Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/183

 residence on the Powhatan. The most striking evidence, however, as to the extent of surface that the Indians had under cultivation at the time of the first discovery appears from the fact that after the massacre of 1622, the survivors consoled themselves for that sanguinary event with the reflection, that thereafter the settlers would be relieved of the exacting task of removing the forest, because they could now take possession of the open ground of the Indians, which constituted the most pleasant and fertile places in the country. Williams also described the Indian fields as being so numerous, that they would furnish ample cleared soil for the English colonists until they had increased to a large population.

At the time of the first colonization, before there had arisen any foreign drain upon their stores, the different tribes possessed a great abundance of garnered maize, although, with the exception of the Accomac Indians, who were remarkable for their prudence and foresight, it was the custom of the Virginian aborigines only to produce as much as the needs of twelve months required. The English in the malarious confines of Jamestown were on several occasions saved from starvation by the generous supplies, principally in the form of this grain, received from the natives. In the records of the earliest excursions up the rivers and bays of Virginia there are many references to the large quantities of maize in all of the towns. When, in 1609, Captain Martin attempted to take possession of the country near the forks of the Nansemond, the Indians, who had fled on the first attack, returned, killed several