l68 NORTH AMERICA. 



favourite daughter, who threw her arms round the prisoner 

 and declared she would save him or die with him. Smith 

 was released and returned to Jamestown. 



After a certain time spent in discoveries and visits in 

 every inlet and bay, on both sides of the Chesapeake, from 

 Cape Charles to the river Susquehannah, he came back, 

 bringing an ample and accurate account of his researches, and 

 a map which has been the groundwork of all posterior ones. 



By his liberality, wisdom, and courage, Smith inspired 

 the Indians with the most exalted opinion of himself and of 

 his country. 



Subsequently, he received a dangerous wound from the 

 explosion of some gunpowder, which obliged him to proceed 

 to England for surgical aid, and he never returned to 

 Virginia ; but the honour of having been the true leader 

 w r ho planted the Anglo-Saxon race in North America rests 

 with him. 



From .1610 to 1756, the colony continued to grow, 

 favoured by several circumstances, as the increasing use of 

 tobacco in Europe, its remoteness from the Spanish and 

 French settlements in Florida, and in Canada, and its central 

 position, which protected it from savage incursions. The 

 soil being fertile, the natural productions, both animal and 

 vegetable, being abundant, and the means of existence easy, 

 the people enjoyed unusual prosperity. The same can be 

 said of the English settlements of Maryland, Maine, New 

 Hampshire, Massachusetts, Providence and Rhode 

 Islands, Connecticut, etc. 



