t then, sent him with Newport
and twenty others, to explore the river to its head. On the sixth day
they passed the chief town of the Powhatans. On May 24 they reached the
head of the river, set up a cross, and proclaimed in the wilderness the
sovereignty of King James Stuart.

The thrifty eye of the Lincolnshire yeoman observed many things with
satisfaction during this march. There might not be any gold mines, but
there was unlimited timber, and the meadows would make as good pasture
for cattle as any in England. In the forests were red deer and fallow
deer, bears, otters, beavers, and foxes, besides animals unknown in
Europe. One moonlight night, while examining deer tracks near a little
stream, Smith saw humped on a fallen log above it a furry beast about
the size of a badger, with black face and paws like a bear, and a bushy
tail with crosswise rings of brown and black. This queer animal was
eating something, and dipping the food into the water before each
mouthful. When Smith described it to the Indians he could make nothing
of the name they gave it, but wrote it down as best he could--Araughcoune.
Another new kind of creature was of the size of a rabbit, grayish white,
with black ears and a tail like a rat. It would hang by its tail from a
tree, until knocked off with a stick, and then curl up with shut eyes
and pretend to be dead. It was excellent eating when roasted with wild
yams,--rather like a very small suckling pig, the colonists later
discovered. For the most part, however, Smith was inclined to think
they would have to depend upon their provisions and the corn they could
buy from the Indians.

On returning to Jamestown they found that the Indians had been raiding
the settlement, the colonists at the time being all at work and taken
completely by surprise. Seventeen men had been wounded, and a boy
killed. After this, the men were drilled each day, the guns were
unpacked and a palisade was begun.

Newport was in a hurry to return to England, and Wingfield now suggested
that Smith, who was still supposed to be under arrest, should go with
him and save any further trouble. This did not suit Smith at all. He
demanded an open trial, got it, and was triumphantly cleared of all
charges.

Of the privation, dissensions and sickness which followed Newport's
departure, the bad water, rotten food, constant trouble with savages,
and the unreasonable demands of the directors of the London Company, all
historians ha