SW_GH1804_121

When the first effectual settlement was made in Virginia,* *See Jefferson's Notes on Virginia. which was in the year 1607, the country from the sea coast to the mountains, and from the Potomac to the most southern waters of James river, was occupied by upwards of forty different tribes of Indians. Of these, the Powhatans, the Mannahoacs, and Mona-cans, were the most powerful. Those between the falls of the rivers and the mountains were divided into two confederacies; the tribes in-habiting the head waters of the Potomac and Rappahannock being attached to the Manna-hoars, and those on the upper part of James river to the Monacans. But the Monacans and their friends were in amity with the Mannahoars and their friends, and waged joint and perpetual war against the Powhatans. We are told that the Powhatans, Mannahoacs, and Monacans, spoke languages so radically different, that in-terpreters were necessary when they transacted business. Hence we may conjecture that this was not the case between all the tribes, and prob-ably that each spoke the language of the nation to which it was attached, which is known to have been the case in many particular instances. Very possibly there may have been anciently three different stocks, each of which multiplying in a long course of time, had separated into so many little societies. This practice results from