40  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    96 
through  all  lands  on  that  side  of  the  river,  which  were  greater  in 
extent  than  those  on  the  north  side  where  we  were  lodged  .  .  . 
Having  explored  all  of  this  region  we  went  to  the  Indian  village." 
The  Indian  settlement  which  had  been  seen  from  the  left  bank  of 
the  river  when  looking  across  the  stream  is  thought  to  have  stood  on 
the  eastern  shore  of  Port  Tobago  Bay,  on  the  site  of  ancient  Nand- 
tanghtacund,  from  which  it  may  not  have  differed  greatly  in  appear- 
ance. Durand's  brief  description  of  the  village  and  its  people,  as  they 
were  in  December  1686,  just  two  and  one-half  centuries  ago,  follows: 
These  Savages  have  rather  pretty  houses  made  of  tree  bark  the  walls  as  well 
as  the  roofs,  so  well  put  together  with  thongs  of  deerskin  that  neither  rain  nor 
wind  disturb  them  at  all.  They  are  a  people  darker  than  the  Gipsies  (Egiptiens) 
we  have  in  Europe.  They  mark  their  faces  with  cuts  in  the  shape  of  a  snail 
shell,  in  which  they  put  powder,  and  thus  they  are  marked  for  life.'"' 
The  women  of  the  house  wear  only  a  deerskin  to  cover  their  least  decent  parts, 
in  winter  they  wear  the  hairy  side  next  the  skin,  and  in  summer  put  skin  to 
skin.  They  build  their  fire  in  the  middle  of  the  house,  their  beds  around  it  they 
inter-weave  a  certain  strong  grass  which  they  find  along  the  river  resembling 
straw,^"  and  they  do  it  on  four  little  forks  (quatre  petites  fourches),  these  serve 
them  for  seats  to  sit  upon. 
In  the  village  the  men  wear  only  a  wretched  shirt  of  white  or  blue  cloth, 
and  from  the  time  they  put  it  on  they  never  take  it  off,  it  falls  off  of  them  in 
tatters,  for  they  never  wash  anything.  Aside  from  the  deerskin  the  women 
are  entirely  naked  the  rest  of  their  bodies,  their  little  children  completely  naked, 
no  matter  how  cold  it  is.  The  men  do  nothing  except  hunting  and  fishing,  the 
women  raise  Indian  corn  (Bled  Sarrasin)  which  is  common  among  them,  any 
one  takes  it  who  needs  it.^  They  make  also  pots  and  vases  from  earth  and  pipes 
to  smoke,  the  Christians  buying  their  pots  or  vases  fill  them  up  with  Indian  Corn 
"  This  refers  to  tattooing,  but  to  what  extent  it  was  practiced  by  the  people 
of  the  Rappahannock  is  not  known.  From  Durand's  statement  it  may  be  inferred 
that  he  had  seen  both  men  and  women  who  had  followed  the  custom.  But  Smith 
did  not  mention  men  when  he  wrote  some  years  before ;  he  stated  (op.  cit.,  p.  66)  : 
"  They  adorne  themselves  most  with  copper  beads  and  paintings.  Their  women 
some  have  their  legs,  hands,  brests  and  face  cunningly  imbrodered  with  diverse 
workes,  as  beasts,  serpentes,  artificially  wrought  into  their  flesh  with  blacke 
spots." 
^°  A  sedge,  Scirpiis  amertcanus  Pers.  Quantities  of  this  grow  in  shallow  water 
near  the  banks  of  the  river. 
^  This  is  rather  vague.  Adair  (History  of  the  American  Indians,  London, 
1775),  who  wrote  of  the  tribes  farther  south,  stated  that  (p.  430)  :  "Formerly, 
the  Indian  law  obliged  every  town  to  work  together  in  one  body,  in  sowing 
or  planting  their  crops  ;  though  their  fields  are  divided  by  proper  marks,  and 
their  harvest  is  gathered  separately  .  .  ."  William  Bartram  (Travels  through 
North  and  South  Carolina  .  .  .  London,  1792),  referred  to  the  same  customs 
in  these  words  (p.  510)  :  "  In  the  spring,  the  ground  being  already  prepared, 
on  one  and  the  same  day,  early  in  the  morning,  the  whole  town  is  summoned, 
by  the  sound  of  a  conch  shell,  from  the  mouth  of  the  overseer,  to  meet  at  the 
