ey had no wagons, and at the east they did not
use horses; but they could find their way with ease through the
thickest forest. When they came to a river they swam across it, so
they had no need of bridges. For boats they made canoes of birch bark.
These canoes were almost as light as paper, yet they were very strong
and handsome, and they

"floated on the river
Like a yellow leaf in autumn,
Like a yellow water-lily."[3]

In them they could go hundreds of miles quickly and silently. So every
river and stream became a roadway to the Indian.

[Illustration: BUILDING A WIGWAM.]

[Footnote 3: Longfellow's _Hiawatha_ (Hiawatha's Sailing).]

41. Captain Smith goes in search of the Pacific; he is captured by
Indians.--After that first long, hot summer was over, some of the
settlers wished to explore the country and see if they could not find
a short way through to the Pacific Ocean. Captain Smith led the
expedition. The Indians attacked them, killed three of the men, and
took the captain prisoner. To amuse the Indians, Smith showed them
his pocket compass. When the savages saw that the needle always
pointed toward the north they were greatly astonished, and instead
of killing their prisoner they decided to take him to their chief.
This chief was named Powhatan.[4] He was a tall, grim-looking old
man, and he hated the settlers at Jamestown, because he believed that
they had come to steal the land from the Indians.

[Illustration: POCKET COMPASS.]

[Footnote 4: Powhatan (Pow-ha-tan').]

42. Smith's life is saved by Pocahontas;[5] her marriage to John
Rolfe.[6]--Smith was dragged into the chief's wigwam; his head was
laid on a large, flat stone, and a tall savage with a big club stood
ready to dash out his brains. Just as Powhatan was about to cry
"strike!" his daughter Pocahontas, a girl of twelve or thirteen, ran
up, and, putting her arms round the prisoner's head, she laid her
own head on his--now let the Indian with his uplifted club strike
if he dare.[7]

Instead of being angry with his daughter, Powhatan promised her that
he would spare Smith's life. When an Indian made such a promise as
that he kept it, so the captain knew that his head was safe. Powhatan
released his prisoner and soon sent him back to Jamestown, and
Pocahontas, followed by a number of Indians, carried to the settlers
presents of corn and venison.

Some years after this the Indian maiden married John Rolfe, an
Englishman who ha