PROSPERITY OF THE COLONY.--The old famine troubles had now all passed. The attempt to work in common had been given up, and each man tilled his own land and had the avails. Tobacco was an article of export. The colonists raised it so eagerly that at one time even the streets of Jamestown were planted with it. Gold-hunting had ceased, and many of the former servants of the company owned plantations. Settlements lined both banks of the James for 140 miles. Best of all, young women of good character were brought over by the company. These sold readily as wives to the settlers. The price was fixed at the cost of the passage--100 pounds of tobacco--but they were in such demand that it soon went up to 150 pounds. Domestic ties were formed. The colonists, having homes, now became Virginians. All freemen had the right to vote. Religious toleration was enjoyed. Virginia became almost an independent republic. [Footnote: In the early life of this colony, particles of mica glittering in the brook were mistaken for gold dust. "There was no talk, no hope, but dig gold, wash gold, refine gold, load gold." Newport carried to England a shipload of the worthless stuff. Smith remonstrated in vain against this folly.] SLAVERY INTRODUCED.--In 1619 the captain of a Dutch trading vessel sold to the colonists twenty negroes. They were employed in cultivating tobacco. As their labor was found profitable, larger numbers were afterward imported. [Footnote: From this circumstance, small as it seemed at the time, the most momentous consequences ensued,--consequences that, long after, rent the republic with strife, and moistened its soil with blood.] INDIAN TROUBLES.--After the death of Powhatan, the firm friend of the English, the Indians formed a plan for the extermination of the colony. So secretly was this managed that on the very morning of the massacre (March 22, 1622) they visited the houses and sat at the tables of those whose murder they were plotting. At a preconcerted moment they attacked the colonists on all their widely-scattered plantations. Over three hundred men, women, and children fell in one day. Fortunately, a converted Indian had informed a friend whom he wished to save, and thus Jamestown and the settlements near by were prepared. A merciless war ensued, during which the colony was reduced from 4,000 to 2,500; but the Indians were so severely punished that they remained quiet for twenty years. Then came a fearful massacre of five hundred settlers (1644), which ended in the natives being expelled from the region. VIRGINIA A ROYAL PROVINCE.--The majority of the stockholders gladly granted to the infant colony those rights for which they were struggling at home. King James, becoming jealous of the company because of its patriotic sentiments, took away the charter (1624), and made Virginia a royal province. Henceforth the king appointed the governor and council, though the colony still retained its assembly.