NO.    4      INDIAN    SITES    ON    THE    RAPPAHANNOCK — BUSHNELL  39 
customs  of  the  native  inhabitants.  However,  outwardly  the  group  of 
bark-covered  habitations,  with  their  surrounding  fields  and  gardens, 
and  the  dugout  canoes  drawn  up  on  the  sandy  beach,  did  not  differ 
in  appearance  from  that  of  many  small  villages  first  seen  by  the 
colonists  in  1607. 
PORTOBAGO  VILLAGE,    1686 
A  brief  narrative  of  a  visit  to  an  Indian  village  on  the  bank  of 
the  Rappahannock,  in  Virginia,  is  contained  in  the  journal  of  a  young 
French  Huguenot  who  traveled  through  the  colony  during  the  autumn 
and  winter  of  the  year  1686." 
Durand  reached  Virginia  in  October  1686  and,  after  varied  experi- 
ences in  a  new  country  where  he  had  difficulty  in  making  himself 
understood,  continued  northward  through  Gloucester  and  Middlesex 
Counties  to  the  right  bank  of  the  Rappahannock.  He  then  crossed 
the  Rappahannock  to  Lancaster  County,  thence  up  the  left,  or  north, 
side  of  the  stream,  through  a  country  sparsely  settled  and  with  roads 
that  followed  Indian  trails. 
"  And  so  we  entered  into  the  county  of  Rappahannock.  .  .  .  We 
went  the  next  day  to  Portobago,  for  so  is  called  Mr.  Wormeley's  " 
rich  plantations  in  this  vicinity."  This  was  an  extensive  tract,  with 
8  or  9  houses.  "  I  perceived  also  that  about  two  thirds  of  these  lands 
were  in  timber,  and  others  in  prairies  which  I  was  told,  were  the 
plantations  that  the  Savages  occupied  5  or  6  years  ago.  Three  of 
these  Savages  came  to  visit  us  as  soon  as  we  arrived,  they  brought 
him  two  large  wild  turkeycocks  and  one  tame  one,  the  wild  ones 
weighed  about  40  pounds  apiece.  We  saw  their  village  on  the  other 
side  of  the  River,  and  the  next  day  having  expressed  a  wish  to  see 
them  at  home,  Mr.  Wormeley  ordered  three  horses  sent  over  the 
water."  That  afternoon  they  crossed  the  river  to  the  south,  or  right, 
bank  where  the   Indian  village  stood,  and   having  mounted   "  rode 
*"  The  title  page  of  the  small  book,  in  French,  does  not  reveal  the  name  of 
the  author ;  however,  it  is  stated  in  the  text  that  he  was  a  native  of  Dauphine 
and  a  member  of  the  Huguenot  family  of  Durand.  The  title  page  reads :  Voyages 
d'un  Francois,  Exile  pour  la  Religion,  avec  Une  Description  de  la  Virgine  & 
Marilan  dans  L'Amerique.  A  La  Haye,  Imprime  pour  I'Autheur,  1687. 
The  volume,  with  the  exception  of  the  part  treating  of  the  Indian  village 
which  is  now  translated  and  presented,  was  privately  printed  in  English  by 
Fairfax  Harrison,  1923. 
"  Ralph  Wormeley  ( 1650- 1 701),  of  Rosegill  on  the  lower  Rappahannock,  where 
Durand  had  remained  a  few  days.  He  was  a  burgess  from  Middlesex  in  1674, 
advanced  to  the  Council  in  1677,  and  Secretary  of  the  colony  from  1693  until 
his  death. 
