Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

Turkish lord, who shared the fate of the for

mer.

Smith, in his turn, sent an offer to the enemy, which was accepted by Bonamalgro. This Turk unhorsed Smith and had nearly gained the victory, but fortune at length declared for the English captain, and enabled him to add to the glory of his former victories the head of Bonamalgro. For these exploits he was honoured with a grand military proces sion, in which three Turks' heads borne on the points of lances, graced their march. In addition to these honours, his general, the lord Moyzes, presented him with a horse richly caparisoned, a sword and belt worth three hundred ducats, and a commission of major in his regiment.

Some time after this the Transylvanian army was defeated, and Smith being wounded in the battle, lay among the slain. He was taken prisoner by the enemy, and after being cured of his wounds he was sold to the bashaw Bogul, who sent him as a present to his mistress Tragabigzanda at Constantinople. This lady be

came captivated with the fine appearance and heroic character of her prisoner, but fearing he might be ill-treated by Bogul on his return, she sent him for safety to her brother the bashaw of Nailbraitz on the borders of the sea of Asoph. This transfer proved a very unfortunate one for our adventurer, who exchanged the amatory smiles of his mistress for the oppressive commands of an unfeeling master. Within an hour after his arrival he was drest in haircloth, and sent, with his head shaved and an iron collar about his neck, to work among the slaves of the bashaw. In this hopeless situation his services were rewarded only by severe blows and repeated indignities, to which his proud spirit could not long submit. One day, while he was threshing in the field, his master began to beat him in his usual rigorous and brutal manner. Smith, unable to bear the treatment of his tyrant any longer, raised his flail and beat out his brains. Then hiding his body in the straw, he filled a bag with grain, and set off on his master's horse through the inhospitable deserts of Russia. After travelling

through the wilds for sixteen days, he at length arrived at a Russian garrison on the river Don, where he was kindly received. He afterwards visited France, Spain, Germany, and Morocco, and returned at last to England.* Such is the history of the man whom Gosnold engaged to accompany him to America. His adventures in the western world remain yet to be told. They will be equally amusing to the reader, and as they more directly belong to our subject, they shall be more minutely related, as they occur in the course of our history.

* See an account of his life in Stith's History of Virginia.

CHAPTER IV.

ON the 19th of December 1606, Gosnold sailed from Black wall with two ships, under the command of captain Christopher Newport. In this voyage captain Smith, whose active mind had already excited the envy of the other adventurers, was arrested on a charge of aiming at usurping the power vested in the council, and kept in confinement during the rest of the voyage. On the 26th of April 1607 they entered the bay of Chesapeake, and gave to the two points of land which formed its entrance, the names of the king's two sons, Charles and Henry.*

On opening their orders, which had been delivered them in a sealed box, it appeared that Bartholomew Gosnold, John Smith, Ed

* Henry was then prince of Wales; Charles was afterwards king of England, to wit, the first of that name.

ward Maria Wingfield, Christopher Newport, John Martin, John Ratcliffe and George Kendall, were appointed a council for the colony. Having elected Wingfield president, they entered on their minutes their reasons for excluding Smith from a participation in the duties of the council.

The first river they entered was called by the natives Powhatan, but by the English was honoured with the name of their own sovereign. While in search of a place of settlement, they met with some Indians who invited them to their town Kichotan, which stood where Hampton now stands, and regaled them with tobacco and a dance.* In their passage up the river, they met with another party of the natives, whose chief, with a bow and arrows in one hand and a pipe with tobacco in the other, demanded the cause of their coming.

On the 13th of May they landed at a place to which they gave the name of Jamestown. At this memorable spot the first permament

*See Smith's History of Virginia.

« AnteriorContinuar »