dignity and splendor worthy the monarch of thirty nations. He was constantly attended by a guard of forty warriors, and during the night a sentry regularly watched his palace. Though unlimited by custom in the number of his wives, his seraglio exhibited the apathy of the Indian character. When he slept, one of his women sat at his head and another at his feet. When he dined, they attended him with water, or brought him a bunch of feathers to wipe his hands. His regalia, free from the glitter of art, showed only the simple royalty of the savage. He wore a robe composed of skins, and sat on a throne spread with mats and decked with pearls and with beads. The furniture of his palace, like the qualities of his mind, was adapted to war, and the implements of death rather than of pleasure garnished his halls. The small number of the natives compared with their extent of territory, may to some be a matter of wonder. It is, however, a circumstance inseparable from savage life, where the checks to population are numerous and powerful. Amongst uncivilized nations the means of subsistence are often precarious and always scanty. The labors and hardships of the women, and the constant and destructive wars of the men, equally tend to retard the progress of population.

When the first settlement of Europeans was made in Virginia, it is probable the whole number of Indians did not amount to twenty thousand. The wants and even the superfluities of civilized life tend equally to condense and increase the mass of society. Arts and manufactories, trade and commerce, strengthen its bonds and promote its population. But to savages who support themselves by hunting, whose places of abode are the forest and the wilderness, the multiplication of their species is rather an inconvenience than a blessing, as it lessens the public stock and divides the means of subsistence.

The Indians of Virginia were generally well formed, and something above the European stature. Smith, in his History of Virginia, represents some of the tribes, particularly the Susquehannocks, as approaching to the gigantic. He describes one of their chiefs, the calf of whose leg, he says, measured three-quarters of a yard in circumference. Their complexion in infancy is white, but in riper age it becomes a copper brown. Their hair is straight, long, and dark. In their moral disposition they are generally cunning and deceitful, and always revengeful and cruel. Such was the state and character of the people whom the English found scattered over the wilds and forests of America.

The colony left at Roanoke made some attempts to explore the interior of the country. They penetrated on the north as far as the Chesapeake nation of Indians, who were situated on what is now called Elizabeth river, and to Secotan, on the south. Towards the northwest they discovered the Chowhanocks, who dwelt about the junction of the Meherrin and Nottoway rivers. The chief of this tribe amused the English with an account of a copper mine and pearl fishery, and a marvellous description of the source of the Roanoke, which he said gushed from a rock on the borders of a great ocean. The credulous adventurers supposing this to be the South Sea, hoped

soon to find a short route to South America. With a view also of finding rich mines they ascended the river in their boats until want of provisions compelled them to return. About this time they met with a real loss in the death of Granganameo, whose friendship to the English had been constant and sincere.

Many of the Indian chiefs, who had heard of the arrival of the English, began to testify their friendship by presents and by visiting the colony, accompanied by numbers of their subjects. The king of the island, however, whose name was Wingina, did not imitate the example of Granganameo, and other friendly natives. When the English arrived in his country he was confined by wounds which he had received in battle. He had no sooner recovered than he began to plot the ruin of the invaders. For this purpose he issued secret orders to his warriors to assemble and attack the colony. The plot, fortunately for the English, was discovered, and Wingina and a number of his men were drawn into ambush and slain.

During this year, (1585,) Sir Francis Drake, who had been cruising in the West Indies, against the Spaniards, visited the infant colony in Virginia, and supplied them with such articles as their wants required. He gave them a ship, also, to enable them, in case their situation made it necessary, to return to England. Before he left the coast of Virginia, there happened a violent storm, which drove their vessel from its anchorage, and so alarmed the colonists that they determined to abandon their settlement. They sailed with Drake for England, where they arrived in July, 1586.

A FEW days after the departure of Lane and his companions, for England, Sir Richard Grenville arrived with three ships, and provisions for the colony. Finding none of the colonists, they suspected that they had been exterminated by the Indians. Their fears were removed by the information of Manteo, from whom they learned that their countrymen had returned to England, with Sir Francis Drake. Sir Richard Grenville concluded to leave fifty men at Roanoke, and, having supplied them with provisions for two years, he returned to England.

The following year, John White, with three ships, sailed for Virginia. He was appointed Governor of the colony, with the assistance of twelve counsellors. On their arrival at Cape Hatteras, they despatched a party in search of the fifty men left at Roanoke, by Grenville. They found their houses abandoned, their fort destroyed, and no sign of recent habitation, except the bones of a man on the place where the fort had stood. Twenty men under the guidance of

Manteo were then sent to Croatan, to gain, if possible, some information respecting the colony. They there understood, that in a quarrel betwixt Wingina's people and the English, one of the latter had been slain, and that they had soon after abandoned the settlement.

On the 13th of August, Manteo underwent the ceremony of baptism; and, for his friendship to the English, was honored with the title of Lord of Dessamonpeake. White soon afterwards returned to England, leaving one hundred persons on one of the islands adjacent to Hatteras.

In the year 1589, Sir Walter Raleigh assigned to Thomas Smith and others his patent, with a donation of one hundred pounds for the propagation of Christianity in Virginia. The projects of Raleigh for the discovery and settlement of Virginia had been attended with much expense and many disappointments. To the enterprise of this illustrious, but unfortunate nobleman, however, we may be proud to trace our origin. Sir Walter Raleigh was equally distinguished as a soldier, a statesman, and a scholar. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth he was among the first courtiers in the kingdom, no less honored for his talents than beloved for his virtues and admired for his accomplishments. He early excited the enmity of the Spanish Court by his active enterprises against that nation, both in Europe and America. On the accession of James I, he lost his interest at Court, and was tried and condemned for a conspiracy against the king. He was, however, reprieved, and was employed afterwards in the public service of his monarch. The sentence of death was still suspended over his head, and was at last executed, to appease the wrath of his enemies. He suffered in the sixty-sixth year of his age. His talents and his virtues merited a better fate, and his name, however it may have been traduced by his enemies, deserves a place amongst those whose actions have been the theme of other nations, and whose misfortunes have been the disgrace of their own.

John White again sailed for Virginia, in the year 1590, with three ships supplied with provisions for the colony. They came to anchor on the 15th of August, and the first object of their search was the men that had been left on the island near Hatteras. They fired a cannon to announce their arrival, and although they discovered smoke at the place where the colony had been left, they found no person.— Observing on a post the word Croatan, in large letters, they weighed anchor for that place, but meeting with disastrous fortune, they changed their course and steered for the West Indies, neglecting the welfare of the colony to preserve their own.

A succession of unfortunate voyages began to damp the spirit of discovery, which was not again revived until the year 1606.

Bartholomew Gosnold, an enterprising navigator, obtained letters patent from James the First, who succeeded Elizabeth on the throne of England, by which that tract of country, from thirty-four to fortyfive degrees of north latitude, was divided into southern and northern colonies of Virginia, and persons appointed as a council for both divisions. About this time the celebrated adventurer, John Smith, arrived

in London, decked with the laurels of military adventure and heroic achievement. To him Gosnold made known his projects, and engaged him to enter into the spirit of the enterprise. As Smith is to

conspicuous part in the colonial history of Virginia, it may be amusing to the reader to have a sketch of his life previous to his adventures in America. He was born at Willoughby, in England, in the year 1579. He early discovered a romantic turn of mind, which, at the age of fifteen, he endeavored to gratify by embarking for France in the train of a young nobleman. After visiting Paris, he travelled into the low countries, where he learned the art of war. At the age of seventeen, he entered into the train of a Frenchman, who persuaded him to accompany him to France. They arrived at St. Valory during the night, where, with the connivance of the master of the vessel, the trunks of Smith were carried on shore and plundered by the Frenchman, who made his escape before the landing of our adventurer. When Smith came on shore, he found himself deprived of his baggage, and deserted by his companion. He afterwards embarked at Marseilles for Italy, in company with a number of pilgrims. On their passage there arose a violent storm, which the pilgrims imputed to their having a heretic on board. They were at length induced, by their superstitious fears, to throw Smith into the sea, in order to calm its waves. He swam to land, which, fortunately, was at no great distance, and was next day taken on board a ship which was going to Egypt. After coasting the Levant, he was at length set on shore with a box of one thousand chequins, which enabled him to pursue his travels. His roving disposition carried him into Stiria, where he was introduced to Lord Eberspaught and Baron Kizel.The emperor being then at war with the Turks, Smith entered his army as a volunteer. When Eberspaught was besieged in Olimpack by the Turkish army, and cut off from all means of intelligence, he obtained relief by means of a telegraph constructed by Smith. Information was given of their design to attack the Turks on the east quarter, and advising Eberspaught at what time to make a sally. The Turks were defeated, and the enterprise of Smith was rewarded with the command of a troop of horse.

At the siege of Rigal, the Ottomans sent a challenge to the Transylvanian army, announcing the offer of the Lord Turbisha to fight any captain of the Christian troops. Thirty of the bravest captains being selected, they chose by lot one of that number to fight the Turkish hero. The lot fell upon Smith, who cheerfully accepted the challenge. He met his antagonist on horseback, and soon bore away his head in the presence of both armies. He immediately received and accepted a challenge from another Turkish lord, who shared the fate of the former.

Smith, in his turn, sent an offer to the enemy, which was accepted by Bonamalgro. This Turk unhorsed Smith, and had nearly gained the victory; but fortune at length declared for the English captain, and enabled him to add to the glory of his former victories the head of Bonamalgro. For these exploits he was honored with a grand

military procession, in which three Turks' heads, borne on the points of lances, graced their march. In addition to these honors, Lis general, the Lord Moyzes, presented him with a horse richly caparisoned, a sword and belt worth three hundred ducats, and a commission of major in his regiment.

Some time after this the Transylvanian army was defeated, and Smith being wounded in the battle, lay among the slain. He was taken prisoner by the enemy, and after being cured of his wounds he was sold to the bashaw Bogul, who sent him as a present to his mistress, Tragabigzanda, at Constantinople. This lady became captivated with the fine appearance and heroic character of her prisoner, but fearing he might be ill-treated by Bogul on his return, she sent him for safety to her brother, the bashaw of Nailbraitz, on the borders of the sea of Asoph. This transfer proved a very unfortunate one for our adventurer, who exchanged the amatory smiles of his mistress for the oppressive commands of an unfeeling master. Within an hour after his arrival he was dressed in hair-cloth, and sent, with his head shaved and an iron collar about his neck, to work among the slaves of the bashaw. In this hopeless situation, his services were rewarded only by severe blows and repeated indignities, to which his proud spirit could not long submit. One day, while he was threshing in the field, his master began to beat him in his usual rigorous and brutal manner. Smith, unable to bear the treatment of his tyrant any longer, raised his flail and beat out his brains; then, hiding his body in the straw, he filled a bag with grain, and set off on his master's horse, through the inhospitable deserts of Russia. After travelling through the wilds for sixteen days, he at length arrived at a Russian garrison on the river Don, where he was kindly received.— He afterwards visited France, Spain, Germany, and Morocco, and returned at last to England. Such is the history of the man whom Gosnold engaged to accompany him to America. His adventures in the western world remain yet to be told. They will be equally amusing to the reader, and as they more directly belong to our subject, they shall be more minutely related, as they occur in the course of our history.

CHAPTER IV.

On the 19th of December, 1606, Gosnold sailed from Blackwall with two ships, under the command of Captain Christopher Newport. In this voyage, Captain Smith, whose active mind had already excited the envy of the other adventurers, was arrested on a charge of aiming at usurping the power vested in the council, and kept in confinement during the rest of the voyage. On the 26th of April,