Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/133

 Falls; at Jamestown, the presence of salt at high tide was very observable, but it was not so marked as to make the water unfit for drinking purposes. The same graduation was to be detected in all of the larger rivers until they reached the Bay, when they became a portion of the great body of sea water.

If the Powhatan, York, Rappahannock, and Potomac were noble streams, both in breadth and volume &#8212; and the grandeur of their lower stretches must have been more impressive when the prim&aelig;val forests grew along their shores than they are to-day, although history has imparted to them a new charm and a new interest &#8212; the Chesapeake into which they flowed possessed characteristics equally as beautiful and striking when the sail of the first English explorer gleamed upon its unknown bosom. When John Smith made his first memorable voyage in the Chesapeake, he found it interspersed here and there with islands, some of which were wooded and well watered, while others were barren and deserted by every form of animal life except marine birds. At the mouth of the Bay there were eight fathoms of water; elsewhere the soundings marked a depth ranging from five to fifteen fathoms, and a channel of seven or eight fathoms could be discovered without difficulty. The bottom was generally level and uniform, and was devoid, even at distant points, of ledges of rocks or bars of sand. To the mariner there was but one drawback, and this was not of a very serious