I view this quote as Smith's way of saying that they would have been on harm's way if it had not been that God somehow acted on behalf of the Europeans by calming down the Native Americans. What is significant in this quote is that it shows the intense fear and intimidation that the colonists felt about the Natives..And who is to blame them? However, agreeing with the previous post, it also shows how sure they were about the fact that they are the chosen ones, in comparison, and that God changed the "evil and barbarian natives" to ease the journey of the colonists. It is quite a prejudiced quote, but it is understandable given its time and place in history.

I think it is important to note that Smith sees God on the side of the Europeans and believes that God is using the Indians solely as tools to help them.  This statement implies that God acted on the hearts of the Indians so as to make them help the settlers.  This shows that Smith thinks that the Europeans are the ones who are important in God's eyes and that the Indians only matter insofar as they can be useful to the Europeans.

“But almighty God (in His divine providence) had mollified the hearts of those stern barbarians with compassion.”

This quote from Smith's journals can best be translated as: God, who knows and provides for His people, has softened the hearts of the Indians [Native Americans] to be compassionate to us [the Jamestown settlers]. In context, this is kind of an odd thing for Smith to say because he causes more than his share of enmity between the natives and the settlers. But, as the post above mentions, Smith is prone to exaggeration so it is often difficult to tell what really happened and what Smith wants the world to think happened.

The "stern barbarians" of whom Smith writes were the Indians encountered by the colonists at Jamestown. The Jamestown colony would have starved during its first year had the local Indians not provided food for them, hence Smith's comment about their "compassion" which he assumed was caused by divine intervention. What Smith did not realize (nor did other colonists) is that a large part of Indian culture was to be kind to strangers. The Indians were only acting in a way natural to them to help the starving Europeans. Smith (often given to hyperbole) gave credit to God who presumably softened their hearts.

Since the Indians were not European, did not wear clothes in the summer, and did not speak a known language Smith--and all other Europeans--assumed them to be "barbarians." Sadly, the relationship did not last long. The colonists stole Indian food when theirs ran short, and allowed their hogs to run wild; the hogs often destroyed Indian crops and when the Indians killed the hogs, the colonists blamed the Indians.

What is happening in this excerpt from "The General History of Virginia" by John Smith? How does it relate to the text's broader context?

“At last they brought him to Werowocomoco, where was Powhatan, their Emperor. Here more than two hundred of those grim courtiers stood wondering at him, as if he had been a monster, till Powhatan and his train had put themselves in their greatest braveries.”

I agree with larrygates. John Smith's words cannot be trusted as truth. He always spoke of himself as an intrepid man who was wiser and more important than any other. The entire incident with Powhatan and Pocahontas is undoubtedly an exaggeration, as evidenced here by the two hundred men (presumably Indian warriors) who do nothing but look at him as an oddity. While Smith hopes to appear brave in the face of danger in this writing, it is painfully obvious these warriors did not fear him. They simply thought he was an odd creature.

Here Smith is describing his visit to the village of the Indians he encountered at Jamestown. "Werwocomoco" is Smith's phonetic spelling of the name of the village, which is probably incorrect. The Indians were correctly known as the Pumunkey tribe and the chief's real name was Wahunsonacock. He was the leader of a confederation of Indian tribes known as the Powhatan tribes. Smith and other colonists used this term to apply to the chief, and thus called him Powhatan.

Smith often spoke of himself in third person. Rather than say "I" did this or that, he says "Smith" did it, referring to himself. The person the grim courtiers "stood wondering at him" was Smith himself. He obviously looked strange to them with his beard, European dress, and unintelligible language, hence they looked at him "as if he were a monster." These strange looks stopped when Powhatan (the chief) and his court approached Smith. It was immediately after this that the famous incident with Pocahontas occurred.

It is important to note that John Smith was a notorious liar who often embellished his own accomplishments. His comments about the two hundred wondering at him was probably embellished to make him appear very brave in the presence of great danger.