day, in early January, he sailed into the river with a well-laden
ship and upwards of one hundred new colonists. His appearance put
an end to a pretty scheme which the attorney Archer had concocted
to encompass Smith’s downfall. Direct from England, with authority
superior to that of any man in Jamestown, Newport instituted an inquiry
into the government of the colony during his absence and determined
that Wingfield and Archer should return with him, to answer to the
Company. Scrivener he appointed to the Council and thus assured Smith
of one firm ally in that body. Newport had started for America with
two vessels. These became separated in mid-ocean and the _Phœnix_,
commanded by Captain Francis Nelson, did not arrive until considerably
later.
The relations between the Indians and the colonists now became
very friendly, owing to the adoption of Smith by the tribe. After
his return to Jamestown, Pocahontas and some of the other women of
Werowocomico came to the settlement twice or three times a week
laden with provisions, these being Smith’s share, as a chief, of the
tribal stores. On these occasions, men would also bring foodstuff to
be disposed of in trade. These supplies were very timely, for the
settlement had again approached the verge of starvation when Smith
returned after his seven weeks of captivity, and Captain Newport’s
arrival did not greatly mend that matter, for the larger part of the
edible supplies sent from England were upon the tardy vessel. In the
barter with the savages, Smith established a scale of exchange based
upon the values set by the Indians themselves upon the wares of the
foreigners. This was of course fair enough, but his enemies, more than
ever jealous of the great influence he evidently enjoyed with the
Indians, sought to undermine it by giving them very much more than they
asked for their grain and venison. The result was that in a short while
a pound of copper would scarce purchase as much as an ounce had secured
under Smith’s regulation. The schemers had the satisfaction of seeing
Smith fall in the regard of the Indians, who naturally thought that he
had been cheating them.
The newcomers were of course a welcome accession to the depleted
colony, but they brought misfortune upon it at the outset. They had
been little more than a week within the stockade when one of them
through carelessness set fire to the house in which he was lodged. The
flames spread and in a few short hours all the buildings and even the
fortifications were consumed. Nothing could be saved but the clothes
upon the men’s backs, and the supplies which Newport had landed went
with the rest. In this extremity the settlers must have perished of
cold and starvation, or fallen under the arrows of the savages, but for
the amicable relations which had been brought about by Captain Smith.
As it was, the Indians hastened to bring furs and food to the relief of
the miserable white men who were prostrated body and soul by the sudden
misfortune. They sat about the ruins of Jamestown, bewailing their lot
and praying Captain Newport to carry them home to England. This would
have been impossible at the time, even had he a mind to do so, for
there was not enough food on the ship to serve such a numerous company
as far as the West Indies.
Smith was ashamed at the cowardice of his countrymen and fearful
lest their puerile exhibition of weakness should lower them in the
estimation of the Indians, many of whom were on hand, for the flames
of Jamestown had been plainly visible at Werowocomico. Seconded by
Mr. Hunt, Newport, Percy and Scrivener, he went among the whimpering
colonists persuading, threatening, cajoling--in short, using any means
to make them bestir themselves.
“See yonder dominie, good Master Hunt, how, with exhortation, he
hearteneth the afflicted,” he cried seeking to shame them by the
exhibition of a good example. “Yet no man among us hath suffered so
great loss as he. For not only his chattels and clothes have been
destroyed but also his books on which he set more store than upon
gold or aught else. Yet hath no moaning or complaint issued from him,
but he beareth himself bravely and with composure as becometh a true
gentleman and a servant of God.”
These efforts at length moved the settlers to action and, with the
aid of the sailors and some Indians who were hired to assist, rude
structures were hastily raised in sufficient numbers to afford shelter
to all. The work of rebuilding Jamestown in a permanent fashion was
necessarily deferred.
Smith now proposed that Newport should pay a visit to Powhatan. During
his captivity our hero had taken pains to impress the Chief with an
idea of Newport’s importance and power. Indeed, he had addressed
himself to this task with such enthusiasm that the savages conceived
of Newport as “Captain Smith’s God,” and by that title he was known
among them. Taking an escort of forty men, Smith, Newport and Scrivener
reached Werowocomico without any mishap and received a warm welcome.
Powhatan awaited them in the same “long house” which had been the scene
of our hero’s stirring adventure. It was a state occasion, as Smith’s
former appearance there had been, and the assemblage presented much the
same aspect. But now, in place of scowling faces and angry mutterings,
Smith and his companions were met with smiles and cries of friendly
greeting. After formal salutations had been exchanged, a great feast
was set out in which they all partook. This was followed by dancing,
singing, and mimic combats.
Smith’s prime object in suggesting this visit of Newport to the Chief
of the Powhatans lay in a hope that it might tend to cement the
friendly relations existing between the redmen and the settlers. He
was not, however, forgetful of the needs of the settlement, always
on the verge of starvation, and proposed to take advantage of the
opportunity to secure as much food as possible from the ample stores
of Werowocomico. He warned Newport to part with his wares on the
best terms obtainable and to show but few things at a time and those
with a pretence at reluctance. But Newport’s eagerness to play the
part of “big chief” and Powhatan’s shrewdness came near to upsetting
Smith’s plans. When Newport had presented a very generous gift to the
Werowance, intimating that the rest of the goods were to be disposed of
in trade, the wily Powhatan decided to circumvent him by an appeal to
his pride.
“It is not seemly,” he said, “that two great Werowances such as you and
I should haggle over the details of trade. Lay out your wares then,
that I may see them and what pleases me I will take, paying to you a
fair price according to my judgment.”
Smith could scarce keep a straight countenance when he heard this
_naïve_ speech of the old chieftain, but his amusement soon gave way
to deep concern as he saw the infatuated Newport spread out his entire
stock before Powhatan.
Smith had serious cause for apprehension. The influence of the settlers
over the Indians and, indeed, their very lives depended upon the
copper, glass, beads and similar trifles which the Indians coveted so
greedily. If these became cheapened in their eyes, the colonists would
have nothing with which to propitiate them, nor with which to pay for
the provisions so constantly needed. And here was the reckless Newport
permitting Powhatan to help himself on condition of paying what he
pleased for what he should take. The rates of exchange set by Smith had
already, as we know, been ruinously enhanced in favor of the Indians,
and this transaction was calculated to still more greatly raise them.
He did not dare to protest, for fear of arousing Powhatan’s anger, but
fortunately his quick wit enabled him to save the situation without
creating any unpleasantness.
Among the many things displayed for the inspection of the great
Werowance, Smith noted some beads of a different tint to any others
there. He quietly abstracted the package, taking care that Powhatan
should see him do so. When at length the Chief had indicated all the
things he wished to retain, he fixed a price on them which, as Smith
had anticipated, was not more than one-tenth as much as the Indians had
usually paid for such articles. Having settled that business to his
entire satisfaction, the greedy Chief turned to Smith and asked to be
shown the package which the latter had put aside. Powhatan suspected
that it contained something of unusual value and Smith cunningly
confirmed this suspicion by pretending the greatest reluctance to
exhibit the articles. Presently, however, he showed them, saying:
“These be as you see different in color from all the other beads. They
be purple--the royal color in the countries beyond the seas--and fit
only for the use of kings.”
Of course Powhatan was consumed with a desire to possess them and
equally of course Smith did not readily yield to him. At last the
Werowance received the coveted purple beads on the payment of six
times as much for them as he had given for all the things secured from
Newport. It was immediately decreed that purple beads might only be
worn by the Powhatan and his family but Opechancanough was allowed a
few as a mark of special favor.
After five days of entertainment and friendly intercourse, the
Englishmen returned to the settlement. It was Newport’s intention
to load up his vessel with cedar and depart for England as soon as
possible. Just at this time, however, a trivial accident gave an
entirely new and unfortunate turn to the affairs of the colony. One of
the settlers discovered some yellow dust shining in the bottom of a
stream near the settlement. Immediately, the whole colony was smitten
with the gold-fever. Neglecting all else they gave themselves up to the
pursuit of the precious metal. As one of them says: “There was no talk,
no hope, but dig gold, wash gold, refine gold, load gold; such a bruit
of gold that one mad fellow, a wag, desired to be buried in the sands
lest they should, by their art, make gold of his bones.” The outcome of
all this was that, after several weeks delay, Newport sailed away with
a ship laden with _mica dust_.
XIX.
A TURN IN THE TIDE
Captain Nelson arrives in the Phœnix with reinforcements and
supplies--Powhatan becomes disgruntled--Smith yields to Pocahontas what
he had refused to her father--Smith sets out to explore Chesapeake
Bay--The expedition meets with storm and shipwreck--The party is
led into an ambush--They find the Indians everywhere unfriendly and
learn of Powhatan’s treachery--The Susquehannocks and their giant
chief--They propose to make Smith the head of the tribe--Ratcliffe is
deposed and Scrivener assumes the Presidency--The colony is put in good
condition--Newport returns bent on fanciful schemes--The coronation of
Powhatan.
Smith, Scrivener and a few other men of balanced minds had escaped the
gold-fever. They doubted in the first place whether the stuff was worth
anything and realized that, even if it should prove to be gold indeed,
the time occupied in the search of it had better have been employed in
the urgent affairs of the settlement. They were very glad, therefore,
to see Newport at last take his departure, and immediately set men
at work rebuilding the town and fortifications and breaking ground
preparatory to planting corn. The settlers were thus engaged when,
quite unexpectedly, the _Phœnix_ arrived with Captain Nelson and one
hundred and twenty emigrants. As usual, the reinforcement included two
or more gentlemen for every laborer or artisan. Smith’s disappointment
on this account was, however, offset by the fact that Captain Nelson
brought six months’ provisions which were sorely needed by the settlers.
Hardly had Newport gone than the colony began to reap the fruit of
his unwise traffic with the Indians. Smith had always been careful
to prevent the natives from securing any of the European weapons, or
even pieces of iron from which they might fashion swords. Newport
was less cautious, perhaps because the consequences could entail no
hazard to himself. Just before his departure he gave Powhatan twenty
cutlasses for as many turkeys, despite the earnest protests of Smith.
Powhatan was not long in learning the superiority of these weapons
over his own and, thinking to secure more of them, he sent messengers
to Smith, asking for swords in exchange for fowls. It is needless to
say that the demand was flatly refused, although Smith was loath to
displease the chieftain. Powhatan was keenly disappointed, for he had
thought that, as a member of the tribe, Smith would be more amenable
to his wishes. He was also seriously offended, and sought to gain
his point by stealth. Some of his people were sent to the settlement
with instructions to steal whatever they could and, in particular, to
purloin as many weapons as possible.
As Indians were frequent visitors to Jamestown and of late had been
permitted to go about the settlement freely, it was comparatively easy
for Powhatan’s emissaries to carry on their pilferings for some time
without detection. At length, however, several of them were caught in
the act and imprisoned. Fearing that they were about to be put to death
they revealed a conspiracy against the colony on the part of Powhatan
and his principal chiefs. Thus forewarned of the intended treachery,
Smith hastened the work on the defences of the place and kept a
vigorous guard day and night. In the meanwhile he held possession of
his prisoners much to the uneasiness of the great Werowance. Repeated
requests for their release were denied, although the messengers came
laden with presents. Opechancanough came in person but had no better
success. At length Powhatan sent Pocahontas with expressions of his
regret for the untoward actions of his subjects and assurances of his
future goodwill. This appeal was effective. Smith yielded, not to the
Chief but to the girl who had saved his life.
There had been a great deal of discussion about the freighting of
the _Phœnix_. Ratcliffe, Martin, and, in fact, the majority were for
loading the vessel with the delusive dust which had formed Newport’s
cargo. Smith and Scrivener protested against another shipment of
what they strongly suspected to be no more than “glittering dirt.”
Captain Nelson took the same view of the matter and in the end the
_Phœnix_ sailed out of the James with an honest lading of good Virginia
cedar. This was on June the second, 1608. The same day Smith left the
settlement in an open barge of three tons’ burden, accompanied by
fifteen men. Most of these were newcomers, who were not a little set
up on account of an experience they had gained with Newport during his
recent visit. That able seaman generally contrived to make himself
ridiculous when he transferred the scene of his activities to dry
land. He had brought out a large boat in five sections designed to be
carried across the mountains in his projected journey to the South Sea.
The expedition started with a great flourish of trumpets and after
being gone two and a half days returned to Jamestown and abandoned
the enterprise. Now those of Smith’s force who had been in Newport’s
company thought that the latter’s expedition was a fair sample of
exploration. They were eager for adventure and very much feared
that Smith, in an open boat committed to the sea, would not journey
far enough to satisfy their appetite. The leader heard these doubts
expressed and promised himself some amusement at the expense of his
eager adventurers.
Smith’s determination was to thoroughly explore Chesapeake Bay. It was
no light undertaking. The region was quite unknown to him and peopled
by Indian tribes with which he had not yet come in contact. The mere
matter of navigation involved grave dangers, for the Bay being wide
and open, is subject to almost the full force of wind and tide. But in
the face of all these difficulties, and many more that arose with the
progress of the exploration, Smith accomplished his purpose and that
so effectually that his map of the Bay was the best in existence until
recent times, and is still acknowledged to be an excellent one. The
work was at that time of course of the utmost importance and, although
it took the authorities at home some time to see it, information of
the country and inhabitants of Virginia was of much greater value than
fanciful stories of gold mines and short cuts to the South Sea.
Our adventurers soon found that exploring with Captain Smith was a very
different thing from a picnic expedition with Captain Newport. They
encountered rough weather from the outset. Their hands blistered and
their backs ached with rowing against a strong wind. The briny waves
drenched their clothes and soaked their bread. Their water keg was
broached by some accident and before they could replenish it they came
so near to being famished that they “would have refused two barrels of
gold for one of puddle water.” This was their condition when a terrible
storm struck them, carrying away their masts and sails. By good
fortune, rather than any effort of their own, they contrived to gain
the shelter of an uninhabited island where they went ashore.
The men who had been fearful lest Captain Smith should not venture far
enough, were now all for returning to Jamestown, but their leader had
no mind to turn back. Opposition and difficulty ever increased his
determination and nerved him to greater effort.
“Gentlemen,” said Smith to the disheartened company, “remember the
example of Sir Ralph Lane’s company in worse straits, how they begged
him to proceed in the discovery of Moratico, saying that they had
yet a dog that would sustain them for a while. Then what shame would
it be to us to return, having ample provision of a sort, 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 that is
past; and for what is to come, of lodging, diet, or whatsoever, I am
content you allot the worst part to me. As to your apprehensions 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 likely to happen, and to return would be as dangerous as to
proceed. Regain, therefore, your old spirits, for return I will not--if
God please--till I have seen the Massawomekes, found Patawomek, or the
head of this bay which you imagine to be endless.”
They remained two days upon the island, and when the storm abated
resumed their journey with fresh sails fashioned from their shirts.
The exploring party had been out just two weeks when they came across
the mouth of the Potomac--or Patawomek, as Smith called it. They
sailed thirty miles up the river without sight of human being, when
two Indians appeared from nowhere, after their mysterious manner, and
offered to serve them as guides. Pretending to take them to a village
at the head of a creek, the wily savages neatly led them into an
ambuscade. Suddenly the English found themselves in the centre of three
or four hundred Indians, “strangely painted, grimed and disguised,
shouting, yelling and crying, as so many spirits from hell could not
have showed more terrible.” Had they discharged their arrows at once,
instead of wasting time in capering about, the explorers must have been
killed to a man. But these Indians, who had not yet become acquainted
with the dreadful “spit-fires” of the strangers, thought that they had
them entirely at their mercy and doubtless proposed to reserve them
for the torture. Smith ordered his men to fire a volley in the air and
the effect of the discharge of fifteen muskets at once was all that
could be wished. Many of the savages fled into the forest, others threw
themselves prone upon the ground and all cast aside their weapons in
sign of surrender. Smith learned that messengers from Powhatan had
instigated these people to attack the expedition and had urged upon
them, above all, to secure the white men’s weapons. Had they known
the terrible nature of those weapons they certainly would not have
indulged in any such foolishness and they did not think kindly of
their brothers, the Powhatans, for having egged them on to it. Smith
established friendly relations with these people who never occasioned
further trouble.
In their progress the voyagers found the Indians almost everywhere in
arms and ready to attack them, having been prompted thereto by the
emissaries from Werowocomico. In most cases, however, the natives were
converted to peaceful good-will without bloodshed, the flash and report
of the fire-arm proving to be a powerful pacifier. Wherever they went,
the explorers heard of the Massawomekes. They seem to have been a
particularly warlike tribe, situated near the head of the bay, who were
dreaded and hated by all their neighbors. Smith was very anxious to see
these people and proceeded up the bay with the intention of visiting
their country. But his men were succumbing so fast to the fatigue and
exposure that, when at length there were but five left fit for active
service, he deemed it wise to defer the exploration of the head of the
bay. Before turning homeward, however, he sent a messenger inland to
the country of the Susquehannocks who had the reputation of being a
tribe of giants.
After a delay of a few days a deputation of sixty warriors from the
Susquehannocks visited the camp of the Englishmen. They were bigger
and more warlike than any Indians that the settlers had encountered up
to that time, and it was agreeable to Smith to find that they had come
prepared to make an alliance with him and, indeed, to adopt him into
the tribe as a chief. In token of their good-will they presented him
with a bear’s skin cloak, such as was only worn by great Werowances,
eighteen mantles, a chain of beads weighing six or seven pounds and a
number of other gewgaws. Their chief was a man of extraordinary size,
even for a Susquehannock. Smith thus describes him:
“The calf of his leg was three-quarters of a yard about, and all the
rest of his limbs so answerable to that proportion that he seemed the
goodliest man we had ever beheld. His hair on one side was long, the
other shorn close with a ridge over his crown like a cock’s comb.
His arrows were five quarters of a yard long, headed with flints or
splinters of stone in form like a heart, an inch broad and an inch and
a half or more long. These he wore at his back in a wolf’s skin for his
quiver, his bow in the one hand and his club in the other.”
These people proposed that Smith should assume the headship of the
tribe and lead them in war against the Massawomekes and other enemies.
Had our hero entertained any such ambition as that with which he
was charged by Wingfield and his supporters, here was an excellent
opportunity to set up a kingdom. The Susquehannocks were not only
exceptionally warlike, but also one of the most numerous tribes in
that part of America. No doubt, with a man like Smith at their head,
they could soon have established sovereignty over hundreds of miles of
territory. It is needless to say, however, that the offer was declined
as tactfully as possible and the expedition turned homeward.
Smith arrived in Jamestown just as another crisis in the affairs of
the colony had been reached. Ratcliffe, the President, had shamefully
abused his office for some time past. He had taken for his private use
the best things in the public stores, he had beaten several of the
settlers, with little or no provocation, and had diverted a number
of laborers from useful employment to the task of building him a
pleasure-house in the woods. Smith appeared on the scene when the wrath
of the colonists had almost risen beyond bounds. Had he not arrived
when he did they would probably have taken Ratcliffe’s life. As it was,
they would hear of nothing short of his deposition and invited Smith
to take his place at the head of the government. Smith, however, who
was the active instrument in disposing of the obnoxious officer, hardly
thought that he could accept the proposal with a good grace and so
persuaded them to allow him to substitute Scrivener for himself. So,
with this change, the summer passed in peace, and satisfactory progress
was made in the rebuilding of the settlement.