the making of new england 1580-1643 sample

8/9/2019 The Making of New England 1580-1643 Sample

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THE MAKING OF NEW ENGLAND

1580-1643


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CUTTY

HUNKISLAND-SITEOFTHEFIRSTNEWE

NGLANDCOLONY.


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THE

MAKING OF NEW ENGLAND

BY

WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS

15801643

S A M U E L A D A M S D R A K E

NEW YORK

C H A R L E S S C R I B N E R S S O N S

1896


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C OPYRIGHT , 1886,

B Y C H A R L E S S C R I B N E R S S O N S ,

PRESSWORK BY B E R W I C K & SMITH,

BOSTON

, U.S.A.


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THE MAKING OF NEW ENGLAND

By Samuel Adams Drake

As Published in 1896

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PREFACE.

T E L L T H E T R U T H .

THIS little book is intended to meet, so far as it may, thewant of brief, compact, and handy manuals of the be-

ginnings of our country.It aims to occupy a place between the larger and the lesser

histories,to so condense, or eliminate from, the exhaustivenarrative as to give it greater vitality, or so extend and elu-cidate what the school history too often leaves obscure forwant of space as to supply the deficiency. So when teach-ers have a particular topic before them it is intended that achapter on the same subject be read to fill out the bare out-lines of the common-school text-book.

To this end the plan has been to treat each particulartopic as a unit to be worked out to a clear understanding ofits objects and results, before passing on to another topic.And in furtherance of this method each unit has its own

descriptive notes, maps, plans, and pictorial illustration, ofall of which liberal use is made, so that all may contributeto a thorough knowledge of the matter in hand.

The several topics readily fall into groups that have eitheran apparent or underlying historic connection, which is clearly brought out.

It has been well said that antiquity cannot privilege anerror or novelty prejudice a truth. As it has seemed cer-tainly better for our purpose to build with known and reliablematerials than to encumber the story with loose conjectures

v


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vi PREFACE.

or disputed traditions, introduced for the sake of picturesqueeffect, only such of the early attempts as had definite bear-ing upon colonization have been thought valuable aids toinstruction.

Again, so much has been done in the past ten years toclear up what was before unsettled, that the time seems nonetoo soon for going over the ground with the added light ofrecent and more thorough investigation.

Our narrative fully covers the critical periods of discovery,exploration, and settlement of New England from the earliest beginnings to the time when stable government, the securityachieved by arms, and the development and adaptation ofsocial or material ideas to the varied conditions of the newhome had won for the first colonists a secure foothold in the New World.

A faithful record of what was done by the forefathers is

not only full of interest to persons of mature age, but em- bodies the best lessons for the young. They see just howtheir country grew to be the great and prosperous nation itis to-day. The story is like that of a child learning to walk.At first feeble and tottering, the stripling at length grows bold and vigorous and his step assured as that of manhood.But the child was father to the man. The little seed whichthe Pilgrim Fathers planted in misgiving and nursed in fear

has increased and borne fruit on the shores of the Pacific,and the parent tree still puts forth its blossoms no less vig-orously than of old.

To enhance the interest of this story, emphasis has beengiven to every thing that went to make up the home life ofthe pioneer settlers or relates to their various avocations.To know how these men lived is to know the secret process by which the New England character was so moulded as toeventually become a national force as well as type.


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M O R I O N S O F T H E D I S C O V E R Y P E R I O D .

C O N T E N T S .

T H E M Y S T I C C O A S T O F C O D F Is H . 1T H E L A N D C A L L E D N oR T H V I R-

GINIA 5G O s N O L DS C O L O N Y O F 1 6 0 2 8G O S N O L DS C O L O N Y Continued. 14T HE F IRST WINTER. DE M O N T S

COLONY, 1604 20POPHAM COLONY , 1607 30D ISCOVERY OF LAKE C H A M P L A I N,

1609 40INDIAN LE G E N D S 49T H E C O L O N Y O F M A D A M E D E

GUERCHEVILLE ,1613 51D ISCOVERY OF B LOCK I sLAND, 1614, 55T HE NAMING OF N E W E N G L A N D ,

16141616 58

I . W e s t w a r d H o !P A G E

T H E D o oM O F T H E RE D M E N 64THE GREAT CHARTER OF NEW EN G-

LAND 65

I I . C o m i n g t o S t a y .

T HE ARK OF N EW ENGLAND, 1620, 67E XP LORING THE W I L D E R N E S S 71T H E F IRST E N C O U N T E R 75T H E L ANDING OF THE P I L G R I M S. 79ON P L Y M O U T H RO C K 80L IFE IN THE O L D C O L O N Y 87

L IFE IN T H E O L D C O L O N Y Con-tinued 93

Interlude.

I I I . H i s t o r i c S t e p p i n g - S t o n e s .P A G E

F I R S T C O M E R S I N B O S T O N B A Y,16211626 104

THE WEYMOUTH COLONY, 1622 106A LEGEND OF PE D D O C K S ISLAND , 113MORTON OF MERRY-MOUNT , 1625 115PIONEERS OF M AINE , 16231630 119P I O N E E R S O F M A I N E Continued 124T H E I S LES OF S H O A L S 128P I O N E E R S O F N E W H A M P S H I R E ,

16231629 130

P IONEERS OF N E W H A M P S H I R EContinued 133

CAPE AN N,1624 137I N D I A N T RAITS 142

I V . C o m i n g o f t h e P u r i t a n s .

T H E C OLONY AT S A L E M 149T HE GREAT E MIGRATION , 1630 155T H E S ETTLERS AT C H A R L E S T O W N 160B OSTON EXPLORED AND SETTLED 164T H E P I L G R I M S O F B O S T O N 168H EART OF THE C O M M O N W E A L T H 172T O W N AN D C O L O N Y 180INDIAN C HARACTER 184

V . O u t s w a r m s f r o m t h eM o t h e r C o l o n y .

P IONEERS OF CONNECTICUT , 1635. 187

P IONEERS OF CONNECTICUT Con-tinued 192

vii


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viii CONTENTS.

PAGE

RH O D E I SLAND AND P R O V I D E N C EPLANTATIONS , 16361637 194

W ARWICK P L A N T A T I O N 199RH O D E I S L A N D P L A N T A T I O N S 201T H E P EQUOT W A R, 1637 203

V I . T h e E r a o f P r o g r e s s .

F OUNDING OF H ARVARD C O L L E G E , 214F IRST P R I N T I N G - PR E S S 216A NCIENT AND H ONORABLE A RTIL -

L E R Y C O M P A N Y 218

P AGE

N EW HAVEN C O L O N Y , 1638 219M A R T H AS V INEYARD AND N A NT-UCKET 221

D ISCOVERY OF THE W HITE M O U N-TAINS 223

D E A T H O F M I A N T O N I M O 226T H E C O L O N I S T S A T W O R K 231P ROGRES S IN THE O L D E R C O L O-

NIES 238CONFEDERACY OF 1643 242


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L I S T O F I L L U S T R A T I O N S .

PAGES I T E O F F I R S T N E W E N G L A N D

COLONY FrontispieceA N C I E N T S Y M B O L O F N E W EN G-

L A N D 1C OAST OF C O D F I S H 2B RETON F I S H E R M A N 3N OROMBEGA , 1582 4S IR H U M P H R E Y G I L B E R T 6T H E F I R S T S H I P 7S E T T I N G S A I L 8JU A N V E R R A Z A N O 9

FIS HING

SHALLOP OF THE

TI M E

11S HIP AT AN C H O R 12W HAT G OSNOLD DID 13M AKING A W IGWAM 14C UTTYHUNK, GO S N O L DS IS LAND 15S ASSAFRAS P L A N T 16CANOE 16T A R G E T, SWORD AND W OLF - HO O K, 18INDIAN S N O W- SH O E 20W H E R E D E M ONTS SETTLED 21POWDER- FLASK 22T H E H ABITATION AT S T. CR O I X 25INDIAN HUNTER ON S N O W- SH O E S 27

D IS COVERY C R O S S 30SAGADAHOC , OR KENNEBEC 31A P P ROACH TO THE KE N N E B E C 34AN E X P L O R I N G P A R T Y 36FOO T SOLDIER OF 1607 37ARROW-HEADS 39C HAMPLAIN S ROUTE 41T HE B ATTLE AT LAK E C HAMPLAIN , 45INDIAN V ILLAGE 49H U R O N T O T E M 50M T. DES ERT IS LAND 52S HIP UNDER S A I L 54

B LOCKIS LAND 56

PAGEM OHEGAN HEAD , BLOCK ISLAND 5 7C A P T A I N J O H N S M I T H 5 8P OS ITION OF THE N E W E N G L A N D

TRIBES 6 0T H E M A Y F L O W E R 6 7T w o PI L G R I M S 7 0P ILGRIM H A L B E R D 7 1INDIAN SA G A M O R ES GRAVE 7 3F O R D I N G A RI V E R 7 6P LYMOUTH B AY AND H A R B O R 7 7L ANDING OF THE P I L G R I M S 8 0

LANDMARKS OF

PL Y M O U T H

8 1M EMORIAL OVER F O R E F A T H E R S ROC K 8 4

G O V. CA R V E R S C HAIR 8 8F U L L E R C R A D L E 8 8KI T C H E N F I R E P L A C E 8 9IR O N P OT AND P EWTER P LATTER 9 0S PECTACLES 9 1F LA X S P I N N I N G - WH E E L 9 2S T A N D I S HS S W O R D 9 4RELICS OF THE P I L G R I M S 9 6H E RW E D D I N G - SL I P P E R 9 8D RUMMERS AND F IFERS , 1620 100C HART SHOWING OUTGROWTH FOR

T RADE 102O P E N I N G T RADE WITH I N D I A N S. 105E A R L Y S ETTLEMENTS IN B O S T O N

BAY 106G E N T L E M A N I N B O O T S 107A GR O A T 109CROCK 110A BE G I N N I N G 114SH A W M U T 115M T. W OLLAS TON 116C RYSTAL H ILLS, F ROM C AP E E L Iz -

ABETH 119i x


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x LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

MONHEGAN ISLAND 120A FISHING -S HI P 121LANDING-STAGE 122DRYING-FLAKE 123CARRYING FISH 123WASHING FISH 124SACO AND C AP E PORPOISE SETTLE -

MENTS 125ISLES OF S H O A L S 128STONE CHURCH , STAR ISLAND 129

T HE PISCATAQUA SETTLEMENTS 131G RAVES OF THE SETTLERS 132OLD FORT , NEWCASTLE 136CAPE ANN 138M AP OF C A P E A NN AND V ICINITY . l 4 0KING PHILIPS WAMPUM BEL T 143INDIAN AUTOGRAPH 144S K E L E T O N A N D W E A P O N S E X-

HUMED AT FALL RIVER 145SALEM AND V ICINITY 149O LD H OUSE W ITH G ABLES , SA L E M,

MASS 150RO G E R W ILLIAMS HO U SE , SA L E M,

MASS 151F IRST M E E T I N G - HO U S E, SA L E M,

MASS 154MASSACHUSETTS COLONY , 1630 156S AILING FROM THE ISLE OF W I G H T, 159E A R L I E S T M A P O F B O S T O N A N D

VICINITY 161C R A D O C K S H O U S E, ME D F O R D ,

M A S S 162O RIGINAL F EA TU RES O F B O S T O N. 165L A N D M A R K S I N S E T T L E D D I S-

TRICT 168

F IRST CHURCH OF BOSTON 169COMMUNION VESSEL 170WINTHROPS FLAGON 170CHOPPING-KNIFE 171SUN -D IAL, WHEEL AND CHAIR 172HANGING-LAMP 173I N THE STOCKS 174I N THE B ILBOES 175

PAGE

PILLORY 175WEATHER-VANE 176GENTLEMAN IN RUF F 177CAVALIER 178COLONY SEAL 180CUTTING OUT THE CROSS 182SAMP PAN l 8 5MOCCASON l 8 5CLAY P IPE WITH T URTLE TO T E M l 8 6C O N N E C T I C U T A N D N E W H A V E N

COLONIES 188ANCIENT MEETING-HOUSE 189WILLIAM PYNCHON 193E A R L Y S E T T L E M E N T S I N RH O D E

ISLA N D 195W ILLIAMS COMPASS AND D IAL 196BLACKSTONES HOME 197BLACKSTONES GRAVE 198SHAWOMET 200O L D S T O N E M ILL,N E W P O R T, R.I. 202P LA N O F TH E P E Q U O T C A M P A I G N,1637 204

N INIGRET , A NIANTIC SACHEM 209PORTERS ROCKS, MYSTIC, CONN 210STORMING THE P EQUOT F OR T 212EARLY PRINTING -PRESS 217O L D S T O N E H O U S E, GU I L F O R D,

CONN 219ROUTE OF EARLY EXPLORERS 223AMONG THE MOUNTAINS 225DEATH OF M IANTONIMO 227MIANTONIMOS MONUMENT 229WAR-CLUB AND AXE 230A GRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT s, 1620, 231C H EESE - PRESS 232

WO O L- WHEEL 232LO O M 234SPINNING - WH E E L 234CHURN , WO O L- WHEEL AND HAND -

RE E L 236RI C H M O N DS I S L A N D A N D C A P E

E LIZABETH 239B LA CK POINT OR SCA RBO RO U G H 240


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ANCIENT SYMBOL OF NEW ENGLAND.

I .

W E S T W A R D H O !

THE MYSTIC COAST OF CODFISH.

Westward the course of empire takes its way.

IT is no very uncommon thing for a man to live to bea hundred years old. If we consider that the unitedlives of three such men wouldmore than span the whole periodof time since the first attemptwas made to plant a colony in

New England, we shall bringhome to ourselves, sharply and

clearly, the fact that the historyof New England, as comparedwith that of Old England, isquite recent history.

There is, however, a historygoing back to a very remotetime,how remote no one cansay. But that is lost. All we know is that the country

itself was peopled, when our forefathers first came to it,1


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2 THE MYSTlC COAST OF CODFISH.

COAST OF CODFISH.

by a race differing from our own in color, in language, inmanners, in religion, and in almost every thing by whichone people is distinguished from another people. Theycould neither read nor write. They had no way of pre-serving an account of what had happened to them inthe past but by word of mouth, or tradition. The oldmen told the story to the young men, who in turn re-

peated it to their children, and so it has come down fromgeneration to generation, until these traditions have atlast been written down, not by the Indians, but by thewhites who came to occupy their country. So all we

actually know ofthis singular people is what thewhi tes lea rned

after their arri-val among them.F a r t h e r b a c k than this we can-not go.

Our ancestorscalled these primitive people savages, because theylived almost in a state of nature. They called them

heathens, because they were ignorant of the Christianreligion. They called them Indians, because thiscontinent was supposed by the first discoverers to be a part of the Indies.

The English claimed the country as theirs, by reasonof its discovery in the reign of Henry VII., 2 just thesame as if it had been uninhabited or unpossessed byany other people. And their doing so was in accord

with the custom of all civilized nations at that time. Itwas a custom based upon might, not right, but growing


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THE MYSTIC COAST OF CODFISH. 3

BRETON FISHERMAN.

spring, flitting with the autumn, but carrying home

the cargoes that gave evidence of wealth greater thanthe mines of Mexico or Peru. Such was the beginning.

rador and Newfoundland,these to i le r s o f the seaslowly felt their way alongthe shores with line andlead as far as Massachu-setts Bay, coming with the

out of the idea that it was the duty of all Christian peoples to subdue and civilize the barbarous races.Therefore from the moment of its discovery the newcountry was opened to all English subjects who shouldwish to go there, upon such conditions as the Kingmight choose to make.

Yet on the first day of the new year 1602 not a single

English settlement existed in all the wide continentwhich England had added to her dominions more thana century before.

It was the stories carried home by the earliest navi-gators, that the seas of these unknown coasts wereswarming with codfish, that sent the intrepid marinerso f Europe h i ther . Theywere s imply f ishermen.

A c r o s s t h e w i d e a n dstormy ocean, in little ves-se ls of only twenty andthirty tons burden, theytook their adventurous wayto the Coast of Codfish, orBaccalos, as the Breton and Norman sailors then called

it. Beginning with Lab-


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4 THE MYSTIC COAST OF CODFISH.

NOROMBEGA, 1582

Shakspeare mentions the codfish by the name ofPoor John. Cervantes makes his knight-errant DonQuixote partake of a dinner of the kind called in Anda-lusia baccalaos, because the day was Friday, on whichno good Catholic would eat meat.

How did these pathfinders of the sea designate NewEngland? Had th i s unknown reg ion a name? Yes .

Long before any Englishman is known to have set foot

upon it, the barbarous name of Norombega is laid downupon very ancient maps. Whence or how it came thereis a mystery. But there it is on map after map, withone great river flowing out of it to the sea. It was de-scribed by the old geographers as a very fertile and populous region, surrounded with shallow and danger-

ous seas, so full of fish that boats could not have free passage among them.


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THE MYSTIC COAST OF CODFISH. 5

THE LAND CALLED NORTH VIRGINIA.

But it is hardly worth while to dwell upon this an-cient and obscure name, because it disappeared fromthe maps as soon as accurate knowledge of the countrywas obtained. If it had any meaning at all, it was lostwith those who gave it. So that, much as we shouldlike to know its origin, this name of Norombega is rathercurious than instructive. Still, it is the earliest name

by which New England was known, and as such willkeep its place and history.

As for the work of the map-makers of the sixteenthcentury, so far as it relates to New England nothinglike its true outline is anywhere given. But these mapsdo show us that our coasts were visited by Christianmariners at a very early day.

Indies. Columbus supposed he had Cabots voyage of 1497. Like Co-discovered some part of Asia, which was lumbus, he was trying to get to India.the object of his voyage. Hence he called It is not known what land he discovered,the islands he found West Indies, and though C. Breton is designated on a mapthe native race Indians. of Sebastian Cabot (1514).

W ITH the daring spirits of Elizabeths reign,the

Drakes, the Frobishers, the Hawkinses,the movementto colonize the new found land had its inglorious be-ginning. Their buccaneering exploits, and the rich booty brought home from the plunder of galleons, cathedrals,or castles, had revived the piratical spirit of the old Norse sea-rovers throughout all England. Hope of gainsent adventurers into distant seas, and eager colonists tosearch out new lands. As Shakspeare then wrote,

Some to the wars, to try their fortune there;Some to discover islands far away.


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6 THE LAND CALLED NORTH VIRGINIA.

Toward the end of Elizabeths reign two very remark-able men, Sir Humphrey Gilbert and Sir Walter Raleigh,determined to attempt an English settlement in NorthAmerica. Queen Bess, as her subjects loved to call her,gave Gilbert leave to go and take possession of New-foundland in her name. Gilbert did so, but he after-ward perished in a storm at sea, calmly reading his Bible

as the ship went down.

Do not fear! Heaven is as near,He said, by water as by land!

The Queen then gave Raleigh a chance to make thetrial, granting him a royal authority or patent for the

SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT.

purpose. This patent gaveRaleigh the exclusive right

to plant colonies, or opena trade with those distantlands. His expedition land-ed on the South Coast. Inthe Queens honor, and be-cause she was a maidensovereign, the whole terri-tory lying between Florida

and Nova Scotia was thencalled Virginia. After mak-ing great exertions, Raleighfailed to establish a perma-

nent settlement. His failure, it is believed, led otherswho had the same object at heart with him to have faiththat they could succeed in a different quarter. Saidthey: Newfoundland is too cold, Virginia too hot, for

Englishmen to live in. One is fit only for fishing, theother for raising tobacco. Why not find some place


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THE LAND CALLED NORTH VIRGINIA. 7

THE FIRST SHIP.

between, where the climate is more like that of Eng-land? Then we shall have no trouble in getting our

idea took rootin the minds

of certain no- b l e m e n a n d

c o u n t r y m e nto stay in it.

At last this

captains whoh a d k n o w l -e d g e o f R a -leighs efforts.They resolvedto direct their

attempt to thenorth part ofVi rg in ia in -s tead of thes o u t h . V i r -g i n i a , t h e n ,was the name by which New England first becameknown to Englishmen.

Sir Humphrey Gilbert went to New-foundland in 1583. See Longfellows poemon Gilberts shipwreck, while returningto England. His ship is supposed tohave foundered at Sable Island, N.S.

Sir Walter Raleigh never came toVirginia, though he made great efforts,and spent a great deal of money in tryingto colonize it. He was beheaded by order

of James I., 1618, for alleged treason andconspiracy.

Patent, or Letters-Patent,a grantfrom the sovereign of exclusive rights or

powers to an individual, or body of indi-viduals, to secure certain ends: in thiscase, to plant colonies. The original pa-tent of Massachusetts may be seen in theSecretary of States office at Boston.


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8 GOSNOLDS COLONY OF 1602.

GOSNOLDS COLONY OF 1602.

Quoth he there was a ship.

IT was on Friday, the 25th of March, 1602, thenthought by mariners to be anu n l u c k y d a y , t h a t C a p t a i n

Bartholomew Gosnolds shipunfurled her sails for NorthVirginia.

Fitted out as some say underfavor of the noble Raleigh him-self, Gosnolds parting wordsto his patron may well have

been:SETTING SAIL.

My lord, I will hoiste saile; and all the windMy bark can beare shall hasten me to findA great New World!

And very possibly as the little Concord glided fromher moorings at Falmouth, in Cornwall, the cheery cryof her west-country boatswain was as Shakspeare givesit in the Tempest:

Heigh my hearts; cheerly, cheerly my hearts:Yare, yare: tend to the masters whistleBlow till thou burst thy wind if room enough!

Gosnolds whole company mustered only thirty-twomen, all told, some of whom had sailed with Sir FrancisDrake. Some twenty odd were colonists who had agreed

to stay in the country they were going to settle in. HadGosnold a definite destination? Undoubtedly he had.


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GOSNOLDS COLONY OF 1602. 9

JUAN VERRAZANO.

It seems that in reading a narrative of Verrazanosvoyage to the New World Gosnold had been muchstruck with the praises of a certain port into which thefriendly natives had piloted Verrazanos ship. Its fineanchorage, the fertility of its shores, and the friendlywelcome he had met with, were all set forth at muchlength, for the fifteen days spent in refitting his ship

had given Verrazano ample time to make explorations.He gives the latitude of this place as in 412/3. We haveevery reason to think thatG o s n o l d w a s g o i n g i nsearch of this wonderfulhaven.

On the 14th of April Gos-nold sighted the Azores.

Instead of following theold track, by way of theWest Indies, he had thecourage to steer due west by the compass from theseislands. And this coursewould b r ing h im to the place he wished to find.

Great wonder was shown by Gosnolds men when oneday they found the ship ploughing through vast fieldsof seaweed, which hurried past as if borne along by somemysterious current. This wonderful current, or river

in the ocean, was the Gulf Stream, but Gosnolds sailorsdid not know of it and were amazed at the phenomenon.

above and about them.

Day after day, league after league the good shipsailed on, with no sail but hers on all that wildernessof waters. The sailors saw nothing but sky and sea


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On the 10th of May they struck soundings. Fromthis time they sailed cautiously, often heaving the leadand keeping a lookout at the masthead during the day.At night they shortened sail, just keeping steerage wayon the ship, for fear of grounding on some unknownshoal.

So they sailed with caution, having no chart to guide

or landmark to lead them, until the 13th, when thequantity of drift stuff that floated by the ship and thedelicious odor wafted over the sea convinced the sailorsthat they would see the shore on that day or the next.

So, indeed, it proved, for at six in the morning theysaw the long, dark, line of coast stretching out beforethem as far as the eye could reach. They had crossedthe ocean and reached the unknown shore in just forty-

nine days.This day also was Friday. So they had not only

sailed on Friday but, had their first sight of land onFriday.

As the Concord drew nearer, what was Gosnolds surprise to see a European shallop,4 with mast and sail,coming off to the ship. His surprise was still greaterwhen he saw that this boat, made by Christian hands,

was manned only by naked savages. When they hadcome quite near, these strange beings hailed the ship, assailors do. Captain Gosnold answered the hail. Thenhis men beckoned to the Indians to come on board,which they presently did without fear.

One only had on any clothing; and, strange to say,he was dressed like a European. All the rest werenaked, except that each had a sealskin tied round his

loins like a blacksmiths apron. All were tall, big-boned,active-looking men. They had reddish, or tan-colored


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skins, long, glossy, black hair, tied behind in a knot,and good, regular features, but no beards. Indeed, theywould have been called fine-looking men, but for thestrange custom of daubing their faces and bodies with paint, and afterwards smearing them with oil, whichmade them look less like men than demons.

One would have white eyebrows, vermilion lips and

cheeks, a jet black nose, and possibly a blue, or parti-colored, forehead and chin. This custom meant nearlythe same thing to the Indian that his armorial bearingsdid to the whiteman, but it wentfurther than this because one In-dian could tell

whether anotherm e a n t w a r o r peace by the wayhe was painted.

None of thesen a t i v e s c o u l dspeak English,

FISHING SHALLOP OF THE TIME.

but they could pronounce the word Placentia, which

made Gosnold think that some French vessel from Pla-centia in Newfoundland 5 had been here already. More-over, the shallop was a Basque, 6 or Biscay-built, boat,and the Indians knew how to handle it with the dex-terity of old sailors.

These Indians had no weapons except bows andarrowsbows of stout ash, arrows headed with sharpflints.

Having neither pilot nor chart the captain made signsthat he would like to know something about the lay of


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the land. The Indians understood him. With a pieceof chalk one of them drew a rude chart of the coast onthe deck. After this, with many friendly nods, grinsand signs the savages went off in their shallop.

Finding himself far north of where he purposed goingGosnold stood off to the southward during the rest of

SHIP AT ANCHOR.

So having anchored, he took the shallop, and with

the day and night. At day-

light the next morning theship was completely landlocked wi th in a migh tyheadland which Gosnoldat first thought must be anisland. He resolved to learnif such was the fact. If thisland were an island there

must be an opening some-w h e r e t o t h e w e s t w a r dthrough which he might sail.

John Brereton and three others, all well-armed, startedto explore this land which blocked his way. So far asknown these were the first Englishmen who had evertrod the soil of New England.

The explorers had a weary tramp in their heavy armor, but on climbing some of the nearest hills they saw thatwhat they had taken for an island was really a capewith a broad bay on one side and the open sea on theother. They then went back to the ship with their news.

When they got on board again they found the deckthick with codfish that the crew had been taking while

the explorers were gone. Seeing the great abundanceof these fish Gosnold gave the headland the name of


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first English name given to any part of New England.Cape Cod. In doing this he had conferred the very

After this the Concord doubled the cape, though notwithout danger, for at one time she was near being lost

Escap ing f rom these

among the shoals of Mon-omoy, which were long aterror to all navigators of

this coast.

perils, the discoverers con-tinued to feel their wayalong the shore, now andthen receiving visits fromthe natives in their ca-noes, 7 or seeing them run

along the shore in theire a g e r n e s s t o k e e p t h es t r a n g e s h i p i n s i g h t .P resen t ly they en te redthe narrow sea which onaccount of Gosnolds visit has taken the name of theVineyard Sound.

WHAT GOSNOLD DID.

scene before them, for here at last was their home beyondthe sea. The first great island they came to was chris-tened Marthas Vineyard. 8

With eager eyes the colonists looked upon the lovely

[For geographical names outside of AZORES , islands in the North Atlan- New England, consult the atlas or Lip- tic belonging to Portugal, sometimes pincotts Gazetteer.] called Western Islands. A celebrated

VERRAZANO S VOYAGE was made by stopping-place for the early navigatorsorder of Francis I. of France. He fell in in going to America.with the coast near Cape May and as- GOSNOLDS LANDFALL was probably

cended it as far as Nova Scotia. His ship not far north of Cape Ann. probably anchored in the harbor of New- 4 SHALLOP, a boat with sail, mast, and port, R.I. oars, but no deck, and used for fishing


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5 NEWFOUNDLAND was frequented bythe French and Portuguese long beforeSir H. Gilbert took possession.

6 B ASQUES , a people inhabiting theFrench and Spanish provinces of the Bayof Biscay, and having a curious languageof their own.

and coasting. Some carried twenty ormore men.

8 M A R T H A S V I N E Y A R D . It is notknown whom Gosnold meant to honor bythis name. The relations of his compan-ionsafford no clew, nor does Gosnold him-self throw any light upon the subject.

7 CANOE, a light boat, sometimes madeof birch-bark, stretched upon a woodenframe, sometimes of a log hollowed outwith fire.

GOSNOLDS COLONYContinued.

As soon as the sails had been furled Captain Gosnoldwent on shore to look for a place that would best meetthe wants of the settlers. Every thing was in a state of

MAKING A WIGWAM.INDIAN CRADLE.

savage wildness, but every thing announced a goodlyland to dwell in.

There were great oaks and stately pines, luxuriantshrubbery and climbing vines, strawberries bigger than

in England, raspberries, gooseberries and huckleberries,all growing in wild profusion. Deer bounded through


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the thickets. Water-fowl were never seen in such numbers before.

Gosnold saw only one solitary hut made of bent sap-lings covered with bark. Near this wigwam he foundan abandoned fish-weir and he also saw where fires had been kindled.

The chain of islands lying next the mainland was

then explored. Of fish, flesh, fowl, and fruits, there promised to be no want. Beautiful flowers blossomedon unknown plants which on being pulled up showedthe finders forty or more ground-nuts growing on a sin-

CUTTYHUNK, GOSNOLDS ISLAND

gle root. Mussels, lobsters, clams, oysters, and scollopswere to be had for the trouble of gathering them. Fire-

wood and pure water were also plentiful.By reason of its greater security, should the savages

prove unfriendly, Gosnold made choice of one of thesmaller islands for a residence. In honor of Queen Besshe called it Elizabeth, but this name has since beentransferred to the whole group. At one end of thisisland there was a fresh water pond, and in this ponda little rocky islet. In this sequestered nook, where

they would be doubly secure, the colonists began to build their storehouse and erect their fort.


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While Brereton with ten men was doing this, Gosnoldranged through the islands searching for sassafras,4 which

w a s t h e n w o r t h a g r e a t price in England. It wassoon found by one of hismen, who hastened to report his discovery to the

captain.On one of his excursionsGosnold went over to themain land , where he metsome Indians, whose goodwill he gained with gifts.So eager were they to pos-

SASSAFRAS PLANT. sess a knife that they will-

ingly gave a beaver-skin 5 in exchange. In this way, atrade sprung up between them and the whites.

During this trip Gosnold found that the islands en-closed a large body of water 6 which extended far intothe land. But he did not have time to explore it.

A few days after landing, fifty Indians visited thecolonists on the island. They came in eleven canoes. Not wishing them to see their fort, the colonists went

to meet them. When the Indians came on shore theya l l s q u a t t e d o n t h e i r heels like a pack of ex- p ec tan t h o u n d s . Th eEnglish brought themmeat and tried to enter- CANOE.

tain them royally. They ate heartily of every thing, but the mustard nipped their noses so sharply and

caused them to make such wry faces that it was laugh-able to see them.


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After eating, the savages lit their pipes and smokedwith much content. They gave some of their tobacco 7

to the whites, who found it very pleasant indeed.When it grew dark the Indians went to the oppositeend of the island, where they kindled fires by strikingtwo stones together until the sparks lit a piece of touch-wood, or tinder, which was nearly the same method

practised by Europeans with steel and tinder. Eachsavage took with him in a little bag his stones and punk. They roasted crabs and groundnuts, and broiledherrings on the coals, which they ate with great relish.They drank out of cups that looked like skulls, butwere probably only skull-shaped gourds. When theyhad finished their meal they grouped themselves aboutthe fires, and stretched their naked bodies upon the

bare ground, as free from care as the other inhabitantsof the island. And this was the way these simple sonsof the forest lived in summer, roaming like Nomadsfrom place to place, but oftener spending the wholeseason in some favorite spot, where the huge shell-heapsshow to this day what was their manner of life.

The white men of course took note of every thingabout the Indians, while the Indians with equal curi-

osity watched every action of the whites. The whiteswere much surprised to find some of the savages wear-ing copper armor, or ornaments, very curiously wrought.They thought there must be mines of copper some-where about, and this added to the interest of theirdiscovery. One Indian wore a copper breastplate;others had chains or collars made of many hollow pieces joined together somewhat after the manner of a

soldiers bandoleer.8 Still others had ear-rings andarrow-heads of copper. So the Indians clearly had one


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metal which they had learned to use, and possibly theyknew of the more precious metals which the whiteswere so anxious to obtain.

Being armed with muskets, swords, pikes and tar-gets, the English did not fear the more numerous sav-ages, and in a fair fight would have come off victors.

But they did fear treach-

ery and so kept a sharplookout.

On the fourth day theIndians left the island.They pointed five timesto the sun and then overto the mainland, whichwas their way of saying

that they would come back in five days. After paddling off a short dis-

TARGET, SWORD, AND WOLF-HOOK.tance they a l l gave a

great shout, to which Gosnolds men replied by a blastfrom their trumpets and shooting off their pieces andtossing their caps in the air.

So far all had gone prosperously. The men were in

good hea l th and sp i r i t s . Wi th the fu r s and sk insobtained by barter, enough sassafras and cedarwoodhad been put aboard the ship to make a good showingfor the voyage, and they were impatient to meet theirfriends in England, and report the news. In nineteendays their storehouse had been completed and theywere ready to sail.

But by this time some who had agreed to stay in the

country had changed their minds, and now wished toreturn in the ship. Some had been shot at by the Indi-


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settlement.

ans, and began to feel they might be cut off or in someway destroyed. Some pretended that there was a plotto abandon them, and expressed fear that the shipwould never return. Some made one excuse and someanother. Upon a survey of the stores it was foundthat not enough would be left to feed the colonistsuntil the ship could go to England and return, and as

only twelve men were willing to stay with him, Gos-nold reluctantly gave order to abandon the settlement,which accordingly was done, and on Friday the 18thof June the whole company turned from the shoresthey had come to with glowing hopes of a prosperous

WIGWAM, an Indian house made of poles planted in the ground in a circle.By bringing the ends together at the top,the frame was ready for the covering,which was sometimes bark, sometimescoarse rush mats.

FISH- WEIR, made by planting polesor boughs in the bed of a tidal stream,so close together as to stop the fish atthe fall of the tide. A sort of fishpound.

ELIZABETH ISLANDS , now the townof Gosnold. They have Indian names:

Cuttyhunk and Penakese,

Nashawena, Pasquenese,Great Naushon, Nonamesset,Uncatena and Wepecket.

4 SASSAFRAS was highly valued for itsmedicinal properties and then worththree shillings the pound in England.

5 B E A V E R - SK I N. The beaver was

6 BUZZARD S BAY is meant.7 T OBACCO. The New-England Indi-

ans did not cultivate the Virginia plant,

but smoked a wild sort, called Poke.Their pipes were made of red and whiteclay, baked in the sun.

8 BANDOLEER, a belt containing little pouches, each holding a charge of pow-der. Very similar belts are now worn by sportsmen to carry cartridges.

then much the most valuable fur-bearinganimal in the country, and its skin washighly prized in Europe. It therefore became the chief article of commerce between Indians and whites. At firstnumerous, the animal grew scarce andfinally became extinct through the indis-criminate slaughter made of both sexes.The Indians held it in veneration on ac-count of its superior intelligence, whichin some respects was almost human.


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20 DE MONTS COLONY, 1604.

THE FIRST WINTER.DE MONTS COLONY, 1604.

W E will now follow the fortunes of a noble Frenchgentleman, the Sieur De Monts, in his attempt to plant

INDIAN SNOW-SHOE.

a colony in a remote corner of New England.

It must be kept in mind thatthe French did not acknowledgethe right of England to whatwas then called North Virginia, but held that Verrazano had dis-covered it the first and that it belonged to them. And on theirmaps it was actually called New

France.Emula t ing the example o f

the Spaniards in Florida, and theEnglish in Virginia, the French

had been pushing their way into Canada for many years, by way of the great river St. Lawrence, with very in-different success. Its winter climate was so cold, itsnavigable waters were so early and so long frozen up,

that some of the more sagacious ones thought that asettlement farther south would have a much better chance. The Chevalier De Monts was of this opinion,and he made known his views to the king.

We should also remember that while the generalname then given to the French possessions in Canadawas New France, that particular part to which DeMonts intended going was now called La Cadie, or

Acadie.King Henry IV. granted De Monts a patent, under


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DE MONTS COLONY, 1604. 21

the broad seal, which covered all the country nowincluded in New England, and much besides. In orderthat he might carry out his plans, his majesty, the king,also granted De Monts a monopoly of the fur trade inthose parts.

With this grant in his possession, De Monts securedthe aid of certain merchants who furnished him with

the means, in wholeor in part, for equip- p i n g t w o v e s s e l sw i t h e v e r y t h i n gneedful for his col-ony. Noth ing thatexperience or fore-sight could counsel

were artisans, some

laborers, some sol-

this colony a suc-was omitted to make

cess.Having collected

above a hundred fol-lowers , good andbad, 4 of whom some

WHERE DE MONTS SETTLED.

diers and others gentlemen going for love of adven-ture, De Monts embarked them at Havre de Grace withorder to the masters to meet at Canso in Cape Breton.They set sail in the month of April 1604, and arrivedat the rendezvous early in May.

As one of De Monts companions makes a brightfigure in history, we will now mention him briefly. This

gentleman was Samuel de Champlain.5 Of all the earlyexplorers, New England is most indebted to him. And


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though he sought to advance only the glory of France,his memory belongs to us no less than to his own coun-trymen; for what he did has at length become an insep-arable part of our own history.

So we see men of a rival nation coming to lay holdon the soil of New England.

Soon after their arrival, Champlain was sent to

search the coasts farther westin a little bark fitted out forthe purpose. De Monts pres-ently joined him. Togetherthey examined the Bay of Fundy, went in to the An-napolis Basin, into the St.John and afterwards Passa-

maquoddy Bay, 6 up whichthey sailed into the mouth ofanother fine river.

On their way hither they passed by so many islandsthat they were not able toc o u n t t h e m . S a i l i n g o n aleague or two up this river

they came to a small islandly ing in the middle of i t .

P l e a s e d w i t h i t s s i t u a t i o n ,charmed with the prospect

around them, they resolved to make their home here,upon this spot. De Monts then and there gave theisland the name of St. Croix.7

Sending back for his vessel and his colonists to come

to him, De Monts immediately began building a barri-cade across the island with those he had then with him.

POWDER FLASK


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23DE MONTS COLONY, 1604.

Champlain was appointed to lay out the ground. Assoon as the others had joined him the work of buildinga storehouse, dwellings and fort was begun in earnest.All worked so energetically that the place was speedily put in a condition for defence, though the men were much pestered by mosquitoes, whose bites caused their facesto swell so that they could hardly see out of their eyes.

While the forests around were echoing to the vig-orous strokes of the axe and the hammer and everything denoted bustle on the island, Champlain was againsent to make further exploration of the coast beyond.He took twelve sailors and two savages of the countryto act as interpreters. After sailing on through a mul-titude of islands he came at last to a very large andcommanding one which rose from the sea into a cluster

of naked mountain peaks. He quickly saw that it wasone of the natural landmarks of the coast, and hetherefore gave it the name which it still bears ofMonts Dserts. 8

Here the Frenchmen met with Indians who wereshy at first, but whose fears they soon quieted withgifts. These Indians guided Champlain into their river,called by them Pentegouet. 9 And what a noble stream

it was! Its deep tide flowed on to the sea as it haddone amid the silence of ages. On all sides pleasantisles and fine meadows, tall forests and lofty moun-tains, charmed the eyes of the explorers. Yet neithertown nor villages nor scarcely any sign of a humanhabitation was to be seen. All was as wild as at theCreation.

Champlain sailed many leagues up this brave river

until he came to a waterfall which obstructed its navi-gation. 10 From the accounts he had read of it in the


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DE MONTS COLONY, 1604.24

old chronicles, he had expected to find a large and populous city situated somewhere in this river, butinstead of a city he saw only here and there a wretchedcabin and now and then only a solitary Indian. Yetthis was probably the locality assigned by the geographers of Champlains time, and long before him, to thefabulous city of Norombega,11 which they asserted to

be so great and populous as to have given its name tothe whole surrounding region.

The savages who had conducted Champlain to thefalls now went away in order to notify their chief of hisarrival. Soon this chief came with many others in histrain to see who these strange white men were andwhat they wanted. De Monts and Champlain knewthat to live in the country they must conciliate the

natives. So Champlain talked with them as well as hecou ld . He to ld them tha t the French had come todwell with them in their land, and would show theIndians how to cultivate it so as to live less miserablythan they were doing. The Indians seemed well pleasedwith all Champlain said to them, but they were delightedwhen he gave them a few knives, hatchets, caps andknick-knacks in token of good willso much so that

they did nothing but dance and sing all the rest of theday and night.

Learning that there was another great river, still far-ther west, which the natives called Quinibequi, Cham- plain set sail for it, but after going a few leagues badweather forced him to turn back without reaching it.In the mean time he saw and named Isle au Haut.12

It was now October. Meanwhile the settlers had

completed their houses. They had left an oblong open plot of ground in the middle of the settlement. In the


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centre of this stood a large tree. On one side werethe dwelling of De Monts, the storehouse and the ba-kery, on the other side the curates dwelling, the well,

THE HABITATION AT ST. CROIX.

A, Dwelling of De Monts. B, Public building. C, Storehouse. D, Guard-house.E, Blacksmiths shop. F, Carpenters dwelling. G, Well. L and M, Gardens.

N, Open space. O, Palisade. P, Champlains house. Q, R, T, Other dwellings.

blacksmiths shop, guard-house and gardens. Besidesthese they had built a cook-house and a little chapel

outside the palisade, all of which were defended by alittle fort on which cannon were mounted.


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Winter came upon them sooner than they had expected, so they could not accomplish all they intendedto do. Still, they had cleared ground for planting, bothon the island and the adjacent mainland, and had laidout gardens, and sowed wheat, and had put in otherseeds, all of which came up well, and promised a goodyield. At low tide they gathered cockles, mussels, sea-

urchins, periwinkles, and other shell-fish, which helpedto make their store of provisions go farther.

Snow fell early in October. By December the ice began floating down the river, past the island. Thecold grew sharper, the springs froze, the north windwhistled keen and chill through the chinks of their rudely built cottages. And by and by the snow fell toa depth of three to four feet, while the thick ice that

formed everywhere about the shores kept them prisonerson their solitary island. Winter had come in earnest.

But a worse enemy than cold seized one after another;for during the winter scurvy in a malignant form brokeout and rapidly reduced their number. Day by daymatters grew worse and worse. The colonists did notknow what this terrible scourge was, nor did their sur-geon have any remedy for it. So it raged unchecked

until out of seventy-nine men in all thirty-five fell vic-tims to the dread disease. Those who were attackedgrew so weak that they were unable to rise, or move,or even to be helped upon their feet without faintingand falling to the ground. All this suffering and deathwas caused by being compelled to live on salted meat,having no fruits or vegetables, and little else for food.They were like sailors at sea, cut off from all intercourse

with the world and perishing for the want of freshprovisions.


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27DE MONTS COLONY, 1604.

During this period of extreme cold all their liquorsfroze except the Spanish wine, for their houses had beenhastily built without cellars to store their food suppliesin. Their cider had to be chopped up and served outlike ice by the pound. For want of good water theymelted snow and drank it, as they could not get to themainland because of the ice piled about the shores of

the island. For the same reason they also suffered forwant of firewood, there being few trees on the island;so that even with the for-ests all around them theycould not have warm fires, bu t were compel led toeconomize their fuel tothe de t r imen t o f the i r

s i c k p e o p l e . A n d t h i shardship added to theirsuffering.

They had a hand-millfor grinding wheat, butthe few who were notactually prostrated withsickness were too weak

INDIAN HUNTER ON SNOW-SHOES.

to operate it. And these few had to tend the sick andtake care of the dying, as well as do all the necessarywork, the saddest of which was digging graves for theircomrades in the frozen ground.

So they passed through all the horrors of an arcticwinter, as far from civilization and the help of theirfriends as if a frozen ocean were between them.

These misfortunes caused great discontent. The gay

and light-hearted Frenchmen of De Monts companywere cast down by them, and they were eager to leave


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DE MONTS COLONY, 1604.28

the plague-stricken place. De Monts himself sharedthis feeling in common with his companions. He hadnot counted on six months of winter and such a win-ter! The pleasant summer had deceived them. Likean enchantress, it had lured them to their ruin.

In March some savages made their way to the islandwith game, which they had killed. This was the life

these people led in winter. It was their only meansof subsistence. In summer they fished, in winter theyhunted, but did not cultivate the soil. For their meatthe French gave the Indians bread and such other thingsas they could spare.

The French found that these Indians had been huntingthe elk, moose and deer; and that to keep from sinkingin the deep snow they put on very large snow-shoes, 13

with which they could walk very rapidly, and easilyovertake the animals they pursued, floundering in thesnow as if sunk in the mire. Women and childrenwore snow-shoes like the hunters and were very expertin the use of them. When the Indians came upon thetrack of a wild animal they followed it up as swiftly as possible until they got near enough to shoot it with theirarrows or pierce it with their spears; for so heavy a crea-

ture as the elk or moose would soon become exhausted by its struggles to escape. Then the women and chil-dren would come up, scrape off the snow, build a hut,light great fires, and all would feast as long as thevenison lasted. Then to the hunt again.

De Monts looked for his vessels back from France bythe end of April. As they did not come he determinedto get ready his small bark and go to the river St. Law-

rence for help. Before he could do this, however, avessel arrived at the settlement, to the great joy of the


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survivors who remained to welcome her. De Montsnow determined to seek a better place of settlementthan this in which he had passed so miserable a winter.With this purpose the bark was manned and victualledand taking Champlain with him they set out on the 18thof June, 1605, to explore the coasts beyond.

After carefully searching all the harbors as far as

Cape Cod, where the natives treacherously slew one ofhis men, without finding a place to his liking, De Montsreturned to St. Croix. Fully determined not to passanother winter there he forthwith removed his peopleto Port Royal, in Nova Scotia, and so was ended disas-trously the second attempt to plant a colony in NewEngland.

DE MONTS, Pierre du Guast, a nativeof the province of Saintonge in France.Officer of the kings household. He wasa Huguenot, or French Protestant. Hehad already been in Canada and knewsomething of the country and its re-sources.

NEW FRANCE . This name is on allold maps made after the discoveries ofVerrazano. Afterwards given to all theFrench possessions in North America.

TH E B EST P O I N T, for settlement.We see the same idea actuating bothFrench and English at this timenamely, a site somewhere in the lati-tude of New England.

4 G OOD AND BAD . De Monts had au- now De Monts Island. Called Holythority to take, at need, convicts fromthe prisons in order to fill up his comple-ment of men.

5 CHAMPLAIN was a native of the same province as De Monts, his patron. Heserved in the civil wars, learned naviga-tion and drawing, and had been in Can-ada, Mexico and the West Indies. In Mountains). The name is now used in

these voyages he had acquired much in-formation of value to his patron. Cham- plain was a man of sterling worth, a

keen observer, an accomplished geogra- pher, a good comrade, added to whichthe qualities of courage and persist-ency among reverses gave him a com-manding influence in the affairs of NewFrance. He made the first authenticmap of New England and the drawinggiven on page 25 is from his hand. Hewas the founder of Quebec, the discov-erer of Lake Champlain and the histo-rian of his time.

6 PASSAMAQUODDY BAY (Indian)East-ern coast of Maine. Partly Britishwater. The St. Croix River flows intothe head of it.

7 ST. CROIX (French for Holy Cross)

Cross because two streams entered theriver here, giving it the form of a cross.The name since transferred to the river,which was first called Etchemins fromthe natives inhabiting its shores. East-ern boundary of the United States.

8 M ONTS D SERTS (French for Desert

the singular as Mt. Desert. Indian namePemetiqmeaning the head orthe place which is at the head.


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1 0 FALLS, near the city of Bangor.11 N OROMBEGA. This story is traced

back to an anonymous relation of 1539,which says the natives called their coun-try Norombega. But Andr Thvet says

he was there in 1556, and that the nativescalled it Agoncy. Refer to p. 4.

dian). Called by the English Penobscotat a very early day and indicating dif-ferent ways of pronouncing the Indianname, which signifies a place where thereare rapids, or a stony place.

1 3 SNOW- SHOES (French, Raquettes).To an oval frame of hard wood, strength-ened with cross-pieces, the Indiansfastened a meshwork made of animal in-testines, in the manner of a tennis-raquetor battledore. There was a socket atone end to receive the toe; and thongs atthe other secured the snow-shoe to the

wearers ankle.

1 2 ISLE AU H AUT (French for HighIsland) situated at the entrance to Pen-obscot Bay.

POPHAM COLONY, 1607.

T W E N T Y-T H R E E years had passed since the grantingof Raleighs almost royal privileges, yet no English-

DISCOVERY CROSS.

man occupied a foot of New

E n g l a n d s o i l . E l i z a b e t h w a sdead, James reigned in England,Raleigh was a prisoner in theTower.

Undismayed by previous fail-ures, each of which seems provi-dentially paving the way to finalsuccess, the great or little person-

ages, whose interests or ambitionswere bound up in colonization,straightway began laying their

plans for a new trial.One strong motive to these

efforts, if not the strongest, camefrom the reports brought by Gos-nold concerning the copper pos-

sessed by the Indians. Since they had it, rich minesof this metal must exist somewhere in the country.

9P E N T E G O U E T or P E N T A G O U E T ( I n -


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31POPHAM COLONY, 1607.

That seemed clear. To find these mines, to get andship the ores back to England, was the controlling purpose with the men who equipped this colony. Theyhoped for some such gains as the Spaniards were reap-ing from the mines of Mexico which were the talk ofall Europe.

Should they succeed, it would not benefit England

any the less onthat account be-cause the newcountry would be peopled.

Great oppor-tunity for wealthwas then the al-

luring prize set before the ambi-tious and adven-turous spirits ofthe time.

A s t h e b e s tmeans for effect-ing the desired SAGADAHOC, OR KENNEBEC.

object a divisionof Virginia and a division of effort were called for.This, it was thought, would promote healthy rivalry.Raleighs privileges were therefore set aside. In theirstead James now granted charters to two great com- panies, one of them called the London Company, theother the Plymouth Company, 4 a n d V i r g i n i a w a sdivided in nearly equal portions between them.

Sir John Popham, Lord Chief Justice of England,5

was the master spirit of the Plymouth Company. He


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32 POPHAM COLONY, 1607.

and his associates made ready two vessels, one beingcommanded by his kinsman, George Popham, the other by Raleigh Gilbert, which, with a hundred and twenty persons sailed from Plymouth in June 1607 for theriver Sagadahoc, 6 in North Virginia.

Where was this river Sagadahoc? and how came itto be chosen to begin a settlement at?

After Gosnolds return to England some of thosewho had helped to fit him out succeeded in enlistingThomas Arunde l , Baron of Wardour , in the goodwork that Gosnold had begun. This nobleman hadfitted out a ship which sailed for Virginia on EasterSunday 1605. 7 George Weymouth was its commander.He made his first land in the latitude of Cape Cod,whence he was driven by contrary winds as far up the

coast as the mouth of a fine river, which he carefullysounded and explored for many leagues. In token of possession he caused his men to set up crosses with thekings arms thereon at different points, according to theusage of civilized nations.8

Like Gosnold, Weymouth took careful note of everything he saw. His men caught great cod four and fivefeet long, over the ships side, as fast as they could bait

hooks . They took lobs te rs in the same way . Theyfound the land well-timbered with great forests, well-watered with sweet streams, well-stocked with game,and they judged it by the trial of a few seeds abun-dantly fruitful for all kinds of English grain. In aword, they found Gosnolds reports to be true in everyparticular.

Weymouth had been told to bring some of the natives

home to England. To this end he used great friendli-ness toward them. He tried to get their confidence,


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POPHAM COLONY, 1607. 33

and lull any suspicions they might have of his inten-tions. He also tr ied to make them believe that thewhites were superior beings, and this was the way hetook to prove it to them. One day when he was goingamong them Weymouth rubbed the steel blade of hissword with a loadstone. Having done this he aston-ished the ignorant natives by taking up a knife with his

sword, making the knife follow the point around as heheld the sword near it, or with other equally simpleexperiments.

But the natives were suspiciousso much so thatWeymouth finally had to kidnap five of them, not beingable to entice so many on board his ship at once. Withthese he set sail for England.

As those who had sent him meant to reap for them-

selves whatever advantage the voyage might bring, theykept the knowledge of the place where Weymouth had been to themselves. But the arrival of the five Indians,9

together with the glowing reports spread abroad byWeymouths men, gave to the cause of colonization afresh impulse throughout the kingdom.

Weymouth called the river he had discovered theSagadahoc. He gave a glowing account of it. By his

report it wanted nothing to render it a most desirable place to settle a colony in. A bold coast, a harbor inwhich the royal navy might safely ride, fresh-watersprings, fine timber trees, fish and game in great abun-dance, with a navigable river stretching a highway forcommerce with the natives far into the interior, werethe features of Sagadahoc as Weymouth described them.During his brief stay he had made trial with a few seeds

of the soil and had found it to promise a good harvest.He had found the simple natives willing to give a


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beaver-skin in return for things of little or no value.Altogether Weymouths account was quite as favorableas Gosnolds.

Pophams colonists purposed making their settlementin this river: and one of the Indians that Weymouthhad carried off was sent back with them to be theirinterpreter, and tell of the greatness of England. The

two ships, the Mary and John and the Gift of God,got sight of the coast on the 30th of July. Night fell before they could reach it, so the sails were furled andthe ships lay to until morning. The next day they stood

[FORT POPHAM.]APPROACH TO THE KENNEBEC.[SEGUIN ISLAND.]

in for the shore and dropped anchor10 under shelter ofa large island.

Their first greeting was to come as Gosnolds hadfrom a boat-load of savages who, after paddling round

the ship, but at a safe distance, were finally persuadedto come on board . These Ind ians a l so had a boa tof the same kind as that first seen on this coast byGosnold. 11

From this place the colonists sailed south-west, asthey found the coast to run in that direction, until theyhad brought Weymouths landmarks to bear correctlyfrom the ship. Again they let go their anchor under

the lee of another large island, 12 for the voyage wasnow completed.


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Skitwarres, one of the Indians whom Weymouth hadkidnapped, was on board Captain Gilberts ship. Tak-ing Skitwarres along with him Gilbert manned his boatand went on shore, at Pemaquid, 13 where the Indianshad a village. Upon Gilberts approach these Indiansat first ran to their arms with loud cries; but on seeingSkitwarres in company with the English they became

pacified, and welcomed the new-comers hospitably.On Sunday Captain Popham and Captain Gilbert,

with nearly all their people, landed upon the islandwhere Captain Weymouths cross stood, and heard asermon preached by their chaplain.

They bade the holy dews of prayerBaptize a heathen sod:

And mid the groves a church arose

Unto the Christians God. 14

This day, the 9th of August, 1607, marks the firstformal observance of Christian worship on New Englandsoil that is distinctly mentioned.15

Some time was spent in exploring. It was the middleof August before the colonists entered the Sagadahocwhich they knew by Satquin, 16 the island at its mouth.

Choice was made of a site to begin settlement at themouth of the river. 17 On the 19th all went on shore,and after hearing a sermon, the presidents commissionwas read to the assembled colonists.

Work now began in earnest. It was the lovely seasonof early autumn. While some cleared away the under- brush, carried earth, or helped to frame the first houses,others brought stores from the ships, went to the woods

or labored in other ways. They first began building astorehouse and fort, as Gosnold and De Monts had done


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POPHAM COLONY, 1607.36

before them. While this was in progress the shipwrightswere set to work building a pinnace 18 for the colonistsuse.

Before cold weather set in all had worked so dili-gently that they had finished their fort, mounted twelvecannons upon its walls, completed the storehouse, erecteda chapel, and had built fifty cabins besides. Their pin-

AN EXPLORING PARTY.

nace was called Virginia in compliment to the countryin which it was the first vessel to be built.

While this habitation was daily growing up out ofthe wilderness, Captain Gilbert was actively searchingthe seacoast, both east and west, as well as the riveritself. For a while the Indians seemed distrustful, andheld aloof, but curiosity at length so far overcame theirfears that numbers came to see what the white menwere doing in that place.

These Indians differed little in appearance from those

Gosnold had seen and described. If any thing they weremen of somewhat larger frame than those farther south.


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Their bows were made of witch-hazel or beech, theirarrows and spears headed with a sharp bone, or the pointed tail of the horseshoe-crab. In the use of bothweapons they were very dexterous indeed, seldom miss-ing a deer with theo n e o r f a i l i n g t ostrike a salmon with

the other.Knowing this the

English always woretheir armor19 w h e nmaking excursions by land or water ,nor d id they ever feel quite safe, al-

though besides hissteel cap and corse-l e t , t h e e x p l o r e r u s u a l l y c a r r i e d atarget in addition tohis musket, his rest,a n d h i s s w o r d .Loaded down with

all these arms rapidmovement was im- possible and quickfiring equally so. 20

FOOT SOLDIER OF 1607.More than once

the Indians seemed almost to have made up their mindsto attack the intruders. They remembered the treach-ery of Weymouth. But their fear of the English fire-

arms was so great, and the chances of open combat sounequal, that they sought for an opportunity to take


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the white men at a disadvantage, or by using stratagemto put them off their guard. This was the Indiansmethod of making war. No man braver than he, but itwas his maxim never to run any risk if he could possiblyavoid it. To steal unperceived upon his adversary wasthe art of war, as his fathers had taught it to him andas they had learned it from the panther, the catamount

and the wild-cat of the woods.They were crafty fellows, these Indians. Once while

Gilbert was making a boat journey up the river he cameto an Indian encampment. The savages were all armedand painted as if going to battle. They pretended toa willingness for trade, but only as a cloak, for one ofthem having got into the boat he suddenly snatched upthe firebrand, always kept for lighting the slow-matches

and flung it into the water. He then leaped after it andstruck out for the shore. Some of his comrades thenseized the boat-rope and held it fast, while others fittedtheir arrows as if going to shoot. Gilberts men instantly pointed their muskets at them, which, though rendereduseless for the moment, caused the Indians such fearthat they gave up the contest and went off into thewoods.

Such experiences as this convinced the English thatthe savages were no contemptible adversaries and theywisely did every thing to keep peace between them.

The winter was very coldmuch colder than thecolonists had imagined it would be and much longer.In the course of it their president fell ill and died. Afew others also fell victims to disease, but on the whole,this settlement fared much better than its French prede-

cessor at St. Croix had done. In the spring CaptainDavis arrived with a plentiful supply of arms, tools,


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