melancholy and desolate. White, however, sent invitations to the neighboring chiefs, to open a friendly intercourse, assuring them that all should be forgiven and forgotten. They returned a courteous answer, saying that they would reply within eight days. Meantime, the English learned the history of the unfortunate settlers. They had been surprised and attacked by three hundred Indians. They retreated into their store-house, which the assailants set on fire. Part of them perished in the flame, part were massacred, and the remainder fled into the woods, where they were heard of no more.

Irritated by this relation, and hearing nothing from the chiefs to whom he had made his overtures, White determined on instant revenge. He attacked a party of the natives, as they were sitting

round a fire, and pursued them into a thicket, when it was discovered that they belonged to one of the tribes friendly to the English. This ill-judged burst of resentment was the only exploit performed by Governor White; and the colonists, who suffered unexpected privations and hardships, forced him to return immediately to England for further supplies. Much delay followed, and it was not till 1590, that another expedition reached Virginia, when a scene of desolation similar to the former, again presented itself in the place occupied by the unfortunate colony. The houses were demolished, and a great part of the stores were found buried in the earth. This led at first to the hope that the settlers had removed to some other spot in the neighborhood; but as no trace was ever found of them, there can not be a doubt that the whole miserably perished.

VIRGINIA CONTINUED.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

Voyage of Newport. Discovery of Chesapeake Bay. Adventure of Captain Smith and Pocahontas. Smith explores the Chesapeake. Cultivation of tobacco. Vicissitudes of the colonists. Massacre by the Indians. Dissolution of the London Company who held the charter of the colony. Ill success of their administration.

THESE repeated disasters at length discouraged Raleigh, who had expended nearly his whole fortune without any prospect of a return. Grenville, meantime, had died. Raleigh made no further attempts to colonize Virginia. The design was therefore suspended for some years; but, in 1602, it received a new impulse from a voyage made by Bartholomew Gosnold, to the. coast of New England, or North Virginia, as it was then called. Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Summers, Richard Hakluyt and others, obtained a patent for South Virginia, as a company of merchants and adventurers; and on the 19th of December, 1606, three vessels sailed from London, under the command of Captain Newport. Many persons of distinction were in this expedition; among others Captain John Smith, who was destined to become celebrated in the history of Virginia. He possessed all those qualities of firmness, courage and perseverance, which could fit him for the arduous task of founding a colonial establishment. He had been appointed one of the council for the government of the colony. The president of the council was Edward Maria Wingfield;

but Smith, from the force of his character, was allowed to take a leading part in the very outset of the undertaking. He soon excited the jealousy of his colleagues, who charged him with a design of making himself king of Virginia. Upon this vague accusation, he was arrested and kept in close confinement above a year.

Toward the end of April, 1607, they came nearly in sight of the coast of Virginia, when they met a violent storm, which drove them out of their reckoning, and they sailed three days without any view of the expected land. So disheartened were they by their long passage, that they were on the point of steering back to England, when they came in sight of an unknown cape at the entrance of a spacious gulf. This was Cape Henry, at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, where the beauty and fertility of the shores surpassed all they had yet seen of the American continent. Their first intercourse with the natives, however, showed that a deep feeling of hostility against the English had become rooted in their minds. A party from the ship having gone on shore for recreation, the savages came creeping down the hills on all fours, with their bows in their mouths, and when sufficiently near, discharged a cloud of arrows, wounding two of the English. A volley of musketry sent them back to the woods with loud cries. When the ships reached Cape Comfort, they saw five more natives, who at first were shy, but at length invited the English by signs to come ashore to their town. They proceeded to it by rowing across a river, while the savages swam, holding their bows and arrows in their mouths. The reception of the strangers was singular. The Indians made a doleful noise, laying their faces to the ground and scratching the earth with their nails. "We did think they had been at their idolatry," says the narrator. After this greeting, they spread mats on the ground and covered them with such dainties as the country afforded, including tobacco, which they smoked out of long, ornamented pipes. They then entertained their visitors with a dance, "beating their hands, shouting, howling, and stamping like SO many wolves or devils." After this entertainment, the English departed in peace.

Proceeding higher up the bay, they came among people who had probably never before seen Europeans. Here they were received still more cordially. The king, or Werrowannee, of Rappahannoc, met them with all his train,-"as goodly men," says one of the adventurers, "as I have seen of savages or christians. His body was painted all of crimson, with a chain of beads about his neck; his face painted blue, besprinkled with silver ore, as we thought; his ears all hung with bracelets of pearl, and in either ear a bird's claw beset with fine copper or gold. He entertained us in so modest a

proud fashion as though he had been a prince of civil government." He invited the English to his house on a hill covered with the finest corn-fields; the vales were watered by beautiful rivulets. One of

the English having a very strong target, which could resist shot, seɩ it up for an Indian to shoot at. The Indian took his arrow of cane, an ell in length, headed with a sharp stone, and shot the target through. A steel target was then set up, against which the arrow

was broken in pieces; on which the Indian took out another, bit it in a rage, and went away.

A fine river was next discovered, to which they gave the name of James river, in honor of James I., from whom they held their patent. Ascending this river forty miles, they selected a spot on its banks for a settlement. A town was begun, named Jamestown. But their provisions soon began to fall short; sickness spread among them, and at the end of summer, fifty of the settlers had died. In their distress, all eyes were turned toward Smith, whose courage and enterprise were well known. Believing him to be the only man who could provide a remedy for their evils, they released him from confinement, and gave him the supreme command. Smith set forth to collect provisions in the surrounding country. The Indians, knowing the famishing condition of the English, received them with derision, and demanded their muskets, swords, and other valuables. Finding it impossible to trade, the English fired a volley and frightened the savages into the woods. Smith's party then entered a village, which was found well stocked with provisions. They proposed to carry these off without delay, but Smith insisted upon remaining till the Indians returned, as he had no doubt they would do ere long. Soon they heard a hideous noise, and a body of sixty or seventy Indians issued from the woods. They were painted black, white and red, and advanced singing, dancing, and bearing in front their okee, or idol,-an image of skins stuffed with moss, painted, and hung with chains of copper. In this style they made a furious attack upon the English, but were driven back to the woods, with the loss of their idol and several of their men. This defeat appeared to dishearten them, and presently a venerable personage came out with overtures of peace. A treaty was concluded, terms of barter were agreed upon, and the English obtained a boat-load of provisions.

After some further excursions, Smith returned to Jamestown, and found a scheme on foot to break up the settlement and return to England. He put down this attempt, and set out to explore the Chickahominy, a branch of James river. He sailed so far up that his boat could be forced onward only by cutting down the trees which overhung the stream. At length he was obliged to abandon the boat, and proceed in a canoe with four of his party, two of whom were Indians. Twenty miles further up, he left his men at the canoe, and went into the woods to shoot game. In this he did not observe his usual caution. The Indians, who had been all this time watching his movements, attacked the canoe and killed the two Englishmen. Smith suddenly found himself surrounded by two or three