The most conspicuous stock of American Indians in early history is the Algonquian.  Not only was the area occupied by the Algonquian peoples larger than that of any other stock, but the tribes and confederacies were distributed along the Atlantic coast and the rivers, estuaries, and bays opening into this ocean from Newfoundland to Cape Hatteras.  The Pilgrim Fathers of New England, the Dutch traders and merchants of Manhattan Island and the Hudson, the Quaker colonists of Pennsylvania, the Jesuit missionaries and Cavalier grantees of Maryland and Virginia, all encountered the native tribes and confederacies of this great stock.  Further northward and in the interior, Champlain, le Sieur du Lhut, Pere la Salle, and other explorers came chiefly in contact with related peoples speaking a similar tongue.  So the American Indian of early history, of literature and story, is largely the tribesman of this great northeastern stock.

       One of the most prominent among the confederacies of Indian tribes belonging to the Algonquian stock, in the history of the settlement of our country, was the Powhatan confederacy of tidewater Virginia and Maryland.  The prominence of this confederacy in our early history is partly due to the fact that Captain John Smith was writer as well as explorer, and left permanent records of the primitive people whose domain he invaded; but these and other records indicate that Powhatan was a chief of exceptional valor and judgment, and that the confederacy organized through his savage genius was one of the most notable among the many unions of native American tribes; also that Powhatan s successor, Opechancanough, was a native ruler of remarkable skill and ability, whose characteristics and primitive realm are well worthy of embalming in history.  Captain John Smith was followed by other historians, and England and the continent, as well as the growing white settlements of America, were long interested in following the fortunes of the great tribal confederacy as the red men were gradually driven from their favorite haunts and forced into forest fastnesses by the higher race; and, in later years, Thomas Jefferson and other leaders of thought recorded the movements and characteristics of the people, while John Esten Cooke and his kind kept their memory bright with the lamp of literature.  So the native king Powhatan, the ill-starred princess, Pocahontas, and the people and the land over which they ruled, are well known, and the Powhatan confederacy has ever been prominent in history and literature.

       The leading tribe of the Powhatan confederacy was that from which Pamunkey river in eastern Virginia takes its name.  Strongest in numbers, this tribe has also proved strongest in vitality; a few trifling remnants and a few uncertain and feeble strains of blood only remain of the other tribes, but the Pamunkey Indians, albeit with modified manners, impoverished blood, and much-dimmed prestige, are still represented on the original hunting ground by a lineal remnant of the original tribe. The language of Powhatan and his contemporaries is lost among their descendants; the broad realm of early days is reduced to a few paltry acres; the very existence of the tribe is hardly known throughout the state and the country; yet, in some degree the old price of blood and savage aristocracy persist? and it is undoubtedly to these characteristics that the present existence of the Pamunkey tribe is to be ascribed.

       By reason of the prominent and typical place of the Powhatan confederacy in history and literature it seems especially desirable to ascertain and record the characteristics ? physical, psychical, and social ? of the surviving remnant of the race.  It was with this view that John GARLAND Pollard, Esq., of Richmond, a former attaché of the Smithsonian Institution, was encouraged to make the investigation recorded in the following pages; and it is for this reason that the record is offered to the public.

       The information here given to the public concerning the present condition of the Pamunkey Indians was obtained by the writer during recent visits to their reservation.  He wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to the tribe for the kindness with which they have treated him, and to make special mention of Mr. Terrill BRADBY, Mr. William BRADBY, and Chief C. S. BRADBY, who have made a willing response to all of his inquiries.

       As to the past condition of the tribe, the authorities consulted were the following:
 

         RICHMOND, VA., October 5, 1893.
 

       The original seat of the Pamunkey tribe was on the banks of the river which bears their name, and which flows somewhat parallel with James river, the Pamunkey being about 22 miles north of the James.  This tribe, on account of its numerical strength, would probably from the beginning have been the leader of its sister tribes in warfare had it not been for the superior ability of the noted chief, Powhatan, who made his tribe the moving spirit of attack on the white settlers.

       On the death of Powhatan, the acknowledged head of the confederacy which bore his hame, he was succeeded in reality, though not nominally, by Opechancanough, chief of the Pamunkey.  John Smith, in his history of Virginia (chapter 9, page 213), gives an interesting account of his contact with this chief, whose leadership in the massacre of 1622 made him the most dreaded enemy which the colonists of that period ever had.  In 1669, 50 persons, remnants of the Chickhominy and Mattapony tribes,  having been driven from their homes, united with the Pamunkey.  The history of these Pamunkey Indians, whose distinction it is to be the only Virginia tribe that has survived the encroachments of civilization, furnishes a tempting field of inquiry, but one aside from the writer's present purpose, which is ethnologic rather than historic.
 
 

       Indiantown is about 21 miles east of Richmond immediately on the line of the York river division of the Richmond and Danville railroad.  It consists of about 800 acres, 250 of which are arable land, the remaining portion being woodland and low, marshy ground.  This tract was secured to the Pamunkey Indians by act of the colonial assembly, and they are restrained from alienating the same.

       From a census taken by the writer in 1893 there were found to be 90 Indians then actually present on the reservation.  There are, however, about 20 others who spend a part of the year in service in the city or on some of the steamers which ply the Virginia waters.  There are, therefore, about 110 Pamunkey Indians now living.

       The population of the "town" has varied little in the last century.  Jefferson, writing in 1781, estimated their number to be 100, and Howe, nearly seventy years later, placed it at the same figure.

       No member of the Pamunkey tribe is of full Indian blood.  While the copper-colored skin and the straight, coarse hair of the aboriginal American show decidedly in some individuals, there are others whose Indian origin would not be detected by the ordinary observer.  There has been considerable intermixture of white blood in the tribe, and not a little of that of the negro, though the laws of the tribe now strictly prohibit marriage to persons of African descent.

       No one who visits the Pamunkey could fail to notice their race pride.  Though they would probably acknowledge the whites as their equals, they consider the blacks far beneath their social level.  Their feeling toward the negro is well illustrated by their recent indignant refusal to accept a colored teacher who was sent them by the superintendent of public instruction to conduct the free school which the State furnishes them.  They are exceedingly anxious to keep their blood free from further intermixture with that of other races, and how to accomplish this purpose is a serious problem with them, as there are few members of the tribe who are not closely related to every other person on the reservation.  To obviate this difficulty the chief councilmen have been attempting to devise a plan by which they can induce immigration from the Cherokee Indians of North Carolina.  The Indian blood in the Pamunkey tribe is estimated at from one-fifth to three-fourths.

       The Pamunkey, as a tribe, are neither handsome nor homely, long nor short, stout nor slim; in fact, they differ among themselves in these respects to the same degree found among the members of a white community of the same size. They are not particularly strong and robust, and their average longevity is lower than that of their neighbors.  These facts are perhaps, in a measure, attributable to the frequent marriages between near relatives.

       The average intelligence of these Indians is higher than that of the Virginia negro.  With a few exceptions, the adults among them can read and write.  In view of their limited advantages they are strikingly well informed.  A copy of one of their State papers will serve to give an idea of the maximum intelligence of the tribe.  It reads as follows:

"PAMUNKEY INDIAN RESERVATION, King William County, Va., June 26, 1893. "We, the last descendants of the Powhatan tribe of Indians, now situated on a small reservation on the Pamunkey river, 24 miles from Richmond, Va., and one mile east of the historic White House where Gen. George Washington was married to his lovely bride in the St. Peter's Church.  We are now known as the Pamunkey tribe of Indians, following the customs of our forefathers, hunting and fishing, partly with our dugout canoes. "We hereby authorize Terrill BRADBY to visit the Indian Bureau in Washington and in all other Departments and Indian tribes, and also to visit the Columbian Exposition in Chicago. "We the undersigned, request that whenever this petition is presented, the holder may meet with the favorable approbation of the public generally. C. S. BRADBY, Chief J. T. DENNIS,  W. G. SWEAT,  R. L. SAMPSON, T. BRADBY,  Council.  R. W. MILES, Town Clerk, JAS. H. JOHNSON, W. T. NEAL, B. RICHARDS, M. D., Trustees. E. R. ALLMOND,  A. J. PAGE , G. M. COOK,  W. A. BRADBY,  T. T. DENNIS, Members of the Tribe."

       It may not he amiss to give here a tradition concerning this tribe, which is related as explanatory of the name of a certain ferry that crosses Pamunkey river about ten miles above the reservation.  The name of the ferry is Pipe-in-tree, now spelled Pipingtree.  The tradition runs thus: On one occasion the Pamunkey braves met a committee of white settlers at this place and negotiated a treaty.  When all the terms had been agreed to, the consummation of the treaty was solemnized in usual Indian fashion by handing around the same pipe to the representatives of both nations, each taking a puff as indicative of friendship and good faith.  The pipe was then deposited in a hollow tree neat by, and ever afterward, when the colonists disregarded their agreement, the poor Indians would remind them of “pipe-in-tree.”

       Aside from their mode of subsistence, there is nothing peculiar in the manners and customs of these people except, perhaps, an inclination to the excessive use of gaudy colors in their attire.  Their homes are comfortable and well kept. The houses are weatherboarded and are, as a rule, one story and a half high, and consist of from one to four rooms.  The best structure on the reservation is their church building, where services are held every Sabbath.  The church receives the hearty support of the whole tribe, the membership of the church and that of the tribe being almost coextensive.  As to their creed, they are all of one mind in adhering to the tenets of the Baptist denomination.

       One, visiting Indiantown at the present day, would not find a vestige of the Pamunkey language, even in the names of persons or things.  In 1844 Rev. [?] A. Dalrymple collected the following seventeen words which, so far as the winter can ascertain, are all that remain of the language of the Pamunkey Indians proper:
 
 

"Because many doe desire to know the manner of their language, I have inserted these few words.

       The most extended known vocabulary of the Indians of the Powhatan confederacy is that of Strachey, published in the Hakluyt collections; but, like that of Smith, it includes various dialects.

       The Pamunkey Indians make their living for the most part in true aboriginal style.  Their chief occupations are hunting and fishing, and although they do not neglect their truck patches, they cherish a hearty dislike for manual labor and frequently hire negroes to come in and work their little farms.  The deer, the raccoon, the otter, the muskrat and the mink are captured on the reservation.  As many as sixteen deer have been killed in this small area in one season.  The skins of all these animals are a good source of income, and the flesh, except of the mink and otter, is used for food.  Perch, herring, bass, chub, rock, shad and sturgeon are caught in large numbers by means of seines.  Sora (redbirds), wild geese, ducks and turkeys are abundant.

       In the autumn, sora are found in the marshes in great numbers and the Indian method of capturing them is most interesting: They have what they strangely call a "sora horse," strongly resembling a peach basket in size and shape, and made of strips of iron, though they were formerly molded out of clay.  The "horse" is mounted on a pole which is stuck in the marsh or placed upright in a foot-boat.  A fire is then kindled in the "horse."  The light attracts the sora and they fly around it in large numbers, while the Indians knock them down with long paddles.  This method is, of course, used only at night.  Every year, many white hunters  visit the reservation and employ the Indians as their guides in hunting this same toothsome bird.  They, however, use the slower but more sportsmanlike method of shooting them on the wing.

       One of the clay "sora horses" above referred to may be found in the National Museum as part of a collection which the writer made from the Pamunkey in behalf of the Smithsonian Institution. 

       The Pamunkeys farm on a very small scale.  They do little more than furnish their own tables.  They also raise a few horses, cattle, sheep and hogs. 

       A general merchandise store is conducted on the reservation by a joint stock company, composed of members of the tribe. Their fish, game, furs, and the few farm products not consumed at home find market in Richmond and Baltimore.

       In government, the tribe is a true democracy, over which, however, the State of Virginia exercises a kindly supervision.  The State appoints five trustees to look after the interest of the Indians.  No reports of these trustees could be found on file at the office of the governer of Virginia, and their only function that could be ascertained to have been performed was the disapproval of certain sections in the Indian code of laws.  Laws thus disapproved are expunged from the statute book.  The tribe is not taxed, but they pay an annual tribute to the State by presenting through their chief to the governor of Virginia a number of wild ducks or other game.

       As regards the internal government of the Pamunkey, the executive power is vested in a chief, while the legislative and judicial functions are performed by the chief together with a council composed of four men.  The chief was formerly elected for life, but now both chief and council are elected every four years by vote of the male citizens.  Their method of balloting for their executive officer is unique.  The council names two candidates to be voted for.  Those favoring the election of candidate number 1 must indicate their choice by depositing a grain of corn in the ballot-box at the school house, while those who favor the election of candidate number 2 must deposit a bean in the same place.  The former or the latter candidate is declared chosen according as the grains of corn or the beans predominate.

       The chief and council are the judge and jury to try all who break the law, and to settle disputes between citizens.  Their jurisdiction is supposed to extend to all cases arising on the reservation and which concern only the residents thereon, with the exception of trial for homicide, in which case the offender would be arraigned before the county court of King William county.  The Indians claim, however, that it would be their privilege to use the courts of the commonwealth of Virginia to settle such difficulties as could not be efficiently dealt with by their own courts, provided such difficulty arose from a breach of a State law.  The writer does not know on what this claim is based.  As may be seen from the printed transcript (verbatim et literatim) of the written laws of the Pamunkey which follows, they impose only fine or banishment as penalties.  There is no corporal punishment either by chastisement or incarceration.

       Until recent years they engaged quite extensively in the making of pottery, which they sold to their white neighbors, but since earthenware has become so cheap they have abandoned its manufacture, so that now only the oldest of the tribe retain the art, and even these can not be said to be skillful.  The clay used is of a dirty white color, and is found about 6 feet beneath the surface. It is taken from the Potomac formation of the geologic series, which yields valuable pottery clays at different localities in Virginia and Maryland, and particularly in New Jersey.  Mr. Terrill Bradby, one of the best informed members of the tribe, furnished, in substance, the following account of the processes followed and the materials used in the manufacture of this pottery.  In former times the opening of a clay mine was a great feast day with the Pamunkey.  The whole tribe, men, women and children, were present, and each family took home a share of the clay. The first steps in pre paring the clay are to dry it, beat ? it up, pass it through a sieve, and  pound it in a mortar.  Fresh-water mussels, flesh as well as shell, having been burnt and ground up, are mixed with the clay prepared as above, and the two are then saturated with water and kneaded together.  This substance is then shaped with a mussel shell to the form of the article desired and placed in the sun and dried; then shaped with a mussel shell and rubbed with a stone for the purpose of producing a gloss.  The dishes, bowls, jars, etc., as the case may be, are then placed in a circle and tempered with a slow fire; then placed in the kiln and covered with dry pine bark and burnt until the smoke comes out in a clear volume.  This is taken as an indication that the ware has been burnt sufficiently.  It is then taken out and is ready for use. The reasons for the successive steps in this process, even the Indians are unable to explain satisfactorily.

       The collection above referred to as having been made for the Smithsonian Institution was put on exhibition at the World's Columbian Exposition.  It consists almost altogether of earthenware.  Besides the various articles for table and kitchen use, there are in the collection (1) a "sora horse" made of clay, and already described under the head of mode of subsistence, and (2) a "pipe-for-joy," also made of clay.  In the bowl of this pipe are five holes made for the insertion of five stems, one for the chief and one each for the four council men.  Before the days of peace these leaders used to celebrate thir victories by arranging themselves in a circle and together smoking the “pipe-for-joy.”  The collection comprised also a "dugout" canoe, made of a log of wood, hollowed out with metal tools of white man's manufacture.  Such canoes were formerly dug out by burning, and chopping with a stone axe.

       A mortar, used in pounding dry clay as above referred to, could not be obtained for the collection.  They are, however, made of short gum logs, in one end of which the basin of he mortar is burnt out.  The pestle accompanying it is made of stone.