The writer of Newport's “Relatyon” describes the Virginia savages as a
very strong and lusty race, and swift warriors. “Their skin is tawny;
not so borne, but with dyeing and painting themselves, in which they
delight greatly.” That the Indians were born white was, as we shall see
hereafter, a common belief among the first settlers in Virginia and New
England. Percy notes a distinction between maids and married women: “The
maids shave close the fore part and sides of their heads, and leave it
long behind, where it is tied up and hangs down to the hips. The married
women wear their hair all of a length, but tied behind as that of maids
is. And the women scratch on their bodies and limbs, with a sharp iron,
pictures of fowls, fish, and beasts, and rub into the 'drawings' lively
colors which dry into the flesh and are permanent.” The “Relatyon” says
the people are witty and ingenious and allows them many good qualities,
but makes this exception: “The people steal anything comes near them;
yea, are so practiced in this art, that looking in our face, they would
with their foot, between their toes, convey a chisel, knife, percer, or
any indifferent light thing, which having once conveyed, they hold it
an injury to take the same from them. They are naturally given to
treachery; howbeit we could not find it in our travel up the river, but
rather a most kind and loving people.”
VI. QUARRELS AND HARDSHIPS
On Sunday, June 21st, they took the communion lovingly together. That
evening Captain Newport gave a farewell supper on board his vessel. The
22d he sailed in the Susan Constant for England, carrying specimens of
the woods and minerals, and made the short passage of five weeks. Dudley
Carleton, in a letter to John Chamberlain dated Aug. 18, 1607, writes
“that Captain Newport has arrived without gold or silver, and that the
adventurers, cumbered by the presence of the natives, have fortified
themselves at a place called Jamestown.” The colony left numbered one
hundred and four.
The good harmony of the colony did not last. There were other reasons
why the settlement was unprosperous. The supply of wholesome provisions
was inadequate. The situation of the town near the Chickahominy swamps
was not conducive to health, and although Powhatan had sent to make
peace with them, and they also made a league of amity with the chiefs
Paspahegh and Tapahanagh, they evidently had little freedom of movement
beyond sight of their guns. Percy says they were very bare and scant of
victuals, and in wars and dangers with the savages.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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