I'm not aware that she was from Kecoughtan, but it gives an idea of
what a larger village was like. Nice enough that the English wanted
to take it over.
Nancy
-------
I was never lost, but I was bewildered once for three days.
--Daniel Boone
On Feb 13, 2007, at 1:05 PM, Anne Pemberton wrote:
> 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
> [log in to unmask]
> 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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