In the early years of Berkeley's administration the colony experienced another horrible Indian massacre. As in 1622 the blow came without warning. The cruel and barbarous war that followed the first massacre had long since come to an end and for many years there had been peace between the two races. It is true that the friendly relations that resulted from the marriage of Rolfe and Pocahontas had not been restored, that the Indians were not allowed to frequent the English settlements, that no weapons were sold them, but the peace was fairly well observed and there was no reason to suspect the savages of treachery. The plot originated in the brain of Opechancanough. This remarkable savage was long supposed to have been the brother of Powhatan, but newly discovered evidence tends to show that this was not the case. It is known that he belonged to a foreign tribe that came from the far southwest. Having, it is supposed, been defeated in a battle with the Spaniards, he had led his people to Virginia and united them with the tribes under the command of Powhatan. This tremendous march must have consumed many months, and have been beset with countless dangers, but Opechancanough overcame them, and "conquered all along from Mexico" to Virginia.[329] He was now an extremely aged man. Being unable to walk he was carried from place to place upon a litter. His eyelids were so heavy that he could not of his own volition move them, and attendants stood always ready to raise them whenever it became necessary for him to see.[330] But his mind was clear, his force of will unshaken, and the Indians paid him the reverent obedience that his able leadership demanded. Opechancanough planned the massacre for April 18th, 1644, and it was carried out upon that date with the utmost ferocity.[331] The slaughter was even greater than in 1622, and no less than five hundred Christians are said to have been destroyed.[332] But this calamity fell almost entirely upon the frontier counties at the heads of the great rivers, and upon the plantations on the south side of the James. The savages could not penetrate to the older and more populous communities of the lower peninsula. For this reason the disaster, horrible as it was, did not overwhelm the entire colony and threaten its destruction as had the massacre of 1622.