AJ-082: Smith, Generall Historie of Virginia (1624) - 0346 |
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326 NARRATIVES OF EARLY
VIRGINIA [1616
bee guiltie of
that crime if I should omit any meanes to bee
thankfull.
So it is,
That some ten yeeres
agoe being in Virginia, and
taken
prisoner by the power of Powhatan their chiefe
King, I re-
ceived from this great Salvage exceeding
great courtesie,
especially from his sonne Nantaquaus,
the most manliest,
comeliest, boldest spirit, I ever saw
in a Salvage, and his sister
Pocahontas, the Kings most
deare and wel-beloved daughter,
being but a childe of
twelve or thirteene yeeres of age,2 whose
compassionate
pitifull heart, of my desperate estate, gave me
much
cause to respect her: I being the first Christian
this
proud King and his grim attendants ever saw: and
thus en-
thralled in their barbarous power, I cannot say
I felt the least
occasion of want that was in the power
of those my mortall
foes to prevent, notwithstanding al
their threats. After some
six weeks 3 fatting amongst
those Salvage Courtiers, at the
minute of my execution,
she hazarded the beating out of her
owne braines to save
mine; and not onely that, but so pre-
vailed with her
father, that I was safely conducted to James
towne: where
I found about eight and thirtie miserable poore and
sicke
creatures, to keepe possession of all those large
territories
of Virginia; such was the weaknesse of this
poore Common-
wealth, as had the Salvages not fed us, we
directly had starved.
And this
reliefe, most gracious Queene, was commonly
brought us by
this Lady Pocahontas. Notwithstanding all
these passages,
when inconstant Fortune turned our peace to
warre, this
tender Virgin would still not spare to dare to visit
us,
and by her our jarres have beene oft appeased, and
our
wants still supplyed; were it the policie of her
father thus to
imploy her, or the ordinance of God thus
to make her his
instrument, or her extraordinarie
affection to our Nation, I
I.e.,
December, 1607.
2 She was
consequently at the time of this letter (1616) twenty or
twenty-
one years old, which is confirmed by the
inscription on the engraving by
Simon de Passe, and on
the original portrait in England, XEtatis suce 21,
A°.
1616.
3 Or rather three
weeks. Smith was absent from Jamestown from De-
cember
10, 1607, to January 2, 1608.
Object Description
| Document Number | AJ-082 |
| Document URL | http://www.americanjourneys.org/aj-082/ |
| Document Title | The Generall Historie of Virginia by Captain John Smith; the Fourth Booke |
| Author | Smith, John, 1580-1631 |
| Contributor | Tyler, Lyon Gardiner, 1853-1935 (editor and introduction) |
| Document Source | Tyler, Lyon Gardiner (editor). Narrratives of Early Virginia, 1606-1625. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1907). Pages 291-407. |
| Series | Original Narratives of Early American History |
| Electronic Publisher | Wisconsin Historical Society |
| Electronic Publication Date | 2003 |
| Print / Download PDF Version | http://www.americanjourneys.org/aj-082/print/ |
| Read Background | http://www.americanjourneys.org/aj-082/summary/ |
| Genre | memoir; legal document; Indian account; letter; travel narrative; |
| Language | English |
| Region / Country | West Indies, Gulf & Caribbean; Southeast; |
| State / Province | Maryland; District of Columbia; Virginia; |
| Event Date | 1607-1624 |
| Expedition / Settlement | Jamestown Settlement, 1607-1625 |
| Ethnicity | English; Indian; African; Spanish; French; |
| Indian Tribe | Powhatan Including Pocahontas; Potomac; Pamunkey; |
| Key Persons & Places | Jamestown Virginia; Pocahontas; Opechancanough; John Rolfe; Captain John Smith; |
| Social Relations | Indian-white relations; women’s roles; white attitudes; crime; |
| Daily Life | education; |
| Politics | governance & laws; warfare & battles; resistance & revolt; piracy; colonization; diplomacy & treaties; military; slavery; |
| Economics | famine; land ownership; agriculture; banks & finance; taxes & tributes; |
| Digital Format | xml |
| Digital Identifier | AJ-082 |
| Copyright & Access | © Copyright 2003 by the Wisconsin Historical Society (Madison, Wisconsin). For further information see http://www.americanjourneys.org/rights/ |
Description
| Document Number | AJ-082 |
| Document URL | http://www.americanjourneys.org/aj-082/ |
| Document Title | The Generall Historie of Virginia by Captain John Smith; the Fourth Booke |
| Author | Smith, John, 1580-1631 |
| Contributor | Tyler, Lyon Gardiner, 1853-1935 (editor and introduction) |
| Document Page | 326 |
| Document Source | Tyler, Lyon Gardiner (editor). Narrratives of Early Virginia, 1606-1625. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1907). Pages 291-407. |
| Series | Original Narratives of Early American History |
| Electronic Publisher | Wisconsin Historical Society |
| Electronic Publication Date | 2003 |
| Print / Download PDF Version | http://www.americanjourneys.org/aj-082/print/ |
| Read Background | http://www.americanjourneys.org/aj-082/summary/ |
| Genre | memoir; |
| Page Type | text |
| Language | English |
| Region / Country | Southeast; |
| State / Province | Virginia; |
| Event Date | 1607; 1616 |
| Expedition / Settlement | Jamestown Settlement, 1607-1625 |
| Ethnicity | Indian; |
| Indian Tribe | Powhatan Including Pocahontas; |
| Key Persons & Places | Pocahontas |
| Social Relations | women’s roles; |
| Digital Format | jpeg |
| Digital Identifier | AJ-082-0346 |
| Copyright & Access | © Copyright 2003 by the Wisconsin Historical Society (Madison, Wisconsin). For further information see http://www.americanjourneys.org/rights/ |
| Full Text |
326 NARRATIVES OF EARLY VIRGINIA [1616 bee guiltie of that crime if I should omit any meanes to bee thankfull. So it is, That some ten yeeres agoe being in Virginia, and taken prisoner by the power of Powhatan their chiefe King, I re- ceived from this great Salvage exceeding great courtesie, especially from his sonne Nantaquaus, the most manliest, comeliest, boldest spirit, I ever saw in a Salvage, and his sister Pocahontas, the Kings most deare and wel-beloved daughter, being but a childe of twelve or thirteene yeeres of age,2 whose compassionate pitifull heart, of my desperate estate, gave me much cause to respect her: I being the first Christian this proud King and his grim attendants ever saw: and thus en- thralled in their barbarous power, I cannot say I felt the least occasion of want that was in the power of those my mortall foes to prevent, notwithstanding al their threats. After some six weeks 3 fatting amongst those Salvage Courtiers, at the minute of my execution, she hazarded the beating out of her owne braines to save mine; and not onely that, but so pre- vailed with her father, that I was safely conducted to James towne: where I found about eight and thirtie miserable poore and sicke creatures, to keepe possession of all those large territories of Virginia; such was the weaknesse of this poore Common- wealth, as had the Salvages not fed us, we directly had starved. And this reliefe, most gracious Queene, was commonly brought us by this Lady Pocahontas. Notwithstanding all these passages, when inconstant Fortune turned our peace to warre, this tender Virgin would still not spare to dare to visit us, and by her our jarres have beene oft appeased, and our wants still supplyed; were it the policie of her father thus to imploy her, or the ordinance of God thus to make her his instrument, or her extraordinarie affection to our Nation, I I.e., December, 1607. 2 She was consequently at the time of this letter (1616) twenty or twenty- one years old, which is confirmed by the inscription on the engraving by Simon de Passe, and on the original portrait in England, XEtatis suce 21, A°. 1616. 3 Or rather three weeks. Smith was absent from Jamestown from De- cember 10, 1607, to January 2, 1608. |