aracters in the early history
of our country. He was a great boaster, and most of his associates did
not like him. He had been a wanderer in many parts of the world, and had
any number of stories to tell of his wonderful adventures. Probably some
of those stories were true and many fiction. Be that as it may, he was
an energetic and brave man, and the very one to save the perishing
settlers. He made every man work, and none wrought harder than himself.
As a consequence matters began to mend at once.

Obeying his orders in London, Captain Smith, when it seemed prudent to
do so, spent much of his time in exploring the streams that flowed into
the James. It must not be forgotten that it was still believed in Europe
that America formed a part of Asia, and that no one needed to penetrate
far into the interior to reach that country.

On one of these voyages Captain Smith was taken prisoner by the Indians,
who led him before their chief Powhatan. The chief decided that he must
be put to death, and, with his hands tied together, he was placed on the
ground, with his head resting on two big stones. Then one of the
warriors stepped forward to dash out his brains with a club. At that
moment Pocahontas, the young daughter of the chief, ran forward, and,
throwing her arms around the head of Smith, begged her father to spare
his life. The chief consented, and the prisoner was set free and
returned to Jamestown. Such is the story which Captain Smith told after
the death of Pocahontas in England, which she had visited with her
husband, an Englishman named Rolfe, and it can never be known whether
the incident was true or not. Some years later Smith was so badly
injured by the explosion of gunpowder that he had to return to England
for treatment. There he died in 1631. His invaluable services in this
country have led historians to regard him as the saviour of the Virginia
colony.

[Illustration: POCAHONTAS SAVING THE LIFE OF JOHN SMITH.]

The most woeful blow that was struck the American colonies was in
August, 1619, when a Dutch ship sailed up the James and sold twenty
negroes, kidnapped in Africa, to the colonists as slaves. It was thus
that African slavery was introduced into this country, bringing in its
train more sorrow, suffering, desolation, and death than pen can
describe or imagination conceive. The institution became legal in all
the colonies, and the ships of New England, as well as those of old
England, were actively eng