These white men called themselves "gentlemen." They had never done any work in England. John Smith showed them they could only save their lives by work. It must be hard work, too.
If it had not been for him they would not have known enough even to build their houses. He taught them how to plough the ground and plant corn so as to raise a crop for themselves. He said to them:
"We ought to protect our settlement by setting up a wall of stakes around it."
Such a wall is called a palisade. It would have been helpful in keeping their enemies away. The wall was not built, however. The men were lazy and they thought:
"Captain Smith cannot be right. We are able to defend ourselves without any palisade."
King James very much wished the settlers to look for three things. They were to search for Virginia Dare and her people; they must find gold, and they were also to look for some waterway through the land leading to the Pacific Ocean, or the South Sea, as it was then called.
It was more than a hundred years since Columbus discovered America. Yet still no one dreamed of the size of this country. How surprised John Smith and his people would have been to learn that they would have to travel three thousand miles westward before they reached another ocean.
As soon as Captain Smith had a chance he sailed along the shores and up the rivers. He was looking for a way to reach the South Sea. One day he went up the James River in a boat with two of his friends. They came to another and smaller river flowing into the James.
"Let us see where this will carry us," said Smith.