ompany were opened, and it was found
that the directors had appointed a council of seven to govern the colony
and choose a president for a year. The colonists were charged to search
for gold and pearls and for a passage to the East Indies. Nothing more
original in the way of a colonial enterprise had occurred to the
directors. Success in these undertakings meant immediate profits with
which the new Company could compete with Bristol, Antwerp, and the
Muscovy Company's rich fur trade.

In the list of names for the council appeared that of Captain John
Smith, which was somewhat embarrassing, since a scandalous tale had been
set going during the voyage, that he intended to lead a mutiny and make
himself governor of the colony. This was so far believed that he was
kept a prisoner through the last part of the voyage. The other
councilors, Newport, Gosnold, Wingfield, Ratcliffe, Martin and Kendall,
held their election without him and chose Wingfield president.

Next day the carpenters began work on the shallop, which had been
shipped in sections, and Wingfield ordered Smith inland with a party of
armed men, to explore. They saw no Indians, but found a fire where
oysters were still roasting, and made a good meal off them, though some
of the luscious shellfish were so large that they had to be cut in
pieces before they were eaten. Coasting along the bay they discovered a
river, which was explored when the shallop was launched. Upon this river
they saw an Indian canoe forty feet long, made of the trunk of a tree
hollowed out, Indian fashion, with hot stones and shell gouges. They
found also oysters in abundance and in some of them fresh-water pearls.
After spending seventeen days in examining the country, they chose for
their settlement a peninsula on the north side of the river called the
Powhatans by the Indians, from the tribe living on its banks. This site
was about forty miles from the sea, and here, on May 13, they moored
their ships to trees in six fathom of water and named the place
Jamestown, and the river the King's River.

Thus far the Indians had been friendly, and Wingfield would not have any
fortifications built, or any military drill, for fear of arousing their
anger. Captain Kendall, despite orders, constructed a crescent-shaped
line of fence of untrimmed boughs, but most of the weapons remained in
packing-cases on board ship. Wingfield, who regarded Smith as a rather
dangerously outspoken man to have about jus