him from the share in the management of affairs to which he was entitled by his talents and experience; perhaps from envy, or from the dread of his usurping too absolute a rule. But when danger made its appearance, all the authority devolved on the veteran Smith. The bulk of the colonists were persons of dissolute manners and without industry, who migrated from home in the hope of escaping from the restraints of law, and of enriching themselves in a short time by the discovery of gold. A bright yellow mineral was found in the neighbourhood of James Town, which was credulously believed to contain the darling metal. But while all were engaged in these vain researches, distress began to be felt. The Indians, being treated with harshness and indignity, at first refused provisions, and at last broke out into open hostility.

The resolution, activity, and adroitness of captain Smith defeated all their attacks, and taught them to fear the courage and vigilance of their adversaries. To him the colony owed its preservation. As soon as he found leisure from his toils, he proceeded to examine the Chesapeak Bay, at the head of which he discovered the Potowmac river; and the sight of that noble stream so encouraged his disorderly and reluctant crews, that they cheerfully volunteered to explore it. This coasting voyage of 3000 miles, in bad weather and in an open boat, was an achievement in which Smith felt an honourable pride. In ascending James's River his prudence forsook him, and his too great confidence in his personal prowess and the resources of his ingenuity had nearly proved his destruction. He mounted the stream until the branches of the trees and the numerous rapids prevented the further progress of the boat: he then prosecuted his voyage in a small canoe, with two English companions and two Indian guides. Having ascended about twenty miles in this way, he went ashore and began to amuse himself with shooting in the woods. The Indians in the mean time were on the watch; and when Smith returned to the river he found that his companions had been killed,

and saw himself surrounded by a host of savage warriors with their bows bent and ready to overwhelm him with a shower of arrows. But in this alarming situation he did not lose his wonted intrepidity: he promptly seized one of his Indian guides, bound him before him so as to serve as a shield against the Indian weapons, and thus prepared to make a vigorous defence. But the Indians were too numerous; Smith was soon surrounded and made prisoner. He was tied to a tree, and about to be shot to death, when, showing to the Indians a small compass dial, and explaining to them its uses by describing the motions of the heavenly bodies, he so charmed and astonished his simple auditory, that they deferred his execution, and unbinding him instantly, led him to Powhatan, the chief who ruled with the authority of a king over all the country in the neighbourhood of this river.

The

He found the Indian chief surrounded by his principal warriors, with the women of his family ranged at the back of the tent. The fate of Smith was already resolved on; he was the most formidable enemy of the Indian tribes, and the stern Powhatan condemned him at once to die. A large stone was placed in front of the assembly, and Smith was forcibly dragged along and compelled to lay his head upon it, while a painted warrior stood near brandishing a club with which he was to dash out his brains at the word of command. fatal word was uttered which was to terminate Smith's life and adventures, when Pocohontas, the eldest daughter of Powhatan, rushed forward, and placing her head upon that of Smith, declared her determination to save his life at the peril of her own. Savage ferocity was melted by this display of female tenderness. The heart of Powhatan relented, and Smith was allowed to depart on condition of sending to the Indians those articles of European manufacture which they chiefly prized.

The return of Smith saved the colony from the ruin with which it was threatened by the idleness and unruly character of the settlers. Order, and even tran

quillity prevailed while the authority re.nained in his hands; but soon after, he suffered so much injury from an accidental explosion of gunpowder, that he was compelled to return to England for his health. The princess Pocohontas in the mean time had shown many proofs of her friendship to him and to the English in general. She had stolen through the woods, and risked her life, to reveal to the colonists the danger with which they were threatened by the secret machinations of the Indian tribes. Her kindness was at last repaid by ingratitude, which conduced, nevertheless, to an agreeable result. Pocohontas was taken prisoner, and kept as a hostage for the pacific conduct of her father. In her captivity the Indian princess grew more attached to the English; and a respectable young man, John Rolfe, became the object of her tenderest regards. She married him, and was baptised by the name of Rebecca. When the intelligence of her marriage was conveyed to the ears of Powhatan, it gave him much delight, and he was from that day forward a steady friend of the settlers. The princess Pocohontas, now Mrs. Rolfe, visited England, where she was the object of much attention, and even admiration. Her natural good sense and purity of mind supplied the defects of her education; and when suddenly transported from the woods of America to the giddy scenes of English society, she was found not deficient in just discrimination or in dignity of demeanour. Her first interview with Smith affected her deeply. She seemed quite overcome by the pain his presence caused her, and for some hours could not be brought to fix her eyes upon him. He had never returned, perhaps not even suspected, the warm passion with which he had inspired her. King James felt alarmed lest Rolfe might aspire to the sovereignty of Virginia in right of his wife; but his majesty's weak fears were at length subdued, and the princess with her husband were permitted to depart. She died, however, at Gravesend, when on the point of returning to her native country.

Pocohontas was accompanied to England by her kins

man Vitomotomakkin, an Indian priest and chieftain, who was instructed by Powhatan to make himself well acquainted with all the circumstances of the country, and particularly to learn the exact number of its tribes and warriors. For this purpose Vitomotomakkin was provided with a bundle of sticks, that he might make a notch for every man he saw. The moment he landed at Plymouth, he began patiently to cut notches, though evidently astounded at the magnitude of the task before him. He continued indefatigably at the same work while on the road to London; but as soon as he entered Piccadilly he flung away his sticks in despair; and told Powhatan, on his return, that to know the numbers of the English, he must count the leaves of all the trees in the forest.

On

The English colonies in Virginia, relying more on foreign supplies than on their own industry, supported with difficulty, for a few years, a frail and tottering existence. In 1609, a reinforcement of 500 settlers arrived in nine ships. Lord Delawarr was appointed governor of the colony; but as he was unable to proceed himself to the settlements in that year, he sent three deputy governors, who, being embarked in the same ship, were all cast away on the islands of Bermudas. those islands, which were at that time uninhabited, they found abundance of wood and of provisions. The swine left there by the Spaniards had increased prodigiously, and proved for the future a grand resource to the needy colonists. The Bermudas were now taken possession of for the crown of England; and from sir George Summers, one of the deputy-governors, they received the name of the Summers' Islands. The presence of so many men of rank and consideration supplied in some measure the vigour and authoritative tone of Smith, and maintained a semblance of order and of plenty among the profuse, negligent, and murmuring colonists. But a society formed of such heterogeneous elements could not easily acquire stability ; and when lord Delawarr, shortly after, arrived in the Chesapeak Bay, to enter upon his office as

governor, he found the settlers already embarked, and on the point of returning home. He compelled them, however, to relinquish that design, and to apply themselves assiduously to the improvement of their fortunes in the New World. This lucky accident saved the Virginian colonies from being again totally extinguished. In 1616, they commenced the cultivation of tobacco, from which they soon derived wealth and importance. Tobacco, when first brought into use in Europe, had much opposition to encounter: and as bigotry is easily allied with prejudice, those who decried it from mere fantastical antipathy were its most zealous adversaries, and did not scruple even to allege the authority of religion on their side. King James openly avowed his aversion to "this vile and nauseous weed," from which the country has gince derived so large a share of its revenue. There are few facts in history that so fully illustrate how little the authority of the sovereign avails against the general feeling of the commonalty, than the rapidity with which tobacco- -a luxury not very captivating in the first instance - although denounced by some of the greatest princes in Europe*, has grown into extensive circulation.

While the London company persevered, with apparently indifferent success, to colonise the southern parts of Virginia, the Plymouth company, which had been incorporated at the same time, and to which were allotted the northern parts of that extensive region called Virginia, was satisfied to carry on a trade of no great value with the natives. The wanton violence with which the Indians had in the first instance been incautiously treated, gave birth to such an implacable animosity towards the English, that no presents or mild usage could afterwards appease them. Their unremitting hostilities so terrified the settlers, that the attempts to plant a colony in the country now called New England proved for many years abortive. At length, in 1620, a sect of puri

*Peter the Great of Russia, Frederic of Prussia, and Amurath IV. of Turkey.