Martial law, strictly administered at first, was gradually relaxed in application as conditions stabilized, and within a few years Dale took the step of granting 3-acre plots to private men for their enjoyment outside of the common store. This was a big step in the evolution of the private ownership of land. In the beginning, ownership was communal and company controlled. In 1609, a future division of both land and profits was anticipated, but it was about 1619 before individual grants were made. A part of this evolution was the headright system of acquisition, whereby persons were rewarded for venturing to Virginia themselves, or their capital. Dale’s grants of a semiprivate nature, about 1615, were a step in this evolution as well. The headright system which developed at Jamestown and on the banks of the James was later adapted in other colonies and continued in use for generations. Gates and Dale in their administration had the help of other enterprising and daring early Virginians. There was Capt. Samuel Argall whose later work as governor of the colony has sometimes been criticized, especially his handling of the company finances. This should not becloud his earlier helpfulness in getting Virginia established. He pioneered in making a direct crossing of the Atlantic to save time and to avoid the Spanish, who now were fearful that the Virginia enterprise might succeed and were sending spies to Virginia. (Some of these spies were captured and interned at Jamestown.) Argall led in exploration, both in Virginia waters and northward along the coastline. He was adept at shipbuilding and in the Indian trade. It was evidently he who discovered the best fishing seasons and the fact that the fish made “runs” in the bay and in the rivers. He made an open attack on the French settlements to the north in New England and Nova Scotia, returning to Jamestown with his captives. POCAHONTAS. While on a trading expedition on the Potomac, Argall captured Pocahontas and brought her as a prisoner to Jamestown in an attempt to deal with her father, Powhatan. Pocahontas was no stranger at Jamestown. She had often visited there before, once in the spring of 1608 to seek some of her countrymen held as hostages in the fort.