Europeans, especially those who immigrated to North America and became settlers, have very mixed views and attitudes towards the Native Americans already living there. On the one hand, they see them as kind, generous, and good-spirited. They gave the settlers corn and bread when they didn't have enough food for the winter, and they also showed settlers how to farm the land in order to make the most of it. John Smith tried really hard to have peaceful relations with the Natives, both to have safety and security, and help when they most needed it.
Because Native Americans dressed, looked, acted, and sounded different from Europeans, they saw them as savage. By living off of the land, one acts out of survival, just like animals behave. Europeans didn't have to live like this, so they saw the people as savage and sometimes war-like. Sometimes war is needed to keep a territory or to fight for resources. Europeans are just so different in culture that they see Natives as "Others", people that are not like them at all.
Still, John Smith asks that Europeans and settlers "show mercy to them" (Smith, n. p.), especially because of all the help they've given them. It seems like Smith pities the Indians because they need God's help in merely surviving, while the settlers are more sophisticated and had the honor of having a much more noble goal.
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