Pocahontas english original

On an April day in 1613, Pocahontas walked the narrow plank leading onto the ship Treasurer, anchored in the Potomac River. She was accompanied by a Potowomeke chief, Jopassus, and his wife.

For more than three years, her father, King Powhatan, had forbidden her to have anything to do with the English settlers, and he'd sent her away from Jamestown to the far reaches of his domain. But she liked the English settlers and welcomed this chance to visit with Captain Samuel Argall and other Englishmen on board the ship, which had sailed up Potomac River from Jamestown.

After the group had dinner, Jopassus and his wife took Pocahontas to the gunners' room of the ship, told her to wait a few minutes, and left her. Instead of returning, they disembarked with the copper kettle they'd been paid for luring her onto the vessel.

Time passed, and Pocahontas realized her companions were not coming back. Then the ship began to move. She was a prisoner.

Argall sailed with his hostage back to Jamestown, where Pocahontas was welcomed by settlers who had known her earlier and who appreciated all she had done to save the colony of Virginia. The colony's governor, Sir Thomas Gates, sent word to Chief Powhatan that he held Pocahontas. She would be reunited with her father when the chieftain returned the Englishmen he'd captured, along with tools and other goods stolen from Jamestown. He must also make permanent peace with the English, cease warring against neighboring tribes, and furnish the settlers with corn if he wanted his daughter back.

Powhatan returned seven captured English settlers and sent the colony one canoe of corn, saying he'd send more after the fall harvest. He continued fighting against other tribes, however, and attacked the outlying areas of the Virginia settlement. He made no further efforts to ransom his daughter.

Pocahontas was sent to live near Henrico, Virginia. Reverend Alexander Whitaker and the women parishioners of his church took charge of her, teaching her the English language and English ways. Pocahontas would eventually bring about peace between the colonists and Indians, but in an unexpected war.

The famous Indian maiden was born at the chief settlement of the Powhatan tribe, Werowocomoco, in 1596 or 1597. She was named Matoaka, which meant "Little Snow Feather.' Pocahontas, her nickname, has been translated by the English as "Bright Stream between Two Hills" and by the Powhatans as "Little Wanton.'

Pocahontas's father had become chieftain in 1570 and had taken the tribe's name, Powhatan, as his own name. The Powhatans were part of the Algonquian nation. Ruthless and fierce, Powhatans conquered neighboring tribes, slaughtering the men and taking women and children captive. The tribe practiced torture and dismemberment of their enemies. Coming from this savage background, it is amazing that Pocahontas was able to become friends with the English and convert to their ways.

Chief Powhatan, an absolute dictator, had many wives, each of whom usually bore him only one child. Nothing is known of Pocahontas's mother. Powhatan may have given or sold her to another warrior, even to another tribe. She may have died in childbirth. Pocahontas, born when Powhatan was about fifty, was her father's favorite daughter.

Pocahontas was eleven or twelve when the first three shiploads of white settlers arrived at Jamestown, but this was not the first European incursion into Powhatan's territory. In 1560 the Spanish had captured a young Powhatan and taken him to Spain, where they'd educated and baptized him, calling him Don Luis. In 1570 they returned to the Chesapeake Bay area to set up a mission. Once back among the Powhatan, Don Luis reverted to his Native American ways and murdered the members of the expedition. The Spanish retaliated by hanging some innocent tribe members.

In 1585 the governor of Roanoke Island burned several villages in the southern part of Powhatan's domain. In 1604, just three years before Jamestown was established, a group of white men attempted to kidnap several Powhatan youths to sell as slaves in the Caribbean. When Powhatan warriors fought back, the whites shot and killed a number of them.

Thus, Powhatan and his people had good reason to mistrust the newly arrived English.

Pocahontas undoubtedly watched as the white-skinned people began building a fort, a storehouse, and a crude church. The settlers were shorter than Powhatan men, and by the native's standards, strangely dressed. While most Englishmen had beards, long hair, and often mustaches, the Powhatan men were clean-shaven and cut all but a single strip of hair across the top of their heads. They scraped their faces and scalps clean with sharpened shells. The Powhatans wore light moccasins or went barefoot; the English workmen ware heavy boots. The whites were called "coat wearers" because they ware several layers of long-sleeved clothing in all but the hottest weather. By contrast, the natives usually wore only small leather aprons or breechcloths that covered only a scant area of the body. Women and men alike went bare above the waist.

Pocahontas was interested in the tools and gadgets the Europeans brought. The Powhatans hunted with bows and arrows and spears, and clubbed their enemies with tomahawks. The killing portion of all these weapons was made of stones painstakingly chipped to sharpness. The natives shaped canoes by setting fire to logs and burning out the center portion. The English, on the other hand, had knives, axes, and saws to build with. They had brought glassblowers to Jamestown and soon were fashioning serviceable containers. Masons built kilns and burned bricks to build houses, replacing the first wooden ones.

Above all, the English had guns. Powhatan and his warriors had seen the effect of these weapons and wanted to steal same for themselves. Pocahontas looked on all the activity and strangeness with the awe of a child.

Among the colonists was twenty-six-year-old Captain John Smith. Already a veteran of the Turkish wars, he had been captured and made a slave, but he'd managed to escape while awaiting ransom. Despite the mistrust and jealousy of some of the colonists, Smith was one of the eight men chosen by the English king to govern the colony. Although he arrived in Jamestown in chains because of a disagreement onboard the ship, he was soon freed when the charter box was opened and the king's wishes were made known.

Perhaps because of his military experience in foreign lands, Smith recognized the need to communicate with the Native Americans. When he saw the girl watching, he welcomed her, and by means of signs and objects began to learn a few Powhatan words and to teach her some English words. He also gave her some of the gifts the London Company, sponsor of the expedition, had sent along: glass beads and a bell.

Although Powhatan was impressed with the English guns, they were ill-suited for fighting in Virginia. Too long and unwieldy for moving through the woods, they were also heavy and inconvenient to load and fire. While an Englishman was pouring in powder and shot and tamping it down, many arrows could speed toward their target. In addition, the English suits of armor were too hot and uncomfortable to work in, so the colonists rarely wore them, making themselves vulnerable to arrows and tomahawks. Several settlers were killed, and those remaining were afraid to go far outside the fort to hunt or fish.

In late June two of the three ships that had come to Jamestown returned to England, leaving the colonists with scant supplies. Disease and brackish water took their toll. By the end of the summer, half the colonists were dead.

Pocahontas noticed the Englishmen's distress and persuaded some friendly Powhatans to bring the settlers corn (maize). Her half brother Pochins brought corn and fish. Smith later told Queen Anne that Pocahontas saved the colony from death and starvation.

Smith realized the colony needed more food than Pocahontas could provide, knowing that at any time she could be prevented from bringing anything at all. He set out with three companions in early December 1607 to explore the Chicahominy River area and to find other natives who might supply food.

At a point near present-day Providence Forge, Smith went ashore with several native guides, leaving the other three men in the canoe. Within a few minutes he was set upon by Powhatan warriors. Using one of his guides as a shield, he backed away, but tumbled into an icy stream and was captured. Two of his fellow colonists were killed; the third was captured, dismembered, and his body was burned at the stake.

Smith was taken as a captive from one of Powhatans brothers to the other. Each ruled a portion of the Powhatan empire. He was marched to the Rappahannock chief who was to determine if Smith had been the one who kidnapped tribe members in 1604. If the chief had so identified him, Smith would have been killed. Finally he was taken before the high chieftain Powhatan himself bound and helpless, realizing he was about to become the next torture - murder victim. Two great stones were brought forth, and Smith was stretched out with his head lying on one of them. Warriors gathered with clubs to beat him to death.