doubtful as to the existence of a sea at a comparatively near point in the west,[1] he was certainly frank and emphatic in his condemnation of the search for it at the expense of the welfare of the Colony at that time. He held the very just opinion that the attention of all should be exclusively directed to the establishment of the Jamestown settlement on a permanently safe footing before an expedition should be dispatched to penetrate the wilderness in the west. When the Phœnix was on the point of returning to England in 1608, Radcliffe, who was then the presiding officer in Virginia, was desirous that the commander of the vessel should be able to carry over favorable reports as to the country beyond the Falls; he therefore ordered Smith to train a body of sixty men for the exploration of the territory, but to the satisfaction of the latter, the project was frustrated by the obstinacy of Captain Martin, Smith himself preferring to make the expedition to the west when he had “less charge and more leisure,” believing that an uncertain discovery ought to be deferred to a time when the needs of the Colony had been fully supplied.[2] In December, 1608, instead of leading a band of men into the Monacan forests, in which direction the South Sea was only to be found, but where there was either little maize, or if much, no means of transporting it to Jamestown, he proceeded by water with a large company to Pamunkey in the hope that he might, in spite of the late season, secure the grain needed for the support of the settlers.[3] It was said at the time that had the same voyage been made in October, November, or the early part of December, a ship of forty tons might have been freighted,
