Pocahontas and Captain John Smith Revisited

FREDERIC W. GLEACH Cornell University

The story of Pocahontas and Captain John Smith is one that all school­ children in the United States seem to learn early on, and one that has served as the basis for plays, epic poems, and romance novels as well as historical studies. The lyrics of Peggy Lee's hit song Fever exemplify these popular treatments:

Captain Smith and Pocahontas Had a very mad affair. When her daddy tried to kill him She said, 'Daddy, oh don't you dare — He gives me fever ... with his kisses, Fever when he holds me tight; Fever — I'm his Mrs. Daddy won't you treat him right.' (Lee et al 1958)

The incident referred to here, Pocahontas's rescue of Smith from death at the orders of her father, the paramount chief Powhatan, was originally recorded by the only European present — Smith himself. While the factu- ality of Smith's account has been questioned since the mid-19th century, recent textual analysis by Lemay (1992) supports the more widely held opinion that it most likely occurred as Smith reported. Other recent studies have employed methods and models imported from literary criticism, gen­ erally to demonstrate the nature of English colonial and historical modes of apprehending otherness.1 While my work may be easily contrasted to these approaches, two re­ cent studies must be mentioned which have employed understandings and methods similar to my own. Kidwell (1992:99-101) used Pocahontas as an example in her discussion of "Indian Women as Cultural Mediators",

1ln addition to the comments of participants in the Algonquian Conference I have had the benefit of discussion with members of the Department of Anthropol­ ogy of Cornell University, where I presented some of these ideas in a departmental colloquium.

167 168 GLEACH bringing great insight to the Powhatan perspective in her brief discussion. Williamson (1992) brought out several interesting points in a detailed ana­ lysis of the rescue, but, as I will discuss here, this incident is only one part of a larger ritual complex. This ritual complex has not been previously recognized, in part, be­ cause Smith's descriptions tend to emphasize particular events and details, and thus obscure the view of the whole. The debate that has continued through the last century over the veracity of the rescue account has further distracted from efforts to understand the rituals described. My starting point in this investigation was an assumption that the events described by Smith might not be random or unconnected, but might indeed have had some meaning, and that such meaning need not be unfathomable. Re­ cent studies of the ways Amazonian Indians have sought control in their interactions with the non-Indian world, employing traditional understand­ ings and rituals in new ways to construct or reconstruct these relationships (e.g., T. Turner 1988, 1993a, 1993b; Ramos 1988; Foster 1993), provide fascinating echoes of the kinds of processes I began to see in the history of 17th-century Virginia. While there are both obvious and subtle differences between the actions in colonial Virginia and those in post-colonial Brazil, studies in both areas indicate the error of the still-all-too-prevalent atti­ tude that Native Americans could only react to colonial actions, that they would immediately perceive the superiority of the encroaching Europeans and enter an inevitable cycle of acculturation, revitalization, and finally subordination. I will argue here that the rituals of Smith's captivity cannot be ad­ equately understood simply in terms of individuals — whether motivated by love, the advancement of position, or personal adoption, the common themes in prior analyses — but must be seen in terms of cultural relations, and that the Powhatans were taking full control of the colonial situation in early Virginia, using this ritual complex to define a place for the En­ glish colony, with Smith as its chief, in the Powhatan world. The failure of Smith and the English colony to recognize this does not alter the facts of this ritual complex or its purpose, but that failure did make it necessary to recast the alliance a few years later by marriage. Pocahontas was a key actor in both instances, Smith only in the first,althoug h he makes a later appearance. Pocahontas was the common-use name of Powhatan's favorite daugh­ ter, then approximately 12 years old. We know of her only from the writings of Smith and other Englishmen, and our understandings are thus based on their particular constructions of women. Modern Euro-American construc­ tions of gender are descended from that English tradition, and so there is a tendency to overlook the inherent biases in these descriptions. While there POCAHONTAS AND JOHN SMITH 169

is little information on the Powhatans specifically, it is possible to use com­ parative materials from other groups to get a better idea of their cultural constructions than that taken strictly from colonial accounts. The position of a woman, even a young woman of twelve, in Powhatan society was very different from that found in the English culture. Even young Powhatan children were integrated into the society by being included in ritual and political gatherings. While they may not have had a voice, they learned from such experiences how the society worked. As they approached their teens, Powhatan children began to participate more actively in religious and political events, and would then marry and begin to produce their own families. Women were not routinely isolated from power; indeed, they were themselves inherently powerful. The isolation of menstruating women was not because of fears of pollution by contact with impurity, but because their power at that time was too strong to be controlled, and would over­ whelm other rituals for controlling power (cf. Fogelson 1990:173-176, on the Cherokees). Powhatan women could be chiefs, counselors, and advi­ sors, and were often even involved in decisions about war parties. This is far from the English construction of woman as daughter or wife, which limited even Queen Elizabeth, and which shaped their perception of Poc­ ahontas. Since descent among the Powhatans was matrilineal, Pocahontas was not in line to inherit any position of leadership; despite this, colo­ nial accounts always emphasize her relationship to Powhatan, as "a king's daughter" (e.g., Smith 1986d:261). An important and powerful actor in her own culture, she was reduced to a symbol of potential power by the English. Smith was a self-made Englishman, a military leader with experience in several non-European cultures. He led explorations of Virginia in the first years of the colony; his differences with the gentlemen of the colony and his nature made that a more productive pursuit for him than political leadership of the colony, which office he also held at times. He seems to have been outspoken and perhaps boastful, skilled at communication, and convinced of English — and his own — superiority. Prior to going to Vir­ ginia, he had fought in Brittany and Transylvania; had there been captured and sold into slavery, and escaped; had traveled extensively through east­ ern Europe and as far east as Muscovy; and had sailed with a French pirate along the West African coast — all by the time he was in his mid-twenties (Barbour 1964:3-73). In December 1607 Smith was captured and his companions killed while they were exploring the upper Chickahominy River. During this captivity Smith was subjected to a series of rituals, including his apparent rescue 170 GLEACH from imminent death by Pocahontas. When first captured Smith was brought before Opechancanough,2 whom he impressed with his compass:

Much they marvelled at the playing of the fly and needle, which they could see so plainly, and yet not touch it, because of the glass that covered them. But when he3 demonstrated by that globe-like jewel the roundness of the earth and skies, the sphere of the sun, moon, and stars, and how the sun did chase the night round about the world continually, the greatness of the land and sea, the diversity of nations, variety of complexions, and how we were to them antipodes, and many other such like matters, they all stood as amazed with admiration. Notwithstanding, within an hour after they tied him to a tree, and as many as could stand about him prepared to shoot him, but the king holding up the compass in his hand, they all laid down their bows and arrows. (Smith 1986d:147)

Smith was then taken to Rasawek, a hunting town between the Chick­ ahominy and Pamunkey rivers, in the district of Orapaks (see Figure 1):

Their order in conducting him was thus: drawing themselves all in file, the king in their midst had all their [Smith's and his men's] pieces and swords borne before him. Captain Smith was led after him by three great savages, holding him fast by each arm, and on each side six went infile wit h their arrows nocked. But arriving at the town (which was but only thirty or forty hunting houses made of mats, which they remove as they please, as we our tents), all the women and children staring to behold him, the soldiers first all in file performed the form of a bisson so well as could be, and on each flank officers as Sergeants to see them keep their order. A good time they continued this exercise, and then cast themselves in a ring, dancing in such several postures, and singing and yelling out such hellish notes and screeches, being strangely painted, every one his quiver of arrows, and at his back a club; on his arm a fox or an otter's skin, or some such matter for his vambrace; their heads and shoulders painted red, with oil and puccoon mingled together, which scarlet-like color made an exceeding handsome show; his bow in his hand; and the skin of a bird with her wings abroad, dried, tied on his head, a piece of copper, a white shell, a long feather, with a small rattle growing at the tails of their snakes tied to it, or some such like toy. All this while Smith and the king stood in their midst guarded, as before is said, and after three dances they all departed. Smith they conducted to a long house, where thirty or forty tall fellows did guard him, and ere long

Opechancanough was probably a parallel cousin of the paramount chief Powhatan. Contact with non-Powhatan outsiders would have been part of his responsibilities as war-chief of the Powhatans (cf. Gleach 1992a:30-31, 136-138). 3Smith frequently wrote his accounts in the third person. In all of my quo­ tations from published 17th-century sources I have regularized spelling, capital­ ization, and punctuation to help clarify the sense of the passages; other editorial insertions have been bracketted. POCAHONTAS AND JOHN SMITH 171

Figure 1: Smith's travels in captivity. 172 GLEACH

more bread and venison was brought him than would have served twenty men; I think his stomach at that time was not very good; what he left they put in baskets and tied over his head. About midnight they set the meat again before him. All this time not one of them would eat a bit with him, till the next morning they brought him as much more, and then did they eat all the old, and reserved the new as they had done the other, which made him think they would fat him to eat him. (Smith 1986d: 147-148)

He was kept at Rasawek for several days, and there had many conversations with Opechancanough. He also sent a letter to Jamestown to let the colony know that he was well, to keep them from seeking revenge against the Powhatans. The next day an Indian came threatening to kill Smith, but was stopped by a guard; Smith was told that this Indian was the father of a man he had killed (Smith 1986a:49). His travels then began: the king [Opechancanough] presently conducted me to another kingdom, upon the top of the next northerly river, called Youghtanund. Having feasted me, he further led me to another branch of the river, called Mattaponi; to two other hunting towns they led me, and to each of these countries, a house of the great emperor of Powhatan. ... After this four or five days march, we returned to Rasawek, the first town they brought me to, where binding the mats in bundles, they marched two days journey, and crossed the river of Youghtanund, where it was as broad as Thames, so conducting me to a place called Menapacute in Pamunkey, where the king inhabited. The next day another king of that nation, called Kekataugh,4 having received some kindness of me at the fort, kindly invited me to feast at his house; the peo­ ple from all places flocked to see me, each showing to content me. (Smith 1986a:49-51) From hence this kind king conducted me to a place called Rappahan­ nock, a kingdom upon another river northward. ... The next night I lodged at a hunting town of the Powhatans, and the next day arrived at Werowoco- moco upon the river Pamunkey, where the great king is resident. (Smith 1986a:51-53)

Here Smith first met Powhatan, and in this early account he describes their conversation concerning the reasons for the English presence in Virginia, and their search for the western sea (1986a:53-55), but there is no men­ tion here of the Pocahontas incident, and the description of the ritual to which he was subjected at Pamunkey was moved, presumably by his ed­ itor, to a different place in the book (1986a:59). This ritual is crucial to understanding the events of his captivity:

4He was a younger brother of Powhatan, and, with Opechancanough and Itoyatin, one of the chiefs of Pamunkey. POCAHONTAS AND JOHN SMITH 173

early in a morning a great fire was made in a long house, and a mat spread on the one side, as on the other, on the one they caused him to sit, and all the guard went out of the house. Presently came skipping in a great grim fellow, all painted over with coal, mingled with oil; and many snakes and weasels' skins stuffed with moss, and all their tails tied together, so as they met on the crown of his head in a tassel; and round about the tassel was a coronet of feathers, the skins hanging round about his head, back, and shoulders, and in a manner covered his face; with a hellish voice and a rattle in his hand. With most strange gestures and passions he began his invocation, and environed thefire wit h a circle of meal. Which done, three more such like devils came rushing in with the like antic tricks, painted half black, half red; but all their cheeks were painted white, and some red strokes like mustaches along their cheeks. Round about him those fiends danced a pretty while, and then came in three more as ugly as the rest, with red eyes, and white strokes over their black faces. At last they all sat down right against him, three on the one hand of the chief priest, and three on the other. Then all with their rattles began a song, which ended, the chief priest laid down five wheat corns,5 then straining his arms and hands with such violence that he sweat, and his veins swelled, he began a short oration. At the conclusion they all gave a short groan, and then laid down three grains more. After that, began their song again, and then another oration, ever laying down so many corns as before, until they had twice encircled the fire. That done, they took a bunch of little sticks prepared for that purpose, continuing still their devotion, and at the end of every song and oration, they laid down a stick between the divisions of corn. Until night, neither he nor they did either eat or drink, and then they feasted merrily, with the best provisions they could make. Three days they used this ceremony, the meaning of which they told him was to know if he intended them well or no. The circle of meal signified their country, the circles of corn the bounds of the sea, and the sticks his country. They imagined the world to beflat an d round, like a trencher, and they in the midst. After this they brought him a bag of gunpowder, which they carefully preserved until the next spring, to plant as they did their corn, because they would be acquainted with the nature of that seed. Itoyatin the king's brother invited him to his house, where, with as many platters of bread, fowl, and wild beasts, as did environ him, he bid him welcome. But not any of them would eat a bit with him, but put up all the remainder in baskets. At his return to Opechancanough's, all the king's women and their children flocked about him for their parts, as due by custom, to be merry with such fragments. (Smith 1986d: 149-150)

Smith's statement that this ceremony was to determine his intent must be questioned. It bears no relation to rites of divination recorded for the

5In English usage, particularly in the early 17th century, "wheat" was the unmarked term for the grain of a cereal, and here refers to maize or Indian corn; "corns" was synonymous with kernels or grains. 174 GLEACH

Delawares, for instance, all of which were simple mechanical procedures using an object of divinatory power (Newcomb 1956:63). The repetitions, sacrifices, and forms evident here seem more like those of ceremonial cre­ ations or renewals of cultural relations-the Delaware Big House Ceremony (Speck 1931; cf. esp. 22-24) comes to mind-than like divination. It lasted "eight, ten, or twelve hours without cease" (Smith 1986b:171), and was repeated three times on successive days, with feasting each evening at the conclusion. Rather than being simply the presentation of a static map of the Powhatan world, as understood by Smith, the creation of this diagram was likely a much more complex active process. The intent seems to have been to control the way in which the English (represented by the sticks) entered from beyond, through the boundaries (the grains of corn), into the Powhatan world itself (the cornmeal). Rather than divination, this is better understood as a ritual of redefinition, establishing the forms of the relationship between the colony and the Powhatans. My interpretation of this point differs from Fausz's published descrip­ tion (1985:240), in which he presented the ceremonial diagram as being simply a map of the world, with the Powhatans surrounded by seas, the English on the far side of the seas, and other seas beyond, following Smith's interpretation (Figure 2). Where he placed the sticks in a circle between the two circles of corn, my reading of Smith's account was that they were placed between clusters of grains of corn (Figure 3) —thus my interpreta­ tion of the representation as penetration through the boundaries. This is supported by his other accounts. The 1612 account reads:

First they made a fair fire in a house. About this fire sat seven priests, seating him by them, and about the firethe y made a circle of meal. That done, the chief priest, attired as expressed, began to shake his rattle, and the rest followed him in his song. At the end of the song, he laid down five or three grains of wheat and so continued counting his song by the grains, till three times they encircled the fire.The n they divided the grains by certain numbers with little sticks, laying down at the end of every song a little stick. (Smith 1986b:170-171)

Finally, Purchas gives an account that follows Smith's 1608 account (Smith 1986a:59), but benefits from his having interviewed Smith as well:

Three or four days after his taking, seven of their priests in the house where he lay, each with a rattle, (setting him by them) began at ten of the clock in the morning to sing about afire, whic h they environed with a circle of meal, at the end of every song, (which the chief priest began, the rest following) laying down two or three grains of wheat; and after they had laid down six or seven hundred in one circle (accounting their songs by grains, as the papists their orisons of beads) they made two or three other circles in like manner, POCAHONTAS AND JOHN SMITH 175

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Figure 2: "The Powhatan Worldview, 1607" (after Fausz 1985, Fig. 4).

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Figure 3: Diagram of a Powhatan Ceremonial Redefinition of the World 176 GLEACH

and put at the end of every song, betwixt every two, or three, or fivegrains , a little stick. (Purchas 1617:950)

Like my reading of Smith's original description, these accounts suggest that the sticks were placed between the clusters of grains of corn, not between the two circles. The Purchas account also reveals the magnitude of this diagram, with perhaps something on the order of a thousand such clusters in the circles. Given that this all transpired in a language new to Smith, and his ego- and ethnocentrism, some misunderstanding of such complicated notions is to be expected. My interpretation represents a relatively minor shift from Smith's understanding, one that could easily result from his poor knowl­ edge of the Powhatan language, and making this shift restores meaning to what is otherwise an anomalous account. In the Algonquian world, cere­ monial invocations, repetitions, and sacrifices are no more necessary for the explanation of a map than they are for divination-but they are necessary for the kind of creative process I am suggesting here. Repetition, in par­ ticular, is a way of making things true, of bringing things into being, and three seems to have been a ritual number for the Powhatans at this time:6 the priests enter in three groups, firstth e head priest, then two groups of three; three circles are made around the fire;ther e are three repetitions of the ritual, in three days; there are even three threats to Smith's life made during his captivity. In this ritual the Powhatans are redefining the world to include the English colony. It is probably quite significant here that the Powhatan world is represented by cornmeal-processed, culturally modified corn-and the boundaries of the Powhatan world are represented by natural corn. Corn is itself a cultural product, although to a lesser extent than cornmeal, and its use to represent the boundaries, and the clustering of those grains of corn, further suggest that what was being represented was something more than simply "the bounds of the sea"; they may represent surrounding groups of non-Powhatan people, possibly including the vari­ eties of spirit-beings that Hallowed (1976) glossed as "other-than-human persons". The sticks representing the English are completely outside of this system; one is left to wonder whether they were simply natural sticks, or were carved into some particular form, although the fact that they were "prepared for that purpose" suggests that they were worked in some way.

6Regna Darnell (personal communication) has suggested that the shift to three as ritual number — four is much more common in Algonquian cultures — may act as an indicator for the influence of Christianity. This may indicate that Don Luis and the Spanish Jesuit mission of 1570-1571 had more effect on the Powhatans than is commonly assumed, and supports my interpretation of that episode (Gleach 1992a:100-105). POCAHONTAS AND JOHN SMITH 177

Having been brought into the Powhatan world through this ceremony, Smith was taken to Rappahannock, and thence to Werowocomoco, where he finally met Powhatan for the first time, and where his rescue by Poca­ hontas took place:

Before a fire upon a seat like a bedstead, [Powhatan] sat covered with a great robe made of raccoon skins, and all the tails hanging by. On either side did sit a young wench of sixteen or eighteen years, and along on each side of the house, two rows of men, and behind them as many women, with all their heads and shoulders painted red; many of their heads bedecked with the white down of birds, but every one with something, and a great chain of white beads about their necks. At his entrance before the king all the people gave a great shout. The queen of Appomattox was appointed to bring him water to wash his hands, and another brought him a bunch of feathers, instead of a towel, to dry them. Having feasted him after their best barbarous manner they could, a long consultation was held, but the conclusion was, two great stones were brought before Powhatan. Then as many as could laid hands on him, dragged him to them, and thereon laid his head, and being ready with their clubs to beat out his brains. Pocahontas, the king's dearest daughter, when no entreaty could prevail, got his head in her arms, and laid her own upon his to save him from death. Whereat the emperor was contented he should live to make him hatchets, and her bells, beads, and copper. (Smith 1986d:150-151)

This is perhaps the most famous incident in the history of Virginia. Poc­ ahontas has frequently been supposed to have instantly fallen in love with Smith, and to have saved his life for that reason. Smith has also been accused of inventing or at least embellishing the incident, either for rea­ sons of self-glory, as the arguments ran in the mid-19th century (cf. Barbour 1986:lxiii-lxiv), or, in the currently fashionable mode of textual analysis, as a conventionalized form of English appropriation of the other (e.g., Hulme 1992:136-173). The events described here and the relationship between them and the preceeding rituals, however, might better be understood in terms of the Powhatan culture, without resorting to such arguments. Washing Smith's hands and drying them with feathers is a cleansing act that suggests this was another ritual occasion; the formal organization and attire of the Powhatans supports this. Pocahontas was acting in an im­ portant role as mediator, symbolically saving Smith's life so that he was effectively reborn. Barbour has written that "Pocahontas's role was at best more symbolic or histrionic than vital" (Smith 1986d:146n), but while this nicely summarizes the common interpretations of this ritual, it is simply a continuation of the English cultural devaluation of her inherently female role. Pocahontas was neither symbolic nor histrionic here; she was acting 178 GLEACH her proper part as a young Powhatan woman in a ritual situation that was part of an adoption of Smith and the English colony. Different Algonquian and other eastern cultures included a variety of ceremonies for adoption, although none is known to match this in elab­ oration. Flannery (1939:127-128) provides references for the adoption of prisoners in several eastern cultures; while she writes that the practice is "unrecorded for the Virginia-Maryland region" (1939:128), she also pro­ vides another example recorded from the Powhatans by Smith (Flannery 1939:127n). The threat of death by clubbing may seem excessive for a rit­ ual of adoption, but it is precisely what one might expect, structurally: a symbolic ending of one existence, and the beginning of a new existence. In this sense, the threat of death was intended to be perceived as real; the end of the prior state had to be marked. Powhatan culture itself provides a good parallel here in the huskanaw, a rite of passage which included the symbolic death of young men7 and their subsequent rebirth into adult society (Beverley 1947:207-209; Gleach 1992a:35-39). This violent ritual act provides another example of the ways in which English and Powhatan understandings and uses of violence were quite different, an argument I have made elsewhere with regards to warfare (Gleach 1992a:41-54, 84-96; 1993). The final episode in this ritual complex took place two days later:

Powhatan having disguised himself in the most fearfulest manner he could, caused Captain Smith to be brought forth to a great house in the woods, and there upon a mat by the fire to be left alone. Not long after, from behind a mat that divided the house, was made the most doleful noise he ever heard. Then Powhatan, more like a devil than a man, with some two hundred more as black as himself, came unto him and told him now they were friends, and presently he should go to Jamestown, to send him two great guns, and a grindstone, for which he would give him the country of Capahowosick, and forever esteem him as his son Nantaquoud. (Smith 1986d:151)

That this arrangement included not only Smith, but the colony as well, is given more clearly in the True Relation:

He desired me to forsake Paspehegh, and to live with him upon his river, a country called Capahowasick. He promised to give me corn, venison, or what I wanted to feed us; hatchets and copper we should make him, and none would disturb us. (Smith 1986a:57)

Smith originally mistook this for actual death: "In some part of the country they have yearly a sacrifice of children ... "He was informed otherwise at the time by a Powhatan chief (Smith 1986b:171-172), and more accurate information on the huskanaw was available by 1617 (Purchas 1617:952). POCAHONTAS AND JOHN SMITH 179

The "great house in the woods" in which this took place was most likely a temple; this marginal setting, neither domesticated cultural space, like a village, nor utter wilderness, is the usual setting for such a sacred place. The ritual implications of red, black, and white — colours noted throughout each ritual in this series — should be noted, with the Powhatans painted black here; the gifts to be given in return further suggest that this was a continuation of the protracted ritual described. Like the redefinition ritual, this began with Smith being left alone by a fire, and the other participants in the ritual came to him there; the rescue episode inverts this pattern, with Smith being brought to the assembled Powhatans. While some have questioned whether either this final ritual or the res­ cue should be viewed as an adoption ceremony (cf. Rountree 1989:121-122, 1990:39), it seems evident to me that they should be considered together, and together with the protracted redefinition ritual and the procession through Tsenacommacah that preceded them, as a rite of passage "adopt­ ing" the English colony. Separation is marked by Smith's capture; the liminal phase includes the procession and redefinition ritual; and the res­ cue began his process of incorporation, completed with the final ritual in the temple. Liminality is obviously emphasized here; the point of the ritual complex is the redefinition of the English colony as part of Tsena­ commacah — the transition from English outsider to Anglo-Powhatan. The elaboration of different phases in rites of passage, and indeed the possibility that one or more phases of a rite of passage could themselves be structured as rites of passage, was recognized by van Gennep (1960:11) in his orig­ inal description. Victor Turner (1967, 1969, 1977) has further examined the liminal phase, emphasizing its "relatively unstructured, undefined, po­ tential (rather than complete or realized) qualities" (T. Turner 1977:54). Turner referred to this structure of potentiality in ritual as "anti-structure" (V. Turner 1969), although that term suggests a binary opposition to the structure of the everyday that need not pertain. The structure of ritual, in­ cluding that of the liminal phase, can better be seen as another expression of the structure of the everyday, with rituals of the liminal phase manip­ ulating potentials within that overarching structure (cf. T. Turner 1977). The structural relationships between this ritual complex and the cultural relations it engendered are obvious, and clearly involve the boundaries of the Powhatan world and Smith's transition across those boundaries. This perspective helps to elucidate the events of Smith's captivity. The ritual complex apparently began with the very act of capturing Captain John Smith. He was captured by a large party, variously reported as 200 to 300 bowmen, led by the Powhatan war-chief Opechancanough. While they may have been on a collective deer hunt, as Barbour (Smith 1986d:147n) suggests, there is a sense of purposefulness in the actions of the capturing 180 GLEACH party, which comes through even in Smith's accounts of his capture (Smith 1986a:45-47,1986c:213,1986d:146-147), that suggests that his capture was more than incidental. He was immediately taken before Opechancanough, whose duties as war-chief would include dealing with outsiders, and his life was threatened-the first of three times during ned-the first of three times during this captivity. He was then taken to the seasonal village of Rasawek and treated as a captive chief; the three dances that took place there were centered on Smith and Opechancanough, and after the dances he was feasted. He was kept there for close to a week, with his life being threatened a second time while there. A few days after this second threat the next phase of his captivity be­ gan, a physical transition from the margins of Tsenacommacah to its heart, the village of Powhatan, and a metaphysical transformation from English to Anglo-Powhatan. Smith was first taken to a series of smaller, more pe­ ripheral villages, returned to Rasawek, and then taken to Menapacute, one of the main villages of Pamunkey. Pamunkey was one of the most impor­ tant districts of Tsenacommacah (cf. Feest 1966:77, Gleach 1992a:22-23), where Powhatan's brothers Itoyatin and Kekataugh as well as Opechan­ canough were chiefs. It was while here that the redefinition ritual took place, creating a place for the English in the Powhatan world. Having done this, the Powhatans returned Smith to the periphery of Tsenacommacah, and from this outside position he was then brought to Werowocomoco, Powhatan's principal residence at this time. His old life being ended, Poc­ ahontas spared him from death, allowing him to begin his new life as a Powhatan, and two days later the ritual was completed, giving Smith and the colony a specific place in Tsenacommacah. Powhatan's intention at the end is clearly to have the English settle within his territory, as his sub­ ordinates. Although I disagree with her identification of nantaquoud as a Powhatan kinship term meaning "my son", Williamson (1992:378) makes the same point, emphasizing a Active kin relationship that was nevertheless established here. In exchange for their furnishing Powhatan with the goods he desired, the English would be permitted to remain, with Smith as their chief, safe in their own territory within Tsenacommacah. The move from Jamestown was not made, however, nor were the "two great guns, and a grindstone" given over. Smith returned to the colony, but continued to travel in explorations through Tsenacommacah during his stay in Virginia. On one such expe­ dition he suffered an accident in which his gunpowder pouch caught fire, seriously burning his leg. He returned to England shortly after this incident, and, while he did later visit New England, he never again saw Virginia. Following his departure, relations between the Powhatans and the colony worsened. The English continued to expand through Tsenacommacah, and POCAHONTAS AND JOHN SMITH 181

continued to need food from the Powhatans. New leaders came into the colony, men who had no prior experience with the Powhatans, and who did not make even the efforts Smith had made to deal with them on then- own terms. The colony took much from the Powhatans, and gave little in return. Through this period, Pocahontas continued to help the colony, supplying them with needed food and information — and undoubtedly also returning information to her father. Far from simply being a "friend of the colony", or seeking a way to improve her personal status, she was filling a cultural role as a mediator, as described by Kidwell (1992:99-101). In April 1613 Pocahontas was taken captive by the English,8 and sent to live with the Reverend Alexander Whitaker, where she might learn En­ glish ways. There she met Whitaker's neighbor John Rolfe, and, according to English reports, the two of them fell in love. Rolfe petitioned the gov­ ernor for permission to marry Pocahontas, which was granted, with the hope that this would help ensure peace between the two peoples. They were married in April 1614, Pocahontas having been baptized and chris­ tened Rebecca; they had a son within two years. Powhatan seems to have been perfectly content with this marriage; he likely also saw this as a way to further the union of the English with his people. In 1616 the Rolfe family sailed for England with the governor and several Powhatans, and Pocahontas was introduced to the English court. While Smith never again saw Virginia, he did visit Pocahontas in Eng­ land, and gives this account of their meeting:

Being about this time preparing to set sail for New England, I could not stay to do her that service I desired, and she well deserved; but hearing she was at Branford with divers of my friends, I went to see her. After a modest salutation, without any word, she turned about, obscuring her face, as not seeming well contented; and in that humor her husband, with divers others, we all left her two or three hours, repenting myself to have written she could speak English. But not long after she began to talk, and remembered me well what courtesies she had done, saying, 'You did promise Powhatan what was yours should be his, and he the like to you; you called him father being in his land a stranger, and by the same reason so must I do you'; which though I would have excused, I durst not allow of that title, because she was a king's daughter. With a well-set countenance she said, 'Were you not afraid to come into my father's country? — and caused fear in him and all his people (but me)? — and fear you here I should call you father?—I tell you then I will, and you shall call me child, and so I will be for ever and ever your countryman. They did tell us always you were dead, and I knew no other till I came to Plymouth; yet Powhatan did command Uttamatomakkin

8Whether this was in accord with or against her and/or Powhatan's will is a point that may be further debated. The action prompted neither condemnation nor reprisal. 182 GLEACH

to seek you, and know the truth, because your countrymen will lie much.' (Smith 1986d:260-261)

Pocahontas here restates the relationship established through the cere­ mony previously discussed: she and Smith are countrymen. Her marriage to Rolfe even repeated the alliance. The English, however, never accorded the Powhatans the treatment of equals; Pocahontas's statement about their lying reflects her awareness of this. Both sides recognized the union of Powhatans and English, but they understood it in very different ways. As I have argued elsewhere (Gleach 1992a, 1992b), it was inappropriate be­ haviour on the part of the English, based on these different understandings, that led to increasing Powhatan violence against them. Shortly before the time she was to leave England, in early 1617, Poc­ ahontas died (Smith 1986d:262), dissolving the bond of marriage between the two peoples. Her young child Thomas Rolfe stayed there, after becom­ ing sick on the short voyage by ship from Gravesend to Plymouth. His father wrote from Virginia, upon his return: "My wife's death is much lamented, my child much desired, when it is of better strength to endure so hard a passage, whose life greatly extinguishes the sorrow of her loss, saying all must die, but 'tis enough that her child lives" (Rolfe 1933:71). The reactions of Powhatan and Opechancanough were similar:

Powhatan goes from place to place visiting his country, taking his pleasure in good friendship. With us, laments his daughter's death but glad her child is living. So does Opechancanough. Both want to see him, but desire that he may be stronger before he returns. (Argall 1933b:92)

In the spring of 1617, Powhatan "left the government of his kingdom to Opechancanough and his other brother" (Argall 1933a: 73-74). He appar­ ently died about a year after this abdication. Smith continued to explore in New England for several years, and pub­ lished his definitive work, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles, in 1624. None of the events he documents has caught the imaginations of readers like the story of his rescue by Poca­ hontas. In this paper I have shown how an understanding of the actions of Smith and Pocahontas from the Powhatan as well as from the English perspective helps them to make sense. If Pocahontas is given her rightful place as a young Powhatan woman, capable of participating in a ritual context, instead of being reduced to a helpless girl-child or a self-advancing schemer, and if the rescue incident is placed in the context of the other ceremonies examined here, the nature of the protracted ritual is clear. The Powhatans were creating a place for the colony, first taking Smith into their villages as prisoner, then ceremonially redefining the world to include the English colony, and then adopting the colony through the persons of POCAHONTAS AND JOHN SMITH 183

Smith, Powhatan, and Pocahontas. Smith and the English colonists could not see that the Powhatans were controlling the situation because of their understanding of the relationship with themselves as superiors, and the meaning of such ceremonies was lost on them. The relationship between the Powhatans and the colony, formalized in the persons of Smith, Poca­ hontas, and Powhatan, was strained by Smith's departure and by continued English abuses of Powhatan hospitality, and was then formalized again in the persons of Pocahontas and John Rolfe. The role here of Pocahontas, the social actor, is clearly even greater than that commonly attributed to Pocahontas, the symbol.

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