sian garrison on the river Don. Here he was kindly relieved by the governor, and, being refreshed, set forth for Transyl vania. Such was the fame of his exploits, and the friendli ness of the authorities that "in all his life, he seldome met with more respect, mirth, content, and entertainment; and not any Gouernour where he came, but gave him somewhat as a present, besides his charges."

Great was the rejoicing at his return, and, "glutted with content, and neere drowned with joy," he made his way to Prague, where the generous Sigismund gave him fifteen hundred ducats of gold, and an honorable dismission from his service. He thence travelled through Germany, France, and Spain, visiting, as usual, the most notable places, and treasuring up much varied information. He sailed in a French ship to Africa, and went to Morocco, intending to fight in the civil wars which distracted that kingdom; "but by reason of the uncertaintie, and the perfidious, treacherous, bloudy murthers rather than warre, among those perfidious, barbarous Moores," relinquished the design.

He went to pass a jolly evening on board the ship, with his friend, Captain Merham, and presently a gale of wind came on, which compelled them to slip their cable and run to sea. Fortune, as usual, had an adventure for the captain. The Frenchman speedily fell in with two Spanish men of war, and "a brave-sea-fight," lasting for two days, commenced. When they summoned him to surrender, Merham, "the old fox," (as his friend Smith calls him,) "dranke to them, and so discharged his quarter-peeces." The Spaniards, after repeated attempts to board their enemy, were finally beaten off, with a loss, it was supposed, of an hundred men. In this action, which was contested on both sides with the utmost desperation, we may be sure that Smith was not behind-hand. Soon after, he returned

to England (1604).

CHAPTER IV.

NEW SCHEME FOR COLONIZING VIRGINIA-ILL-ASSORTED ADVENTURERS -THE EXPEDITION SAILS FROM ENGLAND-PROCEEDS UP JAMES RIVER-INTERCOURSE WITH THE INDIANS-SMITH ILL TREATED

-FOUNDING OF JAMESTOWN-EXCURSION OF SMITH

KING POWHATAN-THE INDIANS OF VIRGINIA

THEIR CUSTOMS AND RELIGION.

Not long after the return of our adventurer, he became intimate with Captain Bartholomew Gosnold, whose successful voyage, in 1602, had reawakened the public interest in American enterprise. Both, animated by the love of adventure and the generous ambition of founding colonies in the wilderness, bestirred themselves actively in providing means for a fresh expedition to the shores of the New World. Several persons of wealth and influence entered into their plans, and in April, 1606, letters patent were obtained from the king, James I., by Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, and others, granting to them all the territory on the eastern sea-coast of North America, between thirty-four and forty-five degrees north latitude. Two companies were formed, but with a strict proviso, dictated by royal jealousy, that a hundred miles of wilderness should intervene between their projected colonies. Only one of these companies (that of Virginia) made immediate exertion to take advantage of their grant; but under the auspices of the other, settlements in New England were afterwards commenced.

On the 19th of December, 1606, three small vessels, commanded by Captain Christopher Newport, and bearing an hundred and five colonists, set sail from Blackwall, "but by vnprosperous winds were kept six weekes in the sight of England." With a ludicrous disproportion, considering the object of the enterprise, forty-eight of the company were eled s "gentlemen," and only twelve as laborers. A single sou

and a single sailor were all that had been provided

arduous labors of building and exploration. Moreover, we are told by one of the company, "there were some few little better than Atheists, of the greatest ranke among us." The, principal leaders were Gosnold and Smith, George Percy, Edward Wingfield, and the Revd. Robert Hunt. Orders from the government were given them, in a sealed box, not to be opened until their arrival.

At the Canaries, Smith, by the groundless jealousy of his associates, was accused of conspiring to make himself "king of Virginia," and was kept prisoner during the remainder of the voyage. They traded at the West Indies, and then steered for the island of Roanoke, their proposed destination. By good fortune, however, a storm carried them past that inauspicious region, and on the 26th, they espied land farther to the northward. It was the southern cape of Chesapeake Bay, and in honor of the Prince of Wales, they named it Cape Henry. They sailed up the James River about forty miles, delighted with the beauty of its banks, and went on shore. We passed through excellent ground," says Percy, "full of flowers of divers kinds and colours, and as goodly trees as I have seen, as cedar, cypress, and other kinds; going a little further we came to a little plat of ground, full of fine and beautiful strawberries, four times bigger and better than ours of England."

แ

On the very first day of their arrival, the colonists were attacked by certain savages, who came "creeping on all fours, from the hills, like Beares," but were driven off by the discharge of musketry. At point Comfort, however, they were kindly received by the Indians of Kecoughtan, who gave them corn-bread, pipes and tobacco, and held a dance in honor of their arrival. In other tribes they found equal hospitality, and the chief of the Rappahannas, who invited them to his town, came forth with all his retinue to meet them. "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, 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 civill government, holding his countenance without any laughter, or any such ill behavior. He caused his mat to be spread on the ground, where he sat down with great majesty, taking a pipe of tobacco, the rest of his company standing around him."

On the 13th of May, after a considerable survey of the shores, the Englishmen selected for the site of their settlement a peninsula on the north side of the river, to which, in honor of the king, they gave the name of Jamestown. More than a hundred years had elapsed, since Cabot, in his memorable voyage, had secured to England, by the right of discovery, the long extent of eastern sea coast; and this little colony, founded with such slender and ill-adapted means, was the first germ of that empire of so many millions which, in two centuries and a half, has included in its bounds the vast territories lying between the two oceans. Its prosperity, and, for a long time, its very existence, hung upon the courage, the sagacity, and the fortitude, of the remarkable man whose history we have sketched.

On their landing, the sealed box had been opened, and it was found that Wingfield, Gosnold, Smith, Newport, and three others were named as constituting a council. The only reliable man of the whole set, however, by the jealousy of his associates, was excluded from office; "the Councell was sworne, Mr. Wingfield was chosen President, and an Oration made, why Captaine Smith was not admitted of the Councell as the rest." All hands were set diligently at work, and the captain, despite his ill-treatment, eager to serve the interests of the colony, joined Newport in an expedition of discovery up the river.

Many curious particulars concerning the Indians of Virginia have been given by the partakers of this and other enterprises in the same direction. A general knowledge of the people inhabiting the adjacent regions was soon obtained. Of

the forty-three tribes occupying Virginia between the mountains and the sea, about thirty, numbering eight thousand souls, were under the rule of Powhatan,* the most warlike and powerful chieftain of the whole eastern shore. He had two places of abode, one called Powhatan, at the falls, where Richmond now stands, and the other, Werowocomoco, on the north side of York River. With the Mannahoacs, consisting of eight tribes, and the Monacans, of five, the power ful confederacy over which he ruled was often engaged in warfare.

After a voyage of six days, the explorers, twenty in number, arrived at the falls, where they were received by the great chief with much apparent courtesy. "He is of personage," writes Captain Smith, "a tall, well-proportioned man, with a sower looke, his head somwhat gray, his bearde so thinne, it seemeth none at all, his age neere sixtie; of a very able and hardy body to endure any labor." He was attended with much state, being always guarded by forty or fifty of the tallest men of his country. Four sentinels were planted around his house at night, who, in token of their vigilance, were compelled every half hour to give the shrillest of whoops-"if any faile," says the captain, "they presently send forth an officer that beateth him extremely. * It is strange," he

*

proceeds, "to see with what great feare and adoration all these people doe obey this Powhatan. For at his feete they present whatsoever he commandeth, and at the least frowne of his brow, their greatest spirits will tremble with feare; and no marvell, for he is very tyrannous, and terrible in punishing such as offend him." The accounts of his cruelty are revolting in the extreme-"Yet when he listeth, his will is a law, and must be obeyed; not onely as a king, but as halfe a God they esteeme him.”

"A mile from Orapakes," continues the same narrator, “in a thicket of woode, he hath a house in which he keepeth his * The real name of this famous Indian king was Wahunsonacock, but, like a European grandee, he took his title from the chief place of his residence.