Powhatan; A Metrical Romance, in Seven CantosSmith, Seba
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Powhatan; A Metrical Romance, in Seven Cantos
Smith, Seba
Indians of North America -- Poetry; Powhatan, approximately 1550-1618 -- Poetry; Virginia -- Poetry
“By the terms in which she wrote to her brother, he suspected her
design, and resolved to disappoint her. Within an hour after Smith’s
arrival he was stripped, his head and beard were shaven, an iron collar
was put about his neck, he was clothed with a coat of hair-cloth, and
driven to labor among the Christian slaves.
“He had now no hope of redemption, but from the love of his mistress,
who was at a great distance, and not likely to be informed of his
misfortunes. The hopeless condition of his fellow slaves could not
alleviate his despondency.
“In the depth of his distress an opportunity presented for an escape,
which to a person of less courageous and adventurous spirit would have
been an aggravation of misery. He was employed in threshing at a grange
in a large field, about a league from the house of his tyrant; who in
his daily visits treated him with abusive language, accompanied with
blows and kicks.
“This was more than Smith could bear; wherefore watching an opportunity,
when no other person was present, he levelled a stroke at him with his
threshing instrument, which dispatched him.
“Then hiding his body in the straw, and shutting the door, he filled a
bag with grain, mounted the bashaw’s horse, and betaking himself to the
desert, wandered for two or three days, ignorant of the way, and so
fortunate as not to meet with a single person, who might give
information of his flight.
“At length he came to a post, erected in a cross road, by the marks on
which he found the way to Muscovy, and in sixteen days he arrived at
Exapolis, on the river Don; where was a Russian garrison, the commander
of which, understanding that he was a Christian, received him
courteously, took off his iron collar, and gave him letters to the other
governors in that region.
“Thus he travelled through part of Russia and Poland, till he got back
to his friends in Transylvania; receiving presents in his way from many
persons of distinction, among whom he particularly mentions a charitable
lady, Callamata, being always proud of his connection with that sex, and
fond of acknowledging their favors. At Leipsic he met with his colonel,
Count Meldrich, and Sigismund, prince of Transylvania, who gave him one
thousand five hundred ducats to repair his losses.
“With this money he was enabled to travel through Germany, France, and
Spain, and having visited the kingdom of Morocco, he returned by sea to
England; having in his passage enjoyed the pleasure of another naval
engagement.
“At his arrival in his native country, he had a thousand ducats in his
purse, which, with the interest he had remaining in England, he devoted
to seek adventures and make discoveries in North America.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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