people were most gentle, loving, 
 and faithful, void of all guile and treason, and such 
 as lived after the manner of the golden age ;" and 
 yet, strange to say, in their wars they were cruel 
 and bloody, entire tribes being sometimes almost 
 exterminated, and they practised inviting men 
 to a feast and then murdering them — as the Eng- 
 lish knew, for the Indians had offered them much 
 booty to participate in such a stratagem against 
 their enemies. After a short stay in the pleasant 
 summer months, the expedition returned to Eng- 
 land, with glowing accounts of the country. 
 Queen Elizabeth named the new land Virginia, in 
 honor of herself, " the Virgin Queen." A fleet 
 of seven vessels with one hundred and eight colo- 
 nists was next sent out by Sir Walter Raleigh in 
 1585, under the command of Sir Richard Gren- 
 ville. The perils of the North Carolina coast 
 were found to be very great. A settlement was 
 made at Roanoke Island. Almost one of the first 
 acts of the colonists was to destroy an Indian 
 town and standing corn in retaliation for the theft 
 of a silver cup. 
 
 Sir Richard Grenville sailed away and the col- 
 onists began to explore the country. Lane, the 
 
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EARLY EXPLORERS AND GOLD-SEEKERS. 1 9 
 
 governor, wrote : " It is the goodliest soil under 
 the cope of heaven ; the most pleasing territory 
 of the world ; the continent is of a huge and un- 
 known greatness, and very well peopled, though 
 savagely. ' ' 
 
 The wily Indians soon discovered the white 
 man's twofold passion for gold and a passage to 
 the " South Sea." One of them told the colo- 
 nists that Roanoke River sprang from a rock so 
 near the Pacific that the waves sometimes dashed 
 into its fountain ; that the people who lived there 
 understood refining gold, of which there was an 
 abundance in the country, and that the walls of 
 their city were made of pearls. This fable coin- 
 cided with the preconceived notions of Europeans 
 in regard to America. Lane and a band of fol- 
 lowers undertook the ascent of the Roanoke in 
 search of its wonderful fountain. Meanwhile the 
 Indians, who were jealous of white settlements, 
 prepared to attack the divided colony. The gold- 
 seekers toiled up the rapid current of the Ro- 
 anoke. Their provisions were soon exhausted. 
 Still they persevered, killing and eating their 
 dogs. When this resource failed them they re- 
 turned home, just in time to frustrate the plans of 
 the Indians. The savages now proposed to plant 
 no corn in order to starve out the English, wh<? 
 
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iO POCAHONTAS. 
 
 depended upon trade with them for their provi- 
 sions. An old chief, however, objected to this 
 plan. 
 
 The English had been in the New World nearly 
 a year. They grew more and more fearful of the 
 Indians. They believed that they were forming 
 an alliance with intent to massacre them. They 
 desired an audience of the most influential chief, 
 Wingina, and when admitted to his presence they 
 fell upon him and his principal warriors and 
 killed them. The colonists were growing rest- 
 less and homesick, and they had now indeed good 
 reason to fear the Indians. In hopes of a better 
 harbor they explored toward the north and 
 reached Chesapeake Bay, long after it had been 
 discovered by the Spanish and named Santa 
 Maria Bay. One day many sails were seen on 
 the horizon. It was Sir Francis Drake's great 
 fleet of twenty -three vessels returning from a 
 long privateering and exploring cruise. It came 
 to anchor in " the wild road of their bad har- 
 bor." Sir Francis Drake readily supplied all 
 the wants of the colonists, giving them vessels, 
 persuading two experienced seamen to remain 
 with them, and furnishing every means for them 
 to make further explorations. A sudden storm 
 nearly wrecked the fleet, which was only saved 
 
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EARLY EXPLORERS AND GOLD-SEEKERS. 21 
 
 by standing off from the dangerous coast. After 
 the storm, nothing was to be seen of the vessels 
 set aside for the colonists' use. Sir Francis Drake 
 again offered, however, to supply their wants, 
 but with one voice they begged to be taken back 
 to England. 
 
 Through these colonists, who had learned to 
 smoke in the New World, the use of tobacco 
 was first introduced into England. Sir Walter 
 Raleigh made the practice fashionable. It is re- 
 lated that a servant of his coming into the room 
 with a tankard of ale saw Sir Walter intent on 
 study, with clouds of smoke issuing from his 
 mouth. The man immediately threw the ale in 
 his master's face and ran downstairs, crying that 
 Sir Walter was on fire. 
 
 A few days after the colonists left Roanoke 
 Island vessels with provisions landed at the set- 
 tlement to find it deserted. Grenville left fifteen 
 men to hold the land for its lord. 
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh now planned to plant an 
 agricultural colony of men with families, to be 
 established at Chesapeake Bay. In 1587 he fitted 
 out a fleet at his own expense, " Queen Elizabeth, 
 the godmother of Virginia, " refusing to contrib- 
 ute "to its education." As might have been 
 expected, nothing remained of the little colony at 
 
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22 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 Roanoke Island but bones. The settlement was 
 overgrown with weeds. The commander of the 
 vessels refusing to carry them further, the col- 
 ony was obliged to plant itself on this sad spot. 
 There was naturally trouble with the Indians. 
 The tribe of Manteo, the chief who had visited 
 England, were friendly, and this Indian, accord- 
 ing to the commands of Raleigh, was baptized and 
 made a baron, with the title of Lord of Roanoke. 
 It may be doubted whether he fully appreciated 
 the honor. The colony was ill-fated ; a vessel 
 was sent to England to ask for provisions. Ra- 
 leigh freighted two ships for his colony, but in 
 chasing after prizes, one vessel was boarded and 
 rifled after a bloody battle, and both were forced 
 to return. 
 
 England was in a state of intense excitement 
 over the threatened invasion of Spain, and Ra- 
 leigh, Grenville, Lane, and all those who had 
 been most interested in colonization, were now 
 entirely occupied with the prospect of war. Not 
 until three years after the planting of the colony 
 did the expected supplies arrive at Roanoke, 
 which was then a desert. An inscription direct- 
 ed to the island of Croatan, the home of Manteo 
 and the friendly Indians. No search was made 
 further than the Island of Roanoke by this expe- 
 
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EARLY EXPLORERS AND GOLD-SEEKERS. 23 
 
 dition, and the fate of the colony is unknown. 
 Raleigh sent many expeditions to search for his 
 lost people, but nothing was discovered of them. 
 There is one statement, though not perhaps to be 
 trusted, that after twenty-one years of life among 
 the savages they were murdered by Powhatan, at 
 the instigation of his priests or medicine-men.* 
 
 In 1602 a direct voyage across the Atlantic was 
 made by Bartholomew Gosnold in a small bark. 
 He discovered Cape Cod and Buzzard's Bay, 
 which he called Gosnold's Hope. On a beautiful 
 island covered with grand forests, wild fruits, and 
 sweet flowers a settlement was planned. On the 
 island is a pond, in which is a little island. On 
 this romantic spot the colonists built their fort, 
 but the road before them appeared too danger- 
 ous ; fearing starvation and dreading the Indians 
 they resolved to return with Gosnold. They 
 brought back from the New World a load of sas- 
 safras root, which was highly valued in the phar- 
 macy of the day. 
 
 A second expedition was undertaken by Martin 
 Pring in 1603. He explored much of the coast of 
 North Virginia, as New England was then called, 
 and traded trinkets with the Indians for sassafras. 
 
 Still another voyage under command of George 
 
 * See Appendix, Note 2. 
 
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24 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 Weymouth was made to the shores of North 
 Virginia. All the early voyagers agreed in 
 praising the fertility of the soil and the beauty of 
 the scenery in the new land, and it was to the 
 imagination of people in Europe like a land of ro- 
 mance and dreams — a " new world " indeed, as 
 they called it. 
 
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CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE VOYAGE OF THE VIRGINIA COLONY. 
 
 It is now nearly three hundred years ago that 
 the first successful colony set out from Black- 
 wall, a suburb of London, to eSect a settle- 
 ment in the " New-found-land of Virginia," as 
 the whole coast of North America was at that 
 time called. The failure of the colony on Roa- 
 noke Island had for many years damped the 
 ardor of English adventurers, but the success of 
 the Spaniards, their great rivals and enemies, 
 piqued the pride of the English, as the wealth 
 won by Spanish gold-seekers excited their 
 cupidity. So that at the beginning of the reign 
 of James I. it was resolved to have an English 
 settlement in America, to win territory, and to 
 freight ships with the precious metals. Sir Wal- 
 ter Raleigh, the founder of the unhappy colony 
 on Roanoke Island, and the life-long advocate of 
 colonization, was at this time shut up in a dreary 
 cell in the Tower of London, engaged in writ- 
 ing his History of the World to while away the 
 hours of a long imprisonment. But Gosnold, 
 
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26 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 whose voyage to the New England coast is re- 
 lated in the previous chapter, had been very ac- 
 tive in promoting the present undertaking. In 
 this he had been joined by John Smith, a soldier 
 of fortune who had voyaged about the world, 
 getting out of one daring adventure into another, 
 and who now, having returned from single com- 
 bats and captivities among the Saracens, could 
 find nothing to satisfy his appetite for danger and 
 hardship so well as a colony in the wilds of 
 America. A third promoter of the scheme was 
 a London merchant named Wingfield, and a 
 fourth was a clergyman, Mr. Hunt. The latter 
 desired to plant Christianity, Wingfield no 
 doubt represented the commercial desire for 
 gain, while Gosnold and Smith were voyagers 
 and adventurers pure and simple, loving a hard 
 task for the very hardness of it and the honor of 
 overcoming difficulties. 
 
 The traveller of our time feels some trepida- 
 tion when he sails across the ocean in a staunch 
 steamer of several thousand tons burden. But 
 the little colony that left Blackwall and dropped 
 down the Thames in the rough December of 
 1606 had for their largest ships the Sarah Con- 
 slant, of one hundred tons, which ship carried 
 seventy persons, and was commanded by Cap. 
 
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THE VOYAGE OF THE VIRGINIA COLONY. ^^ 
 
 tain Newport. The second ship, the God-Speed, 
 was commanded by the experienced Captain 
 Gosnold, and was of forty tons, carrying fifty- 
 two persons, while the smallest vessel of all, the 
 Discovery, was of but twenty tons, a mere sail- 
 boat, carrying twenty people on this long voy- 
 age, through little known seas, into unknown 
 lands. The seeds of a g^eat nation were here 
 compressed into small space and entrusted to 
 frail craft. 
 
 The people of England were very much inter- 
 ested in the little company that left Blackwall on 
 the 19th of December, 1606. There was a cler- 
 gyman, the Rev. Richard Hakluyt, who whe« 
 he was a schoolboy had been shown one daj 
 some books of travel and a map of the world. 
 He then and there resolved to devote himself to 
 geographical studies, and he became in time bet 
 ter informed on all such matters than any man iit 
 England in his day. The great trading compa 
 nies were accustomed to consult him about their 
 undertakings. He, with other " hearty lovers of 
 colonization," had petitioned for permission to 
 send out this colony, and he was one of the cor- 
 porators of it. 
 
 James I. was a pedantic man, priding himself 
 on his learning, which was not so great as his 
 
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28 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 vanity. It is said that when George Buchan- 
 nan, his preceptor, was censured for having 
 made the king a pedant, he answered that it 
 was the best he could make out of such a prince 
 as he. King James was of a meddling disposi- 
 tion, full of over-weening self-confidence, and he 
 unfortunately took great interest in the little 
 colony now setting forth, and had something to 
 do with the mischievous regulations and direc- 
 tions by which the enterprise was well-nigh 
 brought to destruction. 
 
 There are still extant poems, sermons, and 
 plays, that show the general interest of all 
 classes of people in the colony on its setting out, 
 and during the early years of its history. 
 Michael Drayton, a famous poet of the time, 
 who wrote abundantly about a great many 
 things, gave utterance to the popular feeling in 
 an ode full of fire. He begins : 
 
 ' You brave heroic minds, 
 Worthy our country's name, 
 
 That honor still pursue 
 
 Whilst loitering hinds 
 Lurk here at home with shame. 
 Go and subdue. 
 
 " Britons, you stay too long ; 
 Quickly aboard bestow yon 
 
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THE VOYAGE OF THE VIRGINIA COLONY. 29 
 
 And widi a merry gale 
 
 Sw^ your stietcfa'd sail 
 WMi vows as strong 
 As the winds that blow yon." 
 
 He does not think that these voyagers in little 
 ^ps need be afraid of shoals : 
 
 " Yonr course securely steer. 
 West and by sooth forth keep^ 
 Socks, lee shores, nor shoals 
 Where Eotns soiwls. 
 Yon need not tear. 
 So absolute the deep." 
 
 The dominant idea of the time was to find 
 gold, and this finds place also in Drayton's 
 verses : 
 
 " And cbeetfaSiy at sea 
 Success yon still entice 
 
 To get the pearl and gold. 
 
 And ours to hold 
 Virgioia, 
 Earth's only paradise." 
 
 He seems to have a premonition that the Eng- 
 lish race will come to greatness in the New 
 World, for he sings of the heroes that shall be 
 brought forth like " those from whom we 
 came," and lastly he describes " industrious 
 Hakluyt" as waiting to record their voyages. 
 
 But it was especially the finding of gold mines 
 
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JO POCAHONTAS. 
 
 that most concerned the English public. In a 
 play, written the year before the colony sailed, 
 while all England was agitated about it, there is a 
 conversation between two characters who bore 
 the significant names of Scapethrift and Seagull. 
 The general expectation of gold from Virginia is 
 shown up in the extravagant speech of the en- 
 thusiastic Seagull, who declares that all their 
 dripping-pans are pure gold in Virginia, ' ' and 
 all the chaines with which they chaine up their 
 streets are massie gold ; all the prisoners they 
 take are fetered in gold ; and for rubies and dia- 
 monds they goe forth in holy dayes and gather 
 'hem by the sea-shore, to hang on their children's 
 coates, and sticke in their children's caps, as 
 commonly as our children wear saffron gilt 
 brooches, and groates with holes in 'hem." 
 
 Not only in the poetry and the plays of the 
 time, but in the sermons and prayers of the peo- 
 ple, Virginia is remembered. One prayer of a 
 few years later ends with the petition that God 
 
 may vouchsafe to go with us and we with him 
 into Virginia. Amen and Amen. Be thou the 
 Alpha and Omega of England's plantation in 
 Virginia, O God." 
 
 The colony was to be governed under a char- 
 ter, drawn up, no doubt, under the eye of tlie 
 
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THE VOYAGE OF THE VIRGHOA COLON"Y. 3 1 
 
 fussy and foolish King James, It abounded in 
 all guarantees for loyalty, but neglected many 
 very important matters. There were also ex- 
 plicit directions about the manner of settlement 
 and their mode of dealing with the " naturals" — 
 that is, the natives of Virginia. These direc- 
 tions were good enough in their way, but the 
 better policy would have been to have given 
 military authority to some one competent man. 
 This the projectors of the colony foiled to do. 
 The authority at sea was vested not in Gos- 
 nold, as we would have expected, but in Cap- 
 tain Newport, who was an experienced mariner, 
 and who had had the wisdom the year before to 
 make the king a present of two living young alli- 
 gators and a wild boar, brought from the West 
 Indies. Such trifles delighted James greatly. 
 
 From the beginning the little colony was be- 
 set with difiBculties. Scarcely were they out of 
 the Thames when they were met by rough 
 weather, and were long beaten upon by the rough 
 seas of the C^hannel. It was six weeks before 
 they lost sight of the English coast. But some- 
 thing worse than bad weather overtook them in 
 the jealousy and discord which immediately broke 
 out among the leading spirits of the colony. 
 
 One would have supposed that while King 
 
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32 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 James and the rest were busy over charters and 
 directions, they would have been at some pains 
 to see that the colony should be made up of such 
 as were suitable to the work in hand. But 
 ol the hundred or more who were first settled 
 in Virginia, fifty -three ranked as "gentlemen," 
 many of whom were dissipated young men 
 sent off by friends who wished to be rid ol 
 them. Smith says they were afterward dis- 
 satisfied because they did not find ' ' any of 
 their accustomed dainties, with feather beds and 
 downe pillows, tavernes and alehouses in every 
 breathing place, neither such plentie of gold and 
 silver and dissolute libertie as they expected." 
 We do not wonder that ' ' the country was to 
 them a misery, a mine, a death, a hell. ' ' 
 
 With all these gentlemen there was a small al- 
 lowance of four carpenters. Twelve men are 
 set down as laborers, but whether they were 
 farm hands or personal servants we are not told. 
 There was one bricklayer, one mason, one black- 
 smith, and one sailor. But there were also a 
 barber and a tailor and a drummer, while there 
 were four boys, and some others whose man- 
 ner of life is not set down. 
 
 From the beginning, as we have said, this ill- 
 assorted crowd divided into factions. Such skil- 
 
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THE VOYAGE OF THE VIRGINIA COLONY. 33 
 
 ful and vigorous spirits as Bartholomew Gos- 
 nold and John Smith were no doubt outspoken 
 against the ascendancy of incompetents among 
 the emigrants. Such men the brusque and 
 brave Captain John calls " meerely projecting, 
 verball, and idle contemplators. " 
 
 No doubt Smith was himself more of a soldier 
 than a diplomatist, and that he stirred up a 
 good deal of anger by his blunt speeches. But 
 there was one patient and peace-making man 
 in the ships, and that was Mr. Robert Hunt, 
 " Preacher," as he is set down in the list. This 
 good clergyman was so sick at the beginning of 
 the voyage that his life was despaired of, and 
 though the vessels lay for weeks off the Downs, 
 in sight of his home, yet he never once proposed 
 to give over his enterprise. ' ' With the water of 
 patience, and his godly exhortations (but chiefly 
 by his true devoted examples), he quenched those 
 flames of envy and dissension. ' ' 
 
 The ships loitered at the Canaries and in the 
 West Indies, consuming their provisions, which 
 were scant at the beginning, and losing the op- 
 portunity for spring planting. So high a pitch 
 did their dissensions reach that at one of the 
 islands it was even proposed to hang the impetu- 
 ous and restless Captain Smith, who probably 
 
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34 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 showed much discontent at this waste of five 
 months in a voyage for which two would have 
 been sufficient. The accounts are conflicting, 
 but there seems no doubt that a mutiny was in- 
 tended, and that Smith was suspected of a share 
 in it. 
 
 After the ships had three days passed their 
 reckoning, without finding land. Captain Rat- 
 cliffe, of the smallest vessel, seriously proposed 
 that they should turn about and sail back again, 
 probably on the supposition that the continent 
 was lost. While this proposition was under ad- 
 visement there came up a lucky storm, which 
 drove the ships to the mouth of the James River, 
 and settled in the minds of the navigators any 
 doubts concerning the whereabouts of Virginia. 
 The first cape which they saw was named, for the 
 Prince of Wales, Cape Henry. The northern 
 cape they named Cape Charles, for the King's 
 second son, afterward King Charles I. A land- 
 ing was made on Cape Charles by thirty men, 
 who were suddenly attacked by five Indians. 
 Two of the white men were dangerously 
 wounded in this first encounter with the " natu- 
 rals. ' ' The country within the capes the voyagers 
 found to be what they regarded as the pleas- 
 antest land known. " Here are mountains, hills. 
 
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THE VOYAGE OF THE VIRGINIA COLONY. 35 
 
 plains, valleys, rivers, and brooks, all running 
 most pleasantly into a fair bay, compassed but 
 for the mouth with fruitful and delightsome 
 land. ' ' We are assured that ' ' heaven and earth 
 never agreed better to frame a place for man's 
 habitation, were it fvilly manned and inha;bited 
 by industrious people. " And indeed at the sea- 
 son of their arrival the banks of the James River 
 are magnificent with the blossoms of the redbud 
 and dogwood, so that after their tiresome voy- 
 age the land must have been indeed delightful to 
 their eyes. 
 
 After much debate, the place ever since called 
 Jamestown was selected as the sight of the 
 colony. Gosnold strongly opposed this selec- 
 tion, while Smith favored it. The event has 
 proved the wisdom of Gosnold's judgment. 
 It was on low ground, and never wholesome. 
 The inroads of the water have since turned the 
 peninsula into an island, and there is now only a 
 ruined church tower to mark the site of the first 
 permanent colony in the United States. 
 
 As soon as they had landed they opened the 
 box that contained the names of the members of 
 the council, which up to that time had been kept 
 secret from everybody. Captain Smith, who had 
 been under arrest on suspicion for the last three 
 
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36 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 months of the voyage, was among those named, 
 but he was formally excluded by the other mem- 
 bers, on what pretext we are not told. Wingfield 
 was chosen president by the council, and this 
 tempest-tossed band of unlucky, unsuitable, and 
 quarrelsome adventurers planted the germs of 
 a great nation at Jamestown. The planting 
 would have proved vain, indeed, had it not been 
 for the one despised and excluded councillor, 
 whose ready tact, valor, and indefatigable zeal 
 were to save it from the mishaps and destruction 
 which the folly and selfishness of its leaders so 
 often invited. 
 
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CHAPTER III. 
 
 POWHATAN AND HIS PEOPLE. 
 
 Rumors of a white people who came from over 
 the sea had reached the Indians of Virginia from 
 time to time. In 1573, a Spanish vessel had 
 sailed into the Chesapeake, the mariners had 
 taken soundings, admired the many rivers and 
 good harbors, and sailed away again. The in- 
 habitants, doubtless, heard also of the unsuc- 
 cessful settlements of the English on Wocokan 
 and Roanoke Islands. At first these strangers, 
 who were not known to be sick, and who had 
 no women with them, were believed to be im- 
 mortals that had not been born of women ; the 
 Indians of the region, indeed, attributed all their 
 ailments to wounds inflicted by the English with 
 invisible bullets. Perhaps Hariot, one of the 
 members of the first colony at Roanoke, had en- 
 tered some of Powhatan's towns on those jour- 
 neys in which he was accustomed to show and 
 explain the Bible to the Indians, who would kiss 
 the book and press it to their heads and breasts 
 as an amulet, or "great medicine." 
 
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38 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 The dress of the Indians in the mild cHmate of 
 Virginia was rather scanty. The aristocracy wore 
 little else than moccasins and a mantle of skin, 
 embroidered with beads, which was exchanged 
 for one of fur during the winter. Pretty man- 
 tles were also made of turkey's feathers, inter- 
 woven with thread in such a manner that only 
 the feathers showed. The women covered them- 
 selves with an apron of deerskin. The ' ' common 
 sort' ' had little but leaves and grass for clothing. 
 In summer, nearly all covering was dispensed 
 with by rich and poor. What the Indians lacked 
 in clothing was made up in paint and orna- 
 ments. They colored their heads and shoul- 
 ders a brilliant red, with a mixture made of pow- 
 dered puccoon-root and oil. Women tattooed 
 their skin with figures of beasts and serpents. 
 But ear pendants were their most important or- 
 naments. They had usually three large holes in 
 each ear from' which they would hang chains, 
 ' ' bracelets, ' ' and copper. Indian women were 
 seen with strings of pearls hanging from the ear 
 to the waist. A man would sometimes wear as 
 an ear pendant a small green and yellow snake 
 "crawling and lapping itself about his neck." 
 He was "the most gallant that was the most 
 monstrous to behold." What little beard the 
 
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POWHATAN AND HIS PEOPLE. 39 
 
 Indians had was grated away with oyster-shells 
 by the women. An Indian beau would spend 
 hours plucking his whiskers out by the roots 
 
 The weapons, tools, and utensils of the aborigi- 
 nes were such as we do not see among the In- 
 dians of to day who trade with a civilized people. 
 Tomahawks were made of a deer's horn, of 
 of a long sharpened stone set into a handle 
 somewhat like a pickaxe. Arrows were stone- 
 pointed and winged with turkey feathers, which 
 were fastened with a glue made from deer's 
 horns. Their only armor was a shield made of 
 sticks or bark, woven together with thread. The 
 women made thread either of bark, deer's sin- 
 ews, or of a kind of grass. Knives were made 
 of stone, and sometimes shells and reeds were 
 sharpened for this purpose. A file was made of 
 the tooth of a beaver set in a stick. The Indians 
 kindled a fire by chafing a dry pointed stick in a 
 hole made in a piece of wood. Mortars were 
 hollowed from stone, and in these corn was 
 pounded into meal. An extensive quarry in 
 which stone vessels and implements were made 
 has recently been discovered in Amelia County, 
 Virginia, and the method of work' is shown to 
 have been very ingenious. 
 
 Corn bread was the staple food among the 
 
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40 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 Indians. Bread was also made of wild oats and 
 of sunflower seed. Fish, deer, turkeys, and 
 other game were their meats. Grubs, locusts, 
 and snakes were aiso included in the bill of fare. 
 Potatoes and the tuckahoe root were eaten. 
 Tobacco and corn were planted by the Indians. 
 The manner of planting Indian corn was some- 
 thing new and strange to the English, and is 
 thus described : ' ' The greatest labor they take is 
 in planting their corn, for the country naturally 
 is overgrown with wood. To prepare the 
 ground they bruise the bark of the trees near the 
 root, then do they scorch the roots with fire, 
 that they grow no more. The next year, with 
 a crooked piece of wood, they beat up the 
 weeds by the roots, and in that mould they plant 
 their corn. Their manner is this : They make a 
 hole in the earth with a stick, and into it they put 
 four grains of wheat [Indian corn] and two of 
 beans. These holes they make four foot one from 
 another ; their women and children do continu- 
 ally keep it with weeding, and when it is grown 
 middle high, they hill it about like a hop-yard." 
 The corn harvest was celebrated by the festival 
 of the green com dance. The Indians delighted 
 in roasted ears of corn. 
 
 They made a drink of dried hickory nuts. 
 
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POWHATAN AND HIS PEOPLE. 4! 
 
 pounded in a mortar and mixed with water. This 
 liquor was called Pawcohicora. From the 
 Indian cookery Americans have borrowed 
 hominy, barbecued meat, and the Southern dish 
 called ' ' pone. ' ' 
 
 The Indians dwelt mostly on the river banks, 
 and always in villages. Their cabins, or wig- 
 wams, were framed of saplings tied together and 
 covered very handsomely with reeds, bark, or 
 mats. Across the entrance a mat was some- 
 times hung for a door. In the centre of the 
 cabins a fire was built, and, says Captain Smith, 
 they were very warm, but also very smoky, not- 
 withstanding the hole in the top to let out smoke. 
 
 Indian towns were fortified with palisades ten 
 or twelve feet in height. 
 
 The Virginia Indians worshipped an idol, or 
 Okee, which represented the evil spirit. They 
 had also, like all of their race, some vague idea 
 of a superior spirit or creator. Their priests or 
 medicine-men controlled them through their su- 
 perstition by means of divinations and conjura- 
 tions, by which they professed to cure the sick, 
 and thus lived a life of indolence themselves. 
 The savages seldom dared steal from one an- 
 other, fearing that their priests might reveal the 
 thief through divination. The rude temple in 
 
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42 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 which they kept their Okee was surrounded with 
 posts on which hideous faces were roughly carved 
 or painted. 
 
 The Indians divided their year into five sea- 
 sons^ — budding time, roasting ear time, summer, 
 the fall of the leaf, and winter. Their rather 
 unmusical instruments were a reed on which 
 they piped, a rude drum, and rattles made of 
 gourds or pumpkms. ' ' These, mingled with 
 their voices," says Captain Smith, " make such 
 a terrible noise as would rather affright than de- 
 light any man. ' ' 
 
 The Indians amused themselves with " sham 
 fights," or war dances, accompanied with the 
 war-whoop, which seemed quite infernal to the 
 English. Captain Smith says that " all their ac- 
 tions, voyces, and gestures, both in charging and 
 retreating, were so stramed to the height of their 
 qualitie and nature that the strangenesse thereof 
 made it seem very delightf ull. ' ' 
 
 When the Indians had a distinguished visitor 
 
 they spread a mat, as the Turks doe a carpet, 
 for him to sit upon. Upon another right opposite 
 they sit themselves. Then doe all with a tuna- 
 ble voice of shouting bid him welcome. After 
 this doe two or more of their chiefest men make 
 an oration, testifying their love. ' ' 
 
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POWHATAN AND HIS PEOPLE. 43 
 
 The English invested savage life with all the 
 dignity of European courts. Powhatan was 
 styled " King," or " Emperor," his principal war- 
 riors were lords of the kingdom, his wives were 
 queens, his daughter was a " princess," and his 
 cabins were his various seats of residence. The 
 extent of his conquests, his unlimited power over 
 his subjects, and the pomp which he maintained, 
 invest Powhatan with no little savage dignity. 
 He was a ' ' tall, well-proportioned man, with a 
 sower looke, his head somewhat gray, his beard 
 so thinne that it seeraeth none at all, his age neare 
 sixtie, of a very able and hardy body, to endure 
 any labour." 
 
 In his younger days Powhatan had been a 
 great warrior. Hereditarily, he was the chief or 
 werowance of eight tribes ; through conquest his 
 dominions had been extended until they reached 
 from the James River to the Potomac, from the 
 sea to the falls in the principal rivers, and in- 
 cluded thirty of the forty tribes in Virginia. It 
 is estimated that his subjects numbered eight 
 thousand. The name of his nation and the 
 Indian appellation of the James River was Pow- 
 hatan. He himself possessed several names. His 
 proper personal appellation was said to have been 
 Wahunsonacock. His enemies were tv/o neigh- 
 
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44 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 boring confederacies, the Mantiahoacs, situated 
 between the Rappahannock and York Rivers, and 
 the Monacans, between the York and James 
 Rivers, above the falls. 
 
 Powhatan lived sometimes at a village of his 
 name, near where Richmond now stands, and 
 sometimes at Werowocomoco, on the York 
 River. He had in each of his hereditary vil- 
 lages, if we may believe the stories of early ex- 
 plorers, a house built like a long arbor for his 
 especial reception. When Powhatan visited one 
 of these villages a feast was already spread in the 
 long house or arbor. He had a hunting town in 
 the wilderness called Orapax. A mile from this 
 place, deep in the woods, he had another arbor- 
 like house, where he kept furs, copper, pearls, 
 and beads, treasures which he was saving against 
 his burial. 
 
 Powhatan was attended by a body-guard of 
 forty or fifty tall warriors, while, says Captain 
 Smith, ' ' every night upon the foure quarters of 
 his house are foure sentinels, each from other a 
 slight shoot, and at every halfe houre one from 
 the corps on guard doth hollow, shaking his Hps 
 with his finger betweene them, unto whom every 
 sentinell doth answer round from his stand ; if 
 any faile, they presently send forth an officer that 
 
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POWHATAN AND HIS PEOPLE. 45 
 
 beateth him extreamely." The war-whoop thus 
 described by Captain Smith is still in use among 
 certain tribes of Indians. 
 
 Powhatan was proud of his fleet. It consisted 
 of a large number of the canoes called " dug- 
 outs," which are common among some tribes of 
 Indians. The making of these boats was a 
 laborious process. Trees were felled by fire, and 
 from the trunks a boat was shaped by means of 
 burning and scraping with shells and tomahawks. 
 
 Powhatan had twenty sons and eleven daugh- 
 ters living. We know nothing of his sons except 
 Nanteguas, " the most manliest, comliest, bold- 
 est spirit" ever seen in "a savage." Poca- 
 hontas was Powhatan's favorite daughter. She 
 was born in 1594 or 5. Of her mother nothing is 
 known. Powhatan had many wives ; when he 
 tired of them he would present them to those of 
 his subjects, whom he considered the most de- 
 serving. 
 
 Indians are frequently known by several names. 
 It is a disappointment to learn that the name 
 which the romantic story of this Indian princess 
 has made so famous was not her real name. She 
 was called in childhood Metoax, or Metoake. 
 Concealing this from the English, because of a 
 superstitious notion that if these pale-faced 
 
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46 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 strangers knew her true name they could do her 
 some harm, the Indians gave her name as Poca- 
 hontas. 
 
 Powhatan's authority, like that of all Indian 
 chiefs, was held in check by the severity of cus- 
 tom. "The lawes whereby he ruleth," says 
 Captain Smith, ' ' is custome. Yet when he list- 
 eth, his will is a law, and must be obeyed : not 
 only as a king, but as halfe a god they esteeme 
 him." Each village and tribe had its respective 
 chief, or "werowance," as they were called among 
 the Powhatan Indians. The affairs of the tribe 
 were settled in a council of the chiefs and war- 
 riors of the several villages. Every town pos- 
 sessed its council-house, just as the villages of 
 New England have a town-hall. Here the 
 chiefs and old men assembled for consultation on 
 any important matter. Powhatan was the great 
 werowance over all, " unto whom," says Captain 
 Smith, " they pay tribute of skinnes, beads, cop- 
 per, pearle, deere, turkies, wild beasts, and 
 come. What he commandeth they dare not diso- 
 bey in the least thing. It is strange to see with 
 what care and adoration all these people do obey 
 this Powhatan. For at his feete they present 
 whatsoever he commandeth, and at the least 
 frowne of his brow, their greatest spirits will 
 
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POWHATAN AND HIS PEOPLE. 
 
 tremble ! and no marvell, for he is very terrible 
 and tyrannous in punishing such as offend him." 
 It was a barbarous life in which the little Poca- 
 hontas was bred. Her people always washed 
 their young babies in the river on the coldest 
 mornings to harden them. She was accustomed 
 to see her old father sitting at the door of his 
 cabin regarding with grim pleasure a string of his 
 enemy's scalps, suspended from tree to tree, and 
 waving in the breeze. Men in England in her 
 time idealized her into a princess and fine lady ; 
 in our time historians have been surprised and 
 indignant at finding that she was not a heroine of 
 romance, but simply an Indian maiden. Such as 
 her life made her she was — in her manners an un- 
 trained savage. But she was also the steadfast 
 friend and helper of the feeble colony, and that is 
 why her life is so full ot interest to us. 
 
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CHAPTER IV. 
 
 EARLY DAYS AT JAMESTOWN, 
 
 The colonists' hearts were buoyant with hopes 
 of a bright future in this lovely land to which 
 they had come in its loveliest season. All set to 
 work in a holiday spirit. The council planned 
 fortifications, the rest cleared the ground of trees, 
 made nets, and prepared the " clapboards" — 
 which in their speech probably meant cask staves 
 — with which the ships were to be laden for their 
 return voyage. Savages frequently visited them 
 with friendly curiosity. 
 
 Cheerful activity had somt'ivhat stilled the 
 wrangles of the voyages. Captain Smith, through 
 a domineering will and the reputation which he 
 enjoyed for his adventures, excited the jealousy 
 of those who were ambitious of leading. Smith, 
 as an experienced soldier, although not admitted 
 to the council, probably gave advice freely as to 
 the necessity of drilling the colonists and build- 
 ing a strong fort. The president, who was a mer- 
 chant, did nothing further than to fortify the new 
 
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EARLY DAYS AT JAMESTOWN. 49 
 
 town with " boughs of trees cast together in the 
 form of a half moon.'' Captain Smith's bold 
 spirit was too useful to be neglected. He and 
 Captain Newport, with twenty others, were sent 
 to discover the source of the James River. They 
 ascended the river as far as the rapids, and 
 planted a cross at the end of their explorations. 
 They visited an Indian chief at the village named 
 Powhatan, which was composed of about twelve 
 cabins pleasantly situated on a hill surrounded by 
 cornfields, and fronted by three fertile islands. 
 Captain Newport presented the chief with a 
 hatchet, with which he was much delighted. The 
 Indians complained at the intrusion of the Eng. 
 lish into their country. The chief, concealing his 
 own apprehensions, said, " They hurt you not ; 
 they take but a little waste land. ' ' 
 
 When, however, the exploring party had re- 
 turned to within twenty miles of Jamestown, 
 they began to suspect treachery. On reaching 
 the colony they found that their suspicions were 
 well founded. The colonists, while securely at 
 work and unarmed, had been attacked by the 
 Indians, and were for some t/me in danger of de- 
 struction. A cross-bar shot from the vessel 
 struck off the bough of a tree in the midst of the 
 savages* and so frightened them that they fled in 
 
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50 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 every direction. Had it not been for this timely 
 shot, attributed by some authority to the pres- 
 ence of mind of the president, Wingfield, the colo- 
 nists would all have been massacred by the sav- 
 ages. As it was, seventeen men were wounded 
 and one boy killed, while Wingfield had a narrow 
 escape, an arrow passing through his beard. 
 
 Warned by this attack of the savages, the presi- 
 dent now had the town fortified with palisades, 
 the guns mounted, and the men armed and 
 drilled. The Indians hung continually around the 
 white settlement, either making covert attacks, 
 or in ambuscade awaiting an opportunity. 
 Stragglers from the fort — and there were many 
 such — were often hurt, while the Indians always 
 escaped " by the nimbleness of their heels." 
 
 Captain Newport, who had been hired only to 
 transport the colony, remained six weeks. Dur- 
 mg this time the labor of the colonists was 
 severe. With all the work which the immediate 
 needs of the settlers called for, and the loading 
 of the vessels for their return voyage, the set- 
 tlers were obliged with their small force to watch 
 at night and to guard the workmen by day. 
 
 Captain Newport at last prepared to set sail. 
 Captain Smith had been for thirteen weeks undeJ 
 suspicion, awaiting a trial. His natural leader 
 
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EARLY DAYS AT JAMESTOWN. 5 1 
 
 ship had already asserted itself, while his earnest- 
 ness and straightforward energy had gained him 
 friends and respect. His enemies, probably fear- 
 ing for the success of their plans, proposed, out 
 of charity, to refer him to the council in England 
 rather than to subject him to a public trial at 
 Jamestown. Captain Smith "scorned" their 
 kindness, and demanded a trial, which resulted 
 very honorably to him. His accusers' witnesses 
 confessed that they had been suborned ; Smith 
 was acquitted, and his chief enemy, the president, 
 was condemned to pay Smith two hundred 
 pounds. Captain Smith turned the money into 
 the public store. The good minister came forward 
 and made peace on all sides, and through his in- 
 fluence and that of Captain Newport, Smith was 
 admitted to his seat in the council. The next 
 day all received the communion together ; on the 
 day following the Indians presented themselves 
 to desire peace, and Captain Newport set sail for 
 England with good news from Virginia. 
 
 Left thus to their " fortunes, it fortuned" that 
 within a few days the colonists were nearly all 
 sick. The site of Jamestown had been poorly 
 chosen. The adjacent swamps of the Chickahom- 
 iny made it very unhealthy. The colonists had not 
 become acclimated, and unusual toil in a summer's 
 
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52 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 heat, to which they were not accustomed, with a 
 scarcity of provisions, were the causes of this 
 sickness. 
 
 The council in London believed that they 
 had plentifully provided the colonists with pro- 
 visions, supposing that the voyage would be 
 made in two months, and that they would reach 
 Virginia in time to plant for themselves. They 
 had, however, been five months on the way, and 
 had thus missed the chance ot raising a corn 
 harvest. While the ships remained, the settlers 
 had traded sassafras, furs, and money for bis- 
 cuits, which the sailors would pilfer from the 
 ships' store. Now their food consisted of a half 
 pint of wheat and as much barley to each man, 
 boiled in a common kettle. This grain had lain 
 so long in the ship's hold that it was full oi 
 worms, and could not have been very appetizing 
 to the sick colonists, who had no drink but water, 
 and no " lodgings" but " castles in the air." Still, 
 as their narrative says, the council in England was 
 not to be blamed, since "the fault of our going 
 was our own." 
 
 Every day during the month of August fresh 
 graves were dug. One day the cannons boomed 
 in honor of the burial of Captain Bartholomew 
 Gosnold, the explorer, and one of the first movers 
 
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EARLY DAYS AT JAMESTOWN. 53 
 
 of the expedition. To his loss no doubt some of 
 the later misfortunes of the colony were due. At 
 the end of the summer about fifty of the one hun- 
 dred and five colonists had died. 
 
 There was naturally much murmuring and dis- 
 content in the smitten and hungry colony. ' ' Had 
 we been as free from all sins as gluttony and 
 drunkenness, ' ' says their story, ' ' we might 
 have been canonized for saints." They were 
 evidently, however, not free from other sins. 
 After the death of Captain Gosnold contentions 
 increased. John Kendall was deposed from his 
 seat in the council, and imprisoned for making 
 trouble between the president and the other 
 members of the council. Wingfield himself, 
 accused of engrossing for his private benefit what 
 delicacies there were, was also suspected of a 
 project to flee to England with their little vessel. 
 The " dead spirits of the sick colonists were 
 " so moved" that the president was deposed 
 and confined upon the pinnace. He denied the 
 charges against him in a statement written to the 
 council in England, and it cannot be certainly 
 known whether, as Captain Smith believed, there 
 was truth in them or not. There is little doubt, 
 however, that Wingfield was ill-fitted to fill the 
 difficult office to which he had been elected 
 
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54 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 Captain John Ratcliffe was appointed in his 
 place. 
 
 Those men who had survived during the sum- 
 mer had Hved mostly on sturgeon and sea-crabs. 
 As autumn came on the sturgeon failed them, 
 and their supply of provisions had come to an 
 end. In their weakened condition they expected 
 every day to be attacked by the savages. In this 
 extremity the Indians, however, proved friendly, 
 bringing them plent}' of fruit and provisions. 
 
 Captain Smith's natural gift for leadership had 
 asserted itself through the trials and dangers ot 
 the colony. From this time the real management 
 of affairs fell into his hands. The new president, 
 and Martin, the remaining member of the council, 
 were content to stay at home. By dint of good 
 words, promises, and his own example. Smith got 
 the men to work to build Jamestown. Some cut, 
 others bound thatch, some built cottages, and 
 others thatched them. Among them all worked 
 Captain Smith, taking always the most difficult 
 task as his share. In a short time they all had 
 homes except Smith himself. 
 
 The superfluity of the Indian harvests in the 
 neighborhood of Jamestown was being used up. 
 Captain Smith resolved to go on a trading expe- 
 dition into the Indian country. The colonists had 
 
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EARLY DAYS AT JAMESTOWN. 55 
 
 no knowledge of the Indian language ; their force 
 was small, they knew little about managing a 
 boat without sails, and the men needed clothing 
 and other necessaries. All these were difficul- 
 ties in the way of the expedition, " yet no dis- 
 couragement' ' to the bold spirit of Captain Smith ; 
 with five or six men in a shallop they started 
 down the river. They stopped at the Indian 
 village of Kecoughtan, where Hampton now 
 stands. The inhabitants scorned them as starv- 
 ing men. They would offer them a handful of 
 com in exchange for their swords, or a piece of 
 bread for their clothes. These were Indian jokes. 
 Captain Smith, soldier that he was, finding that 
 " courtesy" had no effect, tried force, though 
 contrary to his commission. He suddenly " let 
 fly his muskets," and ran his boat ashore. The 
 Indians immediately fled for the woods while this 
 company of six or seven men marched into their 
 town. Here were great heaps of com, and 
 Smith had "much ado" to prevent the hungry 
 soldiers from helping themselves. He kept his 
 men in readiness, expecting an attack on the part 
 of the Indians. In a short time there was "a 
 most hideous noise," and sixty or seventy In- 
 dians, formed in square order, came dancing 
 and singing out of the woods. They were all 
 
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56 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 painted either black, red, white, or party-col- 
 ored, and bore their Okee before them, made of 
 skin, stuffed with moss, painted and decorated 
 with beads and copper. They charged upon the 
 English, armed with clubs, shields, bows and ar- 
 rows. They were " so kindly received," how- 
 ever, with a volley of musketry, " that down fell 
 their god, and divers lay sprawling on the 
 ground." The rest of the Indians had disap- 
 peared again in the woods. They soon sent a 
 priest with offers for peace and the restoration 
 of their idol. Smith made answer that if they 
 would send six unarmed men to load his boat 
 he would not only return the Okee, but give 
 them beads, copper, and hatchets, and be their 
 friend. Accordingly they brought him venison, 
 turkey, wild fowls, and bread, and were so 
 pleased with the trinkets that he gave them in 
 exchange that the last that the English saw of 
 them they were dancing and singing in token of 
 friendship, though they were no doubt glad 
 when the English were gone.* 
 
 The sickly season had passed, and the colonists 
 were all recovered by the time of the return of 
 
 * We have followed the account in the General History. But 
 in the True Relation no mention is made of any fight with the 
 Indians at this time. 
 
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EARLY DAYS AT JAMESTOWN. 57 
 
 the expedition. Captain Smith now fitted up the 
 pinnace for a voyage in search of provisions for 
 the following year. Meanwhile he made several 
 short trips into the country. On one of these 
 journeys he discovered the people of Chickahom- 
 iny living on the river of that name. The presi- 
 dent was a weak man, Martin was in ill-health, 
 and when Captain Smith was absent all was con- 
 fusion among the colonists. During one of his 
 trips Wingfield and Kendall plotted with some 
 others to sail for England in the pinnace. Cap- 
 tain Smith returned unexpectedly, the plot was 
 revealed to him, and he forced them to " stay or 
 sink" after a skirmish which cost the life of Cap- 
 tain Kendall (unless, indeed, Kendall was exe- 
 cuted after a trial, as in some accounts). The 
 president and Captain Archer entertained a simi- 
 lar project for abandoning the country not long 
 after this, but Smith detained them also. 
 
 It is said of Smith that ' ' the Spaniard never 
 more greedily desired gold than he victual, nor 
 his soldiers more to abandon the country than he 
 to keep it." He had found an abundance of 
 corn on the Chickahominy River. He made an 
 excursion there, and was received by hundreds 
 of Indians with baskets of corn. 
 
 Times of plenty had now come to the country. 
 
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$8 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 As winter approached, the rivers were cc vered 
 with swans, ducks, and geese. With these and 
 an abundance of other game, fish, and fruit, the 
 colonists were so feasted that Captain Smith no 
 longer had to threaten the sinking of the little 
 vessel to keep them in Virginia. 
 
 But their " comedies never endured long with- 
 out a tragedy. ' ' The tragedy was soon to follow. 
 
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CHAPTER V, 
 
 EARLY ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 
 
 We come now to consider the adventures and 
 explorations of the chief hero of the Virginia 
 colony, Captain John Smith. In an age when 
 romantic adventures were in vogue he was the 
 rarest of adventurers. From boyhood he led 
 a roving life, wandering through Europe, fight- 
 ing the Turks, enduring captivities, encountering 
 pirates and shipwreck, and at last distinguishing 
 himself by the ready stratagems and unfailing 
 presence of mind with which he managed the 
 savages in Virginia and delivered the colony 
 from destruction. 
 
 At the early age of thirteen, like many another 
 boy, he was " set upon brave adventures," as he 
 says. But he did not, like the usual boy of mod- 
 em story-books, achieve a brave career in an 
 incredibly short time, and without any previous 
 training. 
 
 This remarkable man had already attained 
 great renown as an adventurer and soldier 
 when he sailed for Virginia, being then under 
 
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6o POCAHONTAS. 
 
 twenty-eight years of age. He was boi n at Wil- 
 loughby, in Lincolnshire, in 1579. Never did a 
 hero of romantic adventure come into possession 
 of a more commonplace name than that of John 
 Smith. His father came, it would seem from an 
 old and well-known family of Smiths, and was a 
 man of some means. John Smith attended the 
 free schools of Alford and Louth. To him, as to 
 all boys of a roving tendency, the sea seemed the 
 only road to ' ' brave adventures. ' ' At the age 
 of thirteen he sold his school-books and satchel, 
 and planned to run away to sea. The death of 
 his parents at this time, however, checked his 
 adventurous spirit for the moment. His father 
 left him plenty of means, but his guardians cared 
 more for the boy's estate than for the boy. 
 Smith had liberty enough to do as he pleased, 
 but lacked money. When he was fifteen years 
 old his guardians apprenticed him to a merchant 
 of Lynn. Because this merchant would not send 
 him to sea, as Smith quaintly remarks, he saw no 
 more of his master for eight years. John Smith 
 had found a chance to attend the son of Lord 
 Willoughby, who was going with his tutor to 
 France. His guardians had found Smith a 
 troublesome charge, and they gave him ten 
 shillings, from his own estate, "to be rid of 
 
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ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. Ol 
 
 him." At Orleans the young nobleman met his 
 brother, and having no more use for Smith, he 
 was dismissed. He had probably engaged to at- 
 tend him for his passage, but the young gentle- 
 man gave him money to pay his fare back to his 
 home. John Smith had no notion of returning to 
 England, however. At Paris he became acquaint- 
 ed with a Scotch gentleman named David Hume, 
 who, if we rightly identify him, was a Pro- 
 testant minister, the author of several famous 
 books in English and Latin. He seems to have 
 taken a great fancy to the adventurous boy, for 
 he gave him money and letters to friends in Scot- 
 land, who would refer him to King James VI., at 
 that time reigning in Scotland, afterward James 
 I. of England. Arriving at Rouen on his way to 
 Scotland, and finding his money nearly gone, 
 " he better bethought himself," and " down the 
 river he went to Havre de Grace." Here he 
 became a soldier. When peace was concluded 
 in France, he went over into the Low Countries, 
 where he served for three or four years under 
 Captain Joseph Duxbury. He probably be- 
 longed to a corps of English auxiliaries who aided 
 the Netherlands in the struggle in which they 
 gained their independence. He next resolved to 
 deliver his letters. On the voyage, with hi3 
 
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63 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 usual hard fortune, he suffered shipwreck and 
 sickness. He at last arrived in Scotland, where 
 he was most kindly treated, but he had not 
 the means to make a courtier, nor indeed was 
 of the kind of men that dwell in kings' houses. 
 John Smith returned to his native town, where he 
 was soon glutted with a society which was not 
 to his taste. This young gentleman of nineteen 
 resolved to become a hermit. He selected " a 
 little woody pasture" surrounded by hundreds 
 of acres of other woods, where he built him a 
 " pavilion of bows." Here he studied Machia- 
 velli's "Art of War" and the writings of Mar- 
 cus Aurelius, while he exercised himself with a 
 good horse, his lance, and ring, after the manner 
 of that time. Like Shakespeare, he was guilty 
 of breaking the game law, for he slyly remarks 
 that " his food was thought to be more of veni- 
 son than any thing else. ' ' This romantic hermit 
 was much wondered at. An Italian gentleman, 
 Signor Theadora Polaloga, rider to the Earl of 
 Lincoln, visited Smith, and by his fine horseman- 
 ship and "good discourse" persuaded him to 
 return to the outside world again. He staid for 
 a time with his Italian friend, but could not long 
 be content with such tame pleasures as this life 
 afforded. 
 
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ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 63 
 
 He had served his apprenticeship in the wars 
 of France and the Netherlands. He now desired 
 to see more of the world, and " lamenting and 
 repenting to have seen so many Christians " 
 slaughter one another," he was ambitious to 
 "try his fortunes" against those about killing 
 whom he would have no compunction — namely, 
 the infidel Turks. Smith first set out for the Low 
 Countries. Here he met four French adventur- 
 ers, one of whom gave himself out as a nobleman. 
 Lord Dapreau, while the rest were his attendants. 
 They formed a friendship with the young English- 
 man, and proposed to Smith to go into France, 
 where they might procure letters from the 
 Duchess of Mercoeur to the Duke, her husband, 
 who was a general in the Turkish war. They 
 embarked for France, and on a dark night arrived 
 at St. Valery in Picardy. The Frenchmen planned 
 with the captain to put them ashore with their 
 own and Smith's baggage, while he was to wait 
 for the return of the boat. The captain did not 
 return until the next night, saying that the sea 
 was so high that he could not come, and that 
 Lord Dapreau had gone to Amiens, where he 
 would await the arrival of Smith. This young 
 gentleman was now left without clothes except 
 what he wore, and without money except one 
 
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64 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 small piece. The passengers were indignant at 
 the villany of the captain, and with the lawless- 
 ness of the times would have killed him, and 
 seized the ship had they known how to manage 
 it. When Smith came to shore he was obliged 
 to sell his cloak in order to pay for his passage. 
 
 One of the passengers, a solider named Curzi- 
 anvere, informed Smith that this great lord who 
 had disappeared with his baggage and money 
 was but the son of a lawyer in Brittany, that his 
 gentlemen were three young citizens, and that 
 they were all "arrant cheats." Curzianvere 
 promised to go with Smith to their home, in 
 order that he might get some redress. They 
 journeyed through Normandy, stopping to visit 
 the "ruinous tomb of William the Conqueror," 
 and arrived in Brittainy, where they found the 
 rascals. Curzianvere, however, could not help 
 him, for he was a banished man, and dared not be 
 seen by any but his friends. Smith was unable 
 to recover his property, but his story became 
 known, and some of the nobility supplied his 
 wants and entertained him kindly. 
 
 This life did not suit the young man's inde- 
 pendent spirit. He wandered on, from seaport 
 to seaport, in search of a man of war. His money 
 was at last all gone, and he lay down in a forest 
 
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ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 65 
 
 by a " fair fountain," " near dead with grief and 
 cold. ' ' Here he was found by a rich farmer and 
 relieved of his wants. 
 
 Walking through the woods one day, he met 
 one of the French robbers in a still more miser 
 able condition than himself. Without a word 
 they both drew their swords and fought until 
 the Frenchman fell. He confessed his robbery, 
 in the presence ot the inhabitants, of "an old 
 ruinated tower' ' near by. Smith got his revenge, 
 but that was all. 
 
 He now travelled to the castle of the Earl of 
 Ployer, under whom he had fought in the French 
 wars. This nobleman refitted him, and showed 
 him the sights of the country. Turning out of 
 his road many times to see places of interest, 
 Smith at last reached Marseilles, where he em- 
 barked for Italy. 
 
 The vessel was crowded with Catholic pilgrims 
 of all nations bound for Rome. They " cursed" 
 Smith for a Huguenot, his nation for pirates, 
 and " railed on" his sovereign. Queen Elizabeth. 
 Smith was always a good churchman, and a loyal 
 subject, and being neither a very meek nor pa- 
 tient man, it is probable that he answered them 
 in the same fashion. Stormy weather forced the 
 vessel to put into the harbor of Toulon, and 
 
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€)6 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 again to anchor off the Isle of St. Mary, near Nice, 
 in Savoy. The pilgrims concluded that they 
 would never have fair weather so long as Smith 
 was with them, so, like a second Jonah, he was 
 thrown overboard. 
 
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CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CAPTAIN SMITH GOES TO FIGHT THE TURKS. 
 
 Smith swam ashore to St. Mary's Isle, which 
 he found inhabited only by a few cattle and 
 goats. But he was not long destined to play 
 Robinson Crusoe. The next morning he espied 
 two other ships which had been forced in by the 
 storm. He was taken on board a vessel, com- 
 manded by Captain La Roche, a neighbor of the 
 Earl of Ployer. " For the love" of this noble- 
 man Smith was well entertained. The French 
 vessel sailed to Alexandria, delivered her freight, 
 and coasted the; Levant "rather to view what 
 ships were in the road than any thing else." In 
 those days sailors were always on the watch for 
 plunder. They met a Venetian argosy, richly 
 laden. The French vessel attempted to bespeak 
 her, but the captain answered them with a broad- 
 side, probably expecting no better treatment 
 from such as he met. Captain La Roche imme- 
 diately gave chase, giving her his broadside, 
 then his stern, and then his other broadside, 
 until the Venetian's sails and rigging were so 
 
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68 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 torn that she was obliged to stand and give bat- 
 tle ' ' shot for shot. ' ' Twice in an hour Captain 
 La Roche boarded her, and once the argosy fired 
 him, with much danger to both vessels. The fire 
 was quenched, however, and the battle con- 
 tinued until the Venetian yielded. The rich ves- 
 sel, loaded with silks, velvets, cloth of gold, and 
 gold and silver money, was rifled of the least 
 bulky part of her cargo. Smith was set ashore in 
 Piedmont with his share of the spoils, five hun- 
 dred sequins, and ' ' a little box, probably contain- 
 ing jewels, worth twice as much more. 
 
 Having now both the means and opportunity, 
 he was glad " to better his experience by the 
 view of Italy. ' ' At Rome he saw Pope Clement 
 VIII. and his cardinals " creep up the holy 
 stairs. ' ' Having ' ' satisfied his e\ces with the rari- 
 ties" of the principal cities of -italy, he started 
 from Venice for the seat of the Turkish war. 
 
 In 1601, Smith, then but twenty-two years of 
 age, reached Gratz, in Styria. The feeble Ru- 
 dolph II., Emperor of Germany, was at this titne 
 waging war against the Turks, who had invaded 
 Hungary and given the Emperor much trouble. 
 Smith met two of his countrymen, who intro- 
 duced him to Lord Eberspaught. This officer 
 examined him, and presented him to Baron Kis- 
 
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CAPT. SMITH GOES TO FIGHT THE TURKS. 69 
 
 sell, general of the artillery, who placed him in 
 the regiment of the Earl of Meldritch. 
 
 The Christians had lost the strong fortress of 
 Canisia, or Kaniska, in Hungary, and the Turks 
 were ravaging the neighboring country. They 
 now laid siege with twenty thousand men to 
 Olympach, which was commanded by Lord 
 Eberspaught. All intelligence and supplies were 
 entirely cut off from the beleaguered garrison. 
 Baron Kissell had come to the assistance of 
 Olympach, and wished to send a communication 
 to the commander. It was impossible for a mes- 
 senger to pass the Turkish ranks. At this junc- 
 ture John Smith appeared before the Baron, and 
 told him that he had previously explained a 
 method of telegraphy to Lord Eberspaught, and 
 that if he would take him to some place where 
 a torch might be seen from the town, he would 
 undertake to communicate with him. He ex- 
 plained his plan to the Baron, who allowed him 
 guides to take him on a dark night to the top of 
 a mountain seven miles from Olympach. From 
 this point Smith showed three torches at an equal 
 distance from one another. After waiting a 
 while he saw that Lord Eberspaught had guessed 
 the meaning of this, for three answering lights 
 appeared from the town. Smith's plan was to 
 
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■JO POCAHONTAS. 
 
 show one torch a corresponding number of times 
 to the place in the alphabet of the letter which he 
 wished to designate. By this means he spelled 
 out the words, " On Thursday, at night, I will 
 charge on the east; at the alarm sally you." 
 The answer came from the town, " I will." This 
 mode of telegraphy is ancient, and Smith had 
 probably found it in his reading. Smith also 
 proposed that on the night of the attack several 
 thousand matches should be fastened to strings, 
 stretched suddenly upon a line on the plain, and 
 fired, an instant before the alarm, in order to de- 
 ceive the enemy as to the place of attack. 
 
 The night arrived. The Turks hearing the re- 
 port of the matches, supposed it to be the firing 
 of musketry, and their force was immediately 
 directed to that quarter. So great was the con- 
 fusion produced by the false alarm, the real at- 
 tack in another quarter from Baron Kissell, and 
 the sally of Lord Eberspaught, that the Baron 
 put two thousand good soldiers into the town 
 before morning, and the besieged succeeded in 
 procuring an abundance of provisions from the 
 Turkish encampment. The result was that the 
 Turks abandoned the siege. As a reward for 
 these services, Smith was given the command of 
 a body of two hundred and fifty horse. 
 
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CAPT. SMITH GOES TO FIGHT THE TURKS. yi 
 
 Duke Mercury, as Smith calls him — more 
 properly, the Duke de Mercceur, under whom 
 Smith served, now undertook the siege of Alba 
 Regalis, in Hungary, with a force of thirty thou- 
 sand men. Smith, with characteristic readiness of 
 resource, had invented a sort of bomb made of 
 earthen pots filled with an explosive mixture, and 
 thrown from slings. These were put in use at 
 the siege of Alba Regalis, doing much execution, 
 and firing the suburbs several times. 
 
 One suburb of the city was strongly defended 
 by a muddy lake, and thought to be impregna- 
 ble. Earl Roswarine, however, provided every 
 man on a dark night with a bundle of sedge and 
 reeds, which they threw before them, and thus 
 crossed this lake, so surprising the Turks that 
 they fled into the city. The inhabitants of the 
 other suburb, not understanding the cause of 
 panicj followed suit, so that it was readily taken 
 by the Duke. The city, not being so strong as the 
 suburbs, was battered with the ordnance which 
 had been captured. The inhabitants were put to 
 the sword after the barbarous custom prevailing 
 in warfare between Turks and Christians. 
 
 The Sultan had raised an army of sixty thou- 
 sand men under the command of Hassan Pasha 
 to march to the relief of Alba Regalis. Hearing 
 
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72 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 that the city was lost, he still continued his 
 march, hoping to retake it. He was met by the 
 Christians, twenty thousand strong, on the plains 
 of Girke. A fierce battle was fought, in which 
 the Earl of Meldritch and his men were so sur- 
 rounded by the semi-circular Turkish regiments 
 that they were thought to be lost, but were re- 
 lieved by other brave leaders in the Christian 
 army. Captain Smith was severely wounded, 
 and had his horse shot from under him ; but he 
 was not long unmounted among so many rider- 
 less horses. Night closed the contest, and an- 
 other action followed, in which the Turks were 
 defeated with a loss of six thousand men. 
 
 The Duke de Mercoeur now divided his army 
 into three parts, that under the Earl of Mel- 
 dritch being sent into Transylvania, whose 
 Prince, Sigismund Bathori, was both contending 
 with the Emperor of Germany, and, like the Em- 
 peror, was waging war against Turkey. The 
 Earl of Meldritch was to join the Emperor's 
 army against Sigismund. This service was dis- 
 tasteful to him, since he was himself a Transylva- 
 nian, and probably sympathized more with the 
 Prince than with the Emperor. His men were 
 mostly adventurers who had entered the ser- 
 vice to fight the Turks, and were anxious to 
 
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CAPT. SMITH GOES TO FIGHT THE TURKS. 73 
 
 serve where the most booty might be obtained. 
 Their pay had been poor in the Emperor's ser- 
 vice, and they were easily persuaded to follow 
 their leader, who offered himself to Prince Sigis- 
 mund to fight the Turks, then holding that part 
 of Transylvania where the estates of his family 
 were situated. 
 
 Earl Meldritch made incursions into the moun- 
 tain regions infested with Turks, Tartars, rob- 
 bers, and renegades. These were forced into the 
 city of Regal, which was so surrounded by 
 mountains that it was entered only by difficult 
 passes and seemed impregnable. Meldritch with 
 eight thousand men began the siege of the city, 
 or, as Smith poetically states it, " The earth no 
 sooner put on her green habit than the Earl over- 
 spread her with his armed troops." The Turks 
 were so well fortified and garrisoned that they 
 sccned this army. The Christian forces were 
 soon augmented, however, by the arrival of 
 Prince Moyses with nine thousand men. The 
 strong fortress was so well situated that they 
 could neither frighten nor hurt the Turks, who 
 grew insolent while the Christians were prepar- 
 ing to plant their ordnance, saying they were at 
 pawn, and grew fat for want of exercise. 
 
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CHAPTER VII. 
 
 CAPTAIN SMITH AMUSES THE TURKISH LADIES. 
 
 This challenge was one day received in the 
 Christian camp from Regal : " That to delight 
 the ladies, who did long to see some court-like 
 pastime, the Lord Turbashaw did defie any cap- 
 tain that had the command of a company who 
 durst combat with him for his head." So many 
 were ambitious of fighting the Turkish lord that 
 it was necessary to draw lots. The name of Cap- 
 tain Smith was drawn. 
 
 The day of the contest came. The ramparts of 
 the town were "all beset with fair dames" and 
 armed men. With the sound of hautboys, the Lord 
 Turbashaw entered the field finely mounted, Sf>n- 
 didly armed, and with a great pair of wings fas- 
 tened upon his shoulders, ' ' compacted of eagles' 
 feathers within a ridge of silver, richly garnished 
 with gold and precious stones. ' ' Before him went 
 a janizary bearing his lance, while one went on 
 either side leading his horse. Captain Smith en- 
 tered the lists with a flourish of trumpets, attend- 
 ed only by a page who bore his lance. He 
 
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CAPT. SMITH AMUSES THE TURKISH LADIES. 7$ 
 
 passed his antagonist with a courteous salute. 
 At the sound of the trumpet the combatants met 
 at full speed, and the Christian's lance pierced 
 the visor of the Turk, who fell dead. Smith 
 alighted and cut off the Lord Turbashaw's head, 
 leaving the body to his friends. The victor was 
 received with triumphant joy in the Christian 
 camp. 
 
 The death of this champion brought great 
 chagrin into the Turkish fortress. His vowed 
 friend, Grualgo, challenged Smith to single com- 
 bat, to regain the head of his friend or to lose his 
 own. The challenge was accepted, and the next 
 day appointed. At the sound of trumpets the 
 combatants met, their lances were shivered, and 
 they passed each other unhurt, although the 
 Turk was nearly unhorsed. They next met with 
 pistols. Smith's armor was dinted, but they 
 again passed unharmed. At the third encounter 
 Captain Smith wounded his antagonist in the left 
 arm. Unable both to manage his horse and de- 
 fend himself, the Turk was thrown to the ground, 
 where he quickly lost his head. According to 
 the terms of the challenge, horse and armor went 
 to the victor, while the body and rich apparel 
 were returned to the town. 
 
 The works of the besiegers progressed slow- 
 
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26 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 ly. A few unimportant skirmishes only took 
 place. Smith now procured leave to send a chal- 
 lenge into the town on his part. The message 
 was to this efiect : that he was not so " enam- 
 ored " of the heads of the ladies' servants that he 
 would not afford any Turkish knight a chance to 
 redeem them and secure his own if he could win 
 it. This challenge was accepted by a Turk 
 named Bouny Mulgro, who, having the choice of 
 weapons, avoided the lance, in the use of which 
 Smith had proved himself so skilful, and chose 
 pistols, battle-axes, and swords. On the follow- 
 ing day the champions entered the lists as before, 
 and discharged their pistols at the first encounter 
 without effect. Such heavy blows from the bat- 
 tle-axe followed as to nearly stun both Turk and 
 Christian. Smith was not, however, so skilful 
 with this weapon, and the Turk dealt him a blow 
 that forced him to drop his battle-axe, and he 
 came near following it to the ground. A great 
 shout of triumph arose from the ramparts of 
 Regal. But the battle was not yet won. The 
 Turk followed up his advantage with heavy 
 blows, which Smith, however, avoided by dexter- 
 ous horsemanship, and, contrary to the expecta- 
 tions of the witnesses, he succeeded in piercing 
 the body of his enemy with his sword. 
 
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CAPT. SMITH AMUSES THE TURKISH LADIES. 77 
 
 The head of Bouny Mulgro followed those of 
 his friends. 
 
 After this Smith was conducted to the pavilion 
 of Prince Moyses with a guard of six thousand 
 men, preceded by the three heads upon lances, 
 and the horses of the conquered Turks. Captain 
 Smith presented his trophies to the Prince, who 
 received him with an embrace and presented him 
 a richly caparisoned horse, and a scimitar and belt 
 worth three hundred ducats, while the Earl d. 
 Meldritch made him major of his regiment. 
 
 The siege of Regal continued, and the place 
 was at last taken after a fierce assault. The gar- 
 rison was put to the sword in retaliation tor the 
 massacre of the Christian garrison from whom 
 the Turks had taken the place. 
 
 Prince Sigismund, when he came to review his 
 army, was informed of Captain Smith's valor and 
 services, for which he gave him his picture set 
 in gold, and a pension of three hundred ducats. 
 He gave Captain Smith a patent of nobility, with 
 three Turks' heads in his coat of arms. This 
 patent was afterward accepted, and recorded in 
 the Herald's College in England. 
 
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CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CAPTAIN smith's CAPTIVITY. 
 
 Prince Sigisivjund at last gave up his unequal 
 struggle with the Emperor. Transylvania be- 
 came a German province, and Sigismund retired 
 to the life of a private nobleman in Prague with 
 an ample pension. 
 
 By this means the allegiance of Sigismund's 
 armies was transferred to the Emperor, a mastei 
 to whom they were so little attached that it be- 
 came necessary to occupy them. The opportu- 
 nity was not long wanting in those troubled 
 times. 
 
 Wallachia was then in possession of the Turks. 
 The inhabitants revolted against the tyranny of 
 the Way wode, or prince, of this province, and ap- 
 plied for assistance to the Emperor. Lord Ro- 
 doU was appointed Waywode in place of the 
 Turk, whose name was Jeremy. The Earl of 
 Meldritch, with an army of thirty thousand men, 
 was sent to support the new ruler. Jeremy met 
 him with forty thousand Turks, Tartars, and 
 Moldavians. A bloody battle ensued between 
 
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CAPTAIN smith's CAPTIVITY. 79 
 
 the two pretenders to the principality, which re. 
 suited in establishing Rodoll as Waywode. 
 
 Jeremy had, however, gathered together an- 
 other army in Moldavia, and threatened trouble. 
 The Earl of Meldritch, with thirteen thousand 
 men, was sent against him. They were success- 
 ful in several skirmishes, in one of which he was 
 assisted by Smith's inventive genius. The latter 
 manufactured fireworks, which were carried upon 
 the tops of lances in a night attack, and so fright- 
 ened horse and man that the victory was an easy 
 matter. 
 
 The end was disastrous, however. The Earl 
 of Meldritch was attacked by an army of forty 
 thousand Turks in a mountain pass. He ordered 
 his eleven thousand remaining men as best he 
 could, planted sharpened stakes with their heads 
 toward the enemy, with holes dug among them, 
 as his defence, and bravely encountered the multi- 
 tudes of the foe. When numbers became too 
 much for them, the Christians retired behind 
 their defence, and Captain Smith says " it was a 
 wonder to see how horse and man came to the 
 ground among the stakes." The Christians 
 could not, however, long prevail. The Earl of 
 Meldritch made one last effort. He formed all 
 his men into a column, and attempted to cut his 
 
 1' 
 
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80 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 way through the enemies' ranks. In this he suc- 
 ceeded for a time, but was at last overwhelmed ; 
 night came on, and the Earl escaped with some 
 thirteen hundred horsemen by swimming the 
 river. On this terrible battle field nearly thirty 
 thousand men lay dead or wounded, among them 
 Captain Smith. ' ' Most of the dearest friends of 
 the noble Prince Sigismund" perished in the bat- 
 tle. Smith tenderly recorded in his history the 
 names of some nine of his own countrymen who 
 fell on this forgotten battle field. Searching 
 among the dead, the pillagers discovered Captain 
 Smith, and judging by his rich armor and dress 
 that he was a person of some importance, they 
 saved him, hoping to get a good ransom. His 
 wounds were healed, and he was taken with num- 
 bers of other prisoners to Axiopolis to be sold as a 
 slave. Here, "like beasts in a market-place," 
 they were viewed by the merchants, their limbs 
 and their wounds carefully examined, and finally 
 they were made to struggle together to try 
 their strength. Captain Smith was purchased 
 by the Bashaw, or, as we should say. Pasha, 
 Bogall. A number of slaves were chained by 
 the necks in groups of twenty and marched ta 
 Constantinople, where they were delivered to 
 their several masters. Smith was presented by 
 
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CAPTAIN SMITH'S CAPTIVITY. 8 1 
 
 the Bashaw to his fair young mistress, Charatza 
 Tragabigzanda. He wrote her that this slave 
 was a Bohemian nobleman whom he had cap- 
 tured in battle. 
 
 The young lady immediately became interested 
 in her fine-looking young slave. She understood 
 Italian, and would make opportunities to speak 
 with him. She inquired if he were indeed a Bohe- 
 mian noble conquered by her lord. Captain Smith 
 protested that he had never seen Bashaw Bogall 
 until they had met in the slave-market. She had 
 him examined by those who could speak English, 
 to whom he told his story. Convinced of the 
 truth of it, she took the more interest in him, and 
 treated him with the greatest kindness. Cha- 
 ratza Tragabigzanda had formed a romantic at- 
 tachment for her Christian slave. She had, how- 
 ever, no use for him, and fearing lest her mother, 
 who may have suspected her love for him, should 
 cause him to be sold, she resolved to send him to 
 her brother Timour, Bashaw of Nalbritz in Tar- 
 tary. With him she sent a letter to this lord, re- 
 questing him to use her slave well, since she in- 
 tended him but to sojourn in Nalbritz to learn the 
 language and become a Turk until she became 
 her own mistress. 
 
 At the end of his journey Captain Smith was 
 
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82 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 brought before Timour In his ' ' vast stony cas- 
 tle," The proud Bashaw read his sister's letter, 
 and was incensed that she should look with favor 
 on a Christian slave. He immediately ordered 
 that his head should be shaven, a great iron collar 
 riveted upon his neck, and that he should be 
 dressed in a rough haircloth garment. Among 
 hundreds of slaves he was slave to them all, 
 though he said " there was no great choice, for 
 the best was so bad that a dog could hardly have 
 lived to endure." 
 
 Captain Smith now had a tyrant for a master, 
 who took delight in beating and abusing the 
 Christian slave. In all his hopeless misery 
 Smith noted the manners and customs, religion 
 and government, of the Tartars. Of their dis- 
 gusting style of living he speaks in the strongest 
 terms, but he praises their skilful horsemanship 
 and endurance of hardship in war. 
 
 ' ' All the hope he had ever to be delivered from 
 this thraldom," said Smith, " was only the love 
 of Tragabigzanda, who surely was ignorant of 
 his bad usage ; for although he had often debated 
 the matter with some Christians that had been 
 there a long time slaves, they could not find how 
 to make an escape by any reason or possibility. 
 But God, beyond man's expectation or imagina. 
 
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CAPTAIN smith's CAPTIVITY. 83 
 
 tion, helpeth his servants when they least think of 
 help as it happened to him. ' ' Captain Smith was 
 put to thresh grain at a farm more than a league 
 from the castle of the Bashaw. Timour was ac- 
 customed often to ^visit his various granges. 
 One day he visited Smith at his work, and beat 
 and reviled him so unmercifully that Captain 
 Smith, ' ' forgetting all reason, ' ' rose in defence 
 and beat out the Bashaw's brains with the bat 
 which the Tartars used for threshing. There 
 was now no hope for him in remaining where he 
 was ; his condition could not be altered for the 
 worse. He quickly hid the Bashaw's body un- 
 der the straw, dressed himself in his clothes, and 
 filling his knapsack with grain, closed the doors 
 of the barn, and mounting his master's horse, fled 
 into the desert. Here he wandered for several 
 days, not knowing the way, and yet thankful that 
 he met no one of whom he might ask it, since the 
 Bashaw's clothes could not conceal the slave's 
 iron collar, stamped with his master's sign. 
 
 He at last came upon a great road on whose 
 crossings were sign-posts marked with a crescent 
 for Tartary, a black man with white spots for 
 Persia, a picture of the sun for China, and a cross 
 for Christian lands. Captain Smith followed the 
 grateful sign of the cross for sixteen days in fear 
 
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84 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 and trembling lest he should meet a Turk. He 
 at last reached Ecopolis, a Russian fortress on 
 the River Don. The governor listened to his 
 story, relieved him of his irons, and treated him so 
 kindlv that ' ' he thought himself new risen from 
 death." Here he was a second time befriended 
 by a lady, for he says " the good Lady Callamata 
 largely supplied all his wants. ' ' 
 
 The kindly governor furnished him with let- 
 ters of recommendation, and he journeyed under 
 the protection of convoys to Hermanstadt, in 
 Transylvania. 
 
 The countries through which he travelled were 
 so desolate that he says "it is a wonder any 
 should make wars for them. ' ' Nevertheless, ' ' in 
 all his life he seldom met with more respect, 
 mirth, content, and entertainment, and not any 
 governor where he came but gave him some- 
 what as a present, beside his charges, seeing 
 themselves as subject to the like calamity." 
 
 We do not know how long Captain Smith was 
 in captivity, but it could not have been many 
 months, for he was captured in 1602, and we find 
 him again in Christendom in 1603. When he ar- 
 rived in Transylvania he was received with joy 
 by his friends as one risen from the grave. Ha 
 says he was so ' ' glutted with content and near 
 
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CAPTAIN smith's CAPTIVITY. 8$ 
 
 drowned with J03" that he would never have left 
 his friends here had it not been for his desire " to 
 rejoice himself after all these encounters in his 
 native country. " It may be doubted, however, 
 if his roving- disposition would have suffered him 
 long to remain content in an}- quiet life. He 
 next went to Leipsic, where he found the Earl of 
 Meldritch with Prince Sigismund, who gave him 
 a patent of the nobility which he had previously 
 bestowed upon him, and fifteen hundred ducats 
 to repair his losses. 
 
 Possessed of more money, Smith seems to have 
 forgotten his great desire to return to England, 
 for with this means he set out to see many of the 
 " fair cities" of Germanj', France, and Spain. 
 
 "Being thus satisfied," as he says, "with 
 Europe and Asia," and hearing of wars in Bar- 
 bary, he set sail in a French man of war for 
 Africa. He went to Morocco, inquired into the 
 causes of the murderous civil wars, and unable to 
 decide which side was the most in the wrong, he 
 refused to join either. He noted the manners 
 and customs of the people, and returned to the 
 vessel in which he had come, resolved to "try 
 some other conclusions at sea." 
 
 Captain Smith added to his adventures yet one 
 more, for the French vessel sustained a desperate 
 
 >* 
 
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86 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 battle with two Spanish men of war, who boarded 
 her and fired her. They fought thus for two 
 nights and a day, the Spaniards once asking a 
 truce to parley with the captain, but the desperate 
 Frenchman, knowing there was but one way, 
 " would have none but the report of his ord- 
 nance." They at last succeeded in beating off 
 the Spanish vessels and making port. 
 
 Captain Smith returned to England about the 
 year 1604. His restless temperament at last 
 found an enterprise worthy of it. Captain Bar- 
 tholomew Gosnold was endeavoring to awaken 
 an interest in the colonization of Virginia. Cap- 
 tain Smith entered heartily into his projects, and 
 these gentlemen, with Mr. Wingfield and the 
 Rev. Mr. Hunt, by persistent agitation, at last 
 succeeded in interesting men of influence, who 
 formed a company, and obtained a patent from 
 the king. 
 
 In two years more the energetic Captain Smith 
 was on the way to a country with which he had 
 not as yet satisfied his eyes — a land of promise to 
 all bold spirits, a field for the bravest of adven- 
 tures and the greatest self-denial. 
 
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CHAPTER IX. 
 
 smith's captivity among the INDIANS. 
 
 Let us now return to the colony at Jamestown, 
 where the adventurous Smith was rapidly rising 
 into prominence. But there were murmurings 
 against him. He had not yet discovered the 
 source of the Chickahominy. This river flows 
 from the north-west, and the colonists had received 
 directions from the council in England to explore 
 such a river, since it was supposed that its head 
 might be near the South Sea or Pacific Ocean, 
 and a passage to the East Indies might thus be 
 discovered. So little did the early settlers of 
 America know of the extent of their continent. 
 
 Even the colon3''s council reprehended Smith 
 for being "too slow in so worthy an attempt." 
 Accordingly, in early winter Captain Smith and 
 his men began the ascent of the Chickahominy. 
 In a rude barge the}' penetrated to where fallen 
 trees obstructed the passage. The discoverers 
 only proceeded by dint of chopping away the 
 obstacles. When at last the barge could pene- 
 trate no farther. Captain Smith moored her in a 
 
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88 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 wide bay out of danger, and commanded his men 
 not to go ashore. Taking with him two English- 
 men, and as many native guides, he pushed twenty 
 miles higher up the narrow stream in a canoe. 
 The river's head was found in swampy meadows, 
 or ' ' slashes, ' ' as they are called in Virginia, but 
 the surges of the Pacific did not roll into it as in 
 the fabled fountain of the Roanoke. Captain 
 Smith was the only man in the colony who did not 
 look for an ocean over the next hill, and a gold- 
 mine at every step. On reaching the source of 
 the Chickahominy his first thought was of the 
 present necessity for food instead of a chimerical 
 opening for future commercial wealth. Leaving 
 his two men, Robinson and Emry, with their 
 match-lock guns lighted, in charge of the canoe, 
 he went with an Indian guide in search of game. 
 Meanwhile the men in the barge made a tour 
 of discovery on shore, and succeeded in discover- 
 ing some three hundred Indian bowmen, under 
 the command of Opechancanough, chief of the 
 Pamunkey Indians, a tribe of Powhatan's confed- 
 eracy. The savages attacked them, captured one 
 of their number, George Cassen, and nearly suc- 
 ceeded in cutting off the other men with their 
 barge. They drew the whereabouts of Captain 
 Smith from their prisoner, and afterward executed 
 
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smith's captivity among the INDIANS. 89 
 
 him in a most barbarous manner. The Indians 
 then divided themselves into parties and searched 
 the river banks. They crept upon Robinson and 
 Emry, off their guard, or possibly asleep by their 
 fire, and shot them through and through with 
 arrows. 
 
 Captain Smith himself was suddenly beset by 
 the Indians. With a garter he quickly bound his 
 Indian guide to his left arm as a shield, and bent 
 a pistol at his breast to enforce submission. Thus 
 with one of their race between him and their 
 arrows he defended himself with his musket. In 
 the skirmish which ensued he killed three Indians 
 and wounded several others. Their superstitious 
 awe of firearms was increased, and they retired 
 to a safe distance. Captain Smith had received 
 but one wound, though his clothes were full of 
 arrows. With his eyes upon the enemy he started 
 for his canoe. He naturally watched the wily 
 Indians more closely than his own footsteps, and 
 he had not gone far before he sank with his guide 
 to the waist in a treacherous marsh. Still the 
 Indians dared not approach their entrapped 
 enemy until, almost dead with cold, Smith 
 threw away the dreaded weapons and surren- 
 dered. According to an agreement between 
 them, they drew him out of the water and led 
 
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go POCAHONTAS. 
 
 him to the fire where his men had been shot. 
 While they chafed his benumbed limbs Captain 
 Smith turned over in his mind plans for appeasing 
 his captors. He asked for their captain. They 
 pointed out Opechancanough. With quick pres- 
 ence of mind Captain Smith drew forth the only 
 trinket in his possession — a round ivory double- 
 dialed compass — and presented it to the Indian 
 chieftain. The savages all crowded around with 
 eager curiosity. They wondered at the motions 
 of the little instrument, and were still more aston- 
 ished when they put forth their hands to touch 
 the trembling needle and were checked by the 
 glass. Glad of a chance to astonish them and 
 divert their minds, Captain Smith, aided by ges- 
 tures and the globe-like toy, proceeded to demon- 
 strate " the roundness of the earth and skies, the 
 sphere of the sun, moon, and stars, and how the 
 sun did chase the night around the world con- 
 tinually, the greatness of the land and sea, the 
 diversity of nations, variety of complexions, and 
 how we were to them antipodes, and many other 
 such like matters." It may be doubted whether 
 much of his lecture was suitable to savage com- 
 prehension. Captain Smith's theory of the solar 
 system which was that commonly held in his da}- 
 was hardly nearer the truth than their own ideas 
 
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smith's captivity among the INDIANS. QI 
 
 as jo the lights ot the day and night. The In- 
 dians, however, stood " as amazed with admira- 
 tion." Nevertheless, within an hour preparations 
 had all been made for his execution. He was 
 tied to a tree, and as many as could stand within 
 range took aim at him. But the chief at this 
 moment held up the ivory compass, and the In- 
 dians threw down their bows and arrows. 
 
 Captain Smith was next to figure in the trium- 
 phal procession so common among the Indians. 
 The warriors formed in Indian file. In the centre 
 ot the line came the chief with the captured 
 swords and firearms borne before him, and fol- 
 lowed by the prisoner, held by three great In- 
 dians and surrounded by a guard ot warriors with 
 arrows drawn. Captain Smith was conducted 
 thus to the Indian village of Orapax. On near- 
 ing the town they were met by all the women and 
 children, " staring to behold" the first white man 
 they had ever seen, 
 
 I The Indians immediately made preparations 
 for a dance. Their heads and shoulders were 
 painted a " scarlet-like color," which " made an 
 exceeding handsome show." Every one wore 
 his ornament, a bird's skin dried, with wings 
 spread, pieces of copper, white shells,, a long 
 feather, or " a small rattle growing at the tavlcs 
 
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92 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 of their snakes, ' ' says Captain Smith. Each In» 
 dian was armed with quiver, club, and bow. 
 They " cast themselves into a ring" around the 
 guarded prisoner, and their chief ' ' dancing in 
 such several postures," and singing, yelling, and 
 screeching so wildly that Captain Smith must have 
 felt that he was indeed among demons. Three 
 such dances had been performed when the prison- 
 er was taken to the long house for refreshment. 
 He was guarded by thirty or forty Indians, and 
 enough bread and venison was brought him to 
 have supplied twenty men. His captors proba- 
 bly felt the same interest that people in a men- 
 agerie have in seeing the animals feed. The Eng- 
 lish, however, knew little of the practices of the 
 North American Indian, and Smith had a strong 
 suspicion that he was to be fattened for a canni- 
 bal meal. In spite of the long fast and tempting 
 food, he says that he thinks " his stomacke at that 
 time was not very good." What he left was put 
 in two baskets, tied up over his head, and served 
 to him again about midnight. In the morning 
 fresh food was brought, while the Indians who 
 had refused to eat with him heretofore ate what 
 had been left from his previous meals. 
 
 The weather was extremely cold, and an Indian 
 named Maocassater presented Captain Smith 
 
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SMITH'S CAPTIVITY AMONG THE INDIANS. 93 
 
 with a mantle in return for some beads and toys 
 which he had given him on the arrival of the 
 colony in Virginia. 
 
 Two days after this an Indian, whose son was 
 dying with a wound Smith had inflicted in his 
 skirmish with the savages, would have killed the 
 Captain had not the guard defended him. Cap- 
 tain Smith was believed to be a wonder-worker 
 far superior to their priests or medicine-men. He 
 was taken to the bedside of the dying savage to 
 effect a cure. He told the Indians that he would 
 go to Jamestown and get a water which would 
 heal the man, but the savages were not to be thus 
 outwitted. 
 
 Captain Smith trembled to hear the Indians 
 discuss plans for the destruction of Jamestown. 
 Preparations were being made for this purpose, 
 and the Indians consulted Smith about it. If 
 he would assist them he was offered life, liberty, 
 and wives. Captain Smith, however, romanced 
 about the dangers they would meet with in 
 attacking Jamestown, dilating upon the great 
 guns, secret mines, and other engines of death. 
 He asked permission to send messengers to 
 Jamestown, who might confirm his story. His 
 request was complied with, and tearing a leaf 
 from his memorandum book, he wrote a note to 
 
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94 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 the colonists informing them of the danger of an 
 attack, giving them directions as to how they 
 should terrify the bearers of the note, and in- 
 structing them to send him some articles of which 
 he gave a list. He intrusted this note for deliv- 
 erance to the messengers who were not suspi- 
 cious that it could betray their own plans, and told 
 them just what the colonists would do, what 
 would happen to them, and what articles they 
 would send. The messengers were much fright- 
 ened by his description of the engines of death in 
 possession of the whites. Still they undertook 
 the journey in the bitter cold of an unusual win- 
 ter. 
 
 In Jamestown Captain Smith was believed to 
 be dead. The men with the barge returning 
 home had told the story of their attack, and of 
 the probable death of Captain Smith ^.nd his two 
 companions. This intrepid soldier was mourned 
 as heartily as he had been detested. When the 
 Indian messengers neared Jamestown they saw 
 men sally out to meet them as Smith had 
 told them. This fulfilment of the first item in 
 his prophecy so frightened them that, dreading 
 the explosive nature of the ground in the neigh- 
 borhood of Jamestown, and fearing the super- 
 natural weapons of the English, they were panic- 
 
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• smith's captivity among the INDIANS. 95 
 
 stricken, and fled, leaving their note behind them. 
 When night came on, however, they crept cau- 
 tiously to the spot where Captain Smith had told 
 them they would find an answer. There were 
 the very articles he had promised them. Taking 
 them, they returned home " with no small expe. 
 dition. ' ' At the account of their adventures, and 
 the sight of the promised trinkets, the Indians 
 were all wonderstruck, concluding " that he 
 could either divine or the paper could speak. ' ' 
 
 They now gave up all idea of attacking James- 
 town, and led Smith from village to village in a 
 triumphal procession. Having thus traversed 
 the dominions of a number of tribes, he was 
 brought back to the seat of the chief of Pamun- 
 key. Here he was put through a ceremony in- 
 tended to discover whether he meant them good 
 or evil. 
 
 Early in the morning a great fire was built in a 
 ' ' long house, ' ' probably the council house. Two 
 mats were spread upon the ground, upon one of 
 which the prisoner was seated ; his guard retired, 
 and he was left alone. ' ' Presently came skipping 
 in a great grim fellow, all painted over with coal 
 mingled with oil. ' ' He was adorned with ' ' many 
 snakes" and weasels' skins stuffed with moss, and 
 
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g6 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 all their tails tied together, so as they met on 
 the crown of his head in a tassel, and round about 
 the tassel was a coronet of feathers, the skins 
 hanging round about his head, back, and shoul- 
 ders, and in a manner covering his face, with a 
 hellish voice, and a rattle in his hand." This man 
 was a priest. He began a weird invocation, ac- 
 companied by ' ' most strange gestures, ' ' and 
 concluded by surrounding the fire with a circle of 
 meal. Immediately three more ' ' such like 
 devils, ' ' painted half red, half black, adorned with 
 red strokes to imitate moustaches, and with eyes 
 colored white, rushed in and went through with 
 " the like antic tricks." These grotesque figures 
 had danced " a pretty while," when in came three 
 more "as ugly as the rest, with red eyes, and 
 white strokes over their black faces." Captain 
 Smith saw a strong resemblance in these " fiends" 
 to Satan, and he must have felt any thing but 
 comfortable during their strange ceremony. 
 They at last sat down on the mat opposite to him, 
 three upon either side of the first-comer, who was 
 the chief priest. They sang a song, accompanied 
 by their rattles. When this was done the chief 
 priest made, with the greatest efforts of gesticula- 
 tion, a short oration, at the close of which the 
 
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smith's captivity among the INDIANS. 97 
 
 priests all groaned, and the orator laid down five 
 grains of corn. Then followed another song, 
 another strained oration, and a groan, when five 
 more grains were placed upon the ground. This 
 ceremony was kept up until the fire had been twice 
 encircled with corn ; then in the same manner 
 sticks were placed between the divisions of corn. 
 All day long neither priests nor prisoner ate or 
 drank, but at night they " feasted merrily" upon 
 the best of provisions. Three days was this cere- 
 mony celebrated. The Indians informed Cap- 
 tain Smith that ' ' the circle of meal signified their 
 country, the circles of corn the bounds of the sea, 
 and the sticks his country. They imagined the 
 world to be flat and round like a trencher, and 
 they in the midst." 
 
 The Indians one day brought Captain Smith a 
 bag of gunpowder which they had captured and 
 were saving until spring in order that they might 
 plant it, as they wished to know the nature of 
 this seed. Captain Smith did not undeceive them, 
 thinking, doubtless, that this was the best use to 
 which they could put gunpowder. 
 
 The prisoner was invited to the habitation of 
 the chief's brother, Opitchapan, where he was 
 sumptuously feasted upon bread, fowl, and wild 
 
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98 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 beasts. As heretofore no Indian would eat with 
 him, although they made no objections to eating 
 after him. His fate was at last to be decided. 
 The Indians started with their prisoner for 
 Werowocomoco, where lived the great chieftain 
 of the chiefs, Powhatan. 
 
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CHAPTER X. 
 
 POCAHONTAS AND CAPTAIN SMITH. 
 
 Powhatan was sensible of the pomp and dig- 
 nity proper to his position as a great warrior, 
 and he particularly desired to impress the English. 
 On arriving at Werowocomoco, Captain Smith 
 was detained until preparations had been made to 
 receive him in state. While the prisoner waited, 
 more than two hundred ' ' grim courtiers stood 
 wondering at him" as though he were " a mon- 
 ster. ' ' When Powhatan and his train had had 
 time to deck themselves in all ' ' their greatest 
 braveries," Captain Smith was admitted to the 
 chief's presence. He was seated upon a sort of 
 divan resembling a bedstead. Before him was a 
 fire, and on either hand sat two young women 
 about eighteen years of age. Powhatan, " well 
 beaten with many cold and stormy winters," 
 wore strings of pearls around his neck, and was 
 covered with a great robe of raccoon skins deco- 
 rated with the tails. Around the council house 
 was ranged a double row of warriors. Behind 
 these were as many women. The heads and shoul- 
 
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ICX) POCAHONTAS. 
 
 ders of the Indians were painted red, many had 
 their hair decorated with white down, and all 
 wore some savage ornament. On the appearance 
 of the prisoner a great shout arose from these 
 primitive courtiers. An Indian woman — perhaps 
 a sister of the chief, whom Smith styles ' ' the 
 queen of Appamatuck" — was appointed to bring 
 water for the prisoner to wash his hands in. 
 Another woman brought him feathers to dry 
 them, and Captain Smith was then feasted in the 
 " best barbarous manner," and a council was held 
 to decide his fate. This debate lasted a long time, 
 but the conclusion could hardly have been favor- 
 able to Captain Smith, since Powhatan was jeal- 
 ous of a w^hite colony which already encroached 
 upon his seclusion at Werowocomoco. During 
 this solemn debate Captain Smith must have felt 
 any thing but comfortable. He did not know his 
 doom until two stones were brought in and 
 placed before Powhatan, and as many as could 
 lay hands on him dragged him to the feet of the 
 chief and laid his head upon the stones. The exe- 
 cutioners raised their clubs to beat out his brains. 
 Such a scene was not uncommon in this forest 
 court. From childhood these savage men and 
 women were accustomed to exult in the most bar- 
 oarous tortures and executions. It is then the 
 
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POCAHONTAS AXD CAPTAIN SMITH. lOl 
 
 more wonderful that the heart of a little Indian 
 maiden should have been touched with pity for 
 the doomed white man. Pocahontas, a child of 
 ten or twelve, and " the king's dearest daughter, " 
 pleaded for the life of the captive. But " " no en- 
 treaty could pre\'air' with the stem Powhatan. 
 The ^^-arxiors were ready to strike the blow, when 
 the child flew to tlie side of Captain Smith, took 
 " his head in her arms and laid her ovvti upon his 
 to save him from death, whereat." savs the quaint 
 narrative " the Emperor was contented he should 
 live to make him hatchets and her beads and cop)- 
 per," thinking he was accustomed to follow aU 
 occupations. "For," says the story, "the king 
 himself will make his own robes, shoes, bows, ar- 
 rows, and pots," while he would '" plant, hunt, or 
 do anv thing so well as the rest."* 
 
 Powhatan did not long detain Captain Smith for 
 such trivial uses as making trinkets for Pocahontas. 
 It had become the desire of his heart to possess 
 the powerful weapons and tools of the EngHsh. He 
 saw that a friend in Jamestown would be a good 
 thing, and he perhaps hoped from friendly com- 
 merce with the colony to acquire ascendanc}' 
 over other Indian tribes. He took occasion to 
 express his wishes to Captain Smith in a curious 
 
 * In t^ar^ to the truth of this story, see the Appendix. 
 
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I02 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 manner. Two days after his rescue from death 
 he had the captive taken to one of his arbor-like 
 buildings in the woods, and left alone upon a mat 
 by the fire. The house was curtained off in the 
 centre with a mat. Soon a most doleful noise came 
 from behind the mat, and Powhatan, disguised 
 in ' ' the most f earf ullest manner, ' ' and looking 
 "more like a devil than a man," entered, with 
 some two hundred Indians, painted black. The 
 outcome of this impressive ceremony was that 
 Powhatan told Captain Smith that they were now 
 friends, and that he would presently send him 
 home, and that when he arrived at Jamestown he 
 must send him two great guns and a grindstone. 
 In return he said he would give him the coun- 
 try of Capahowosick, and would always consider 
 him his son. Captain Smith was accordingly 
 sent to Jamestown with twelve guides. The In- 
 dians delayed on their journey, though the dis- 
 tance was short. They camped in the woods one 
 night, and feasted sumptuously ; but Captain 
 Smith was in constant fear of his life still, " ex- 
 pecting every hour to be put to one death or an- 
 other." He was, however, led in safety to the 
 fort. Here he treated his savage guides with 
 great hospitality, and showed Rawhunt, a trusty 
 servant of Powhatan, two demi-culverins (long 
 
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POCAHONTAS AND CAPTAIN SMITH. I03 
 
 cannons carrying a nme-pound shot), and a mill- 
 stone to carry to his chief. The Indians, how- 
 ever, "found them somewhat tooheav}-." For 
 their benefit. Captain Smith had the guns loaded 
 with stones, and discharged among the boughs of 
 trees covered with icicles. The crashing fall of 
 the ice-laden limbs so frightened the Indians that 
 thej- fled, " half dead with fear," and it was 
 some time before they could be induced to re- 
 turn. Presents of various toys were given them 
 for Powhatan and his family, and they went 
 away satisfied. 
 
 Captain Smith found Jamestown " all in a com- 
 bustion," and the strongest faction again about 
 to desert with the little vessel. He affirms that 
 for the third time he forced them with cannon 
 and musket-shot " to stay or sink." At the same 
 time he was tried under the Le^atical law for the 
 death of Robinson and Emr^-, who had been 
 killed on his Pamunke)" expedition. On this 
 trumped-up charge the President and some others 
 sought to put him to death. The matter was 
 ended, however, by the arrival of Captain New- 
 port. 
 
 Such were the miserable squabbles of the forty 
 surviving colonists. Among these homesick, 
 suffering, and desperate men one cannot pretend 
 
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104 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 to judge. It is natural that their statements 
 should vary greatly, and one now finds it hard 
 to decide what were the facts. But it is certain 
 that to John Smith must be ascribed the credit 
 of enforcing order with the rough hand of a sol- 
 dier, while good Mr. Hunt strove to smooth the 
 ruffled waters ; and there were those in the col- 
 ony who deserve a better fame than to be associ- 
 ated with this story of mutinies and disputes. 
 
 Meanwhile the despairing spirits of the colo- 
 nists were revived by Captain Smith's account of 
 the state and bounty of Powhatan, and above all 
 by the ' ' love of Pocahontas. ' ' The story of her 
 rescue of Smith may be doubted, but there can 
 be no doubt that she saved the colony from star- 
 vation. Every four or five days this Indian 
 child, with her attendants, would cross the river 
 and come to the fort with provisions. 
 
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CHAPTER XI. 
 
 CAPTAIN NEWPORT'S SECOND COMING. 
 
 Captain Smith had endeavored to impress 
 Powhatan with the greatness of Captain New- 
 port. The Indians already regarded Smith as an 
 oracle. The God of the white man they called 
 Captain Smith's God, and their respect for him 
 was increased when Newport arrived at the time 
 he had predicted. 
 
 After leaving the little colony, Captain NeW' 
 port had taken the more direct route across th3 
 Atlantic, and arrived at home in safety. It was 
 noted with evident disappointment in England 
 that he had brought back neither gold nor silver. 
 Two vessels were, however, immediately fitted 
 out with all necessary provisions, and one hun- 
 dred and twenty new adventurers. On the 
 8th of January, 1608, the vessel under the com- 
 mand of Newport arrived in Jamestown. The 
 second vessel, commanded by Captain Nelson, 
 had been lost from sight, and was supposed to 
 have been wrecked. 
 
 Jamestown forgot its misery and its squab- 
 
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I06 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 bles, and all was joy over this supply of men 
 and provisions, with news from home. The 
 colonists were so "overjoyed" that they gave 
 the sailors permission to trade freely with the 
 Indians. Thus the market was glutted, and it 
 soon came about that what could formerly be 
 bought for an ounce of copper could not now 
 be obtained with a pound of that metal. This 
 "cut the throat" of their trade; but it con- 
 firmed Powhatan's opinion of the greatness of 
 Captain Newport, who also sent him presents 
 from time to time. 
 
 The chief became very desirous of meeting 
 Newport, who accordingly resolved to make him 
 a visit. He fitted out the pinnace, and accom- 
 panied by Captain Smith and Mr. Scrivener, a 
 gentleman who had newly arrived, and had been 
 admitted to the council, Captain Newport sailed 
 for Werowocomoco. On nearing this place he 
 began to fear treachery on the part of Powhatan. 
 Captain Smith therefore offered first to visit the 
 chief. He landed with twenty men, and marched 
 for the chief's hamlet. They were obliged to 
 cross a creek spanned by a miserable bridge. 
 The English had some suspicion that it was a 
 mere trap, and for this reason Smith prudently 
 sent several savages ahead while he detained 
 
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CAPTAIN NEWPORT'S SECOND COMING. 107 
 
 Others as hostages until enough men had passed 
 over to guard the rest. They were conducted 
 by several hundred Indians in safety to the 
 town. Here " Powhatan strained himself to 
 the utmost of his greatness to entertain them, 
 with great shouts of joy, orations of protestations, 
 and with the most plenty of victuals he could 
 provide to feast them. ' ' He was seated upon his 
 bed of mats with a leathern pillow embroidered 
 in Indian fashion with pearls and beads, dressed 
 in " a faire robe of skins as large as an Irish 
 mantle." A "handsome young woman" sat on 
 either hand, while twenty of his wives, with 
 heads and shoulders painted red, and necks 
 adorned with chains of beads, were ranged on 
 either side of the house. In front of these sat 
 Powhatan's chief men, and on either side of the 
 door stood a file of twenty Indians with platters 
 of bread. Behind them were some five hundred 
 people. Orations were made, and old acquaint- 
 ance renewed. The day closed with singing, 
 dancing, and feasting. Captain Smith and his 
 companions spent the night at Werowocomoco. 
 
 The next day Captain Newport came ashore 
 and was received with savage pomp. Smith tak- 
 ing the part of interpreter. Newport presented 
 Powhatan with a boy named Thomas Salvage. 
 
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I08 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 In return the chief presented him with a ser- 
 vant of his named Namontack. Three or four 
 days were spent in ' ' feasting, dancing, and 
 trading." The demeanor of Powhatan was so 
 " proud" yet " discreet" that the Englishmen ad- 
 mired "his natural gifts, considering his educa- 
 tion." 
 
 The chief and the sea-captain endeavored to 
 outdo each other in magnificence. Powhatan 
 pretended that he scorned to trade as his subjects 
 did. 
 
 " Captain Newport," said he, " it is not agree- 
 able to my greatness, in this peddling manner to 
 trade for trifles, and I esteem you also a great 
 werowance. Therefore lay me down all your 
 commodities together ; what I like I will take, 
 and in recompense give you what I think fitting 
 their value." 
 
 Smith interpreted this flattering speech to 
 Newport, and at the same time expressed an 
 opinion that Powhatan intended to make a sharp 
 bargain. But Captain Newport, with the reck- 
 less open-handedness of a sailor, was sure that 
 he could so astonish the chief with an ostenta- 
 tion of generosity that he might get all he de- 
 sired from him. 
 
 Copper, beads, toys, and some cloth " very 
 
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CAPTAIN NEWPORT'S SECOND COMING. IO9 
 
 much moth-eaten, ' ' which the London Company- 
 had purchased from the East India Company for 
 this purpose, was accordingly displayed, and 
 Powhatan made an ample selection, valuing his 
 corn so high that the English did not get four 
 bushels where they had expected twenty hogs- 
 heads. Words followed between the two Cap- 
 tains, Newport desiring to please the ' ' insatiable 
 savage," and " Smith to cause the savage to 
 please him." Captain Smith, however, " smoth- 
 ered his distaste" of these proceedings, and be- 
 gan "glancing" many trinkets "in the eyes of 
 Powhatan." The chief's eye was attracted by 
 some blue beads. But Smith seemed unwilling 
 to part with them. Powhatan became importu- 
 nate. Still Smith did not wish to sell them, for 
 he said they were " composed of a most rare sub- 
 stance of the color of the skies, and not to be 
 worn but by the greatest kings in the world." 
 Powhatan immediately became "half mad" to 
 own "such strange jewels." It ended in Cap- 
 tain Smith securing two or three hundred bush- 
 els of com for a pound or two of blue beads. 
 
 They parted with Powhatan on the most 
 friendly terms, and visited the chief of Pamun- 
 key, Opechancanough, before their return. Cap- 
 tain Smith " fitted" this chief with blue beads on 
 
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no POCAHONTAS. 
 
 the same terms. Blue beads had now become so 
 highly esteemed that no one but the greatest 
 chiefs and their wives and children dared wear 
 them. 
 
 The winter of 1607-8 was remarkably cold, 
 both in Europe and America. In the midst of its 
 severity an accident resulted in a fire which de- 
 stroyed many of the reed-thatched cottages, the 
 palisades, and much of the provisions of the 
 colonists. Among the greatest sufferers was the 
 good minister, who had nothing left but the 
 clothes he wore, having lost all his books, the 
 consolation of his hours of exile. What greater 
 testimony can there be to this man's brave char- 
 acter than the simple words that " none ever 
 heard him repine at his loss !" 
 
 The colonists would still have had enough pro- 
 visions had not the vessel remained so long as to 
 consume much of the store of grain. The sailors 
 assisted in building a storehouse and a church of 
 logs, roofed with sedge and earth. This build- 
 ing was soon almost washed away by rain. The 
 vessel was loaded with iron ore, sassafras, cedar 
 posts, walnut boards, and what was supposed to 
 be gold ore. The colonists had been attacked by 
 a dangerous gold fever. Among those who had 
 come over with Newport were two goldsmiths, 
 
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CAPTAIN NEWPORT'S SECOND COMING. Ill 
 
 two refiners, and a jeweller. It was absolutely 
 necessary to return with some news of gold, 
 since all England was expecting such an issue. 
 During the months in which Captain Newport 
 had been absent, the colonists — men who had nei- 
 ther experience nor taste for frontier life and its< 
 hardships — had taxed their indolence too severely 
 in the struggle for life, and had devoted their 
 thoughts too much to the momentous disputes of 
 the small world contained within the palisades 
 of Jamestown to make any considerable explora- 
 tions, pick in hand, in search of gold. Captain 
 Smith, the only leader who had made any excur- 
 sions into the neighboring country, was a sceptic 
 about the easy discovery of gold, and desired 
 only something more precious to the little col- 
 ony — namely, com. 
 
 The indolent colonists now became fired with 
 the desire to send precious metal to England. 
 In the sands of a little stream near Jamestown 
 glittering particles were found resembling gold. 
 It is now surmised that these particles were mi- 
 nute pieces of mica, which abound in the soil of 
 Virginia. 
 
 No man was to be found idle after that. The 
 largest share of work was the most desirable. 
 The whole colony turned out to lade the vessel. 
 
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112 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 In the words of their chronicler, " there was no 
 talk, no hope, no work, but dig gold, wash gold, 
 refine gold, load gold." There was so much talk 
 of gold that a "mad fellow" requested "to be 
 buried in the sands lest they should, by their art, 
 make gold of his bones. ' ' 
 
 Among all these happy dreamers of riches, Cap- 
 tain Smith must have been a most unwelcome 
 croaker. The process of trying the gold was 
 carried on in some secrecy. Captain Smith, be- 
 ing admitted to the trial, told Captain Martin, 
 the discoverer of the mine, that unless " he could 
 show him a more substantial trial, he was not 
 enamored with their dirty skill." Rude and 
 rough this sturdy Captain undoubtedly was with 
 his obtrusive common-sense. In the narrative 
 contained in his own history, it is said that 
 " never did any thing more torment him than to 
 see all necessary business neglected to fraught 
 such a drunken ship with so much gilded dirt. ' ' 
 
 The vessel stayed fourteen weeks at James- 
 town, consuming provisions^ and leaving to the 
 colony the legacy of ship rats. On the loth of 
 April, 1608, Captain Newport sailed from James- 
 town, taking with him the troublesome President 
 Wingfield and Captain Archer. 
 
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CHAPTER XII. 
 
 POWHATAN'S ATTEMPT TO GET SWORDS. 
 
 Meantime the vessel commanded by Captain 
 Nelson, and containing seventy of the one hun- 
 dred and twenty colonists sent out from Eng- 
 land in "the second supply," as they called it, 
 had come within sight of the headlands of Cape 
 Henry ; but a storm had forced her so far to sea 
 that the next land which she sighted was in the 
 West Indies. Here Captain Nelson put in for 
 wood, water, and repairs. He made a long stay, • 
 but was able to feed his men well on the naturjil 
 products of the tropics. 
 
 Meanwhile, immediately on the departure of 
 Captain Newport, Mr. Scrivener and Captain 
 Smith had set to work with the colonists to 
 rebuild the burnt Jamestown. The labor was 
 divided between building cottages, repairing pali- 
 sades, cutting down trees, preparing and plant- 
 ing cornfields, and replacing the church and 
 storehouse. While all were thus busy. Captain 
 Nelson's ship arrived. The unexpected appear- 
 ance of the lost vessel, the addition of seventy 
 
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114 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 fresh adventurers with supplies, and the relading 
 of the ship for her return voyage, filled James- 
 town with a new bustle of activity. 
 
 Captain Nelson himself seems to have been a 
 favorite among the colonists, for, says their nar- 
 rative in Smith's history, " he had not any thing 
 but he freely imparted us, which honest dealing 
 (being a mariner) caused us to admire him." 
 
 What should be returned to England in this 
 vessel ? Nothing seemed good enough. The 
 authorities disagreed. Captain Martin desired 
 that the vessel be loaded with his ' ' phantastical 
 gold," the President wished to " relade" her 
 with " some good tidings" of discovery and com- 
 mon-sense. Captain Smith said that she ought 
 to be freighted with cedar, which was at least 
 sure to be of some value. To carry out his plan 
 the President ordered Captain Smith to discover 
 the commodities of the Monacan Indians, beyond 
 the Falls. Sixty men were selected for this ex- 
 pedition, and Captain Smith began training 
 them. There was, however, more than enough 
 work to be done at Jamestown, and this plan was 
 abandoned for the time. The colonists seem to 
 have begun to feel doubts of their gold mine, and 
 the ship was finally loaded with cedar. Captain 
 Martin, who had never lost faith in the gold of 
 
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POWHATAN'S ATTEMPT TO GET SWORDS. IIS 
 
 his own discovery, returned with Captain Nelson 
 to England to enjoy the glory of it. In July, 
 1608, the vessel, which had long been given up 
 as lost, arrived in England. It was noted with 
 disappointment that she brought no " novelties" 
 or commodities from Virginia except ' ' a sweet 
 wood." 
 
 Powhatan looked with covetous eyes upon the 
 glittering swords, the ponderous muskets, and 
 the serviceable pistols of the English. So long 
 as the white man used supernatural bullets and 
 sharp-edged swords, and the red man possessed 
 only tomahawks of stone and stone-pointed 
 arrows and javelins, so long were the English 
 safe from Indian attacks. It was now the ambi- 
 tion of Powhatan's life to obtain a goodly store 
 of English weapons, instead of the rude wooden 
 swords used by the Indians. Savage-like, he 
 went about his purpose in the most crafty way 
 with the most innocent air. Just before New- 
 port's departure, Powhatan sent him twenty tur- 
 keys " to express his love," with the request that 
 the Captain would return the compliment with a 
 present of twenty swords. The good-natured 
 sailor immediately complied with this demand. 
 Powhatan then proceeded to try a similar ex, 
 periment upon Smith, who received a present of 
 
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1 16 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 "the like luggage" on condition of the same re- 
 turn. But Smith refused, knowing it would cut 
 the throat of the colony to put such weapons into 
 the hands of the crafty chief. Powhatan was not 
 to be thus outdone. If he could not procure the 
 swords in one way he would in another. "He 
 caused his people with twenty devices to obtain" 
 as many swords. The Indians became ' ' inso- 
 lent." They surprised the colonists at their 
 work. They would lay in ambuscade at the 
 very gates of Jamestown and procure the weap- 
 ons of stragglers by force. The council in Eng- 
 land had deemed it the only wise policy to keep 
 peace with the savages at all hazards, and a wise 
 policy it was if it were not carried too far. The 
 orders from this body had been very strict ; 
 the colonists were in no way to offend the In- 
 dians. This accounts in part for the obliging 
 disposition of Captain Newport, and the patience 
 of the colonists under these annoyances. 
 
 Thus a " charitable humor prevailed" until it 
 happened one day that Captain Smith was the 
 man they " meddled" with. This fiery soldier 
 did not wait for deliberation. He hunted the 
 miscreants, and those whom he captured he 
 "terrified" with whipping and imprisonment. 
 In return, the Indians captured two straggling 
 
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POWHATAN'S ATTEMPT TO GET SWORDS. I17 
 
 Englishmen, and came in force to the very gates 
 of Jamestown, demanding seven Indians, whom, 
 " for their villanies," Smith had detained. The 
 irrepressible Captain immediately headed a sally 
 in which he forced the Indians to surrender the 
 Englishmen unconditionally. He then examined 
 his prisoners, but they were faithful to their 
 chief, and he could get nothing from theni. He 
 made six of them believe, by " several volleys of 
 shot, ' ' that he had caused one of their number to 
 be killed. They immediately confessed, in sepa- 
 rate examinations, to a plot on the part of Pow- 
 hatan to procure the weapons, and then to cut 
 the throats of the colonists. Captain Smith still 
 detained the Indians, resolving to give them a 
 wholesome fright. 
 
 Pocahontas presently came to Jamestown, ac- 
 companied by Indian messengers. Her father had 
 sent them with presents, and a message excusing 
 "the injuries done by some rash, untoward cap- 
 tains, his subjects, desiring their liberties for this 
 time with the assurance of his love forever." 
 
 When Captain Smith had punished his seven 
 prisoners as he thought fit, he " used them well" 
 for a few days, and delivered them to Pocahon- 
 tas, pretending that he saved their lives only for 
 the sake of the little Indian girl. 
 
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CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY AND ADVENTURE. 
 
 On the second day of June, 1608, as Captain 
 Nelson dropped down the James River, he was 
 accompanied by an open barge of less than three 
 tons burden. She possessed but a single mast 
 and sail, and was also propelled by oars. This 
 little boat was bound on a voyage of discovery. 
 
 The grand bay which the colonists had entered 
 more than a year ago was yet entirely unknown 
 to them. There seemed a possibility that this 
 arm of the sea might stretch into the western 
 ocean so much sought after. The frail little 
 craft, poorly provisioned, manned with but fif- 
 teen " gentlemen" and " soldiers," was to be the 
 first vessel to explore the shores of the great 
 Chesapeake Bay, to enter her many rivers, and 
 to anchor off her islands. 
 
 The discoverers were gay with hope as they 
 left Jamestown. They even feared that their 
 commander, Captain Smith, would make "too 
 much haste" to return. They took leave of the 
 homeward-bound ship at Cape Henry, and 
 
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A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY AND ADVENTURE. 1 19 
 
 crossed the bay to the eastern shore. They dis- 
 covered Smith's Islands, and named them for 
 their leader. Upon Cape Charles they saw two 
 " grim, stout" Indians, carrying javelins headed 
 with bone. These savages "boldly demanded" 
 of the discoverers what they were, and what they 
 wanted. After some parley they showed kindly 
 intentions, and invited the voyagers to visit their 
 chief at his village at Accomac. The English 
 landed at this place, and were treated with hospi- 
 tality. They were struck with the appearance of 
 the chief. He is pronounced the " comliest, 
 proper, civil savage" that they met on the voy- 
 age. Captain Smith easily conversed with these 
 Indians, as they spoke the language of Powhatan's 
 people. They gave their visitors some descrip- 
 tions of the bay, with its islands and rivers. 
 From here the discoverers sailed, coasting for 
 some distance in and out of the smaller bays and 
 inlets of the shore, while they could see many 
 islands out in the great bay. They ' ' bore up for' ' 
 a group of islands, but before reaching them 
 they were caught in an " extreme gust of wind, 
 rain, thunder, and lightning. ' ' Only with great 
 danger to their small boat did they escape the 
 "unmerciful raging of the ocean-like water." 
 The voyagers named these uninhabited islands 
 
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I20 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 for one of their number, Walter Russel, ' ' docter 
 of physicke ;" but they are now called Tangier 
 Islands. The discoverers traversed them in 
 search of fresh water, but found none. Still 
 seeking water, they came to the river now 
 known as the Pocomoke. Here the Indians at- 
 tacked them at first " with great fury ;" but they 
 soon became reconciled to the white strangers, 
 whom they received with " songs, dances, and 
 much mirth. ' ' The English searched the Indian 
 villages for fresh water, but could only find 
 enough to fill three casks, and this was described 
 in their narrative as "such puddle" that for the 
 first time they knew what it was to want good 
 water. They dug and sought everywhere for it, 
 but could find none. In two days they would 
 have refused two casks of gold for one cask of 
 even the ' ' puddle water' ' of the Pocomoke River. 
 They continued their voyage past many low 
 islands to a promontory which was named Point 
 Ployer in honor of the nobleman who had re- 
 lieved Captain Smith "in an extreme extrem- 
 ity." Here they found a pond of hot water. 
 Crossing from the mainland to islands out in the 
 bay, they were again caught in a storm. Their 
 one mast and sail was blown overboard, and the 
 barge was nearly swamped with water, which the 
 
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A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY AND ADVENTURE. 121 
 
 voyagers worked hard to bail out. They landed 
 on one of these islands, which, from the " ex. 
 tremity of gusts, thunder, rain, storms, and ill 
 weather," the discoverers named Limbo. It is 
 one of a group now called Watts' Islands. 
 
 The plucky voyagers repaired the sail with 
 their shirts, and again set out. Their next dis- 
 covery was a river on the eastern shore now 
 called Wighcomoco. As they approached the 
 shore, the astonished people ran in troops from 
 place to place. How strange indeed this great 
 floating boat with its flapping sail must have 
 seemed to the Indians, who had never seen any 
 thing larger than a canoe cross the waters of 
 Chesapeake Bay ! Their first impulse was always 
 to resist the incursion of this frightful thing with 
 its pale, strangely-dressed inhabitants. At this 
 place the Indians got into the tops of trees and 
 used their arrows without stint. The boat, how- 
 ever, rode safely at anchor out of reach of arrows, 
 while the English constantly made signs of 
 friendship. For a long time the Indians kept up 
 their one-sided warfare. On the following day 
 they tried new tactics, appearing unarmed, and 
 dancing in a ring with baskets in their hands. 
 The English were too wise in Indian warfare to 
 be drawn on shore by baskets. They believed 
 
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122 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 that ' ' there was nothing in them but villany, " 
 and accordingly discharged their muskets at 
 the Indians, who were all instantly seen "tum- 
 bling on the ground" without regard to whether 
 they were hurt or not. They crept into the 
 reeds, where they had previously put their war- 
 riors in ambuscade. Toward evening the barge 
 approached the shore. The discoverers landed, 
 but could find nothing of the Indians except their 
 baskets. Seeing smoke on the other side of the 
 river, they crossed over and found several cabins 
 with fires in them, but no inhabitants. The 
 whites deposited in each cabin pieces of copper, 
 beads, bells, and looking-glasses. Early in the 
 morning four savages, who had been out in the 
 bay fishing, and knew nothing of the events of 
 the past two days, came to the barge. The Eng- 
 lishmen treated them so kindly that the Indians 
 told them to wait for them and they would soon 
 return. This they did, bringing with them some 
 twenty of their friends ; and seeing that the 
 strangers had kindly intentions, hundreds soon 
 surrounded the boat, each Indian with some 
 present. They considered one bead ample re- 
 turn for all they did. The English and Indians 
 soon became such good friends that the savages 
 would contend among themselves as to who 
 
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A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY AND ADVENTURE. 1 23 
 
 should bring the strangers water, stay with them 
 as hostages, or conduct such of the men as wished 
 to go ashore. 
 
 These people made mention of a great nation 
 of Indians called the Massawomekes. Finding 
 the eastern shore low and mostly destitute of 
 fresh water, the voyagers crossed " by Limbo" 
 to the western side, which was hilly, thickly 
 wooded, with plenty of fresh water, and abound- 
 ing in wolves and bears. The first navigable 
 stream they came to they called Bolus, from a 
 peculiar clay which they found in its banks. 
 This stream is known to us as the Patapsco. 
 
 Fifteen adventurers had now been confined to 
 this open barge on the rough waters of the bay 
 for two weeks. These gentlemen, unused to 
 such severe exercise, had become tired at the 
 oar, and their bread had been so frequently 
 rained upon that it was quite rotten, though the 
 salt air and hard work had given them such ' ' good 
 stomachs" that they could still digest it. The 
 disheartened voyagers began to despair of an end 
 to the great body of water on which they floated. 
 They begged Captain Smith to return. 
 
 "Gentlemen," said the Captain, "if you 
 remember the memorable history of Sir Ralph 
 Lane, how his company importuned him to pro- 
 
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124 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 ceed in the discovery of Maratico (the source of 
 the Roanoke), alleging they had as yet a dog that, 
 being boiled with sassafras leaves, would richly 
 feed them in their returns ; then what a shame it 
 would be for you, that have been so suspicious 
 of my tenderness, to force me to return, with so 
 much provisions as we have, and scarce able to say 
 where we have been, or yet heard of that we 
 were sent to seek ! You cannot say but I have 
 shared with you in the worst which is past, and 
 for what is to come of lodging, diet, or whatso- 
 ever, I am contented you allot the worst part to 
 myself. As for your fears that I will lose myseL 
 in these unknown large waters or be swallowed 
 up in some stormy gust, abandon these childish 
 fears ; for worse than is past is not likely to hap- 
 pen, and there is as much danger to return as to 
 proceed. Regain, therefore, your old spirits, for 
 return 1 will not, if God please, till I have seen 
 the Massawomekes, found Potomac, or the head 
 of this water you conceit to be endless. ' ' 
 
 Two or three days more of adverse weather 
 so added to the disheartenment of the voyagers 
 that three or four of them fell sick. Their pite- 
 ous complaints caused Captain Smith to turn 
 about. The adventurers had not gone far on 
 their homeward journey, however, before they 
 
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A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY AND ADVENTURE. 1 25 
 
 discovered the wide Potomac. The sight of this 
 ' ' seven mile broad river' ' encouraged the discov- 
 erers, the sick speedily recovered, and all were 
 willing " to take some pains" to know its name, 
 They sailed up the river for thirty miles before 
 they saw inhabitants. They were met by two 
 savages, who conducted them up a little creek. 
 On the banks of this creek numbers of Indians 
 were in ambuscade, strangely ' ' pain,ted and 
 grimed," and giving fearful war-whoops. 
 Captain Smith prepared with apparent willing- 
 ness to encounter them in their attack. The 
 whites shot so that their bullets grazed the wa- 
 ter. This and the echoing woods so startled the 
 Indians that they hastily dropped bows and ar- 
 rows. Hostages were exchanged, and the In- 
 dians became very friendly, saying that their 
 attack had been ordered by Powhatan. 
 
 Ascending the Potomac further, the adventur- 
 ers received various treatment at the hands of 
 the Indians of different tribes ; and what seemed 
 important, they dug the ground in several 
 places, and discovered ' ' yellow spangles. 
 
 The Indians of Virginia were seen to use a 
 substance in painting themselves black which 
 gave them the appearance of being dusted over 
 with silver. Captain Newport, supposing this to 
 
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126 pocahoiJtas. 
 
 contain precious metal, had carried some little 
 bags of it to England. The English knew there 
 was a mine where this substance was procured, 
 somewhere in the neighborhood of the Potomac. 
 The adventurers now inquired for this mine 
 among the Indians. Japazaws, the chief of the 
 Potomacs, gave Smith guides to conduct him 
 to this mine, situated on a creek supposed to 
 be Potomac Creek. The Captain ascended this 
 stream as far as the boat could penetrate. Leav- 
 ing the barge with several of his men, he made 
 hostages of some of the savages, whom he led by a 
 chain, which he promised them for their trouble. 
 They saw no indignity in this, and were " proud 
 to be so richly adorned. ' ' The mine was found 
 to be on a rocky mountain, and was a great hole 
 dug by the Indians with shells and hatchets. 
 The savages put this substance into little bags and 
 sold it everywhere, it being a toilet article with 
 the Indians. The English took away as much of 
 the useless stuff as they could carry. Smith af- 
 terward found that this precious something was 
 the ore that we know as sulphuret of antimony, 
 which may be pounded to a black powder. In 
 ancient times fine ladies used this same substance 
 to color their eye-lashes. 
 
 Several times on this voyage the discoverers 
 
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A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY AND ADVENTURE. 1 27 
 
 entered great schools of fish, so thick that, in de- 
 fault of nets, they attempted to catch them with 
 a frying-pan ' ' but, ' ' says their narrative, ' ' we 
 found it a bad instrument to catch fish with. 
 Neither better fish, more plenty, nor more va- 
 riety for small fish, had any of us ever seen in any 
 place swimming in the water ; but they are not 
 to be caught with frying-pans. ' ' 
 
 The adventurers had many " quarrels, treach- 
 eries, and encounters" among the Indians. On 
 first meeting a new party of savages. Captain 
 Smith — an admirable manager of savages — 
 always demanded a surrender of their arms and 
 a child or two as hostages to test their friend- 
 ship. In their own words, the voyagers, in all 
 encounters with the Indians, had " curbed their 
 insolences," and " lost not a man." 
 
 Having finished the exploration of the Poto- 
 mac, and the provisions running low, the adven- 
 turers sailed toward home. Smith had some in- 
 tention of stopping to visit his old ' ' imprison- 
 ment acquaintances" on the Rappahannock. The 
 barge ran aground at the mouth of this river at 
 low tide. The men on the boat could see many 
 fish near the reedy bottom. To while away the 
 time as thej waited for the tide to come in. Cap- 
 tain Smith began ' ' nailing' ' these fish ' ' to the 
 
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128 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 ground with his sword." Instantly all hands 
 were at work, and more fish were " speared" in 
 an hour than they could eat in a day. Smith, 
 however, in taking a stingray from his sword, 
 was stung in the wrist. At first nothing could 
 be seen but a little blue spot ; but instant tor- 
 ment ensued ; his arm and shoulder swelled, and 
 the voyagers " all with much sorrow concluded 
 his funeral. ' ' A man seldom superintends the dig- 
 ging of his own grave. Captain Smith, however, 
 had his grave dug according to his own directions 
 on an island near by. Meanwhile Doctor Russel 
 used his probe and an ointment with such good 
 success that the commander recovered, and was 
 able to revenge himself by eating a part of the 
 fish for supper. In memory of this incident the 
 island was named for the fish, and is still called 
 Stingray Island. 
 
 From this point the discoverers sailed for 
 home. When they reached Kecoughtan, now 
 Hampton, the Indians met them with wonder. 
 Their boat was loaded with bows, arrows, mantles, 
 and furs. Captain Smith's arm was still in ban- 
 dages, and another m£.n had an injured shin. This 
 was evidence enough to the Indians that the Eng- 
 lish had been at war, and they were importunate 
 to know " with whom." The whites, humoring 
 
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A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY AND ADVENTURE. 1 29 
 
 their fancy, and with an eye to the Indians' 
 respect for those who conquer, told the savages 
 that they had gained these spoils from the Mas- 
 sawomeks. 
 
 As they neared Jamestown, on the twenty-first 
 of July, the voyagers, in gay spirits, trimmed 
 their bark with bright streamers, and so disguised 
 her that they frightened the colonists, who sup- 
 posed a Spanish boat was earning upon them. 
 
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CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 smith's adventures on a second voyage. 
 
 In spite of their spoiled bread, their mishaps, 
 and their discomforts, the explorers had been 
 happier than those who remained at Jamestown. 
 Here all was misery and discontent. Those Avho 
 had recently arrived in America were sick, while 
 most of the others had some ailment, and none 
 were able to work. The President was accused 
 of appropriating the public store of provisions to 
 his own private ends, and had caused much dis- 
 content by building himself a pleasure-house in 
 the woods, in which unwelcome work some of 
 the colonists seem to have got lame and others 
 bruised. 
 
 The news of their discoveries, and especial- 
 ly the "good hope" which the voyagers de- 
 rived from the stories of the Indians that their 
 bay ' ' stretched into the South Sea, or somewhat 
 near it, ' ' acted as a tonic. Ratcliffe was deposed 
 from the Presidency, and Smith was elected in 
 his place. He, however, substituted Mr. .Scrive- 
 ner, and prepared to finish his explorations. 
 
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smith's adventures on a second voyage. 131 
 
 The heat of the summer was so great that the 
 colonists could not work, and the captain left 
 them " to recover their healths." 
 
 All his business was effected within three days, 
 and on the twenty -fourth of July Smith set out 
 with twelve men. The wind was contrary, and 
 the barge was forced to stop at Kecoughtan, 
 where she remained for several days. They 
 were feasted here " with much mirth" by the 
 chief, who was sure another expedition against 
 the Massawomeks was on foot. For while the 
 Indians beguiled the whites with stories of an easy 
 road to the Pacific, the whites duped the sav- 
 ages with lies of another kind, so that each party 
 heard that which they most desired. The Eng- 
 lish terrified the natives in the evening by a dis- 
 play of rockets. The Indians concluded that 
 nothing was impossible with these strange peo- 
 ple. 
 
 The first night out was spent at Stingray 
 Island. Seven of the voyagers upon the present 
 expedition had but recently arrived in Virginia, 
 and not being acclimated, they were all sick. 
 But six men, including the Captain, remained to 
 toil at the oars. They passed the mouth of the 
 great Potomac and sailed directly for the head of 
 Chesapeake Bay. While crossing the bay they 
 
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132 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 saw seven or eight canoes of the dreaded Massa- 
 womeks approaching them. The Indians in- 
 stantly prepared for an attack. The English 
 dropped their oars and mustered their force of 
 five well men. The Captain, ever quick with ex- 
 pedients, shut the sick under a tarpaulin, made 
 their hats placed upon sticks do duty in place of 
 them. These sticks were ranged on the barge's 
 side. Between every two sticks a man was 
 placed armed with two muskets. Having thus 
 made themselves " seem many," the adventurers 
 sailed down upon the Indians. This display 
 of hats, with the strange nature of the boat, 
 seems to have entirely demoralized the Indians, 
 for they fled to the shore, and there stood staring 
 at the barge's sail until she anchored right 
 against them. It was a long time before the In- 
 dians could be coaxed to approach them. At 
 last two of their number ventured out unarmed 
 in a canoe. They were closely followed by the 
 others as a reinforcement in case of hostilities. 
 These two Indians were presented with a bell 
 apiece. Immediately the others came aboard 
 with presents of venison, bear meat, bows, 
 arrows, clubs, shields, and bear-skins. The Eng- 
 lish could not understand their speech. By 
 signs they managed to communicate to the voy. 
 
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SMITH'S ADVENTURES ON A SECOND VOYAGE. 133 
 
 agers the fact that they had been at war with the 
 Tockwogh Indians. The English understood 
 them to say that they would meet them again in 
 the morning ; but no more was seen of them. 
 
 The discoverers entered the Tockwogh River, 
 now know as the Sassafras. Here they were 
 met and surrounded by Indian canoes. On in- 
 quiry, it was found that one of their number 
 could speak the language of the Powhatan In- 
 dians. Through his mediation a friendly parley 
 was brought about. They saw the weapons of 
 the Massawomeks, and the English, pretending 
 that they had fought these Indians, were imme- 
 diately well received. The Indians conducted 
 the white men to their village, which was forti- 
 fied with palisades. Here the^ spread mats for 
 the strangers to sit upon, while men and women 
 welcomed them with dances and songs. These 
 people possessed hatchets, knives, and pieces of 
 brass and copper, which they said they had ob- 
 tained from the Susquesahanocs (Susquehannas), 
 a mighty people who dwelt upon the river of this 
 name, two days' journey above the Falls. These 
 people were also mortal enemies of the Massa- 
 womeks. Being desirous of discovering the 
 commodities of different Indian nations, the Eng- 
 lishmen persuaded these Indians to send to the 
 
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134 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 Susquesahanocs and invite them to come and 
 meet the white strangers. In four days the mes- 
 sengers returned with sixty of these people. 
 They are described in Smith's History as being a 
 "giant-like" race ; but this must have been one 
 of those exaggerations for which travellers are 
 famous, and from which Captain Smith is cer- 
 tainly not free. 
 
 It was customary with Captain Smith, who was 
 as staunch in his loyalty to his religion as in his 
 loyalty to the king, to have prayers and a psalm 
 read every day. The solemnity of this devotion 
 impressed the savages. They watched until the 
 service was over, and then " began in a most 
 passionate manner to hold up their hands to the 
 sun with a most fearful song. ' ' They may have 
 thought that the devotion was in some way con- 
 nected with Captain Smith, for they embraced 
 him, went through more ceremonies, and closed 
 with an oration expressive of friendship. They 
 robed him in a painted bear-skin, placed an im- 
 mense chain of white beads around his neck, and 
 laid at his feet eighteen mantles made of different 
 skins. The outcome of all this flattery was that 
 they desired him to remain with them and assist 
 them in their wars with the Massawomeks. The 
 voyagers understood the Susquesahanoc Indians 
 
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smith's adventures on a second voyage. 135 
 
 to say that they lived on some great water 
 which, with their ignorance of geography, they 
 took to be either some lake or the St. Lawrence 
 River, where the French had settled. To the 
 sorrow of those Indians the whites insisted on 
 leaving them, but promised to return the follow- 
 ing year. 
 
 In this voyage Captain Smith and his men ex- 
 plored the extreme limits of Chesapeake Bay, all 
 her important rivers and inlets, and named many 
 capes and headlands after the members of the 
 party. At the limit of their explorations up the 
 rivers, the discoverers ' cut crosses on the trees, 
 and sometimes left crosses of brass. 
 
 The voyagers found the Rappahannock River 
 inhabited by a people called the Moraughta- 
 cunds. Among these they found an old friend of 
 their previous voyage on the Potomac called 
 Mosco. This savage possessed that rare thing 
 among Indians, a full beard. The English ac- 
 counted for this by supposing him to be the son 
 of some Frenchman. He was very proud of his 
 beard, and called the English his countrymen. 
 Mosco was delighted to see them now, would 
 fetch them wood and water, and with his friends 
 would tow their boat ' ' against wind and tide. ' ' 
 
 Mosco endeavored to dissuade Captain Smith 
 
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136 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 from visiting the Rappahannocks, enemies of the 
 Moraughtacunds, who had recently stolen three 
 of their chief's women. Mosco represented that 
 they would kill the English on account of their 
 friendship with the Moraughtacunds. 
 
 Believing that Mosco was anxious to secure all 
 their trade to his friends, Captain Smith ascended 
 the Rappahannock. The discoverers at first 
 found some sixteen Indians standing on the shore, 
 who showed them a good landing, and point- 
 ed to several canoes full of commodities. The 
 English, however, demanded an exchange of 
 hostages. After a little consultation, several 
 Indians waded out into the water, left one 
 of their number, and took in exchange an Eng- 
 lishman named Anas Todkill. This man made 
 sharp use of his eyes, being suspicious of ambus- 
 cades. He asked to be allowed to go across 
 the plain to get some wood ; but the sava- 
 ges would not let him. He managed, however, 
 by degrees, to move back some two stones' 
 throws. He thought he could see several 
 hundred savages behind the trees, and tried to 
 return to the boat. The Indians caught him up, 
 and were going to carry him away, when he 
 called out to his companions in the barge that 
 they were betrayed. That instant their hostage 
 
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smith's adventures on a second voyage. 137 
 
 jumped overboard, but he was followed as 
 quickly by the man who had been set to watch 
 him. They had a struggle in the water, which 
 resulted in the death of the Indian. A volley of 
 musketry enabled Todkill to regain his freedom ; 
 but he was so closely pursued with Indian arrows 
 that he fell flat on the ground. The English 
 fought from behind a fortification made like a 
 forecastle upon the forepart of their boat of the 
 Massawomek shields. This had been done at 
 the suggestion of Mosco. Indian arrows rained 
 around the barge for a short time, but the sav- 
 ages soon fled into the woods. Armed with 
 these wicker shields, the whites sallied ashore 
 and rescued Todkill, whose clothes were bloody 
 with the wounds of those who had held him cap- 
 tive. The English captured the canoes, broke 
 all the arrows they could find, except some that 
 they saved for their friend Mosco. They then 
 returned down the river to the village of the 
 Moraughtacunds, where they presented Mosco 
 with the captured canoes and arrows, and he m 
 his turn received them with great rejoicings and 
 a triumphal march. 
 
 The next day the voyagers spent in securing 
 poles to the barge's side, and hanging wicker 
 shields upon them. They thus encircled the 
 deck of their boat with an impenetrable curtain. 
 
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138 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 On the following day the voyagers again set sail 
 for the country of the Rappahannocks. They 
 were followed along the shore by Mosco with a 
 wistful face. He at last mustered courage to ask 
 if he might not go with them. He was taken on 
 the barge. She sailed up the river past three 
 Indian villages situated on high cliffs. They were 
 suddenly attacked by thirty or forty savages, 
 who had " so accomodated themselves with 
 branches" that the adventurers took them for 
 bushes, until their arrows began to strike the 
 curtain of shields, dropping into the water. In- 
 stantly Mosco fell on his face crying, " the Rap- 
 pahannocks ! the Rappahannocks !" It was some 
 time before the English could make out that what 
 seemed to be bushes were disguised enemies ; 
 but the bushes fell among the reeds at the first 
 volley of shot from the barge. 
 
 Sailing on up the river, the white men were 
 well entertained at several villages of smaller 
 tribes. While on the Rappahannock one of the 
 company, Mr. Featherstone, an " honest, val- 
 iant, and industrious" gentleman, died, and was 
 buried with military honors in a little bay which 
 his companions named Featherstone's Bay. The 
 other new arrivals in Virginia, in spite of being 
 huddled together in a small boat with poor diet, 
 had recovered. 
 
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CHAPTER XV. 
 
 FURTHER EXPLORATIONS. — BATTLES AND ESCAPES 
 
 The day after the burial of their companion 
 the adventurers sailed as high as their boat could 
 go up the river. They then landed, set up 
 crosses, and cut their names on trees, leaving 
 one man to watch. The sentinel saw an arrow 
 fall near him, gave the alarm, and all grasped 
 their arras. Looking sharply, they could see 
 about a hundred " nimble Indians" slipping from 
 tree to tree. Arrows now fell thick and fast, 
 but the English found that they also could dodge 
 behind trees. Mosco was most active in the ser- 
 vice of his friends. He shot away a quiver full 
 of arrows, and ran to the boat for more. He 
 made so much noise, and slipped from one point 
 to another so constantly, that he impressed the 
 enemy with the idea that the whites had quite a 
 company of Indian allies. This dodging warfare 
 continued for about half an hour, when the In- 
 dians disappeared as suddenly as they had come. 
 Mosco slipped after them to be sure they were 
 gone. On his return an Indian was discovered 
 
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I40 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 apparently dead. He was turned over, and was 
 found to be shot in the knee and still living. In- 
 stantly Mosco wanted to beat out his brains. 
 " Never was dog more furious against a bear" 
 than this savage against his enemy. The 
 wounded man, however, was taken to the boat, 
 where he was treated by a surgeon who had 
 accompanied the expedition to dress Captain 
 Smith's stingray wound. Mosco's disappoint- 
 ment was alleviated by the Englishmen turning 
 out to help him gather up the arrows which had 
 been scattered In the battle. He soon got an 
 armful, over which ' ' he gloried not a little. ' ' 
 
 Meanwhile, the prisoner's wound being 
 dressed, within an hour he began to look " some- 
 what cheerfully, ' ' and could eat and speak. Mosco 
 was persuaded to act as interpreter. The sav- 
 age said his name was Amorolec, and gave 
 some description of his own and neighboring 
 tribes. 
 
 " Why did you come in this manner to betray 
 us that came to . you in peace and to seek your 
 loves?" demanded the whites through their in- 
 terpreter. 
 
 "We heard," answered Amorolec, " that you 
 were a people come from under the world to take 
 our world from us." 
 
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FURTHER EXPLORATIONS. I4I 
 
 " How many worlds do you know ?" queried 
 the English. 
 
 "I know no more," said the savage, "but 
 that which is under the sky that covers us, that 
 is the Powhatans', the Monacans', and the Massa- 
 womeks', that are higher up in the mountains." 
 
 ' ' What is beyond the mountains ?' ' asked the 
 whites. 
 
 "The sun," answered Amorolec. " Of any 
 thing else I know nothing, because the woods 
 are not burnt. " 
 
 The English presented Amorolec with various 
 toys, and tried to persuade him to go with them. 
 He, however, desired them to await the coming 
 of his people. He would tell them, he said, all 
 about their kind usage of him, and they would 
 then be good friends, for he was a chief's bro- 
 ther. Mosco, however, advised the whites " to 
 begone, for they were all naught." They said 
 they would remain till evening, however. The 
 English occupied the time in preparing for the 
 reception of what Indians might come, while 
 Mosco sat sharpening his arrows. At nightfall 
 they all embarked, for the river was here so nar- 
 row, and the banks so high, that the savages 
 might do them much damage if they were caught 
 here in daylight. Meanwhile the Indian chief 
 
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142 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 had been gathering his men and holding a coun. 
 cil of war, when his spies informed him that the 
 boat was gone. The Indians immediately set out 
 to follow her, and presently arrows were heard 
 dropping on every side of the boat in the dark- 
 ness. The Indians ran along the shore with wild 
 war-whoops. The English could not make their 
 voices heard through the din ; but now and then 
 a musket was fired, aimed where the greatest 
 noise was heard. The savages followed the boat 
 more than twelve miles, keeping up this running 
 warfare. Daylight appeared, and the voyagers 
 found themselves in a wide bay out of danger. 
 Here they anchored and ' ' fell to breakfast. ' ' 
 They took no notice of the Indians until the sun 
 had risen, when they cleared away their cover- 
 ing of shields, and appeared, each man with 
 shield and sword. 
 
 Amorolec made a long speech to his country- 
 men, telling them how kindly he had been used 
 by the whites ; that they had a Potomac Indian 
 with them who loved them "as his life," and 
 who would have killed him had not the whites 
 protected him ; that he might have his liberty if 
 they would but be friendly, and as for hurting 
 the whites, ' ' it was impossible. ' ' When the In- 
 dians heard this speech they hung their bows 
 
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FURTHER EXPLORATIONS. 143 
 
 and arrows upon the trees. Two Indians swam 
 out to the boat, one with a bow, and the other 
 with a quiver of arrows tied upon his head. 
 These they presented to Captain Smith, who re- 
 ceived them kindly and told them that if the 
 three other chiefs among them would also give 
 up their bows and arrows in token of friendship, 
 that the great king of his world, whose men he 
 and his companions were, would be their friend. 
 This was immediately agreed to. The English 
 landed on a low point of land. The four chiefs re- 
 ceived Amorolec, and were ready to give the 
 white men whatever they had. They were much 
 astonished at the commodities of the English, 
 and supposed their pistols to be pipes. They 
 desired some of these, but the voyagers con- 
 tented them with more harmless toys. These 
 Indians, who were Mannahoacs, parted with the 
 English on the most friendly terms. 
 
 In their return down the river they revisited 
 the villages of the various minor tribes. They 
 were all pleased to hear of the victory over the 
 Mannahoacs, and desired the English to make 
 peace with the Rappahannocks. 
 
 "They have twice," answered the Captain, 
 ' ' assaulted me that came only in love to do them 
 good ; and therefore I will now burn all their 
 
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T44 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 houses, destroy their corn, and forever hold 
 them enemies till they make me satisfaction. ''' 
 
 The Indians desired to know what satisfaction 
 he would require. 
 
 " They shall present me," said Captain Smith, 
 " the king's bows and arrows, and not offer to 
 come armed where I am ; they shall be friends 
 with the Moraughtacunds, my friends, and give 
 me their king's son in pledge to perform it, and 
 then all King James's men shall be their friends. ' ' 
 
 These Indians sent to the Rappahannocks to 
 meet the English. This tribe was now ready to 
 agree to all the conditions, but the chief did not 
 want to give up his son ; for, ' ' having no more 
 but him, he could not live without him. " In place 
 of his son he said Smith might have the three 
 women the Moraughtacund Indians had stolen 
 from him. The Captain, wishing to make peace, 
 accepted this questionable favor in this wise : 
 He sent for the women. Then he made the chief 
 of Moraughtacund, the chief of Rappahannock, 
 and Mosco stand up before him. He told the 
 Rappahannock chieftain to choose the woman of 
 the three that he loved best. To the Moraughta- 
 cund chief he gave the second choice, and the 
 third woman was allotted to Mosco. This man- 
 ner of dealing out justice so struck the Indians 
 
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FURTHER EXPLORATIONS. I45 
 
 that their canoes were instantly speeding across 
 the water, and those who had no canoes swam 
 across. They all returned in a short time with 
 presents of venison and provisions. A friendly 
 intercourse was carried on until, in the words of 
 the quaint narrative, ' ' the dark commanded us 
 to rest." 
 
 The occasion was celebrated on the following 
 day by hundreds of Indians, who danced and 
 sang, while neither bow nor arrows could be 
 seen among them. After the manner of the In- 
 dians, Mosco showed his friendship by changing 
 his name to Uttasautasough, the name by which 
 the Indians called the whites. At parting, the In- 
 dians promised ever to be friendly, and to plant 
 corn especially for the strangers, who on their 
 part promised to provide hatchets, beads, and 
 copper for the Indians. The boat pushed off with a 
 volley of shot, while the Indians gave a great shout. 
 
 They next sailed up the Pianketank River as 
 far as it was navigable. The inhabitants were 
 nearly all absent on a hunting expedition. The 
 voyagers saw only a few old men, women, and 
 children tending corn. Like all other Indians 
 whom they had met on their voyages, these peo- 
 ple promised them corn when they should choose 
 to come for it. 
 
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146 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 The barge was caught in a dead calm. The 
 voyagers were obliged to make their way by 
 rowing toward Point Comfort. They anchored 
 for the night in Gosnold's Bay. Suddenly, in 
 the night, they were struck by a thunder-storm. 
 Their cable broke, and they drove before the 
 wind. Only by " the flashes of fire from 
 heaven" could they keep off of the " splitting 
 shore." They " never thought more to have 
 seen Jamestown. " But by the assistance of the 
 lightning they succeeded in finding Point Com- 
 fort in safety. 
 
 After "refreshing" themselves, the voyagers 
 resolved to complete their discoveries by seeking 
 their nearer neighbors, the Chesapeake and Nan- 
 semond Indians. They sailed up the Chesapeake, 
 now Elizabeth, River, a tributary of the James 
 River. After proceeding six or seven miles they 
 saw some cornfields and cabins, but no inhabit- 
 ants. The river was very narrow, and the dis- 
 coverers returned to the James River, hoping to 
 find some of the natives. They coasted the 
 shore until they came to the Nansemond River. 
 At the mouth of this stream six or seven savages 
 were busy making weirs for fishing. They fled 
 when they saw the barge. The voyagers landed, 
 and laid sonje toys where the Indians had been at 
 
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FURTHER EXPLORATIONS. I47 
 
 work. They pushed off again ; but they had not 
 gone far before the Indians returned, and seeing 
 the toys, began to dance and sing, endeavoring 
 to recall the whites. Thus friendly intercourse 
 began. One Indian desired that the Englishmen 
 should visit his cabin up the Nansemond River. 
 He voluntarily boarded the barge to direct them, 
 while the others ran along the shore. After sail- 
 ing seven or eight miles they came to an island 
 on which was the Indian's cabin, surrounded by 
 cornfields. The savage said that the people 
 were all gone hunting. The English gave him 
 and his family various presents, with which they 
 seemed much delighted. The other Indians now 
 asked the whites to go a little further up the 
 river and see their homes. To this they con- 
 sented, the first Indian leaving them here, and 
 the others accompanying the barge in a canoe. 
 They passed on up the river by the island, and 
 to where the stream was very narrow. The 
 English now became a little suspicious. They 
 asked the Indians to come on board the barge. 
 They answered that they would when they had 
 got their bows and arrows. They got ashore, 
 and arming themselves, tried to persuade the 
 whites to proceed up the river. The whites, on 
 the other hand, tried to persuade the Indians 
 
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148 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 either to enter their own canoe or to come on to 
 the barge. They refused, and the adventurers 
 begin " to prepare for the worst." They started 
 on up the river, and had not gone far when they 
 found themselves followed by seven or eight 
 canoes. Presently from each bank of the narrow 
 stream came arrows thick and fast. The English 
 immediately turned about to sail for a wider part 
 of the stream. The Indians in the canoes had 
 also been shooting their arrows, but the white 
 men " bestowed so many shot amongst them" 
 that the Indians all leaped overboard and swam 
 ashore, with the exception of two or three, who 
 escaped by swift rowing. The English soon 
 reached a more open spot, and the Indians found 
 that shot could reach farther than arrows. They 
 speedily disappeared in the woods. Having thus 
 escaped an Indian ' ' trap, ' ' laid and baited with 
 Indian treachery, the English seized the deserted 
 canoes for booty, and examined their own inju- 
 ries. They were not serious, Anthony Bagnall 
 having been wounded in the hat, and another man 
 in the sleeve. There were evidently many Indians 
 concerned in this attack, and it was rightly con- 
 cluded that the Chesapeakes and Nansemonds 
 were banded together. A council of war was 
 held on board the barge " to bethink" whether it 
 
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FURTHER EXPLORATIONS. 1 49 
 
 were better to bum the cornfields on the island, 
 or to try to make some peace with the Indians. 
 The conclusion was to set fire to the island when 
 night came. Meanwhile the English began to 
 cut the canoes in pieces, and the Indians speedily 
 began to lay down their bows and arrows. The 
 savages made signs of peace. The English told 
 them that they would make peace if they would 
 deliver up the chief's bow and arrows, present 
 them with a string of pearls, and give them four 
 hundred baskets of com when they came again. 
 The Indians expressed their willingness to com- 
 ply if they had but a canoe. One was set adrift. 
 Savages swam to get it, and the whites said they 
 would keep on cutting up the other boats until 
 the Indians performed their promise. The In- 
 disms cried to them not to do this, for they 
 would keep their promise, which they did. 
 Basket after basket was brought, until the barge 
 was well loaded for the good of the colony. On 
 the seventh of September the discoverers ar- 
 rived safely at Jamestown. They estimated that 
 in these two expeditions they had travelled about 
 three thousand miles, though it is quite likely 
 that the weary men naturally overestimated the 
 distance they had traversed. From what he 
 learned on this voyage. Captain Smith prepared a 
 
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I50 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 wonderfully good map of Chesapeake Bay and 
 the tributary rivers. The narratives of these 
 two voyages given in Smith's history are signed 
 by men who were members of the expedition. 
 
 One cannot refrain from admiring in these 
 brave men and their captain the fortitude and 
 persistence that they showed, and the wonder- 
 ful tact with which they managed the natives. 
 
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CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE THIRD ARRIVAL OF CAPTAIN NEWPORT. 
 
 The discoverers found on their return that 
 many of the colonists had died, some had recov- 
 ered, and others were still sick. The late presi- 
 dent, Captain Ratcliffe, had been imprisoned for 
 
 mutiny, ' ' while Mr. Scrivener had fulfilled his 
 trust faithfully. Under his direction the corn 
 harvest had been gathered, though much of the 
 colony's provision was spoiled by the leakage of 
 their poor storehouse. On the tenth of Septem- 
 ber Captain Smith was installed as president. 
 He governed the colony wisely. His measures 
 were doubtless severe, but severity was neces- 
 sary among these men, totally unqualified for a 
 frontier life, with an unwise management in Eng- 
 land, and endless discontent and jealousy at 
 Jamestown. Into the merits of the childish 
 squabbles of the colonists, which have perpetu- 
 ated themselves in their writings, and broken out 
 afresh among historians in our time, we cannot 
 enter. Doubtless there was some wrong on all 
 
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152 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 sides. Men shut up together in hard circum- 
 stances are sure to fall out. 
 
 Captain Smith went energetically to work to 
 better the condition of the colony. Jamestown 
 was once more the scene of busy activity. 
 Church and storehouse were repaired, new 
 houses built for more supplies, and the fort 
 altered in form. The soldiers were drilled every 
 day upon a plain called Smithfield. Here 
 crowds of Indians would gather to watch with 
 wonder the Englishmen shoot at a mark. 
 
 It was now the season to trade for corn with 
 the Indians. The boats were prepared, and 
 George Percy was sent on a trading expedition. 
 They had not gone far, however, before they 
 met Captain Newport with the second supply 
 from England. He brought Percy's company 
 back to Jamestown with him, as he had planned 
 a voyage of discovery. 
 
 Captain Newport had undertaken to return to 
 England with either a lump of gold, the discov- 
 ery of a passage to the South Sea, or one of the 
 lost colony of Roanoke. The folly of the council 
 in their management of a far distant colony was 
 made very manifest in this second supply, A 
 crown was sent over with which Powhatan was 
 to be crowned, and a basin and ewer, bed, bed 
 
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THE THIRD ARRIVAL OF CAPTAIN NEWPORT. 153 
 
 stead, and suit of scarlet clothes, as presents to 
 the American king. Captain Newport also 
 brought a great cumbersome boat, which the col- 
 onists were to carry across the Blue Ridge and 
 launch in the South Sea. As heretofore, most of 
 the newly arrived adventurers were white- 
 handed gentlemen. The first women of the col- 
 ony, Mrs. Forrest and her maid Anne Burras, 
 came in this vessel. Among the seventy adven- 
 turers of this supply were eight Poles and Ger- 
 mans, sent out to make tar, glass, and soap ashes. 
 For the members of the London Company were 
 determined to have some kind of immediate re- 
 turn from the struggling infant colony for the 
 money which had been laid out upon it. As 
 most of the colonists who had gone to Virginia 
 were in expectation of immediaely stumbling on 
 wealth, so most of those who had joined the 
 London Company expected an immediate return 
 for their investment. Newport brought a severe 
 letter from the disappointed council to those who 
 might be in power in Virginia. 
 
 The president probably wished this supply, 
 with the great boat, basin, ewer, bed, bedstead, 
 scarlet clothes, and crown, safely home again. 
 He spoke his mind freely in the colony's council, 
 which had now two new members. Captain Peter 
 
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1 54 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 Wynn -1^6 Captain Richard Waldo, " ancient sol- 
 diers a^d valiant gentlemen." He considered it 
 folly to make these presents to an Indian who 
 would be as well pleased with a few beads and 
 some copper. In his opinion, it was unwise to 
 undertake the discovery of the South Sea when 
 it was the proper time to procure food for the 
 winter. Captain Newport, however, promised 
 to procure com of the Indians for them, and 
 thought that Smith was only trying to hinder his 
 journey of discovery. The council overruled 
 the president ; supplies for the winter were neg- 
 lected, and a hundred and twenty picked men 
 were allotted to Newport for his discovery. 
 The latter was apprehensive that the Indians 
 might take revenge on him for what he consid- 
 ered the cruelty of Captain Smith in his previous 
 dealings with the Indians. The president, to 
 quiet all fears, and to show his willingness to 
 assist in the business on hand, as well as to 
 hasten an affair which would consume so much 
 valuable time, undertook with four companions a 
 journey to Werowoconioco, to ask Powhatan to 
 come to Jamestown and receive his presents. 
 
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CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 POCAHONTAS ENTERTAINS SMITH. 
 
 When the Englishmen reached the home of 
 Powhatan, they found that he was some thirty 
 miles away. They were received by the steadfast 
 friend of all white men, Pocahontas. She sent 
 messengers for her father, and undertook to en- 
 tertain her friends while they waited. 
 
 The Englishmen were left in an open space, 
 seated on a mat by the fire. Suddenly they 
 heard a " hideous noise" in the woods. Suppos- 
 ing that Powhatan and his warriors were upon 
 them, they sprang to their feet, grasped their 
 arms, and seized two or three old Indians who 
 were near them. Pocahontas came to them, 
 however, with her apology, saying that they 
 might kill her ' ' if any hurt were intended. ' ' All 
 who stood near, men, women, and children, 
 assured the white men that all was right. Pres- 
 ently thirty young women came rushing out of 
 the woods. Their only covering was a cincture 
 or apron of green leaves ; they were gayly painted, 
 some one color and some another. Every girl 
 
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156 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 wore a pair of deer's horns on her head, while 
 from her girdle and upon one arm hung an 
 otter's skin. The leader wore a quiver of 
 arrows, and carried a bow and arrow in her 
 hands. The others followed with swords, clubs, 
 and pot-sticks. 
 
 " These fiends, vvith most hellish shouts and 
 cries, ' ' says the ungallant narrator, ' ' cast them- 
 selves in a ring about the fire, singing and danc- 
 ing with most excellent ill variety. ' ' This mas- 
 querade lasted about half an hour, when the In- 
 dian girls disappeared as they had come. 
 
 They again reappeared in their ordinary cos- 
 tume. Pocahontas invited Captain Smith to a 
 dinner which had been spread for him^ith " all 
 the savage dainties" which they could procure. 
 They tormented the Captain by pressing around 
 him, saying, "Love you not me? love you not 
 me?" While he feasted they danced, and ended 
 by conducting him to his lodging with firebrands 
 for torches. 
 
 Powhatan arrived the next day, and Captain 
 Smith delivered his message. 
 
 " If your king has sent me presents," said 
 Powhatan, " I also am a king, and this is my 
 land ; eight days I will stay to receive them. 
 Your Father (Captain Newport) is to come to 
 
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POCAHONTAS ENTERTAINS SMITH. 1 57 
 
 me, not I to him, nor yet to your fort, neither 
 will I bite at such a bait." He drew rude maps 
 on the ground and described the countries 
 through which Captain Newport intended to 
 pass. " But for any salt water beyond the 
 mountains," said Powhatan, "the stories you 
 have had from my people are false. ' ' 
 
 Some complimentary courtesy passed between 
 the chief and the president ; but Captain Smith 
 was obliged to carry this dignified answer ta 
 Jamestown. 
 
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CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 CORONATION OF POWHATAN, AND SEEKING THE 
 
 SOUTH SEA. 
 
 The presents were accordingly sent around hy 
 water in the boats to the haughty chief. Cap- 
 tains Newport and Smith with fifty men crossed 
 over by land, and met them at Werowocomoco. 
 The day following their arrival -was appointed 
 for the ceremony of Powhatan's coronation. 
 The basin and ewer were presented to him, his 
 bedstead was set up, and the English endeavored 
 to persuade him to put on the scarlet suit and 
 cloak. The chief, however, looked upon them 
 with suspicion, and would not consent to wear 
 them until Namontack, the boy whom he had 
 given to Captain Newport, and who had been in 
 England, assured him that they would not hurt 
 him. The coronation, however, caused more 
 ado. Powhatan had no appreciation of the 
 honor these people intended to do him, and he 
 could on no account be persuaded to kneel. 
 Long the English coaxed him, instructing 'him by 
 word and action how he should bow. We can im- 
 
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CORONATION OF POWHATAN. 159 
 
 agine these English gentlemen dropping on their 
 knees by way of example before the stubborn 
 savage. It was all of no avail. Powhatan 
 would not even bend the knee. His instructors 
 were at last tired out. They contented them- 
 selves with bearing very hard upon his shoulders 
 until he stooped a little. The crown was then 
 hastily placed upon his head by three men, a sig- 
 nal was given, a volley of shot was fired from the 
 boats, and Powhatan sprang up in consternation. 
 This part of the ceremony was explained to him, 
 and he became quiet. He now thought it fitting 
 that he should make a suitable return for all these 
 honors. This he did by graciously presenting 
 Captain Newport with his old moccasins and 
 mantle. 
 
 It had been calculated that all this display 
 would induce the great chief to aid Captain 
 Newport in his imposing expedition in search of 
 the South Sea. The making of these ostentatious 
 presents to a mere savage chief may be attrib- 
 uted to the ever meddling folly of King James, 
 with his belief in the divine rights of royalty. 
 The wisdom of the policy is shown by the fact 
 that Powhatan now refused to give Newport 
 either men or guides for his journey, and tried to 
 divert him from his purpose. His return for the 
 
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l6o POCAHONTAS. 
 
 costly gifts was but some seven or eight bush- 
 els of corn. The narrative of these events in 
 Smith's History says that the presents " had been 
 much better spared than so ill spent, for we had 
 Powhatan's favor much better only for a plain 
 piece of copper, till this stately kind of soliciting 
 made him so much overvalue himself that he re- 
 spected us as much as nothing at all. ' ' 
 
 Newport now set out on his voyage to the 
 Pacific Ocean with one hundred and twenty men 
 led by Captain Waldo, Lieutenant Percy, Cap- 
 tain Wynn, Mr. West, a brother of Lord Dela- 
 ware, and Mr. Scrivener. They arrived at the 
 falls of the James River, where Richmond now 
 stands, and started by land with their boat. 
 They marched some forty miles in two days and 
 a half, discovered two Indian villages, where we 
 are not surprised to hear that the Indians re- 
 mained entirely neutral, seized a chief or " king" 
 as they styled him, and led him bound as a 
 guide. They returned on their own path, 
 searching in many places where they thought they 
 had discovered mines. They ' ' spent some time 
 in refining, " having ' ' a refiner fitted for that pur- 
 pose, ' ' and returned to the falls, where the In- 
 dians, who were anxious to get well rid of their 
 visitors, told them that ships were coming into 
 
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CORONATION OF POWHATAN. l6l 
 
 the bay to attack Jamestown. The Indians re- 
 fused to trade, and thus ended the great expedi- 
 tion for the discovery of a passage to the South 
 Sea. 
 
 Let us not smile too much at the ignorance of 
 the London Company. The Spaniards had found 
 the Pacific Ocean vuear to the Atlantic at the 
 Isthmus, and the London geographers had no 
 means of guessing at the width of the continent. 
 
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CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 PLAIN WORDS TO THE LONDON COMPANY, 
 
 Immediately on the return of the explorers, 
 Smith set every well man to work to hasten 
 the relading of the vessel. Parties were sent 
 out to make glass, tar, pitch, and soap ashes, 
 while the president went with thirty gentle- 
 men some five miles into the woods to fell 
 trees and make clapboards. The work was un 
 dertaken with a cheerful spirit. Sleeping in the 
 woods was a pleasant novelty, and these gentle- 
 men ' ' made it their delight to hear the trees 
 thunder as they fell. The president lodged, ate, 
 drank, worked, and played with the rest. These 
 amateur woodmen had one trouble. Axes would 
 blister their tender hands, and it often happened 
 that ' ' every third blow had an oath to drown the 
 echo." Captain Smith undertook to cure this 
 "sin." He had every man's oaths counted and 
 recorded. At night a can of water was poured 
 down the sinner's sleeve for every oath which 
 had escaped him during the day. It is recorded 
 that in consequence of this rather sharp method, 
 
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PLAIN WORDS TO THE LONDON COMPANY. 163 
 
 profanity became rare among the wood-chop- 
 pers. 
 
 These gentlemen were anxious not to be con- 
 sidered " common wood-haggers, " and wished to 
 have it understood that after they became inured 
 to it they considered it but "pleasure and recrea- 
 tion. ' ' It was said that thirty or forty voluntary 
 gentlemen laborers could do more than one hun- 
 dred of the indolent gentlemen of Jamestown 
 would do when forced to it ; but still twenty 
 good workmen would have "been better than 
 them all." 
 
 When Captain Smith had returned from his 
 wood-choppers' camp, he resolved to make an 
 expedition in search of corn. Taking with him 
 two barges, he went to the country of the Chick- 
 ahominy Indians. This ' ' dogged nation, ' ' how- 
 ever, knowing all too well the wants of the col- 
 ony, answered all overtures for friendly trade 
 with scorn and insolence. Captain Smith saw 
 that it was the policy of the much-honored Pow- 
 hatan to starve the English. He told the Indians 
 that their corn had not been so much the object 
 of his journey, but that he had come to revenge 
 his imprisonment and the death of his men. He 
 landed, and prepared for a charge ; but the In- 
 dians fled. They soon sent ambassadors with 
 
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164 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 presents of corn, fish, and game, and a desire to 
 make peace. The result was that the boats were 
 laden with corn, and they parted good friends. 
 
 It is alleged that the sailors while at James- 
 town made use of many indirect means for trad- 
 ing with the colonists, getting in this way valua- 
 ble furs to sell in England. Captain Newport's 
 vessel is called " our old taverne" in the account 
 given in Smith's History. 
 
 Meantime Mr. Scrivener went on a trading ex- 
 pedition to Werowocomoco. The savages were 
 at first disposed to fight ; but Mr. Scrivener 
 managed them so wisely that he procured three 
 or four hogsheads of corn. 
 
 Captain Newport was now ready to sail with 
 samples of the various commodities which the 
 colonists had undertaken to make, and the presi- 
 dent, Smith, wrote a very plain letter in answer 
 to the London Company's letter. This was 
 America's first impudence to the mother coun- 
 try, a defiance that began in her very babyhood. 
 
 " I received your letter," wrote Captain 
 Smith, " wherein you write that our minds are 
 so set upon faction and idle conceits in dividing 
 the country without your consents, and that we 
 feed you with ifs and ands, hopes and some few 
 proofs, as if we could keep the mystery of the 
 
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PLAIN WORDS TO THE LONDON COMPANY. 1 65 
 
 business to ourselves ; and that we must ex- 
 pressly follow your instructions sent by Captain 
 Newport, the charge of whose voyage amounts 
 to near two thousand pounds, the which if we 
 cannot defray by the ship's return we are alike 
 to remain as banished men. To these particulars 
 I humbly entreat your pardons if I offend you 
 with my rude answer. 
 
 " For our factions, unless you would have me 
 run away and leave the country, I cannot pre- 
 vent them, because I do make many stay that 
 would else fly any whither. For the idle letter 
 sent to my Lord of Salisbury by the president 
 and his confederates for dividing the country, 
 etc. What it was I know not, for you saw no 
 hand of mind to it nor ever dreamt I of any such 
 matter. That we feed you with hopes, etc. 
 Though I be no scholar, I am past a school boy, 
 and I desire but to know what either you and 
 these here do know, but I have learned to tell 
 you by the continual hazard of my life. I have 
 not concealed from you anything I know, but I 
 fear some cause you to believe much more than 
 is true. 
 
 " Expressly to follow your directions by Cap- 
 tain Newport. Though they be performed, I 
 was directly against it ; but, according to your 
 
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1 66 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 commission, I was content to be overruled by 
 the major part of the council, I fear greatly to 
 the hazard of us all, which is now generally con- 
 fessed when it is too late. Only Captain Wynn 
 and Captain Waldo I have sworn of the council, 
 and crowned Powhatan according to your in- 
 structions. 
 
 " For the charge of this voyage of two or 
 three thousand pounds, we have not received 
 the value of an hundred pounds. And for the 
 quartered boat to be borne by the soldiers over 
 the falls, Newport had one hundred and twenty 
 of the best men he could choose. If he had 
 burnt her to ashes one might have carried her in 
 a bag, but as she is, five hundred cannot, to a 
 navigable place above the falls. And for him at 
 that time to find the South Sea, a mine of gold, 
 or any of them sent out by Sir Walter Raleigh ; 
 at our consultation I told them was as likely as 
 the rest. But during this great discovery of 
 thirty miles (which might as well have been done 
 by one man and much more for the value of a 
 pound of copper at a seasonable time) they had 
 the pinnace and all the boats with them but one 
 that remained with me to serve the fort. In 
 their absence I followed the new begun works of 
 pitch and tar, glass, soap ashes, clapboard, 
 
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PLAIN WORDS TO THE LONDON COMPANY. 1 67 
 
 whereof some small quantities we have sent you. 
 But if you rightly consider what an infinite toil it 
 is in Russia and Swethland, where the woods are 
 proper for naught alse, and though there be the 
 help both of man and beasts in these ancient com- 
 monwealths which many an hundred years have 
 used it, yet thousands of those poor people can 
 scarce get necessaries to live but from hand to 
 mouth. And though your factors there can buy 
 as much in a week as will fraught you a ship or 
 as much as you please, you must not expect from 
 us any such matter, which are but as many of 
 ignorant, miserable souls that are scarce able to 
 get wherewith to live and defend ourselves 
 against the inconstant savages, finding but here 
 and there a tree fit for the purpose, and want all 
 things else the Russians have. 
 
 ' ' For the coronation of Powhatan, by whose 
 advice you sent him such presents, I know not ; 
 but this give me leave to tell you, I fear they will 
 be the confusion of us all ere we hear from you 
 again. At your ships' arrival, the savages' har- 
 vest was newly gathered, and we going to buy 
 it, our own not being sufficient for so great a 
 number. As for the two ships' loading of corn 
 Captain Newport promised to provide us from 
 Powhatan, he brought us but fourteen bushels. 
 
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l68 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 and from the Monacans nothing but the most of 
 the men sick and near famished. From your 
 ship we had not provision in victuals worth 
 twenty pounds, and we are more than two hun- 
 dred to live upon this, the one half sick and the 
 other little better. For the sailors, I confess 
 they daily made good cheer; but our diet is a lit- 
 tle meal and water, and not sufficient of that. 
 Though there be fish in the sea, fowls in the air, 
 and beasts in the woods, their bounds are so 
 large, they so wild, and we so weak and igno- 
 rant, we cannot much trouble them. 
 
 ' ' Captain Newport we much suspect to be the 
 author of those inventions. Now, that you 
 should know I have made you as great a discov- 
 ery as he for less charge than he spendeth you 
 every meal, I have sent you this map of the bays 
 and rivers, with an annexed relation of the coun- 
 tries and nations that inhabit them, as you may 
 see at large. Also two barrels of stones and 
 such as I take to be good iron ore at the least, so 
 divided as by their notes you may see in what 
 places I found them. The soldiers say many of 
 your officers maintain their families out of what 
 you sent us, and that Captain Newport hath an 
 hundred pounds a year for carrying news. For 
 every master you have yet sent can find the way 
 
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PLAIN WORDS TO THE LONDON COMPANY. 169 
 
 as well as he, so that an hundred pounds might be 
 spared, which is more than we have all that helps 
 to pay him wages. 
 
 " Captain Ratcliffe is now called Sicklemore, a 
 poor counterfeited imposture. I have sent him 
 home lest the company should cut his throat. 
 What he is, now every one can tell you : if he 
 and Archer return again, they are sufficient to 
 keep us always in factions. When you send 
 again, I entreat you rather send but thirty car- 
 penters, husbandmen, gardeners, fishermen, 
 blacksmiths, masons, and diggers up of trees' 
 roots, well provided, than a thousand of such as 
 we have, for except we be able to both lodge and 
 feed them, the most will consume with want of 
 necessaries before they can be made good for 
 anything. 
 
 " Thus, if you please to consider this account 
 and the unnecessary wages to Captain Newport 
 or his ships so long lingering and staying here 
 (for notwithstanding his boasting to leave us vic- 
 tuals for twelve months, though we, eighty-nine, 
 by this discovery lame and sick, and but a pint of 
 com a day for a man, we were constrained to 
 give him three hogsheads of that to victual him 
 homeward), or yet to send into Germany or Po- 
 land for glassmen, and the rest till we are able to 
 
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I/O POCAHONTAS. 
 
 sustain ourselves and relieve them wYicr. they 
 come. It were better to give five hundred 
 pound a ton for those gross commodities in 
 Denmark than send for them hither till more 
 necessary things be provided. For in over-toil- 
 ing our vreak and unskilful bodies to satisfy this 
 desire of present profit, we can scarce ever 
 recover ourselves from one supply to another. 
 And I humbly entieat you hereafter let us know 
 what we should receive and not stand to the sail- 
 ors' courtesy to leave us what they please, else 
 you may charge us what you will, but we not 
 you with anything. These are the causes that 
 have kept us in Virginia from laying such a 
 foundation that ere this might have given much 
 better content and satisfaction ; but as yet you 
 must not look for any profitable returns : so I 
 humbly rest." 
 
 Marvellous good common sense is this ! It is 
 the fashion of late years to revile Smith for a 
 boaster. But where can we find prudence and 
 sound sense in all this miserable management but 
 from him ? No wonder that he esteemed his ser- 
 vice highly ; common sense was so scarce in 
 Jamestown and in London 
 
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CHAPTER XX, 
 
 EXPEDITIONS FOR CORN. 
 
 Cold weather had come, and famine began to 
 stare the colonists in the face. Taking with him 
 Captain Wynn and Mr. Scrivener with three 
 boats, the president set out for the country of the 
 Nansemond Indians. These people refused not 
 only to provide the four hundred bushels of corn 
 which they had promised in their treaty with the 
 colonists on their previous visit, but they refused 
 to trade at all. Their excuse was that they had 
 used up the most that they had, and that they 
 were under commands from Powhatan neither to 
 trade with the English nor to allow them to enter 
 their river. The English had recourse to force, 
 and the Indians fled at the first volley of mus- 
 ketry without shooting a single arrow. The first 
 cabin the white men discovered they set on fire. 
 The Indians immediately desired peace, and 
 promised the English half that they had. Before 
 night all the boats were loaded with corn, and 
 the English sailed some four miles down the 
 river. Here they camped out for the night in 
 the open woods on frozen ground covered with 
 snow. The manner in which these adventurers 
 
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172 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 of nearly three hundred years ago made them- 
 selves comfortable is interesting. They would 
 dig away the snow and build a great fire, which 
 would serve to dry and warm the ground. They 
 would then scrape away the fire, spread a mat on 
 the place where it had been, and here they 
 would sleep with another mat hung up as a 
 shield against the wind. In the night, as the 
 wind shifted, they would change their hanging 
 mat, and when the ground grew cold they would 
 again remove their fire and take its place. Their 
 story says that many " a cold winter night" did 
 the adventurers sleep thus ; and yet those who 
 went on these expeditions " were always in 
 health, lusty, and fat." 
 
 About this time the first marriage in Virginia 
 took place. The one single woman in James- 
 town would naturally not remain long unmar- 
 ried. Anne Burras was married to John Lay- 
 don, a laborer, and one of the earliest colonists. 
 
 Almost immediately after his return. Captain 
 Smith started on another expedition in search of 
 corn. As they sailed the Indians fled from them 
 until they discovered the Appomattox, a tribu- 
 tary of James River. The natives had not much 
 corn, but they divided what they had, for which 
 they were amply requited with copper and trink- 
 ets. 
 
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CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 SMITH TRIES TO CAPTURE POWHATAN. 
 
 Finding that the old Indian chief had deter- 
 mined to starve the colony out of existence by a 
 refusal to trade with the white men, Captain 
 Smith, appreciating the desperate extremity, 
 resolved to take, as usual, the boldest plan out of 
 the difficulty. He meditated a plan for surpris- 
 ing and entrapping Powhatan into his power. 
 Smith saw no other chance to procure food, and 
 starving men do not stop to debate whether a 
 course is right or wrong. 
 
 About this time Powhatan sent a message to 
 Smith inviting him to visit him, and saying that 
 if he would but build him a house, give him a 
 grindstone, fifty swords, some firearms, a hen 
 and rooster, and much beads and copper, he 
 would fill the ship with corn. Captain Smith 
 made haste to accept this offer. He sent some of 
 the Dutchmen and some Englishmen ahead to 
 begin the building of Powhatan's house. 
 
 The barge and pinnace were fitted up for this 
 expedition. The president with twelve men 
 
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174 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 sailed in the barge, while fifteen men, among 
 whom were Lieutenant Percy and Mr. West, 
 brother of Lord Delaware, sailed in the pinnace. 
 This party started from Jamestown in December, 
 1608. They stopped for the first night at the 
 village of Warrasqueake. They were treated 
 very kindly by the chief of this town, who aa 
 vised them not to visit Powhatan. Smith, how- 
 ever, was determined to go. 
 
 ' ' Captain Smith, ' ' said the chief, ' ' you shall 
 find Powhatan to use you kindly ; but trust him 
 not, and be sure he have no opportunity to seize 
 on your arms, for he hath sent for you only to 
 cut your throats." 
 
 The captain thanked him for his advice, and 
 resolved to follow it. He asked this chief for 
 guides to the Chawonoc Indians. The chief im- 
 mediately complied with his request, and Cap- 
 tain Smith sent Mr. Michael Sicklemore, a " val- 
 iant soldier, with the guides to this place in 
 search of Sir Walter Raleigh's lost company, and 
 silk grass or peminaw. " What is said of the 
 people of the lost colony by different writers is 
 quite hard to understand. Sometimes they seem 
 to have been all exterminated, again we hear 
 rumors that some of them are alive. 
 
 When Captain Smith parted with the friendly 
 
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SMITH TRIES TO CAPTURE POWHATAN. I75 
 
 chief, he left him his page to learn the language. 
 The next night the English lodged at Kecough- 
 tan. Here they were storm-bound for about a 
 week. They were thus obliged to keep Christ- 
 mas at this Indian village, and a merry time they 
 had of it. They feasted upon fish, venison, wild 
 fowl, with the sweet corn-bread of the country, 
 and enjoyed themselves around great fires in the 
 warm, smoky cabins of the Indians. 
 
 Travelling on from here the English were 
 forced, when they could find no cabins, to sleep 
 in the woods as we have described. During the 
 journey Captain Smith, Anthony Bagnall, and 
 Sergeant Pising shot a hundred and forty-eight 
 wild fowl at one time. 
 
 At the Indian village of Kiskiack, now cor- 
 rupted to Chescake, and pronounced Cheesecake, 
 the English were again forced by the cold and 
 contrary winds to spend several days in Indian 
 cabins. These Indians were not friendly, and 
 the whites were obliged to guard their barge 
 with care. On the twelfth of January the Eng- 
 lish neared Werowocomoco. The ice extended 
 nearly half a mile from shore in the York 
 River. Captain Smith pushed as near the 
 shore as he could in the barge, by breaking 
 the ice. Impatient of remaining in an open 
 
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176 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 boat in the freezing cold, he jumped into the 
 half-frozen marsh, and waded ashore. His ex- 
 ample was followed by eighteen of his men, 
 among whom was a Mr. Russell, who could not 
 be persuaded to stay behind, although he was a 
 very heavy man, and "somewhat ill." This 
 gentleman " so overtoiled himself" that it was 
 with difficulty that his comrades got him ashore 
 and restored warmth to his benumbed body. 
 The English quartered at the first cabins they 
 reached, and announced their arrival in a mes- 
 sage to Powhatan, requesting provision. The 
 chief sent them plenty of bread, venison, and tur- 
 keys, and feasted them according to his custom. 
 The following day, however, he desired to know 
 when they " would be gone," pretending that he 
 had not sent for the English. He made the as- 
 tonishing statement that he himself had no corn, 
 and his people had much less ; but that he would 
 furnish them forty baskets of this grain for as 
 many swords. Captain Smith quickly con- 
 fronted him with the men who had brought Pow- 
 hatan's message to Jamestown, and asked the 
 chief ' ' how it chanced he became so forgetful. ' ' 
 Powhatan answered with "a merr}' laughter," 
 and invited the English to show their commod- 
 ities. But the crafty chief was not suited with 
 
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SMITH TRIES TO CAPTURE POWHATAN. \^^ 
 
 any thing, unless it were guns or swords. He 
 would value a basket of corn higher than a basket 
 of copper. 
 
 " Powhatan," said Captain Smith, " though I 
 had many courses to have made my provision, 
 yet believing your promises to supply my wants, 
 I neglected all to satisfy your desire, and to 
 testify my love I sent you my men for your 
 building, neglecting mine own. What your 
 people had you have engrossed, forbidding them 
 our trade, and now you think by consuming the 
 time we shall consume for want, not having to 
 fulfil your strange demands. As for swords and 
 guns, I told you long ago I had none to spare, 
 and you must know those 1 have can keep me 
 from want. Yet steal or wrong you I will not, 
 nor dissolve that friendship we have mutually 
 promised, except you constrain me by your bad 
 usage. ' ' 
 
 Powhatan listened attentively to this speech, 
 and promised that he would spare them what he 
 could, which he would deliver to them in two 
 days. 
 
 ' ' Yet, Captain Smith, ' ' said the chief, ' ' I have 
 some doubt of your coming hither that makes 
 me not so kindly seek to relieve you as I would, 
 tor many do inform me your coming hither is not 
 
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1/8 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 for trade, but to invade my people and posses* 
 my country, who dare not bring you corn, seeing 
 you thus armed with your men. To free us of 
 this fear, leave aboard your weapons, for here 
 they are needless, we being all friends. ' ' 
 
 But Captain Smith was not to be cajoled into a 
 council without weapons. That night was spent 
 at Werowocomoco, and the following day the 
 building of Powhatan's house ment forward. 
 The Dutchmen seeing the plenty of Powhatan 
 and his power, and thinking the colony could not 
 long withstand the wily chief, had betrayed the 
 English ; though this was not discovered until 
 some six months afterward. 
 
 Meanwhile the English managed " to wrangle" 
 some ten bushels of corn out of the chief for a 
 copper kettle. Powhatan then made a speech 
 setting forth the advantages of remaining at 
 peace with the colony. 
 
 ' ' Captain Smith, ' ' said he, ' ' you may under- 
 stand that I, having seen the death of my people 
 thrice, and not any one living of those three gen- 
 erations but myself, I know the difference of peace 
 and war better than any in my country. But 
 now I am old, and ere long must die ; my breth- 
 ren, namely Opitchapan, Opechancanough, and 
 Kekataugh, my two sisters and their two daugh- 
 
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SMITH TRIES TO CAPTURE POWHATAN. 1 79 
 
 ters. are each others' successors. I wish their 
 experience no less than mine, and your love to 
 them no less than mine to you. But this bruit 
 from Nansemond, that you are come to destroy 
 my country, affrighted all my people as they dare 
 not visit you. What will it avail you to take 
 that by force you may quickly have by love, or 
 to destroy them that provide you food ? What 
 can you get by war when we can hide our provi- 
 sions and fly to the wc5ods, whereby you must fam- 
 ish by wronging us, your friends ? And why are 
 you thus jealous of our loves, seeing us unarmed 
 and both do and are willing still tp feed you with 
 that you cannot get but by our labors ? Think 
 you I am so simple not to know it is better to eat 
 good meat, lie well, and sleep quietly with my 
 women and children, laugh and be merry with 
 you, have copper, hatchets, or what I want being 
 your friend, than be forced to fly from all, to lie 
 cold in the woods, feed upon acorns, roots, and 
 such trash, and be so hunted by you that I can 
 neither rest, eat, nor sleep, but my tired men 
 must watch, and if a twig but break every one 
 crieth, There cometh Captain Smith ! Then must 
 I fly I know not whither, and thus with miserable 
 fear end my miserable life, leaving my pleasures 
 to such youths as you, which through your rash 
 
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l8o POCAHONTAS. 
 
 unadvisedness may quickly as miserably end for 
 want of that you never know where to find. 
 Let this therefore assure you of our loves, and 
 every year our friendly trade shall furnish you 
 with corn, and now also, if you would come in a 
 friendly manner to see us, and not thus with your 
 guns and swords as to invade your foes. ' ' 
 
 " Seeing you will not rightly conceive of our 
 words," answered Captain Smith, " we strive to 
 make you know our thoughts by our deeds. The 
 vow I made you of my love both myself and my 
 men have kept. As for your promise, I find it 
 every day violated by some of your subjects, 3'et 
 we, finding your love and kindness, our custom is 
 so far from being ungrateful that for your sake only 
 we have curbed our thirsting desire of revenge, 
 else had they known as well the cruelty we use 
 to our enemies as our true love and courtesy 
 to our friends. And I think your judgment suf- 
 ficient to conceive, as well by the adventures we 
 have undertaken as by the advantage we have by 
 our arms of yours, that had we intended you any 
 hurt, long ere this we would have effected it. 
 Your people coming to Jamestown are entertain- 
 ed with their bows and arrows without any ex- 
 ceptions, we esteeming it with you, as it is with us, 
 to wear our arms as our apparel. As for the dan- 
 
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SMITH TRIES TO CAPTURE POWHATAN. l8l 
 
 ger of our enemies, in such wars consist oui 
 chiefest pleasure ; for your riches we have na 
 use ; as for the hiding your provision, or by your 
 flying to the woods, we shall not so unadvisedly 
 starve as you conclude ; your friendly care in 
 that behalf is needless, for we have a rule to find 
 beyond your knowledge." 
 
 Certainly the word-fencers were a match in 
 subtle insinuation, and neither one was to be 
 caught off his guard. Some trading was again 
 begun. The chief was dissatisfied that he could 
 not have his way. 
 
 " Captain Smith," said Powhatan with a sigh, 
 ' ' I never used any werowance so kindly as your- 
 self, yet from you I receive the least kindness of 
 any. Captain Newport gave me swords, copper, 
 clothes, a bed, towels, or what I desired, ever 
 taking what I offered him, and would send away 
 his guns when I entreated him ; none doth deny 
 to lie at my feet or refuse to do what I desire 
 but only you, of whom I can have nothing but 
 what you regard not, and yet you will have 
 whatsoever you demand. Captain Newport you 
 call father, and so you call me, but I see for all 
 us both you will do w^hat you list, and we must 
 both seek to content you. But if you intend so 
 friendly as you say, send hence your arms, that I 
 
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1 82 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 may believe you, for you see the love I bear you 
 doth cause me thus nakedly to forget myself. 
 
 The wily old chjef was right. Captain Smith 
 was determined to have his own way. He saw 
 that nothing could be gained thus. Powhatan 
 was watching with lynx eyes for a chance to get 
 the white men into his power while he deliver- 
 ed those eloquent and persuasive speeches which 
 are, so characteristic of Indians. Captain Smith 
 asked the savages to break the ice for him that 
 his boat might reach the shore, to take him and 
 the corn. He intended, when the boat came, to 
 land more men and surprise the chief. Mean- 
 while, to entertain Powhatan and keep him from 
 suspecting anything, he made the following reply 
 to his last speech : 
 
 ' ' Powhatan, you must know as I have but one 
 God I honor but one king, and I live not here 
 as your subject, but as your friend, to pleasure 
 you with what I can. By the gifts you bestow on 
 me you gain more than by trade, yet would you 
 visit me as I do you, you should know it is not our 
 custom to sell our courtesies as a vendable com- 
 modity. Bring all your country with you for 
 your guard, I will not dislike it as being over- 
 jealous. But to content you, to-morrow I will 
 leave my arms and trust to your promise. I call 
 
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(SMITH TRIES TO CAPTURE POWHATAN. 1 83 
 
 you father, indeed and as a father you shall see I 
 will love you ; but the small care you have for 
 such a child caused my men to persuade me to 
 look to myself. ' ' 
 
 But Powhatan was not to be fooled. His mind 
 was on the fast disappearing ice. He managed 
 to disengage himself from the Captain's conversa- 
 tion, and secretly fled with his women, children, 
 and luggage. To avoid any suspicion, two or 
 three women were left to engage Captain Smith 
 in talk while the Powhatan warriors beset the 
 house where they were. When Captain Smith 
 discovered what they were doing, he and John 
 Russell went about making their way out with 
 the help of their pistols, swords, and Indian 
 shields. At the first shot, the savages tumbled 
 "one over another" and quickly fled in every 
 direction, and the two men reacbod their com- 
 panions in safety. 
 
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CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 POCAHONTAS GIVES WARNING. 
 
 Powhatan saw that his stratagem had failed 
 He immediately tried to remove the unfavorable 
 impression which this event and the sudden ap- 
 pearance of so many warriors might make on 
 the minds of the English. He sent an "ancient 
 orator" to Captain Smith with presents of a 
 great bracelet and chain of pearls. 
 
 " Captain Smith," said the Indian, " our we- 
 rowance has fled, fearing your guns, and know- 
 ing when the ice was broken there would come 
 more men ; he sent these numbers but to guard 
 his com from stealing, that might happen without 
 your knowledge. Now, though some be hurt by 
 your misprison, yet Powhatan is your friend and 
 so will forever continue. Now since the ice is 
 open, he would have you send away your corn, 
 and if you would have his company, send away 
 also your guns, which so affrighteth his people 
 that they dare not come to you as he promised 
 they should." 
 
 The Indians provided baskets that the English 
 
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POCAHONTAS GIVES WARNING. 1 85 
 
 might carry their corn to the boat. They were 
 very officious in tendering their services to guard 
 the colonists' arms while they were thus occu- 
 pied, lest any one should steal them. There were 
 crowds of these grim, sturdy savages about ; but 
 the sight of the white men cocking their match- 
 lock guns rendered them exceedingly meek 
 They were easily persuaded by this sight to leave 
 their bows and arrows in charge ot the English- 
 men, while they themselves carried the corn 
 down to the boats on their own backs. This they 
 did with wonderful dispatch. 
 
 Ebb tide left the boat stuck in the marsh, and 
 the" adventurers were obliged to remain at Wero- 
 wocomoco until high water. They returned to 
 the cabins where they were at first quartered. 
 The savages entertained them until night with 
 ' ' merry sports, ' ' and then left them. Powhatan 
 was gathering his forces and planning the certain 
 destruction of his visitors. The English were 
 alone in the Indian cabins. Suddenly Pocahon- 
 tas, Powhatan's " dearest jewel and daughter," 
 as she is styled in the quaint narrative, appeared 
 before Captain Smith. She had come this dark 
 night through the " irksome woods" alone from 
 her father's cabin. 
 
 " Captain Sniith," said she, "great cheer will 
 
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l86 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 be sent you by and by ; but Powhatan and all 
 the power he can make will after come and kill you 
 all, if they that bring you the cheer do not kill 
 you with your own weapons when you are at 
 supper. Therefore, if you would live, I wish you 
 presently to begone. 
 
 Captain Smith wished to give Pocahontas pres- 
 ents of those trifles dear to the heart of an In- 
 dian, and such as Pocahontas most delighted in. 
 
 ' ' I dare not, ' ' said the girl, with tears running 
 down her cheeks, " be seen to have any, for if 
 Powhatan should know it, I am but dead. ' ' 
 
 She then ran away into the woods as she hiad 
 come. Within less than an hour, eight or ten 
 " lusty" savages came, bringing great platters of 
 venison and other food. They begged the Eng- 
 lishmen to put out the matches to their guns, for 
 the ' ' smoke made them sick, ' ' and to sit down 
 to eat. But the Captain was vigilant. He made 
 the Indians first taste of every dish, and he then 
 sent them back to Powhatan, asking him ' ' to 
 make haste,'' for he was awaiting his arrival. 
 Soon after more messengers came, " to see what 
 news," in the words of the story, and they were 
 followed in a short time by still more. Thus the 
 night was spent by both parties with the utmost 
 vigilance, though to all appearances they were 
 
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POCAHONTAS GIVES WARNING. 1 8/ 
 
 on very friendly terms. When high water came 
 the English prepared to depart. At Powhatan's 
 request they left a man named Edward Brynton 
 to hunt for him, while the Dutchmen remained to 
 finish his house. 
 
 On an eminence near where Werowocomoco 
 must have been, still stands a stone chimney 
 which is known to this day as " Powhatan's 
 Chimney, ' ' and according to tradition is the chim- 
 ney of the house which the colonists erected for 
 this chief. 
 
 The English pushed on to Pamunkey in 
 search of corn, hoping that upon their return the 
 frost would be gone, and if Powhatan still gave 
 occasion, a better opportunity might then be 
 found to subdue his pride. 
 
 If the actions of Smith seem sometimes lacking 
 in good faith, we must remember the desperate 
 position of the little colony entrusted to his care, 
 and the extreme difficulty of dealing with Indians 
 in such circumstances. 
 
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CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 AN ADVENTURE WITH OPECHANCANOUGH. 
 
 In two or three days the barge and pinnace ar- 
 rived at Pamunkey. The chief entertained them 
 with ' ' feasting and much mirth. ' ' The day ap- 
 pointed for trade came. Captain Smith, accom- 
 panied by fifteen men, among whom were Lieu- 
 tenant Percy, Mr. West, and Mr. Russell, march- 
 ed a quarter of a mile to the cabin of Opechanca- 
 nough. There was no one to be seen but a lame 
 Indian and a boy. The English waited, and the 
 chief soon came, followed by a guard of his peo- 
 ple fairly laden with bows and arrows, but with 
 "pinching commodities," upon which they put 
 an enormous price. 
 
 " Opechancanough," said Captain Smith, 
 ' ' the great love you profess with your tongue 
 seems mere deceit by your actions. Last year 
 you kindly freighted our ship, but now you 
 have invited me to starve with hunger ; you 
 know my want and I your plenty, of which by 
 some means I must have part ; remember it is fit 
 for kings to keep their promise. Here are my 
 
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ADVENTURE WITH OPECHANCANOUGH. 1 89 
 
 commodities, whereof take your choice ; the rest 
 I will proportion fit bargains for your people. ' ' 
 
 The chief accepted this offer with seeming kind- 
 ness, and sold what his people had brought at a 
 fair price. He promised to meet the English the 
 next day with a larger company better provided 
 with commodities. 
 
 On the following day the captain and his fifteen 
 comrades again started for the chief's cabin, leav- 
 ing the boats in charge of Mr. Phittiplace, cap- 
 tain of the pinnace. Arrived at the place of 
 meeting, they found four or five Indians who had 
 just come. Soon after the chief entered with 
 "strained cheerfulness." He began a long- 
 winded conversation on how much trouble he 
 had taken to keep his promise, with which he took 
 up the time until Mr. Russell stepped up to Cap- 
 tain Smith and said : 
 
 " We are all betrayed, for at least seven hun- 
 dred savages, well armed, have environed the 
 house and beset the fields. 
 
 Opechancanough guessed what Mr. Russell 
 said from the expression of his face. Captain 
 Smith turned to his comrades and discussed the 
 difficulties of the situation. 
 
 ' ' Worthy countrymen, ' ' said he, ' ' were the 
 mischiefs of my seeming friends no more than the 
 
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IQO POCAHONTAS. 
 
 danger of these enemies, I little cared, were they 
 as many more, if you dare do but as I. But this 
 is my torment, that if I escape them our malicious 
 council, with their open-mouthed minions, will 
 make me such a peace-breaker in their opinions 
 in England as will break my neck. I could wish 
 those here that make these (the Indians) seem 
 saints and me an oppressor. But this is the 
 worst of all wherein I pray you aid me with your 
 opinions. Should we begin with them and sur- 
 prise the king, we cannot keep him and defend 
 well ourselves. If we should each kill our man, 
 and so proceed with all in the house, the rest will 
 all fly, then shall we get no more than the bodies 
 that are slain and so starve for victual. As for 
 their fury, it is the least danger, for well you 
 know being alone assaulted with two or three 
 hundred of them, I made them by the help of God 
 compound to save my life. And we are sixteen 
 and they but seven hundred at the most, and as- 
 sure yourselves God will so assist us that if you 
 dare stand but to discharge your pieces, the very 
 smoke will be sufficient to affright them. Yet, 
 howsoever, let us fight like men and not die like 
 sheep, for by that means you know God hath oft 
 delivered me, and so I trust will now. But first 
 I will deal with them to bring it to pass we may 
 
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ADVENTURE WITH OPECHANCANOUGH. I9I 
 
 fight for something, and draw them to it by con- 
 ditions. If you like this motion, promise me you 
 will be valiant." 
 
 There was no time for argument ; these men, 
 who were the very pick of the colonists, vowed 
 to ' ' execute whatsoever he attempted or die. ' ' 
 The Captain turned to the chief and challenged 
 him thus : 
 
 " I see, Opechancanough, your plot to murder 
 me, but I fear it not. As yet your men and mine 
 have done no harm but by our direction. Take 
 therefore your arms, you see mine, my body shall 
 be as naked as yours, the isle in your river is a fit 
 place, if you be contented, and the conqueror of 
 us two shall be lord and master over all our men. 
 If you have not enough, take time to fetch more, 
 and bring what number you will, so every one 
 bring a basket of corn, against all which I will 
 stake the value in copper ; you see I have but fif- 
 teen, and our game shall be this : " the con- 
 queror take all." 
 
 The chief, who was surrounded by some forty 
 or fifty warriors as a guard, tried to quiet Cap- 
 tain Smith's suspicions. He told the Captain 
 that a great present awaited him at the door, and 
 he entreated him to go and receive it. This was 
 but a bait to draw the Captain outside, where the 
 
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192 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 present was backed up by some two hundred 
 warriors, while thirty more were in ambush un- 
 der a great tree with bows ready drawn. The 
 president commanded one of his men to "go 
 and see what kind of deceit" this might be. 
 The man refused, and Captain Smith was so vex- 
 ed at his cowardice, that though all the other 
 gentlemen of the party desired importunately to 
 go in his place, the Captain would not let them. 
 Captain Smith ordered Lieutenant Percy, Mr. 
 West, and the others to guard the entrances 
 to the cabin, and suddenly turning he grasped the 
 chief's long lock of hair and put his pistol to his 
 breast. In this manner he led Opechancanough, 
 trembling and ' ' near dead with fear, ' ' out among 
 his people. The chief delivered his bow and ar- 
 rows to Captain Smith. 
 
 " I see, you Pamunkeys," said the Captain, 
 still holding the chief by the hair, " the great de- 
 sire you have to kill me, and my long suffering 
 your injuries hath emboldened you to this pre- 
 sumption. The cause I have forborne your in- 
 solences is the promise I made you before the 
 God I serve to be your friend till you give me 
 just cause to be your enemy. If I keep this vow, 
 my God will keep me ; you cannot hurt me, but 
 if I break it, he will destroy me. But if you 
 
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ADVENTURE WITH OPECHANCANOUGH. I93 
 
 shoot but one arrow to shed one drop of blood 
 of any of my men, or steal the least of these beads 
 or copper I spurn here before you with my foot, 
 you shall see I will not cease revenge, if I once 
 begin, so long as I can hear to find one of your 
 nation that will not deny the name of Pamunk. I 
 am not now at Rassaweak, half drowned with 
 mire, where you took me prisoner ; yet then for 
 keeping your promise and your good usage and 
 saving my life, I so affect you, that your de- 
 nials of your treachery do half persuade me to 
 mistake myself. But if I be the mark you aim at, 
 here I stand, shoot he that dare ! You promised 
 to freight my ship ere I departed, and so you 
 shall, or I mean to load her with your dead car- 
 casses ; yet if as friends you will come and trade, 
 I once more promise not to trouble you except 
 you give me the first occasion, and your king shall 
 be free and be my friend, for I am not come to 
 hurt him or any of you." 
 
 At the close of this boastful speech, away went 
 bows and arrows, the chief was released, and 
 trade began in good earnest. Men, women, and 
 children thronged around the Captain with their 
 commodities. After two or three hours of this 
 business the president became weary. He left 
 two gentlemen, Mr. Behethland and Mr. Powell, 
 
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194 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 to trade, and went into the council house, where 
 he fell fast asleep. His friends were off their 
 guard, and here was a chance for the treacherous 
 Indians. Forty or fifty warriors, armed with 
 clubs and English swords, crowded into the buila- 
 ing. Their haste shook the cabin and aroused 
 the Captain, who, half awake as he was, took to 
 his sword and shield, followed by Mr. Raleigh 
 Crashaw and some others who were present. 
 They charged toward the crowded doorway. 
 But the Indians moved back more hastily than 
 they had pressed forward. Opechancanough 
 with some old men made a long oration, excusing 
 this intrusion. 
 
 The remainder of the day passed off in friendly 
 trading, the Indians being well satisfied with the 
 pa)'ment they got for their commodities, and the 
 English sailed away from Pamunkey with their 
 corn. 
 
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CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 SOME " PRETTY ACCIDENTS" AND INCIDENTS. 
 
 Meantime two of the "Dutchmen," as they 
 are called, returned to Jamestown, and told Cap- 
 tain Wynn, who was in command of the fort, that 
 they had come for some tools which they needed, 
 and a change of clothes. They procured new 
 arms on the pretence that Captain Smith, having 
 need of their arms, had taken them. They also 
 plotted with some men in the fort, and secured 
 various arms, ammunition, and tools, which they 
 conveyed to Indians outside the fort, who carried 
 them away. By aid of these confederates within 
 Jamestown, to whom it was represented that they 
 would be favorites of Powhatan and safe from the 
 miseries of the colony, there was a constant leak- 
 age of weapons for months. Meanwhile, the 
 Englishmen who had been left with Powhatan 
 were in constant fear of their lives. 
 
 While Captain Smith was still away, a sad ac- 
 cident happened at Jamestown. Mr. Scrivener 
 for some reason desired to visit an island in the 
 river where the colonists kept their hogs, and 
 
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196 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 which to this day retains its name of Hog Island. 
 The name in Smith's History is sometimes given 
 a more poetical sound by calling it the " Isle of 
 Hogs." Mr. Scrivener entered the skiff accom- 
 panied by Captain Waldo, Mr. Anthony Gosnold, 
 and eight more. It was an " extreme frozen 
 time ;" there was a violent wind, and the boat was 
 overloaded. She was upset in the tempest, and 
 the Indians were the first to find the bodies. The 
 loss was a great one to the little colony, and the 
 Powhatan Indians were the more encouraged by 
 it. No one could be found to go and tell the sad 
 news to the president until Mr. Richard Wyfifin 
 undertook this dangerous mission. When he ar- 
 rived at Werowocomoco the English were not 
 there, and he could see preparations for war on 
 every side. 
 
 Mr. Wyffin's life was m danger ; but Pocahon- 
 tas came to his assistance. She hid him while he 
 was at Werowocomoco. When he had gone, the 
 Indians prepared to pursue him ; but Pocohontas 
 sent tnem in the direction opposite to the one in 
 which he had gone. After three days' journey, 
 and by the use of ample bribes among the sav- 
 ages, Mr. Wyffin reached the adventurers. Cap- 
 tain Smith made him swear to keep his sad news 
 % («>«-et for the present, fearing lest his men 
 
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"PRETTY accidents" AND INCIDENTS. 1 97 
 
 should become demoralized for the dangers 
 through which they must yet pass. 
 
 Powhatan seems to have had trouble to per- 
 suade his people into any skirmishing with the 
 whites. In the words of the narrative, the In- 
 dians hated a fight with them " almost as ill as 
 hanging, such fear had they of bad success. ' ' On 
 the morning following the arrival of Mr. Wyffin, 
 the English stopped at an Indian village. At 
 sunrise the fields were covered with Indians and 
 their baskets of commodities. They would not 
 trade unless Captain Smith would come ashore, 
 and they would not on any account endure the 
 sight of a gun. The Captain complied with their 
 request ; but he managed to arrange some of his 
 men in ambush so that he might be assured of a 
 defence without affecting savage nerves with the 
 sight of firearms. All went on well until the In- 
 dians had beset the Captain and his companions 
 with numbers. The Indians drew their arrows 
 even now with trembling hands, and when the 
 ambuscade was suddenly discovered, they fled 
 precipitately, " esteeming" in the words of the 
 history, " their heels for their best advantage." 
 
 During the night Mr. Crashaw and Mr. Ford 
 were sent to Jamestown with the barge. This 
 boat, passing down the river in the darkness add 
 
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198 POCAHONTAS, 
 
 ed to the Indians' fright, for they thought Cap- 
 tain Smith was sending for more men. The chief 
 sent a string of pearls as a conciliatory present, 
 and promised to freight the ship with food. 
 For several days they flocked in from all parts of 
 the country, bearing corn upon their naked 
 backs. 
 
 A young warrior named Wecuttanow, a son of 
 one of the principal chiefs, brought the English 
 some food which was poisoned. This would have 
 cost the life of Captain Smith and several others, 
 had not the dish been overdosed with poison. 
 The young Indian was suspected of a knowledge 
 of this affair. Seeing him stand on the defensive. 
 Captain Smith caused a good whipping to be ad- 
 ministered to him, and then spurned him as 
 though he thought him too mean for further pun- 
 ishment. 
 
 Wh^n the English again reached Werowoco- 
 moco, they found that Powhatan had deserted the 
 place. He did not relish his proximity to the 
 colony. They sailed with all speed for James- 
 town, well supplied with corn and deer suet. 
 Those who had been left at the fort had lived up- 
 on what provision there was, which was spoiled 
 by rain and eaten by rats and worms, so that it 
 could not have been pleasant diet. The colonists 
 
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" PRETTY ACCIDENTS" AND INCIDENTS. I99 
 
 now found that they had good food enough to 
 last until the next corn harvest. 
 
 Captain Smith appointed six hours a day to be 
 spent at work and the remainder of the day in 
 "pastime and merry exercises. " He made his 
 unruly colonists a speech. 
 
 ' ' Countrymen, ' ' said the Captain, ' ' the long 
 experience of our late miseries I hope is suffi- 
 cient to persuade every one to a present correc- 
 tion of himself. And think not that either my 
 pains nor the adventurers' * purses will ever 
 maintain j'^ou in idleness and sloth. I speak not 
 this to you all, for divers of you I know deserve 
 both honor and reward better than is yet here to 
 be had ; but the greater part must be more in- 
 dustrious or starve:, however you have been here- 
 tofore tolerated by the authority of the council 
 from that I have often commanded you. You 
 see now that power resteth wholly in myself. 
 You must obey this now for a law, that he that 
 will not work shall no^^at, except by sickness he 
 is disabled, for the labors of thirty or forty hon- 
 est and industrious men shall not be consumed to 
 maintain an hundred and fifty idle loiterers. 
 And though you presume the authority here is 
 
 * The members of the London Company were called adven- 
 turers. 
 
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200 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 but a shadow, and that I dare not touch the lives 
 of any but my own must answer it, the letters 
 patent shall each week be read to you, whose con- 
 tents will tell you the contrary. I wish you there- 
 fore without contempt to seek to observe these 
 orders set down, for there are now no more coun- 
 cillors to protect you nor curb my endeavors. 
 Therefore, he that offendeth let him assuredly ex- 
 pect his due punishment. ' ' 
 
 The Captain furthermore made a public rec- 
 ord of every man's behavior, hoping thus both 
 by encouragement and shame to better the con- 
 duct of the colonists. Meanwhile there was a 
 constant leakage in arms, ammunition, and tools, 
 by means of the Dutchmen's confederates within 
 Jamestown, who, though the loss was known, 
 were not caught until it was too late. 
 
 The Dutchmen remained with Powhatan, in- 
 structing him in the use of English arms. Their 
 rendezvous was at a glass-house half a mile dis- 
 tant from Jamestown. One of the men came 
 here one day disguised as a savage. Captain 
 Smith, hearing of his arrival, went to the glass- 
 house with twenty men, hoping to capture him. 
 He was already gone, however, and sending his 
 men in pursuit. Smith undertook to return alone 
 to Jamestown, armed only with a sword. On 
 
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"PRETTY ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS. 20I 
 
 his way he met the chief of Paspahegh, who im- 
 mediately prepared to shoot the Captain, who, 
 however, sprang forward and grappled with 
 him. The chief was very strong and stout, and 
 he picked up the Captain and carried him to the 
 river. Into the river he jumped with his enemy 
 and attempted to drown him. They struggled 
 together in the water until Smith managed to get 
 a good grip of the chief's throat. He drew 
 his sword, and would have cut off his head, but 
 the Indian begged piteously for his life, and 
 Smith led him prisoner to Jamestown, where he 
 had him put into chains. 
 
 The Dutchman was also brought in prisoner ; 
 but he told Captain Wynn a story about how 
 Powhatan had detained him by force, that he had 
 escaped at the hazard of his life, and meant to 
 have returned immediately to Jamestown, but was 
 only walking in the woods in search of walnuts. 
 He was inadvertently allowed to go with this ex- 
 cuse, though the imprisoned chief confessed to a 
 very different story. Captain Smith told him 
 that if he could procure the return of the Dutch- 
 men he Ayould save his life. The poor Indian 
 did his best to accomplish this, sending messen- 
 gers daily to Powhatan. The answer came back 
 that Powhatan did not detain the Dutchmen, but 
 
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202 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 that they would remain, and he could not send 
 them fifty miles on men's backs. Every day the 
 wives, children, and people of the prisoner would 
 come to Jamestown to visit him, bringing with 
 them presents to appease the anger of the Eng- 
 lish. His liberty was promised him ; but finding 
 his guard negligent one day, he made sure of it. 
 The runaway chief was pursued, and two In- 
 dians named Kemps and Tussore were captured 
 in the pursuit. These Indians were said to be 
 the " two most exact villains in all the country." 
 With these for guides. Smith sent Captain Wynn 
 to recapture the escaped chief, in which, however, 
 Wynn failed, though he burnt the chief's house. 
 Captain Smith now set out himself, and attacked 
 the Paspahegh Indians, who, recognizing him, 
 threw down their arms and sent their orator, a 
 young man named Okaning, to him 
 
 "Captain Smith," said Okaning, "my master 
 is here present in the company, thinking it Cap- 
 tain Wynn and not you ; of him he intended to be 
 revenged, having never offended him. If he hath 
 offended you in escaping your imprisonment, the 
 fishes swim, the fowls fly, and the very beasts 
 strive to escape the snare and live. Then blame 
 him not, being a man. He would entreat you 
 remember, you being a prisoner, what pains he 
 
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"PRETTY accidents" AND INCIDENTS. 203 
 
 took to save your life. If since he has injured 
 you, he was compelled to do it ; but howsoever 
 you have revenged it with our too great loss. 
 We perceive and well know you intend to destroy 
 us that are here to entreat and desire your friend- 
 ship and to enjoy our houses and plant our fields, 
 of whose fruit you shall participate, otherwise 
 you will have the worse by our absence, for we 
 can plant anywhere, though with more labor, and 
 we know you cannot live if you want our harvest, 
 and that relief we bring you. If you promise us 
 peace, we will believe you ; if you proceed to re- 
 venge, we will abandon the country. ' ' 
 
 Peace was accordingly made. When Captain 
 Smith returned to Jamestown, he found that the 
 ChickahOminy Indians had been discovered in 
 various thefts. Among other things a pistol had 
 been stolen. The thief had escaped ; but two 
 young Indian brothers, who were known to be 
 his confederates, were captured. One of the 
 brothers was imprisoned, and the other was told 
 to go and get the pistol, and if he did not return 
 with it in twelve hours his brother would be 
 hung. The savage sped away on his errand. 
 Meantime Captain Smith took pity on the poor 
 naked Indian, in his cold dungeon, and sent him 
 food and charcoal for a fire. About midnight the 
 
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204 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 brother returned with the stolen pistol. On 
 entering the dungeon it was found that the pris- 
 oner had been smothered with the carbonic acid 
 gas generated by the charcoal fire, and had fall- 
 en senseless among the coals, where he was sadly 
 burnt. The poor brother was heart-broken. 
 He lamented his death with such bitterndss that 
 the bystanders were touched. Captain Smith, 
 though he had little hope that the Indian could 
 be brought to, quieted the brother with the as- 
 surance that if they would steal no more he 
 would make him alive again. The Englishmen 
 went to work with brandy and vinegar, and the 
 Indian presently came to his senses. His broth- 
 er, however, was still more distressed to see 
 him quite out of his mind from the effects of the 
 smothering and fright, to say nothing of the 
 brandy. Captain Smith promised to cure him if 
 they would both behave well hereafter. He had 
 the man put by a fire to sleep. He awoke in the 
 morning in his right mind, his wounds were 
 dressed, and the brothers were sent away well 
 pleased with presents of copper. The story was 
 told among the Indians as a miracle, and they 
 believed that Captain Smith could bring back a 
 man that was dead. 
 
 Another Indian got possession of a great bag 
 
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"PRETTY ACCIDENTS" AND INCIDENTS. 205 
 
 of gunpowder and the back piece of a suit of 
 armor. With a great display of superior knowl- 
 edge he proceeded to dry the powder over the 
 fire in the piece of armor as he had seen English 
 soldiers do. The Indians crowded around him, 
 peeping over his shoulder, to see this wonderful 
 process. The result was that the powder blew 
 up, killing the Indian and several others, and 
 scorching all so badly that they had no desire to 
 meddle with powder again. 
 
 These and ' ' many other such pretty accidents, ' ' 
 as the writers wittily call them, gave the super- 
 stitious minds of Powhatan and his people a good 
 fright. The Indians came in from all parts de- 
 siring peace, bringing presents and returning 
 many stolen things of which the English had had 
 no suspicion. Any of their people caught in 
 theft after this were sent by Powhatan back to 
 Jamestown for punishment, and a savage dared 
 not " wrong an Englishman of a pin." 
 
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CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 FIGHTING STARVATION. 
 
 This peaceful state of affairs enabled the colo- 
 nists to follow their business quietly and success- 
 fully. Tar, pitch, and soap ashes were manufac- 
 tured, a specimen of glass was made, a well of 
 sweet water, a thing much needed heretofore, 
 was dug within the fort, some twenty cottages 
 were built, the church was covered, and fishing 
 nets were prepared. A block house was built 
 on the neck of the peninsula and garrisoned as a 
 place for trade with the savages, and to prevent 
 the constant thieving and disturbances. As 
 spring came, land was tilled and corn planted. 
 The colonists had started with some three hogs 
 and a few chickens. They had now ' ' sixty and 
 odd pigs," and it was stated as a great wonder 
 that " five hundred chickings" had " brought up 
 themselves" without feeding. Upon Hog Island, 
 which served as a natural pig pen, another block 
 house was built as a point from which notice of 
 shipping might be given. The colonists cut 
 down trees and made clapboards and wainscot- 
 
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FIGHTING STARVATION. 20/ 
 
 ing for exercise. They began the building of a 
 fort as a place of retreat in case of extremity. 
 This place was said to be situated near a river, 
 upon a high hill. There stands in Virginia a 
 building called "the Old Stone House," situated 
 twenty-two miles from Jamestown, upon a high, 
 steep bluff overlooking Ware Creek, a tributary of 
 York River, which is in all probability the place 
 of retreat which the colonists built. It is con- 
 structed of sandstone from the creek's bank and 
 without mortar. It is a very small structure, 
 being eight and a half feet wide by fifteen in length, 
 and has a basement and one story. The walls and 
 chimney are standing, there is a doorway six feet 
 in width, and it is everywhere pierced with loop- 
 holes. This little fort is in a solitary, romantic 
 spot reached only along a narrow ridge, djeep in 
 a gloomy woods full of ivy -grown ravines. Tra- 
 dition has connected this building with legends 
 of Captain Smith, Pocahontas, and the hidden 
 treasures of the pirate Blackbeard. 
 
 The fortress was never finished. In examin- 
 ing the store of corn one day, it was found to be 
 almost consumed with the rats whose ancestors 
 had been left by the ships, and who had multi- 
 plied enormously, while what they had spared was 
 rotten. The colonists were driven to their wits' 
 
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208 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 ends. The Indians, who laid by no store, and 
 were always improvident, had now no corn left. 
 The colonists must either make out to live upon 
 the wild fruits of the country or starve. All 
 other work was abandoned in the search after 
 food. The two Indians, Kemps and Tussore, 
 who were considered such villains, had been re- 
 tained as prisoners among the English. They 
 had been used to teach the colonists how to plant 
 Indian corn. Having already too many mouths 
 to feed, the English set these Indians at liberty. 
 They had grown so fond of the colonists, how- 
 ever, that they were quite unwilling to go. The 
 natives showed the utmost friendliness in this ex- 
 tremity, bringing in quantities of game and veni- 
 son. Every exertion was made to supply food. 
 At one time sixty or eighty men were sent down 
 the river with Ensign Saxon to live upon oys- 
 ters ; twenty men to Point Comfort with Lieu- 
 tenant Percy to fish ; and twenty more up the 
 river, but this party could find nothing but 
 acorns to live upon. As usual there were some 
 thirty or forty who provided food for the colony 
 by their own industry, while the others had to 
 be forced to save themselves from starvation. 
 There were then, as now, quantities of sturgeon to 
 be had in the James River. Some of the more 
 
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FIGHTING STARVATION. 209 
 
 industrious colonists dried the meat of this fish 
 and pounded it, mixing it with herbs, so as to 
 make a sort of bread out of it, after the manner of 
 the Indians, while others would gather roots for 
 food. The idlers wished Captain Smith to sell 
 tools, arms, even the very ordnance and houses 
 of Jamestown, to the savages for food. They 
 were very desirous of deserting the country. 
 
 The government was now entirely in Captain 
 Smith's own hands, he being both council and 
 councillors. The last member of the council, Cap- 
 tain Wynn, had died before the times of plenty 
 were over. Although the council had often 
 hampered him in his management of treacherous 
 Indians abroad and unruly Englishmen at home, 
 he had a most affectionate feeling for all its later 
 members. 
 
 Captain Smith at last made the following 
 speech to the colonists : ' ' Fellow soldiers : I did 
 little think any so false to report or so many to 
 be so simple to be persuaded that I either intended 
 to starve you or that Powhatan at this present 
 time hath corn for himself, much less for you, or 
 that I would not have it if I knew where it were 
 to be had. Neither did I think any so malicious as 
 now I see a great many, yet it shall not so pas- 
 sionate me but I will do my best for my most 
 
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2IO POCAHONTAS. 
 
 maligner. But dream no longer of this vain 
 hope from Powhatan, nor that I will longer for- 
 bear to force you from your idleness and punish 
 you if you rail. But if I find any more runners for 
 Newfoundland with the pinnace, let him assuredly 
 look to arrive at the gallows. You cannot deny 
 but that by the hazard of my life many a time I 
 have saved yours, when, might your own wills 
 have prevailed, you would have starved, and will 
 do still, whether I will or no. But I protest by 
 that God that made me, since necessity hath not 
 power to force you to gather for yourselves 
 those fruits the earth doth yield, you shall not 
 only gather for yourselves, but those that are 
 sick. And this savage trash you so scornfully 
 repine at, being put in your mouths your stom- 
 achs can digest ; if you would have better, you 
 should have brought it ; and therefore I will take 
 a course you shall provide what is to be had. 
 The sick shall not starve, but equally share of all 
 our labors, and he that gathered not every day as 
 much as I do, the next day shall be set beyond 
 the river and be banished from the fort as a 
 drone, till he amend his conditions or starve." 
 
 Every effort was made to carry the colonists 
 through this period of want. For this purpose 
 some of their number were boarded, so to speak. 
 
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FIGHTING STARVATION. 211 
 
 among the Indians, where they were treated 
 with the utmost kindness. So comfortable were 
 they, that several of the colony ran away. They 
 sought put the old prisoners, Kemps and Tus- 
 sore, thinking they would be sure of friendly 
 treatment and an idle life with them. These In- 
 dians, however, had no desire to entertain tru- 
 ants. Kemps proceeded to make sport of them 
 for the benefit of the Indians. He dealt with 
 them as the white men had dealt with him when 
 a prisoner. He made fun for the Indians by 
 feeding " the runaway Englishmen with this law ; 
 who would not work must not eat." The indo- 
 lent truants were nearly starved, and constantly 
 threatened with beatings. Nor would this jocu- 
 lar Indian allow them to escape. He at last re- 
 turned them as prisoners to the authorities at 
 Jamestown. 
 
 Mr. Sicklemore returned about this time from 
 Chawonoke, with accounts of where the silk 
 grass might be found, having discovered nothing 
 of Sir Walter Raleigh's lost colony. Nathaniel 
 Powell and Anas Todkill were also sent in search 
 of the lost colony among the Mangoag Indians, 
 where they could learn nothing but that they 
 were all dead.* The chief of these Indians is 
 
 * See Appendix, II. 
 
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212 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 honored in the old narrative with numerous ad- 
 jectives, being an ' ' honest, proper, good, prom- 
 ise-keeping king. ' ' Though he adhered to the 
 faith of his people, he admitted that the God of 
 the English " as much exceeded his as our guns 
 did his bow and arrows. ' ' He would sometimes 
 send presents to Captain Smith, requesting him 
 " to pray to his God for rain, or his com .would 
 perish, for his gods were angry. ' ' 
 
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CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 ARRIVAL OF NEW COLONISTS AND SMITH'S DE- 
 PARTURE. 
 
 One day a vessel arrived in command of Cap- 
 tain Samuel Argall, a relative of Sir Thomas 
 Smith, the treasurer of the London Company. 
 Captain Argall had come with a load of wine and 
 provisions to trade with the colonists, contrary to 
 the company's regulations. The necessities of 
 the colonists were so pressing that they seized 
 upon Argall's provisions, which they returned to 
 him when they received their supply from Eng- 
 land. Captain Argall brought with him news of 
 a change in the London Company, of prepara- 
 tions for a large supply of colonists, and of the 
 appointment of Lord Delaware (La Warre, or De 
 La Warre) to the office of Governor-General to 
 the colony. 
 
 A new patent had been granted by King 
 Jaioes to the company, which now included 
 many noblemen whose influence and wealth had 
 enriched it to such an extent that the third sup- 
 ply sent to Virginia was undertaken on a large 
 
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214 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 scale. Like all commercial bodies, the company 
 was selfish. It lacked far-sightedness, and looked 
 only for immediate enrichment at the hands of an 
 infant colony, caring little whether the colony- 
 succeeded in maintaining a foothold or not, if only 
 the projectors might receive some commercial 
 benefit from these men who were sent into the 
 wilderness totally unqualified for the struggle of 
 frontier life. Hopes were still held out from 
 time to time of the discovery of mines of pre- 
 cious metal or the attainment of sudden riches 
 after the manner of the Spanish. To be sure 
 gold had not been found lying in profusion on 
 the very surface of the earth, and people now 
 saw that it was unreasonable to expect that it 
 should be. Still it was argued that gold cer- 
 tainly must be there. Every thing was done in 
 England to encourage the public faith in Vir- 
 ginia's resources. Among other things, Hak- 
 luyt published a translation from the Portuguese, 
 entitled ' ' Virginia richly valued by the descrip- 
 tion of Florida, her next neighbor." In this 
 book the Spaniard's testimony as to the existence 
 of mines of gold and other metals in Florida was 
 taken to prove that Virginia must also contain 
 precious metal. 
 
 While the aim of the company at home was 
 
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ARRIVAL OF NEW COLONISTS, ETC. 21 5 
 
 commercial wealth, Captain Smith's mind was 
 set upon such commonplace objects as corn and 
 deer suet for hungry mouths, looking only to the 
 firm planting of a new England in Virginia. 
 
 Captain Smith's letter, plain-spoken almost to 
 rudeness, was not calculated to conciliate the 
 London Company. He received letters by Cap- 
 tain Argall rebuking him for his treatment of the 
 savages ; and it seemed to be the company's de- 
 sire to take the government from his hands as 
 quickly as possible. 
 
 Nine vessels were fitted out for a voyage to 
 Virginia — the Sea Adventure, the Diamond, the 
 Falcon, the Blessing, the Unity, the Lion, the 
 Swallow, and two smaller boats. Five hundred 
 colonists sailed in these vessels, some of whom 
 were veteran soldiers, though many were disso- 
 lute gentlemen, ' ' packed thither by their friends 
 to escape ill destinies. ' ' Eight horses were also 
 sent over in this fleet. Sir Thomas Gates was 
 appointed Lieutenant- General ; Sir George Som 
 ers. Admiral of Virginia ; and Captain Newport, 
 Vice-Admiral. Gates and Somers were to gov 
 ern the colony in the place of Lord Delaware 
 and each of these three gentlemen was fur- 
 nished with a commission to take the government 
 out of Captain Smith's hands immediately on 
 
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2l6 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 his arrival. But it chanced that they all sailed 
 in the same vessel, the Sea Adventure. Among 
 the captains of this fleet were the old colonist 
 Martin, and the evil spirits Ratcliffe and Archer. 
 The ships sailed from Plymouth on the first day 
 of June, 1609. They had a pleasant voyage 
 until the twenty-third of July, when they were 
 caught in a hurricane. The vessels were dis- 
 persed, and one of the smaller boats lost. In the 
 early part of August the Blessing sailed up the 
 James River. She was soon followed by the 
 Falcon, the Unity, and the Lion. Shortly after 
 the Diamond appeared with her mainmast gone, 
 followed in two or three days by the Swallow, in 
 a similar state. But no Sea Adventurer ap- 
 peared. No one had the authority to take the 
 government out of Captain Smith's hands ; and 
 yet it was not likely that the new colonists, un- 
 der a fresh charter, which did not look to the 
 rights of the older settlers, and led by Ratcliffe, 
 Martin, and Archer, who certainly had no more 
 friendly feeling for Captain Smith than he had 
 for them, would be likely to submit to his rule. 
 All was confusion ; the colony was divided into 
 factions : ' ' to-day the old commission must rule, 
 to-morrow the new, the next day neither," It is 
 stated that Captain Smith would willingly have 
 
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ARRIVAL OF NEW COLONISTS, ETC. 217 
 
 returned to England ; but there seemed now no 
 hope that the new rulers would arrive, and the 
 colony was in a deplorable condition with no 
 lawful rulers, the old commission withdrawn, 
 none to take its place, and the majority of the 
 colonists newly-arrived, headstrong, ambitious, 
 and entirely inexperienced, more determined 
 upon finding gold than anything else. 
 
 Captain Smith resumed the government. He 
 planned a new settlement to be made under Mr. 
 West at the falls in the James River, and another 
 under Captain Martin at Nansemond. His year 
 had about expired, however. He made Captain 
 Martin president in his place ; but this gentle- 
 man, knowing his own inefficiency, resigned 
 within three hours in favor of Captain Smith, 
 and proceeded to Nansemond. Here he had ill 
 success, getting into a skirmish with the Indians, 
 in which some of his men were killed and his 
 provision stolen. 
 
 Mr. West's company was planted m an un- 
 healthy and inconvenient spot. Captain Smith 
 purchased from Powhsttan the site of his hamlet 
 of Powhatan for the use of Mr. West's company. 
 These men, however, being mostly of the new 
 supply, refused to occupy this new situation. 
 The strong-willed Captain went up the river 
 
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2l8 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 with five men and endeavored to force them to 
 obey. They resisted, and Captain Smith was 
 forced to protect himself by a retreat to his boat. 
 He spent nine days attempting to bring the un- 
 ruly company into submission and trying to dis- 
 abuse them of their ideas of gold mines and a 
 South Sea beyond the falls. He at last set sail 
 for Jamestown. Immediately the Indians, who did 
 not relish their proximity and the harsh treatment 
 they had received at their hands, made an attack 
 upon the settlement. Meantime Captain Smith's 
 boat had run aground, and the settlers, fright- 
 ened by the hostile Indians, came to him and gave 
 in their submission. 
 
 Captain Smith imprisoned some of the ring- 
 leaders of the mutiny, and settled the others at 
 Powhatan, which was fortified in Indian manner 
 with boughs of trees, possessed many dry cabins, 
 was in a commanding situation, and surrounded 
 by pleasant cornfields. The delighted colonists, 
 considering it the pleasantest place in Virginia, 
 gave this village the name of Non-Such. But 
 when West, who had been to Jamestown, re- 
 turned, he, "having bestowed cost to begin a 
 town in another place, misliked it, ' ' and the set- 
 tlement was removed to its former situation. 
 
 Returning down the river to Jamestown, an 
 
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ARRIVAL OF NEW COLONISTS, ETC. 219 
 
 accident happened to Smith. While lying asleep 
 in the boat his powder bag exploded and wound- 
 ed him severely. The Captain instantly leapt 
 into the water to quench the fire, and was only 
 rescued with difficulty from drowning. 
 
 It is stated in Smith's History that Captain 
 Smith's return to England soon after was to ob- 
 tain surgical aid, while Captain Ratcliffe wrote 
 in a letter at the time that Smith was sent home 
 to answer some misdemeanors. This may also 
 have been the case, since the colony was in- 
 volved in constant squabbles upon which it is im- 
 possible to pass judgment. Captains Ratcliffe 
 and Archer were imprisoned by Smith for insub- 
 ordination ; their trial was about to take place at 
 the time of Smith's accident, and they in their 
 turn would probably send him to England if they 
 could get the power. However that may be, 
 Captain Smith left Virginia in the Fall of 1809, 
 never to return. He had been in the colony a 
 little over two years. At the time of his depart- 
 ure he says that there were about four hundred 
 and ninety persons in the colony, the corn newly 
 harvested, a good supply of arms, ammunition, 
 and tools, with many domestic animals. Whatever 
 were his faults, he had saved the colony from the 
 Indians and from starvation, and had carried it 
 
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220 POCAHONTAS, 
 
 through some of its worst perils. More than 
 any other man he deserves the title of founder 
 of Virginia. Of all its evil accidents, the colony 
 suffered none that so much threatened its exist* 
 ence as Smith's departure. 
 
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CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 THE FATE OF THE SEA ADVENTURE. 
 
 The admiral's ship was beaten upon by a fear- 
 ful storm, which is most graphically described 
 by William Strachey, who was on board the 
 doomed vessel. The people began to " look one 
 upon the other with troubled hearts and panting 
 bosoms ;" but their cries were " drowned in the 
 winds and the winds in thunder. ' ' Nothing was 
 " heard that could give comfort, nothing seen 
 that might encourage hope. Such was the 
 tumult of the elements that the sea swelled above 
 the clouds and gave battle unto heaven. It 
 could not be said to rain : the waters like whole 
 rivers did flood in the air," while " winds and 
 seas were as mad as fury could make them." 
 The ship "spued out her oakum" and sprung 
 leaks in almost every joint. This news, ' ' impart- 
 ing no less terror than danger, ran through the 
 whole ship with much fright and amazement," 
 It was " as a wound given to men that were be- 
 fce dead. " There was now a dire fight for life. 
 
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222 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 Sailors and passengers stood up to their waists 
 in water, bailing with buckets, kettles, anything. 
 "The common sort stripped naked, as men in 
 galleys, the easier both to hold out and to shrink 
 from under the salt water which continuMly leapt 
 in among them, kept their eyes waking, and their 
 thoughts and hands working with tired bodies 
 and wasted spirits, three days and four nights 
 destitute of outward comfort, and desperate of 
 any deliverance, testifying how mutually willing 
 they were, yet by labor to keep each other from 
 drowning, albeit each one drowned while he 
 labored." Hope was almost gone with the ex- 
 hausted passengers. Some even drank a fare- 
 well to one another, until a speedy meeting in 
 the other world. The aged admiral, Sir Georg'; 
 Somers, sat upon the poop directing the vessel's 
 course almost without food or sleep. On the 
 last night of their dreary vigil, he called his men 
 to see the electrical phenomenon known as St. 
 Elmo's light, " an apparition of a little round 
 light, like a faint star, trembling and streaming 
 along with a sparkling blaze, half the height upon 
 the mainmast, and shooting from shroud to 
 shroud, tempting to settle as it were upon any of 
 the four shrouds. . . . Half the night it kept 
 with us, . . . but tipon a sudden, towards 
 
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THE FATE OF THE SEA ADVENTURE. 223 
 
 the morning watch, they lost it, and knew not 
 which way it made." 
 
 Sir George Somers from his post called out 
 that land was in sight. " This unlooked-for wel- 
 come news," says Smith's History, " as if it had 
 been a voice from heaven, hurrieth all above 
 hatches to look for that they durst scarce believe, 
 so that improvidently forsaking their task (the 
 bailing of water), which imported no less than 
 their lives, they gave so dangerous advantage to 
 their greedy enemy, the salt water which still 
 entered at the large breaches of their poor 
 wooden castle, as that in gaping after life they 
 had well nigh swallowed their death." It was 
 not necessary now, however, to urge every man 
 "to do his best. ' ' The coast before them was 
 one usually avoided by sailors, but these storm- 
 tossed adventurers spread all sail to reach it. 
 The Sea Adventurer struck first upon a rock, 
 from which the surge of the sea cast her away 
 again, and then upon another. The much-bat- 
 tered vessel at last found safe harbor wedged in 
 an upright position between two rocks on the 
 coast of the Bermuda Islands, as though in a dry 
 dock at home. The adventures of this vessel 
 probably suggested the subject of one of the 
 
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224 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 greatest plays in the English language, the 
 "Tempest" of Shakespeare. 
 
 The one hundred and fifty colonists upon the 
 Sea Adventure were thus safely landed upon the 
 Bermudas. These islands had long had a repu- 
 tation among sailors for being enchanted, a ' ' den 
 of furies and devils, the most dangerous, unfor- 
 tunate and forlorn place in the world. ' ' The de- 
 lighted adventurers, roaming over their island, 
 found it to be "the richest, healthfuUest, and 
 pleasantest they ever saw." All went busily to 
 work, some taking what could be gotten from 
 the wrecked vessel, some in search of food and 
 water, and others building cabins of palmetto, 
 while old Sir George did not search long before 
 he found " such a fishing" that in the course of 
 half an hour he caught enough fish with a hook 
 and line to feed the whole company. The island 
 was found to abound in wild hogs. In fact the 
 colonists lived in such plenty and so easily upon 
 the game and fruit of the island, that many of 
 them desired never to leave it. 
 
 For about nine months the adventurers dwelt 
 upon the Bermudas, which were then named the 
 Somers Isles, in honor of the admiral : the name 
 was afterwards corrupted to " Summer Islands." 
 In spite of the plenteous fruitfulness of the land. 
 
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THE FATE OF THE SEA ADVENTURE. 22$ 
 
 this little colony was not without its jealousies 
 and dissensions. On the whole, however, the 
 winter passed pleasantly in the occupation of 
 building two pinnaces out of cedar and the re- 
 mains of the old Sea Adventure. Two children 
 were born upon the island. The boy was chris- 
 tened Bermudas, and the girl, daughter to a 
 Mr. John Rolfe, was named Bermuda. They 
 had also "a merry English marriage." Sir 
 George Somers' cook wedded the maid of Mrs. 
 Mary Horton, named Elizabeth Persons. 
 
 A long boat was sent to Virginia in the spring, 
 but never was heard of. The adventurers were 
 at last ready to embark for Jamestown. The 
 two vessels, the Deliverance and the Patience, 
 were furnished with what provision had been 
 saved from the wreck, and the colonists em- 
 barked in May, 1610, for Virginia. A forlorn wel- 
 come awaited them. 
 
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CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 STARTING HOME AND TURNING BACK. 
 
 The winter of 1609-10 at Jamestown was 
 known as "the starving time." George Percy, 
 who was in poor health, had been elected presi- 
 dent ; but the unruly colonists had no leader, no 
 indomitable will to force them to something like 
 thrift and forethought. Pigs were eaten, the 
 horses were devoured, not a chicken was left in 
 the colony. Weapons and tools went for food. 
 Trips into the Indian country in search of pro- 
 vision were managed poorly, and resulted disas- 
 trously. One supply party of thirty men was 
 cut off by Powhatan ; one man only escaped, 
 and a boy named Henry Spellman was saved by 
 the never failing kindness of Pocahontas. He 
 lived for some years afterwards among the Poto- 
 mac Indians. A company of men deserted in the 
 colony's largest vessel ; some of them became 
 pirates, others returned to England with an exag- 
 gerated tale of horrors as an excuse for their own 
 conduct. A miserable winter of hunger and 
 
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STARTING HOME AND TURNING BACK. 227 
 
 crime was followed by a hopeless spring. 
 Things became desperate. In ten days more the 
 last of the colonists would have been dead. 
 
 But, says Smith's History, God " was not 
 willing that this country should be unplanted. " 
 The hopeful little colony from the Summer 
 Islands landed to find left but sixty wretched 
 men out of the four hundred and ninety. Sir 
 Thomas Gates entered the dilapidated and de- 
 serted church. The bell was solemnly rung, 
 summoning the survivors. Service was held and 
 a " zealous and sorrowful prayer" was made on 
 the part of Chaplain Buck, who had come with 
 the Bermuda colonists. Mr. Percy then deliv- 
 ered up the colony's first patent, and the papers 
 of the colony, and Sir Thomas Gates entered 
 upon his new office. He looked about him. 
 Jamestown was indeed in a ruined condition. 
 The gates were off their hinges, many of the pal- 
 isades were gone, and dead men's cottages had 
 been torn down for firewood by weak and indo- 
 lent survivors. 
 
 Gates could see no hope for the colony which 
 had been planted at so much expense of money 
 and life. His stock of provisions would last but 
 a few weeks, and the Indians were determined in 
 their hostility. Powhatan was at last sure of be- 
 
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228 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 ing rid of his troublesome neighbors. His policy 
 was to starve the English out at least until the 
 taking of Jamestown should be an easy matter. 
 
 There was but one thing to be done. The pro- 
 visions would barely last to get the colony to 
 Newfoundland, where there were chances of 
 meeting with English fishing vessels. 
 
 Two weeks after the arrival of the Bermuda 
 colonists, four pinnaces, the Discovery and the 
 Virginia, the Deliverance and the Patience, lay 
 in the James River ready to sail for Newfound- 
 land. Each man was assigned to his vessel, and 
 the colonists were leaving Jamestown. They 
 hated the poor dismantled village which most of 
 them had hallowed neither by bravery nor self- 
 denial. Some of the more reckless were deter- 
 mined to set fire to the houses, and celebrate the 
 occasion with a conflagration. To prevent this 
 Sir Thomas Gates was the last one to leave 
 Jamestown. As they sailed away, " none dropped 
 a tear, for none had enjoyed one day of happi- 
 ness. " That day they dropped down the stream 
 to Hog Island. As they neared the mouth of 
 James River on the following morning, they met 
 the long boat of Lord Delaware's approaching 
 fleet, sent out to intercept them. Lord Delaware 
 had started from London on the first of April 
 
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STARTING HOME AND TURNING BACK. 229 
 
 With one hundred and fifty colonists, most of 
 whom were working men. One of the vessels, 
 the Hercules, they had lost sight of in a storm ; 
 the other two ships sighted the headlands of 
 Chesapeake Bay on the fifth of June. They an- 
 chored for the night off Cape Henry, and the 
 men went ashore to refresh themselves, fish, and 
 set up a cross, that the Hercules might know of 
 their arrival if she ever reached Chesapeake Bay. 
 While they fished, some Indians came down to 
 them, held intercourse on friendly terms, and 
 were given a share of the fish by Lord Delaware. 
 On returning to the ships, the navigators de- 
 scried a sail. Lord Delaware gave chase to the 
 strange vessel. To their great joy they found 
 her to be the Hercules. The fleet anchored off 
 Point Comfort, where the captain of the fort at 
 this point, Colonel Davis, told them a tale, 
 "mixed both with joy and sorrow," — ^joy be- 
 cause of the news that the passengers of the Sea 
 Adventure had not been lost, as had long been 
 believed ; sorrow because of the misfortunes of 
 the colony. Learning that the pinnaces were 
 even now in the river waiting the turn of the tide 
 to sail for Newfoundland, while they had yet 
 provision left Lord Delaware sent out his long 
 boat to turn them back. 
 
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230 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 The colonists again landed at their deserted 
 town, and on Sunday morning, the tenth of June, 
 Lord Delaware disembarked. A sermon was 
 preached in the church by Mr. Buck, and Sir 
 Thomas Dale delivered up his papers. Lord 
 Delaware then rose and delivered a short speech, 
 " laying some blames on them," as he afterwards 
 said in a letter to England, " for many vanities 
 and their idleness, earnestly wishing that I might 
 no more find it so, lest I should be compelled to 
 draw the sword of justice to cut off such delin- 
 quents, which I had much rather draw in their 
 defence to protect from enemies," and conclud- 
 ing by " heartening them with the knowledge 
 of what store of provisions I had brought for 
 them." 
 
 The settlement in Virginia had indeed come 
 near to extinction. Had Lord Delaware been a 
 day or two later, the colonists would have been 
 gone past recall. On the other hand, had they 
 delayed their return for a little longer, the In- 
 dians would have sacked and destroyed the fort 
 of Jamestown, which was the only thing that 
 could keep them in abeyance, and indeed the col- 
 onists had nearly destroyed this themselves. 
 
 Lord Delaware set all things to work to re- 
 trieve the fortunes of England's little colony.. 
 
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STARTING HOME AND TURNING BACK. 23 1 
 
 He must soon have discovered the nature of the 
 men that he had to govern, for he wrote back 
 home that "an hundred or two of debauched" 
 men " dropt forth year after year, ... ill pro- 
 vided for before they came, and worse governed 
 after they are here, ' ' men ' ' whom no examples 
 daily before their eyes, either of goodness or 
 punishment, can deter from their habitual impie- 
 ties or terrify from a shameful death, ' ' were not 
 the men to be the ' ' workers in this so glorious a 
 building." 
 
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CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 A BLOCK OF AMBERGRIS. 
 
 Though Lord Delaware had a year's provi- 
 ions, he did not let the colony depend on these. 
 Captain Argall was sent to fish for cod and hali- 
 but, and in the month of August he dropped an- 
 chor in " a very great bay," which he called the 
 Delaware. Sir George Somers was sent back to 
 the Bermudas to secure some wild hogs with 
 which to restock the colony. " The good old 
 gentleman, out of his love and zeal, ' ' went ' ' most 
 cheerfully and resolutely." He encountered 
 contrary winds, and was forced to the more 
 northern coast of Virginia ; but he persevered, 
 and reached the Bermudas at last in safety. 
 Here Sir George Somers labored hard to accom- 
 plish his purpose ; but he was destined never to 
 leave the islands which bear his name. Finding 
 himself about to die, he exhorted his men to be 
 constant to the Virginia Plantation. Lacking the 
 courage of their leader, his men, however, em- 
 balmed his body and set sail with it for England 
 
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A BLOCK OF AMBERGRIS. 233 
 
 in their bark of thirty tons burden. Three of 
 their number, Carter, Waters, and Chard, had 
 volunteered to remain on the island, their com- 
 rades promising to return for them. Here they 
 lived, lords of an island abounding in food. 
 When the ship was fairly out of sight, they 
 worked diligently, planting com and seeds and 
 building themselves a house. They thus lived 
 happily together until good luck befell them. In 
 searching in the crevices of the rocks one day 
 they came upon a very large block of ambergris — 
 a substance secreted in the intestines of whales, of 
 bright gray color, and very valuable as a per- 
 fume. 
 
 Having now become rich, these three men im- 
 mediately became unhappy. They grew proud, 
 ambitious, and contemptuous. Though, in the 
 words of the old narrative, they were " but three 
 forlorn men, more than three thousand miles 
 from their own country, and but small hope ever 
 to see it again," they now "fell out for superi- 
 ority." They had words over the merest trifles, 
 and they sometimes went from words to blows. 
 One day, when they were fighting, the dog of 
 one of the men bit his master in disgust, " as if," 
 says the story, ' ' the dumb beast would reprove 
 them of their folly." Matters went from bad to 
 
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234 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 worse, until Chard and Waters, the two prouder 
 spirits of the three, resolved on a duel. Carter 
 became frightened ; he preferred even quarrel- 
 some neighbors to solitude, so he hid the duellists* 
 weapons. For two long years these unhappy 
 men lived on their island, until their clothes were 
 almost entirely worn from their backs. All this 
 time they kept up a triple war. At last, how- 
 ever, ' ' they began to recover their wits. ' ' They 
 "concluded a tripartite peace," and made up 
 their minds to build a boat and " make a desper- 
 ate attempt for Virginia. ' ' They had no sooner 
 made this resolution than they descried a sail on 
 the horizon. The vessel stood in for shore, and 
 the three exiles were overjoyed, though " they 
 neither knew what she was or what she would." 
 They ran with " all possible speed " to meet her. 
 " According to their heart's desire, she proved 
 an Englishman." 
 
 Those who had returned with Sir George 
 Somers' body attempted to awaken an interest in 
 the Summer Islands, but their stories were con- 
 sidered "travellers' tales." It at last came into 
 the mind of some of the Virginia Company that 
 this might be a good land for a new plantation. 
 A company was formed for the planting of the 
 Bermudas, a patent was granted it, and this 
 
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A BLOCK OF AMBERGRIS. 235 
 
 vessel which the three lonely men had descried 
 was the first ship sent out to make a trial. The 
 captain found that the three men had been in- 
 dustrious. There was an acre of corn ready to 
 be harvested, with quantities of pumpkins and 
 beans, and a plentiful store of salt pork and cured 
 bacon. 
 
 The three islanders never became rich from 
 their block of ambergris. The governor of the 
 new colony got an inkling of it. The result was 
 that the colony was thrown almost into a civil 
 war over this treasure. The governor using it 
 as a loadstone to draw fresh supplies to his col- 
 ony, sent back to the Company only a third at a 
 time of the treasure. Many pieces of it were 
 stolen, and the original finders got no benefit 
 whatever, while it served to produce dissension 
 both in the colony and in England. It often hap- 
 pens that riches prove only something to quarrel 
 about. 
 
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CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 PIVIDING THE LAND. 
 
 Under Lord Delaware's governorship some 
 progress was made in the colony. Hours for 
 labor were from six to ten o'clock in the morn- 
 ing, and from two to four in the afternoon. Two 
 forts were built, and named Henry and Charles 
 for the king's sons. The church was rebuilt, 
 twenty -four feet in breadth and sixty in length, 
 with a chancel of cedar, cedar pews, a black-wal- 
 nut communion table, and handsome wide win- 
 dows, with shutters to close them in bad 
 weather. The church was kept trimmed with 
 sweet wild flowers Prayers were held here 
 twice a day ; two sermons were preached on Sun- 
 day and one on Monday. When Lord Delaware 
 attended church on Sunday, he was accompanied 
 by the officers of the church with high-sounding 
 names, and followed by fifty attendants armed 
 with halberds * and wearing his lordship's hand- 
 
 * A halberd is a long pole surmounted by a battle-axe and end- 
 ing in a spear-head. 
 
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DIVIDING THE LAND. 237 
 
 some scarlet livery. In church Lord Delaware's 
 seat was a chair covered with green velvet, and a 
 red velvet kneeling cushion was before him. Such 
 courtly pomp belonged to the age ; but it was 
 ridiculous enough in poor little Jamestown. 
 
 During Lord Delaware's administration, Cap- 
 tain Argall was sent to the Potomac to get corn 
 from the natives, and Captain Percy was dis- 
 patched against the Pashiphey Indians to punish 
 them for some misdemeanors. The English very 
 cruelly burnt their cabins, and slew some women 
 and children. Sir Thomas Gates was sent back 
 to England to procure a new supply for the col- 
 ony. 
 
 During Lord Delaware's stay in America he 
 was attacked by four or five different diseases. 
 At last to save his life he was obliged to return 
 home. His return threw "a damp of coldness" 
 in England upon the enterprise, so that the adven- 
 turers wished to withdraw their payments. Lord 
 Delaware was much distressed by this result. 
 He made a public explanation of the cause of his 
 desertion- of the colony, how he had been wel- 
 comed to Jamestown with ague, and how this 
 was followed successively by dysentery, cramps, 
 gout, and scurvy. Such were the malarial in- 
 fluences with which the colopists had to contend. 
 
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238 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 Fortunately, Sir Thomas Di,le had already 
 been dispatched with three vecs^ls loaded with 
 men and cattle. He arrived in Virginia in May, 
 161 1, and took the government out of George 
 Percy's hands. In August, Sir Thomas Gates 
 also arrived in Virginia with a fleet of six vessels, 
 three hundred men, a hundred cattle, two hun- 
 dred hogs, and a good supply of provisions. He 
 brought from England his wife and daughters, 
 but Lady Gates died on the voyage. 
 
 When Dale had arrived in the spring the colony 
 had already relapsed into old habits. The colo- 
 nists were found busily occupied playing bowls 
 in the streets of Jamestown. A more permanent 
 reform was begun under the successive adminis- 
 trations of Dale and Gates. During this summer 
 the wisest measure yet tried was adopted — a 
 measure so simple that it seems strange that it 
 was so long missed. Every man was given a little 
 tract of land from which to raise his own support, 
 and the colonists were no longer dependent on a 
 public store and no longer worked for the inter- 
 ests of others. The limits of the colony were fast 
 extended. A new town was built above the falls 
 in the James River, arid named Henrico in honor 
 of the heir-apparent to the throne of England, 
 who was a great favorite. Here the Rev. Alex- 
 
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DIVIDING THE LAND. 239 
 
 ander Whitaker, "the apostle of Virginia," es- 
 tablished himself, " bearing the name of God " 
 to the natives. Morning and evening the colo- 
 nists prayed : " Lord, bless England, our sweet 
 native country." 
 
 The colony was now governed with a terribly 
 severe code of laws taken from the martial laws 
 of the old countries. Every thing was done ac- 
 cording to rule. It seems incredible what trivial 
 offences were punished with death. For the 
 second time that a man committed the offence of 
 profanity a bodkin was thrust through his tongue, 
 and for the third time the penalty was death. 
 The first time a man stayed away from church 
 he forfeited a week's allowance, the second time 
 he was whipped, and the third offence was pun- 
 ished v/ith death. Desertion of the colony, theft, 
 wilfully pulling up a flower, gathering of grapes, 
 or plucking ears of corn belonging to others, the 
 killing of domestic animals, were all punished with 
 the same rigor. He who treated a minister with 
 disrespect was publicly whipped three times and 
 forced to ask forgiveness of the cougregation 
 three Sundays in succession. For one offence a 
 man lost his ears and was branded on his hand, 
 for another he was compelled to lay ' ' head and 
 heels together" all night. If a man refused to 
 
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240 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 give a clergyman a statement of his faith or de- 
 clined to take his advice on religious matters, he 
 was whipped daily until he repented. Jamestown 
 must now have seen a strict and circumspect body 
 of colonists within her streets. 
 
 Grants of land were extended. After a time 
 the London Council began giving individuals 
 patents to large tracts. In time plantations came 
 to be scattered along the shores of the James 
 River and its tributaries. The increased use of 
 tobacco made this plant a valuable article of ex- 
 port. The little colony was really beginning to 
 reach forth into something like prosperity. 
 
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CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 POCAHONTAS A PRISONER. 
 
 All this time Powhatan was hostile to the col- 
 onists. In one way and another he had pos- 
 sessed himself of many English arms, and had 
 detained a number of Englishmen as prisoners. 
 Pocahontas happened to be among the Potomacs 
 on the river of that name. One account says 
 that she had gone thither, feasting among her 
 friends, but Hamor says that she had been sent 
 to the Potomacs to trade with them. Perhaps 
 also Powhatan distrusted her friendship for the 
 whites. Whatever may have been the cause, 
 Pocahontas was certainly making a stay on the 
 Potomac River. Captain Argall had gone to 
 trade with the Indians on the Potomac. Some 
 friendly Indians informed him that Pocahontas 
 was in the region. A plan for bringing Pow- 
 hatan to terms immediately suggested itself to 
 the unscrupulous captain. He sent for one of 
 the Indian chiefs, and told him that if he did not 
 give Pocahontas into his hands they would no 
 
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242 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 longer be ' ' brothers nor friends. ' ' The Potomac 
 Indians were at first unwilling to do this, fearing 
 that it might involve them in a war with Pow- 
 hatan, Captain Argall assured them that he 
 would take their part in such a war, and they 
 consented to his plan. 
 
 The following story is told of the manner in 
 which Pocahontas was betrayed. Tjie Indian 
 girl manifested no desire to go aboard Captain 
 Argall's vessels, having many a time been on 
 English vessels in her friendly intercourse with 
 the whites. Captain Argall offered an old Indian 
 named Japazaws their resistible bribe of a copper 
 kettle if he would betray Pocahontas into his 
 power. Japazaws undertook to do this with the 
 assistance of his wife, whose " sex," remarks the 
 old writer, " have ever been most powerful in 
 beguiling enticements. ' ' The old woman became 
 immediately possessed with an intense desire to 
 visit the English ship, which she said had been 
 there three or four times and she had never been 
 aboard it. She begged her husband to allow her 
 to go aboard, but Japazaws sternly refused, saying 
 she could not go unless she had some woman to 
 accompany her. He at last threatened to beat 
 her for her persistence. The tender heart of 
 Pocahontas was moved with pity ; she offered to 
 
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POCAHONTAS A PRISONER, 243 
 
 accompany the woman on board the English 
 vessel. Japazaws and his wife with the chief's 
 daughter were taken on to the ship, where they 
 were well entertained and invited to supper. 
 The old man and his wife were so well pleased with 
 the success of their stratagem that during the 
 whole meal they kept treading on Captain Argall's 
 toes. After supper the captain sent Pocahontas 
 to the gun-room while he pretended to have a 
 private conversation with Japazaws. He pres- 
 ently recalled her, and told her that she must re- 
 main with him, and that she should not again see 
 Powhatan until she had served to bring about a 
 peace between her father and the English. Im- 
 mediately Japazaws and his wife set up " a howl 
 and cry," and Pocahontas began to be "exceed- 
 ing pensive and discontented." The old people 
 were rowed to shore, happy in the possession of 
 their copper kettle and some trinkets. 
 
 Captain Argall sent an Indian messenger to 
 Powhatan, informing him that ' ' his delight and 
 darling, his daughter Pocahontas, ' ' was a prisoner, 
 and informing him that "if he would send home 
 the Englishmen whom he had detained in slavery, 
 with such arms and tools as the Indians had gotten 
 and stolen, and also a great quantity of corn, that 
 then he should have his daughter restored, other- 
 
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244 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 wise not. ' ' Powhatan was ' ' very much grieved, ' ' 
 having a strong affection both for his daughter 
 and for the English weapons which he possessed. 
 It was a hard alternative. He sent, however, a 
 message desiring the English to use Pocahontas 
 well, and promising to perform the conditions for 
 her rescue. 
 
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CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 THE MARRIAGE OF POCAHONTAS. 
 
 It was a long time before any thing more was 
 heard from Powhatan. After three months he 
 sent to the governor by way of ransom seven 
 Englishmen, overjoyed to be free from slavery 
 and the constant fear of a cruel death, three mus- 
 kets, a broadaxe, a whip-saw, and a canoe full of 
 corn. These were accompanied with a message 
 to the effect that he would further satisfy injuries, 
 give the English a large quantity of com, and 
 be forever their friend when his daughter was 
 delivered up. The English received these things 
 " in part payment," and returned such an answer 
 as this to Powhatan : 
 
 " Your daughter shall be well used, but we 
 cannot believe the rest of our arms are either lost 
 or stolen from you, and therefore till you send 
 them we will keep your daughter. 
 
 The wily old chief was much grieved at this 
 message, and it was again a long time before any 
 thing was heard from him. A.t last Sir Thomas 
 
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246 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 Dale, taking with him Pocahontas and a hundred 
 and fifty men, embarked in the colony's vessels 
 for a visit to Powhatan. The party sailed up the 
 York River. Powhatan was not to be seen. The 
 English told the Indians that they had come to 
 deliver up the daughter of Powhatan and to re- 
 ceive the promised return of men and arms. 
 These overtures were received with scornful 
 threats and bravadoes, and open hostility. Skir- 
 mishing ensued, in which some of the Indian 
 houses were burned and property spoiled. 
 
 The Indians asked why this had been done. 
 The English answered by asking why they had 
 shot at them. The Indians excused themselves, 
 laying the blame on some straggling savages. 
 They protested they intended no harm, but were 
 the white man's friends. The English rejoined 
 that they did not come to hurt them, but came as 
 friends. A peace " was patched up" and mes- 
 sengers were sent to Powhatan. The Indians 
 told the English that their imprisoned men ' ' were 
 run off ' ' for fear the English would hang them, 
 but that Powhatan's men " were run after to bring 
 them back." They promised to return them 
 with the stolen swords and muskets on the fol- 
 lowing day. The English perceived that this 
 story was told only to gain time. Meantime two 
 
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THE MARRIAGE OF POCAHONTAS. 247 
 
 brothers of Pocahontas came aboard the ship t« 
 visit her. They had heard that she was not well, 
 and were overjoyed to find her in good health 
 and contented. While they were visiting with 
 their sister, Mr. John Rolfe and Mr. Sparks were 
 sent to negotiate with Powhatan. They were 
 received kindly and hospitably entertained, but 
 they were not admitted to the presence of the 
 offended chief. His brother Opechancanough 
 saw them and promised to do the best he could 
 with Powhatan, saying that ' ' all might be well. ' ' 
 With such slight satisfaction the English were 
 obliged to return to Jamestown, for it was now 
 April and time to sow corn. 
 
 Pocahontas had been about a year a pris- 
 oner at Jamestown. There can be no doubt that 
 she was treated with the greatest friendliness by 
 the colonists. Her feelings had always been 
 warm for the white strangers. Now that she was 
 an innocent and interesting young prisoner among 
 them, what more natural than that she should be 
 honored and petted ? Pocahontas was now a 
 woman, being about eighteen to nineteen years of 
 age. To judge from her portrait she could not 
 have possessed the beauty with which tradition 
 has invested her, but she had at least a pleasant 
 and interesting face, and there must have been 
 
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248 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 some charm in her large black eyes and straight 
 black hair. 
 
 There was one colonist at least who took a 
 great interest in the young prisoner. Mr. John 
 Rolfe is styled in the different records " an honest 
 gentleman of good behavior," "an honest and 
 discreet English gentleman," "a gentleman of 
 approved behavior and honest carriage." His 
 wife, whose little daughter was born at the Sum- 
 mer Islands and christened Bermuda, must have 
 fallen a victim to the malarial influences which 
 did such deadly work among newly -arrived colo- 
 nists in Jamestown. 
 
 The subject of the conversion of Pocahontas 
 had weighed heavily upon the mind of Mr. Rolfe. 
 He accordingly attempted to convert her to 
 Christianity, and in doing so fell in love with her. 
 Pocahontas became a Christian, and what more 
 natural than that the constant friend of the white 
 men should love an Englishman ? 
 
 Long before the trip up the York River Mr. 
 Rolfe had loved the Indian maiden. He wrote a 
 long letter to Sir Thomas Dale asking his advice. 
 Sir Thomas readily consented to the marriage. 
 Pocahontas, on her part, told her brother of her 
 attachment to Mr. Rolfe. He informed Pow- 
 hatan, who seems to have been well pleased with 
 
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THE MARRIAGE OF POCAHONTAS. 249 
 
 the proposition, for within ten days an old uncle 
 of Pocahontas and two of her brothers arrived at 
 Jamestown. Powhatan had sent them as deputies 
 to witness the marriage of his daughter, and to do 
 his part toward the confirmation of it. 
 
 Pocahontas was first baptized. It was deemed 
 necessary to give her a Christian name at her 
 baptism. She was christened Rebecca, and as a 
 king's daughter she was known after this as the 
 Lady Rebecca, and sometimes as the Lady Poca- 
 hontas. 
 
 In April, 1614, the odd bridal procession moved 
 up the little church with its wide-open windows 
 and its cedar pews. The bridegroom was a 
 young Englishman, the bride an Indian chief's 
 daughter, accompanied by two red-skinned war- 
 riors, her brothers, and given away by an old 
 uncle. Perhaps more than one of the colony's 
 ministers officiated. Before the altar with its 
 canoe-like font Pocahontas repeated in imperfect 
 English her marriage vows, and donned her wed- 
 ding wing. The wedding is briefly mentioned 
 by the old recorders only as something bearing 
 upon the welfare of the colony. It was the first 
 union between the people who were to possess 
 the land and the natives. The colonists doubtless 
 regarded it as a most auspicious event, binding 
 
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2SO POCAHONTAS. 
 
 as it did the most powerful chief in Virginia to 
 their interests. Pocahontas's wedding day must 
 have been a festive day in this balmiest of the 
 months of the Virginia climate. 
 
 From this day friendly intercourse and trade 
 were again established with Powhatan and his 
 people. To the day of his death the old chief 
 never violated the peace which was thus brought 
 about. 
 
 In still another way the marriage of Pocahontas 
 benefited the colony. The nearest neighbors of 
 the English were the Chickahominys, a powerful 
 tribe of Indians who were just now free from the 
 yoke of Powhatan, whom they regarded as a ty- 
 rant. They had taken advantage of the recent 
 differences between this chief and the colonists to 
 hold themselves exceedingly independent of both. 
 But now that Powhatan and the English were 
 united, the Chickahominj's began to fear for their 
 own liberty. They sent a deputation to Sir 
 Thomas Dale desiring peace. Dale visited them, 
 entered their council, and concluded a treaty stip- 
 ulating that the Chickahominy Indians should call 
 themselves Tassantessus, or Englishmen, as a sign 
 of friendship, furnish three hundred men in case 
 of a Spanish attack on the colony, bring a tribute 
 of corn at harvest-time, for which they should re- 
 
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THE MARRIAGE OF POCAHONTAS. 25 1 
 
 ceive payment in hatchets ; and, lastly, that each 
 of the eight of their chief men who were to see to 
 the performance of this treaty should have a red 
 coat and a copper chain with the picture of King 
 James hung upon it, and " be accounted his 
 noble men." 
 
 The treaty was confirmed with a great shout, 
 followed by an Indian oration, directed first at the 
 old men, then at the young, and lastly at the 
 women and children. 
 
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CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 UNDER THE GOVERNMENT OF SIR THOMAS DALE. 
 
 Early in 1614 Sir Thomas Gates had returned 
 to England and left the government of the colony 
 to Sir Thomas Dale. An old soldier of the Neth- 
 erlands, Dale was harsh in the enforcement of 
 law, but his strict rule, tempered by a hard-earned 
 wisdom on the part of the Virginia Company, 
 was beneficial, and under his government the 
 little commonwealth gained a sure foothold in 
 America. 
 
 Commercial jealousy was bitter and relentless 
 in those days. A little French colony of Jesuit 
 missionaries had been planted on the coast of 
 Maine, within the limits of the charter granted by 
 King James. The English now made frequent 
 fishing voyages far north along the coast. Cap- 
 tain Argall set out on a voyage, however, accord- 
 ing to one authority, for the express purpose of 
 destroying the Jesuit colony. The Indians at 
 Pemaquid, supposing the captain would be 
 pleased to meet brother white men, informed him 
 
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GOVERNMENT OF SIR THOMAS DALE. 253 
 
 that there was a settlement of Frenchmen at 
 Mount Desert. The faces of Argall and his men 
 instantly depicted an excitement which the Indians 
 took for delight, and they offered a pilot to the 
 harbor of the little colony. The French were 
 scattered about in the woods when they saw an 
 English vessel decked with red, and with the 
 sound of trumpet and drums, bearing down upon 
 their own ship securely anchored in harbor, her 
 sails converted into awnings, and but ten men 
 aboard her. Without a preliminary word Argall 
 opened fire. Du Thet on board the French vessel 
 made one wild shot from the ship's guns, but was 
 mortally wounded with a musket ball. The help- 
 less vessel surrendered. Landing and searching 
 the colony's tents, Argall discovered the desk of 
 the commander, La Saussaye, opened it, pocketed 
 his royal commission and relocked the desk. 
 Captain Argall dema;ided his papers when La 
 Saussaye returned from the woods, and when 
 they were found missing, declared that he had 
 neither title nor right to the land on which he 
 was settled. Argall permitted his men to plun- 
 der the colony. The Jesuits remonstrated with 
 him. " Well, it is a pity you have lost your pa- 
 pers," remarked Argall. 
 
 La Saussaye and a dozen men returned to 
 
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254 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 France in a fishing vessel. The others were 
 carried to the Chesapeake, where Argall rep- 
 resented that they had been without a com- 
 mission. Dale imprisoned them, and they were 
 threatened with hanging. The unscrupulous 
 Argall became frightened at the result of his de- 
 ception and confessed the truth, whereupon the 
 prisoners were released. 
 
 Mr. Ralph Hamor, who had been in Virginia 
 for several years, was upon the eve of returning 
 home, and wished to see Powhatan. He was sent 
 with an interpreter on a commission by Sir 
 Thomas Dale. Powhatan sent the governor 
 word by Hamor that he need have no more fears 
 in regard to his intention. He said : " There 
 hath been enough of blood and war. Too many 
 have been slain already on both sides, and, by 
 me, occasion there shall never be more. I, who 
 have power to perform it, have said it. I am now 
 grown old and would gladly end my days in peace 
 and quietness, and although I should have just 
 cause of resentment, yet my country is large 
 enough and I can go from you. And this answer 
 I hope will satisfy my brother. ' ' 
 
 While Hamor was among the Indians he found 
 an Englishman who had been made a prisoner 
 some three years before. He looked so like an 
 
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GOVERNMENT OF SIR THOMAS DALE. 255 
 
 Indian both in complexion and dress that he was 
 recognized only by his speech. He begged 
 Hamor to procure his release. When Hamor 
 made this request Powhatan showed much dis- 
 content. "You have one of my daughters," 
 said the chief, ' ' and I am content ; but you can- 
 not see one of your men with me but you must 
 have him away or break friendship. If you must 
 needs have him you shall go home without 
 guides, and if any evil befall you thank your- 
 selves." 
 
 ' ' I will, ' ' said Hamor, ' ' but if I return not 
 well, you may expect a revenge, and your brother 
 Dale might have just cause to suspect you." 
 
 Powhatan left his guest in a passion. He en- 
 tertained him, however, at supper with a " cheer- 
 fiil countenance." About midnight he awoke 
 Hamor and said he would send him and the other 
 man home on the morrow. Powhatan, like all 
 Indians, was a consummate beggar. He always 
 had a list of presents which he desired at the 
 hands of the English. He now told Hamor to 
 remind " his brother Dale" to send him ten 
 great pieces of copper, a razor, a frow for riving 
 shingles, a grindstone, and some fish hooks and 
 nets. Lest Hamor should forget any of these 
 things he made him write them down in a mem- 
 
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256 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 orandum-book which the old chief had got into 
 his possession. He probably had seen English- 
 men do this when they wished to remember any 
 thing. Hamor wrote the list of things, and the 
 old chief took back the book. Hamor asked 
 him for the book, but Powhatan would not give 
 it up, saying that ' ' it did him much good to show 
 it to strangers." 
 
 Sir Thomas Dale did not live at Jamestown, 
 but at a more recent plantation on the James 
 River called Bermuda Hundred. Mr. Whitaker 
 was the minister at this place, and here lived Rolf e 
 and his wife. Dale, Whitaker, and Rolfe devoted 
 themselves assiduously to the task of instructing 
 Pocahontas. She was taught the English lan- 
 guage and especially educated in the Christian 
 religion. Pocahontas, on her part, was eager to 
 learn. Her husband and Sir Thomas Dale were 
 probably planning to take her to England. One 
 can imagine the training that this Indian woman 
 went through to learn the formalities and refine- 
 ments of civilized life. But Pocahontas' inclina- 
 tion had always been towards the English. She 
 became so well educated that she had no desire to 
 return to her father, ' ' nor could well endure the 
 society of her own nation." It is said that " the 
 true affection she constantly bare her husband 
 
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GOVERNMENT OF SIR THOMAS DALE. 257 
 
 was much," and if we may believe the quaint 
 words of the old history " he, on the other band, 
 underwent great torment and pain out of his 
 violent passion and tender solicitude for her. ' ' 
 
 In 161 5 a great lottery was drawn in England 
 for the benefit of Virginia. This pernicious re- 
 source for money was soon after put a stop to. 
 In this same year a Spanish vessel, the constant 
 dread of the colony, ' ' was seen to beat to and fro 
 off Point Comfort." A boat was at last sent 
 ashore for a pilot. The pilot went out to them 
 and the vessel sailed away with him. Arrived at 
 Spain they endeavored to persuade him to betray 
 the company. He refused, and was imprisoned 
 for four years, at the end of which time he was 
 returned to England. ' 
 
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CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 THE LADY POCAHONTAS IN ENGLAND. 
 
 Sir Thomas Dale had been five years in Vir- 
 ginia when in 1616 he settled the affairs of the 
 colony, left Yeardley as deputy-governor, and 
 embarked for England. He took with him Mr. 
 Rolfe, Pocahontas, Tomocomo, or Uttamattoma- 
 kin, one of Powhatan's chief men, married to 
 his daughter Matachanna, and other Indians of 
 both sexes. Tomocomo, who was considered 
 among the Indians ' ' an understanding fellow, ' ' 
 had been charged by Powhatan to count the 
 people in England and give him an exact idea 
 of their strength. It is said that Opechancanough, 
 who was rising into power among the Indians, 
 also charged Tomocomo to observe whether the 
 English had any trees or grain in their country. 
 The Indian boy Namontack, whom Captain New- 
 port had taken over, had seen hardly any thing 
 except London, and had reported great numbers 
 of men and houses, but he made no mention of 
 trees or cornfields. Opechancanough had a strong 
 suspicion, from the colonists' constant desire for 
 
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THE LADY POCAHONTAS IN ENGLAND. 259 
 
 corn and the shiploads of lumber which left the 
 James River, that England was destitute of these 
 commodities. 
 
 The vessel reached Plymouth on the 12th of 
 June, 1 61 6. On leaving the vessel Tomocomo 
 was prepared with a long stick and a knife ready- 
 to make a notch for every man he saw. He kept 
 this up till ' ' his arithmetic failed him. ' ' In trav- 
 elling by coach from Plymouth up to London, 
 Tomocomo discovered that England did not lack 
 in trees and grain-fields. We can imagine the ex- 
 citement that followed these travellers every- 
 where. They were all wonders, but especially 
 was the " Princess" Pocahontas. The popular 
 interest in her must have exceeded the usual de- 
 sire to catch a sight of the King of England and 
 his family. It was even debated, doubtless at 
 the suggestion of the ever-jealous royal dunce. 
 King James, whether Rolfe had not committed 
 high treason in marrying the daughter of a for- 
 eign prince without permission of his sovereign. 
 
 Pocahontas was now mother to a little son, 
 Thomas Rolfe, whom she " loved most dearly." 
 Immediately on her arrival the Virginia Company 
 took measures for the maintenance of her and her 
 child. Persons of " great rank and quality" took 
 much notice of Pocahontas. She did not like the 
 
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26o POCAHONTAS. 
 
 smoke of London, and was removed to Brent- 
 ford. 
 
 In this year Sir Walter Raleigh had been lib- 
 erated after thirteen years' imprisonment, and 
 went around London renewing acquaintance with 
 familiar objects and noting the changes that had 
 been made. It is very probable that Sir Walter, 
 " the father of Virginia, " took pains to see Poca- 
 hontas. 
 
 Captain Smith was at this time between two 
 voyages and his stay in London was limited. He 
 met Tomocomo, and they renewed old acquaint- 
 ance. 
 
 " Captain Smith," said the Indian, " Powhatan 
 did bid me find you out, to show me your God, 
 and the king and queen and prince you so much 
 had told us of." 
 
 " Concerning God," says Smith, " I told him 
 the best I could, the king I heard he had seen, 
 and the rest he should see when he would." 
 Tomocomo, however, denied having seen King 
 James till Smith satisfied him that he had by the 
 circumstances. Tomocomo immediately looked 
 very melancholy and said : 
 
 " You gave Powhatan a white dog, which 
 Powhatan fed as himself, but your king gave me 
 nothing, and I am better than your white dog " 
 
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THE LADY POCAHONTAS IN ENGLAND. 26 1 
 
 There was much curiosity " to hear and see 
 the behavior" of Tomocomo, he being a real 
 savage and untutored Indian. Purchas says of 
 him : " With this savage I have often conversed 
 at my good friend's, Master Doctor Gulstone, 
 where he was a frequent guest, and where I have 
 seen him sing and dance his diabolical measures." 
 
 Captain Smith, as he says, desiring to return 
 the courtesy of Pocahontas, had written the fol- 
 lowing letter to the queen immediately upon 
 hearing of the arrival of Pocahontas. 
 
 *' To the most high and virtuous Princess, Queen 
 Anne of Great Britain, 
 
 "Most admired Queen: The love I bear 
 my God, my king, and country hath so oft 
 emboldened me in the worst of extreme dan- 
 gers, that now honesty doth constrain me to 
 presume thus far beyond myself to present your 
 majesty this short discourse. If ingratitude be 
 a deadly poison to all honest virtues, I must be 
 guilty of that crime if I should omit any means 
 to be thankful. So it is that some ten years ago, 
 being in Virginia, and taken prisoner by the 
 power of Powhatan, their chief king, I received 
 from this great savage exceeding great courtesy, 
 especially from his son Nantequas, the most map 
 
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262 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 liest, comeliest, boldest spirit I ever saw in a 
 savage, and his sister Pocahontas, the king's most 
 dear and well-beloved daughter, being but a child 
 of twelve or thirteen years ot age, whose com- 
 passionate, pitiful heart, of desperate estate, gave 
 me much cause to respect her. I being the first 
 Christian this proud king and his grim attendants 
 ever saw, and thus enthralled in their barbarous 
 power, I cannot say that I felt the least occasion 
 ot want that was in the power of those mortal 
 foes to prevent, notwithstanding all their threats. 
 
 "After some six weeks fatting among these 
 savage courtiers, at the minute of my execution 
 she hazarded the beating out of her own brains 
 to save mine ; and not only that, but so prevailed 
 with her father that I was safely conducted to 
 Jamestown, where I found about eight-and-thirty 
 miserable, poor, and sick creatures to keep pos- 
 session of all those large territories of Virginia. 
 Such was the weakness of this poor common- 
 wealth as, had the savages not fed us, we directly 
 had starved. 
 
 " And this relief, most gracious queen, was 
 commonly brought us by this lady, Pocahontas. 
 Notwithstanding all these passages when incon- 
 stant fortune turned our peace to war, this tender 
 virgin would still not spare to dare to visit us ; 
 
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THE LADY POCAHONTAS IN ENGLAND. 263 
 
 and by her our jars have oft been appeased and 
 our wants still supplied. Were it the policy of 
 her father thus to employ her, or the ordinance 
 of God thus to make her his instrument, or her 
 extraordinary affection to our nation, I know not. 
 But of this I am sure, when her father, with the 
 utmost of his policy and power sought to surprise 
 me, the dark night could not afiright her from 
 coming through the irksome woods, and with 
 watered eyes gave me intelligence, with her best 
 advice to escape his fury ; which had he known 
 he had surely slain her. Jamestown, with her 
 wild train, she as freely frequented as her father's 
 habitation ; and, during the time of two or three 
 years,, she, next under God, was still the instru- 
 ment to preserve this colony from death, famine, 
 and utter confusion, which if in those times had 
 once been dissolved, Virginia might have lain as 
 it was at our first arrival to this day. 
 
 ' ' Since then this business having been turned 
 and varied by many accidents from that I left it 
 at. It is most certain after a long and trouble- 
 some war after my departure betwixt her father 
 and our colony, all which time she was not heard 
 of, about two years after she herself was taken 
 prisoner. Being so detained near two years 
 longer, the colony by that means was relieved, 
 
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264 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 peace concluded, and at last, rejecting her bar- 
 barous condition, she was married to an English 
 gentleman, with whom at present she is in Eng- 
 land ; the first Christian ever of that nation, the 
 first Virginian ever spoke English, or had a child 
 in marriage by an Englishman : a matter surely, 
 if my meaning be truly considered and well un- 
 derstood, worthy a prince's understanding. 
 
 " Thus, most gracious lady, I have related to 
 your majesty what at your best leisure our ap- 
 proved histories will account you at large, and 
 done in the time of your majesty's life. And, 
 however, this might be presented to you from a 
 more worthy pen, it cannot come from a more 
 honest heart, as yet I never begged any thing of 
 the State or any ; and it is my want of ability and 
 her exceeding desert, your birth, means, and au- 
 thority, her birth, virtue, want, and simplicity, 
 doth make me thus bold humbly to beseech your 
 majesty to take this knowledge of her, though it 
 be from one so unworthy to be the reporter as 
 myself, her husband's estate not being able to 
 make her fit to attend your majesty. The most 
 and least I can do is to tell you this, because none 
 hath so oft tried it as myself ; and the rather 
 being of so great a spirit, however her stature. 
 If she should not be well received, seeing this 
 
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THE LADY POCAHONTAS IN ENGLAND. 265 
 
 kingdom may rightly have a kingdom by her 
 means, her present love to us and Christianity 
 might turn to such scorn and fury as to divert all 
 this good to the worst of evil ; where, finding so 
 great a queen should do her some honor more 
 than she can imagine, for being so kind to your 
 servants and subjects, would so ravish her with 
 content, as endear her dearest blood to effect 
 that your majesty and all the king's honest sub- 
 jects most earnestly desire. And so I humbly kiss 
 your gracious hands.'' 
 
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CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 POCAHONTAS AT COURT. — HER DEATH. 
 
 Captain Smith went to Brentford with sev- 
 eral others to see Pocahontas. She saluted him 
 modestly, and without a word turned around and 
 " obscured her face as not seeming well con- 
 tented." Smith, with her husband and the other 
 gentlemen, left her " in that humor" for several 
 hours. The captain was disappointed, and re- 
 pented having written the queen that she could 
 speak English. But when the gentlemen re- 
 turned Pocahontas began to talk, and said that 
 she remembered Captain Smith well, "and the 
 courtesies she had done." 
 
 " You did promise Powhatan," said Pocahon- 
 tas, " what was yours should be his, and he the 
 like to you. You called him father, being in his 
 land a stranger, and by the same reason so must 
 I do to you." 
 
 Captain Smith tried to excuse himself from this 
 honor. Knowing the jealousy of the court he 
 " durst not allow that title because she was a 
 king's daughter." 
 
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POCAHONTAS AT COURT,— HER DEATH. 267 
 
 " Were you not afraid," said Pocahontas, with 
 a look of determination, " were you not afraid to 
 come into my father's country, and caused fear in 
 him and all his people but me, and fear you here 
 I should call you father ? I tell you then I will, 
 and you shall call me child, and so I will be for- 
 ever and ever your countryman. They did tell 
 us always you were dead, and I knew no other 
 till I came to Plymouth ; yet Powhatan did com- 
 mand Uttamatomakin to seek you and know the 
 truth, betause your countrymen will lie much. ' ' 
 
 This deception played, it seems, upon the In- 
 dians, and to which Rolfe must have been a party, 
 is very strange. It has been conjectured by ro- 
 mancers that Pocahontas had really loved Smith, 
 but there seems to be no reason to think any thing 
 more than that she felt a warm afiection for him 
 as a friend of her childhood. 
 
 Pocahontas, it is said, had been so well in- 
 structed that she ' ' was become very formal and 
 civil after our English manner." During his 
 brief stay in London Captain Smith made fre- 
 quent visits to Pocahontas, accompanied by cour- 
 tiers and other friends who wished to see the In- 
 dian lady. The gentlemen, said Smith, " gener- 
 ally concluded they did think God had a great 
 hand in her conversion," and said that they had 
 
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268 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 " seen many English ladies worse favored, pro 
 portioned, and behaviored. ' ' 
 
 Pocahontas was presented at court, accompa- 
 nied by Lady Delaware, both to the king and 
 queen. Ben Jonson's Christmas Mask was played 
 at court on the 6th of January, 1617. Pocahon- 
 tas and Toraocomo were present. The following 
 notice of it is found in a letter of the day : " On 
 twelfth night there was a mask, when the new- 
 made Earl (Buckingham) and the Earl of Mont- 
 gomery danced with the queen. . . . The 
 Virginian woman, Pocahontas, and her father's 
 counsellor have been with the king and graciously 
 used, and both she and her assistant were pleased 
 at the mask. She is upon her return, though sore 
 against her will, if the wind would about to send 
 her away." 
 
 Captain Samuel Argall was about to sail for 
 Virginia as governor of the colony. Rolfe and 
 his wife must return to their home, Tomocomo 
 must go back to tell Powhatan of his observa- 
 tions, but the other Indians were left in England 
 to be educated. 
 
 While Pocahontas was in England her portrait 
 was drawn and engraved. She is represented in 
 the fashionable costume of the day. Beneath the 
 picture were these words : " Matoaks als Re- 
 
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POCAHONTAS AT COURT. — HER DEATH. 269 
 
 becka, daughter to the mighty Prince Powhatan, 
 Emperor of Attanough-komouck als Virginia, 
 converted and baptized in the Christian faith, and 
 wife to the worshipful Mr. John Rolfe. Aged 
 21. Anno Domini 1616." 
 
 Pocahontas, it is said, was unwilling to leave 
 England. She was destined never to return to 
 Virginia, She died at Gravesend on the eve of 
 her departure for America, being about twenty- 
 two years of age. The few words devoted in 
 Smith's History to her death are quite charac- 
 teristic of the times : " It pleased God at Graves- 
 end to take this young lady to His mercy, where 
 she made not more sorrow for her unexpected 
 death than joy to the beholders to hear and see 
 her make so religious and godly an end." 
 
 In the parish register at Gravesend is the fol- 
 lowing blundering entry, which could hardly have 
 referred to any other than Pocahontas : 
 
 " 1616, May 2j, Rebecca Wrothe 
 
 wyff of Thomas Wroth gent. 
 
 a Virginia lady borne, here was buried 
 
 in ye channcell." 
 
 The child of Pocahontas was left in England in 
 the care of Sir Lewis Stewkley, and afterwards 
 transferred to the care of his uncle, Mr. Henry 
 
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270 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 Rolfe, a London merchant. He was educated in 
 England and afterwards returned to America. 
 From him descended some of the most respectable 
 families in Virginia. There is on record a peti- 
 tion signed by Pocahontas's son, Thomas Rolfe, 
 and addressed to the authorities of the colony in 
 1641, praying to be allowed to go to the Indian 
 country to visit his mother's sister, known among 
 the white people as Cleopatra. 
 
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CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 CAPTAIN SMITH AND NEW ENGLAND. 
 
 In spite of all his troubles at Jamestown, Smith, 
 as he says, " liked Virginia well." The remain- 
 der of his life was devoted to the furtherance of 
 colonization in the New World. No jealousy 
 kept him from an enthusiastic interest in the wel- 
 fare of the Virginia colony. He was quick to re- 
 joice over its growing prosperity. Henceforth we 
 see him in the meetings of the Virginia Company, 
 exciting merchants through a desire for gain to 
 adventure voyages, exploring the coast of North 
 Virginia, writing books and pamphlets to draw 
 attention to the American colonies, and travelling 
 over England selling these works. 
 
 After the failure of the colony of the Plymouth 
 Company in Maine, and the dreary picture of the 
 New England coast given by the colonists, Cap- 
 tain Smith was the first to again attract attention 
 to this part of the New World. He set sail in 
 March, 1614, with two vessels fitted out at the 
 expense of some London merchants, for the pur- 
 pose of catching whales, or discovering gold 
 
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272 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 mines, and if these failed, of returning with a 
 cargo of fish and furs. 
 
 Precious metal was not to be found, and whale 
 fishing was pronounced a " costly conclusion," 
 for they " saw many and spent much time in 
 chasing them, but could not kill any. ' ' The best 
 part of the fishing season was now gone, but the 
 sailors spent the remainder of the summer catch- 
 ing and curing cod-fish. Meantime Captain 
 Smith in a small boat with eight men explored 
 the coast from Penobscot to Cape Cod. He 
 bought large quantities of furs from the Indians 
 along the coast, paying them in trifles. From 
 his observations Smith made a map. He returned 
 to England with a cargo of furs, leaving Captain 
 Thomas Hunt in command of the second vessel 
 to return by way of Spain, where he was to dis- 
 pose of the fish. This man, after the departure 
 of Captain Smith, decoyed twenty-four savages 
 on board his vessel and sailed to Spain with 
 them, selling them for slaves in the port of Ma- 
 laga. This infamous deed, avers Captain Smith, 
 was perpetrated for the purpose of making the 
 Indians so hostile as to prevent the establishment 
 of a colony, and thus leave the profitable trade to 
 such adventurers as himself. 
 
 Smith reached England after having been gone 
 
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CAPTAIN SMITH AND NEW ENGLAND. 273 
 
 6ome six months. He presented his map to 
 Prince Charles, afterwards Charles II., and re- 
 quested him to change the barbarous names b^ 
 which its different capes, bays, and rivers were 
 known. The young prince named Cape Ann, 
 which Smith had called Cape Tragabigzanda, 
 after the Turkish lady who had loved hiiii ; 
 changed Gosnold's name of Cape Cod to Cape 
 James ; changed Massachusetts River to Charles 
 River, and made various other alterations, some 
 of which remain to this day while others are for- 
 gotten. Smith gave a lively description of the 
 country. The Plymouth Company, as owners of 
 the dead patent to this unregarded country, ' ' 
 engaged Captain Smith to undertake a voyage in 
 their service. Soon after the old Virginia Com- 
 pany made him an offer to take the command of 
 a fleet of four vessels. He was, however, bound 
 in honor to the Plymouth Company and refused. 
 Meantime a vessel which had sailed to the coast 
 of New England in search of gold returned to 
 report an entire failure, and the Plymouth Com- 
 pany's ardor was dampened. Smith had prom- 
 ised to return to Plymouth about Christmas. 
 When he reached this place in the early part of 
 January, 161 5, with two hundred pounds in his 
 pocket, ready and eager to again set sail, his hopes 
 
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274 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 were disappointed, and it was too late for him to 
 accept the offer of the other colony. 
 
 Captain Smith was destined never again to set 
 foot in the New World, though he lived many 
 years after this. But he was always at work for 
 the furtherance of his project. To him New Eng- 
 land owes its name. He says that this part of 
 America was formerly known as Norumbega, 
 Virginia, Nuskoncus, and Pemaquida. He ex- 
 presses particular contempt for the name ' ' Can- 
 naday" in his orthography, as applied to New 
 England. In his writings Smith dilates upon the 
 fine fishing along the coast of this country. He 
 says that fish are "to be had in abundance, ob- 
 serving but their seasons ; but if a man will go 
 at Christmas to gather cherries in Kent, though 
 there be plenty in summer he may be deceived ; 
 so have these plenties here each their season." 
 
 After his experience Smith thought he could 
 plant a colony of three hundred men on this 
 coast, and supply them provisions by trade with 
 the savages. ' ' If they should be untowards, as 
 it is most certain they will," says Smith, " thirty 
 or forty good men will be sufficient to bring them 
 all in subjection." 
 
 With a sturdy pen Smith presented the advan- 
 tages of colonization^ to the men of his day. He 
 
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CAPTAIN SMITH AND NEW ENGLAND. 275 
 
 despises a tame staying at home, and charac- 
 terizes the manner of living of many men of his 
 day in descriptions which would not be inappli- 
 cable to-day. " Then who would live at home 
 idly, ' ' exclaims Smith, ' ' or think in himself any 
 worth to live, only to eat, drink, and sleep, and 
 so die ; or by consuming that carelessly his 
 friends got worthily, or by using that miserably 
 that maintained virtue honestly, or for being de- 
 scended nobly and pine with the vain vaunt of 
 great kindred in penury, or to maintain a silly 
 show of bravery, toil out thy heart, soul, and 
 time basely, by shifts, tricks, cards, and dice, or 
 by relating news of other men's actions, shark 
 here and there for a dinner or supper, deceive 
 thy friends by fair promises, and dissimulation in 
 borrowing where thou never meanest to pay, of- 
 fend the laws, surfeit with excess, burthen thy 
 country, abuse thyself, despair in want and then 
 cozen thy kindred, yea, even thy own brother, 
 and wish thy parents' death (I will not say damna- 
 tion) to have their estates. 
 
 Opposed to this Smith gives a picture of the 
 delights of a life in the New World. " What 
 pleasure can be more," he says, "than being 
 tired with any occasion ashore in planting vines, 
 fruits, or herbs, in contriving their own grounds 
 
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2/6 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 to the pleasure of their own minds, their field, 
 orchards, buildings, ships, and other works, to 
 recreate themselves before their own doors in 
 their own boats upon the sea." He describes the 
 pleasures of fishing in a passage which has a 
 flavor like that of Isaac Walton. " What sport," 
 says Smith, " doth yield a more pleasing content 
 and less hurt and charge than angling with a 
 hook and crossing the sweet air from isle to isle, 
 over the silent streams of a calm sea, wherein the 
 most curious may find profit, pleasure, and con- 
 tent?" Looking at another side of fishing he 
 says : " Is it not pretty sport to pull up two- 
 pence, sixpence, and twelvepence as fast as you 
 can haul and veer a line?" Smith says that 
 though a man may work thus only part of his 
 time he will make more than he can spend, " un- 
 less he be exceedingly excessive. " " And lest 
 any should think the toil might be insupportable, ' ' 
 says the persuasive captain, " though these things 
 may be had by labor and diligence, I assure my- 
 self there are who delight extremely in vain 
 pleasure that take much more pains in England 
 to enjoy it than I should do here to gain wealth 
 sufficient. And yet I think they should not have 
 half such sweet content, for our pleasure here is 
 still gains, in England charges and loss : here na- 
 
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CAPTAIN SMITH AND NEW ENGLAND. 277 
 
 ture and liberty affords us that freely which ia 
 England we want or it costeth us dearly. ' ' 
 
 Captain Smith said that he had not been ' ' so 
 ill-bred " as not to have " tasted of plenty and 
 pleasure as well as want and misery ;" that neither 
 necessity nor discontent forced him to ' ' these 
 endeavors, nor am I ignorant," said he, "what 
 small thanks I shall have for my pains, .... 
 yet I hope my reasons with my deeds will so pre- 
 vail with some that I shall not want employment 
 in these affairs, to make the most blind see his 
 own senselessness and incredulity, hoping that 
 gain will make them effect that which religion, 
 charity, and the common good cannot." He 
 wanted to make a colony ' ' of all sorts of worthy, 
 honest, industrious spirits, , . . not to per- 
 suade them to go only," said he, " but go with 
 them ; not leave them there, but live with them 
 there. I will not say but by ill providing and 
 undue managing such courses may be taken as 
 may make us miserable enough, but if I may 
 have the execution of what I have projected, if 
 they want to eat let them eat or never digest me, 
 . , . and if I abuse you with niy tongue, take 
 my head for satisfaction." 
 
 But anxious as Smith was to colonize New 
 England he was not destined to be father to that 
 as well as to Virginia. 
 
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CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 FIGHTING PIRATES AND PRIVATEERS. 
 
 Notwithstanding the failure of the Plymouth 
 Company to fulfil their engagement with Captain 
 Smith, he still labored hard to accomplish his ob- 
 ject. After " a labyrinth of trouble" Smith was 
 furnished with two vessels by some friends, as- 
 sisted by Sir Ferdinando Gorges. Smith had 
 planned to plant a colony with but sixteen men. 
 He had indeed wished for a much larger num- 
 ber with which to begin his settlement, "but," 
 says Smith, " rich men for the most part are 
 grown to that dotage through their pride in their 
 wealth, as though there were no accident could 
 end it or their lives." He must therefore content 
 himself with a colony of sixteen, and he believed 
 that, through his friendship with some of the 
 Indians of the New England coast and his ex- 
 perience at Jamestown, he might still succeed. 
 
 He set sail in March, 1615. He had gone but 
 a hundred and twenty leagues when he was sepa- 
 rated from his other vessel, and lost his masts in 
 
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FIGHTING PIRATES AND PRIVATEERS. 279 
 
 a storm. Smith was forced to return under a 
 jury-mast to Plymouth, while the other vessel 
 continued her course and returned in August 
 with a profitable cargo. Captain Smith was not, 
 however, to be deterred by accidents. He im- 
 mediately set sail again in a bark of sixty tons 
 burden, accompanied by his sixteen colonists. 
 This time they were chased by pirates. Their 
 pursuers had thirty-six guns and Captain Smith's 
 vessel but four. His crew begged him to surren- 
 der, but this he refused to do until he could do 
 so on fair conditions. He vowed that he would 
 sink rather than be ill-used by the pirates. The 
 pirate's men were astonished that a bark of sixty 
 tons with but four guns should higgle about the 
 terms of surrender. When it became known that 
 Smith was the captain of the vessel it was found 
 that many of the pirates had been soldiers under 
 him, probably in the Turkish wars. They had 
 run away from Tunis with this vessel. They 
 were now destitute of provision and ' ' in combus- 
 tion amongst themselves." They offered their 
 command to Captain Smith, but he declined the 
 leadership of these mutinous adventurers. His 
 unfortunate bark having escaped this danger 
 again fell in with pirates. This time the enemy 
 consisted of two French vessels. Captain Smith 
 
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28o POCAHONTAS 
 
 had much ado to force his men to fight. He at 
 last told them that he would blow up his ship 
 rather than yield while he had powder left. So, 
 to use his own expression, the ships " went to- 
 gether by the ears," and the bark at last escaped 
 her pursuers in spite of their shot. 
 
 Near Flores Captain Smith's vessel was met by 
 four French privateers, who said they had a com- 
 mission from their king to take Portugals, Span- 
 iards, and pirates. They called upon Captain 
 Smith to come aboard them and show his papers. 
 This he did after many fair promises on their 
 part. He was no sooner aboard the French ves- 
 sel, however, than he was detained, his own ship 
 rifled, manned with French sailors, and his men 
 divided among the different vessels in the fleet. 
 Within five or six days other ships joined them, 
 and the fleet numbered eight or nine sail. They 
 at last surrendered the English vessel to her sailors 
 and returned much of her provision. The crew 
 desired to return immediately to England, but 
 Captain Smith resolved to keep on for his desti- 
 nation. Before he; parted with the French fleet 
 the admiral again sent for Smith. While he was 
 on board the admiral's ship a sail was spied and 
 she went in chase. Meantime the mutinous part 
 of Smith's crew set sail for England in the night. 
 
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FIGHTING PIRATES AND PRIVATEERS. 28 1 
 
 leaving him on the French vessel in his " cap, 
 bretches, and wastcoat," as the narrative says, 
 his arms having been left aboard his own vessel, 
 where the sailors divided them among themselves. 
 
 Captain Smith led a life of excitement aboard 
 the French ship. The admiral's vessel was sepa- 
 rated from the others of the fleet in a storm. 
 While she lay o£E the Azores watching for prizes 
 Smith occupied himself in writing a narrative of 
 his last voyages. They were soon afterward 
 chased by an English pirate with twelve guns 
 and thirty men, nearly starved. During this 
 fight Captain Smith was imprisoned in the gun- 
 room. When the two vessels came to a parley 
 the English endeavored to procure relief from the 
 French, who as usual made fair promises in order 
 to get them in their power. When they found 
 the English pirates were ready to defend them- 
 selves to the last, they resolved to barter provi- 
 sion with them. While they were thus occupied 
 they received some shot from a small vessel. 
 
 The next fight was with a small English fishing 
 smack. During this engagement Captain Smith 
 was confined in the cabin. From this station he 
 could see the captain robbed of all his valuables 
 and half his cargo of fish. His poor clothes were 
 auctioned at the mainmast, and the proceeds 
 
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282 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 did not amount to sevenpence apiece to the 
 pillagers. 
 
 The next capture was a Scotch ship. Fortu- 
 nately for her she was not yet loaded, and the 
 French did not get much from her. They next 
 descried four vessels and ''stood after" them. 
 These vessels furled their sails and awaited the 
 approach of the French vessel ; ' ' but, ' ' says Cap- 
 tain Smith with evident exultation, " our French 
 spirits were content only to perceive they were 
 English red crosses." A short time after this the 
 French ship chased four Spanish vessels coming 
 from the West Indies. When Spaniards were to 
 be fought Captain Smith was released and or- 
 dered to assist, and with an Englishman's hatred 
 of Spain he no doubt fought the Spaniards with 
 some relish. For four or five hours the English 
 fought the Spanish ships, ' ' tearing their sides, ' ' 
 says Smith, ' ' with many a shot betwixt wind and 
 weather, yet not daring to board them, we lost 
 them, for which all the sailors ever after hated the 
 captain as a professed coward." 
 
 A poor little Brazilian vessel was next chased. 
 She was captured after a short fight, with four- 
 teen or fifteen, ' ' the better half, ' ' of her crew 
 wounded. She was plundered of seventy chests 
 of sugar, a hundred hides, and seventy thousand 
 silver coins. The plunderers soon after met a 
 
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FIGHTING PIRATES AND PRIVATEERS. 2>S5 
 
 Dutch ship. They entrapped the captain aboard 
 under the pretence of showing his commission 
 and then captured his vessel. She was manned 
 with French sailors, who took occasion in the 
 night to run off with the vessel. 
 
 In a day or two more they met a West Indian 
 man-of-war. For one whole forenoon they 
 fought her. They captured her, and she proved 
 the richest prize of all. From her they took a 
 large quantity of hides, cochineal, coffers of 
 silver, money and coffers containing the King of 
 Spain's treasure, with pillage from many rich 
 passengers. The pirates seemed now content. 
 They had often promised to set Captain Smith 
 ashore on some island or send him home in the 
 next ship they met. They had also promised 
 him a large share in their plunder. On their re- 
 turn voyage for France Smith was put into the 
 little vessel loaded with sugar. This was sepa- 
 rated from the admiral in a storm. She was once 
 hailed by two West Indiamen. When they were 
 answered with the sign of France the vessels 
 went on their way with a parting broadside. 
 Arrived at France, Smith was detained a prisoner 
 in the harbor of Rochelle. He was now accused 
 of being the English captain who had destroyed 
 the French colony at Mount Desert, and was 
 threatened with imprisonment or " a worse mis- 
 
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284 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 chief." He therefore took the first occasion to 
 escape. A severe storm came on which drove all 
 on board under hatches. The night was verj 
 dark, Smith watched for his opportunity and left 
 the vessel in a little boat. He had but a " hall 
 pike" for a paddle, the wind was strong, the 
 waves high, and Captain Smith drifted out to sea. 
 For twelve hours he worked away in his little 
 boat, baling out water on a night when the coast 
 was strewn with wrecks. He at last reached a 
 marshy island, nearly drowned and suffering from 
 cold and hunger. He was found here by some 
 hunters. The admiral's ship, meantime, had 
 been wrecked, the captain and half his company 
 with much of the plunder lost. Smith pawned 
 the little boat for means to reach Rochelle. 
 Here he lodged a complaint with the judge of the 
 Admiralty, supported by some of the sailors as 
 witnesses. We do not learn that he got any thing 
 more than ' ' good words and fair promises, ' ' with 
 some paper certifying to the truth of his story, 
 which he presented to the British ambassador at 
 Bordeaux. He received great kindness on all 
 hands, and especially from "the good Lady 
 Chanoyes," who " bountifully assisted " him. 
 Captain Smith returned to England to find that 
 he had been "buried" by his mutinous sailors. 
 He took measures to punish the ringleaders. 
 
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CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 EVENTS IN THE COLONY — WIVES BY THE SHIPLOAD. 
 
 John Rolfe, who was fond of novel experi- 
 ments in agriculture as in marriage, is said to 
 have been the pioneer tobacco-planter of Virginia. 
 The raising of tobacco paid the planters so well 
 that for many years there was a constant tempta- 
 tion to neglect the planting of sufficient corn for 
 food. In consequence of scarcity in the colony 
 during the year 1616, the Chickahominy Indians 
 were called upon to furnish a tribute of grain ac- 
 cording to their treaty. They refused, however, 
 and Yeardley with one hundred of his best shot 
 marched into their country. Here he was re- 
 ceived with contempt. The Indians said he was 
 only Dale's man ; they had paid Dale their tribute, 
 but would not pay him. A skirmish ensued, in 
 which twelve Indians were killed and as many 
 made prisoners. These were ransomed with corn, 
 and the Indians were glad to rid themselves of 
 the Englishmen by loading their boats. 
 
 Powhatan was growing old, and began to fear 
 
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286 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 his brother Opechancanough. This Indian was 
 as ambitious and influential as Powhatan, while 
 he was younger, and very popular with Indians 
 and whites. Since Opitchapan was both old and 
 decrepit, Powhatan was the only obstacle be- 
 tween him and chief dominion among the Indians. 
 This wily old chief had never loved the English 
 any too well. He had on every occasion refused 
 to enter or approach the white settlements. He 
 would not even go to Jamestown to attend the 
 wedding of his daughter. Powhatan now dreaded 
 lest his ambitious brother should betray him into 
 the hands of the English. He therefore retired to 
 a distance from Jamestown, devoting himself to 
 warding off this danger. 
 
 The old chief expressed great sorrow when 
 he heard of the death of Pocahontas. Pie was, 
 however, pleased that her son was living, and 
 both he and Opechancanough said they would 
 like to see him. When Tomocomo returned 
 Powhatan called upon him for the number oi 
 people in England. " Count," said Tomocomo, 
 ' ' the stars in the sky, the leaves on the trees, and 
 the sand upon the seashore, for such is the num- 
 ber of the people in England." 
 
 Captain Argall was now governor of the colony 
 and John Rolfe was his secretary. Argall found 
 
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EVENTS IN THE COLONY. 287 
 
 Jamestown on his arrival from England neglected, 
 and the streets planted with tobacco. Poor little 
 town ! it was never destined to be great. Sir 
 Thomas Dale had before this preferred to live at 
 Bermuda Hundred. Virginians were fast be- 
 coming a widely scattered community of planters, 
 its situation was unhealthy, and much of its site 
 has since been washed away by the river. There 
 still remain some graves and a church tower 
 built of brick brought all the way from Eng- 
 land. 
 
 In the year 1618 Powhatan died. Opitchapan 
 nominally succeeded him, but Opechancanough 
 was far too ambitious and popular to remain in 
 a subordinate position. The power fell really 
 into his hands. When the -English came to Vir- 
 ginia, Powhatan had long since established his 
 reputation as a great warrior, and . could well 
 afford to rest on his honors ; but it was not so 
 with Opechancanough. Had the English known 
 as much of Indian character as Ave do to-day, 
 they would have feared the younger chief, who 
 had yet a career to make, a reputation as a brave 
 to gain. But Opechancanough renewed the 
 treaty of Powhatan, the English proceeded to 
 scatter their settlements wherever good land for 
 the cultivation of tobacco was to be found, and In- 
 
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288 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 dians went in and out the planters' houses on 
 peaceful and friendly terms. 
 
 Argall's government was unscrupulous. He 
 was the first public officer in this new country to 
 make money out of the public store. He seems 
 to have been cruel as well as unprincipled. 
 Bitter complaints were sent by the colonists to 
 the Company in England. Meantime Lord Dela- 
 ware, who had spent much money and time in 
 the service of the Company, again embarked with 
 two hundred emigrants to take into his own hand 
 the government of the colony. Unfortunately, 
 he died on the voyage. Some of the members of 
 the Company soon after sent Argall a very severe 
 letter, accusitig him of many wrongs against the 
 Company and colonists. This was accompanied 
 by a letter to Lord Delaware, with many accusa- 
 tions against Argall. Owing to the death of Lord 
 Delaware both of these letters fell into Argall's 
 hands. In October, 1618, when the news of 
 Lord Delaware's death reached England, Cap- 
 tain Yeardley was appointed governor, and be- 
 fore his departure was knighted and treated with 
 a discourse from King James upon the duty of 
 carrying religion to the Indians. Before he 
 reached Virginia, however, Argall was gone, and 
 had turned into the hands of friends his wrong- 
 
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EVENTS IN THE COLONY. 289 
 
 fully acquired property, quite after the approved 
 manner of public thieves in our time. 
 
 Sir George Yeardley's government covered 
 the most prosperous years that the colony had 
 yet known. The first representative legislature 
 held within the hmits of the United States con- 
 vened at Jamestown in 1619. The Company had 
 granted the colony an annual assembly of the 
 governor and council with two representatives 
 from each plantation. This assembly met in the 
 chancel of the Jamestown church, and among 
 other things made thp following laws : First, 
 against drunkenness, that any man found drunk 
 was to be reproved privately by the minister, if 
 the offence were committed a second time he was 
 to be reproved publicly, the third time he must 
 " lie in bolts" for twelve hours and pay a fine, and 
 if he still persisted he was to suffer such severe 
 punishment as the governor and council should 
 decide upon. "Against excessive apparel," an 
 ofiFence one would think hardly likely to creep 
 into so young a colony, it was enacted that every 
 man should be assessed " in the church for all 
 public contributions ; if he be unmarried, accord- 
 ing to his own apparel ; if he be married, accord- 
 ing to his own and his wife's, or either of their 
 apparel." It was found that many of the colo- 
 
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290 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 nists being single men did not settle permanently , 
 in the colony, but endeavored to make money at 
 tobacco raising, intending to return ultimately to 
 England. The Company resolved to provide 
 wives for the colonists in order to bind them per- 
 manently to Virginia. " One widow and eleven 
 maids" were sent over in 1621. The Company in 
 England wished it to be understood that these 
 women had been chosen with great care and 
 came with good recommendations. They were 
 to be " lodged and provided for of diet till they 
 be married. ' ' If this did not quickly take place, 
 however, they were to be " put to several house- 
 holders that have wives till they can be provided 
 of husbands." Moreover, a price was set upon 
 wives. Each man must pay a hundred and 
 twenty pounds of "' best leaf tobacco" to defray 
 the expense of his wife's importation, and that 
 there might be no dead loss to the Company if 
 one of the girls should die, the expense of her 
 passage must be divided among the husbands of 
 the others. Pains must also be taken lest there 
 should be any cheating in the quality of the to- 
 bacco. Shortly after thirty -eight more " maids 
 and young women' ' were exported by the London 
 Company, with the hope that they would be " re- 
 ceived with the same Christian piety and charity" 
 
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EVENTS IN THE COLONY. 291 
 
 as the others, from which we may infer that 
 these did not have to wait long for husbands. In 
 the choice of the last, also, the Company had 
 taken ' ' extraordinary care and diligence. " They 
 had ' ' good testimony of their honest life and car- 
 riage." This testimony, with the name of each 
 girl, was inclosed for the benefit of the husband. 
 They were labelled, so to speak. The price of 
 wives was raised on this lot to one hundred and 
 fifty pounds of tobacco, with an addition if any 
 of the girls should die. 
 
 " Their own deserts," say the directions to Vir- 
 ginia authorities, ' ' together with your favor and 
 care, will, we hope, marry them all to honest and 
 sufficient men whose means will reach to present 
 repayment, but if any of them shall unwarily or 
 fondly bestow herself (for the liberty of marriage 
 we dare not infringe) upon such as shall not be able 
 to give present satisfaction, we desire at least as 
 soon as ability shall be, they be compelled to pay 
 the true quantity of tobacco proportioned, and 
 that this debt may have precedence of all others 
 to be recovered." The " maids" were welcomed 
 in Virginia. We can imagine a planter going to 
 Jamestown to get him a wife in exchange for 
 a lot of choice tobacco. This sending out of 
 
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292 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 wives was one of the wisest measures adopted, 
 for when there were wives in the cabin, and 
 children born in the land, the white men felt that 
 Virginia was indeed their home. 
 
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CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 "THE MASSACRES OF OPECHANCANOUGH. 
 
 In 162 1, when Sir Francis Wyat became gov- 
 ernor, the peace with Opechancanough was rati- 
 fied, and that chief seemed to the English to show 
 decided evidences of a religious inclination. 
 
 The colony of Virginia had grown and in- 
 creased, spreading its arms wherever fertile land 
 was to be found. Eighty peaceful plantations lay 
 widely scattered and almost entirely unprotected. 
 
 Totally unsuspected, the religiously inclined 
 Opechancanough laid his plans for an extermina- 
 tion of the whites. Two days before the mas- 
 sacre the savages guided a white man safely 
 through the woods. Up to the very hour ap- 
 pointed for the work to begin Indians lounged 
 tranquilly about the plantations according to their 
 habit. Within the space of an hour or two more 
 than three hundred men, women, and children 
 fell at the hands of the savages, who burned their 
 houses, butchered their cattle, and mangled their 
 dead bodies. One Indian servant out of affection 
 for his master had revealed the plot on the eve of 
 
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294 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 its accomplishment. By his means Jamestown 
 and the adjacent settlements were warned in the 
 early morning, and thus a much more dreadful 
 destruction was avoided. 
 
 Great was the consternation in England when 
 the news arrived. The Company no more ad- 
 vised a tender and kindly treatment of the sav- 
 ages. The colonists now hated the Indians with 
 a bitter animosity. They wreaked vengeance on 
 them, they hunted them, they kept great mastiffs 
 and bloodhounds to set upon them. They averred 
 that the dogs took the ' ' naked tanned ' ' savages 
 for ' ' no other than wild beasts, ' ' while the In- 
 dians themselves feared them " worse than their 
 old devil which they worship, supposing them to 
 be a new and worse kind of devils than their 
 own." 
 
 Captain Smith was fired with a desire to fight 
 these savages and protect the colony in which he 
 felt so warm an interest. He offered his services 
 to the Company to lead a band of one hundred 
 and thirty men to Virginia, promising to make 
 ' ' a flying camp, ' ' with which he would so torment 
 the Indians as either to bring them into subjec- 
 tion or force them to leave the country. He also 
 planned to make such explorations as would 
 bring the two maps of Virginia and New England 
 
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THE MASSACRES OF OPECHANCANOUGH. 295 
 
 together. Many favored his project, but others 
 of the Company considered that the expense 
 would be too great, and so were inclined to let 
 the planters take care of themselves. Smith says 
 he was given to understand that he would be al- 
 lowed to undertake such an expedition at his own 
 expense and might have the plunder as a reward. 
 But he says, truly, that the plunder to be pro- 
 cured from Indian villages would not amount to 
 twenty pounds in twenty years. 
 
 The massacre was a great drawback to the 
 Virginia colony. The planters drew together 
 upon some few plantations for safety, and it was 
 some time before the Virginians gained a feeling 
 of security and Virginia's prosperity returned to 
 her. 
 
 Opechancanough was a savage of the savages, 
 crafty, cruel, and proud. Twenty years later he 
 instituted another massacre of the ever- encroach- 
 ing settlers. He was supposed to be nearly 
 a hundred years eld, and very feeble. But his 
 fierce ambition had by no means subsided with 
 oncoming age. He led his men, and the deadly 
 work was the most destructive where he was 
 in person. But no resistance to white settlement 
 could avail for the Indians of Virginia. Opechan- 
 canough was taken prisoner. The once straight 
 
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296 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 and active warrior was bent and emaciated. He 
 was so weak that he was carried on a litter from 
 place to place. The muscles of his eyelids were 
 paralyzed so that he could not raise them. He 
 was carried to Jamestown and well used, but was 
 naturally an object of curiosity. Hearing one 
 day the sound of many footsteps the old chief 
 commanded his attendants to raise his eyelids. 
 He saw himself surrounded by a crowd of people 
 curious to see the famous Opechancanough. He 
 sent for Sir William Berkley, the governor. 
 " Had it been my fortune," said the proud old 
 man, " to have taken Sir William Berkley pris- 
 oner, I would not have meanly exposed him as a 
 show to my people." 
 
 Soon after this the old chief was shamefully 
 shot in the back by his keeper, no doubt in re- 
 venge for his massacre of some family of women 
 and children. 
 
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CHAPTER XL. 
 
 DEATH AND CHARACTER OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 
 
 Captain Smith's travels and adventures seem 
 to have come to an end while he was yet young. 
 He lived to see successful colonies thriving in the 
 two lands of his affection, Virginia and New 
 England. Had these perished he would no doubt 
 have buckled on his armor again and planted anew. 
 
 During the later years of his life he published 
 many books, and a general history of Virginia ap- 
 peared under his supervision, but chiefly written 
 by others, and edited by the Rev. Dr. Symonds. 
 Captain John Smith died in 1631, in the fifty- 
 second year of his age. He was buried in St. 
 Sepulchre's Church, in London, where the fci« 
 lowing inscription was set up to his memory : 
 
 " Here lies one conquered that hath conquered king's. 
 Subdued large territories and done things 
 Which to the world impossible would seem. 
 But that the truth is held in more esteem. 
 Shalt I report his former services done 
 In honor of God and Christendom ? 
 How that he did divide from pagans three 
 Their heads and lives, types of his chivalry j 
 
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298 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 For which great service in that climate done. 
 
 Brave Sigismundus, King of Hungarion, 
 
 Did give him a coat of arms to wear, 
 
 Those conquered heads got by his sword and spear t 
 
 Or shall I tell of his adventures since 
 
 Done in Virginia, that large continent, 
 
 How that he subdued kings unto his yoke, 
 
 And made those heathens fly as wind doth smoke- 
 
 And made their land, being of so large a station, 
 
 A habitation for our Christian nation. 
 
 Where God is glorified, their wants supplied, 
 
 Which else for necessaries might have died ? 
 
 But what avails his conquest ? now he lies 
 
 Interred in earth, a prey for worms and flies. 
 
 Oh may his soul in sweet Elysium sleep 
 
 Until the Keeper, that all souls doth keep, 
 
 Return to judgment, and thtt after thence 
 
 With angels he may have his recompense." 
 
 Of Smith's explorations, Robertson says in his 
 famous History of America : 
 
 ' ' After sailing three thousand miles in a paltry 
 vessel, ill-fitted for such an extensive navigation, 
 during which the hardships to which he was ex- 
 posed, as well as the patience with which he en- 
 dured and the fortitude with which he sur- 
 mounted them, equal whatever is related of the 
 most famous Spanish discoverers in their most 
 daring enterprises, he returned to Jamestown ; 
 he ■ brought with him an account of that large 
 
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DEATH OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 299 
 
 portion of the American continent now [in 1 774] 
 comprehended in the two provinces of Virginia 
 and Maryland, so full and exact that after the prog- 
 ress of information and research for a century 
 and a half his map exhibits no inaccurate view of 
 both countries, and is the original upon which all 
 subsequent delineations and descriptions have 
 been formed." 
 
 Of the private character of our great captain 
 we may judge by what one of Smith's former 
 soldiers says of him : 
 
 " I never knew a warrior yet but thee, 
 
 From wine, tobacco, debts, dice, oaths so free." 
 
 Captain Smith was in his own day and until 
 our time honored as the hero of Virginia. But 
 there is a pedantic pride which loves to show its 
 knowledge by unhorsing the heroes of history. 
 In our own time the writings of Wingfield, New- 
 port, and others, recently brought to light, have 
 been used to discredit the narratives of Smith. 
 Men have even assailed him with bitterness, and 
 a recent writer intimates that he was a " gascon 
 and a beggar," though the same author thinks 
 that Virginia ought to erect a monument to his 
 fame ! 
 
 Men were not so careful of historical accuracy 
 in the days of James I. as they are to-day His- 
 
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300 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 tory in our sense of the word was hardly known 
 in English literature. The public expected trav- 
 ellers to please them with well-varnished stories. 
 That Smith may have allowed his imagination too 
 much play in setting down romantic facts from 
 memory is not improbable. It was the bad fashion 
 of travellers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centu- 
 ries. But the statements of Newport, Wingfi^ld, 
 and Ratcliffe, all enemies to Captain John Smith, 
 and who yet say more to confirm than to contra- 
 dict him, are certainly not entitled to half the 
 weight of Smith's writings. For, on any theory, 
 Wingfield was grossly incompetent, Newport 
 was as helpless as a porpoise when he set foot on 
 lind, not efficient in exploring and foolish in nego- 
 tiating, while Captain Ratcliffe was an adventurer 
 sailing under the false flag of an assumed name. 
 
 There are two fields in which we are able to 
 test Captain Smith's veracity. His map of the 
 region about the Chesapeake remains to-day a 
 wonderfully accurate chart, when we consider 
 that he lacked the use of modern instruments for 
 survey. His descriptions of the country are al- 
 ways correct, and his accounts of the manners 
 and customs of the Indians are in the main true 
 to the life, as we know the slow-changing Algon- 
 quin tribes of to-day. 
 
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DEATH OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 3OI 
 
 Now, if we remember the solid qualities of 
 Smith— if we remember the fact that at the be- 
 ginning of the settlement at Jamestown he was 
 excluded from the council and condemned by the 
 other leaders, and that he was afterwards the one 
 man who could manage the settlers and the 
 savages, the man who, by the sheer force of ne- 
 cessity, was brought to the front and made presi- 
 dent — we shall see how little ground there is for 
 these aspersions of his character. Add to this 
 that he was, after his return, a member of the 
 London Council of the Company, and that the 
 Virginia Company and the Plymouth Company 
 competed for his services, and we can understand 
 how little he deserves to be condemned on the 
 testimony of the incompetent, whom he pushed 
 to the wall for the sake of saving the colony. 
 Make what reductions we may in his own narra- 
 tive or in the testimony of his friends, accept for 
 truth all that is said by his enemies, and on any 
 possible theory of events John Smith remains, of 
 all that quarrelsome company, the one man whose 
 disinterestedness, courage, address, perseverance, 
 and weight of character fitted him to save colo- 
 nists from the result of their own folly and from 
 the craft of the savages. Is such a hardy leader 
 of forlorn hopes, such an explorer of new rivers, 
 
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302 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 such a terror to crafty savages, likely to be found 
 in the person of " a gascon and a beggar "? Not 
 Virginia alone, but the nation ought to erect a 
 monument to the first explorer, the first defender, 
 and the first historian of the country. 
 
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APPENDIX. 
 
 NOTE 1. smith's deliverance BY POCAHONTAS. 
 
 This story of Captain Smith's deliverance was 
 not mentioned in his " True Relation," published 
 in England in 1608, nor in the historical notices 
 printed with his " Map of Virginia" at Oxford, 
 16 1 2. It first appears while Pocahontas was in 
 England in 1616 or 1617, in a letter addressed by 
 Smith to the queen in behalf of the ' ' Lady Re- 
 becca" or Pocahontas. Nor does any account of 
 his romantic deliverance appear in Wingfield's 
 very brief narrative. The circumstantial account 
 first appears in the " Generall Historic of Vir- 
 ginia," published in 1624. This book was gath- 
 ered out of the writings of many writers, and was 
 edited by Dr. Symonds, though it was issued in 
 Smith's name. In consequence of its not appear- 
 ing in the earlier accounts, the incident has of late 
 years been very generally given up by historians 
 as a romantic tale invented by the gallant captain 
 after the daughter of Powhatan became famous 
 
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3G4 APPENDIX, 
 
 as the first convert to Christianity, and the first 
 Indian woman married to an Englishman. We 
 have thought it better to give the narrative in the 
 text as it is given in Smith's General History, and 
 to reserve a statement of its doubtfulness for this 
 note. 
 
 Nor do we consider it quite clear that the 
 pleasing story must be given up. There are yet 
 so many unsolved questions about Jamestown and 
 about Pocahontas, that we may have to return to 
 the old belief in the veracity of Smith. In the 
 " True Relation, " published in 1608, he praises 
 Pocahontas as " a child of ten years old which not 
 only for feature, countenance, and proportion 
 much exceeded any of the rest of his [Powhatan's] 
 people, but for wit and spirit the only non-pareil 
 of his country." If we suppose that this child 
 had delivered Smith, but that for some motive 
 unknown to us he or his editor suppressed the 
 account, this praise seems natural. If not, why 
 should he thus praise this Indian girl ? He men- 
 tions farther on that she was sent as a messenger 
 to intercede for certain savages that had been de- 
 tained. Why should Powhatan send so young a 
 child to accompany a messenger on a difficult 
 mission ? Why entrust his daughter to the 
 whites? If she had delivered Smith all this 
 
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smith's deliverance by POCAHONTAS. 305 
 
 would be natural enough. It is all very difficult 
 on any other supposition. 
 
 Again Pocahontas was always afterwards a 
 friend and benefactor to the whites, helping and 
 warning them. She was especially devoted to 
 Smith, and when she was married to Rolfe she 
 had been made to believe that Captain Smith was 
 dead. When she met Smith in England she was 
 much moved. All of these things are of the same 
 piece with Smith's story of her interference in 
 his behalf. 
 
 The " True Relation" was published somewhat 
 mysteriously. Some copies bear the name of 
 Thomas Watson, with a preface explaining that 
 it was a printer's blunder, others the name of 
 John Smith, others read " By a Gentleman of said 
 Colony." This variation is clearly made in the 
 same form of the title-page. The initials " I. H." 
 are signed to the preface. Who is I. H.? Why 
 this halting about the name of the author ? It is 
 confessed that the editor came upon his copy at 
 second or third hand ; that is, we suppose that it 
 had been copied in MS. He also confesses to 
 omitting what he thought "fit to be private." 
 All account of the adventurous voyage is left out 
 either by the author or the editor. Some sen- 
 tences are incomprehensible even to so careful an 
 
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3o6 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 editor as Mr. Charles Deane, who reprinted the 
 tract in 1866, and the name of Captain]^Smith does 
 not appear in it throughout. Can any one doubt 
 that the " True Relation" was carefully revised, 
 not to say corrupted, in the interest of the Com- 
 pany and of the colony ? And if so, what more 
 natural than that the hostility of so powerful a 
 chief as Powhatan would be concealed ? For the 
 great need of the colony was a fresh supply of 
 colonists. Nothing would have so much tended 
 to check emigration to Virginia as a belief that 
 the most powerful neighboring pnnce was at en- 
 mity with the settlement. (The same reason may 
 have procured the omission of the fight at Ke- 
 coughtan-Hampton, as related in Chapter IV. of 
 this book ; though indeed that story has a marvel- 
 lous sound as told in the General History.) 
 
 While, therefore, much doubt is thrown upon 
 the incident of Smith's deliverance by Pocahontas 
 on account of its omission from the earlier ac- 
 counts, there are some reasons for believing it to 
 be true. 
 
 NOTE 2. THE SURVIVORS OF THE ROANOKE COL- 
 ONY. 
 V/illiam Strachey, who makes the statement 
 about the slaughter of the survivors of the colony 
 
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SURVIVORS OF THE ROANOKE COLONY. 307 
 
 by Powhatan, in his " Historie of Travaile into 
 Virginia Britannia," has the following curious 
 sentence : 
 
 ' ' At Peccarecamek and Ochanahoen, by the re- 
 lation of Machumps [an Indian], the people have 
 houses built with stone walls, so taught them by 
 those English who escaped the slaughter at 
 Roanoake, at what time this our colony under 
 conduct of Captain Newport landed within the 
 Chesapeake Bay, where the people had up tame 
 turkeys and take apes in the mountains ; and 
 where at Ritanoe, the Werowance Eyanoco pre- 
 served seven of the English alive — ^four men, two 
 boys, and one young maid (who escaped and fled 
 up the river Chanoke) — to beat his copper, of 
 which he had certain mines at Ritanoe." (1849, 
 p. 26.) 
 
 That is to say, if we disentangle it rightly, that 
 Eyanoco, chief at Ritanoe, preserved the lives ol 
 seven of the English settlers, to beat his copper 
 and build his houses, and that these colonists were 
 yet alive when Captain Newport landed at James- 
 town. From another very obscure passage we 
 infer that Machumps or some other Indian had 
 told Strachey that Powhatan, instigated by his 
 priests, had sent into the country where these 
 captives were, and put them to death after the 
 
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308 POCAHONTAS. 
 
 settlement of Jamestown, where the survivors 
 of Roanoke had ' ' twenty odd years peaceably 
 lived intermixed with those savages." This mas- 
 sacre may have been to prevent communication 
 with Jamestown by rival chiefs through the cap- 
 tives. If, indeed, Strachey were not imposed on 
 by the facile mvention of an Indian story teller, 
 making a tale to suit the demands of his auditors, 
 as others had invented gold mines and an easy 
 route to the Pacific to gratify the ^yhites. Stra- 
 chey evidently believes his story, for he refers to 
 it again and again, proposing at one time to 
 make it a ground for alliance with neighboring 
 chiefs against Powhatan (p. 103). 
 
 Lawson's History (1718) is quoted in the 
 Transactions of the American Antiquarian Soci- 
 ety, vol. iv., p. 37, as citing a tradition among 
 the Hatteras Indians ' ' that several of their an- 
 cestors were white people, and could talk from a 
 book ; the truth of which is confirmed by gray 
 eyes being among these Indians and no other." 
 But this proves little about the Roanoke colony. 
 If Strachey had finished his book we should per- 
 haps have known more, for he promised a fuller 
 account in a future chapter. But he was, we 
 tear, a somewhat eager collector of stories ; 
 though there is nothing inherently improbable in 
 
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PREVIOUS MARRIAGE OF POCAHONTAS. 309 
 
 his account of the fate of the whites. But what 
 shall we do with the apes which the Indians 
 caught in the mountains of North Carolina ? (See 
 the next note.) 
 
 NOTE 3. PREVIOUS MARRIAGE OF POCAHONTAS. 
 
 William Strachey, referred to in Note 2, uses 
 these words in an account of Powhatan's family : 
 " — and besides young Pocohunta, a daughter 
 of his, using sometime to our fort in times 
 past, now married to a private captain called 
 Kocoum some two years since." (Strachey, 
 p. 54.) As Indian marriages were often fast 
 and loose affairs, and as Powhatan sold his 
 daughters in marriage, and gave away his wives 
 when he tired of them, it might well be that Po- 
 cahontas was living with a husband when Argall 
 captured her. The English, with the religious 
 prejudices of the time, would not think much of 
 the sanctity of a pagan marriage, and would not 
 halt at anything that stood in the way of the con- 
 version of Pocahontas to Christianity. But it is 
 worth while to remember that Strachey probably 
 wrote his book, according to the best judges, 
 more than two years after his return to England, 
 and that he could only know of the marriage to a 
 private captain or petty chief, two years previous 
 
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3IO POCAHONTAS. 
 
 to his writing, by report of others, and that he 
 may very well have mistaken a report of the 
 marriage of any other of Powhatan's daughters 
 for that of Pocahontas. If she had been pre- 
 viously married, we should probably not have 
 wanted for others to certify that fact, and there 
 would then have been no need of the suggestions 
 of various writers mentioned in the text as to 
 the causes of her residence on the Potomac. Or 
 might he not have written as late as the early 
 part of 1616, before Rolfe's arrival in England ? 
 And this ' ' private captain, ' ' may he not be John 
 Rolfe, transformed by some confusion of memory 
 or mistake of a copyist into Kocoum ? We 
 nowhere find the word captain applied to an In- 
 dian. Strachey's book was first printed from 
 the manuscript in the British Museum in 1849. 
 
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