Nancy,
Thanks so much for the information. I have saved it into the file of stuff
for this story. Was Pocahontas from the Kecoughtan village? Or another
village? Perhaps I will learn the exact village when I get Dr. Roundtree's
books.
The description of the meal sounds like the evening meal. According to the
article by Roundtree, breakfast was leftovers from the night before,
especially whatever was in the stew pot. It is interesting that they did not
eat roasted meat and bread together. I guess they wouldn't eat a roast
venison sandwich<grin>
Anne
Anne Pemberton
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http://www.erols.com/stevepem
http://www.erols.com/apembert
http://www.educationalsynthesis.org
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sunshine49" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 13, 2007 11:06 AM
Subject: from the sources
> the native village of Kecoughtan was described as a village within 1000
> cleared acres, planted with copses of mulberry trees, which the natives
> liked for shade. Strachey describes it as originally being inhabited by
> 1000 people in 300 dwellings, but by the time Smith arrived, there were
> only 18 houses and 240 warriors. Powhatan had recently taken it over and
> had it populated with his own people. Gov. Gates removed the natives in
> 1610 and it was taken over by the English, became a very important
> trading port, and was near what is now the heart of dowtown Hampton. [I
> have read that small, hasty excavations were done in the area many
> decades ago, does anyone know where these artifacts would be located?]
>
> A description of a Powhatan meal: food was spread on mats on the ground,
> a dish of corn, or hominy and beans [a special delicacy], broiled fish,
> roasting ears of corn; roasted meat was always served seperately from
> boiled, and meat and bread were never eaten together. Men sat on one
> side, women on the other. Before eating, they took a small bit of food
> from the dish and threw it into the fire as an offering, and said a short
> "grace." Leftovers were gathered up, to be served again or given to those
> who were destitute. Hands were washed before the meal from a platter of
> water. In Kecoughtan a feast was described, of oysters, fish, wildfowl,
> and good bread before a roaring fire.
>
> BTW the Wicomico Indians were described as "diminutive", the
> Rappahannocks as tall, and Smith measured the thigh of one Susquehannock
> warrior as being 3/4 of a yard in circumference! The women were described
> as very comely, with delicate features; they wore, among other things,
> necklaces of pearls and bracelets of copper and pearls. The women were
> also tattooed, with designs of flowers and tendrils of vines. I have read
> that they used the black sap of poison ivy to make this tattoo ink [and
> probably other things as well], so the story that native Americans were
> generally immune to poison ivy seems to be true [although some of the
> plains Indians had herbal remedies for it, perhaps they had not been as
> exposed as Indians in the eastern woodlands, and thus had not developed
> an immunity]. They also wove the fibrous ivy roots into baskets. Which I
> am sure the English loved [an early 'biological warfare' happened during
> the Rev. War, when the colonists planted poison ivy along the peninsula,
> to try to inflict misery on the advancing British troops. My few drops
> of Powhatan blood might be the reason I have never in my life had so much
> as a bump from poison ivy. If the softball goes into a patch of the
> stuff, I am the one sent in to retrieve it.].
>
> Hope this helps you flesh out your story.
>
> Nancy
>
> -------
> I was never lost, but I was bewildered once for three days.
>
> --Daniel Boone
>
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