POCAHONTAS PODAGRA. 



591 



dikes. The canal Gran Nnviglio connects the Tes- 

 sino with the Po, in a straight line. 



POCAHONTAS, daughter of Powhatan, aceleb- 

 rated Indian warrior in Virginia, was horn about the 

 year 1595. She discovered the warmest friendship 

 tor the English, who colonized Virginia when she 

 was about twelve years old, and was eminently use- 

 ful to the infant settlement. The first remarkable 

 evidence of this attachment was displayed in 1607, 

 when captain John Smith was taken prisoner by her 

 countrymen, and brought before Powhatan, that he 

 might put him to death. As the savage lifted 

 his club to dash out the brains of the prisoner, whose 

 head was laid on a stone at his feet, Pocahontas 

 threw herself on Smith's body, and prevailed on her 

 father to spare his life. Captain Smith was suffered 

 to return to Jamestown, where he sent presents to 

 Powhatan and his benefactress. From this time, 

 Pocahontas frequently visited the settlements of the 

 whites, to whom she furnished provisions at times 

 when they were particularly needed. In 1609, 

 Powhatan invited Smith to pay him a visit, promising 

 him a supply of provisions, but designing to entrap 

 and destroy him and his party. Pacahontas, becom- 

 ing informed of this plot ventured through the forest 

 at midnight, to disclose it to Smitli. For three or 

 four years she continued to assist the settlers in their 

 distresses, and to save them from the effects of her 

 father's animosity. During "this period the infant 

 colony had experienced numerous vicissitudes of 

 good and bad fortune. Smith had been driven by 

 faction to England, and the rapacity of his successors 

 plunged the settlement into an Indian war. An at- 

 tack was made on one of the forts by the Indians 

 under Powhatan, when the commander and thirty 

 men were slaughtered, only one person, a boy, 

 surviving, who was saved by Pocahontas. About 

 the year 1612, Pocahontas, from what cause 

 is not ascertained, but most probably on account of 

 her extraordinary attachment to the whites, in- 

 curring her father's resentment, left her home, and 

 visited the territory of Japazaws, chief of Potowmac. 

 Captain Argall, coming up the river on a trading 

 expedition, and conceiving that Pocahontas would 

 be a valuable hostage, prevailed on Japazaws, by 

 the tempting offer of a copper kettle, to surrender 

 her to him. Powhatan refused to ransom her on 

 the terms proposed. During her detention, Mr 

 Thomas Rolfe, an Englishman of respectable char- 

 acter, became attached to her, and offered her his 

 hand. It was accepted, and, the consent of Powhatan 

 being obtained, the marriage was solemnized in pre- 

 sence of the uncle of Pocahontas and her two 

 brothers. This event relieved the colony from the 

 enmity of Powhatan, and preserved peace between 

 them for many years. In the year 1616, Pocahontas 

 embarked with her husband, and several Indians, of 

 both sexes, for England, where she was baptized, 

 exchanging her Indian name for that of Rebecca. 

 She became a subject of curiosity to all classes of 

 people. She received, in London, a visit from her 

 former friend, captain Smith, whom, for some un- 

 known purpose, she had been taught to believe was 

 dead. When she first beheld him, she was over- 

 come with emotion, and, turning from him, hid her 

 face in her hands. During he.* stay in England, 

 she advanced greatly in the knowiedge of the Eng- 

 lish language, and her conversation was much sought 

 after at court. Her residence among civilized men, 

 however, was destined to be short. While about to 

 embark from Gravesendj in company with her hus- 

 band and an infant son, to revisit her native land, 

 she died, at the age of twenty-two years, leaving 

 one son, who was educated by his uncle, in London, 

 and afterwards became a wealthy and distinguished 



character in Virginia. His descendants still exist 

 in that commonwealth. 



POCOCK, EDWARD, an Oriental critic, was born 

 November 8, 1604, and educated at Oxford, his na- 

 tive place. He prepared for the press such parts 

 as had not been edited of the Syriac New Testa- 

 ment, from a manuscript in the Bodleian library 

 (Leyden, 1630, 4to). In 1629, Pocock was appoint- 

 ed chaplain to the English factory at Aleppo, and 

 applied himself there to the cultivation of Oriental 

 literature. He was employed by Laud to collect 

 manuscripts and coins for the university of Oxford ; 

 and, in 1636, was invited to fill the newly founded 

 Arabic professorship at Oxford. He subsequently 

 undertook a second voyage to the East, and remain- 

 ed some time at Constantinople collecting ancient 

 manuscripts. He returned hi 1640, and assisted 

 Selden in the publication of part of the annals of 

 Eutychius, under the title of Origines Alexandrine 

 (1641.) In 1648, he was appointed Hebrew pro- 

 fessor at Oxford, to which the king, then a prisoner 

 in the Isle of Wight, added the, rich canonry of 

 Christ-church ; and the grunt was confirmed by the 

 parliament. In 1649, he published Specimen His- 

 torite Arabum (4to, reprinted at Oxford, in 1805). 

 In 1650, he was deprived of his canonry, for refusing 

 to subscribe the engagement required by the parlia- 

 ment. In 16S5, he published some of the writings 

 of Maimonides, under the title of Porta Mosis, and 

 assisted in Walton's Polyglot Bible. In 1658 ap- 

 peared his edition of the Annals of Eutychius, in 

 Arabic, with a Latin version (2 vols., 4to.) The 

 restoration, in 1660, enabled him to recover his 

 church preferment ; and the same year he printed 

 an Arabic translation of Grotius's work on the 

 Truth of Christianity. In 1663, he produced an 

 Arabic and Latin edition of the Historia Dynastia- 

 rum of Abulfaragius (2 vols., 4to.) He died at Ox- 

 ford, in 1691, leaving Commentaries on the Minor 

 Prophets, and some other works. 



POCOCKE, RICHAHD, a divine and Oriental 

 traveller, was born in 1704, at Southampton, and 

 received his education at Oxford. He engaged in a 

 voyage to the Levant, in 1737, and, after visiting 

 Egypt, Arabia, Palestine, and other countries, re- 

 turned home, through Italy and Germany, in 1742. 

 He published, in 1743 1745, A Description of the 

 East (2 vols., folio), comprising an account of those 

 parts of the world in which he had travelled, and 

 containing much curious information. He was 

 promoted to the see of Ossory, in 1756 ; whence, 

 in 1765, he was translated to Elphin and Meath. 

 He died of apoplexy the same year. 



PODAGRA (from xovt, foot, and a<yga, pain) ; 

 that species of gout which recurs at regular inter- 

 vals, attacking the joints of the foot, particularly of 

 the great toe, and attended with sharp pain. The 

 pain is described as resembling that produced by 

 laying a burning coal upon the toe, or by forcing 

 asunder the joint with a red hot iron. When the 

 disease is violent, the whole foot is so sensitive, that 

 the slightest pressure, the lightest touch, or even 

 the agitation occasioned by a strong draught of air, 

 causes the most excruciating pain. The first stage 

 of the disease is peculiarly painful, on account of the 

 inflammation of the surfaces of the joints, by which 

 the nerves are affected. In a week, or sometimes a 

 fortnight, the inflammation subsides, the pain ceases, 

 and the part becomes swollen. The swelling con- 

 tains the product of the gouty inflammation, lym- 

 phatic mixed with earthy substance. It gradually 

 subsides, leaving here and there swellings on the 

 foot. The attacks usually recur once a year, in 

 spring or autumn, sometimes twice, and even of- 

 tener. As long as they are regular, they are nut 



