of a priest. There is but one mode of cure for all disorders. The sick man descends into a heated cave, or sweating-room; from whence, after having evacuated much of the morbid matter through the pores, the patient is dragged to the river and plunged over head and ears. Should the case be desperate, a Powaw or Priest is summoned, who roars and howls till the patient either recovers, or his pulse ceases to beat.

They cross rivers in canoes, which are constructed sometimes of trees, which they burn and hew, till they have hollowed them; and sometimes of bark, which they can carry over-land. It will be readily credited that their astonisment was very great on first beholding a fhip. They were, says a pious colonist, scared out of their wits, to see the monster come sailing into their barbour, and spitting fire with a mighty noise out of her floating side.

The men in domestic life are exceedingly slothful. The women perform all the household drudgery; they build the wigwams, and beat the corn. The active employment of the men are war and hunting.

The division of their time is by sleeps, moons, and winters. Indeed, by lodging abroad, they have become familiar with the motions of the stars; and it is remarkable that they have called Charles Wain, Paukunnawaw, or the Bear; the name by which it is also known to the astronomers of Europe.

Of the first settlers in Virginia, the most distinguished character was Captain Smith, a man who seemed to inherit every quality of a hero ; a man of such bravery and conduct, that his actions would confer dignity on the page of the historian. With the life of this gallant colonist, the reader is admitted to so much knowledge of Indian manners, that this appears a very proper place to take a view of his adventures. But I have yet a stronger motive. With the history of Captain Smith is interwoven the story of Pocahontas, whose soft simplicity and innocence cannot but hold captive every mind; and this part of my volume, many of my fair readers will, I am persuaded, hug with the tenderest emotion to their bosoms.

It was on the 26th of April, 1606, that the ship in which Captain Smith had embarked, came within sight of the American coast; and it had by accident got into the mouth of that bay, which is now so well known by the name of Chesapeak.

This bay is the largest in the world. The distance between its Capes is about twelve miles, but it widens, when entered, till it becomes thirty miles in breadth; when it diminishes again to its head, and is generally from fifteen to five miles over. It is five miles broad at its extremity, where the Elk and Susquehannah fall into it; and here its length from the sea is three hundred miles, through the whole of which vast extent the tide ebbs and flows.

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This mighty bay receives the streams of four large rivers from the west, all of which are navigable, and have their source in the same moun

tains.

Of these the southernmost is James river, called Powhatan by the natives; the next York river, named by the Indians Pamunkey; the third the Rappahanock, which preserves its aboriginal title ; and the northernmost the Potomac, which also flows under its first name through countries of

vast extent.

The land which the colonists had come within sight of, was uncommonly low. It appeared at a distance like the tops of trees emerging above the water; and as the ship approached the coast, there was not the smallest acclivity visible; the prospect never rising above the height of the pines that everlastingly covered the soil.

Of the promontories of the bay, they named the southernmost Cape Henry, and the northernmost Cape Charles, in compliment to the sons of their reigning Monarch; and, having got their ship into a harbour, they chose for the place of their settlement a peninsula on the north side of the river Powhatan, to which they very consistently gave the name of James-town.

It is only in active life that men can estimate their qualities, for it is impossible to answer for that courage which has never encountered danger, or that fortitude which has never had any evils to support. The situation of the Colonists was

now the touchstone of their moral character, for they were encompassed on every side with imminent calamities. A scanty supply of provisions, and the uncertainty of recruiting them, in a country where every imagination was filled with the barbarity of the natives, disquieted the breasts of those whose nerves: were not firm.

( In this situation of affairs, there was wanting a support for the infant colony, and Captain Smith was elected Ruler by unanimous consent. The conduct of Smith justified the wisdom of their choice. By his judgment, courage, and industry, he saved the new establishment; for by his judgment he discovered and defeated the schemes devised by the Indians for its destruction; by his courage he became their terror; and by descending to manual labour, his example produced a spirit of patient toil among his compa

nions.

One of the tributary streams to the river Powbatan, is that of Chickahominy, which descended about four miles above the infant settlement. It was an object with the Colony to discover its source; but the dread of an ambush from the Indians deterred the majority from the undertaking. Smith, ever delighting in enterprise, gallantly undertook himself to discover the head of the river; having found six others who were willing to become the partners of his danger. Having with much labour cleared a passage for his barge, by felling the trees on the borders of the

river, he reached a broad bay, the middle of which was beyond the reach of an arrow from either side. Here he moored the barge, and accompanied by two of his men, Robinson and Emry, proceeded up the river in a canoe; strictly enjoining the people left in the barge not to land on any condition. But no sooner had Smith departed, than the crew gratified the impulse they felt to land; and were received by a discharge of arrows from an ambush of Indians under the command of Opechancanough, a subtle and savage barbarian, who had vigilantly watched their motions. Each man now sought safety in flying to the water side, and swimming off to the boat; but one George Cassen, who could not swim, was overtaken by the Indians, who having extorted from him the way his Captain was gone, scalped him upon the spot, and then went in pursuit of Smith.

Captain Smith had gone about twenty miles up the river, and had discovered its source amongst swamps and marshes. Here he left the canoe to the care of Robinson and Emry, and penetrated the woods with his gun, in search of provisions. In the mean time Opechancanough was not backward in the pursuit. He traced the course which Smith had taken, and came upon the canoe, in which he found the two men, overcome with fatigue, fast asleep in the boat. These they dispatched with their war-clubs, and scalping them in haste, prosecuted their search after Smith. It was not long before the gallant adventurer found