from their own land, especially when it comes at "the hazard of his life" and confirms that only good things can come from this new land and all in honor of England, "Our native Mother Country."

This account by Smith, and the greater work itself, A Description of New England, has contributed to historical records, although Smith is known for embellishing stories and making claims elevating and extolling himself unjustly. Even the famous Pocahontas story from Smith's later works raises many questions. However, without his account and his ability to report his own and other people's exploits, much of the information of the time period would have been lost. 

For all the controversy he attracts, he therefore reflects the American pioneering spirit in The New Land. His descriptions are somewhat poetic and romantic but he was trying to persuade people to give up their lives in England and travel to this unknown land where they could enjoy pursuits usually reserved for the gentry in England. He says, "What exercise should more delight them, than ranging daily these unknown parts, using fowling and fishing, for hunting and hawking/..."