ALTHOUGH HE WAS AS EXCITED AS THE REST OF US HE WAS CONFIDENT OF HIS FATHERS ABILITY TO ACHIEVE THIS GOAL OF ENDEAVOUR; THE NAME OF SIR.MALCOLM CAMPBELL WAS NOT ONE THAT WAS ASSOCIATED WITH DEFEAT, HIS FATHER IN THE COCKPIT WITH HANDS AND COUNTENANCE STEADY TOOK THE WHEEL, BEING ONLY TOO AWARE OF THE DANGERS, ON AN OCCASION LIKE THIS IT WAS DIFFICULT NOT TO THINK OF SOME OF HIS COLLEAGUES WHOM HE HAD FOUGHT IN THE PAST, MEN OF PARRY THOMAS CALIBRE, OR SEGRAVE AND RAY KEECH, ALL FEARLESS DRIVERS BUT KILLED BY A CRAVING FOR SPEED THAT THEY STROVE TO MASTER. HE WOULD NEED ALL HIS SKILL AND GOOD LUCK IF HE WAS NOT TO JOIN THEM. IT WAS SEPTEMBER 4th A.D. 1935, SIR MALCOLM CAMPBELL WAS SETTING OUT TO ESTABLISH A NEW WORLD LAND SPEED RECORD OF 300 MILES PER HOUR IN HIS RACING CAR BLUEBIRD. IT WAS THE CULMINATING POINT OF A RACING CAREER THAT HAD STARTED SIMPLY ENOUGH WHEN, AS A TWENTY ONE YEAR OLD STOCKBROKER, BECOMING A KEEN MOTORCYCLIST AND WON HIS FIRST RACE IN THE SAME YEAR A.D. 1906.

FROM THEN ON WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE 1914-1918 WAR YEARS, WHEN HE HAD SERVED IN THE ROYAL FLYING CORPS, THE FORERUNNER TO THE ROYAL AIR FORCE WITH DISTINCTION, WHENCE HE DEVOTED HIMSELF TO RACING WITH SUCH SPECTACULAR RESULTS, EARNING A KNIGHTHOOD, IN A.D. 1931 FOR RAISING THE LAND SPEED RECORD TO 245.7 m.p.h., LATER HE CLOCKED 276 m.p.h.

A FEW SECONDS PRIOR TO THAT MOMENT A TYRE BUST, WITH SCORCHING SMOKE, WE ALL GASPED IN HORROR AS BLUEBIRD SWERVED VICIOUSLY, ALSO ENCUMBERED WITH A BUCKLED WHEEL, WITH SMOKE AND FIRE BELCHING FROM THE EXHAUST, BUT SOMEHOW SIR MALCOLM REGAINED CONTROL BRINGING BLUEBIRD TO A HALT, STEPPING OUT CALMLY, REQUESTING THE TYRES CHANGED FOR THE SECOND RUN, AS BLUEBIRD ROARED ACROSS THE FLATS, ANOTHER DISASTER GREETED SIR MALCOLM, STEAM FROM THE CAR MINGLED WITH SALT POURED THROUGH THE VENTS IN THE RADIATOR, DRIVING ALMOST BLIND FOR THE LAST HALF MILE; BUT AGAIN SAFELY COMING TO REST. AFTER THAT THE ANXIOUS TIME WAITING FOR THE CALCULATIONS, THE RESULT WHEN IT CAME WAS DISAPPOINTMENT 299-87.5 m.p.h.

LATER THAT NIGHT THE OFFICIALS ADMITTED TO AN ERROR, THE OFFICIAL RECORD WAS 301-37 m.p.h. THIS RECORD WOULD HAVE SATISFIED MOST MEN BUT SIR MALCOLM’S DELIGHT IN SPEED TURNED HIS ATTENTION TO MOTOR BOATING, BUILDING A BLUEBIRD BOAT TO BREAK THE EXISTING RECORD OF 129.5 m.p.h. WITH YEARS OF ENDEAVOUR HE WAS ABLE TO OBTAIN THE PHENOMENAL SPEED OF 141.7 m.p.h. AT THE AGE OF SIXTY THREE ALMOST BLIND, HE WAS STILL PLANNING TO BECOME THE FIRST MAN TO REACH 200 m.p.h. ON WATER, THE DIFFICULTIES HE WAS HAVING GETTING BLUEBIRD UP TO SPECIFICATION SEEMED TO WORRY HIM MORE THAN THE LOSS OF HIS SIGHT. A FEW MONTHS LATER AT THE END OF A.D. 1948 SIR MALCOLM CAMPBELL DIED IN HIS SLEEP!.

WHAT OF US TWO BOYS WHO STOOD ON THE SALT FLATS WATCHING BLUEBIRD ROAR TO VICTORY, MY SCHOOL CHUM OF COURSE WAS DONALD CAMPBELL WHOSE OWN EXPLOITS IN THE WORLD OF SPEED CULMINATING IN A LAND SPEED RECORD OF 403.1 m.p.h. STANDING PROUD IN HIS FATHERS SHADOW.

GROWING GRAIN, THIS DEEMED NEOLITHIC MAN TO SETTLEMENT, HAVING NO POTTERY IN THE 9th TO 7th MILLENNIUM B.C. BY THE TIME OF SETTLED AGRICULTURE IN THE 3rd MILLENNIUM B.C., POTTERY WAS IN USAGE, NUMEROUS SAMPLES BEING FOUND IN GRIMES GRAVES IN NORFOLK, THE FARMING PRACTISED WAS ‘SLASH AND BURN’ CLEARING THE FOREST. THENCE GROWING FOR A FEW YEARS THEN MOVING ON - NEOLITHIC MEANS- NEW - STONE.

THE BEAKER PEOPLE INHABITED THE PERIOD BETWIXT THE NEOLITHIC AND THE BRONZE AGE, BEING PRIMARILY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SPREAD OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF METALLURGY AND POTTER 2nd MILLENNIUM B.C.

THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD STABILISED THE GRAFT WITH POTS BEING IN WIDE USAGE, THE VICTORIANS WITH THEIR NEW FACTORIES, MADE POTS AVAILABLE TO ALL WITH THE LEGACY OF JOSIAH WEDGWOOD A.D. 1730-1795 BORN IN BURSLEY, STAFFORDSHIRE, SETTING UP HIS NOW FAMOUS ‘ETURIA WORKS’ IN A.D. 1769, PRODUCING SUCH FINE CHINA AS CREAM WARE, LATER BEING NAMED QUEEN WARE, JASPER WARE AND BLACK BASALT IN A.D. 1774, THIS WAS A SENSATION IN ITS DAY, THE CHINESE WHO WERE MOST PROLIFIC IN THEIR PRODUCTION OF CHINA FOR CENTURIES, WERE MOST UPSET WHEN IT WAS CLAIMED BY THE ENGLISH AFTER 118 YEARS OF ENDEAVOUR] THAT THEY HAD DISCOVERED THE SECRET PROCESS OF MAKING CHINA, THUS THE ENGLISH SAID THEY ACCRUED THIS SECRET, THE CHINESE WERE MORE ACCUSING - STATING IT WAS THEFT BY THE ENGLISH PIRATES.

BUT LET US LEAVE THIS SCENE AND REMINISCE THE LAST BATTLE FOUGHT ENGLISH LONGBOW MEN WAS FLODDEN IN A.D. 1513, WHEN AN INVENTORY WAS HELD OF THE MILITARY EQUIPMENT IN THE TOWER OF LONDON EIGHTY SEX YEARS [A.D. 1599] AFTER THIS BATTLE, THUS IT WAS REVEALED THAT THERE WAS STILL A STORE OF 8,185 LONGBOWS 6,019 STAVES, 196 GROSS OF BOW STRINGS, AND OVER 350,000 ARROWS, ALSO 10,000 POTS OF VARIOUS USAGE, THE LONGBOW WAS USED BY TE ENGLISH SOLDIER FAR LONGER THAN ANY OTHER IN EUROPE, AS LATE AS A.D. 1627 ENGLISH ARCHERS TOOK PART IN AND ATTACK IN SUPPORT OF FRENCH PROTESTANTS HUGUENOTS AT LA ROCHELLE.

THIMBLES 2” 2” THUMBS 2 ½” 2 ½ ”

SIXES 3” 3 ½” FIFTY FOURS 4” 4”

FORTY EIGHTS 4 ½” 5” THIRTY TWOS 6” 6”

TWENTY FOURS 8 ½” 8” SIXTEEN'S 9 ½” 9”

THE SON OF A COLONEL, WHO WITH VARIOUS POSTINGS, BURTONS EDUCATION WAS ERRATIC, IN A.D. 1840 BURTON ENTERED TRINITY COLLEGE, BUT HIS PASSION FOR GAMBLING, FENCING, SHOOTING AND GOING TO THE RACES, FINALLY HE WAS ‘SENT DOWN’ FOR GOING TO ONE RACE MEETING TOO MANY, SO IN INDIA A.D. 1842, LEARNING HINDUSTANI ALSO NOW FLUENT IN TWENTY EIGHT LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS, AS A SUBALTERN BURTON INDULGED IN ALL THE SPORTS SUCH AS PIG STICKING, POLO AND COCK FIGHTING, AT ONE STAGE HE TOOK UP SNAKE JUGGLING, BURTON STUDIED ALL THE DIVERSIONS OF INDIAN RELIGION, BEING CONVERSANT OF THE KORANS TEACHINGS; THUS DRESSED AS A NATIVE, DISGUISED, SPEAKING IN MANY DIALECTS HIS ACCESS TO INFORMATION FROM THE NATIVE POPULACE WAS CONSIDERABLE, HIS FAVOURITE ROLE WAS THAT OF ‘MIRZA ABDULLAH’, A PERSIAN ARAB WHOSE HAIR REACHED HIS SHOULDERS TRADING IN THE LOCAL MARKETS, ALSO HE WOULD WANDER THE HILLS, MAKING SALUTATIONS WITH TRAVELLERS, SEEKING INTELLIGENCE, WHICH HE REPORTED TO HEADQUARTERS, WERE HE WAS CONSIDERED A GREAT PRIZE!.

A.D. 1848, BURTON RETURNING TO ENGLAND WITH LATENT DISEASE HIS COMPANION, HIS CAREER THUS STUNTED, REMAINING ON HALF PAY FOR A SHORT PERIOD, WRITING BOOKS ON INDIA, BIDING HIS TIME, A QUEST PRESENTED ITSELF ‘THE FORBIDDEN CITIES’ MECCA, HAZJA, IT WAS CERTAIN DEATH FOR AN UNBELIEVER TO ENTER!, BUT HE WAS UNSURPASSED IN ARABIC MATTERS AND DISGUISE.

BURTON LEFT FOR ALEXANDRIA IN A.D. 1853, ADOPTING THE ROLE OF A WANDERING PATHAN FROM AFGHANISTAN, THENCE PURCHASING A ‘ITHRAM’ PILGRIMS GARB, A SERVANT AND PERFECTING HIS DOCTRINES, HE COMMENCED HIS PILGRIMAGE; AFTER CAIRO CAME AN EIGHTY MILE CAMEL RIDE ACROSS THE DESERT TO SUEZ, THUS EMBARKING WITH ANOTHER 97 PILGRIMS, SETTING SAIL FOR THE RED SEA PORT OF YENBO, A DANGEROUS MOMENT WHEN BURTON’S SERVANT SUSPECTED HE WAS AN INFIDEL, LUCKILY BURTON’S DEVOTION AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE KORAN ASSURED ALL, A BROTHER PATHAN ALSO CERTIFIED THAT BURTON WAS OF HIS BLOOD, FROM YENBO THERE WAS A HUNDRED AND TWENTY MILE JOURNEY TO MEDINA, THROUGH COUNTRY SWARMING WITH WARRING BEDOUIN TRIBESMEN; AT MEDINA SURVEYING ALL THE HOLY PLACES, THUS DISAPPOINTED, BURTON DESCRIBED THE PROPHETS MOSQUE A MUSEUM OF ‘SECOND RATE ART’, THE FAMOUS JEWELS OF PARADISE WERE SEEN BY BURTON AS RESEMBLING STOPPERS FOR DECANTERS, OBSERVING LOCAL HABITS INCLUDING THE SLAVE MARKET, THE CEREMONY OF ‘AL-IHRAM’, THIS INVOLVED SHAVING THE HEAD, CUTTING THE NAILS, THENCE WITH HIS COMPANIONS BURTON MARCHED TOWARDS MECCA, CALLING OUT THE TRADITIONAL ‘I-ABBAYK’ (HERE I AM), BURTON VIEWING KAABA, A WINDOWLESS BUILDING IN THE CENTRE OF A LARGE COURTYARD, BURTON REMARKED AS UNIMPRESSIVE STRUCTURE, SET WITH A BLACK STONE IN ONE CORNER MARKING THE HOLIEST SPOT IN MECCA, WITH THOUSANDS OF PILGRIMS MARCHING SEVERN TIMES ROUND THIS STONE CHANTING PRAYERS, HE WAS UNSUCCESSFUL IN TRYING TO OBTAIN A PIECE OF CLOTH COVERING THE KAABA, BUT HAD MORE LUCK IN KISSING THE VENERATED BLACK STONE, BURTON WAS INTENDING TO SKETCH THIS SCENE, BUT WAS DISTRACTED BY MUTILATED DISCIPLES, BURTON RETURNED FOR HIS LAST LOOK AT KAABA, SKETCHING THE SACRED TOMBS AND INTERIOR OF THE SHRINE, THUS HIS MISSION ACCOMPLISHED SETTING OUT FOR THE COAST, BURTON’S TRIP WAS A SENSATION OF ITS DAY, HAVING FAME THRUST UPON HIM.

DECIDING NOT TO RETURN TO ENGLAND, BUT RESTING IN CAIRO, BURTON SET HIS MIND ON SOMALILAND, ‘HARAR’ FORBIDDEN CITY TO INFIDELS [NONE BELIEVERS], THE EXPEDITION BEGAN LATE A.D. 1854 WITH CAPTAIN JOHN HANNING-SPEKE, ALSO OTHER OFFICERS OF ACCOMPLISHMENT, THE MAIN PARTY SURVEYING THE SAID TERRITORY, SPONSORED BY THE EAST INDIA COMPANY AND THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, HARAR, HOWEVER WAS BURTON’S MANDATE, AS PREVIOUS TRAVELLING IN DISGUISE, AFTER FOUR GRUELLING MONTHS HE OBTAINED ENTRY TO THE PALACE OF THE BARBAROUS ‘AMIR OF HARAR’ AS A LONE TRAVELLER, BURTON WAS IN CONSTANT DANGER, MORE SO THAN IN MECCA, HAVING LITTLE CHANCE TO WANDER OR SKETCH AT WILL, UNHAPPILY THE RETURN JOURNEY WAS FRAUGHT WITH HARDSHIP, DROUGHT AND HUNGER, REJOINING HIS COMPANIONS, WITH LITTLE REST A FURTHER EXPLORATORY TRIP ENDING IN DISASTER WITH BOTH BURTON AND SPEKE BEING WOUNDED BY WARRING NATIVES.

WHEN BURTON RETURNED TO ENGLAND IN A.D. 1855 THE COUNTRY WAS INVOLVED WITH THE CRIMEAN WAR; THIS LATTER EXPEDITION OBTAINING LITTLE ATTENTION. BURTON REJOINED HIS REGIMENT, GOING TO THE CRIMEA GATHERING INTELLIGENCE AND DISTINGUISHING HIMSELF IN ACTION, RETURNING HOME IN A.D. 1857 BURTON’S HORIZON EXPANDED TO THE FAMOUS ‘SOURCE OF THE NILE’ QUESTION.

THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY FINANCED THIS EXPEDITION WITH ALSO SPEKE AS BURTON’S CO-EXPLORER, TO ZANZIBAR BY OCTOBER A.D. 1857 THEY WERE READY TO PROCEED, WITH THIRTEEN SOLDIERS, PORTERS Etc, A PREVIOUS EXPEDITION FROM FRANCE HAD THE MISFORTUNE OF ALL BEING DECAPITATED BY UNFRIENDLY NATIVES, BURTON WAS MINDFUL OF THIS INTELLIGENCE THUS FOLLOWING THE SLAVE ROUTES, HARASSED BY HOSTILE NATIVES AND PERNICIOUS BULLDOG ANTS, BEARERS DESERTING, BOTH EXPLORES BECAME DISPOSED OF A VULGAR ILLNESS WHICH REDUCED THEIR ABILITY TO WALK.

BY EARLY DECEMBER THE EXPLORERS HAD TRAVERSED 430 MILES TO UGOGO, ANOTHER HALT AT TABORA, RUMOURS OF A HUGE INLAND LAKE SHARPENED THEIR INTEREST, FINALLY ON 13th FEBRUARY A.D. 1858 THEY ARRIVED AT UJIJI, BURTON BECAME THE FIRST WHITE MAN TO GAZE UPON THE WATERS OF ‘LAKE TANGANYIKA’, SPEKE BEING AFFLICTED BY BUSH BLINDNESS, STAYING THREE MONTHS; MAPPING THE SURROUNDING JUNGLE, BUT UNABLE TO FIND A NORTHERN OUTLET TO SECURE THE SOURCE OF THE NILE; BURTON WAS CONVINCED BY LOGIC AND INCONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE THAT THIS LAKE WAS THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, REFRESHED BURTON AND SPEKE RETURNING BY WAY OF TABORA, INTELLIGENCE REACHED THEM OF ANOTHER LAKE, CONSEQUENTLY A SUB-EXPEDITION UNDER SPEKE WAS ORGANIZED, BURTON STAYING AT TABORA, THIS WAS TO PROVE A LATENT MISTAKE OF BURTON'S, HE BEING CONVINCED OF THE SOURCE AS PREVIOUS, SPEKE DID LITTLE EXPLORATION, BUT ON RETURNING TO BASE TOLD BURTON OF THIS NEW LAKE , LAKE VICTORIA NYANZA, WAS THE TRUE SOURCE OF THE NILE, BURTON RIDICULED THIS IDEA, BUT LOGIC WAS TO AVAIL SPEKE WHO WAS RIGHT.

BOTH MEN RETURNED TO ZANZIBAR IN A TRUCULENT SILENCE, SPEKE REACHED ENGLAND, EARLY IN MAY A.D. 1859, DECLARING HE WAS THE LEADER OF THE EXPEDITION, HIS ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE DISCOVERY, CAUSED A SENSATION, BURTON REACHED LONDON THIRTEEN DAY’S AFTER SPEKE, BUT WAS TO LATE, SPEKE WAS THE HERO OF THE HOUR - BURTON THE FORGOTTEN MAN, THE DEBATE BETWIXT THE TWO EXPLORERS EVOLVED INTO OPEN HOSTILITY. BURTON BEING FURTHER INCENSED WHEN SPEKE WAS OFFERED ANOTHER AFRICAN EXPEDITION, FOR YEARS THEY ARGUED OVER THE TRUE SOURCE OF THE NILE, ULTIMATELY AGREEING TO A SHOWDOWN DEBATE IN BATH A.D. 1864, JUST BEFORE THE DEBATE SPEKE WAS KILLED IN A SHOOTING ACCIDENT, HISTORY WAS LEFT TO RESOLVE THE ARGUMENT IN SPEKE’S FAVOUR.

BURTON TRANSLATED THE ‘ARABIAN NIGHTS’ UNCENSORED, HIS PASSION FOR ALL THINGS ARABIC, BUT WAS NEARLY BEATEN TO THE POST BY JOHN PAYNE, BUT IT WAS ONLY A LIMITED EDITION. BURTON HAS WORKED ON THIS FOR OVER THIRTY YEARS, THE FIRST TEN VOLUMES ISSUED A.D. 1885-86, SIX FURTHER VOLUMES FOLLOWING OVER THE NEXT FOUR YEARS. THE TEXT CAUGHT THE VERY SPIRIT, THE FOOTNOTES AND GLOSSARY WERE EVEN MORE INTERESTING, INTO THE LATTER CONDENSING ALL HIS ACQUIRED KNOWLEDGE FO ARABIA, TO BURTON’S SURPRISE THE BOOKS WERE AN AMAZING SUCCESS; EARNING HIS £11.000 [IN TODAY'S MONEY £1.000.000] ALSO BEING BESTOWED WITH A KNIGHTHOOD, BUT JUST AS HE WAS FINANCIALLY INDEPENDENT HIS HEALTH FAILED BY YEARS OF LATENT DISEASE, HE DIED IN TRIESTE IN A.D. 1890 LEAVING OVER FORTY ONE BOOKS IN VARIOUS STAGES OF COMPLETION. BURTON THE FORGOTTEN ENGLISHMAN WAS LAMENTED, HE APPEARED IN MADAME TUSSAUD’S HALL OF FAME, HIS STORES OF MECCA, HARAR etc HAVE NEVER BEEN EQUALLED, FEW MEN EMULATE HIS TALENTS.

ANOTHER ELECTORAL REFORM IN A.D. 1948 REDISTRIBUTED SEATS AND ABOLISHED THE UNIVERSITY VOTE AND THE BUSINESS PREMISES VOTE, ONE PERSON, ONE VOTE, HAD BROUGHT COMPLETE EQUALITY TO ALL ELECTOR’S IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.

IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY A SCIENTIST NAMED JOSEPH PRIESTLY (BEING CREDITED WITH THE DISCOVERY OF OXYGEN) FOUND HE COULD RUB OUT PENCIL MARKS, THUS NAMING IT “RUBBER”! IN A.D. 1842. THOMAS HANCOCK IN ENGLAND DISCOVERED METHODS OF VULCANISING RUBBER, LATER CHARLES GOODYEAR OF AMERICAN EXTRACTION CLAIMED BUT FAILED THAT HE DISCOVERED THE PROCESS OF VULCANISING, THUS MOULDING IT, IN SUCH A WAY IT RETAINED ITS SHAPE, SHOES, BOOTS etc.

THE VERY BEST RUBBER - KNOWN AS PARA RUBBER COMES FROM A TREE WHOSE BOTANICAL NAME IS “HEVEA BRASILIENSIS” THAT SECOND LATIN NAME INDICATES ITS ORIGIN BRAZIL, SOIL AND CONDITIONS BEING THE SAME AS MALAYA AND CEYLON, WHICH WERE PART OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE, THE BRAZILIANS WERE MOST UNHELPFUL WITH STRICT CONTROLS ON EXPORTING SAID TREES ESPECIALLY TO THE" PIRATE ENGLISH” RACIAL MEMORY OF FRANCIS DRAKE, SEVERAL ATTEMPTS FAILED UNTIL A.D. 1876 SIR HENRY WICKHAM WAS COMMISSIONED BY KEW (ON DIRECTION OF GOVERNMENT) TO BRING BACK SEEDS, QUIETLY NOT ATTRACTING THE ATTENTION OF THE BRAZILIAN GOVERNMENT, SET ABOUT HIS TASK-COLLECTING 70,000 SEEDS, WHICH WERE RUSHED BACK TO ENGLAND BY THE ROYAL NAVY WHO WERE PATROLLING BY; THE REASON FOR HASTE WAS THE VIABILITY OF THE SEEDS TO GERMINATE.

MATOAKA WHOSE NAME WAS SOON AFTER CHANGED TO POCAHONTAS, HAD NO REASON TO OFFER HER LIFE FOR CAPTAIN SMITHS, A MAN SHE KNEW NOT, THE VIRGINIA COLONY WAS FOUNDERED IN A.D. 1607 BY ENGLISH SETTLERS IN AMERICA AT JAMESTOWN, VIRGINIA THEN WAS INHABITED BY ABOUT 20,000 RED INDIANS, OF WHOM 8000 OWED ALLEGIANCE TO CHIEF POWHATTAN, FOR A FEW YEARS TRADE WAS BRISK BETWIXT THE ENGLISH AND INDIANS, THEN TROUBLE BEING FERMENTED BY ENGLAND'S ENEMIES, WHO WISHED TO DESTROY ENGLISH SETTLEMENT. THUS WHEN CAPTAIN SMITH WAS SAVED FROM EXECUTION, TRADE WAS BRISK AGAIN WITH ENGLISH BEADS, HATCHETS, TOYS, SHINY COPPER SAUCEPANS AND KETTLES WERE EXCHANGED FOR FURS AND INDIAN CORN; THE GOOD RELATIONS DETERIORATED TO THE POINT WHERE CHIEF POWHATTAN WAS PREPARING HIS TRIBE TO ANNIHILATE THE YANKEE (ENGLISH) SETTLERS.

A SEA CAPTAIN NAMED ARGALL LAID A PLAN TO DECOY THE PRINCESS TO HIS SHIP, ONCE ABOARD HE TOLD HER THAT SHE WAS HIS PRISONER AND MUST REMAIN AS A HOSTAGE UNTIL PEACE WAS ARRANGED BETWIXT HER PEOPLE AND THE ENGLISH COLONISTS; CHIEF POWHATTAN WAS NOT PERTURBED BY THIS, LEAVING HIS DAUGHTER TO HER FATE; SHE WAS CONTENT IN BEING WITH THE ENGLISH, BEING ERSTWHILE ALWAYS IN DANGER OF HER LIFE BY HER VOLATILE FATHER, TWELVE MONTHS LATER SHE MARRIED AN ENGLISH SETTLER NAMED JOHN ROLFE. THE WEDDING ACCORDING TO THE RECORDS, WAS IN “CHARMING APRIL, A.D. 1613, POCAHONTAS WAS DRESSED IN A SIMPLE TUNIC OF WHITE MUSLIN, SHE WAS THE PERSONIFICATION OF WOMANLY MODESTY”.

THREE YEARS LATER THEY BOTH SET OUT FOR ENGLAND WITH THEIR BABY SON THOMAS; SHE BEING GREETED BY CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH, TELLING KING JAMES AND HIS QUEEN HOW POCAHONTAS HAD SAVED HIS LIFE TWICE, THUS RECOMMENDED THEY WERE WELCOME TO THE POLITE SOCIETY, BEING KNOWN AS “LADY REBECCA”, IN THE YEAR A.D. 1617 POCAHONTAS AND HER HUSBAND WERE AT GRAVESEND, PREPARING TO RETURN TO VIRGINIA, WHEN SUDDENLY SHE FELL ILL, SHE DIED SHORTLY AFTERWARDS AT THE AGE OF 22.

HAD SHE NOT SAVED THE LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH AND THE JAMESTOWN SETTLEMENT FROM RUIN IN A.D. 1607; IT WOULD HAVE BEEN ANOTHER GENERATION WHEN ENGLISH SETTLEMENT BEGAN AGAIN.

HE USING HIS CREST TO IDENTIFY GOVERNMENT PROPERTY, SUCH AS NAVAL AND MILITARY STORE, AS THE CLOTHING OF CONVICTS ALSO BELONGED TO THE GOVERNMENT, SO THE BROAD ARROW WAS STAMPED ON THEIR GARMENTS.