that length barely extends even to the mouth of the Potomac. It is plain that Smith did not intend to include Accomac, as he omitted all reference to the number of its warriors. His knowledge of that portion of Virginia lying to the south of the Powhatan was confined to the territories of the Warrasquoke, Appomattox, Quiyoughcohannock, and Nansemond Indians, who dwelt immediately on its banks. In the light of these facts, it seems proper that his enumeration should only be accepted as applying to the valleys of the Powhatan, the ancient Pamunkey, Rappahannock, and Pyanketank, and their lower tributaries.
Beginning with the valley of the Powhatan, and starting from the mouth of the river, there were, according to Smith, at Chesapeake, one hundred warriors; at Kecoughtan, twenty; at Paspaheigh, forty; at Chickahominy, two hundred; at Wyanoke, one hundred; at Arrahattock, thirty; and at Powhatan, forty. Descending the river from the Falls on the south side, there were sixty warriors at Appomattox; twenty-five at Quiyoughcohannock; forty at Warrasquoke; and two hundred at Nansemond. If these enumerations are correct, there were in the valleys of the Powhatan and its principal tributaries below the Falls, eight hundred and sixty warriors. Adopting the ratio between the size of the aboriginal population within sixty miles of Jamestown and the whole number of fighting men in the same territory, as set down by Smith, the one being five thousand and the other fifteen hundred, and there was in the valleys of the Powhatan, Nansemond, and the Chickahominy a population of Indians close upon twenty-six hundred.
Turning now to the valleys of the modern York and its tributaries, Smith calculated that the villages on the banks of the upper stretches of the Mattapony and Youghtanund[1]
- ↑ The modern Pamunkey.
