第 4 节
作者:疯狂热线      更新:2021-12-07 09:33      字数:9322
  cedar; cipresse and other kindes; going a little further we came into a
  little plat of ground full of fine and beautifull strawberries; foure times
  bigger and better than ours in England。 All this march we could neither see
  Savage nor Towne。〃*
  * Percy's 〃Discourse。〃
  The ships now stood into those waters which we call Hampton Roads。 Finding
  a good channel and taking heart therefrom; they named a horn of land Point
  Comfort。 Now we call it Old Point Comfort。 Presently they began to go up a
  great river which they christened the James。 To English eyes it was a river
  hugely wide。 They went slowly; with pauses and waitings and adventures。
  They consulted their paper of instructions; they scanned the shore for good
  places for their fort; for their town。 It was May; and all the rich banks
  were in bloom。 It seemed a sweet…scented world of promise。 They saw
  Indians; but had with these no untoward encounters。 Upon the twelfth of May
  they came to a point of land which they named Archer's Hope。 Landing here;
  they saw 〃many squirels; conies; Black Birds with crimson wings; and divers
  other Fowles and Birds of divers and sundrie colours of crimson; watchet;
  Yellow; Greene; Murry; and of divers other hewes naturally without any art
  using 。 。 。 store of Turkie nests and many Egges。〃 They liked this place;
  but for shoal water the ships could not come near to land。 So on they went;
  eight miles up the river。
  Here; upon the north side; thirty…odd miles from the mouth; they came to a
  certain peninsula; an island at high water。 Two or three miles long; less
  than a mile and a half in breadth; at its widest place composed of marsh
  and woodland; it ran into the river; into six fathom water; where the ships
  might be moored to the trees。 It was this convenient deep water that
  determined matters。 Here came to anchor the Susan Constant; the Goodspeed; and
  the Discovery。 Here the colonists went ashore。 Here the members of the Council
  were sworn; and for the first President was chosen Edward…Maria Wingfield。
  Here; the first roaming and excitement abated; they began to unlade the ships;
  and to build the fort and also booths for their present sleeping。 A church;
  too; they must have at once; and forthwith made it with a stretched sail for
  roof and a board between two trees whereon to rest Bible and Book of Prayer。
  Here; for the first time in all this wilderness; rang English axe in American
  forest; here was English law and an English town; here sounded English
  speech。 Here was placed the germ of that physical; mental; and; spiritual
  power which is called the United States of America。
  CHAPTER III。 JAMESTOWN
  In historians' accounts of the first months at Jamestown; too much;
  perhaps; has been made of faction and quarrel。 All this was there。 Men set
  down in a wilderness; amid Virginian heat; men; mostly young; of the active
  rather than the reflective type; men uncompanioned by women and children;
  men beset with dangers and sufferings that were soon to tag heavily their
  courage and patiencesuch men naturally quarreled and made up; quarreled
  again and again made up; darkly suspected each the other; as they darkly
  suspected the forest and the Indian; then; need of friendship dominating;
  embraced each the other; felt the fascination of the forest; and trusted
  the Indian。 However much they suspected rebellion; treacheries; and
  desertions; they practiced fidelities; though to varying degrees; and
  there was in each man's breast more or less of courage and good intent。
  They were prone to call one another villain; but actual villainysave as
  jealousy; suspicion; and hatred are villainyseems rarely to have been
  present。 Even one who was judged a villain and shot… for his villainy seems
  hardly to have deserved such fate。 Jamestown peninsula turned out to be
  feverous; fantastic hopes were matched by strange fears; there were
  homesickness; incompatibilities; unfamiliar food and water and sir; class
  differences in small space; some petty tyrannies; and very certain dangers。
  The worst summer heat was not yet; and the fort was building。 Trees must be
  felled; cabins raised; a field cleared for planting; fishing and hunting
  carried on。 And some lading; some first fruits; must go back in the ships。
  No gold or rubies being as yet found; they would send instead cedar and
  sassafrashard work enough; there at Jamestown; in the Virginian
  low…country; with May warm as northern midsummer; and all the air charged
  with vapor from the heated river; with exhalations from the rank forest;
  from the many marshes。
  〃The first night of our landing; about midnight;〃 says George Percy in his
  〃Discourse〃; 〃there came some Savages sayling close to our quarter;
  presently there was an alarm given; upon that the savages ran away 。 。 。 。
  Not long after there came two Savages that seemed to be Commanders; bravely
  dressed; with Crownes of coloured haire upon their heads; which came as
  Messengers from the Werowance of Paspihe; telling us that their Werowance
  was comming and would be merry with us with a fat Deere。 The eighteenth day
  the Werowance of Paspihe came himselfe to our quarter; with one hundred
  Savages armed which guarded him in very warlike manner with Bowes and
  Arrowes。〃 Some misunderstanding arose。 〃The Werowance; 'seeing' us take to
  our armes; went suddenly away with all his company in great anger。〃 The
  nineteenth day Percy with several others going into the woods back of the
  peninsula met with a narrow path traced through the forest。 Pursuing it;
  they came to an Indian village。 〃We Stayed there a while and had of them
  strawberries and other thinges 。 。。 。 One of the Savages brought us on the
  way to the Woodside where there was a Garden of Tobacco and other fruits
  and herbes; he gathered Tobacco and distributed to every one of us; so wee
  departed。〃
  It is evident that neither race yet knew if it was to be war or peace。 What
  the white man thought and came to think of the red man has been set down
  often enough; there is scantier testimony as to what was the red man's
  opinion of the white man。 Here imagination must be called upon。
  Newport's instructions from the London Council included exploration before
  he should leave the colonists and bring the three ships back to England。
  Now; with the pinnace and a score of men; among whom was John Smith; he
  went sixty miles up the river to where the flow is broken by a world of
  boulders and islets; to the hills crowned today by Richmond; capital of
  Virginia。 The first adventurers called these rapid and whirling waters the
  Falls of the Farre West。 To their notion they must lie at least half…way
  across the breadth of America。 Misled by Indian stories; they believed and
  wrote that five or six days' march from the Falls of the Farre West; even
  through the thick forest; would bring them to the South Sea。 The Falls of
  the Farre West; where at Richmond the James goes with a roaring sound
  around tree…crowned isletit is strange to think that they once marked our
  frontier! How that frontier has been pushed westward is a romance indeed。
  And still; today; it is but a five or six days' journey to that South Sea
  sought by those early Virginians。 The only condition for us is that we
  shall board a train。 Tomorrow; with the airship; the South Sea may come
  nearer yet!
  The Indians of this part of the earth were of the great Algonquin family;
  and the tribes with which the colonists had now to do were drawn; probably
  by a polity based on blood ties; into a loose confederation within the
  larger mass。 Newport was 〃 told that the name of the river was Powhatan;
  the name of the chief Powhatan; and the name of the people Powhatans。 But
  it seemed that the chief Powhatan was not at this village but at another
  and a larger place named Werowocomoco; on a second great river in the back
  country to the north and east of Jamestown。 Newport and his men were 〃well
  entreated〃 by the Indians。 〃But yet;〃 says Percy; 〃the Savages murmured at
  our planting in the Countrie。〃
  The party did not tarry up the river。 Back came their boat through the
  bright weather; between the verdurous banks; all green and flower…tinted
  save where might be seen the brown of Indian clearings with bark…covered
  huts and thin; up…curling blue smoke。 Before them once more rose Jamestown;
  palisaded now; and riding before it the three ships。 And here there barked
  an English dog; and here were Englishmen to welcome Englishmen。 Both
  parties had news to tell; but the town had most。 On the 26th of May;
  Indians had made an attack four hundred of them with the Werowance of
  Paspihe。 One Englishman had been killed; a number wounded。 Four of the
  Council had each man his wound。
  Newport must now lift anchor and sail away to England。 He left at Jamestown
  a fort 〃having three Bulwarkes at every corner like a halfe Moone; and
  foure or five pieces of Artillerie mounted in them;〃 a street or two of
  reed…thatched cabins; a church to match; a storehouse; a market…place and
  drill ground; and about all a stout palisade with a gate upon the river
  side。 He left corn sown and springing high; and some food in the
  storehouse。 And he left a hundred Englishmen who had now tasted of the
  country fare and might reasonabl