Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/64

 and twice as much obtained on the Rappahannock, Potomac, and Patuxent Rivers; as it was, Smith and his companions, on their return to Jamestown, were only able to deliver to the Cape Merchant, the person in charge of the public store of provisions, two hundred pounds&#8217; weight of deer suet, and four hundred and seventy-nine bushels of maize.

The earnest opposition which Smith showed to the expedition into the Monacan country, undertaken by Newport, was attributed by the latter to a secret desire to prevent the discovery of the South Sea then, in order that Smith might enjoy the honor at a later date, but whether this suspicion as to his motives was just or not, the ground which he took was in keeping with his practical good sense, and the wisdom of his views was fully borne out by the issue.

By 1613, the expectation in England that a route to the South Sea would soon be found by exploration of Virginia towards the west had greatly declined, but the hope of such a discovery lingered in the Colony for many years. One of the reasons which caused the Company to congratulate itself on hearing in 1621 that the Indian emperor had entered into a league of friendship with the settlers was, that this would offer an opportunity to make a further search for this sea, and in the expedition of Pory, in the course of the same year, into the territory towards the south, the proximity of that sea was always in his mind.