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Transcriber's note:

      1. Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).

      2. Minor punctuation irregularities have been made consistent.

      3. A list of corrections and other notes appears at the end of
         this text.

THE HISTORY OF VIRGINIA, IN FOUR PARTS.

I.   THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST SETTLEMENT OF VIRGINIA, AND THE GOVERNMENT
       THEREOF, TO THE YEAR 1706.

II.  THE NATURAL PRODUCTIONS AND CONVENIENCES OF THE COUNTRY, SUITED
       TO TRADE AND IMPROVEMENT.

III. THE NATIVE INDIANS, THEIR RELIGION, LAWS AND CUSTOMS, IN WAR AND
       PEACE.

IV.  THE PRESENT STATE OF THE COUNTRY, AS TO THE POLITY OF THE GOVERNMENT,
       AND THE IMPROVEMENTS OF THE LAND THE 10TH OF JUNE 1720.

by

ROBERT BEVERLEY,
A native and inhabitant of the place.

Reprinted from the Author's Second Revised Edition, London, 1722.

With an Introduction by Charles Campbell,
Author of the Colonial History of Virginia.

J. W. Randolph,
121 Main Street, Richmond, Virginia.
1855.

Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1855, by
J. W. Randolph,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court in and for the Eastern
District of Virginia.

H. K. Ellyson's Steam Presses, Richmond, Va.

THE TABLE.

BOOK I.

CHAPTER I.

_History of the first attempts to settle Virginia, before the discovery
  of Chesapeake bay._
                                                                   PAGE.
§1. Sir Walter Raleigh obtains letters patent, for making discoveries
      in America,                                                      8
 2. Two ships set out on the discovery, and arrive at Roanoke inlet,   9
    Their account of the country,                                      9
    Their account of the natives,                                      9
 3. Queen Elizabeth names the country of Virginia,                    10
 4. Sir Richard Greenvile's voyage,                                   10
    He plans the first colony, under command of Mr. Ralph Lane,       11
 5. The discoveries and accidents of the first colony,                11
 6. Their distress by want of provisions,                             12
    Sir Francis Drake visits them,                                    12
    He gives them a ship and necessaries,                             12
    He takes them away with him,                                      12
 7. Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Richard Greenvile, their voyages,      13
    The second settlement made,                                       13
 8. Mr. John White's expedition,                                      13
    The first Indian made a Christian there,                          14
    The first child born there of Christian parentage,                14
    Third settlement, incorporated by the name of the city of Raleigh,
      in Virginia,                                                    14
    Mr. White, their governor, sent home to solicit for supplies,     14
 9. John White's second voyage; last attempts to carry them recruits, 14
    His disappointment,                                               15
10. Capt. Gosnell's voyage to the coast of Cape Cod,                  15
11. The Bristol voyages,                                              16
12. A London voyage, which discovered New York,                       16

CHAPTER II.

_Discovery of Chesapeake bay by the corporation of London adventurers;
  their colony at Jamestown, and proceedings during the government by
  an elective president and council._

§13. The companies of London and Plymouth obtain charters,            18
 14. Captain Smith first discovers the capes of Virginia,             19
 15. He plants his first colony at Jamestown,                         20
     An account of Jamestown island,                                  20
 16. He sends the ships home, retaining one hundred and eight men
       to keep possession,                                            20
 17. That colony's mismanagement,                                     21
     Their misfortunes upon discovery of a supposed gold mine,        21
 18. Their first supplies after settlement,                           22
     Their discoveries, and experiments in English grain,             22
     An attempt of some to desert the colony,                         22
 19. The first Christian marriage in that colony,                     23
     They make three plantations more,                                23

CHAPTER III.

_History of the colony after the change of their government, from
  an elective president to a commissionated governor, until the
  dissolution of the company._

§20. The company get a new grant, and the nomination of the governors
       in themselves,                                                 24
     They send three governors in equal degree,                       24
     All three going in one ship, are shipwrecked at Bermudas,        24
     They build there two small cedar vessels,                        24
 21. Captain Smith's return to England,                               25
     Mismanagements ruin the colony,                                  25
     The first massacre and starving time,                            25
     The first occasion of the ill character of Virginia,             26
     The five hundred men left by Captain Smith reduced to sixty in
       six months time,                                               26
 22. The three governors sail from Bermudas, and arrive at Virginia,  26
 23. They take off the Christians that remained there, and design, by
       way of Newfoundland, to return to England,                     27
     Lord Delaware arrives and turns them back,                       27
 24. Sir Thomas Dale arrives governor, with supplies,                 27
 25. Sir Thomas Gates arrives governor,                               28
     He plants out a new plantation,                                  28
 26. Pocahontas made prisoner, and married to Mr. Rolfe,              28
 27. Peace with the Indians,                                          28
 28. Pocahontas brought to England by Sir Thomas Dale,                29
 29. Captain Smith's petition to the queen in her behalf,             29
 30. His visit to Pocahontas,                                         32
     An Indian's account of the people of England,                    32
 31. Pocahontas' reception at court, and death,                       33
 32. Captain Yardley's government,                                    34
 33. Governor Argall's good administration,                           34
 34. Powhatan's death, and successors,                                34
     Peace renewed by the successors,                                 34
 35. Captain Argall's voyage from Virginia to New England,            35
 36. He defeats the French northward of New England,                  35
 37. An account of those French,                                      36
 38. He also defeats the French in Acadia,                            36
 39. His return to England,                                           36
     Sir George Yardley, governor,                                    36
 40. He resettles the deserted plantation, and held the first
       assembly,                                                      36
     The method of that assembly,                                     37
 41. The first negroes carried to Virginia,                           37
 42. Land apportioned to adventurers,                                 37
 43. A salt work and iron work in Virginia,                           38
 44. Sir Francis Wyat made governor,                                  38
     King James, his instructions in care of tobacco,                 38
     Captain Newport's plantation,                                    38
 45. Inferior courts in each plantation,                              39
     Too much familiarity with the Indians,                           39
 46. The massacre by the Indians, anno 1622,                          39
 47. The discovery and prevention of it at Jamestown,                 40
 48. The occasion of the massacre,                                    41
 49. A plot to destroy the Indians,                                   42
 50. The discouraging effects of the massacre,                        43
 51. The corporation in England are the chief cause of misfortunes in
       Virginia,                                                      43
 52. The company dissolved, and the colony taken into the king's
       hands,                                                         44

CHAPTER IV.

_History of the government, from the dissolution of the company to the
  year 1707._

§53. King Charles First establishes the constitution of government, in
       the methods appointed by the first assembly,                   45
 54. The ground of the ill settlement of Virginia,                    45
 55. Lord Baltimore in Virginia,                                      46
 56. Lord Baltimore, proprietor of Maryland,                          46
     Maryland named from the queen,                                   46
 57. Young Lord Baltimore seats Maryland,                             46
     Misfortune to Virginia, by making Maryland a distinct
       government,                                                    47
 58. Great grants and defalcations from Virginia,                     47
 59. Governor Harvey sent prisoner to England, and by the king remanded
       back governor again,                                           47
 60. The last Indian massacre,                                        48
 61. A character and account of Oppechancanough, the Indian emperor,  48
 62. Sir William Berkeley made governor,                              49
 63. He takes Oppechancanough prisoner,                               49
     Oppechancanough's death,                                         50
 64. A new peace with the Indians, but the country disturbed by the
       troubles in England,                                           50
 65. Virginia subdued by the protector, Cromwell,                     50
 66. He binds the plantations by an act of navigation,                51
 67. His jealousy and change of governors in Virginia,                51
 68. Upon the death of Matthews, the protector's governor, Sir William
       Berkeley is chosen by the people,                              52
 69. He proclaims King Charles II before he was proclaimed in
       England,                                                       52
 70. King Charles II renews Sir William Berkeley's commission,        52
 71. Sir William Berkeley makes Colonel Morrison deputy governor,
       and goes to England,                                           53
     The king renews the act concerning the plantation,               53
 72. The laws revised,                                                53
     The church of England established by law,                        53
 73. Clergy provided for by law,                                      53
 74. The public charge of the government sustained by law,            53
 75. Encouragement of particular manufactures by law,                 54
 76. The instruction for all ships to enter at Jamestown, used
       by law,                                                        54
 77. Indian affairs settled by law,                                   54
 78. Jamestown encouraged by law,                                     54
 79. Restraints upon sectaries in religion,                           55
 80. A plot to subvert the government,                                55
 81. The defeat of the plot,                                          55
 82. An anniversary feast upon that occasion,                         56
 83. The king commands the building a fort at Jamestown,              56
 84. A new restraint on the plantations by act of parliament,         56
 85. Endeavors for a stint in planting tobacco,                       56
 86. Another endeavor at a stint defeated,                            57
 87. The king sent instructions to build forts, and confine the trade
       to certain ports,                                              57
 88. The disappointment of those ports,                               58
 89. Encouragement of manufactures enlarged,                          58
 90. An attempt to discovery the country backward,                    59
     Captain Batt's relation of that discovery,                       59
 91. Sir William Berkeley intends to prosecute that discovery
       in person,                                                     60
 92. The grounds of Bacon's rebellion,                                60
     Four ingredients thereto,                                        61
 93. First, the low price of tobacco,                                 61
     Second, splitting the country into proprieties,                  61
     The country send agents, to complain of the propriety grants,    61
 94. Third, new duties by act in England on the plantations,          62
 95. Fourth, disturbances on the land frontiers by the Indians,       62
     First, by the Indians on the head of the bay,                    62
     Second, by the Indians on their own frontiers,                   63
 96. The people rise against the Indians,                             63
     They choose Nathan Bacon, Jr., for their leader,                 63
 97. He heads them, and sends to the governor for a commission,       64
 98. He begins his march without a commission,                        64
     The governor sends for him,                                      65
 99. Bacon goes down in a sloop with forty of his men to the
       governor,                                                      65
100. Goes away in a huff, is pursued and brought back by governor,    65
101. Bacon steals privately out of town, and marches down to the
       assembly with six hundred of his volunteers,                   65
102. The governor, by advice of assembly, signs a commission to Mr.
       Bacon to be general,                                           66
103. Bacon being marched away with his men is proclaimed rebel,       66
104. Bacon returns with his forces to Jamestown,                      66
105. The governor flies to Accomac,                                   66
     The people there begin to make terms with him,                   67
106. Bacon holds a convention of gentlemen,                           67
     They propose to take an oath to him,                             67
107. The forms of the oath,                                           67
108. The governor makes head against him,                             69
     General Bacon's death,                                           69
109. Bacon's followers surrender upon articles,                       69
110. The agents compound with the proprietors,                        69
111. A new charter to Virginia,                                       70
112. Soldiers arrive from England,                                    70
113. The dissolution by Bacon's rebellion,                            70
114. Commissioners arrive in Virginia, and Sir William Berkeley returns
       to England,                                                    71
115. Herbert Jeffreys, esq., governor, concludes peace with Indians,  71
116. Sir Henry Chicheley, deputy governor, builds forts against
       Indians,                                                       71
     The assembly prohibited the importation of tobacco,              72
117. Lord Colepepper, governor,                                       72
118. Lord Colepepper's first assembly,                                72
     He passes several obliging acts to the country,                  72
119. He doubles the governor's salary,                                72
120. He imposes the perquisite of ship money,                         73
121. He, by proclamation, raises the value of Spanish coins, and
       lowers it again,                                               73
122. Sir Henry Chicheley, deputy governor,                            74
     The plant cutting,                                               74
123. Lord Colepepper's second assembly,                               75
     He takes away appeals to the assembly,                           75
124. His advantage thereby in the propriety of the Northern Neck,     76
125. He retrenches the new methods of court proceedings,              77
126. He dismantled the forts on the heads of rivers, and appointed
       rangers in their stead,                                        77
127. Secretary Spencer, president,                                    77
128. Lord Effingham, governor,                                        77
     Some of his extraordinary methods of getting money,              77
     Complaints against him,                                          78
129. Duty on liquors first raised,                                    78
130. Court of Chancery by Lord Effingham,                             78
131. Colonel Bacon, president,                                        79
     The college designed,                                            79
132. Francis Nicholson, lieutenant governor,                          79
     He studies popularity,                                           79
     The college proposed to him,                                     79
     He refuses to call an assembly,                                  79
133. He grants a brief to the college,                                79
134. The assembly address King William and Queen Mary for a college
       charter,                                                       80
     The education intended by this college,                          80
     The assembly present the lieutenant governor,                    80
     His method of securing this present,                             80
135. Their majesties grant the charter,                               80
     They grant liberally towards the building and endowing of it,    80
136. The lieutenant governor encourages towns and manufactures,       80
     Gentlemen of the council complain of him and are misused,        81
     He falls off from the encouragement of the towns and trade,      81
137. Edmund Andros, governor,                                         81
     The town law suspended,                                          81
138. The project of a post office,                                    81
139. The college charter arrived,                                     81
     The college further endowed, and the foundation laid,            82
140. Sir Edmund Andros encourages manufactures, and regulates
       the secretary's office,                                        82
141. A child born in the old age of the parents,                      83
142. Francis Nicholson, governor,                                     83
     His and Colonel Quarrey's memorials against plantations,         84
143. His zeal for the church and college,                             84
144. He removes the general court from Jamestown,                     84
145. The taking of the pirate,                                        84
146. The sham bills of nine hundred pounds for New York,              86
147. Colonel Quarrey's unjust memorials,                              87
148. Governor Nott arrived,                                           88
149. Revisal of the law finished,                                     88
150. Ports and towns again set on foot,                               88
151. Slaves a real estate,                                            88
152. A house built for the governor,                                  88
     Governor dies, and the college burnt,                            88
153. Edmond Jennings, esq., president,                                89
154. Alexander Spotswood, lieutenant governor,                        89

BOOK II.

_Natural Productions and Conveniences of Virginia in its unimproved
  state, before the English went thither._

CHAPTER I.

_Bounds and Coast of Virginia._

§1. Present bounds of Virginia,                                       90
 2. Chesapeake bay, and the sea coast of Virginia,                    91
 3. What is meant by the word Virginia in this book,                  91

CHAPTER II.

_Of the Waters._

§4. Conveniency of the bay and rivers,                                93
 5. Springs and fountains descending to the rivers,                   93
 6. Damage to vessels by the worm,                                    94
    Ways of avoiding that damage,                                     94

CHAPTER III.

_Earths, and Soils._

§7. The soil in general,                                              96
    River lands--lower, middle and upper,                             96
 8. Earths and clays,                                                 98
    Coal, slate and stone, and why not used,                          98
 9. Minerals therein, and iron mine formerly wrought upon,            98
    Supposed gold mines lately discovered,                            99
    That this gold mine was the supreme seat of the Indian temples
      formerly,                                                       99
    That their chief altar was there also,                            99
    Mr. Whitaker's account of a silver mine,                          99
10. Hills in Virginia,                                               100
    Springs in the high lands,                                       101

CHAPTER IV.

_Wild Fruits._

§11. Spontaneous fruits in general,                                  102
 12. Stoned fruits, viz: cherries, plums and persimmons,             102
 13. Berries, viz: mulberries, currants, hurts, cranberries,
       raspberries and strawberries,                                 103
 14. Of nuts,                                                        104
 15. Of grapes,                                                      105
     The report of some French vignerons formerly sent in thither,   107
 16. Honey, and the sugar trees,                                     107
 17. Myrtle tree, and myrtle wax,                                    108
     Hops growing wild,                                              109
 18. Great variety of seeds, plants and flowers,                     109
     Two snake roots,                                                109
     Jamestown weed,                                                 110
     Some curious flowers,                                           111
 19. Creeping vines bearing fruits, viz: melons, pompions, macocks,
       gourds, maracocks, and cushaws,                               112
 20. Other fruits, roots and plants of the Indians,                  114
     Several sorts of Indian corn,                                   114
     Of potatoes,                                                    115
     Tobacco, as it was ordered by the Indians,                      116

CHAPTER V.

_Fish._

§21. Great plenty and variety of fish,                               117
     Vast shoals of herrings, shad, &c.,                             117
 22. Continuality of the fishery,                                    118
     The names of some of the best edible fish,                      118
     The names of some that are not eaten,                           118
 23. Indian children catching fish,                                  118
     Several inventions of the Indians to take fish,                 119
 24. Fishing hawks and bald eagles,                                  121
     Fish dropped in the orchard,                                    121

CHAPTER VI.

_Wild Fowl and Hunted Game._

§25. Wild Water Fowl,                                                123
 26. Game in the marshes and watery grounds,                         123
 27. Game in the highlands and frontiers,                            123
     Of the Opossum,                                                 124
 28. Some Indian ways of hunting,                                    124
     Fire hunting,                                                   124
     Their hunting quarters,                                         125
 29. Conclusion,                                                     126

BOOK III.

_Indians, their Religion, Laws and Customs, in War and Peace._

CHAPTER I.

_Persons of the Indians, and their Dress._

§1. Persons of the Indians, their color and shape,                   127
 2. The cut of their hair, and ornament of their head,               128
 3. Of their vesture,                                                128
 4. Garb peculiar to their priests and conjurors,                    130
 5. Of the women's dress,                                            131

CHAPTER II.

_Matrimony of the Indians, and Management of their Children._

§6. Conditions of their marriage,                                    133
 7. Maidens, and the story of their prostitution,                    133
 8. Management of the young children,                                134

CHAPTER III.

_Towns, Building and Fortification of the Indians._

§9. Towns and kingdoms of the Indians,                               135
10. Manner of their building,                                        135
11. Their fuel, or firewood,                                         136
12. Their seats and lodging,                                         136
13. Their fortifications,                                            136

CHAPTER IV.

_Cookery and Food of the Indians._

§14. Their cookery,                                                  138
 15. Their several sorts of food,                                    139
 16. Their times of eating,                                          140
 17. Their drink,                                                    140
 18. Their ways of dining,                                           141

CHAPTER V.

_Traveling, Reception and entertainment of the Indians._

§19. Manner of their traveling, and provision they make for it,      142
     Their way of concealing their course,                           142
 20. Manner of their reception of strangers,                         143
     The pipe of peace,                                              143
 21. Their entertainment of honorable friends,                       145

CHAPTER VI.

_Learning and Languages of the Indians._

§22. That they are without letters,                                  147
     Their descriptions by hieroglyphics,                            147
     Heraldry and arms of the Indians,                               147
 23. That they have different languages,                             148
     Their general language,                                         148

CHAPTER VII.

_War and Peace of the Indians._

§24. Their consultations and war dances,                             149
 25. Their barbarity upon a victory,                                 149
 26. Descent of the crown,                                           150
 27. Their triumphs for victory,                                     150
 28. Their treaties of peace, and ceremonies upon conclusion
       of peace,                                                     151

CHAPTER VIII.

_Religion, Worship and Superstitious Customs of the Indians._

§29. Their quioccassan and idol of worship,                          152
 30. Their notions of God, and worshiping the evil spirit,           155
 31. Their pawwawing or conjurations,                                157
 32. Their huskanawing,                                              160
 33. Reasons of this custom,                                         164
 34. Their offerings and sacrifice,                                  165
 35. Their set feasts,                                               165
 36. Their account of time,                                          165
 37. Their superstition and zealotry,                                166
 38. Their regard to the priests and magicians,                      167
 39. Places of their worship and sacrifice,                          168
     Their pawcorances or altar stones,                              168
 40. Their care of the bodies of their princes after death,          169

CHAPTER IX.

_Diseases and Cures of the Indians._

§41. Their diseases in general, and burning for cure,                171
     Their sucking, scarifying and blistering,                       171
     Priests' secrecy in the virtues of plants,                      171
     Words wisoccan, wighsacan and woghsacan,                        172
     Their physic, and the method of it,                             172
 42. Their bagnios or baths,                                         172
     Their oiling after sweating,                                    173

CHAPTER X.

_Sports and Pastimes of the Indians._

§43. Their sports and pastimes in general,                           175
     Their singing,                                                  175
     Their dancing,                                                  175
     A mask used among them,                                         176
     Their musical instruments,                                      177

CHAPTER XI.

_Laws, and Authorities of the Indians among one another._

§44. Their laws in general,                                          178
     Their severity and ill manners,                                 178
     Their implacable resentments,                                   179
 45. Their honors, preferments and authorities,                      179
     Authority of the priests and conjurers,                         179
     Servants or black boys,                                         179

CHAPTER XII.

_Treasure or Riches of the Indians._

§46. Indian money and goods,                                         180

CHAPTER XIII.

_Handicrafts of the Indians._

§47. Their lesser crafts, as making bows and arrows,                 182
 48. Their making canoes,                                            182
     Their clearing woodland ground,                                 183
 49. Account of the tributary Indians,                               185

BOOK IV.

_Present State of Virginia._

PART I.

_Polity and Government._

CHAPTER I.

_Constitution of Government in Virginia._

§1. Constitution of government in general,                           186
 2. Governor, his authority and salary,                              188
 3. Council and their authority,                                     189
 4. House of burgesses,                                              190

CHAPTER II.

_Sub-Divisions of Virginia._

§5. Division of the country,                                         192
 6. Division of the country by necks of land, counties and parishes, 192
 7. Division of the country by districts for trade by navigation,    194

CHAPTER III.

_Public Offices of Government._

§8. General officers as are immediately commissionated from the
      throne,                                                        196
    Auditor, Receiver General and Secretary,                         196
    Salaries of those officers,                                      197
 9. Other general officers,                                          197
    Ecclesiastical commissary and country's treasurer,               197
10. Other public officers by commission,                             197
    Escheators,                                                      197
    Naval officers and collectors,                                   198
    Clerks and sheriffs,                                             198
    Surveyors of land and coroners,                                  199
11. Other officers without commission,                               199

CHAPTER IV.

_Standing Revenues or Public Funds._

§12. Public funds in general,                                        200
 13. Quit rent fund,                                                 200
 14. Funds for maintenance of the government,                        201
 15. Funds for extraordinary occasions, under the disposition of the
       assembly,                                                     201
 16. Revenue granted by the act of assembly to the college,          202
 17. Revenue raised by act of parliament in England from the trade
       there,                                                        202

CHAPTER V.

_Levies for Payment of the Public, County and Parish Debts._

§18. Several ways of raising money,                                  203
     Titheables,                                                     203
 19. Public levy,                                                    203
 20. County levy,                                                    204
 21. Parish levy,                                                    204

CHAPTER VI.

_Courts of Law in Virginia._

§22. Constitution of their courts,                                   205
 23. Several sorts of courts among them,                             206
 24. General court in particular, and its jurisdiction,              206
 25. Times of holding a general court,                               206
 26. Officers attending this court,                                  206
 27. Trials by juries and empannelling grand juries,                 207
 28. Trial of criminals,                                             207
 29. Time of suits,                                                  208
 30. Lawyers and pleadings,                                          208
 31. County courts,                                                  208
 32. Orphans' courts,                                                209

CHAPTER VII.

_Church and Church Affairs._

§33. Parishes,                                                       210
 34. Churches and chapels in each parish,                            210
 35. Religion of the country,                                        210
 36. Benefices of the clergy,                                        210
 37. Disposition of parochial affairs,                               211
 38. Probates, administrations, and marriage licenses,               212
 39. Induction of ministers, and precariousness of their livings,    213

CHAPTER VIII.

_Concerning the College._

§40. College endowments,                                             214
 41. The college a corporation,                                      214
 42. Governors and visitors of the college in perpetual succession,  215
 43. College buildings,                                              215
 44. Boys and schooling,                                             215

CHAPTER IX.

_Military Strength in Virginia._

§45. Forts and fortifications,                                       217
 46. Listed militia,                                                 217
 47. Number of the militia,                                          217
 48. Service of the militia,                                         218
 49. Other particulars of the troops and companies,                  218

CHAPTER X.

_Servants and Slaves._

§50. Distinction between a servant and a slave,                      219
 51. Work of their servants and slaves,                              219
 52. Laws in favor of servants,                                      220

CHAPTER XI.

_Provision for the Poor, and other Public Charitable Works._

§53. Legacy to the poor,                                             223
 54. Parish methods in maintaining their poor,                       223
 55. Free schools, and schooling of children,                        224

CHAPTER XII.

_Tenure of Lands and Grants._

§56. Tenure and patents of their lands,                              225
 57. Several ways of acquiring grants of land,                       225
 58. Rights to land,                                                 225
 59. Patents upon survey,                                            225
 60. Grants of lapsed land,                                          226
 61. Grants of escheat land,                                         227

CHAPTER XIII.

_Liberties and Naturalization of Aliens._

§62. Naturalizations,                                                228
 63. French refugees at the Manican town,                            228

CHAPTER XIV.

_Currency and Valuation of Coins._

§64. Coins current among them, what rates, and why carried from
       among them to the neighboring plantations,                    230

PART II.

_Husbandry and Improvements._

CHAPTER XV.

_People, Inhabitants of Virginia._

§65. First peopling of Virginia,                                     231
 66. First accession of wives to Virginia,                           231
 67. Other ways by which the country was increased in people,        232

CHAPTER XVI.

_Buildings in Virginia._

§68. Public buildings,                                               234
 69. Private buildings,                                              235

CHAPTER XVII.

_Edibles, Potables and Fuel._

§70. Cookery,                                                        236
 71. Flesh and fish,                                                 236
 72. Bread,                                                          237
 73. Their kitchen gardens,                                          237
 74. Their drinks,                                                   238
 75. Their fuel,                                                     238

CHAPTER XVIII.

_Clothing in Virginia._

§76. Clothing,                                                       239
     Slothfulness in handicrafts,                                    239

CHAPTER XIX.

_Temperature of the Climate, and the Inconveniences attending it._

§77. Natural temper and mixture of the air,                          240
 78. Climate and happy situation of the latitude,                    240
 79. Occasions of its ill character,                                 241
     Rural pleasures,                                                241
 80. Annoyances, or occasions of uneasiness,                         243
     Thunders,                                                       243
     Heat,                                                           243
     Troublesome insects,                                            243
 81. Winters,                                                        250
     Sudden changes of the weather,                                  251

CHAPTER XX.

_Diseases incident to the Country._

§82. Diseases in general,                                            252
 83. Seasoning,                                                      253
 84. Cachexia and yaws,                                              253
 85. Gripes,                                                         253

CHAPTER XXI.

_Recreations and Pastimes in Virginia._

§86. Diversions in general,                                          254
 87. Deer-hunting,                                                   254
 88. Hare-hunting,                                                   254
 89. Vermin-hunting,                                                 255
 90. Taking wild turkies,                                            256
 91. Fishing,                                                        256
 92. Small game,                                                     256
 93. Beaver,                                                         256
 94. Horse-hunting,                                                  257
 95. Hospitality,                                                    258

CHAPTER XXII.

_Natural Product of Virginia, and the Advantages of Husbandry._

§96. Fruits,                                                         259
 97. Grain,                                                          261
 98. Linen, silk and cotton,                                         261
 99. Bees and cattle,                                                262
100. Usefulness of the woods,                                        263
101. Indolence of the inhabitants,                                   263

THE PREFACE.

My first business in the world being among the public records of my
country, the active thoughts of my youth put me upon taking notes of the
general administration of the government; but with no other design, than
the gratification of my own inquisitive mind; these lay by me for many
years afterwards, obscure and secret, and would forever have done so,
had not the following accident produced them:

In the year 1703, my affairs calling me to England, I was soon after my
arrival, complimented by my bookseller with an intimation, that there
was prepared for printing a general account of all her majesty's
plantations in America, and his desire, that I would overlook it before
it was put to the press; I agreed to overlook that part of it which
related to Virginia.

Soon after this he brings me about six sheets of paper written, which
contained the account of Virginia and Carolina. This it seems was to
have answered a part of Mr. Oldmixion's British Empire in America. I
very innocently, (when I began to read,) placed pen and paper by me, and
made my observations upon the first page, but found it in the sequel so
very faulty, and an abridgement only of some accounts that had been
printed sixty or seventy years ago; in which also he had chosen the most
strange and untrue parts, and left out the more sincere and faithful, so
that I laid aside all thoughts of further observations, and gave it only
a reading; and my bookseller for answer, that the account was too faulty
and too imperfect to be mended; withal telling him, that seeing I had in
my junior days taken some notes of the government, which I then had with
me in England, I would make him an account of my own country, if I could
find time, while I staid in London. And this I should the rather
undertake in justice to so fine a country, because it has been so
misrepresented to the common people of England, as to make them believe
that the servants in Virginia are made to draw in cart and plow as
horses and oxen do in England, and that the country turns all people
black who go to live there, with other such prodigious phantasms.

Accordingly, before I left London, I gave him a short history of the
country, from the first settlement, with an account of its then state;
but I would not let him mingle it with Oldmixion's other account of the
plantations, because I took them to be all of a piece with those I had
seen of Virginia and Carolina, but desired mine to be printed by
itself. And this I take to be the only reason of that gentleman's
reflecting so severely upon me in his book, for I never saw him in my
life that I know of.

But concerning that work of his, I may with great truth say, that
(notwithstanding his boast of having the assistance of many original
papers and memorials that I had not the opportunity of) he nowhere
varies from the account that I gave, nor advances anything new of his
own, but he commits so many errors, and imposes so many falsities upon
the world, To instance some few out of the many:

Page 210, he says that they were near spent with cold, which is
impossible in that hot country.

Page 220, he says that Captain Weymouth, in 1605, entered Powhatan river
southward of the bay of Chesapeake;----whereas Powhatan river is now
called James river, and lies within the mouth of Chesapeake bay some
miles, on the west side of it; and Captain Weymouth's voyage was only to
Hudson's river, which is in New York, much northward of the capes of
Virginia.

Page 236, he jumbles the Potomac and eastern shore Indians as if they
lived together, and never quarrelled with the English; whereas the last
lived on the east side the great bay of Chesapeake, and the other on the
west. The eastern shore Indians never had any quarrel with the English,
but the Potomacs used many treacheries and enmities towards us, and
joined in the intended general massacre, but by a timely discovery were
prevented doing anything.

Page 245, he says that Morrison held an assembly, and procured that body
of laws to be made; whereas Morrison only made an abridgement of the
laws then in being, and compiled them into a regular body; and this he
did by direction of Sir William Berkeley, who, upon his going to
England, left Morrison his deputy governor.

Page 248, he says (viz: in Sir William Berkeley's time) the English
could send seven thousand men into the field, and have twice as many at
home; whereas at this day they cannot do that, and yet have three times
as many people in the country as they had then.

By page 251, he seems altogether ignorant of the situation of Virginia,
the head of the bay and New York, for he there says:

"When the Indians at the head of the bay traveled to New York, they
past, going and coming, by the frontiers of Virginia, and traded with
the Virginians, &c.;" whereas the head of the bay is in the common route
of the Indians traveling from New York to Virginia, and much about
halfway.

Page 255, he says Sir William Berkeley withdrew himself from his
government; whereas he went not out of it, for the counties of Accomac
and Northampton, to which he retired, when the rebels rose, were two
counties of his government, and only divided from the rest by the bay of
Chesapeake.

Page 266, he says, Dr. Thomas Bray went over to be president of the
college in Virginia; whereas he was sent to Maryland, as the bishop's
commissary there. And Mr. Blair, in the charter to the college, was made
president during life, and is still alive. He also says, that all that
was subscribed for the college came to nothing; whereas all the
subscriptions were in a short time paid in, and expended upon the
college, of which two or three stood suit, and were cast.

Page 269, he tells of camels brought by some Guiana ships to Virginia,
but had not then heard how they throve with us. I don't know how he
should, for there never was any such thing done.

Then his geography of the country is most absurd, notwithstanding the
wonderful care he pretends to have of the maps, and his expert knowledge
of the new surveys, (page 278) making almost as many faults as
descriptions. For instance:

Page 272, Prince George county, which lies all on the southside of James
river, he places on the north, and says that part of James City county,
and four of the parishes of it, lie on the southside of James river;
whereas not one inch of it has so done these sixty years.

Page 273, his account of Williamsburg is most romantic and untrue; and
so is his account of the college, page 302, 303.

Page 274, he makes Elizabeth and Warwick counties to lie upon York
river; whereas both of them lie upon James river, and neither of them
comes near York river.

Page 275, he places King William county above New Kent, and on both
sides Pamunkey river; whereas it lies side by side with New Kent, and
all on the north side Pamunkey river. He places King and Queen county
upon the south of New Kent, at the head of Chickahominy river, which he
says rises in it; whereas that county lies north of New Kent from head
to foot, and two large rivers and two entire counties are between the
head of Chickahominy and King & Queen. Essex, Richmond and Stafford
counties, are as much wrong placed.

He says that York and Rappahannock rivers issue out of low marshes, and
not from the mountains as the other rivers, which note he has taken from
some old maps; but is a false account from my own view, for I was with
our present governor at the head spring of both those rivers, and their
fountains are in the highest ridge of mountains.

Page 276, he says that the neck of land between Niccocomoco river and
the bay, is what goes by the name of the northern neck; whereas it is
not above the twentieth part of the northern neck, for that contains all
that track of land which is between Rappahannock and Potomac rivers.

How unfaithful and frontless must such an historian be, who can upon
guess work introduce such falsities for truth, and bottom them upon such
bold assertions? It would make a book larger than his own to expose his
errors, for even the most general offices of the government he
misrecites.

Page 298, he says the general court is called the quarter court, and is
held every quarter of a year; whereas it never was held but three times
a year, tho' it was called a quarter court. When he wrote, it was held
but twice a year, as I had wrote in my book, and has not been called a
quarter court these seventy-nine years. The county courts were never
limited in their jurisdiction to any summons, neither was the sheriff
ever a judge in them, as he would have it, but always a ministerial
officer to execute their process, &c.

The account that I have given in the following sheets is plain and true,
and if it be not written with so much judgment, or in so good a method
and style as I could wish, yet in the truth of it I rest fully
satisfied. In this edition I have also retrenched such particulars as
related only to private transactions, and characters in the historical
part, as being too diminutive to be transmitted to posterity, and set
down the succession of the governors, with the more general incidents of
their government, without reflection upon the private conduct of any
person.

INTRODUCTION.

The name of BEVERLEY has long been a familiar one in Virginia. It is
said that the family may be traced among the records of the town of
Beverley in England, as far back as to the time of King John. During the
reign of Henry VIII, one of the Beverleys was appointed by the Crown a
commissioner for enquiring into the state and condition of the northern
monasteries. The family received some grants of church property, and one
branch of them settled at Shelby, the other at Beverley, in Yorkshire.
In the time of Charles I, John Beverley of Beverley adhered to the cause
of royalty, and at the restoration his name appears in the list of those
upon whom it was intended to confer the order of the Royal Oak. Robert
Beverley of Beverley, the representative of the family, having sold his
possessions in that town, removed with a considerable fortune to
Virginia, where he purchased extensive tracts of land. He took up his
residence in the county of Middlesex. Elected clerk of the House of
Burgesses, he continued to hold that office until 1676, the year of
Bacon's rebellion, in suppressing which he rendered important services,
and by his loyal gallantry won the marked favor of the Governor, Sir
William Berkley. In 1682 the discontents of Virginia arose again almost
to the pitch of rebellion. Two sessions of the Assembly having been
spent in angry and fruitless disputes, between Lord Culpepper, the
Governor, and the House of Burgesses, in May of that year, the
malcontents in the counties of Gloucester, New Kent and Middlesex,
proceeded riotously to cut up the tobacco plants in the beds,
especially the sweet-scented, which was produced nowhere else.
Culpepper, the Governor, prevented further waste by patrols of horse.
The ringleaders were arrested, and some of them hanged upon a charge of
treason. A riot-act was also passed, making plant-cutting high treason,
the necessity of which act evinces the illegality of the execution of
these unfortunate plant-cutters. The vengeance of the government fell
heavily upon Major Robert Beverley, clerk of the House of Burgesses, as
the principal instigator of these disturbances. He had before incurred
the displeasure of the governor and council, by refusing to deliver up
to them copies of the legislative journal, without permission of the
Assembly. Thus by a firm adherence to his duty, he drew down upon
himself an unrelenting persecution.

In May, 1682, he was committed a prisoner on board the ship, the Duke of
York, lying in the Rappahannock river. Ralph Wormley, Matthew Kemp, and
Christopher Wormley, were directed to seize the records in Beverley's
possession, and to break open doors if necessary. Beverley was
afterwards transferred from the Duke of York to the ship Concord, and a
guard was set over him. Contriving however to escape from the custody of
the sheriff at York, the fugitive was retaken at his own house in
Middlesex county, and transported over to the county of Northampton, on
the Eastern Shore. Some months afterwards he applied by his attorney,
William Fitzhugh, for a writ of _habeas corpus_, which however was
refused. In a short time being again found at large, he was again
arrested, and remanded to Northampton. In 1683 new charges were brought
against him: 1st. That he had broken open letters addressed to the
Secretary's office; 2d. That he had made up the journal, and inserted
his Majesty's letter therein, notwithstanding it had been first
presented at the time of the prorogation; 3d. That in 1682 he had
refused to deliver copies of the journal to the governor and council,
saying "he might not do it without leave of his masters."

In May, 1684, Major Robert Beverley was found guilty of high
misdemeanors, but judgment being respited, and the prisoner asking
pardon on his bended knees, was released upon giving security for his
good behavior in the penalty of £2,000. The abject terms in which he now
sued for pardon, form a singular contrast to the constancy of his
former resistance, and the once gallant and loyal Beverley, the
strenuous partizan of Berkley, thus became the victim of that tyranny
which he had once so resolutely defended. He had not however lost the
esteem of his countrymen, for in 1685 he was again elected clerk of the
Assembly. This body strenuously resisted the negative power claimed by
the governor, and passed resolutions complaining strongly of his
tyranny. He negatived them, and prorogued the Assembly. James II,
indignant at these democratical proceedings, ordered their dissolution,
and attributing these disorders mainly to Robert Beverley, their clerk,
commanded that he should be incapable of holding any office, and that he
should be prosecuted, and that in future the appointment of their clerk
should be made by the governor.

In the spring of 1687 Robert Beverley died, the persecuted victim of an
oppressive government. Long a distinguished loyalist, he lived to become
a sort of patriot martyr. It is thus that in the circle of life extremes
meet. He married Catherine Hone of James City, and their children were
four sons: Peter, William, Harry, and Robert, (the historian,) and three
daughters, who married respectively, William Randolph, eldest son of
William Randolph of Turkey Island; Sir John Randolph, his brother, of
Williamsburg; and John Robinson. Peter Beverley was appointed clerk of
the Assembly in 1691.

In the preface to the first edition of his History of Virginia,
published at London 1705, Robert Beverley says of himself: "I am an
Indian, and don't pretend to be exact in my language." This intimation
may perhaps have been merely playful, but the full and minute account
that he has given of the Indians, shows that he took a peculiar interest
in that race.

In the preface to the second edition of his history, now republished, he
remarks: "My first business in this world being among the public records
of my country, the active thoughts of my youth put me upon taking notes
of the general administration of the government." He was probably a
deputy in his father's office, and perhaps also in that of his brother
Peter Beverley. This Peter Beverley was in 1714 promoted to the place
of speaker of the House of Burgesses, and he was subsequently treasurer
of the colony. Robert Beverley, the historian, was born in Virginia, and
educated in England. He married Ursula, daughter of William Byrd of
Westover, on the James river. She lies buried at Jamestown. John
Fontaine, son of a Huguenot refugee, having come over from England to
Virginia, visited Robert Beverley, the author of this work, in the year
1715, at his residence, near the head of the Mattapony. Here he
cultivated several varieties of the grape, native and French, in a
vineyard of about three acres, situated upon the side of a hill, from
which he made in that year four hundred gallons of wine. He went to very
considerable expense in this enterprise, having constructed vaults of a
wine press. But Fontaine comparing his method with that used in Spain,
deemed it erroneous, and that his vineyard was not rightly managed. The
home-made wine Fontaine drank heartily of, and found it good, but he was
satisfied by the flavor of it that Beverley did not understand how to
make it properly. Beverley lived comfortably, yet although wealthy, had
nothing in or about his house but what was actually necessary. He had
good beds, but no curtains, and instead of cane chairs used wooden
stools. He lived mainly within himself upon the products of his land. He
had laid a sort of wager with some of the neighboring planters, he
giving them one guinea in hand, and they promising to pay him each ten
guineas, if in seven years he should cultivate a vineyard that would
yield at one vintage seven hundred gallons of wine. Beverley thereupon
paid them down one hundred pounds, and Fontaine entertained no doubt but
that in the next year he would win the thousand guineas. Beverley owned
a large tract of land at the place of his residence. On Sunday Fontaine
accompanied him to his parish church, seven miles distant, where they
heard a good sermon from the Rev. M. De Latané, a Frenchman. A son of
Beverley accompanied Fontaine in some of his excursions in that
neighborhood. On the banks of the Rappahannock, about five miles below
the falls, (Fredericksburg,) Fontaine came upon a tract of three
thousand acres of land, which Beverley offered him at £7 10s. per
hundred acres, and Fontaine would have purchased it, had not Beverley
somewhat singularly insisted upon making a title for nine hundred and
ninety-nine years, instead of an absolute fee simple.

On the 20th of August, 1716, Alexander Spotswood, Governor of Virginia,
accompanied by John Fontaine, started from Williamsburg on his
expedition over the Appalachian mountains, as they were then called.
Having crossed the York river at the Brick House, they lodged that night
at Chelsea, the seat of Austin Moore, on the Mattapony river, in the
county of King William. On the following night they were hospitably
entertained by Robert Beverley at his residence. The governor left his
chaise there, and mounted his horse for the rest of the journey.
Beverley accompanied Spotswood in this exploration. On the 26th of
August Spotswood was joined by several gentlemen, two small companies of
rangers, and four Meherrin Indians. The gentlemen of the party appear to
have been Spotswood, Fontaine, Beverley, Austin Smith, Todd, Dr.
Robinson, Taylor, Mason, Brooke, and Captains Clouder and Smith. The
whole number of the party, including gentlemen, rangers, pioneers,
Indians and servants, was probably about fifty. They had with them a
large number of riding and pack-horses, an abundant supply of
provisions, and an extraordinary variety of liquors.

The camps were named respectively after the gentlemen of the expedition,
and the first one being that of the 29th of August, was named in honor
of our historian, Robert Beverley. Here "they made," as Fontaine records
in his diary, "great fires, supped and drank good punch." In the preface
to this edition of the work, (1722,) Beverley says in reference to this
Tramontane expedition, "I was with the present Governor (Spotswood) at
the head spring of both those rivers, (the York and the Rappahannock,)
and their fountains are in the highest range of mountains." Thus it
appears that the historian was one of the celebrated knights of the
golden horseshoe.

An Abridgement of the Laws of Virginia, published at London in 1722 is
ascribed to Robert Beverley. Filial indignation will naturally account
for the acrimony which in his history he exhibits towards Lord Culpepper
and Lord Howard of Effingham, who had so persecuted his father, the
clerk of the Assembly, and against Nicholson, who was Effingham's
deputy. In his second edition, when time had mitigated his animosities,
Beverley omitted some of his accusations against those governors.

The first edition of Beverley's History of Virginia appeared at London
in 1705. It was republished in French at Paris in 1707, and in the same
year an edition was issued at Amsterdam. The second English edition was
published in 1722 at London. The work is dedicated to the Right
Honorable Robert Harley, so celebrated both as a statesman and as the
patron of letters.

In the title page appear only the initials of the author's name, thus:
"R. B. Gent.," whence the blundering historian, Oldmixon, supposed his
name to be "Bullock," and in some German catalogues he received the
appellation of "Bird." Warden, an American writer, has repeated this
last misnomer. Beverley's work is divided into four parts, styled Books,
and the fourth book is again divided into two parts.

Of the history, Mr. Jefferson in his "Notes on Virginia" has remarked,
that it is "as concise and unsatisfactory as Stith is prolix and
tedious." This criticism, however, is only applicable to Beverley's
first book, which includes the civil history of the colony; the other
three books on "the present state of Virginia" being sufficiently full
and satisfactory. Brief as is the summary of history comprised in book
first, it was probably quite ample enough for the taste of the readers
of Beverley's day. His style of writing is easy, unsophisticated and
pleasing, his simplicity of remark sometimes amusing, and the whole work
breathes an earnest, downright, hearty, old-fashioned Virginia spirit.
His account of the internal affairs of the colony is faithful, and in
the main correct, but in regard to events occurring beyond the precincts
of Virginia, he is less reliable. The second book treats of the boundary
of Virginia, waters, earth and soil, natural products, fish, wild fowl
and hunted game. Book third gives a full and minute description of the
manners and customs of the Indians, illustrated by Gribelin's
engravings. The contents are the persons and dress of the Indians,
marriage and management of children, towns, buildings and
fortifications, cookery and food, travelling, reception and
entertainments, language, war and peace, religion, diseases and
remedies, sports and pastimes, laws and government, money, goods and
handicrafts. The fourth book relates to the government of the colony,
its sub-divisions, public offices, revenues, taxes, courts, the church,
the college of William and Mary, militia, servants and slaves, poor
laws, free schools, tenure and conveyance of lands, naturalization and
currency, the people, buildings, eatables, drinkables and fuel, climate,
diseases, recreations, natural productions, and the advantages of
improved husbandry. The closing paragraph is as follows: "Thus they
depend upon the liberality of Nature, without endeavoring to improve its
gifts by art or industry. They sponge upon the blessings of a warm sun
and a fruitful soil, and almost grudge the pains of gathering in the
bounties of the earth. I should be ashamed to publish this slothful
indolence of my countrymen, but that I hope it will rouse them out of
their lethargy, and excite them to make the most of all those happy
advantages which Nature has given them, and if it does this, I am sure
they will have the goodness to forgive me." Happily, at the present day,
Virginia has been aroused from her lethargy, and with energetic efforts
is developing her rich resources. It may be hoped that with these
material improvements a wider interest in the history of the past may be
diffused.

_Petersburg, May 30th, 1854._

HISTORY OF VIRGINIA.

BOOK I.

CHAPTER I.

SHEWING WHAT HAPPENED IN THE FIRST ATTEMPTS TO SETTLE VIRGINIA, BEFORE
  THE DISCOVERY OF CHESAPEAKE BAY.

The learned and valiant Sir Walter Raleigh, having entertained some
deeper and more serious considerations upon the state of the earth than
most other men of his time, as may sufficiently appear by his
incomparable book, the History of the World, and having laid together
the many stories then in Europe concerning America, the native beauty,
riches, and value of that part of the world, and the immense profits the
Spaniards drew from a small settlement or two thereon made, resolved
upon an adventure for farther discoveries.

According to this purpose, in the year of our Lord 1583, he got several
men of great value and estate to join in an expedition of this nature,
and for their encouragement obtained letters patents from Queen
Elizabeth, bearing date the 25th of March, 1584, for turning their
discoveries to their own advantage.

§ 2. In April following they set out two small vessels under the command
of Capt. Philip Amidas and Capt. Arthur Barlow, who after a prosperous
voyage, anchored at the inlet by Roanoke, at present under the
government of North Carolina. They made good profit of the Indian truck,
which they bought for things of much inferior value, and returned. Being
overpleased with their profits, and finding all things there entirely
new and surprising, they gave a very advantageous account of matters, by
representing the country so delightful and desirable, so pleasant and
plentiful; the climate and air so temperate, sweet, and wholesome; the
woods and soil so charming and fruitful; and all other things so
agreeable, that paradise itself seemed to be there in its first native
lustre.

They gave particular accounts of the variety of good fruits, and some
whereof they had never seen the like before; especially, that there were
grapes in such abundance as was never known in the world. Stately tall
large oaks, and other timber; red cedar, cypress, pines, and other
evergreens and sweet woods, for tallness and largeness, exceeding all
they had ever heard of; wild fowl, fish, deer, and other game in such
plenty and variety, that no epicure could desire more than this new
world did seem naturally to afford.

And to make it yet more desirable, they reported the native Indians
(which were then the only inhabitants) so affable, kind, and
good-natured; so uncultivated in learning, trades, and fashions; so
innocent and ignorant of all manner of politics, tricks, and cunning;
and so desirous of the company of the English, that they seemed rather
to be like soft wax, ready to take an impression, than anyways likely to
oppose the settling of the English near them. They represented it as a
scene laid open for the good and gracious Queen Elizabeth to propagate
the gospel in and extend her dominions over; as if purposely reserved
for her majesty by a peculiar direction of providence, that had brought
all former adventures in this affair to nothing; and to give a further
taste of their discovery, they took with them in their return for
England, two men of the native Indians, named Wanchese and Manteo.

§ 3. Her majesty accordingly took the hint, and espoused the project as
far as her present engagements in war with Spain would let her; being so
well pleased with the account given, that as the greatest mark of honor
she could do the discoverer, she called the country by the name of
Virginia, as well for that it was first discovered in her reign, a
virgin queen, as it did still seem to retain the virgin purity and
plenty of the first creation, and the people their primitive innocence;
for they seemed not debauched nor corrupted with those pomps and
vanities which had depraved and enslaved the rest of mankind; neither
were their hands hardened by labor, nor their minds corrupted by the
desire of hoarding up treasure. They were without boundaries to their
land, without property in cattle, and seem to have escaped, or rather
not to have been concerned in the first curse, _of getting their bread
by the sweat of their brows_, for by their pleasure alone they supplied
all their necessities, namely, by fishing, fowling, and hunting; skins
being their only clothing, and these, too, five-sixths of the year
thrown by; living without labor, and only gathering the fruits of the
earth when ripe or fit for use; neither fearing present want, nor
solicitous for the future, but daily finding sufficient afresh for their
subsistence.

§ 4. This report was backed, nay, much advanced by the vast riches and
treasure mentioned in several merchants' letters from Mexico and Peru,
to their correspondents in Spain, which letters were taken with their
ships and treasure, by some of ours in her majesty's service, in
prosecution of the Spanish wars. This was encouragement enough for a new
adventure, and set people's invention at work till they had satisfied
themselves, and made sufficient essays for the farther discovery of the
country. Pursuant whereunto, Sir Richard Greenvile, the chief of Sir
Walter Raleigh's associates, having obtained seven sail of ships, well
laden with provision, arms, ammunition, and spare men to make a
settlement, set out in person with them early in the spring of the
succeeding year to make farther discoveries, taking back the two Indians
with him, and according to his wish, in the latter end of May, arrived
at the same place where the English had been the year before; there he
made a settlement, sowed beans and peas, which he saw come up and grow
to admiration while he staid, which was about two months, and having
made some little discoveries more in the sound to the southward, and got
some treasure in skins, furs, pearl, and other rarities in the country,
for things of inconsiderable value, he returned for England, leaving one
hundred and eight men upon Roanoke island, under the command of Mr.
Ralph Lane, to keep possession.

§ 5. As soon as Sir Richard Greenvile was gone, they, according to order
and their own inclination, set themselves earnestly about discovering
the country, and ranged about a little too indiscreetly up the rivers,
and into the land backward from the rivers, which gave the Indians a
jealousy of their meaning; for they cut off several stragglers of them,
and had laid designs to destroy the rest, but were happily prevented.
This put the English upon the precaution of keeping more within bounds,
and not venturing themselves too defenceless abroad, who till then had
depended too much upon the natives simplicity and innocence.

After the Indians had done this mischief, they never observed any real
faith towards those English; for being naturally suspicious and
revengeful themselves, they never thought the English could forgive
them; and so by this jealousy, caused by the cowardice of their nature,
they were continually doing mischief.

The English, notwithstanding all this, continued their discoveries, but
more carefully than they had done before, and kept the Indians in some
awe, by threatening them with the return of their companions again with
a greater supply of men and goods; and before the cold of the winter
became uneasy, they had extended their discoveries near an hundred miles
along the seacoast to the northward; but not reaching the southern cape
of Chesapeake bay in Virginia, they had as yet found no good harbor.

§ 6. In this condition they maintained their settlement all the winter,
and till August following; but were much distressed for want of
provisions, not having learned to gather food, as the Indians did, nor
having conveniences like them of taking fish and fowl; besides, being
now fallen out with the Indians, they feared to expose themselves to
their contempt and cruelty; because they had not received the supply
they talked of, and which had been expected in the spring.

All they could do under these distresses, and the despair of the
recruits promised them this year, was only to keep a good looking out to
seaward, if, perchance, they might find any means of escape, or recruit.
And to their great joy and satisfaction in August aforesaid, they
happened to espy and make themselves be seen to Sir Francis Drake's
fleet, consisting of twenty-three sail, who being sent by her majesty
upon the coast of America, in search of the Spanish treasures, had
orders from her majesty to take a view of this plantation, and see what
assistance and encouragement it wanted: Their first petition to him was
to grant them a fresh supply of men and provisions, with a small vessel,
and boats to attend them; that so if they should be put to distress for
want of relief, they might embark for England. This was as readily
granted by Sir Francis Drake, as asked by them; and a ship was appointed
them, which ship they began immediately to fit up, and supply
plentifully with all manner of stores for a long stay; but while they
were adoing this, a great storm arose, and drove that very ship (with
some others) from her anchor to sea, and so she was lost for that
occasion.

Sir Francis would have given them another ship, but this accident coming
on the back of so many hardships which they had undergone, daunted them,
and put them upon imagining that Providence was averse to their designs;
and now having given over for that year the expectation of their
promised supply from England, they consulted together, and agreed to
desire Sir Francis Drake to take them along with him, which he did.

Thus their first intention of settlement fell, after discovering many
things of the natural growth of the country, useful for the life of man,
and beneficial to trade, they having observed a vast variety of fish,
fowl and beasts; fruits, seeds, plants, roots, timber-trees, sweet-woods
and gums: They had likewise attained some little knowledge in the
language of the Indians, their religion, manners, and ways of
correspondence one with another, and been made sensible of their cunning
and treachery towards themselves.

§ 7. While these things were thus acting in America, the adventurers in
England were providing, though too tediously, to send them recruits. And
though it was late before they could dispatch them (for they met with
several disappointments, and had many squabbles among themselves);
however, at last they provided four good ships, with all manner of
recruits suitable for the colony, and Sir Walter Raleigh designed to go
in person with them.

Sir Walter got his ship ready first, and fearing the ill consequence of
a delay, and the discouragement it might be to those that were left to
make a settlement, he set sail by himself. And a fortnight after him Sir
Richard Greenvile sailed with the three other ships.

Sir Walter fell in with the land at Cape Hatteras, a little to the
southward of the place, where the one hundred and eight men had been
settled, and after search not finding them, he returned: However Sir
Richard, with his ships, found the place where he had left the men, but
entirely deserted, which was at first a great disheartening to him,
thinking them all destroyed, because he knew not that Sir Francis Drake
had been there and taken them off; but he was a little better satisfied
by Manteo's report, that they were not cut off by the Indians, though he
could give no good account what was become of them. However,
notwithstanding this seeming discouragement, he again left fifty men in
the same island of Roanoke, built them houses necessary, gave them two
years provision, and returned.

§ 8. The next summer, being Anno 1587, three ships more were sent, under
the command of Mr. John White, who himself was to settle there as
governor with more men, and some women, carrying also plentiful recruits
of provisions.

In the latter end of July they arrived at Roanoke aforesaid, where they
again encountered the uncomfortable news of the loss of these men also;
who (as they were informed by Manteo) were secretly set upon by the
Indians, some cut off, and the others fled, and not to be heard of, and
their place of habitation now all grown up with weeds. However, they
repaired the houses on Roanoke, and sat down there again.

The 13th of August they christened Manteo, and styled him Lord of
Dassamonpeak, an Indian nation so called, in reward of the fidelity he
had shewn to the English from the beginning, who being the first Indian
that was made a Christian in that part of the world, I thought it not
amiss to remember him.

On the same occasion also may be mentioned the first child there born of
Christian parentage, viz: a daughter of Mr. Ananias Dare. She was born
the 18th of the same August, upon Roanoke, and, after the name of the
country, was christened Virginia.

This seemed to be a settlement prosperously made, being carried on with
much zeal and unanimity among themselves. The form of government
consisted of a governor and twelve counselors, incorporated by the name
of governor and assistants, of the city of Raleigh, in Virginia.

Many nations of the Indians renewed their peace, and made firm leagues
with the corporation. The chief men of the English also were so far from
being disheartened at the former disappointments, that they disputed for
the liberty of remaining on the spot; and by mere constraint compelled
Mr. White, their governor, to return for England to negotiate the
business of their recruits and supply, as a man the most capable to
manage that affair, leaving at his departure one hundred and fifteen in
the corporation.

§ 9. It was above two years before Mr. White could obtain any grant of
supplies, and then in the latter end of the year 1589, he set out from
Plymouth with three ships, and sailed round by the Western and Caribbee
islands, they having hitherto not found any nearer way: for though they
were skilled in navigation, and understood the use of the globes, yet
did example so much prevail upon them, that they chose to sail a
thousand leagues about, rather than attempt a more direct passage.

Towards the middle of August, 1590, they arrived upon the coast, at Cape
Hatteras, and went to search upon Roanoke for the people; but found, by
letters on the trees, that they were removed to Croatan, one of the
islands forming the sound, and southward of Roanoke about twenty
leagues, but no sign of distress. Thither they designed to sail to them
in their ships; but a storm arising in the meanwhile, lay so hard upon
them that their cables broke; they lost three of their anchors, were
forced to sea, and so returned home, without ever going near those poor
people again for sixteen years following. And it is supposed that the
Indians, seeing them forsaken by their country, and unfurnished of their
expected supplies, cut them off, for to this day they were never more
heard of.

Thus, after all this vast expense and trouble, and the hazard and loss
of so many lives, Sir Walter Raleigh, the great projector and furtherer
of these discoveries and settlements, being under trouble, all thoughts
of farther prosecuting these designs lay dead for about twelve years
following.

§ 10. And then, in the year 1602, Captain Gosnell, who had made one in
the former adventures, furnished out a small bark from Dartmouth, and
set sail in her himself with thirty odd men, designing a more direct
course, and not to stand so far to the southward, nor pass by the
Caribbee Islands, as all former adventurers had done. He attained his
ends in that, but touched upon the coast of America, much to the
northward of any of the places where the former adventurers had landed,
for he fell first among the islands forming the northern side of
Massachusetts bay in New England; but not finding the conveniences that
harbor affords, set sail again southward, and, as he thought, clear of
land into the sea, but fell upon the Byte of Cape Cod.

Upon this coast, and a little to the southward, he spent some time in
trade with the Indians, and gave names to the islands of Martha's
Vineyard and Elizabeth's Isle, which retain the same to this day. Upon
Elizabeth's Isle he made an experiment of English grain, and found it
spring up and grow to admiration as it had done at Roanoke. Here also
his men built huts to shelter them in the night and bad weather, and
made good profit by their Indian traffic of furs, skins, &c. And as
their pleasure invited them, would visit the main, set receivers, and
save the gums and juices distilling from sweet woods, and try and
examine the lesser vegetables.

After a month's stay here, they returned for England, as well pleased
with the natural beauty and richness of the place they had viewed, as
they were with the treasure they had gathered in it: neither had they a
head, nor a finger that ached among them all the time.

§ 11. The noise of this short and most profitable of all the former
voyages, set the Bristol merchants to work also; who, early in the year
1603, sent two vessels in search of the same place and trade--which
vessels fell luckily in with the same land. They followed the same
methods Captain Gosnell had done, and having got a rich lading they
returned.

§ 12. In the year 1605, a voyage was made from London in a single ship,
with which they designed to fall in with the land about the latitude
39°, but the winds put her a little farther northward, and she fell upon
the eastern parts of Long Island, (as it is now called, but all went
then under the name of Virginia.) Here they trafficked with the Indians,
as the others had done before them; made short trials of the soil by
English grain, and found the Indians, as in all other places, very fair
and courteous at first, till they got more knowledge of the English, and
perhaps thought themselves overreached because one bought better
pennyworths than another, upon which, afterwards, they never failed to
take revenge as they found their opportunity or advantage. So this
company also returned with the ship, having ranged forty miles up
Connecticut river, and called the harbor where they rid Penticost
harbor, because of their arrival there on Whitsunday.

In all these latter voyages, they never so much as endeavored to come
near the place where the first settlement was attempted at Cape
Hatteras; neither had they any pity on those poor hundred and fifteen
souls settled there in 1587, of whom there had never since been any
account, no relief sent to them, nor so much as any enquiry made after
them, whether they were dead or alive, till about three years after
this, when Chesapeake bay in Virginia was settled, which hitherto had
never been seen by any Englishman. So strong was the desire of riches,
and so eager the pursuit of a rich trade, that all concern for the lives
of their fellow-christians, kindred, neighbors and countrymen, weighed
nothing in the comparison, though an enquiry might have been easily made
when they were so near them.

CHAPTER II.

CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THE FIRST SETTLEMENT OF CHESAPEAKE BAY, IN
  VIRGINIA, BY THE CORPORATION OF LONDON ADVENTURERS, AND THEIR
  PROCEEDINGS DURING THEIR GOVERNMENT BY A PRESIDENT AND COUNCIL
  ELECTIVE.

§ 13. The merchants of London, Bristol, Exeter, and Plymouth soon
perceived what great gains might be made of a trade this way, if it were
well managed and colonies could be rightly settled, which was
sufficiently evinced by the great profits some ships had made, which had
not met with ill accidents. Encouraged by this prospect, they joined
together in a petition to King James the First, shewing forth that it
would be too much for any single person to attempt the settling of
colonies, and to carry on so considerable a trade; they therefore prayed
his majesty to incorporate them, and enable them to raise a joint stock
for that purpose, and to countenance their undertaking.

His majesty did accordingly grant their petition, and by letters
patents, bearing date the 10th of April, 1606, did in one patent
incorporate them into two distinct colonies, to make two separate
companies, viz: "Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Summers, knights; Mr.
Richard Hackluit, clerk, prebend of Westminster, and Edward Maria
Wingfield, esq., adventurers of the city of London, and such others as
should be joined unto them of that colony, which should be called the
first colony, with liberty to begin their first plantation and seat, at
any place upon the coast of Virginia where they should think fit and
convenient, between the degrees of thirty-four and forty-one of northern
latitude. And that they should extend their bounds from the said first
seat of their plantation and habitation fifty English miles along the
seacoast each way, and include all the lands within an hundred miles
directly over against the same seacoast, and also back into the main
land one hundred miles from the seacoast; and that no other should be
permitted or suffered to plant or inhabit behind or on the back of them
towards the main land, without the express license of the council of
that colony, thereunto in writing first had and obtained. And for the
second colony, Thomas Hanham, Rawleigh Gilbert, William Parker, and
George Popham, esquires, of the town of Plymouth, and all others who
should be joined to them of that colony, with liberty to begin their
first plantation and seat at any place upon the coast of Virginia where
they should think fit, between the degrees of thirty-eight and forty
five of northern latitude, with the like liberties and bounds as the
first colony; provided they did not seat within an hundred miles of
them."

§ 14. By virtue of this patent, Capt. John Smith was sent by the London
company, in December, 1606, on his voyage with three small ships, and a
commission was given to him, and to several other gentlemen, to
establish a colony, and to govern by a president, to be chosen annually,
and council, who should be invested with sufficient authorities and
powers. And now all things seemed to promise a plantation in good
earnest. Providence seemed likewise very favorable to them, for though
they designed only for that part of Virginia where the hundred and
fifteen were left, and where there is no security of harbor, yet, after
a tedious voyage of passing the old way again, between the Caribbee
islands and the main, he, with two of his vessels, luckily fell in with
Virginia itself, that part of the continent now so called, anchoring in
the mouth of the bay of Chesapeake; and the first place they landed upon
was the southern cape of that bay; this they named Cape Henry, and the
northern Cape Charles, in honor of the king's two eldest sons; and the
first great river they searched, whose Indian name was Powhatan, they
called James river, after the king's own name.

§ 15. Before they would make any settlement here, they made a full
search of James river, and then by an unanimous consent pitched upon a
peninsula about fifty miles up the river, which, besides the goodness of
the soil, was esteemed as most fit, and capable to be made a place both
of trade and security, two-thirds thereof being environed by the main
river, which affords good anchorage all along, and the other third by a
small narrow river, capable of receiving many vessels of an hundred ton,
quite up as high as till it meets within thirty yards of the main river
again, and where generally in spring tides it overflows into the main
river, by which means the land they chose to pitch their town upon has
obtained the name of an island. In this back river ships and small
vessels may ride lashed to one another, and moored ashore secure from
all wind and weather whatsoever.

The town, as well as the river, had the honor to be called by King
James' name. The whole island thus enclosed contains about two thousand
acres of high land, and several thousands of very good and firm marsh,
and is an extraordinary good pasture as any in that country.

By means of the narrow passage, this place was of great security to them
from the Indian enemy; and if they had then known of the biting of the
worm in the salts, they would have valued this place upon that account
also, as being free from that mischief.

§ 16. They were no sooner settled in all this happiness and security,
but they fell into jars and dissensions among themselves, by a greedy
grasping at the Indian treasure, envying and overreaching one another in
that trade.

After five weeks stay before this town, the ships returned home again,
leaving one hundred and eight men settled in the form of government
before spoken of.

After the ships were gone, the same sort of feuds and disorders
happened continually among them, to the unspeakable damage of the
plantation.

The Indians were the same there as in all other places, at first very
fair and friendly, though afterwards they gave great proofs of their
deceitfulness. However, by the help of the Indian provisions, the
English chiefly subsisted till the return of the ships the next year,
when two vessels were sent thither full freighted with men and
provisions for supply of the plantation, one of which only arrived
directly, and the other being beat off to the Caribbee islands, did not
arrive till the former was sailed again for England.

§ 17. In the interval of these ships returning from England, the English
had a very advantageous trade with the Indians, and might have made much
greater gains of it, and managed it both to the greater satisfaction of
the Indians, and the greater ease and security of themselves, if they
had been under any rule, or subject to any method in trade, and not left
at liberty to outvie or outbid one another, by which they not only cut
short their own profit, but created jealousies and disturbances among
the Indians, by letting one have a better bargain than another; for they
being unaccustomed to barter, such of them as had been hardest dealt by
in their commodities, thought themselves cheated and abused; and so
conceived a grudge against the English in general, making it a national
quarrel; and this seems to be the original cause of most of their
subsequent misfortunes by the Indians.

What also gave a greater interruption to this trade, was an object that
drew all their eyes and thoughts aside, even from taking the necessary
care for their preservation, and for the support of their lives, which
was this: They found in a neck of land, on the back of Jamestown island,
a fresh stream of water springing out of a small bank, which washed down
with it a yellow sort of dust isinglass, which being cleansed by the
fresh streaming of the water, lay shining in the bottom of that limpid
element, and stirred up in them an unseasonable and inordinate desire
after riches; for they taking all to be gold that glittered, run into
the utmost distraction, neglecting both the necessary defence of their
lives from the Indians, and the support of their bodies by securing of
provisions; absolutely relying, like Midas, upon the almighty power of
gold, thinking that where this was in plenty, nothing could be wanting;
but they soon grew sensible of their error, and found that if this
gilded dirt had been real gold, it could have been of no advantage to
them. For, by their negligence, they were reduced to an exceeding
scarcity of provisions, and that little they had was lost by the burning
of their town, while all hands were employed upon this imaginary golden
treasure; so that they were forced to live for some time upon the wild
fruits of the earth, and upon crabs, muscles, and such like, not having
a day's provision before-hand; as some of the laziest Indians, who have
no pleasure in exercise, and wont be at the pains to fish and hunt: And,
indeed, not so well as they neither; for by this careless neglecting of
their defence against the Indians, many of them were destroyed by that
cruel people, and the rest durst not venture abroad, but were forced to
be content with what fell just into their mouths.

§ 18. In this condition they were, when the first ship of the two before
mentioned came to their assistance, but their golden dreams overcame all
difficulties; they spoke not, nor thought of anything but gold, and that
was all the lading that most of them were willing to take care for;
accordingly they put into this ship all the yellow dirt they had
gathered, and what skins and furs they had trucked for, and filling her
up with cedar, sent her away.

After she was gone, the other ship arrived, which they stowed likewise
with this supposed gold dust, designing never to be poor again; filling
her up with cedar and clap-board.

Those two ships being thus dispatched, they made several discoveries in
James river and up Chesapeake bay, by the undertaking and management of
Captain John Smith; and the year 1608 was the first year in which they
gathered Indian corn of their own planting.

While these discoveries were making by Captain Smith, matters run again
into confusion in Jamestown, and several uneasy people, taking
advantage of his absence, attempted to desert the settlement, and run
away with the small vessel that was left to attend upon it; for Captain
Smith was the only man among them that could manage the discoveries with
success, and he was the only man, too, that could keep the settlement in
order. Thus the English continued to give themselves as much perplexity
by their own distraction as the Indians did by their watchfulness and
resentments.

§ 19. Anno 1609, John Laydon and Anna Burrows were married together, the
first Christian marriage in that part of the world; and the year
following the plantation was increased to near five hundred men.

This year Jamestown sent out people, and made two other settlements; one
at Nansemond in James river, above thirty miles below Jamestown, and the
other at Powhatan, six miles below the falls of James river, (which last
was bought of Powhatan for a certain quantity of copper,) each
settlement consisting of about a hundred and twenty men. Some small time
after another was made at Kiquotan by the mouth of James river.

CHAPTER III.

SHEWING WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THE ALTERATION OF THE GOVERNMENT FROM AN
  ELECTIVE PRESIDENT TO A COMMISSIONATED GOVERNOR, UNTIL THE
  DISSOLUTION OF THE COMPANY.

§ 20. In the meanwhile the treasurer, council and company of Virginia
adventurers in London, not finding that return and profit from the
adventurers they expected, and rightly judging that this disappointment,
as well as the idle quarrels in the colony, proceeded from a mismanage
of government, petitioned his majesty, and got a new patent with leave
to appoint a governor.

Upon this new grant they sent out nine ships, and plentiful supplies of
men and provisions, and made three joint commissioners or governors in
equal power, viz: Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Summers, and Captain
Newport. They agreed to go all together in one ship.

This ship, on board of which the three governors had embarked, being
separated from the rest, was put to great distress in a severe storm;
and after three days and nights constant bailing and pumping, was at
last cast ashore at Bermudas, and there staved, but by good providence
the company was preserved.

Notwithstanding this shipwreck, and extremity they were put to, yet
could not this common misfortune make them agree. The best of it was,
they found plenty of provisions in that island, and no Indians to annoy
them. But still they quarrelled amongst themselves, and none more than
the two Knights; who made their parties, built each of them a cedar
vessel, one called the Patience, the other the Deliverance, and used
what they gathered of the furniture of the old ship for rigging; and
fish-oil, and hog's-grease, mixed with lime and ashes, instead of pitch
and tar: for they found great plenty of Spanish hogs in this island,
which are supposed to have swam ashore from some wrecks, and there
afterwards increased.

§. 21. While these things were acting in Bermuda, Capt. Smith being very
much burnt by the accidental firing of some gun-powder, as he was upon a
discovery in his boat, was forced for his cure sake, and the benefit of
a surgeon, to take his passage for England, in a ship that was then upon
the point of sailing.

Several of the nine ships that came out with the three governors
arrived, with many of the passengers; some of which, in their humors,
would not submit to the government there, pretending the new commission
destroyed the old one; that governors were appointed instead of a
president, and that they themselves were to be of the council, and so
would assume an independent power, inspiring the people with
disobedience; by which means they became frequently exposed in great
parties to the cruelty of the Indians; all sorts of discipline was laid
aside, and their necessary defence neglected; so that the Indians taking
advantage of those divisions, formed a stratagem to destroy them root
and branch; and, indeed, they did cut many of them off, by massacreing
whole companies at a time; so that all the out-settlements were
deserted, and the people that were not destroyed, took refuge in
Jamestown, except the small settlement at Kiquotan, where they had built
themselves a little fort, and called it Algernoon fort. And yet, for all
this, they continued their disorders, wasting their old provisions, and
neglecting to gather others; so that they who remained alive, were all
near famished, having brought themselves to that pass, that they durst
not stir from their own doors to gather the fruits of the earth, or the
crabs and muscles from the water-side: much less to hunt or catch wild
beasts, fish or fowl, which were found in great abundance there. They
continued in these scanty circumstances, till they were at last reduced
to such extremity, as to eat the very hides of their horses, and the
bodies of the Indians they had killed; and sometimes also upon a pinch
they would not disdain to dig them up again, to make a homely meal,
after they had been buried.

Thus, a few months indiscreet management brought such an infamy upon the
country, that to this day it cannot be wiped away. And the sicknesses
occasioned by this bad diet, or rather want of diet, are unjustly
remembered to the disadvantage of the country, as a fault in the
climate; which was only the foolishness and indiscretion of those who
assumed the power of governing. I call it assumed, because the new
commission mentioned, by which they pretended to be of the council, was
not in all this time arrived, but remained in Bermuda with the new
governors.

Here, I cannot but admire the care, labor, courage and understanding,
that Capt. John Smith showed in the time of his administration; who not
only founded, but also preserved all these settlements in good order,
while he was amongst them; and, without him, they had certainly all been
destroyed, either by famine, or the enemy long before; though the
country naturally afforded subsistence enough, even without any other
labor than that of gathering and preserving its spontaneous provisions.

For the first three years that Capt. Smith was with them, they never had
in that whole time, above six months English provisions. But as soon as
he had left them to themselves, all went to ruin; for the Indians had no
longer any fear for themselves, or friendship for the English. And six
months after this gentleman's departure, the 500 men that he had left
were reduced to threescore; and they, too, must of necessity, have
starved, if their relief had been delayed a week longer at sea.

§. 22. In the mean time, the three governors put to sea from Bermuda, in
their two small vessels, with their company, to the number of one
hundred and fifty, and in fourteen days, viz.: the 25th of May, 1610,
they arrived both together in Virginia, and went with their vessels up
to Jamestown, where they found the small remainder of the five hundred
men, in that melancholy way I just now hinted.

§. 23. Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Summers, and Captain Newport, the
governors, were very compassionate of their condition, and called a
council, wherein they informed them, that they had but sixteen days
provision aboard; and therefore desired to know their opinion, whether
they would venture to sea under such a scarcity; or, if they resolved to
continue in the settlement, and take their fortunes, they would stay
likewise, and share the provisions among them; but desired that their
determination might be speedy. They soon came to the conclusion of
returning for England; but because their provisions were short, they
resolved to go by the banks of Newfoundland, in hopes of meeting with
some of the fishermen, (this being now the season,) and dividing
themselves among their ships, for the greater certainty of provision,
and for their better accommodation.

According to this resolution, they all went aboard, and fell down to Hog
Island, the 9th of June, at night, and the next morning to Mulberry
Island Point, which is eighteen miles below Jamestown, and thirty above
the mouth of the river; and there they spied a long boat, which the Lord
Delawarr (who was just arrived with three ships,) had sent before him up
the river sounding the channel. His lordship was made sole governor, and
was accompanied by several gentlemen of condition. He caused all the men
to return again to Jamestown; re-settled them with satisfaction, and
staid with them till March following; and then being very sick, he
returned for England, leaving about two hundred in the colony.

§. 24. On the 10th of May, 1611, Sir Thomas Dale being then made
governor, arrived with three ships, which brought supplies of men,
cattle and hogs. He found them growing again into the like disorders as
before, taking no care to plant corn, and wholly relying upon their
store, which then had but three months provision in it. He therefore
set them to work about corn, and though it was the middle of May before
they began to prepare the ground, yet they had an indifferent good crop.

§. 25. In August, the same year, Sir Thomas Gates arrived at Jamestown
with six ships more, and with a plentiful supply of hogs, cattle, fowls,
&c., with a good quantity of ammunition, and all other things necessary
for a new colony, and besides this, a reinforcement of three hundred and
fifty chosen men. In the beginning of September he settled a new town at
Arrabattuck, about fifty miles above Jamestown, paling in the neck above
two miles from the point, from one reach of the river to the other. Here
he built forts and sentry-boxes, and in honor of Henry Prince of Wales,
called it Henrico. And also run a palisade on the other side of the
river, at Coxendale, to secure their hogs.

§. 26. Anno 1612, two ships more arrived with supplies; and Capt.
Argall, who commanded one of them, being sent in her to Patowmeck to buy
corn, he there met with Pocahontas, the excellent daughter of Powhatan;
and having prevailed with her to come aboard to a treat, he detained her
prisoner, and carried her to Jamestown, designing to make peace with her
father by her release; but on the contrary, that prince resented the
affront very highly; and although he loved his daughter with all
imaginable tenderness, yet he would not be brought to terms by that
unhandsome treachery; till about two years after a marriage being
proposed between Mr. John Rolfe, an English gentleman, and this lady;
which Powhatan taking to be a sincere token of friendship, he vouchsafed
to consent to it, and to conclude a peace, though he would not come to
the wedding.

§. 27. Pocahontas being thus married in the year 1613, a firm peace was
concluded with her father. Both the English and Indians thought
themselves entirely secure and quiet. This brought in the Chickahominy
Indians also, though not out of any kindness or respect to the English,
but out of fear of being, by their assistance, brought under Powhatan's
absolute subjection, who used now and then to threaten and tyrannize
over them.

§. 28. Sir Thomas Dale returning for England, Anno 1610, took with him
Mr. Rolfe and his wife Pocahontas, who, upon the marriage, was
christened, and called Rebecca. He left Capt. George Yardly
deputy-governor during his absence, the country being then entirely at
peace; and arrived at Plymouth the 12th of June.

Capt. John Smith was at that time in England, and hearing of the arrival
of Pocahontas at Portsmouth, used all the means he could to express his
gratitude to her, as having formerly preserved his life by the hazard of
her own; for, when by the command of her father, Capt. Smith's head was
upon the block to have his brains knocked out, she saved his head by
laying hers close upon it. He was at that time suddenly to embark for
New England, and fearing he should sail before she got to London, he
made an humble petition to the Queen in her behalf, which I here choose
to give you in his own words, because it will save me the story at
large.

§. 29. Capt. Smith's petition to her Majesty, in behalf of Pocahontas,
daughter to the Indian Emperor, Powhatan.

  To the most high and virtuous princess, Queen Anne, of Great
  Britain:

  Most admired madam--

  The love I bear my God, my king, and country, hath so often
  emboldened me in the worst of extreme dangers, that now honestly
  doth constrain me to presume thus far beyond myself, to present
  your majesty this short discourse. If ingratitude be a deadly
  poison to all honest virtues, I must be guilty of that crime, if I
  should omit any means to be thankful.

  So it was,

  That about ten years ago, being in Virginia, and taken prisoner
  by the power of Powhatan, their chief king, I received from this
  great savage exceeding great courtesy, especially from his son,
  Nantaquaus; the manliest, comeliest, boldest spirit I ever saw in
  a savage; and his sister Pocahontas, the king's most dear and
  well-beloved daughter, being but a child of twelve or thirteen
  years of age, whose compassionate pitiful heart of my desperate
  estate gave me much cause to respect her. I being the first
  Christian this proud king and his grim attendants ever saw, and
  thus enthralled in their barbarous power; I cannot say I felt the
  least occasion of want, that was in the power of those my mortal
  foes to prevent, notwithstanding all their threats. After some six
  weeks fatting amongst those savage courtiers, at the minute of my
  execution, she hazarded the beating out of her own brains to save
  mine, and not only that, but so prevailed with her father, that I
  was safely conducted to Jamestown, where I found about eight and
  thirty miserable, poor and sick creatures, to keep possession for
  all those large territories of Virginia. Such was the weakness of
  this poor commonwealth, as had not the savages fed us, we directly
  had starved.

  And this relief, most gracious queen, was commonly brought us by
  this lady Pocahontas, notwithstanding all these passages, when
  unconstant fortune turned our peace to war, this tender virgin
  would still not spare to dare to visit us; and by her our jars
  have been oft appeased, and our wants still supplied. Were it the
  policy of her father thus to employ her, or the ordinance of God
  thus to make her his instrument, or her extraordinary affection to
  our nation, I know not: but of this I am sure, when her father,
  with the utmost of his policy and power, sought to surprise me,
  having but eighteen with me, the dark night could not affright her
  from coming through the irksome woods, and, with watered eyes,
  give me intelligence, with her best advice to escape his fury,
  which had he known, he had surely slain her.

  Jamestown, with her wild train, she as freely frequented as her
  father's habitation; and during the time of two or three years,
  she, next under God, was still the instrument to preserve this
  colony from death, famine, and utter confusion, which if, in those
  times, had once been dissolved, Virginia might have lain, as it
  was at our first arrival, till this day. Since then, this business
  having been turned and varied by many accidents from what I left
  it, it is most certain, after a long and troublesome war, since my
  departure, betwixt her father and our colony, all which time she
  was not heard of, about two years after she herself was taken
  prisoner, being so detained near two years longer, the colony by
  that means was relieved, peace concluded, and at last, rejecting
  her barbarous condition, she was married to an English gentleman,
  with whom at this present she is in England. The first Christian
  ever of that nation; the first Virginian ever spake English, or
  had a child in marriage by an Englishman--a matter surely, if my
  meaning be truly considered and well understood, worthy a prince's
  information.

  Thus, most gracious lady, I have related to your majesty, what at
  your best leisure, our approved histories will recount to you at
  large, as done in the time of your majesty's life; and however
  this might be presented you from a more worthy pen, it cannot from
  a more honest heart.

  As yet, I never begged anything of the State; and it is my want of
  ability, and her exceeding desert; your birth, means, and
  authority; her birth, virtue, want and simplicity, doth make me
  thus bold, humbly to beseech your majesty to take this knowledge
  of her, though it be from one so unworthy to be the reporter as
  myself; her husband's estate not being able to make her fit to
  attend your majesty.

  The most and least I can do, is to tell you this, and the rather
  because of her being of so great a spirit, however her stature. If
  she should not be well received, seeing this kingdom may rightly
  have a kingdom by her means; her present love to us and
  Christianity, might turn to such scorn and fury, as to divert all
  this good to the worst of evil. Where finding that so great a
  queen should do her more honor than she can imagine, for having
  been kind to her subjects and servants, 'twould so ravish her with
  content, as to endear her dearest blood, to effect that your
  majesty and all the king's honest subjects most earnestly desire.
  And so I humbly kiss your gracious hands, &c.

                                     (Signed)
                                              JOHN SMITH.
    Dated June, 1616.

§. 30. This account was presented to her majesty, and graciously
received. But before Capt. Smith sailed for New England, the Indian
princess arrived at London, and her husband took lodgings for her at
Branford, to be a little out of the smoke of the city, whither Capt.
Smith, with some of his friends, went to see her and congratulate her
arrival, letting her know the address he had made to the queen in her
favor.

Till this lady arrived in England, she had all along been informed that
Captain Smith was dead, because he had been diverted from that colony by
making settlements in the second plantation, now called New England; for
which reason, when she saw him, she seemed to think herself much
affronted, for that they had dared to impose so gross an untruth upon
her, and at first sight of him turned away. It cost him a great deal of
intreaty, and some hours attendance, before she would do him the honor
to speak to him; but at last she was reconciled, and talked freely to
him. She put him in mind of her former kindnesses, and then upbraided
him for his forgetfulness of her, showing by her reproaches, that even a
state of nature teaches to abhor ingratitude.

She had in her retinue a Werowance, or great man of her own nation,
whose name was Uttamaccomack. This man had orders from Powhatan, to
count the people in England, and give him an account of their number.
Now the Indians having no letters among them, he at his going ashore,
provided a stick, in which he was to make a notch for every man he saw;
but this accomptant soon grew weary of that tedious exercise, and threw
his stick away: and at his return, being asked by his king, How many
people there were? He desired him to count the stars in the sky, the
leaves upon the trees, and the sand on the seashore, for so many people
(he said) were in England.

§. 31. Pocahontas had many honors done her by the queen upon account of
Captain Smith's story; and being introduced by the Lady Delawarr, she
was frequently admitted to wait on her majesty, and was publicly treated
as a prince's daughter; she was carried to many plays, balls, and other
public entertainments, and very respectfully received by all the ladies
about the court. Upon all which occasions, she behaved herself with so
much decency, and showed so much grandeur in her deportment, that she
made good the brightest part of the character Capt. Smith had given of
her. In the meanwhile, she gained the good opinion of everybody so much,
that the poor gentleman, her husband, had like to have been called to an
account, for presuming to marry a princess royal without the king's
consent; because it had been suggested that he had taken advantage of
her, being a prisoner, and forced her to marry him. But upon a more
perfect representation of the matter, his majesty was pleased at last to
declare himself satisfied. But had their true condition here been known,
that pother had been saved.

Everybody paid this young lady all imaginable respect; and it is
supposed, she would have sufficiently acknowledged those favors, had she
lived to return to her own country, by bringing the Indians to have a
kinder disposition towards the English. But upon her return she was
unfortunately taken ill at Gravesend, and died in a few days after,
giving great testimony all the time she lay sick, of her being a very
good Christian. She left issue one son, named Thomas Rolfe, whose
posterity is at this day in good repute in Virginia, and now hold lands
by descent from her.

§. 32. Captain Yardly made but a very ill governor, he let the buildings
and forts go to ruin; not regarding the security of the people against
the Indians, neglecting the corn, and applying all hands to plant
tobacco, which promised the most immediate gain. In this condition they
were when Capt. Samuel Argall was sent thither governor, Anno 1617, who
found the number of people reduced to little more than four hundred, of
which not above half were fit for labor. In the meanwhile the Indians
mixing among them, got experience daily in fire arms, and some of them
were instructed therein by the English themselves, and employed to hunt
and kill wild fowl for them. So great was their security upon this
marriage; but governor Argall not liking those methods, regulated them
on his arrival, and Capt. Yardly returned to England.

§. 33. Governor Argall made the colony flourish and increase
wonderfully, and kept them in great plenty and quiet. The next year,
viz.: Anno 1618, the Lord Delawarr was sent over again with two hundred
men more for the settlement, with other necessaries suitable: but
sailing by the Western Islands, they met with contrary winds, and great
sickness; so that about thirty of them died, among which the Lord
Delawarr was one. By which means the government there still continued in
the hands of Capt. Argall.

§. 34. Powhatan died in April the same year, leaving his second brother
Itopatin in possession of his empire, a prince far short of the parts of
Oppechancanough, who by some was said to be his elder brother, and then
king of Chickahomony; but he having debauched them from the allegiance
of Powhatan, was disinherited by him. This Oppechancanough was a cunning
and a brave prince, and soon grasped all the empire to himself. But at
first they jointly renewed the peace with the English, upon the
accession of Itopatin to the crown.

§. 35. Governor Argall flourishing thus under the blessings of peace and
plenty, and having no occasion of fear or disturbance from the Indians,
sought new occasions of encouraging the plantation. To that end, he
intended a coasting voyage to the northward, to view the places where
the English ships had so often laded; and if he missed them, to reach
the fisheries on the banks of Newfoundland, and so settle a trade and
correspondence either with the one or the other. In accomplishing
whereof, as he touched at Cape Cod, he was informed by the Indians, that
some white people like him were come to inhabit to the northward of
them, upon the coast of their neighboring nations. Capt. Argall not
having heard of any English plantation that way, was jealous that it
might be (as it proved,) the people of some other nation. And being very
zealous for the honor and benefit of England, he resolved to make search
according to the information he had received, and see who they were.
Accordingly he found the settlement, and a ship riding before it. This
belonged to some Frenchmen, who had fortified themselves upon a small
mount on the north of New England.

§. 36. His unexpected arrival so confounded the French, that they could
make no preparation for resistance on board their ship; which Captain
Argall drew so close to, that with his small arms he beat all the men
from the deck, so that they could not use their guns, their ship having
only a single deck. Among others, there were two Jesuits on board, one
of which being more bold than wise, with all that disadvantage,
endeavored to fire one of their cannon, and was shot dead for his pains.

Captain Argall having taken the ship, landed and went before the fort,
summoning it to surrender. The garrison asked time to advise; but that
being denied them, they stole privately away, and fled into the woods.
Upon this, Captain Argall entered the fort, and lodged there that night;
and the next day the French came to him, and surrendered themselves. It
seems the king of France had granted them a patent for this settlement,
but they gave it up to Captain Argall to be cancelled. He used them very
well, and suffered such as had a mind to return to France, to seek their
passage among the ships of the fishery; but obliged them to desert this
settlement. And those that were willing to go to Virginia, he took with
him.

§. 37. These people were under the conduct of two Jesuits, who upon
taking a pique against their governor in Acadia, named Biencourt, had
lately separated from a French settlement at Port Royal, lying in the
bay, upon the south-west part of Acadia.

§. 38. As Governor Argall was about to return to Virginia, father Biard,
the surviving Jesuit (out of malice to Biencourt,) told him of this
French settlement at Port Royal, and offered to pilot him to it; which
Governor Argall readily accepted of. With the same ease, he took that
settlement also; where the French had sowed and reaped, built barns,
mills, and other conveniences, which Captain Argall did no damage to;
but unsettled them, and obliged them to make a desertion from thence. He
gave these the same leave he had done the others, to dispose of
themselves; some whereof returned to France, and others went to settle
up the river of Canada. After this Governor Argall returned satisfied
with the provision and plunder he had got in those two settlements.

§. 39. The report of these exploits soon reached England; and whether
they were approved or no, being acted without particular direction, I
have not learned; but certain it is, that in April following there
arrived a small vessel, which did not stay for anything, but took on
board Governor Argall, and returned for England. He left Capt. Nathaniel
Powel deputy; and soon after Capt. Yardly being knighted, was sent
governor thither again.

§. 40. Very great supplies of cattle and other provisions were sent
there that year, and likewise 1000 or 1200 men. They resettled all their
old plantations that had been deserted, made additions to the number of
the council, and called an assembly of Burgesses from all parts of the
country, which were to be elected by the people in their several
plantations.

These burgesses met the governor and council at Jamestown in May, 1620,
and sat in consultation in the same house with them, as the method of
the Scots Parliament is, debating matters for the improvement and good
government of the country.

This was the first general assembly that was ever held there. I heartily
wish though they did not unite their houses again, they would, however,
unite their endeavors and affections for the good of the country.

§. 41. In August following, a Dutch man-of-war landed twenty negroes for
sale; which were the first of that kind that were carried into the
country.

§. 42. This year they bounded the corporations, (as they called them:)
But there does not remain among the records any one grant of these
corporations. There is entered a testimony of Governor Argall,
concerning the bounds of the corporation of James City, declaring his
knowledge thereof; and this is one of the new transcribed books of
record. But there is not to be found one word of the charter or patent
itself of this corporation.

Then also, they apportioned and laid our lands in several allotments,
viz.: to the company in several places, to the governor, to a college,
to glebes, and to several particular persons; many new settlements were
made in James and York rivers. The people knew their own property, and
having the encouragement of working for their own advantage, many became
very industrious, and began to vie one with another, in planting,
building, and other improvements. Two gentlemen went over as deputies to
the company, for the management of their lands, and those of the
college. All thoughts of danger from the Indians were laid aside.
Several great gifts were made to the church and college, and for the
bringing up young Indians at school. Forms were made, and rules
appointed for granting patents for land, upon the condition of
importing goods and persons to supply and increase the colony. And all
there then began think themselves the happiest people in the world.

§. 43. Thus Virginia continued to flourish and increase, great supplies
continually arriving, and new settlements being made all over the
country. A salt work was set up at Cape Charles, on the Eastern Shore;
and an iron work at Falling Creek, in James river, where they made proof
of good iron ore, and brought the whole work so near a perfection, that
they writ word to the company in London, that they did not doubt but to
finish the work, and have plentiful provision of iron for them by the
next Easter. At that time the fame of the plenty and riches, in which
the English lived there, was very great. And Sir George Yardly now had
all the appearance of making amends for the errors of his former
government. Nevertheless he let them run into the same sleepiness and
security as before, neglecting all thoughts of a necessary defence,
which laid the foundation of the following calamities.

§. 44. But the time of his government being near expired, Sir Francis
Wyat, then a young man, had a commission to succeed him. The people
began to grow numerous, thirteen hundred settling there that year; which
was the occasion of making so much tobacco, as to overstock the market.
Wherefore his majesty, out of pity to the country, sent his commands,
that they should not suffer their planters to make above one hundred
pounds of tobacco per man; for the market was so low, that he could not
afford to give them above three shillings the pound for it. He advised
them rather to turn their spare time towards providing corn and stock,
and towards the making of potash, or other manufactures.

It was October, 1621, that Sir Francis Wyat arrived governor, and in
November, Captain Newport arrived with fifty men, imported at his own
charge, besides passengers; and made a plantation on Newport's News,
naming it after himself. The governor made a review of all the
settlements, and suffered new ones to be made, even as far as Potomac
river. This ought to be observed of the Eastern Shore Indians, that they
never gave the English any trouble, but courted and befriended them from
first to last. Perhaps the English, by the time they came to settle
those parts, had considered how to rectify their former mismanagement,
and learned better methods of regulating their trade with the Indians,
and of treating them more kindly than at first.

§. 45. Anno 1622, inferior courts were first appointed by the general
assembly, under the name of county courts, for trial of minute causes;
the governor and council still remaining judges of the supreme court of
the colony. In the meantime, by the great increase of people, and the
long quiet they had enjoyed among the Indians, since the marriage of
Pocahontas, and the accession of Oppechancanough to the imperial crown,
all men were lulled into a fatal security, and became everywhere
familiar with the Indians, eating, drinking, and sleeping amongst them;
by which means they became perfectly acquainted with all our English
strength, and the use of our arms--knowing at all times, when and where
to find our people; whether at home, or in the woods; in bodies, or
disperst; in condition of defence, or indefensible. This exposing of
their weakness gave them occasion to think more contemptibly of them,
than otherwise, perhaps, they would have done; for which reason they
became more peevish, and more hardy to attempt anything against them.

§. 46. Thus upon the loss of one of their leading men, (a war captain,
as they call him,) who was likewise supposed to be justly killed,
Oppechancanough took affront, and in revenge laid the plot of a general
massacre of the English, to be executed on the 22d of March, 1622, a
little before noon, at a time when our men were all at work abroad in
their plantations, disperst and unarmed. This hellish contrivance was to
take effect upon all the several settlements at one and the same
instant, except on the Eastern Shore, whither this plot did not reach.
The Indians had been made so familiar with the English, as to borrow
their boats and canoes to cross the river in, when they went to consult
with their neighboring Indians upon this execrable conspiracy. And to
color their design the better, they brought presents of deer, turkies,
fish and fruits to the English the evening before. The very morning of
the massacre, they came freely and unarmed among them, eating with them,
and behaving themselves with the same freedom and friendship as
formerly, till the very minute they were to put their plot in execution.
Then they fell to work all at once everywhere, knocking the English
unawares on the head, some with their hatchets, which they call
tomahawks, others with the hoes and axes of the English themselves,
shooting at those who escaped the reach of their hands; sparing neither
age nor sex, but destroying man, woman, and child, according to their
cruel way of leaving none behind to bear resentment. But whatever was
not done by surprise that day, was left undone, and many that made early
resistance escaped.

By the account taken of the Christians murdered that morning, they were
found to be three hundred and forty-seven, most of them falling by their
own instruments, and working tools.

§. 47. The massacre had been much more general, had not this plot been
providentially discovered to the English some hours before the
execution. It happened thus:

Two Indians that used to be employed by the English to hunt for them,
happened to lie together, the night before the massacre, in an
Englishmen's house, where one of them was employed. The Indian that was