and sixty tons burden, sailed for the coast of Virginia with a colony of one hundred and five men. They were detained for six weeks in sight of England by adverse winds. The voyage was prosecuted under the command of Captain Newport, who sailed by the old route of the Canaries and the West India islands; thus consuming the valuable time and provisions of the colonists, in a voyage unnecessarily long and circuitous. He did not arrive in the Chesapeake until the 26th of April.

Dissensions had sprung up in the course of the voyage, which there was no competent authority to quell, as the absurd affectation of diplomatic mystery on the part of King James had sealed up his instructions, and the names of those who were to constitute the council, in a box which was not to be opened until after they arrived in Virginia.

The southern cape of the Chesapeake received the name of Henry, and the northern that of Charles, after the names of the sons of James. After landing on Cape Henry, the box of instructions was opened, and Smith* was found to be named as one of the council, but he was excluded by the jealous malignity of the rest. Wingfield was chosen president.

Soon after passing the capes, they reached the mouth of a large and beautiful river, which they named after their sovereign James, but which the natives called Powhatan. About fifty miles from the mouth of this river, they selected a spot for their settlement, to which they gave the name of James Town. There May 13. could not, perhaps, be a company more unfitted for the duty which it had to perform, than that which now commenced the foundation of the British empire in America. The colonists were in a wilderness, surrounded by savages, without a fortification to repel their incursions, possessed of a scanty supply of provisions, without means of planting,-and without a habitation to protect them from the weather, save such as they might themselves erect; yet in the whole company there were but four carpenters, and twelve laborers, to fifty-four gentlemen. At first, however, this rare collection of pioneers fell to work with spirit, each to his appropriate duty. The president, who seems to have been a very weak man, and ill-suited for his station, was too jealous of his own men to allow exercises at arms, or a fortification to be erected; and the only protection provided, was a sort of halfmoon formed of the boughs of trees, by the exertions of Kendall. Newport, Smith, and twenty others were sent to discover the head of the river. In six days they arrived at a town called Powhatan, belonging to King Powhatan, situated at the falls of the river, near the site of the present city of Richmond. They were kindly treated by the Indians. When the expedition returned, they found that Jamestown had been attacked by the savages, and seventeen

The council named, was Bart. Gosnold, John Smith, Edward Wingfield, Christopher Newport, John Ratcliffe, John Martin, and George Kendall.

men wounded, and a boy killed. They were attacked while at work, and their arms out of order; so that the whole were only saved from destruction by the timely aid of the vessels. After this experience of his folly, the president permitted the place to be fortified; and the labor necessary to effect this, with so small a force, while it was necessary, at the same time, to guard their workmen by day, to watch by night, to prepare ground for corn, and lumber to relade the ships, may be better conceived than described. After a stay of six weeks, Newport prepared to depart, and the council affecting a tender regard for the character of Smith, whom they had falsely accused of a treacherous design to usurp royal authority in the colony, and kept out of his seat in the council under these charges, now proposed, that he might not be utterly ruined by a trial, to send him home to the council, to be disposed of as they might think proper. But Smith, conscious of innocence of the absurd charge, boldly defied them, and demanded a trial. His accusers suborned witnesses, who, instead of answering the expectations of their employers, only exposed the subornation. The company were so incensed at the infamous conduct of his accusers, that they condemned the president to pay him £200, which, when received, he generously threw into the common stock. Newport sailed on the 15th of June, leaving one hundred men in Virginia.

The condition of the men thus left, was the most melancholy that can well be imagined. They consisted, for the most part, of men entirely unused to labor or hardship; who were doomed to encounter every kind of difficulty, in the midst of summer, in a hot and sickly climate. In ten days from the departure of Newport, scarce ten men could stand, from sickness and weakness. The food was scanty in quantity, and of the most unwholesome quality. The allowance of each' man was half a pint of wheat, and as much barley, boiled in water, which was served out from a common kettle, and which having been closely stowed in the ship's hold for twenty-six weeks, in a warm and moist atmosphere, was reduced to a condition any thing but tempting. Smith, the narrator of these sufferings, humorously remarks: "If we had been as free from all sins, as from gluttony and drunkenness, we might have been canonized for saints." As might be supposed in such an unfortunate state of affairs, great mortality prevailed, and fifty were buried between May and September; and those that survived relied principally for their subsistence upon sturgeon and sea-crabs. The suffering, in this state of affairs, must have been greatly aggravated by the knowledge that the president was indulging himself in every luxury which the stores afforded-and his detection in an attempt to escape in the pinnace, from the suffering colony. This last act of treachery was more than the little colony could endure; and weak as it was, it deposed him, and Kendall, his accomplice. Ratcliffe was made president. The council do not seem to have exercised the power granted them in their charter, of filling up vacancies, and it was now reduced to three-Ratcliffe, Smith, and Martin; Gosnold had perished, Newport sailed for England, and Wingfield and Kendall had been deposed.

The president and Martin being unpopular men, and very deficient in judgment and energy, committed the control of affairs nearly entirely to Smith, who, by his example and his skill in managing men, speedily reduced affairs to order, induced the men to work, and provided comfortable habitations. His next object was to obtain a supply of corn for the immediate necessity of the people, which he did effectually, by frightening the people of

4

Kecoughtan, an Indian village, situated near the site of the present town of Hampton-after first trying every means to purchase their provision. Smith now constituted the only hope, not only for the existence of the colony, as such, but for the lives of the individuals of whom it consisted. Their recent wretchedness was not a sufficient warning to them to preserve order, and to husband their resources with prudence, now that plenty was provided; but they lived as wastefully as if they had boundless magazines at command. Smith, seeing this, caused the pinnace to be fitted up for a cruise; and, in the mean time, availed himself of the opportunity to become acquainted with the country lying on the Chickahominy.

During one of these temporary absences of Smith, Wingfield and Kendall, who had lived in disgrace since they were deposed, laid a plot to carry off the pinnace to England, which the fortunate return of Smith, before they had time to effect their purpose, prevented. But not even then were they defeated without firing on the pinnace, by which means Kendall lost his life.

Smith having gained possession of the pinnace, ascended the Chickahominy, and procured an abundance of corn. Winter coming on soon after, afforded an amply supply of game and wild fowl, so that plenty was once more restored, and thought no longer entertained of going to England.

Little souls cannot look upon the greatest exploits of nobler creatures, without suffering a captious and jealous malignity to detract from their merit. The very beings whom Smith had preserved by his good conduct, now murmured against him their absurd complaints-because he had not discovered the head of the Chickahominy, although he had returned only to supply them with food. His spirit could not brook reproach, however undeserved, for any thing which was yet possible to be accomplished. He again ascended the Chickahominy as far as was practicable in the pinnace, and leaving it in a position which he supposed to be safe, he advanced yet higher, with two whites and two Indians, in a canoe. He left his men with his little boat, and taking only his Indian guide, advanced into the forest with his gun to procure them provision. Unfortunately, in disobedience to his orders, the men in the pinnace went ashore, and one of them was taken by the Indians, who learned from their prisoner whither the captain had gone. The savages pursued him, and slew the men left with the canoe while they slept. They next sought Smith, but found him no easy prey; for, tying his guide to his arm as a buckler to keep off their arrows, he defended himself so gallantly that they dared not approach him, until, falling accidentally into a marsh, he was at length forced by cold and fatigue to surrender. The savages conducted him to their chief, Opechankanough, king of Pamunkee. Smith endeavored to impress the king with a high idea of his powers, by presenting him with a mariner's compass, explaining its uses, and instructing him in the rudiments of astron

omy, by explaining the motion of the earth, its shape, and the motion of the sun, moon, and planets; truths which it is difficult to believe he could make the savage comprehend, especially as he had but little knowledge of their language. It is more probable that the king was pleased with the ivory case of the compass, and the mysterious play of the needle, which he could see but not touch, and which moved without an apparent cause. Accordingly, we find when his men had tied Smith to a tree and were about to slay him, the king did not attempt to prevent it by explaining the motion of the earth around the sun, but merely held up the compass, the sight of which seems to have been sufficient to disarm their wrath.

For six or seven weeks Smith was led about in triumph by these simple people, and exhibited to the tribes between the James and Potomac rivers, during the whole of which time he was in hourly apprehension of being put to death; but was generally well treated, and provided with most of the luxuries which their simple state afforded. At length he was brought before their emperor, Powhatan, who received him with all the formal pomp and state known to his savage court. A long consultation was.held by the council there assembled, upon the disposition to be made of him, which terminated unfavorably. He was seized by a number of the savages, and his head laid upon two great stones which had been brought there for the purpose. His executioners had already raised their clubs to dash out his brains, and thus at once end his toil and difficulties, and cut off the only hope of the colony, when an advocate appeared, as unexpected as would have been the appearance of an angel sent immediately from heaven to ask his release. This was Pocahontas, the emperor's favorite daughter, who generously stepped forth and entreated, with tears, that Smith might be spared. And when she found this unavailing with the inexorable judges, she seized his head, and placed it under her own, to protect it from the blows. This sight so moved Powhatan, that he permitted Smith to live, intending to retain him to make trinkets and utensils for his family and himself. But a few days afterwards Powhatan told him they would be friends again, and sent him back to Jamestown, with an offer of a large district of country in exchange for two great guns and a grindstone; but the party who were to carry these things found them so heavy, and were so much terrified by the effect of the guns, when discharged at a tree, that they were well satisfied to return without them, having received a few paltry baubles and trinkets. Smith's return again prevented a party from running off with the pinnace; which so incensed them that they laid a plot to slay him, by a mock trial for the death of the two men he had left in the canoe, and who were slain by the savages; but he was too prompt for the conspirators, whom he seized and kept close prisoners until he had an opportunity of sending them to England for trial. The colony was now only preserved from perishing by the kind

ness of Pocahontas, who brought ample supplies every four or

five days.

During this time the little colony had not been forgotten by the company in England, but Newport, soon after his return, was again dispatched, in company with another vessel, commanded by Francis Nelson, furnished with all things which could be imagined necessary either for the crews or the colonists. Nelson, when in sight of Cape Henry, was driven by a storin so far to sea, that he was obliged to land in the West Indies to refit and renew his supply of water. Newport arrived without an accident. Before the arrival of this supply, Smith had established a regular intercourse with the savages, and bought their provisions at moderate prices, which the high estimation in which he was held by them, and the awe which his name inspired, enabled him to fix for himself. But now the poor colonists were so grateful to the mariners who had come to their relief, that they were permitted to trade at such prices as they thought proper, by which means, it followed, in a short time, that a pound of copper would not purchase what had before sold for an ounce. Newport thought proper to pay a visit of ceremony to Powhatan, who received the party with great dignity and state. During this visit, a contest of wits took place between the two parties, in which Powhatan evinced infinitely greater diplomatic skill than Captain Newport; and by working upon his pride, was very near consummating a highly advantageous bargain; but he in his turn was outwitted by the ingenuity of Smith, who, having passed many baubles before his eyes, and finding that his attention was attracted by some blue beads, affected to value them exceedingly, and intimated that they were not to be worn except by the greatest personages. This inflamed the desire of the emperor to such an extent, that he cheerfully gave several hundred bushels of corn for a pound or two of these rare jewels, whose beautiful color resembled the pure ether of heaven. The same stratagem was afterwards played off by Smith, with equal success, upon Opechankanough, king of Pamunkee.

Unfortunately, when Smith and Newport returned to Jamestown with this new supply, and added it to their former store, it took fire and the greater part was consumed, together with many of their dry-thatched dwellings, a portion of their palisade fortifications, and some of their arms, bedding, and apparel.

Instead of returning home with all possible expedition, Newport remained fourteen weeks in the colony, consuming the precious provisions which should have been applied to the support of the unfortunate individuals he was to leave behind him. Unfortunately, too, he had brought out some gold refiners in his ship, who having discovered a glittering earth near Jamestown, thought it gold; and all hands were diverted from their useful toil, for the purpose of lading his ship with this worthless article. To such an extent did this mania prevail, that Smith says, there was no talk, no hope, no work, but dig gold, wash gold, refine gold, load gold." Newport, having completed his cargo, at length returned home. Soon after his departure, the Phoenix, the vessel of Nelson, which had been given up for lost, arrived, with all his men in safety, and a good stock of provisions; which he freely and fairly gave to the colonists to the extent of his ability. The next subject for consideration was the return cargo; to obtain which, the president wished Smith to examine the commodities to be found in the country above the falls; others wished the lading to be of the same gold with which Newport was freighted; but Smith, more prudent than either, succeeded in loading the Phoenix with cedar, which was the first available cargo sent from Virginia to England. Smith accompanied the Phoenix, as far as Cape Henry, in a small open barge with fourteen men, with which June 2, 1608. equipment he proposed to accomplish his long cherished object of exploring the Chesapeake and its tributary waters. It is not our purpose to follow him through his two wonderful voyages, undertaken for this purpose, but we will merely present an outline of his course from the pen of an able modern author,* from whom we have before quoted. "Two voyages, made in an open boat, with a few companions, over whom his superior courage, rather than his station as a magistrate, gave him authority,

* Bancroft, Hist. U. States, vol I. p. 149.