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Prologue: An Ancient World Lost
The Early Years - Previous to 1521
As Chief Powhatan gazed out over a natural world which the first explorers would describe as paradises we can only imagine his knowledge of the cosmos and his dreams for his people. Accounts from the Indian point of view are rare in our history. We cannot know what Powhatan thought, felt, prayed for or grieved over during the events following English invasion in the late sixteenth century. Fortunately, observations recorded by members of small expeditionary forces more than ten years before the Mayflower arrived allow us to piece together a picture of how Powhatan's people lived during the final days their era before invaders from the sea shattered their familiar world forever.
We do know that when a handful of white aliens first appeared on the sunny beaches of his Atlantic empires Powhatan's dominion spanned the coast from what is now Washington, D.C., to Elizabeth, North Carolina, stretching inland almost half-way to the Blue Ridge Mountains. Powhatan ruled over an area of some eight thousand five hundred square miles, his supreme authority extending across a confederacy of more than twenty "states" or territories, each independently ruled by its own werowance or prince. The higher ground was abundantly forested with cedar, oak, cypress, walnut and sassafras, and other diverse trees hung with lush vines as thick as a man's thigh. The earth was rich with fresh-water springs and tributaries of three great rivers. An extensive network of well trodden paths crisscrossed beneath the shade of woods and orchards, opening onto meadows carpeted with bright flowers and plump ground fruit such as strawberries four times as large and more savory than those from English soil. In certain places along the inland reaches of the bay, mussels and pearl-bearing oysters lay on the ground as thick as stones. One explorer wrote of clams so big that one could feed four men.
From Powhatan's point of view, the sun in the sky deserved great reverence for blessing his people with this land of plenty. Each day during seasonable weather, it was customary before eating or drinking for men, women and children over the age of ten to descend to the water at daybreak and bathe in the light of the rising sun. Afterwards, they sacrificially scattered tobacco on the water's surface or in a circle on the ground as a ritual of honor. The same ceremony ended their day at sunset.
Kinsmen and clansmen lived in bark-covered habitations constructed of slender canes and reeds in small villages or "hattost" commonly extending a mile or so along the waterside. these tightly knit communities of forty to fifty people were small enough for fellow citizens to recognize each other yet large enough to be self-sufficient. The members these communities seem to have had little concept of private or individual ownership apart from harvesting the fruits of their gardens. However, they did have a strong sense of domain or jurisdiction; for instance, no man tolerated anyone else touching his wives in his presence.
During cold weather, Powhatan's people dressed in furry deer skins, leather leggings to the tops of their thighs, and sandals. In warmer weather they wore only sufficient skins to cover their private parts. On some occasions they painted their faces and limbs with a variety of colors made from natural dyes. Some of this elaborate makeup was festive, some was meant to frighten enemies, some served as camouflage for hunting, and some dyes warded off mosquitos and other stinging insects.
It was the fashion among the women to tattoo their legs, thighs and arms with complex circular figures or likenesses of fishy birds or other animals. Using a sharp stone or shell, they scored the designs into their flesh and rubbed in a permanent dye. For some events the men wound their long dark hair into a high knot stuck with feathers. Both men and women were fond of jewelry such as pearl necklaces and earrings and copper chains. Small white bones also made attractive decorations, and it was not uncommon to wear a bird's claw in each ear.
These people had achieved a level of technology consistent with their environmental needs. While English garden seeds prospered only if carefully sown ana tended, in Powhatan's land one needed only to dig the ground a bit, carelessly throw in the seeds at random and scarcely rake over them. For battle the Indians had perfected a wooden sword or spear in addition to the bows and arrows used for hunting. The bows were fashioned of tough hazelwood with strips of leather; the arrows of hazel or cane were headed with very sharp stones or the tips of deer horns. Each arrow was artfully feathered perhaps to resemble a bird in flight. As the English were later to observe, in the hands of an Indian these arrows could penetrate targets that even pistol shot couldn't pierce.
More than one early explorer marveled over the Indian's excellent physical constitution and bearing. Describing a group he encountered as exceedingly courteous, gentle of disposition and well-conditioned John Brereton praised their shape and stature. He found them taller than Englishmen, quick-eyed and steadfast in their eye contact, and "fearless of others' harms as intending none themselves." Another explorer, Gabriel Archer wrote that the Indians he saw were "proper lusty straight men, very strong [and] exceedingly swift runners." He greatly admired their skill with bows and arrows and the short wooden swords they wielded in battle.
Because they were unfamiliar with the strict European sense of private property, these Indians were considered accomplished thieves. By one account some were so practiced in the art of stealing that while looking you in the face they could take between their toes, say a chisel, a knife or any other light thing of European manufacture. While such tricks convinced the English that the Indians were "naturally" given to treachery, we only imagine what the Indians thought when the white foreigners quickly began declaring entire rivers, islands and settlements the property of England's king.
Later when tribesmen expressed their concern about the English planting crops on their land, George Percy reported that one Prince, probably Powhatan himself, advised them, "Why should you be offended with them as long as they hurt you not, nor take any thing away by force; they take but a little waste ground, which does you nor any of us any good." As Percy wrote, he considered this "very wise counsel from a savage," but perhaps Powhatan merely spoke the rhetoric of wishful thinking, hoping to convince the English that the land's abundance was great enough for all to share. He must have had a growing awareness of the sentiment so frequently expressed in a common phrase from documents these early English adventurers: "We can have all that we please."
Before the Europeans arrived in sufficient force and number to make their intentions entirely clear, Powhatan and his territorial princes attempted to deal with the invasion in a civilized manner. To understand how perplexing their situation was, we only need imagine how we would react if extraterrestrial beings suddenly appeared among us. Out of mere curiosity and the possibility that they had valuable knowledge or friendly intentions, we might not kill them off immediately. The Indians could easily have wiped out all the early English settlements, but they were fascinated by various items of English technology such as metal tools. It seems significant that after declaring the river of Powhatan a possession of England and naming it for the king, Captain John Smith proceeded immediately to Powhatan's town where he presented the chief with a valuable hatchet.
From accounts of the first interaction between the Europeans and Powhatan's people, we can surmise that after the initial shock and some hostile raids, the Indians decided to pursue a policy of wary hospitality and trial friendship. Initially their efforts succeeded, for though their painted faces and horned headdresses resembled the Englishmen's notion of the devil, the foreign explorers were surprised and somewhat overwhelmed by the hospitality of Powhatan's people. All along their life-giving river, the Indians greeted the Englishmen with feasting and entertainment and provided them with guides.
Some territorial princes even competed for English favor. In an endeavor to impress upon the English his superiority to the Prince of Paspiha, the Prince of Rapahanna sent a messenger to guide their party into his territory. When the Englishmen arrived, Rapahanna stood by the waterside with his entourage of braves. Percy observed them to be as goodly men as any he had ever seen, either savage or Christian. Now Rapahanna came down before them playing on a flute of reed, with a crown of red deer hair fashioned like a rose about the knot of hair on his left side. On the other side was a great plate of copper with two long feathers erected like a pair of horns in his crown. His body was painted crimson, his face blue, sprinkled with silver ore; around his neck danced a chain of beads, and his ears were hung with pearls and pierced by birds' claws set with fine copper or gold. Percy was impressed. He writes that this Prince of Rapahanna entertained them "in so modest a proud fashion as though he had been a Prince of civil government."
In spite of their generosity and demeanors Powhatan's people were considered savage heathens by most of the adventurers. The Englishmen did, however, have great hope of converting the Indians to Christianity because their language skills demonstrated quick intelligence. During one early expedition John Brereton said to one in amusement, "How now are you so saucy with my tobacco?" To his delight, without further repetition the Indian spoke these same words so plainly and distinctly "as if he had long been a scholar in the language." Also, regardless of the Indians' seeming resemblance to "devils" when they danced in full dress, more than one explorer reported that Powhatan's people were gentle, ingenious, kind, loving, witty and very clean in making their bread and preparing meat. As for religion, Powhatan's people believed that after death they went into another world eastward of the sun. But they seemed able to respect another man's beliefs. As one explorer noted, "When the Indians saw us at prayer they observed us with great silence and respect, especially those to whom I had imparted the meaning of our reverence."
These so-called savages were to pay a high price for the inscription of their ancient values into the annals of history by the Europeans who entered their world. We know of the generosity and hospitality of Powhatans people; we also know what the English did in return when the Indians no longer had sufficient force to expel these "trespassers" from their sacred land. Even though they finally resorted to violent warfare against the steadily growing numbers of Europeans who invaded their land, the Indians of this once sacred region could not uproot them. Trampled like weeds beneath the feet of thousands of settlers, the ancient flowering of Powhatan's culture was reduced to scattered rubble-wreckage which in the end was simply swept aside into reservations or other unused corners of the land.
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