with other contemporary narratives, and I think I have
omitted the perusal of little that could throw any light upon his
life or character. For the early part of his career--before he came to
Virginia--there is absolutely no authority except Smith himself; but
when he emerges from romance into history, he can be followed and
checked by contemporary evidence. If he was always and uniformly
untrustworthy it would be less perplexing to follow him, but his
liability to tell the truth when vanity or prejudice does not interfere
is annoying to the careful student.

As far as possible I have endeavored to let the actors in these pages
tell their own story, and I have quoted freely from Capt. Smith himself,
because it is as a writer that he is to be judged no less than as an
actor. His development of the Pocahontas legend has been carefully
traced, and all the known facts about that Indian--or Indese, as some
of the old chroniclers call the female North Americans--have been
consecutively set forth in separate chapters. The book is not a history
of early Virginia, nor of the times of Smith, but merely a study of his
life and writings. If my estimate of the character of Smith is not that
which his biographers have entertained, and differs from his own candid
opinion, I can only plead that contemporary evidence and a collation of
his own stories show that he was mistaken. I am not aware that there has
been before any systematic effort to collate his different accounts
of his exploits. If he had ever undertaken the task, he might have
disturbed that serene opinion of himself which marks him as a man who
realized his own ideals.

The works used in this study are, first, the writings of Smith, which
are as follows:

"A True Relation," etc., London, 1608.

"A Map of Virginia, Description and Appendix," Oxford, 1612.

"A Description of New England," etc., London, 1616.

"New England's Trials," etc., London, 1620. Second edition, enlarged,
1622.

"The Generall Historie," etc., London, 1624. Reissued, with date of
title-page altered, in 1626, 1627, and twice in 1632.

"An Accidence: or, The Pathway to Experience," etc., London, 1626.

"A Sea Grammar," etc., London, 1627. Also editions in 1653 and 1699.

"The True Travels," etc., London, 1630.

"Advertisements for the Unexperienced Planters of New England," etc.,
London, 1631.

Other authorities are:

"The Historie of Travaile into Virginia," etc., by William Strachey,