overing a northwest passage to the Orient. Even the
most enlightened nations of Europe were slow to give up the idea that a
connection by water existed through the American continent, between the
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

To return to Captain John Smith. It appears that in the course of his
explorations he was captured by Indians, and taken before Chief Powhatan
at his forest home. As Smith tells the story, the chief wore a mantle of
raccoon skins and a head-dress of eagle's feathers. The warriors, about
two hundred in number, were ranged on each side of Powhatan, and the
Indian women were assembled behind the warriors to witness the unwonted
scene. Two daughters of the chief, or, as the English called him, the
"emperor," had seats near his "throne." Smith was well received, one
woman bringing him water to wash his hands, and another a bunch of
feathers to dry them with. Then he was fed, and the council deliberated
as to his fate. They resolved that he should die. Two large stones were
placed in front of Powhatan and Smith was pinioned, dragged to the
stones, and his head placed upon them, while the warriors who were to
carry out the sentence brandished their clubs for the fatal blow. One of
the daughters of Powhatan, named Matoa, or Pocahontas, sixteen or
eighteen years old, sprang from her father's side, clasped Smith in her
arms, and laid her head upon his. Powhatan, savage as he was, and full of
anger against the English, melted at the sight. He ordered that the
prisoner should be released, and sent him with a message of friendship to
Jamestown.

Pocahontas continued to be a friend to the white man. Learning, two years
later, of an Indian plot to exterminate the intruders, she sped
stealthily from her father's home to the English settlement, warned
Captain Smith of the impending peril, and was back in Powhatan's cabin
before morning. The English were not ungrateful for her goodness, even
although it appears she was unable to prevent her father from giving
expression at times to his hatred of the colonists. On one occasion, when
the settlers were suffering from scarcity of food, and Powhatan would not
permit his people to carry corn to Jamestown, an Englishman named Samuel
Argall went on a foraging expedition near the home of Powhatan, and
enticed Pocahontas on board his vessel. He held the young woman as a
prisoner, and offered to release her for a large ransom in corn. Powhatan
refused to have anything to do w