is epistle was kindness to Pocahontas. The sentence that
refers to her heroic act is this: "After some six weeks [he was absent
only four weeks] fatting amongst those Salvage Countries, at the minute
of my execution she hazarded the beating out of her own braines to save
mine, and not only that, but so prevailed with her father [of whom
he says, in a previous paragraph, 'I received from this great Salvage
exceeding great courtesie'], that I was safely conducted to Jamestown."

This guarded allusion to the rescue stood for all known account of it,
except a brief reference to it in his "New England's Trials" of 1622,
until the appearance of Smith's "General Historie" in London, 1624. In
the first edition of "New England's Trials," 1620, there is no reference
to it. In the enlarged edition of 1622, Smith gives a new version to his
capture, as resulting from "the folly of them that fled," and says: "God
made Pocahontas, the King's daughter the means to deliver me."

The "General Historie" was compiled--as was the custom in making up such
books at the time from a great variety of sources. Such parts of it as
are not written by Smith--and these constitute a considerable portion of
the history--bear marks here and there of his touch. It begins with his
description of Virginia, which appeared in the Oxford tract of 1612;
following this are the several narratives by his comrades, which formed
the appendix of that tract. The one that concerns us here is that
already quoted, signed Thomas Studley. It is reproduced here as "written
by Thomas Studley, the first Cape Merchant in Virginia, Robert Fenton,
Edward Harrington, and I. S." [John Smith]. It is, however, considerably
extended, and into it is interjected a detailed account of the captivity
and the story of the stones, the clubs, and the saved brains.

It is worthy of special note that the "True Relation" is not
incorporated in the "General Historie." This is the more remarkable
because it was an original statement, written when the occurrences it
describes were fresh, and is much more in detail regarding many things
that happened during the period it covered than the narratives that
Smith uses in the "General Historie." It was his habit to use over
and over again his own publications. Was this discarded because it
contradicted the Pocahontas story--because that story could not be
fitted into it as it could be into the Studley relation?

It should be added, also, that Purchas