sion,
which seems to have been shared by Englishmen (if that age in general, appears remarkable when it is recalled that Sir Francis Drake had, many years before, in his circumnavigation of the globe, sailed along the western coast of North America. It can only be adequately explained on the ground that the knowledge of longitudes at that time was grossly defective. Interrupted in their voyage by the Falls,[1] the members of the expedition returned to Jamestown. Newport, on his arrival in England, having no certain report to make as to the proximity of Virginia to the South Sea, contented himself, as we have seen, with announcing the discovery of gold in the Colony.
The unfavorable issue of the voyage to the Falls did not seriously diminish the hope which the Company had of finding a route to the East through Virginia. This hope was afterwards sustained by further information received from the Indians. Captain Smith, who, at a later period, deprecated so earnestly and so properly the subordination of the practical interests of the Colony to the advancement of schemes looking to the discovery of the South Sea, was, in the beginning, one of the chief instruments in giving substantial ground to these sanguine expectations. During his captivity, which occurred only a few months after the
- ↑ The expression used is, “Having ended thus of force our Discovery.” A Relatyon of the Discovery of our River, p. xlvii.
wheate if we would stay a little longer, but we coming by the place where he was with many more very desirous of our Company, stayed not, as being eagre of our good tydinges.” When the Falls were reached, Newport decided to return to Jamestown, in opposition to his own wishes and the earnest request of his companions, simply to please the Indian king (“with whome and all of his command, he had made so faire way”), who objected to the English passing into the country of his enemies, the Monacans. The order of the Council had directed Newport to follow the river only as far as it was navigable. It will be seen that he does not give this as his reason for turning back, but merely his desire to gratify his Indian host.
