they used nets or weirs, traps kind of like our crab pots but round  
and longer, made of twigs or rush; I know up the Rappahannock they  
had a large fishing site with stone weirs constructed along the bank  
to channel the fish in, remains of them can still be seen today. They  
were no doubt used in conjunction with stick or reed parts. One of  
the accounts on the Jamestown site has a description of how a  
mealtime among the Powhatans went, the customs and rituals they  
followed, it would be a big help to lend authenticity to your  
account. I was surprised at the rituals involved. I'll see if I can  
find it in the next few days. Their foods, too, were much more  
refined than meats and roots. There were wild nuts [acorns, black  
walnuts, hickory nuts, chestnuts], berries, fruits, seeds, wild  
greens of various kinds, along with domesticated crops. Types of flat  
breads [some made from soaked and pounded acorn meat- they had to be  
soaked to remove the tannic acid], stews, gruels and meats. Probably  
deer, turkey and squirrel were major foods, too, esp. along the  
coast. You don't have to say this in your book, but it is believed  
Pocahontas had a husband when the English came; this may have been  
more ritual than anything, but it shows that a girl of that age was,  
in that culture, not still a child [as we think of it]. Though she  
did seem to have the spirit, openness and inquisitive mind that  
endeared her to her father, as well as to the English. So I suppose  
you could imagine that she  took a liking to the English fish hooks  
and decided to try it out for herself, instead of the men doing the  
large scale fishing, as was customary. From accounts of how teeming  
the rivers were with fish at the time, she probably wouldn't have had  
much trouble reeling in a few. Though she might have wondered why the  
English used such a slow means of catching fish, when her people  
could get many basketfuls at a time.

Nancy

-------
I was never lost, but I was bewildered once for three days.

--Daniel Boone



On Feb 11, 2007, at 8:56 PM, Lyle E. Browning wrote:

> Regarding fishing, the drawings of DeBry and White done for the  
> first settlements at Roanoke Island, NC show netting as the primary  
> method, with spearing as the second. Hook and line was not  
> something shown, if I remember correctly. With nets, the yields are  
> far greater and that's what's needed in a village. The methods of  
> fishing appear to have been taught by the Powhatans to the English  
> as one can transpose directly all the net types from DeBry to those  
> in use in the middle of the 20th century by commercial fishermen on  
> the James and Chickahominy Rivers.
>
> Beads were also a different matter. These appear to have uniformly  
> been a high status item until the English flooded the market with  
> them whereupon they became worthless. Copper items were also in  
> high demand early on, until again, idiots flooded the market. Smith  
> remarked on that with disgust in his writings.
>
> Lyle Browning
>
>
> On Feb 11, 2007, at 7:45 PM, Anne Pemberton wrote:
>
>> Thank you Paul and Nancy for your help. I will check the Jamestown  
>> site. I also found there is something useful on Native women in a  
>> journal in JSTOR, but I have no idea how I could access it from home.
>>
>> My stories (as some of you know) are personalized to the Reader.  
>> In this story, the Reader will don his/her History Hat and arrive  
>> on the James River between the Powhatan village and Jamestown in  
>> mid-summer of 1609. I know my blackberries are ready usually  
>> around the 4th of July, but know nothing of other berries. The  
>> Reader will arrive at sunup, and go west to the Powhatan village,  
>> meet Pocahontas in the village garden picking summer squash for  
>> breakfast. They will go to the village and help cook the squash  
>> and eat it, then pack a basket full of dried corn and together  
>> carry it to Jamestown to trade. The Reader will help Pocahontas  
>> make a good trade, perhaps getting some fish hooks in addition to  
>> shiny beads, and maybe also a pot, and perhaps a wooden toy. Since  
>> Pocahontas is 14-15 by then, and budding, she will don a shirt  
>> given her by John Smith to wear in Jamestown so the men don't say  
>> crude things to her. The Reader and Pocahontas will head back to  
>> the village, stopping along the way to swim in the river, gather  
>> some rushes to make baskets, and maybe catch a few fish with the  
>> new fish hooks and some worms. They will continue back to the  
>> village, add the fish to the village supplies for supper. Then  
>> they will play for awhile, with the other Indian children.
>> I know that colonial children could have played hopscotch, but I'm  
>> not sure what games, that a reader could recognize or understand,  
>> that the Indian children would play. Dinner would be as the sun is  
>> going down, and after a hearty stew of meat and roots, Reader  
>> would press the HOME button on his/her History Hat and return to  
>> the current time.
>>
>> If anyone sees hole or improvements on this outline, I hope they  
>> will say so.
>>
>> There will be music background to the story. I have already used  
>> Colors of the Wind on another project, so I will be looking for  
>> something different. I am open to suggestions. It should be in  
>> public domain and hopefully in midi or MP3.
>>
>> Thanks to any and all help, and an extra thanks to those who tell  
>> me where I am tripping up.
>>
>> Anne
>>
>>
>> Anne Pemberton
>> [log in to unmask]
>> http://www.erols.com/stevepem
>> http://www.erols.com/apembert
>> http://www.educationalsynthesis.org
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Paul Finkelman"  
>> <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Sunday, February 11, 2007 7:19 PM
>> Subject: Re: Native American Culture
>>
>>
>>> lots of seafood (oysters, clams, crabs; and remember at this time  
>>> there
>>> were elk, bison and probably moose in Va.
>>>
>>> Paul Finkelman
>>> President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law
>>>     and Public Policy
>>> Albany Law School
>>> 80 New Scotland Avenue
>>> Albany, New York   12208-3494
>>>
>>> 518-445-3386
>>> [log in to unmask]
>>>>>> [log in to unmask] 02/11/07 6:39 PM >>>
>>> Folks,
>>>
>>> I am starting a new story for children and it will be about  
>>> spending a
>>> day
>>> with Pocahontas in the summer of 1609. I believe Pocahontas would  
>>> have
>>> been
>>> 14 or 15 by then, and John Smith still in the colony???
>>>
>>> I am wondering what young Native Americans drank with their meals.
>>> Water?
>>> Did the press juice from berries and fruit?
>>>
>>> Also, does anyone know if there was any husbandry among the  
>>> Powhatans?
>>> Did
>>> they keep chickens for eggs? Gather eggs from ducks? Never eat eggs?
>>> Cook
>>> eggs hard or fried?
>>>
>>> I am, as you may recall, a long way from a library (and can no  
>>> longer
>>> drive
>>> on the Interstate) and on limited means, so borrowing or buying  
>>> books is
>>>
>>> tough. Following internet links to sources is my favorite way of  
>>> doing
>>> research. Email addresses are also helpful, if you just know  
>>> someone who
>>>
>>> knows.
>>>
>>> Thanks for any help on the Pocahontas' diet in the summer months.
>>>
>>> Anne
>>>
>>>
>>> Anne Pemberton
>>> [log in to unmask]
>>> http://www.erols.com/stevepem
>>> http://www.erols.com/apembert
>>> http://www.educationalsynthesis.org
>>>
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