THE STORY OF POCAHONTAS

By Charles Dudley Warner

The simple story of the life of Pocahontas is sufficiently romanticwithout the embellishments which have been wrought on it either by thevanity of Captain Smith or the natural pride of the descendants of thisdusky princess who have been ennobled by the smallest rivulet of her redblood. 

That she was a child of remarkable intelligence, and that she earlyshowed a tender regard for the whites and rendered them willing andunwilling service, is the concurrent evidence of all contemporarytestimony. That as a child she was well-favored, sprightly, andprepossessing above all her copper-colored companions, we can believe, and that as a woman her manners were attractive. If the portrait takenof her in London--the best engraving of which is by Simon de Passe--in1616, when she is said to have been twenty-one years old, does herjustice, she had marked Indian features. 

The first mention of her is in "The True Relation, " written by CaptainSmith in Virginia in 1608. In this narrative, as our readers have seen, she is not referred to until after Smith's return from the captivityin which Powhatan used him "with all the kindness he could devise. " Hername first appears, toward the close of the relation, in the followingsentence:

"Powhatan understanding we detained certain salvages, sent his daughter, a child of tenne yeares old, which not only for feature, countenance, and proportion, much exceedeth any of the rest of his people, but forwit and spirit the only nonpareil of his country: this hee sent by hismost trusty messenger, called Rawhunt, as much exceeding in deformitieof person, but of a subtill wit and crafty understanding, he with a longcircumstance told mee how well Powhatan loved and respected mee, and inthat I should not doubt any way of his kindness, he had sent his child, which he most esteemed, to see mee, a Deere, and bread, besides fora present: desiring mee that the Boy [Thomas Savage, the boy given byNewport to Powhatan] might come again, which he loved exceedingly, hislittle Daughter he had taught this lesson also: not taking notice at allof the Indians that had been prisoners three daies, till that morningthat she saw their fathers and friends come quietly, and in good termesto entreate their libertie. 

"In the afternoon they [the friends of the prisoners] being gone, weguarded them [the prisoners] as before to the church, and after prayer, gave them to Pocahuntas the King's Daughter, in regard of her father'skindness in sending her: after having well fed them, as all the time oftheir imprisonment, we gave them their bows, arrowes, or what elsethey had, and with much content, sent them packing: Pocahuntas, also werequited with such trifles as contented her, to tel that we had used thePaspaheyans very kindly in so releasing them. "

The next allusion to her is in the fourth chapter of the narrativeswhich are appended to the "Map of Virginia, " etc. This was sent home bySmith, with a description of Virginia, in the late autumn of 1608. Itwas published at Oxford in 1612, from two to three years after Smith'sreturn to England. The appendix contains the narratives of several ofSmith's companions in Virginia, edited by Dr. Symonds and overlookedby Smith. In one of these is a brief reference to the above-quotedincident. 

This Oxford tract, it is scarcely necessary to repeat, contains noreference to the saving of Smith's life by Pocahontas from the clubs ofPowhatan. 

The next published mention of Pocahontas, in point of time, is inChapter X. And the last of the appendix to the "Map of Virginia, " and isSmith's denial, already quoted, of his intention to marry Pocahontas. In this passage he speaks of her as "at most not past 13 or 14 years ofage. " If she was thirteen or fourteen in 1609, when Smith left Virginia, she must have been more than ten when he wrote his "True Relation, "composed in the winter of 1608, which in all probability was carried toEngland by Captain Nelson, who left Jamestown June 2d. 

The next contemporary authority to be consulted in regard to Pocahontasis William Strachey, who, as we have seen, went with the expedition ofGates and Somers, was shipwrecked on the Bermudas, and reached JamestownMay 23 or 24, 1610, and was made Secretary and Recorder of the colonyunder Lord Delaware. Of the origin and life of Strachey, who was aperson of importance in Virginia, little is known. The better impressionis that he was the William Strachey of Saffron Walden, who was marriedin 1588 and was living in 1620, and that it was his grandson of the samename who was subsequently connected with the Virginia colony. He was, judged by his writings, a man of considerable education, a good deal ofa pedant, and shared the credulity and fondness for embellishment of thewriters of his time. His connection with Lord Delaware, and his partin framing the code of laws in Virginia, which may be inferred fromthe fact that he first published them, show that he was a trusted andcapable man. 

William Strachey left behind him a manuscript entitled "The Historie ofTravaile into Virginia Britanica, &c. , gathered and observed as well bythose who went first thither, as collected by William Strachey, gent. , three years thither, employed as Secretaire of State. " How long heremained in Virginia is uncertain, but it could not have been "threeyears, " though he may have been continued Secretary for that period, forhe was in London in 1612, in which year he published there the laws ofVirginia which had been established by Sir Thomas Gates May 24, 1610, approved by Lord Delaware June 10, 1610, and enlarged by Sir Thomas DaleJune 22, 1611. 

The "Travaile" was first published by the Hakluyt Society in 1849. Whenand where it was written, and whether it was all composed at one time, are matters much in dispute. The first book, descriptive of Virginia andits people, is complete; the second book, a narration of discoveries inAmerica, is unfinished. Only the first book concerns us. That Stracheymade notes in Virginia may be assumed, but the book was no doubt writtenafter his return to England. 

[This code of laws, with its penalty of whipping and death for what areheld now to be venial offenses, gives it a high place among the BlackCodes. One clause will suffice:

"Every man and woman duly twice a day upon the first towling of the Bellshall upon the working daies repaire unto the church, to hear divineservice upon pain of losing his or her allowance for the first omission, for the second to be whipt, and for the third to be condemned to theGallies for six months. Likewise no man or woman shall dare to violatethe Sabbath by any gaming, publique or private, abroad or at home, butduly sanctifie and observe the same, both himselfe and his familie, bypreparing themselves at home with private prayer, that they may be thebetter fitted for the publique, according to the commandments of God, and the orders of our church, as also every man and woman shall repairein the morning to the divine service, and sermons preached upon theSabbath day, and in the afternoon to divine service, and Catechism uponpaine for the first fault to lose their provision, and allowance for thewhole week following, for the second to lose the said allowance and alsoto be whipt, and for the third to suffer death. "]

Was it written before or after the publication of Smith's "Map andDescription" at Oxford in 1612? The question is important, becauseSmith's "Description" and Strachey's "Travaile" are page after pageliterally the same. One was taken from the other. Commonly at that timemanuscripts seem to have been passed around and much read before theywere published. Purchas acknowledges that he had unpublished manuscriptsof Smith when he compiled his narrative. Did Smith see Strachey'smanuscript before he published his Oxford tract, or did Strachey enlargehis own notes from Smith's description? It has been usually assumedthat Strachey cribbed from Smith without acknowledgment. If it were aquestion to be settled by the internal evidence of the two accounts, I should incline to think that Smith condensed his description fromStrachey, but the dates incline the balance in Smith's favor. 

Strachey in his "Travaile" refers sometimes to Smith, and always withrespect. It will be noted that Smith's "Map" was engraved and publishedbefore the "Description" in the Oxford tract. Purchas had it, for hesays, in writing of Virginia for his "Pilgrimage" (which was publishedin 1613):

"Concerning-the latter [Virginia], Capt. John Smith, partly by wordof mouth, partly by his mappe thereof in print, and more fully by aManuscript which he courteously communicated to mee, hath acquaintedme with that whereof himselfe with great perill and paine, had beenthe discoverer. " Strachey in his "Travaile" alludes to it, and pays atribute to Smith in the following: "Their severall habitations are moreplainly described by the annexed mappe, set forth by Capt. Smith, ofwhose paines taken herein I leave to the censure of the reader to judge. Sure I am there will not return from thence in hast, any one who hathbeen more industrious, or who hath had (Capt. Geo. Percie excepted)greater experience amongst them, however misconstruction may traducehere at home, where is not easily seen the mixed sufferances, both ofbody and mynd, which is there daylie, and with no few hazards and heartygriefes undergon. "

There are two copies of the Strachey manuscript. The one used by theHakluyt Society is dedicated to Sir Francis Bacon, with the title of"Lord High Chancellor, " and Bacon had not that title conferred on himtill after 1618. But the copy among the Ashmolean manuscripts at Oxfordis dedicated to Sir Allen Apsley, with the title of "Purveyor to HisMajestie's Navie Royall"; and as Sir Allen was made "Lieutenant ofthe Tower" in 1616, it is believed that the manuscript must have beenwritten before that date, since the author would not have omitted themore important of the two titles in his dedication. 

Strachey's prefatory letter to the Council, prefixed to his "Laws"(1612), is dated "From my lodging in the Black Friars. At your bestpleasures, either to return unto the colony, or pray for the success ofit heere. " In his letter he speaks of his experience in the Bermudas andVirginia: "The full storie of both in due time [I] shall consecrate untoyour view.... Howbit since many impediments, as yet must detaine suchmy observations in the shadow of darknesse, untill I shall be able todeliver them perfect unto your judgments, " etc. 

This is not, as has been assumed, a statement that the observations werenot written then, only that they were not "perfect"; in fact, theywere detained in the "shadow of darknesse" till the year 1849. Ourown inference is, from all the circumstances, that Strachey began hismanuscript in Virginia or shortly after his return, and added to it andcorrected it from time to time up to 1616. 

We are now in a position to consider Strachey's allusions to Pocahontas. The first occurs in his description of the apparel of Indian women:

"The better sort of women cover themselves (for the most part) all overwith skin mantells, finely drest, shagged and fringed at the skyrt, carved and coloured with some pretty work, or the proportion of beasts, fowle, tortayses, or other such like imagry, as shall best please orexpresse the fancy of the wearer; their younger women goe not shadowedamongst their owne companie, until they be nigh eleaven or twelvereturnes of the leafe old (for soe they accompt and bring about theyeare, calling the fall of the leaf tagnitock); nor are thev muchashamed thereof, and therefore would the before remembered Pocahontas, a well featured, but wanton yong girle, Powhatan's daughter, sometymesresorting to our fort, of the age then of eleven or twelve yeares, getthe boyes forth with her into the markett place, and make them wheele, falling on their hands, turning up their heeles upwards, whome she wouldfollowe and wheele so herself, naked as she was, all the fort over;but being once twelve yeares, they put on a kind of semecinctum lethernapron (as do our artificers or handycrafts men) before their bellies, and are very shamefac't to be seene bare. We have seene some usemantells made both of Turkey feathers, and other fowle, so prettilywrought and woven with threeds, that nothing could be discerned but thefeathers, which were exceedingly warme and very handsome. "

Strachey did not see Pocahontas. She did not resort to the camp afterthe departure of Smith in September, 1609, until she was kidnapped byGovernor Dale in April, 1613. He repeats what he heard of her. Thetime mentioned by him of her resorting to the fort, "of the age then ofeleven or twelve yeares, " must have been the time referred to by Smithwhen he might have married her, namely, in 1608-9, when he calls her"not past 13 or 14 years of age. " The description of her as a "yonggirle" tumbling about the fort, "naked as she was, " would seem topreclude the idea that she was married at that time. 

The use of the word "wanton" is not necessarily disparaging, for"wanton" in that age was frequently synonymous with "playful" and"sportive"; but it is singular that she should be spoken of as "wellfeatured, but wanton. " Strachey, however, gives in another place what isno doubt the real significance of the Indian name "Pocahontas. " He says:

"Both men, women, and children have their severall names; at firstaccording to the severall humor of their parents; and for the menchildren, at first, when they are young, their mothers give them a name, calling them by some affectionate title, or perhaps observing theirpromising inclination give it accordingly; and so the great KingPowhatan called a young daughter of his, whom he loved well, Pocahontas, which may signify a little wanton; howbeyt she was rightly calledAmonata at more ripe years. "

The Indian girls married very young. The polygamous Powhatan had a largenumber of wives, but of all his women, his favorites were a dozen "forthe most part very young women, " the names of whom Strachey obtainedfrom one Kemps, an Indian a good deal about camp, whom Smith certifieswas a great villain. Strachey gives a list of the names of twelve ofthem, at the head of which is Winganuske. This list was no doubt writtendown by the author in Virginia, and it is followed by a sentence, quoted below, giving also the number of Powhatan's children. The"great darling" in this list was Winganuske, a sister of Machumps, who, according to Smith, murdered his comrade in the Bermudas. Stracheywrites:

"He [Powhatan] was reported by the said Kemps, as also by the IndianMachumps, who was sometyme in England, and comes to and fro amongst usas he dares, and as Powhatan gives him leave, for it is not otherwisesafe for him, no more than it was for one Amarice, who had his braynesknockt out for selling but a baskett of corne, and lying in the Englishfort two or three days without Powhatan's leave; I say they oftenreported unto us that Powhatan had then lyving twenty sonnes and tendaughters, besyde a young one by Winganuske, Machumps his sister, and agreat darling of the King's; and besides, younge Pocohunta, a daughterof his, using sometyme to our fort in tymes past, nowe married to aprivate Captaine, called Kocoum, some two years since. "

This passage is a great puzzle. Does Strachey intend to say thatPocahontas was married to an Iniaan named Kocoum? She might have beenduring the time after Smith's departure in 1609, and her kidnappingin 1613, when she was of marriageable age. We shall see hereafter thatPowhatan, in 1614, said he had sold another favorite daughter of his, whom Sir Thomas Dale desired, and who was not twelve years of age, tobe wife to a great chief. The term "private Captain" might perhaps beapplied to an Indian chief. Smith, in his "General Historie, " saysthe Indians have "but few occasions to use any officers more than onecommander, which commonly they call Werowance, or Caucorouse, which isCaptaine. " It is probably not possible, with the best intentions, totwist Kocoum into Caucorouse, or to suppose that Strachey intended tosay that a private captain was called in Indian a Kocoum. Werowanceand Caucorouse are not synonymous terms. Werowance means "chief, " andCaucorouse means "talker" or "orator, " and is the original of our word"caucus. "

Either Strachey was uninformed, or Pocahontas was married to anIndian--a not violent presumption considering her age and the factthat war between Powhatan and the whites for some time had cut offintercourse between them--or Strachey referred to her marriage withRolfe, whom he calls by mistake Kocoum. If this is to be accepted, then this paragraph must have been written in England in 1616, and havereferred to the marriage to Rolfe it "some two years since, " in 1614. 

That Pocahontas was a gentle-hearted and pleasing girl, and, through heracquaintance with Smith, friendly to the whites, there is no doubt; thatshe was not different in her habits and mode of life from other Indiangirls, before the time of her kidnapping, there is every reason tosuppose. It was the English who magnified the imperialism of her father, and exaggerated her own station as Princess. She certainly put on noairs of royalty when she was "cart-wheeling" about the fort. Nordoes this detract anything from the native dignity of the mature, andconverted, and partially civilized woman. 

We should expect there would be the discrepancies which have beennoticed in the estimates of her age. Powhatan is not said to have kepta private secretary to register births in his family. If Pocahontas gaveher age correctly, as it appears upon her London portrait in 1616, aged twenty-one, she must have been eighteen years of age when she wascaptured in 1613 This would make her about twelve at the time of Smith'scaptivity in 1607-8. There is certainly room for difference of opinionas to whether so precocious a woman, as her intelligent apprehension ofaffairs shows her to have been, should have remained unmarried till theage of eighteen. In marrying at least as early as that she would havefollowed the custom of her tribe. It is possible that her intercoursewith the whites had raised her above such an alliance as would beoffered her at the court of Werowocomoco. 

We are without any record of the life of Pocahontas for some years. The occasional mentions of her name in the "General Historie" are soevidently interpolated at a late date, that they do not aid us. Whenand where she took the name of Matoaka, which appears upon her Londonportrait, we are not told, nor when she was called Amonata, as Stracheysays she was "at more ripe yeares. " How she was occupied from thedeparture of Smith to her abduction, we can only guess. To follow herauthentic history we must take up the account of Captain Argall and ofRalph Hamor, Jr. , secretary of the colony under Governor Dale. 

Captain Argall, who seems to have been as bold as he was unscrupulousin the execution of any plan intrusted to him, arrived in Virginiain September, 1612, and early in the spring of 1613 he was sent on anexpedition up the Patowomek to trade for corn and to effect a capturethat would bring Powhatan to terms. The Emperor, from being a friend, had become the most implacable enemy of the English. Captain Argallsays: "I was told by certain Indians, my friends, that the greatPowhatan's daughter Pokahuntis was with the great King Potowomek, whither I presently repaired, resolved to possess myself of her by anystratagem that I could use, for the ransoming of so many Englishmen aswere prisoners with Powhatan, as also to get such armes and tooles ashe and other Indians had got by murther and stealing some others of ournation, with some quantity of corn for the colonies relief. "

By the aid of Japazeus, King of Pasptancy, an old acquaintance andfriend of Argall's, and the connivance of the King of Potowomek, Pocahontas was enticed on board Argall's ship and secured. Word was sentto Powhatan of the capture and the terms on which his daughter would bereleased; namely, the return of the white men he held in slavery, thetools and arms he had gotten and stolen, and a great quantity of corn. Powhatan, "much grieved, " replied that if Argall would use his daughterwell, and bring the ship into his river and release her, he would accedeto all his demands. Therefore, on the 13th of April, Argall repaired toGovernor Gates at Jamestown, and delivered his prisoner, and a few daysafter the King sent home some of the white captives, three pieces, onebroad-axe, a long whip-saw, and a canoe of corn. Pocahontas, however, was kept at Jamestown. 

Why Pocahontas had left Werowocomoco and gone to stay with Patowomekwe can only conjecture. It is possible that Powhatan suspected herfriendliness to the whites, and was weary of her importunity, and it maybe that she wanted to escape the sight of continual fighting, ambushes, and murders. More likely she was only making a common friendly visit, though Hamor says she went to trade at an Indian fair. 

The story of her capture is enlarged and more minutely related by RalphHamor, Jr. , who was one of the colony shipwrecked on the Bermudas in1609, and returned to England in 1614, where he published (London, 1615)"A True Discourse of Virginia, and the Success of the Affairs theretill the 18th of June, 1614. " Hamor was the son of a merchant tailor inLondon who was a member of the Virginia company. Hamor writes:

"It chanced Powhatan's delight and darling, his daughter Pocahuntas(whose fame has even been spread in England by the title of Nonparellaof Firginia) in her princely progresse if I may so terme it, tooke somepleasure (in the absence of Captaine Argall) to be among her friends atPataomecke (as it seemeth by the relation I had), implored thither asshopkeeper to a Fare, to exchange some of her father's commodities fortheirs, where residing some three months or longer, it fortuned uponoccasion either of promise or profit, Captaine Argall to arrive there, whom Pocahuntas, desirous to renew her familiaritie with the English, and delighting to see them as unknown, fearefull perhaps to besurprised, would gladly visit as she did, of whom no sooner had CaptaineArgall intelligence, but he delt with an old friend Iapazeus, how andby what meanes he might procure her caption, assuring him that now ornever, was the time to pleasure him, if he intended indeede that lovewhich he had made profession of, that in ransome of hir he might redeemesome of our English men and armes, now in the possession of her father, promising to use her withall faire and gentle entreaty; Iapazeus wellassured that his brother, as he promised, would use her courteously, promised his best endeavors and service to accomplish his desire, andthus wrought it, making his wife an instrument (which sex have ever beenmost powerful in beguiling inticements) to effect his plot which heehad thus laid, he agreed that himself, his wife and Pocahuntas, wouldaccompanie his brother to the water side, whither come, his wife shouldfaine a great and longing desire to goe aboorde, and see the shippe, which being there three or four times before she had never seene, andshould be earnest with her husband to permit her--he seemed angry withher, making as he pretended so unnecessary request, especially beingwithout the company of women, which denial she taking unkindly, must faine to weepe (as who knows not that women can command teares)whereupon her husband seeming to pitty those counterfeit teares, gaveher leave to goe aboord, so that it would pleese Pocahuntas to accompanyher; now was the greatest labour to win her, guilty perhaps of herfather's wrongs, though not knowne as she supposed, to goe with her, yetby her earnest persuasions, she assented: so forthwith aboord they went, the best cheere that could be made was seasonably provided, to supperthey went, merry on all hands, especially Iapazeus and his wife, who toexpres their joy would ere be treading upon Captaine Argall's foot, aswho should say tis don, she is your own. Supper ended Pocahuntas waslodged in the gunner's roome, but Iapazeus and his wife desired to havesome conference with their brother, which was onely to acquaint him bywhat stratagem they had betraied his prisoner as I have alreadyrelated: after which discourse to sleepe they went, Pocahuntas nothingmistrusting this policy, who nevertheless being most possessed withfeere, and desire of returne, was first up, and hastened Iapazeus to begon. Capt. Argall having secretly well rewarded him, with a small Copperkittle, and some other les valuable toies so highly by him esteemed, that doubtlesse he would have betraied his own father for them, permitted both him and his wife to returne, but told him that for diversconsiderations, as for that his father had then eigh [8] of our Englishemen, many swords, peeces, and other tooles, which he hid at severalltimes by trecherous murdering our men, taken from them which thoughof no use to him, he would not redeliver, he would reserve Pocahuntas, whereat she began to be exceeding pensive, and discontented, yetignorant of the dealing of Japazeus who in outward appearance was no lesdiscontented that he should be the meanes of her captivity, much adoethere was to pursuade her to be patient, which with extraordinarycurteous usage, by little and little was wrought in her, and so toJamestowne she was brought. "

Smith, who condenses this account in his "General Historie, " expresseshis contempt of this Indian treachery by saying: "The old Jew and hiswife began to howle and crie as fast as Pocahuntas. " It will be notedthat the account of the visit (apparently alone) of Pocahontas and hercapture is strong evidence that she was not at this time married to"Kocoum" or anybody else. 

Word was despatched to Powhatan of his daughter's duress, with ademand made for the restitution of goods; but although this savage isrepresented as dearly loving Pocahontas, his "delight and darling, " itwas, according to Hamor, three months before they heard anything fromhim. His anxiety about his daughter could not have been intense. Heretained a part of his plunder, and a message was sent to him thatPocahontas would be kept till he restored all the arms. 

This answer pleased Powhatan so little that they heard nothing from himtill the following March. Then Sir Thomas Dale and Captain Argall, withseveral vessels and one hundred and fifty men, went up to Powhatan'schief seat, taking his daughter with them, offering the Indians a chanceto fight for her or to take her in peace on surrender of the stolengoods. The Indians received this with bravado and flights of arrows, reminding them of the fate of Captain Ratcliffe. The whites landed, killed some Indians, burnt forty houses, pillaged the village, and wenton up the river and came to anchor in front of Matchcot, the Emperor'schief town. Here were assembled four hundred armed men, with bows andarrows, who dared them to come ashore. Ashore they went, and a palaverwas held. The Indians wanted a day to consult their King, after whichthey would fight, if nothing but blood would satisfy the whites. 

Two of Powhatan's sons who were present expressed a desire to see theirsister, who had been taken on shore. When they had sight of her, andsaw how well she was cared for, they greatly rejoiced and promised topersuade their father to redeem her and conclude a lasting peace. Thetwo brothers were taken on board ship, and Master John Rolfe and MasterSparkes were sent to negotiate with the King. Powhatan did not showhimself, but his brother Apachamo, his successor, promised to use hisbest efforts to bring about a peace, and the expedition returned toJamestown. 

"Long before this time, " Hamor relates, "a gentleman of approvedbehaviour and honest carriage, Master John Rolfe, had been in love withPocahuntas and she with him, which thing at the instant that we werein parlee with them, myselfe made known to Sir Thomas Dale, by a letterfrom him [Rolfe] whereby he entreated his advice and furtherance to hislove, if so it seemed fit to him for the good of the Plantation, andPocahuntas herself acquainted her brethren therewith. " Governor Daleapproved this, and consequently was willing to retire without otherconditions. "The bruite of this pretended marriage [Hamor continues]came soon to Powhatan's knowledge, a thing acceptable to him, asappeared by his sudden consent thereunto, who some ten daies after sentan old uncle of hirs, named Opachisco, to give her as his deputy in thechurch, and two of his sonnes to see the mariage solemnized which wasaccordingly done about the fifth of April [1614], and ever since we havehad friendly commerce and trade, not only with Powhatan himself, butalso with his subjects round about us; so as now I see no reason why thecollonie should not thrive a pace. "

This marriage was justly celebrated as the means and beginning of a firmpeace which long continued, so that Pocahontas was again entitled to thegrateful remembrance of the Virginia settlers. Already, in 1612, a planhad been mooted in Virginia of marrying the English with the natives, and of obtaining the recognition of Powhatan and those allied to him asmembers of a fifth kingdom, with certain privileges. Cunega, the Spanishambassador at London, on September 22, 1612, writes: "Although somesuppose the plantation to decrease, he is credibly informed that thereis a determination to marry some of the people that go over to Virginia;forty or fifty are already so married, and English women intermingle andare received kindly by the natives. A zealous minister hath been woundedfor reprehending it. "

Mr. John Rolfe was a man of industry, and apparently devoted to thewelfare of the colony. He probably brought with him in 1610 his wife, who gave birth to his daughter Bermuda, born on the Somers Islands atthe time of the shipwreck. We find no notice of her death. Hamor giveshim the distinction of being the first in the colony to try, in 1612, the planting and raising of tobacco. "No man [he adds] hath labored tohis power, by good example there and worthy encouragement into Englandby his letters, than he hath done, witness his marriage with Powhatan'sdaughter, one of rude education, manners barbarous and cursedgeneration, meerely for the good and honor of the plantation: andleast any man should conceive that some sinister respects allured himhereunto, I have made bold, contrary to his knowledge, in the end of mytreatise to insert the true coppie of his letter written to Sir ThomasDale. "

The letter is a long, labored, and curious document, and comes nearer toa theological treatise than any love-letter we have on record. It reekswith unction. Why Rolfe did not speak to Dale, whom he saw every day, instead of inflicting upon him this painful document, in which theflutterings of a too susceptible widower's heart are hidden under agreat resolve of self-sacrifice, is not plain. 

The letter protests in a tedious preamble that the writer is movedentirely by the Spirit of God, and continues:

"Let therefore this my well advised protestation, which here I makebetween God and my own conscience, be a sufficient witness, at thedreadful day of judgment (when the secrets of all men's hearts shall beopened) to condemne me herein, if my chiefest interest and purpose benot to strive with all my power of body and mind, in the undertakingof so weighty a matter, no way led (so far forth as man's weakness maypermit) with the unbridled desire of carnall affection; but for the goodof this plantation, for the honour of our countrie, for the glory ofGod, for my owne salvation, and for the converting to the true knowledgeof God and Jesus Christ, an unbelieving creature, namely Pokahuntas. To whom my heartie and best thoughts are, and have a long time bin soentangled, and inthralled in so intricate a laborinth, that I was evenawearied to unwinde myself thereout. "

Master Rolfe goes on to describe the mighty war in his meditations onthis subject, in which he had set before his eyes the frailty of mankindand his proneness to evil and wicked thoughts. He is aware of God'sdispleasure against the sons of Levi and Israel for marrying strangewives, and this has caused him to look about warily and with goodcircumspection "into the grounds and principall agitations which shouldthus provoke me to be in love with one, whose education hath bin rude, her manners barbarous, her generation accursed, and so discrepant inall nurtriture from myselfe, that oftentimes with feare and trembling, I have ended my private controversie with this: surely these arewicked instigations, fetched by him who seeketh and delighteth in man'sdistruction; and so with fervent prayers to be ever preserved from suchdiabolical assaults (as I looke those to be) I have taken some rest. "

The good man was desperately in love and wanted to marry the Indian, andconsequently he got no peace; and still being tormented with her image, whether she was absent or present, he set out to produce an ingeniousreason (to show the world) for marrying her. He continues:

"Thus when I thought I had obtained my peace and quietnesse, beholdeanother, but more gracious tentation hath made breaches into my holiestand strongest meditations; with which I have been put to a new triall, in a straighter manner than the former; for besides the weary passionsand sufferings which I have dailey, hourely, yea and in my sleepeindured, even awaking me to astonishment, taxing me with remissnesse, and carelessnesse, refusing and neglecting to perform the duteie of agood Christian, pulling me by the eare, and crying: Why dost thou notindeavor to make her a Christian? And these have happened to my greaterwonder, even when she hath been furthest seperated from me, whichin common reason (were it not an undoubted work of God) might breedeforgetfulnesse of a far more worthie creature. "

He accurately describes the symptoms and appears to understand theremedy, but he is after a large-sized motive:

"Besides, I say the holy Spirit of God hath often demanded of me, why Iwas created? If not for transitory pleasures and worldly vanities, butto labour in the Lord's vineyard, there to sow and plant, to nourish andincrease the fruites thereof, daily adding with the good husband in thegospell, somewhat to the tallent, that in the ends the fruites may bereaped, to the comfort of the labourer in this life, and his salvationin the world to come.... Likewise, adding hereunto her great appearanceof love to me, her desire to be taught and instructed in the knowledgeof God, her capablenesse of understanding, her aptness and willingnessto receive anie good impression, and also the spirituall, besides herowne incitements stirring me up hereunto. "

The "incitements" gave him courage, so that he exclaims: "Shall I be ofso untoward a disposition, as to refuse to lead the blind into the rightway? Shall I be so unnatural, as not to give bread to the hungrie, oruncharitable, as not to cover the naked?"

It wasn't to be thought of, such wickedness; and so Master Rolfe screwedup his courage to marry the glorious Princess, from whom thousandsof people were afterwards so anxious to be descended. But he made thesacrifice for the glory of the country, the benefit of the plantation, and the conversion of the unregenerate, and other and lower motivehe vigorously repels: "Now, if the vulgar sort, who square all men'sactions by the base rule of their own filthinesse, shall tax or tauntmee in this my godly labour: let them know it is not hungry appetite, togorge myselfe with incontinency; sure (if I would and were so sensuallyinclined) I might satisfy such desire, though not without a searedconscience, yet with Christians more pleasing to the eie, and lessfearefull in the offense unlawfully committed. Nor am I in so desperatean estate, that I regard not what becometh of me; nor am I out of hopebut one day to see my country, nor so void of friends, nor mean inbirth, but there to obtain a mach to my great con'tent.... But shall itplease God thus to dispose of me (which I earnestly desire to fulfillmy ends before set down) I will heartily accept of it as a godly taxeappointed me, and I will never cease (God assisting me) untill I haveaccomplished, and brought to perfection so holy a worke, in which I willdaily pray God to bless me, to mine and her eternal happiness. "

It is to be hoped that if sanctimonious John wrote any love-letters toAmonata they had less cant in them than this. But it was pleasing to SirThomas Dale, who was a man to appreciate the high motives of Mr. Rolfe. In a letter which he despatched from Jamestown, June 18, 1614, to areverend friend in London, he describes the expedition when Pocahontaswas carried up the river, and adds the information that when she went onshore, "she would not talk to any of them, scarcely to them of the bestsort, and to them only, that if her father had loved her, he would notvalue her less than old swords, pieces, or axes; wherefore she wouldstill dwell with the Englishmen who loved her. "

"Powhatan's daughter [the letter continues] I caused to be carefullyinstructed in Christian Religion, who after she had made some goodprogress therein, renounced publically her countrey idolatry, openlyconfessed her Christian faith, was, as she desired, baptized, and issince married to an English Gentleman of good understanding (as by hisletter unto me, containing the reasons for his marriage of her you mayperceive), an other knot to bind this peace the stronger. Her fatherand friends gave approbation to it, and her uncle gave her to him inthe church; she lives civilly and lovingly with him, and I trust willincrease in goodness, as the knowledge of God increaseth in her. Shewill goe into England with me, and were it but the gayning of this onesoule, I will think my time, toile, and present stay well spent. "

Hamor also appends to his narration a short letter, of the same datewith the above, from the minister Alexander Whittaker, the genuinenessof which is questioned. In speaking of the good deeds of Sir Thomas Daleit says: "But that which is best, one Pocahuntas or Matoa, thedaughter of Powhatan, is married to an honest and discreet EnglishGentleman--Master Rolfe, and that after she had openly renounced hercountrey Idolatry, and confessed the faith of Jesus Christ, and wasbaptized, which thing Sir Thomas Dale had laboured a long time to groundher in. " If, as this proclaims, she was married after her conversion, then Rolfe's tender conscience must have given him another twist forwedding her, when the reason for marrying her (her conversion) hadceased with her baptism. His marriage, according to this, was a purework of supererogation. It took place about the 5th of April, 1614. Itis not known who performed the ceremony. 

How Pocahontas passed her time in Jamestown during the period of herdetention, we are not told. Conjectures are made that she was an inmateof the house of Sir Thomas Dale, or of that of the Rev. Mr. Whittaker, both of whom labored zealously to enlighten her mind on religioussubjects. She must also have been learning English and civilized ways, for it is sure that she spoke our language very well when she went toLondon. Mr. John Rolfe was also laboring for her conversion, and we maysuppose that with all these ministrations, mingled with her love of Mr. Rolfe, which that ingenious widower had discovered, and her desire toconvert him into a husband, she was not an unwilling captive. Whatevermay have been her barbarous instincts, we have the testimony of GovernorDale that she lived "civilly and lovingly" with her husband. 

STORY OF POCAHONTAS, CONTINUED

Sir Thomas Dale was on the whole the most efficient and discreetGovernor the colony had had. One element of his success was no doubt thechange in the charter of 1609. By the first charter everything hadbeen held in common by the company, and there had been no division ofproperty or allotment of land among the colonists. Under the new regimeland was held in severalty, and the spur of individual interest beganat once to improve the condition of the settlement. The character of thecolonists was also gradually improving. They had not been of a sortto fulfill the earnest desire of the London promoter's to spread vitalpiety in the New World. A zealous defense of Virginia and Maryland, against "scandalous imputation, " entitled "Leah and Rachel; or, TheTwo Fruitful Sisters, " by Mr. John Hammond, London, 1656, considersthe charges that Virginia "is an unhealthy place, a nest of rogues, abandoned women, dissolut and rookery persons; a place of intolerablelabour, bad usage and hard diet"; and admits that "at the firstsettling, and for many years after, it deserved most of theseaspersions, nor were they then aspersions but truths.... There werejails supplied, youth seduced, infamous women drilled in, the provisionall brought out of England, and that embezzled by the Trustees. "

Governor Dale was a soldier; entering the army in the Netherlands as aprivate he had risen to high position, and received knighthood in 1606. Shortly after he was with Sir Thomas Gates in South Holland. The StatesGeneral in 1611 granted him three years' term of absence in Virginia. Upon his arrival he began to put in force that system of industry andfrugality he had observed in Holland. He had all the imperiousness of asoldier, and in an altercation with Captain Newport, occasioned by someinjurious remarks the latter made about Sir Thomas Smith, the treasurer, he pulled his beard and threatened to hang him. Active operations forsettling new plantations were at once begun, and Dale wrote to Cecil, the Earl of Salisbury, for 2, 000 good colonists to be sent out, for thethree hundred that came were "so profane, so riotous, so full of mutiny, that not many are Christians but in name, their bodies so diseased andcrazed that not sixty of them may be employed. " He served afterwardswith credit in Holland, was made commander of the East Indian fleet in1618, had a naval engagement with the Dutch near Bantam in 1619, anddied in 1620 from the effects of the climate. He was twice married, andhis second wife, Lady Fanny, the cousin of his first wife, survived himand received a patent for a Virginia plantation. 

Governor Dale kept steadily in view the conversion of the Indians toChristianity, and the success of John Rolfe with Matoaka inspiredhim with a desire to convert another daughter of Powhatan, of whoseexquisite perfections he had heard. He therefore despatched Ralph Hamor, with the English boy, Thomas Savage, as interpreter, on a mission tothe court of Powhatan, "upon a message unto him, which was to deale withhim, if by any means I might procure a daughter of his, who (Pocahuntasbeing already in our possession) is generally reported to be his delightand darling, and surely he esteemed her as his owne Soule, for surerpledge of peace. " This visit Hamor relates with great naivete. 

At his town of Matchcot, near the head of York River, Powhatanhimself received his visitors when they landed, with great cordiality, expressing much pleasure at seeing again the boy who had been presentedto him by Captain Newport, and whom he had not seen since he gave himleave to go and see his friends at Jamestown four years before; he alsoinquired anxiously after Namontack, whom he had sent to King James'sland to see him and his country and report thereon, and then led the wayto his house, where he sat down on his bedstead side. "On each hand ofhim was placed a comely and personable young woman, which they calledhis Queenes, the howse within round about beset with them, the outsideguarded with a hundred bowmen. "

The first thing offered was a pipe of tobacco, which Powhatan "firstdrank, " and then passed to Hamor, who "drank" what he pleased and thenreturned it. The Emperor then inquired how his brother Sir Thomas Dalefared, "and after that of his daughter's welfare, her marriage, hisunknown son, and how they liked, lived and loved together. " Hamorreplied "that his brother was very well, and his daughter so wellcontent that she would not change her life to return and live with him, whereat he laughed heartily, and said he was very glad of it. "

Powhatan then desired to know the cause of his unexpected coming, andMr. Hamor said his message was private, to be delivered to him withoutthe presence of any except one of his councilors, and one of the guides, who already knew it. 

Therefore the house was cleared of all except the two Queens, who maynever sequester themselves, and Mr. Hamor began his palaver. First therewas a message of love and inviolable peace, the production of presentsof coffee, beads, combs, fish-hooks, and knives, and the promise ofa grindstone when it pleased the Emperor to send for it. Hamor thenproceeded:

"The bruite of the exquesite perfection of your youngest daughter, beingfamous through all your territories, hath come to the hearing of yourbrother, Sir Thomas Dale, who for this purpose hath addressed me hither, to intreate you by that brotherly friendship you make profession of, topermit her (with me) to returne unto him, partly for the desire whichhimselfe hath, and partly for the desire her sister hath to see her ofwhom, if fame hath not been prodigall, as like enough it hath not, yourbrother (by your favour) would gladly make his nearest companion, wifeand bed fellow [many times he would have interrupted my speech, whichI entreated him to heare out, and then if he pleased to returne meanswer], and the reason hereof is, because being now friendly and firmlyunited together, and made one people [as he supposeth and believes] inthe bond of love, he would make a natural union between us, principallybecause himself hath taken resolution to dwel in your country so long ashe liveth, and would not only therefore have the firmest assurance heemay, of perpetuall friendship from you, but also hereby binde himselfethereunto. "

Powhatan replied with dignity that he gladly accepted the salute of loveand peace, which he and his subjects would exactly maintain. But as tothe other matter he said: "My daughter, whom my brother desireth, I soldwithin these three days to be wife to a great Weroance for two bushelsof Roanoke [a small kind of beads made of oyster shells], and it is trueshe is already gone with him, three days' journey from me. "

Hamor persisted that this marriage need not stand in the way; "that ifhe pleased herein to gratify his Brother he might, restoring the Roanokewithout the imputation of injustice, take home his daughter again, therather because she was not full twelve years old, and therefore notmarriageable; assuring him besides the bond of peace, so much thefirmer, he should have treble the price of his daughter in beads, copper, hatchets, and many other things more useful for him. "

The reply of the noble old savage to this infamous demand ought to havebrought a blush to the cheeks of those who made it. He said he loved hisdaughter as dearly as his life; he had many children, but he delightedin none so much as in her; he could not live if he did not see heroften, as he would not if she were living with the whites, and hewas determined not to put himself in their hands. He desired no otherassurance of friendship than his brother had given him, who had alreadyone of his daughters as a pledge, which was sufficient while she lived;"when she dieth he shall have another child of mine. " And then he brokeforth in pathetic eloquence: "I hold it not a brotherly part of yourKing, to desire to bereave me of two of my children at once; furthergive him to understand, that if he had no pledge at all, he should notneed to distrust any injury from me, or any under my subjection; therehave been too many of his and my men killed, and by my occasion thereshall never be more; I which have power to perform it have said it; nonot though I should have just occasion offered, for I am now old andwould gladly end my days in peace; so as if the English offer me anyinjury, my country is large enough, I will remove myself farther fromyou. "

The old man hospitably entertained his guests for a day or two, loadedthem with presents, among which were two dressed buckskins, white assnow, for his son and daughter, and, requesting some articles sent himin return, bade them farewell with this message to Governor Dale: "Ihope this will give him good satisfaction, if it do not I will go threedays' journey farther from him, and never see Englishmen more. " Itspeaks well for the temperate habits of this savage that after he hadfeasted his guests, "he caused to be fetched a great glass of sack, somethree quarts or better, which Captain Newport had given him six or sevenyears since, carefully preserved by him, not much above a pint in allthis time spent, and gave each of us in a great oyster shell some threespoonfuls. "

We trust that Sir Thomas Dale gave a faithful account of all this to hiswife in England. 

Sir Thomas Gates left Virginia in the spring of 1614 and never returned. After his departure scarcity and severity developed a mutiny, and sixof the settlers were executed. Rolfe was planting tobacco (he has thecredit of being the first white planter of it), and his wife was gettingan inside view of Christian civilization. 

In 1616 Sir Thomas Dale returned to England with his company and JohnRolfe and Pocahontas, and several other Indians. They reached Plymouthearly in June, and on the 20th Lord Carew made this note: "Sir ThomasDale returned from Virginia; he hath brought divers men and women ofthatt countrye to be educated here, and one Rolfe who married a daughterof Pohetan (the barbarous prince) called Pocahuntas, hath brought hiswife with him into England. " On the 22d Sir John Chamberlain wrote toSir Dudley Carlton that there were "ten or twelve, old and young, ofthat country. "

The Indian girls who came with Pocahontas appear to have been a greatcare to the London company. In May, 1620, is a record that the companyhad to pay for physic and cordials for one of them who had been livingas a servant in Cheapside, and was very weak of a consumption. The sameyear two other of the maids were shipped off to the Bermudas, afterbeing long a charge to the company, in the hope that they might thereget husbands, "that after they were converted and had children, theymight be sent to their country and kindred to civilize them. " One ofthem was there married. The attempt to educate them in England was notvery successful, and a proposal to bring over Indian boys obtained thiscomment from Sir Edwin Sandys:

"Now to send for them into England, and to have them educated here, hefound upon experience of those brought by Sir Thomas Dale, might be farfrom the Christian work intended. " One Nanamack, a lad brought over byLord Delaware, lived some years in houses where "he heard not much ofreligion but sins, had many times examples of drinking, swearing andlike evils, ran as he was a mere Pagan, " till he fell in with adevout family and changed his life, but died before he was baptized. Accompanying Pocahontas was a councilor of Powhatan, one Tomocomo, thehusband of one of her sisters, of whom Purchas says in his "Pilgrimes":"With this savage I have often conversed with my good friend MasterDoctor Goldstone where he was a frequent geust, and where I have seenhim sing and dance his diabolical measures, and heard him discourse ofhis country and religion.... Master Rolfe lent me a discourse whichI have in my Pilgrimage delivered. And his wife did not only accustomherself to civility, but still carried herself as the daughter of aking, and was accordingly respected, not only by the Company whichallowed provision for herself and her son, but of divers particularpersons of honor, in their hopeful zeal by her to advance Christianity. I was present when my honorable and reverend patron, the Lord Bishop ofLondon, Doctor King, entertained her with festival state and pomp beyondwhat I had seen in his great hospitality offered to other ladies. Ather return towards Virginia she came at Gravesend to her end and grave, having given great demonstration of her Christian sincerity, as thefirst fruits of Virginia conversion, leaving here a goodly memory, and the hopes of her resurrection, her soul aspiring to see and enjoypermanently in heaven what here she had joyed to hear and believe of herblessed Saviour. Not such was Tomocomo, but a blasphemer of what he knewnot and preferring his God to ours because he taught them (by his ownso appearing) to wear their Devil-lock at the left ear; he acquainted mewith the manner of that his appearance, and believed that their Okee orDevil had taught them their husbandry. "

Upon news of her arrival, Captain Smith, either to increase his ownimportance or because Pocahontas was neglected, addressed a letter or"little booke" to Queen Anne, the consort of King James. This letter isfound in Smith's "General Historie" ( 1624), where it is introducedas having been sent to Queen Anne in 1616. Probably he sent her such aletter. We find no mention of its receipt or of any acknowledgment ofit. Whether the "abstract" in the "General Historie" is exactly likethe original we have no means of knowing. We have no more confidence inSmith's memory than we have in his dates. The letter is as follows:

"To the most high and vertuous Princesse Queene Anne of Great Brittaine. 

"Most ADMIRED QUEENE. 

"The love I beare my God, my King and Countrie hath so oft emboldened mein the worst of extreme dangers, that now honestie doth constraine meepresume thus farre beyond my selfe, to present your Majestie this shortdiscourse: if ingratitude be a deadly poyson to all honest vertues, I must be guiltie of that crime if I should omit any meanes to beethankful. So it is. 

"That some ten yeeres agoe being in Virginia, and taken prisoner by thepower of Powhaten, their chiefe King, I received from this great Salvageexceeding great courtesie, especially from his sonne Nantaquaus, themost manliest, comeliest, boldest spirit, I ever saw in a Salvage andhis sister Pocahontas, the Kings most deare and well-beloved daughter, being but a childe of twelve or thirteen yeeres of age, whosecompassionate pitifull heart, of desperate estate, gave me much causeto respect her: I being the first Christian this proud King and his grimattendants ever saw, and thus enthralled in their barbarous power, Icannot say I felt the least occasion of want that was in the power ofthose my mortall foes to prevent notwithstanding al their threats. Aftersome six weeks fatting amongst those Salvage Courtiers, at the minute ofmy execution, she hazarded the beating out of her owne braines to savemine, and not onely that, but so prevailed with her father, that I wassafely conducted to Jamestowne, where I found about eight and thirtymiserable poore and sicke creatures, to keepe possession of all thoselarge territories of Virginia, such was the weaknesse of this pooreCommonwealth, as had the Salvages not fed us, we directly had starved. 

"And this reliefe, most gracious Queene, was commonly brought us bythis Lady Pocahontas, notwithstanding all these passages when inconstantFortune turned our Peace to warre, this tender Virgin would still notspare to dare to visit us, and by her our jarres have been oft appeased, and our wants still supplyed; were it the policie of her father thus toimploy her, or the ordinance of God thus to make her his instrument, orher extraordinarie affection to our Nation, I know not: but of this I amsure: when her father with the utmost of his policie and power, soughtto surprize mee, having but eighteene with mee, the dark night could notaffright her from comming through the irksome woods, and with wateredeies gave me intilligence, with her best advice to escape his furie:which had hee known hee had surely slaine her. Jamestowne with her wildtraine she as freely frequented, as her father's habitation: and duringthe time of two or three yeares, she next under God, was still theinstrument to preserve this Colonie from death, famine and utterconfusion, which if in those times had once beene dissolved, Virginiamight have laine as it was at our first arrivall to this day. Sincethen, this buisinesse having been turned and varied by many accidentsfrom that I left it at: it is most certaine, after a long andtroublesome warre after my departure, betwixt her father and ourColonie, all which time shee was not heard of, about two yeeres longer, the Colonie by that meanes was releived, peace concluded, and at lastrejecting her barbarous condition, was maried to an English Gentleman, with whom at this present she is in England; the first Christian ever ofthat Nation, the first Virginian ever spake English, or had a childein mariage by an Englishman, a matter surely, if my meaning bee trulyconsidered and well understood, worthy a Princes understanding. 

"Thus most gracious Lady, I have related to your Majestic, what at yourbest leasure our approved Histories will account you at large, and donein the time of your Majesties life, and however this might bee presentedyou from a more worthy pen, it cannot from a more honest heart, as yetI never begged anything of the State, or any, and it is my want ofabilitie and her exceeding desert, your birth, meanes, and authoritie, her birth, vertue, want and simplicitie, doth make mee thus bold, humblyto beseech your Majestic: to take this knowledge of her though it befrom one so unworthy to be the reporter, as myselfe, her husband'sestate not being able to make her fit to attend your Majestic: the mostand least I can doe, is to tell you this, because none so oft hath triedit as myselfe: and the rather being of so great a spirit, however herstation: if she should not be well received, seeing this Kingdomemay rightly have a Kingdome by her meanes: her present love to us andChristianitie, might turne to such scorne and furie, as to divert allthis good to the worst of evill, when finding so great a Queene shoulddoe her some honour more than she can imagine, for being so kinde toyour servants and subjects, would so ravish her with content, as endeareher dearest bloud to effect that, your Majestic and all the Kings honestsubjects most earnestly desire: and so I humbly kisse your gracioushands. "

The passage in this letter, "She hazarded the beating out of her ownebraines to save mine, " is inconsistent with the preceding portion of theparagraph which speaks of "the exceeding great courtesie" of Powhatan;and Smith was quite capable of inserting it afterwards when he made uphis

"General Historie. "

Smith represents himself at this time--the last half of 1616 and thefirst three months of 1617--as preparing to attempt a third voyage toNew England (which he did not make), and too busy to do Pocahontas theservice she desired. She was staying at Branford, either from neglectof the company or because the London smoke disagreed with her, and thereSmith went to see her. His account of his intercourse with her, the onlyone we have, must be given for what it is worth. According to this shehad supposed Smith dead, and took umbrage at his neglect of her. Hewrites:

"After a modest salutation, without any word, she turned about, obscuredher face, as not seeming well contented; and in that humour, her husbandwith divers others, we all left her two or three hours repenting myselfto have writ she could speak English. But not long after she began totalke, remembering me well what courtesies she had done: saying, 'Youdid promise Powhatan what was yours should be his, and he the like toyou; you called him father, being in his land a stranger, and by thesame reason so must I do you:' which though I would have excused, Idurst not allow of that title, because she was a king's daughter. Witha well set countenance she said: 'Were you not afraid to come into myfather's country and cause fear in him and all his people (but me), andfear you have I should call you father; I tell you then I will, andyou shall call me childe, and so I will be forever and ever, yourcontrieman. They did tell me alwaies you were dead, and I knew no othertill I came to Plymouth, yet Powhatan did command Uttamatomakkin to seekyou, and know the truth, because your countriemen will lie much. "'

This savage was the Tomocomo spoken of above, who had been sent byPowhatan to take a census of the people of England, and report what theyand their state were. At Plymouth he got a long stick and began to makenotches in it for the people he saw. But he was quickly weary of thattask. He told Smith that Powhatan bade him seek him out, and get himto show him his God, and the King, Queen, and Prince, of whom Smith hadtold so much. Smith put him off about showing his God, but said he hadheard that he had seen the King. This the Indian denied, James probablynot coming up to his idea of a king, till by circumstances he wasconvinced he had seen him. Then he replied very sadly: "You gavePowhatan a white dog, which Powhatan fed as himself, but your king gaveme nothing, and I am better than your white dog. "

Smith adds that he took several courtiers to see Pocahontas, and "theydid think God had a great hand in her conversion, and they have seenmany English ladies worse favoured, proportioned, and behavioured;" andhe heard that it had pleased the King and Queen greatly to esteem her, as also Lord and Lady Delaware, and other persons of good quality, bothat the masques and otherwise. 

Much has been said about the reception of Pocahontas in London, butthe contemporary notices of her are scant. The Indians were objects ofcuriosity for a time in London, as odd Americans have often been since, and the rank of Pocahontas procured her special attention. She waspresented at court. She was entertained by Dr. King, Bishop of London. At the playing of Ben Jonson's "Christmas his Mask" at court, January6, 1616-17, Pocahontas and Tomocomo were both present, and Chamberlainwrites to Carleton: "The Virginian woman Pocahuntas with her fathercounsellor have been with the King and graciously used, and both she andher assistant were pleased at the Masque. She is upon her return thoughsore against her will, if the wind would about to send her away. "

Mr. Neill says that "after the first weeks of her residence in Englandshe does not appear to be spoken of as the wife of Rolfe by the letterwriters, " and the Rev. Peter Fontaine says that "when they heard thatRolfe had married Pocahontas, it was deliberated in council whether hehad not committed high treason by so doing, that is marrying an Indianprincesse. "

It was like James to think so. His interest in the colony was neverthe most intelligent, and apt to be in things trivial. Lord Southampton(Dec. 15, 1609) writes to Lord Salisbury that he had told the King ofthe Virginia squirrels brought into England, which are said to fly. TheKing very earnestly asked if none were provided for him, and said he wassure Salisbury would get him one. Would not have troubled him, "but thatyou know so well how he is affected to these toys. "

There has been recently found in the British Museum a print of aportrait of Pocahontas, with a legend round it in Latin, which istranslated: "Matoaka, alias Rebecka, Daughter of Prince Powhatan, Emperor of Virginia; converted to Christianity, married Mr. Rolff; diedon shipboard at Gravesend 1617. " This is doubtless the portrait engravedby Simon De Passe in 1616, and now inserted in the extant copies of theLondon edition of the "General Historie, " 1624. It is not probable thatthe portrait was originally published with the "General Historie. " Theportrait inserted in the edition of 1624 has this inscription:

Round the portrait:

"Matoaka als Rebecca Filia Potentiss Princ: Pohatani Imp: Virginim. "

In the oval, under the portrait:

 "Aetatis suae 21 A. 1616"Below:

"Matoaks als Rebecka daughter to the mighty Prince Powhatan Emprour ofAttanoughkomouck als virginia converted and baptized in the Christianfaith, and wife to the worth Mr. Job Rolff. I: Pass: sculp. ComptonHolland excud. "

Camden in his "History of Gravesend" says that everybody paid thisyoung lady all imaginable respect, and it was believed she would havesufficiently acknowledged those favors, had she lived to return to herown country, by bringing the Indians to a kinder disposition toward theEnglish; and that she died, "giving testimony all the time she lay sick, of her being a very good Christian. "

The Lady Rebecka, as she was called in London, died on shipboard atGravesend after a brief illness, said to be of only three days, probablyon the 21st of March, 1617. I have seen somewhere a statement, whichI cannot confirm, that her disease was smallpox. St. George's Church, where she was buried, was destroyed by fire in 1727. The register ofthat church has this record:

 "1616, May 21 Rebecca Wrothe Wyff of Thomas Wroth gent A Virginia lady borne, here was buried in ye chaunncle. "

Yet there is no doubt, according to a record in the Calendar of StatePapers, dated "1617, 29 March, London, " that her death occurred March21, 1617. 

John Rolfe was made Secretary of Virginia when Captain Argall becameGovernor, and seems to have been associated in the schemes of thatunscrupulous person and to have forfeited the good opinion of thecompany. August 23, 1618, the company wrote to Argall: "We cannotimagine why you should give us warning that Opechankano and the nativeshave given the country to Mr. Rolfe's child, and that they reserve itfrom all others till he comes of years except as we suppose as somedo here report it be a device of your own, to some special purpose foryourself. " It appears also by the minutes of the company in 1621 thatLady Delaware had trouble to recover goods of hers left in Rolfe's handsin Virginia, and desired a commission directed to Sir Thomas Wyatt andMr. George Sandys to examine what goods of the late "Lord Deleware hadcome into Rolfe's possession and get satisfaction of him. " This GeorgeSandys is the famous traveler who made a journey through the TurkishEmpire in 1610, and who wrote, while living in Virginia, the first bookwritten in the New World, the completion of his translation of Ovid's"Metamorphosis. "

John Rolfe died in Virginia in 1622, leaving a wife and children. This is supposed to be his third wife, though there is no note of hismarriage to her nor of the death of his first. October 7, 1622, hisbrother Henry Rolfe petitioned that the estate of John should beconverted to the support of his relict wife and children and to his ownindemnity for having brought up John's child by Powhatan's daughter. 

This child, named Thomas Rolfe, was given after the death of Pocahontasto the keeping of Sir Lewis Stukely of Plymouth, who fell into evilpractices, and the boy was transferred to the guardianship of his uncleHenry Rolfe, and educated in London. When he was grown up he returnedto Virginia, and was probably there married. There is on record hisapplication to the Virginia authorities in 1641 for leave to go into theIndian country and visit Cleopatra, his mother's sister. He left an onlydaughter who was married, says Stith (1753), "to Col. John Bolling; bywhom she left an only son, the late Major John Bolling, who was fatherto the present Col. John Bolling, and several daughters, married toCol. Richard Randolph, Col. John Fleming, Dr. William Gay, Mr. ThomasEldridge, and Mr. James Murray. " Campbell in his "History of Virginia"says that the first Randolph that came to the James River was anesteemed and industrious mechanic, and that one of his sons, Richard, grandfather of the celebrated John Randolph, married Jane Bolling, thegreat granddaughter of Pocahontas. 

In 1618 died the great Powhatan, full of years and satiated withfighting and the savage delights of life. He had many names and titles;his own people sometimes called him Ottaniack, sometimes Mamauatonick, and usually in his presence Wahunsenasawk. He ruled, by inheritance andconquest, with many chiefs under him, over a large territory with notdefined borders, lying on the James, the York, the Rappahannock, thePotomac, and the Pawtuxet Rivers. He had several seats, at which healternately lived with his many wives and guard of bowmen, the chief ofwhich at the arrival of the English was Werowomocomo, on the Pamunkey(York) River. His state has been sufficiently described. He is saidto have had a hundred wives, and generally a dozen--theyoungest--personally attending him. When he had a mind to add to hisharem he seems to have had the ancient oriental custom of sending intoall his dominions for the fairest maidens to be brought from whom toselect. And he gave the wives of whom he was tired to his favorites. 

Strachey makes a striking description of him as he appeared about 1610:"He is a goodly old man not yet shrincking, though well beaten with coldand stormeye winters, in which he hath been patient of many necessityesand attempts of his fortune to make his name and famely great. He issupposed to be little lesse than eighty yeares old, I dare not saye howmuch more; others saye he is of a tall stature and cleane lymbes, of asad aspect, rownd fatt visaged, with graie haires, but plaine and thin, hanging upon his broad showlders; some few haires upon his chin, and soon his upper lippe: he hath been a strong and able salvadge, synowye, vigilant, ambitious, subtile to enlarge his dominions:... Cruell he hathbeen, and quarellous as well with his own wcrowanccs for trifles, andthat to strike a terrour and awe into them of his power and condicion, as also with his neighbors in his younger days, though now delighted insecurity and pleasure, and therefore stands upon reasonable conditionsof peace with all the great and absolute werowances about him, and islikewise more quietly settled amongst his own. "

It was at this advanced age that he had the twelve favorite young wiveswhom Strachey names. All his people obeyed him with fear and adoration, presenting anything he ordered at his feet, and trembling if he frowned. His punishments were cruel; offenders were beaten to death before him, or tied to trees and dismembered joint by joint, or broiled to death onburning coals. Strachey wondered how such a barbarous prince should puton such ostentation of majesty, yet he accounted for it as belonging tothe necessary divinity that doth hedge in a king: "Such is (I believe)the impression of the divine nature, and however these (as otherheathens forsaken by the true light) have not that porcion of theknowing blessed Christian spiritt, yet I am perswaded there is aninfused kind of divinities and extraordinary (appointed that it shallbe so by the King of kings) to such as are his ymedyate instruments onearth. "

Here is perhaps as good a place as any to say a word or two about theappearance and habits of Powhatan's subjects, as they were observedby Strachey and Smith. A sort of religion they had, with priests orconjurors, and houses set apart as temples, wherein images were keptand conjurations performed, but the ceremonies seem not worship, butpropitiations against evil, and there seems to have been no conceptionof an overruling power or of an immortal life. Smith describes aceremony of sacrifice of children to their deity; but this is doubtful, although Parson Whittaker, who calls the Indians "naked slaves of thedevil, " also says they sacrificed sometimes themselves and sometimestheir own children. An image of their god which he sent to England"was painted upon one side of a toadstool, much like unto a deformedmonster. " And he adds: "Their priests, whom they call Quockosoughs, areno other but such as our English witches are. " This notion I believealso pertained among the New England colonists. There was a beliefthat the Indian conjurors had some power over the elements, but not awell-regulated power, and in time the Indians came to a belief in thebetter effect of the invocations of the whites. In "Winslow's Relation, "quoted by Alexander Young in his "Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers, "under date of July, 1623, we read that on account of a great droughta fast day was appointed. When the assembly met the sky was clear. Theexercise lasted eight or nine hours. Before they broke up, owing toprayers the weather was overcast. Next day began a long gentle rain. This the Indians seeing, admired the goodness of our God: "showing thedifference between their conjuration and our invocation in the nameof God for rain; theirs being mixed with such storms and tempests, assometimes, instead of doing them good, it layeth the corn flat on theground; but ours in so gentle and seasonable a manner, as they neverobserved the like. "

It was a common opinion of the early settlers in Virginia, as it was ofthose in New England, that the Indians were born white, but that theygot a brown or tawny color by the use of red ointments, made of earthand the juice of roots, with which they besmear themselves eitheraccording to the custom of the country or as a defense against thestinging of mosquitoes. The women are of the same hue as the men, saysStrachey; "howbeit, it is supposed neither of them naturally borne sodiscolored; for Captain Smith (lyving sometymes amongst them) affirmethhow they are from the womb indifferent white, but as the men, so doe thewomen, " "dye and disguise themselves into this tawny cowler, esteemingit the best beauty to be nearest such a kind of murrey as a soddenquince is of, " as the Greek women colored their faces and the ancientBritain women dyed themselves with red; "howbeit [Strachey slyly adds]he or she that hath obtained the perfected art in the tempering of thiscollour with any better kind of earth, yearb or root preserves it notyet so secrett and precious unto herself as doe our great ladyes theiroyle of talchum, or other painting white and red, but they frindlycommunicate the secret and teach it one another. "

Thomas Lechford in his "Plain Dealing; or Newes from New England, "London, 1642, says: "They are of complexion swarthy and tawny; theirchildren are borne white, but they bedawbe them with oyle and colorspresently. "

The men are described as tall, straight, and of comely proportions; nobeards; hair black, coarse, and thick; noses broad, flat, and full atthe end; with big lips and wide mouths', yet nothing so unsightly asthe Moors; and the women as having "handsome limbs, slender arms, prettyhands, and when they sing they have a pleasant tange in their voices. The men shaved their hair on the right side, the women acting asbarbers, and left the hair full length on the left side, with a lock anell long. " A Puritan divine--"New England's Plantation, 1630"--says ofthe Indians about him, "their hair is generally black, and cut beforelike our gentlewomen, and one lock longer than the rest, much like toour gentlemen, which fashion I think came from hence into England. "

Their love of ornaments is sufficiently illustrated by an extract fromStrachey, which is in substance what Smith writes:

"Their eares they boare with wyde holes, commonly two or three, and inthe same they doe hang chaines of stayned pearle braceletts, of whitebone or shreeds of copper, beaten thinne and bright, and wounde uphollowe, and with a grate pride, certaine fowles' legges, eagles, hawkes, turkeys, etc. , with beasts clawes, bears, arrahacounes, squirrells, etc. The clawes thrust through they let hang upon the cheeketo the full view, and some of their men there be who will weare in theseholes a small greene and yellow-couloured live snake, neere half a yardin length, which crawling and lapping himself about his neck oftentymesfamiliarly, he suffreeth to kisse his lippes. Others weare a dead ratttyed by the tayle, and such like conundrums. "

This is the earliest use I find of our word "conundrum, " and the senseit bears here may aid in discovering its origin. 

Powhatan is a very large figure in early Virginia history, and deserveshis prominence. He was an able and crafty savage, and made a good fightagainst the encroachments of the whites, but he was no match forthe crafty Smith, nor the double-dealing of the Christians. There issomething pathetic about the close of his life, his sorrow for the deathof his daughter in a strange land, when he saw his territories overrunby the invaders, from whom he only asked peace, and the poor privilegeof moving further away from them into the wilderness if they denied himpeace. 

In the midst of this savagery Pocahontas blooms like a sweet, wild rose. She was, like the Douglas, "tender and true. " Wanting apparently thecruel nature of her race generally, her heroic qualities were all of theheart. No one of all the contemporary writers has anything but gentlewords for her. Barbarous and untaught she was like her comrades, but ofa gentle nature. Stripped of all the fictions which Captain Smith haswoven into her story, and all the romantic suggestions which laterwriters have indulged in, she appears, in the light of the few factsthat industry is able to gather concerning her, as a pleasing andunrestrained Indian girl, probably not different from her savage sistersin her habits, but bright and gentle; struck with admiration at theappearance of the white men, and easily moved to pity them, and soinclined to a growing and lasting friendship for them; tractable and aptto learn refinements; accepting the new religion through love for thosewho taught it, and finally becoming in her maturity a well-balanced, sensible, dignified Christian woman. 

According to the long-accepted story of Pocahontas, she did somethingmore than interfere to save from barbarous torture and death a strangerand a captive, who had forfeited his life by shooting those whoopposed his invasion. In all times, among the most savage tribes and incivilized society, women have been moved to heavenly pity by the sightof a prisoner, and risked life to save him--the impulse was as naturalto a Highland lass as to an African maid. Pocahontas went further thanefforts to make peace between the superior race and her own. When thewhites forced the Indians to contribute from their scanty stores to thesupport of the invaders, and burned their dwellings and shot them onsight if they refused, the Indian maid sympathized with the exposedwhites and warned them of stratagems against them; captured herself by abase violation of the laws of hospitality, she was easily reconciled toher situation, adopted the habits of the foreigners, married one of hercaptors, and in peace and in war cast in her lot with the strangers. History has not preserved for us the Indian view of her conduct. 

It was no doubt fortunate for her, though perhaps not for the colony, that her romantic career ended by an early death, so that she alwaysremains in history in the bloom of youth. She did not live to be painedby the contrast, to which her eyes were opened, between her own and heradopted people, nor to learn what things could be done in the Christianname she loved, nor to see her husband in a less honorable light thanshe left him, nor to be involved in any way in the frightful massacreof 1622. If she had remained in England after the novelty was over, shemight have been subject to slights and mortifying neglect. The strugglesof the fighting colony could have brought her little but pain. Dyingwhen she did, she rounded out one of the prettiest romances of allhistory, and secured for her name the affection of a great nation, whoseempire has spared little that belonged to her childhood and race, exceptthe remembrance of her friendship for those who destroyed her people.