extant, and still retaining, through all the mutations of time, the
traditional name of "Powhatan's Chimney." There is no other such chimney
in all that region, nor the remains of such a one. At the foot of the
yard, and at a short distance from the chimney, which is still in use,
being attached to a modern farm-house, is a fine spring, formerly shaded
by a venerable umbrageous red-oak, of late years blown down. In the
rivulet that steals along a ravine from the spring, Pocahontas sported
in her childhood. Her name, according to Heckwelder, signifies "a
rivulet between two hills," but this is denied by others.

In the early annals of Virginia, Werowocomoco is second only to
Jamestown in historical and romantic interest; as Jamestown was the seat
of the English settlers, so Werowocomoco was the favorite residence of
the Indian monarch Powhatan. It was here that, when Smith was about to
meet his fate,

"An angel knelt in woman's form
And breathed a prayer for him."

It was here that Powhatan was crowned by the conceited Newport; here
that supplies for the colony were frequently procured; here that
occurred so many interviews and rencontres between the red men and the
whites. Here, two centuries and a half ago, dwelt the famous old
Powhatan, tall, erect, stern, apparently beardless, his hair a little
frosted with gray. Here he beheld, with barbarous satisfaction, the
scalps of his enemies recently massacred, suspended on a line between
two trees, and waving in the breeze; here he listened to recitals of
hunting and blood, and in the red glare of the council-fire planned
schemes of perfidy and revenge; here he sate and smoked, sometimes
observing Pocahontas at play, sometimes watching the fleet canoe coming
in from the Pamaunkee. Werowocomoco was a befitting seat of the great
chief, overlooking the bay, with its bold, picturesque, wood-crowned
banks, and in view of the wide majestic flood of the river, empurpled by
transient cloud-shadows, or tinged with the rosy splendor of a summer
sunset.

FOOTNOTES:

[57:A] Stith, 65.

[58:A] Stith, 67.

[58:B] Smith, i. 147.

[60:A] Smith, i. 191.

[61:A] Stith, 82; Smith, 200.

[62:A] Smith, i. 193.

CHAPTER V.

1608-1609.

Smith visits Pamaunkee--Seizes Opechancanough--Goes back to
Werowocomoco--Procures Supplies--Returns to Jamestown--Smith's
Rencontre with Chief of Paspahegh--Fort built--"The Old Stone
House"--Colonists di