When we consider that he sailed above three thousand miles in an open boat; when we contemplate the dangers and the hardships he encountered; when we reflect on the valuable additions he made to the stock of knowledge respecting America; we shall not hesitate to say that few voyages of discovery, undertaken at any time, reflect more honour on those engaged in them. "So full and exact," says Dr. Robertson, "are his accounts of that large portion of the American continent comprehended in the two provinces of Virginia and Maryland, that after the progress of information and research for a century and a half, his map exhibits no inaccurate view of both countries, and is the original, on which all subsequent delineations and descriptions have been formed."[20]
[Footnote 20: Dr. Robertson must allude to the country below the falls of the great rivers.]
[Illustration: Ruins of the Old Brick Church Built at Jamestown in 1639
_Settled by the English in 1607, on the banks of the James River about 32 miles from its mouth, it was at Jamestown that the first legislative assembly in America was held in 1619, and here in the same year slavery was first introduced into the original thirteen colonies. The site of the settlement, which was originally a peninsula, but is now an island, is owned by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. Besides the ruins of the church shown here those of the fort and of two or three houses built more than a hundred years before the Declaration of Independence was signed are still standing._]
On his return from this expedition, Smith was chosen president of the council; and, yielding to the general wish, accepted the office. Soon after, Newport arrived with an additional supply of settlers, among whom were the two first females who adventured to the present colony; but he came without provisions.
The judicious administration of the president, however, supplied the wants of the colonists, and restrained the turbulent. Encouraged by his example, and coerced by his authority, a spirit of industry and subordination was created among them, which was the parent of plenty and of peace.[21]