第 2 节
作者:疯狂热线      更新:2021-12-07 09:33      字数:9321
  bare…headed in the gray winter weather! To Virginiathey are going to
  Virginia! The sails are made upon the Susan Constant; the Goodspeed; and
  the Discovery。 The last wherry carries aboard the last adventurer。 The
  anchors are weighed。 Down the river the wind bears the ships toward the
  sea。 Weather turning against them; they taste long delay in the Downs; but
  at last are forth upon the Atlantic。 Hourly the distance grows between
  London town and the outgoing folk; between English shores。 and where the
  surf breaks on the pale Virginian beaches。 Far awayfar away and long
  agoyet the unseen; actual cables hold; and yesterday and today stand
  embraced; the lips of the Thames meet the lips of the James; and the breath
  of England mingles with the breath of America。
  CHAPTER II。 THE ADVENTURERS
  What was this Virginia to which they were bound? In the sixteenth and early
  seventeenth centuries the name stood for a huge stretch of littoral;
  running southward from lands of long winters and fur…bearing animals to
  lands of the canebrake; the fig; the magnolia; the chameleon; and the
  mockingbird。 The world had been circumnavigated; Drake had passed up the
  western coastand yet cartographers; the learned; and those who took the
  word from the learned; strangely visualized the North American mainland as
  narrow indeed。 Apparently; they conceived it as a kind of extended Central
  America。 The huge rivers puzzled them。 There existed a notion that these
  might be estuaries; curling and curving through the land from sea to sea。
  IndiaCathayspices and wonders and Orient wealthlay beyond the South
  Sea; and the South Sea was but a few days' march from Hatteras or
  Chesapeake。 The Virginia familiar to the mind of the time lay extended; and
  she was very slender。 Her right hand touched the eastern ocean; and her
  left hand touched the western。
  Contact and experience soon modified this general notion。 Wider knowledge;
  political and economic considerations; practical reasons of all kinds; drew
  a different physical form for old Virginia。 Before the seventeenth century
  had passed away; they had given to her northern end a baptism of other
  names。 To the south she was lopped to make the Carolinas。 Only to the west;
  for a long time; she seemed to grow; while like a mirage the South Sea and
  Cathay receded into the distance。
  This narrative; moving with the three ships from England; and through a
  time span of less than a hundred and fifty years; deals with a region of
  the western hemisphere a thousand miles in length; several hundred in
  breadth; stretching from the Florida line to the northern edge of
  Chesapeake Bay; and from the Atlantic to the Appalachians。 Out of this
  Virginia there grow in succession the ancient colonies and the modern
  States of Virginia; Maryland; South and North Carolina; and Georgia。
  But for many a year Virginia itself was the only settlement and the only
  name。 This Virginia was a country favored by nature。 Neither too hot nor
  too cold; it was rich…soiled and capable of every temperate growth in its
  sunniest aspect。 Great rivers drained it; flowing into a great bay; almost
  a sea; many…armed as Briareus; affording safe and sheltered harbors。
  Slowly; with beauty; the land mounted to the west。 The sun set behind
  wooded mountains; long wave…lines raised far back in geologic time。 The
  valleys were many and beautiful; watered by sliding streams。 Back to the
  east again; below the rolling land; were found the shimmering levels; the
  jewel…green marshes; the wide; slow waters; and at last upon the Atlantic
  shore the thunder of the rainbow…tinted surf。 Various and pleasing was the
  country。 Springs and autumns were long and balmy; the sun shone bright; there
  was much blue sky; a rich flora arid fauna。 There were mineral wealth and
  water power; and breadth and depth for agriculture。 Such was the Virginia
  between the Potomac and the Dan; the Chesapeake and the Alleghanies。
  This; and not the gold…bedight slim neighbor of Cathay; was now the lure of
  the Susan Constant; the Goodspeed; and the Discovery。 But those aboard;
  obsessed by Spanish America; imperfectly knowing the features and distances
  of the orb; yet clung to their first vision。 But they knew there would be
  forest and Indians。 Tales enough had been told of both!
  What has to be imaged is a forest the size of Virginia。 Here and there;
  chiefly upon river banks; show small Indian clearings。 Here and there are
  natural meadows; and toward the salt water great marshes; the home of
  waterfowl。 But all these are little or naught in the whole; faint
  adornments sewed upon a shaggy garment; green in summer; flame…hued in
  autumn; brown in winter; green and flower…colored in the spring。 Nor was
  the forest to any appreciable extent like much Virginian forest of today;
  second growth; invaded; hewed down; and renewed; to hear again the sound of
  the axe; set afire by a thousand accidents; burning upon its own funeral
  pyres; all its primeval glory withered。 The forest of old Virginia was
  jocund and powerful; eternally young and eternally old。 The forest was
  Despot in the landwas Emperor and Pope。
  With the forest went the Indian。 They had a pact together。 The Indians
  hacked out space for their villages of twenty or thirty huts; their maize
  and bean fields and tobacco patches。 They took saplings for poles and bark
  to cover the huts and wood for fires。 The forest gave canoe and bow and
  arrow; household bowls and platters; the sides of the drum that was beaten
  at feasts。 It furnished trees serviceable for shelter when the foe was
  stalked。 It was their wall and roof; their habitat。 It was one of the Four
  Friends of the Indiansthe Ground; the Waters; the Sky; the Forest。 The
  forest was everywhere; and the Indians dwelled in the forest。 Not
  unnaturally; they held that this world was theirs。
  Upon the three ships; sailing; sailing; moved a few men who could speak
  with authority of the forest and of Indians。 Christopher Newport was upon
  his first voyage to Virginia; but he knew the Indies and the South American
  coast。 He had sailed and had fought under Francis Drake。 And Bartholomew
  Gosnold had explored both for himself and for Raleigh。 These two could tell
  others what to look for。 In their company there was also John Smith。 This
  gentleman; it is true; had not wandered; fought; and companioned with
  romance in America; but he had done so everywhere else。 He had as yet no
  experience with Indians; but he could conceive that rough experiences were
  rough experiences; whether in Europe; Asia; Africa; or America。 And as he
  knew there was a family likeness among dangerous happenings; so also he
  found one among remedies; and he had a bag full of stories of strange
  happenings and how they should be met。
  They were going the old; long West Indies sea road。 There was time enough
  for talking; wondering; considering the past; fantastically building up the
  future。 Meeting in the ships' cabins over ale tankards; pacing up and down
  the small high…raised poop…decks; leaning idle over the side; watching
  the swirling dark…blue waters or the stars of night; lying idle upon the
  deck; propped by the mast while the trade…winds blew and up beyond sail and
  rigging curved the skythey had time enough indeed to plan for marvels! If
  they could have seen ahead; what pictures of things to come they might have
  beheld rising; falling; melting we into another!
  Certain of the men upon the Susan Constant; the Goodspeed; and the
  Discovery stand out clearly; etched against the sky。
  Christopher Newport might be forty years old。 He had been of Raleigh's
  captains and was chosen; a very young man; to bring to England from the
  Indies the captured great carrack; Madre de Dios; laden with fabulous
  treasure。 In all; Newport was destined to make five voyages to Virginia;
  carrying supply and aid。 After that; he would pass into the service of the
  East India Company; know India; Java; and the Persian Gulf; would be
  praised by that great company for sagacity; energy; and good care of his
  men。 Ten years' time from this first Virginia voyage; and he would die upon
  his ship; the Hope; before Bantam in Java。
  Bartholomew Gosnold; the captain of the Goodspeed; had sailed with thirty
  others; five years before; from Dartmouth in a bark named the Concord。 He
  had not made the usual long sweep southward into tropic waters; there to
  turn and come northward; but had gone; arrowstraight; across the north
  Atlanticone of the first English sailors to make the direct passage and
  save; many a weary sea league。 Gosnold and his men had seen Cape Ann and
  Cape Cod; and had built upon Cuttyhunk; among the Elizabeth Islands; a
  little fort thatched with rushes。 Then; hardships thronging and quarrels
  developing; they had filled their ship with sassafras and cedar; and sailed
  for home over the summer Atlantic; reaching England; with 〃not one cake of
  bread〃 left but only 〃a little vinegar。〃 Gosnold; guiding the Goodspeed; is
  now making his last voyage; for he is to die in Virginia within the year。
  George Percy; brother of the Earl of Northumberland; has fought bravely in
  the Low Countries。 He is to stay five years in Virginia; to serve there a
  short time as Governor; and