l6  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    96 
bank ;  next  above  was  Nancltanghtacund,  on  the  shore  of  a  deep  bay 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  stream  ;  and  far  above  was  Cuttatawomen, 
on  the  left  bank.  Other  settlements,  evidently  of  less  importance,  are 
indicated  on  both  banks  of  the  river,  but  none  is  shown  within  about 
10  miles  of  the  falls.  It  appears  that  in  1608  there  were  no  Algonquian 
camps  on  the  Rappahannock  for  some  distance  below  the  great  island, 
westward  from  which  the  country  was  dominated  by  Siouan  tribes, 
whose  steady  movement  down  the  valley  may  have  caused  the  aban- 
donment of  the  Algonquian  villages. 
It  is  thought  that  some  sites  indicated  on  that  part  of  the  1624  map, 
figure  I,  have  been  identified.  These  will  now  be  briefly  described, 
beginning  with  Pissaseck,  thence  up  the  river,  thus  approaching  the 
"  bounds  betwixt  the  Kingdome  of  the  Mannahocks  and  the  Naiid- 
tanghtacunds."   All  are  shown  on  the  map,  figure  3. 
Pissaseck 
This  large  settlement  stood  on  the  left  or  north  bank  of  the  Rappa- 
hannock, and  although  not  specifically  mentioned  in  the  early  narra- 
tives as  being  one  of  the  native  villages  encountered  in  1608,  during 
the  exploration  of  the  river,  its  position,  as  well  as  its  importance,  is 
shown  on  the  1624  map  by  a  "  Kings  howse."  It  occupied  a  level 
area  high  above  the  river,  below  and  adjoining  an  extensive  marsh, 
known  as  Drakes  Marsh,  where  even  now  much  game  and  wild  fowl 
is  killed  each  year.  It  was  an  ideal  site  for  a  native  village,  and  the 
vast  amount  of  broken  pottery  and  innumerable  objects  of  stone  that 
are  and  have  been  recovered  from  the  surface  prove  it  to  have  been 
one  of  great  extent  and  one  that  had  been  frequented  through  genera- 
tions. The  position  of  the  village  agreed  with  the  general  description 
of  the  environment  of  native  settlements  as  presented  by  Strachey." 
He  wrote  (p.  70)  : 
Theire  habitations  or  townes  are  for  the  most  part  by  the  rivers,  or  not  far 
distant  from  fresh  springs,  comonly  upon  a  rice  of  a  hill,  that  they  may  over- 
looke  the  river,  and  take  every  small  thing  into  view  which  sturrs  upon  the 
same.  Their  howses  are  not  many  in  one  towne,  and  those  that  are  stand 
dissite  [dispersed]  and  scattered  without  forme  of  a  street,  farr  and  wyde 
asunder. 
The  site  of  the  ancient  village  is  shown  in  the  aerial  photograph 
reproduced  in  plate  2.  It  stood,  on  the  far  or  left  bank  of  the  river 
— now  expanded  and  assuming  the  appearance  of  a  lake — above  the 
^  Strachey,  William,  The  historic  of  travaile  into  Virginia  Britannia.    Hak- 
luyt  Society,  London,  1849. 
