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
proofes; as if we would keepe the mystery of the businesse to ourselves:
and that we must expressly follow your instructions sent by Captain
Newport: the charge of whose voyage amounts to neare two thousand
pounds, the which if we cannot defray by the ships returne we are likely
to remain as banished men. To these particulars I humbly intreat 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 away whither. For the Idle letter sent to my Lord of Salisbury,
by the President and his confederates, for dividing the country, &c.,
what it was I know not, for you saw no hand of mine to it; nor ever
dream't I of any such matter. That we feed you with hopes, &c. Though
I be no scholar, I am past a schoolboy; and I desire but to know what
either you and these here doe know, but that I have learned to tell
you by the continuall hazard of my life. I have not concealed from you
anything I know; but I feare 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 overouled by the major part of the Councill, I feare
to the hazard of us all; which now is generally confessed when it is
too late. Onely Captaine Winne and Captaine Walclo I have sworne of the
Councill, and crowned Powhattan according to your instructions.
For the charge of the voyage of two or three thousand pounds we have not
received the value of one hundred pounds, and for the quartered boat to
be borne by the souldiers over the falls. Newport had 120 of the best
men he could chuse. 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. And for him at that time to find in the South Sea
a mine of gold; or any of them sent by Sir Walter Raleigh; at our
consultation I told them was as likely as the rest. But during this
great discovery of thirtie 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 tyme), 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 Tarre, Glasse, Sope-ashes, Clapboord,
whereof some small quantities we have sent you. But if you rightly
consider what an infinite toyle it is in Russia and Swethland, where the
woods are proper for naught els, and though there be the helpe both
of man and beast in those ancient commonwealths, which many an hundred
years have used it, yet thousands of those poor people can scarce get
necessaries to live, 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 soules, that are scarce able to get
wherewith to live, and defend ourselves against the inconstant Salvages:
finding but here and there a tree fit for the purpose, and want all
things else the Russians have. For the Coronation of Powhattan, by whose
advice you sent him such presents, I know not; but this give me leave to
tell you, I feare they will be the confusion of us all ere we heare
from you again. At your ships arrivall, the Salvages harvest was newly
gathered, and we going to buy it, our owne not being halve sufficient
for so great a number. As for the two ships loading of corne Newport
promised to provide us from Powhattan, he brought us but fourteen
bushels; and from the Monacans nothing, but the most of the men sicke
and neare 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 halfe sicke, the other little better. For the saylers (I
confesse), they daily make good cheare, but our dyet is a little meale
and water, and not sufficient of that. Though there be fish in the Sea,
fowles in the ayre, and beasts in the woods, their bounds are so large,
they so wilde, and we so weake and ignorant, we cannot much trouble
them. Captaine Newport we much suspect to be the Author of these
inventions. Now that you should know, I have made you as great a
discovery as he, for less charge than he spendeth you every meale; I had
sent you this mappe of the Countries and Nations 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 souldiers say many of your officers
maintaine their families out of that you sent us, and that Newport hath
an hundred pounds a year for carrying newes. 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 helps to pay him wages.
Cap. Ratliffe is now called Sicklemore, a poore counterfeited Imposture.
I have sent you him home least the Company should cut his throat. What
he is, now every one can tell you: if he and Archer returne againe, they
are sufficient to keep us always in factions. When you send againe I
entreat you rather send but thirty carpenters, husbandmen, gardiners,
fishermen, blacksmiths, masons, and diggers up of trees roots, well
provided, then a thousand of such as we have; for except wee be able
both to lodge them, and feed them, the most will consume with want
of necessaries before they can be made good for anything. Thus if you
please to consider this account, and the unnecessary wages to
Captaine Newport, or his ships so long lingering and staying here (for
notwithstanding his boasting to leave us victuals for 12 months, though
we had 89 by this discovery lame and sicke, and but a pinte of corne a
day for a man, we were constrained to give him three hogsheads of that
to victuall him homeward), or yet to send into Germany or Poleland
for glassemen and the rest, till we be able to sustaine ourselves, and
releeve them when they come. It were better to give five hundred pound a
ton for those grosse Commodities in Denmarke, then send for them hither,
till more necessary things be provided. For in over-toyling our weake
and unskilfull bodies, to satisfy this desire of present profit, we can
scarce ever recover ourselves from one supply to another. And I humbly
intreat you hereafter, let us have what we should receive, and not
stand to the Saylers courtesie to leave us what they please, els 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 returning. So I humbly rest.
After the departure of Newport, Smith, with his accustomed resolution,
set to work to gather supplies for the winter. Corn had to be extorted
from the Indians by force. In one expedition to Nansemond, when the
Indians refused to trade, Smith fired upon them, and then landed and
burned one of their houses; whereupon they submitted and loaded his
three boats with corn. The ground was covered with ice and snow, and the
nights were bitterly cold. The device for sleeping warm in the open air
was to sweep the snow away from the ground and build a fire; the fire
was then raked off from the heated earth and a mat spread, upon which
the whites lay warm, sheltered by a mat hung up on the windward side,
until the ground got cold, when they builded a fire on another place.
Many a cold winter night did the explorers endure this hardship, yet
grew fat and lusty under it.
About this time was solemnized the marriage of John Laydon and Anne
Burrows, the first in Virginia. Anne was the maid of Mistress Forrest,
who had just come out to grow up with the country, and John was a
laborer who came with the first colony in 1607. This was actually the
“First Family of Virginia,” about which so much has been eloquently
said.
Provisions were still wanting. Mr. Scrivener and Mr. Percy returned from
an expedition with nothing. Smith proposed to surprise Powhatan, and
seize his store of corn, but he says he was hindered in this project by
Captain Winne and Mr. Scrivener (who had heretofore been considered
one of Smith's friends), whom he now suspected of plotting his ruin in
England.
Powhatan on his part sent word to Smith to visit him, to send him men
to build a house, give him a grindstone, fifty swords, some big guns, a
cock and a hen, much copper and beads, in return for which he would load
his ship with corn. Without any confidence in the crafty savage, Smith
humored him by sending several workmen, including four Dutchmen,
to build him a house. Meantime with two barges and the pinnace and
forty-six men, including Lieutenant Percy, Captain Wirt, and Captain
William Phittiplace, on the 29th of December he set out on a journey to
the Pamaunky, or York, River.
The first night was spent at “Warraskogack,” the king of which warned
Smith that while Powhatan would receive him kindly he was only seeking
an opportunity to cut their throats and seize their arms. Christmas
was kept with extreme winds, rain, frost and snow among the savages at
Kecoughton, where before roaring fires they made merry with plenty of
oysters, fish, flesh, wild fowls and good bread. The President and
two others went gunning for birds, and brought down one hundred and
forty-eight fowls with three shots.
Ascending the river, on the 12th of January they reached Werowocomoco.
The river was frozen half a mile from the shore, and when the barge
could not come to land by reason of the ice and muddy shallows, they
effected a landing by wading. Powhatan at their request sent them
venison, turkeys, and bread; the next day he feasted them, and then
inquired when they were going, ignoring his invitation to them to come.
Hereupon followed a long game of fence between Powhatan and Captain
Smith, each trying to overreach the other, and each indulging profusely
in lies and pledges. Each professed the utmost love for the other.
Smith upbraided him with neglect of his promise to supply them with
corn, and told him, in reply to his demand for weapons, that he had no
arms to spare. Powhatan asked him, if he came on a peaceful errand, to
lay aside his weapons, for he had heard that the English came not so
much for trade as to invade his people and possess his country, and
the people did not dare to bring in their corn while the English were
around.
Powhatan seemed indifferent about the building. The Dutchmen who had
come to build Powhatan a house liked the Indian plenty better than the
risk of starvation with the colony, revealed to Powhatan the poverty
of the whites, and plotted to betray them, of which plot Smith was not
certain till six months later. Powhatan discoursed eloquently on the
advantage of peace over war: “I have seen the death of all my people
thrice,” he said, “and not any one living of those three generations
but myself; I know the difference of peace and war better than any in my
country. But I am now old and ere long must die.” He wanted to leave his
brothers and sisters in peace. He heard that Smith came to destroy
his country. He asked him what good it would do to destroy them that
provided his food, to drive them into the woods where they must feed on
roots and acorns; “and be so hunted by you that I can neither rest, eat
nor sleep, but my tired men must watch, and if a twig but break every
one crieth, there cometh Captain Smith!” They might live in peace, and
trade, if Smith would only lay aside his arms. Smith, in return,
boasted of his power to get provisions, and said that he had only been
restrained from violence by his love for Powhatan; that the Indians came
armed to Jamestown, and it was the habit of the whites to wear their
arms. Powhatan then contrasted the liberality of Newport, and told Smith
that while he had used him more kindly than any other chief, he had
received from him (Smith) the least kindness of any.
Believing that the palaver was only to get an opportunity to cut his
throat, Smith got the savages to break the ice in order to bring up the
barge and load it with corn, and gave orders for his soldiers to land
and surprise Powhatan; meantime, to allay his suspicions, telling him
the lie that next day he would lay aside his arms and trust Powhatan's
promises. But Powhatan was not to be caught with such chaff. Leaving two
or three women to talk with the Captain he secretly fled away with his
women, children, and luggage. When Smith perceived this treachery he
fired into the “naked devils” who were in sight. The next day Powhatan
sent to excuse his flight, and presented him a bracelet and chain of
pearl and vowed eternal friendship.
With matchlocks lighted, Smith forced the Indians to load the boats; but
as they were aground, and could not be got off till high water, he was
compelled to spend the night on shore. Powhatan and the treacherous
Dutchmen are represented as plotting to kill Smith that night.
Provisions were to be brought him with professions of friendship, and
Smith was to be attacked while at supper. The Indians, with all the
merry sports they could devise, spent the time till night, and then
returned to Powhatan.
The plot was frustrated in the providence of God by a strange means.
“For Pocahuntas his dearest jewele and daughter in that dark night came
through the irksome woods, and told our Captaine good cheer should be
sent us by and by; but Powhatan and all the power he could make would
after come and kill us all, if they that brought it could not kill us
with our own weapons when we were at supper. Therefore if we would live
she wished us presently to be gone. Such things as she delighted in he
would have given her; but with the tears rolling down her cheeks she
said she durst not to be seen to have any; for if Powhatan should know
it, she were but dead, and so she ran away by herself as she came.”
[This instance of female devotion is exactly paralleled in D'Albertis's
“New Guinea.” Abia, a pretty Biota girl of seventeen, made her way to
his solitary habitation at the peril of her life, to inform him that the
men of Rapa would shortly bring him insects and other presents, in order
to get near him without suspicion, and then kill him. He tried to reward
the brave girl by hanging a gold chain about her neck, but she refused
it, saying it would betray her. He could only reward her with a fervent
kiss, upon which she fled. Smith omits that part of the incident.]
In less than an hour ten burly fellows arrived with great platters of
victuals, and begged Smith to put out the matches (the smoke of which
made them sick) and sit down and eat. Smith, on his guard, compelled
them to taste each dish, and then sent them back to Powhatan. All night
the whites watched, but though the savages lurked about, no attack
was made. Leaving the four Dutchmen to build Powhatan's house, and
an Englishman to shoot game for him, Smith next evening departed for
Pamaunky.
No sooner had he gone than two of the Dutchmen made their way overland
to Jamestown, and, pretending Smith had sent them, procured arms, tools,
and clothing. They induced also half a dozen sailors, “expert thieves,”
to accompany them to live with Powhatan; and altogether they stole,
besides powder and shot, fifty swords, eight pieces, eight pistols, and
three hundred hatchets. Edward Boynton and Richard Savage, who had been
left with Powhatan, seeing the treachery, endeavored to escape, but were
apprehended by the Indians.
At Pamaunky there was the same sort of palaver with Opechancanough,
the king, to whom Smith the year before had expounded the mysteries of
history, geography, and astronomy. After much fencing in talk, Smith,
with fifteen companions, went up to the King's house, where presently
he found himself betrayed and surrounded by seven hundred armed savages,
seeking his life. His company being dismayed, Smith restored their
courage by a speech, and then, boldly charging the King with intent to
murder him, he challenged him to a single combat on an island in the
river, each to use his own arms, but Smith to be as naked as the King.
The King still professed friendship, and laid a great present at the
door, about which the Indians lay in ambush to kill Smith. But this
hero, according to his own account, took prompt measures. He marched out
to the King where he stood guarded by fifty of his chiefs, seized him
by his long hair in the midst of his men, and pointing a pistol at
his breast led, him trembling and near dead with fear amongst all his
people. The King gave up his arms, and the savages, astonished that
any man dare treat their king thus, threw down their bows. Smith, still
holding the King by the hair, made them a bold address, offering peace
or war. They chose peace.
In the picture of this remarkable scene in the “General Historie,” the
savage is represented as gigantic in stature, big enough to crush
the little Smith in an instant if he had but chosen. Having given the
savages the choice to load his ship with corn or to load it himself with
their dead carcasses, the Indians so thronged in with their commodities
that Smith was tired of receiving them, and leaving his comrades to
trade, he lay down to rest. When he was asleep the Indians, armed some
with clubs, and some with old English swords, entered into the house.
Smith awoke in time, seized his arms, and others coming to his rescue,
they cleared the house.
While enduring these perils, sad news was brought from Jamestown. Mr.
Scrivener, who had letters from England (writes Smith) urging him to
make himself Caesar or nothing, declined in his affection for Smith, and
began to exercise extra authority. Against the advice of the others, he
needs must make a journey to the Isle of Hogs, taking with him in
the boat Captain Waldo, Anthony Gosnoll (or Gosnold, believed to be a
relative of Captain Bartholomew Gosnold), and eight others. The boat was
overwhelmed in a storm, and sunk, no one knows how or where. The savages
were the first to discover the bodies of the lost. News of this disaster
was brought to Captain Smith (who did not disturb the rest by making
it known) by Richard Wiffin, who encountered great dangers on the way.
Lodging overnight at Powhatan's, he saw great preparations for war, and
found himself in peril. Pocahontas hid him for a time, and by her means,
and extraordinary bribes, in three days' travel he reached Smith.
Powhatan, according to Smith, threatened death to his followers if
they did not kill Smith. At one time swarms of natives, unarmed, came
bringing great supplies of provisions; this was to put Smith off his
guard, surround him with hundreds of savages, and slay him by an ambush.
But he also laid in ambush and got the better of the crafty foe with
a superior craft. They sent him poisoned food, which made his company
sick, but was fatal to no one. Smith apologizes for temporizing with
the Indians at this time, by explaining that his purpose was to surprise
Powhatan and his store of provisions. But when they stealthily stole
up to the seat of that crafty chief, they found that those “damned
Dutchmen” had caused Powhatan to abandon his new house at Werowocomoco,
and to carry away all his corn and provisions.
The reward of this wearisome winter campaign was two hundred weight
of deer-suet and four hundred and seventy-nine bushels of corn for the
general store. They had not to show such murdering and destroying as the
Spaniards in their “relations,” nor heaps and mines of gold and silver;
the land of Virginia was barbarous and ill-planted, and without precious
jewels, but no Spanish relation could show, with such scant means, so
much country explored, so many natives reduced to obedience, with so
little bloodshed.