THE INDIANS OF VIRGINIA.

CHAPTER I.

EXPEDITION OF AMIDAS AND BARLOW-OF SIR RICHARD GRENVILLE -OF BARTHOLOMEW GOSNOLL, WITH CAPTAIN SMITH.-SETTLEMENT AT JAMESTOWN. - VISIT TO POWHATAN. - IMPROVIDENCE AND DIFFICULTIES OF THE COLONISTS. EXPLORATION OF THE CHICKAHOMINY.-SMITH TAKEN PRISONER. HIS TREATMENT BY THE INDIANS.

THE most complete and veracious account of the manners, appearance, and history of the aboriginal inhabitants of Virginia, particularly those who dwelt in the castern portion of that district, upon the rivers and the shores of Chesapeake Bay, is contained in the narrative of the redoubted Captain John Smith. This bold and energetic pioneer, after many "strange adventures, happed by land or sea;" still a young man, though a veteran in military service; and inured to danger and hardship, in battle and captivity among the Turks, joined his fortunes to those of Bartholomew Gosnoll and his party, who sailed, from England on the 19th of December, 1606, (O. S.) to form a settlement on the Western Continent.

Former attempts to establish colonies in Virginia had terminated disastrously, from the gross incompetence, ex

travagant expectations, improvidence, and villanous conduct of those engaged in them.

In 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh and his associates, under a patent from Queen Elizabeth, had sent out two small vessels, commanded by Amidas and Barlow. By the circuitous route then usually adopted, the exploring party passed the West Indies, coasted along the fragrant shores of Florida, and entered Ocrakoke Inlet in the month of July, enraptured with the rich and fruitful appearance of the country. Grapes grew to the very borders of the sea, overspreading the bushes and climbing to the tops of trees in luxurious abundance.

Their intercourse with the natives was friendly and peaceful; as they reported, "a more kind, loving people could not be." They carried on trade and barter with Granganimeo, brother to Winginia, king of the country, and were royally entertained by his wife at the island of Roanoke.

Wingandacoa was the Indian name of the country, and, on the return of the expedition, in the ensuing September, it was called Virginia, in honor of the queen.

Sir Richard Grenville, an associate of Raleigh, visited Virginia the next year, (1585,) and left over one hundred men to form a settlement at Roanoke. Being disappointed in their anticipations of profit, or unwilling to endure the privations attendant upon the settlement of a habitation in the wilderness, all returned within a year. A most unjustifiable outrage was committed by the English of this party, on one of their exploring expeditions. In the words of the old narrative, " At Aquascogoc the Indians stole a silver cup, wherefore we burnt the town and spoiled their corn; so returned to our fleet at Tocokon.” This act is but a fair specimen of the manner in which redress has been sought for injuries sustained at the hands of the natives, not only in early times, but too often at the present day.

THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

ASTOR, LENOX AND
TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.

It is not surprising that thereafter the Indians should have assumed a hostile attitude. Granganimeo was dead, and Winginia, who had now taken the name of Pemissapan, formed a plan to cut off these disorderly invaders of his dominions. This resulted only in some desultory skirmishing; and, a few days afterwards, the fleet of Sir Francis Drake appearing in the offing, the whole colony concluded to return to England.

Mr. Thomas Heriot, whose journal of this voyage and settlement is preserved, gives a brief account of the superstitions, customs, and manner of living which he observed among the savages. In enumerating the animals which were used for food by the Indians, he mentions that "the savages sometimes killed a lion and ate him." He concludes his narrative by very justly remarking, that some of the company" showed themselves too furious in slaying some of the people in some towns upon causes that on our part might have been borne with more mildness."

Grenville, in the following year, knowing nothing of the desertion of the settlement, took three ships over to America, well furnished for the support and relief of those whom he had left on the preceding voyage. Finding the place abandoned, he left fifty settlers to reoccupy it, and returned home. On the next arrival from England the village was again found deserted, the fort dismantled, and the plantations overgrown with weeds. The bones of one man were seen, but no other trace appeared to tell the fate of the colony. It afterwards appeared, from the narrations of the savages, that three hundred men from Aquascogoc and other Indian towns had made a descent upon the whites, and massacred the whole number.

The experiment of colonization was again tried, and again failed: of over one hundred persons, including some females, who landed, none were to be found by those who went in search of them in 1589, nor was their fate ever