TRUE 
 OF GREAT 
 
 STORIES' 
 
 AMERICANS 
 
 CAPTAl 
 JOHN SMITF 
 
 mOSSITER JOHNSO 
 
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 COPYRIGOT DEPOSIT. 
 
TRUE STORIES OF GREAT AMERICANS 
 
 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
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 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 
 NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS 
 ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO 
 
 MACMILLAN & CO., Limited 
 
 LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA 
 MELBOURNE 
 
 THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. 
 
 TORONTO 
 
Captain John Smith. 
 
 From the statue by William Couper. Unveiled on Jamestown Island. 
 Virginia, September, 1907. 
 
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 (1579-1631) 
 
 BY 
 
 ROSSITER JOHNSON 
 
 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 
 All rights reserved 
 

 28 
 
 Copyright, 1915, 
 By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. 
 
 Set up and electrotyped. Published April, 1915. 
 
 Nortoooti ^ttii 
 
 J. 8. Cashing Co. — Berwick «fe Smith Co. 
 
 Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 
 
 APR 161915 
 
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 3-> 
 J 
 
 ^ CONTENTS 
 
 s- 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 PACK 
 
 His Early Years i 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 Soldier and Traveler 5 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 The Siege of Regal 17 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 War in Transylvania 25 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 Captured and Enslaved 30 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 Travel and Piracy 37 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 Early Attempts in America 46 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 The First Virginia Company 55 
 
 V 
 
VI CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Jamestown Founded 64 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 Prisoner to the Indians 73 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 At Powhatan's Capital 85 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 Captain Newport Arrives 93 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 Trouble with the Indians 113 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 Exploring Chesapeake Bay 121 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 Coronation of Powhatan 138 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 A Famous Letter 145 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 Murderous Plots 153 
 
CONTENTS vu 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 PAGB 
 
 Discipline 162 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 A New Charter 166 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 New Ventures 172 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 Smith's Last Years 186 
 
 Index 191 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Statue of Captain John Smith 
 
 Portrait of Captain John Smith 
 Jamestown Tower 
 Statue of Pocahontas . 
 Portrait of Pocahontas 
 Pocahontas Memorial Window 
 
 Frontispiece * 
 
 FACING PAGE 
 
 182 , 
 
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 His Early Years 
 
 Captain John Smith, of whom Thomas Jeffer- 
 son said that he was, "next to Raleigh, the founder 
 of Virginia," was one of the most extraordinary 
 characters of either ancient or modern times. 
 His varied fortunes, far-scattered scenes of action, 
 and dangerous adventures, with his enormous en- 
 ergy, unfailing courage, and extraordinary execu- 
 tive ability, make the story of his life a romance 
 that needs no fancy touches for its completion. 
 
 For some parts of the story we have only his 
 own word, and therefore certain critical writers 
 have thrown doubt upon its truth. But there 
 are many bits of history that depend upon the 
 word of one person; and when explorers return 
 to us from unknown lands, we seldom question 
 the truth of their narrative, though it tells 
 of wonders we never had imagined. Moreover, 
 
2 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 those parts of Captain Smith's career that are 
 told by other witnesses present adventures quite 
 as extraordinary and a character quite as masterly 
 as he himself has shown in the parts that depend 
 solely on his own word. Let us therefore take 
 him in good faith, and walk with him, ride with 
 him, sail with him, fight with him, suffer with 
 him, from his uneasy boyhood in Lincolnshire 
 till his quiet leave of life in London at the age of 
 fifty-two — the same span of life that was en- 
 joyed by his great contemporary, William Shake- 
 speare. 
 
 John Smith was born in the little village of 
 Willoughby, England, in sight of the North Sea, 
 in January, 1579. His parents were in humble 
 circumstances, yet not so poor but that his father 
 left an estate large enough to tempt John's guard- 
 ians to get rid of him that they might enjoy it 
 themselves. He was sent to the free schools of 
 Louth and Alford, not far away, and acquired 
 what we should call a good common-school edu- 
 cation. 
 
 But a desire for travel and adventure appears 
 to have been born in him — probably increased 
 by his familiarity with sailors and fishermen and 
 the great sea. In his fourteenth year he sold 
 his schoolbooks and was about to run away in 
 
HIS EARLY YEARS 3 
 
 search of adventures; but before he got away 
 from the village his father died, and this caused 
 him to remain to enjoy the property that he in- 
 herited. As he was not yet of age, he had to 
 have guardians to take care of him and his estate. 
 They appear to have had more care for the estate 
 than for the boy, as they allowed him only a very 
 small amount of pocket money, and the next year 
 they bound him out as an apprentice to a trades- 
 man named Tendall, in Lynn. Here he was 
 fifty miles from the home of his childhood, but he 
 was even nearer the sea than he had been, and 
 its fascination grew upon him. He besought his 
 master to send him to sea, and when this was 
 refused he ran away. 
 
 After some wanderings, he found an opportunity 
 to go to France as a servant to a son of Lord 
 Willoughby, who was an eminent commander in 
 the wars. There were many European wars in 
 that day ; nearly every country on that continent 
 was involved in some bloody struggle. The 
 desire for liberty and responsible government 
 had begun to assert itself, and despotism was 
 dying hard. 
 
 After a few weeks of this service, in which he 
 traveled over a great part of France, Smith was 
 dismissed and made his way to his old home. 
 
4 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 But he was not wanted there, as his guardians 
 preferred to have the use of his property for them- 
 selves. They therefore gave him a small amount 
 of money — what would be about twenty-five dol- 
 lars in our day — and sent him abroad again. 
 
 This time he went to Paris, where he led a some- 
 what aimless Hfe, until he made the acquaintance 
 of a Scotchman named David Hume — probably a 
 distant kinsman of the David Hume who is now 
 famous as a historian. When his money was al- 
 most spent, Hume gave him letters to King James 
 VI of Scotland (afterward James I of England), 
 and Smith set out to return once more to Great 
 Britain. But the spirit of adventure was his ruling 
 passion, and there was no promise of adventure 
 for him in his native land. He went to Havre de 
 Grace and determined to be a soldier, but was dis- 
 appointed by the peace that was established be- 
 tween France and Spain. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 Soldier and Traveler 
 
 Smith was now in his twentieth year, and being 
 determined to have at least a taste of military life, 
 he enlisted in an independent company of soldiers of 
 fortune, or free lances, as they were called — those 
 who would fight for any cause, or on any side, that 
 paid the best. With this company he spent three 
 years in the Netherlands, where the Dutch were 
 still struggling for complete independence from 
 Spain. But he appears not to have risen to any 
 noteworthy rank, when he left that country and 
 sailed for Scotland. The ship was wrecked on the 
 coast of Northumberland, and Smith, escaping, 
 but feeble, lay ill for some time in the Holy Isle. 
 
 The proper name of this island is Lindisfarne; 
 it is in the North Sea, about ten miles from Berwick. 
 At high tide it is an island two miles from the main- 
 land ; but at low tide one can walk across on the 
 sandy neck. It has an area of about four square 
 miles, a part of it covered by sand dunes, the re- 
 mainder being fertile soil. There is a small harbor, 
 
 5 
 
6 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 a little village, a fine old castle, and the ruins of an 
 ancient abbey. It is called th Holy Isle because 
 this abbey was founded by a company of monks 
 in the seventh century and became famous. In the 
 tenth century the building was ruined by an in- 
 vasion of Danes, and the monks were scattered. 
 The island is now a popular resort for sea bathing. 
 Several other islands have been called Holy Isle — 
 notably Guernsey and Rugen — but none so 
 widely known as this. 
 
 As soon as Smith was able he proceeded to Scot- 
 land, landing at Leith, near Edinburgh, and pre- 
 sented his letters. He had a cordial reception at 
 court ; but Hfe in court circles is expensive, and he 
 had no money. Therefore he was obHged to re- 
 turn once more to his native town, where he found 
 so Httle that interested him that he determined to 
 try the Hfe of a hermit. He discovered a pleasant 
 glade in the heart of a forest, and there built for 
 himself a rude hut. He had taken his horse with 
 him, and his exercise consisted in imitating the 
 tournament exercises of knights in the Middle 
 Ages. He had also taken a few books, and he tells 
 us that his favorite authors were Marcus Aurelius 
 and Machiavelli. This makes us smile a Httle, 
 as if he were taking a poison and an antidote at 
 the same time — Marcus Aurelius being not only 
 
SOLDIER AND TRAVELER 7 
 
 the best of the Roman Emperors but perhaps the 
 most spiritual and Fincerely pious of all the heathen 
 writers, while the very name of Machiavelli, the 
 Itahan statesman, has given us a word for craft, 
 cunning, and cruelty. 
 
 Smith had probably had as much of this quiet 
 life as a tireless and roving spirit like his could en- 
 dure, when he fell in with an Itahan named Theo- 
 dore Palaloga, an interesting man, who was a 
 retainer of the Earl of Lincoln. They went to- 
 gether to Tattershall, near Boston, a Lincolnshire 
 seaport, where the Earl had a castle, and Smith 
 appears to have expected to be taken into the Earl's 
 service. But in this he was disappointed, and he 
 betook himself once more to the Netherlands in 
 search of employment and adventure. 
 
 Then he became acquainted with three French- 
 men of the kind that we call "confidence men." 
 They assumed high characters, and pretended that 
 they could put him into military service advan- 
 tageously. It seems strange that so able a man, 
 who already had seen much of the world, could be 
 deceived by such characters ; but so it was, and he 
 sailed with them for France. When the vessel 
 arrived there, they went ashore first, taking Smith's 
 baggage with them ; and when he was able to land, 
 some time later — for the captain of the vessel was a 
 
8 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 confederate of the confidence men and held him back 
 — they had disappeared, taking with them nearly all 
 his possessions. This left him nothing to do but 
 go about, trying to make friends and looking for 
 an opportunity to ship on board a man-of-war. 
 In those forlorn days he had one comfort, however. 
 By chance he met one of the three robbers, in a 
 lonely place, and Smith immediately drew his 
 sword and compelled the fellow to fight for his fife. 
 The combat ended — as it should have ended, 
 both in justice and in romance — by Smith's giving 
 the robber a serious wound. 
 
 The Earl of Ployer, who had lived in England, 
 befriended Smith and gave him money, and he then 
 traveled extensively in France, being interested in 
 the people, the natural scenery, the forts and the 
 castles. When he arrived at Marseilles, on the 
 Mediterranean, he took passage in a ship for Italy ; 
 and from this he met with one of his most surpris- 
 ing adventures. Stormy weather came on, and 
 was so severe that the captain was afraid to proceed, 
 so he ran the vessel to the sheltered side of the httle, 
 uninhabited island of St. Mary. Still the bad 
 weather continued, and many of the passengers 
 became impatient. Among them was a company 
 of pilgrims going to Rome. These blamed Smith 
 for the delay, saying he was a Huguenot, and there- 
 
SOLDIER AND TRAVELER 9 
 
 fore very bad, and they could hope for no better 
 weather while he was on board. They therefore 
 threw him into the sea, as Jonah was thrown 
 (Jonah i, 15). But he was a powerful swimmer 
 and he got ashore on the island, and the next day 
 a merchantman that arrived and anchored there 
 took him on board. We do not read that the pil- 
 grims obtained any better weather by casting 
 Smith into the sea. 
 
 On board the merchantman Smithes conversa- 
 tion proved so interesting that he quickly won the 
 heart of the commander. Captain La Roche, and 
 they became fast friends. They passed down the 
 western coast of Italy, stopping at several ports, 
 sailed among the Grecian isles, and then cast anchor 
 in the Strait of Otranto. Here Smith discovered 
 that the ship he was on had a double character — 
 merchantman and pirate. She waited there till 
 a richly laden vessel from Venice appeared. Cap- 
 tain La Roche hailed her and asked to speak ; but 
 the Venetian, who guessed correctly what La Roche 
 wanted, answered with a shot, which killed one 
 man of the pirate's crew. La Roche then opened 
 with broadsides, which were answered in kind, 
 until La Roche had lost fifteen men and the Vene- 
 tian twenty, whose ship also was so badly damaged 
 that she was likely to sink. She surrendered there- 
 
lo CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 fore, and the pirates made haste to take off the most 
 valuable parts of her cargo, and worked at it a day 
 and a night. They obtained velvets and other 
 costly cloths in abundance and considerable gold 
 and silver money; and Smith says they then let 
 her go, having still as much cargo as would have 
 loaded the pirate ship again. He appears to have 
 had no scruples about assisting in this robbery and 
 accepting a share of the booty thus obtained — 
 five hundred sequins, about twelve hundred dollars 
 — and what he calls ''a Httle box worth nearly as 
 much more." When the return voyage was made 
 he landed at Antibes, in France. In those days 
 piracy, as well as some other evil practices, was not 
 held in abhorrence, and afterward Smith's colony 
 in Virginia suffered indirectly from it, because ships 
 that were sent out with much-needed provisions, 
 instead of going directly to their destination, sailed 
 off southward, cruising in the West Indies to cap- 
 ture some richly laden Spanish galleon. 
 
 With so much money in hand — which probably 
 had as much purchasing power as five thousand 
 dollars would have to-day — Smith could do no 
 less than indulge his passion for travel. He went 
 into Italy as far south as Naples, visited all the 
 cities, and records his interest in nearly everything 
 that he saw. 
 
SOLDIER AND TRAVELER ii 
 
 He then made his way to Gratz, the capital of 
 Styria, in eastern Austria-Hungary, a fine old city, 
 in and around which armies contended at various 
 times from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century. 
 With his talent for making friends rapidly. Smith 
 soon added to his Hst an Englishman and an Irish 
 priest, and through them he came to the notice of 
 Baron Kissell, a commander of artillery, who sent 
 him to Vienna, where he enlisted in a regiment 
 commanded by the Earl of Meldritch. This was the 
 beginning of his longest and most important mili- 
 tary experience. The Turks were invading Europe, 
 and German armies were confronting them in Hun- 
 gary. The town of Olumpagh (or Olimacum), near 
 Lake Flatten, was closely besieged by a strong 
 Turkish force, and General KisselFs first duty was 
 to relieve it. Here, according to his own story, 
 first came into play Smith's varied ingenuity. 
 He had invented a system of signaHng with torches, 
 and by good fortune he had explained it to Lord 
 Ebersbraugh when he made his acquaintance in 
 Gratz, and Ebersbraugh was now in command in the 
 besieged city. 
 
 This system was very simple. The letters from 
 A to L were numbered (i to 12), and also those from 
 M to Z (i to 14). The first set were represented by 
 a single torch, the second set by two torches, and 
 
12 CAPTMN JOHN SMITH 
 
 the number of times the torches were raised and 
 lowered indicated the letter. Thus, for D a single 
 torch would be raised and lowered four times. For 
 O two torches would be raised and lowered three 
 times. Three torches were raised and lowered to 
 signify "this is the end of a word.'^ 
 
 Smith explained this system to General Kissell 
 and to the Earl of Meldritch, who had brought his 
 regiment to assist Kissell's artillery. They adopted 
 it, and sent Smith, with a party, to a neighboring 
 hill to communicate with the besieged garrison. 
 They soon got a reply, and then, by their signals, 
 told Ebersbraugh the plan that had been formed 
 for his relief. As Kissell had only ten thousand 
 men to meet the Turks, he needed the assistance 
 of the garrison, which was to sally out when he at- 
 tacked; and full instructions to that effect were 
 given to Ebersbraugh by means of the torches. 
 The attack was to be made on the Turks at one 
 side of the town, and Smith devised a means of 
 making them think it was to be on the opposite 
 side. To long lines he fastened bits of match with 
 a little powder, and after dark these lines were fas- 
 tened to stakes that held them breast high, in a 
 plain on that side of the town. At a signal these 
 were fired, and the Turks, supposing the flashes 
 were from musketry, prepared to meet an attack 
 
SOLDIER AND TRAVELER 13 
 
 from that side. Then Ebersbraugh and his garri- 
 son sallied out on the other side and joined KisselFs 
 forces for a determined sudden attack on the 
 Turks in their trenches, all of whom were either 
 killed or put to flight. Then Kissell's men marched 
 into the town; and the Turks on the other side, 
 who had been deceived by Smith's stratagem, 
 abandoned the siege and marched away. For 
 his part in this success, Smith was made a captain. 
 
 Both sides now prepared for a more vigorous 
 prosecution of the war. The Turks brought up 
 heavy reenforcements, and the Emperor Rudolph 
 II organized three armies to meet them. One of 
 these armies was led by the Due de Mercoeur, whom 
 Captain Smith calls Duke of Mercury, and num- 
 bered about thirty thousand men. The first task 
 set for this army — which included the Earl of 
 Meldritch's regiment, in which Captain Smith 
 served — was to besiege Alba Regalis, a strong 
 place held by the Turks. Here the fighting was 
 frequent and serious, as the besieged Turks made 
 many sallies and sometimes gained partial victories. 
 
 Here again Captain Smith's ingenuity came into 
 play, and he invented what he called his ^' fiery 
 dragons." He gave this name to certain earthen 
 pots, forty or fifty of them, which he filled with 
 gunpowder, brimstone, turpentine, and other sub- 
 
14 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 stances that are extremely dangerous in connection 
 with fire. The mass contained bullets as well. 
 The whole pot was then covered with a cloth so 
 smeared with wax, oil, and brimstone that the mass 
 was highly inflammable. When it was ready to 
 launch at the enemy , it was set on fire, and then woe 
 to those who were in its vicinity a few moments later ! 
 For these ''fiery dragons " he placed in slings as near 
 as he could get to those quarters of the town where, 
 as he had learned from escaping Christians, were 
 usually the greatest assemblages of Turks. At 
 midnight, on a signal, these strange missiles were 
 thrown into the town, and Captain Smith says it 
 was ''a perfect sight to see the short flaming course 
 of their flight in the air, but presently after their 
 fall the lamentable noise of the miserable slaugh- 
 tered Turks was most wonderful to hear.'' 
 
 At the opposite side of the city was a fortified 
 suburb, specially protected by a shallow lake. A 
 night attack at this point was planned; and by 
 throwing into the lake great bundles of brush they 
 made a sort of rough road or causeway, so that the 
 soldiers were able to cross it and surprise the enemy. 
 Captain Smith's narrative thus describes the ac- 
 tion : ''The city, of no such strength as the sub- 
 urbs, with their own ordnance [cannon] was so 
 battered that it was taken perforce, with such 
 
SOLDIER AND TRAVELER 15 
 
 merciless execution as was most pitiful to behold. 
 The Bashaw notwithstanding drew together a party 
 of five hundred before his own palace, where he in- 
 tended to die ; but seeing most of his men slain be- 
 fore him by the vahant Captain Earl Meldritch, 
 who took him prisoner with his own hands and with 
 the hazard of himself saved him from the fury of 
 other troops, that did pull down his palace and 
 would have rent him in pieces had he not been thus 
 preserved. The Duke thought his victory much 
 honored with such a prisoner, and took order he 
 should be used like a prince." 
 
 The victorious army not only occupied the city 
 but put it into a state of repair, which it badly 
 needed after being in the possession of the Turks 
 for sixty years. 
 
 Meanwhile a large Turkish army was on its way 
 to relieve the garrison just defeated, or to retake 
 the city. The army in which Captain Smith was 
 serving promptly marched out to meet this new 
 force, and there was fierce fighting in the plain of 
 Girke. Here Captain Smith was wounded and his 
 horse was killed. After this, the Christian army 
 was divided ; a part of it went westward to assist 
 at the siege of Caniza, and the Earl of Meldritch 
 with six thousand men marched more than a hun- 
 dred miles eastward into Transylvania, where 
 
i6 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 there was a tangled dispute as to the right of gov- 
 ernment, and this had given the Turks an oppor- 
 tunity to estabhsh themselves there. Prince Sigis- 
 mund Battori was struggling to drive them out, 
 and Meldritch joined him, with an understanding 
 that his men should have all the property they 
 could capture from the Turks. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 The Siege of Regal 
 
 As the country had been in a distracted state for 
 several years, it happened that there were various 
 armed bands — guerrillas, we should call them — 
 having each its little stronghold in the hills. Some 
 were apparently devoted to the Emperor Rudolph, 
 some to the claims of Sigismund, some were Tartars, 
 some Turks, and some simply bandits. By skillful 
 movements the Earl drove many of these to take 
 refuge in a fortified town in the plain of Regal, to 
 which, after a battle, he laid siege. He had seven- 
 teen thousand men and a train of artillery which he 
 mounted as siege guns. While the besiegers were 
 patiently working at their preparations for attack, 
 and the besieged were deriding their slowness, the 
 Turkish commander in the fortress sent out a chal- 
 lenge which Captain Smith thus reports : "To de- 
 light the ladies, who did long to see some courtlike 
 pastime, the Lord Turbishaw did defy any captain 
 that had the command of a company, who durst 
 combat with him for his head." 
 c 17 
 
i8 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 Lots were drawn to determine who should be 
 the champion of the besiegers and meet Turbishaw 
 in single combat, and the choice fell upon Captain 
 Smith. Everything was arranged much as we read 
 of tournaments in the Middle Ages. The be- 
 sieging army was drawn up on the plain, and the 
 ramparts were occupied by soldiers and ladies who 
 would look down upon the contest. The Bashaw, 
 mounted on a fine horse, rode out to the sound of 
 music, and exhibited himself gorgeously attired and 
 wearing wings on his shoulders made of eagle feathers 
 set in silver. One soldier walked before him carry- 
 ing his lance, and two others attended on either side 
 of his horse. Captain Smith, with a flourish of 
 trumpets, rode out to meet him, accompanied only 
 by one man to carry his lance. After the usual 
 courteous salute, the signal was given, and at the 
 first onset Captain Smith drove his lance straight 
 through his opponent and threw him to the ground. 
 Then he dismounted, unbuckled the Bashaw's 
 helmet, and cut off his head. 
 
 A friend of the Bashaw's named Groalgo then 
 challenged Captain Smith to fight with him, his 
 object being to regain the Bashaw's head, and his 
 offer being that his own head and his horse and ar- 
 mor should belong to Smith if he proved victorious. 
 This proposal was accepted. The men first charged 
 
THE SIEGE OF REGAL 19 
 
 with lances, and, when these were broken, used 
 their pistols. A shot disabled the Turk's bridle 
 arm, so that he could no longer manage his horse, 
 and then Captain Smith threw him off, and got his 
 head, his horse, and his armor. But he at once 
 gave back to the Turk's friends all but the head. 
 This was in accordance with their ideas of chivalry, 
 to show that he was not fighting, for plunder, but 
 only for military glory and the success of his com- 
 mander. The result of these two duels — so un- 
 expected — sobered the Turks, who sent no more 
 challenges. But Smith now became challenger in 
 his turn. In his quaint language he tells us how and 
 why he did it: "To delude time. Smith, with so 
 many incontradictible persuading reasons, obtained 
 leave that the ladies might know he was not so much 
 enamored of their servants' heads but if any Turk 
 of their rank would come to the place of combat 
 to redeem them, should have also his, upon like 
 conditions, if he could win it." 
 
 This challenge was accepted, and the champion 
 who was sent out to meet it was named Bonny 
 Mulgro. It has always been a rule, in dueling, 
 that the man who is challenged has the privilege 
 of naming the weapons to be used. Captain Mul- 
 gro (he must have been at least a captain, as 
 Smith required an antagonist of equal rank) would 
 
20 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 not fight with lances, for he had seen that Smith 
 was master of that weapon; and he himself was 
 expert in wielding a battle-ax. Therefore he chose 
 battle-axes, pistols, and swords. 
 
 The next day was the time named for the fight, 
 and, as before, there was an interested crowd of 
 spectators on each side. The Turks felt confident 
 that their champion would be triumphant this time, 
 and he himself showed by his bearing that he had 
 no doubt as to the result. 
 
 The combatants, who were on horseback, rushed 
 together when the signal was given by a flourish of 
 the trumpet. They fired their pistols at the same 
 instant, but neither was hit. Then they swung 
 their battle-axes and gave blow for blow in rapid 
 succession. It seemed every minute as if skulls 
 must be split or arms lopped off, until Mulgro, by 
 a lucky stroke, knocked Smith's ax out of his hand. 
 Then the Turks, thinking the contest was virtually 
 ended, broke out into tremendous cheering. But 
 Smith, suddenly nerving himself for a final effort, 
 managed his horse so as to avoid further blows, 
 drew his sword, drove at his antagonist in a wild 
 rush, and sent the blade straight through his body. 
 Mulgro got off from his horse, but was able to stand 
 only a few seconds, when he toppled over and was 
 dead. Smith's description of the close of the 
 
THE SIEGE OF REGAL 21 
 
 fight — a mingling of self-praise and acknowledg- 
 ment of divine assistance — is characteristic. He 
 says: "The Turk prosecuted his advantage to the 
 utmost of his power, yet the other — what by the 
 readiness of his horse, and his judgment and dex- 
 terity in such a business beyond all men^s expecta- 
 tions — by God's assistance not only avoided the 
 Turk's violence but, having drawn his own falchion, 
 pierced the Turk so under the cutlets through back 
 and body that, although he alighted from his horse, 
 he stood not long ere he lost his head, as the rest 
 had done." 
 
 For these exploits, Smith was summoned to the 
 headquarters of the commanding general. He was 
 escorted thither by four regiments ; and three sol- 
 diers, each leading a horse, carried three Turks' 
 heads on the point of their lances. The general 
 welcomed him warmly, embraced him according to 
 the custom of the time, and gave him a fine horse 
 with costly trappings, a new sword, and a belt set 
 with gems worth three hundred ducats (about $700). 
 Smith also received promotion to the rank of major. 
 And some time afterward, when Sigismund, Way- 
 wode (Prince) of Transylvania, arrived at the seat 
 of war and learned of these services, he gave Smith 
 a patent (as it was called) authorizing him to bear 
 a coat of arms in which the principal figure was 
 
22 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 three Turks' heads. To this, Sigismund added a 
 miniature portrait of himself, set in gold, and 
 promise of an annual pension of three hundred 
 ducats. But from the ruin of his own fortunes he 
 was not able to pay the pension very long. Smith 
 says, however, that the Prince afterward gave him 
 fifteen hundred ducats to make good his losses. 
 
 When the twenty-six siege guns, by closer ap- 
 proaches and incessant firing for fifteen days, had 
 made great breaches in the walls of the city, an at- 
 tack was made one dark night, and the German 
 soldiers poured in through the breaches. The 
 Turks were taken somewhat by surprise — at least 
 their commander was. Smith tells it in this char- 
 acteristic way: ''Their slothful governor lay in 
 a castle on top of a high mountain, and, Kke a val- 
 iant prince, asketh 'What's the matter?' when 
 horror and death stood amazed at each other, to 
 see who should prevail to make him victorious." — 
 There was heavy loss on both sides. 
 
 Moyses ordered his entire force to make a deter- 
 mined assault by rushing up the long slope in front 
 of the tall promontory. This was the most danger- 
 ous approach to the enemy, but if it could be made 
 was likely to be the most successful. As the men 
 marched up, the enemy rolled down upon them 
 great logs, heavy bowlders, and even, at last, bags 
 
THE SIEGE OF REGAL 23 
 
 of powder — anything they could get that would 
 break the ranks and knock over the men. The 
 commands of Barons Budendorpe and Oberwein 
 lost about half of their men before they reached the 
 top. 
 
 Perhaps the Turks got their idea from the story 
 of the famous battle of Morgarten, in Switzerland, 
 nearly three centuries before, where the Swiss 
 rolled down rocks upon the Austrian army passing 
 through the valley, so that thirteen hundred were 
 enabled to defeat about fourteen thousand. This 
 was the first battle for Swiss independence, and 
 every year it is celebrated in a chapel that has been 
 built for the purpose in the valley. 
 
 But in this battle the Turks were not so success- 
 ful as the Swiss had been. Despite their great 
 losses, the attacking troops moved up steadily 
 till, as Smith expresses it, they ''advanced to the 
 push of the pike,'' that is, fought hand to hand. 
 The Turks were equally brave and fought them 
 steadily, till fresh regiments came up, commanded 
 by Earl Meldritch, Becklefield, and Zarvana, and 
 joined furiously in the fight. Then the Turks 
 gave way and fled into the castle. Here they hung 
 out a white flag and asked for terms of surrender. 
 
 General Moyses refused any terms, kept up the 
 fight, and finally completely overcame the Turks. 
 
24 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 Then all the surviving men of the garrison were 
 killed, and their heads were fastened to stakes and 
 displayed on the walls. This was done because the 
 Turks, when they captured the city, had treated 
 the Christian garrison in that same way. Smith 
 says: "Moyses, having repaired the ramparts and 
 thrown down the works in his camp, put in it a 
 strong garrison. Though the pillage he had gotten 
 in the town was much, it having been for a long 
 time an impregnable den of thieves, yet the loss of 
 the army so intermingled the sour with the sweet 
 as forced Moyses to seek a further revenge, that he 
 sacked Veratio, Solmos, Kupronka, and with two 
 thousand prisoners, mostly women and children, 
 came to Esenberg, not far from the Prince's palace, 
 where he encamped." 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 War in Transylvania 
 
 Soon thereafter military affairs in those prov- 
 inces became as badly tangled as they were after 
 the war with the Turks in 19 13 — more than three 
 centuries later. Factions were at war with one 
 another in the beautiful territory of Transylvania, 
 and Emperor Rudolph sent a powerful army to 
 subdue them. General Moyses met this army, 
 but was defeated, and then, with many of his troops, 
 went over to the Turks. But Earl Meldritch's 
 regiment, with which Smith was still serving, re- 
 mained loyal to the Emperor. The Sultan of 
 Turkey appointed a waywode (prince, governor) 
 of Wallachia, whose rule was so oppressive that 
 there was a popular insurrection against it and he 
 fled to Moldavia. Then Lord Rodoll (German) 
 was made Waywode of Wallachia, but he had to 
 fight for possession of the country, as the Turkish 
 Waywode returned with an army. The struggle 
 was very severe, and there were barbarous practices 
 on both sides. On one occasion, when Meldritch's 
 
 25 
 
26 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 force was entrapped and surrounded, so that it 
 must either perish wholly or cut its way through the 
 enemy, Captain Smith's ingenuity came again to 
 the rescue. He covered several hundred branches 
 of trees, or bushes, with wildfire and fixed them on 
 the heads of the soldiers' lances, and in the night 
 the troops boldly charged with these. The fire 
 frightened the Turkish horses and made them un- 
 manageable, which enabled the Christians to pass 
 through on their way to a junction with Rudolph's 
 forces at Rottenton. 
 
 But while this army was still distant eight or ten 
 miles from its destination it was overtaken and 
 attacked by a Turkish army of forty thousand, and 
 the most destructive battle of the campaign re- 
 sulted in a complete victory for the Turks. Smith's 
 own description of it is better than any that can be 
 written now. He says : — 
 
 ^^In the valley of the Veristhorne, betwixt the 
 river of Altus and the mountains of Rottenton, 
 was this bloody encounter, where most of the dear- 
 est friends of the noble Prince Sigismund perished. 
 Meldritch ordered his eleven thousand in the best 
 manner he could. At the foot of the mountain, 
 upon his flanks and before his front, he pitched 
 sharp stakes, their heads hardened in the fire, and 
 bent against the enemy, as three battalions of piles ; 
 
WAR IN TRANSYLVANIA 27 
 
 amongst the which also there were digged many 
 small holes. Amongst those stakes were ranged 
 his footmen, that upon the charge were to retire 
 as there was occasion. 
 
 ''The Tartar, having ordered his forty thousand 
 for his best advantage, appointed Mustapha Ba- 
 shaw to begin the battle with a general shout, all 
 their ensigns displaying, drums beating, trumpets 
 and hautboys sounding. Nederspolt and Mavazo, 
 with their regiments of horse, most vaUantly en- 
 countered and forced them to retire. The Tartar 
 Begolgi, with his squadrons, darkening the skies with 
 their flights of numberless arrows, was as bravely 
 encountered by Veltus and Oberwein, which bloody 
 slaughter continued more than an hour, till the 
 matchless multitude of the Tartars so increased 
 that they retired within their squadrons of stakes, 
 as was directed. 
 
 "The bloody Tartar, as scorning he should stay 
 so long for victory, with his massive troops prose- 
 cuted the charge. But it was a wonder to see how 
 horse and man came to the ground among the stakes 
 whose disordered troops were there so mangled 
 that the Christians, with a loud shout, cried 'Vic- 
 toria ! ' and with five or six field pieces planted upon 
 the rising of the mountain did much hurt to the 
 enemy that still continued the battle with that 
 
28 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 fury that Meldritch, seeing there was no possibility 
 long to prevail, joined his small troops in one body, 
 resolved directly to make his passage or die in the 
 conclusion, and thus in gross [all together] gave a 
 general charge and for more than half an hour 
 made his way plain before him, till the main battle 
 of the Crim Tartar, with two regiments of Turks 
 and Janizaries, so overmatched them that they 
 were overthrown. The night approaching, the 
 Earl with thirteen or fourteen hundred horse swam 
 the river. Some were drowned, all the rest were 
 slain or taken prisoners. Thus in this bloody 
 field near thirty thousand men perished. 
 
 ''In this dismal battle, where many Earls, 
 Barons, Colonels, Captains, brave gentlemen and 
 soldiers, were slain, give me leave to remember the 
 names of our own countrymen with him [Captain 
 Smith] in those exploits, that, as resolutely as the 
 best, in defense of Christ and his gospel, ended their 
 days — as, Baskerfield, Hardwicke, Thomas Mile- 
 mer, Robert Multineux, Thomas Bishop, Francis 
 Compton, George Davison, Nicholas Williams, and 
 one John, a Scot, did what men could do, and, 
 when they could do no more, left their bodies in 
 testimony of their minds. Only Ensign Carleton 
 and Sergeant Robinson escaped. 
 
 "But Smith among the slaughtered dead bodies 
 
WAR IN TRANSYLVANIA 29 
 
 and many a gasping soul, with toil and wounds 
 lay groaning among the rest, till, being found by 
 the pillagers, he was able to live ; and perceiving by 
 his armor and habit that his ransom might be better 
 to them than his death, they led him prisoner with 
 many others. Well they used him till his wounds 
 were cured ; and at Axopolis they were all sold for 
 slaves, like beasts in a market-place, where every 
 merchant, viewing their limbs and wounds, caused 
 other slaves to struggle with them to try their 
 strength. He [Smith] fell to the share of Bogall 
 Bashaw, who sent him forthwith to Adrianople, so 
 for Constantinople to his fair mistress for a slave. 
 By twenty and twenty chained by the necks, they 
 marched in file to this great city, where they were 
 delivered to their several masters, and he to the 
 young Charatza Tragabigzanda." 
 
CHAPTER V 
 Captured and Enslaved 
 
 The young lady to whom Captain Smith had 
 been presented as a slave became very much inter- 
 ested in him and was curious to know his history. 
 As both she and Smith spoke Italian, it was easy 
 for them to converse ; and she took so much de- 
 light in the story of his adventures that she made 
 excuses for not leaving him. She would pretend to 
 feeling ill, so that she could not go to the baths with 
 the other ladies, or to weep over the graves of their 
 friends. To us it does not seem much of a conces- 
 sion to give up so mournful a pleasure, though it 
 was doubtless one of the customs of her country. 
 She asked Smith whether he was really a Bohemian 
 lord, as Bogall Bashaw had told her, and how it was 
 that Bogall took him prisoner; and when he in- 
 formed her that he was no Bohemian lord, but a 
 plain Englishman, and that Bogall, instead of cap- 
 turing him in battle, had simply bought him at Ax- 
 opolis, she had no further use for Bogall. And she 
 tested Smith's story by inquiring of others who 
 spoke English, Dutch, or Italian, and who had been 
 
 30 
 
CAPTURED AND ENSLAVED 31 
 
 associated with him in the army ; and they all told 
 her that his story was true. Then she found she 
 had no work for Smith, and she was afraid that her 
 mother would sell him — for she was not yet of age 
 and could not own any property. She therefore 
 sent him to her brother, Tymor Bashaw, at Nalbrits 
 in Tartaria. And she wrote to her brother, asking 
 him to treat Smith kindly, to let him learn the 
 Turkish language, and to keep him till she should 
 come of age. It appears that the brother suspected 
 that she meant to marry Smith when he should have 
 become a Turk ; and that he did not approve of 
 any such plan. He therefore treated Smith very 
 cruelly; he had his head and beard shaved, put 
 around his neck an iron ring with a long, bowed 
 stake attached to it, and made him wear a coat of 
 goat's hair. Tymor had nearly a hundred slaves, 
 and Smith was treated the most harshly of all. 
 Captain Smith's narrative of his journey to Nal- 
 brits is interesting, though some of the places that 
 he mentions can not now be found on the map. 
 Either he mistook the names or misremembered 
 them, or they have been changed. Of course he 
 was not in condition to make notes as he went 
 along. We can only take the story as he wrote it. 
 He says — speaking of himself, as usual, in the third 
 person : — 
 
32 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 "In all this journey, having little more liberty 
 than his eyes^ judgment since his captivity, he 
 might see the towns with their short towers, and a 
 most plain, fertile, and deHcate country, especially 
 that most admired place of Greece now called Rou- 
 mania ; but from Varna nothing but the Black Sea 
 water, till he came to the two Capes of Taur and 
 Pergilos, where he passed the Strait of Niger, 
 which (as he conjectured) is some ten leagues long 
 and three broad, betwixt two low lands. The 
 channel is deep, but at the entrance of the Sea 
 Dissabacca there are many great shoals and many 
 great black rocks, which the Turks said were trees, 
 weeds, and mud, thrown from the inland countries 
 by the inundations and violence of the current and 
 cast there by the eddy. They sailed by many low 
 isles, and saw many more of those muddy rocks, 
 and nothing else but salt water, till they came be- 
 twixt Susax and Curuske, only two white towns at 
 the entrance of the river Bruapo appeared. 
 
 "In six or seven days' sail he saw four or five 
 seeming strong castles of stone, with flat tops and 
 battlements about them ; but arriving at Gambia, 
 he was — according to their custom — well used. 
 The river was there more than half a mile broad. 
 The castle was of a large circumference, [the walls] 
 fourteen or fifteen feet thick in the foundation; 
 
(ZX^e atetheZmeS ihatjhtw thyToCCihut^ofc 
 nhatPicw -thy Grace ami ff lory, hryhter he : 
 dlty JF'airC'J>ilcotunes anl :Fowtc-Overtlirowes 
 of Salyaaes,muck CiviUidJ, hy t/vccx,^ 
 ^cjijkcw thy Sjirkjand to it Glory (Wyi 
 SoitkotL artBraf?c without, hut 0otac WiSiitL 
 
 Courtesij of The Centttn/ Co. 
 
 Captain John Smith, Admiral of New England. 
 
CAPTURED AND ENSLAVED 33 
 
 some six feet from the wall is a palisade, and then 
 a ditch about forty feet broad, full of water. On 
 the west side of it is a town, all of low, flat houses, 
 which, as he conceived, could be of no great strength, 
 yet it keeps all those barbarous countries about 
 it in admiration and subjection. 
 
 "After he had staid there three days, it was two 
 days more before his guides brought him to Nal- 
 brits, where Tymor then was resident in a great, 
 vast stony castle with many great courts about it, 
 environed with high stone walls where were 
 quartered their arms when they first subjected those 
 countries, which only live to labor for those tyran- 
 nical Turks." 
 
 After describing the various foods and drinks of 
 the masters, he says the slaves and other working 
 people were fed almost entirely on a peculiar broth. 
 Some of this broth they tempered with cuskus 
 pounded, and, putting the fire off from the hearth, 
 poured there a bowlful, then covered it with coals 
 till it was baked, and this, stewed with the re- 
 mainder of the broth and small pieces of flesh, was 
 considered an extraordinary dainty. 
 
 Of the clothing of the Tartars, Smith gives this 
 picturesque description: — "The better sort are 
 attired like Turks, but the plain Tartar hath a 
 black sheepskin over his back, and two of the legs 
 
 D 
 
34 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 tied about his neck, the other two about his middle, 
 and the legs tied in like manner behind him ; then 
 two more, made like a pair of vases, serve him for 
 breeches; with a little close cap to his skull, of 
 black felt. And they use exceeding much of this 
 felt for carpets, for bedding, for coats, and for 
 idols." 
 
 Of their way of life he tells us: — "The inland 
 countries have no houses but carts and tents, which 
 they ever remove from country to country, as they 
 see occasion, driving with them infinite troops of 
 black sheep, cattle, and goats, eating up all before 
 them as they go. For the Tartars of Nagi, they 
 have neither town nor house, corn nor drink, but 
 flesh and milk. They live all in a kind of villages, 
 called hordias, three or four hundred in a company, 
 in great carts fifteen or sixteen feet broad. Each 
 hordia hath an officer whom they obey as their 
 king. One or two thousand of those glittering 
 white carts drawn with camels, deer, bulls and 
 goats, they bring round in a ring where they pitch 
 their camp, and the officer, with his chief alliances, 
 is placed in the midst." 
 
 Captain Smithes escape from captivity was re- 
 markable. He never had had any hope of deliver- 
 ance except through Tragabigzanda's interest in 
 him, and this hope was feeble, as she probably did 
 
CAPTURED AND ENSLAVED 35 
 
 not know how he was suffering. He often discussed 
 the question of escaping with several Christians 
 who had been a long time in captivity, but they 
 could not suggest any way of escape. After a time 
 he became a thresher at a grange in a large field 
 more than three miles from Tymor's house. The 
 Bashaw often made the round of his granges, to see 
 for himself how the work was carried on and to 
 punish any of the laborers that had not done as 
 much as he thought they should. On one occasion 
 he found fault with Captain Smith's work, called 
 him vile names, and beat him severely. This was 
 more than a man like Smith could bear. The 
 threshing there was done, not with the light flail 
 that we are familiar with, but with a heavy bat. 
 Suddenly raising this. Smith brought it down on 
 the head of the Bashaw and killed him. He then 
 dressed himself in Tymor's garments, hid the body 
 under the straw, filled his knapsack with wheat, 
 closed the doors, mounted a horse, and rode away. 
 He rode three days through a wilderness without 
 meeting any person, and then, by good fortune, 
 came upon a great highway called Castragan, 
 which runs a long distance through that region. 
 At every crossing there was a signpost, with arms 
 pointing different ways, and on every arm, instead 
 of words (for not many of the inhabitants could 
 
36 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 read), there was a picture to show where that road 
 would lead. Thus the arm that pointed toward 
 the country of the Crim Tartars bore a picture of a 
 half -moon. That which pointed toward Persia 
 showed a black man with white spots. That 
 which pointed toward China had a picture of the 
 sun; and that which pointed toward Muscovia 
 was marked with a cross. All these were known 
 to the people as prominent figures in the banners 
 of the various countries. 
 
 Captain Smith, like the other slaves, wore an 
 iron collar that was marked in a way to show whose 
 slave he was, or on what plantation he belonged ; 
 and had he met anybody in his wanderings, this 
 would have been recognized and he probably would 
 have been returned to slavery. At the end of six- 
 teen days, following the sign of the cross, he arrived 
 at Escopolis, on the River Don, where there was a 
 military post with a garrison of Muscovites. The 
 commander, called by Smith the governor, heard 
 his story, questioned him, and then ordered his 
 irons taken off and treated him kindly, while, as 
 Smith remarks, ''the good Lady Callamata largely 
 supplied all his wants." 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 Travel and Piracy 
 
 With letters from the governor, telling how he 
 had found him, and bespeaking a friendly reception 
 for him everywhere. Smith traveled through several 
 provinces till he arrived at Hermonstat, in Tran- 
 sylvania. He says of himself on this journey: 
 "In all his life he seldom met with more respect, 
 mirth, content, and entertainment; and not any 
 governor where he came but gave him somewhat 
 as a present, besides his charges — seeing them- 
 selves as subject to the like calamity." This does 
 not sound much like Goldsmith's picture of travel 
 in those countries — 
 
 " where the rude Carinthian boor 
 Against the houseless stranger shuts the door." 
 
 But Goldsmith's traveler did not have the advan- 
 tage of passes and letters of introduction from a 
 governor. 
 
 It was not safe for single travelers to pass through 
 those provinces. They had to go in caravans or 
 large companies, sometimes with a guard of soldiers. 
 
 37 
 
38 • CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 The region was very poor, with small villages here 
 and there. The dwellings were log houses, one 
 story high, made from the abundant fir trees, the 
 roofs of which were of split boards fastened together 
 with wooden pins, for iron nails were hardly known 
 there. Some of the towns — Donko, Escopolis, 
 and Letch, particularly — were fortified with double 
 walls of logs, the space between being filled in with 
 earth and stones. They were cross-timbered — as 
 of course they had to be, or the pressure of the 
 filling would have burst them — and were so strong 
 that nothing but fire could destroy them. Outside 
 the walls was a deep ditch, with a palisade of fir 
 trees. Just why there should be such elaborate 
 protection where there was so little to be protected, 
 is a curious question. Yet we often see something 
 like this in our own country. The poorest houses, 
 which evidently contain nothing that any one 
 would care to steal, are often guarded by fierce 
 watchdogs. Smith tells us that other villages in 
 that strange region, while less strongly protected, 
 were surrounded by deep ditches, the earth from 
 which formed a rude rampart, and palisades. Some 
 of these fortifications were surmounted by a few 
 small cannons and great slings for throwing stones ; 
 and the inhabitants had a few muskets and many 
 Russian bows and arrows. 
 
TRAVEL AND PIRACY 39 
 
 Where the roads passed over boggy places, 
 many of which were extensive, they were cordu- 
 royed with fir logs. Smith says that, outside of 
 the towns, he would hardly see six houses in two 
 days' travel. Considering the poverty of the 
 country, it surprised him to see how the lords, 
 governors, and captains were civilized, well dressed 
 and had jewels, furs, horses, and curiously wrought 
 furniture. He remarks that the people were all 
 either lords or slaves. 
 
 Captain Smith passed through Hungary and 
 Austria till he arrived at Lipswick, where he found 
 his good friend. Prince Sigismund, who gave him 
 letters telling what good services he had performed 
 and what honors he had received, and gave him 
 also fifteen hundred ducats — about $2500. The 
 captain then traveled extensively in Germany, 
 France, and Spain. 
 
 "Being thus satisfied with Europe and Asia,'' 
 as he says, he crossed into Africa, where he supposed 
 a war was in progress and he might get mihtary 
 employment. At the same time, he was always on 
 the lookout for interesting things in architecture, 
 history, and the customs of the people. He tells 
 many curious stories of what he saw there, of which 
 we have room for but one here: "The King's 
 palace [in Morocco] is like a city in itself, and the 
 
40 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 Christian church, on whose flat, square tower is a 
 great branch of iron, whereon are placed the three 
 golden balls of Africa. The first is near three ells 
 in circumference, the next above it somewhat less, 
 the uppermost the least over them, as it were an 
 half ball, and over all a pretty, gilded pyramid. 
 Against those golden balls hath been shot many a 
 shot. Their weight is recorded seven hundred 
 weight of pure gold, hollow within, yet no shot 
 did ever hit them, nor could ever any conspirator 
 attain that honor as to get them down. They re- 
 peat that the Prince of Morocco betrothed himself 
 to the King^s daughter of Ethiopia ; he dying before 
 their marriage, she caused those three golden balls 
 to be set up for his monument.'^ 
 
 Captain Smith was not pleased with the condi- 
 tion of military affairs in Morocco, and he appears 
 not to have taken any part in them. He says that 
 "by reason of the uncertainty and the perfidious, 
 treacherous, bloody murders, rather than war, 
 amongst those barbarous Moors, Smith returned 
 with Merham and the rest to Saffee, and so aboard 
 his ship, to try some other conclusions at sea." 
 
 Captain Merham, who commanded a French 
 man-of-war, invited Captain Smith and a few of his 
 friends to go aboard, and there he entertained 
 them handsomely until it was too late for them to 
 
TRAVEL AND PIRACY 41 
 
 go ashore. Smith says it was a beautiful evening, 
 but before midnight a great storm arose, so that 
 they were obliged to slip their cable and go to sea. 
 The storm continued until it had driven them south- 
 ward to the Canary Islands. When it abated, 
 Smith soon learned that the man-of-war on which 
 he was serving was in reality a pirate ship, and 
 the captain was cruising in search of plunder. The 
 first prize that came their way was a small vessel, 
 loaded with wine. When they had helped them- 
 selves to this cargo, they chased several other 
 vessels, and captured two; but from them they 
 got Httle except the information that there were 
 five Dutch men-of-war near the Islands. The 
 captain therefore gave orders to sail for Bojadore, 
 on the African coast. Before they arrived there, 
 two vessels came in sight, and Captain Merham 
 hailed them. They saluted courteously, said they 
 were merchantmen in distress, and asked Merham to 
 come aboard and take whatever he wanted. But 
 Merham was too cunning to be deceived by them. 
 He recognized them for Spanish men-of-war, and 
 put his ship about very speedily, attempting to get 
 away from them. But the Spaniards were the better 
 sailers and soon overtook him. Smith, who calls 
 the two Spanish ships the Admiral and the Vice 
 Admiral, gives of the battle a pretty full account. 
 
42 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 *'Merham, the old fox, seeing himself in the 
 lion's paws, sprang his luff; the other tacked 
 after him and came up close on his nether quarter, 
 gave his broadside, and so luffed up to windward. 
 The Vice Admiral did the like, and at the next 
 bout the Admiral, with a noise of trumpets, and 
 all his ordnance, murderers, and muskets, boarded 
 him on his broadside; the other in like manner 
 on his lee quarter ; and it was so dark there was 
 little light, but fire and smoke. Long he stayed 
 not before he fell off, leaving four or five of his men 
 sprawling over the grating." 
 
 For an hour the Spaniards battered away at Mer- 
 ham's vessel, and then boarded him again. They 
 threw four small anchors on the deck, and then, 
 sheering off, tried to pull off the grating of which 
 the anchors had taken hold. But at the same 
 time the AdmiraVs yard had become entangled in 
 the shrouds of the French vessel, and while this 
 held them close to each other Merham fired two 
 crossbar shots across the Spaniard's deck, striking 
 down many of the crew, and discharged against 
 his bow several peculiar bolts made for the purpose 
 of tearing ragged holes in a ship's side. Then 
 there was danger that the two vessels would sink 
 together. Seeing this, the Spaniard slipped off 
 the chains by which he held the anchors, and Mer- 
 
TRAVEL AND PIRACY 43 
 
 ham's men quickly cut the ropes that held his yard, 
 so that the vessels fell away from each other. 
 
 While the Admiral, hauling off to a distance, was 
 stopping his leaks, the Vice Admiral kept up a brisk 
 fire to prevent the Frenchman from getting away. 
 The broadsides were returned, and the fight was 
 continued from noon till six o'clock. Then the 
 Admiral came up again and all night pursued 
 Merham, who laid his course for Mamora. But 
 the wind was very light, and when morning dawned 
 they were near Cape Noa. 
 
 Then the battle began again, and at the end of 
 an hour the Spaniard called upon Merham to sur- 
 render, promising quarter and honorable treatment. 
 But he knew better than to trust any such promise. 
 Raising a glass to his lips and mockingly drinking 
 to their health, he gave them another broadside. 
 They quickly came up with him and boarded 
 again. Some of them climbed up to the tops, to 
 unsling the mainsail; whereupon Merham and 
 some of his men, who were in the roundhouse, 
 shot them as if they were birds in a tree, and they 
 came tumbling down on the deck. 
 
 The Spaniards attacked the roundhouse so 
 furiously that the men in it retreated to the cabin 
 and blew it up. Then the sailors in the forecastle, 
 who also were heavily attacked, blew up a part of 
 
44 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 the grating, which hurled into the air many Span- 
 iards who were on it. By this time there was so 
 much flame and smoke that the Spaniards made 
 haste to leave the ship. Merham and his men made 
 equal haste to put out the fire with water and wet 
 cloths, and as the enemy was still firing at them 
 they covered the open places with old sails and pre- 
 pared to keep up the contest. The Spaniards next 
 hung out a flag of truce ; but Merham stuck to his 
 determination to trust to nothing but the power of 
 his guns, and after the battle had continued through 
 the next afternoon and half of the night, the Span- 
 iards hauled off and disappeared in the distance. 
 
 Merham found that he had lost twenty-seven 
 men killed and sixteen wounded, while a hundred 
 and forty large shot had struck the ship. A 
 wounded Spaniard who remained with them said 
 that about a hundred men on the Admiral had been 
 killed or wounded, and the ship had been in danger 
 of sinking. Merham mended his sails, put the 
 vessel in order, and, turning about, came to the 
 port of Saflee, in Morocco. Captain Smith then 
 returned to England. 
 
 This was the man whose skill and energy were 
 necessary to the founding of the first English colony 
 in America, that the English character and the 
 English language might take possession of a great 
 
TRAVEL AND PIRACY 45 
 
 continent and powerfully influence, perhaps ulti- 
 mately determine, the civilization of the entire 
 world. And this brief narrative of his early labors 
 and achievements tells us how he was trained and 
 discipKned for the more important task of his later 
 life. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 Early Attempts in America 
 
 To appreciate fully the value and significance 
 of the Jamestown settlement, we must learn the 
 story of the similar enterprises that preceded it, 
 and know why they resulted in failure. That story 
 must be told briefly here. 
 
 Every schoolboy knows that Christopher Colum- 
 bus left Spain in August, 1492, sailed directly west- 
 ward, and in October discovered an outlying island 
 of the West Indies. Perhaps he knows, also, that 
 though Columbus discovered some of the other 
 islands, he never touched the continent of North 
 America. We now know that a little earlier and a 
 little later than the year 1000 a.d. Norsemen were 
 on our coast, perhaps coming as far south as Rhode 
 Island; but they made only a feeble attempt to 
 settle here, and left no trace of their presence. The 
 fact of their coming was learned only from the an- 
 cient sagas (poems) in Iceland. Thus their adven- 
 ture had no influence whatever on the development 
 of civilization or expansion of territory for the 
 
 46 
 
EARLY ATTEMPTS IN AMERICA 47 
 
 civilized races of mankind; and hence it may be 
 disregarded except as a curious incident entirely 
 aside from the grand trail of history. 
 
 The achievement of Columbus, five hundred 
 years later, was followed by such consequences as 
 make it the most important ever accomplished 
 by the genius of one man in all history. He was 
 an Itahan by birth; but he sailed in the employ 
 of the Spanish government, and all that he dis- 
 covered he claimed for Spain. Then followed the 
 fiercest of Spanish explorers and adventurers, whose 
 only object was to find and carry home the riches of 
 the New World — gold and silver especially — which 
 were taken from the natives without compensation 
 of any kind and often with murderous cruelty. 
 
 After the Spaniards came the French explorers 
 and adventurers, with motives not much better; 
 and on the southern part of this northern continent 
 they came sometimes into conflict with the Span- 
 iards, which resulted in cruel murders and revenges. 
 
 Three things these adventurers sought in the New 
 World — precious metals, the fountain of perpetual 
 youth, and a passage to the East Indies. They had 
 no idea how far westward the continent extended, 
 and wherever they came upon a deep bay or a wide 
 river, they hoped that by following it up they should 
 come out on the other side. Balboa, a Spaniard, 
 
48 • CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 had stood on the Isthmus of Darien and discov- 
 ered the Pacific Ocean. Another Spaniard, Ponce 
 de Leon, led the chase in search of the fountain of 
 youth, and he and his men drank eagerly of every 
 spring they could find in Florida. Still another 
 Spaniard, De Soto, discovered the Mississippi 
 River, died on its banks, and was buried in its waters. 
 
 The English were slowest of all to think of prof- 
 iting by Columbus's discovery, and nearly a cen- 
 tury rolled by after that event before ships from 
 England crossed the Atlantic for discovery and 
 conquest. But when they did turn their attention 
 to the New World, while they still hoped to find 
 there a passage to India, and to gather mineral 
 treasures, they went with the idea of planting 
 colonies, which the Spaniards and the French had 
 not dreamed of. And this, which is the only sure 
 conquest, finally gave them possession of the largest 
 and fairest part of the new continent. 
 
 As early as 1497, John and Sebastian Cabot 
 (born in Venice, but residents of England and 
 sailing in the service of the English government) 
 had landed on the coast of Labrador, and discovered 
 Newfoundland. But nothing was done at that 
 time to claim the country for the English. About 
 ninety years later (1583) Sir Humphrey Gilbert, 
 with a small fleet and a few colonists, landed in the 
 
EARLY ATTEMPTS IN AMERICA 49 
 
 harbor of St. John's, Newfoundland, and claimed the 
 whole island as British territory. But on the return 
 voyage all the vessels were lost except one, and Sir 
 Humphrey himself perished. It is related that he 
 insisted on taking his place in the smallest of the 
 vessels, of only ten tons, and when the storm was at 
 its height he was seen with a book in his hand, 
 saying to his shipmates, ''Heaven is as near by 
 sea as by land." This incident is the subject of 
 one of Longfellow's finest ballads, a part of which 
 may be quoted here : — 
 
 Eastward from Campobello 
 
 Sir Humphrey Gilbert sailed ; 
 Three days or more westward he bore, 
 
 Then, alas ! the land-wind failed. 
 
 Alas ! the land-wind failed, 
 
 And ice-cold grew the night, 
 And never more, on sea or shore, 
 
 Should Sir Humphrey see the light. 
 
 He sat upon the deck, 
 
 The book was in his hand. 
 "Do not fear ! Heaven is as near," 
 
 He said, "by water as by land." 
 
 Southward, for ever southward, 
 They drift through dark and day, 
 
 And like a dream, in the Gulf Stream 
 Sinking, vanish all away. 
 
50 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 Sir Humphrey's half-brother, Sir Walter Raleigh, 
 made the earliest practical and determined effort 
 to plant an English colony on this continent. In 
 1584 he obtained from Queen Elizabeth a charter 
 ^'for the discovery and planting of new lands in 
 America." This gave him ''free liberty and li- 
 cense from time to time, and at all times forever 
 hereafter, to discover, search, find out, and view 
 such remote, heathen, and barbarous lands, coun- 
 tries and territories, not actually possessed by any 
 Christian prince, nor inhabited by Christian people, 
 as to him, his heirs and assigns, and to every or any 
 of them, shall seem good ; and the same to have, 
 hold, occupy, and enjoy for ever." This was the 
 usual form in which kings and queens gave away 
 what they did not possess and what they knew 
 little or nothing about. And, in return, the ex- 
 plorers who found lands that were inhabited only 
 by people who did not speak their language nor 
 profess their religion, at once declared those lands 
 to be the property of their sovereign. The most 
 monstrous example of this practice was seen when 
 Balboa, discovering the Pacific at Panama, waded 
 out into it a few yards, and proclaimed that he 
 thereupon took possession, for his sovereign, the 
 King of Spain, of that entire ocean and all coun- 
 tries, whatever they might be, that bordered upon 
 
EARLY ATTEMPTS IN AMERICA 51 
 
 it! This would have given him not only the 
 whole of North, South, and Central America, but 
 also Japan, China, Siberia, Australia, New Zealand, 
 New Guinea, the Philippines, and a multitude of 
 smaller islands. The common sarcasm of our day, 
 "Does he want the Earth?" would have been lost 
 on him. 
 
 In April of that year (1584) Sir Walter sent out 
 his first expedition — two ships commanded by 
 Philip Amidas and Arthur Barlow. They still 
 followed the old course, first sailing south to the 
 Canary Islands, then across to the West Indies, 
 and then north to the coast of what is now North 
 Carolina, and landed on Roanoke Island, where 
 the Indians received them in the most friendly 
 manner. This expedition was only for discovery 
 and exploration, and in a few weeks the ships 
 returned to England, taking with them two In- 
 dians. They gave such glowing accounts of the 
 country — which henceforth was called Virginia 
 — that plans were laid at once for sending out a 
 colony. All was ready by the next spring, and a 
 fleet of seven vessels sailed in April, 1585, "with one 
 hundred householders and many things necessary 
 to begin a new state." Sir Richard Grenville, a 
 kinsman of Raleigh's, commanded the expedition, 
 which still followed the old route by way of the 
 
52 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 West Indies. It arrived at its destination in June, 
 and the first act was to restore to their friends the 
 two Indians who had been taken to England. A 
 hundred and eight men were put ashore, com- 
 manded by Captain Ralph Lane, and the Indians 
 were as friendly as before. But a foolish act by 
 Grenville changed all that. A silver cup was 
 taken from his encampment, probably stolen by one 
 of the Indians who could not resist the temptation. 
 Thereupon Sir Richard, to punish the theft, 
 burned one of the native villages. Therefore, 
 when in August he sailed away with his ships he 
 left a defenseless colony in the midst of Indians 
 no longer friendly. Before long they were attacked 
 by eighteen hundred warriors, whom, with the 
 advantage of firearms against bows and arrows, 
 they were able to defeat and drive away. But 
 this put an end to their obtaining corn from the 
 Indians, and they were brought very near to 
 starvation. Fortunately, a fleet commanded by 
 Sir Francis Drake, which was returning from the 
 West Indies, stopped there, and at the earnest 
 solicitation of the colonists Drake took them all 
 on board and carried them back to England. 
 
 Undismayed by this failure, Sir Walter Raleigh 
 fitted out another colony, which sailed in the 
 spring of 1587. Captain John White was the 
 
EARLY ATTEMPTS IN AMERICA 53 
 
 commander and was appointed governor of the 
 colony, with a council of twelve men. They 
 landed in July, and at once discovered the graves 
 of fifteen men who had been left there by a relief 
 expedition that arrived after Lane and his com- 
 pany had departed. White thought he should take 
 vengeance for the massacre of the fifteen, and sent 
 out an armed force who found a party of Indians 
 and fired upon them, killing or wounding several. 
 It was soon learned that these Indians belonged to 
 a friendly tribe, and thus the mischief begun by 
 the folly of Grenville was greatly increased. Here, 
 this same year, was born Virginia Dare, the first 
 white child born in America. Governor White 
 was sent to England for supplies, but he never 
 returned to the colony, and the sending of the much- 
 needed supplies was delayed by war between Eng- 
 land and Spain. When at last the three relief 
 ships arrived there (August, 1590), the whole 
 colony had disappeared. The only trace was the 
 word 'Xroatan" cut in large letters on a tree. 
 This appeared to say that the colonists had gone 
 to that island, and a feeble attempt was made 
 to find them there ; but a storm arose, the search 
 was given up, and the mystery never was explained. 
 The failure that attended all these efforts of the 
 hopeful and energetic Raleigh was probably due 
 
54 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 largely, if not wholly, to the fact that he did not 
 himself accompany and command any of his 
 expeditions. It was a serious illustration of the 
 homely saying, "If you wish anything to be done 
 right, do it yourself." And the main reason that 
 he did not go with the ships was, that he was a 
 great favorite with Queen Elizabeth, and she was 
 not willing to let him risk himself in such adven- 
 tures. A later attempt at English colonization in 
 that region would also have resulted in disastrous 
 failure, but for the good judgment, determined 
 energy, and resourcefulness of one man. That 
 man was Captain John Smith. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 The First Virginia Company 
 
 Although the failure of Raleigh's attempts at 
 colonization in America was discouraging, his ships 
 had brought to England so much information con- 
 cerning the resources of Virginia that it was evident 
 that a rich field for settlement across the ocean 
 lay ready for a colony that should be better pro- 
 vided, more skillfully led, and more fortunate. 
 
 If there was one Englishman who saw this 
 opportunity more clearly than others, that man was 
 Captain John Smith. As early as 1604 he began 
 to urge his countrymen to take advantage of their 
 good fortune by sending out a strong colony. His 
 first associates in the enterprise were Edward 
 Maria Wingfield, the Rev. Robert Hunt, and 
 Bartholomew Gosnold. The last named was an 
 experienced navigator, had been associated with 
 Walter Raleigh, and had crossed the Atlantic by 
 the more direct route, sailed along the coast of 
 what is now New England, landed on Cape Cod, 
 and planted a small colony on an island in Buzzard's 
 
 55 
 
56 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 Bay, which, however, was soon divided by quarrels 
 and returned to England. 
 
 After two years of effort, a charter was obtained 
 from King James in April, 1606. The letters 
 patent, as the charter was called, were issued to 
 Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, Richard Hak- 
 luyt, and others. It was intended to establish 
 a mercantile corporation, but the result was the 
 estabHshment of the earliest English colony in 
 America. The charter was very Hberal, so far as 
 the geographical grant was concerned. It gave 
 the proprietors all the coast from the 34th to the 
 45th degree of latitude — that is, from Cape Fear 
 to Nova Scotia, together with such islands as there 
 might be within a hundred miles of the shore. 
 But the grant was divided between two companies, 
 the one with which we are concerned having 
 from Cape Fear to a point north of the entrance 
 to Chesapeake Bay. The fault of the charter 
 was, that it left with the King the power to make 
 all laws for the government of the colony and the 
 appointment of all officials. 
 
 Despite these disadvantages, Wingfield, Hunt, 
 Gosnold, and Smith got together a company of a 
 hundred and five, all told, and obtained three 
 vessels, the largest of which was only of one hun- 
 dred tons burden. For captain they had Chris- 
 
THE FIRST VIRGINIA COMPANY 57 
 
 topher Newport, an experienced navigator. The 
 expedition sailed December 19, 1606, and after a 
 stormy voyage and a long struggle with head winds, 
 they arrived in Virginia in April, 1607. It was a 
 strange company. Four of them were carpenters, 
 one was a blacksmith, one a bricklayer, one a mason, 
 one a tailor, one a barber, one a sailor, one a drum- 
 mer, two were surgeons, twelve were laborers, and 
 four were classed as *'boys." So far, very well. 
 But there were forty-eight who were classed as 
 *' gentlemen" — that is, they were not expected to 
 do any work with their hands — probably could not 
 do anything that required skill. Why these were 
 allowed to go at all, we can only guess. Perhaps 
 they contributed money toward the expenses of the 
 expedition, and expected to get it back by picking 
 up gold nuggets in the beds of the streams. Then, 
 too, whenever such an enterprise is fitted out, 
 there are careless, happy-go-lucky fellows who apply 
 for permission to go merely because they are fond 
 of adventure. The foolish King, instead of ap- 
 pointing the officers at once, and thus giving them 
 authority over that motley company, had all his 
 appointments and all his orders for the settlement 
 and management of the colony sealed up in a box, 
 which was not to be opened till the ships arrived 
 in Virginia. With such a company and such a 
 
58 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 lack of authority and discipline, it is a wonder that 
 they ever got there at all. They sailed by the old 
 route — southward to the Canary Islands, then 
 across to the West Indies, then northward to Vir- 
 ginia. In the course of the voyage Captain Smith 
 was accused of organizing a conspiracy to take 
 command of the expedition, murder the Council, 
 and make himself king, and was placed in close 
 confinement. He appears not to have been fright- 
 ened by this ridiculous performance, but calmly 
 waited for the time when they should be landed, and 
 it should be known who were the officers of the 
 colony, as then he could have a proper trial. When 
 the ships reached Chesapeake Bay, the first land 
 that appeared was named Cape Henry, and the 
 opposite point Cape Charles — for two princes, 
 sons of King James I. The spot where the voy- 
 agers first landed they named "Comfort," from 
 their feelings at ending a long and disagreeable 
 voyage — the same that is now known as Old Point 
 Comfort. They had intended to land on Roanoke 
 Island, where Raleigh's colony was left and lost, 
 but they passed it by and entered the Chesapeake. 
 It was the pleasantest time of year for that latitude, 
 and Captain Smith expressed a delight in the 
 scene which was probably shared by all. He wrote, 
 in his history : ''Within is a country that may have 
 
THE FIRST VIRGINIA COMPANY 59 
 
 the prerogative over the most pleasant places 
 known. Heaven and earth never agreed better to 
 frame a place for man^s habitation. Here are 
 mountains, hills, plains, valleys, rivers, and brooks, 
 all running most pleasantly into a fair bay, com- 
 passed, but for the mouth, with fruitful and delight- 
 some land." Thirty of the men went ashore on 
 Cape Henry for a little outing, and were attacked 
 by Indians, who wounded two of them. A few 
 musket shots drove away the savages, but the 
 incident detracted somewhat from the "delight- 
 someness" of the land. These colonists suffered 
 from the folly of some of their predecessors in the 
 Roanoke colonies, who had made the Indians 
 enemies when they might have been friends. 
 
 The sealed box was opened, and it appeared that 
 the Council, appointed to serve for one year, con- 
 sisted of Edward Maria Wingfield, Bartholomew 
 Gosnold, John Smith, Christopher Newport, John 
 Radcliffe, John Martin, and George Kendall. 
 They were to choose one of their number for presi- 
 dent, and they chose Wingfield, who then swore 
 in the other members. As Smith was still under 
 arrest, he took no part in the opening of the box, 
 and was not at once recognized as a member of the 
 Council. But there was work to be done, with 
 hardships to be endured and risks to be taken, and 
 
6o CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 Smith, the ablest man in the company, was not 
 excused from any of these. Seventeen days were 
 spent in searching for the most suitable spot for a 
 settlement, and, among other things, the searchers 
 found woods of various kinds, beautiful flowers, 
 abundant oysters, and strawberries ''four times 
 bigger and better than ours in England." 
 
 Some Indians, apparently friendly, appeared on 
 the scene and invited the colonists to visit their 
 towns of Kecoughtan and Rappahannock. The 
 invitation was accepted by several, and the In- 
 dians, after spreading mats for them to sit upon, 
 fed them with hominy and showed them how to 
 smoke tobacco. George Percy, one of the colonists, 
 wrote a description of the scene: ''These savages 
 are as goodly men as we had ever seen — gentle, 
 quite civil indeed ; their werowance [chief] coming 
 at their head to meet the strangers, playing on a 
 flute made of a reed, with a crown of deer's hair 
 colored red, in fashion of a rose, fastened about 
 his knot of hair, and a great plate of copper on the 
 other side of his head, with two long feathers in 
 seeming of a pair of horns placed in the midst of 
 his crown. His body was painted all with crimson, 
 with a chain of beads about his neck; his face 
 painted blue besprinkled with silver ore, as we 
 thought ; his ears all behung with bracelets of pearl, 
 
THE FIRST VIRGINIA COMPANY 6i 
 
 and in either ear a bird's claw through it, beset 
 with fine copper or gold. He entertained us in 
 so modest a proud fashion as though he had been a 
 prince of civil government. The Indians carried 
 bows and arrows in a most warlike manner, with the 
 swords at their backs beset with sharp stones and 
 pieces of iron, able to cleave a man in sunder." 
 
 Although Captain Smith was still under arrest, 
 his associates appear to have appreciated his re- 
 markable abilities and his value to the colony ; for 
 when they sent Captain Newport with twenty men 
 to discover the source of James River they included 
 Smith in the company. These explorers ascended the 
 stream till they came to the rapids, just above the 
 present site of Richmond, where they ended their 
 voyage and set up a cross. They found there an In- 
 dian village pleasantly situated on a hill, with corn- 
 fields and other cultivated plots around it. They 
 made the acquaintance of the chief, Powhatan, and 
 Captain Newport made him a present of a hatchet, 
 with which the chief was greatly pleased. When 
 some of the Indians complained that the English 
 were intruders, the chief said: ^' Never mind — 
 they do not hurt us — they only take a little waste 
 land." But the colonists soon learned that the 
 savages were not so friendly as some of them pre- 
 tended to be. 
 
62 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 When the explorers returned they learned that 
 in their absence a party of Indians had attacked 
 the settlement, killed a boy, and wounded seven- 
 teen men. President Wingfield had a narrow es- 
 cape when an arrow passed through his beard. 
 The worst might have happened to the little band 
 of settlers, but a chain shot fired from a cannon 
 on one of the vessels cut off the bough of a tree 
 which fell among the Indians, and immediately they 
 all ran away. It is notable that the North Ameri- 
 can Indians, brave enough in the midst of most 
 dangers, have always been in mortal terror of any 
 kind of artillery. 
 
 The Indians had called the river Powhatan, after 
 their chief, but the colonists had named it James, 
 for their king. Ascending it about forty miles from 
 its mouth, they found a small peninsula stretch- 
 ing out from the north bank, and it was decided 
 that this was the proper place for their settlement. 
 One can readily see why they chose it. From it 
 they could always look up or down the river, and 
 detect any enemies that might approach in canoes ; 
 it gave them an unusual water front for their own 
 craft; and in case of storms their vessels could 
 find shelter on the one or the other side of the pen- 
 insula, according to the direction of the storm. 
 Nevertheless, one at least of Council, Gosnold, 
 
THE FIRST VIRGINIA COMPANY 63 
 
 objected to it, and time proved that he was 
 right. They named the settlement Jamestown, 
 and believed they were founding a great city of the 
 future. It never became a large town, and to-day 
 much of that peninsula is under water and a ruined 
 church tower is all that remains of the buildings. 
 A part of the old ditch can be traced, as well as 
 Confederate earthworks that were constructed two 
 and a half centuries after this colonial experiment. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 Jamestown Founded 
 
 As soon as the site was chosen all the men fell 
 to work erecting houses — small, thatched cot- 
 tages — and laying out gardens. Captain Smith 
 urged the wisdom of fortifying the settlement 
 against attacks of Indians; but President Wing- 
 field rejected the advice, holding that nothing 
 was called for except little wattle fences to divide 
 the plots. But when there had been one serious 
 attack, and he himself had narrowly escaped death, 
 he was converted to Smith's way of thinking, and 
 the work of fortifying was begun at once. This 
 was only one of many circumstances that showed 
 Wingfield's unfitness for his office. Palisades were 
 constructed around the settlement, cannon were 
 mounted, and the men were regularly drilled as 
 soldiers. This was accomplished none too soon; 
 for the Indians got over their fright and returned 
 to the attack. They continually lurked in the 
 woods bordering every path that led from the fort, 
 ready to discharge an arrow at any colonist that 
 
 64 
 
JAMESTOWN FOUNDED 65 
 
 ventured out. Smith thus described the situation : 
 ''What toil we had, with so small a power, to guard 
 our workmen a-days, watch all night, resist our 
 enemies, and effect our business — to re-lade the 
 ships, cut down trees, and prepare the ground to 
 plant our corn." 
 
 When the ships were loaded — with clapboards, 
 sassafras, and tobacco — and ready to set sail, 
 the Council proposed that Captain Smith go home 
 to England, to be tried by the government there. 
 This he promptly refused to do, and demanded an 
 immediate trial at the hands of the Council. The 
 trial not only resulted in his complete exoneration, 
 but in the condemnation of Wingfield to pay Smith 
 two hundred pounds (about $1000), because he had 
 repeated the false charges and suborned men to 
 swear to them. Smith received the money, and 
 immediately turned it into the treasury of the 
 colony — an act that speaks well for his singleness 
 of purpose and his interest in and loyalty to the 
 English settlement. 
 
 Mr. Hunt, being a minister and a kindly man, 
 was naturally the peacemaker when the colony 
 was disturbed by dissensions and recriminations. 
 He now brought them all together, restored good 
 feeling, and had Captain Smith admitted to his 
 seat in the Council. The next day a band of In- 
 
66 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 dians appeared and asked for peace, and Captain 
 Newport, with two of the vessels, sailed for Eng- 
 land, carrying "good news from Virginia." 
 
 If he had sailed a little later, he would not have 
 had only good news to carry. The place for the 
 settlement was not well chosen, as there were ex- 
 tensive swamps a little to the north ; many of the 
 men were unused to labor in the field, and the heat 
 of summer was coming on, while their provisions 
 were running short. One after another they 
 sickened and died, until at the end of the summer 
 about half had gone. The most serious loss was the 
 death of Bartholomew Gosnold, next to Smith the 
 ablest man in the colony. 
 
 Because the voyage to Virginia had occupied 
 five months, instead of two months as was expected, 
 the colonists had arrived too late to plant and raise 
 crops. While the ships remained with them they 
 were fed from the stores on board ; but now they 
 were reduced to a daily allowance of half a pint of 
 wheat and half a pint of barley for each man, and 
 the grain had been so long in the holds of the vessels 
 that it was not very good. Their condition at this 
 time was described by one of the colonists in these 
 words: "Our drink was water; our lodgings, 
 castles in the air." They fished, however, and 
 obtained sturgeons and crabs, and after a while 
 
JAMESTOWN FOUNDED 67 
 
 friendly relations were established with the Indians, 
 who gave them fruit and other provisions. 
 
 One would suppose that when a small company 
 are left to take care of themselves in a distant land, 
 surrounded by dangers, their constant endeavor 
 would be to comfort and assist one another and 
 keep together in the closest friendship. But history 
 tells that in such circumstances it of tener happens 
 that suspicion and personal jealousy take the 
 place of good counsel. Thus it was at Jamestown. 
 John Kendall, a member of the Council, was ac- 
 cused of making trouble in it, and was expelled 
 from his seat in that body. Wingfield, the presi- 
 dent, was accused of taking the best of the provi- 
 sions and was suspected of an intention to desert 
 the colony. The smallest of the vessels, known as 
 the pinnace, had been left at Jamestown when the 
 others sailed away, and it was beheved that he in- 
 tended to take that and return to England. So 
 firm was this belief — though the accusation could 
 not be proved — that Wingfield was deposed from 
 the presidency of the colony and was kept on the 
 pinnace as a prisoner. Captain John Radcliffe 
 was then made president. This man was described 
 as "of weak judgment in dangers, and less industry 
 in peace.'' But he had the good sense to leave the 
 management of affairs largely to Captain Smith, 
 
68 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 who from that time was the real leader of the 
 colony. 
 
 Smith now set all the men at work vigorously 
 building substantial houses. To make their labors 
 most effective, he divided the work — or *' special- 
 ized '^ it, as we should say. Some cut down the 
 trees, others hewed the logs, others did the thatch- 
 ing, etc. Smith was the most earnest worker 
 among them, and his house was built last of all. 
 The value of his judgment and energy at this time 
 may be seen when we read that "some of the men 
 were ill, while the rest were in such despair as they 
 would rather starve and rot in idleness than be per- 
 suaded to do anything for their own relief without 
 constraint.*^ The discontented loudly blamed the 
 London company for sending them across the ocean 
 without a sufficient supply of provisions. To 
 them Smith is said to have repHed : "The fault in 
 going was our own. What could be thought fitting 
 or necessary we had ; but what we should find or 
 want, or where we should be, we were all ignorant. 
 Supposing to make our passage in two months, with 
 victuals to five, and the advantage of the spring 
 to work, we were at sea five months, where we both 
 spent our victual and lost the opportimity of the 
 time and season to plant, by the unskillful presump- 
 tion of our ignorant transporters, that understood 
 
JAMESTOWN FOUNDED 69 
 
 not at all what they undertook." This was the 
 exact truth, and it accounted for the worst of the 
 difficulties with which the colony had to contend. 
 Newport had returned to England, Gosnold was 
 dead, Wingfield and Kendall had been deposed, 
 and no one was chosen to fill the place of any of 
 these in the Council, which now consisted only of 
 RadcHffe, Martin, and Smith. Probably it was all 
 the more efficient for being smaller, so long as Smith 
 was the leader. As the provisions that had been 
 supplied by the Indians were now nearly exhausted, 
 he planned a trading expedition to obtain another 
 supply. Taking five men with him in a small 
 boat, he rowed down the river. They went ashore 
 at the Indian village of Kecoughtan (where Hamp- 
 ton now stands), and endeavored to trade. But 
 the Indians, seeing they were in dire need, mocked 
 them. They would offer to give a handful of com 
 for a sword, or a small piece of bread for a coat. 
 Smith and his men therefore leveled their muskets 
 and fired a volley into the band of Indians, who at 
 once ran away. The whites then entered the vil- 
 lage, where they found a great abundance of com. 
 Before long a company of perhaps seventy savages, 
 formed in military order, came out of the woods. 
 They were painted in all sorts of colors, and were 
 singing and dancing, carrying bows and arrows, 
 
70 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 and flourishing war-clubs. Their "Okee" was 
 carried before them. This might be called their 
 god, or their mascot. It was a hideous image 
 made of skin stuffed with moss and decorated with 
 beads. Smith's men gave them a volley of mus- 
 ketry, when, as he says, "down fell their god, and 
 divers lay sprawling on the ground." The Indians 
 that were not wounded ran back into the woods. 
 Presently they sent their medicine man to beg for 
 the idol and offer to make peace. Smith answered 
 that if they would load his boat with provisions, 
 he would give back Okee and also give them beads, 
 hatchets, and copper and be their friend. They at 
 once brought venison, turkeys, and other fowls 
 and bread, with which they loaded the boat ; then 
 with their beloved idol and the trinkets they went 
 away dancing and singing. 
 
 Captain Smith made several short excursions into 
 the neighboring country, going as far as the Chick- 
 ahominy River, to make acquaintance and friend- 
 ship with the Indians and learn the resources of the 
 region. On returning from one of these excursions, 
 he learned that there was a plot among some of the 
 men to return to England, Wingfield and Kendall 
 being the principal movers of it. The conspirators 
 had taken possession of the pinnace and secured 
 a large part of the colony's stock of provisions. 
 
JAMESTOWN FOUNDED 71 
 
 Smith promptly trained the guns of the fort upon 
 the pinnace and gave the conspirators the choice 
 of returning to their proper places in the colony or 
 being sent to the bottom. They chose to return, 
 and Kendall, who was considered the head and 
 front of it all, was then tried, condemned, and shot. 
 Soon afterward Smith set out on another ven- 
 ture. He reached the Chickahominy, found sev- 
 eral villages, made more friends among the Indians, 
 and returned with a large supply of provisions. 
 But he returned only to find once more that certain 
 impatient and restless members of the colony were 
 planning to desert it. This time, however, they 
 did not resort to a secret conspiracy, and therefore 
 they could not be punished. But Smith and 
 Martin vigorously opposed the scheme, and while 
 they were discussing it the autumn season brought 
 great numbers of wild ducks and geese to the river, 
 and game animals approached the settlement in 
 search of food and shelter, so that the colonists had 
 only to gather them in, and these, with the corn and 
 other vegetables that Smith had brought, made a 
 good winter store, and the discontent died away. 
 He writes that ''none of our tufftaffaty humorists 
 then desired to go for England." He did not in- 
 vent that word, but it is rare. It refers to garments 
 that have become very much worn and almost 
 
72 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 ragged, but still show that they were made of rich 
 material. Englishmen then, as Englishmen now, 
 were inordinately fond of shooting any kind of 
 game, and so long as the shooting season lasted 
 the colonists were apparently contented and happy. 
 Smith wrote of this time: "The Spaniard never 
 more greedily desired gold than he [the English- 
 man] desired victual, nor his [the Spaniard's] sol- 
 diers more to abandon the country than he [the 
 Enghshman] to keep it." Therein Smith spoke 
 an important truth, not of his own time only, but 
 of all later times. No people have ever equaled 
 the English as colonizers, and that is the reason 
 that they became the ruKng power on this conti- 
 nent, though their chance at it came after the 
 Spaniard's and after the Frenchman's. The build- 
 ing of homes and cultivation of land make a surer 
 possession than forts and armed men. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 Prisoner to the Indians 
 
 But many of the colonists still had the habits 
 of petulant children. As soon as one favor or en- 
 tertainment was ended they were impatient and 
 querulous until another was provided. As soon 
 as the shooting season was over they began to find 
 fault with Captain Smith, though but for his judg- 
 ment and energy they might all have perished. 
 The reader must remember that the company was 
 not such as he would have selected. He would 
 have chosen those only who were seriously bent on 
 establishing themselves in the New World and were 
 not afraid of work. The company in London made 
 up the shipment, and in it were included many who 
 were designated as ''gentlemen." Some of these 
 went because they expected to pick up gold without 
 much digging, while others were simply — as we 
 should express it now — "out for a lark." There 
 was no gold to be found, and they were not likely 
 to catch many larks, though the winter skies would 
 soon fall upon them. 
 
 73 
 
74 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 They now complained that Captain Smith, once 
 on the Chickahominy, should have followed up its 
 course till he ascertained whether that would lead 
 to the South Sea (or Pacific, as we call it) ; for one 
 object of all expeditions sent to America was, to 
 find an opening by which ships might sail through 
 into the Pacific and thus have a much shorter 
 voyage to the East Indies. Nobody, at that time, 
 had any idea of the width of the newly discovered 
 continent. Of course Smith had sense enough to 
 know that ships built for ocean travel could not pass 
 through by so small a channel as that of the Chick- 
 ahominy, even if it were open all the way across. 
 The James was larger, but its falls, or rapids, showed 
 that no navigator could go through by that route. 
 
 But the Captain did not argue long with the 
 thoughtless and discontented, though he told them 
 the immediate need was, to lay in supplies for the 
 winter. He was desirous of exploring the surround- 
 ing country as far as possible, and making friends 
 of more of the Indians. He therefore organized 
 a small expedition to explore the Chickahominy 
 as far toward its headwaters as possible. 
 
 With a barge and as large a company as it could 
 accommodate he passed up the river about fifty 
 miles. From that point the channel was too small 
 and too much obstructed for the barge. He there- 
 
PRISONER TO THE INDIANS 75 
 
 fore persuaded the Indians to let him have the use 
 of a canoe, and he engaged two of them to paddle 
 it. Taking two of his men with him in the canoe, 
 he left the others with the barge, carefully instruct- 
 ing them not to go ashore during his absence. He 
 then ascended the stream about twenty miles, to 
 a point where it was difficult to proceed farther. 
 Here he left the canoe, telhng the two EngHshmen 
 that remained in it to keep their firearms ready for 
 instant use and to signal to him by a shot if there 
 was any danger. He took one of the Indians with 
 him as a guide, and set out to examine the region. 
 A few minutes later Captain Smith heard a terrific 
 war whoop and knew he was about to be attacked. 
 As he had heard no report of firearms from the canoe 
 he believed that the men he left there had been 
 surprised and murdered, and this proved to be 
 true. They had disobeyed his orders, having 
 gone ashore, built a fire, and lain down to sleep 
 beside it, where of course they were murdered. 
 The men in the barge were equally disobedient. 
 They went ashore and were wandering about care- 
 lessly when they were attacked by a large band of 
 Indians. With difficulty they succeeded in getting 
 back to the barge — all but one, whom the savages 
 caught- This poor wretch, hoping to save his Hfe 
 by serving his captors, told them all about Captain 
 
76 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 Smithes movements. But after getting this in- 
 formation from him they put him to a cruel 
 death. 
 
 As soon as the Captain knew that his men in 
 the canoe had been treacherously murdered he knew 
 also that there must be Indians lurking about to 
 entrap and murder him. Therefore he promptly 
 seized the Indian that was with him, disarmed him, 
 and with his garters bound the Indian's arm fast 
 to his own left arm, thus using him as a shield 
 against any arrows that might be shot by the 
 savages. Very soon he saw two Indians bending 
 their bows, evidently intending to harm him. 
 Before they could use them he discharged a pistol 
 and drove them away. He kept the Indian guide 
 between them and himself, knowing that others 
 would soon appear; and, sure enough, presently 
 appeared the great chief Opecancanough with 
 more than two hundred braves. Captain Smith 
 fired at them with his pistol, killing three and 
 wounding several, one of whom died of his wound, 
 and thus for a time he kept them beyond arrow- 
 shot, as they were afraid to come near firearms. 
 The Indians tried to induce him to surrender, on the 
 promise that they would not take his life, but he 
 would not submit unless they would let him get 
 away to his canoe and go down the river. Then, 
 
PRISONER TO THE INDIANS 77 
 
 facing the savages all the time, and occasionally 
 firing at them, he backed away slowly. Unfortu- 
 nately, he did not once look behind him to learn 
 where his retreating steps were leading him, and 
 after a time he stepped off solid ground and sank 
 up to his waist in a swamp. It was impossible for 
 him to get out unless he had assistance, and he 
 therefore threw away his pistol and surrendered. 
 The savages drew him out of the swamp and car- 
 ried him to the chief. Smith's presence of mind 
 never left him, and he was as full of resources as 
 ever. He had a small ivory pocket-compass, 
 which he used to keep track of his routes in his 
 explorations, and this he now presented to Ope- 
 cancanough, who was entertained and puzzled 
 by the needle, which he saw through the glass but 
 could not touch. Smith not only explained to the 
 Indians the real use of the compass, but added 
 imaginary powers. He says that by means of it 
 he proved "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. Then he told them of the greatness of 
 the land and sea, the diversity of nations, variety 
 of complexions, and how we [the EngHsh people] 
 were to them antipodes, and many other such like 
 matters." 
 
78 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 No doubt his lecture was very entertaining, even 
 to the poor savages who could not understand it 
 all; nevertheless, Hke many another teacher of 
 new things, he was doomed to persecution. They 
 tied him to a tree, and drew their bows to shoot 
 him, when the chief raised his hand holding the 
 compass, as a command to them to desist. Captain 
 Smith was then put under strong guard and was 
 carried in a procession to a near village, his sword 
 and firearms, as trophies, being carried by the chief 
 himself. The name of the village is given as Ora- 
 pax, and out of it came all the women and children 
 to meet the procession and see the captive. They 
 never before had seen a white person. Then there 
 was a grand dance. Every Indian carried a war- 
 club, a bow and a quiver full of arrows, and was 
 decorated in the most fantastic manner — some 
 wore on the head a dried bird with wings outspread, 
 others pieces of copper, or long feathers, or shells, 
 or snakes' rattles, while all were painted in brilliant 
 red around the head and shoulders. At the village, 
 while he was still carefully guarded, the Indians 
 set before him such an over-abundance of good food 
 that he began to suspect they intended to fatten 
 him, preparatory to kilKng and eating him. But 
 no tribe of the North American Indians has ever 
 been known to be cannibals. One Indian, to whom 
 
PRISONER TO THE INDIANS 79 
 
 he had formerly given some trinket, was good 
 enough to bring his blanket to him, for the days 
 were growing cold. But another, whose son 
 Smith had wounded seriously, was wroth toward 
 him. They supposed Smith must be a great medi- 
 cine man, and asked him to cure the wounded boy. 
 He said he could not do it without some medicine 
 that he could get at Jamestown, and he proposed 
 that he be sent there to get it. This the savages 
 would not consent to. Then he asked that three 
 of them might go, with a note from him, and they 
 fell in with this plan at once. They were glad of an 
 opportunity to spy out the condition of affairs at 
 the settlement, for they intended to attack it. 
 Smith, taking a leaf from a memorandum-book, 
 wrote a letter to the colonists, in which he told 
 them of his situation, warned them to expect an 
 attack, and advised them to show the messengers 
 the cannons and tell them what wonderful arrange- 
 ments they had to shoot and blow up any enemy 
 that should attack them. He also asked that cer- 
 tain articles be sent to him ; and before the messen- 
 gers departed he told them what things would be 
 given to them to bring back, if they presented that 
 paper at the fort. They returned in three days, 
 bringing the articles that he wanted, and all were 
 astonished and bewildered by this proof that he 
 
8o CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 could make a piece of paper speak to his distant 
 friends. Moreover, the messengers gave a terrify- 
 ing report of the dangers of the fort — its great 
 guns and their thundering explosions, its mines, its 
 strong defenses, and the warlike character of the 
 men in the colony. Therefore the Indians gave up 
 their intention of attacking the colony in force. 
 
 But this did not end the Captain's difficulties and 
 danger. While the messengers were gone the man 
 he had wounded died, and the man's father became 
 furiously bent on revenge. His attempts to kill 
 Smith were thwarted only by the constant care of 
 the guards, and it was determined to remove the 
 prisoner to a distant place. The procession was 
 formed again and resumed its march. It took a 
 roundabout course, to exhibit the prisoner to the 
 people in many villages and to other tribes, coming 
 back at last to the place where Opecancanough 
 had his capital. Here they went through a strange 
 performance, which puzzled even Smith, who had 
 learned so much of the Indian character. Several 
 medicine men, painted in black and red and smeared 
 with oil, dressed themselves in skins of wild animals, 
 kept up a constant noise with rattles made of gourds 
 and with the wildest shrieks and howls danced 
 around him from morning till night. There was 
 no eating during the day, but at sunset all were fed 
 
PRISONER TO THE INDIANS 8i 
 
 bountifully — the medicine men, however, taking 
 care to eat by themselves, not with him. Smith's 
 description of this strange performance is so pic- 
 turesque that it is worth quoting in full : — 
 
 ''Early in a morning a great fire was made in 
 a long house, and a mat was spread on one side as on 
 the other. On the one they caused him [Smith] 
 to sit, and all the guard went out of the house. 
 Presently came skipping in a great grim fellow all 
 painted over with coal mingled with oil, and many 
 snakes' and weasels' skins stuffed with moss, and 
 all their tails tied together so that they met on the 
 crown of his head like a tassel; and round about 
 the tassel was a coronet of feathers, the skins 
 hanging round about his head, back, and shoulders, 
 and in a manner covered his face ; with a diabolical 
 voice and a rattle in his hand. With most strange 
 gestures and passions he began his invocation and 
 environed the fire with a circle of meal. Which 
 done, three more such like demons came rushing 
 in with the like antic tricks, painted half black half 
 red. But all their eyes were painted white, and 
 some red strokes Hke mustachios along their cheeks. 
 Round about him [Smith] those fiends danced a 
 pretty while, and then in came three more as ugly 
 as the rest, with red eyes and strokes over their 
 black faces. At last they all sat down right against 
 
82 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 him — three of them on the one hand of the chief 
 priest, and three on the other. Then all with their 
 rattles began a song ; which ended, the chief priest 
 laid down five wheat- corns, then, straining his 
 arms and hands with such violence that he sweat 
 and his veins swelled, he began a short oration. 
 At the conclusion they all gave a short groan, and 
 then he laid down three grains more. After that 
 they began their song again, and then there was 
 another oration, ever laying down so many corns 
 as before, till they had twice encircled the fire. 
 That done, they took a bunch of little sticks pre- 
 pared for that purpose, continuing still their devo- 
 tion, and at the end of every song and oration they 
 laid down a stick betwixt the divisions of corn. 
 Till night neither he nor they did either eat or drink, 
 and then they feasted merrily and with the best 
 provisions they could make. Three days they used 
 this ceremony, the meaning whereof they told him 
 [Smith] was to know if he intended them well or no. 
 The circle of meal signified their country, the circles 
 of corn the bounds of the sea, and the sticks his 
 [Smithes] country. They imagined the world to be 
 flat and round, like a trencher, and they in the 
 midst. Opitchapam, the King^s brother, invited 
 him to his house, where with many platters of 
 bread, fowl, and wild beasts, as did environ him, he 
 
PRISONER TO THE INDIANS 83 
 
 bid him welcome. But not any of them would eat 
 with him, but put up all the remainder in baskets. 
 At his return to Opecancanough's, all the King's 
 women and their children flocked about him for 
 their parts, as a due by custom, to be merry with 
 such fragments." 
 
 All savages are very superstitious, and it was 
 easy for the medicine men — or priests, as Smith 
 calls them — to make the tribe believe that by 
 those ceremonies they could find out what was in 
 the prisoner's mind. Then the chief offered him 
 life, Hberty, and everything he could wish for, if 
 he would show them how the fort at Jamestown 
 could be captured. But of course such a man was 
 not thus to be tempted into treachery. On the 
 contrary, he told them the white men were so nu- 
 merous and strong and wise that the Indians never 
 could overcome them and would better be always 
 friendly to them. They brought one of his pistols 
 and asked him to fire it. Knowing that they wished 
 to learn how to use it, he fumbled with it in a way 
 to break the lock, and made them think it was an 
 accident. They had obtained somehow a bag of 
 gunpowder (perhaps they stole it at Jamestown) 
 and they showed it to him and told him they in- 
 tended to plant it in the spring and raise a crop. 
 He made no objection ! 
 
84 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 After long delay, finding that he could neither be 
 bribed nor frightened, and that they could do 
 nothing with him, they took him to a place called 
 Werowocomoco, where Powhatan, the king of all 
 that country, resided. He was sometimes called 
 the Indian Emperor of Virginia. It is believed that 
 Werowocomoco was in what is now Gloucester 
 county. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 At Powhatan's Capital 
 
 It was a dreary journey that Captain Smith 
 made to the capital of the great chief. It led 
 through dense forests, at a gloomy time of year, 
 and he was heavily guarded by savages whose 
 looks and actions indicated that they considered 
 him doomed to death. Nevertheless, he appears 
 never to have lost heart, sustained, probably, not 
 only by his marvelous native courage but by re- 
 membrance of his many escapes from serious danger. 
 
 When they arrived at Werowocomoco they were 
 not admitted at once to the presence of the chief. 
 Several days were spent in preparations, so that 
 the ceremonies might be as impressive as possible, 
 filling the Indians with a belief in the greatness 
 and power of their tribe, and showing the men of 
 Jamestown — if they should learn of it — what 
 they might expect if they were not in every way 
 friendly to the natives. 
 
 When all was ready the prisoner was brought into 
 court. The place was an open space in the thick 
 
86 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 forest, with great trees making a high wall all 
 round it. Powhatan, the Emperor, who appeared 
 to be about sixty years of age, sat in a long house, 
 on a throne that Captain Smith says looked like a 
 bedstead. He was covered with a large robe made 
 of raccoon skins with all the tails hanging out; 
 and on the ground before him there was a fire, for 
 now the weather was growing cold. *'0n either 
 hand," says Smith in his narrative, ''did sit a young 
 woman of sixteen or eighteen years, and along on 
 each side of the house two rows of men, and behind 
 them as many women, with all their heads and 
 shoulders painted red, many of their heads be- 
 decked with the white down of birds, but every 
 one with something, and a great chain of white 
 beads about their necks. At his entrance before 
 the King all the people gave a great shout. The 
 Queen of Appamatuck was appointed to bring 
 Smith water to wash his hands, and another brought 
 him a bunch of feathers, instead of a towel, to dry 
 them, they having feasted him after the best 
 barbarous manner they could. 
 
 "A long consultation was held; but the conclu- 
 sion was, two great stones were brought before 
 Powhatan. Then as many as could laid hands on 
 Smith, dragged him to them, and thereon laid his 
 head, being ready with their clubs to beat out his 
 
AT POWHATAN'S CAPITAL 87 
 
 brains. Pocahontas, the King's dearest daughter, 
 when no entreaty could prevail, got Smith's head 
 in her arms and laid her own upon his, to save him 
 from death ; whereat the Emperor was contented he 
 should live to make him hatchets and her bells, 
 beads, and copper, for they thought him as well 
 trained of all occupations as themselves. For the 
 King himself will make his own robes, shoes, bows, 
 arrows, pots, plant, hunt, or do anything so well 
 as the rest. 
 
 ^'Two days afterward Powhatan, having dis- 
 guised himself in the most fearfullest manner he 
 could, caused Captain Smith to be brought forth 
 to a great house in the woods and there upon a mat 
 by the fire to be left alone. Not long after, from 
 behind a mat that divided the house, was made 
 the most dolefullest noise he ever heard. Then 
 Powhatan, more like a demon than a man, with 
 some two hundred more as black as himself, came 
 unto him and told him now they were friends, and 
 presently he should go to Jamestown to send him 
 two great guns and a grindstone, for which he would 
 give him the country of Capahowosick and forever 
 esteem him as his son Nantaquond. 
 
 ''So to Jamestown, with twelve guides, Powhatan 
 sent him. That night they quartered in the woods, 
 he still expecting (as he had done all this long time 
 
88 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 of his imprisonment) every hour to be put to one 
 death or other, for all their feasting. But God 
 had mollified the hearts of those stern barbarians 
 with compassion. The next morning betimes they 
 came to the fort, where Smith, having used the 
 savages with what kindness he could, he showed 
 Rawhunt, Powhatan's trusty servant, two demi- 
 culverins [small cannons] and a millstone [or 
 grindstone] to carry to Powhatan. They found 
 them somewhat too heavy ; but when they did see 
 him discharge them, being loaded with stones, 
 among the boughs of a great tree loaded with icicles, 
 and the ice and branches came so tumbling down 
 that the poor savages ran away half dead with fear. 
 But at last we regained some confidence with them 
 and gave them such toys, and sent to Powhatan, 
 his wife and children, such presents, as gave them 
 in general full content." 
 
 On his arrival at Jamestown this time. Captain 
 Smith found the whole colony in a tangle, or, as he 
 expresses it, '^ all in combustion.*' Several were 
 just getting ready to seize the pinnace and sail 
 away for England; but he trained a cannon on 
 the boat, and, with his loaded musket at his 
 shoulder, compelled them either to come ashore or 
 be sunk. Others were plotting to have Smith exe- 
 cuted, on the ground that he was responsible for 
 
AT POWHATAN'S CAPITAL 89 
 
 the death of the two men whom he had left in 
 charge of his canoe and who were murdered by the 
 Indians. But he says that he "quickly took such 
 order with such lawyers that he laid them by the 
 heels till he sent some of them prisoners for Eng- 
 land." 
 
 From this time, Pocahontas, accompanied by 
 several women, came to Jamestown once in four 
 or five days, bringing abundant supplies of provi- 
 sions, without which the whole colony might have 
 been starved, and Smith says that "his relation 
 of the plenty he had seen, especially at Werowo- 
 comoco, and of the state and bounty of Powhatan, 
 so revived their dead spirits (especially the love of 
 Pocahontas) as all men's fear was abandoned." 
 
 Doubts have been raised as to the truth of the 
 story of Pocahontas saving the life of Captain 
 Smith, and there has been much discussion of the 
 subject, with attempts to analyze the evidence. 
 The argument against it is founded mainly on the 
 fact that the incident is not mentioned in the first 
 of Smith's narratives, but is recorded in the later 
 one. It is to be considered that he sent his manu- 
 script to England and was not there to read the 
 proof or in any way supervise the printing, and so 
 bunglingly was this done that one narrative, ac- 
 knowledged to be his, bore the name of another 
 
90 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 man as, the writer. It is not impossible that when 
 the first account was presented for print, some 
 meddling editor struck out whatever he thought 
 was improbable or was put in merely to make the 
 story popular. There is no question that Smith 
 was a prisoner in the hands of the Indians, and 
 surely some extraordinary influence must have 
 prevented them from dispatching him. I prefer 
 to believe the story of Pocahontas. 
 
 We learn, however, that Captain Smith knew 
 how to embellish a story and to invent incidents. 
 In his account of his interview with Powhatan he 
 says: ''He asked me the cause of our coming. I 
 told him that, being in fight with the Spaniards, 
 our enemy, and being overpowered, and near put 
 to retreat by extreme weather, we put to this shore. 
 When we landed at Chesapeake the people shot at 
 us, but at Kecoughtan they kindly used us. When 
 we by signs demanded fresh water, they described 
 us up the river was all fresh water. Our pinnace 
 being leaky, we were forced to stay and mend her, 
 till Captain Newport, my father, came to conduct 
 us away. He demanded why we went farther with 
 our boat. I told him, in that I would have occa- 
 sion to talk of the back sea ; that on the other side 
 of the main [land], where was salt water, my father 
 had a child slain, which we supposed was done by 
 
Pocahontas, the Friend of the English. 
 From the statue by William Ordway Partridge. 
 
AT POWHATAN'S CAPITAL 91 
 
 Monocan, his enemy, and his death we intended 
 to revenge. 
 
 "After good dehberation, he began to describe me 
 the countries beyond the falls, with many of the 
 rest, confirming what not only Opecancanough 
 but an Indian prisoner had before told me. But 
 some called it five days [journey], some six, some 
 eight, where the said water dashed amongst many 
 stones and rocks, each storm which caused ofttimes 
 the head of the river to be brackish. Anchana- 
 chuck he described to be the people that had slain 
 my brother, whose death he would revenge. He 
 described also upon the same sea a mighty nation 
 called Pocotronack, a fierce nation that did eat 
 men and warred with the people of Moyaoncer and 
 Pataromerk — nations upon the top of the head of 
 the bay, under his territories, where the year before 
 they had slain a hundred. He signified their 
 crowns were shaven, long hair in the neck, tied on 
 a knot, swords like pole-axes. Beyond them he 
 described people with short coats and sleeves to the 
 elbows, that passed that way in ships like ours. 
 Many kingdoms he described me to the head of the 
 Bay, which seemed to be a mighty river issuing 
 from mighty mountains betwixt two seas. He de- 
 scribed a country called Anone, where they have 
 abundance of brass and houses walled like ours. 
 
92 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 "I requited his discourse, seeing what pride he 
 had in his great and spacious dominions, seeing that 
 all he knew were under his territories." [Captain 
 Smith's meaning in this last sentence requires a 
 little study. He means that as Powhatan was 
 boasting very largely, he thought he also would 
 boast as greatly.] He says: *'In describing to 
 him the territories of Europe which were subject 
 to our great King, whose subject I was, and the in- 
 numerable multitude of his ships, I gave him to 
 understand the noise of trumpets and terrible 
 manner of fighting were under Captain Newport, 
 my father, whom I entitled the Merowance which 
 they call King of all the waters. At his greatness 
 he admired and not a little feared." 
 
 Probably neither of these men believed fully 
 the boastful story told by the other. And yet 
 Captain Smith still clung to the hope of discovering 
 an outlet to the farther ocean by following up the 
 course of one or another of the rivers that he found 
 in Virginia. The Indians may not have been dis- 
 honest in assuring him that there was such an out- 
 let, for they had various fanciful traditions relating 
 to regions beyond their own domain, which they 
 apparently never tested. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 Captain Newport Arrives 
 
 The strange and unfortunate condition of affairs 
 in the little colony is more clearly indicated by the 
 effect on Captain Smith's mind than even by a 
 recital of the circumstances themselves. He had 
 arrived almost at the Hmit of his patience with the 
 incompetent, discontented, and unreasonable men 
 with whom he was associated ; and he appears to 
 have debated with himself whether he would not 
 better drop the whole business right there and re- 
 turn home. He writes: *' Whether it had been 
 better for Captain Smith to have concluded with 
 any of those several projects to have abandoned 
 the country, with some ten or twelve of them who 
 were called the better sort, and have left Mr. Hunt, 
 our preacher, Master Anthony Gosnell, a most 
 honest and industrious gentleman. Master Thomas 
 Wotton, and some twenty-seven others of his coun- 
 trymen, to the fury of the savages, famine and all 
 manner of mischiefs and inconveniences (for they 
 were but forty in all, to keep possession of this 
 
 93 
 
94 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 large country), or starve himself with them for 
 company, for want of lodging, or for venturing 
 abroad to make them provision, or by his opposi- 
 tion to preserve the action and save all their lives — 
 I leave all honest men to consider." 
 
 It must have occurred to Captain Smith that as 
 by force of arms he had prevented others from aban- 
 doning the colony, it would be ungracious, to say 
 the least, for him now to do what he had so sternly 
 forbade them to do. Still, the ruHng force that 
 made him remain at his difi&cult task, with all its 
 discouragements, was undoubtedly his own indomi- 
 table spirit, his habit of meeting every emergency 
 with a determined courage. By his allusion to 
 those "who were called of the better sort'^ he means 
 the gentlemen (as they ranked themselves), who 
 were of little use there and should not have been 
 permitted to cross the ocean with the real workers. 
 Jamestown was a hive with too many drones. 
 Probably those gentlemen had contributed to the 
 cost of fitting out the expedition, and therefore 
 they could not be refused permission to go with it. 
 
 The duration of Smith's captivity among the 
 Indians is stated variously — from a month to 
 seven weeks. At the shortest, it was long enough 
 for him to acquire a great deal of useful information 
 concerning them and to learn considerable of their 
 
CAPTAIN NEWPORT ARRIVES 95 
 
 language. Because of this advantage and his 
 brighter intellect and sound judgment, he under- 
 stood the savages far better than any other member 
 of the colony. His superior officer, Captain New- 
 port, was too stupid ever to understand them at all, 
 as was shown a Httle later by his strange method of 
 trading with them. Smith had now learned when 
 to be severe with the Indians, and when to be len- 
 ient ; when to tell them the plain truth, and when 
 to flatter them ; when to make them presents that 
 pleased them, and when to prevent them from 
 steaKng. Above all, he had learned how to trade 
 to advantage with them. If he sometimes told 
 them a rank falsehood, that was no more than was 
 being done every day in the courts of Europe. It 
 was three quarters of a century later (1682) when 
 William Penn made the successful experiment of 
 treating with the Indians on the basis of truth and 
 gentleness. Yet it must be remembered that he 
 had the advantage arising from the fact that in the 
 mean time they had learned much of the number 
 and power of the white men. And it was Captain 
 Smith who began their education on this subject, 
 which was continued by Miles Standish and his 
 companions in Massachusetts. 
 
 The general result of Captain Smithes captivity 
 v/as apparently a good understanding and friendly 
 
96 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 feeling all round. Not only Pocahontas but several 
 Indians came to Jamestown frequently, bringing 
 liberal supplies of food, which were much needed 
 by the colony. 
 
 Meanwhile two ships, commanded by Captain 
 Newport and Captain Nelson, with supplies and 
 additional colonists, were sent out from England. 
 Captain Nelson^s vessel, the Phoenix, was driven out 
 of its course and much delayed in making the voy- 
 age. But Captain Newport^s arrived in fairly good 
 time and was very welcome. Smith had told the 
 Indians what time Newport would appear, and he 
 came just at the time to make the promise good. 
 This seemed miraculous to them and they could 
 only think he was inspired. Large numbers of 
 them would come near the fort to trade, but they 
 would not enter it, or come very close, till he came 
 out in response to their call. They had all confi- 
 dence in him, and they allowed him to fix the prices 
 of all they had to sell. A serious drawback to 
 this was the exhibition of a petty jealousy on the 
 part of some of the colonists, who could not bear 
 to look upon Smithes power with the Indians, 
 when they did not share it. He was able to ex- 
 change small quantities of such articles as the 
 Indians desired for large quantities of their abun- 
 dant provisions. 
 
CAPTAIN NEWPORT ARRIVES 97 
 
 But this advantage was soon lost after Newport's 
 arrival. His sailors and the adventurers whom he 
 brought went out among the savages, with an eager 
 curiosity to see them, and in trading with them, 
 unadvised and reckless, gave such prices as taught 
 them to be exorbitant in their demands and 
 thwarted the advantage that Smith had gained. In 
 this matter. Captain Newport showed himself no 
 wiser than the simplest sailor in his crew. For the 
 quantity of grain that Smith could buy with an 
 ounce of copper, they now frequently gave a pound. 
 If spent at such a rate, of course the articles brought 
 by the ship would not last long. The Indians be- 
 gan to think that Smith had cheated them, and to 
 look upon Newport as the really great man. 
 
 Captain Smith now told Captain Newport what 
 an exalted idea the Indians had of him, and that it 
 would be greatly to the advantage of the colony 
 if he paid a visit to Powhatan. This would give 
 them an idea of the power and importance of the 
 English people, and strengthen the friendship that 
 was so happily begun. 
 
 Captain Newport readily fell in with this sugges- 
 tion. The pinnace was put in shape for a voyage 
 in the bay, a crew and a guard of about forty men 
 were chosen, and articles for trading were taken in. 
 But before they arrived at their destination New- 
 
98 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 port's natural timidity took possession of him, 
 and he was reluctant to proceed. All sorts of 
 dangers loomed up in his imagination, from his idea 
 of the treachery and cruelty of the Indians, and 
 Smith had difi&culty in persuading him to continue 
 the journey. The latter part of this was overland ; 
 and whenever they came to a rude little bridge 
 over a brook, Newport suspected that it was a trap 
 for him, and that it would break down if he trusted 
 himself on it. 
 
 At length Captain Smith ofifered to go ahead, 
 accompanied by twenty of the men, to meet what- 
 ever dangers there might be in the wilderness, while 
 Newport and the others should remain with the 
 pinnace. This was agreed upon, and Smith set out 
 at once. Though he was brave, he was also judi- 
 cious, and he did not forget that there really were 
 serious dangers. His men were all armed, and 
 all wore tliickly padded jackets which were a fair 
 protection against arrows. A company of Indians, 
 led by the king's son Nantaquis, had met him at the 
 landing and were accompanying him on the march. 
 As they proceeded. Captain Smith kept the king's 
 son and the chiefs all the time surrounded by his 
 own men, so that any attempted treachery could 
 be defeated at once. The Indians attempted 
 nothing unfriendly, and probably they had not in- 
 
CAPTAIN NEWPORT ARRIVES 99 
 
 tended to. Nevertheless, Smith showed his wis- 
 dom in not presenting to them any temptation by 
 being careless or off his guard. 
 
 Powhatan received the visitors in royal state. 
 Smith says he was ''sitting upon his bed of mats, 
 his pillow of leather embroidered after their manner 
 with pearl and white beads, his attire a robe of 
 skins as large as an Irish mantle ; at his head and 
 feet a handsome young woman; on each side of 
 his house sat twenty women, their heads and 
 shoulders painted red, with a great chain of white 
 beads about the neck. Before those sat his chief est 
 men in like order in his arbor-like house, and on 
 each side of the door stood a guard of twenty 
 Indians with forty platters of fine bread. Four 
 or five hundred people made a guard behind them 
 for our passage, and proclamation was made that 
 none, on pain of death, should presume to do us 
 any wrong or discourtesy." Smith had great ad- 
 miration for Powhatan. He says: ''His appear- 
 ance is of such a majesty as I can not well express, 
 nor yet have often seen, either in pagan or Chris- 
 tian. With a kind countenance he bade all wel- 
 come, and caused a place to be made by himself to 
 sit.^' The Captain presented the great chief with 
 a suit of red cloth, a greyhound, and a hat, which 
 Powhatan accepted with an appropriate speech. 
 
lOO CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 Water was brought for the guests to wash their 
 hands, and then food. 
 
 **But where is your father?" Powhatan asked 
 — meaning Newport. 
 
 "You shall see him to-morrow," Smith answered. 
 
 "And where are the great guns that you prom- 
 ised me?" 
 
 Captain Smith reminded him of what he already 
 knew, that the guns were too heavy for the Indian 
 messengers to carry ; and Powhatan then said he 
 would accept some smaller ones in place of them. 
 Smith also reminded the chief that he had been 
 promised corn and land. Powhatan assured him 
 he should have them, but he expected Smith and 
 all his men to lay down their arms at his feet, just 
 as his own subjects did. The Captain said : "That 
 is a ceremony that our enemies desire, but never 
 our friends." 
 
 Continuing, Smith asked Powhatan not to have 
 any doubt of the sincere friendship of the English, 
 and promised that Captain Newport would give 
 assurances of that friendship the next day ; that he 
 would present the great chief with a child of his 
 own ; and that a force commanded by Smith him- 
 self should subjugate two tribes that were Powha- 
 tan's worst enemies. 
 
 Thereupon Powhatan made another formal ora- 
 
CAPTAIN NEWPORT ARRIVES loi 
 
 tion and honored Captain Smith by making him 
 a werowance — that is to say, a sort of sub-chief 
 under Powhatan — what we should call one of 
 Powhatan's lieutenants. 
 
 The condition of the tide prevented Smith and 
 his men from getting to the pinnace that night, 
 and they were obliged to remain Powhatan's guests. 
 A large house was lent to them, and they were 
 furnished with venison for supper. Smith himself, 
 who took supper with Powhatan, says* ''He set 
 before me meat for twenty men, and, seeing I could 
 not eat, he caused it to be given to my men ; for 
 this is a general custom — when they give, not to 
 take again, but you must either eat it, give it away, 
 or carry it with you. After supper two or three 
 hours were spent in our ancient discourses, which 
 done, I was lighted to my lodgings with a fire- 
 stick" — he means a pine torch. 
 
 Next morning Powhatan took Captain Smith to 
 the river bank and proudly showed him his fleet 
 of canoes, telling him that many of them were 
 used to bring him tribute from various tribes around 
 the shores of the Chesapeake. He said some paid 
 in beads, some in skins, and some in copper. Smith 
 says they had, that day, "many pretty discourses." 
 
 There they saw Captain Newport approaching, 
 and at once Powhatan took leave of Smith and 
 
I02 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 hurried away to his house that he might be pre- 
 pared to give Newport a proper reception. When 
 he, accompanied by Smith and his companions, 
 reached Powhatan's — perhaps we ought to say 
 palace, for kings, hke other mortals, have their own 
 individual tastes — their reception was Hke that 
 which had been given to Captain Smith on the 
 previous occasion, perhaps a little more extended, 
 with singing, dancing, oratory, and refreshments. 
 Newport made Powhatan a present of a white boy 
 named Thomas Salvage, passing him off as his own 
 son ; and Powhatan gave him, in return, an Indian 
 boy named Namontack, to be his body servant. 
 Smith says this copper-colored lad was *' of a shrewd 
 and subtle capacity," an expression that might be 
 either complimentary or the reverse, according to 
 the way in which the boy used his capacity. 
 
 The colonists spent the night on their pinnace, 
 and next day continued their visit with the chief, 
 or Emperor, as they called him — and it lasted four 
 or five days. Powhatan strongly objected to the 
 fact that the men were armed. He asked Smith 
 whether they doubted that he was sincerely their 
 friend — if they did not doubt that, what were 
 they afraid of? Then he called their attention to 
 the fact that all his followers were unarmed. Cap- 
 tain Smith answered that his men brought their 
 
CAPTAIN NEWPORT ARRIVES 103 
 
 arms because it was the custom of their country. 
 Still, Powhatan was not satisfied, and therefore 
 Captain Newport ordered his men to return to the 
 boat. Smith, not knowing what foolish thing they 
 might do if left alone, went with them. But this 
 displeased the Emperor still more, for he was 
 warmly attached to Smith and desired as much 
 of his company as possible; besides which, he 
 understood Smith's remarkable abilities and per- 
 haps mistrusted what he might do as commander 
 of those soldiers. Therefore Smith was recalled, 
 and a Mr. Scrivener, who had come with Newport 
 from England to be a member of the Council, took 
 his place at the shore. Even then, Powhatan ap- 
 peared to be somewhat uneasy in his mind. Smith 
 and Newport therefore introduced the subject of 
 trading, and this interested him. He thought he 
 saw his opportunity, and perhaps he did. 
 
 Smith tells us that Powhatan constantly "carried 
 himself so proudly yet discreetly, in his savage 
 manner, as made us all admire his natural gifts, 
 considering his education." 
 
 When the bartering was begun, in a compara- 
 tively small and careful way, the Emperor said to 
 Newport: "It is not agreeable to my greatness to 
 trafiic for trifles in this peddling manner. And you 
 too I consider a great werowance. Therefore lay 
 
I04 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 down all your articles together at once. I will 
 then take such as I like, and in return will give you 
 what I think is their value." 
 
 Captain Smith saw the trick readily enough (he 
 acted as interpreter, for Powhatan understood very 
 Uttle EngHsh, and Newport no Indian), and he 
 warned Newport that it was a scheme to cheat him. 
 But the dull-witted Newport, probably intent upon 
 maintaining a lofty dignity to match Powhatan's, 
 laid out his entire stock of articles, as requested. 
 The Emperor looked them over, took everything 
 that he cared for, and in paying rated his corn at 
 so high a price that Smith said it could be bought 
 cheaper even in Spain. Captain Smith had ex- 
 pected to get twenty hogsheads of corn for the 
 articles, but Powhatan gave not more than four 
 bushels. Newport saw that he had been tricked, 
 was exceedingly mortified, and — as is usual with 
 stupid persons — vented his anger, not on Pow- 
 hatan, but on Smith, who had tried to save him 
 from being swindled. 
 
 But Captain Smith, as usual, was equal to the 
 occasion. He got out a handful of blue beads, of a 
 kind that the Indians never had seen, and, without 
 apparently intending to show them, let Powhatan 
 discover them in his hands. The old chief was 
 attracted by the glitter and the unusual form of 
 
CAPTAIN NEWPORT ARRIVES 105 
 
 the beads, and immediately proposed to buy them. 
 Smith said no, he didn't wish to part with them. 
 They were made of a very rare substance, he said, 
 of the color of the sky, and nobody in the world 
 except the greatest kings was rich enough to buy 
 them or was allowed to wear them. This, of course, 
 made Powhatan all the more desirous of obtaining 
 them, and Smith says he played upon the savage's 
 fancy with such stories until he "made him half 
 mad to be the owner of such strange jewels.'' At 
 last he consented to part with some of them, but it 
 must be at his own price, and for two pounds of 
 them he got three hundred bushels of corn. Then 
 Powhatan's brother, Opecancanough, thought that, 
 as he was of royal blood, he ought to have some of 
 the royal beads, and Smith consented to sell him 
 a few at the same rate. Emperor Powhatan issued 
 an order, or a decree, or a ukase — or whatever the 
 Indians called it — that no one should presume 
 to wear such beads except himself, his brother, and 
 their wives and children. 
 
 The great chief, though he continued to feed the 
 whole company of white men most bountifully, also 
 continued to object to their weapons. Captain 
 Smith knew that this could only mean that he 
 wanted them disarmed so that he and his horde of 
 dusky warriors could rob them. One day he sent 
 
io6 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 his son to ask that they would leave their arms in 
 the boat, because his women were frightened by 
 them ; and Newport, simple as usual, would have 
 done as the chief requested, but Smith had twenty- 
 five of the men carry their muskets. Powhatan 
 was especially afraid of Smith's sword and pistol, 
 and asked that he come without them, to which 
 Smith answered: ''Those were the very terms of 
 persuasion used by the men who afterward be- 
 trayed us and slew my brother." So he retained 
 his side-arms, sold more blue beads, and increased 
 his store of provisions. 
 
 The next morning the colonists, with much 
 ceremony, took what was intended to be their final 
 leave of Powhatan, who sent away all the women 
 and all the men except the chiefs, because he wished 
 for a confidential interview with Newport and 
 Smith. Reminding them of their promise to make 
 war on the tribe of Monacans, he said he was 
 supposed to be on friendly terms with that people, 
 and therefore it would be better for him and New- 
 port not to appear to have anything to do with the 
 attack. He would furnish a hundred warriors, and 
 he supposed Smith could bring as many white 
 men. Then his two sons and Opecancanough and 
 Smith and Scrivener could command the forces. 
 He would send spies to find out how strong the 
 
CAPTAIN NEWPORT ARRIVES 107 
 
 Monacans were and whether they were prepared for 
 war. His plan was, that the whole force should go 
 out on a pretended hunting expedition, and fall 
 suddenly upon the unsuspecting Monacans. So 
 sure was he of having this plan carried out, that he 
 proceeded to say how the spoils should be divided — 
 all the men of the Monacans were to be killed ; he 
 would take the women and the young children for 
 his share ; his brother and Captain Newport should 
 have whatever else there might be that was worth 
 taking. He intimated to Newport that if the 
 Monacans were out of the way the road to the 
 South Sea, which the English desired to reach, 
 would be open and easy, and Newport was strongly 
 inclined to beHeve the story. 
 
 The colonists then went to pay a similar visit 
 to Opecancanough and his people, and were re- 
 ceived there also with honor and feasting. Pow- 
 hatan requested them to return to him, saying he 
 had learned that more supplies had been brought 
 to Jamestown, and he wished to continue the 
 trading. They were not willing to go back, and 
 their host was not willing to have them go. Then 
 Powhatan sent his daughter Pocahontas, and by 
 her entreaties they were persuaded. In this sec- 
 ond interview Powhatan gave Newport an Indian, 
 who was to be his servant and go with him to 
 
io8 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 England. Secretly Powhatan told the man that 
 he must count all the persons he saw in England, 
 so that he might know how strong the English na- 
 tion really was. It is not certain that this was 
 as foolish as it appears at first thought. Powhatan 
 had no idea of a great city, but he knew about 
 villages. Suppose the man, on returning home, 
 was able to report that he passed through twenty 
 villages, and that in one he counted five hundred 
 persons. Powhatan was a good enough scholar to 
 multiply five hundred by twenty. He must have 
 known that a nation which could build and fit out 
 such ocean-going ships as the colonists came in 
 would consist of at least some thousands of persons. 
 The man, as he counted the people in the streets, 
 cut notches on a stick; but perhaps he cut only 
 one notch for every ten or more. In fact, Captain 
 Smith, in another book, tells us that these people 
 always counted by tens. 
 
 When the expedition returned to Jamestown, 
 Newport set the men at work quarrying rocks for 
 something that he thought was gold. Captain 
 Smith, who knew the folly of it, protested vigorously, 
 but in vain. Captain Newport was determined 
 to carry home a good cargo of gold, and so he did 
 — but it was ''fool's gold," which the scientists 
 call iron pyrites, worth perhaps a few cents a ton. 
 
CAPTAIN NEWPORT ARRIVES 109 
 
 One of the company — may be Smith himself — 
 wrote : '' Our gilded refiners, with their golden prom- 
 ises, made all men their slaves in hope of recom- 
 pense. There was no talk, no hope, no work but 
 dig gold, wash gold, refine gold, load gold — such 
 a bruit [clamor] of gold that one mad fellow desired 
 to be buried in the sands, lest they should by their 
 art make gold of his bones. Were it that Captain 
 Smith would not applaud all these golden inven- 
 tions, because they admitted him not to the sight 
 of their trials [tests of the substance that they dug 
 up], nor their golden consultations, I know not ; but 
 I have heard him oft question with Captain Martin 
 and tell him that, except he could show him a more 
 substantial trial, he was not enamored with their 
 dirty skill. Breathing out these and many other pas- 
 sions, never anything did more torment him than to 
 see all necessary business neglected to freight such 
 a drunken ship with so much gilded dirt." 
 
 In the midst of this folly a serious disaster fell 
 upon the colony. The winter (1607) was very 
 cold, and the men carelessly made many fires, 
 which soon resulted in a conflagration that de- 
 stroyed nearly all the houses and the public granary 
 where was stored the liberal stock of provisions 
 that Smith had obtained from the Indians. The 
 pahsades that had been put up as a defense were 
 
no CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 also burned. Incidentally it is recorded that 
 ^'Good Master Hunt, our preacher, lost all his 
 library and all he had but the clothes on his back, 
 yet none ever heard him repine at his loss." When 
 we consider what that involved, we appreciate the 
 justice of calling the clergyman ''good Master 
 Hunt." Possibly he could get other garments, 
 though they were none too plenty in Jamestown ; 
 but the books were a dead loss. There was no book- 
 store in Powhatan's dominions — not even a sec- 
 ond-hand store, and no polite clerk who could say, 
 ^'We haven't those volumes in stock just now, but 
 we can take your order and import them from Lon- 
 don." It would be interesting to know what books 
 he had. Of course he had a Bible, but it could not 
 have been the King James translation (which we 
 now call the authorized version) , for that was not 
 pubHshed till 1611. Perhaps he had the Genevan 
 Bible, which a great scholar calls ''the sweetest of 
 all EngHsh versions." He may have had Shake- 
 speare's masterpiece, "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark," 
 which was published separately three or four 
 years before the Jamestown settlers sailed. A 
 copy of it is now worth much money, but Mr. Hunt 
 could have bought it for a very little. 
 
 Newport's ship should have sailed for England in 
 a week or two ; but the craze for gold detained it 
 
CAPTAIN NEWPORT ARRIVES iii 
 
 fourteen weeks. Meanwhile, many of the colonists, 
 having lost their provisions by the fire, bought small 
 quantities of the sailors, who stole them from the 
 ship's stores, and for those small quantities they 
 had to pay enormous prices in furs, gold rings, 
 spare garments, or anything that had a value. In 
 consequence of these misfortunes and hardships, 
 more than half of the colonists died that winter. 
 Smith and Scrivener tried to correct the abuses, 
 organize the necessary operations of rebuilding, 
 and hearten their discouraged townsmen ; but the 
 stupidity and senseless jealousy of the president and 
 his followers prevented them from accomplishing 
 much. It was, however, a relief to him that when 
 the ship sailed he sent home in her those whom he 
 called ^'lawyers." He writes triumphantly: " We 
 not having any use of parhaments, petitions, ad- 
 miralty [naval] recorders, interpreters, courts of 
 pleas, nor justices of the peace, sent Wingfield 
 and Captain Archer home with him that had en- 
 grossed all these titles, to seek some better place of 
 employment." 
 
 When Newport was about to set sail he received 
 from Powhatan a gift of twenty fat turkeys ; but 
 it was such a gift as only an Indian would think of 
 making, for the wily chief asked to have twenty 
 swords in return. And Newport committed his 
 
112 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 crowning folly by promptly sending the weapons. 
 *^ Against stupidity," said an ancient proverb, 
 "even the gods fight in vain." Captain Smith, in 
 a small boat, accompanied the outgoing ship as 
 far as the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, probably 
 to make sure of getting him far enough away from 
 any opportunity to commit more follies. On his 
 return Captain Smith stopped at Nansemond and 
 made a treaty with the chief that ruled there. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 Trouble with the Indians 
 
 Though Newport and the lawyers had departed, 
 Captain Smith's difficulties were not at an end. 
 President Radcliffe and Captain Martin were in 
 control, backed by a large number of the colonists, 
 and they constantly showed themselves unfriendly 
 to Smith. They were in possession of the public 
 stores, and they used them or sold them as if they 
 were their own private property. 
 
 It was April when Newport sailed away. Smith, 
 with Mr. Scrivener and a few others, planted the 
 fields for a crop of corn, and then he assumed charge 
 of the work of rebuilding the town. First he re- 
 placed the defenses, and then he built the store- 
 houses and the church. While they were at this 
 task. Captain Nelson arrived with the Phcenix, 
 which had been driven far south by a storm. This 
 vessel brought a hundred and twenty additional 
 colonists — including many workingmen, but also 
 some of the useless "gentlemen" — and supplies 
 for six months. In recording this event Smith 
 1 113 
 
114 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 writes: "The happy arrival of Master Nelson in 
 the Phoenix, having been then about three months 
 missing, did so lavish us with exceeding joy that 
 now we thought ourselves as our hearts could wish, 
 both with a competent number of men as also for 
 all other needful provisions." 
 
 When the rebuilding of the town was completed, 
 Captain Smith planned an expedition for exploring 
 the country of the Monacans. He chose seventy 
 of the best men, and instructed and drilled them in 
 mihtary tactics. He says that after teaching them 
 to "march, fight, and skirmish in the woods, their 
 wilHng minds to this action so quickened their 
 understanding in this exercise as in all judgments 
 we were able to fight with Powhatan's whole force." 
 The captain had made all arrangements for the 
 expedition — arms and supplies for his company, 
 and provision for the defense of the fort in his ab- 
 sence — when the ruling powers, either from their 
 usual habit of opposing him or from sheer timidity, 
 forbade the enterprise. They said the right to 
 make such explorations belonged to Captain New- 
 port alone, and that Smith's plan was ill-timed 
 and hazardous. 
 
 Another clash came with the question of loading 
 the Phoenix for her return voyage. Captain Mar- 
 tin contended that she should be loaded only with 
 
TROUBLE WITH THE INDIANS 115 
 
 the mineral that he called "gold," but Smith, 
 Scrivener, and Captain Nelson insisted that a cargo 
 of cedar would be more valuable, and they had their 
 way. Nelson said he "would carry the gold, or 
 dirt, when he had less charge and more leisure." 
 
 About this time a change in the disposition and 
 conduct of the Indians was noticeable. They had 
 been very friendly — in appearance, at least ; but 
 now they became thievish, insolent, and some- 
 times actually hostile. Powhatan had so easily ob- 
 tained twenty good swords from Captain Newport 
 that he thought he might double his supply of arms 
 in the same way from Captain Smith. Accordingly 
 he sent Smith twenty fat turkeys, and asked for 
 as many weapons in exchange. But the cunning 
 chief soon learned that Smith and Newport were 
 different men, and he did not get the weapons. 
 
 Then began a system of petty thieving. Many 
 Indians dropped in at Jamestown, one or two at a 
 time, loafed about or mentioned some pretended 
 errand, and picked up any tool, weapon, or other 
 article that they could carry away. It was believed 
 that they were acting under secret orders from 
 Powhatan. They grew so bold that an Indian 
 who was detected and dispossessed of his plunder 
 one day would not hesitate to try it again the next 
 day. Finally they would lay hands openly on 
 
Ii6 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 anything that they fancied, and try to secure it by 
 force. Smith says : ''By ambuscadoes at our very 
 doors they would take things by force, surprise 
 us at work, or any way, which was so long per- 
 mitted they became so insolent there was no rule." 
 The colonists were hampered by the command that 
 was given to them as they left England, that they 
 must not offend the Indians in any way. Perhaps 
 this accounted, partly at least, for Newport^s timid 
 conduct. Smith knew when it was better to break 
 a rule than to obey it, especially if the rule were 
 made by those who could not know all the circum- 
 stances. He caught an Indian who had stolen two 
 swords, and put him in irons. When the man was 
 released he went away sullen, and returned a few 
 days later accompanied by three others, all armed 
 with wooden swords. Smith ordered them to 
 leave, and when they threatened to attack him he 
 promptly knocked one of them down. Then the 
 others made at him, whereupon he drew his sword 
 and drove them before him. Having done this, 
 he called for a few soldiers and, marching out, drove 
 every Indian off the island. 
 
 Learning of this, the chief at Nansemond, down 
 the river, returned a stolen hatchet; and Indians 
 that had once been employed by the colonists came 
 asking to be set at work again. 
 
TROUBLE WITH THE INDIANS 117 
 
 Their reformation did not last long, however; 
 for when Mr. Scrivener followed an Indian who had 
 stolen a hatchet, the fellow drew his arrow and 
 threatened to shoot. Two others attacked Cap- 
 tain Smith, as he writes, "circling about me as 
 though they would have clubbed me like a hare." 
 He faced them boldly, dared them to touch him, 
 and retired within the fort. When these and others 
 followed him in, he summoned help, closed the 
 ports, so that they could not get out, and then ar- 
 rested sixteen of them. 
 
 When Powhatan sent messengers to ask that his 
 men be released, Smith answered that they would 
 not be freed until all the weapons and tools that 
 they had stolen were brought back, and if this were 
 not done he would hang all his prisoners. A party 
 of Indians ranging in the woods captured two colo- 
 nists, and at once came to the fort and called out that 
 they would hang them if the Indians were hanged. 
 Smith promptly headed a company of soldiers who 
 went out against the enemy and soon compelled 
 them to give up the two captives. 
 
 Then the imprisoned Indians were examined, 
 under threat of death if they should not tell the 
 truth, and they confessed — what Captain Smith 
 had suspected — that there was a great conspiracy 
 to destroy the whole colony. Powhatan and his 
 
Ii8 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 subordinate chiefs were to keep up the appearance 
 of friendship until Newport came again, for the chief 
 wished to get back his man who had been sent to 
 England. Then the Emperor was to make a great 
 feast, invite the chief men of Jamestown, and make 
 them all prisoners. Smith tells how he induced 
 the Indians to confess : "I bound one in the hold 
 to the main-mast and, presenting six muskets with 
 match ^ in the cocks, forced him to tell. And we 
 caused certain volleys of shot to be discharged, 
 which caused each one to think that his fellows 
 had been slain. . . . We learned that Paspahegh 
 and Chickahamnia did hate us and intended some 
 mischief, and who they were that took me, the 
 names of them that stole our tools and swords, and 
 that Powhatan received them, all agreed." 
 
 Powhatan now realized that he was in serious 
 danger, for he had learned not only that his Indians 
 had confessed the plot, but that Captain Smith 
 was daily drilHng his soldiers,"' evidently intending 
 to move against his enemy. To concihate the 
 whites, he sent the boy, Thomas Salvage, who had 
 been given to him by Newport, to present a fine 
 lot of turkeys to Smith and Scrivener and ask for 
 the release of the captives. Smith simply detained 
 
 ^ Theare were no percussion caps in those days, and a musket 
 was fired with a lighted match. 
 
TROUBLE WITH THE INDIANS 119 
 
 the boy, and returned no answer. The Emperor 
 then played his strongest card. Smith tells it thus : 
 "Powhatan, understanding we detained certain 
 savages, sent his daughter, a child ten years old,^ 
 which not only for feature, countenance, and pro- 
 portion much exceedeth any of the rest of his people, 
 but for wit and spirit the only nonpareil of his 
 country. This he sent by his most trusty messen- 
 ger, called Rawhunt, as much exceeding in deform- 
 ity of person, but of a subtle wit and crafty under- 
 standing.'^ 
 
 The message that Pocahontas and the dwarf 
 brought from the Emperor to Captain Smith was to 
 the effect that he greatly loved the Captain and had 
 sent his best beloved child to ask that the captives 
 be set free, for whose conduct he apologized, in 
 that they were rash, unthinking men. The re- 
 quest was accompanied by a handsome present of 
 bread and venison. Some of the captives were 
 from the tribe of Opecancanough, who also sent 
 presents and asked for their release. Captain 
 Smith did not care much for him, but he could not 
 refuse Pocahontas. So he took them all into the 
 church, where rehgious services were held, and then 
 gave the prisoners to Pocahontas, at the same time 
 
 ^ Elsewhere Smith makes her age thirteen. It is impossible 
 to reconcile the accounts. 
 
120 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 restoring to them their bows and arrows and what- 
 ever else had been taken from them, not forgetting 
 to present Pocahontas herself with a few trinkets. 
 These, he told her, he ''gave to the King^s daughter, 
 in regard of her father's kindness in sending her." 
 It appears that Pocahontas was sometimes an ally 
 of the British and sometimes a neutral, but always 
 an advocate for humane treatment of captives. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 Exploring Chesapeake Bay 
 
 Captain Nelson^s ship, the Phoenix, sailed for 
 England, June 8, 1608. Captain Martin was a 
 passenger. Smith, to whom Martin's departure 
 was a good riddance, says he ''was always sickly 
 and unserviceable, and desirous to enjoy the credit 
 of finding the gold mine." As when Newport 
 sailed for home, in April, Captain Smith accom- 
 panied the out-going Phoenix as far as the mouth 
 of Chesapeake Bay. He went in a good-sized 
 barge, having with him seven soldiers, six gentle- 
 men, and Dr. Walter Russell. When he had taken 
 leave of Captain Nelson and his crew, he set out 
 to do what he had been prevented from doing a few 
 weeks before — explore that great bay, the shape 
 and shores of which were then unknown. 
 
 He crossed the bay to Cape Charles, passing a 
 small group which he named "Smith's Isles," and 
 sailed northward along the eastern shore. He 
 spoke with two Indians who stood on the shore 
 watching the voyagers, and they directed him to 
 
122 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 Accomac, where he found the best and most friendly 
 chief that he had met. 
 
 Smith was bent upon making a thorough explora- 
 tion, and he entered every small bay or inlet that 
 he came to. The weather was somewhat stormy 
 and the water was rough, but such circumstances 
 never daunted him. He looked especially for har- 
 bors and drinking-water, the latter being hard to 
 find. At one inlet where they landed the natives, 
 after a little difficulty in the process of making 
 acquaintance, entertained them with singing and 
 dancing. Where they first found a pond of fresh 
 water they named the place Point Ployer, "in honor 
 of the most honorable house of Monsay, in Britain, 
 that in an extreme extremity once relieved our 
 Captain." 
 
 A heavy storm compelled the company to go 
 ashore on an uninhabited island, where they had to 
 remain two days. The violent wind tore their 
 sails, but they mended them with their shirts and 
 resumed their voyage. Their next landing was on 
 the eastern shore, where they ran a short distance 
 up an inlet or river which they called Cuskarawook. 
 Here the Indians climbed into trees and shot many 
 arrows at the invaders, as they considered them. 
 The next day the Indians came down to the shore 
 and made signs of friendship ; but Smith, who 
 
EXPLORING CHESAPEAKE BAY 123 
 
 distrusted them, answered with a volley of mus- 
 ketry, and drove them away. The company landed 
 later in the day, and found baskets of food, as well 
 as indications that the conflict had been severe. 
 
 The next day an immense number of Indians, two 
 thousand at least, from several tribes, came down 
 to the shore with signs of friendliness, and greeted 
 the voyagers. They, like all others, were desirous 
 of trading, for they had learned that the white men 
 brought many articles that they delighted in but 
 could not produce. Captain Smith pronounced 
 them the best traders of all that region. He noted 
 that they were of slight stature, which probably 
 resulted from the small quantity of lime in the soil 
 of their country. Lime is necessary for building 
 the bones in the body, and it is observed that people 
 who Hve in a country underlaid by limestone are 
 usually tall and large-boned. They told him there 
 was a great nation of Indians, named Massawo- 
 meks, on the western side of the bay. Accordingly 
 he crossed the water and spent the night at a place 
 which he called Richard's Cliffs, near what is now 
 known as the Patuxent River. Continuing his 
 survey next day, he reached the mouth of a navi- 
 gable river which he called the Bolus. This is 
 supposed to have been the Severn, or perhaps the 
 Patapsco. 
 
124 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 The men were all weary now, after ten days of 
 rough work, and they asked that the barge might 
 turn homeward. But Captain Smith said No. 
 He would not return till he had met the Massa- 
 womeks and found the river Potowomek (Potomac). 
 He could not think of coming thus far and then 
 going home without being able to report any im- 
 portant discovery. 
 
 His speech is reported apparently in full, and it 
 deserves a place beside some famous ones that are 
 better known. He said : " Gentlemen, if you would 
 remember the memorable history of Sir Ralph 
 Lane, how his company importuned him to proceed 
 in the discovery of Moratico, then what a shame 
 would it be for you that have been so suspicious of 
 my tenderness to force me to return, with so much 
 provision as we have, and scarce able to say where 
 we have been, nor yet heard of that we were sent 
 to seek. You can not say but I have shared with 
 you in the worst which is past ; and for what is 
 to come, of lodging, diet, or whatsoever, I am con- 
 tented you allot the worst part to myself. As for 
 your fears that I will lose myself in these unknown 
 large waters, or be swallowed up in some stormy 
 gust, abandon these childish fears, for worse than 
 is past is not Ukely to happen, and there is as much 
 danger to return as to proceed. Regain, therefore, 
 
EXPLORING CHESAPEAKE BAY 125 
 
 your old spirits, for return I will not, if God please, 
 till I have seen the Massawomeks, found Poto- 
 womek, or the head of this water which you conceit 
 to be endless." 
 
 On they sailed, therefore, and on June 16 they 
 reached the mouth of the Potomac, which is seven 
 miles wide. They sailed up the river, as they reck- 
 oned, about thirty miles before they saw any human 
 being. Then they were hailed by four Indians, 
 who induced them to enter a Httle river that here 
 flowed into the Potomac. They had not gone far 
 when they found themselves in the presence of a 
 horde of savages, apparently waiting in ambush 
 for them. Smith says they were strangely painted, 
 grimed, and disguised, shouting, yelling, and crying, 
 and so many evil spirits could not have appeared 
 more terrible. A volley promptly fired from the 
 muskets had the usual effect. The terrified natives 
 threw down their bows and arrows, asked for peace, 
 and became very friendly. 
 
 All the Indians that the voyagers found on the 
 shores of the Chesapeake spoke the same language, 
 or dialect, as Powhatan, and they appeared to be 
 under his rule. In the conference that took place 
 here, these Indians told Smith that Powhatan had 
 ordered them to attack him if he came their way, 
 and that, as Smith in his narrative records it, he 
 
126 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 was "so directed from the discontents at James- 
 town because our Captain did cause them to stay 
 in their country against their wills." ^ 
 
 Continuing up the stream, the voyagers came 
 upon an Indian village called by the name of the 
 river, Potowomek, at the mouth of a stream that the 
 natives called Quiyough (probably what is now 
 known as Acquia Creek, which has a deep channel 
 ten miles long). Passing up this stream, they 
 found what they called a mountain of antimony. 
 The Indians were accustomed to get it to paint 
 their faces, and they sold it in small quantities to 
 other tribes for that purpose. Smith obtained a 
 few bagfuls of it, and also traded for furs to a con- 
 siderable amount. He tells a remarkable story of 
 the fish in those waters. He says they were "lying 
 so thick with their heads above water as for want of 
 nets — our barge driving among them — we at- 
 
 1 This is the statement that seems most incredible in Captain 
 Smith's narrative, several of which have been questioned. He 
 was the most energetic and resourceful man in the colony, and 
 was their chief defense against the treacherous Indians. It is 
 true that some of the colonists were jealous of him and hampered 
 him ; but to say that they wished him and his fellow explorers to 
 be killed when no ship was there to take them immediately home 
 to England, is to say they were little better than idiots. It 
 seems probable that Smith asked these Indians whether any of the 
 colonists had made such a suggestion to Powhatan, and that they 
 simply assented to whatever he asked. 
 
EXPLORING CHESAPEAKE BAY 127 
 
 tempted to catch them with a frying-pan. But we 
 found it a bad instrument to catch fish with. 
 Neither better fish, more plenty, nor more variety 
 for small fish had any of us ever seen in any place 
 so swimming in the water. But they are not to be 
 caught with frying-pans." Everybody discounts 
 a fish-story. But if we discount this one as to the 
 number of fish, at least we must give it credit for 
 the original idea of the fr3dng-pan. 
 
 In the Rappahannock Captain Smith caught with 
 his sword a fish that was a curiosity to him. It 
 was a stingray, as we learn from his description 
 of it. He says it was ''much the fashion of a 
 thornbeck, but a long tail Uke a riding-rod, whereon 
 the midst is a most poison sting of two or 
 three inches long, bearded like a saw on each side, 
 which she struck into the wrist of his arm near an 
 inch and a half." One authority says the stingray 
 is not poisonous ; but the effect of the wound made 
 by this fish indicates poison very emphatically; 
 for Smith's arm and shoulder swelled greatly, and 
 the pain was intense. One of his company wrote 
 of the incident : *'It pleased God, by a precious oil 
 Dr. Russell applied to the wound that his tor- 
 menting pain was so assuaged that he ate of that 
 fish to his supper." Yet the wound was still evi- 
 dent and troublesome; for when, on the return 
 
128 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 voyage, the barge stopped at Kecoughtan, the 
 Indians there inferred that he had been fighting 
 the Massawomeks. Smith let them think so. 
 
 The expedition arrived home on July 21, full of 
 courage and hope for prosperity, since it had done 
 much in the way of exploration and brought back 
 a valuable cargo. The results of the voyage are 
 plainly shown in Captain Smith's map of Virginia. 
 But they found the colonists in a deplorable con- 
 dition. Many were ill, all were dispirited, and some 
 were bent on deposing President Radcliff e because 
 he did not distribute the provisions fairly and re- 
 quired the men to work on what we should call a 
 summer cottage for himself. 
 
 The good results of the expedition encouraged 
 them, and they agreed to settle down in peaceful 
 and harmonious conditions, provided Radcliffe 
 were put out of the presidency and Smith made 
 president in his stead. The captain, who was 
 desirous of making another voyage, would not take 
 the presidency, as that would require him to re- 
 main at Jamestown. He therefore made Mr. 
 Scrivener president, with trustworthy men to assist 
 him, distributed the provisions fairly, and then was 
 ready to set sail. 
 
 In a few days he was off again, to complete his 
 exploration of Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. 
 
EXPLORING CHESAPEAKE BAY 129 
 
 Somewhere in the bay he encountered a dozen 
 canoes filled with Indians of the Massawomek tribe, 
 and a fight ensued immediately. Smith and his 
 men were victorious, as usual, and then the Indians 
 made them presents and asked to be considered 
 friends. 
 
 The voyagers then ascended a rivbr which it is 
 hard to identify, and met another tribe, called 
 Tockwoghs. They were surprised to find that 
 these Indians had steel knives and hatchets, and 
 pieces of brass and iron. In answer to inquiries, 
 the Indians said they obtained those articles from 
 the Susquehannocks, who Hved at the head of the 
 bay and were a great people — great in two senses, 
 very numerous and of gigantic size. Captain Smith 
 sent them an invitation to come down and visit 
 him, and they accepted the invitation, about sixty 
 of them. They came bringing presents — v^enison, 
 bows and arrows, baskets, and long tobacco-pipes. 
 
 It was Captain Smith's custom to have prayers 
 and the singing of a psalm every day, and the Sus- 
 quehannocks happened to arrive just at prayer- 
 time. They looked on with wonder, then held up 
 their hands to the sun, and then embraced the 
 Captain. They declared their love and veneration 
 for him in a very strenuous voice and manner, 
 gave him a bear-skin cloak, and hung a chain of 
 
I30 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 white beads around his neck. They called him 
 their ruler and champion, and promised him much 
 provisions if he would remain and assist them in 
 their fight with the Massawomeks. They told him 
 about several other tribes, one of which lived on a 
 great water to the north — probably meaning the 
 great lakes — and that their knives and hatchets 
 came from the French. 
 
 The Susquehannocks were said to have six him- 
 dred fighting men," thus being one of the strongest 
 of all the tribes. And they were somewhat more 
 advanced than their neighbors, for they lived in 
 villages, which were defended by palisades. 
 
 In returning, the voyagers explored every inlet 
 or creek, and at many places bored holes in trees 
 and put in papers giving the fact of their discovery 
 and the date, and here and there they put up a 
 cross — some of brass, some of wood — to indicate 
 that they took possession of the country as its first 
 discoverers. 
 
 On the Rappahannock they were entertained 
 by another tribe, among whom was an Indian 
 named Mosco, of singular appearance, for he had a 
 large, fine, black beard. The Indians have no 
 beards. By reason of his beard, Mosco claimed 
 relationship with the English voyagers, and he be- 
 came their friend and guide. He warned them 
 
EXPLORING CHESAPEAKE BAY 131 
 
 against the Rappahannocks, saying they were 
 hostile to his tribe and would be equally hostile to 
 the English. Smith was not inclined to believe him, 
 thinking he only wished to get all the trade for his 
 own tribe. 
 
 Accordingly they crossed the river, to make a 
 call on the Rappahannocks. They first saw a 
 dozen Indians on the shore, who directed them to a 
 spot where were three canoes filled with provisions. 
 But Smith was wary, and, as usual, he demanded 
 an exchange of hostages before he would land and 
 meet the tribe. After some parley, several of them 
 waded out to the barge, bringing one of their men 
 to leave as a hostage, and in return they received 
 one of Captain Smithes men, Anas Todkill. As 
 soon as Todkill was on shore he discovered that two 
 hundred or more of the Indians were in the woods 
 close by, evidently in ambush. He attempted to 
 return to the barge, but they prevented him, and 
 at the same time the Indian hostage jumped over- 
 board and swam for the shore, but he had not taken 
 many strokes when he was killed by a shot. The 
 voyagers then gave the savages a volley, which 
 scattered them, and Todkill escaped. Hundreds 
 of arrows had been discharged at the barge, but 
 none of the crew were struck. This was partly due 
 to the fact that a friendly tribe had provided them 
 
132 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 with what Smith's narrative calls "targets," but 
 we should call shields. These were made of small 
 sticks interwoven with cords of hemp or grass, and 
 made so compact and strong that an arrow could 
 seldom pierce them. 
 
 Captain Smith re-crossed to Mosco's tribe, and 
 gave him the canoes and the arrows. He then ac- 
 companied them as they went farther up the river. 
 A company of the Rappahannocks here attempted 
 again to ambush them. Smith says they had so 
 hidden themselves with branches that they were 
 taken for little bushes growing among the sedge. 
 Arrows came at the voyagers from some unknown 
 source, till Mosco told them where the enemy 
 were, and then at a volley from the muskets the 
 bushes fell and the savages disappeared. Just 
 about the time that these Indians were concealing 
 themselves with bushes, Shakespeare was writing 
 his great play of ''Macbeth,'^ in the fifth act of 
 which Macduff's army resorts to the same trick, 
 thus fulfilling the prophecy that Birnam Wood 
 (from which every soldier suppUed himself with a 
 leafy branch) should come to Dunsinane. 
 
 Other tribes were met with up the river, most of 
 whom were friendly. But at one point where they 
 landed to gather herbs and look for water, they were 
 attacked by Indians in the trees. The muskets 
 
EXPLORING CHESAPEAKE BAY 133 
 
 were brought into play once more, and the enemy 
 fied, leaving one of their number badly wounded, 
 on the ground. Mosco, Indian like, wished to kill 
 him ; but he was prevented, and the doctor dressed 
 the man's wound. The man was then questioned. 
 He said his tribe had heard that the English came 
 from under the world, to take their world from 
 them. He was asked how many worlds there were, 
 and he said he knew of none but that which lay 
 under the sky, and his people and those around 
 them were all that there were in it. He was asked 
 what was beyond the mountains, and he answered, 
 ^'The sun.'' 
 
 That evening men of the tribe to which the 
 wounded man belonged, the Mannahocks, followed 
 along the bank as the barge went down the river, 
 sending their arrows at it through the dusk and 
 now and then giving a loud war whoop which 
 echoed through the forest. This was kept up for 
 ten or twelve miles, till at daylight the barge came 
 to anchor out of reach of the arrows. 
 
 After breakfast the voyagers showed their 
 prisoner to the crowd of savages on shore, and after 
 a long negotiation the Indians hung their bows and 
 arrows on the trees, and two of them swam out to 
 the barge and dehvered their bows, arrows, and 
 quivers as a proof of friendship. Captain Smith 
 
134 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 went ashore and asked for the chiefs. Four of these 
 came, and Smith delivered to them their wounded 
 man, whom they received with rejoicing. They 
 then made the Captain all sorts of presents, and 
 wanted the soldiers to give in return their pistols, 
 which they supposed were fanciful tobacco pipes. 
 Smith gave them other things instead, then there 
 was singing and dancing, and all parted good friends. 
 But before parting, Mosco and his friends had 
 asked Smith to subdue the Rappahannocks and 
 induce them to live in peace with their neighbors ; 
 for that tribe was large and powerful, while Mosco's 
 was weak. Captain Smith, very wilHng to do this, 
 summoned the Rappahannocks to attend him for a 
 conference, and several chiefs came. He showed 
 them the advantage that he had in the use of fire- 
 arms, and that he could destroy their crops and 
 their villages if they were not friendly. Then he 
 demanded that they bring to him the bow and ar- 
 rows of their head chief and make a treaty of peace 
 with the neighboring tribe, besides giving a son 
 of the chief as a hostage. The chief answered that 
 he had only one son and could not spare him ; but 
 he said that tribe had stolen three women from his 
 — which was the cause of the war between them — 
 and instead of his son as a hostage he would let 
 them keep them. Captain Smith caused the three 
 
EXPLORING CHESAPEAKE BAY 135 
 
 women to be brought to him. He hung a string 
 of beads on the neck of each of them, and then told 
 the Rappahannock chief to take his choice. He 
 then gave the second choice to the chief of the other 
 tribe, and the third woman he gave to Mosco. 
 This satisfied everybody, and the next day about 
 seven hundred Indians, from both tribes, came to- 
 gether, unarmed, for a great rejoicing, pledging 
 perpetual friendship to one another and to the 
 English. When the voyagers left them it was 
 understood that the Indians would plant much 
 corn for the colonists, and were to receive therefor 
 many hatchets and beads and much copper. 
 
 One more call the company made in that region, 
 on the river that Smith calls the Piankatank. 
 Here most of the men were absent, hunting, but 
 from the old men and the women he received 
 promises of corn whenever he should come for it. 
 
 Then the barge turned her prow toward home. 
 But suddenly there was a terrible storm that ap- 
 peared hkely to send her to the bottom. They 
 ran before the wind, steering by the flashes of 
 lightning, and reached a welcome shelter at Point 
 Comfort. They crossed the water that is now 
 called Hampton Roads, and ascended Elizabeth 
 River several miles, to make the acquaintance of 
 the Chesapeakes, but found only a deserted village. 
 
136 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 They then sailed up Nansemond River, where the 
 natives were evidently prosperous and appeared 
 to be very friendly. One of them entered the barge 
 and directed them to a pretty island, whereon he 
 showed them his home, with his wife and children. 
 Smith gave them some trinkets, which pleased 
 them ; and then, leaving the man at his island 
 home, the barge passed on. 
 
 But very soon they found the stream much nar- 
 rower and saw that they were followed by seven or 
 eight canoes filled with armed Indians. Presently 
 these began shooting at the voyagers, and at the 
 same time there was a flight of arrows from the 
 shore. A volley of musketry caused all the men in 
 the canoes to leap overboard and swim for the shore, 
 and another drove away those on the bank. The 
 voyagers took possession of the abandoned canoes, 
 towed them down the river to a place out of reach 
 of bowshot, and there cut them in pieces. When 
 the Indians witnessed this performance they threw 
 down their weapons and made signs for peace. 
 Captain Smith demanded that they bring him the 
 bow and arrows of the chief, a string of pearls, and 
 four hundred bushels of corn. When they refused 
 these terms, he showed them that he could destroy 
 all their houses and other property. Then they 
 brought the corn, in baskets, and the voyagers 
 
EXPLORING CHESAPEAKE BAY 137 
 
 took as much as they could carry. None of them 
 had been hurt in the battle, but nearly a hundred 
 arrows were sticking in their shields. 
 
 Leaving these Indians with promises of friend- 
 ship and good will, the company reached James- 
 town early in September. One man had died on 
 the voyage, Richard Featherstone, and was buried 
 on the shore of a bay that they named for him. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 Coronation of Powhatan 
 
 When the explorers returned to Jamestown they 
 found that — as usual when Captain Smith was 
 absent — the affairs of the colony were in bad 
 shape. Only by the industry of Mr. Scrivener had 
 the crops been gathered, and a large part of the 
 provisions, improperly stored, was spoiled by rain. 
 Some of the colonists were dead, others were ill, 
 no work had been done, and RadcHffe was under 
 arrest for mutiny. 
 
 Almost immediately on his return Captain Smith 
 was elected president of the colony. He could not 
 refuse the office now, as it was evident that no other 
 member could conduct it efficiently. He at once 
 began the much-needed works. The storehouse 
 and the church were repaired, the fort was made 
 stronger and changed to ''a five-square form," 
 buildings were erected to accommodate the suppHes 
 that were soon to come from England, and the night 
 and day watch was reestabhshed. Every Saturday 
 he gave the whole company a military drill ''in the 
 
 138 
 
CORONATION OF POWHATAN 139 
 
 plain by the west bulwark." This ground was 
 then named Smithfield. At the Saturday trainings 
 there was always a large attendance of Indian 
 spectators. 
 
 The boats were repaired, and Lieutenant Percy 
 was just setting out with a trading party to visit 
 the Monacans when Captain Newport's ship ar- 
 rived with a cargo of suppHes, and seventy persons 
 to be added to the colony. The supplies were very 
 welcome, so were some of the persons, others were 
 not, and something else that Captain Newport 
 brought was least welcome of all. Two of the new- 
 comers were Captain Richard Waldo and Captain 
 Wynne, who had been appointed members of the 
 Council. Smith says they were ^'two ancient 
 soldiers and valiant gentlemen, but yet ignorant 
 of the business." In the company were two 
 women, the first that joined the colony — Mrs. 
 Forrest and Anne Burras, her maid. 
 
 The instructions given to Captain Newport by 
 the London Company were all as unwise as could 
 have been devised ; they showed once more the 
 folly of attempting to regulate minutely the affairs 
 of a colony in an unknown land three thousand 
 miles away. First, he had a special commission 
 that authorized him, in certain circumstances, to 
 act independently of the Council. Second, he was 
 
I40 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 not to return without bringing a lump of gold, a 
 member of Raleigh's lost colony of Roanoke, or 
 news of discovery of a passage to the South Sea. 
 Third, and worst of all, he brought a crown for 
 Powhatan and was commissioned to give that chief 
 costly presents and crown him ceremoniously as a 
 monarch. 
 
 Captain Smith's comment is interesting: ^'How 
 or why Captain Newport obtained such private 
 commission as not to return without a lump of 
 gold, a certainty of the South Sea, or one of the lost 
 company sent out by Sir Walter Raleigh, I know 
 not ; nor why he brought such a five-pieced barge, 
 not to bear us to that South Sea till we had borne 
 her over the mountains, which how far they extend 
 is yet unknown." 
 
 Among the company were nearly twenty for- 
 eigners, who were to receive wages and were sup- 
 posed to be experts in manufacturing pitch, tar, 
 glass, millstones, and soap ashes. Smith says 
 these might have been useful after the colony had 
 expanded into something like a state, but in the 
 present circumstances they were simply seventy 
 more men to be fed. 
 
 In the meeting of the Council, Captain Smith 
 vainly opposed the projects of crowning Powhatan 
 and carrying a barge in sections over the mountains 
 
CORONATION OF POWHATAN 141 
 
 to be put together and launched on the shore of the 
 South Sea. His arguments were plain enough, as 
 they dealt with actual conditions; but Newport's 
 promises of the wonderful things he would do, espe- 
 cially in bringing back immense suppKes of provi- 
 sions, overbore all arguments, and the majority 
 voted against Smith. Newport then intimated that 
 Smith merely wished to be himself the commander 
 of the expedition. To this Smith replied that he 
 would go to Powhatan, taking only four men with 
 him — "where Newport durst not go with less than 
 a hundred and twenty" — and ask that chief to 
 come to Jamestown to be crowned and receive the 
 presents. Newport accepted his offer, and Smith 
 set out at once. He went overland to Powhatan's 
 capital, and found that the chief was thirty miles 
 distant. While Smith was waiting for his return, 
 Pocahontas entertained the guests. 
 
 They were conducted to an open space, or glade, 
 in the woods and were seated on a mat before a fire. 
 Suddenly they heard a hideous noise of shouting 
 and shrieking in the woods, and, supposing they 
 had been trapped and were about to be murdered, 
 they seized their arms and prepared for a fight. 
 But Pocahontas came forward and assured them 
 that no harm was intended — only a pleasant sur- 
 prise and entertainment. Then out from the 
 
142 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 wood came thirty young women dressed in green 
 leaves, their bodies painted (no two decorated 
 ahke) , and on the head of each a pair of deer horns. 
 One had an otter skin at her girdle and another on 
 her arm, a bow and arrow in her hand, and a quiver 
 full at her back. Another carried a sword, another 
 a club, and so on, no two the same. Continuing 
 their shouts and shrieks, they formed a ring around 
 the fire, and for an hour danced in a variety of ways 
 and sometimes sang. After this there was a feast, 
 and then by torchHght the visitors were shown to 
 their lodgings. 
 
 Powhatan came home the next day, and Smith 
 gave him the Indian whom he had sent to England 
 as his representative, to count the inhabitants. 
 The man had provided himself with a stick and a 
 knife, and began cutting notches for the persons 
 that he saw in the streets of London ; but he soon 
 became bewildered and threw up the task. He told 
 Powhatan that the EngHsh were as numerous as 
 the leaves on the trees or the sands on the shore. 
 
 Captain Smith then dehvered his message, in- 
 viting Powhatan to go to Jamestown to receive his 
 presents, be crowned, and make arrangements for 
 an expedition against the Monacans. Powhatan 
 assumed a lordly air and answered : '*If your King 
 has sent me presents, I also am a king, and this is 
 
CORONATION OF POWHATAN 143 
 
 my land. I will stay here eight days to receive 
 them. Your father is to come to me, not I to him, 
 nor yet to your fort, nor will I bite at such a bait. 
 As for the Monacans, I can revenge my own in- 
 juries. As for any salt water beyond the mountains, 
 the stories you have heard from my people are 
 false.'' 
 
 It may be that Powhatan suspected a scheme to 
 trap him ; but it appears likely that the main im- 
 pulse for his speech came from the fact that New- 
 port's treatment had given him an exalted idea 
 of his own importance. Smith carried back this 
 answer, and Newport at once made arrangements to 
 comply with the chief's demands. He sent the 
 presents to Powhatan by water — a hundred miles, 
 while the two captains, with fifty soldiers, marched 
 overland. 
 
 Newport made arrangements to have the cere- 
 mony as impressive as possible. The guards were 
 drawn up in a square, and the appointed marshals 
 were assigned to their places. The presents con- 
 sisted of a bedstead and bed covering, a scarlet 
 cloak, and a basin and ewer — what we should 
 call a washbowl and pitcher. These were pre- 
 sented with a show of dignified formality. Powha- 
 tan was suspicious of the cloak, and could not be 
 induced to put it on till the Indian who had visited 
 
144 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 England assured him that it was harmless. He 
 could not be made to understand that a monarch 
 should kneel to receive his crown, and they were 
 obhged to put their hands on his shoulders and try 
 to force him into the proper attitude. They made 
 him stoop a little, and had to let it go at that. 
 Captain Smith, who had stoutly opposed the un- 
 wise scheme for the beginning, must have been 
 amused as well as disgusted by the solemn farce. 
 When a pistol shot announced that the coronation 
 was complete, the men in the boats fired a volley 
 as a miUtary salute to the sovereign. This fright- 
 ened the venerable king and re-aroused his sus- 
 picions; but Newport succeeded in calming him. 
 He returned the great compliment by giving his 
 old moccasins and mantle to Captain Newport, 
 with eight bushels of corn. The captain had ex- 
 pected to receive as much as the boats could carry. 
 Captain Smith expressed his opinion of the affair 
 in these words : ^' As for the coronation of Powhatan 
 and the presents of basin, ewer, bedstead, clothes, 
 and such costly novelties, they had much better 
 well spared than so ill spent ; for we had his favor 
 much better only for a plain piece of copper, till 
 this stately kind of soHciting made him so much 
 overvalue himself that he respected us as much 
 as nothing at all.'^ 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 A Famous Letter 
 
 Despite Captain Smith's warnings and objec- 
 tions, Captain Newport insisted on the expedition 
 to discover a route to the South Sea. He set out 
 with a hundred and twenty men, going up the 
 valley of James River, and plunged into the wilder- 
 ness. They came upon two towns of the Monacans, 
 but could not induce that tribe to let them have any 
 provisions or do the least thing in the way of trad- 
 ing. They found no gold, nor anything worth 
 taking, but brought back something that they 
 imagined to be silver ore. Forty miles of such a 
 march gave them enough of it, then all returned. 
 
 Smith now set them all at useful work for pro- 
 ducing a cargo to send home to England. Some 
 got pitch and tar, some made glass, some burned 
 wood and made potash, and some went with him 
 into the woods, where he taught them to fell trees 
 and manufacture clapboards. He showed them 
 how to be true lumbermen and sleep in the forest, 
 and they enjoyed it and grew strong. One thing, 
 however, they did not enjoy — using the axes 
 
 ^ I4S 
 
146 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 blistered their hands, and they sometimes grew 
 profane thereby. Smith could not endure this, 
 and he established a novel penalty. At evening, 
 for every oath that a man had uttered that day, 
 a can of cold water was poured down his sleeve. 
 
 When Smith and his lumbermen returned to 
 Jamestown he found that, as usual, nothing had 
 been accomplished in his absence. He at once 
 manned the barge, instructed Lieutenant Percy 
 to follow in another, and set out for the Chicka- 
 hominy to get provisions. When the Indians there 
 refused to let them have any provisions, Smith 
 boldly told them that his main purpose was to take 
 vengeance on them for imprisoning him and mur- 
 dering his companions. When he landed with his 
 men and charged on them, the savages fled. From 
 a safe distance they sent a quantity of corn, fish, 
 and fowls, and asked to be forgiven and to make 
 peace. This being granted, they loaded both barges 
 to their full capacity with provisions. 
 
 On arriving at Jamestown with this precious 
 freight, which the colony sorely needed, Smith found 
 that Radcliffe and Newport had been conspiring 
 to depose him and even keep him out of the settle- 
 ment. But they soon found, what they might have 
 known, that he was no man to be trifled with, and 
 they gave up. Smith says: ''Had not Captain 
 
A FAMOUS LETTER 147 
 
 Newport cried peccaviy the president would have 
 discharged the ship and caused him to have stayed 
 one year in Virginia to learn to speak of his own 
 experience." In the Council, Percy, Scrivener, 
 Waldo, and some others stood firmly by Captain 
 Smith. His chief difficulty was the constant pecu- 
 lation by the sailors and soldiers, who stole tools, 
 powder, and shot, and traded with the Indians for 
 furs, baskets, and meat, intending to take the 
 furs and baskets home to England and sell them for 
 a good price. 
 
 When the ship was freighted. Captain Smith 
 wrote and sent by her a long letter addressed to the 
 Treasurer and Council of the Plantation, in Eng- 
 land. The letter, which sets forth the condition 
 of affairs at Jamestown in a clear and convincing 
 manner, told the home Council a very different 
 story from the representations that had been made 
 to them by Newport. It is one of the most famous 
 letters in English literature. The greater part of 
 it follows : — 
 
 ^' Right Honourable, &c. I received your letter, 
 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 but 
 with ifs and ands, hopes and some few proofs ; as 
 if we would keep the mystery of the business to 
 
148 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 ourselves ; and that we must expressly 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 in treat 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 prevent 
 them: because I do make many stay that would 
 else fly any whither. That we feed you with hopes, 
 &c. — 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 that 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 Captain 
 Newport, though they be performed, I was directly 
 against it ; but according to our commission I was 
 content to be overruled by the major part of the 
 council, I fear to the hazard of us all ; which now 
 is generally confessed when it is too late. Only 
 Captain Winne and Captain Waldo I have sworn 
 of the council, and crowned Powhatan according 
 to your instructions. 
 
 "For the charge of this voyage of two or three 
 
A FAMOUS LETTER 149 
 
 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 120 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. 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 and clap- 
 board, 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 else, and though there be the 
 help both of man and beast in those ancient com- 
 monwealths, which many an hundred years have 
 used it, yet thousands of those poor people can 
 scarce get necessaries to Kve 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 where- 
 
I50 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 with to live, and defend ourselves against the in- 
 constant savages ; finding 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 ship's arrival the savages' har- 
 vest was newly gathered, and we going to buy it, 
 our own not being half sufficient for so great a 
 number. As for the two ships-loading of corn 
 Newport promised to provide us from Powhatan, 
 he brought us but fourteen bushels, 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 pound, and we 
 are more than two hundred to live upon this ; the 
 one half sick, the other little better. For the 
 sailors (I confess) they daily make good cheer; 
 but our diet is a Httle 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 ignorant, we cannot much trouble them. 
 
 "Captain Newport we must suspect to be the 
 author of those inventions. Now, that you should 
 know, I have made you as great a discovery as he. 
 
A FAMOUS LETTER 151 
 
 for less charge than he spendeth you every meal. 
 I have sent you this map of the bay and rivers, 
 with an annexed relation of the countries and na- 
 tions 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 
 f amihes out of that you sent us ; and that Newport 
 hath an hundred pounds a year for carrying news. 
 For every master you have yet sent can find the way 
 as well as he, so that an hundred pounds might be 
 spared, which is more than we have all, that help 
 to pay him wages. 
 
 " Captain Radcliffe is now called Sicklemore, a 
 poor counterfeited impostor. I have sent you 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 carpenters, husbandmen, gardeners, fish- 
 ermen, blacksmiths, masons and diggers up of trees' 
 roots, well provided, than a thousand of such as we 
 have ; for except we be able both to lodge them and 
 feed them, the most will consume with want of nec- 
 essaries before they can be made good for anything. 
 
152 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 " 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 not- 
 withstanding his boasting to leave us victuals for 
 twelve months, though we had eighty-nine by this 
 discovery lame and sick, and but a pint of corn 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 Poland for glass 
 men and the rest, till we be able to sustain ourselves, 
 and relieve them when they come, — it were better 
 to give five hundred pound a tun for these gross 
 commodities in Denmark than send for them hither, 
 till more necessary things be provided. For in over- 
 toiling our weak and unskillful bodies, to satisfy 
 this desire of present profit, we can scarce even 
 recover ourselves from one supply to another. 
 And I humbly intreat you hereafter, let us know 
 what we should receive, and not stand to the sailors' 
 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 return. So I humbly rest." 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 Murderous Plots 
 
 There were now two hundred persons in the 
 colony, and more than half of them were incapable 
 of doing anything in the way of raising the desired 
 crops and caring for them. It was necessary to get 
 more from the Indians, but it was learned that 
 Powhatan had instructed his people not to supply 
 the colonists. Those at Nansemond, who had 
 promised Smith four hundred bushels of corn when- 
 ever he should visit them, now pretended to have 
 forgotten the promise and said they had no corn 
 to spare. It was only by landing armed men and 
 burning one of their houses, with a threat to de- 
 stroy the whole village, that he made them keep 
 their promise. 
 
 Captain Smith now made up his mind that the 
 only way out of the difficulty was to deal in some 
 effectual way with Powhatan directly. He there- 
 fore resolved to surprise him and take possession of 
 all his store of provisions. Just then Powhatan 
 sent a messenger to invite the Captain to visit him, 
 
 153 
 
154 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 and he asked for workmen to build him a house 
 like those of the English. He also wanted fifty 
 swords, several guns, and a grindstone, for which 
 he said he would give a shipload of corn. 
 
 Smith sent two EngHshmen and four Dutchmen 
 to build the house, but no swords or muskets. He 
 then fitted up two barges and the pinnace, and 
 with forty-six men sailed for Werowocomoco in 
 December, 1608. Their first stop was with a 
 friendly tribe, the chief of which gave them provi- 
 sions and warned them against Powhatan, who, he 
 said, was simply planning to get them into his 
 power and cut their throats. At what is now 
 Hampton they spent Christmas very merrily with 
 a friendly tribe. A little beyond that place they 
 found wild pigeons so plenty that they are said to 
 have killed a hundred and forty-eight with three 
 shots. Perhaps they did. 
 
 They arrived at Werowocomoco in the middle of 
 January (1609), and found the river frozen over for 
 half a mile from the shore. It was an unusually 
 hard winter. But they managed to break through 
 the ice, and sent word to Powhatan that they 
 wanted provisions. He responded promptly with a 
 generous quantity, and the next day he received 
 them hospitably, feasted them, and then inquired 
 when they were going to leave. He denied that he 
 
MURDEROUS PLOTS I55 
 
 had sent for Smith, and said he had no corn to 
 spare. He might let him have, say forty baskets 
 for forty swords, but no more. When the Captain 
 confronted him with the men by whom he had sent 
 the invitation, the old chief laughed and asked to 
 see what articles Smith had brought. He was not 
 pleased with any of them, said he did not care for 
 copper, he wanted only swords and muskets. 
 
 Then followed a debate between the two com- 
 manders, which consisted in a series of long speeches 
 saying the same thing over and over again, for both 
 were talking against time. Smith saw plainly 
 enough that Powhatan was dishonest and was 
 planning to entrap him, for the Indians that gath- 
 ered around were continually increased in number 
 and were pressing closer. The gist of Smith's 
 argument was, that he had always been friendly 
 to Powhatan and had traded fairly with him, 
 while Powhatan had not kept his word and had told 
 the minor chiefs not to let the colonists have any- 
 thing. The gist of Powhatan's argument was, that 
 if Smith were really friendly he would leave his 
 guns at home ; that the sight of them scared his 
 women and made all his people uneasy ; and that 
 this was his country and he suspected the EngHsh 
 intended to take possession of it. 
 
 Smith had but one man with him in the imme- 
 
156 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 diate presence of the Indians ; eighteen of his men 
 were on the shore, and the others were in the boats. 
 He did not know then, what he learned afterward, 
 that the Dutchmen whom he sent to build Pow- 
 hatan^s house had turned traitors. At the end of 
 the debate, when the savages had completely sur- 
 rounded the place, Powhatan, leaving some of his 
 women to talk with the Captain, managed to slip 
 through the crowd and disappeared. Smith and 
 his companion, Russell, saw plainly what was 
 coming. Drawing their swords and with their 
 pistols shooting the nearest, they made a passage 
 among the Indians and at the first shot, the nearest 
 tumbled one over another, and the rest quickly fled. 
 The next day Powhatan sent a man to present 
 a bracelet and a chain of pearls to Captain Smith 
 and deliver an explanatory oration. He said the 
 great number of Indians were there merely to protect 
 the corn from being stolen ; that Powhatan still 
 remained friendly and wished him to send away 
 his boats with their load of corn, and send away his 
 guns also. The ebbing of the tide made it neces- 
 sary for the colonists to stay over one more night, 
 and some of the Indians amused them with the 
 usual songs and dances. When they were gone 
 Pocahontas appeared alone, and told Captain 
 Smith not to attend the feast to which he was 
 
MURDEROUS PLOTS 157 
 
 invited, for Powhatan's plan was to fall upon him 
 and his men and murder them all. She also re- 
 vealed the treachery of the Dutchmen. Then she 
 iied away, as she had come, through the dark 
 forest. 
 
 Early next morning the expedition set sail for 
 Jamestown. But Smith, not wishing as yet to pro- 
 claim any open rupture with Powhatan, left one 
 man, who was to shoot wild fowl for the chief. 
 
 As soon as Smith's company sailed, Powhatan 
 sent two of the Dutchmen overland to Jamestown, 
 who arrived there before the barges. They told 
 Captain Wynne that all was well between Smith and 
 Powhatan, and that Smith had sent them for guns, 
 tools, and clothing, all of which Wynne thought- 
 lessly gave them. He should have known that 
 Smith would not have sent men on such an extraor- 
 dinary errand without a written order. It seems 
 as if Captain Smith always had to contend with 
 hostility in front and treachery and stupidity in the 
 rear. Besides the things that the Dutchmen got 
 in this way, they obtained others stealthily by the 
 connivance of some of the sailors, and the Indians 
 who were always lurking around the fort carried 
 them away. 
 
 The expedition made several stops to obtain 
 additional supplies. One of these was at the home 
 
158 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 of Opecancanough, who planned to murder Captain 
 Smith and the fifteen men who went ashore with 
 him. When warriors to the number of nearly or 
 quite seven hundred had surrounded the little band, 
 Smith addressed the chief in these words: "I see 
 your plot to murder me, but I fear it not. As yet, 
 your men and mine have done no harm. There- 
 fore take your weapons; you see mine. The 
 island in the river is a fit place, if you be contented. 
 There let us two fight it out, and the survivor shall 
 be lord and master over all our men. Let your 
 men bring, each of them, a basket of corn, against 
 all of which I will stake the value in copper, and the 
 conqueror shall take the whole.'* Opecancanough 
 decUned the challenge, denied that he had any 
 hostile intentions, and invited Smith to come to 
 his cabin and receive a valuable present. The 
 Captain knew better than to go alone. Instead, 
 he went with all his men, muskets in hand ready 
 to fire. They entered the house where the chief 
 was to entertain him, the men guarded the doors, 
 and then Smith suddenly seized the chief by the 
 scalp lock, dragged him away from his bodyguard, 
 and putting a loaded pistol to his breast held him till 
 he dropped his weapons and promised to pay trib- 
 ute. Then, still tightly holding the scalp lock, the 
 Captain addressed the Indians, who had looked on 
 
MURDEROUS PLOTS 159 
 
 amazed and intimidated. That their great chief 
 could be handled and humiliated in that manner 
 was a startling revelation to them. ** Pamunkees," 
 he said, ''I see the great desire you have to kill 
 me. I promised, 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, and you 
 cannot harm me. If I break it, He will destroy me. 
 If you shed the blood of any of my men, or steal any 
 of these things that I have brought, I will not cease 
 from revenge so long as one of your nation is left 
 alive. You promised to freight my ship, and you 
 shall do it, or I will load it with your dead bodies. 
 If as friends you come and trade with me, I will 
 not trouble you, and your king shall be free and 
 shall be my friend.'' 
 
 Then they all set to work — men, women, and 
 children — and loaded the boats with provisions. 
 The Captain, being now very tired, lay down for 
 a little sleep. Again it appeared that his men 
 could not be depended upon except when he was 
 with them ; for the guards were careless and neg- 
 lected their duty, and he suddenly woke to find 
 the house full of savages armed with clubs and 
 swords. Springing up, he, with a few of his men, 
 soon drove out the intruders by skillful sword- 
 play. 
 
i6o CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 It happened that while Captain Smith was ab- 
 sent on this expedition Mr. Scrivener planned a trip 
 to an island in the river, the object of which never 
 was known to any but him and his companions. 
 He induced Captain Waldo, Mr. Gosnold, and eight 
 other men to go with him. The weather was fear- 
 fully cold, the wind was violent, and the boat was 
 swamped. There was Httle chance for a long 
 swim in that freezing water, and every man 
 perished. Indians recovered the bodies and 
 brought them to the fort. 
 
 It was considered desirable to send the news of 
 this disaster to Captain Smith, who was supposed 
 to be still with Pov/hatan, and one man, Richard 
 Wyffin, volunteered for the service. He made his 
 way there overland, and at once discovered that 
 Powhatan was preparing for war. To prevent 
 him from going away with this knowledge, the 
 chief arranged to have him killed. But Pocahon- 
 tas told him of his danger, hid him, sent his pur- 
 suers off in a wrong direction, and then showed 
 him the way to travel through the forest till he 
 found Captain Smith. Powhatan had ordered his 
 people to kill Smith, by whatever means, and they 
 tried in vain, all along the shores, to inveigle him 
 into ambush. They also made an attempt to 
 poison him and his company, and almost succeeded. 
 
MURDEROUS PLOTS i6i 
 
 He sent one of his boats home, and with the other 
 two turned back, intending, by a bold stroke, to 
 capture Powhatan and carry him away a prisoner. 
 But he found that the great chief had abandoned 
 his new house and gone to some unknown place, 
 taking with him all his supplies. Captain Smith 
 then returned to Jamestown, where he landed five 
 hundred bushels of corn and two hundred pounds of 
 venison. For these he had given twenty-five 
 pounds of copper, fifty pounds of iron, and some 
 beads. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 Discipline 
 
 Captain Smith found, on his return, the usual 
 evidences of shiftlessness and lack of thrift. Large 
 numbers of the tools were missing, and the provi- 
 sions in the storehouse had been allowed to get 
 wet and were rotting. But he had brought enough 
 to last till the next harvest. 
 
 He at once put the whole colony under discipline. 
 He divided the men into companies of ten or fifteen, 
 and assigned to each company its special duties. 
 They were required to work six hours a day. To 
 some who complained and were disposed to be 
 mutinous he made an address in which he said : 
 "You see now that power resteth wholly in myself. 
 [He was the only surviving member of the Council.] 
 You must obey this for a law, that he that will not 
 work, unless he is disabled by sickness, shall not eat. 
 The labors of thirty or forty honest and industrious 
 men shall not be consumed to maintain a hundred 
 and fifty idle loiterers. '^ He prepared a register 
 containing every man*s name, on which was re- 
 
 162 
 
DISCIPLINE 163 
 
 corded a statement of their daily conduct; and 
 this was kept in a public place, where all could 
 see it. 
 
 Despite his vigilance, the stealing of powder and 
 shot, tools, and weapons continued, and he knew 
 that the Dutchmen and the Indians must have 
 confederates inside the fort. The Dutchmen sent 
 one of their number, disguised as an Indian, to con- 
 fer with some of their confederates on a scheme for 
 capturing or killing Captain Smith. The scheme 
 was suspected, and a party sent out from the fort 
 captured the pretended Indian. While they were 
 doing this, Captain Smith chanced to meet alone 
 the chief of Paspahegh, who was arranging an 
 ambush for him. The chief was a gigantic fellow, 
 but Smith closed with him at once. It was a 
 grapple for life, and was nearly an even match. 
 The savage edged along to the river, hoping to 
 drown his antagonist ; but after they had struggled 
 for a time in the water. Smith got a grip of the 
 fellow's throat, and so tightened it that he was 
 forced to give up. With his sword drawn. Smith 
 drove him into the fort, and there put him in chains. 
 The disguised Dutchman also was imprisoned. 
 The chief escaped in a little while. The Dutch- 
 man also escaped, or was freed, after Smith left the 
 colony. 
 
l64 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 Going out to punish the Paspaheghans, for their 
 attempt to ambush and kill him, Captain Smith 
 burned some of their houses, and took away their 
 boats and fishing weirs. When a large body of 
 them came out to oppose him and discovered that 
 it was Smith, when they had expected only to en- 
 counter Captain Wynne, they threw down their 
 arms and asked for peace. Their spokesman re- 
 minded Smith that if they were friendly the colo- 
 nists could always get provisions from them ; but 
 if he insisted on fighting them and destroying their 
 houses, they would remove to another country and 
 leave that land desolate. They said their chief 
 had been after Wynne, not Smith. Then peace 
 was agreed to. 
 
 It happened that an Indian who had stolen a 
 bag of gunpowder and the backpiece of a suit of 
 armor gathered his friends around him to show them 
 how well he understood the white man's weapons. 
 He had seen the soldiers drying wet powder, so he 
 placed his powder on the piece of steel armor and 
 made a fire under it. Presently there was an ex- 
 plosion which killed him and three others. This so 
 frightened the Indians and aroused their super- 
 stition that they would have no more to do with 
 such things. They sent back many articles that 
 had been stolen, and Powhatan added many pres- 
 
DISCIPLINE 165 
 
 ents and asked for a permanent peace, which thence- 
 forth was established. 
 
 With Captain Smith in complete control of the 
 colony, it thrived at last. Tar, pitch, and potash 
 were produced in large quantities, glass was made, 
 a well was dug from which a supply of excellent 
 water was obtained, fish nets were woven and set 
 in the river, twenty houses were built, the church 
 was repaired, and a blockhouse was put up where 
 no one could visit or leave the fort without passing 
 it and showing a permit signed by the president. 
 Forty acres more were put under cultivation, and 
 the stock of pigs and poultry was increased. Cap- 
 tain Smith made every man work six hours a day, 
 and provided means of rest and entertainment for 
 the other hours. 
 
 But their stock of corn, which had been im- 
 properly put up in casks, was damaged, and they 
 were obliged to giYQ up for a time some of their in- 
 dustries to supply themselves with fish and game 
 on which to live through the winter. This ap- 
 peared too hard to some of them, and they became 
 mutinous. Captain Smith punished the ringleader 
 and then made to the others an oration that caused 
 them to submit and settle down to work, and once 
 more they became prosperous. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 A New Charter 
 
 While Captain Smith was struggling with these 
 difficulties and bringing the unfortunate colony to 
 its first prosperity, the incompetents who had gone 
 home to England made so many complaints and 
 told such damaging stories about him that a new 
 charter was obtained from the King and a company 
 was organized to take the place of the one whose 
 history we have been following. The charter, 
 which was issued to the Earls of Salisbury, South- 
 ampton, Suffolk, Pembroke, and others, bore date 
 May 23, 1609. Lord Delaware was appointed 
 Captain General of the colony, and associated 
 with him were Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George 
 Somers, Sir Thomas Dale, Sir Ferdinando 
 Wainman, and Captain Newport. A large number 
 of titled men and knights joined them, making the 
 whole company about five hundred, who set sail 
 in nine vessels. Gates, Somers, and Newport were 
 each furnished with a commission, and the one 
 that first arrived in Virginia was to be commander, 
 the other two commissions being then worthless. 
 
 166 
 
A NEW CHARTER 167 
 
 These three commissioners, not being willing to 
 enter into a race across the ocean, all embarked in 
 the same ship, the Sea Venture. It happened that 
 a hurricane drove them upon the Bermuda Islands. 
 All got away soon after the storm except the Sea 
 Venture, and seven vessels reached Jamestown ; one 
 had foundered. 
 
 The story of this wreck was used by Shakespeare 
 for the last play that he ever wrote, ''The Tem- 
 pest," and no other work of his has any connection 
 with the western world. The Bermudas were some- 
 times called the Somers Isles, from Admiral Somers. 
 
 Among the men that came by these ships were 
 several of those with whom Captain Smith had had 
 difficulty and whom he had been glad to see de- 
 parting for England. Here they were again — 
 Archer, Martin, Radcliife, and others. This was 
 too much for any patience and any courage. 
 Smith was still president, for the new charter was 
 with those who were wrecked in Bermuda; but 
 he had no heart to attempt doing anything more 
 for the colony, and the men just mentioned took 
 it upon themselves to assume authority and attempt 
 managing governmental affairs. A wild mess they 
 made of it, and then Smith, in consideration for 
 the peaceful and orderly part of the colony, asserted 
 his authority and put the leaders in jail. Then he 
 
1 68 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 separated the newcomers and sent one company 
 of them to the rapids of the James — the present 
 site of Richmond — equipped to establish there a 
 new settlement, while he sent another, under Cap- 
 tain Martin, to Nansemond. Martin got into 
 trouble with the Indians, who overcame him and 
 took away his provisions. And the settlement at 
 the rapids also was a failure. 
 
 Captain Smith had already determined to return 
 to England, and was making arrangements to that 
 end, when he became the victim of a serious 
 accident. While he slept in his boat, a bag of 
 powder was exploded by some mischance, and his 
 flesh was badly lacerated. To alleviate the pain 
 he sprang into the river and was in danger of 
 drowning when he was rescued. Everything in 
 Jamestown, from which he had been temporarily 
 absent, was in dire confusion. Wounded as he 
 was, he exerted himself to do something for the 
 colony, while at the same time the mutineers planned 
 his assassination. This would have been accom- 
 plished had not the heart of the appointed murderer 
 failed him at the last moment. Smith had stanch 
 friends, who gathered round him and proposed to 
 execute the conspirators ; but the Captain forbade. 
 
 After doing what he could for the safety of the 
 settlement, Captain Smith placed the government 
 
A NEW CHARTER 169 
 
 in the hands of Mr. Percy, and sailed for England 
 in the autumn of 1609. He left in the colony four 
 hundred and ninety persons; when the commis- 
 sioners who had been wrecked in the Sea Venture 
 arrived at Jamestown, in the spring of 1610, in two 
 vessels they had built, they found but sixty alive. 
 The colonists, persisting in their disregard of 
 Smith's instructions and entreaties, had taken no 
 pains to secure crops, relying upon the Indians for 
 supphes; and when Smith was gone the Indians 
 refused. A company commanded by Samuel 
 Argall, bribing an Indian with a copper kettle, 
 managed to capture Pocahontas and take her to 
 Jamestown, where they held her for several months 
 to induce Powhatan to ransom her with an abun- 
 dant supply of corn and a return of all the fire- 
 arms and tools. But that great chief refused. 
 While Pocahontas was in captivity at Jamestown 
 she was converted to Christianity and received in 
 baptism the name Rebecca. There also she met 
 John Rolfe, an EngUshman, who fell in love with 
 her, and there in April, 1613, with Powhatan's 
 approval they were married. In 161 6 they visited 
 England, where she was well entertained and was 
 called Lady Rebecca. Captain Smith wrote a 
 long letter to the Queen, bespeaking a cordial 
 reception for Mrs. Rolfe (Pocahontas), and setting 
 
I70 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 forth her admirable character and valuable serv- 
 ices. In it he gave this testimony: ''When her 
 father sought to surprise me, the dark night could 
 not affright her from coming through the irksome 
 woods, and with watered eyes gave me intelli- 
 gence 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 instrument to preserve this colony from 
 death, famine, and utter confusion." 
 
 Pocahontas was received at court and was made 
 much of by some families of the nobility. At this 
 time Shakespeare's friend, Ben Jonson, who a 
 little later was made poet laureate, was accustomed 
 to write the masques (spectacular plays) which 
 were enacted before the court at Christmas. At 
 the one for Christmas, 1616, Pocahontas was the 
 guest of the queen. An unpleasant episode of 
 her stay in England was her meeting with Captain 
 Smith. He regarded her, and knew she was so 
 regarded by the king, as the daughter of an 
 emperor, and he also knew that King James was 
 a stickler for even the smallest royal prerogative. 
 Hence he was afraid to seek her in London, lest 
 it might appear that he was using his friendship 
 

 'land excui 
 Courtesy of The Ontury Co. 
 
 Pocahontas. 
 (Known as the Rolfe portrait.) 
 
A NEW CHARTER 171 
 
 with her to thrust himself into the court circles. 
 Pocahontas did not understand this; and when 
 Smith called on her at Branford she sorrowfully 
 turned away, and a little later chided him for his 
 neglect of her. He writes: *'She remembered 
 [reminded] me well what courtesies she had done, 
 saying: 'You did promise Powhatan 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 you ' — which, 
 though I would have excused, I durst not allow of 
 that title, because she was a king's daughter. 
 With a well set countenance she said : ' Were you 
 not afraid to come into my father's country and 
 cause fear in him and all his people except 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.' " So 
 spoke this loyal friend to Captain John Smith and 
 his colonists. In June, 161 7, as she was about 
 to embark for America, she was taken ill and 
 died. Her son, Thomas Rolfe, became a noted 
 man in Virginia. John Randolph of Roanoke 
 was one of his descendants. 
 
 Captain Smith spent four and a half years in 
 England, and published his " Map of Virginia, 
 with Description and Appendix," in 161 2. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 New Ventures 
 
 While we have little direct testimony as to 
 Captain Smith's life during those four or five years 
 in England, there are some things that we can 
 readily infer. His first care must have been to 
 keep quiet and have his wounds attended to by a 
 skillful physician. This would take some time. 
 From the fact that the Virginia Company had 
 been re- chartered and given to a new set of direc- 
 tors, we may know that there was nothing more 
 for him there. So many complaints had been 
 carried home by the discontented among the 
 colonists and those whom he had had occasion to 
 oppose or discipline, that it was quite natural for 
 the owners in London to think a change was 
 required. How unwise, or at least unfortunate, 
 this action was, may be seen from a very few facts. 
 As has been told above, Captain Smith had at last 
 produced order and industry at Jamestown, and 
 he left the colony with nearly five hundred persons ; 
 yet, from lack of his energy and skill, when the 
 
 172 
 
NEW VENTURES 173 
 
 Sea Venture arrived with the new governors, only 
 sixty remained aHve. And the continual changes 
 in the next six years tell a plain story of inefficiency. 
 Mr. Percy gave up the command to Sir Thomas 
 Gates, who in turn gave it up to Lord Delaware, he 
 to Percy again, he to Sir Thomas Dale, he to Gates 
 again, he to Dale again, and he to George Yearley. 
 Their relations with the Indians became so hostile 
 that they suffered from fire and massacre, and could 
 get no provisions from them. The anger of 
 Powhatan was so roused that Pocahontas had no 
 longer any influence in favor of the colonists. 
 
 Despite all the complaints against Smith, and 
 all his misfortunes, he had many earnest friends 
 and admirers. When he was restored to health, 
 he succeeded in forming a company of four London 
 merchants, for another venture across the stormy 
 Atlantic. When we consider that down to Smith's 
 time, more than a century after the discovery of 
 America, the vessels in which such expeditions put 
 to sea would appear ridiculously small to us, we 
 are reminded of Clough's rollicking verses: — 
 
 "How in heaven's name did Columbus get over, 
 Is a pure wonder to me, I protest — 
 Cabot and Raleigh too, that well-read rover, 
 Frobisher, Dampier, Drake, and the rest. 
 Bad enough all the same 
 
174 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 For them that after came ; 
 
 But, in great heaven's name, 
 
 How he should ever think 
 
 That on the other brink 
 Of this wild waste Terra Firma should be 
 Is a pure wonder, I must say, to me." 
 
 Captain Smith's friends, the four merchants, fitted 
 out two vessels and in March, 1614, sent him out 
 on a trading voyage to the coast that was then 
 called North Virginia. They must have had strong 
 faith in Smith's abiUties, for they did this with 
 knowledge of the fact that seven years before the 
 Plymouth Company had sent a colony to the 
 coast of Maine, which was given up after the 
 experience of one winter, and the colonists brought 
 back most doleful stories of the coast, the savages, 
 and the climate. 
 
 Smith and his men were to fish for whales at 
 sea, and look for mines of gold, silver, and copper 
 on shore. He had little expectation of finding any 
 mines — remembering his experience in Virginia — 
 but he did think to take whales. In this he was 
 disappointed. He says they saw many whales, 
 and spent much time in chasing them, but could 
 not kill any. They then fished for cod and traded 
 with the Indians for furs. Eighteen of his men, 
 fishing a month, took sixty thousand cod. Smith, 
 
NEW VENTURES 175 
 
 with eight men, went up and down the coast in an 
 open boat, landing at various points, and by trading 
 with the Indians obtained more than ten thousand 
 beaver skins, and a few hundred of marten, otter, 
 and others. Also he made a map of the coast and 
 took notes of all the information he could obtain 
 concerning the country. It was called by the 
 various names North Virginia, Canada, Pemaquid, 
 and Nurembega; but he gave it the name New 
 England, which it retains to this day. Probably 
 the Pilgrims, who, six years later, crossed the 
 Atlantic and settled in Massachusetts, availed 
 themselves, as far as possible, of Smith's informa- 
 tion. It is notable that at this time he cherished 
 no plan of colonization — he had had enough of 
 that at Jamestown. He was looking only to the 
 opportunities for profitable trading. When he 
 arrived in England, after an absence of six months, 
 he landed a cargo that was sold for £1500, which 
 was worth about as much as $35,000 in our day — 
 a fair return for the venture. 
 
 Captain Smith returned to England with only 
 one of the vessels. The other he left with Captain 
 Thomas Hunt, ordering him to carry his cargo of 
 fish to Spain and sell them there. But here again 
 Smith had his usual ill luck. It appears to have 
 been impossible for any of his subordinates to obey 
 
176 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 his orders when they were out of his sight. In- 
 stead of simply following Smith's instructions, 
 Captain Hunt managed to get twenty-four Indians 
 on board, made them prisoners, and then sailed 
 away for Spain, where in the port of Malaga he 
 sold them as slaves. Up to this time the Indians 
 along the New England coast had been very 
 friendly with European voyagers, eager to trade 
 with them, and helpful in various ways. Such 
 treachery as Hunt's went a long way toward 
 changing the dusky friends into cruel and cunning 
 enemies, and Hunt's act probably added materially 
 to the dangers and sufferings of the Pilgrims who 
 came after him. 
 
 Captain Smith presented his map and his 
 narrative to Prince Charles (afterward King 
 Charles I), and asked that the new names he had 
 given to the various places indicated on the map 
 might be made official and permanent. What 
 is now Cape Ann he wished to call Cape Tragabig- 
 zanda, for the lady who had befriended him in 
 Turkey; and what is now Cape Cod he would 
 name Cape James, for the king. The group of 
 islands off the coast of New Hampshire he named 
 Smith's Isles, but they are now known as the Isles 
 of Shoals. On one of these islands there is a small 
 monument to his memory. Whatever answer 
 
NEW VENTURES 177 
 
 Prince Charles gave concerning the place names is 
 not recorded ; but the formation or development of 
 a language never has been within the power of 
 royalty — at least, not to any extent, though in 
 our own day the Russian emperor has changed St. 
 Petersburg to Petrograd. 
 
 When Captain Smith returned to England from 
 his fishing voyage he landed at Plymouth, and 
 thereby came misfortune to him. He talked too 
 freely of his experiences, and the Plymouth Com- 
 pany engaged him for another voyage. This dis- 
 pleased the London Company, who thought he 
 should have remained with them. The South 
 Virginia Company took advantage of the informa- 
 tion so thoughtlessly given, and quickly sent out an 
 expedition of four vessels, under a Captain Cooper 
 (after Captain Smith had declined the command), 
 bound for the newly discovered fishing grounds. 
 Smith tells that he strove to bring together in one 
 organization the London Company and the Plym- 
 outh Company, *' because the Londoners have 
 most money, and the western men are most proper 
 for fishing; and it is near as much trouble, but 
 much more danger, to sail from London to Plym- 
 outh than from Plymouth to New England. 
 Yet by no means could I prevail, so desirous were 
 they both to be lords of this fishing." 
 
178 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 The Plymouth Company had promised to fur- 
 nish Smith with four vessels, these to be ready to 
 sail by Christmas. But when he came down from 
 London to Plymouth at that time, the vessels were 
 not ready, and the company had lost enthusiasm 
 for the enterprise. Smith had brought six friends 
 who were to sail with him, and also all the money 
 he could raise (about a thousand dollars), and he 
 set to work at once to carry out the scheme. He 
 put all his money into it, accumulated supplies for 
 the voyage, and engaged men. By this means and 
 with the help of friends, he fitted out two vessels — 
 one of two hundred tons and one of fifty — and 
 included in his company were sixteen persons who 
 intended to settle in New England and found a 
 colony. Captain Smith had now got back to his 
 old favorite idea of colonizing and thus securing 
 the new land for his own country. He declared 
 emphatically that he would not spend any more 
 time in fishing or exploration till he could go with 
 a company for a plantation. In one of his wisest 
 passages he had written on this subject : — 
 
 *^It was the Spaniards' [meaning the early 
 explorers] good luck to happen in parts [Mexico 
 and Peru] where such was the number of people as 
 to enable them so to improve the earth that it 
 afforded food at all seasons. And time had brought 
 
NEW VENTURES 179 
 
 their arts to so much perfection as to give them 
 the free use of gold and silver, together with most 
 of those commodities which the country was able 
 to afford. What the Spaniards got was chiefly 
 the spoil and pillage of the people, and not the 
 labors of their own hands. But we chanced in a 
 land even as God made it, where we found only an 
 idle, improvident, and scattered people, ignorant 
 of the knowledge of gold and silver, and careless 
 of anything but from hand to mouth. Nothing 
 was here to encourage us but what nature afforded. 
 And this could not be brought to recompense our 
 pains, defray our charges, and satisfy our adven- 
 turers, until we could discover [explore] the country, 
 subdue the people, bring them to be tractable, 
 civil and industrious, and teach them trades, so 
 that the fruits of their labors might make us some 
 return; or until we could plant such colonies of 
 our own, whose first necessity would be to make 
 provision how to live themselves.'' 
 
 Captain Smith here shows that he had a broad 
 and just view of the whole situation in America. 
 But probably he did not dream that it would re- 
 quire more than two centuries to subdue the North- 
 American Indians and make them civil and indus- 
 trious. From the beginning of history there have 
 been prophecies based on forecasts as wise as 
 
l8o CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 Smithes ; but it is a notable fact that nearly every 
 prophecy has waited longer for its fulfillment than 
 anybody supposed it would. 
 
 The two vessels sailed from Plymouth in March, 
 1 615; but when about three hundred miles out 
 they were struck by a violent storm and lost sight 
 of each other. One of them went through the gale 
 without serious damage and made a profitable 
 voyage. But the one that Captain Smith com- 
 manded in person was used very roughly. Her 
 masts were snapped off and she leaked so badly 
 that the crew had to be kept constantly at the 
 pumps. She could hardly have been seaworthy at 
 the beginning. They rigged up a jury mast — 
 that is, one for temporary use — and managed to 
 get back to Plymouth. They must have been good 
 sailors to get into that harbor with a ship in such 
 condition ; for the dangerous Eddystone rocks lay 
 directly in their path, and the famous lighthouse 
 had not yet been built on them. 
 
 Nothing ever daunted Captain Smith, and he 
 at once looked for another vessel. He found one 
 of sixty tons, and with thirty men he sailed once 
 more, on June 24, 161 5. 
 
 He encountered on the high sea a piratical vessel 
 twice as large as his own, which carried thirty-six 
 guns, while he had only four. His officers begged 
 
NEW VENTURES i8i 
 
 of him to surrender, as they thought a refusal 
 would be answered by a broadside that would 
 send them to the bottom. But Captain Smith 
 was not the man to surrender ; he determined to 
 fight at all hazards. However, when the vessels 
 had approached near enough, some of the leaders 
 among the pirates recognized Smith and offered 
 him the command of their ship. Some of the crew 
 were mutinous, they were short of provisions, and 
 they had little hope of any restoration of harmony 
 among them. The officers were not equal to their 
 task. Captain Smith did not care to give up his 
 expedition for the command of a ship in such a 
 deplorable condition, and therefore they parted 
 company. 
 
 Some days later he encountered two more pirate 
 vessels. These were French. His men were even 
 more frightened than before, and refused to work 
 the guns. They thought that with two antagonists 
 they would only meet certain destruction if they 
 fired a shot. But Smith had not lost his old habit 
 of determination. He lighted a torch and told his 
 crew that unless they stood by manfully for a 
 fight he would set fire to the magazine and blow 
 up the ship, rather than surrender to any pirate. 
 Then they went to the guns and gave the pirates 
 one volley after another, while at the same time 
 
i82 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 they sailed away from them as fast as they could. 
 After a long running fight, Smith won the race and 
 escaped with little damage. 
 
 Misfortunes never come singly, says the old 
 adage. Smith had not been long out of sight of 
 the pirates when he was chased and captured by 
 four French men-of-war. He went aboard the 
 flagship and showed his papers, which proved his 
 vessel to be neither piratical nor Spanish — the 
 kind that the French cruisers were searching for. 
 Nevertheless, for a few days they held him as a 
 prisoner, robbed his vessel, and took his crew into 
 their own. Then, for some unknown reason, they 
 returned everything to him, and he was about 
 to resume his voyage when he was asked to go 
 aboard the flagship again. This he did, and while 
 he was there a strange sail came in sight and at 
 once all the French vessels gave chase, leaving 
 Smith's vessel far behind and at last out of sight. 
 
 His going aboard the flagship the second time 
 was the result of a trick played by two of his officers. 
 They had been discontented and insubordinate 
 from the beginning almost, and they told the French 
 commander privately that when their vessels should 
 arrive on the banks of Newfoundland Smith would 
 take his revenge on the French fishermen there. 
 He was kept on the French man-of-war all summer, 
 

 jiniiiftiyiKffli fflatftfaHigHiianiSMPna 
 
 Coi>imght,VM',, bii Jamextinrn Ojficiul I>}iotv 
 Corporafian. 
 
 Pocahontas Memorial Window, 
 St, John's Church, Hampton. 
 
 Contributed in part by the Indian 
 Pupils of Hampton Institute. 
 
NEW VENTURES 183 
 
 and he learned that she was as much a pirate as a 
 naval cruiser. To comfort himself as well as to 
 improve the time, Ve there wrote a history of his 
 voyage to New England and a description of that 
 country so far as he had explored it. This was 
 published in London the next year (16 16). 
 
 Whenever the ship was fighting with a Spanish 
 ship, Captain Smith was called upon to take part, 
 which he did. But when an English ship was 
 encountered he was not only excused from fighting 
 his own countrymen but was confined as a pris- 
 oner — probably because of fear that he might 
 in some way betray the ship into their hands, or 
 damage something, instead of assisting. 
 
 The French admiral had promised to release him 
 at the Azores, but did not do so. There was 
 another opportunity to land him when the ship 
 was near Rochelle, but still it was not done. He 
 was accused of burning a French settlement in 
 America — which was really done, not by him, but 
 by Captain Argall — and was treated so harshly 
 that he determined to escape by one means or 
 another. On a dark, stormy night he got into the 
 boat and cut loose from the ship. He had only a 
 handspike for an oar, and, despite every effort, 
 a current or the tide carried him out to sea. But 
 at the end of twelve hours the tide and the wind 
 
i84 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 both turned and he was driven ashore on a little 
 island. Here he might have perished from cold 
 and hunger, but next day he was discovered and 
 rescued by ''certain fowlers'' — men who were 
 hunting sea birds. Meanwhile the French ship 
 had been driven ashore in the storm, and her 
 captain and many of her crew were drowned. 
 
 Captain Smith pawned the boat in which he had 
 escaped, and thus raised money to get to Rochelle. 
 There he placed before the naval court his com- 
 plaint against the officers who had captured and 
 held him, and his story was corroborated by some 
 of the survivors of the wrecked man-of-war. He 
 received fair promises, but no real redress, even 
 when he sought the aid of the English ambassador. 
 Perhaps this was because the judge considered the 
 fact that those who could tell the other side of the 
 story — if it had any other side — had all perished 
 in the wreck and could not be there to defend 
 themselves. Smith says that from the wreck goods 
 came ashore and were saved, of a value that in 
 our day would be equal to about $90,000 of our 
 money. He made a claim on this, as damages for 
 his arrest and detention, but could not get any- 
 thing. He also says that the French man-of-war, 
 pretending to be only in pursuit of Spaniards (who 
 prevented French trade in the West Indies), really 
 
NEW VENTURES 185 
 
 acted as a pirate and captured any valuable prize 
 of whatever nation. Our knowledge of sea manners 
 in those days makes his story very probable. 
 
 By chance he met an old friend named Crampton, 
 who readily assisted him in his need ; and by 
 Smith's handsome appearance and good manners 
 he gained a new and helpful friend. This was a 
 lady, Madame Chanoyes, of Rochelle. No doubt, 
 when he met this lady, his charms of person and 
 manner were greatly heightened by the story of his 
 adventures — exactly as in the case of Othello, 
 who says : — 
 
 "I ran it [the story] through, even from my boyish days, 
 Wherein I spake of most disastrous chances, 
 Of moving accidents by flood and field, 
 Of hairbreadth 'scapes i' the imminent deadly breach, 
 Of being taken by the insolent foe 
 And sold to slavery. . . . This to hear 
 Would Desdemona seriously incline." 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 Smithes Last Years 
 
 When Captain Smith got back to Plymouth he 
 found that his mutinous crew, to justify themselves 
 before the authorities, had fixed up a story to the 
 effect that they parted from him because they 
 found that he intended to become a pirate and make 
 pirates of the whole ship's company, and they, of 
 course, were too honest to consent to this! They 
 Uttle dreamed that he would ever appear again in 
 England. He tells us that he succeeded in having 
 the leaders imprisoned, and some of the others con- 
 fessed the truth. 
 
 Smith planned another voyage to New England, 
 and he traveled widely in England distributing two 
 of his books that treated of the trans-Atlantic 
 country, hoping to arouse sufficient interest in his 
 scheme to command the necessary money for its 
 expense. Though at one time he was promised 
 a fleet of twenty ships, he never received any of 
 them and never sailed again. But those who made 
 that promise gave him the title of Admiral of 
 
 i86 
 
SMITH'S LAST YEARS 187 
 
 New England. There were chartered companies in 
 London that received many copies of his books and 
 could easily have afforded to furnish him with all 
 that he asked for. Some of them made offers on 
 condition of receiving the greater part of the abun- 
 dant plunder which they supposed would be taken 
 from the Indians. But Captain Smith, who never 
 had gone out to seek plunder, rejected such offers 
 at once. He had made known the value of the 
 fisheries and shown the way to them. That value 
 is so great that they have been the subject of im- 
 portant treaties between the United States and 
 England. Of his enterprises and adventures he 
 says: "They have been to me as children; they 
 have been my wife, my hawks, my hounds, my 
 cards, my dice, and, in total, my best content." 
 And again he writes : " In neither of these two coun- 
 tries have I one foot of land, nor the very house I 
 builded, nor the ground I digged with my own 
 hands, nor any content or satisfaction at all. And 
 though I see ordinarily those two countries shared 
 before me by them that neither have them nor 
 know them but by my descriptions, yet that doth 
 not so much trouble me as to hear and see these 
 contentions and divisions which will hazard if not 
 ruin the prosperity of Virginia if present remedy 
 be not found." 
 
i88 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 This was emphatically true. The mismanage- 
 ment of Smithes successors at Jamestown had won 
 them the intense hatred of the Indians ; and Pow- 
 hatan's successor, Opecancanough, a very able 
 chief, planned a conspiracy very Hke that of Pontiac 
 a century and a half later. The most important 
 part of Pontiac's scheme was frustrated by an 
 Indian girl who warned the EngKsh of it; but in 
 Virginia there was now no Pocahontas to perform 
 that service, and four hundred of the settlers were 
 massacred. Captain Smith offered to go again to 
 Virginia and subdue the Indians and secure the 
 safety of the colony, if he could be furnished with 
 the necessary means and one hundred and thirty 
 good men well armed. He intended to instruct 
 them and use them as wood rangers. But his offer 
 was not accepted, and after a few years there was 
 another massacre and five hundred colonists per- 
 ished. 
 
 If any of us still have an inclination to discount 
 the story of Captain Smith's abilities and achieve- 
 ments, let us listen to one good witness who can- 
 not be impeached. In 1612 Richard Pots, Clerk 
 of the Council of Jamestown, wrote thus of Captain 
 Smith: ''What shall I say? — but thus we lost 
 him that in all his proceedings made justice his 
 first guide and experience his second ; ever hating 
 
SMITH'S LAST YEARS 189 
 
 baseness, sloth, pride and indignity more than any 
 dangers ; that never allowed more for himself than 
 his soldiers with him ; that upon no danger would 
 send them where he would not lead them himself ; 
 that would never see us want what he either had or 
 could by any means get us ; that would rather want 
 than borrow, or starve than not pay; that loved 
 actions more than words, and hated falsehood and 
 cozenage worse than death ; whose adventures were 
 our Hves, and whose loss our deaths." 
 
 He spent his remaining years, till he died, in Lon- 
 don, June 21, 1 63 1, in writing books, of which he 
 published nine, some of them being partly repeti- 
 tions and enlargements of earlier ones. These 
 include "A Sea Grammar," which attained a high 
 reputation, and ''Advertisements for the Unex- 
 perienced Planters of New England," which was 
 pubHshed the year that he died. He was a some- 
 what clumsy writer ; but he always had a story to 
 tell, and if he had had command of a good literary 
 style his works might be not only classic but popu- 
 lar to this day. He sometimes attempted poetry 
 as well. His best poem, which is entitled ''The 
 Sea-Mark," is, perhaps, better than some that 
 were written by his famous contemporary poets. 
 This, his swan song, hints at his loneUness, his mis- 
 takes, his hardships, and his hope of final reward. 
 
190 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 
 
 The Sea-Mark 
 
 Aloof, aloof, and come not near ! 
 
 The dangers do appear 
 
 Which, if my ruin had not been, 
 
 You had not seen. 
 
 I only lie upon this shelf 
 To be a mark to all 
 Which on the same may fall. 
 
 That none may perish but myself. 
 
 If in or outward you be bound, 
 
 Do not forget to sound. 
 
 Neglect of that was cause of this 
 
 To steer amiss. 
 
 The seas were calm, the wind was fair, 
 That made me so secure, 
 That now I must endure 
 
 All weathers, be they foul or fair. 
 
 The winter's cold, the summer's heat, 
 
 Alternatively beat 
 
 Upon my bruised sides, that rue 
 
 Because too true 
 
 That no relief can ever come. 
 
 But why should I despair. 
 
 Being promised so fair 
 That there shall be a Day of Doom? 
 
INDEX 
 
 Alba Regalis, siege of, 13. 
 
 Appreciation of Smith's charac- 
 ter, by Richard Pots, 188. 
 
 Argall, Samuel, imprisons Poca- 
 hontas, 169. 
 
 Authors, Smith's favorite, 6. 
 
 Battori, Prince Sigismund, in 
 
 battle, 16; gives money to 
 
 Smith, 39. 
 Beads, Smith wins Indians with, 
 
 104. 
 Bermuda Islands, fleet driven 
 
 ashore on, 167. 
 Boys, exchange of, 102. 
 
 Callamata, Lady, $6. 
 Cannons and grindstone, 88. 
 Captivity of Smith, in Turkey, 
 
 31 e^ seq.; in Virginia, 77 et 
 
 seq. 
 Chanoyes, Madame, befriends 
 
 Smith, 185. 
 Chaos in the colony, 173. 
 Charter, a new, for the colony, 
 
 166. 
 Chesapeake Bay explored by 
 
 Smith, 121 et seq. 
 Chickahominy, Smith's first 
 
 excursion to the, 71 ; second, 
 
 74; captured there, 77. 
 Clough, A. H., quoted, 173. 
 
 Colonization in America, early 
 
 attempts at, 46 et seq. 
 Conspiracy, Smith subdues a, 
 
 71; plotted by Indians, 117. 
 Council of Jamestown colony, 
 
 first appointed, 59. 
 Cramp ton, Mr., befriends Smith 
 
 in France, 185. 
 
 Dare, Virginia, 53. 
 
 Deaths in the colony, 66 and 
 
 passim. 
 Delaware, Lord, appointed 
 
 Captain General, 166. 
 Discipline, Smith enforces, 162 
 
 et seq. 
 Drake, Sir F., 52. 
 Duels, Smith fights three, 17 
 
 et seq. 
 Dutchmen, treacherous, 156. 
 
 England, Smith's return to, 169 ; 
 his last years there, 186 et seq.; 
 death in London, 189; au- 
 thorship, 189. 
 
 Escape to the French coast, 
 Smith's, 183. 
 
 Fiery dragons. Smith invents, 13. 
 Fire, destructive, in Jamestown, 
 
 109. 
 Fishing with frying-pans, 127. 
 
 191 
 
192 
 
 INDEX 
 
 French man-of-war, Smith cap- 
 tured and held by a, 182. 
 
 Frenchmen, adventure with 
 three, 7. 
 
 Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, last 
 
 voyage of, 49. 
 Girke, Smith wounded at, 15. 
 Gold, digging for, 108. 
 Gosnold, Bartholomew, objects 
 
 to location, 63; drowned, 
 
 160. 
 Grenville, Sir R., 51. 
 Gunpowder, Indians intend to 
 
 plant, 83; Indians playing 
 
 with are killed, 164; Smith 
 
 injured by, 168. 
 
 Holy Isle, Smith ill on, 5. 
 
 Hume, David, 4. 
 
 Hunt, Rev. Robert, peacemaker, 
 
 65; loses his library, no. 
 Hunt, Capt. Thomas, steals 
 
 Indians and sells them, 176. 
 
 Indians, attack the colony, 62 
 and passim; successful fight 
 with, 69; one sent to count 
 the English people, 107, 142 ; 
 a very strange one, 130. 
 
 James River, first explored, 61 ; 
 
 expedition ascends, 145. 
 Jamestown founded, 64 et seq. 
 Jefferson, Thomas, quoted, i . 
 Jonah, Smith as a, 9. 
 
 Kendall, John, expelled from the 
 
 Council, 67. 
 Kissell, Baron, 11 et seq. 
 
 Lane, Ralph, 52. 
 La Roche, Capt., 9. 
 "Lawyers," Smith's disposal 
 
 of, 89. 
 Leadership in the colony. Smith 
 
 succeeds to, 69. 
 Letter, a famous, 147 et seq. 
 Lindisfame Island, 5. 
 Lipswick, Smith travels to, 39. 
 Longfellow, H. W., quoted, 49. 
 
 Meldritch, Earl, Smith enhsts 
 with, II ; captures a bashaw, 
 
 IS- 
 Mercoeur, Due de, 13. 
 Merham, Capt., Smith sails 
 
 with, and finds he is a pirate, 
 
 41. 
 Military drills, 139. 
 Monacans, proposed war on, 
 
 106. 
 Mosco, a strange Indian, 130. 
 Moyses, Gen., victorious, 24; 
 
 deserts to the enemy, 25, 
 
 Nalbrits, Smith sent to, 31. 
 
 Names, Smith's proposed, for 
 New England places, 176. 
 
 Nansemond, fight on the, 136. 
 
 Nelson, Capt., arrives in the 
 Phoenix, 114. 
 
 New England, Smith makes a 
 voyage to, 174; plans an- 
 other in vain, 177; named 
 
 by, 175- 
 Newport, Christopher, com- 
 mands first expedition to Vir- 
 ginia, 57; arrives at James- 
 town with suppHes, 96; his 
 
INDEX 
 
 193 
 
 stupidity and timidity, 97 ei 
 seq.; gives swords for turkeys, 
 1 1 1 ; brings a boat in sections 
 and presents and a crown for 
 Powhatan, 139. 
 
 Olumpagh, battle of, 12. 
 Opecancanough, Smith taken 
 
 before, 77; challenged by 
 
 Smith, 158. 
 Othello quoted, 185, 
 
 Palaloga, T., 7. 
 
 Paspahegh, Smith's encounter 
 with, 163. 
 
 Percy, Mr., made president of 
 the council, 169. 
 
 Pirates, Smith encounters, 9, 
 181. 
 
 Plots, murderous, 153 et seq. 
 
 Ployer, Earl of, 8. 
 
 Pocahontas, saves Smith's Hfe, 
 86; begins visiting James- 
 town, 89; question of her 
 age, 119; warns Smith of a 
 plot to assassinate him, 156; 
 saves life of R. WyfiSn, 160; 
 imprisoned by Argall, 169; 
 converted, receives the name 
 Rebecca, marries John Rolfe, 
 and goes to England, 169; 
 meets Smith at Branford, 
 170; his eulogy of her, 170; 
 her death, 171 ; her descend- 
 ants, 171. 
 
 Potomac River discovered, 125. 
 
 Powhatan, Smith visits, 85 ; he 
 and Smith exchange big 
 stories, 90 et seq.; cheats 
 
 Newport twice, 104, 144; 
 crowned, 143. And passim. 
 Presidency of the Council, 
 Smith elected to, 138, 
 
 Radcliffe, John, chosen presi- 
 dent of the Council, 67; 
 deposed, 128; called Sickle- 
 more, 151. 
 
 Raleigh, Sir Walter, his expedi- 
 tions, 50 et seq. 
 
 Rappahannocks, encounters 
 with the, 131 et seq. 
 
 Regal, battle in plain of, 17 
 et seq. 
 
 Religious services in the colony, 
 129. 
 
 Rewards of valor. Smith's, 21. 
 
 Rodoll, Lord, made waywode, 
 
 25- 
 Rolfe, John, marries Pocahontas, 
 
 169. 
 Russell, Dr. W., 121, 127. 
 
 Scrivener, Mr., made president 
 
 of the colony, 128; drowned, 
 
 160. 
 Sea fight with Spaniards, 42 
 
 et seq. 
 Sea-Mark, The, Smith's poem, 
 
 190. 
 Sea Venture, wreck of the, 167. 
 Signal system, Smith's, 11. 
 Supplies arrive in two ships, 96. 
 Susquehannocks, Smith meets 
 
 the, 129. 
 
 Tragabigzanda, Smith given to 
 as slave, 21 et seq. 
 
194 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Transylvania, war in, 25 et seq. 
 Travels, Smith's, in Europe and 
 
 Africa, 39 et seq. 
 Trial and acquittal of Smith, 65. 
 Tribute to Smith by Richard 
 
 Pots, 188. 
 Trouble with newcomers, 167, 
 Tymore, bashaw, Smith kills and 
 
 escapes, 35. 
 
 Veristhorne, battle of, 26 et seq. 
 Virginia Company, the first, 55 ; 
 Smith joins it, 56. 
 
 Waldo, Capt., drowned, 160. 
 Werowance, Smith made a, 100. 
 White, John, 52. 
 Wildfire, Smith's ruse with, 26. 
 Willoughby, Lord, Smith serves, 
 
 3- 
 
 Wingfield, Edward Maria, 
 chosen president of the col- 
 ony, 59 ; deposed, 67. 
 
 Women, three Indian, cause of 
 war, 134; two white first in 
 the colony, 139. 
 
 Wynne, Capt., 164. 
 
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