was, however, to be a yearly levy of "two barrels and a halfe of corne"
and, except for clothing, a loss of right to draw on the Company store.
This greatly advanced individual responsibility and was a big step
toward the evolution of private property. In the beginning all ownership
was Company controlled. The reason for this is evident. The colonists
could not provide food and other necessaries all at once in a wilderness
infested by savages. A storehouse, or as it was termed, "a magazine,"
was provided in which all supplies were placed, and to which all
products obtained from the land were brought. This was a safety measure,
both for the Company, which had expended much for supplies, and for the
settlers. This plan has been misunderstood frequently by writers. It did
have its disadvantages. In time, with growth, and increased production,
the system passed away. The general division of land, promised in 1609,
was not to come until 1619. Dale took an interim step that had far
reaching importance in establishing permanency and stability.

Gates and Dale in their administration had the help of other
enterprising and daring early Virginians such as Samuel Argall, John
Rolfe, the Reverend Alexander Whitaker, Ralph Hamor and others. In the
case of Captain Samuel Argall, criticism of his later work as governor
often beclouds his earlier helpfulness in getting Virginia established.
He pioneered in making a direct crossing of the Atlantic to save time
and to avoid the Spanish. Argall led in exploration, both in Virginia
waters and northward along the coastline. He was adept at shipbuilding
and in the Indian trade. It was evidently he who discovered the best
fishing seasons and the fact that the fish made "runs" in the bay and in
the rivers. He made open attack on the French settlements to the north
in New England and Nova Scotia, returning to Jamestown with his
captives. There is little wonder that a contemporary wrote, "Captain
Argal whose indevores in this action intitled him most worthy."

It was Argall, too, who, while on a trading expedition on the Potomac,
captured Pocahontas and brought her prisoner to Jamestown in an attempt
to deal with her father, Powhatan. She was well received at Jamestown,
where earlier she had often visited, and when her father refused to pay
the price asked for her ransom, she was detained. Later, she preferred
life with the English and did not wish to return to her native village.
She was place