five grains. For twelve hours these performances were continued, and were renewed on the second and third day. While the ceremonies were in progress, neither Smith nor the priests partook of food, but when night arrived there were feasts and dances. It had been the object of the priests to discover whether Smith entertained evil designs against their countrymen.[1] The gardens of the Indians were situated in the immediate neighborhood of the wigwams, and, in general, each extended over an area from one hundred to two hundred feet square.[2] In these plats were found the plants and vegetables not cultivated in the maizefields, such as muskmelons, gourds, and tobacco. Jefferson has called attention to the fact, that the first colonists failed to record whether tobacco was of spontaneous growth in Virginia, or whether tillage was always necessary to its production; he ventured the surmise that it was of tropical origin, and had been gradually transmitted from tribe to tribe until it reached this quarter of America.[3] Whether indigenous or not, tobacco was held in the highest esteem by the Indians, and was considered to be a special gift from the Great Spirit; this seems to be all the more remarkable when it is recalled that the plant could be produced by the proper expenditure of labor in unlimited quantities, differing in this respect from copper, pearl, and puccoon, by which the aborigines set the same extravagant store. It was looked upon as possessing mysterious virtues, which led to its being cast by priests on sacrificial fires in the form of dust, or it was arranged in a circle of leaves, from the centre of which adoration was offered up to the sun.[4] These acts were accompanied by
