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 Captain Nelson furnished his bark himself. Ralph, besides his private provisions and outfit, laid in a stock to traffic with the Indians: small mirrors, small, cheap pocket-knives, glass beads, red cloth, sheets of polished brass and copper which he cut in small pieces, fish-hooks, etc. So energetically did he work that by the twentieth of March, 1609, the bark was ready to sail. Dropping down to the mouth of the Thames, they waited there a few days for a fair wind, Ralph fortunately being able to spend the time at his home.

The voyage out was a good one. Captain Nelson knew his business, and the winds were not contrary, so that in forty-eight days after leaving the Straits of Dover our adventurers passed between the Capes of the Chesapeake.

Entering the Patawomek (afterwards known as the Potomac, which name we shall hereafter use), Ralph stopped at the several Indian villages, bought what furs and skins the Indians had, and told them he would be back in ten or twelve days, and would take all they could provide by that time. The last village to be passed on the river was that of the Nacotchtanks, about ten miles below the mouth of the creek on which was the gold mine. Ralph