and the
first English jury that ever sat in America. The captain proved his
innocence and was set free. His chief accuser was condemned to pay
him a large sum of money for damages. Smith generously gave this money
to help the settlement.

As the weather was warm, the emigrants did not begin building log
cabins at once, but slept on the ground, sheltered by boughs of trees.
For a church they had an old tent, in which they met on Sunday. They
were all members of the Church of England, or the Episcopal Church,
and that tent was the first place of worship that we know of which
was opened by Englishmen in America.

When the hot weather came, many fell sick. Soon the whole settlement
was like a hospital. Sometimes three or four would die in one night.
Captain Smith, though not well himself, did everything he could for
those who needed his help.

When the sickness was over, some of the settlers were so discontented
that they determined to seize the only vessel there was at Jamestown
and go back to England. Captain Smith turned the cannon of the fort
against them. The deserters saw that if they tried to leave the harbor
he would knock their vessel to pieces, so they came back. One of the
leaders of these men was tried and shot; the other was sent to England
in disgrace.

[Footnote 2: Jury: a number of men, generally twelve, selected
according to law to try a case in a court of law; in criminal cases
they declare the person accused to be either guilty or not guilty.]

40. The Indians of Virginia.--When the Indians of America first met
the white men, they were very friendly to them; but this did not last
long, because often the whites treated the Indians very badly; in
fact, the Spaniards made slaves of them and whipped many of them to
death. But these were the Indians of the south; some of the northern
tribes were terribly fierce and a match for the Spaniards in cruelty.

The Indians at the east did not build cities, but lived in small
villages. These villages were made up of huts, covered with the bark
of trees. Such huts were called wigwams. The women did nearly all
the work, such as building the wigwams and hoeing corn and tobacco.
The men hunted and made war. Instead of guns the Indians had bows
and arrows. With these they could bring down a deer or a squirrel
quite as well as a white man could now with a rifle. They had no iron,
but made hatchets and knives out of sharp, flat stones. They never
built roads, for th