Richard of Jamestown : a Story of the Virginia Colony

by James Otis

  Good Master Hunt lost all his books, in fact, everything he owned savethe clothes upon his back, and yet never once did I, who was with himvery much, for he came to live at our house while the village was beingrebuilt, hear him utter one word of complaint, or of sorrow.

  GOLD SEEKERS

  It was while all the people, gentlemen as well as laborers, were doingtheir best to repair the loss, and to put Jamestown into such shapethat we might be able to withstand an attack from the savages, if so bethey made one, that even a worse misfortune than the fire came upon us.

  Some of those whom Captain Newport had lately brought to Virginia, whileroaming along the shores of the river in order to learn what this newland was like, came upon a spot where the waters had washed the earthaway for a distance of five or six feet, leaving exposed to view a vastamount of sand, so yellow and so heavy that straightway the foolish onesbelieved they were come upon that gold which our people had been seekingalmost from the very day we first landed.

  From this moment there was no talk of anything save the wealth whichwould come to us and the London Company.

  Even Captain Newport was persuaded that this sand was gold, andstraightway nearly every person in the village was hard at work diggingand carrying it in baskets on board the John and Francis as carefully asif each grain counted for a guinea.

  Of all the people of Jamestown, Captain Smith and Master Hunt were theonly ones who refused to believe the golden dream. They held themselvesaloof from this mad race to gather up the yellow sand, and stroveearnestly to persuade the others that it would be a simple matter toprove by fire whether this supposed treasure were metal.

  In the center of the village, where all might see him, Master Hunt seta pannikin, in which was a pint or more of the sand, over a roaring firewhich he kept burning not less than two hours.

  When he was done, the sand remained the same as before, which, so he andmy master claimed, was good proof that our people of Jamestown were, intruth, making fools of themselves, as they had many a time before sincewe came into this land of Virginia.

  A WORTHLESS CARGO

  When we should have been striving to build up the town once more, wespent all our time loading the ship with this worthless cargo, andindeed I felt the better in my mind when finally Captain Newport setsail, the John and Francis loaded deeply with sand, because of believingthat we were come to an end of hearing about treasure which lay at handready for whosoever would carry it away.

  In this, however, I was disappointed. Although there was no longer anyreason for our people to labor at what was called the gold mine, sincethere was no ship at hand in which to put the sand, they still talked,hour by hour, of the day when all the men in Virginia would go back toEngland richer than kings.

  Because of such thoughts was it well nigh impossible to force them tolabor once more. Yet Captain Smith and Master Hunt did all they could,even going so far as to threaten bodily harm if the people did notrebuild the storehouse, plant such seed as had been saved from theflames, and replace those portions of the palisade which had beenburned.

  It was while our people were thus working half heartedly, that CaptainNelson arrived in the ship Phoenix, having been so long delayed on thevoyage, because of tempests and contrary winds, that his passengers andcrew had eaten nearly all the stores which the London Company sent overfor our benefit, and bringing seventy more mouths to be fed.

  Save that she brought to us skilled workmen, the coming of the Phoenixdid not advantage us greatly, while there were added to our number,seventy men, and of oatmeal, pickled beef and pork, as much as wouldserve for, perhaps, three or four weeks.

  Through her, however, as Master Hunt said in my hearing, came somelittle good, for on seeing the yellow sand, Captain Nelson declaredwithout a question that it was worthless, and, being accustomed toworking in metal, speedily proved to our people who were yet sufferingwith the gold fever, that there was nothing whatsoever of value in it.

  THE CONDITION OF THE COLONY

  That he might have something to carry back to England, and not beingminded to take on board a load of sand, Captain Nelson asked that thePhoenix be laden with cedar logs and such clapboards as our people hadmade. Therefore was it that we sent to England the first cargo of valuesince having come to Virginia.

  Among those who had come over in the Phoenix were workmen who understoodthe making of turpentine, tar and soap ashes. There was also a pipemaker, a gunsmith, and a number of other skilled workmen, so that hadthe Council advanced the interest of the colony one half as much as mymaster was doing, all would have gone well with us in Jamestown.

  As it was, however, the President of the Council, so Master Hunt hasdeclared many times, and of a verity he would not bear false witness,often countenanced the men in rebellion against my master's orders,until, but for the preacher's example, we might never have put into theearth our first seed.

  Because of lack of food, and it seems strange to say so when there wereof oysters near at hand more than a thousand men could have eaten, andfish in the rivers without number, Captain Smith set off once more inthe pinnace to trade with the Indians, as well as to explore further thebay and the river.

  Master Hunt lived in our house, while he was gone, therefore Nathanieland I were not idle, and though we had each had a dozen pair of hands,we could have kept them properly employed, what with making a garden forour own use, tending the plants, and keeping house.

  TOBACCO

  Just here I am minded to set down that which the girl Pocahontas toldus concerning the raising of tobacco, and it is well she spent the timeneeded to instruct us, for since then I have seen the people in this newworld of Virginia getting more money from the tobacco plant, than theycould have gained even though Captain Newport's yellow sand had beenveritable gold.

  You must know that the seed of tobacco is even smaller than grains ofpowder, and the Indians usually plant it in April. Within a month itsprings up, each tiny plant having two or four leaves, and one monthlater it is transplanted in little hillocks, set about the same distanceapart as are our hills of Indian corn.

  Two or three times during the season the plants have to be hoed andweeded, while the sickly leaves, which peep out from the body of thestock, must be plucked off.

  If the plant grows too fast, which is to say, if it is like to getits full size before harvest time, the tops are cut to make it morebackward.

  About the middle of September it is reaped, stripped of its leaves, andtied in small bunches; these are hung under a shelter so that the dewmay not come to them, until they are cured the same as hay.

  Having thus been dried, and there must be no suspicion of moistureabout, else they will mold, the whole is packed into hogsheads.

  I have lived to see the days go by since the girl Pocahontas showedNathaniel and me how to cultivate the weed, until the greatest wealthwhich Virginia can produce comes from this same tobacco, which, MasterHunt says, not only induces filthiness in those who use it, but worksgrievous injury to the body.

  CAPTAIN NEWPORT'S RETURN

  When Captain Newport came back to Virginia, at about the time we weregathering our scanty harvest, his dreams of sudden wealth, through thedigging of gold in Virginia, had burst as does a bubble when one pricksit.

  He had not been more than four and twenty hours in England beforelearning that his ship was laden only with valueless sand, and, mayhap,if the London Company had not demanded that he return to Virginia atonce, with certain orders concerning us at Jamestown, he might have beentoo much ashamed to show his face among us again.

  My master had come in long since from trading with the Indians, havinghad fairly good success at times, and again failing utterly to gatherfood. The king Powhatan was grown so lofty in his bearing, because ofthe honor some of our foolish people had shown him, that it was wellnigh impossible to pay the price he asked, even in trinkets, for sosmall an amount as a single peck of corn.

  However, that which Powhatan did or did not do, concerned me very littlewhen
Captain Newport had arrived, for he brought with him such tidingsas made my heart rejoice, and caused Master Hunt to say that now indeedwould our village of Jamestown grow as it should have grown had ourleaders shown themselves of half as much spirit as had my master.

  But for the greater things which followed Captain Newport's arrival inSeptember of the year 1608, I would have set it down as of the utmostimportance to us in Jamestown, that he brought with him the first twowomen, other than the girl Pocahontas, who had ever come into our town.

  These were Mistress Forest, and her maid, Anne Burras, and if the kinghimself had so far done us the honor as to come, his arrival would havecaused no greater excitement.

  Every man and boy in the settlement pressed forward eager even to touchthe garments of these two women as they came ashore in the ship's smallboat, and I dare venture to say that we stared at them, Nathaniel and Iamong the number, even as the savages stared at us when first we landed.

  It would have been more to my satisfaction had there been two maids,instead of only one and her mistress, for it was more than likelyservants could tell Nathaniel and me many things about our care of thehouse, which a great lady would not well know. Therefore, as I viewedthe matter, we could well spare fine women, so that we had maids whowould understand of what we as houseboys stood mostly in need.

  However, it was not with these women, who were only two among seventy,that had come with Captain Newport on this his third voyage, that Iwas most deeply concerned, and how I learned that which pleased me sogreatly shall be set down exactly as it happened.

  MASTER HUNT BRINGS GREAT NEWS

  I had been down at the landing place, feasting my eyes upon the shipwhich had so lately come from the country I might never see again, andwas trying to cheer myself by working around the house in the hope ofpleasing Captain Smith, when Master Hunt came in with a look upon hisface such as I had not seen since the sickness first came among us, and,without thinking to be rude, I asked him if it was the arrival of thewomen which pleased him so greatly.

  "It is nothing of such fanciful nature, Richard Mutton," the good manreplied with a smile, "though I must confess that it is pleasing to seewomen with white faces, when our eyes have beheld none save bearded menfor so long a time. What think you has been done in the Council thisday, since Captain Newport had speech with President Ratcliffe?"

  Verily I could not so much as guess what might have happened, for thoseworshipful gentlemen were prone at times to behave more like foolishchildren, than men upon whom the fate of a new country depended, and Isaid to Master Hunt much of the same purport.

  "They have elected your master, Captain John Smith, President of theCouncil, Richard Mutton, and now for the first time will matters inJamestown progress as they should."

  "My master President of the Council at last!" I cried, and the goodpreacher added:

  "So it is, lad, as I know full well, having just come from there."

  "But how did they chance suddenly to gather their wits?" I cried with alaugh, in which Master Hunt joined.

  "It was done after Captain Newport had speech with Master Ratcliffe,and while I know nothing for a certainty, there is in my mind a strongbelief that he brought word from the London Company for such an electionto be made. At all events, it is done, and now we shall see Jamestownincrease in size, even as she would have done from the first month welanded here had Captain John Smith been at the head of affairs."

  The good preacher was so delighted with this change in the governmentthat he unfolded all his budget of news, forgetting for the time being,most like, that he was not speaking to his equal, and thus it wasI learned what were Captain Newport's instructions from the LondonCompany.

  CAPTAIN NEWPORT'S INSTRUCTIONS

  He was ordered, if you please, not to return to England without bringingback a lump of gold, exploring the passageway to the South Sea, orfinding some of Sir Walter Raleigh's lost colony, of which I will tellyou later.

  But whether he did the one or the other, he had been commanded to crownas a king, Powhatan, and had brought with him mock jewels and red robesfor such a purpose.

  To find a lump of gold, after he had brought to England a shipload ofyellow sand!

  To crown Powhatan king, when, to our sorrow, he was already showinghimself far more of a king than was pleasing or well for our town ofJames!

  Forgetting I was but a lad, and had no right to put blame on theshoulders of my leaders and betters, or even to address Master Huntas if I were a man grown, I cried out against the foolishness of thosepeople in London for whom we were striving to build up a city, sayingvery much that had better been left unsaid, until the good preachercried with a laugh:

  "We can forgive them almost anything, Dicky Mutton, since they have madeour Captain Smith the head of the government in this land of Virginia."

  And now I will tell you, as Master Hunt told me, the story of thislost colony of Roanoke, which the London Company had commanded CaptainNewport to find.

  You must know that English people had lived in this land of Virginiabefore we came here in 1606, and while it does not concern us ofJamestown, except as we are interested in knowing the fate of ourcountrymen, it should be set down, lest we so far forget as to say thatthose of us who have built this village are the first settlers in theland.

  THE STORY OF ROANOKE

  Twenty-one years before we sailed from London, Sir Walter Raleigh sentout a fleet of seven ships, carrying one hundred and seven persons, toVirginia, and Master Ralph Lane was named as the governor. They landedon Roanoke Island; but because the Indians threatened them, and becausejust at that time when they were most frightened, Sir Francis Drake cameby with his fleet, they all went home, not daring to stay any longer.

  Two years after that, which is to say nineteen years before we ofJamestown came here, Sir Walter Raleigh sent over one hundred andsixteen people, among whom were men, women and children, and they alsobegan to build a town on Roanoke Island.

  John White was their governor, and very shortly after they came toRoanoke, his daughter, Mistress Ananias Dare, had a little baby girl,the first white child to be born in the new world, so they named herVirginia.

  Now these people, like ourselves, were soon sorely in need of food, andthey coaxed Governor John White to go back to England, to get what wouldbe needed until they could gather a harvest.

  At the time he arrived at London, England was at war with the Spanishpeople, and it was two years before he found a chance to get back. Whenhe finally arrived at Roanoke Island, there were no signs of any of hispeople to be found, except that on the tree was cut the word "Croatan,"which is the name of an Indian village on the island nearby.

  That was the last ever heard of all those hundred and sixteen people.Five different times Sir Walter Raleigh sent out men for the missingones; but no traces could be found, not even at Croatan, and no oneknows whether they were killed by the Indians, or wandered off into thewilderness where they were lost forever.

  You can see by the story, that the London Company had set for CaptainNewport a very great task when they commanded him to do what so manypeople had failed in before him.

  And now out of that story of the lost colony, as Master Hunt toldNathaniel and me, grows another which also concerns us in this new landof Virginia.

  You will remember I have said that Master Ralph Lane was the governor ofthe first company of people who went to Roanoke Island, and, afterward,getting discouraged, returned to England. Now this Master Lane, and theother men who were with him, learned from the Indians to smoke the weedcalled tobacco, and carried quite a large amount of it home with them.

  Not only Sir Walter Raleigh, who knew Master Lane very well, but manyother people in England also learned to smoke, and therefore it was thatwhen we of Jamestown began to raise tobacco, it found a more ready salein London than any other thing we could send over. Once this was known,our people gave the greater portion of their time to cultivating theIndian weed.

  THE CROWNING OF POWHATAN


  Very nearly the first thing which my master did after having been madePresident of the Council, was to obey the orders of the London Company,by going with Captain Newport to Powhatan's village in order to crownhim like a king.

  This was not at all to the pleasure of the savage, who failed ofunderstanding what my master and Captain Newport meant, when they wantedhim to kneel down so they might put the crown upon his head. If all thestories which I have heard regarding the matter are true, they must havehad quite a scrimmage before succeeding in getting him into what theybelieved was a proper position to receive the gifts of the LondonCompany.

  Our people, so Master Hunt told me, were obliged to take him by theshoulders and force him to his knees, after which they clapped the crownon his head, and threw the red robe around his shoulders in a mightyhurry lest he show fight and overcome them.

  It was some time before Captain Smith could make him understand thatit was a great honor which was being done him, but when he did get itthrough his head, he took off his old moccasins and brought from the huthis raccoon skin coat, with orders that my master and Captain Newportsend them all to King James in London, as a present from the greatPowhatan of Virginia.

  After this had been done, Captain Newport sailed up the James River insearch of the passage to the South Sea, and my master set about puttingJamestown into proper order.

  PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE

  Once more Captain Smith made the rule that those who would not workshould not eat, and this time, with all the Council at his back,together with such men as Captain Newport had just brought with him, youcan well fancy his orders were obeyed.