12 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 82 



direction ; this was probably what they considered to be " the south- 

 branch of James river, which Major Harris observing to run north- 

 ward, vainly imagined to be an arm of the lake of Canada." 



During the i8th century there was an important ferry across 

 the James at. or very near, the site of this early native settlement. 

 Leading southward from the ferry was a road over which colonists 

 went to Carolina. As many of the roads developed by the first 

 settlers followed the lines of ancient trails it is within reason to 

 believe the same route had been traversed by Indians through 

 generations. 



RASSAWEK 



No account has been discovered of a European having visited 

 the village of Rassawek, although early writers referred to it as the 

 principal town of the Monacan confederacy. Smith wrote in 1612 : 

 " Upon the head of the Powhatans are the Mouacans, whose chief e 

 habitation is at Russawmeake," but all his knowledge of the place 

 had been derived from Indians. It stood evidently at the confluence 

 of the James and Rivanna, some miles beyond the point where 

 Newport turned to retrace his way to Jamestown in the autumn of 

 1608. The site had been abandoned before white settlers entered the 

 region and consequently its exact position may never be known. 



Viewed at the present time the most desirable and logical location 

 for an extensive village would have been on the right bank of the 

 Rivanna, within the angle formed by the two streams. Here is a 

 wide bottom with high, rolling land a short distance from the James 

 touching the Rivanna. When timbered and in its natural condition 

 this would have been a beautiful site for a native settlement. The 

 proximity of the two streams would have afforded some protection. 

 The wooded hills to the north would have sheltered the frail habi- 

 tations from the winter winds. Fish and wild game, ever plentiful, 

 could have been easily taken for food. This was probably the site 

 of the village of three centuries and more ago. 



Many traces of Indian occupancy have l)een discovered within 

 a radius of a few miles of the mouth of the Rivanna, but all should 

 not be attributed to the Monacan. The junction of two streams 

 always attracted the Indian and it is evident others had lived there 

 before the coming of the Siouan tribes to the valley of the Jamfes. 



It is believed that the members of the five tribes or groups men- 

 tioned in the present sketch had similar manners and customs, and 

 that all disposed of their dead as did the people of Monasukapanough, 

 whose village stood on the banks of the Rivanna far above Rassawek. 



