Jamestown lacked men who knew how to farm. Powhatan's people show them how to plant and catch fish in exchange for metal for hatchets, glass beads and copper.

Powhatan was wise in his dealing with the white colonists that had planted Jamestown in the midst of his kingdom. Powhatan may have realized that within the population of Jamestown there was far too many so called 'gentlemen.' Jamestown needed farmers and other men who were willing to work with their hands and not afraid of getting dirty.

Powhatan allowed his people to show the whites how to plant gardens the Indian way. He was even willing to supply the colonist with corn and have them shown how to construct fish weirs. But he did not allow all of this sharing with the whites to be a matter of charity.

The white men were taught survival methods and given corn for a price. In exchange for these services and goods the Indians were given metal for hatchets, glass beads, and copper. Powhatan hoped that in time Jamestown would become a trading post where the Indians could receive even more of the white mans' treasures.

At the same time that all of this friendly swapping of material goods for instructions and corn was taking place Powhatan was taking measures to keep his English neighbors in check in his own way.

Often Powhatan looked the other way when one of the many tribes he ruled did a bit of harassing of the settlers, or stole their weapons and tools. Nor was he above occasionally staging a deadly attack of his own when he felt that the whites were getting over confident and taking the Indians for granted. Other times, to keep these whites in line, he would insure that no Indians came to Jamestown to trade corn for other items, thus causing the whites to go hungry.

The old ruler was not above telling the whites, as he did at least on one occasion with a trading party, through an interpreter, that should the whites attempt to get the upper hand with the Indians his people would hide all provisions from them. Powhatan added that his people would "fly to the woods," leaving the whites to starve.

Source:

Debelius, Mary. The American Indians: The European Challenge. Time-Life Books, Alexandria, Virginia, 1992.

Hoxie, Frederick E., Editor. Encyclopedia of North American Indians: Native American History, Culture, and Life from Paleo-Indians to the Present. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston and New York, 1996.

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