It was necessary to follow for a time the fortune of the Virginiacolony after the departure of Captain Smith. Of its disasters andspeedy decline there is no more doubt than there is of the opinion ofSmith that these were owing to his absence. The savages1, we read inhis narration2, no sooner knew he was gone than they all revolted andspoiled and murdered all they encountered.
The day before Captain Smith sailed, Captain Davis arrived in a smallpinnace with sixteen men. These, with a company from the fort underCaptain Ratcliffe, were sent down to Point Comfort. Captain West andCaptain Martin, having lost their boats and half their men among thesavages at the Falls, returned to Jamestown. The colony now livedupon what Smith had provided, "and now they had presidents with alltheir appurtenances. President Percy was so sick he could neither gonor stand. Provisions getting short, West and Ratcliffe went abroadto trade, and Ratcliffe and twenty-eight of his men were slain3 by anambush of Powhatan's, as before related in the narrative4 of HenrySpelman. Powhatan cut off their boats, and refused to trade, so thatCaptain West set sail for England. What ensued cannot be morevividly told than in the "General Historie":
"Now we all found the losse of Capt. Smith, yea his greatestmaligners could now curse his losse; as for corne provision andcontribution from the salvages5, we had nothing but mortall wounds,with clubs and arrowes; as for our hogs7, hens, goats, sheep, horse,or what lived, our commanders, officers and salvages daily consumedthem, some small proportions sometimes we tasted, till all wasdevoured; then swords, arms, pieces or anything was traded with thesalvages, whose cruell fingers were so oft imbrued in our blouds,that what by their crueltie, our Governor's indiscretion, and thelosse of our ships, of five hundred within six months after Capt.
Smith's departure, there remained not past sixty men, women andchildren, most miserable9 and poore creatures; and those werepreserved for the most part, by roots, herbes, acorns10, walnuts,berries, now and then a little fish; they that had starch11 in theseextremities made no small use of it, yea, even the very skinnes ofour horses. Nay12, so great was our famine, that a salvage6 we slew13 andburied, the poorer sort took him up again and eat him, and so diddivers one another boyled, and stewed14 with roots and herbs. And oneamongst the rest did kill his wife, poudered her and had eaten partof her before it was knowne, for which he was executed, as he welldeserved; now whether she was better roasted, boyled, or carbonaded,I know not, but of such a dish as powdered wife I never heard of.
This was that time, which still to this day we called the starvingtime; it were too vile15 to say and scarce to be believed what weendured; but the occasion was our owne, for want of providence,industrie and government, and not the barreness and defect of thecountry as is generally supposed."This playful allusion16 to powdered wife, and speculation17 as to how shewas best cooked, is the first instance we have been able to find ofwhat is called "American humor," and Captain Smith has the honor ofbeing the first of the "American humorists" who have handled subjectsof this kind with such pleasing gayety.
It is to be noticed that this horrible story of cannibalism18 and wife-eating appears in Smith's "General Historie" of 1624, without a wordof contradiction or explanation, although the company as early as1610 had taken pains to get at the facts, and Smith must have seentheir "Declaration," which supposes the story was started by enemiesof the colony. Some reported they saw it, some that Captain Smithsaid so, and some that one Beadle, the lieutenant19 of Captain Davis,did relate it. In "A True Declaration of the State of the Colonie inVirginia," published by the advice and direction of the Council ofVirginia, London, 1610, we read:
"But to clear all doubt, Sir Thomas Yates thus relateth the tragedie:
"There was one of the company who mortally hated his wife, andtherefore secretly killed her, then cut her in pieces and hid her indivers parts of his house: when the woman was missing, the mansuspected, his house searched, and parts of her mangled20 body werediscovered, to excuse himself he said that his wife died, that he hidher to satisfie his hunger, and that he fed daily upon her. Uponthis his house was again searched, when they found a good quantitieof meale, oatmeale, beanes and pease. Hee therefore was arraigned,confessed the murder, and was burned for his horrible villainy."This same "True Declaration," which singularly enough does notmention the name of Captain Smith, who was so prominent an actor inVirginia during the period to which it relates, confirms all thatSmith said as to the character of the colonists21, especially the newsupply which landed in the eight vessels22 with Ratcliffe and Archer23.
"Every man overvalueing his own strength would be a commander; everyman underprizing another's value, denied to be commanded." They werenegligent and improvident24. "Every man sharked for his presentbootie, but was altogether careless of succeeding penurie." Toidleness and faction25 was joined treason. About thirty "unhallowedcreatures," in the winter of 1610, some five months before thearrival of Captain Gates, seized upon the ship Swallow, which hadbeen prepared to trade with the Indians, and having obtained cornconspired together and made a league to become pirates, dreaming ofmountains of gold and happy robberies. By this desertion theyweakened the colony, which waited for their return with theprovisions, and they made implacable enemies of the Indians by theirviolence. "These are that scum of men," which, after roving the seasand failing in their piracy26, joined themselves to other pirates theyfound on the sea, or returned to England, bound by a mutual27 oath todiscredit the land, and swore they were drawn28 away by famine. "Theseare they that roared at the tragicall historie of the man eating uphis dead wife in Virginia"--"scandalous reports of a viperousgeneration."If further evidence were wanting, we have it in "The New Life ofVirginia," published by authority of the Council, London, 1612. Thisis the second part of the "Nova Britannia," published in London,1609. Both are prefaced by an epistle to Sir Thomas Smith, one ofthe Council and treasurer29, signed "R. I." Neither document containsany allusion to Captain John Smith, or the part he played inVirginia. The "New Life of Virginia," after speaking of the tempestwhich drove Sir Thomas Gates on Bermuda, and the landing of the eightships at Jamestown, says: "By which means the body of the plantationwas now augmented30 with such numbers of irregular persons that it soonbecame as so many members without a head, who as they were bad andevil affected31 for the most part before they went hence; so now beinglanded and wanting restraint, they displayed their condition in allkinds of looseness, those chief and wisest guides among them (whereofthere were not many) did nothing but bitterly contend who should befirst to command the rest, the common sort, as is ever seen in suchcases grew factious32 and disordered out of measure, in so much as thepoor colony seemed (like the Colledge of English fugitives33 in Rome)as a hostile camp within itself; in which distemper that envious34 manstept in, sowing plentiful35 tares36 in the hearts of all, which grew tosuch speedy confusion, that in few months ambition, sloth37 andidleness had devoured8 the fruit of former labours, planting andsowing were clean given over, the houses decayed, the church fell toruin, the store was spent, the cattle consumed, our people starved,and the Indians by wrongs and injuries made our enemies.... As forthose wicked Impes that put themselves a shipboard, not knowingotherwise how to live in England; or those ungratious sons that dailyvexed their fathers hearts at home, and were therefore thrust uponthe voyage, which either writing thence, or being returned back tocover their own leudnes, do fill mens ears with false reports oftheir miserable and perilous38 life in Virginia, let the imputation39 ofmisery be to their idleness, and the blood that was spilt upon theirown heads that caused it."Sir Thomas Gates affirmed that after his first coming there he hadseen some of them eat their fish raw rather than go a stone's cast tofetch wood and dress it.
The colony was in such extremity40 in May, 1610, that it would havebeen extinct in ten days but for the arrival of Sir Thomas Gates andSir George Somers and Captain Newport from the Bermudas. Thesegallant gentlemen, with one hundred and fifty souls, had been wreckedon the Bermudas in the Sea Venture in the preceding July. Theterrors of the hurricane which dispersed41 the fleet, and thisshipwreck, were much dwelt upon by the writers of the time, and theBermudas became a sort of enchanted42 islands, or realms of theimagination. For three nights, and three days that were as black asthe nights, the water logged Sea Venture was scarcely kept afloat bybailing. We have a vivid picture of the stanch43 Somers sitting uponthe poop of the ship, where he sat three days and three nightstogether, without much meat and little or no sleep, conning44 the shipto keep her as upright as he could, until he happily descried45 land.
The ship went ashore46 and was wedged into the rocks so fast that itheld together till all were got ashore, and a good part of the goodsand provisions, and the tackling and iron of the ship necessary forthe building and furnishing of a new ship.
This good fortune and the subsequent prosperous life on the islandand final deliverance was due to the noble Somers, or Sommers, afterwhom the Bermudas were long called "Sommers Isles47," which wasgradually corrupted48 into "The Summer Isles." These islands ofBermuda had ever been accounted an enchanted pile of rocks and adesert inhabitation for devils, which the navigator and marineravoided as Scylla and Charybdis, or the devil himself. But thisshipwrecked company found it the most delightful49 country in theworld, the climate was enchanting50, delicious fruits abounded51, thewaters swarmed52 with fish, some of them big enough to nearly drag thefishers into the sea, while whales could be heard spouting53 and nosingabout the rocks at night; birds fat and tame and willing to be eatencovered all the bushes, and such droves of wild hogs covered theisland that the slaughter54 of them for months seemed not to diminishtheir number. The friendly disposition55 of the birds seemed most toimpress the writer of the "True Declaration of Virginia." Heremembers how the ravens56 fed Elias in the brook57 Cedron; "so Godprovided for our disconsolate58 people in the midst of the sea byfoules; but with an admirable difference; unto Elias the ravensbrought meat, unto our men the foules brought (themselves) for meate:
for when they whistled, or made any strange noyse, the foules wouldcome and sit on their shoulders, they would suffer themselves to betaken and weighed by our men, who would make choice of the fairestand fattest and let flie the leane and lightest, an accident [thechronicler exclaims], I take it [and everybody will take it], thatcannot be paralleled by any Historie, except when God sent abundanceof Quayles to feed his Israel in the barren wilderness59."The rescued voyagers built themselves comfortable houses on theisland, and dwelt there nine months in good health and plentifullyfed. Sunday was carefully observed, with sermons by Mr. Buck60, thechaplain, an Oxford61 man, who was assisted in the services by StephenHopkins, one of the Puritans who were in the company. A marriage wascelebrated between Thomas Powell, the cook of Sir George Somers, andElizabeth Persons, the servant of Mrs. Horlow. Two children werealso born, a boy who was christened Bermudas and a girl Bermuda. Thegirl was the child of Mr. John Rolfe and wife, the Rolfe who wasshortly afterward62 to become famous by another marriage. In orderthat nothing should be wanting to the ordinary course of a civilizedcommunity, a murder was committed. In the company were two Indians,Machumps and Namontack, whose acquaintance we have before made,returning from England, whither they had been sent by Captain Smith.
Falling out about something, Machumps slew Namontack, and having madea hole to bury him, because it was too short he cut off his legs andlaid them by him. This proceeding63 Machumps concealed64 till he was inVirginia.
Somers and Gates were busy building two cedar65 ships, the Deliverer,of eighty tons, and a pinnace called the Patience. When these werecompleted, the whole company, except two scamps who remained behindand had adventures enough for a three-volume novel, embarked66, and onthe 16th of May sailed for Jamestown, where they arrived on the 23dor 24th, and found the colony in the pitiable condition beforedescribed. A few famished67 settlers watched their coming. The churchbell was rung in the shaky edifice68, and the emaciated69 colonistsassembled and heard the "zealous70 and sorrowful prayer" of ChaplainBuck. The commission of Sir Thomas Gates was read, and Mr. Percyretired from the governorship.
The town was empty and unfurnished, and seemed like the ruin of someancient fortification rather than the habitation of living men. Thepalisades were down; the ports open; the gates unhinged; the churchruined and unfrequented; the houses empty, torn to pieces or burnt;the people not able to step into the woods to gather fire-wood; andthe Indians killing71 as fast without as famine and pestilence72 within.
William Strachey was among the new-comers, and this is the story thathe despatched as Lord Delaware's report to England in July. Ontaking stock of provisions there was found only scant73 rations74 forsixteen days, and Gates and Somers determined75 to abandon theplantation, and, taking all on board their own ships, to make theirway to Newfoundland, in the hope of falling in with English vessels.
Accordingly, on the 7th of June they got on board and dropped downthe James.
Meantime the news of the disasters to the colony, and the supposedloss of the Sea Venture, had created a great excitement in London,and a panic and stoppage of subscriptions76 in the company. LordDelaware, a man of the highest reputation for courage and principle,determined to go himself, as Captain-General, to Virginia, in thehope of saving the fortunes of the colony. With three ships and onehundred and fifty persons, mostly artificers, he embarked on the 1stof April, 1610, and reached the Chesapeake Bay on the 5th of June,just in time to meet the forlorn company of Gates and Somers puttingout to sea.
They turned back and ascended77 to Jamestown, when landing on Sunday,the 10th, after a sermon by Mr. Buck, the commission of Lord Delawarewas read, and Gates turned over his authority to the new Governor.
He swore in as Council, Sir Thomas Gates, Lieutenant-General; SirGeorge Somers, Admiral; Captain George Percy; Sir Ferdinando Wenman,Marshal; Captain Christopher Newport, and William Strachey, Esq.,Secretary and Recorder.
On the 19th of June the brave old sailor, Sir George Somers,volunteered to return to the Bermudas in his pinnace to procure78 hogsand other supplies for the colony. He was accompanied by CaptainArgall in the ship Discovery. After a rough voyage this noble oldknight reached the Bermudas. But his strength was not equal to thememorable courage of his mind. At a place called Saint George hedied, and his men, confounded at the death of him who was the life ofthem all, embalmed79 his body and set sail for England. CaptainArgall, after parting with his consort80, without reaching theBermudas, and much beating about the coast, was compelled to returnto Jamestown.
Captain Gates was sent to England with despatches and to procure moresettlers and more supplies. Lord Delaware remained with the colonyless than a year; his health failing, he went in pursuit of it, inMarch, 1611, to the West Indies. In June of that year Gates sailedagain, with six vessels, three hundred men, one hundred cows, besidesother cattle, and provisions of all sorts. With him went his wife,who died on the passage, and his daughters. His expedition reachedthe James in August. The colony now numbered seven hundred persons.
Gates seated himself at Hampton, a "delicate and necessary site for acity."Percy commanded at Jamestown, and Sir Thomas Dale went up the riverto lay the foundations of Henrico.
We have no occasion to follow further the fortunes of the Virginiacolony, except to relate the story of Pocahontas under her differentnames of Amonate, Matoaka, Mrs. Rolfe, and Lady Rebecca.
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savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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narration
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| n.讲述，叙述；故事；记叙体 | |
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slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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salvages
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| 海上营救( salvage的名词复数 )； 抢救出的财产； 救援费； 经加工后重新利用的废物 | |
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salvage
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| v.救助，营救，援救；n.救助，营救 | |
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hogs
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| n.（尤指喂肥供食用的）猪( hog的名词复数 )；（供食用的）阉公猪；彻底地做某事；自私的或贪婪的人 | |
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devoured
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| 吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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acorns
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| n.橡子，栎实( acorn的名词复数 ) | |
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starch
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| n.淀粉；vt.给...上浆 | |
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nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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slew
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| v.（使）旋转；n.大量，许多 | |
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stewed
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| adj.焦虑不安的，烂醉的v.炖( stew的过去式和过去分词 )；煨；思考；担忧 | |
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vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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allusion
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| n.暗示，间接提示 | |
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speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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cannibalism
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| n.同类相食；吃人肉 | |
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lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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mangled
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| vt.乱砍（mangle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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colonists
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| n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 ) | |
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vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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archer
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| n.射手，弓箭手 | |
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improvident
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| adj.不顾将来的，不节俭的，无远见的 | |
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faction
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| n.宗派，小集团；派别；派系斗争 | |
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piracy
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| n.海盗行为，剽窃，著作权侵害 | |
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mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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treasurer
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| n.司库，财务主管 | |
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Augmented
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| adj.增音的 动词augment的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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factious
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| adj.好搞宗派活动的，派系的，好争论的 | |
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fugitives
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| n.亡命者，逃命者( fugitive的名词复数 ) | |
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envious
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| adj.嫉妒的，羡慕的 | |
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plentiful
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| adj.富裕的，丰富的 | |
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tares
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| 荑；稂莠；稗 | |
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sloth
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| n.[动]树懒；懒惰，懒散 | |
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perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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imputation
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| n.归罪，责难 | |
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extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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dispersed
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| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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enchanted
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| adj. 被施魔法的，陶醉的，入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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stanch
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| v.止住（血等）；adj.坚固的；坚定的 | |
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conning
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| v.诈骗，哄骗( con的现在分词 )；指挥操舵( conn的现在分词 ) | |
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descried
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| adj.被注意到的，被发现的，被看到的 | |
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ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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isles
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| 岛( isle的名词复数 ) | |
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corrupted
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| （使）败坏( corrupt的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）腐化； 引起（计算机文件等的）错误； 破坏 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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enchanting
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| a.讨人喜欢的 | |
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abounded
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| v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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swarmed
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| 密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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spouting
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| n.水落管系统v.（指液体）喷出( spout的现在分词 )；滔滔不绝地讲；喋喋不休地说；喷水 | |
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slaughter
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| n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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ravens
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| n.低质煤；渡鸦( raven的名词复数 ) | |
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brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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disconsolate
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| adj.忧郁的，不快的 | |
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wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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buck
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| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
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Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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cedar
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| n.雪松，香柏(木) | |
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embarked
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| 乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事 | |
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famished
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| adj.饥饿的 | |
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edifice
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| n.宏伟的建筑物(如宫殿，教室) | |
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emaciated
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| adj.衰弱的，消瘦的 | |
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zealous
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| adj.狂热的，热心的 | |
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killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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pestilence
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| n.瘟疫 | |
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scant
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| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
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rations
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| 定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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subscriptions
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| n.（报刊等的）订阅费( subscription的名词复数 )；捐款；（俱乐部的）会员费；捐助 | |
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ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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procure
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| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
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embalmed
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| adj.用防腐药物保存（尸体）的v.保存（尸体）不腐( embalm的过去式和过去分词 )；使不被遗忘；使充满香气 | |
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consort
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| v.相伴；结交 | |
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