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REV, DR. BELKNAFS BIOGRAPHIES 
 
 OF 
 
 THE EARLY DISCOVERERS 
 
 OF 
 
 AMERICA. 
 
 Reprint of the First Edition of 1798. 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 HAS STOOD THE TEST OF CRITICISM FOR THREE-QUARTERS OF A CENTURY." 
 
 BANCROFT. 
 
 C. COLLINS & CO., PUBLISHERS, 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 
BIOGRAPHIES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 EARLY DISCOVERERS. 
 
 BY JEREMY BELKNAP, D.D. 
 
 BIRON. 
 
 BIRON, A NATIVE OF NORWAY HIS DISCOVERY OF ICELAND AND GREENLAND AN ACCOUNT 
 OF HIS VOYAGE CHARACTER AND APPEARANCE OF THE NATIVES. 
 
 THE ancient inhabitants of Norway and Denmark, collectively taken, were distin 
 guished by the name of Normans. Their situation near the coast of the sea, and the 
 advantages which that element presented to them beyond all which they could 
 expect, from a rough soil, in a cold climate, led them at an early period to the 
 science and practice of navigation. They built their vessels with the best of oak, and 
 constructed them in such a manner as to encounter the storms and billows of the 
 northern ocean. They covered them with decks and furnished them with high fore 
 castles and sterns. They made use of sails as well as oars, and had learned to trim 
 their sails to the wind, in almost any direction. In these arts, of building ships and 
 of navigation, they were superior to the people bordering on the Mediterranean Sea, 
 who depended chiefly on their oars and used sails only with a fair wind. 
 
 About the end of the eighth and beginning of the ninth century, the Norm, ins 
 made themselves famous by their predatory excursions. England, Scotland, Ireland, 
 the Orkney and Shetland islands, were objects of their depredations ; and in one of 
 their piratical expeditions, A.D. 861, they discovered an island, which from its lofty 
 mountains, covered with ice and snow, obtained the name of Iceland. In a few years 
 after they planted a colony there, which was continually augmented by migrations 
 from the neighboring countries. Within the space of thirty years, 889, a new coun 
 try, situate^to the west, was discovered, and from its verdure during the summer 
 months, received the name of- Greenland. This was deemed so important an acqui 
 sition, that, under the conduct of ERIC RAUDE or RED HEAD, a Danish chief, it was 
 soon peopled. 
 
 The emigrants to these new regions were still inflamed with the passion for 
 adventure and discovery. An Icelander of the name of HERIOLF and his son BIRON* 
 
 His name is spelled by different authors Biron, Biorn, Jiisera, and Biaem. r f 
 
6 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 made a voyage every year to different countries for the sake of traffic. About the 
 beginning of the eleventh century, 1001, their ships were separated by a storm. 
 When Biron arrived in Norway, he heard that his father was gone to Greenland, and 
 he resolved to follow him ; but another storm drove him to the south-west, where he 
 discovered a flat country, free from rocks, but covered with thick woods, and an 
 island near the coast. 
 
 He made no longer stay at either of these places than till the storm abated ; 
 when by a north-east course he hastened to Greenland. The discovery was no 
 sooner known there, than LEIF, the son of ERIC, who, like his father, had a strong 
 desire to acquire glory by adventures, equipped a vessel, carrying twenty-five men ; 
 and taking Biron for his pilot, sailed in 1002 in search of the new country. 
 
 His course was south-west. On the first land which he saw, he found nothing but 
 flat rocks and ice, without any verdure. He therefore gave it the name of Helleland, 
 which signifies rocky. Afterwards he came to a level shore, without any rocks, but 
 overgrown with woods, and the sand was remarkably white. This he named Markland, 
 or woody. Two days after, he saw land again, and an island lying before the 
 northern coast of it. Here he first landed : and thence sailing westward, round a 
 point of land, found a creek or river, into which the ship entered. 
 
 On the banks of this river were bushes bearing sweet berries ; the air was mild, 
 the soil fertile, and the river well stored with fish, among which were very fine sal 
 mon. At the head of this river was a lake, on the shore of which they resolved to 
 pass the winter, and erected huts for their accommodation. One of their company, 
 a German named Tyrker, having straggled into the woods, found gra/> . S ; from which 
 he told them, that in his country they made wine. From this circumstance, Leif, 
 the commander of the party, called the place Win/and dat Code, the Good Wine 
 Country. 
 
 An intercourse being thus opened between Greenland and Winland, several voy 
 ages were made, and the new country was further explored. Many islands were 
 found near the coast, but not a human creature was seen till the third summer, 1004, 
 when three boats constructed with ribs of bone, fastened with thongs or twigs and 
 covered with skins, each boat containing three men, made their appearance. From the 
 diminutive size of these people, the Normans denominated them Scralings* and in 
 humanly killed them all but one; who escaped and collected a large number of his 
 countrymen, to make an attack on their invaders. The Normans defended their 
 ships with so much spirit that the assailants were obliged to retire. 
 
 After this, a colony of Normans went and settled at Winland, carrying on a bar 
 ter trade with the Scraelings for furs; but a controversy arose in the colony, which 
 induced some to return to Greenland. The others dispersed and mixed among the 
 Scraelings. 
 
 In the next century, 1121, Eric, bishop of Greenland, went to Winland, with a 
 benevolent design to recover and convert his countrymen who had degenerated into 
 savages. This prelate never returned to Greenland ; nor was anything more heard 
 of Winland for several centuries. 
 
 This account of the discovery of Winland is taken from Pontoppidan s History 
 of Norway, Crantz s History of Greenland, and a late History of Northern Voyages, 
 by Dr. John Reinhold Foster. The facts are said to have been collected from a 
 
 Cut sticks, chips dwarfs. 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 7 
 
 " great number of Icelandic Manuscripts by Thormond Thorfceus, Adam von Bremen, 
 Arngrim Jonas, and many other writers, so that it is hardly possible to entertain the 
 least doubt concerning the authenticity of the relation. 
 
 Pontoppidan says " that they could see the sun full six hours in the shortest 
 day;" but Crantz tells us that "the sun rose on the shortest day at eight of the 
 clock," and Foster that " the sun was eight hours above the horizon," from which he 
 concludes that Winland must be found in the 4gth degree of northern latitude; and, 
 from its being in a south-westerly direction from Greenland, he supposes that it is 
 either a part of Newfoundland or some place on the northern coast of the Gulf of 
 St. Lawrence ; but whether grapes are found in either of those countries he can not 
 say. However, he seems so fully persuaded of the facts, that he gives it as his 
 opinion that the Normans were, strictly speaking, the first discoverers of America, 
 nearly five centuries before Columbus. 
 
 From a careful perusal of the first accounts of Newfoundland, preserved by those 
 painful collectors, Hakluyt and Purchas, and of other memoirs respecting, that island 
 and the coast of Labrador; and from inspecting the most approved maps of those 
 regions, particularly one in the American Atlas, delineated agreeably to the actual 
 surveys of the late celebrated navigator, Captain James Cook, the following observa 
 tions occur: 
 
 On the N. E. part of Newfoundland, which is most directly accessible from 
 Greenland, there is a long range of coast, in which are two bays, the one called 
 Gander Bay, and the other the Bay of Exploits. Before the mouth of the former, 
 among many smaller, there lies one large island, called Fogo ; and before the mouth 
 of the latter another called the New World. Either of these will sufficiently answer 
 to the situation described in the account of Biron s second voyage. Into each of 
 these bays runs a river, which has its head in a lake, and both these lakes lie in the 
 49th degree of north latitude. 
 
 The earliest accounts of Newfoundland after its discovery, and the establishment 
 of a fishery on its coast, have respect chiefly to the lands about Trinity and Concep 
 tion Bays, between the parallels of 48 and 49. These lands are represented as 
 producing strawberries, whortleberries, raspberries, pears, wild cherries, and hazel- 
 nuts, in very great plenty. The rivers are said to have been well stored with salmon 
 and trout. The natives, who inhabited a bay lying to the northward of Trinity, and 
 came occasionally thither in their canoes, are described as broad-breasted and upright, 
 with black eyes, and without beards; the hair on their heads was of different colors; 
 some had black, some brown, and others yellow. In this variety they differed from 
 the other savages of North America, who have uniformly black hair, unless it be 
 grown gray with age. 
 
 The climate is represented as more mild in the winter than that of England ; but 
 much colder in the spring, by reason of the vast islands of ice, which are driven into 
 the bays or grounded on the banks. 
 
 On the north-eastern coast of Labrador, between the latitudes of 53 and 56, are 
 many excellent harbors and islands. The seas are full of cod, the rivers abound with 
 salmon ; and the climate is said to be more mild than that in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 
 
 Nothing is said in any of these accounts of vines or grapes, excepting that some 
 which were brought from England had thriven well. If any evidence can be drawn 
 from the comparison between the countries of Newfoundland and New England, it 
 
8 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 may be observed that all the above-mentioned fruits and berries are found in the 
 northern and eastern parts of New England as far as Nova Scotia, in the latitudes 
 of 44 and 45 ; and that grapes (vitis valpina, vitis valbrnscd] are known to grow 
 wherever these fruits are found. 
 
 Du Monts, in his voyage to Acadia in 1608, speaks of grapes in several places; 
 and they were in such plenty on the isle of Orleans, in lat. 47, that it was first called 
 the island of Bacchus. Though there is no direct and positive testimony of grapes 
 in the island of Newfoundland, it is by no means to be concluded that there were 
 none. Nor is it improbable that grapes, though once found there, might have been 
 so scarce as not to merit notice in such general descriptions as were given by the 
 first English adventurers. 
 
 The distance between Greenland and Newfoundland is not greater than between 
 Iceland and Norway ; and there could be no more difficulty in navigating the 
 western than the eastern parts of the northern ocean, with such vessels as were 
 then in use, and by such seamen as the Normans are said to have been ; though they 
 knew nothing of the magnetic needle. 
 
 Upon the whole, though we can come to no positive conclusion in a question of 
 such remote antiquity ; yet there are many circumstances to confirm, and none to 
 disprove, the relation given of the voyages of Biron. But if it be allowed that he is 
 entitled to the honor of having discovered America before Columbus, yet this dis 
 covery can not in the least detract from the merit of that celebrated navigator. For 
 there is no reason to suppose that Columbus had any knowledge of the Norman O 
 discoveries ; which long before his time were forgotten, and would perhaps never , 
 have been recollected if he had not, by the astonishing exertions of his genius and 
 his persevering industry, effected a discovery of this continent, in a climate more 
 friendly to the views of commercial adventurers. 
 
 Even Greenland itself, in the fifteenth century, was known to the Danes and 
 Normans only by the name of lost Greenland ; and they did not recover their knowl 
 edge of it till after the English had ascertained its existence by their voyages to 
 discover a north-west passage to the Pacific Ocean, and the Dutch had coasted it in 
 pursuing of whales. 
 
 MADOC. 
 
 MADOC, PRINCE OF WALES HIS SUPPOSED DISCOVERY OF AMERICA AN ACCOUNT OF HIS VOY 
 AGE EXAMINED THE IMPROBABILITY OF HIS SUPPOSED DISCOVERY SHOWN. 
 
 Tins person is supposed to have discovered America, and brought a colony of his 
 countrymen hither, before the discovery made by Columbus. The story of his 
 emigration from Wales is thus related by Hakluyt, whose book was first published 
 in 1589, and a second edition of it in 1600. 
 
 " The voyage of Madoc, the son of Owen Gwynneth, prince of North Wales, 
 to the West Indies in the year 1170, taken out of the History of Wales, lately pub 
 lished by M. David Powel, Doctor of Divinitie." 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 9 
 
 " After the death of Owen Gwynneth, his sons fell at debate who should inherit 
 after him. For the eldest son born in matrimony, Edward, or lorwerth Drwydion, 
 was counted unmeet to govern because of the maime upon his face ; and Howel, that 
 took upon him all the rule, was a base son begotten of an Irish woman. Therefore, 
 David gathered all the power he could and came against Howel, and fighting with 
 him, slew him ; and afterward enjoyed quietly the whole land of North Wales, until 
 his brother lorwerth s son came to age. 
 
 " MADOC, another of Owen Gwynneth his sons, left the land in contention between 
 his brethren, and prepared certain ships with men and munition, and sought advent 
 ures by sea, sailing west, and leaving the coast of Ireland so far north that he came 
 to a land unknown, where he saw many strange things. 
 
 " This land must needs be some part of that country of which the Spaniards 
 affirm themselves to be the first finders since Hanno s time. [For, by reason and 
 order of cosmographie, this land to the which Madoc came, must needs be some 
 part of Nova Hispania or Florida.] Whereupon it is manifest that that country was 
 long [before] by Britains discovered, afore [either] Columbus [or Americus Ves- 
 putius] led any Spaniards thither. 
 
 " Of the voyage and return of that Madoc there be many fables feigned, as the 
 common people do use, in distance of place and length of time, rather to augment 
 than diminish, but sure it is that there he was. And after he had returned home and 
 declared the pleasant and fruitful countries that he had seen without inhabitants ; 
 and upon the contrary part, for what wild and barren ground his brethren and 
 nephews did murther one another, he prepared a number of ships and got with him 
 such men and women as were desirous to live in quietness ; and taking leave of his 
 friends, took his journey thitherwards again. 
 
 " Therefore it is to be supposed, that he and his people inhabited part of those 
 countries ; for it appeareth, by Francis Lopez de Gomara, that in Acuzamil, and 
 other places, the people honored the cross. Whereby it may be gathered that 
 Christians had been there before the coming of the Spaniards. But because this 
 people were not many, they followed the manners of the land they came to, and 
 used the language they found there. 
 
 " This Madoc arriving in that western country unto the which he came in the year 
 1170, left most of his people there, and returning back for more of his own nation, 
 acquaintance, and friends, to inhabit that fair and large country, went thither again 
 with ten sails, as I find noted by Gutyn Owen. I am of opinion that the land whereto 
 he came, was some part of Mexico ; the causes which make me think so be these : 
 
 1. " The common report of the inhabitants of that country, which affirm that their 
 rulers descended from a strange nation, that came thither from a far country ; which 
 thing is confessed by Mutezuma, king of that country, in an oration made for quiet 
 ing of his people at his submission to the King of Castile ; Hernando Cortez being then 
 present, which is laid down in the Spanish chronicles of the conquest of the West Indies. 
 
 2. " The British words and names of places used in that country even to this day 
 do argue the same; as when they talk together, they use the word Gwrando, which 
 is hearken, or listen. Also they have a certain bird with a white head, which they 
 call fenguin, that is white head. But the island of Corroeso, the river of Guyndor, 
 and the white rock of Pcnuygn, which be all British or Welsh words, do manifestly 
 show that it was that country which Madoc and his people inhabited." 
 
 2 
 
10 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 " Cannina Meredith filii Rhesi mentionem facientia de Madoco filio Ovveni G \vyn- 
 nedd et de sua navigatione in terras incognitas. Vixit bic Meredith circiter annum 
 Domini, 1477- 
 
 " Madoc wyf, mwyedic wedd 
 lawn genau, Owen Gwynedd, 
 Ni fynwm dir, fy enaid oedd 
 Na da mawr, ond y moroedd." 
 
 These verses I received of my learned friend, M. William Camden. 
 
 THE SAME IN ENGLISH. 
 
 " Madoc I am the son of Owen Gwynnedd, 
 With stature large and comely grace adorned. 
 No lands at home, nor store of wealth me please, 
 My mind was whole to search the Ocean Seas." 
 
 In this extract from Hakluyt is contained all the original information which I 
 have been able to find respecting the supposed discovery of America by the Welsh. 
 The account itself is confused and contradictory. The country discovered by Madoc 
 is said to be " without inhabitants ; " and yet the people whom he carried thither 
 " followed the manners of the land, and used the language they found there." 
 Though the Welsh emigrants lost their language, yet the author attempts to prove 
 the truth of his story by the preservation of several Welsh words in the American 
 tongue. Among these he is unfortunate in the choice of "penguin, a bird with a 
 white head ; " all birds of that name on the American shores having black or dark 
 brown heads, and the name penguin is said to have been originally pindiicginc, from 
 their excessive fatness. 
 
 Among the proofs which some late writers have adduced in support of the 
 discovery of America by Madoc is this, that a language resembling the Welsh 
 was spoken by a tribe of Indians in North Carolina, and that it is still used by a na 
 tion situate on some of the western waters of the Mississippi. If that part of the 
 account preserved by Hakluyt be true, that the language was lost, it is in vain to offer 
 an argument of this kind in support of the truth of the story; but a question may 
 here arise, How could any report of the loss of their language have been transmitted 
 to Europe at so early a period ? 
 
 An attempt has lately been made to ascertain the truth of this piece of history 
 by Dr. John Williams. I have not seen the book itself, but if the critical reviewers 
 may be credited, no new facts have been adduced. It is remarked by them, that 
 " if Madoc once reached America, it is difficult to explain how he could return home, 
 and it would be more improbable that he should arrive in America a second time ; of 
 which there is not the slightest evidence." They also observe, that " if Madoc sailed 
 westward from Wales, the currents would rather have carried him to Nova Scotia 
 than to the southward." 
 
 The mentioning of Nova Scotia reminds me of some words in the native language 
 of that country which begin with two syllables resembling the name of Madoc. A 
 sachem of the Penobscot tribe who lived in the end of the last and in the beginning 
 of the present century bore the name of Madokawando. A village on Penobscot 
 river was Madawankec. One branch of the river St. John, which runs into the Bay 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 11 
 
 of Funda, is Medoctack, and another is Medocscenecasis. The advocates of this opinion 
 may avail themselves as far as they can of this coincidence, but in my apprehension 
 it is too precarious to be the basis of any just conclusion. 
 
 After all that has been said, or can be said, on the subject, we must observe with 
 the critical reviewers, that if " Madoc left Wales and discovered any other country, it 
 must always remain uncertain where that country is." Dr. Robertson thinks, if he 
 made any discovery at all, it might be Madeira, or one of the Azores. 
 
 The book of Hakluyt, in which the original story is preserved, was written in the 
 reign of Queen Elizabeth, and in the time of her controversy with Spain. The 
 design of his bringing forward the voyage of Madoc appears, from what he says of 
 Columbus, to have been the asserting of a discovery prior to his, and consequently 
 the right of the Crown of England to the sovereignty of America ; a point at that 
 time warmly contested between the two nations. The remarks which the same 
 author makes on several other voyages evidently tend to the establishment of that 
 claim. But if the story of Biron be true, which (though Hakluyt has said nothing 
 of it) is better authenticated than this of Madoc, the right of the Crown of Denmark 
 is, on the principle of prior discovery, superior to either of them. 
 
 Perhaps the whole mystery may be unveiled if we advert to this one circum 
 stance : the time when Hakluyt s book was first published, national prejudice might 
 prevail even with so honest a writer, to convert a Welsh fable into a political argu 
 ment, to support, against a powerful rival, the claim of his sovereign to the dominion 
 of this continent. 
 
 THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 ZENO. 
 
 ZENO HIS RANK AND BIRTH HE SAILS ON A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY IS OVERTAKEN BY A 
 TEMPEST ARRIVES AT FRISLAND DIFFICULTIES WITH THE NATIVES DEATH OF NICOLO 
 ZENO HIS BROTHER ANTONIO TAKES THE COMMAND. 
 
 IT is well known that the Venetians were reckoned among the most expert and 
 adventurous of the maritime nations. In that republic the family of Zeno, or Zeni, is 
 not only very ancient and of high rank, but celebrated for illustrious achievements. 
 Nicolo Zeno, having exhibited great valor in a war with the Genoese, conceived an 
 ardent desire, agreeably to the genius of his nation, to travel ; that he might, by his 
 acquaintance with foreign nations and languages, render himself more illustrious and 
 useful. With this view he equipped a vessel at his own expense, and sailed through 
 the Straits of Gibraltar to the northward, A.D. 1380, with an intention to visit Britain 
 and Flanders ; but by a storm which lasted many days he was cast away on the coast 
 of Frisland. 
 
 The prince of the country, Zichmni (or, as Purchas spells it, Zichmui), finding 
 Zeno an expert seaman, gave him the command of his fleet, consisting of thirteen 
 vessels, of which two only were rowed with cars : one was a ship, and the rest were 
 small barks. With this fleet he made conquest and depredations in Ledovo and 
 Ilosy, and other small islands, several barks laden with fish being a part of his 
 capture. 
 
12 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 Nicolo wrote to his brother Antonio Zeno at Venice, inviting him to Frisland, 
 whither he went ; and, being taken into the service of Zichmni, continued with him 
 fourteen years. The fleet sailed on an expedition to Estland, where they committed 
 great ravages ; but, hearing that the King of Norway was coming against them with 
 a superior fleet, they departed, and were driven by a storm on shoals, where part of 
 the fleet was wrecked, and the rest were saved on Grisland, " a great island, but not 
 inhabited." 
 
 Zichmni then determined to attack Iceland, which belonged to the King of 
 Norway ; but, finding it well fortified and defended, and his fleet being diminished, 
 he retired and built a fort in Bress, one of seven small islands, where he left Nicolo, 
 and returned to Frisland. 
 
 In the next spring Zeno, with three small barks, sailed to the northward on 
 discovery, and arrived at Engroenland, where he found a monastery of Friars, and a 
 church dedicated to St. Thomas, situate near a volcano, and heated by warm springs 
 flowing from the mountain. 
 
 After the death of Nicolo, which happened in about four years, Antonio succeeded 
 him in the command of the fleet ; and the prince Zichmni, aiming at the sovereignty 
 of the sea, undertook an expedition westward, because that some fishermen had 
 discovered rich and populous islands in that quarter. 
 
 The report of the fisherman was, that above a thousand miles westward from 
 Frisland, to which distance they had been driven by a tempest, there was an island 
 called Estotiland, which they had discovered twenty-six years before ; that six men 
 in one boat were driven upon the island, and being taken by the inhabitants, were 
 brought into a fair and populous city ; that the king of that place sent for many in 
 terpreters, but none were found who could understand the language of the fishermen, 
 except one who could speak Latin, and he had formerly been cast ashore on the 
 island ; that on his reporting their case to the king, he detained them five years, in 
 which time they learned the language ; that one of them visited divers parts of the 
 island and reported that it was a very rich country, abounding with all the commodi 
 ties of the world ; that it was less than Iceland, but far more fruitful, having in the 
 middle a very high mountain, from which originated four rivers. 
 
 The inhabitants were described as very ingenious, having all mechanic arts. They 
 had a peculiar kind of language and letters ; and in the king s library were preserved 
 Latin books, which they did not understand. They had all kinds of metals (but 
 especially gold, with which they mightily abounded). They held traffic with the peo 
 ple of Engroenland, from whence they brought furs, pitch, and brimstone. They had 
 many great forests, which supplied them with timber for the building of ships, 
 houses, and fortifications. The use of the loadstone was not known, but these fish 
 ermen, having the mariner s compass, were held in so high estimation, that the king 
 sent them with twelve barks to a country at the southward called Drogio, where the 
 most of them were killed and devoured by cannibals; but one of them saved himself 
 by showing the savages a way of taking fish by nets, in much greater plenty than by 
 any other mode before known among them. This fisherman was in so great demand 
 with the princes of the country, that they frequently made war on each other for the 
 sake of gaining him. In this manner he passed from one to another, till in the space 
 of thirteen years he had lived with twenty-five different princes, to whom he com 
 municated his " miraculous" art of fishing with nets. 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 13 
 
 He thus became acquainted with every part of the country, which he described 
 to be so extensive as to merit the name of a new world. The people were rude and 
 ignorant of the use of clothing, though their climate was cold, and afforded beasts 
 for the chase. In their hunting and wars they used the bow and the lance ; but they 
 knew not the use of metal. 
 
 Farther to the south-west the air was said to be more temperate and the people 
 more civil. They dwelt in cities, built temples, and worshiped idols ; to whom they 
 offered human victims ; and they had plenty of gold and silver. 
 
 The fisherman having become fully acquainted with the country, meditated a 
 return. Having fled through the woods to Drogio, after three years some boats ar 
 rived from Estotiland, in one of which he embarked for that country ; and having 
 acquired considerable property, he fitted out a bark of his own and returned to Frisland. 
 
 Such was the report of the fisherman ; upon hearing of which, Zichmni resolved 
 to equip his fleet and go in search of the new country ; Antonio Zeno being the 
 second in command. But " the preparation for the voyage to Estotiland was begun 
 in an evil hour ; the fisherman, who was to have been the pilot, died three days 
 before their departure." 
 
 However, taking certain mariners who had sailed with the fisherman, Zichmni 
 began the intended voyage. When he had sailed a small distance to the westward, 
 he was overtaken by a storm which lasted eight days, at the end of which they dis 
 covered land which the natives called Icaria. They were numerous and formidable 
 and would not permit him to come on shore. From this place they sailed six days 
 to the westward with a fair wind ; but a heavy gale from the southward drove them 
 four days before it, when they discovered land, in which was a volcano. The air was 
 mild and temperate, it being the height of summer. They took a great quantity of 
 fish, of sea fowl and their eggs. A part who penetrated the country as far as the 
 foot of the volcano found a spring from which issued a " certain water, like pitch, 
 which ran into the sea." They discovered some of the inhabitants, who were of 
 small stature and wild ; and who, at the approach of the strangers, hid themselves 
 in their caves. Having found a good harbor, Zichmni intended to make a settlement ; 
 but his people opposing it, he dismissed part of the fleet under Zeno, who returned 
 to Frisland. 
 
 The particulars of this narrative were first written by Antonio Zeno in his letters 
 to his brother Carlo, at Venice ; from some fragments of which a compilation was 
 made by Francisco Marcolini, and preserved by Ramusio. It was translated by 
 Richard Hakluyt, and printed in the third volume of the second edition of his col 
 lection, page 121, etc. From it Ortelius has made an extract in his Tlicatrum Or bis. 
 
 Dr. Forster has taken much pains to examine the whole account, both geograph 
 ically and historically. The result of his inquiry is, that Frisland is one of the Ork 
 neys ; that Porland is the cluster of islands called Faro, and that Estland is Shetland. 
 
 At first, indeed, he was of opinion that "the countries described by the Zenos 
 actually existed at that time, but had since been swallowed up by the sea in a great 
 earthquake." This opinion he founded on the probability that all the high islands in 
 the middle of the sea are of volcanic origin ; as is evident with respect to Iceland and 
 the Faro Islands in the North Sea ; the Azores, Teneriffe, Madeira, the Cape de 
 Verds, St. Helena, and Ascension in the Atlantic; the Society Islands, Otaheite, 
 Easter, the Marquesas, and other islands in the Pacific. This opinion he was induced 
 
14 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 to relinquish, partly because "so great a revolution must have left behind it some 
 historical vestiges or traditions;" but principally because his knowledge of the 
 Runic language suggested to him a resemblance between the names mentioned by 
 Zeno and those which are given to some of the islands of Orkney, Shetland, and the 
 Hebrides. 
 
 However presumptuous it may appear to call in question the opinion of so learned 
 and diligent an inquirer, on a subject which his philological and geographical knowl 
 edge must enable him to examine with the greatest precision; yet from the search 
 which I have had opportunity to make, it appears probable to me that his first 
 opinion was right, as far as it respects Frisland, and perhaps Porland. My reasons 
 are these : 
 
 1. Dr. Foster says that Frisland was much larger than Iceland; and Hakluyt, in 
 his account of Zeno s voyage, speaks of it as "bigger than Ireland." Neither of 
 these accounts can agree with the supposition of its being one of the Orkneys ; for 
 Iceland is 346 miles long, and 200 wide. Ireland is 310 in length, and 184 in breadth. 
 But Pomona, the mainland of the Orkneys, is but 22 miles long, and 20 wide. 
 
 2. Frisland was seen by Martin Frobisher in each of his three voyages to and 
 from Greenland in the years 1576, 1577, and 1578. In his first voyage he took his 
 departure from Foula, the weaternmost of the Shetland Islands, in latitude 60 30 , and 
 after sailing VV. by N. fourteen days, he made the land of Frisland, " bearing VV.N.VV. 
 distance 16 leagues, in latitude 6i." In his second voyage he sailed from the Ork 
 neys W.N.W. twenty six days before he came " within making of Frisland," which 
 he thus describes : 
 
 "July 4th. We made land perfect, and knew it to be Frisland. Found ourselves 
 in latitude 6o}4, and were fallen in with the southernmost part of this land. It is 
 thought to be in bigness not inferior to England, and is called of some authors West 
 Frisland. I think it lieth more west than any part of Europe. It extendeth to the 
 north very far, as seemed to us, and appeareth by a description set out by two breth 
 ren, Nicolo and Antonio Zeni ; who being driven out from Ireland about 200 years 
 since, were shipwrecked there. They have in their sea charts described every part ; and 
 for so much of the land as we have sailed along, comparing their charts with the coast, 
 we find it very agreeable. All along this coast the ice lieth as a continual bulwark, 
 and so defendeth the country that those who would land there incur great danger." 
 In his third voyage he found means to land on the island. The inhabitants fled and 
 hid themselves. Their tents were made of skins, and their boats were like those of 
 Greenland. From these well-authenticated accounts of Frisland, and its situation so 
 far westward of the Orkneys and Shetland, it seems impossible that Dr. Forster s 
 second opinion can be right. 
 
 3. One of the reasons which led the doctor to give up his first opinion, that these 
 lands once existed, but had disappeared, was, that so great a revolution must have 
 left some vestige behind. If no person escaped to tell the news, what better vestige 
 can there be, than the existence of shoals or rocks in the places where these islands 
 once were known to be ? In a map prefixed to Crantz s history of Greenland, there 
 is marked a very extensive shoal between the latitudes of 59 and 60, called "The 
 sunken land of Buss." Its longitude is between Iceland and Greenland, and the au- 
 
 _thor speaks of it in these words: "Some are of opinion that Frisland was sunk 
 by an earthquake, and that it was situate in those parts where the sunken land of Buss 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 15 
 
 is marked in the maps ; which the seamen cautiously avoid, because of the shallow 
 ground and turbulent waves." 
 
 Respecting Buss Island, I have met with no other account than what is preserved 
 by Purchas in his abridgment of the journal of James Hall s voyages from Denmark 
 to Greenland. In his first voyage, A.D. 1635, he remarks thus: " Being in the lati 
 tude of 59/4 we looked to have seen Buss Island; but I do verily suppose the 
 same to be placed in a wrong latitude in the marine charts." In his second voy 
 age (1606) he saw land, which he "supposed to be Buss Island, lying more to the 
 westward than it is placed in the marine charts ; " and the next day, viz., July 2d, he 
 writes, " We were in a great current setting S.S.W., which I suppose to set between 
 Buss Island and Frisland over toward America." 
 
 In a fourth voyage, made in 1612, by the same James Hall, from England, for 
 the discovery of a north-west passage, of which there is a journal written by John 
 Gatanbe, and preserved in Churchill s Collections, they kept a good look-out, both in 
 going and returning, for the island of Frisland, but could not see it. In a map pre 
 fixed to this voyage, Frisland is laid down between the latitude of 61 and 62, and 
 Buss in the latitude of 57. In Gatanbe s journal the distance between Shetland 
 and Frisland is computed to be 260 leagues ; the southernmost part of Frisland and 
 the northernmost part of Shetland are said to be in the same latitude. There is also 
 a particular map of Frisland preserved by Purchas, in which are delineated several 
 towns and cities ; the two islands of Iloso and Ledovo are laid down to the west 
 ward of it, and another called Stromio to the eastward. 
 
 In a map of the North Seas, prefixed to an anonymous account of Greenland, in 
 Churchill s Collections, we find Frisland laid down in the latitude 62 between Iceland 
 and Greenland. 
 
 We have, then, no reason to doubt the existence of these islands as late as the 
 beginning of the last century. At what time they disappeared is uncertain ; but that 
 their place has since been occupied by a shoal, we have also credible testimony. 
 
 The appearance and disappearance of islands in the Northern Sea is no uncom 
 mon thing. Besides former events of this kind, there is one very recent. In the 
 year 1783, by means of a volcanic eruption, two islands were produced in the sea near 
 the S.E. coast of Iceland. One was supposed to be so permanent that the king of 
 Denmark sent and took formal possession of it as part of his dominions ; but the 
 ocean, paying no regard to the territorial claim of a mortal sovereign, has since reab- 
 sorbed it in his watery bosom. 
 
 These reasons incline me to believe that Dr. Forster s first opinion was well 
 founded, as far as it respects Frisland. 
 
 He supposes Porland to be the cluster of islands called Faro. But Porland is said 
 to lie south of Frisland ; whereas the Faro Islands lie north-west of Orkney, which 
 he supposes to be Frisland. The learned doctor, who is generally very accurate, was 
 not aware of this inconsistency. 
 
 In the account which Hakluyt has given of Martin Frobisher s third voyage, we 
 find that one of his ships, the Buss of Bridgewater, in her return fell in with land fifty 
 leagues S.E. of Frisland, "which (it is said) was never found before," the southern 
 most part of which lay in latitude 57^. Along the coast of this island, which they 
 judged to extend twenty-five leagues, they sailed for three days. The existence of this 
 land Dr. Forster seems to doubt ; but yet allows that " if it was then really discov- 
 
16 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 ered, it must have sunk afterwards into the sea, as it has never been seen again; or 
 else these navigators must have been -mistaken in their reckoning." 
 
 If such an island or cluster of islands did not exist in the situation described by 
 Frobisher, it might be the Porland of Zeno ; for the southernmost part of Frisland 
 lay in the latitude of 6oy ; the southernmost part of this land in 57^ in a direc 
 tion S.E. from it. It was probably called Buss by the English from the name of 
 Frobisher s vessel which discovered it. 
 
 The only proof which can now be produced of this fact must be the actual 
 existence of rocks and shoals in or near the same place. Of this, it is happily in my 
 power to produce the evidence of two experienced shipmasters, of incontestable 
 veracity, now living. The first is Isaac Smith, of Maiden, near Boston, from whose 
 log-book I have made the following extract : " In a voyage from Petersburg to 
 Boston, in the ship Thomas and Sarah, belonging to Thomas Russell, Esq., of 
 Boston, merchant, Thursday, August n, 1785, course W.N.W., wind W.S.W. 
 At 4 A.M. discovered a large rock ahead, which for some time we took to be a ship 
 under close-reefed top-sail. At 7, being within two miles, saw breakers under our 
 lee, on which account wore ship. There are breakers in two places, bearing S.E. ; 
 one a mile, the other two miles, from the rock. It lies in lat. 57 38 , longitude west 
 from London 13 36 , and may be discovered five leagues off. We sounded, and had 
 fifty-six fathom. The rock appears to be about one hundred yards in circumference, 
 and fifty feet above water. It makes like a hay-stack, black below and white on the 
 top." The other is Nathaniel Goodwin, of Boston, who, in his homeward passage 
 from Amsterdam, on the i$th of August, 1793, saw the same rock. According to 
 his observation (which, however, on that day was a little dubious), it lies in lat. 57 
 48 , and Ion. 13 46 . He passed within two miles of it to the southward, and saw 
 breakers to the northward of it. Its appearance he describes in the same manner 
 with Smith. 
 
 From these authorities I am strongly inclined to believe that the shoal denomi 
 nated "the sunken land of Buss" is either a part of the ancient Frisland or of some 
 island in its neighborhood ; and that the rock and ledges seen by Smith and Goodwin 
 belonged to the cluster once called Porland. If these conclusions be admitted, there 
 can be no suspicion of fiction in the story of Zeno, as far as it respects Prince 
 Zichmni and his expeditions. Shetland may then well enough agree with Estland, 
 which is described by Hakluyt as laying " between Frisland and Norway." 
 
 The only place which in Zeno s relation is called by the same name by which it 
 is now known, is Iceland; though there can be no doubt that Engroenland, or 
 Engrovcland, is the same with Greenland ; where, according to Crantz, there was 
 once a church dedicated to St. Thomas, and situate near a volcano and a hot spring. 
 
 But the question is, where shall we find Estotiland ? Dr. Forster is positive that 
 it can not be any other country than Winland (discovered in 1001), where the Nor 
 mans made a settlement. The Latin books seen there by the fisherman he supposes 
 to have been the library of Eric, Bishop of Greenland, who went thither in the 
 twelfth century to convert his countrymen. He is also of opinion that this fisherman 
 had the use of the magnetic needle, which began to be known in Europe about the 
 yar 1302, before the time of the Zenos. He also thinks that the country called 
 Drogio is the same with Florida. 
 
 In some of the old maps, particularly in Sanson s French Atlas, the name Estoti- 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 17 
 
 land is marked on the country of Labrador; but the pompous description of it by 
 the fisherman, whether it be Labrador or Newfoundland, exceeds all the bounds of 
 credibility, and abuses even the license of a traveler. The utmost extent of Zichmni s 
 expedition, in consequence of the fisherman s report, could not be any further wcst- 
 ward than Greenland, to which his description well agrees. The original inhabitants 
 were short of stature, half wild, and lived in caverns; and between the years 1380 
 and 1384 they had extirpated the Normans and the monks of St. Thomas. 
 
 The discovery of Estotiland must, therefore, rest on the report of the fisherman ; 
 but the description of it, of Drogio, and the country south-west of Drogio, must be 
 ranked in the fabulous history of America, and would probably have been long since 
 forgotten if Christopher Columbus had not made his grand discovery ; from the merit 
 of which his rivals and the enemies of the Spanish nation have uniformly endeavored 
 to detract. 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS HIS REASONS FOR SEEKING INDIA IN THE WEST HIS FIRST VOVAGE 
 HIS SECOND VOYAGE HIS THIRD VOYAGE HIS FOURTH VOYAGE DIFFICULTIES. PRIVA 
 TIONS, AND THE HARDSHIPS HE UNDERWENT HE IS WRECKED ON JAMAICA HIS DF.ATH 
 AND CHARACTER. 
 
 THE adventures which have already been spoken of were more the result of 
 accident than design ; we arc now entering on one founded in science and conducted 
 by judgment; an adventure which, whether we regard its conception, its execution, 
 or its consequences, will always reflect the highest honor on him who projected it. 
 
 About the middle of the fifteenth century, when the Portuguese, under the conduct 
 of Prince Henry, and afterward of King John II., were pursuing their discoveries 
 along the western shore of Africa, to find a passage by the south to India, a genius 
 arose whose memory has been preserved with veneration in the pages of history, as 
 the instrument of enlarging the regions of science and commerce beyond any of his 
 predecessors. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, a native of the Republic of Genoa, was born 
 in the year 1447, and at the age of fourteen entered on a seafaring life, as the proper 
 sphere in which his vigorous mind was destined to perform exploits which should 
 astonish mankind. He was educated in the sciences of geometry and astronomy, 
 which form the basis of navigation ; and he was well versed in cosmography, history, 
 and philosophy. His active and enterprising genius, though it enabled him to com 
 prehend the old systems, yet would not suffer him to rest in their decisions, however 
 sanctified by time or by venerable names; but determined to examine them by actual 
 experiment, he first visited the seas within the polar circle, and afterward those parts 
 of Africa which the Portuguese had discovered, as far as the coast of Guinea ; and 
 by the time he had attained the age of thirty-seven, he had from his own experience 
 received the fullest conviction that the opinion of the ancients respecting the torrid 
 and frigid zones was void of any just -foundation. 
 
 When an old system is found erroneous in one point, it is natural to suspect it of 
 3 
 
18 THE AMERICAN .CONTINENT. 
 
 farther imperfections ; and when one difficulty is overcome, others appear less for 
 midable. Such was the case with Columbus; and his views were accelerated by an 
 incident which threatened to put an end to his life. During one of his voyages, the 
 ship in which he sailed took fire, in an engagement with a Venetian galley, and the 
 crew were obliged to leap into the sea to avoid perishing in the flames. In this ex 
 tremity Columbus, by the help of a floating oar, swam upwards of two leagues to 
 the coast of Portugal near Lisbon, and met with a welcome reception from many of 
 his countrymen who were settled there. 
 
 At Lisbon he married the daughter of Perestrello, an old seaman, who had been 
 concerned in the discovery of Porto Santo and Madeira ; from whose journals and 
 charts he received the highest entertainment. Pursuing his inquiries in geog 
 raphy, and observing what slow progress the Portuguese made in their attempts to 
 find a way round Africa to India, "he began to reflect that as the Portuguese trav 
 eled so far southward, it were no less proper to sail westward," and that it was 
 reasonable to expect to find the desired land in that direction. 
 
 It must here be remembered that India was in part known to the ancients, and 
 that its rich and useful productions had for many centuries been conveyed into Eu 
 rope, either by caravans through the deserts of Syria and Arabia, or by the way of the 
 Red Sea through Egypt into the Mediterranean. This lucrative commerce had 
 been successively engrossed by the Phenicians, the Hebrews, the Egyptians, the 
 Assyrians, the Palmyrenes, the Arabians, the Genoese, and the Venetians. The Por 
 tuguese were then seeking it by attempting the circumnavigation of Africa ; and 
 their expectation of finding it in that direction was grounded on ancient historical 
 traditions that a voyage had been formerly made by the orders of Necho, King of 
 Egypt, from the Red Sea, round the southern part of Africa, to the Straits of Her 
 cules ; and that the same route had been traversed by Hanno the Carthaginian, by 
 Eudoxus the Egyptian, and others. The Portuguese had consumed about half a 
 century in making various attempts, and had advanced no farther on the western 
 coast of Africa than just to cross the equator, when Columbus conceived his great 
 design of finding India in the west. 
 
 The causes which led him to entertain this idea are distinguished by his son, the 
 writer of his life, into these three : " natural reason, the authority of writers, and .the 
 testimony of sailors." 
 
 By the help of " reason," he argued in this manner: That the earth and sea 
 composed one globe or sphere. This was known by observing the shadow of the 
 earth in lunar eclipses. Hence he concluded that it might be traveled over from 
 east to west, or from west to east. It had been explored to the cast by some Euro 
 pean travelers as far as Cipango, or Japan; and as far westward as the Azores or 
 Western Islands. The remaining space, though now known to be more than half, he 
 supposed to be but one-third part of the circumference of the globe. If this space 
 were an open sea, he imagined it might be easily sailed over ; and if there were any 
 land extending eastwardly beyond the known limits of Asia, he supposed that it must 
 be nearer to Spain by the west than by the east. For, it was then a received opin 
 ion that the continent and islands of India extended over one-third part of the cir 
 cumference of the globe ; that another third part was comprehended between India 
 and the western shore of Spain ; therefore it was concluded, that the eastern part of 
 India must be as near to Spain as the western part. This opinion, though now 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 19 
 
 known to be erroneous, yet being then admitted. as true, made it appear to Colum 
 bus very easy and practicable to discover India in the west. He hoped also that be 
 tween Spain and India, in that direction, there might be found some islands; by the 
 help of which, as resting places in his voyage, he might the better pursue his main 
 design. The probability of the existence of land in that Ocean, he argued, partly 
 from the opinion of philosophers, that there was more land than sea on the surface 
 of the globe ; and partly from the necessity of a counterpoise in the west, for the 
 immense quantity of land which was known to be in the east. 
 
 Another source from which he drew his conclusion, was, " the authority of learned 
 men," who had affirmed the possibility of sailing from the western coast of Spain, to 
 the eastern bounds of India. Some of the ancient Geographers had admitted this 
 for truth, and one of them, Pliny, had affirmed that forty days were sufficient to per 
 form this navigation. These authorities fell in with the theory which Columbus had 
 formed; and having, as early as 1474, communicated his ideas in writing to Paul, a 
 learned physician of Florence, he received from him letters of that date, confirming 
 his opinion and encouraging his design ; accompanied with a chart, in which Paul 
 had laid down the city of Quisay (supposed to be the capital of China), but little 
 more than two thousand leagues westward from Lisbon, which in fact is but half the 
 distance. Thus, by arguing from true principles, and by indulging conjectures partly 
 well founded and partly erroneous, Columbus was led to the execution of a plan, 
 bold in its conception, and, to his view, easily practicable ; for great minds overlook 
 intermediate obstacles, which men of smaller views magnify into insuperable difficulties. 
 The third ground on which he formed his ideas was " the testimony of mariners; " 
 a class of men who at that time, and in that imperfect state of science, were too prone 
 to mix fable with fact ; and were often misled by appearances which they could not 
 solve. In the sea, between Madeira and the Western Islands, pieces of carved wood 
 and large joints of cane had been discovered, which were supposed to be brought by 
 westerly winds. Branches of pine trees, a covered canoe, and two human bodies of a 
 complexion different from the Europeans and Africans had been found on the shores 
 of these islands. Some navigators had affirmed, that they had seen islands not more 
 than a hundred leagues westward from the Azores. There was a tradition, that when 
 Spain was conquered by the Moors in the eighth century, seven Bishops, who were 
 exiled from their country, had built seven cities and churches, on an island called 
 Antilla ; which was supposed to be not more than two hundred leagues west of the 
 Canaries ; and it was said that a Portuguese ship had once discovered this island, but 
 could never find it again. These stories, partly true and partly fabulous, had their 
 effect on the mind of Columbus. He believed that islands were to be found west 
 ward of the Azores and Canaries ; though, according to his theory, they were at a 
 greater distance than any of his contemporaries had imagined. His candor led him 
 to adopt an opinion from Pliny respecting floating islands, by the help of which he 
 accounted for the appearances related to him, by his marine brethren. It is not im 
 probable that the large islands of floating ice, driven from the Polar Seas to the 
 southward ; or the Fog Banks, which form many singular appearances resembling 
 land and trees, might have been the true foundation of this opinion and of these 
 reports. 
 
 It is not pretended that Columbus was the only person of his age who had acquired 
 these ideas of the form, dimensions, and balancing of the globe; but he was one of 
 
20 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 the few who had begun to think for themselves, and he had a genius of that kind 
 which makes use of speculation and reasoning only as excitements to action. He 
 was not a closet projector, but an enterprising adventurer; and having established 
 his theory on principles, he was determined to exert himself to the utmost to dem 
 onstrate its truth by experiment. But deeming the enterprise too great to be under 
 taken by any but a sovereign State, he first applied (as it is said) to the Republic of 
 Genoa, by whom his project was treated as visionary. He then proposed his plan to 
 John II., King of Portugal, who, though a Prince of good understanding and of an 
 enterprising disposition, yet was so deeply engaged in prosecuting discoveries on the 
 African coast, with a view to find a way to India round that continent ; and had been 
 at so vast an expense without any considerable success, that he had no inclination to 
 acccp : the terms which Columbus proposed. Influenced, however, by the advice of 
 Calzadilla, a favorite courtier, he privately gave orders to a ship, bound to the 
 islands of Cape dc Vcrd, to attempt a discovery in the west ; but through ignorance 
 and want of enterprise, the navigators, after wandering for some time in the ocean 
 and making no discovery, reached their destined port and turned the project of 
 Columbus into ridicule. 
 
 Disgusted with this base artifice, he quitted Portugal and went to Ferdinand, 
 King of Spain, having previously sent his brother to England to solicit the patron 
 age of Henry VII. But, being taken by pirates and detained several years in cap 
 tivity, Bartholomew had it not in his power to reveal his project to Henry, till Chris 
 topher Columbus had succeeded in Spain. Before this could be accomplished, he 
 had various obstacles to surmount ; and it was not till after seven years of painful 
 solicitation that he obtained his request. 
 
 The objections made to the proposal of Columbus by the most learned men in 
 Spain, to whom the consideration of it was referred, will give us some idea of the 
 state of geographical science at that time. One objection was : How should he know 
 more than all the wise and skillful sailors who had existed since the creation? An 
 other was the authority of Seneca, who had doubted whether it were possible to 
 navigate the ocean at any great distance from the shore ; but, admitting that it were 
 navigable, they imagined that three years would be required to perform the voyage 
 which Columbus proposed. A third was, that if a ship should sail westward on a 
 round globe, she would necessarily go down on the opposite side, and then it would 
 be impossible to return, because it would be like climbing up a hill, which no ship 
 could do with the strongest wind. A fourth objection was grounded on a book of 
 St. Augustine, in which he had expressed his doubt of the existence of antipodes 
 and the possibility of going from one hemisphere to the other. As the writing of 
 this Holy Father was received, the sanction of the Church to contradict him was 
 deemed heresy. 
 
 For such reasons, and by such rcasoncrs, the proposal of Columbus was at first 
 rejected ; but by the influence of John Perez, a Spanish priest, and Lewis Santangel, 
 an officer of the King s household, Queen Isabella was persuaded to listen to his 
 solicitation, and, after he had been twice repulsed, to recall him to Court ; when she 
 offered to pawn her jewels to defray the expense of the equipment, amounting to no 
 more than 2, 500 crowns; which sum was advanced by Santangel, and the Queen s 
 jewelry was saved. Thus, to the generous decision of a female mind, we owe the 
 discovery of America. 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 21 
 
 The conditions stipulated between Ferdinand and Isabella on the one part, and 
 Columbus on the other part, were these: "That he, his heirs and successors, should 
 hold the office of Admiral in all those islands and continents which he should 
 discover ; that he should be Viceroy and Governor of the same, with power of 
 nominating three associates, of whom their majesties should appoint one. That he 
 should h:.ve one-tenth part of the net proceeds of all the gold and silver, precious 
 stones, spice, and other merchandise which should be found ; that he, or a deputy of 
 his own appointing, should decide all controversies respecting the trade; that he 
 should be at one-eighth part of the expense of equipping the first fleet, and should 
 receive one-eighth part of the profits." 
 
 The necessary preparations being made, and a year s provision laid in, on the 3d 
 of August, 1492, Columbus sailed from Palos, a port of Spain, on the Mediterranean, 
 with three vessels, one of which was called a carrack, and the other two caravels,* 
 having on board the whole ninety men. Having passed through the Straits of 
 Gibraltar, he arrived at the Canaries on the I2t.h of the same month, where he was 
 detained in refitting one of the caravels, and taking in wood and water, till the 6th 
 of September, when he sailed westward on his voyage of discovery. 
 
 This voyage, which is now considered as an easy and pleasant run, between the 
 latitudes of 20 and 30 degrees, with a trade wind, was then the boldest attempt 
 which had ever been made, and filled the minds of the best seamen with apprehen 
 sion. They were going directly from home, and from all hope of relief if any accident 
 should befall them. No friendly port nor human being was known to be in that 
 direction. Every bird which flew in the air, every fish which appeared in the sea, 
 and every weed which floated on its surface, was regarded with the most minute 
 attention, as if the fate of the voyage depended on it. A phenomenon which had 
 never before been observed struck them with terror. The magnetic needle appeared 
 to vary from the pole. They began to apprehend that their compass would prove 
 an unfaithful guide ; and the trade wind, which wafted them along with its friendly 
 wings, they feared would obstruct their return. 
 
 To be twenty days at sea without sight of land was what the boldest mariner had 
 never before attempted. At the expiration of that time the impatient sailors began 
 to talk of throwing their commander into the ocean, and returning home. Their 
 murmurs reached his ears ; but his active mind was never at a loss for expedients, 
 even in the greatest extremity. By soothing, flattery, and artifice, by inventing 
 reasons for every uncommon appearance, by promising reward to the obedient, and 
 a gratuity to him who should first discover land, in addition to what the king had 
 ordered, and by deceiving them on the ship s reckoning, he kept them on their 
 course for sixteen days longer. In the night of the nth of October he himself saw 
 a light, which seemed to be on shore, and on the morning of the I2th they had the 
 joyful sight of land, which proved to be the island of Guanahana, one of the cluster 
 called Bahamas, in the 25th degree of north latitude. 
 
 Thus, in the space of thirty-six days, and in the forty-fifth year of his age, 
 Columbus completed a voyage which he had spent twenty years in projecting and 
 executing; a voyage which opened to the Europeans a new world; which gave 
 a new turn to their thoughts, to their spirit of enterprise and of commerce; 
 
 A carrack was a vessel with a deck ; a caravel had none. 
 
22 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 which enlarged the empire of Spain, and stamped with immortality the name of 
 Columbus. 
 
 After spending several months in. sailing from one island to another in that vast 
 archipelago, which, from the mistakes of the age, received the name of the West 
 Indies, Columbus returned to Spain with the two smaller vessels (the larger having 
 been wrecked on the island of Hispaniola), leaving behind him a colony of thirty- 
 nine men, furnished with a year s provision, and lodged in a fort which had been 
 built of the timber saved from the wreck. During his passage he met with a violent 
 tempest, which threatened him with destruction. In this extremity he gave an 
 admirable proof of his calmness and foresight. He wrote on parchment an account 
 of his discoveries, wrapped it in a piece of oil-cloth, and inclosed it in a cake of wax, 
 which he put into a tight cask and threw into the sea. Another parchment, secured 
 in the same manner, he placed on the stern, that, if the ship should sink, the cask 
 might float, and possibly one or the other might be driven on shore, or taken up at 
 sea by some future navigator. But this precaution proved fruitless. He arrived safe 
 in Spain, in March, 1493, and was received with the honors due to his merit. 
 
 The account which Columbus gave of his new discoveries, the specimens of gold 
 and other valuable productions, and the sight of the natives which he carried from 
 the West Indies to Spain, were so pleasing that the court determined on another 
 expedition. But first it was necessary to obtain the sanction of the Pope, who readily 
 granted it ; and by an imaginary line drawn from pole to pole, at the distance of IOO 
 leagues westward of the Azores, he divided between the Crowns of Spain and Port 
 ugal, all the new countries already discovered or to be discovered ; giving the 
 western part to the former, and the eastern to the latter. No provision, however, was 
 made, in case they shoulr meet, and their claims should interfere on the opposite 
 side of the globe. The bull containing this famous, but imperfect line of demarkation, 
 was signed by Alexander VI., on the second day of May, 1493 ; and on the 28th of 
 the same month, the King and Queen of Spain, by a written instrument, explained 
 and confirmed the privileges and powers which they had before granted to Columbus, 
 making the office of Viceroy and Governor of the Indies hereditary in his family. On 
 the 25th of September following, he sailed from Cadiz with a fleet of seventeen 
 ships, great and small, well furnished with all necessaries for the voyage ; and having 
 on board 1,500 people, with horses, cattle, and implements to establish plantations. 
 
 On Sunday, the 3d of November, he discovered an island, to which, in honor of 
 the day, he gave the name of Dominica. Afterward he discovered in succession other 
 islands, which he called Marigalante, Guadaloupe, Montserrat, Redonda, Antigua, St. 
 Martin s, St. Ursula, and St. John. On the 1 2th of November he came to Navidad. on 
 the north side of Hispaniola, where he had built his fort and left his colony ; but he 
 had the mortification to find that the people were all dead, and that the fort had 
 been destroyed. 
 
 The account given by the natives of the loss of the colony, was, that they fell into 
 discord among themselves, on the usual subjects of controversy, women and gold ; 
 that having provoked a chief, whose name was Canaubo, he came against them with a 
 superior force, and destroyed them ; that some of the natives, in attempting to defend 
 them, had been killed, and others were then ill of their wounds, which, on inspec 
 tion, appeared to have been made with Indian weapons. 
 
 Columbus prudently forbore to make any critical inquiry into the matter, bul 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 23 
 
 hastened to establish another colony in a more eligible situation, to the eastward, 
 which he called Isabella, after his royal patroness. He had many difficulties to con 
 tend with besides those which unavoidably attend undertakings of such novelty and 
 magnitude. Nature indeed was bountiful ; the soil and climate produced vegetation 
 with a rapidity to which the Spaniards had not been accustomed. From wheat 
 sown at the end of January, full ears were gathered at the end of March. The 
 stones of fruit, the slips of vines, and the joints of sugar-cane sprouted in seven days, 
 and many other seeds in half the time. This was an encouraging prospect ; but the 
 slow operations of agriculture did not meet the views of sanguine adventurers. The 
 numerous followers of Columbus, some of whom were of the best families in Spain, 
 had conceived hopes of suddenly enriching themselves by the precious metals of 
 those new regions, and were not disposed to listen to his recommendations of 
 patience and industry in cultivating the earth. The natives were displeased with the 
 licentiousness of their new neighbors, who endeavored t keep them in awe by a dis 
 play of force. The explosion of firearms, and the sight of men mounted on horses, 
 were at first objects of terror; but use had rendered them less formidable. Colum 
 bus, overburdened with care and fatigue, fell sick, and at his recovery, found a muti 
 ny among his men, which, by a due mixture of resolution and lenity, he had the 
 address to quell. He then endeavored to establish discipline among his own people, 
 and to employ the natives in cutting roads through the woods. Whilst he was pres 
 ent, and able to attend to business, things went on so prosperously that he thought 
 he might safely proceed on his discoveries. 
 
 In his former voyage he had visited Cuba ; but was uncertain whether it were an 
 island or a part of some continent. He therefore passed over to its eastern extrem 
 ity ; and coasted its southward side, till he found himself entangled among a vast 
 number of small islands, which for their beauty and fertility he called the Garden of 
 the Queen ; but the dangerous rocks and shoals which surrounded them, obliged 
 him to stretch farther to the southward ; by which means he discovered the island 
 of Jamaica, where he found water and other refreshments for his men, who were al 
 most dead with famine. The hazards, fatigue, and distress of this voyage, threw 
 him into a lethargic disorder, from which he had just recovered, when he returned 
 to his colony and found it all in confusion, from the same causes which had proved 
 destructive to the first. 
 
 In his absence, the licentiousness of the Spaniards had provoked several of the 
 chiefs: four of whom had united to destroy them, and had actually commenced hos 
 tilities, in which twenty Spaniards were killed. Columbus collected his people, put 
 them into the best order, and by a judicious combination of force and stratagem 
 gained a decisive victory, to which the horses and dogs did not a little contribute. 
 
 At his return to Hispaniola, he had the pleasure of meeting his brother Bartholo 
 mew, whom he had not seen for several years, and whom he supposed to have been 
 dead. Bartholomew was a man of equal knowledge, experience, bravery, and pru 
 dence with himself. His patience had endured a severe trial in their long separation. 
 He had many obstacles to surmount before he could get to England and obtain ac 
 cess to the King. He was at Paris when he heard of the success of his brother s first 
 enterprise ; who had gone on the second before Bartholomew could get to Spain. 
 On his arrival there, and being introduced to the court, he was appointed to the 
 command of three ships, which were destined to convey supplies to the colony ; and 
 
24 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 he arrived whilst Christopher was absent on his voyage to Cuba and Jamaica. Co 
 lumbus appointed his brother to command at Isabella, whilst he went into the inte 
 rior part of the island to perfect his conquest, and reduce the natives to subjection 
 and tribute. 
 
 The Indians were so unused to collect gold dust in such quantities as their con 
 querors demanded it, that they offered to plant the immense plains of Hispaniola, 
 and pay an equivalent in corn. Columbus was struck with the magnanimity of the 
 proposal, and in consequence moderated the tribute. This did not satisfy the ava 
 rice of his fellow adventurers, who found means to complain of him to the King s 
 ministers, for his negligence in acquiring the only commodity which they thought 
 deserved the name of riches. The Indians then desisted from planting their usual 
 quantity of corn, and attempted to subsist chiefly on animal food. This experiment 
 proved injurious to themselves as well as their conquerors; and it was computed 
 that within four years from* the discovery of the island, one-third part of its inhab 
 itants perished. 
 
 The complaint against Columbus so wrought on the jealous mind of King Ferdi 
 nand, that John Aguado, who was sent in 1495 with supplies to the colony, had 
 orders to act as a spy on his conduct. This man behaved with so little discretion, 
 as to seek matter of accusation, and give out threats against the Admiral. At the 
 same time, the ships which he commanded being destroyed by a hurricane, he had 
 no means left to return ; till Columbus, knowing that he had enemies at home and 
 nothing to support himself but his own merit, resolved to go to Spain with two car 
 avels, himself in one and Aguado in the other. Having appointed proper persons 
 to command the several forts his brother Bartholomew to superintend the whole, 
 and his brother James to be next in authority he set sail on the loth of March, 
 1496, and after a perilous and tedious voyage in the tropical latitudes, arrived at 
 Cadiz on the nth of June. 
 
 His presence at court, with the gold and other valuable articles which he carried 
 home, removed, in some measure, the prejudices which had been excited against him. 
 But his enemies, though silent, were not idle; and in a court where phlegm and 
 languor proved a clog to the spirit of enterprise, they found it not difficult to ob 
 struct his views; which, notwithstanding all discouragements, were still pointed to 
 the discovery of a way to India by the west. 
 
 He now demanded eight ships to carry supplies to his colony and six to go on 
 discovery. These demands were complied with, and he began his third voyage on 
 the 3Oth of May, 1498. He kept a course so far to the southward, that not only his 
 men, but his provisions and water suffered greatly from excessive heat. The first 
 land he made after leaving the Isles of Cape de Verd was a large island which he 
 named Trinidad, from its appearance in the form of three mountains. He then 
 passed through a narrow strait and whirlpool into the Gulf of Paria ; where, observ 
 ing the tide to be rapid and the water brackish, he conjectured that the land on the 
 western and southern sides of the gulf was part of a continent, and that the fresh 
 water proceeded from some great rivers. 
 
 The people on the coast of Paria were whiter than those of the islands. They 
 had about their necks plates of gold and strings of pearl, which they readily ex 
 changed for pieces of tin and brass and little bells ; and, when they were questioned 
 whence they obtained the gold and pearls, they pointed to the west. 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 25 
 
 The Admiral s provision not allowing him to stay long in this place, he passed 
 again through that dangerous strait, to which he gave the name of the Dragon s 
 Mouth ; and, having satisfied himself that the land on his left was a continent, he 
 steered to the N.W., discovering Margarita and several other islands in his course, 
 and on the 3Oth of August arrived at the harbor of St. Domingo in Hispaniola, to 
 which place his brother had removed the colony in his absence, in consequence of a 
 plan preconcerted between them. 
 
 Wearied with incessant care and watching in this dangerous voyage, he hoped now 
 to enjoy repose, instead of which he found his colony much reduced by death ; 
 many of the survivors sick with a disease, the peculiar consequence of their de 
 bauchery; and a large number of them in actual rebellion. They had formed them 
 selves into a body ; they had gained over many of the Indians under pretense of 
 protecting them ; and they had retired to a distant part of the island, which proved 
 a resort for the seditious and discontented. Their commander was Francis Roldan, 
 who had been Chief-Justice of the colony, and their number was so considerable that 
 Columbus could not command a force sufficient to subdue them. He therefore en 
 tered into a negotiation, by offering a pardon to those who would submit, and liberty 
 of returning to Spain to those who desired it. These offers, however impolitic, 
 proved successful. Roldan himself accepted them and persuaded others to do the 
 same ; then, being restored to his office, he tried and condemned the refractory, 
 some of whom were put to death. 
 
 An account of this mutiny was sent home to Spain by Columbus and another by 
 Roldan. Each had their advocates at court, and the cause was heard by the King 
 and Queen. Roldan and his men were accused of adultery, perjury, robbery, mur 
 der, and disturbing the peace of the whole island ; whilst Columbus was charged 
 with cruelty to individuals, aiming at independence, and engrossing the tribute. It 
 was insinuated that not being a native of Spain, he had no proper respect for the 
 noble families who had become adventurers, and that the debts due to them could 
 not be recovered. It was suggested that if some remedy were not speedily applied, 
 there was danger that he would revolt and join with some other prince ; and that to 
 compass this design, he had concealed the real wealth of the colony and prevented 
 the conversion of the Indians to the Catholic faith. 
 
 These insinuations prevailed on the jealousy of Ferdinand, and even staggered 
 the constancy of Isabella. They resolved to appoint a judge who should examine 
 facts on the spot ; and, if he should find the Admiral guilty, to supersede him. For 
 this purpose they sent Francis Bovadilla, a man of noble rank, but whose poverty 
 alone recommended him to the office. Furnished with these powers he arrived at 
 St. Domingo when Columbus was absent, took lodgings in his house, invited accu 
 sers to appear against him, seized on his effects, and finally sent him and both his 
 brothers to Spain in three different ships, but all loaded with irons. 
 
 The master of the ship in which the Admiral sailed had so much respect for him, 
 that, when he had got to sea, he offered to take off his fetters; but Columbus nobly 
 declined : that he would permit that honor to be done to him by none but his sover 
 eign. In this humiliating confinement he was delivered to Fonseca, Bishop of Ba- 
 dajos, who had been the chief instigator of all these rigorous proceedings, and to 
 whom had been committed the affairs of the Indies. 
 
 Not content with robbing Columbus of his liberty, this prejudiced ecclesiastic would 
 
20 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 have deprived him of his well-earned reputation of having first discovered the ne\v 
 continent. With the accusations which Columbus had sent home against Roldan, he 
 had transmitted an account of the discovery of the coast of Paria, which he justly 
 supposed to be part of a continent. Ojeda, an active officer, who had sailed with 
 Columbus in his second voyage, was at court when these dispatches arrived, and saw 
 the draught of the discovery, with the specimens of gold and pearls, which the Admiral 
 had sent home. Being a favorite of Fonseca, he easily obtained leave to pursue the 
 discovery. Some merchants of Seville were prevailed upon to equip four ships ; with 
 which, in 1499, Ojeda followed the track of Columbus, and made land on the coast 
 of Paria. Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine merchant, well skilled in geography and 
 navigation, accompanied Ojeda in this voyage; and by publishing the first book and 
 chart, describing the new world, obtained the honor of having it called AMERICA. 
 This, however, did not happen till after the death of Columbus. Several other ad 
 venturers followed the same track, and all supposed that the continent which they 
 had seen was part of India. 
 
 As soon as it was known that Columbus was arrived at Cadiz, Nov. 5, 1500, in the 
 disgraceful situation above mentioned, the King and Queen, ashamed of the orders 
 which they had given, commanded him to be released, and invited him to court, 
 where they apologized for the misbehavior of their new Governor, and not only prom 
 ised to recall him, but to restore to the Admiral all his effects. Columbus could not 
 forget the ignominy. He preserved the fetters, hung them up in his apartment, and 
 ordered them to b^ buried in his grave. 
 
 Instead of reinstating him in his government, according to the original contract, 
 the King and Queen sent Ovando to Hispaniola to supersede Bovadilla; and only in 
 dulged Columbus in pursuing his darling project, the discovery of India by the west, 
 which he still hoped to accomplish. He sailed again from Cadiz on the 4th of May, 
 1502, with four vessels, carrying 140 men and boys, of which number were his brother 
 Bartholomew and his son Ferdinand, the writer of his life. 
 
 In his passage to the Caribbee Islands he -found his largest vessel, of seventy tons, 
 unfit for service; and, therefore, went to St. Domingo in hope of exchanging it for a 
 better; and to seek shelter from a storm which he saw approaching. To his infinite 
 surprise and mortification, Ovando would not admit him into the port. A fleet of 
 thirty ships was then ready to sail for Spain, on board of which Roldan and Bovadilla 
 were prisoners. Columbus informed Ovando of the prognostics which he had ob 
 served, which Ovando disregarded, and the fleet sailed. Columbus then laid three 
 of his vessels under the lee of the shore, and, with great difficulty, rode out the tem 
 pest. His brother put to sea, and, by his great naval skill, saved the ship in which 
 he sailed. Of the fleet bound to Spain, eighteen ships were lost, and in them per 
 ished Roldan and Bovadilla. 
 
 The enemies of Columbus gave out that he had raised the storm by the art of 
 magic ; and such was the ignorance of the age, that the story was believed. What 
 contributed the more to its credit was, that one of the worst ships of the fleet, on 
 board of which were all the effects which had been saved from the ruined fortune of 
 Columbus, was the first which arrived in Spain. The amount of these effects was 
 " four thousand pesos of gold, each of the value of eight shillings." The remark 
 which Fcrdinando Columbus makes on this event, so destructive to the accusers of 
 his father, is, " I am satisfied it was the hand of God, who was pleased to infatuate 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 27 
 
 them, that they might not hearken to good advice ; for had they arrived in Spain, 
 they had never been punished as their crimes deserved, but rather favored and pre 
 ferred as being the Bishop s friends." 
 
 After this storm, and another which followed it, Columbus, having collected his 
 little squadron, sailed on discovery toward the continent ; and, steering to the south 
 west, came to an island called Guanania, twelve leagues from the coast of Honduras 
 where he met with a large, covered canoe, having on board several pieces of cotton 
 cloth of divers colors, which the people said they had brought from the westward. 
 The men were armed with swords of wood, in which sharp flints were strongly fixed. 
 Their provision was maize and roots, and they used the berries of cocoa as money. 
 When the Admiral inquired for gold, they pointed to the west ; and when he asked 
 for a strait by which he might pass through the land, they pointed to the east. From 
 the specimens of colored cloth, he imagined that they had come from India ; and he 
 hoped to pass thither by the strait which they described. Pursuing his course to the 
 east and south, he was led to the Gulf of Darien, and visited several harbors, among 
 which was one that he called Porto Bello ; but he found no passage extending 
 through the land. He then returned to the westward, and landed on the coast of 
 Veragua, where the beauty and fertility of the country invited him to begin a plan 
 tation, which he called Belem ; but the natives, a fierce and formidable race, de 
 prived him of the honor of first establishing a colony on the continent by killing 
 some of his people and obliging him to retire with the others. 
 
 At sea he met with tempestuous weather of long continuance, in which his ships 
 were so shattered that with the utmost difficulty he kept them above water, till he ran 
 them ashore on the island of Jamaica. By his extraordinary address he procured from 
 the natives two of their largest canoes; in which two of his most faithful friends, 
 Mendez and Fiesco, accompanied by some of his sailors and a few Indians, embarked 
 for Hispaniola. After encountering the greatest difficulties in their passage they 
 carried tidings of his misfortune to Ovando, and solicited his aid. The merciless 
 wretch detained them eight months without any answer, during which time Columbus 
 suffered the severest hardships from the discontent of his company and a want of 
 provisions. By the hospitality of the natives he at first received such supplies as 
 they were able to spare ; but the long continuance of these guests had diminished their 
 store, and the insolence of the mutineers gave a check to their friendship. In this 
 extremity the fertile invention of Columbus suggested an expedient which proved 
 successful. He knew that a total eclipse of the moon was at hand, which would be 
 visible in the evening. On the preceding day he sent for the principal Indians, to 
 speak with them on a matter of the utmost importance. Being assembled, he 
 directed his interpreter to tell them that the God of heaven, whom he worshiped, 
 was angry with them for withholding provisions from him, and would punish them 
 v\ ith famine and pestilence ; as a token of which the moon would in the evening 
 appear of an angry and bloody color. Some of them received his speech with terror 
 and others with indifference; but when the moon ros?, and the eclipse increased as 
 she advanced from the horizon, they came in crowds, loaded with provisions, and 
 begged the Admiral to intercede with God for the removal of His anger. Columbus 
 retired to his cabin ; and when the eclipse began to go off he came out and told them 
 that he had prayed to his God, and had received this answer: that if they would be 
 good for the future, and bring him provision as he should want, God would forgive 
 
28 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 them ; and as a token of it the moon would put on her usual brightness. They gave 
 him thanks, and promised compliance ; and whilst he remained on the island there 
 was no more want of provision. 
 
 At the end of eight months Ovando sent a small vessel to Jamaica, with a cask 
 of wine, two flitches of bacon, and a letter of compliment and excuse, which the 
 officer delivered, and, without waiting for an answer, weighed his anchor the same 
 evening and sailed back to Hispaniola. The men who adhered to Columbus, 
 and were with him on board the wrecks, wondered at the sudden departure of the 
 vessel, by which they expected deliverance. Columbus, never at a loss for an 
 evasion, told them that the caravel was too small to take the whole company, and 
 he would not go without them. This fiction had the desired effect ; those who 
 adhered to him resumed their patience; but the mutineers became so insolent that 
 it was necessary to subdue them by force. In the contest ten of them were killed. 
 Porras, their leader, was made prisoner, and the others escaped. Bartholomew 
 Columbus and two others of the Admiral s party were wounded, of whom one died. 
 
 The fugitives, having lost their leader, thought it best to submit ; and on the 
 next day sent a petition to the Admiral, confessing their fault, and promising fidelity. 
 This promise they confirmed by an oath, of which the imprecation was singular; 
 "they renounced, in case of failure, any absolution from priest, bishop, or pope, at 
 the time of their death ; and all benefit from the sacraments of the Church ; consent 
 ing to be buried like heathens and infidels in the open field." The Admiral received 
 their submission, provided that Porras should continue prisoner, and they would 
 accept a commander of his appointment as long as they should remain on the island. 
 
 At length a vessel, which Mendez had been permitted to buy, with the Admiral s 
 money, at Hispaniola, came to Jamaica, and took them off. On their arrival at St. 
 Domingo, August 13, 1504, Ovando affected great joy, and treated the Admiral with 
 a show of respect ; but he liberated Porras, and threatened with punishment the 
 faithful adherents of Columbus. As soon as the vessel was refitted, the Admiral 
 took leave of his treacherous host, and, with his brother, son, and servants embarked 
 for Spain. After a long and distressing voyage, in which the ship lost her masts, he 
 arrived at St. Luca, in May, 1505. 
 
 His patroness, Isabella, had been dead about a year; and with her had expired all 
 the favor which he ever enjoyed in the Court of Ferdinand. Worn out with sickness 
 and fatigue, disgusted with the insincerity of his sovereign, and the haughtiness of his 
 courtiers, Columbus lingered out a year in fruitless solicitation for his violated rights ; 
 till death relieved him from all his vexations. He died at Valadolid, on the 2Oth of 
 May, 1 506, in the 5pth year of his age and was buried in the Cathedral of Seville, 
 with this inscription on his tomb : 
 
 A CasHlla ya Leon, 
 Ncuvo Mundo dio Colon. 
 
 Translated thus : 
 To Castile and Leon, 
 Columbus gave a New World. 
 
 In the life of this remarkable man there is no deficiency of any quality which can 
 constitute a truly great character. His genius was penetrating, and his judgment 
 solid. He had acquired as much knowledge of the sciences as could be obtained at 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 20 
 
 that day ; and he corrected what he had learned, by his own observations. His con 
 stancy and patience were equal to the most hazardous undertakings. His fortitude 
 surmounted many difficulties ; and his invention extricated him out of many per 
 plexities. His prudence enabled him to conceal or subdue his own infirmities ; whilst 
 he took advantage of the passions of others, adjusting his behavior to his circum 
 stances ; temporizing, or acting with vigor, as the occasion required. 
 
 His fidelity to the ungrateful Prince whom he served, and whose dominions he 
 enlarged, must render him forever conspicuous as an example of justice ; and his 
 attachment to the Queen, by whose influence he was raised and supported, will 
 always be a monument of his gratitude. 
 
 To his other excellent qualities may be added his piety. He always entertained, 
 and on proper occasions expressed, a reverence for the Deity, and a firm confidence 
 in His care and protection. In his declining days, the consolations of religion were 
 his chief support; and his last words were, "Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend 
 my spirit." 
 
 The persecution and injustice which he suffered, may be traced up to the contract, 
 which he insisted on, before he engaged in the plan of discovery. That a foreigner 
 should attain so high a rank as to be Viceroy for life, and that the honor of an Ad 
 miral should be hereditary in his family, to the exclusion of all nobles of Spain, was 
 more than their pride and jealousy could endure ; and they constantly endeavored 
 to depreciate his merit, the only foundation on which his honors were erected. 
 
 There is a story recorded by Peter Martyr, a contemporary historian, which exem 
 plifies their malice, and his ingenuity in rising superior to it. After the death of the 
 Queen, the nobility affected to insinuate that his discoveries were more the result 
 of accident and good fortune, than of any well-concerted measures. One day at a 
 public dinner, Columbus having borne much insulting raillery on that head, at length 
 called for an egg, and asked whether any of them could set it upright on its little 
 end. They all confessed it to be impossible. Columbus striking it gently, flattened 
 the shell till it stood upright on the table. The company, with a disdainful sneer, 
 cried out, "Anybody might have done it." "Yes, (said Columbus), but none of you 
 thought of it ; so I discovered the Indies, and now every pilot can steer the same 
 course. Many things appear easy when once performed ; though before, they were 
 thought impossible. Remember the scoffs that were thrown at me, before I put my 
 design in execution. Then it was a dream, a chimery delusion ; now, is what any 
 body might have done as well as I." When this story was told to Ferdinand, he 
 could not but admire the grandeur of that spirit, which at the same time he was 
 endeavoring to depress. 
 
 Writers of different countries have treated the character of Columbus according 
 to their prejudices, either national or personal. It is surprising to observe how these 
 prejudices have descended, and that even at the distance of three centuries there are 
 some who affect to deny him the virtues for which he was conspicuous, and the 
 merit of originating a discovery which is an honor to human reason. His humanity 
 has been called in question, because he carried dogs to the West Indies, and em 
 ployed them in extirpating the natives. The truth is, that in his second expedition 
 he was accompanied by a number of gentlemen of the best families in Spain ; and 
 many more would have gone if it had been possible to accommodate them. These 
 gentlemen carried with them " horses, asses, and other beasts which were of a great 
 
30 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 use in a new plantation." The conflict which Columbus had with the natives was in 
 consequence of the disorderly conduct of these Spaniards, who, in his absence, had 
 taken their goods, abused their women, and committed other outrages which the In 
 dians could not endure, and therefore made war upon them. In this war he 
 found his colony engaged when he returned from his voyage to Cuba, and there 
 was no way to end it but by pursuing it with vigor. With two hundred Spaniards, 
 of whom twenty were mounted on " horses followed by as many dogs," he encountered 
 a numerous body of Indians, estimated at one hundred thousand, on a large plain. 
 He divided his men into two parties, and attacked them on two sides ; the noise of 
 the firearms soon dispersed them, and the horses and dogs prevented them from ral 
 lying; and thus a complete victory was obtained. In this instance alone were the 
 dogs used against the natives. They naturally followed their masters into the field, 
 and the horses to which they were accustomed ; but to suppose that Columbus 
 transported them to the West Indies with a view to destroy the Indians, appears al 
 together idle, when it is considered that the number is reckoned only at twenty. Ex 
 cepting in this instance, where he was driven by necessity, there is no evidence that 
 he made war on the natives of the West Indies; on the contrary, he endeavored as 
 far as possible to treat them with justice and gentleness. The same can not be said 
 of those who succeeded him. 
 
 Attempts have also been made to detract from his merit as an original discoverer 
 of the New World. The most successful candidate who has been set up as a rival to 
 him, is MARTIN BEHAIM, of Nuremberg, in Germany. His claim to a prior discovery 
 has been so well contested, and the vanity of it so fully- exposed by the late Dr. Rob 
 ertson, that I should not have thought of adding anything to what he has written, 
 had not a memoir appeared in the second volume of Transactions of the American 
 Philosophical Society at Philadelphia, in which the pretensions of Behaim are revived 
 by M. OTTO, who has produced some authorities which he had obtained from Nur 
 emberg, an imperial city of Germany, and which appear to him " to establish in the 
 clearest manner a discovery of America anterior to that of Columbus." 
 
 It is conceded that Behaim was a man of learning and enterprise ; that he was 
 contemporary with Columbus, and was his friend; that he pursued the same studies 
 and drew the same conclusions; that he was employed by King John II. in making 
 discoveries ; and that he met with deserved honor for the important services which 
 he rendered to the crown of Portugal. But there are such difficulties attending the 
 story of his discovering America, as appear to me insuperable. These I shall state, 
 together with some remarks on the authorities produced by M. Otto. 
 
 The first of his authorities contains several assertions which are contradicted by 
 other histories; (i). That Isabella, daughter of John, King of Portugal, reigned after 
 the death of Philip, Duke of Burgundy, surnamed the Good. (2). That to this lady, 
 when Regent of the Duchy of Burgundy and Flanders, Behaim paid a visit in 1459. 
 And (3). That having informed her of his designs, he procured a vessel, in which he 
 made the discovery of the island of Fayal in 1460. 
 
 It is true that Philip, Duke of Burgundy and Flanders, surnamed the Good, mar 
 ried Isabella, the daughter of King John I. of Portugal; but Philip did not die till 
 1467, and was immediately succeeded by his son Charles, surnamed the Bold, then 
 thirty-four years of age. There could, therefore, have been no interregnum, nor fe 
 male Regent after the death of Philip and if there had been, the time of 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 31 
 
 visit will not correspond with it, that being placed in 1459, eight years before the 
 death of Philip. Such a mistake in point of fact, and of chronology, is sufficient to 
 induce a suspicion that the " archives of Nuremberg" are too deficient inaccuracy to 
 be depended on as authorities. 
 
 With respect to the discovery of Fayal, in 1460, M. Otto acknowledges that it is 
 " contrary to the received opinion ;" and well he might ; for the first of the Azores, 
 St. Maria, was discovered in 1431 ; the second, St. Michael, in 1444; the third, 
 Terceira, in 1445 ; and before 1449, the islands, St. George, Graciosa, Fayal, and 
 Pico were known to the Portuguese. However true it may be that Behaim set 
 tled in the island of Fayal and lived there twenty years, yet his claim to the dis 
 covery of it must have a better foundation than the "archives of Nuremberg," be 
 fore it can be admitted. . 
 
 The genuine account of the settlement of Fayal, and the interest which Behaim 
 had in it, is thus related by Dr. Forster, a German author of much learning and good 
 credit : 
 
 "After the death of the infant, Don Henry, which Happened in 1466, the island 
 of Fayal was made a present by his sister, Isabella, Duchess of Burgundy, to Jobst 
 von Hurter, a native of Nuremberg. Hurter went in 1466 with a colony of more 
 than 2,000 Flemings of both sexes, to his property, the isle of Fayal. The Duchess 
 had provided the Flemish emigrants with all necessaries for two years, and the col 
 ony soon increased. About the year 1486, Martin Behaim married a daughter of the 
 Chevalier Jobst von Hurter, and had a son by her named Martin. Jobst von Hur 
 ter and Martin Behaim, both natives of Nuremberg, were lords of Fayal and Pico." 
 
 The date of the supposed discovery of America, by Behaim, is placed by M. 
 Otto in 1484, eight years before the celebrated voyage of Columbus. In the same 
 year we are told that Alonzo Sanchaz de Huelva was driven by a storm to the west 
 ward for twenty-nine days ; and saw an island of which at his return he gave an infor 
 mation to Columbus. From both of these supposed discoveries this conclusion is 
 drawn : " That Columbus would never have thought of this expedition to America, had 
 not Behaim gone there before him." Whether it be supposed that Behaim and San 
 chaz sailed in the same ship, or that they made a discovery of two different parts of 
 America, in the same year, is not easy to understand from the authorities produced : 
 but what destroys the credibility of this plausible tale, is, that Columbus had formed 
 his theory, and projected his voyage, at least ten years before ; as appears by his 
 correspondence with Paul, a learned physician of Florence, which bears date in 1474. 
 It is uncertain at what time Columbus first made his application to the King of Port 
 ugal, to fit him out for a western voyage ; but it is certain that after a negotiation 
 with him on the subject, and after he had found out the secret and unsuccessful 
 attempt which had been made to anticipate a discovery, he quitted that kingdom 
 in disgust, and went into Spain, in the latter end of the year 1484. The authority 
 of these facts is unquestioned ; and from them it fully appears, that a prior discovery 
 of America, by Behaim or Sanchaz, made in 1484, could not have been the founda 
 tion of the enterprise of Columbus. 
 
 M. Otto speaks of letters written by Behaim in 1486, in the German language, 
 and preserved in the " archives of Nuremberg," which support his claim to a prior 
 discovery. As these letters are not produced, no certain opinion can be formed 
 concerning them ; but from the date of the letters, and from the letters, and from 
 
32 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 the voyages which Behaim actually performed in the two preceding years, we may 
 with great probability suppose that they related to the discovery of Congo, in 
 Africa ; to which Behaim has an uncontroverted claim. 
 
 I will now state the facts relative to this event, partly from the authorities cited 
 by M. Otto, and partly from others. 
 
 Dr. Robertson places the discovery of Congo and Benin in 1483, and with him 
 Dr. Forstcr agrees. The authors of the Modern Universal History speak of two 
 voyages to that const : the first in 1484, the second in 1485 ; both of which were 
 made by Diego Cam v io is said to have been one of the most expert sailors and of an 
 enterprising genius. From the chronicle of Hartman Schedl, as quoted by M. Otto, 
 we are informed that Behaim sailed from Cam, in these voyages, which are described 
 in the following terms : " These two, by the bounty of heaven, coasting along the 
 southern ocean, and having crossed the equator, got into the other hemisphere ; 
 where, facing to the eastward, their shadows projected toward the south, and right 
 hand." No words could be more completely descriptive of a voyage from Portugal 
 to Congo, as any person may be satisfied by inspecting a map of Africa ; but how 
 could M. Otto imagine that the discovery of America was accomplished in such a 
 voyage as this? " Having finished their cruise (continues Schedl) in the space of 26 
 months, they returned to Portugal, with the loss of many of their seamen by the 
 violence of the climate." This latter circumstance also agrees very well with the 
 climate of the African coast ; but Schedl says not a word of the discovery of 
 America. 
 
 M. Otto goes on to tell us " that the most positive proof of the great services 
 rendered to the Crown of Portugal by Behaim is the recompense bestowed on him 
 by King John II.; who, in the most solemn manner, knighted him in the presence 
 of all his court." Then follows a particular detail of the ceremony of installation, as 
 performed on the i8th of February, 1485, and M. Otto fairly owns that this was "a 
 reward for the discovery of Congo." Now, let us bring the detached parts of the 
 story together. 
 
 Behaim was knighted on the i8th of February, 1485, for the discovery of Congo, 
 in which he had been employed twenty-six months preceding ; having within that 
 time made two voyages thither, in company with Diego Cam. It will follow, then, 
 that the whole of the preceding years, 1484 and 1483, were taken up in these two 
 voyages. This agrees very well with the accounts of the discovery of Congo in 
 Robertson and Forster, and does not disagree with the Modern Universal History, as 
 far as the year 1484 is concerned ; which, unfortunately, is the year assigned for 
 Behaim s discovery of " that part of America called Brazil, and his sailing even to 
 the Straits of Magellan." 
 
 The only thing in M. Otto s memoir which bears any resemblance to a solution 
 of this difficulty is this: " We may suppose that Behaim, engaged in an expedition 
 to Congo, was driven by the winds to Fernanbouc, and from thence by the currents 
 toward the coast of Guiana." But supposition without proof will avail little ; and sup 
 position against proof will avail nothing. The two voyages to Congo are admitted. 
 The course is described ; the time is determined ; and both of these are directly 
 opposed to the supposition of his being driven by winds and currents to America. 
 I nr if he had been driven out of his course, and had spent "several years in examin 
 ing the American islands, and discovering the strait which bears the name of 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 33 
 
 Magellan ; " and if one of those years was the year 1484, then he could not have 
 spent twenty-six months preceding February, 1485, in the discovery of Congo; but 
 of this we have full and satisfactory evidence ; the discovery of America, therefore, 
 must be given up. 
 
 There is one thing further in this memoir which deserves a particular remark, 
 and that is, the reason assigned by M. Otto for which the King of Portugal declined 
 the proposal of Columbus to sail to India by the west. "The refusal of John II. is 
 a proof of the knowledge which that politic and wise Prince had already procured of 
 the existence of a new continent, which offered him only barren lands, inhabited by 
 unconquerable savages." This knowledge is supposed to have been derived from 
 the discoveries made by Behaim. But, not to urge again the chronological difficulty 
 with which this conjecture is embarrassed, I will take notice of two circumstances in 
 the life of Columbus which militate with this idea. The first is, that when Columbus 
 had proposed a western voyage to King John, and he declined it, " the king, by the 
 advice of one Dr. Calzadilla, resolved to send a caravel privately, to attempt that 
 which Columbus had proposed to him; because in case those countries were so dis 
 covered he thought himself not obliged to bestow any great reward. Having 
 speedily equipped a caravel, which was to carry supplies to the islands of Cabo 
 Verde, he sent it that way which the Admiral proposed to go. But those whom he 
 sent wanted the knowledge, constancy, and spirit of the Admiral. After wandering 
 many days upon the sea they turned back to the islands of Cabo Verde, laughing at 
 the undertaking ; and saying it was impossible there shmld be any land in those seas." 
 
 Afterward " the King being sensible how faulty they were whom he had sent 
 with the caravel, had a mind to restore the Admiral to his favor, and desired that he 
 should renew the discourse of his enterprise; but not being so diligent to put this 
 in execution as the Admiral was in getting away, he lost that good opportunity. 
 The Admiral, about the end of the year 1484, stole away privately out of Portugal 
 for fear of being stopped by the King." This account does not agree with the sup 
 position of a prior discovery. 
 
 The other circumstance is an interview which Columbus had with the people of 
 Lisbon and the King of Portugal on his return from his first voyage. For it so hap 
 pened that Columbus on his return was by stress of weather obliged to take shelter 
 in the port of Lisbon ; and, as soon as it was known that he had come from the In 
 dies, " the people thronged to see the natives whom he had brought, and hear the 
 news, so that the caravel would not contain them some of them praising God for 
 so great a happiness, others storming that they had lost the discovery through their 
 King s incredulity." 
 
 When the King sent for Columbus "he was doubtful what to do; but to take 
 off all suspicion that he came from his conquests, he consented." At the interview 
 " the King offered him all that he required for the service of their Catholic Majes 
 ties, though he thought that forasmuch as he had been a captain in Portugal, that 
 conquest belonged to him. To which the Admiral answered that he knew of no 
 such agreement, and that he had strict!^ observed his orders, which were not to go 
 to the mines of Portugal [the gold coast] nor to Guinea." Had John II. heard of 
 Behaim s voyage to a western continent, would he not have claimed it by priority of 
 discovery, rather than by the commission which Columbus had formerly borne in his 
 service? Had such a prior discovery been made, could it have been concealed from 
 5 
 
34 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 the people of Lisbon? and would they have been angry that the King had lost it by 
 his incredulity? These circumstances appear to me to carry sufficient evidence that 
 no discovery of America prior to that of Columbus had come to the knowledge of 
 the King of Portugal. 
 
 In answer to the question, " Why are we searching the archives of an imperial 
 city for the causes of an event which took place in the western extremity of Eu 
 rope?" M. Otto gives us to understand, that "from the fourteenth to the sixteenth 
 centuries, the Germans were the best geographers, the best historians, and most en 
 lightened politicians." Not to detract from the merit of the German literati of 
 those ages, I think we may give equal credit to a learned German author of the 
 present age, Dr. John Reinhold Forster, who appears to have a thorough under 
 standing of the claims, not only of his own countrymen, but of others. In his inde 
 fatigable researches into the discoveries which have been made by all nations, though 
 he has given due credit to the adventures of Behaim in Congo and Fayal, yet he has 
 not said one word of his visiting America ; which he certainly would have done, if 
 in his opinion there had been any foundation for it. 
 
 LETTERS FROM PAUL, A PHYSICIAN OF FLORENCE, TO CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 
 CONCERNING THE DISCOVERY OF THE INDIES. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 To Cliristoplier Columbus, Paul tlie Physician wisheth health. 
 
 I perceive your noble and earnest desire to sail to those parts where the spice 
 is produced ; and, therefore, in answer to a letter of yours, I send you another letter 
 which some days since I wrote to a friend of mine and servant to the King of Port 
 ugal before the wars of Castile, in answer to another he wrote to me by his High- 
 ness s order upon this same account ; and I send you another sea-chart like that I 
 sent him, which \vill_satisfy your demands. The copy of the letter is this: 
 
 To Ferdinand Martinez, Canon of Lisbon, Paul the Physician wisheth health. 
 
 I am very glad to hear of the familiarity you have with your most serene and 
 magnificent King ; and, though I have very often discoursed concerning the short 
 way there is from hence to the -Indies, where the spice is produced, by sea, which I 
 look upon to be shorter than that you take by the coast of Guinea, yet you now 
 tell me that his Highness would have me make out and demonstrate it, so as it may 
 be understood and put in practice. Therefore, though I could better show it him 
 with a globe in my hand and make him sensible of the figure of the world, yet I 
 have resolved to render it more easy and intelligible to show this way upon a chart, 
 such as are used in navigation ; and therefore I send one to his Majesty, made and 
 drawn with my own hand, wherein is set down the utmost bounds of the west, from 
 Ireland in the north to the farthest part of Guinea, with all the islands that lie in the 
 way. Opposite to which western coast is described the beginning of the Indies, 
 with the islands and places whither you may go, and how far you may bend from the 
 north pole toward the equinoctial, and for how long a time; that is, how many 
 leagues you may sail before you come to those places most fruitful in all sorts of 
 spice, jewels, and precious stones. Do not wonder if I term that country where the 
 spice grows, west: that product being generally ascribed to the east; because those 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 85 
 
 who shall sail westward will always find those places in the west, and they that travel 
 by land eastward will ever find those places in the east. The straight lines that lie 
 lengthways in the chart show the distance there is from west to east ; the others 
 cross them, show the distance from north to south. I have also marked down in the 
 said chart several places in India where ships might put in upon any storm, or con 
 trary winds, or any other accident unforeseen. 
 
 Moreover, to give you full information of all those places which you are very 
 desirous to know, you must understand that none but traders live or reside in all 
 those islands, and that there is as great number of ships and seafaring people with 
 merchandise as in any other part of the world; particularly in a most noble port 
 called Zacton, where there are every year a hundred large ships of pepper loaded 
 and unloaded, besides many other ships that take in other spice. 
 
 This country is mighty populous, and there are many provinces and kingdoms, 
 and innumerable cities, under the dominion of a prince called the Kham, which name 
 signifies King of Kings; who for the most part resides in the province of Cathay. 
 His predecessors were very desirous to have commerce and be in amity with Chris 
 tians ; and 200 years since sent ambassadors to the Pope, desiring him to send them 
 many learned men and doctors to teach them our faith ; but by reason of some 
 obstacles the ambassadors met with, they returned back without coming to Rome. 
 
 Besides, there came an ambassador to Pope Eugenus IV., who told him the great 
 friendship there was between those princes, their people, and the Christians. I dis 
 coursed with him a long while upon the several matters of the grandeur of the royal 
 structures, and of the greatness, length, and breadth of their rivers. He told me 
 many wonderful things of the multitude of towns and cities founded along the banks 
 of the rivers; and that there were two hundred cities upon one river only, with 
 marble bridges over it, of a great length and breadth, and adorned with abundance 
 of pillars. This country deserves as well as any other to be discovered ; and there 
 may not only be great profit made there, and many things of value found, but also 
 gold, silver, all sorts of precious stones, and spices in abundance, which are not 
 brought into our parts. And it is certain that many wise men, philosophers, 
 astrologers, and other persons skilled in all arts, and very ingenious, govern that 
 mighty province, and command their armies. 
 
 From Lisbon directly westwa/d there are in the chart twenty-six spaces, each of 
 which contains 250 miles, to the most noble and vast city of Quisay, which is 100 
 miles in compass, that is, 35 leagues; in it there are ten marble bridges. The name 
 signifies a heavenly city ; of which wonderful things are reported, as to the ingenuity 
 of the people, the buildings, and the revenues. This space above mentioned is almost 
 the third part of the globe. This city is in the province of Mango, bordering on 
 that of Cathay, where the King for the most part resides. 
 
 From the island Antilla, which you call the seven cities, and of wliicli you have 
 some knowledge, to the most noble island of Cipango, are ten spaces, which make 
 2,500 miles, or 225 leagues ; which island abounds in gold, pearls, and precious 
 stones; and you must understand they cover their temples and palaces with plates 
 of pure gold. So that for want of knowing the way, all these things are hidden and 
 concealed, and yet may be gone to with safety. 
 
 Much more might be said, but, having told you what is most material, and you 
 being wise and judicious, I am satisfied there is nothing of it but what you under- 
 
36 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 stand, and therefore I will not be more prolix. Thus much may serve to satisfy 
 your curiosity, it being as much as the shortness of time and my business would 
 permit me to say. So I remain most ready to satisfy and serve his Highness to the 
 utmost in all the commands he shall lay upon me. 
 FLORENCE, June 25, 1474. 
 
 LETTER II. 
 To Christopher Columbus, Paul the Physician wishet/i health. 
 
 I received your letters with the things you sent me, which I shall take as a great 
 favor, and commend your noble and ardent desire of sailing from east to west, as it 
 is marked out in the chart I sent you, which would demonstrate itself better in the 
 form of a globe. 
 
 I am glad it is well understood, and that the voyage laid down is not only possi 
 ble, but true, certain, honorable, very advantageous, and most glorious among all 
 Christians. You can not be perfect in the knowledge of it, but my experience and 
 practice, as I have had in great measure, and by the solid and true information of 
 worthy and wise men, who have come from those parts to this court of Rome, and 
 from merchants who have traded long in those parts and are persons of good reputa 
 tion. So that, when the said voyage is performed, it will be to powerful kingdoms, 
 and to the most noble cities and provinces; rich and abounding in all things 
 we stand in need of, particularly in all sorts of spice in great quantities, and store 
 of jewels. 
 
 This will moreover be grateful to those Kings and Princes who are very desirous 
 to converse and trade with Christians of these our countries, whether it be for some of 
 them to become Christians, or else to have communication with the wise and ingeni- 
 o"us men of these parts, as well in point of religion as in all sciences, because of 
 the extraordinary account they have of the kingdoms and government of these parts. 
 
 For which reasons and many more that might be alleged, I do not at all admire, 
 that you who have a great heart, and all the Portuguese nation which has ever had 
 notable men in all undertakings, be eagerly bent upon performing this voyage. 
 
 AMERICUS VESPUCIUS. 
 
 AMERICUS VESPUCIUS HIS BIRTH AND EDUCATION HIS SCIENTIFIC RESEARCHES HIS ACCOUNT 
 OF HIS VOYAGE TO AMERICA THE FIRST ACCOUNT OF AMERICA PUBLISHED BY HIM THE 
 REASON OF THIS CONTINENT BEING NAMED AMERICA HE HAS NO CLAIM TO THE DISCOVERY. 
 
 AMERICUS VESruciUS, or, more properly, Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine gentle 
 man, from whom America derives its name, was born March 9, 1451, of an ancient 
 family. His father, who was an Italian merchant, brought him up in this business, 
 and his profession led him to visit Spain and other countries. Being eminently skill 
 ful in all the sciences subservient to navigation, and possessing an enterprising spirit, he 
 became desirous of seeing the New World, which Columbus had discovered in 1492. 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE MARLY DISCOVERERS. 3? 
 
 He accordingly entered as a merchant on board the small fleet of four ships, equip 
 ped by the merchants of Seville, and sent out under the command of Ojeda. The 
 enterprise was sanctioned by a royal license. 
 
 According to Amerigo s own account he sailed from Cadiz, May 20, 1497, and re 
 turned to the same port October 15, 1498, having discovered the coast of Paria, and 
 passed as far as the Gulf of Mexico. If this statement is correct, he saw the conti 
 nent before Columbus ; but its correctness has been disproved, and the voyage of 
 Ojeda was not made until 1499, which Amerigo calls his second voyage, falsely rep 
 resenting that he himself had the command of six vessels. He sailed May 20, 1499, 
 under the command of Ojeda, and proceeded to the Antilla Islands, and thence to the 
 coast of Guiana and Venezuela, and returned to Cadiz in November, 1500. After his 
 return, Emanuel, King of Portugal, who was jealous of the success and glory of 
 Spain, invited him to his kingdom, and gave him the command of three ships to 
 make a third voyage of discovery. He sailed from Lisbon May 10, 1501, and ran 
 down the coasts of Africa as far as Sierra Leone and the coast of Angola, and then 
 passed over to Brazil in South America, and continued his discoveries to the south as 
 far as Patagonia. He then returned to Sierra Leone and the coast of Guinea, and 
 entered again the port of Lisbon September 7, 1502. 
 
 King Emanuel, highly gratified by his success, equipped for him six ships, with 
 which he sailed on his fourth and last voyage, May 10, 1503. It was his object to 
 discover a western passage to the Molucca Islands. He passed the coasts of Africa 
 and entered the Bay of All Saints in Brazil. Having provision for only twenty 
 months, and being detained on the coast of Brazil by bad weather and contrary 
 winds five months, he formed the resolution of returning to Portugal, where he ar 
 rived June 14, 1504. As he carried home with him considerable quantities of the 
 Brazil-wood and other articles of value, he was received with joy. It was soon after 
 this period that he wrote an account of his four voyages. The work was dedicated to 
 Rene II., Duke of Lorraine, who took the title of the King of Sicily, and who died 
 Dec. 10, 1508. It was probably published about the year 1507, for in that year he 
 went from Lisbon to Seville, and King Ferdinand appointed him to draw sea-charts 
 with the title of chief pilot. He died at the Island of Terceira in 1514, aged about 
 sixty-three years, or, agreeably to another account, at Seville, in 1512. 
 
 As he published the first book and chart describing the New World, and as he 
 claimed the honor of first discovering the continent, the New World has received from 
 him the name of America. His pretensions, however, to this first discovery do not 
 seem to be well supported against the claims of Columbus, to whom the honor is 
 uniformly ascribed by the Spanish historians, and who first saw the continent in 1498. 
 Herrera, who compiled his general history of America from the most authentic 
 records, says that Amerigo never made but two voyages, and those were with Ojeda 
 in 1499 and 1501, and that his relation of his other voyages was proved to be a mere 
 imposition. This charge needs to be confirmed by strong proof, for Amerigo s book 
 was published within ten years of the period assigned for. his first voyage, when the 
 facts must have been fresh in the memories of thousands. Besides the improbability 
 of his being guilty of falsifying dates, as he was accused, which arises from this cir 
 cumstance, it is very possible that the Spanish writers might have felt a national re 
 sentment against him for having deserted the service of Spain. But the evidence 
 against the honesty of Amerigo is very convincing. Neither Martyr nor Benzoni, 
 
38 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 who were Italians, natives of the same country, and the former of whom was a con 
 temporary, attribute to him the first discovery of the continent. Martyr published 
 the first general history of the New World, and his epistles contain an account of all 
 the remarkable events of his time. All the Spanish historians are against Amerigo. 
 Herrera brings against him the testimony of Ojeda as given in a judicial inquiry. 
 Fonseca, who gave Ojeda the license for his voyage, was not reinstated in the direc 
 tion of Indian affairs until after the time which Amerigo assigns for the commence 
 ment of his first voyage. Other circumstances might be mentioned; and the whole 
 mass of evidence it is difficult to resist. The book of Amerigo was probably pub 
 lished about a year after the death of Columbus, when his pretensions could be ad 
 vanced without the fear of refutation from that illustrious navigator. But however 
 this controversy may be decided, it is well known that the honor of first discovering 
 the continent belongs neither to Columbus nor to Vespucci, even admitting the re 
 lation of the latter; but to the Cabots, who sailed from England. A life of Vespucci 
 was published at Florence by Bandani, 1745, in which an attempt is made to support 
 his pretensions. 
 
 The relation of his four voyages, which was first published about the year 1507, 
 was republished in the Novus Orbis, fol. 1555. His letters were published, after his 
 death, at Florence. 
 
 JOHN CABOT AND SEBASTIAN CABOT. 
 
 JOHN CABOT AND HIS SON SEBASTIAN KING HENRY VII. GRANTS JOHN CABOT A COMMISSION 
 HE SAILS WITH HIS SON ON A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY APPEARANCE OF LAND 
 DESCRIPTION OF IT THEY RETURN TO ENGLAND SEBASTIAN SAILS ON A VOYAGE OF 
 DISCOVERY. 
 
 THE economical disposition of Henry VII., King of England, induced him to 
 preserve tranquillity in his dominions, which greatly contributed to the increase of 
 commerce and manufactures ; and to bring thither merchants from all parts of 
 Europe. The Lombards and the Venetians were remarkably numerous : the former 
 of whom had a street in London appropriated to them and called by their name. 
 
 Among the Venetians resident there at that time was John Cabot, a man per 
 fectly skilled in all the sciences requisite to form an accomplished mariner. He had 
 three sons, Lewis, Sebastian, and Sanctius, all of whom he educated in the same 
 manner. Lewis and Sanctius became eminent men, and settled, the one at Genoa, 
 the other at Venice. Of Sebastian a farther account will be given. 
 
 The famous discovery made by Columbus caused great admiration and much 
 discourse in the court of te.nry, among the merchants of England. To find a way 
 to India by the west had long been a problem with men of science, as well as a 
 desideratum in the mercantile interest. The way was then supposed to be opened ; 
 and the specimens of gold which Columbus had brought home excited the warmest 
 desire of pursuing that discovery. 
 
 Cabot, by his knowledge of the globe, supposed that a shorter way might be found 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 39 
 
 from England to India, by the north-west. Having communicated his project to the 
 King, it was favorably received; and on the $th of March, 1496, a commission was 
 granted to " John Cabot, and his three sons, their heirs and deputies, giving them 
 liberty to sail to all ports of east, west, and north under the royal banners and ensigns ; 
 to discover countries of the heathen unknown to Christians ; to set up the King s ban 
 ners there ; to occupy and possess, as his subjects, such places as they could subdue ; 
 giving them the rule and jurisdiction of the same, to be holden on condition of 
 paying to the King, as often as they should arrive at Bristol (at which place only they 
 were permitted to arrive), in wares and merchandise, one-fifth part of all their gains ; 
 with exemption from all customs and duties on such merchandise as should be 
 brought from their discoveries." 
 
 After the granting of this commission, the King gave orders for fitting out two 
 caravels for the purpose of the discovery. These were victualled at the public ex 
 pense ; and freighted by the merchants of London and Bristol with coarse cloths and 
 other articles of traffic. The whole company consisted of three hundred men. 
 
 With this equipment, in the beginning of May, 1497,* John Cabot and his son 
 Sebastian sailed from Bristol toward the north-west, till they reached the latitude of 
 58 ; where, meeting with floating ice, and the weather being severely cold, they 
 altered their course to the south-west ; not expecting to find any land till they should 
 arrive at Cathay, the northern part of China, from whence they intended to pass 
 southward to India. 
 
 On the 24th of June, very early in the morning, they were surprised with the 
 sight of land ; which, being the first that they had seen, they called Prima Vista. 
 The description of it is given in these words : " The island which lieth out before 
 the land, he called St. John, because it was discovered on the day of St. John the 
 Baptist. The inhabitants of this island wear beasts skins. In their wars they use 
 bows, arrows, pikes, darts, wooden clubs, and slings. The soil is barren in some 
 places and yieldeth little fruit ; but is full of white bears and stags, far greater than 
 ours. It yieldeth plenty of fish, and those very great, as seal and salmon. There 
 are soles above a yard in length, but especially there is great abundance of that 
 kind of fish which the savages call Bacalo (Cod). In the same island are hawks and 
 eagles, as black as ravens ; also partridges. The inhabitants had plenty of copper." 
 
 This land is generally supposed to be some part of the island of Newfoundland ; 
 and Dr. Forster thinks that the name Prima Vista was afterward changed to Bona 
 Vista, now the northern cape of Trinity Bay, in latitude 48 50 . Peter Martyr s 
 account is, that Cabot called the land Bacalaos ; and there is a small island off the 
 south cape of Trinity Bay which bears that name ; Mr. Prince, in his chronology 
 (citing Galvanus for an authority), says that the land discovered by Cabot was in 
 latitude 45. If this were true, the first discovery was made on the peninsula of 
 Nova Scotia ; and as they coasted the land northward, they must have gone into the 
 Gulf of St. Lawrence, in pursuit of their north-west passage. 
 
 The best accounts of the voyage preserved by Hakluyt and Purchas, say nothing 
 of the latitude of Prima Vista ; but speak of their sailing northward after they had 
 
 * There is no good account of this voyage written by any contemporary author. It is therefore col 
 lected from several who have set down facts without much order or precision. To reconcile their contra 
 dictions, and deduce conclusions from what they have related, requires much trouble, and leaves an 
 uncc tainty with respect to particular circumstances, though the principal facts are well ascertained. 
 
40 THK AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 made the land, as far as 67. Stovve, in his chronicle, says it was on the " north side 
 of Terra de Labradore." This course must have carried them far up the strait which 
 separates Greenland from the continent of America. 
 
 Finding the land still stretching to the northward, and the weather very cold in 
 the month of July, the men became uneasy, and the commanders found it neces 
 sary to return to Bacalaos. Having here refreshed themselves, they coasted the 
 land southward till they came into the same latitude with the Straits of Gibraltar 
 36, according to some no farther than 38; when, their provisions falling short, they 
 returned to England ; bringing three of the savages as a present to the King. 
 " They were clothed with the skins of beasts, and lived on raw flesh ; but after two 
 years, were seen in the King s court clothed like Englishmen, and could not be dis 
 cerned from Englishmen." 
 
 Nothing more is said of John Cabot, the father ; and some historians ascribe the 
 whole of this discovery to Sebastian only; but at the time of this voyage he could 
 not have been more than twenty years old, when, though he might accompany his 
 father, yet he was too young to undertake such an expedition himself. The voyage 
 having produced no specimens of gold, and the King being engaged in a controversy 
 with Scotland, no farther encouragement was given to the spirit of discovery. 
 
 After the King s death, Sebastian Cabot was invited to Spain, and was received in 
 a respectful manner by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. In their service he 
 sailed on a voyage of discovery to the southern parts of the New Continent ; and 
 having visited the coast of Brazil, entered a great river, to which he gave the name 
 of Rio de la Plata. He sailed up this river one hundred and twenty leagues, and 
 found it divided into many branches ; the shores of which were inhabited by numer 
 ous people. 
 
 After this he made other voyages, of which no particular memorials remain. He 
 was honored by Ferdinand with a commissio n of Grand Pilot; and was one of the 
 Council of the Indies. His residence was in the city of Seville. His character was 
 gentle, friendly, and social. His employment was the drawing of charts ; on which 
 he delineated all the new discoveries made by himself and others. Peter Martyr 
 speaks of him as a friend with whom he loved familiarly to converse. 
 
 In his advanced age he returned to England, and resided at Bristol. By the 
 favor of the Duke of Somerset, he was introduced to King Edward VI., who took 
 great delight in his conversation, and settled on him a pension of 166 135. ^d. per 
 annum for life. He was appointed governor of a company of merchants, associated 
 for the purpose of making discoveries of unknown countries. This is a proof of the 
 great esteem in which he was held as a man of knowledge and experienced in his 
 profession. He had a strong persuasion that a passage might be found to China by 
 the north-east, and warmly patronized the attempt made by Sir Hugh Willoughby 
 in 1553 to explore the northern seas for that purpose. There is still extant a com 
 plete set of instructions drawn and subscribed by Cabot, for the direction of the 
 voyage to Cathay, which affords the clearest proof of his sagacity and penetration. 
 But though this, as well as all other attempts of the kind, proved ineffectual to the 
 principal end in view, yet it was the means of opening a trade with Russia, which 
 proved very beneficial to the company. 
 
 The last account which we have of Sebastian is, that in 1556, when a company 
 were sending out a vessel called the Searchtkrift, under the command of Stephen 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 41 
 
 Burrough, for discovery, the Governor made a visit on board ; which is thus related 
 in the journal of the voyage as preserved by Hakluyt : 
 
 " The 2/th of April, being Monday, the Right Worshipful Sebastian Cabota came 
 aboard our pinnace, at Gravesend ; accompanied with divers gentlemen and gentle 
 women ; who, after they had viewed our pinnace, and tasted of such cheer as we 
 could make them, went ashore, giving to our mariners right liberal rewards. The 
 good old gentleman Master Cabota gave to the poor most liberal alms, wishing than 
 to pray for the good fortune and prosperous success of the Searchthrift, our pinnace. 
 And then at the sign of St. Christopher, he and his friends banqueted ; and made 
 me and them that were in the company great cheer ; and for very joy that he had 
 to see the towardness of our intended discovery, he entered into the dance himself, 
 among the rest of the young and lusty company ; which being ended he and hir, 
 friends departed, most gently commending us to the governance of Almighty God." 
 
 According to the calculation of his age by Dr. Campbell, he must at that time 
 have been about eighty years old. 
 
 He was one of the most extraordinary men of the age in which he lived. By 
 his ingenuity and industry, he enlarged the bounds of science and promoted the 
 interest of the English nation. Dr. Campbell supposes it was he who first took 
 notice of the variation of the magnetic needle. It had been observed in the first 
 voyage of Columbus to the West Indies; though probably Cabot might not have 
 known it, till after he made the same discovery. 
 
 JAMES CARTIER. 
 
 JAMES CARTIER HE SAILS ON A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY COMES IN SIGHT OF LAND ACCOUNT 
 OF HIS VOYAGE CHALEUR BAY DISCOVERED HIS INTERVIEW WITH THE NATIVES DONA- 
 CONA, THE INDIAN CHIEF HIS STRATAGEM RECEPTION OF CARTIER AND HIS COMPANY 
 BY THE INDIANS CHARACTER, HABITS, AND CUSTOMS OF THE INDIANS CARTIER MAKES 
 FURTHER DISCOVERIES RAGING OF THE SCURVY IN HIS COMPANY CARTIER TAKES POS 
 SESSION OF THE COUNTRY HE RETURNS TO FRANCE WITH TWO OF THE NATIVES CAR- 
 TIER AGAIN SAILS THE NATIVES INQUIRE AFTER THEIR BRETHREN KINDNESS OF THE 
 INDIANS. 
 
 THOUGH the English did not prosecute the discovery made by the Cabots, nor 
 avail themselves of the only advantages which it could have afforded them, yet their 
 neighbors of Brittany, Normandy, and Biscay wisely pursued the track of those ad 
 venturers and took vast quantities of cod on the banks of Newfoundland. 
 
 In 1524, John Verazzani, a Florentine, in the service of France, ranged the coast 
 of the new continent from Florida to Newfoundland and gave it the name of New 
 France. In a subsequent voyage he was cut to pieces and devoured by the savages. 
 
 It is remarkable that the three great European kingdoms Spain, England, and 
 France made use of three Italians to conduct their discoveries: Columbus, a Gen 
 oese ; Cabot, a Venetian ; and Verazzani, a Florentine. This is a proof, that, among 
 the Italians, there were at that time persons superior in maritime knowledge to the 
 G 
 
42 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 other nations of Europe; though the penurious spirit of those republics, their mut 
 ual jealousy, and petty wars made them overlook the benefits resulting from exten 
 sive enterprises and leave the vast regions of the New World to be occupied by- 
 others. 
 
 The voyages of Verazzani having produced no addition to the revenue of France, 
 all further attempts to perfect his discoveries were laid aside ; but the fishery being 
 found conducive to the commercial interest, it was at length conceived that a planta 
 tion in the neighborhood of the banks might be advantageous. This being repre 
 sented to King Francis I. by Chabot the Admiral, James Cartier, of St. Malo, was 
 commissioned to explore the country, with a view to find a place for a colony. 
 
 On the 2Oth of April, 1534, he sailed from St. Malo with two ships of sixty tons 
 and one hundred and twenty-two men, and, on the loth of May, came in sight of 
 Bonavista on the island of Newfoundland ; but the ice which lay along the shore 
 obliged him to go southward, and he entered a harbor to which he gave the name of 
 St. Catharine, where he waited for fair weather and fitted his boats. 
 
 As soon as the season would permit he .sailed northward and examined several 
 harbors and islands on the coast of Newfoundland, in one of which he found such a 
 quantity of birds, that in half an hour two boats were loaded with them ; and, aftei 
 they had eaten as many as they could, five or six barrels full were salted for each 
 ship. This place was called Bird Island. 
 
 Having passed Cape de Grat, the northern extremity of the land, he entered the 
 Straits of Belisle and visited several harbors on the opposite coast of Labrador, one 
 of which he called Carticr s Sound. The harbor is described as one of the best in 
 the world, but the land is stigmatized as the place to which Cain was banished ; no 
 vegetation being produced among the rocks but thorns and moss. Yet, bad as it 
 was, there were inhabitants in it, who lived by catching seals, and seemed to be a 
 wandering tribe. 
 
 In circumnavigating the great island of Newfoundland, they found the weather 
 in general cold ; but, when they had crossed the gulf in a south-westerly direction to 
 the continent, they came into a deep bay, where the climate was so warm that they 
 named it Baye de Chaleur, or the Bay of Heat. Here were several kinds of wild 
 berries, roses, and meadows of grass. In the fresh waters they caught salmon in 
 great plenty. 
 
 Having searched in vain for a passage through the bay, they quitted it and sailed 
 along the coast eastward till they came to the smaller bay of Gaspe, where they 
 sought shelter from a tempest and were detained twelve days in the month of July. 
 In this place Cartier performed the ceremony of taking possession for the King 
 of France. A cross thirty feet high was erected on a point of land. On this 
 cross was suspended a shield with the arms of France and the words Vive le Roy de 
 France. Before it the people knelt uncovered, with their hands extended and 
 their eyes lifted toward heaven. The natives who were present beheld the cere 
 mony with silent admiration; but, after a while, an old man clad in bear s skin 
 made signs to them that the land was his, and that they should not have it without 
 his leave. They then informed him by signs that the cross was intended only as a 
 mark of direction by which they might again find the port, and they promised to 
 return the next year and to bring iron and other commodities. 
 
 They thought it proper, however, to conciliate the old man s good-will by enter- 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 13 
 
 taining him on board the ship and making him several presents ; by which means, 
 they so prevailed on him that he permitted Cartier to carry two of his sons, young 
 men, to France on the security of a promise that he would bring them back, on his 
 return the next spring. 
 
 From Gaspe, he sailed so far into the great river afterward called St. Lawrence, 
 as to discover land on the opposite side ; but the weather being boisterous, and the 
 current setting against him, he thought it best to return to Newfoundland, and then 
 to France ; where he arrived safe in the harbor of St. Malo on the 5th of September. 
 
 The discoveries made in this voyage excited farther curiosity ; and the Vice-Ad 
 miral Melleraye represented Cartier s merits to the King so favorably as to procure 
 for him a more ample equipment. Three ships, one of 120, one of 60, and one of 
 40 tons, were destined to perform another voyage in the ensuing spring, and several 
 young men of distinction entered as volunteers, to seek adventures in the New 
 World. When they were ready to sail, the whole company, after the example of 
 Columbus, went in procession to church, on Whitsunday, where the Bishop of St. 
 Malo pronounced his blessing on them. They sailed on the igth of May, 1535. 
 Meeting with tempestuous weather, the ships were separated, and did not join again 
 till Cartier in the largest ship arrived at Bird Island, where he again filled his boats 
 with fowls, and on the 26th of July was joined by the other vessels. 
 
 From Bird Island they pursued the same course as in the preceding summer ; and 
 having come into the gulf on the western side of Newfoundland, gave it the name 
 of St. Lawrence. Here they saw abundance of whales. Passing between the Island 
 of Assumption (since called Anticosti) and the northern shore, they sailed up the 
 great river, till they came to a branch on the northern side, which the young natives 
 who were on board called Saguenay ; the main river, they told him, would carry him 
 to Hochelaga, the capital of the whole country. 
 
 After spending some time in exploring the northern coast, to find an opening to 
 the northward, in the beginning of September he sailed up the river and discovered 
 several islands; one of which, from the multitude of filberts, he called Coudres ; and 
 another, from the vast quantity of grapes, he named Bacchus (now Orleans). This 
 island was full of inhabitants, who subsisted by fishing. 
 
 When the ships had come to anchor between the north-west side of the island and 
 the main, Cartier went on shore with his two young savages. The people of the coun 
 try were at first afraid of them, but hearing the youths speak to them in their own 
 language, they became sociable, and brought eels and other fish, with a quantity of 
 Indian corn in ears, for the refreshment of their new guests ; in return for which 
 they were presented with such European baubles as were pleasing to them. 
 
 The next day, Donacona, the prince of the place, came to visit them, attended 
 by twelve boats ; but, keeping ten of them at a distance, he approached with two 
 only, containing sixteen men. In the true spirit of hospitality, he made a speech, 
 accompanied with significant gestures, welcoming the French to his country, and 
 offering his service to them. The young savages, Tiagnoagni and Domagaia, an 
 swered him, reporting all which they had seen in France, at which he appeared to be 
 pleased. Then approaching the captain, who held out his hand, he kissed it, and 
 laid it round his own neck, in token of friendship. Cartier, on his part, entertained 
 Donacona with bread and wine, and they parted mutually pleased. 
 
 The next day Cartier went up in his boat to find a harbor for his ships ; the season 
 
44 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 being so far advanced that it became necessary to secure them. At the west end of 
 the isle of Bacchus he found "a goodly and pleasant sound, where is a little river 
 and haven, about three fathoms deep at high water." To this he gave the name of 
 St. Croix, and determined there to lay up his ships. 
 
 Near this place was a village called Stadacona, of which Donacona was the lord. 
 It was environed with forest trees, some of which bore fruit ; and under the trees 
 was a growth of wild hemp. As Cartier was returning to his ships he had another 
 specimen of the hospitable manners of the natives. A company of people, of both 
 sexes, met him on the shore of the little river, singing and dancing up to their knees 
 in water. In return for their courtesy he gave them knives and beads, and they 
 continued their music till he was beyond hearing it. 
 
 When Cartier had brought his ships to the harbor and secured them, he intimated 
 his intention to pass in his boats up the river to Hochelaga. Donacona was loth to 
 part with him, and invented several artifices to prevent his going thither. Among 
 others, he contrived to dress three of his men in black and white skins, with horns 
 on their heads, and their faces besmeared with coal, to make them resemble infernal 
 spirits. They were put into a canoe and passed to the ships, brandishing their horns 
 and making an unintelligible harangue. Donacona, with his people, pursued and took 
 them, on which they fell down as if dead. They were carried ashore into the woods, 
 and all the savages followed them. A long discourse ensued, and the conclusion of 
 the farce was that these demons had brought news from the god of Hochelaga that 
 his country was so full of snow and ice that whoever should adventure thither would 
 perish with the cold. The artifice afforded diversion to the French, but was too 
 thin to deceive them. Cartier determined to proceed ; and on the igth of September, 
 with his pinnace and two boats, began his voyage up the river to Hochelaga. 
 
 Among the woods on the margin of the river were many vines loaded with white 
 grapes, than which nothing could be a more welcome sight to Frenchmen, though 
 the fruit was not so delicious as they had been used to taste in their own country. 
 Along the banks were many huts of the natives, who made signs of joy as they 
 passed ; presented them with fish ; piloted them through narrow channels ; carried 
 them ashore on their backs, and helped them to get off their boats when aground. 
 Some presented their children to them, and such as were of proper age were 
 accepted. 
 
 The water at that time of the year being low, their passage was rendered difficult ; 
 but by the friendly assistance of the natives they surmounted the obstructions. On 
 the 2$th of September they passed the rapids between the islands in the upper part 
 of the lake Angoleme (now called St. Peter s), and on the 2d of October they arrived 
 at the island of Hochelaga, where they had been expected, and preparations were made 
 to give them a welcome reception. About a thousand persons came to meet them, 
 singing and dancing, the men on one side, the women on the other, and the children 
 in a distinct body. Presents of fish and other victuals were brought, and in return 
 were given knives, beads, and other trinkets. The Frenchmen lodged the first night 
 in their boats, and the natives watched on the shore, dancing round their fires during 
 the whole night. 
 
 The next morning Cartier, with twenty-five of his company, went to visit the 
 town, and were met on the way by a person of distinction, who bade them welcome. 
 To him they gave two hatchets and two knives, and hung over his neck a cross, 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 45 
 
 which they taught him to kiss. As they proceeded they passed through groves of 
 oak, from which acorns were fallen and lay thick on the ground. After this they 
 came to fields of ripe corn, some of which was gathered. In the midst of these fields 
 was situate the town of Hochelaga. 
 
 It was of a round form, encompassed with three lines of palisades, through which 
 was one entrance, well secured with stakes and bars. On the inside was a rampart 
 of timber, to which were ascents by ladders, and heaps of stones were laid in proper 
 places for defense. In the town were about fifty long huts, built with stakes and 
 covered with bark. In the middle of each hut was a fire, round which were lodging 
 places, floored with bark and covered with skins. In the upper part was a scaffold, 
 on which they dried and preserved their corn. To prepare it for eating, they 
 pounded it in wooden mortars, and, having mixed it with water, baked it on hot 
 stones. Besides corn, they had beans, squashes, and pumpkins. They dried their 
 fish and preserved them in troughs. These people lived chiefly by tillage and fishing, 
 and seldom went far from home. Those on the lower parts of the river were more 
 given to hunting, and considered the Lord of Hochelaga as their sovereign, to whom 
 they paid tribute. 
 
 When the new guests were conducted to an open square in the center of the 
 town, the females came to them, rubbing their hands and faces, weeping with joy 
 at their arrival, and bringing their children to be touched by the strangers. They 
 spread mats for them on the ground, whilst the men seated themselves in a large 
 circle on the outside. The King was then brought in a litter on the shoulders of 
 ten men, and placed on a mat next to the French Captain. He was about fifty years 
 old, and had no mark of distinction but a coronet made of porcupines quills dyed 
 red ; which he took off and gave to the Captain, requesting him to rub his arms and 
 legs, which were trembling with the palsy. Several persons, blind, lame, and withered 
 with age, were also brought to be touched ; as if they supposed that their new guests 
 were messengers from heaven invested with a power of healing diseases. Cartier 
 gratified them ;?s well as he could, by laying his hands on them and repeating some 
 devotional passages from a service book, which he had in his pocket ; accompanying 
 his ejaculations with significant gestures, and lifting up his eyes to heaven. The 
 natives attentively observed and imitated all his motions. 
 
 Having performed this ceremony, he desired the men, women, and children to 
 arrange themselves in separate bodies. To the men he gave hatchets, to the women 
 beads, and to the children rings. He then ordered his drums and trumpets to sound, 
 which highly pleased the company and set them to dancing. 
 
 Being desirous of ascending the hill under which the town was built, the natives 
 conducted them to the summit ; where they were entertained with a most extensive 
 and beautiful prospect of mountains, woods, islands, and waters. They observed the 
 course of the river above, and some falls of water in it ; and the natives informed 
 them that they might sail on it for three months ; that it ran through two or three 
 great lakes, beyond which was a sea of fresh water, to which they knew of no bounds ; 
 and that on the other side of the mountains there was another river which ran in a 
 contrary direction to the south-west, through a country full of delicious fruits, and 
 free from snow and ice ; that there was found such metal as the Captain s silver 
 whistle and the haft of the dagger belonging to one of the company which was gilt 
 with gold. Being shown some copper, they pointed to the northward, and said it 
 
46 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 came from Saguenay. To this hill Cartier gave the name of Montreal, which it has 
 ever since retained. 
 
 The visit being finished, the natives accompanied the French to their boats, car 
 rying s^ch as were weary on their shoulders. They were loth to part with their 
 guests, and followed them along the shore of the river to a considerable distance. 
 
 On the 4th of October, Cartier and his company departed from Hochelaga. In 
 passing down the river, they erected a cross on the point of an island, which, with 
 three others, lay in the mouth of a shallow river, on the north side, called Fouetz. 
 On the I ith they arrived at the Porte de St. Croix, and found that their companions 
 had enclosed the ships with a palisade and rampart, on which they had mounted 
 cannon. 
 
 The next day Donacona invited them to his residence, where they were enter 
 tained with the usual festivity and made the customary presents. They observed 
 that these people used the leaves of an herb (tobacco), which they preserved in 
 pouches made of skins and smoked in stone pipes. It was very offensive to the 
 French ; but the natives valued it as contributing much to the preservation of their 
 health. Their houses appeared to be well supplied with provisions. Among other 
 things which were new to the French, they observed the scalps of five men, spread 
 and dried like parchment. These were taken from their enemies the Toudamani, 
 who came from the south, and were continually at war with them. 
 
 Being determined to spend the winter among those friendly people, they traded 
 with them for the provisions which they could spare, and the river supplied them 
 with fish till it was hard frozen. 
 
 In December the scurvy began to make its appearance among the natives, and 
 Cartier prohibited all intercourse with them ; but it was not long before his own men 
 were taken with it. It raged with uncontrolled violence for above two months, and 
 by the middle of February, out of one hundred and ten persons, fifty were sick at 
 once, and eight or ten had died. 
 
 In this extremity Cartier appointed a day of solemn humiliation and prayer. A 
 crucifix was placed on a tree, and as many as were able to walk went in procession, 
 through the ice and snow, singing the seven penitential psalms and performing other 
 devotional exercises. At the close of the solemnity Cartier made a vow, that " if it 
 would please God to permit him to return to France, he would go in pilgrimage to 
 our Lady of Roquemado." But it was necessary to watch as well as pray. To pre 
 vent the natives from knowing their weak and defenseless state, he obliged all who 
 were able, to make as much noise as possible with axes and hammers ; and told the 
 natives that his men were all busily employed, and that he would not suffer any of 
 them to go from the ships till their work was done. The ships were fast frozen up 
 from the middle of November to the middle of March ; the snow was four feet deep, 
 and higher than the sides of the ships above the ice. The severity of the winter 
 exceeded all which they had ever experienced ; the scurvy still raged ; twenty-five 
 men had fallen victims to it, and the others were so weak and low in spirits, that 
 they despaired of ever seeing their native country. 
 
 In the depth of this distress and despondency, Cartier, who had escaped the 
 disease, in walking one day on the ice, met some of the natives, among whom was 
 Domagaia, one of the young men who had been with him to France, and who then 
 resided with his countrymen at Stadacona. He had been sick with the ;curvy, his 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 47 
 
 sinews had txy.n shrunk and his knees swollen, his teeth loose, and his gums rotten ; 
 but he was then recovered, and told Cartier of a certain tree, the leaves and bark of 
 which he ha-I used as a remedy. Cartier expressed his wish to see the tree, telling 
 him that one of his people had been affected with the same disorder. Two women 
 were immediately dispatched, who brought ten or twelve branches, and showe.d him 
 how to prepare the decoction ; which was thus, " to boil the bark and the leaves ; to 
 drink of the liquor every other day ; and to put the dregs on the legs of the sick."* 
 
 This remedy presently came into use on board the ships, and its good effects were so 
 surprising, that within one week they were completely healed of the scurvy ; and some 
 who had venereal complaints of long standing were also cured by the same means. 
 
 The severity of the winter having continued four months without intermission, at 
 the return of the sun the season became milder, and in April the ice began to break 
 up. On the 3d of May, Cartier took possession of the country by erecting a cross 
 thirty-five feet high, on which was hung a shield, bearing the arms of France, with 
 this inscription : FRANCICUS Primus, Dei gratia, FRANCORUM Rex. rcgnat. 
 
 The same day being a day of festivity, the two young savages, Tiagnoagni and Doma- 
 gaia, with Donacona, the chief of the place, came on board the ships, and were partly 
 prevailed on and partly constrained to accompany Cartier to France. A handsome 
 present was made to the family of Donacona, but it was with great reluctance that 
 his friends parted with him ; though Cartier promised to bring him again at the end 
 of twelve months. On the 6th of May they sailed from the port of St. Croix, 
 and having touched at St. Peter s, in Newfoundland, they arrived at St. Malo, in 
 France, the 6th of July, 1536. 
 
 Whether Cartier performed his vow to God, the history does not tell us ; certain 
 it is, however, that he did not perform his promise to his passengers. The zeal for 
 adventures of this kind began to abate. Neither gold nor silver were carried 
 home. The advantages of the fur trade were not fully understood, and the prospect 
 of benefit from cultivation in the short summer of that cold climate was greatly over 
 balanced by the length and severity of a Canadian winter. The natives had been so 
 often told of the necessity of baptism in order to salvation, that on their arrival in 
 France, they were, at their own request, baptized ; but neither of them lived to see 
 their native land again. 
 
 The report which Cartier brought home of the fine country beyond the Lakes, 
 had, however, made such an impression on the minds of some, that at the end of 
 four years another expedition was projected. Francis de la Roche, Lord of Rober- 
 val, was commissioned by the King as his Lieutenant-Governor in Canada and Hoche- 
 laga ; and Cartier was appointed his pilot, with the command of five ships. When 
 they were ready to sail, Roberval had not finished his preparations, and was therefore 
 detained. The King s orders to Cartier being positive, he sailed from St. Malo on the 
 23d of May, 1540. 
 
 The winds were adverse and the voyage tedious. The ships were scattered, and 
 
 * This tree was called by the natives, Ameda or Haneda. Mr. Hakluyt supposes it to have been the 
 Sassafras; but as the leaves were used with the bark, in the winter, it must have been an evergreen. The 
 dregs of the bark were also applied to the sore legs of the patient. From these circumstances I am inclined 
 to think that it was the spruce pine (pinus canadensis), which is used in the same manner by the Indians, 
 and such as have learned of them. Spruce beer is well known to be a powerful anti-scorbutic; and the 
 bark of this and of the white pine serves as a cataplasm for wounds and sores. 
 
48 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 did not arrive at the place of their destination till the 23d of August ; when they 
 came to the port of St. Croix, in the river of Canada. 
 
 The first inquiry made by the natives was for their countrymen who had been 
 carried away. The answer was that Donacona was dead, and that the others 
 had become great lords, were married in France, and refused to return. Neither 
 sorrow nor resentment were shown on this occasion ; but a secret jealousy, which had 
 long been working, received strength from an answer so liable to suspicion. 
 
 The history of this voyage being imperfect, it is not possible to say in what par 
 ticular manner this jealousy operated. Cartier made another excursion up the river, 
 and pitched about four leagues above St. Croix to lay up three of his vessels for the 
 winter. The other two he sent back to France, to inform the King of what they had 
 done ; and that Roberval had not arrived. 
 
 At the new harbor which he had chosen for his ships was a small river, running 
 in a serpentine course to the south. On the eastern side of its entrance was a high 
 and steep cliff, on the top of which they built a fort and called it Charleburg. Below, 
 the ships were drawn up and fortified, as they had been in the former winter which 
 he spent here. Not far from the fort were some rocks containing crystals, which 
 they denominated diamonds, and on the shore were picked up certain specks of a 
 yellow substance, which their imaginations refined into gold. Iron ore was found in 
 abundance ; and a kind of black slate, with veins of an apparent metallic substance. 
 
 In what manner they passed the winter the defective accounts which we have do 
 not inform us. In the spring of the following year Cartier and his company, having 
 heard nothing of Roberval, and concluding that they were abandoned by their 
 friends and exposed to perish in a climate the most severe, and among people whose 
 conduct toward them was totally changed, determined to return to France. Ac 
 cordingly, having set sail at the breaking up of the ice, they arrived in the harbor of 
 St. Johns, in Newfoundland, some time in June, where they met Roberval, who, 
 with three ships and two hundred persons, male and female, had sailed from Rochelle 
 in April, and were on their way to establish a colony in Canada. Cartier went on 
 board Robcrval s ship, and showed him the diamonds and gold which he had found ; 
 but told him that the hostile disposition of the natives had obliged him to quit the 
 country ; which, however, he represented to him as capable of profitable cultivation. 
 Roberval ordered him to return to Canada ; but Cartier privately sailed out of the 
 harbor in the night, and pursued his voyage to France. 
 
 Mortified and disappointed, Roberval continued some time longer at St. Johns 
 before he proceeded, and about the end of July arrived at the place which Cartier 
 had quitted. There he erected a fort on a commanding eminence, and another at 
 its foot, in which were deposited all the provision, ammunition, artillery, implements 
 of husbandry, and other materials for the intended colony. 
 
 In September two vessels were sent back to France, to carry specimens of crystal 
 and fetch provisions for the next year ; the stores which they had brought being 
 much reduced. By the help of the fish which they took in the river, and the game 
 which they procured from the savages, and by well husbanding their provisions, they 
 lingered out a tedious winter, having suffered much from the scurvy, of which about 
 fifty of them died. In addition to this distress, Roberval exercised such severity in 
 his government that one man was hanged, several were laid in irons, and some of 
 both sexes underwent the discipline of the whip. 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 49 
 
 In April the ice began to break up ; and on the 5th of June he proceeded up the 
 river, leaving De Royeze, his lieutenant, to command in his absence, with orders to 
 embark for France if he should not return by the middle of July. 
 
 As the account of the expedition ends here, we can only remark that the colony 
 was broken up, and no farther attempt was made by the French to establish them 
 selves in Canada till after the expiration of half a century. The last account of 
 Roberval is that, in 1549, he sailed with his brother on some voyage of discovery, 
 and never returned. 
 
 In this first visit which the natives of Canada received from the Europeans, we have 
 a striking instance of their primitive manners. Suspecting no danger, and influenced 
 by no fear, they embraced the stranger with unaffected joy. Their huts were open 
 to receive him, their fires and furs to give warmth and rest to his weary limbs ; their 
 food was shared with him or given in exchange for his trifles ; they were ready with 
 their simple medicines to heal his diseases and his wounds; they would wade through 
 rivers and climb rocks and mountains to guide him in his way, and they would re 
 member and requite his kindness more than it deserved. 
 
 Unhappily for them they set too high a value on their new guest. .Imagining 
 him to be of a heavenly origin, they were extravagant and unguarded in their first 
 attachment, and from some specimens of his superiority, obvious to their senses, 
 they expected more than ought ever to be expected from beings of the same spe 
 cies. But when the mistake was discovered, and the stranger whom they adored 
 proved to be no more than human, having the same inferior desires and passions 
 with themselves ; especially when they found their confidence misplaced and their 
 generous friendship ill requited ; then the rage of jealousy extinguished the virtue 
 of benevolence, and they struggled to rid themselves of him, as an enemy, whom 
 they had received into their bosom as a friend. 
 
 On the other hand, it war too common for the European adventurer to regard 
 the man of nature as an inferior being ; and whilst he availed himself of his strength 
 and experience to abuse his confidence, and repay his kindness with insult and injury ; 
 to stigmatize him as a heathen and a savage, and to bestow on him the epithets of 
 deceitful, treacherous, and cruel, though he himself had first set the example of 
 these detestable vices. 
 
 FERDINANDO DE SOTO. 
 
 FERDINANDO DE SOTO HIS EXPEDITION HIS ADVENTURES HE PENETRATES INTO THE IN 
 TERIOR OF THE COUNTRY HIS DIFFICULTY WITH THE INDIANS ENCOUNTER WITH THE 
 INDIANS, IN WHICH MANY ARE KILLED HIS DEATH. 
 
 THE travels and transactions of this adventurer are of so little importance in the 
 history of America, that I should not have thought them worthy of notice had it 
 not been that some gentlemen of ingenuity and learning have had recourse to the 
 expedition of this Spaniard as a means of solving the question respecting the 
 mounds and fortifications of a regular construction which, within a few years past, 
 7 
 
50 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 have been discovered in the thickest shades of the American forest.* Though the 
 opinion seems to have been candidly given up by one of the writers who attempted 
 to defend it ; yet, as what was published on the subject may have impressed some 
 persons with an idea that these works were of European fabric, I shall briefly relate 
 the history of Soto s march, and the difficulties which attend the supposition that 
 he was the builder of any of these fortifications. 
 
 After the conquest of Mexico and Peru, in the beginning of the sixteenth cen 
 tury, the inextinguishable thirst for gold which had seized the Spanish adventurers, 
 prompted them to search for that bewitching metal wherever there could be any 
 prospect of finding it. Three unsuccessful attempts had been made in Florida by 
 Ponce, Gomez, and Narvaez ; but because these adventurers did not penetrate the 
 interior parts of the continent, FEROINANDO DE SOTO, Governor of Cuba, who had 
 been a companion of the Pizarros in their Peruvian expedition, and had there 
 amassed much wealth, projected a march into Florida, of which country he had the 
 title of Adelantado, or President. He sailed from the port of Havana, May 18, 
 1539, with nine vessels, six hundred men, two hundred and thirteen horses, and a 
 herd-of swine, and arrived on the 3oth of the same month in the Bay of Espiritu 
 Santo, on the western coast of the peninsula of Florida. 
 
 Being a soldier of fortune and determined on conquest, he immediately pitched 
 his camp and secured it. A foraging party met with a few Indians, who resisted 
 them ; two were killed, the others escaped, and reported to their countrymen that 
 the warriors of fire had invaded their territories, upon which the smaller towns were 
 deserted and the natives hid in the woods. 
 
 Having met with a Spaniard of the party of Narvaez who had been wrecked on 
 the coast, and had b Jen twelve years a captive with the Indians, Sot& made use of 
 him as a messenger to them to inquire for gold and silver ; and wherever he could 
 receive any information respecting these precious metals, thither he directed his 
 march. 
 
 His manner of marching was this: The horsemen carried bags of corn and other 
 provisions ; the footmen marched by the side of the horses, and the swine were 
 driven before them. When they first landed they had thirteen female swine, which, 
 in two years, increased to several hundred; the warmth of the climate being favor 
 able to their propagation, and the forests yielding them plenty of food. 
 
 The first summer and winter were spent in the peninsula of Florida, not far from 
 the Bay of Apalache ; and in the beginning of the following spring, having sent back 
 his vessels to Cuba for supplies, and left a part of his men at the port, where he ex 
 pected the ships to return, he marched toward the north and east in search of a place 
 called Yupaha, where he had been informed there was gold. 
 
 In this march he crossed the river Altamaha, and probably the Ogeechce, and 
 came, as he was informed, within two days journey of the Bay of St. Helena, where 
 the Spaniards had been several years before. In all this march he stayed not more 
 than a week in any one place. 
 
 He then set his face northward, and having passed a hilly country, came to a dis- 
 
 * If the reader wishes to see a particular investigation of this hypothesis, he may consult the American 
 Magazine, printed at New York, for December, 1787, January and February, 1788, and some subsequent 
 numbers ; compared with the Columbian Magazine, printed at Philadelphia, for September and November, 
 1788. 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 51 
 
 trict called Chalaque, which is supposed to be the country now called Cherokee, on 
 the upper branches of the river Savannah. Thence he turned westward in search of 
 a place called Chiaha, and in this route he crossed the Alleghany ridge, and came to 
 Chiaha, where his horses and men being excessively fatigued, he rested thirty days. 
 The horses fed in a meadow, and the people lay under the trees, the weather being 
 very hot, and the natives in peace. This was in the months of May and June. Dur 
 ing their abode there they heard of a country called Chisca, where was copper and 
 another metal of the same color. This country lay northward, and a party was sent 
 with Indian guides to view it. Their report was, that the mountains were impassa 
 ble, and Soto did not attempt to proceed any" farther in that direction. 
 
 From a careful inspection of the maps in the American Atlas, I am inclined to 
 think that the place where Soto crossed the mountains was within the thirty-fifth 
 degree of latitude. In Delisle s map, a village called Canasaga is laid down on the 
 north-west side of the Alleghany, or (as it is sometimes called) the Apalachian ridge 
 of mountains, in that latitude ; and Chiaha is said in Soto s journal to be five days 
 westward from Canasaga. 
 
 To ascertain the situation of Chiaha, we must observe that it is said to be subject 
 to the Lord of Cosa, which is situate on an eastern branch of the Mobile ; and Soto s 
 sick men came down the river from Chiaha in boats. This river could be none but a 
 branch of the Mobile, and his course was then turned toward the south. In this 
 march he passed through Alabama, Talise, Tascalusa, names which are still known 
 and marked on the maps, till he came to the town of Mavilla, which the French pro 
 nounce Mouville and Mabille. It was then a walled town, but the walls were of 
 wood. The inhabitants had conceived a disgust to the Spaniards, which was aug 
 mented by an outrage committed on one of their chiefs, and finally broke out in a 
 severe conflict, in which two thousand of the innocent natives were slain, and many 
 of the Spaniards killed and wounded, and the town was burnt. This was in the latter 
 end of October. 
 
 It is probable that Soto intended to pass the winter in the neighborhood of that 
 village, if he could have kept on friendly terms with the Indians ; for there he could 
 have had a communication with Cuba. There he heard that the vessels which he 
 had sent to Cuba for supplies were arrived at Ochus (Pensacola), where he agreed to 
 meet them ; but he kept this information secret, because he had not yet made any 
 discoveries which his Spanish friends would think worthy of regard. The country 
 about him was populous and hostile, and, being void of gold or silver, was not an ob 
 ject for him to possess at the risk of losing his army, of which above an hundred had 
 already perished. He therefore, after staying twenty-eight days for the recovery of 
 his wounded, determined on a retreat. 
 
 In this retreat it has been supposed that he penetrated northward, beyond the 
 Ohio. The truth is, that he began his march from Mavilla, a village near the mouth 
 of the Mobile, on the i8th of November, and on the i/th of December arrived at 
 Chicaca, an Indian village of twenty houses, where they remained till the next 
 April. 
 
 The distance, the time, the nature of the country, the course and manner of the 
 march, and the name of the village, all concur to determine this winter station of 
 Soto to be a village of the Chickesaw Indians, situate on the upper part of the Yasou, 
 a branch of the Mississippi, about eighty leagues north-westward from Mobile, and 
 
52 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 not less than one hundred and forty leagues south-westward from the Muskingum, 
 where the great fortifications, which gave rise to this inquiry, are found. From Clii- 
 caca, in the spring, he went westward, and crossed a river within the 34 of latitude, 
 which he called Rio Grande, and which is now known to be the Mississippi. 
 
 On the western side of the Mississippi, after rambling all summer, he spent the 
 next winter at a place called Autiamque, where he inclosed his camp with a wall of 
 timber, the work of three days only. Within this inclosure he lodged safely during 
 three months ; and in the succeeding spring, the extreme fatigue and anxiety which 
 he had suffered, threw him into a fever, of which he died, May 21, 1542, at Guacoya. 
 To prevent his death from being known to the Indians, his body was sunk in the 
 middle of a river. 
 
 His lieutenant, Louis de Moscosco, continued to ramble on the western side of 
 the Mississippi till the next summer ; when worn with fatigue, disappointment, and 
 loss of men, he built seven boats, called brigantines, on the Mississippi, in which the 
 shattered remnants, consisting of three hundred and eleven, returned to Cuba, in Sep 
 tember, 1543. 
 
 The place where Soto died is said to have been on the bank of the Red River, a 
 western branch of the Mississippi, in latitude 31. The place where the remnant of 
 his army built their vessels and embarked for Cuba, is called in the journal, Minoya. 
 They were seventeen days in sailing down the river, and they computed the distance 
 to be two hundred and fifty leagues. 
 
 From this account, faithfully abridged from Purchas and compared with the best 
 maps, I am fully persuaded that the whole country through which Soto traveled on 
 the eastern side of the Mississippi, is comprehended within Florida, Georgia, and 
 South Carolina ; and that he never went farther northward than the 35th degree of 
 latitude, which is distant two degrees southward from any part of the Ohio. 
 The conclusion then is, that he could not have been the builder of those fortifica 
 tions still remaining in that part of the continent which lies north-west of the 
 Ohio. Nor, indeed, can any works which he erected for the security of his camp be 
 subsisting at this time; for the best of them were made of wood, and were intended 
 to cover his men and protect his horses and swine only during one winter. 
 
 The works which have so much excited curiosity and conjecture, are far more nu 
 merous, extensive, and durable. They are found in various and distant places, in the 
 interior part of the continent, on both sides of the Mississippi; on the Ohio and its 
 branches; on James and Potowmack Rivers in Virginia; in the country of the Six 
 Nations, and on the shores of Lake Erie, where they are exceedingly numerous. 
 
 The most obvious mode of solving the question respecting them, is by inquiry of 
 the present natives. But the structures are too ancient for their tradition ; the old 
 est and wisest men know nothing of their original. The form and materials of these 
 works indicate the existence of a race of men superior to the present race, in im 
 provement, in design, and in that patience which must have accompanied the labor 
 of erecting them. 
 
 Trees which have been found growing on them have been cut down, and from 
 indubitable marks, are known to have been upward of three hundred years old ; nor 
 were these the first growth upon them. 
 
 The mounds and ramparts are constructed of earth, and have acquired a firmness 
 and solidity which render it probable that they are the work of some remote age and 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 53 
 
 some other people, who had different ideas of convenience, and were better acquainted 
 with the arts of defense ; and, in fact, were much more numerous than the ancestry 
 of those natives of whom we or our fathers have had any knowledge. It is to be 
 hoped that the persons who now occupy and are cultivating the lands where these 
 singular buildings are found, will preserve, as far as they are able, some, at least, of 
 these monuments of unknown ages ; that as they have long resisted the ravages of 
 time, and may possibly baffle the researches of the present generation, they may 
 subsist unimpaired as subjects of speculation to our posterity. 
 
 HUMPHREY GILBERT. 
 
 MASTER ITORE SAILS ON A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY, ACCOMPANIED BY A NUMBER OF GENTLE 
 MEN OF RANK AND FORTUNE THEY GET REDUCED THEY DEVOUR ONE ANOTHER 
 SEIZURE OF A FRENCH VESSEL WITH PROVISION BY THE ENGLISH HUMPHREY GILBERT 
 HE OBTAINS A COMMISSION FROM QUEEN ELIZABETH HE SAILS AND IS OVERTAKEN 
 BY A STORM IS OBLIGED TO PUT BACK HIS DIFFICULTIES HE AGAIN SETS SAIL WITH 
 FIVE SHIPS AND ARRIVES IN AMERICA HIS RECEPTION HE TAKES POSSESSION IN THE 
 NAME OF THE QUEEN HE ESTABLISHES LAWS HE SAILS ON HIS RETURN LOSS OF THE 
 "DELIGHT" LOSS OF THE VESSEL WITH GILBERT ON BOARD. 
 
 AFTER the discovery of Newfoundland by the Cabots, the passion for adventure, 
 among the English, met with many severe checks. But whilst one adventurer after 
 another was returning home from an unsuccessful voyage, intended to penetrate 
 unknown seas to China, foreigners were reaping the benefit of their partial discoveries. 
 
 Within the first forty years we have no account of any attempt made by the 
 English to prosecute the discovery of the new continent, except that in 1536, two 
 vessels containing one hundred and twenty persons, of whom thirty were gentlemen 
 of education and character, under the conduct of "Master Hore of London," made 
 a voyage to Newfoundland ; but they were so ill provided, and knew so little of the 
 nature of the countiy, that they suffered the extremity of famine. For, notwith 
 standing the immense quantities of fish and fowl to be found on those coasts, they 
 were reduced so low as to watch the nests of birds of prey ahd rob them of the fish 
 which they brought to feed their young. To collect this scanty supply, with a mix 
 ture of roots and herbs, the men dispersed themselves in the woods, until several of 
 them were missing. It was at first thought they were devoured by wild beasts ; but 
 it was found that they met with a more tragical fate ; the stronger having killed the 
 weaker and feasted on their flesh. In the midst of this distress, a French ship arriv 
 ing with a supply of provisions, they took her by force, and returned to England ; 
 leaving to the Frenchmen their own smaller vessels, and dividing the provision 
 between them. Complaint of this act of piracy was made to King Henry VIII.; 
 who, knowing the miseries of the unfortunate crew, instead of punishing them, paid 
 the damage out of his own coffers. 
 
 Within the succeeding forty years, the English had begun to make some advan 
 tage by the fishery ; and in 1578, the state of it is thus described : " There are about 
 
54 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 one hundred sail of Spaniards who come to take cod ; who make it all wet, and dry 
 it when they come home ; besides twenty or thirty more, who come from Biscay to 
 kill whales for train. These be better appointed for shipping and furniture of muni- 
 tion than any other nation save the English ; who commonly are lords of the harbors. 
 As touching their tonnage, I think it may be near five or six thousand. Of Portu- 
 gals, there are not above fifty sail, whose tonnage may amount to three thousand, 
 and they make all wet. Of the French nation are about one hundred and fifty sail ; 
 the most of their shipping is very small, not past forty tons ; among which some are 
 great and reasonably well appointed ; better than the Portugals, and not so well as 
 the Spaniards ; the burden of them may be about seven thousand. The English 
 vessels have increased in four years from thirty to fifty sail. The trade which our 
 nation hath to Iceland, maketh, that the English are not there in such numbers as 
 other nations." 
 
 The next year (15/9) Queen Elizabeth granted to Sir Humphrey Gilbert a patent 
 for the discovering, occupying, and peopling of " such remote, heathen, and barbarous 
 countries as were not actually possessed by any Christian people." In consequence 
 of this grant many of his friends joined him, and preparations were made for an 
 expedition, which promised to be highly advantageous. But before the fleet was 
 ready, some declined and retracted their engagements. Gilbert, with a few compan 
 ions, sailed ; but a violent storm, in which one of the ships foundered, caused them 
 to return. This misfortune involved him in debt ; and he had no way to satisfy the 
 demands of his creditors but by grants of land in America. By such means the 
 country was not likely to be peopled, nor the conditions of his patent fulfilled. He 
 was obliged, therefore, to sell his estate before he could make another attempt ; and 
 after long solicitation, being assisted by some friends, he set sail from Plymouth with 
 five ships, carrying two hundred and sixty men, on the nth of June, 1583 ; and on 
 the nth of July arrived off the Bay of St. John, on the eastern coast of Newfound 
 land. 
 
 Thirty-six fishing vessels were then in the harbor, who refused him admittance. 
 He prepared to enter by force of arms, but previously sent in his boat with his com 
 mission from Queen Elizabeth, on sight of which they submitted, and he sailed into 
 the port. 
 
 The intention of this voyage was to take formal possession of the island, and of 
 the fishery on its banks, for the Crown of England. This was done in the following 
 manner: 
 
 On Monday, the 5th of August, Admiral Gilbert had his tent pitched on shore, 
 in sight of all the shipping; and, being attended by his own people, summoned the 
 merchants and masters of vessels, both Englishmen and others, to be present at the 
 ceremony. When they were all assembled, his commission was read, and interpreted 
 to the foreigners. Then a turf and a twig were delivered to him, which he received 
 with a hazel wand. Immediately proclamation was made, that by virtue of his com 
 mission from the Queen he took possession for the Crown of England of the harbor 
 of St. John, and two hundred leagues every way round it. 
 
 He then published three laws for the government of the territory. By the first, 
 public worship was established according to the mode of the Church of England. 
 By the second, the attempting of anything prejudicial to her Majesty s title was 
 declared treason, according to the laws of England. By the third, the uttering of 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 55 
 
 words to the dishonor of her Majesty was to be punished with the loss of cars and 
 the confiscation of property. 
 
 The proclamation being finished, assent and obedience were signified by loud 
 acclamations. A pillar was erected, bearing a plate of lead, on which the Queen s 
 arms were engraven ; and several of the merchants took grants of land, in fee farm, 
 on which they might cure their fish, as they had done before. 
 
 A tax of provision, by her Majesty s authority, was levied on all the ships. This 
 tax was readily paid ; besides which the Admiral received presents of wine, fruit, and 
 other refreshments, chiefly from the Portuguese. 
 
 This formal possession, taken by Sir Humphrey Gilbert, in consequence of the 
 discovery by the Cabots, is the foundation of the right and title of the Crown of 
 England to the territory of Newfoundland and to the fishery on its banks. 
 
 As far as the time would permit, a survey was made of the country ; one prin 
 cipal object of which was the discovery of mines and minerals. The mineralogist 
 was a Saxon, who is characterized as " honest and religious." This man brought to 
 the Admiral first a specimen of iron, then a kind of ore, which, on the peril of his 
 life, he protested to be silver. The Admiral enjoined secrecy, and sent it on board, 
 intending to have it assayed when they should get to sea. 
 
 The company being dispersed abroad, some were taken sick and died ; some hid 
 themselves in the woods, with an intention to go home by the first opportunity ; 
 and others cut one of the vessels out of the harbor and carried her off. 
 
 On the 2Oth of August the Admiral, having collected as many of his men as 
 could be found, and ordered one of his vessels to stay and take off the sick, set sail 
 with three ships, the Deliglit, the Hind, and the Squirrel. He coasted along the 
 southern part of the island, with a view to make Cape Breton and the Isle of Sable ; 
 on which last he had heard that cattle and swine had been landed by the Portuguese 
 thirty years before. 
 
 Being entangled among shoals and involved in fogs, the DeligJit struck on a sand 
 bank and was lost. Fourteen men only saved themselves in a boat. The loss of 
 the Saxon refiner was particularly noted, and nothing farther was heard of the silver 
 ore. This misfortune determined the Admiral to return to England, without 
 attempting to make any farther discoveries or to take possession of any other part 
 of America. On his passage he met with bad weather. The Squirrel frigate, in 
 which Sir Humphrey sailed, was overloaded on her deck; but he persisted in taking 
 his passage in her, notwithstanding the remonstrances of his friends in the Hind, 
 who would have persuaded him to sail with them. From the circumstance of his 
 returning from his first voyage without accomplishing its object it had been reported 
 that he was afraid of the sea ; had he yielded to the solicitation of his friends the 
 stigma might have been indelible. 
 
 When the wind abated, and the vessels were near enough, the Admiral was seen 
 constantly sitting in the stern with a book in his hand. On the gth of September he 
 was seen for the last time, and was heard by the people in the Hind to say, " We are 
 as near heaven by sea as by land." In the following night the lights of his ship sud 
 denly disappeared. The people in the other vessel kept a good look-out for him 
 during the remainder of the voyage. On the 22d of September they arrived, through 
 much tempest and peril, at Falmouth. But nothing more was seen or heard of the 
 Admiral. 
 
56 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 Whilst his zeal for the interest of the Crown, and the settlements of its American 
 dominions, has been largely commended, he has been blamed for his temerity in 
 lavishing his own and other men s fortunes in the prosecution of his designs. This 
 is not the only instance of a waste of property in consequence of sanguine expecta 
 tions, which, though ruinous to the first adventurers, has produced solid advantages 
 to their successors. 
 
 Dr. Forster has a remark on one of the incidents of this voyage which is worthy 
 of repetition and remembrance. " It is very clear (says he) in the instance of the 
 Portuguese having stocked the Isle of Sable with domestic animals, that the discov 
 erers of the New World were men of humanity ; desirous of providing for such un 
 fortunate people as might happen to be cast away on those coasts. The false policy 
 of modern times is callous and tyrannical, exporting dogs to devour them. Are these 
 the happy consequences of the so much boasted enlightened state of the present age 
 and refinement of manners, peculiar to our times? Father of mercies, when will 
 philanthropy again take up her abode in the breasts of men, of Christians, and the 
 rulers of this earth ! " 
 
 WALTER RALEIGH AND RICHARD GREN- 
 
 VILLE. 
 
 WALTER RALEIGH RELATIVE OF GILBERT OBTAINS A COMMISSION FROM QUEEN ELIZABETH 
 HE SAILS FOR AMERICA THEIR ARRIVAL GRANGANIMEO, THE INDIAN CHIEF DESCRIP 
 TION OF AN INDIAN VILLAGE HOSPITALITY AND KTNDNESS OF THE NATIVES RETURN 
 OF RALEIGH AND HIS PARTY TO ENGLAND WITH TWO NATIVES VIRGINIA, SO NAMED BY 
 ELIZABETH ANOTHER EXPEDITION UNDER THE COMMAND OF SIR RICHARD GRENVILLE 
 THEIR ARRIVAL IN AMERICA RASHNESS OF GRENVILLE HIS RETURN DEATH OF GRAN 
 GANIMEO WINGINA DETERMINES ON A REVENGE HE IS ENSNARED BY THE ENGLISH AND 
 KILLED DEPARTURE OF THE ENGLISH ANOTHER EXPEDITION THEIR ARRIVAL A DIS 
 PUTE IN THE COMPANY GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA RETURNS TO ENGLAND TO SOLICIT SUP 
 PLIESHIS ILL-SUCCESSDISAPPOINTMENTS AND LOSSES OF RALEIGH DEPARTURE OF THE 
 GOVERNOR FOR VIRGINIA HIS ARRIVALFINDS THE COLONY DESERTED AND IN RUINS 
 HE RETURNS TO ENGLAND INTRODUCTION OF TOBACCO IN EUROPE ANECDOTE OF SIR 
 WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
 THE distinguished figure which the life of Sir Walter Raleigh makes in the his 
 tory of England renders unnecessary any other account of him here than what re 
 spects his adventures in America, and particularly in Virginia, of which colony he is 
 acknowledged to have been the unfortunate founder. 
 
 He was half-brother, by the mother s side, to Sir Humphrey Gilbert, and was at 
 the expense of fitting out one of the ships of his squadron. Notwithstanding the 
 unhappy fate of his brother, he persisted in his design of making a settlement in 
 America. Being a favorite in the court of Queen Elizabeth, he obtained a patent, 
 bearing date the 25th of March, 1584, for the discovering and planting of any lands 
 and countries which were not possessed by any Christian prince or nation. 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 57 
 
 About the same time the Queen granted him another patent to license the vend 
 ing of wine throughout the kingdom ; that by the profits thence arising he might be 
 able to bear the expense of his intended plan of colonization. Further to strengthen 
 his interest, he engaged the assistance of two wealthy kinsmen, Sir Richard Grenville 
 and William Sanderson. They provided two barks, and having well furnished them 
 with men and provisions, put them under the command of Philip Amadas and Arthur 
 Barlow, who sailed from the west of England April 27, 1584. 
 
 They took the usual route by the way of the Canaries and the West Indies ; the 
 reason of which is thus expressed in the account of this voyage written by Barlow, 
 " Because we doubted that the current of the Bay of Mexico, between the cape of 
 Florida and Havana, had been of greater force than we afterward found it to be." 
 
 Taking advantage of the Gulf Stream, they approached the coast of Florida ; and 
 on the 2d of July came into shoal waters; where the odoriferous smell of flowers in 
 dicated the land to be near, though not within sight. On the 4th they saw land, 
 along which they sailed forty leagues before they found an entrance. At the first 
 opening they cast anchor (July 13), and having devoutly given thanks to God for 
 their safe arrival on the coast, they went ashore in their boats, and took possession 
 in the name of Queen Elizabeth. 
 
 The place where they landed was a sandy island called Wococon,* about sixteen 
 miles in length and six in breadth, full of cedars, pines, cypress, sassafras, and other 
 trees ; among which were many vines loaded with grapes. In the woods they found 
 deer and hare, and in the waters and marshes various kinds of fowl ; but no human 
 creature was seen till the third day, when a canoe, with three men, came along by the 
 shore. One of them landed, and, without any fear or precaution, met the Europeans 
 and addressed them in a friendly manner, in his own language. They carried him on 
 board one of their vessels, gave him a shirt and some other trifles, and regaled him 
 with meat and wine. He then returned to his canoe, and with his companions, went 
 a fishing. When the canoe was filled, they brought the fish on shore and divided 
 them into two heaps, making signs that each of the vessels should take one. 
 
 The next day several canoes came, in which were forty or fifty people, and among 
 them was Granganimeo, brother of Wingina, King of the country, who was confined 
 at home by the wounds which he had received in battle with a neighboring Prince. 
 The manner of his approach was fearless and respectful. He left his boats at a dis 
 tance, and came along the shore, accompanied by all his people, till he was abreast 
 of the ships. Then advancing with four men only, who spread a mat on the ground, 
 he sat down on one end, and the four men on the other. When the English went on 
 shore, armed, he beckoned to them to come and sit by him, which they did, and he made 
 
 * This island is generally supposed to be one of those which lie at the mouth of Albemarle Sound, 
 on the coast of North Carolina. Barlow, in his letter to Sir W. Raleigh, preserved by Hakluyt, says, that 
 he, with seven others, went in about " twenty miles into the river Occam, and, the evening following, came 
 to an island called Roanoke, distant from the harbor by which he entered, seven leagues ; at the north 
 end thereof was a village." Mr. Stith, who wrote the history of Virginia, and who acknowledges that he 
 had not seen this letter in English, but in a Latin translation, supposes that the island Wococon must lie 
 between Cape Hatteras and Cape Fear, and that the distance might be thirty leagues. But it appears from 
 Barlow s letter that the boat went in one day and came in the evening to the north end of Roanoke ; the) 
 distance is twice mentioned, once; in miles and once in leagues. I see no reason, therefore, to admit 
 Stith s conjecture in opposition to Barlow. Stith, however, appears to have been a very close and accurate 
 inquirer, as far as his materials and opportunity permitted. 
 
 8 
 
58 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 signs of joy and friendship, striking with his hand on his head and breast, and then OP 
 theirs, to show that they were all one. None of his people spoke a word ; and when 
 the English offered them presents, he took them all into his own possession, making 
 signs that they were his servants, and that all which they had belonged to him. 
 
 After this interview, the natives came in great numbers, and brought skins, coral, 
 and materials for dyes; but when Granganimeo was present, none were permitted to 
 trade but himself and those who had a piece of copper on their heads. Nothing 
 pleased him so much as a tin plate, in which he made a hole and hung it over his 
 breast, as a piece of defensive armor. He supplied them every day with venison, 
 fish, and fruits, and invited them to visit him at his village, on the north end of an 
 island called Roanoke. 
 
 This village consisted of nine houses, built of cedar, and fortified with sharp pali 
 sades. When the English arrived there in their boat, Granganimeo was absent, but 
 his wife entertained them with the kindest hospitality, washed their feet and their 
 clothes, ordered their boat to be drawn ashore and their oars to be secured, and then 
 sated them with venison, fish, fruits, and hominy. Whilst they were at supper, 
 some of her men came in from hunting, with their bows and arrows in their hands; 
 on which her guests began to mistrust danger, but she ordered their bows to be taken 
 from them, and their arrows to be broken, and then turned them out at the gate. 
 The English, however, thought it most prudent to pass the night in their boat, which 
 they launched, and laid at anchor. At this she much grieved ; but finding all her 
 solicitations ineffectual, she ordered the victuals in the pots to be put on board, with 
 mats to cover the people from the rain, and appointed several persons of both sexes 
 to keep guard on the beach during the whole night. Could there be a more engag 
 ing specimen of generous hospitality ? 
 
 These people were characterized as " gentle, loving, and faithful ; void of guile and 
 treachery; living after the manner of the golden age; caring only to feed themselves 
 with such food as the soil affordeth, and to defend themselves from the cold, in their 
 short winter." 
 
 No farther discovery was made of the country by these adventurers. From the 
 natives they obtained some uncertain account of its geography, and of a ship which 
 had been wrecked on the coast between twenty and thirty years before. They car 
 ried away two of the natives, Wanchese and Manteo ; and arrived in the west of 
 England about the middle of September. 
 
 The account of this discovery was so welcome to Queen Elizabeth, that she 
 named the country Virginia ; either in memory of her own virginity, or because it 
 retained its virgin purity, and the people their primitive simplicity. 
 
 About this time Raleigh was elected knight of the shire, for his native county of 
 Devon ; and in the Parliament which was held in the succeeding winter, he caused a 
 bill to be brought into the House of Commons to confirm his patent for the discov 
 ery of foreign countries. After much debate, the bill was carried through both 
 houses, and received the . royal assent. In addition to which, the Queen conferred 
 on him the order of knighthood. 
 
 A second expedition being resolved on, Sir Richard Grenville himself took the 
 command, and with seven vessels, large and small, sailed from Plymouth on the gth 
 of April, 1585. They went in the usual course, by the Canaries and the West Indies 
 where they took two Spanish prizes ; and, after narrowly escaping shipwreck on Cape 
 Fear, arrived at Wococon the 26th of June. 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 59 
 
 The natives came, as before, to bid them welcome and to trade with them. 
 Manteo, whom they had brought back, proved a faithful guide, and piloted them 
 about from place to place. In an excursion of eight days with their boats, they vis 
 ited several Indian villages, on the islands and on the main adjoining to Albemarle 
 Sound. At one place, called Aquascogok, an Indian stole from them a silver cup. 
 Inquiry being made, the offender was detected and promised to restore it ; but the 
 promise being not speedily performed, a hasty and severe revenge was taken, by the 
 orders of Grenville ; the town was burnt and the corn destroyed in the fields (July 
 16), whilst the affrighted people fled to the woods for safety. From this ill-judged 
 act of violence, may be dated the misfortunes and failure of this colony. 
 
 Leaving one hundred and eight persons to attempt a settlement, Grenville pro 
 ceeded with his fleet to the Island of Hatteras ; where he received a visit from 
 Granganimeo, and then sailed for England. On the I3th of September he arrived 
 at Plymouth, with a rich Spanish prize which he had taken on the passage. 
 
 Of the colony left in Virginia, Ralph Lane was appointed Governor. He was a 
 military man, of considerable reputation in the service. Philip Amadas, who had 
 commanded in the first voyage, was Admiral. They chose the Island of Roanoke, 
 in the mouth of Albemarle Sound, as the place of their residence ; and their chief 
 employment was to explore and survey the country, and describe the persons and 
 manners of its inhabitants. For these purposes, Sir Walter Raleigh had sent John 
 White, an ingenious painter; and Thomas Heriot, a skillful mathematician, and a 
 man of curious observation : both of whom performed their parts with fidelity and 
 success. 
 
 The farthest discovery which they made to the southward of Roanoke was Secotan, 
 an Indian town between the rivers of Pamptico and Neus, distant eighty leagues. 
 To the northward they went about forty leagues, to a nation called Chesepeags, on a 
 small river now called Elisabeth, which falls into Chesepeag Bay, below Norfolk. To 
 the westward they went up Albemarle Sound and Chowan River, about forty leagues, 
 to a nation called Chowanogs; whose King, Menatonona, amused them with a story 
 of a copper mine and a pearl fishery; in search of which they spent so much time 
 and so exhausted their provisions, that they were glad to eat their dogs before they 
 returned to Roanoke. 
 
 During this excursion their friend Granganimeo died ; and his brother Wingina 
 discovered his hostile disposition toward the colony. The return of Mr. Lane and 
 his party from their excursion gave a check to his malice for a while ; but he secretly 
 laid a plot for their destruction ; which, being betrayed by the English, they seized 
 all the boats on the island. This brought on a skirmish, in which five or six Indians 
 were killed, and the rest fled to the woods. After much jealousy and dissimulation 
 on both sides, Wingina was drawn into a snare, and with eight of his men fell a 
 sacrifice to the resentment of the English. 
 
 In a few days after Wingina s death, Sir Francis Drake, who had been cruising 
 against the Spaniards in the West Indies, and had received orders from the Queen 
 to visit this colony, arrived with his fleet on the coast ; and by the unanimous desire 
 of the people, took them all off and carried them, to England, where they arrived in 
 July, 1586. 
 
 Within a fortnight after the departure of this unfortunate colony Sir Richard 
 Grenville arrived with three ships for their relief. Finding their habitation aban- 
 
60 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 cloned, and being unable to gain any intelligence of them, he landed fifty men on 
 the Island of Roanoke, plentifully supplied with provisions for two years, and then 
 returned to England. 
 
 The next year (1587) three ships were sent, under the command of John White, 
 who was appointed governor of the colony, with twelve counselors. To them 
 Raleigh gave a charter of incorporation for the city of Raleigh, which he ordered 
 them to build on the river Chesepeag, the northern extent of the discovery. After 
 narrowly escaping shipwreck on Cape Fear they arrived at Hatteras, on the 22d of 
 July, and sent a party to Roanoke to look for the second colony of fifty men. They 
 found no person living, and the bones of but one dead. The huts were standing, but 
 were overgrown with bushes and weeds. In conversing with some of the natives they 
 were informed that the colony had been destroyed by Wingina s people, in revenge 
 of his death. 
 
 Mr. White endeavored to renew a friendly intercourse with those natives, but 
 their jealousy rendered them implacable. He therefore went across the water to the 
 main with a party of twenty-five men, and came suddenly on a company of friendly 
 Indians, who were seated round a fire, one of whom they killed before they discovered 
 their mistake. 
 
 Two remarkable events are mentioned as happening at this time ; one was the 
 baptism of Manteo, the faithful Indian guide ; the other was the birth of a female 
 child, daughter of Ananias Dare, one of the council, which, being the first child born 
 in the colony, was named Virginia. 
 
 By this time (August 21) the ships had unloaded their stores and were preparing 
 to return to England. It was evident that a further supply was necessary, and that 
 some person must go home to solicit it. A dispute arose in the council on this 
 point, and after much altercation it was determined that the Governor was the most 
 proper person to be sent on this errand. The whole colony joined in requesting him 
 to proceed, promising to take care of his interest in his absence. With much reluc 
 tance he consented, on their subscribing a testimonial of his unwillingness to quit 
 the plantation. He accordingly sailed on the 27th of August, and arrived in England 
 the following November. The nation was in a state of alarm and apprehension on 
 account of the war with Spain and of the invincible armada, which had threatened it 
 with an invasion. Sir Walter Raleigh was one of the Queen s Council of War, as 
 were also Sir Richard Grenville and Mr. Lane. Their time was wholly taken up 
 with public consultations, and Governor White was obliged to wait till the plan of 
 operations against the enemy could be adjusted and carried into execution. 
 
 The next spring Raleigh and Grenville, who had the command of the militia in 
 Cornwall, and were training them for the defense of the kingdom, being strongly 
 solicited by White, provided two small barks, which sailed from Biddeford on the 
 22d of April, 1588. These vessels had commissions as ships of war, and, being more 
 intent on gain for themselves than relief to the colony, went in chase of prizes, and 
 were both driven back by ships of superior force, to the great mortification of their 
 patron and the ruin of his colony. 
 
 These disappointments were a source of vexation to Raleigh. He had expended 
 forty thousand pounds of his own and other men s money in pursuit of his favorite 
 object, and his gains were yet to come. He therefore made an assignmen! of his 
 patent (March 7, 1589) to Thomas Smith and other merchants and adventurers, 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OK THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 61 
 
 among whom was Governor White, with a donation of one hundred pounds for the 
 propagation of the Christian religion in Virginia. Being thus disengaged from the 
 business of colonization, he had full scope for his martial genius in the war with Spain. 
 
 His assignees were not so zealous in the prosecution of their business. It was not 
 till the spring of 1590 that Governor White could return to his colony. Then, with 
 three ships, he sailed from Plymouth, and passing through the West Indies in quest of 
 Spanish prizes, he arrived at Hatteras on the I5th of August. From this place they 
 observed a smoke arising on the Island of Roanoke, which gave them some hope that 
 the colony was there subsisting; on their coming to the place, they found old trees 
 and grass burning, but no human being. On a post of one of the houses they saw 
 the word Croatan, which gave them some hope that at the island of that name they 
 should find their friends. They sailed for that island, which lay southward of Hat 
 teras ; but a violent storm arising, in which they lost their anchors, they were obliged 
 to quit the inhospitable coast and return home ; nor was anything afterward heard 
 of the unfortunate colony. 
 
 The next year (1591) Sir Richard Grenville was mortally wounded in an engage 
 ment with a Spanish fleet, and died on board the Admiral s ship, where he was 
 a prisoner. 
 
 Raleigh, though disengaged from the business of colonizing Virginia, sent five 
 times at his own expense to seek for and relieve his friends ; but the persons whom 
 he employed, having more profitable business in the West Indies, either went not to 
 the place, or were forced from it by stress of weather, it being a tempestuous region, 
 and without any safe harbor. The last attempt v/hich he made was in 1602, the year 
 before his imprisonment, an event which gratified the malice of his enemies, and pre 
 pared the way for his death, which was much less ignominious to him than to his sover 
 eign, King James I., the British Solomon, successor to Elizabeth, the British Deborah. 
 
 This unfortunate attempt to settle a colony in Virginia was productive of one 
 thing which will always render it memorable, the introduction of tobacco in England. 
 Cartier, in his visit to Canada, fifty years before, had observed that the natives used 
 this weed fumigation, but it was an object of disgust to Frenchmen. Ralph Lane, at 
 his return in 1586, brought it first into Europe; and Raleigh, who was a man of 
 gayety and fashion, not only learned the use of it himself, but introduced it into the 
 polite circles, and even the Queen herself gave encouragement to it. Some humorous 
 stories respecting it are still remembered. Raleigh laid a wager with the Queen 
 that he would determine exactly the weight of smoke which issued from his pipe. 
 This he did by first weighing the tobacco and then the ashes. When the Queen paid 
 the wager, she pleasantly observed, that many laborers had turned their gold into 
 smoke, but that he was the first who had converted smoke into gold. 
 
 It is also related that a servant of Sir Walter, bringing a tankard of ale into his 
 study as he was smoking his pipe and reading, was so much alarmed at the appear 
 ance of smoke issuing out of his mouth, that he threw the ale into his face, and ran 
 down to alarm the family, crying out that his master was on fire. 
 
 King James had so refined a taste, that he not only held this Indian weed in great 
 abhorrence himself, but endeavored, by proclamations and otherwise, to prevent the 
 use of it among his subjects. But all his zeal and authority could not suppress it. 
 Since his time it has become an important article of commerce, by which individuals 
 in Europe and America, as well as colonies and nations, have risen to great opulence. 
 
62 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 JOHN DE FUC A. 
 
 JOHN DE FUCA A NATIVE OF GREECE AN ACCOUNT OF HIS ADVENTURES AND DISCOVERIES 
 GIVEN BY HIMSELF LOCKE ENDEAVORS TO PROCURE DE FUCA A COMMISSION REMARKS. 
 
 WHEN the existence of a western continent was known to the maritime nations 
 of Europe, one great object of their inquiry was, to find, through some openings 
 which appeared in it, a passage to India and China. For this purpose several ex 
 pensive and unsuccessful voyages were made ; and every hint which could throw any 
 light on the subject was eagerly sought and attended to by those who considered its 
 importance. 
 
 John de Fuca was a Greek, born in the island of Cephalonia, in the Adriatic Gulf. 
 He had been employed in the service of Spain, in the West Indies, as a mariner and 
 pilot, above forty years. Having lost his fortune, amounting (as he said) to sixty 
 thousand ducats, when the Acapulco ship was taken by Captain Cavendish, an 
 Englishman, and being disappointed of the recompense which he had expected from 
 the Court of Spain, he returned in disgust to his native country, by the way of Italy, 
 that he might spend the evening of his life in peace and poverty, among his friends. 
 
 At Florence he met with John Douglas, an Englishman, and went with him to 
 Venice. There Douglas introduced him to Michael Lock, who had been Consul of 
 the Turkey Company at Aleppo, and was then occasionally resident in Venice. 
 (A.D. 1596). 
 
 In conversation with Mr. Lock, De Fuca gave him the following account of his 
 adventures : 
 
 " That he had been sent by the Viceroy of Mexico, as pilot of three small vessels, 
 to discover the Straits of Anian, on the western coast of America ; through which it 
 was conjectured that a passage might be found into some of the deep bays on the 
 eastern side of the continent. This voyage was frustrated by the misconduct of the 
 commander and the mutiny of the seamen. 
 
 " In 1592 the Viceroy sent him again, with the command of a caravel and a pin 
 nace, on the same enterprise. Between the latitudes of 47 and 48 N. he discovered 
 an inlet, into which he entered and sailed more than twenty days. At the entrance 
 was a great headland, with an exceeding high pinnacle, or spired rock, like a pillar. 
 Within the strait the land stretched north-west and north-east, and also east and 
 south-east. It was much wider within than at the entrance, and contained many 
 islands. The inhabitants were clad in the skins of beasts. The land appeared to 
 be fertile, like that of New Spain, and was rich in gold and silver. 
 
 " Supposing that he had accomplished the intention of the voyage and penetrated 
 into the North Sea, but not being strong enough to resist the force of the numerous 
 savages who appeared on the shores, he returned to Acapuco before the expiration 
 of the year." 
 
 Such was the account given by De Fuca ; and Mr. Lock was so impressed with 
 the sincerity of the relation and the advantages which his countrymen might derive 
 from a knowledge of this strait, that he earnestly urged him to enter into the service 
 of Queen Elizabeth and perfect the discovery. He succeeded so far as to obtain a 
 promise from the Greek, though sixty years old, that if the Queen would furnish him 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. f>3 
 
 with one ship of forty tons and a pinnace, he would undertake the voyage. He was 
 the more easily persuaded to do this by a hope that the Queen would make him some 
 recompense for the loss of his fortune by Captain Cavendish. 
 
 Mr. Lock wrote to the Lord Treasurer Cecil, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Mr. Hak- 
 luyt, requesting that they \\ ould forward the scheme, and that one hundred pounds 
 might be advanced to bring De Fuca to England. The scheme was approved, but 
 the money was not advanced. Lock was so much engaged in it that he would have 
 sent him to England at his own expense, but he was then endeavoring to recover at 
 law his demands from the Turkey Company, and could not disburse the money. 
 The pilot, therefore, returned to Cephalonia ; and Lock kept up a correspondence 
 with him till 1602, when he heard of his death. 
 
 Though this account, preserved by Purchas, bears sufficient marks of authenticity, 
 yet it has been rejected as fabulous for nearly two centuries, and is treated so even 
 by the very candid Dr. Forster. Late voyages, however, have established the exist 
 ence of the strait; and De Fuca is no longer to be considered as an impostor, though 
 the gold and silver in his account were but conjectural. 
 
 The strait which now bears his name is formed by land, which is supposed to be 
 the Continent of America on one side, and by a very extensive cluster of islands on 
 the other. Its southern entrance lies in lat. 48 20 N., long. 124 W. from Greenwich, 
 and is about seven leagues wide. On the larboard side, which is composed of islands, 
 the land is very mountainous, rising abruptly in high and sharp peaks. On the star 
 board side is a point of land terminating in a remarkably tall rock, called the Pillar. 
 Within the entrance the passage grows wider, extending to the south-west, north, 
 and north-west, and is full of islands. On the east and north-east, at a great distance, 
 are seen the tops of mountains, supposed to be on the continent ; but the ships 
 trading for furs have not penetrated far to the eastward, the sea otters being their 
 principal object, and the land furs of small consideration. For this reason the 
 eastern boundary of the inland sea is not yet fully explored. The strait turns to the 
 north and north-west, encompassing a large cluster of islands, among which is situate 
 Nootka Sound, and comes into the Pacific Ocean again in latitude 51 15 , long. 128 
 40 . This extremity of the strait is called its northern entrance, and is wider than 
 the southern. 
 
 Another strait has been lately seen which is supposed to be that of De Fontc, a 
 Spanish Admiral, discovered in 1640; the existence of which has also been treated 
 as fabulous. The cluster of islands called by the British seamen Queen Charlotte s, 
 and by the Americans, Washington s Islands, are in the very spot where De Fonte 
 placed the Archipelago of St. Lazarus. The entrance of this strait has been visited 
 by the fur ships. It lies in lat. 54 35 and long. 131 W. 
 
 These recent and well-established facts may induce us to treat the relations of 
 foreign voyages with decent respect. The circumnavigation of Africa by the ancient 
 Phenicians was for several ages deemed fabulous by the learned Greeks and Romans. 
 But its credibility was fully established by the Portuguese discoveries in the fifteenth 
 century. In like manner the discoveries of DC Fuca and De Fonte, which have long 
 been stigmatized by geographers as pretended, and marked in their maps as imaginary, 
 are now known to have been founded in truth, though from the imperfection of 
 instruments or the inaccuracy of historians, the degrees and minutes of latitude and 
 longitude were not precisely marked, and though some circumstances in their ac- 
 
64 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 counts are but conjectural. Farther discoveries may throw new light on the subject, 
 and though, perhaps, a north-west passage by sea from the Atlantic into the Pacific 
 may not exist ; yet bays, rivers, and lakes are so frequent in those northern regions 
 of our continent, that an inland navigation may be practicable. 
 
 It has been suggested that the company of English merchants who enjoy an 
 exclusive trade to Hudson s Bay have, from interested motives, concealed their 
 knowledge of its western extremities. Whether there be any just foundation for 
 this censure, I do not pretend to determine ; but a survey is now said to be making, 
 from which it is hoped, that this long-contested question of a north-west passage 
 will receive a full solution. 
 
 BARTHOLOMEW GOSNOLD. 
 
 BARTHOLOMEW GOSNOLD HIS VOYAGE TO AMERICA HIS ARRIVAL IN VIRGINIA DESCRIP 
 TION OF THE SEA-COAST VISIT OF THE INDIANS ABANDONMENT OF THE COLONY BY 
 THE ENGLIS 
 
 THE unfortunate issue of Raleigh s attempt to make a settlement in America, 
 together with the war with Spain, which continued for several years, gave a check 
 to the spirit of colonizing. In the beginning of the seventeenth century it was 
 revived by BARTHOLOMEW GOSNOLD, an intrepid mariner in the west of England. 
 At whose expense he undertook his voyage to the northern part of Virginia does 
 not appear; but on the 26th of March, 1602, he sailed from Falmouth in Cornwall, 
 in a small bark with thirty-two men. Instead of going by the way of the Canaries 
 and the West Indies, he kept as far north as the winds would permit, and was the 
 first Englishman who came in a direct course to this part of America. 
 
 On the 1 4th of May they made the land, and met with a shallop of European 
 fabric, in which were eight savages, one of whom was dressed in European clothes, 
 from which they concluded that some unfortunate fisherman of Biscay or Brittany 
 had been wrecked on the coast. 
 
 The next day they had again sight of land, which appeared like an island, by 
 reason of a large sound which lay between it and the main. This sound they called 
 Shole Hope. Near this cape they took a great number of cod, from which circum 
 stance they named the land Cape Cod. It is described as a low sandy shore, in lat 
 itude 42. The captain went on shore and found the sand very deep. A young 
 Indian, with plates of copper hanging to his ears, and a bow and arrows in his hand, 
 came to him, and in a friendly manner offered his service. 
 
 On the l6th they coasted the land southerly, and at the end of twelve leagues 
 discovered a point with breakers at a distance ; and, in attempting to double it, came 
 suddenly into shoal water. To this point of land they gave the name of Point Care. 
 It is now called Sandy Point, and forms the south-eastern extremity of the county 
 of Barnstable in Massachusetts. 
 
 Finding themselves surrounded by shoals and breakers, they lay at anchor till 
 they had examined the coast and soundings in their boat ; during which time some 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. rt5 
 
 of the natives made them a visit. One of them had a plate of copper over his 
 breast a foot in length and half a foot in breadth ; the others had pendants of the 
 same metal at their ears ; they all had pipes of tobacco, of which they were very 
 fond. 
 
 In surveying the coast they discovered breakers lying off a point of land, which 
 they denominated Gilbert s Point. It is now called Point Gammon, and forms the 
 eastern side of the harbor of Hyennes. 
 
 On the i gth they passed the breach of Gilbert s Point in four and five fathoms 
 of water, and anchored a league or more to the westward of it. Several hummocks 
 and hills appeared, which at first were taken to be islands; these were the high lands 
 of Barnstable and Yarmouth. 
 
 To the westward of Gilbert s Point appeared an opening, which Gosnold imag 
 ined to have a communication with the supposed sound which he had seen westward 
 of Cape Cod ; he therefore gave it the same name, Shole Hope ; but, finding the 
 water to be no more than three fathoms deep at the distance of a league, he 
 did not attempt to enter it. From this opening the land tended to the south-west ; 
 and, in coasting it, they came to an island, to which they gave the name of Martha s 
 Vineyard. This island is described as " distant eight leagues from Shole Hope, five 
 miles in circuit, and uninhabited ; full of wood, vines, and berries. Here they saw 
 deer and took abundance of cod." 
 
 From their station off this island, where they rode in eight fathoms, they sailed 
 on the 24th, and doubled the cape of another island next to it, which they called 
 Dover Cliff. This course brought them into a sound, where they anchored for the 
 night, and the next morning sent their boat to examine another cape which lay be 
 tween them and the main, from which projected a ledge of rocks a mile into the sea, 
 but all above water and not dangerous. Having passed round them, they came to 
 anchor again in one of the finest sounds they had ever seen, and to which they gave 
 the name of Gosnold s Hope. On the northern side of it was the main, and on the 
 southern, parallel to it at the distance of four leagues, was a large island, which they 
 called Elizabeth in honor of their Queen. On this island they determined to take 
 up their abode, and pitched upon a small woody islet in the middle of a fresh pond 
 as a safe place to build their fort. A little to the northward of this large island lay 
 a small one, half a mile in compass and full of cedars. This they called Hill s Hap. 
 On the opposite shore appeared another similar elevation, to which they gave the 
 name of Hap s Hill. 
 
 By this description of the coast, it is evident that the sound into which Gosnold 
 entered was Buzzard s Bay. The island which he called Martha s Vineyard was not 
 that which now goes by that name, but a small island ; the easternmost of those 
 which arc known by the name of Elizabeth s Islands. It is called by the Indians, 
 Nenimissctt. Its present circumference is about four miles, but it has doubtless been 
 diminished since Gosnold s time by the force of the tides, which set into and out of 
 the bay with great rapidity. Its natural productions and pleasant situation answer 
 well to his description, and deer are frequently seen and hunted upon it, but none 
 were ever known to have been on the great island now called Martha s Vineyard, 
 which is above twenty miles in length and was always full of inhabitants. For what 
 reason and at what time the name was transferred from the one to the other I have 
 not yet learned. 
 
 9 
 
fi6 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 The cliff named Dover is supposed to be the eastern head of a small island, which 
 was called by the natives Onky Tonky, and is now corrupted into Uncle Timmy. 
 The rocky ledge is called Rattlesnake Neck. Hill s Hap consists now of two very 
 small islands called VViekpeckets. There is every appearance that these were for 
 merly united, and there are now a few cedars on them. Hap s Hill, on the opposite 
 part of the main, is a small elevated island of an oval form near the mouth of a 
 river which passes through the towns of Wareham and Rochester. It is a conspicu 
 ous object to navigators. 
 
 The island on which Gosnold and his company took up their abode, is now called 
 by its Indian name, Naushaun, and is the property of the Honorable James Bowdoin, 
 of Boston, to whom I am indebted for these remarks on Gosnold s journal, which is 
 extant at large in Purchas collections. 
 
 Near the south-west end of Naushaun is a large fresh pond, such an one as answers 
 Gosnold s description, excepting that there is no islet in the middle of it. The shore 
 is sandy ; but what revolution may have taken place within the space of almost two 
 centuries past we can not say. 
 
 Whilst some of Gosnold s men labored in building a fort and storehouse on the 
 small island in the pond, and a flat-boat to go to it, he crossed the bay in his vessel 
 and discovered the mouths of two rivers; one was that near which lay Hap s Hill, 
 and the other, that on the shore of which the town of New Bedford is now built. 
 
 After five days absence, Gosnold returned to the island and was received by his 
 people with great ceremony on account of an Indian chief and fifty of his men who 
 were there on a visit. To this chief they presented a straw hat and two knives; the 
 hat he little regarded, but the knives were highly valued. They feasted these sav 
 ages with fish and mustard, and diverted themselves with the effect of the mustard 
 on their noses. One of them stole a target, but it was restored. They did not ap 
 pear to be inhabitants, but occasional visitants at the island for the sake of gathering 
 shell-fish. Four of them remained after the others were gone, and helped the En 
 glish to dig the roots of sassafras, with which, as well as the furs which they bought 
 of the Indians, the vessel was loaded. 
 
 After spending three weeks in preparing a storehouse, when they came to divide 
 their provision there was not enough to victual the ship and to subsist the planters 
 till the ship s return. Some jealousy also arose about the intentions of those who 
 were going back; and after five days consultation they determined to give up their 
 design of planting and return to England. On the i8th of June they sailed out of 
 the bay through the same passage by which they had entered it ; and on the 236 of 
 July they arrived at Exmouth, in the west of England. 
 
 Gosnold s intention was to have remained with a part of his men, and to have 
 sent Gilbert, the second in command, to England for farther supplies; but half of so 
 small a company would not have been a sufficient number to resist the savages had 
 they been disposed to attack them. 
 
 After his return to England he was indefatigable in his endeavors to forward. the 
 settling of a colony in America, and was one of those who embarked in the next ex 
 pedition to Virginia, where he had the rank of a counsellor, and where he died in the 
 year 1607. 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. C7 
 
 JOHN SMITH. 
 
 JOHN SMITH HIS TRAVELS* AND ADVENTURES ON THE CONTINENT HE JOINS THE AUSTRIAN 
 ARMY HIS ENCOUNTER WITH THE TURKS SMITH IS MADE PRISONER HE IS SOLD AS A 
 SLAVE HIS ESCAPE AND RETURN TO ENGLAND HE MEETS GOSNOLD THEY SAIL TO VIR 
 GINIA DIFFICULTIES IN THE COMPANY SMITH IS TAKEN PRISONER BY THE INDIANS- 
 HE IS CONDEMNED TO DEATH HE IS SAVED BY POCAHONTAS, DAUGHTER OF THE INDIAN 
 CHIEF HIS RELEASE -HIS DISCOVERIES SMITH IS MADE PRESIDENT OF VIRGINIA HIS 
 FAME AMONG THE INDIANS HIS SINGULAR DISCIPLINE HIS RETURN TO ENGLAND HIS 
 VOYAGE TO NORTH VIRGINIA HIS WRITINGS HIS DEATH. 
 
 THOUGH the early part of the life of this extraordinary man was spent in foreign 
 travels and adventures which have no reference to America, yet the incidents of that 
 period so strongly -mark his character, and give such a tincture to his subsequent 
 actions, and are withal so singular in themselves, that no reader (it is presumed) will 
 censure the introduction of them here as impertinent. 
 
 He was born at Willoughby, in Lincolnshire, in the year 1579.* From the first 
 dawn of reason he discovered a roving and romantic genius, and delighted in extrav 
 agant and daring actions among his school-fellows. When about thirteen years of 
 age he sold his books and satchel and his puerile trinkets to raise money, with a view 
 to convey himself privately to sea ; but the death of his father put a stop for the 
 present to this attempt, and threw him into the hands of guardians who endeavored 
 to check the ardor of his genius by confining him to a compting house. Being put 
 apprentice to a merchant at Lynn, at the age of fifteen, he at first conceived hopes 
 that his master would send him to sea in his service, but this hope failing, he quitted 
 his master, and with only ten shillings in his pocket entered into the train of a young 
 nobleman who was traveling to France. At Orleans he was discharged from his 
 attendance on Lord Bertie, and had money given him to return to England. With 
 this money he visited Paris, and proceeded to the Low Countries, where he enlisted 
 as a soldier, and learned the rudiments of war, a science peculiarly agreeable to his 
 ardent and active genius. Meeting with a Scots gentleman abroad, he was persuaded 
 to pass into Scotland, with the promise of being strongly recommended to King 
 James; but, being baffled in this expectation, he returned to his native town, and, 
 finding no company there which suited his taste, he built a booth in a wood, and betook 
 himself to the study of military history and tactics, diverting himself at intervals 
 with his horse and lance; in which exercise he at length found a companion, an 
 Italian gentleman, rider to the Earl of Lincoln, who drew him from his sylvan retire 
 ment to Tattersal. 
 
 * This is determined by an inscription annexed to his portrait on his map of New England "ytat 37. 
 Anno 1616." 
 
 This portrait represents him clad in armor, and under it are these verses ; 
 
 " Such are the lines that show thy face ; but those 
 
 That show thy grace and glory brighter bee ; 
 Thy faire discoveries and fowle overthrowes 
 
 Of salvages much civilized by thee, 
 Best show thy spirit, and to it glory win 
 
 So thou art brasse without, but golde within." 
 
68 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 Having recovered a part of the estate which his father had left him, he put him 
 self into a better condition than before, and set off again on his travels, in the winter 
 of the year 1596, being then only seventeen years of age. His first stage was Flan 
 ders, where, meeting with a Frenchman who pretended to be heir to a noble family, 
 he, with his three attendants, prevailed upon Smith to go with them to France. In 
 a dark night they arrived at St. Valery in Picardy, and, by the connivance of the 
 ship-master, the Frenchmen were carried ashore with the trunks of our young trav 
 eler, whilst he was left on board till the return of the boat. In the meantime they 
 had conveyed the baggage out of his reach, and were not to be found. A sailor on 
 board, who knew the villains, generously undertook to conduct him to Mortaine, where 
 they lived, and supplied his wants till their arrival at the place. Here he found their 
 friends, from whom he could gain no recompense; but the report of his sufferings 
 induced several persons of distinction to invite him to their houses. 
 
 Eager to pursue his travels, and not caring to receive favors which he was unable 
 to requite, he left his new friends, and went from port to port in search of a ship of 
 war. In one of these rambles, near Dinan, it was his chance to meet one of the vil 
 lains who had robbed him. Without speaking a word, they both drew ; and Smith 
 having wounded and disarmed his antagonist, obliged him to confess his guilt before 
 a number of persons who had assembled on the occasion. 
 
 Satisfied with his victory, he retired to the seat of an acquaintance, the Earl of 
 Ployer, who had been brought up in England, and having received supplies from 
 him, he traveled along the French coast to Bayonne, and from thence crossed over 
 to Marseilles, visiting and observing everything in his way which had any reference 
 to naval or military achitecture. 
 
 At Marseilles he embarked for Italy, in company with a rabble of pilgrims. The 
 ship was forced by a tempest into the harbor of Toulon, and afterward was obliged 
 by a contrary wind to anchor under the little island of St. Mary, off Nice, in Savoy. 
 The bigotry of the pilgrims made them ascribe their ill-fortune to the presence of a 
 heretic on board. They devoutly cursed Smith and his Queen Elizabeth, and in a fit 
 of pious rage, threw him into the sea. He swam to the island, and the next day was 
 taken on board a ship of St. Malo, which had also put in there for shelter. The 
 master of the ship, who was well known to his noble friend, the Earl of Ployer, enter 
 tained him kindly, and carried him to Alexandria in Egypt ; from thence he coasted 
 the Levant ; and on his return had the high satisfaction of a naval engagement with 
 a Venetian ship, which they took and rifled of her rich cargo. Smith was set on 
 shore at Antibes, with a box of a thousand chequins (about two thousand dollars), 
 by the help of which he made the tour of Italy, crossed the Adriatic, and traveled into 
 Stiria, to the seat of Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria. Here he met with an English 
 and an Irish Jesuit, who introduced him to Lord Eberspaught, Baron Kizel, and other 
 officers of distinction, and here he found full scope for his genius, for the Emperor 
 being then at war with the Turks, he entered into his army as a volunteer. 
 
 He had communicated to Eberspaught a method of conversing at a distance by 
 signals made with torches, which being alternately shown and hidden a certain num 
 ber of times, designated every letter of the alphabet. He had soon an opportunity 
 of making the experiment. Eberspaught being besieged by the Turks in the strong 
 town of Olimpach, was cut off from all intelligence and hope of succor from his 
 friends. Smith proposed his method of communication to Baron Kizel, wh o ap- 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 69 
 
 proved it, and allowed him to put it in practice. He was conveyed by a guard to a 
 hill within view of the town, and sufficiently remote from the Turkish camp. At the 
 display of the signal, Eberspaught knew and answered it, and Smith conveyed 
 to him this intelligence, "Thursday night I will charge on the East; at the alarm 
 sally thou." The answer was, " I will." Just before the attack, by Smith s advice, 
 a great number of false fires were made on another quarter, which divided the 
 attention of the enemy and gave advantage to the assailants ; who, being 
 assisted by a sally from the town, killed many of the Turks, drove others into the 
 river, and threw succors into the place, which obliged the enemy the next day to 
 raise the siege. This well-conducted exploit produced to our young adventurer the 
 command of a company, consisting of two hundred and fifty horsemen in the regi 
 ment of Count Meldrick, a nobleman of Transylvania. 
 
 The regiment in which he served being engaged in several hazardous enterprises, 
 Smith was foremost in all dangers and distinguished himself both by his ingenuity 
 and by his valor; and when Meldrick left the Imperial army, and passed into the 
 service of his native prince, Smith followed him. 
 
 At the siege of Regal, the Ottomans derided the slow approaches of the Tran- 
 sylvanian army, and sent a challenge, purporting that the Lord Turbisha, to divert 
 the ladies, would fight any single captain of the Christian troops. The honor of 
 accepting this challenge being determined by lot, fell on Captain Smith ; who, meet 
 ing his antagonist on horseback, within view of the ladies on the battlements, at the 
 sound of music began the encounter, and in a short time killed him, and bore away 
 his head in triumph to his General, the Lord Moyzes. 
 
 The death of the chief so irritated his friend Grualgo, that he sent a particular 
 challenge to the conqueror, who, meeting him with the same ceremonies, after a 
 smart combat, took off his head also. Smith then in his turn sent a message into 
 the town, informing the ladies, that if they wished for more diversion, they should 
 be welcome to his head, in case their third champion could take it. This challenge 
 was accepted by Bonamolgro, who unhorsed Smith and was near gaining the victory. 
 But remounting in a critical moment, he gave the Turk a stroke with his faulchion 
 which brought him to the ground, and his head was added to the number. For these 
 singular exploits he was honored with a military procession, consisting of six thou 
 sand men, three led horses, and the Turks heads on the points of three lances. 
 With this ceremony Smith was conducted to the pavilion of his General, who, after 
 embracing him, presented him with a horse richly furnished, a scimetar and belt 
 worth three hundred ducats, and a commission to be Major in his regiment. The 
 prince of Transylvania, after the capture of the place, made him a present of his 
 picture set in gold, and a pension of three hundred ducats per annum, and moreover 
 granted him a coat of arms bearing three Turks heads in a shield. The patent was 
 admitted and recorded in the College of Heralds in England, by Sir Henry Segar, 
 garter king-at-arms. Smith was always proud of this distinguishing honor, and these 
 arms are accordingly blazoned in the frontispiece to his history, with this motto, 
 " Vincere est vivere." After this, the Transylvanian army was defeated by a body 
 of Turks and Tartars near Rotenton, and many brave men were slain, among whom 
 were nine English and Scotch officers, who, after the fashion of that day, had entered 
 into this service from a religious zeal to drive the Turks out of Christendom. Smith 
 was wounded in this battle and lay among the dead. His habit discovered him to 
 
70 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 the victors as a person of consequence ; they used him well till his wounds were 
 healed, and then sold him to the Basha Bogal, who sent him as a present to his 
 mistress, Tragabigzanda, at Constantinople, accompanied with a message, as full of 
 vanity as void of truth, that he had conquered in battle a Bohemian nobleman, and 
 presented him to her as a slave. 
 
 The present proved more acceptable to the lady than her lord intended. She 
 could speak Italian ; and Smith, in that language, not only informed her of his 
 country and quality, but conversed with her in so pleasant a manner as to gain her 
 affections. The connection proved so tender, that to secure him for herself and to 
 prevent his being ill-used or sold again, she sent him to her brother, the Basha of 
 Nalbraitz, in the country of the Cambrian Tartars, on the borders of the Sea of 
 Asoph. Her pretense was that he should there learn the manners and language, as 
 well as the religion of the Tartars. By the terms in which she wrote to her brother 
 he suspected her design, and resolved to disappoint her. Within an hour after 
 Smith s arrival he was stripped ; his head and beard were shaven ; an iron collar was 
 put about his neck; he was clothed with a coat of hair-cloth, and driven to labor 
 among other Christian slaves. He had now no hope of redemption but from the 
 love of his mistress, who was at a great distance, and not likely to be informed of his 
 misfortune; the hopeless condition of his fellow-slaves could not alleviate his 
 despondency. 
 
 In the depth of his distress an opportunity presented for an escape, which, to a 
 person of a less courageous and adventurous spirit, w&uld have proved an aggravation 
 of misery. He was employed in threshing at a grange, in a large field about a league 
 from the house of his tyrant, who in his daily visits treated him with abusive lan 
 guage, accompanied with blows and kicks. This was more than Smith could bear; 
 wherefore, watching an opportunity when no other person was present, he leveled a 
 stroke at him with his threshing instrument, which dispatched him. Then, hiding 
 his body in the straw and shutting the doors, he filled a bag with grain, mounted 
 the Basha s horse, and, betaking himself to the desert, wandered for two or three 
 days, ignorant of the way, and so fortunate as not to meet with a single person who 
 might give information of his flight. At length he came to a post erected in a cross 
 road, by the marks on which he found his way to Muscovy, and in sixteen days 
 arrived at Exapolis, on the River Don, where was a Russian garrison, the commander 
 of which, understanding he was a Christian, received him courteously, took off his 
 iron collar, and gave him letters to the other governors in that region. Thus he 
 traveled through part of Russia and Poland, till he got back to his friends in Tran 
 sylvania ; receiving presents in his way from many persons of distinction, among 
 whom he particularly mentions a charitable lady, Calmata, being always proud of his 
 connection with that sex, and fond of acknowledging their favors. At Leipsic he met 
 with his colonel, Count Meldrick, and Sigismund, Prince of Transylvania, who gave 
 him 1,500 ducats, to repair his losses. With this money he was enabled to travel 
 through Germany, France, and Spain, and, having visited the kingdoms of Morocco, 
 he returned by sea to England ; having in his passage enjoyed the pleasure of another 
 naval eng"gement. At his arrival in his native country he had a thousand ducats in 
 his purse, which, with the interest he had remaining in England, he devoted to seek 
 adventures and make discoveries in NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 Bartholomew Gosnold, having conceived a favorable idea of America, had made 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 71 
 
 it his business on his return to England to solicit assistance in prosecuting discov 
 eries. Meeting with Captain Smith, he readily entered into his views, the employ 
 ment being exactly suited to his enterprising genius. Having engaged Edward 
 Maria Wingfield, a merchant; Robert Hunt, a clergyman ; and several others, they 
 prevailed upon a number of noblemen, gentlemen, and merchants, to solicit a patent 
 from the Crown, by which the adventurers to Virginia became subject to legal direc 
 tion, and had the support and encouragement of a wealthy and respectable corpora 
 tion ; which was usually styled the South Virginia Company, or the London Company, 
 in distinction from the Plymouth Company, who superintended the affairs of North 
 Virginia. The date of their patent was April 10, 1606, and on the igth of the following 
 December, three ships, one of one hundred tons, another of forty, and one of twenty, 
 fell down the River Thames for Virginia. The commander was Christopher New 
 port, an experienced mariner. They had on board the necessary persons and pro 
 visions for a colony; and their orders for government were sealed in a box, which was 
 not to be opened till they should arrive in Virginia. 
 
 The ships were kept in the Downs by bad weather six weeks, and afterward had 
 a tempestuous voyage. They took the old route by the Canary and Caribbee Islands, 
 and did not make the entrance of Chesapeake Bay till the 26th of April, 1607. 
 From the beginning of their embarkation there was a jealousy and dissension among 
 the company. Smith and Hunt were friends, and both were envied and suspected 
 by the others. Hunt was judicious and patient ; his office secured him from insult. 
 Smith was ardent and industrious, courteous in his deportment, but liberal in his 
 language. On some suggestions that he intended to usurp the government, and that 
 his confederates were dispersed among the companies of each ship, he was made a 
 prisoner from the time of their leaving the Canaries, and was under confinement 
 when they arrived in the Chesapeake. When the box was opened it was found that 
 Bartholomew Gosnold, John Smith, Edward M. Wingfield, Christopher Newport, 
 John Ratcliffe, John Martin, and George Kendal were named to be of the council ; 
 who were to choose a president from among themselves for one year, and the gov 
 ernment was vested in them. Matters of moment were to be "examined by a jury, 
 but determined by the major part of the council, in which the president had two 
 voices." When the council was sworn, Wingfield was chosen president, and a decla 
 ration was made of the reasons for which Smith was not admitted and sworn among 
 the others. 
 
 Seventeen days from their arrival were spent in seeking a proper place for their 
 first plantation. The southern point of the bay was named Cape Henry, and the 
 northern Cape Charles, in honor of the two sons of King James. To the first great 
 river which they discovered they gave the name of their sovereign ; and the northern 
 point of its entrance was called Point Comfort, on account of the good channel and 
 anchorage which they found there. On the flats they took plenty of oysters, an 
 some of which were pearls ; and on the plain they found large and ripe strawberries, 
 which afforded them a delicious repast. 
 
 Having met with five of the natives, they invited them to their town, Kecoughtan, 
 where Hampton is now built. Here they were feasted with cakes made of Indian 
 corn, and regaled with tobacco and a dance. In return, they presented the natives 
 beads and other triivkets. Proceeding up the river, another company of Indians 
 appeared in arms. Their chief, Apamatica, holding in one hand his bow and arrow, 
 
72 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 nnd in the other a pipe of tobacco, demanded the cause of their coming ; they made 
 signs of peace, and were hospitably received. On the I3th of May they pitched 
 upon a peninsula, where the ships could lie in six-fathom water, moored to the trees, as 
 the place of their intended settlement. Here they were visited by Paspiha, another 
 Indian chief, who, being made acquainted with their design, offered them as much 
 land as they wanted, and afterward sent them a deer for their entertainment. On 
 this spot they pitched their tents, and gave it the name of Jamestown. 
 
 Every man was now employed either in digging and planting gardens, or making 
 nets, or in cutting and riving timber to reload the ships. The president at first would 
 admit of no martial exercise, nor allow any fortifications to be made, excepting the 
 boughs of trees thrown together in the form of a half-moon. Captain Newport took 
 Smith and twenty more with him to discover the head of James River. In six days 
 they arrived at the falls, and, erecting a cross, as they had at Cape Henry, took pos 
 session of the country in the name of King James. In this route they visited Pow- 
 HATAN, the principal Indian chief, or emperor. His town consisted of twelve houses, 
 pleasantly situated on a hill, before which were three islands, a little below the spot 
 where Richmond is now built. Captain Newport presented a hatchet to this prince, 
 which he gratefully received ; and when some of his Indians murmured at the coming 
 of the English among them, he silenced them by saying, " Why should we be 
 offended ? they hurt us not, nor take anything by force ; they want only a little 
 ground, which we can easily spare." This appearance of friendship was not much 
 relied on, when, at their return to Jamestown, they found that the company had 
 been surprised at their work by a party of Indians, who had killed one and wounded 
 seventeen others. A double-headed shot from one of the ships had cut off a bough 
 of a tree, which, falling among the Indians, terrified and dispersed them. This inci 
 dent obliged the president to alter the plan of the fort, which was now a triangular 
 palisade, with a lunette at each angle, and five pieces of artillery were mounted on 
 the works, which were completed by the 1 5th of June. It was also found necessary to 
 exercise the men at arms, to mount guard, and be vigilant ; for the Indians would 
 surprise and molest stragglers, whilst by their superior agility they would escape 
 unhurt. 
 
 The ships being almost ready to return, it was thought proper that some decision 
 should be had respecting the allegations against Smith. His accusers affected com 
 miseration, and pretended to refer him to the censure of the company in England, 
 rather than to expose him to legal prosecution which might injure his reputation or 
 touch his life. Smith, who knew both their malice and their impotence, openly 
 scorned their pretended pity and defied their resentment. He had conducted him 
 self so uncxceptionably in every employment which had been allotted to him, that 
 he had rendered himself very popular; and his accusers had by a different conduct 
 lost the affections and confidence of the people. Those who had been suborned to 
 accuse him acknowledged their fault, and discovered the secret arts which had been 
 practiced against him. He demanded a trial, and the issue was, that the president 
 w;:s adjudged to pay him two hundred pounds ; but when his property was seized 
 in part of this satisfaction, Smith generously turned it into the common store for the 
 benefit of the colony. Such an action could not but increase his popularity. Many 
 other difficulties had arisen among them, which, by the influence of Smith and the 
 exhortation of Hunt, their chaplain, were brought to a seemingly amicable conclu- 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EAKLv DISCOVERERS. Y3 
 
 sion. Smith was admitted to his scat in the council, and on the next Sunday they 
 celebrated the communion. At the same time the Indians came in, and voluntarily 
 desired peace. With the good report of these transactions Newport sailed for En 
 gland on the 23d of June, promising to return in twenty weeks with fresh supplies. 
 
 The colony thus left in Virginia consisted of one hundred and four persons, in 
 very miserable circumstances, especially on account of provisions, to which calamity 
 their long voyage did not a little contribute, both as it consumed their stock, and 
 deprived them of the opportunity of sowing seasonably in the spring. Whilst the 
 ships remained, they could barter with the sailors for bread ; but after their depart 
 ure, each man s allowance was half a pint of damaged wheat and as much barley per 
 day. The river, which at the flood was salt, and at the ebb was muddy, afforded 
 them their only drink ; it also supplied them with sturgeon and shell-fish. This kind 
 of food, with their continual labor in the heat of summer, and their frequent watch- 
 ings by night in all weathers, having only the bare ground to lie on, with but slight 
 covering, produced diseases among them, which, by the month of September, carried 
 off fifty persons, among whom was Captain Gosnold. Those who remained were 
 divided into three watches, of whom not more than five in each were capable of 
 duty at once. All this time the president, Wingfield, who had the key of the stores, 
 monopolized the few refreshments which remained, and was meditating to desert the 
 plantation privately in the pinnace, and remove to the West Indies. These things 
 rendered him so hateful to the rest, that they deposed him, and elected Ratcliffe in 
 his room ; they also removed Kendal from his place in the council ; so that by the 
 middle of September, three members only were left. 
 
 Ratcliffe, being a man of no resolution nor activity, committed the management 
 of affairs abroad to Smith, in v/hom his confidence was not misplaced. At the same 
 time the Indians in their neighborhood brought in a plentiful supply of such provis 
 ions as they had, which revived their drooping spirits ; and Smith seeing the neces 
 sity of exertion to secure themselves and provide for the approaching winter, partly 
 by his animating speeches, but more by his example, set them to work in mowing 
 and binding thatch, and in building and covering houses. In these exercises he bore 
 a large share, and in a short time got a sufficiency of houses to make comfortable 
 lodgings for all the people excepting himself. This being done, and the provisions 
 which the natives had brought in being expended, he picked a number of the best 
 hands and embarked in a shallop which they had brought from England, to search 
 the country for another supply. 
 
 The party which accompanied Smith in this excursion consisted of six men, well 
 armed, but ill provided with clothing and other necessaries. What was wanting in 
 equipment was to be supplied by resolution and address; and Smith s genius was 
 equal to the attempt. They proceeded down the river to Kecoughtan [Hampton], 
 where the natives, knowing the needy state of the colony, treated them with contempt, 
 offering an ear of corn in exchange for a musket or a sword, and in like proportion 
 for their scant and tattered garments. Finding that courtesy and gentle treatment 
 would not prevail, and that nothing was to be expected in the way of barter, and, 
 moreover, provoked by their contempt, Smith ordered his boat to be drawn on shore 
 and his men to fire at them. The affrighted natives fled to the woods, whilst the 
 party searched their houses, in which they found plenty of corn ; but Smith did not 
 permit his men to touch it, expecting that the Indians would return and attack them. 
 10 
 
74 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 They soon appeared, to the number of sixty or seventy, formed into a square, carry 
 ing their idol OKEE, composed of skins, stuffed with moss, and adorned with chains 
 of copper. They were armed with clubs and targets, bows and arrows, and advanced 
 singing to the charge. The party received them with a volley of shot, which brought 
 several of them to the ground, and their idol among them ; the rest fled again to the 
 woods, from whence they sent a deputation to offer peace and redeem their god. 
 Smith, having in his hands so valuable a pledge, was able to bring them to his own 
 terms; he stipulated that six of them should come unarmed, and load his boat with 
 corn, and on this condition he would be their friend and give them hatchets, beads, 
 and copper. These stipulations were faithfully performed on both sides; and the 
 Indians, in addition, presented them with venison, turkies, and other birds, and con 
 tinued singing and dancing till their departure. 
 
 The success of this attempt encouraged him to repeat his excursions by land and 
 water, in the course of which he discovered several branches of James River, and 
 particularly the Chickahominy, from whose fertile banks he hoped to supply the col 
 ony with provisions. But industry abroad will not make a flourishing plantation 
 without economy at home. What he had taken pains and risked his life to provide 
 was carelessly and wantonly expended ; the traffic with the natives being under 
 no regulation, each person made his own bargain, and, by outbidding each other, 
 they taught the Indians to set a higher value on their commodities, and to think 
 themselves cheated when they did not all get the same prices. This bred a jealousy 
 and sowed the seeds of a quarrel with them, which the colony were in a poor condi 
 tion to maintain, being at variance among themselves. 
 
 The shallop being again fitted for a trading voyage whilst Smith was abroad on 
 one of his usual rambles, and the people being discontented with the indolence of 
 Ratcliffe (their president), and the long sickness of Martin, Wingfield and Kendal, 
 who had been displaced, took advantage of Smith s absence, and conspired with 
 some malcontents to run away with the vessel and go to England. Smith returned 
 unexpectedly and the plot was discovered. To prevent its execution, recourse was 
 had to arms and Kendal was killed. Another attempt of the same kind was made 
 by Ratcliffe himself, assisted by Archer ; but Smith found means to defeat this also. 
 He determined to keep possession of the country the value of which was daily ris 
 ing in his estimation, not only as a source of wealth to individuals, but as a grand 
 national object and he knew that great undertakings could not be accomplished 
 without labor and perseverance. 
 
 As the autumn advanced the waters were covered with numerous wild fowl, 
 which, with the addition of corn, beans, and pumpkins, procured from the Indians, 
 changed hunger into luxury, and abated the rage for abandoning the country. 
 Smith had been once up the river Chickahominy, but because he had not penetrated 
 to its source, exceptions were taken to his conduct as too dilatory. This imputation 
 he determined to remove. In his next voyage he went so high that he was obliged 
 to cut the trees which had fallen into the river, to make his way through as far as his 
 boat could swim. He then left her in a safe place, ordering his men not to quit her 
 until his return; then, taking two of them and two Indians for guides, he proceeded 
 in one of their canoes to the meadows at the river s head, and, leaving his two men 
 with the canoe, he went with his Indian guides across the meadows. A party of 300 
 Indians below had watched the motions of the boat. They first surprised the strag- 
 
((UNIVERSITY 
 
 BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 
 
 gling crew and made one of them prisoner, from whom they learned that Smith 
 was above. They next found the two men whom he had left with the canoe asleep 
 by a fire and killed them; then, having discovered Smith, they wounded him in the 
 thigh with an arrow. Finding himself thus assaulted and wounded, he bound one 
 of his Indian guides with his garters to his left arm and made use of him as a shield, 
 whilst he dispatched three of his enemies and wounded some others. He was re 
 treating to his canoe, when, regarding his enemies more than his footsteps, he sud 
 denly plunged with his guide into an oozy creek and stuck fast in the mud. The 
 Indians, astonished at his bravery, did not approach him till, almost dead with cold, 
 he threw away his arms and begged them to draw him out, which they did, and led 
 him to the fire, where his slain companions were lying. This sight admonished him 
 what he was to expect. Being revived by their chafing his benumbed limbs, he 
 called for the chief (Opecankanough, King of Pamaunkee), to whom he presented 
 his ivory compass and dial. The vibrations of the needle and the fly under the 
 glass, which they could see, but not touch, afforded them much amusement; and 
 Smith, having learned some of their language, partly by means of that and partly 
 by signs, entertained them with a description of the nature and uses of the instru 
 ment, and gave them such a lecture on the motions of the heavens and earth as 
 amazed them and suspended for a time the execution of their purpose. Atilength, 
 curiosity being satiated, they fastened him to a tree and prepared to dispatch him 
 with their arrows. At this instant, the chief, holding up the compass which he 
 esteemed as a divinity, they laid aside their arms, and, forming a military procession, 
 led him in triumph to their village, Orapaxe. The order of their march was thus : 
 they ranged themselves in a single file, the King in the midst ; before him were 
 borne the arms taken from Smith and his companions ; next after the King came 
 the prisoner, held by three stout savages, and on each side a file of six. When they 
 arrived at the village, the old men, women, and children came out to receive them. 
 After some maneuvers, which had the appearance of regularity, they formed them 
 selves round the King and his prisoner into a circle, dancing and singing, adorned 
 with paint, furs, and feathers, brandishing their rattles, which were made of the tails 
 of rattlesnakes. After three dances they dispersed, and Smith was conducted to a 
 long hut guarded by forty men. There he was so plentifully feasted with bread and 
 venison, that he suspected their intention was to fatten and eat him. One of the 
 Indians, to whom Smith had formerly given beads, brought him a garment of furs 
 to defend him from the cold. Another, whose son was then sick and dying, 
 attempted to kill him, but was prevented by the guard. Smith, being conducted to 
 the dying youth, told them that he had a medicine at Jamestown which would cure 
 him if they would let him fetch it, but they had another design, which was to sur 
 prise the place and to make use of him as a guide. To induce him to perform this 
 service they promised him his liberty, with as much land and as many women as 
 would content him. Smith magnified the difficulty and danger of their attempt, 
 from the ordnance, mines, and other defenses of the place, which exceedingly terri 
 fied them ; and, to convince them of the truth of what he told them, he wrote on a 
 leaf of his pocket-trook an inventory of what he wanted, with some directions to the 
 people at the fort how to affright the messengers who went to deliver the letter. 
 They returned in three days, reporting the terror into which they had been thrown : 
 and, when they produced the things for which he had written, the whole company 
 were astonished at the power of his divination by the speaking leaf. 
 
70 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 Aft.er this they carried him through several nations, inhabiting the banks of the 
 Potowmack and Rappahannock, and at length brought him to Pamaunkee, where they 
 performed a strange ceremony, by which they intended to divine whether his inten 
 tions toward them were friendly or hostile. The manner of it was this : Early in the 
 morning a great fire was made in a long house, and a mat spread on each side, on 
 one of which he was placed, and the guard retired. Presently an Indian priest, 
 hideously painted, and dressed in furs and snake-skins, came skipping in, and after a 
 variety of uncouth noises and gestures, drew a circle with meal round the fire ; then 
 came in three more in the same frightful dress, and, after they had performed their 
 dance, three others. They all sat opposite to him in a line, the chief-priest in the 
 midst. After singing a song, accompanied with the music of their rattles, the chief- 
 priest laid down five grains of corn, and, after a short speech, three more ; this was 
 repeated till the fire was encircled. Then, continuing the incantation, he laid sticks 
 between the divisions of the corn. The whole day was spent in these ceremonies, 
 with fasting, and at night a feast was prepared of the beast meats which they had. 
 The same tricks were repeated the two following days. They told him that the 
 circle of meal represented their country, the circle of corn the sea-shore, and the 
 sticks his country; they did not acquaint him, or he has not acquainted us, with the 
 result of the operation, but he observed that the gunpowder which they had taken 
 from him v/as laid up among their corn, to be planted the next spring. 
 
 After these ceremonies they brought him to the Emperor Powhatan, who received 
 him in royal state, clothed in a robe of raccoon-skins, seated on a kind of throne 
 elevated above the floor of a large hut, in the midst of which was a fire; at each 
 hand of the prince sat two beautiful girls, his daughters, and along each side of the house 
 a row of his counselors, painted and adorned with feathers and shells. At Smith s 
 entrance a great shout was made. The Queen of Apamatox brought him water to 
 wash his hands, and another served him with a bunch of feathers instead of a towel. 
 Having feasted him after their manner, a long consultation was held, which being 
 ended, two large stones were brought in, on one of which his head was laid, and clubs 
 were lifted up to beat out his brains. At this critical moment Pocahontas, the 
 king s favorite daughter, flew to him, took his head in her arms, and laid her own 
 upon it. Her tender entreaties prevailed. The king consented that Smith should 
 live, to make hatchets for him and ornaments for her. 
 
 Two days after, Powhatan caused him to be brought to a distant house ; where, 
 after another threatening, he confirmed his promise, and told him he should return 
 to the fort, and send him two pieces of cannon and a grindstone ; for which he would 
 give him the country of Capahousick, and forever esteem him as his son. Twelve 
 guides accompanied him, and he arrived at Jamestown the next day. According to 
 the stipulation, two guns and a large grindstone were offered them ; but, having 
 in vain tried to lift them, they were content to let them remain in their place. 
 Smith, however, had the guns loaded, and discharged a volley of stones at a tree 
 covered with icicles. The report and effect confounded them ; but, being pacified 
 with a few toys, they returned, carrying presents to Powhatan and his daughter of 
 such things as gave them entire satisfaction. After this adventure the young princess, 
 Pocahontas, frequently visited the plantation with her attendants ; and the refresh 
 ments which she brought from time to time proved the means of saving many lives 
 which otherwise would have been lost.. 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 7T 
 
 Smith s return happened at another critical juncture. The colony was divided 
 into parties, and the malcontents were again preparing to quit the country. His 
 presence a third time defeated the project ; in revenge for which they meditated to 
 put him to death, under pretense that he had been the means of murdering the two 
 men who went with him in the canoe ; but by a proper application of valor and 
 strength he put his accusers under confinement, till an opportunity presented for 
 sending them as prisoners to England. 
 
 The misfortunes and mismanagements of this Virginian colony during the period 
 here related seem to have originated partly in the tempers and qualifications of the 
 men who were appointed to command, and partly in the nature and circumstances 
 of the adventure. There could be no choice of men for the service but among those 
 who offered themselves ; and these were previously strangers to each other, as well as 
 different in their education, qualities, and habits. Some of them had been used to 
 the command of ships, and partook of the roughness of the element on which they 
 were bred. It is, perhaps, no great compliment to Smith to say that he was the best 
 qualified of tliem for command ; since the event proved that none of them who 
 survived the first sickness had the confidence of the people in any degree. It is 
 certain that his resolution prevented the abandonment of the place the first year ; 
 his enterprising spirit led to an exploration of the country, and acquainted them 
 with its many advantages ; his captivity produced an intercourse with the savages ; 
 and the supplies gained from them, chiefly by means of his address, kept the people 
 alive till the second arrival of the ships from England. The Virginians, therefore, 
 justly regard him, if not as the father, yet as the savior, of that infant plantation. 
 
 In the winter of 1607 Captain Newport arrived from England in Virginia. The 
 other ship, commanded by Captain Nelson, which sailed at the same time, was dis 
 masted on the American coast, and blown off to the West Indies. The supplies sent 
 by the company were received in Virginia with the most cordial avidity ; but the 
 general license given to the sailors to trade with the savages proved detrimental to 
 the planters, as it raised the prices of their commodities so high that a pound of 
 copper would not purchase what before could be bought for an ounce. New 
 port himself was not free from this spirit of profusion, so common to seafaring men, 
 which he manifested by sending presents of various kinds to Powhatan, intending 
 thereby to give him an idea of the grandeur of the English nation. In a visit which 
 he made to this prince, under the conduct of Smith, he was received and entertained 
 with an equal show of magnificence ; but in trading with the savage chief he found 
 himself outwitted. Powhatan, in a lofty strain, spoke to him thus : " It is not agree 
 able to the greatness of such men as we are to trade like common people for trifles ; 
 lay down, therefore, at once, all your goods, and I will give you the full value for 
 them." Smith perceived the snare, and warned Newport of it ; but he, thinking to 
 outbrave the savage prince, displayed the whole of his store. Powhatan then set 
 such a price on his corn, that not more than four bushels could be procured ; and 
 the necessary supplies could not have been had if Smith s genius, ever ready at 
 invention, had not hit upon an artifice which proved successful. He had secreted 
 some trifles, and among them a parcel of blue beads, which, seemingly in a careless 
 way, he glanced in the eyes of Powhatan. The bait caught him ; and he earnestly 
 desired to purchase them. Smith, in his turn, raised the value of them, extolling 
 them as the most precious jewels, resembling the color of the sky, and proper 
 
T8 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 only for the noblest sovereigns in the universe. Powhatan s imagination was all on 
 fire ; he made large offers. Smith insisted on more, and at length suffered himself 
 to be persuaded to take between two and three hundred bushels of corn for about 
 two pounds of blue beads, and they parted in very good humor, each one being very 
 much pleased with his bargain. In a subsequent visit to Opecankanough, King of 
 Pamaunkee, the company were entertained with the same kind of splendor, and a 
 similar bargain closed the festivity ; by which means the blue beads grew into such 
 estimation that none but the princes and their families were able to wear them. 
 
 Loaded with this acquisition, they returned to Jamestown, where an unhappy 
 fire had consumed several of their houses, with much of their provisions and furni 
 ture. Mr. Hunt, the chaplain, lost his apparel and library in this conflagration, and 
 escaped from it with only the clothes on his back. This misfortune was severely 
 felt ; the ship staying in port fourteen weeks, and reserving enough for the voyage 
 home, so contracted their stock of provisions, that before the winter was gone, they 
 were reduced to great extremity, and many of them died. The cause of the ship s 
 detention for so long a time was this: In searching for fresh water in the neighbor 
 hood of Jamestown, they had discovered in a rivulet some particles of a yellowish 
 isinglass, which their sanguine imaginations had refined into gold dust. The zeal 
 for this precious matter was so strong, that in digging, washing, and packing it to 
 complete the lading of the ship, all other cares were absorbed. This was a tedious 
 interval to Captain Smith; his judgment condemned their folly ; his patience was 
 exhausted and his passion irritated, and the only recompense which he had for this 
 long vexation, was the pleasure of sending home Wingfield and Archer, when the 
 ship departed. 
 
 The other ship arrived in the spring, and notwithstanding a long and unavoidable 
 detention in the West Indies, brought them a comfortable supply of provisions. 
 They took advantage of the opening season, to rebuild their houses and chapel, 
 repair the palisades, and plant corn for the ensuing summer, in all which works the 
 example and authority of Smith were of eminent service. Every man of activity 
 was fond of him, and those of a contrary disposition were afraid of him. It was pro 
 posed that he should go into the country of the Monacans, beyond the falls of James 
 River, that they might have some news of the interior parts to send home to the 
 company ; but a fray with the Indians detained him at Jamestown, till the ship sailed 
 for England, laden chiefly with cedar, but not without another specimen of the yel 
 low dust of which Martin was so fond, that he took charge of the packages himself 
 and returned to England. An accession of above one hundred men, among whom 
 were several goldsmiths and refiners, had been made to the colony by the last two 
 ships, and a new member, Matthew Scrivener, was added to the council. 
 
 Having finished the necessary business of the season, and dispatched the ship, 
 another voyage of discovery was undertaken by Captain Smith and fourteen others. 
 They went down the river in an open barge, June to, 1608, in company with the 
 ship, and having parted with her at Cape Henry, they crossed the mouth of the bay, 
 and fell in with a cluster of islands without Cape Charles, to which they gave the 
 name of Smith s Isles, which they still bear. Then re-entering the bay they landed 
 on the eastern neck, and were kindly received by Acomack, the prince of that pe 
 ninsula, a part of which still bears his name. From thence they coasted the eastern 
 Uiore of the bay, and landed sometimes on the main, and at other times on the low 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 79 
 
 islands, of which they found many, but none fit for habitation. They proceeded up 
 the bay to the northward and crossed over to the western shore, down which they 
 coasted to the southward, and in this route discovered the mouths of the great rivers 
 which fall into the bay on that side. One in particular attracted much of their atten 
 tion, because of a reddish earth which they found there, and from its resemblance to 
 bole-ammoniac, they gave it the name of Bolus River, and it is so named in all the 
 early maps of the country ; but in the latter, it bears the Indian name Patapsco ; on 
 the north side of which is now the flourishing town of Baltimore. They sailed thirty 
 miles up the Potovvmack, without seeing any inhabitants; but on entering a creek, 
 found themselves surrounded by Indians, who threatened them. Smith prepared 
 for an encounter ; but on firing a few guns, the Indians, terrified at the noise, made 
 signs of peace, and exchanged hostages. One of the company was by this means 
 carried to the habitation of their prince, and the whole were kindly used. They 
 learned that it was by direction of Powhatan that the Indians were in arms, and had 
 attempted to surprise them ; from this circumstance they were led to suspect that 
 Powhatan had been informed of this expedition, by the discontented part of the 
 colony whom Smith had obliged to stay in the country when they would have 
 deserted it. 
 
 It was Smith s invariable custom, when he met with the Indians, to put on a bold 
 face, as if they appeared desirous of peace to demand their arms, and some of their 
 children as pledges of their sincerity ; if they complied, he considered them as friends ; 
 if not, as enemies. In the course of this voyage he collected some furs, and discov 
 ered some colored earths, which the savages used as paints, but found nothing of the 
 mineral kind. At the mouth of the Rappahannock the boat grounded, and whilst 
 they were waiting for the tide, they employed themselves in sticking with their 
 swords the fishes which were left on the flats. Smith having struck his sword into a 
 stingray, the fish raised its tail, and with its sharp indented thorn, wounded him in 
 the arm. This wound was extremely painful, and he presently swelled to that de 
 gree, that they expected him to die, and he himself gave them orders to bury him on 
 a neighboring island. But the surgeon, Dr. Russel, having probed the wound, by 
 the help of a certain oil so allayed the anguish and swelling, that Smith was able to 
 eat part of the fish for his supper. From this occurrence, the place was distinguished 
 by the name of Stingray Point, which it still bears. 
 
 On the 2 ist of July they returned to Jamestown. Having, with the colored 
 earths which they had found, disguised their boat and streamers, their old compan 
 ions were alarmed at their approach, with the apprehension of an attack from the 
 Spaniards ; this was a trick of Smith s to frighten the old president, who had rioted 
 on the public stores, and was building a house in the woods, that he might seclude 
 himself from the sickly, discontented, quarrelsome company. On Smith s arrival, 
 they signified their desire of investing him with the government. Ratcliffe being 
 deposed, it fell to him of course ; and having recommended Scrivener to preside in 
 his absence, he entered on another voyage of discovery, being determined to spare 
 no pains for a full exploration of the country. 
 
 From the 24th of July to the /th of September, with twelve men in an open 
 barge, he ranged the bay of Chesapeake as far northward as the falls of Sus- 
 quehannah, entering all the rivers that flow into the bay, and examining their 
 shores. In some places the natives were friendly, and in others jealous. Their idea 
 
80 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 of the strange visitors \vas, that they had come " from under the world to take their 
 world from them." Smith s constant endeavor was to preserve peace with them ; 
 but when he could not obtain corn in the way of traffic, he never scrupled to use 
 threats, and in some cases violence, and by one or the other method he prevailed so 
 as to bring home a load of provisions for his discontented companions, who, without 
 his efforts, would not have been able to live. Sickness and death were very frequent, 
 and the latest comers were most affected by the disorders of the climate. 
 
 Smith was now established in the presidency by the election of the council and 
 the request of the company; but the commission gave to a majority of the council 
 the whole power. Newport, at his third arrival, brought over two new members, and 
 Ratcliffe having still a seat, though deposed from the presidency, Smith was obliged in 
 some cases to comply with their opinions, contrary to his own judgment, an instance 
 of which will now be exhibited. 
 
 The Virginia Company in London, deceived by false reports, and misled by their 
 own sanguine imaginations, had conceived an expectation not only of finding precious 
 metals in the country, but of discovering the South Sea, from the mountains at the 
 head of James River, and it was thought that the journey thither might be per 
 formed in eight or ten days. For the purpose of making this capital discovery, they 
 put on board Newport s ship, a barge capable of being taken to pieces and put to 
 gether again at pleasure. This barge was to make a voyage to the head of the river, 
 then to be carried in pieces across the mountains, and to descend the rivers which 
 were supposed to run westward to the South Sea. To facilitate this plan it was 
 necessary to gain the favor of Powhatan, through whose country the passage must be 
 made, and as a means of winning him, a royal present was brought over, consisting 
 of a basin and ewer, a bed and furniture, a chair of state, a suit of scarlet clothes, 
 with a cloak and a crown, all of which were to be presented to him in due form, and 
 the crown placed on his head with as much solemnity as possible. To a person who 
 knew the country and its inhabitants so well as Smith, this project appeared chimer 
 ical, and the means whereby it was to be carried on dangerous. With a small quan 
 tity of copper and a few beads, he could have kept Powhatan in good humor, and 
 made an advantage of it for the colony, whereas a profusion of presents he knew 
 would but increase his pride and insolence. The project of traveling over unknown 
 mountains with men already weakened by sickness, and worn out with fatigue, in a 
 hot climate, and in the midst of enemies, who might easily cut off their retreat, was 
 too romantic even for his sanguine and adventurous spirit. His opinion upon the 
 matter can not be expressed in more pointed language than he used in a letter to the 
 company : " If the quartered boat was burned to ashes, one might carry her in a bag ; 
 but as she is, five hundred can not, to a navigable place above the falls." His dissent, 
 however, was ineffectual, and when he found that the voice of the council was for ex 
 ecuting it, he lent his assistance to effect as much of it as was practicable. 
 
 Previously to their setting out, he undertook, with four men only, to carry notice 
 to Powhatan of the intended present, and invite him to come to Jamestown, that he 
 might receive it there. Having traveled by land twelve miles to VVerocomoco, on 
 Pamunky (York) River, where he expected to meet Powhatan, and not finding him 
 there, whilst a messenger was dispatched thirty miles for him ; his daughter, Poca- 
 hontas, entertained Smith and his company with a dance, which for its singularity, 
 merits a particular description. 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. Rl 
 
 In an open plain, a fire being made, the gentlemen were seated by it. Suddenly 
 a noise was heard in the adjacent wood, which made them fly to their arms, and seize 
 on two or three old men, as hostages for their own security, imagining that they were 
 betrayed. Upon this the young princess came running to Smith, and passionately 
 embracing him, offered herself to be killed if any harm should happen to him or his 
 company. Her assurances, seconded by all the Indians present, removed their fears. 
 The noise which had alarmed them was made by thirty girls, who were preparing for 
 the intended ceremony. Immediately they made their appearance, with no other 
 covering than a girdle of green leaves and their skins painted, each one of a different 
 color. Their leader had a pair of buck s horns on her head, an otter s skin as her 
 girdle, and another on one arm ; a bow and arrow in the other hand, and a quiver at 
 her back. The rest of them had horns on their heads, and a wooden sword or staff 
 in their hands. With shouting and singing they formed a ring round the fire, and 
 performed a circular dance for about an hour, after which they retired in the same 
 order as they had advanced. The dance was followed by a feast, at which the sav 
 age nymphs were as eager with their caresses as with their attendance ; and this be 
 ing ended, they conducted the gentlemen to their lodging by the light of fire-brands. 
 
 The next day Powhatan arrived, and Smith delivered the message from his 
 father, Newport (as he always called him), to this effect : " That he had brought him 
 from the King of England, a royal present, and wished to see him at Jamestown, that 
 he might deliver it to him, promising to assist him in prosecuting his revenge against 
 the Monacans, whose country they would penetrate even to the sea beyond the 
 mountains." To which the savage Prince with equal subtility and haughtiness, an 
 swered : " If your King has sent me a present, I also am a King, and am on my own 
 land. I will stay here eight days. Your father must come to me ; I will not go to 
 him nor to your fort. As for the Monacans, I am able to revenge myself. If you 
 have heard of salt water beyond the mountains, from any of my people, they have 
 deceived you." Then with a stick he drew a plan of that region on the ground, 
 and after many compliments the conference ended. 
 
 The present being put 0:1 board the boats, was carried down James River and up 
 the Pamaunkec, whilst Newport, with fifty men, went across by land and met the 
 boats, in which he passed the river, and held the proposed interview. All things 
 being prepared for the ceremony of coronation, the present was brought from the 
 boats ; the basin and ewer were deposited, the bed and chair were set up, the scarlet 
 suit and cloak were put on, though not till Namontac (an Indian youth whom New 
 port had carried to England and brought back again) had assured him that these 
 habiliments would do him no harm ; but they had great difficulty in persuading him 
 to receive the crown, nor would he bend his knee, or incline his head in the least 
 degree. After many attempts, and with actual pressing on his shoulders, they at 
 last made him stoop a little and put it on. Instantly, a signal being given, the men 
 in the boats fired a volley, at which the monarch started with horror, imagining that 
 a design was forming to destroy him in the summit of his glory; but being assured 
 that it was meant as a compliment, his fears subsided, and in return for the baubles 
 of royalty received from King James, he desired Newport to present him his old 
 fur mantle and deer-skin shoes, which, in his estimation, were doubtless a full equiv 
 alent ; since all this finery could not prevail on the wary chief to allow them guides 
 for the discovery of the inland country, or to approve their design of visiting it. 
 11 
 
R2 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 Thus disappointed, they returned to Jamestown, determined to proceed without his 
 assistance. 
 
 Smith, who had no mind to go on such a fruitless errand, tarried at the fort with 
 eighty invalids to reload the ship, whilst Newport with all the council, and one hun 
 dred and twenty of the healthiest men, began their transmontane tour of discovery. 
 They proceeded in their boats to the falls at the head of the river ; from thence they 
 traveled up the country two days and a half, and discovered two towns of the Mon- 
 acans, the inhabitants of which seemed very indifferent toward them, and used 
 them neither well nor ill. They took one of their petty princes and led him, bound, 
 to guide them. Having performed this march, they grew wearied and returned, 
 taking with them in their way back certain portions of earth, in which their refiner 
 pretended that he had seen signs of silver. This was all the success of their expe 
 dition; for the savages had concealed their corn, and they could neither persuade 
 them to sell it, nor find it to take it by force. Thus they returned to Jamestown, 
 tired, disappointed, hungry, and sick, and had the additional mortification of being 
 laughed at by Smith for their vain attempt. 
 
 The Virginia Company had not only a view to the discovery of the South Sea, 
 but also to establish manufactures in their colony; and for this purpose had sent 
 over a number of workmen from Poland and Germany, who were skilled in the mak 
 ing of pot-ashes and glass, as well as pitch and tar. Had the country been full of people, 
 well cultivated and provided with all the necessaries for carrying on these works, 
 there might have been some prospect of advantage ; but in a new region, the prin 
 cipal objects are subsistence and defense ; these will necessarily occupy the first 
 adventurers to the exclusion of all others. However, Smith was of so generous a 
 disposition, and so indefatigable in doing what he apprehended to be his duty, and 
 in gratifying his employers, that as soon as Newport returned from his fruitless 
 attempt to find the South Sea, he set all who were able to work, that he might, if 
 possible, answer the expectation of the company. Those who were skilled in the 
 manufactures, he left under the care of the council, to carry on their works ; whilst 
 he took thirty of the most active with him, about five miles down the river, to cut 
 timber, and make clapboards : this being, as he well knew, an employment the most 
 certain of success. Among these were several young gentlemen, who-^e hands, not 
 having been used to labor, were blistered by the axes, and this occasioned frequent 
 expressions of impatience and profaneness. To punish them, Smith caused the num 
 ber of every man s oaths to be taken down daily, and at night, as many cans of 
 water to be poured inside his sleeve. This discipline was no less singular than effect 
 ual ; it so lessened the number of oaths, that scarcely one was heard in a week, and 
 withal it made them perfectly good-humored, and reconciled them to their labor. 
 At his return to the fort, he found, not only that business had been neglected, but 
 much provision consumed, and that it was necessaay for him to undertake another 
 expedition for corn. He therefore went up the Chickahominy with two boats and 
 eighteen men, and finding the Indians not in a humor for trading, but rather scornful 
 and insolent, he told them that he had come not so much for corn, as to revenge his 
 imprisonment, and the murder of his two men, some time before. Putting his crew 
 in a posture of attack, the Indians fled, and presently sent messengers to treat of 
 peace; for the obtaining which, he made them give him an hundred bushels of corn, 
 ivith a quantity of fish and fowls ; and with this supply he kept the colony from 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 83 
 
 starving, and preserved the ship s provisions for her voyage to England. At her 
 departure, she carried such specimens as could be had of tar, pitch, turpentine, soap- 
 ashes, clapboards, and wainscot ; and at Point Comfort met with Scrivener, who had 
 been up the Pamaunkee for corn, and had got a quantity of poconcs, a red root, used 
 in dyeing ; these being taken on board, Captain Newport returned to England the 
 third time, leaving about two hundred persons in Virginia. 
 
 The harvest of 1608 had fallen short, both among the new planters and the na 
 tives, and the colony was indebted to the inventive genius and indefatigable perse 
 verance of Smith for their subsistence during the succeeding winter. As long as the 
 rivers were open, he kept the boats continually going among the natives for such 
 supplies as could be obtained ; and he never would return empty if anything were 
 to be had by any means in his power. Whilst abroad in these excursions, he and 
 his men were obliged frequently to lodge in the woods, when the ground was hard 
 frozen and covered with snow; and their mode of accommodating themselves was, 
 first, to dig away the snow and make a fire ; when the ground was dried and 
 warmed, they removed the fire to one side and spread their mats over the warm spot 
 for their bed, using another mat as a screen from the wind ; when the ground cooled 
 they shifted the fire again ; by thus continually changing their position they kept 
 themselves tolerably warm through many cold nights ; and it was observed that 
 those who went on this service and submitted to these hardships were robust and 
 healthy, whilst those who stayed at home were always weak and sickly. 
 
 The supplies procured by trading being insufficient, and hunger very pressing, 
 Smith ventured on the dangerous project of surprising Powhatan and carrying off 
 his whole stock of provisions. This Indian prince had formed a similar design re 
 specting Smith ; and, for the purpose of betraying him, had invited him to his seat ; 
 promising, that if he would send men to build him a house after the English mode, 
 and give him some guns and swords, copper and beads, he would load his boat with 
 corn. Smith sent him three Dutch carpenters, who treacherously revealed to him 
 the design which Smith had formed. On his arrival with forty-six men, he found the 
 prince so much on his guard, that it was impossible to execute his design. Having 
 spent the day in conversation (in the course of which Powhatan had in vain endeav 
 ored to persuade Smith to lay aside his arms as being there in perfect security), he 
 retired in the evening and formed a design to surprise Smith and his people at their 
 supper ; and had it not been for the affectionate friendship of Pocahontas, it would 
 probably have been effected. This amiable girl, at the risk of her life, stole from the 
 side of her father, and, passing in the dark through the woods, told Smith, with tears 
 in her eyes, of the plot, and then as privately returned. When the Indians brought 
 in the supper Smith obliged them to taste of every dish ; his arms were in readiness 
 and his men vigilant ; and though there came divers sets of messengers one after 
 another during the night under pretense of friendly inquiries, they found them so 
 well prepared that nothing was attempted, and the party returned in safety. 
 
 In a subsequent visit to Opecankanough, by whom he formerly was taken pris 
 oner, this prince put on the semblance of friendship, whilst his men lay in ambush 
 with bows and arrows. The trick being discovered by one of Smith s party and 
 communicated to him, he resolutely seized the King by his hair, and, holding a pis 
 tol to his breast, led him trembling to the ambush, and there, with a torrent of re 
 proachful and menacing words, obliged him to order those very people not only to 
 
81 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 lay down their arms, but to load him with provisions. After this they made an 
 attempt to murder him in his sleep and to poison him, but both failed of success. 
 The chief of I aspiha meeting him alone in the woods armed only with a sword, 
 attempted to shoot him, but he closed with the savage, and, in the struggle, both 
 fell into the river; where, after having narrowly escaped drowning, Smith at last 
 prevailed to gripe him by the throat, and would have cut off his head, but the en 
 treaties of the poor victim prevailed on his humanity, and he led him prisoner to 
 Jamestown. 
 
 This intrepid behavior struck a dread into the savages, and they began to believe 
 what he had often told them, that " his God would protect him against all their 
 power, whilst he kept his promise ; which was, to preserve peace with them as long 
 as they should refrain from hostilities, and continue to supply him with corn." An 
 incident which occurred about the same time confirmed their veneration for him. 
 An Indian having stolen a pistol from Jamestown, two brothers, who were known to 
 be his companions, were seized, and one was held as hostage for the other, who was 
 to return in twelve hours with the pistol, or the prisoner was to be hanged. The 
 weather being cold, a charcoal fire was kindled in the dungeon, which was very close, 
 and the vapor had so suffocated the prisoner, that on the return of his brother at the 
 appointed time, with the pistol, he was taken out as dead. The faithful savage 
 lamented his fate in the most distressing agony. Smith, to console him, promised, 
 if they would steal no more, that he should be recovered. On the application of 
 spirits and vinegar he showed signs of life, but appeared delirious; this grieved the 
 brother as much as his death. Smith undertook to cure him of this also, on the 
 repetition of the promise to steal no more. The delirium being only the effect of 
 the spirits which he had swallowed, was remedied by a few hours sleep ; and, being 
 dismissed, with a present of copper, they went away, believing and reporting that 
 Smith was able to bring the dead to life. The effect was, that not only many stolen 
 things were recovered, and the thieves punished, but that peace and friendly inter 
 course were preserved, and corn brought in as long as they had any whilst Smith 
 remained in Virginia. 
 
 He was equally severe and resolute with his own men, and finding many of them 
 inclined to be idle, and this idleness in a great measure the cause of their frequent 
 sickness and death, he made an order, " that he who would not work should not cat, 
 unless he were disabled by sickness ; and that every one who did not gather as much 
 food in a day as he did himself should be banished." A recent attempt having been 
 made to run away with the boats, he ordered that the next person who should 
 repeat this offense should be hanged. By firmness in the execution of these laws, 
 and by the concurrent force of his own example, in laboring continually, and dis 
 tributing his whole share of European provisions and refreshments to the sick, he 
 kept the colony in such order, that, though many of them murmured at his severity, 
 they all became very industrious, and, withal, so healthy, that of two hundred per 
 sons, there died that winter and the next spring no more than seven. In the space 
 of three months they had made a quantity of tar, pitch, and pot-ashes ; had produced 
 a sample of glass ; dug a well in the fort ; built twenty new houses ; provided nets and 
 wiers for fishing; erected a block-house on the isthmus of Jamestown ; another on 
 Hog Island ; and had begun a fortress on a commanding eminence. As the spring 
 :ame on, they paid such attention to husbandry as to have thirty or forty acres 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 85 
 
 cleared and fit for planting; and a detachment had been sent to the southward, to 
 look for the long-lost colony of Sir Walter Raleigh, but without success. 
 
 Such was the state of the Virginia colony when Captain Samuel Argal arrived on 
 a trading voyage, and brought letters from the company in England, complaining 
 of their disappointment, and blaming Smith as the cause of it. They had conceived 
 an ill opinion of him from the persons whom he had sent home, who represented him 
 as arbitrary and violent toward the colonists, cruel to the savages, and disposed to 
 traverse the views of the adventurers, who expected to grow rich very suddenly. 
 
 There was this disadvantage attending the business of colonization in North 
 America at that day, that the only precedents which could be had were those of the 
 Spaniards, who had treated the natives with extreme cruelty, and amassed vast sums 
 of gold and silver. Whilst the English adventurers detested the means by which 
 the Spaniards had acquired their riches, they still expected that the same kind of 
 riches might be acquired by other means ; it was, therefore, thought politic to be 
 gentle in demeanor and lavish of presents toward the natives, as an inducement to 
 them to discover the riches of their country. On these principles the orders of the 
 Virginia Company to their servants were framed. But experience had taught Smith, 
 the most discerning and faithful of all whom they had employed, that the country 
 of Virginia would not enrich the adventurers in the time and manner which they 
 expected ; yet he was far from abandoning it as worthless ; his aim was thoroughly 
 to explore it ; and by exploring he had discovered what advantages might be derived 
 from it ; to produce which, time, patience, expense, and labor were absolutely 
 necessary. He had fairly represented these ideas to his employers ; he had spent 
 three years in their service, and from his own observations had drawn and sent them a 
 map of the country ; and he had conducted their affairs as well as the nature of circum 
 stances would permit. He had had a disorderly, factious, discontented, disappointed 
 set of men to control, by the help of a few adherents; in the face of the native lords 
 of the soil, formidable in their numbers and knowledge of the country, versed in 
 stratagem, tenacious of resentment, and jealous of strangers. To court them by 
 presents was to acknowledge their superiority, and inflate their pride and insolence. 
 Though savages, they were men and not children. Though destitute of science, they 
 were possessed of reason, and a sufficient degree of art. To know how to manage 
 them, it was necessary to be personally acquainted with them; and it must be 
 obvious that a person who had resided several years among them, and had been a 
 prisoner with them, was a much better judge of the proper methods of treating 
 them, than a company of gentlemen at several thousand miles distance, and who 
 could know them only by report. Smith had certainly the interest of the plantation 
 at heart, and, by toilsome experience, had just learned to conduct it, when he found 
 himself so obnoxious to his employers, that a plan was concerted to supersede him, and 
 reinstate, with a share of authority, those whom he had dismissed from the service. 
 
 The Virginia Company had applied to the King to recall their patent and 
 grant another ; in virtue of which they appointed Thomas Lord de la Warre, 
 General ; Sir Thomas Gates, Lietitcnant-Gencral ; Sir George Somers, Admiral ; Sir 
 Thomas Dale, Marshal ; Sir Ferdinando Waiman, General of Horse ; and Captain New- 
 oort (the only one of them who had seen the country), Vice-Admiral. The advent 
 urers having, by the alteration of their patent, acquired a reinforcement both of dig 
 nity and property, equipped nine ships, in which were embarked five hundred per- 
 
86 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 sons, men, women, and children. Gates, Somers, and Newport had each a commission, 
 investing either of them who might first arrive, with power to call in the old and set 
 up the new commission. The fleet sailed from England in May, 1609, and by some 
 strange policy the three commanders were embarked in one ship. This ship being 
 separated from the others in a storm, was wrecked on the Island of Bermuda ; an 
 other foundered at sea ; and when the remaining seven arrived in Virginia, two of 
 which were commanded by Ratcliffe and Archer, they found themselves destitute of 
 authority ; though some of them were full enough of prejudice against Smith, who 
 was then in command. The ships had been greatly shattered in their passage, much 
 of their provision was spoiled, many of their people were sick, and the season in 
 which they arrived was not the most favorable to their recovery. A mutinous spirit 
 soon broke out, and a scene of confusion ensued ; the new-comers would not obey 
 Smith, because they supposed his commission to be superseded ; the new commission 
 was not arrived, and it was uncertain whether the ship which carried it would ever 
 be seen or heard of. Smith would gladly have withdrawn and gone back to En 
 gland, but his honor was concerned in maintaining his authority till he should bz 
 regularly superseded, and his spirit would not suffer him to be trampled on by those 
 whom he despised. Upon due consideration, he determined to maintain his authority 
 as far as he was able ; waiting some proper opportunity to retire, some of the most 
 insolent of the new-comers "he "laid by the heels." With the more moderate he 
 consulted what was best to be done; and, as a separation seemed to be the best 
 remedy, and it had been in contemplation to extend the settlements, some were in 
 duced to go up to the Falls, others to Nansemond, and others to Point Comfort. 
 Smith s year being almost expired, he offered to resign to Martin, who had been one 
 of the old council, but Martin would not accept the command ; he, therefore, kept up 
 .he form, and as much as he could of the power of government, till an accident, 
 which had nearly proved fatal to his life, obliged him to return to England. 
 
 On his return from the new plantation at the Falls, sleeping by night in his boat, 
 a bag of gunpowder took fire, and burnt him in a most terrible manner. Awaking 
 in surprise, and finding himself wrapped in flames, he leaped into the water, and was 
 almost drowned, before his companions could recover him. At his return to James- 
 town, in this distressed condition, Ratcliffe and Archer conspired to murder him in 
 his bed ; but the assassin whom they employed had not courage to fire a pistol. 
 Smith s old soldiers would have taken off their heads, but he thought it prudent to 
 pass by the offense, and take this opportunity, as there was no surgeon in the coun 
 try, of returning to England. As soon as his intention was known, the council ap 
 pointed Mr. Percie to preside in his room, and detained the ship three weeks, till they 
 could write letters, and frame complaints against him. He at length sailed for En 
 gland, about the latter end of September, 1600 ; much regretted by his few friends, one 
 of whom has left this character of him : " In all his proceedings he made justice his 
 first guide, and experience his second ; hating baseness, sloth, pride, and indignity 
 more than any dangers. He never would allow more for himself than for his soldiers ; 
 and upon no danger would send them where he would not liad them himself. He 
 would never see us want what he had, or could by any means get for us. He would 
 rather want than borrow, or starve than not pay. He loved action more than words, 
 and hated covetousness and falsehood worse than death. His adventures were our 
 lives, and his loss our deaths." 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 87 
 
 There needs no better testimony to the truth of this character than what is re 
 lated of the miserable colony after he had quitted it. Without government, without 
 prudence, careless, indolent, and factious, they became a prey to the insolence of the 
 natives, to the diseases of the climate, and to famine. Within six months their 
 number was reduced from five hundred to sixty; and when the three commanders, 
 who had been wrecked on Bermuda, arrived (1610) with one hundred and fifty men 
 in two small vessels, which they had built out of the ruins of their ship and the 
 cedars which grew on the island, they found. the remnant of the colony in such a 
 forlorn condition, that, without hesitation, they determined to abandon the country, 
 and were sailing down the river when they met a boat from the Lord de la Warre, 
 who had come with a fleet to their relief. By his persuasion they resumed the 
 plantation, and to this fortunate incident may be ascribed the full establishment of 
 the colony of Virginia. 
 
 Such a genius as Smith s could not remain idle. He was well known in England, 
 and the report of his valor and his spirit of adventure pointed him out to a number 
 of merchants, who were engaged in the American fishery, as a proper person to make 
 discoveries on the coast of North Virginia. In April, 1614, he sailed from London 
 with two ships and arrived at the island of Monahigon in latitude 43^, as it was 
 then computed, where he built seven boats. The design of the voyage was to take 
 whales, to examine a mine of gold and another of copper which were said to be there, 
 and, if either or both of these should fail, to make up the cargo with fish and furs. 
 The mines proved a fiction, and, by long chasing the whales to no purpose, they lost 
 the best season for fishing ; but whilst the seamen were engaged in these services, 
 Smith, in one of his boats with eight men, ranged the coast cast and west, from Pe- 
 nobscot to Cape Cod, bartering with the natives for beaver and other furs, and mak 
 ing observations on the shores, islands, harbors, and head-lands which, at his return 
 to England, he wrought into a map, and, presenting it to Prince Charles, afterward 
 the royal martyr, with a request that he would give the country a name, it was for 
 the first time called New England. The Prince also made several alterations in the 
 names which Smith had given to particular places. For instance, he had called the 
 name of that promontory which forms the eastern entrance of Massachusetts Bay, 
 Tragabigzanda, after the name of the Turkish lady to whom he had been formerly 
 a slave at Constantinople ; and the three islands which lie off the cape, the Turk s 
 Head, in memory of his victory over the three Turkish champion in his Transyl- 
 vanian adventures. The former, Charles in filial respect to his mother, he called Cape 
 Anne, which name it has ever since retained. The name of the islands has long 
 since been lost, and another cluster, to which he gave his own name, Smith s Isles, 
 and which name the Prince did not alter, are now, and have for more than a century 
 been called the Isle of Shoals ; so that the most pointed marks of his discoveries on 
 the coast of New England, have, either by his own complaisance to the son of his 
 sovereign, or by force of time and accidents, become obsolete. When he sailed for 
 England in one of the ships, he left the other behind to complete her lading, with 
 orders to sell the fish in Spain. The master, Thomas Hunt, decoyed twenty-four 
 of the natives on board and sold them in Spain for slaves. The memory of this 
 base transaction was long preserved among the Americans, and succeeding advent 
 urers suffered on account of it. 
 
 At Smith s return to England he put in at Plymouth, where, relating his advent- 
 
88 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 ures, and communicating his sentiments to Sir Fcrdinando Gorges, he was introduced 
 to the Plymouth Company of adventurers to North Virginia, and engaged in their 
 service. At London he was invited by the South Virginia Company to return to 
 their service ; but made use of his engagement with the Plymouth adventurers as an 
 excuse for declining their invitation. From this circumstance it seems that they 
 had been convinced of his former fidelity, notwithstanding the letters and reports 
 which they had formerly received to his disadvantage. 
 
 During his stay in London, he had the very singular pleasure of seeing his friend 
 Pocahontas, the daughter of Powhatan. Having been made a prisoner in Virginia, 
 she \vas there married to Mr. John Rolfe, and by him was brought to England. She 
 was then about twenty-two years of age ; her person was graceful and her deport 
 ment gentle and pleasing. She had been taught the English language and the 
 Christian religion, and baptized by the name of Rebecca. She had heard that Smith 
 was dead, and knew nothing to the contrary till she arrived in England. 
 
 The fame of an Indian princess excited great curiosity in London ; and Smith 
 had the address to write a handsome letter to the Queen, setting forth the merits of 
 his friend, and the eminent services she had done to him and the colony of Virginia. 
 She was introduced by the Lady de la Warre ; the Qaecn and royal family received 
 her with much complacency, and she proved herself worthy of their notice and 
 respect. At her first interview with Smith she called him father; and because he 
 did not immediately return the salutation and call her child, she was so overcome 
 with grief, that she hid her face and would not speak for some time. She was igno 
 rant of the ridiculous affectation which reigned in the court of James; which forbade 
 Smith assuming the title of father to the daughter of a King; and when informed 
 of it, she despised it ; passionately declaring, that she loved him as a father, and had 
 treated him as such in her own country, and would be his child wherever she went. 
 The same pedantic affection caused her husband to be looked upon as an offender, 
 for having, though a subject, invaded the mysterious rights of royalty in marrying 
 above his rank. This marriage, however, proved beneficial to the colony, as her 
 father had thereby become a friend to them, and when she came to England, he sent 
 with her Uttamaccomac, one of his trusty counselors, whom he enjoined to inquire 
 for Smith, and tell him whether he was alive. Another order which he gave him 
 was, to bring him the number of people in England ; accordingly, on his landing at 
 Plymouth, the obedient savage began his account by cutting a notch on a long stick 
 for every person whom he saw ; but soon grew tired of his employment, and at his 
 return told Powhatan that they exceeded the number of leaves on the trees. A 
 third command from his prince was, to see the God of England, and the King, 
 Queen, and princes, of whom Smith had told him so much ; and when he met with 
 Smith, he desired to be introduced to those personages. He had before this seen 
 the King, but would not believe it ; because the person whom they pointed out to 
 him had not given him anything. "You gave Powhatan," said he to Smith, "a 
 white dog, but your King has given me nothing." Mr. Rolfe was preparing to return 
 with his wife to Virginia, when she was taken ill and died at Gravesend ; leaving an 
 infant son, Thomas Rolfe, from whom are descended several families of note in Vir 
 ginia, who hold their lands by inheritance from her. 
 
 Smith had conceived such an idea of the value and importance of the American 
 continent, that he was fully bent on the business of plantation, rather than fishing 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. SO 
 
 and trading for furs. In this he agreed with his friend, Sir Ferdinando Gorges, and 
 the few other active members of the council of Plymouth, but it had become an 
 unpopular theme. One colony had been driven home from Sagadahock by the 
 severity of the season and the deaths of their leaders. Men who were fit for the 
 business were not easily to be obtained, those who had formerly been engaged were 
 discouraged, and it required great strength of mind as well as liberality of purse to 
 set on foot another experiment. After much trouble in endeavoring to unite per 
 sons of opposite interests, and stimulate those who had sustained former losses to 
 new attempts, he obtained one ship of two hundred tons, and another of fifty, with 
 which he sailed in 1615. Having proceeded about one hundred and twenty leagues, 
 they were separated in a storm ; the smaller one, commanded by Captain Thomas 
 Dermer, pursued her voyage ; but Smith having lost his masts was obliged to put 
 back under a jurymast to Plymouth. There he put his stores on board a small bark 
 of sixty tons, and thirty men, of whom sixteen were to assist him in beginning a 
 new colony. 
 
 Meeting with an English pirate, his men would have had him surrender ; but though 
 he had only four guns, and the pirate thirty-six, he disdained to yield. On speaking 
 with her, he found the commander and some of the crew to be his old shipmates, who 
 had run away with the ship from Tunis, and were in distress for provisions ; they 
 offered to put themselves under his command, but he rejected the proposal and went 
 on his voyage. Near the Western Islands he fell in with two French pirates ; his men 
 were again thrown into a panic, and would have struck, but he threatened to blow 
 up the ship if they would not fight, and by firing a few running shot, he escaped 
 them also. After this he was met by four French men-of-war, who had orders from 
 their sovereign to seize pirates. He showed them his commission under the great 
 seal ; but they perfidiously detained him, whilst they suffered his ship to escape in 
 the night and return to Plymouth. They knew his enterprising spirit, and were 
 afraid of his making a settlement in New England, so near to their colony of Acadia ; 
 and they suspected, or at least pretended to suspect, that he was the person who had 
 broken up their fishery at Port Royal (which was really done by Captain Argal) the 
 year before. 
 
 When their cruise was finished, they carried him to Rochelle, and notwithstand 
 ing their promises to allow him a share of the prizes which they had taken whilst he 
 was with them, they kept him as a prisoner on board a ship at anchor. But a storm 
 arising, which drove all the people below, he took the boat, with an half pike for an 
 oar, thinking to make his escape in the night. The current was so strong that he 
 drifted to sea, and was near perishing. By the turn of the tide he got ashore on a 
 marshy island, where some fowlers found him in the morning almost dead with cold 
 and hunger. He gave them his boat to carry him to Rochelle, where he learned that 
 the ship which had taken him, with one of her prizes, which was very rich, had been 
 driven on shore in that storm, and lost, with her captain and one-half of the men. 
 
 Here he made his complaint to the Judge of the Admiralty, and produced such 
 evidence in support of his allegations, that he was treated with fair words; but it 
 docs not appear that he got any recompense. He met here and at Bordeaux with 
 many friends, both French and English, and at his return. to England, published in a 
 small quarto an account of his last two voyages, with the depositions of the men 
 who were in the ship when he was taken by the French. To this book he prefixed 
 12 
 
90 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 his map of New England, and in it gave a description of the country, with its many 
 advantages, and the proper methods of rendering it a valuable acquisition to the En 
 glish dominions. When it was printed, he went all over the west of England, giving 
 copies of it to all persons of note, and endeavoring to excite the nobility, gentry, and 
 merchants to engage with earnestness in the business of colonizing America. He 
 obtained from many of them fair promises, and was complimented by the Plymouth 
 Company with the title of Admiral of New England. But the former ill success of 
 some too sanguine adventurers had made a deep impression, and a variety of cross 
 incidents baffled all his attempts. 
 
 However, his experience and advice were of eminent service to others. The 
 open frankness and generosity of his mind led him to give all the encouragement 
 which he could to the business of fishing and planting in New England, for which 
 purpose, in 1622, he published a book entitled " New England s Tryals," some ex 
 tracts from which are preserved by Purchas. No man rejoiced more than myself in 
 the establishment of the colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts. 
 
 When the news of the massacre of the Virginian planters by the Indians, 1622, ar 
 rived in England, Smith was all on fire to go over to revenge the insult. He made 
 an offer to the company that if they would allow him one hundred soldiers and thirty 
 sailors, with the necessary provisions and equipments, he would range the country, 
 keep the natives in awe, protect the planters, and make discoveries of the hitherto 
 unknown parts of America ; and for his own risk and pains would desire nothing but 
 what he would " produce from the proper labor of the savages." On this proposal 
 the company was divided, but the pusillanimous and avaricious party prevailed, and 
 gave him this answer, " that the charges would be too great ; that their stock was 
 reduced ; that the planters ought to defend themselves ; but, that if he would go at 
 his own expense, they would give him leave, provided he would give them one-half 
 of t\\e pillage." Such an answer could be received only with contempt. 
 
 When the King, in 1624, instituted a commission for the reformation of Virginia, 
 Smith, by desire of the commissioners, gave in a relation of his former proceedings 
 in the colony, and his opinion and advice respecting the proper methods of remedy 
 ing the defects in government, and carrying on the plantation with a prospect of 
 success. These, with many other papers, he collected and published in 1627, in a 
 thin folio, under the title of " The General History of Virginia, New England, and 
 the Somer Isles." The narrative part is made up of journals and letters of those 
 who were concerned with him in the plantation, intermixed with his own observa 
 tions. His intimate friend, Mr. Purchas, had published most of them two years 
 before in his " Pilgrims." 
 
 In 1629, at the request of Sir Robert Cotton, he published a history of the early 
 part of his life, entitled " The True Travels, Adventures, and Observations of Captain 
 John Smith." This work is preserved entire in the second volume of Churchill s 
 Collections, and from it the former part of this account is compiled. In the conclu 
 sion he made some addition to the history of Virginia, Bermuda, New England, and 
 the West Indies, respecting things which had come to his knowledge after the pub 
 lication of his general history. He stated the inhabitants of Virginia in 1628 at five 
 thousand, and their cattle about the same number. Their produce was chiefly 
 tobacco ; but those few who attended to their gardens had all sorts of fruit and 
 vegetables in great abundance and perfection. From New England they received 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 91 
 
 salted fish ; but of fresh fish their own rivers produced enough, besides an infinite 
 quantity of fowl ; as their woods did of deer and other game. They had two brew- 
 houses; but they cultivated the Indian corn in preference to the European grain. 
 Their plantations were scattered ; some of their houses were palisaded ; but they 
 had no fortifications nor ordnance mounted. 
 
 His account of New England is, that the country had been represented by advent 
 urers from the west of England as rocky, barren, and desolate ; but that since his 
 account of it had been published, the credit of it was so raised, that forty or fifty 
 sail went thither annually on fishing and trading voyages. That nothing had been 
 done to any purpose in establishing a plantation till " about an hundred Brownists 
 went to New Plymouth; whose humorous ignorance caused them to endure a 
 wonderful deal of misery with infinite patience." 
 
 He then recapitulates the history of his American adventures in the following 
 terms : " Now to conclude the travels and adventures of Captain Smith : how first 
 he planted Virginia, and was set ashore with a hundred men in the wild woods; 
 how he was taken prisoner by the savages, and by the King of Pamaunky tied to a 
 tree to be shot to death; led up and down the country to be shown for a wonder; 
 fatted, as he thought, for a sacrifice to their idol, before whom they conjured three 
 days, with strange dances and invocations ; then brought before their Emperor Pow- 
 hatan, who commanded him to be slain ; how his daughter Pocahontas saved his life, 
 returned him to Jamestown, relieved him and his famished company, which was but 
 eight and thirty, to possess those large dominions ; how he discovered all the several 
 nations on the rivers falling into the Bay of Chesapeake; how he was stung almost 
 to death by the poisonous tale of a fish called a stingray ; how he was blown up with 
 gunpowder, and returned to England to be cured. 
 
 1 " Also, how he brought New England to the subjection of the kingdom of Great 
 Britain ; his fights with the pirates, left alone among French men-of-war, and his ship 
 ran from him ; his sea-fights for the French against the Spaniards ; their bad usage 
 of him ; how in France, in a little boat, he escaped them ; was adrift all such a stormy 
 night at sea by himself, when thirteen French ships were split or driven on shore by 
 the isle Rhee, the General and most of his men drowned ; when God, to whom be all 
 honor and praise, brought him safe on shore, to the admiration of all who escaped ; 
 you may read at large in his general history of Virginia, the Somer Islands, and 
 New England." 
 
 This was probably his last publication, for he lived but two years after. By a 
 note in Josselyn s voyage, il appears that he died in 1631 at London in the fifty- 
 second year of his age. 
 
 It would have given singular pleasure to the compiler of these memoirs if he 
 could have learned from any credible testimony that Smith ever received any recom 
 pense for his numerous services and sufferings. The sense which he had of this 
 matter in 1627 shall be given in his own words : " I have spent five years and more 
 than five hundred pounds in the service of Virginia and New England, and in nei 
 ther of them have I one foot of land, nor the very house I built, nor the ground I 
 digged with my own hands ; but I see those countries shared before me by those 
 who know them only by my descriptions." 
 
02 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 DE MONTS, POUTRINCOURT, AND CHAM- 
 PLAIN. 
 
 DE MONTS HIS PATENT FOR ACADIA HIS FORT AT ST. CROIX HE QUITS ACADIA POUTRIN 
 COURT SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN HE SAILS UP THE ST. LAWRENCE BUILDS A FORT AT QUE 
 BECDISCOVERS THE LAKE SURRENDERS QUEBEC TO THE ENGLISH HIS DEATH AND 
 CHARACTER. 
 
 AFTER the discovery of Canada by Cartier, the French continued trading to that 
 country for furs, and fishing on the banks of Newfoundland, Cape Breton, and Aca- 
 dia, where they found many excellent and convenient harbors, among which Can- 
 seau was early distinguished as a place extremely suitable for the fishery. One Sav- 
 alet, an old mariner, who frequented that port, had before 1609 made no less than 
 forty-two voyages to those parts. 
 
 Henry IV., King of France, perceived the advantages which might arise to his 
 kingdom from a farther exploration of the northern parts of America, and there 
 fore gave encouragement to those who were desirous of making adventures. In 
 1598, the Marquis de la Roche obtained a commission of Lord-Lieutenant, and un 
 dertook a voyage with a view to establish a colony consisting of convicts taken out 
 of the prisons. Happening in the course of his voyage to fall in with the Isle of 
 Sable a low, sandy island lying about twenty-five leagues southward of Canseau 
 he there landed forty of his miserable crew, to subsist on the cattle and swine with 
 which the place had been stocked by the Portuguese for the relief of shipwrecked 
 seamen. The reason given for choosing this forlorn place for the disembarkation of 
 his colony was that they would be out of all danger from the savages till he should 
 find a better situation for them on the continent, when he promised to return and 
 take them off. Whether he ever reached the continent is uncertain, but he never 
 again saw the Isle of Sable. Returning to France he engaged in the wars, was 
 made a prisoner by the Duke of Merceur, and soon after died. The wretched exiles 
 subsisted on such things as the place afforded, and clothed themselves with the skins 
 of seals. At the end of seven years, King Henry, in compassion, sent a fisherman 
 to bring them home. Twelve only were then alive. The fisherman, concealing from 
 them the generous intention of their sovereign, took all the skins which they had 
 collected as a recompense for his services some of which, being black foxes, were 
 of great value. The King had them brought before him in thejr seal-skin habits and 
 long beards. He pardoned their former crimes, and made each of them a present 
 of fifty crowns. When they discovered the fraud of the fisherman, they instituted 
 a process against him at law, and recovered large damages, by means of which they 
 acquired so much property as to enter into the same kind of traffic. 
 
 The King also granted to Pontgrave de Chauvin an exclusive privilege of trading 
 at Tadousac, the mouth of the river Saguenay ; to which place he made two voyages, 
 and was preparing for a third when he was prevented by death. 
 
 The next voyager of any note was SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN, of Brouage, a man of 
 a noble family, who, in 1603, sailed up the river of Canad;. as far as Cartier had gone 
 in 1535. He made many inquiries of the natives concerning their country, its river.-,, 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 9H 
 
 falls, lakes, mountains, and mines. The result of his inquiry was, that a communica 
 tion was formed by means of two lakes, with the country of the Iroquois toward 
 the south : that, toward the west, there were more and greater lakes of fresh water, 
 to one of which they knew no limits; and that, to the northward, there was an in 
 land sea of salt water. In the course of this voyage, Champlain anchored at a place 
 called Quebec, which, in the language of the country, signified a strait ; and this was 
 thought to be a proper situation for a fort and settlement. He heard of no mines 
 but one of copper, far to the northward. With this information he returned to 
 France in the month of September. 
 
 On the 8th of November, in the same year, King Henry granted to the Sieur De 
 Monts, a gentleman of his bed-chamber, a patent, constituting him lieutenant-general 
 of all the territory of L Acadia, from the fortieth to the forty-sixth degree of north 
 latitude, with power to subdue the inhabitants and convert them to the Christian 
 faith. This patent was published in all the maritime towns of France ; and De 
 Monts, having equipped two vessels, sailed for his new government on the 7th of 
 March, 1604, taking with him the aforesaid Samuel Champlain for a pilot, Monsieur 
 De Poutrincourt, who had been for a long time desirous to visit America. 
 
 On the 6th of May they arrived at a harbor on the south-east side of the peninsula 
 of Acadia, where they found one of their countrymen, Rossignol, trading with the 
 Indians without license. They seized his ship and cargo ; leaving him only the 
 poor consolation of giving his name to the harbor where he was taken. The pro 
 visions found in his ship were a seasonable supply, and without them the enterprise 
 must have been abandoned. This place is now called Liverpool. 
 
 From Port Rossignol they coasted the peninsula to the south-west, and, having 
 doubled Cape Sable, came to anchor in the Bay of St. Mary, where Aubry, a priest, 
 going ashore, was lost in the woods, and a Protestant was charged with having mur 
 dered him, because they had sometimes had warm disputations on religious subjects. 
 They waited for him several days, firing guns and sounding trumpets, but in vain ; 
 the noise of the sea was so great that no other sound could be heard. Concluding 
 that he was dead, they quitted the place after sixteen days, intending to examine 
 that extensive bay on the west of their peninsula, to which they gave the name of La 
 Baye Franchise, but which is now called the Bay of Fundy. The priest was after 
 ward found alive, but almost starved to death. 
 
 On the eastern side of this bay they discovered a narrow strait, ints which they 
 entered, and soon found themselves in a spacious basin, environed with hills, from 
 which descended streams of fresh water; and between the hills ran a fine navigable 
 river, which they called L Equille. It was bordered with fertile meadows, and full 
 of delicate fish. Poutrincourt, charmed with the beauty of the place, determined here 
 to make his residence, and, having received a grant of it from De Monts, gave it the 
 name of Port Royal [Annapolis]. 
 
 From Port Royal, De Monts sailed farther into the great bay, to visit a copper 
 mine. It was a high rock, on a promontory between two bays. [Menis]. The 
 copper, though mixed with stone, was very pure, resembling that called Rozette 
 copper. Among these stones they found crystals, and a certain shining stone of a 
 blue color. Specimens of these stones were sent to the King. 
 
 In farther examining the bay they came to a great river, which they called St. 
 John s, full of islands, and swarming with fish. Up this river they sailed fifty leagues, 
 
94 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 and were extremely delighted with the vast quantity of grapes which grew on its 
 banks. By this river they imagined that a shorter communication might be had with 
 the Baye de Chaleur and the port of Tadousac than by the sea. 
 
 From the River St. John they coasted the bay south-westerly, till they came to 
 an island in the middle of a river which Champlain had previously explored. Finding 
 its situation safe and convenient, De Monts resolved there to build a fort and pass 
 the winter. To this island he gave the name of St. Croix ; because that two leagues 
 higher there were brooks which " came cross-wise to fall within this large branch of 
 the sea." 
 
 The winter proved severe, and the people suffered so much by the scurvy, that 
 thirty-six of them died ; the remaining forty, who were all sick, lingered till the 
 spring (1605), when they recovered by means of the fresh vegetation. The remedy 
 which Cartier had found in Canada was here unknown. 
 
 As soon as his men were recovered, De Monts resolved to seek a comfortable 
 station in a warmer climate. Having victualed and armed his pinnace, he sailed 
 along the coast to Norombago, a name which had been given by some European ad 
 venturers to the Bay of Penobscot ; from thence he sailed to Kennebec, Casco, Saco, 
 and finally came to Malebarre, as Cape Cod was then called by the French. In some 
 of the places which he had passed, the land was inviting, and particular notice was 
 taken of the grapes ; but the savages appeared numerous, unfriendly and thievish. 
 De Monts company being small, he preferred safety to pleasure, and returned first 
 to St. Croix, and then to Port Royal, where he found Dupont, in a ship from France, 
 with fresh supplies, and a reinforcement of forty men. The stores which had been 
 deposited at St. Croix were removed across the bay, but the buildings were left 
 standing. New houses were erected at the mouth of the river which runs into the 
 basin of Port Royal. There the stores and people were lodged, and De Monts hav 
 ing put his affairs in as good order as possible, in the month of September embarked 
 for France, leaving Dupont as his Lieutenant, with Champlain and Champdore to 
 perfect the settlement and explore the country. 
 
 During the next winter they were plentifully supplied by the savages with veni 
 son, and a great trade was carried on for furs. Nothing is said of the scurvy; but 
 they had short allowance of bread, not by reason of any scarcity of corn, but because 
 they had no other mill to grind it than the hand-mill, which required hard and con 
 tinual labor. The savages were so averse to this exercise, that they preferred hun 
 ger to the task of grinding corn, though they were offered half of it in payment. Six 
 men only died in the course of this winter. 
 
 In the spring of 1606, Dupont attempted to find what De Monts had missed in 
 the preceding year : a more southerly settlement. His bark was twice forced back 
 with adverse winds, and the third time was driven on rocks and bilged at the mouth 
 of the port. The men and stores were saved, but the vessel was lost. These fruit 
 less attempts proved very discouraging ; but Dupont employed his people in build 
 ing a bark and shallop, that they might employ themselves in visiting the ports, 
 whither their countrymen resort to dry their fish, till new supplies should arrive. 
 
 De Monts and Poutrincourt were at that time in France, preparing, amidst every 
 discouragement, for another voyage. On the I3th of May they sailed from Rochelle 
 in a ship of one hundred and fifty tons, and on the 2/th of July arrived at Port Royal, 
 in the absence of Dupont, who had left two men only to guard the fort. In a few 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 95 
 
 days he arrived, having met with one of their boats which they had left at Canseau, 
 and great was the joy on both sides at their meeting. 
 
 Poutrincourt now began his plantation, and having cleared a spot of ground, 
 within fifteen days he sowed European corn and several sorts of garden vegetables. 
 But notwithstanding the beauty and fertility of Port Royal, De Monts had still a 
 desire to find a better place to the southward. He therefore prevailed on Poutrin 
 court to make another voyage to Cape Malebarre, and so earnest was he to have this 
 matter accomplished, that he would not wait till the next spring, but prepared a 
 bark to go to the southward as soon as the ship was ready to sail. 
 
 On the 28th of* August the ship and the bark both sailed from Port Royal. In 
 the ship De Monts and Dupont returned to France, whilst Poutrincourt, Champlain, 
 Champdore, and others crossed the bay to St. Croix, and thence sailed along the 
 coast, touching at many harbors in their way till they arrived in sight of the Cape, 
 the object of their voyage. Being entangled among the shoals, their rudder was 
 broken, and they were obliged to come to anchor at the distance of three leagues from 
 the land. The boat was then sent ashore to find a harbor of fresh water, which, by 
 the information of one of the natives, was accomplished. Fifteen days were spent in 
 this place ; during which time a cross was erected, and possession taken for the King 
 of France ; as De Monts had done two years before at Kennebec. When the bark 
 was repaired and ready to sail, Poutrincourt took a walk into the country, whilst his 
 people were baking bread. In his absence some of the natives visited his people and 
 stole a hatchet. Two guns were fired at them and they fled. In his return he saw 
 several parties of the savages, male and female, carrying away their children and their 
 corn, and hiding themselves as he and his company passed. He was alarmed at this 
 strange appearance ; but much more so, when early the next morning a shower of 
 arrows came flying among his people, two of whom were killed and several others 
 wounded. The savages having taken their revenge, fled ; and it was in vain to pur 
 sue them. The dead were buried at the foot of the cross, and whilst the funeral 
 service was performing, the savages were dancing and yelling in mock concert at a 
 convenient distance, but within hearing. When the French retired on board their 
 bark, the savages took down the cross, dug up the bodies, and stripped them of 
 their grave-clothes, which they carried off in triumph. 
 
 This unhappy quarrel gave Poutrincourt a bad idea of the natives. He attempted 
 to pass farther round the Cape, but was prevented by contrary winds, and forced 
 back to the same harbor, where the savages offering to trade, six or seven of them 
 were seized and put to death. 
 
 The next day another attempt was made to sail farther; but the wind came 
 against them. At the distance of six or seven leagues they discovered an island, but 
 the wind would not permit them to approach it ; they therefore gave it the name of 
 Douteuse, or Doubtful. This was probably either Nantucket or Capawock, now 
 called Martha s Vineyard ; and if so, the contest with the Indians was on the south 
 shore of Cape Cod, where are several harbors and streams of fresh water. To the 
 harbor where he lay, he gave the name of Port Fortune. 
 
 It was now late in the season and no prospect appeared of obtaining any better 
 place for a settlement ; besides, he had two wounded men whose lives were in danger. 
 He therefore determined to return, which he did by the shortest and most direct 
 course ; and after a perilous voyage, in which the rudder was again broken, and 
 
% THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 the bark narrowly escaped shipwreck, he arrived at Port Royal on the I4th of 
 November. 
 
 The manner in. which they spent the third winter was social and festive. At the 
 principal table, to which fifteen persons belonged, an order was established, by the 
 name of L order de bon temps. Every one took his turn to be caterer and steward, 
 for one day, during which he wore the collar of the order and a napkin, and carried 
 a staff. After supper he resigned his accoutrements, with the ceremony of drinking 
 a cup of wine, to the next in succession. The advantage of this institution was, that 
 each one was emulous to be prepared for his day, by previously hunting or fishing, 
 or purchasing fish and game of the natives, who constantly resided among them, and 
 were extremely pleased with their manners. 
 
 Four only died in this winter; and it is remarked that these were "sluggish and 
 fretful." The winter was mild and fair. On a Sunday in the middle of January, 
 after divine service, they "sported and had music on the river ; " and the same month 
 they went two leagues, to see their corn-field, and dined cheerfully in the sunshine. 
 
 At the first opening of the spring (1607), they began to prepare gardens; the 
 produce of. which was extremely grateful ; as were also the numberless fish which 
 came into the river. They also erected a water-mill, which not only saved them 
 much hard labor at the hand-mill, but gave them more time for fishing. The fish 
 which they took were called herrings and pilchards ; of which they pickled several 
 hogsheads to be sent home to France. 
 
 In April they began to build two barks, in which they might visit the ports fre 
 quented by the fishermen, and learn some news from their mother country, as well 
 as get supplies for their subsistence. Having no pitch to pay the seams, they were 
 obliged to cut pine trees and bum them in kilns, by which means they obtained a 
 sufficiency. 
 
 On Ascension day a vessel arrived from France, destined to bring supplies; a 
 large share of which, the crew had ungenerously consumed during their voyage. 
 The letters brought by this vessel informed them that the company of merchants 
 associated with De Monts was discouraged ; and that their ship was to be employed 
 in the fishery at Canseau. The reason of this proceeding was, that contrary to the 
 King s edict, the Hollanders had intruded themselves into their fur trade in the river 
 of Canada, having been conducted by a treacherous Frenchman ; in consequence of 
 which the King had revoked the exclusive privilege which he had given to De Monts 
 for ten years. The avarice of these Hollanders was so great, that they had opened 
 the graves of the dead, and taken the beaver skins in which the corpses had been 
 buried. This outrage was so highly resented by the savages at Canseau, that they 
 killed the person who had shown the places where the dead were laid. This news 
 was extremely unwelcome, as it portended the destruction of the colony. 
 
 Poutrincourt, however, was so well pleased with his situation, that he determined 
 to return to it, though none but his family should accompany him. He was 
 very desirous to see the issue of his attempt at agriculture, and therefore detained 
 the vessel as long as he could, and employed his bark in small voyages about the 
 bay, to trade for furs and gather specimens of iron and copper to be transported to 
 France. When they were all ready to sail, he tarried eleven days longer than the 
 others, that he might carry home the first fruits of his harvest. Leaving the build 
 ings and part of tne provision with the standing corn, as a present to the friendly 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 97 
 
 natives, he finally sailed from Port Royal, on the nth of August, and joined the 
 other vessels at Canseau ; from which place he proceeded to France, where they 
 arrived in the latter end of September. 
 
 Specimens of the wheat, rye, barley, and oats were shown the King; which, 
 with other productions of the country, animal and mineral, were so highly accept 
 able, that he renewed and confirmed to De Monts the privilege of trading for beavers, 
 that he might have it in his power to establish a colony. In consequence of which 
 the next spring several families were sent to renew the plantation, who found that 
 the savages had gathered several barrels of the corn which had been left standing, 
 and had reserved one for their friends whom they expected to return. 
 
 The revocation of the exclusive patent given to De Monts was founded on com 
 plaints made by the masters of fishing vessels, that the branch of commerce in 
 which they were engaged would be ruined. When this patent was restored, it was 
 limited to one year; and on this condition, that he should make an establishment 
 in the River St. Lawrence. De Monts therefore quitted his connection with Acadia, 
 and the company of merchants, with whom he had been connected, fitted out two 
 ships for the port of Tedousac, in 1608. The fur trade was of very considerable 
 value, and the company made great profits; but De Monts finding their interests 
 hurt by his connection with them, withdrew from the association. 
 
 Potitrincourt, resolving to prosecute his plantation at Port Royal the grant of 
 which had been confirmed to him by the King sent Biencourt, his son, to France 
 (1608) for a supply of men and provisions. One condition of the grant was, that 
 attempts should be made to convert the natives to the Catholic faith it was there 
 fore necessary to engage the assistance of some ecclesiastics. The first who em 
 braced the proposal were the Jesuits, by whose zealous exertions a contribution was 
 soon made for the purpose, and two of their order (Biard and Masse) embarked for 
 the new plantation. It was not long before a controversy arose between them and 
 the proprietor, who said " it was his part to rule them on earth, and theirs only to 
 guide him to heaven." After his departure for France, his son Biencourt, disdaining 
 to be controlled by those whom he had invited to reside with him, threatened them 
 with corporeal punishment in return for their spiritual anathemas. It became neces 
 sary then that they should separate. The Jesuits removed to Mount Desart, where 
 they planted gardens and entered on the business of their mission, which they con 
 tinued till 1613 or 1614, when Sir Samuel Argal from Virginia broke up the French 
 settlements in Acadia. In the encounter one of these Jesuits was killed and the 
 other was made prisoner. Of the other Frenchmen, some dispersed themselves in 
 the woods and mixed with the savages ; some went to the River St. Lawrence and 
 strengthened the settlement which Champlain had made there; and others returned 
 to France. 
 
 Two advantages were expected to result from establishing a colony in the River 
 St. Lawrence : one was an extension of the fur trade, and another was the hope of 
 penetrating westward through the lakes to the Pacific Ocean, and finding a nearer 
 communication With China. One of the vessels sent by the company of merchants 
 in 1608 to that river was commanded by Champlain. In his former voyage he had 
 marked the strait above the Isle of Orleans as a proper situation for a fort, because 
 the river was there contracted in its breadth, and the northern shore was high and 
 commanding. Me arrived there in the beginning of July and immediately began to 
 13 
 
98 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 clear the woods, to build houses, and prepare fields and gardens. Here he spent the 
 winter, and his company suffered much by the scurvy. The remedy which Cartier 
 had used was not to be found, or the savages knew nothing of it. It is supposed 
 that the former inhabitants had been extirpated and a new people held possession. 
 
 In the spring of 1609, Champlain, with two other Frenchmen and a party of the 
 natives, went up the river (now called Sorel) and entered the lakes, which lie toward 
 the south and commuicate with the country of the Iroquois. To the largest of 
 these lakes Champlain gave his own name, which it has eyer since retained. On the 
 shore of another, which he called Lake Sacrament (now Lake George), they were 
 discovered by a company of the Iroquois, with whom they had a skirmish. Cham- 
 plain killed two of them with his musket. The scalps of fifty were taken and 
 brought to Quebec in triumph. 
 
 In the autumn Champlain went to France, leaving Captain Pierre to command ; 
 and, in 1610, he returned to Quebec to perfect the colony, of which he may be con 
 sidered as the founder. 
 
 After the death of Henry IV. he obtained of the Queen Regent a commission 
 as Lieutenant of New France, with very extensive powers. This commission was 
 confirmed by Louis XIII., and Champlain was continued in the government of 
 Canada. 
 
 The religious controversies which prevailed in France augmented the number 
 of colonists. A settlement was made at Trois Rivieres, and a brisk trade was car 
 ried on at Tadousac. In 1626 Quebec began to assume the face of a city, and the 
 fortress was rebuilt with stone; but the people were divided in their religious prin 
 ciples, and the Huguenot party prevailed. 
 
 In this divided state (1629) the colony was attacked by an armament from En 
 gland under the conduct of Sir David Kirk. He sailed up the River St. Lawrence 
 and appeared before Quebec, which was then so miserably supplied that they had 
 but seven ounces of bread to a man for a day. A squadron from France, with pro 
 vision for their relief, entered the river; but, after some resistance, were taken by 
 the English. This disappointment increased the distress of the colony and obliged 
 Champlain to capitulate. He was carried to France in an English ship, and there 
 found the minds of the people divided with regard to Canada some thinking it not 
 worth regaining, as it had cost the Government vast sums without bringing any re 
 turn ; others deeming the fishery and fur trade to be great national objects, espec 
 ially as they proved to be a nursery for seamen. These sentiments, supported by 
 the solicitation of Champlain, prevailed; and, by the treaty of St Germain s in 
 1632, Canada, Acadia, and Cape Breton were restored to France. 
 
 The next year Champlain resumed his government, and the company of New 
 France were restored to their former rights and privileges. A large recruit of 
 inhabitants, with a competent supply of Jesuits, arrived from France; and with some 
 difficulty a mission was established among the Hurons; and a seminary of the Order 
 was begun at Quebec. In the midst of this prosperity Champlain died, in the month 
 of December, 1635 ; and was succeeded the next year by De Montmagny. 
 
 Champlain is characterized as a man of good sense, strong penetration, and 
 upright views; volatile, active, enterprising, firm, and valiant. He aided the Hurons 
 in their wars with the Iroquois, and personally engaged in their battles, in one of 
 which he was wounded. His zeal for the propagation of the Catholic religion was 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. i)<J 
 
 so great that it was a common saying with him, that " the salvation of one soul was 
 of more value than the conquest of an empire." 
 
 FERDINANDO GORGES AND JOHN 
 
 MASON. 
 
 FERDINANDO GORGES HIS PERSEVERANCE HIS DEFENSE BEFORE THE COMMONS HIS COM 
 PLAINT AGAINST THE DUTCH HIS EXPENSE AND LOSS HIS MISFORTUNES AND DEATH 
 JOHN MASON IS CONNECTED WITH GORGES HIS PLANTATION AT PISCATAQUA HIS GREAT 
 EXPENSE AND LOSS MASSACHUSETTS COLONY ESTABLISHED INDEPENDENCY OF THE 
 COLONY SUSPECTED PROVINCE OF MAINE ITS PLAN OF GOVERNMENT PROTECTED BY 
 MASSACHUSETTS PURCHASED BY MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 WE know nothing concerning Gorges in the early part of his life. The first 
 account we have of him is the discovery which he made of a plot which the Earl of 
 Essex had laid to overthrow the government of Queen Elizabeth, the tragical issue 
 of which is too well known to be here repeated. Gorges, who had been privy to the 
 conspiracy at first, communicated his knowledge of it to Sir Walter Raleigh, his 
 intimate friend, but the enemy and rival of Essex. 
 
 There was not only an intimacy between Raleigh and Gorges, but a similarity in 
 their genius and employment; both were formed for intrigue and adventure; both 
 were indefatigable in the prosecution of their sanguine projects ; and both were naval 
 commanders. 
 
 During the war with Spain, which occupied the last years of Queen Elizabeth, 
 Gorges, with other adventurous spirits, found full employment in the navy of their 
 mistress. When the peace, which her successor, James I., made in 1604, put an end 
 to their hopes of honor and fortune by military enterprises, Sir Fcrdinando was 
 appointed Governor of Plymouth, in Devonshire. This circumstance, by which his 
 spirit of adventure might seem to have been repressed, proved the occasion of its 
 breaking out with fresh ardor, though in a pacific and mercantile form, connected 
 with the rage for foreign discoveries, which, after some interruption, had again seized 
 the English nation. 
 
 Lord Arundel, of Wardour, had employed a Captain Weymouth in search of a 
 north-west passage to India. This navigator, having mistaken his course, fell in 
 with a river on the coast of America, which, by his description, must have been 
 either Kennebec or Penobscot. From thence he brought to. England five of the 
 natives, and arrived in the month of July, 1605, in the harbor of Plymouth, where 
 Gorges commanded, who immediately took three of them into his family. Their 
 names were Manida, Sketwarroes, and Tasquantum; they were all of one language, 
 though not of the same tribe. This accident proved the occasion, under God s 
 providence, of preparing the way for a more perfect discovery than had yet been 
 made of this part of North America. 
 
 Having gained the affections of these savages by kind treatment, he found them 
 
100 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 very docile and intelligent ; and from them he learned, by inquiry, many particulars 
 concerning their country, its rivers, harbors, islands, fish and other animals; the 
 numbers, disposition, manners, and customs of the natives; their government, alli 
 ances, enemies, force, and methods of war. The result of these inquiries served to 
 feed a sanguine hope of indulging his genius and advancing his fortune by a more 
 thorough discovery of the country. 
 
 His chief associate in this plan of discovery was Sir John Popham, Lord Chief- 
 Justice of the King s Bench, who, by his acquaintance with divers noblemen, and by 
 their interest at court, obtained from King James a patent for making settlements in 
 America, which was now divided into two districts, and called North and South Vir 
 ginia. The latter of these districts was put under the care of certain noblemen, 
 knights, and gentlemen who were styled the London Company ; the former under 
 the direction of others in Bristol, Exeter, and Plymouth, who were called the Plym 
 outh Company, because their meetings were usually held there. 
 
 By the joint efforts of this company, of which Popham and Gorges were two of 
 the most enterprising members, a ship, commanded by Henry Chalong, was fitted 
 out, and sailed in August, 1606, for the discovery of the country from which the sav 
 ages had been brought, and two of them were put on board. The orders given to 
 the master were, to keep in as high a latitude as Cape Breton till he should discover 
 the main land, and then to range the coast southward till he should find the place 
 from which the natives had been taken. Instead of observing these orders, the cap 
 tain falling sick on the passage, made a southern course, and first arrived at the Island 
 of Porto Rico, where he tarried some time for the recovery of his health ; from thence, 
 coming northwardly, he fell in with a Spanish fleet from the Havannah, by whom 
 the ship was seized and carried to Spain. 
 
 Captain Prynne, in another ship which sailed from Bristol, with orders to find 
 Chalong, and join with him in a survey of the coast, had better success; for though 
 he failed of meeting his consort, yet he carried home a particular account of the 
 coasts, rivers, and harbors, with other information relative to the country, which 
 made so deep an impression on the minds of the company, as to strengthen their 
 resolution of prosecuting their enterprise. 
 
 It was determined to send over a large number of people sufficient to begin a 
 colony. For this purpose George Popham was appointed President ; Raleigh Gil 
 bert, Admiral ; Edward Harlon, Master of Ordnance ; Robert Davis, Sergeant-Major ; 
 Elis Best, Marshal ; Mr. Seamen, Secretary; James Davies, Commander of the Fort ; 
 Gome Carew, Searcher. All these were to be of the council ; and besides these, the 
 colony consisted of one hundred men, who were styled planters. They sailed from 
 Plymouth, in two ships, May 31, 1607, and having fallen in with the Island of Mona- 
 higon, August n, landed at the mouth of Sagadahock, or Kennebec River, on a pe 
 ninsula, where they erected a storehouse, and having fortified it as well as their cir 
 cumstances would admit, gave it the name of Fort St. George. 
 
 By means of two natives whom they brought with them to England, viz., Sket- 
 warrocs, sent by Gorges, and Dehamida, by Popham, they found a cordial welcome 
 among the Indians, their sachems offering to conduct and introduce them to the 
 Bashaba, or great chief, whose residence was at Penobscot, and to whom it was ex 
 pected that all strangers should make their address. 
 
 The president, having received several invitations, was preparing to comply with 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 101 
 
 their request, and had advanced some leagues on his way, but contrary winds and 
 bad weather obliged him to return, to the great grief of the sachems, who were to 
 have attended him. The Bashaba, hearing of their disappointment, sent his son to 
 visit the president, and settle a trade for furs. 
 
 The ships departed for England in December, leaving behind them only forty-five 
 persons of the new colony. The season was too far advanced before their arrival to 
 begin planting for that year, if there had been ground prepared for tillage. They 
 had to subsist on the provisions which they had brought from England, and the fish 
 and game which the country afforded. The severity of an American winter was new 
 to them ; and though it was observed that the same winter was uncommonly severe 
 in England, yet that circumstance being unknown, could not alleviate their distress. 
 By some accident their storehouse took fire and was consumed, with the greater part 
 of their provisions, in the middle of the winter; and in the spring of 1688 they had 
 the additional misfortune to lose their president, Captain Popham, by death. The 
 ship which their friends in England, by their united exertions, sent over with sup 
 plies, arrived a few days after with the melancholy news of the death of Sir John Pop- 
 ham, which happened while she lay waiting for a wind at Plymouth. The command 
 of the colony now devolved on Gilbert, but the next ship brought an account of the 
 death of his brother, Sir John Gilbert, which obliged him to return to England to 
 take care of the estate to which he succeeded. These repeated misfortunes and dis 
 appointments, operating with the disgust which the new colonists had taken to the 
 climate and soil, determined them to quit the place. Accordingly, having embarked 
 with their president, they returned to England, carrying with them, as the fruit of 
 their labor, a small vessel which they had built during their residence here, and thus 
 the first colony which was attempted in New England, began and ended in one year. 
 
 The country was now branded as intolerably cold, and the body of the adventur 
 ers relinquished the design. Sir Francis Popham, indeed, employed a ship for some 
 succeeding years in the fishing and fur trade; but he at length became content with 
 his losses, and none of this company but Sir Ferdinando Gorges had the resolution 
 to surmount all discouragements. Though he sincerely lamented the loss of his 
 worthy friend, the Chief-Justice, who had zealously joined him in these hitherto 
 fruitless, but expensive labors ; yet, " as to the coldness of the clime (he says), he 
 had too much experience in the world to be frighted with such a blast, as knowing 
 many great kingdoms and large territories more northerly seated, and by many de 
 grees colder, were plentifully inhabited, and divers of them stored with no better 
 commodities than these parts afford, if like industry, art, and labor be used." 
 
 Such persevering ardor in the face of so many discouragements, must be allowed 
 to discover a mind formed for enterprise, and fully persuaded of the practicability 
 of the undertaking. 
 
 When he found that he could not be seconded in his attempts for a thorough discov 
 ery of the country by others, he determined to carry it on by himself; and for this pur 
 pose he purchased a ship, and engaged with a master and crew to go to the coast of 
 New England for the purpose of fishing and traffic, the only inducement which sea 
 faring people could have to undertake such a voyage. On board this ship he put 
 RICHARD VINES, and several others of his own servants, in whom he placed the 
 fullest confidence, and whom he hired at a great expense to stay in the country over 
 the winter, and pursue the discovery of it. These persons having left the ship s 
 
102 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 company to follow their usual occupation on the coast, traveled into the land, and 
 meeting with the savages who had before returned to America, by their assistance 
 became acquainted with such particulars as Gorges wished to know. 
 
 Mr. Vines and his companions were received by the Indians with great hospital 
 ity, though their residence among them was rendered hazardous, both by a war 
 which raged among them, and by a pestilence which accompanied or succeeded it. 
 
 This war and pestilence are frequently spoken of by the historians of New En 
 gland as remarkable events in the course of Providence, which prepared the way 
 for the establishment of an European colony. Concerning the war, we know noth 
 ing more than this, that it was begun by the Tarratenes, a nation who resided east 
 ward of Penobscot. These formidable people surprised the Bashaba, or chief sachem, 
 at his headquarters, and destroyed him with all his family ; upon which all the other 
 sachems who were subordinate to him, quarreled among themselves for the sover 
 eignty ; and in these dissensions many of them as well as of their unhappy people 
 perished. Of what particular kind the pestilence was, we have no certain* informa 
 tion ; but it seems to have been a disorder peculiar to the Indians, for Mr. Vines and 
 his companions, who were intimately conversant with them, and frequently lodged 
 in their wigwams, were not in the least degree affected by it, though it swept off the 
 Indians at such a prodigious rate, that the living were not able to bury the dead, 
 and their bones were found several years after lying about the villages where they 
 had resided. The extent of this pestilence was between Penobscot in the east, and 
 Narragansett in the west. These two tribes escaped, while the intermediate people 
 were wasted and destroyed. 
 
 The information which Vines obtained for Sir Ferdinando, though satisfactory in 
 one view, produced no real advantage proportionate to the expense. Whilst he was 
 deliberating by what means he should farther prosecute his plan of colonization, 
 Captain Henry Harley, who had bjen one of the unfortunate adventurers to Sagacla- 
 hock, came to him, bringing -a native of the Island of Capawock, now called Martha s 
 Vineyard, who had been treacherously taken from his own country by one of the fish 
 ing ships, and shown in London as a sight. Gorges received this savage, whose name 
 was Epenow, with great pleasure ; and about the same time recovered Assacumet, 
 one of those who had been sent in the unfortunate voyage of Captain Chalong. 
 These two Indians at first scarcely understood each other; but when they had grown 
 better acquainted, Assacumet informed his old master of what he had learned from 
 Epenow concerning his country. This artful fellow had invented a story of a mine 
 of gold in his native island, which he supposed would induce some adventurer to em 
 ploy him as a pilot, by which means he hoped to get home, and he was not disap 
 pointed in his expectation. 
 
 Gorges had engaged the Earl of Southampton, then commander of the Isle of 
 Wight, to advance one hundred pounds, and Captain Hobson another hundred, and 
 also to go on the discovery. With this assistance, Harley sailed in June, 1614, car 
 rying with him several land soldiers and the two before-mentioned Indians, with a 
 third named Wanape, who had been sent to Gorges from the Isle of Wight. On the 
 arrival of the ship, she was soon piloted to the Island of Capawock, and to the 
 
 * Mr. Gookin says, that "he had discoursed with some old Indians who were then youths, who told 
 him, that the bodies of the sick were all over exceeding yellow (which they described by pointing to a 
 yellow garment), both before they died and afterwards." 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 103 
 
 harbor where Epenow was to perform his promise. The principal inhabitants of 
 the place, with some of his own kinsmen, came on board, with whom he held a 
 conference and contrived his escape. They departed, promising to return the 
 next day with furs for traffic. Epenow had pretended that if it were known 
 that he had discovered the secrets of his country, his life would be in danger ; 
 but the company were careful to watch him, and to prevent his escape, had 
 dressed him in long clothes, which could easily be laid hold of, if there should 
 be occasion. His friends appeared the next morning in twenty canoes, and 
 lying at a distance, the captain called them to come on board, which they declining, 
 Epenow was ordered to renew the invitation. He, mounting the forecastle, hailed 
 them as he was directed, and at the same instant, though one held him by the coat, yet, 
 being strong and heavy, he jumped into the water. His countrymen then advanced 
 to receive him, and sent a shower of arrows into the ship, which so disconcerted the 
 crew, that the prisoner completely effected his escape. Thus the golden dream van 
 ished, and the ship returned without having performed any services adequate to the 
 expense of her equipment. 
 
 The Plymouth Company were much discouraged by the ill-success of this advent 
 ure : but the spirit of emulation between them and the London Company proved 
 very serviceable to the cause in which they were jointly engaged. For these having 
 sent out four ships under the command of Michael Cooper, to South Virginia, Jan 
 uary, 1615, and Captain John Smith, who had been employed by that company, hav 
 ing returned to England, and engaged with the company at Plymouth, their hopes 
 revived. Sir Ferdinando Gorges, in concert with Dr. Sutliffe, Dean of Exeter, and 
 several others, equipped two vessels, one of two hundred, the other of fifty tons, on 
 board of which (besides the complement of seamen) were sixteen men who were destined 
 to begin a colony in New England. March, 1615, when they had sailed one hundred and 
 twenty leagues, the large ship had lost her masts and sprung aleak, which obliged 
 them to put back under jurymasts to Plymouth. From thence Smith sailed again 
 (June 24) in a bark of sixty tons, carrying the same sixteen men; but on this second 
 voyage was taken by four French men-of-war and carried to France. The vessel of fifty 
 tons, which had been separated from him, pursued her voyage, and returned in safety ; 
 but the main design of the voyage, which was to effect a settlement, was frustrated. 
 
 The same year (October) Sir Richard Hawkins, by authority of the Plymouth 
 Company, of which he was president for that year, visited the coast of New England to 
 try what services he could do them in searching the country and its commodities ; 
 but on his arrival, finding the natives engaged in war, he passed along the coast to 
 Virginia, and from thence returned to England by the way of Spain, where he dis 
 posed of the fish which he had taken in the voyage. 
 
 After this, ships were sent every season by the London and Plymouth Companies 
 on voyages of profit; their fish and furs came to a good market in Europe; but all 
 the attempts which were made to colonize North Virginia, by some unforeseen acci 
 dents failed of success. Gorges, however, had his mind still invariably bent on his 
 original plan, and every incident which seemed to favor his views was eagerly 
 improved for that purpose. Being possessed of the journals and letters of the several 
 voyages, and of all the information which could be had, and being always at hand to 
 attend the meetings of the company, he contrived to keep alive their hopes, and was 
 the prime mover in all their transactions. 
 
104 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 t 
 
 About this time Captain Thomas Dormer, who had been employed in the Amer 
 ican fishery, and had entered fully into the same views, offered his services to assist 
 in prosecuting the discovery of the country. He was at Newfoundland, and Gorges 
 prevailed on the company to send Captain Edward Rocraft in a ship to New En 
 gland, with orders to wait there till he should be joined by Dermer. Rocraft, on 
 his arrival, met with a French interloper, which he seized, and then sailed with his 
 prize to South Virginia. In the meantime Dermer went to England, and, having 
 conferred with Gorges and the company on the intended discovery, went out in a 
 ship which Gorges himself owned, hoping to meet with Rocraft, but was much per 
 plexed at not finding him. 
 
 Having ranged and examined every part of the coast, and made many useful 
 observations, which he transmitted to Gorges, he shaped his course for Virginia,* 
 where Rocraft had been killed in a quarrel, and his bark sunk. Dermer being thus 
 disappointed of his consort, and of his expected supplies, returned to the northward. 
 At the Island of Capawock he met with Epenow, who, knowing him to be employed 
 by Gorges, and suspecting that his errand was to bring him back to England, con 
 spired with his countrymen to seize him and his companions, several of whom were 
 killed in the fray. Dermer defended himself with his sword, and escaped, though 
 not without fourteen wounds, which obliged him to go again to Virginia, where he 
 died. The loss of this worthy man was the most discouraging circumstance which 
 Gorges had met with : as he himself expresses it, " made him almost resolve never 
 to intermeddle again in any of these courses." But he had, in fact, so deeply engaged 
 in them, and had so many persons engaged with him, that he could not retreat with 
 honor whilst any hope of success remained. Soon after this a prospect began to 
 open from a quarter where it was least expected. 
 
 The patent of 1607, which divided Virginia into two colonies, expressly provided 
 that neither company should begin any plantation within one hundred miles of the 
 other. By this interdiction the middle region of North America was neglected, and 
 a bait was laid to attract the attention of foreigners. 
 
 The adventurers to South Virginia had prohibited all who were not free of their 
 company from planting or trading within their limits ; the northern company had 
 made no such regulations ; by this means it happened that the South Virginia ships 
 could fish on the northern coast, whilst the other company were excluded from all 
 the privileges in the southern parts. The South Virginians had also made other 
 regulations in the management of their business, which the northern company were 
 desirous to imitate. They thought the most effectual way to do this was to procure 
 an exclusive patent. With this view, Gorges, ever active to promote the interest 
 which he had espoused, solicited of the Crown a new charter, which, by the interest 
 of his friends in court, was after some delay obtained. By this instrument, forty 
 noblemen, knights, and gentlemen were incorporated by the style of " the Council 
 established at Plymouth, in the County of Devon, for the Planting, Ruling, and 
 Governing of New England, in America." The date of the charter was November 
 3, 1620. The territory subject to their jurisdiction was from the fortieth to the 
 forty-eighth degree of north latitude, and from sea to sea. This charter is the 
 foundation of all the grants which were made of the country of New England. 
 
 * It is said that he was the first who passed the whole extent of Long Island Sound, and discovered 
 that it was not connected with the continent. This was in 1619. 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 105 
 
 Before this division was made, a number of families, who were styled Puritans, on 
 account of their seeking a farther reformation of the Church of England, which they 
 could not obtain, and who had retired into Holland to avoid the severity of the 
 penal laws against dissenters, meditated a removal to America. The Dutch were 
 fond of retaining them as their subjects, and made them large offers if they would 
 settle in some of their transmarine territories ; but they chose rather to reside in 
 the dominions of their native prince, if they could have liberty of conscience. They 
 had, by their agents, negotiated with the South Virginia Company, and obtained a 
 permission to transport themselves to America, within their limits; but as to liberty 
 of conscience, though they could obtain no indulgence from the Crown under hand 
 and seal, yet it was declared that " the King would connive at them, provided they 
 behaved peaceably." As this was all the favor which the spirit of the time would 
 allow, they determined to cast themselves on the care of Divine Providence, and 
 venture to America. After several disasters, they arrived at Cape Cod, in the forty- 
 second degree of north latitude, a place remote from the object of their intention, 
 which was Hudson s River. The Dutch had their eye on that place, and bribed 
 their pilot not to carry them thither. It was late in the season when they arrived ; 
 their permission from the Virginia Company was of no use here ; and, having neither 
 authority nor form of government, they were obliged, for the sake of order, before 
 they disembarked, to form themselves into a body politic, by a written instrument. 
 This was the beginning of the colony of New Plymouth ; and this event happened 
 (November 1 1, 1620) a few days after King James had signed the patent for incor 
 porating the council. These circumstances served the interest of both, though then 
 wholly unknown to each other. The council, being informed of the establishment 
 of a colony within their limits, were fond of taking them into their protection, and 
 the colony were equally desirous of receiving that protection as far as to obtain a 
 grant of territory. An agent being dispatched by the colony to England, Sir E. 
 Gorges interested himself in the affair, and a grant was accordingly made (1623) to 
 John Pierce, in trust for the colony. This was their first patent ; they afterward 
 (1629) had another made to William Bradford and his associates. 
 
 One end which the council had in view was, to prevent the access of unauthorized 
 adventurers to the coast of New England. The crews of their ships, in their inter 
 course with the natives, being far from any established government, were guilty of 
 great licentiousness. Besides drunkenness and debauchery, some flagrant enormities 
 had been committed, which not only injured the reputation of Europeans, but en 
 couraged natives to acts of hostility. To remedy these evils the council thought 
 proper to appoint an officer to exercise government on the coast. The first person 
 who was sent in this character was Captain Francis West, who, finding the fishermen 
 too licentious and robust to be controlled by him, soon gave up this ineffectual com 
 mand. They next appointed Captain Robert Gorges, a son of Sir Ferdinando. He 
 was, like his father, of an active and enterprising genius, and had newly returned 
 from the Venetian war. He obtained of the council a patent for a tract of land on 
 the north-eastern side of Massachusetts Bay, containing thirty miles in length and 
 ten in breadth, and by the influence of his father, and of his kinsman Lord Edward 
 Gorges, he was dispatched with a commission to be " Lieutenant-General and Gov 
 ernor of New England." They appointed for his council the aforesaid West, with 
 Christopher Level and the Governor of New Plymouth for the time being. Gorges 
 U 
 
K>f> THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 came to Plymouth in 1623, published his commission, and made some efforts to ex 
 ecute it. He brought over with him, as a chaplain, William Morrell, an Episcopal 
 clergyman. This was the first essay for the establishment of a general government 
 in New England, and Morrell was to have superintendence in ecclesiastical as Gorges 
 had in civil affairs; but he made no use of his commission at Plymouth; and only 
 mentioned it in his conversation about the time of his departure.* This general 
 government was a darling object with the Council of Plymouth, but was much dread 
 ed by the planters of New England ; however, all the attempts which were made 
 to carry it into execution failed of success. Gorges, after about a year s residence 
 in the country, and holding one court at Plymouth, upon a Mr. Weston, who had 
 begun a plantation ta Wessagusset (Weymouth), where Gorges himself intended a 
 settlement, was recalled to England, the supplies which he expected to have re 
 ceived having failed. This failure was owing to one of those cross accidents which 
 continually befell the Council of Plymouth. Though the erection of this board was 
 really beneficial to the nation, and gave a proper direction to the spirit of colonizing, 
 yet they had to struggle with the opposing interests of various sorts of persons. 
 
 The Company of South Virginia, and indeed the mercantile interest in general, 
 finding themselves excluded from the privilege of fishing and traffic, complained of 
 this institution as a monopoly. The commons of England were growing jealous of 
 the royal prerogative ; and wishing to restrain it, the granting charters of incorpo 
 ration with exclusive advantages of commerce was deemed a usurpation on the rights 
 of the people. Complaints were first made to the King in council ; but no disposition 
 appeared there to countenance them. It happened, however, that a Parliament was 
 called for some other purposes (February, 1624,) in which Sir Edward Cook was 
 chosen speaker of the Commons. He was well known as an advocate for the liber 
 ties of the people, and an enemy to projectors. The King was, at first, in a good 
 humor with his Parliament, and advantage was taken of a demand for subsidies to 
 bring in a bill against monopolies. 
 
 The House being resolved into a committee, Sir Ferdinando Gorges was called 
 to the bar, where the speaker informed him that the patent granted to the Council 
 of Plymouth was complained of as a grievance ; that under color of planting a colony, 
 they were pursuing private gains; that though they respected him as a person of 
 worth and honor, yet the public interest was to be regarded before all personal con 
 siderations ; and, therefore, they required that the patent be delivered to the House. 
 Gorges answered that he was but one of the company, inferior in rank and abilities 
 to many others; that he had no power to deliver it without their consent, neither ( 
 in fact, was it in his custody. Being asked where it was, he said it was, for aught he 
 knew, still remaining in the crown-office, where it had been left for the amendment 
 of some errors. As to the general charge, he answered that he knew not how it 
 could be a public grievance, since it had been undertaken for the advancement of re 
 ligion, the enlargement of the bounds of the nation, the increase of trade, and the 
 employment of many thousands of people; that it could not be a monopoly ; for 
 though a few only were interested in the business, it was because many could not be 
 induced to adventure where their losses at first were sure, and their gains uncertain ; 
 
 * This Morrell appears to have been a diligent inquirer into the state and circumstances of the country, 
 its natural productions and advantages, the manners, customs, and government of the natives : the result 
 of his observations he wrought into a poem, which he printed both in Latin and English. 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 107 
 
 and, indeed, so much loss had been sustained that most of the adventurers themselves 
 were weary ; that as to the profit arising from the fishery, it was never intended to 
 be converted to private use, as might appear by the offers which they had made to 
 all the maritime cities in the west of England ; that the grant of exclusive privileges 
 made by the Crown, was intended to regulate and settle plantations by the profits 
 arising from the trade, and was, in effect, no more than many gentlemen and lords of 
 manors in England enjoyed without offense. He added that he was glad of an op 
 portunity for such a parliamentary inquiry, and if they would take upon themselves the 
 business of colonization, he and his associates would be their humble servants as far 
 as lay in their power, without any retrospect to the vast expense which they had 
 already incurred in discovering and taking possession of the country, and bringing 
 matters to their then present situation. He also desired that if anything further was 
 to be inquired into, it might be given him in detail with liberty of answering by his 
 counsel. 
 
 A committee was appointed to examine the patent and make objections, which 
 were delivered to Gorges, accompanied with a declaration from the speaker that he 
 ought to look upon this as a favor. Gorges, having acknowledged the favor, em 
 ployed counsel to draw up answers to the objections. His counsel were Mr. (after 
 ward Lord) Finch and Mr. Caltrup, afterward Attorney-General to the Court of 
 Wards. Though in causes where the Crown and Parliament are concerned as parties, 
 counsel are often afraid of wading deeper than they can safely return; yet Gorges 
 was satisfied with the conduct of his counsel, who fully answered the objections, both 
 in point of law and justice; these answers being read, the House asked what further 
 he had to say, upon which he added some observations in point of policy to the fol 
 lowing effect : 
 
 That the adventurers had been at great cost and pains to enlarge the King s do 
 minions; to employ many seamen, handicraftsmen, and laborers; to settle a flourish 
 ing plantation, and advance religion in these savage countries, matters of the highest 
 consequence to the nation, and far exceeding all the advantage which could be ex 
 pected from the simple course of fishing, which must soon have been given over, for 
 that so valuable a country could not long remain unpossessed either by the French, 
 Spaniards, or Dutch ; so that if the plantations were to be given up, the fishery must 
 inevitably be lost, and the honor, as well as the interest, of the nation greatly suffer; 
 that the mischief already done by the persons who were foremost in their complaints 
 was intolerable, for in their disorderly intercourse with the savages they had been 
 guilty of the greatest excesses of debauchery and knavery, and in addition to all these 
 immoralities, they had furnished them with arms and ammunition, by which they 
 were enabled to destroy the peaceable fishermen, and had become formidable enemies 
 to the planters. 
 
 He further added, that he had, in zeal for the interest of his country, deeply en 
 gaged his own estate, and sent one of his sons to the American coast, besides encour 
 aging many of his friends to go thither ; this he hoped would be an apology for his 
 earnestness in this plea, as if he had shown less warmth, it might have been construed 
 into negligence and ingratitude. 
 
 These pleas, however earnest and rational, were to no purpose. The Parliament 
 presented to the King the grievances of the nation, and the patent for New England 
 was the first on the list. Gorges, however, had taken care that the King should be pre 
 
108 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 viously acquainted with the objections and answers, and James was so jealous of the 
 prerogative, that though he gave his assent to a declaratory act against monopolies in 
 general, yet he would not recall the patent. However, in deference to the voice of the 
 nation, the council thought fit to suspend their operations. This proved for a while 
 discouraging to the spirit of adventure, and occasioned the recalling of Robert Gorges 
 from his government. 
 
 But the Parliament having proceeded with more freedom and boldness in their 
 complaints than suited the feelings of James, he dissolved them in haste, before 
 they could proceed to measures for remedying the disorders in Church and State, 
 which had been the subject of complaint, and some of the more liberal speakers were 
 committed to prison. This served to damp the spirit of reformation, and prepared 
 the way for another colony of emigrants to New England. 
 
 About the same time the French Ambassador put in a claim in behalf of his 
 court to these territories, to which Gorges was summoned to answer before the King 
 and council, which he did in so ample and convincing a manner, that the claim was 
 for that time silenced. Gorges then, in the name of the Council of Plymouth, com 
 plained of the Dutch, as intruders on the English possessions in America, by making 
 a settlement on Hudson s River. To this the States made answer, that if any such 
 things had been done, it was without their order, as they had only erected a com 
 pany for the West Indies. This answer made the council resolve to prosecute their 
 business and remove their intruders. 
 
 Hitherto Gorges appears in the light of a zealous, indefatigable, and unsuccessful 
 adventurer ; but neither his labors, expense, no ill success were yet come to a 
 conclusion. 
 
 To entertain a just view of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, we must consider him both as 
 a member of the Council of Plymouth, pursuing the general interest of American 
 plantations, and at the same tim . as an adventurer undertaking a settlement of his 
 own in a particular part of the territory which was subject to the jurisdiction of the 
 council. Having formed an intimacy with Captain John Mason, Governor of Ports 
 mouth, in the County of Hants, who was also a member of the council, and having 
 (1622) jointly with him procured from the council a grant of a large extent of coun 
 try, which they called Laconia, extending from the river Merrimack to Sagadahock, 
 and from the ocean to the lakes and river of Canada, they indulged sanguine expec 
 tations of success. From the accounts given of the country by some romantic trav 
 elers, they had conceived an idea of it as a kind of terrestrial paradise, not only capa 
 ble of producing all the necessaries and conveniences of life, but as already richly fur 
 nished by the bountiful hand of nature. The air was said to be pure and salubrious ; 
 the country pleasant and delightful, full of goodly forests, fair valleys, and fertile 
 plains ; abounding in vines, chestnuts, walnuts, and many other sorts of fruit ; the 
 rivers stored with fish and environed with goodly meadows full of timber trees. In 
 the great lake (Lake Champlain) it was said were four islands, full of pleasant woods 
 and meadows, having great store of stags, sallow deer, elks, roebucks, beavers, and 
 other game, and these islands were supposed to be commodiously situated for habi 
 tation and traffic, in the midst of a fine lake, abounding with the most delicate fish. 
 This lake was thought to be less than one hundred miles distant from the sea coast, 
 and there was some secret expectation that mines and precious stones would be the 
 reward of their patient and diligent attention to the business of discovery. Such 
 were the charms of Laconia ! 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 109 
 
 It has been before observed that Gorges had sent over Richard Vines, with some 
 others, on a discovery, to prepare the way for a colony. The place which Vines 
 pitched upon was at the mouth of the River Saco. Some years after, another settle 
 ment was made on the river of Agamenticus, by Francis Norton, whom Gorges sent 
 over with a number of other people, having procured for them a patent of 12,000 
 acres on the east side of the river, and 12,000 more on the west side; his son, Fer- 
 dinando Gorges, being named as one of the grantees; this was the beginning of the 
 town of York. Norton was a lieutenant-colonel, and had raised himself to that rank 
 from a common soldier by his own merit. In this company were several artificers, 
 who were employed in building saw-mills, and they were supplied with cattle and 
 other necessaries for the business of getting lumber. 
 
 About the same time (viz., 1623) a settlement was begun at the River Piscata- 
 qua by Captain Mason and several other merchants, among whom Gorges had a 
 share. The principal design of these settlements was to establish a permanent fish 
 ery, to make salt, to trade with the natives, and to prepare lumber for exportation. 
 Agriculture was but a secondary object, though in itself the true source of all opu 
 lence and all subsistence. 
 
 These attempts proved very expensive and yielded no adequate returns. The 
 associates were discouraged, and dropped off one after another, till none but Gorges 
 and Mason remained. Much patience was necessary, but in this case it could be 
 grounded only on enthusiasm. It was not possible in the nature of things that their 
 interest should be advanced by the manner in which they conducted their business. 
 Their colonists came over either as tenants or as hired servants. The produce of the 
 plantation could not pay their wages, and they soon became their own masters. 
 The charge of making a settlement in such a wilderness was more than the value of 
 the lands when the improvements were made ; overseers were appointed, but they 
 could not hold the tenants under command, nor prevent their changing places on 
 every discontent. The proprietors themselves never came in person to superintend 
 their interests, and no regular government was established to punish offenders or 
 preserve order. For these reasons, though Gorges and Mason expended from first 
 to last more than twenty thousand pounds each, yet they only opened the way for 
 others to follow, and the money was lost to them and their posterity. 
 
 Whilst their private interest was thus sinking in America, the reputation of the 
 council of which they were members lay under such disadvantages in England as 
 tended to endanger their political existence. As they had been incorporated for the 
 purpose not merely of granting lands, but of making actual plantations in America, 
 they were fond of encouraging all attempts from whatever quarter, which might real 
 ize their views and expectations. 
 
 The ecclesiastical government at this time allowed no liberty to scrupulous con 
 sciences; for which reason, many who had hitherto been peaceable members of the 
 national church, and wished to continue such, finding that no indulgence could be 
 granted, turned their thoughts toward America, where some of their brethren had 
 already made a settlement. They first purchased of the Council of Plymouth large 
 territory, and afterward obtained of the Crown a charter, by which they were consti 
 tuted a body politic within the realm. In June, 1630, they brought their charter to 
 America, and began the colony of Massachusetts. This proved an effectual settle 
 ment, and the reasons which rendered it so were the zeal and ardor which animated 
 
llo THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 their exertions; the wealth which they possessed, and which they converted into 
 materials for a new plantation ; but principally fo& presence of the adventurers them 
 selves on the spot, where their fortunes were to be expended and their zeal exerted. 
 The difference between a man s doing business by himself and by his substitutes, 
 was never more fairly exemplified than in the conduct of the Massachusetts planters, 
 compared with that of Sir Ferdinando Gorges : what the one had been laboring for 
 above twenty years without any success, was realized by the others in two or three 
 years; in five, they were so far advanced as to be able to send out a colony from 
 themselves to begin another at Connecticut; and in less than ten, they founded an 
 university which has ever since produced an uninterrupted succession of serviceable 
 men in Church and State. 
 
 The great number of people who flocked to this new plantation raised an alarm 
 in England. As they had manifested their discontent with the ecclesiastical gov 
 ernment, it was suspected that they aimed at independence, and would throw off 
 their allegiance to the Crown. This jealousy was so strong, that a royal order was 
 made to restrain any from coming hither who should not first take the oath of 
 allegiance and supremacy, and obtain a license for their removal. 
 
 To refute this jealous cavil against the planters of New England, we need only 
 to observe that at the time when they began their settlement, and for many years 
 after, the lands which they occupied were objects of envy both to the Dutch and 
 French. The Dutch claimed from Hudson as far as Connecticut River, where they 
 had erected a trading-house. The French claimed all the lands of New England ; 
 and the governor of Port Royal, when he wrote to Governor Winthrop, directed his 
 letters to him as Governor of the English .at Boston in Acadia. Had the New En 
 gland planters thrown off their subjection to the Crown of England, they must have 
 become a prey to one or the other of these rival powers. Of this they were well 
 aware, and if they had entertained any idea of independency, which they certainly 
 did not (nor did their successors till driven to it by Britain herself}, it would have been 
 the most impolitic thing in the world to have avowed it, in the presence of neighbors 
 with whom they did not wish to be connected. 
 
 This jealousy, however groundless, had an influence on the public councils of the 
 nation, as well as on the sentiments of individuals, and contributed to increase the 
 prejudice which had been formed against all who were concerned in the colonization 
 of New England. The merchants still considered the Council of Plymouth as monop 
 olizing a lucrative branch of trade. The South Virginia Company disrelished their 
 exclusive charter, and spared no pains to get it revoked. The popular party in the 
 Commons regarded them as supporters of the prerogative, and under the royal 
 influence. The high church party were incensed against them as enemies of 
 prelacy, because they had favored the settlement of the Puritans within their ter 
 ritory; and the King himself suspected that the colonies in New England had too 
 much liberty to consist with his notions of government. Gorges was looked 
 upon as the author of all the mischief; and, being publicly called upon, declared 
 " that though he had earnestly sought the interest of the plantations, yet he could 
 not answer for the evils which had happened by them." It was extremely mortify 
 ing to him to find that, after all his exertions and expenses in the service of the 
 nation, he had become a very unpopular character, and had enemies on all sides. 
 
 To remedy these difficulties, he projected the resignation of the charter to the 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. J11 
 
 Crown, and the division of the territory into twelve lordships, to be united under 
 one general governor. As the charter of Massachusetts stood in the way of this 
 project, he, in conjunction with Mason, petitioned the Crown for a revocation of it. 
 This brought on him the ill-will of those colonists also, who from that time regarded 
 him and Mason as their enemies. Before the council surrendered their charter they 
 made grants to some of their own members, of twelve districts, from Maryland to 
 St. Croix, among which the district from Piscataqua to Sagadahock, extending one 
 hundred and twenty miles northward into the country, was assigned to Gorges. In 
 June, 1635, the council resigned their charter, and petitioned the King and the lords 
 of the privy council for a confirmation of the several proprietary grants, and the 
 establishment of a general government. Sir Ferdinando Gorges, then three-score 
 years of age, was the person nominated to be the general governor. About this 
 time Mason, one of the principal actors in this affair, was removed by death ; and a 
 ship, which was intended for the service of the new government, fell and broke in 
 launching. A quo warranto was issued against the Massachusetts charter, but the 
 proceedings upon it were delayed, and never completed. An order of the King in 
 council was also issued in 1637, for the establishment of the general government, 
 and Gorges was therein appointed governor; but the troubles in Scotland and 
 England at this time grew very serious, and put a check to the business. Soon 
 after, Archbishop Laud and some of the lords of the council, who were zealous in 
 the affair, lost their authority, and the whole project came to nothing. 
 
 Gorges, however, obtained of the Crown, in 1639, a confirmation of his own grant, 
 which was styled the Province of Maine, and of which he was made Lord Palatine, 
 with the same powers and privileges as the Bishop of Durham in the County Palatine 
 of Durham. In virtue of these powers, he constituted a government within his said 
 province, and incorporated the plantation at Agamenticus into a city, by the name 
 of Gorgcana, of which his cousin, Thomas Gorges, was mayor, who resided there 
 about two years, and then returned to England. The council for the administration 
 of government were Sir Thomas Josselyn, Knight ; Richard Vines (Steward) ; Francis 
 Champernoon (a nephew to Gorges) ; Henry Josselyn, Richard Boniton, William 
 Hooke, and Edward Godfrey. 
 
 The plan which he formed for the government of his province was this : It was 
 to be divided into eight counties, and these into sixteen hundreds, the hundreds 
 were to be subdivided into parishes and tithings, as the people should increase. In 
 the absence of the proprietor a lieutenant was to preside. A chancellor was consti 
 tuted for the decision of civil causes ; a treasurer to receive the revenue, a marshal 
 for managing the militia, and a marshal s court, for criminal matters ; an admiral s 
 court, for maritime causes ; a master of ordnance and a secretary. These officers 
 were to be a standing council. Eight deputies were to be elected, one from each 
 county, by the inhabitants, to sit in the same council ; and all matters of moment 
 were to be determined by the lieutenant with advice of the majority. This council 
 were to appoint justices, to give licenses for the sale of lands subject to a rent of 
 fourpence or sixpence per acre. When any law was to be enacted or repealed, or 
 public money to be raised, they were to call on the counties to elect each two 
 deputies, " to join with the council in the performance of the service;" but nothing 
 is said of their voting as a separate house. One lieutenant and eight justices were 
 allowed to each county; two head constables to every hundred; one constable and 
 
112 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 four tithingmen to every parish ; and in conformity to the institutions of King 
 Alfred, each tithingman was to give an account of the demeanor of the families 
 within his tithing to the constable of the parish, who was to render the same to the 
 head constables of the hundred, and they to the lieutenant and justices of the 
 county; who were to take cognizance of all misdemeanors; and from them an appeal 
 might be made to the proprietor s lieutenant and council. 
 
 Forms of government and plans of settlement are much more easily drawn on 
 paper than carried into execution. Few people could be induced to become tenants 
 in the neighborhood of such a colony as Massachusetts, where all were freeholders. 
 No provision was made for public institutions; schools were unknown, and they had 
 no ministers, till, in pity to their deplorable state, two went thither from Boston on 
 a voluntary mission, and were well received by them. The city of Gorgeana, though 
 a lofty name, was in fact but an inconsiderable village; and there were only a few 
 houses in some of the best places for navigation. The people were without order 
 and morals, and it was said of some of them, that " they had as many shares in a 
 woman, as they had in a fishing boat." Gorges himself complained of the prodigal 
 ity of his servants, and had very little confidence in his own sons, for whose aggran 
 dizement he had been laboring to establish a foundation. He had indeed erected 
 saw-mills and corn-mills, and had received some acknowledgment in the way of rents, 
 but lamented that he had not reaped the " happy success of those who are their own 
 stewards, and the disposers of their own affairs." 
 
 How long Gorges continued in his office as Governor of Plymouth, does not 
 appear from any materials within my reach. In 1625 he commanded a chip of war 
 in a squadron under the Duke of Buckingham, which was sent to the assistance of 
 France, under pretense of being employed against the Genoese. But a suspicion 
 having arisen that they were destined to assist Louis against his Protestant subjects 
 at Rochelle, as soon as they were arrived at Dieppe, and found that they had been 
 deceived, Gorges was the first to break his orders and return with his ship to En 
 gland. The others followed his example, and their zeal for the Protestant religion 
 was much applauded. 
 
 When the civil dissensions in England broke out into a war, Gorges took the 
 royal side ; and though then far advanced in years, engaged personally in the service 
 of the Crown. He was in Prince Rupert s army at the siege of Bristol, in 1643 ; 
 and when that city was retaken in 1645 by the Parliament s forces, he was plundered 
 and imprisoned. His political principles rendered him obnoxious to the ruling 
 powers, and when it was necessary for him to appear before the commissioners for 
 foreign plantations, he was severely frowned upon and consequently discouraged. 
 
 The time of his death is uncertain ; he is spoken of in the records of the province 
 of Maine as dead in June, 1647. Upon his decease his estate fell to his eldest son, 
 John Gorges, who, whether discouraged by his father s ill success, or incapacitated by 
 the severity of the times, took no care of the province, nor do we find anything 
 memorable concerning him. Most of the commissioners who had been appointed to 
 govern the province deserted it, and the remaining inhabitants, in 1649, were obliged 
 to combine for their own security. In 1651 they petitioned the Council of State that 
 they might be considered as part of the Commonwealth of England. The next year, 
 upon the request of a great part of the inhabitants, the colony of Massachusetts took 
 them under their protection, being supposed to be within the limits of their charter; 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 113 
 
 some opposition was made to this step, but the majority submitted or acquiesced, 
 and considering the difficulties of the times, and the unsettled state of affairs in 
 England, this was the best expedient for their s;curity. 
 
 On the death of John Gorges, the propriety descended to his son, Ferdinando 
 Gorges, of Westminster, who seems to have been a man of information and activity. 
 He printed a description of New England in 1658, to which he annexed a narrative 
 written by his grandfather, from which this account is chiefly compiled ; but another 
 piece, which in some editions is tacked to these, entitled " Wonder-working Provi 
 dences," was unfairly ascribed to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, though written by a Mr. 
 Johnson, of Woburn, in New England. 
 
 On the restoration of King Charles II., Gorges petitioned the Crown, complaining 
 of the Massachusetts colony for usurping the government of Maine, and extending 
 the boundary lines. In 1664 commissioners were sent to America, who, finding the 
 people in the province of Maine divided in their opinions with respect to matters of 
 government, appointed justices in the King s name to govern them, and about the 
 same time the proprietor nominated thirteen commissioners, and prepared a set of 
 instructions, which were entered on the records of the province. But upon the de 
 parture of the royal commissioners, the colony resumed its jurisdiction over them. 
 These two sources of government kept alive two parties, each of whom were always 
 ready to complain of the other and justify themselves. 
 
 An inquiry into the conduct of Massachusetts had been instituted in England, and 
 the colony was ordered to send over agents to answer the complaints of Gorges and 
 Mason, the proprietors of New Hampshire, who had jointly proposed to sell their 
 property to the Crown, to make a government for the Duke of Monmouth. This pro 
 posal not being accepted, the colony themselves took the hint, and thought the most 
 effectual way of silencing the complaint would be to make a purchase. The circum 
 stances of the province of Maine were such as to favor their views. The Indians had 
 invaded it ; most of the settlements were destroyed or deserted, and the whole coun 
 try was in trouble ; the colony had afforded them all the assistance which was in their 
 power, and they had no help from any other quarter. In the height of this calamity 
 John Usher, Esq., was employed to negotiate with Mr. Gorges for the purchase of 
 the whole territory, which was effected in the year 1677. The sum of twelve hundred 
 and fifty pounds sterling was paid for it, and it has ever since been a part of Massa 
 chusetts. It is now formed into two counties, York and Cumberland ; but the Dis 
 trict of Maine, as established by the laws of the United States, comprehends also the 
 counties of Lincoln, Washington, and Hancock ; extending from Piscataqua to St. 
 Croix, a territory large enough when fully peopled to be formed into a distinct State.* 
 
 HENRY HUDSON. 
 
 HENRY HUDSON HE SAILS ON A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY ARRIVES AT SANDY HOOK THE FIRST 
 ATTEMPT TO SAIL UP THE RIVER MADE BY HIM HOSTILITY OF THE NATIVES HE RETURNS 
 TO ENGLAND HE AGAIN SAILS MUTINY HUDSON S MISFORTUNES. 
 
 NOTWITHSTANDING the fruitless attempts which had been made to find a passage 
 to India by the north, the idea was not given up ; but it was supposed, that under 
 
 * Now State of Maine. 
 
lit THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 the direction of some prudent, resolute, and experienced commander, the object 
 might yet be attained. A society of wealthy and sanguine adventurers in England 
 believed the practicability of the passage, and with a resolution and liberality almost 
 unexampled, raised the money to carry on this expensive undertaking. They gave 
 the command of the expedition to HEXRY HUDSON 7 , a seaman of enlarged views and 
 long experience, in whose knowledge and intrepidity they could safely confide, and 
 whose enterprising spirit was exceeded by none, and equaled by few of his 
 contemporaries. 
 
 When the ship which they had destined for the voyage was ready, Hudson with 
 his crew, according to the custom of seamen in that day, wer.t to church, on April 
 19, 1607, and there partook of the Lord s Supper. On the ist of May he sailed 
 from Gravesend ; and, on the 2ist of June, discovered land in latitude 73 on the 
 eastern coast of Greenland, which he called Hold with Hope. 
 
 His design was to explore the whole coast of Greenland, which he supposed to 
 be an island, and, if possible, to pass round it, or else directly under the pole. But 
 having sailed as far as the latitude of 82, he found the sea obstructed by impene 
 trable ice, and was obliged to return to England, where he arrived on the 1 5th of 
 September. 
 
 By this voyage, more of the eastern coast of Greenland was explored than had 
 ever before been known ; and the island, afterward called Spitzbcrgen, was first dis 
 covered. It also opened the way to the English, and after them to the Dutch, to 
 prosecute the whale-fishery in those northern seas. 
 
 The next year the same company of adventurers resolved to make another at 
 tempt, and sent Hudson again to find a passage to the north-east. He sailed on the 
 22d of August, 1608. The highest latitude to which he advanced in this voyage 
 was 75 30 . After having made several attempts to pass between Spitzbergen and 
 Nova Zembla, which he found impracticable, the season was so far spent and the 
 winds so contrary that he had not time to try the Strait of Waygats nor Lumley s 
 Inlet ; and therefore thought it his " duty to save victual, wages, and tackle by a 
 speedy return." He arrived at Gravesend on the 2oth of August. 
 
 After his return from his second voyage, he went over to Holland and entered 
 into the service of the Dutch. Their East India Company fitted out a ship for dis 
 covery and put him into the command. He sailed from Amsterdam on the 25th of 
 March 1609. 
 
 The highest latitude which he made in this voyage was 61 46 , where he found 
 the sea in the neighborhood of Nova Zembla so filled with ice and covered with fogs, 
 that it was impossible to pass the Strait of Waygats to the eastward. He there 
 fore tacked and steered westerly toward Greenland, intending to fall in with Buss 
 Island, which had been seen by one of Frobisher s ships in 1578; but when he came 
 into the latitude where it was laid down, he could not find it. 
 
 He then steered south-westerly, passed the banks of Newfoundland among the 
 French ships which were fishing without speaking with any of them, and sailed 
 along the coast of America. In this route he discovered Cape Cod and landed 
 there, then pursued his course to the south and west ; making remarks on the sound 
 ings and currents till he came to the entrance of Chesapeake Bay. Here he plied 
 off and on for several days, and then turned again to the northward. 
 
 In his return along the coast on the 28th of August he discovered the great bay, 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 115 
 
 now called Delaware, in the latitude of 39 5 . In this bay he examined the sound 
 ings and currents and the appearance of the land, but did not go on shore. 
 
 From this bay, passing along a low, marshy coast skirted with broken islands, on 
 the 2d of September he saw high hills to the northward, which I suppose were the 
 Neversinks in New Jersey. 
 
 On the 4th of September he came to an anchor in " a very good harbor " in the 
 latitude 40 30 , which is the bay within Sandy Hook. On the 6th the boat was 
 sent to survey what appeared to be the mouth of a river distant four leagues. This 
 was the strait called the Narrows, between Long Island and Staten Island ; here was 
 a good depth of water, and within was a large opening and a narrow river to the 
 west, the channel between Bergen Neck and Staten Island. As the boat was return 
 ing, it was attacked by some of the natives in two canoes. One man (John Colman) 
 was killed. He was buried on a point of land, which, from that circumstance, was 
 called Colman s Point. It is probably Sandy Hook, within which the ship lay. 
 
 On the nth they sailed through the Narrows and found a "good harbor secure 
 from all winds." The next day they turned against a north-west wind into the mouth 
 of the river which bears Hudson s name, and came to anchor two leagues within it. 
 On these two days they were visited by the natives, who brought corn, beans, oysters, 
 and tobacco. They had pipes of copper in which they smoked, and earthen pots in 
 which they dressed their meat. Hudson would not suffer them to stay on board by 
 night. 
 
 From the I2th to the igth of September he sailed up the river, which he found 
 about a mile wide and of a good depth, abounding with fish, among which were 
 " great store of salmons." As he advanced, the land on both sides was high till it 
 came very mountainous. This " hjgh land had many points, the channel was nar 
 row, and there were many eddy winds." 
 
 From a careful enumeration of the computed distances in each day s run as set 
 down in the journal, it appears that Hudson sailed fifty-three leagues. To this dis 
 tance the river was navigable for the ship. The boat went up eight or ten leagues 
 farther, but found the bottom irregular and the depth not more than seven feet. It 
 is evident, therefore, that he penetrated this river as far as where the city of Albany 
 now stands. 
 
 The farther he went up the river the more friendly and hospitable the natives 
 appeared. They gave him skins in exchange for knives and other trifles. But as 
 he came down below the mountains, the savages were thievish and troublesome, 
 which occasioned frequent quarrels, in which eight or nine of them were killed. The 
 land on the eastern side of the river near its mouth was called Manahata. 
 
 On the 4th of October he came out of the river, and, without anchoring in the 
 bay, stood out to sea ; and, steering directly for Europe, on the /th of November 
 arrived " in the range of Dartmouth in Devonshire." Here the journal ends. 
 
 The discoveries made by Hudson in this remarkable voyage were of great mer 
 cantile consequence to his employers. It has been said that he " sold the country, 
 or rather his right to it, to the Dutch." This, however, is questionable. The sover 
 eigns of England and France laid equal claim to the country, and it is a matter 
 which requires some discussion whether^ the Hollanders were at that time so far ad 
 mitted into the community of nations as to derive rights which would be acknowl 
 edged by the other European powers. However, whilst they were struggling for 
 
110 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 existence among the nations, they were growing rich by their mercantile adventures; 
 and this capital discovery, made at their expense, was a source of no small advan 
 tage to them. They had for some time before cast an eye on the fur trade, and had 
 even bribed some Frenchmen to admit them into the traffic at Acadia and St. Law 
 rence. The discovery of Hudson s River gave them at once an entrance of above 
 fifty leagues into the heart of the American continent, in a situation where the best 
 furs could be procured without any interruption from either the French or the En 
 glish. The place indeed lay within the claim of both these nations. Acadia ex 
 tended from the latitude of 40 to 48 and Virginia from 34 to 45 ; but the French 
 had made several fruitless attempts to pass southward of Cape Cod, and had but 
 just begun their plantations at Acadia and St. Lawrence. The English had made 
 some efforts to establish colonies in Virginia, one of which was struggling for exist 
 ence and others had failed, both in the southern and northern division. Besides, 
 King James by a stroke of policy peculiar to himself, in dividing Virginia between 
 the North and South Companies had interlocked each patent with the other, and, 
 at the same time, interdicted the patentees from planting within one hundred miles 
 of each other. This uncertainty, concurring with other causes, kept the advent 
 urers at such a distance, that the intermediate country, by far the most valuable, lay 
 exposed to the intrusion of foreigners; none of whom knew better than the Dutch 
 how to avail themselves of the ignorance or inattention of their neighbors in pur 
 suit of gain. 
 
 But whether it can at this time be determined or not by what means the Hol 
 landers acquired a title to the country, certain it is that they understood and pur 
 sued the advantage which this discovery opened to them. Within four years a fort 
 and trading-house were erected on the spot where Albany is now built, and another 
 fort on the south-west point of the island where the city of New York now stands, 
 by a company of merchants who had procured from the States-General a patent for 
 an exclusive trade to Hudson s River. 
 
 The transactions between Hudson and his Dutch employers arc not stated in the 
 accounts of his voyages. Dr. Forstcr says that he offered to undertake another voy 
 age in their service, but that they declined it, upon which he returned to England, 
 and again entered into the service of the company who had before employed him. 
 
 The former attempts for a northern passage having been made in very high lati 
 tudes, it was now determined to seek for one by passing to the westward of Green 
 land, and examining the inlets of the American continent. For this purpose a ship 
 was fitted out, and the command was given to Hudson ; but, unhappily, the com 
 pany insisted that he should take with him, as an assistant, one Colburne, a very able 
 and experienced seaman. Their great confidence in Colburne s skill excited Hud 
 son s envy; and after the ship had fallen down the river, he put him on board a pink, 
 bound up to London, with a letter to the owners, containing the reasons of his con 
 duct ; and then proceeded on his voyage. [April 22, 1610.] This rash step gave the 
 crew an example of disobedience, which was so severely retaliated on himself as to 
 prove the cause of his ruin. 
 
 He went round the north of Scotland, through the Orkney and Faro Islands, and 
 on the nth of May made the eastern part of Iceland. Sailing along its southern 
 shore, in sight of the volcanic mountain, Hecla, he put into a harbor in the western 
 part of the island, where he met with a friendly reception from the inhabitants, but 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 117 
 
 found great dissensions among his crew, which he could not appease without much 
 difficulty. 
 
 Having doubled the southern promontory of Greenland, he steered north-west 
 for the American continent. In this passage he was so entangled with floating ice, 
 that he almost despaired of getting clear. But at length, with much labor and peril, 
 he forced his way through the strait and into the bay which bears his name. The 
 farther he advanced the greater were the murmurings among his men. He removed 
 his mate and boatswain and put others in their places. This discipline not only 
 rendered him more unpopular, but inflamed the displaced officers with bitter resent 
 ment against him. 
 
 The whole summer having been spent in examining the eastern and southern ex 
 tremities of the deep and extensive bay which he had discovered, in October it was 
 too late to return; the discovery was yet incomplete, and he was loth to leave it. 
 He had taken but half a year s provision from England. It was, therefore, necessary 
 to husband what was left, and procure more by hunting, which was done in great 
 plenty, by reason of the numerous flights of fowl which succeeded each other through 
 the winter. 
 
 In November the ship was frozen up. Soon after the gunner died, and a contro 
 versy took place about dividing his clothes. Hudson was partial to Henry Green, a 
 young man of a debauched character, whom he had taken on board, and whose name 
 was not on the ship s books. This young man ungenerously took part with the dis 
 contented, and lost Hudson s favor. 
 
 They had to struggle with a severe winter and bad accommodations, which pro 
 duced scorbutic and rheumatic complaints. These were relieved by a decoction of 
 the buds of a tree filled with a balsamic juice ; the liquor was drank, and the buds 
 applied to the swelled joints. This is supposed to have been the Populus Bal- 
 sainifcra. 
 
 When the spring came on the birds disappeared, and their provisions fell short. 
 To still the clamor among the discontented, Hudson injudiciously divided the re 
 maining stores into equal shares, and gave each man his portion, which some de 
 voured at once and others preserved. 
 
 The ship being afloat, he began to sail toward the north-west to pursue -the ob- 
 j.ect of his voyage, when (June 21, 161 1,) a conspiracy, which had been some time in 
 fermentation, broke out into open mutiny. The displaced mate and boatswain, ac 
 companied by the infamous Green and others, rose and took command of the ship. 
 They put Hudson, his son, the carpenter, the mathematician, and five others, most 
 of whom were sick and lame, into the shallop, with a small quantity of meal, one 
 gun and ammunition, two or three spears, and an iron pot; and then, with the most 
 savage inhumanity, turned them adrift. This is the last account of Hudson. Whether 
 he, with his unhappy companions, perished by the sea, by famine, or by the savages, 
 is unknown. 
 
 The conspirators put the ship about to the eastward, and hasted to get out of the 
 bay. Near Cape Digges they met with seven canoes of the savages, by whom they 
 were attacked. The perfidious Green was killed, and three others wounded, of whom 
 two died in a few days. The miserable remnant pursued their course homeward, and 
 suffered much by famine; but at length arrived in Ireland, and from thence got to 
 England. 
 
118 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 This account of the unfortunate end of Hudson and the return of the ship is 
 taken from a narrative written by Abacuc Pricket, whom the mutineers preserved, in 
 hopes that by his connection with Sir Dudley Digges, one of the owners, they 
 should obtain their pardon. 
 
 The most astonishing circumstance in this horrid act of cruelty is the oath by 
 which the conspirators bound themselves to execute their plot ; the form of it is 
 preserved by Pricket, and is in these words : 
 
 " You shall swear truth, to God, your Prince, and country ; you shall do nothing 
 but to the glory of God ; and the good of the action in hand, and harm to no man." 
 It is to be hoped that the absurdity, hypocrisy, and blasphemy of this transaction 
 will ever be unparalleled in the history of human depravity ! 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE beginning of the colony of Virginia has been related in the life of Captain 
 John Smith; to whose ingenuity, prudence, patience, activity, industry, and resolu 
 tion its subsistence during the first three years is principally to be ascribed. It 
 would have been either deserted by the people or destroyed by the natives had he 
 not encouraged the former by his unremitted exertions, and struck an awe into the 
 latter by his military address and intrepidity. 
 
 The views of the adventurers in England were intent on present gain ; and their 
 strict orders were to preserve peace with the natives. Neither of these could be 
 realized. Cultivation is the first object in all new plantations ; this requires time and 
 industry; and, till the wants of the people could be supplied by their own labor, it 
 was necessary to have some dependence on the natives for such provisions as they could 
 spare from their own consumption ; and when the supply could not be obtained by fair 
 bargain, it was thought necessary to use stratagem or force. Those who were on the 
 spot were the best judges of the time and occasion of using those means ; but they 
 were not permitted to judge for themselves. The company of adventurers undertook 
 to prescribe rules, to insist on a rigorous execution of them, and to form various 
 projects which could never be carried into effect. In short, they expected more 
 from their colony than it was possible for it to produce in so short a time, with 
 such people as they sent to reside there, and in the face of so many dangers and 
 difficulties, which were continually presented to them. 
 
 After the arrival of Captain Newport in England from his third voyage, the 
 Company of South Virginia, disappointed and vexed at the small returns which the 
 ships brought home, determined on a change of system ; they solicited and obtained 
 of the Crown a new charter (May 23, 1609), and took into the company a much 
 greater number of adventurers than before. Not less than six hundred and fifty- 
 seven names of persons arc inserted in the charter, many of whom were noblemen, 
 and gentlemen of fortune, and merchants; besides fifty-six incorporated companies 
 of mechanics in the city of London ; and room was left for the admission of more. 
 The government at home was vested in a council of fifty-two persons, named in the 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 119 
 
 charter; at the head of which was Sir Thomas Smith, the former treasurer; and all 
 vacancies which might happen in the council were to be filled by the vote of a 
 majority of the company legally assembled. This council in England had the power 
 of appointing governors and other officers to reside in Virginia, and of making laws 
 and giving instructions for the government of the colony. In consequence of this 
 power the treasurer and council constituted the following officers : 
 
 Sir Thomas West, Lord Delaware, Captain-General ; Sir Thomas Gates, Lieu- 
 tenant-General ; Sir George Somcrs, Admiral ; Captain Christopher Newport, Vice- 
 Admiral ; Sir Thomas Dale, High Marshal ; and Sir Ferdinando Wainman, General 
 of Horse. 
 
 Several other gentlemen, whose names arc not mentioned, were appointed to 
 other offices, all of which were to be holden during life. This may seem a strange 
 way of appointing officers in a new colony, especially when the charter gave the 
 council power to revoke and discharge them. But it is probable that these gentle 
 men had friends in the company who were persons of wealth and influence, and who 
 thought the offices not worthy of their acceptance unless they could hold them long 
 enough to make their fortunes. The example of Columbus might have served as a 
 precedent, who had the office of Admiral of the West Indies, not only for life, but 
 as an inheritance to his posterity. 
 
 0V THE 
 
 [UNIVERSITY; 
 SIR THOMAS SMITH/ 
 
 SIR THOMAS SMITH HE IS CALUMNIATED DECREE OF CHANCERY IN HIS FAVOR HE RESIGNS 
 HIS OFFICE OF TREASURER OF THE VIRGINIA COMPANY TWO THOUSAND ACRES OF LAND 
 GRANTED TO HIM IN VIRGINIA SIR EDWIN SANDYS, TREASURER OF THE VIRGINIA COM 
 PANY LOTTERIES SUPPLIES OBTAINED CY THEM FOR VIRGINIA TEN ACIOUSNESS OF KING 
 JAMES. 
 
 ALL which is known with certainty of this gentleman is, that he was a London 
 merchant of great wealth and influence, Governor of the East India and Muscovy 
 Companies, and of the company associated for the discovery of a north-west passage ; 
 that he had been sent (1604) Ambassador from King James to the Emperor of Russia ; 
 that he was one of the assignees of Sir Walter Raleigh s patent, and thus became in 
 terested in the colony of Virginia. He had been treasurer of the company under 
 their first charter, and presided in all the meetings of the council and of the company 
 in England ; but he never came to America. 
 
 It is unfortunate for the memory of Sir Thomas Smith that both the company 
 and colony of South Virginia were distracted by a malevolent party spirit; and that 
 he was equally an object of reproach on the one hand, and of panegyric on the 
 other. To decide on the merit or demerit of his character, at this distance of time, 
 would, perhaps, require more evidence than can be produced ; but candor is due to 
 the dead as well as to the living. 
 
 He was a warm friend of Captain John Smith, who, in his account of Virginia. 
 
12A THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 speaks of him with respect, as a diligent and careful overseer, especially in sending 
 supplies to the colony during hi3 residence there ; and after his return to England he 
 depended on Sir Thomas and the council for those accounts of the colony which he 
 has inserted in his history, subsequent to that period. 
 
 In a dedication prefixed to a narrative of the shipwreck of Sir George Somers on 
 the Island of Bermuda, Sir Thomas is complimented in the following manner: 
 " Worthy sir, if other men were like you, if all as able as you are were as willing, we 
 should sec a flourishing Christian church and commonwealth in Virginia. But let 
 this be your consolation, there is one that is more able and willing than you, even 
 the God of heaven and earth. And know further, for your comfort, that though the 
 burden lie on you and a few more, yet are there many honorable and worthy men of 
 all sorts who will never shrink from you. Go on, therefore, with courage and con 
 stancy, and be assured that though by your honorable embassages and employments, 
 and by your charitable and virtuous courses you have gained a worthy reputation i;i 
 this world, yet nothing that you ever did or suffered more honors you in the eyes of 
 all that are godly-wise than your faithful and unwearied prosecution, your continual 
 and comfortable assistance of those foreign plantations." 
 
 But though flattered and complimented by his admirers, yet he had enemies both 
 among the company in England and the colonists in Virginia. By some of his asso 
 ciates he was accused of favoring the growth of tobacco in the colony to the neglect 
 of other staple commodities which the country was equally capable of producing. It 
 was also alleged, that instead of a body of laws agreeable to the English Constitution, 
 a book had been printed and dedicated to him, and sent to Virginia by his own 
 authority, and without the order or consent of the company, containing "laws written in 
 blood," which, though they might serve for a time of war, being mostly translated 
 from the martial law of the United Netherlands, yet were destructive of the liberties 
 of English subjects and contrary to the express letter of the royal charter. For this 
 reason many people in England were deterred from emigrating to Virginia, and 
 many persons in the colony were unjustly put to death. 
 
 In the colony the clamor against him was still louder. It was there said, that he 
 had been most scandalously negligent, if not corrupt, in the matter of supplies; that 
 in a certain period called the " starving time," the allowance for a man was only 
 eight ounces of meal and a half-pint of peas per day, and that neither of them were 
 fit to be eaten ; that famine obliged many of the people to fly to the savages for re 
 lief, who, being retaken, were put to death for desertion; that others were reduced 
 to the necessity of stealing, which, by his sanguinary laws, was punished with ex 
 treme rigor; that the sick and infirm, who were unable to work, were denied the al 
 lowance, and famished for want; that some, in these extremities, dug holes in the 
 earth, and hid themselves till they perished ; that the scarcity was " so lamentable," 
 that they were constrained to eat dogs, cats, snakes, and even human corpses ; that 
 one man killed his wife, and put her flesh in pickle, for which he was burnt to death. 
 These calamities were, by the colonists, so strongly and pointedly laid to the charge 
 of the treasurer, that when they had found a mare which had been killed by the 
 Indians, and were boiling her flesh for food, they wished Sir Thomas was in the same 
 kettle. A list of these grievances was presented to King James, and in the conclu- 
 sion of the petition they begged his Majesty that " rather than be reduced to live 
 under the like government again, he would send over commissioners to hang them. 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 121 
 
 In answer to these accusations, it was said, that the original ground of all these 
 calamities was the unfortunate shipwreck of a vessel loaded with supplies, on the 
 Island of Bermuda. This happened at a time when Captain John Smith was dis 
 abled and obliged to quit the colony, which had been supported in a great measure 
 by his exertions. Another source of the mischief was the indolence of the colonists 
 themselves ; who regarded only the present moment, and took no care for the future. 
 This indolence was so great, that they would eat their fish raw rather than go to a 
 small distance from the water for wood to dress it. When there was a plenty of 
 sturgeon in the river, they would not take any more than to serve their present 
 necessity, though they knew the season was approaching when these fish return to 
 the sea ; nor did they take care to preserve their nets, but suffered them to perish 
 for want of drying and mending. Another cause was the dishonesty of those who 
 were employed in procuring corn from the natives ; for, having accomplished their 
 object, they went to sea, and turned pirates ; some of them united with other pirates, 
 and those who got home to England, protested that they were obliged to quit Vir 
 ginia for fear of starving. Besides, it was said that when ships arrived with provision, 
 it was embezzled by the mariners, and the articles intended for traffic with the 
 Indians, were privately given away or sold for a trifle ; and some of the people ven 
 turing too far into their villages were surprised and killed. 
 
 The story of the man eating his dead wife was propagated in England by some 
 of the deserters ; but when it was examined afterward by Sir Thomas Gates, it 
 proved to be no more than this: One of the colonists, who hated his wife, secretly 
 killed her; then, to conceal ths murder, cut her body in pieces, and hid them in 
 different parts of the house. When the woman was missed, the man was suspected ; 
 his house was searched, and the pieces were found. To excuse his guilt, he pleaded 
 that his wife died of hunger, and that he daily fed on her remains. His house was 
 again searched, and other food was found ; on which he was arraigned, confessed the 
 murder, and was put to death being burned, according to law. 
 
 Though calumniated both in England and America, Sir Thomas Smith did not 
 want advocates; and his character for integrity was so well established in England, 
 that when some of the company who had refused to advance their quotas, pleaded 
 his negligence and avarice in their excuse, the Court of Chancery, before whom the 
 affair was carried, gave a decree against them, and they were compelled to pay the 
 sums which they had subscribed. 
 
 The charges against him were equally leveled against the council and company ; 
 and by their order a declaration was published, in which the misfortunes of the 
 colony are thus summarily represented : "Cast up the reckoning together, want of 
 government, store of idleness, their expectations frustrated by the traitors, their 
 market spoiled by the mariners, their nets broken, the deer chased, their boats lost, 
 their hogs killed, their trade with the Indians forbidden, some of their men fled, 
 some murdered, and most by drinking the brackish water of James Fort, weakened 
 and endangered ; famine and sickness by all these means increased. Here at home 
 the monies came in so slowly, that the Lord Delaware could not be despatched till 
 the colony was worn and spent with difficulties. Above all, having neither ruler nor 
 preacher, they feared neither God nor man, which provoked the Lord, and pulled 
 down His judgments upon them." 
 
 Sir Thomas Smith continued in his office of treasurer till 1619; when the preju- 
 16 
 
122 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 dice against him became so strong, that by the interest of the Earl of Warwick, who 
 hated him, his removal was in contemplation. At the same time, Sir Thomas, be 
 ing advanced in years and infirmities, having grown rich, and having a Sufficiency of 
 business as Governor of the East India Company, thought it prudent to retire from 
 an office of so great a responsibility, attended with so much trouble and so little ad 
 vantage, and accordingly sent in his resignation to the Council of Virginia. His friends 
 would have dissuaded him from this measure, but he was inflexible. Sir Edwin 
 Sandys was elected his successor ; a gentleman of good understanding and great ap 
 plication to business. At his motion, a gratuity of 2,000 acres of land in Virginia 
 was granted to Sir Thomas. He had been in office upwards of twelve years, in which 
 time the expenses of the plantation had amounted to 80,000; and though he had 
 declared that he left 4,000 for his successor to begin with, yet it was found, on 
 examination, that the company was in debt to a greater amount than that sum. 
 
 Several ways were used for the raising of supplies to carry on the colonization of 
 Virginia. One was by the subscriptions of the members of the company ; another 
 was by the voluntary donations of other people ; and a third was by lotteries. 
 Subscriptions, if not voluntarily paid, were recoverable by law ; but this method was 
 tedious and expensive. Donations were precarious, and though liberal and well in 
 tended, yet they sometimes consisted only of books and furniture for churches and 
 colleges, and appropriations for the education of Indian children. Lotteries were be 
 fore this time unknown in England ; but so great was the rage for this mode of raising 
 money, that within the space of six years the sum of 29,000 was brought into the 
 treasury. This was " the real and substantial food with which Virginia was nour 
 ished." The authority on which the lotteries were grounded was the charter of 
 King James (1609), and so tenacious was this monarch of his prerogative, that in 
 a subsequent proclamation he vainly interdicted the " speaking against the Virginian 
 Lottery." Yet when the House of Commons (1621) began to call in question some 
 of the supposed rights of royalty, these lotteries and the proclamation which en 
 forced them were complained of and presented among the grievances of the nation. 
 On that occasion an apology was made by the King s friends, " that he never liked 
 the lotteries, but gave way to tliem because he was told that Virginia could not sub 
 sist without them," and when the Commons insisted on their complaint, the mon 
 arch revoked the license by an order of council, in consequence of which the treas 
 ury of the company was almost without resources. 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 123 
 
 THOMAS LORD DELAWARE, SIR THOMAS GATES, SIR GEO. 
 SOMERS, CAPTAIN CHRISTOPHER NEWPORT, SIR THOS. 
 DALE, SIR FERDINANDO WAINMAN. 
 
 LORD DELAWARE ARRIVES IN VIRGINIA HE BUILDS TWO FORTS ON JAMES RIVER HE 
 LEAVES VIRGINIA ARRIVES AT THE WESTERN ISLANDS DANIEL GOOK1N SETTLES IN VIR 
 GINIA HE REMOVES TO NEW ENGLAND SIR THOMAS DALE, GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA HIS 
 ENERGETIC PROCEEDINGS HIS CHARACTER AS GOVERNOR SIR THOMAS GATES HIS ARRI 
 VAL IN VIRGINIA AS GOVERNOR HIS RETURN TO ENGLAND SIR GEORGE SOMERS, ADMIRAL 
 OF VIRGINIA DISPUTE WITH GATES ABOUT RANK HE IS WRECKED ON BERMUDA ISLAND 
 HE ARRIVES IN VIRGINIA HIS DEATH, BURIAL, AND MONUMENT CHRISTOPHER NEWPORT, 
 COMMANDER IN THE NAVY OF QUEEN ELIZABETH NEW YORK FIRST SETTLED SIR FER 
 DINANDO WAINMAN HIS ARRIVAL IN VIRGINIA HIS DEATH DEATH OF LORD DELAWARE. 
 
 THE history of these persons is so blended that a separate account of each can 
 not be written from any materials in my possession. Their characters, however, may 
 be distinguished in a few words, before I proceed to the history of their united trans 
 actions in the employment of the company and colony of Virginia. 
 
 Lord DELAWARE is said to have been a worthy peer of an ancient family, a man 
 of fine parts and of a generous disposition, who took much pains, and was at a great 
 expense to establish the colony, in the service of which he suffered much in his 
 health, and finally died at sea (1618), in his second voyage to America, in or near the 
 mouth of the bay which bears his name. 
 
 Sir THOMAS GATES was probably a land officer; between him and Sir George 
 Somers there was not that cordial harmony which is always desirable between men 
 who are engaged in the same business. Excepting this, nothing is said to his 
 disadvantage. 
 
 Sir GEORGE SOMERS was a gentleman of rank and fortune, of approved fidelity 
 and indefatigable industry ; an excellent sea commander, having been employed in 
 the navy of Queen Elizabeth, and having distinguished himself in several actions 
 against the Spaniards in the West Indies. At the time of his appointment "to be 
 Admiral of Virginia, he was above sixty years of age. His scat in Parliament was 
 vacated by his acceptance of a colonial commission. He died in the service of the 
 colony (1610) at Bermuda, highly esteemed and greatly regretted. 
 
 CHRISTOPHER NEWPORT was a mariner of ability and experience in the Amer 
 ican seas. He had been a commander in the navy of Elizabeth, and, in 1595, had 
 conducted an expedition against the Spaniards in the West Indies, where, with three 
 or four ships, he plundered and burned some towns, and took several prizes, with a 
 considerable booty. He was a vain, empty, conceited man, and very fond of parade. 
 By the advantage of going to and fro he gained the confidence of the council and 
 company in England ; and whatever he proposed was adopted by them. Some 
 traits of his character have been given in the life of Captain John Smith. In 1651 
 he imported fifty men, and seated them on a plantation, which he called Newport s 
 News. Daniel Gookin came with a cargo of cattle from Ireland, and settled first on 
 this plantation. He afterward removed to New England. 
 
 Sir THOMAS DALE is said to have been a gentleman of much honor, wisdom, and 
 
THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 experience. To him was entrusted the execution of the laws sent over by Sir 
 Thomas Smith ; which, though perhaps necessary at that time (1611), when so many 
 turbulent and refractory persons were to be governed, yet were subversive of that 
 freedom which Englishmen claimed as their birthright, and gave too much power 
 into the hands of a governor. Though his administration was marked with rigor 
 and severity, yet he did much toward advancing the settlements. -On a high neck 
 of land in James River, named Vnrina, he built a town, which he called Henrico, in 
 honor of Prince Henry, the remains of which were visible when Mr. Stith wrote his 
 history (1/46). On the opposite side of the river he made a plantation on lands 
 from which he expelled the Indians, and called it New Bermuda. He stayed in Vir 
 ginia about five years, and returned to England (1616), after which there is no farther 
 account of him. 
 
 Of Sir FERDIXAXDO WAIXMAN nothing is said, but that he died soon after his 
 arrival in Virginia with Lord Delaware, in the summer of 1610. 
 
 When the new charter of Virginia was obtained, the council and company imme 
 diately equipped a fleet, to carry supplies of men and women, with provisions and 
 other necessaries, to the colony. The fleet consisted of seven ships, in each of 
 which, beside the captain, went one or more of the counselors or other officers of the 
 colony; and though there was a dispute about rank between two officers, Sorr.ers 
 and Gates, they were placed in one bhip with Newport, the third in command. The 
 Governor-General, Lord Delaware, did not sail with this fleet ; but waited till the 
 next year, to go with a further supply. The names of the ships and their com 
 manders were as follows : 
 
 The Sea- Advent urc, Admiral Sir George Somers, with Sir Thomas Gates and Cap 
 tain Christopher Newport; the Diamond, Captain Radcliffc and Captain King; the 
 Falcon, Captain Martin and Master Nelson ; the Blessing, Gabriel Archer and Captain 
 Adams; the Unity, Captain Wood and Master Pctt ; the Lion, Captain Webb; the 
 Sivalloiu, Captain Moone and Master Somers. 
 
 The fleet was attended by two smaller vessels, one of which was a ketch, com 
 manded by Matthew Fitch ; the other a pinnace, in which went Captain Davies and 
 Master Davies. 
 
 This fleet sailed from Plymouth on the 2<\ day of June, 1609. Though their 
 orders were not to go by the old route of the Canaries and the West Indies, but to 
 steer directly for Virginia, yet they went as far southward as the twenty-sixth degree 
 of latitude ; where the heat was so excessive that many of the people were taken 
 with calentures. In two ships thirty-two persons died ; others suffered severely, and 
 one vessel only was free from sickness. 
 
 The whole fleet kept company till the 24th of July, when they supposed them 
 selves to be within eight days sail of Virginia, stretching to the north-west, and 
 crossing the Gulf Stream. On that day began a violent tempest from the north 
 east, accompanied with a horrid darkness, which continued forty-four hours. In this 
 gale the fleet was scattered. The Admiral s ship, on board of which was the com 
 mission for the new government, with the three principal officers, was wrecked on 
 the Island of Bermuda. The ketch foundered at sea. The remainder, much dam 
 aged and distressed, arrived one after another in James River, about the middle of 
 August. 
 
 The provisions brought by these ships were insufficient for the colony and the 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 125 
 
 passengers. This deficiency proved very detrimental, and occasioned the miseries 
 and reproaches which have been already mentioned. The space of ten months, from 
 August, 1609, to the arrival of Lord Delaware, in June, 1610, was known in Virginia 
 for many years after by the name of " the starving time." But the want of provision 
 was not the only deficiency ; there was a total want of principle and of order. 
 
 Of the company who arrived at this time the following description is given by a 
 native Virginian : " A great part of them consisted of unruly sparks, packed off by 
 their friends, to escape a worse destiny at home. The rest were chiefly made up of 
 poor gentlemen, broken tradesmen, rakes and libertines, footmen, and such others as 
 were much fitter to ruin a commonwealth than to help to raise or maintain one. This 
 lewd company were led by their seditious captains into many mischiefs and extrava 
 gancies. They assumed the power of disposing of the government ; and conferred 
 it sometimes on one and sometimes on another. To-day the old commission 
 must rule, to-morrow the new, and the next day neither. All was anarchy and 
 distraction." 
 
 Such being the character of the people, there could not have been any great 
 hope of success, if the whole fleet had arrived in safety. 
 
 The Admiral s ship had on board a great quantity of provision. She was sepa 
 rated from the fleet in the storm, and sprang aleak at sea, so that with constant 
 pumping and baling they could scarcely keep her above water for three days and 
 four nights ; during which time Sir George Somers did not once leave the quarter 
 deck. The crew, worn out with fatigue and despairing of life, broached the strong 
 liquors, and took leave of each other with an inebriating draught, till many of them 
 fell asleep. In this dreadful extremity Sir George discovered land ; the news of 
 which awoke and revived them, and every man exerted himself to do his duty. At 
 length the ship struck ground in such a position between two rocks, at the distance of 
 half a mile from the shore, that the people and a great part of the cargo were safely 
 landed. 
 
 The Bermuda Islands were uninhabited, and had the reputation of being en 
 chanted. But when the people were on shore they found the air pure and salubrious, 
 and fruits of various kinds growing in luxuriant plenty and perfection. The shore 
 was covered with tortoises, the sea abounded with fish, and in the woods they found 
 wild hogs, which, it is supposed, had escaped from some vessel wrecked on the 
 island. 
 
 Here they remained nine months. The two senior officers lived apart, and each, 
 with the assistance of the men, built a vessel of the cedars which grew on the island, 
 and the iron and cordage saved from the wreck. Sir George Somers labored with 
 his own hands every day till his vessel was completed. One of these vessels was 
 called the Patience, the other the Deliverance. 
 
 It is remarked that during their abode on this island they had morning and 
 evening prayers daily ; divine service was performed and two sermons were preached 
 every Lord s day, by their chaplain, Mr. Bucke. One marriage was celebrated, and 
 two children were born and baptized. Five of the company died, one of whom was 
 murdered. The murderer was put under confinement, but escaped, and hid himself 
 among the woods and rocks, with another offender, till the departure of the com 
 pany, when they were left behind. Many of the people were so well pleased with 
 the place that they were with difficulty prevailed on to quit these pleasant islands. 
 
126 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 The lower seams of the vessel were caulked with the remains of the useless 
 cables and a small quantity of tar saved from the wreck. The upper seams were 
 secured with lime made of calcined stones and shells, slaked with fresh water and 
 softened with the oil of tortoises. This cement soon became dry and firm. The 
 wild hogs served for sea-stores, being preserved with salt crystallized on the rocks. 
 
 On the loth of May, 1610, the company, consisting of one hundred and twenty 
 persons, embarked, and, after encountering some difficulty among the rocks, the next 
 day got clear of the land, and shaped their course for Virginia; where they arrived 
 on the 2 1st, at Point Comfort, and two days after at Jamestown. The colony, 
 reduced to sixty persons, in a sickly, mutinous, and starving condition, gave them a 
 mournful welcome. The new governor, Sir Thomas Gates, caused the bell to be 
 rung, and summoned the whole company to the church ; where, after an affectionate 
 prayer by Mr. Bucke, the new commission was read, and the former president, Mr. 
 Percy, then scarcely able to stand, delivered up the old patent, with his commission. 
 
 On a strict examination it was found that the provisions brought by the two pin 
 naces would serve the people not more than sixteen days, and that what they had in 
 the town would be spent in ten. It being seed-time, the Indians had no corn to 
 spare; and they were so hostile that no treaty could be holden with them. The 
 sturgeon had not yet come into the river, and many of the nets were useless. No 
 hope remained of preserving the colony, and, after mature deliberation, it was deter 
 mined to abandon the country. The nearest place where any relief could be ob 
 tained was Newfoundland ; thither they proposed to sail, and there they expected to 
 meet the fishing-vessels from England, on board of which the people might be dis 
 tributed and get passages home, when the season of fishing should be completed. 
 
 Having taken this resolution and buried their ordnance at the gate of the fort, 
 on the 7th of June at beat of drum the whole company embarked in four pinnaces. 
 It was with difficulty that some of the people were restrained from setting fire to the 
 town ; but the Governor, with a select company, remained on shore till the others 
 had embarked, and he was the last that stepped into the boat. About noon they 
 came to sail, and fell down with the ebb that evening to Hog Island. The next 
 morning s tide brought them to Mulberry Island Point, where, lying at anchor, they 
 discovered a boat coming up the river with the flood. In an hour s time the boat 
 came alongside the Governor s pinnace and proved to be an express from the Lord 
 Delaware, who had arrived with three ships and a supply of provisions two days be 
 fore at Point Comfort, where the captain of the fort had informed him of the intended 
 evacuation, and his lordship immediately dispatched his skiff" with letters by Captain 
 Edward Brewster to prevent their departure. On receiving these letters the Gover 
 nor ordered the anchors to be weighed, and the wind being easterly, brought them 
 back in the night to their old quarters at Jamestown. 
 
 On the Lord s day, June loth, the ships came to anchor before the town. As 
 soon as Lord Delaware came on shore, he fell down on his knees and continued some 
 time in silent devotion. He then went to church, and, after service, his commission 
 was read, which constituted him " Governor and Captain-General, during his life, of 
 the colony and plantation of Virginia." Sir Thomas Gates delivered up his commis 
 sion and the colony seal. On this occasion Lord Delaware made a public address to 
 the people, blaming them for their former idleness and misconduct, and exhorting 
 them to a contrary behavior, lest he should be obliged to draw the sword of justice 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 127 
 
 against delinquents and cut them off; adding that he had rather spill his own blood 
 to protect them from injuries. 
 
 Having displaced such men as had abused their power and appointed proper per 
 sons to office, he assigned to every man his portion of labor according to his capac 
 ity, among which the culture of vines was not forgotten, some Frenchmen having 
 been Imported for the purpose. There had been no division of the lands, but all 
 was common property, and the colony was considered as one great family, fed daily 
 out of the public store. Their employments were under the direction of the Gov 
 ernment, and the produce of their labors was brought into the common stock. The 
 Indians were so troublesome that it would not have been prudent for the people to 
 disperse till they should be better able to defend themselves, or till the savages 
 should be more friendly. They were, therefore, lodged within the fortifications of 
 Jamestown ; their working and fishing parties when abroad were well armed or 
 guarded ; their situation was hazardous ; and the prospect of improvement, consid 
 ering the character of the majority, was not very flattering. "The most honest and 
 industrious would scarcely take so much pains in a week as they would have done 
 for themselves in a day; presuming that however the harvest prospered, the general 
 store must maintain them ; by v/hich means they reaped not so much corn from the 
 labors of thirty men as three men could have produced on their own lands." 
 
 No dependence could be placed on any supply of provisions from this mode 
 of exertion. The stores brought over in the fleet might have kept them alive, with 
 prudent management, for the greater part of a year; but within that time it would 
 be necessary to provide more. The Bermuda Islands were full of hogs, and Sir 
 George Somers offered to go thither with a party to kill and salt them. This offer 
 was readily accepted, and he embarked in his own cedar vessel of thirty tons, accom 
 panied by Captain Samuel Argal, in another. 
 
 They sailed together, till by contrary winds they were driven among the shoals 
 of Nantucket and Cape Cod, whence Argal found his way back to Virginia, and was 
 dispatched to the Potowmack for corn. There he found Henry Spelman, an English 
 youth, who had been preserved from the fury of Powhatan by his daughter Pocahon- 
 tas. By his assistance Argal procured a supply of corn, which he carried to 
 Jamestown. 
 
 Sir George Somers, after long struggling with contrary winds, was driven to the 
 north-eastern shore of America, where he refreshed his men, then pursued the main 
 object of his voyage, and arrived safely at Bermuda. There he began to collect the 
 swine, and prepare their flesh for food ; but the fatigues to which he had been ex 
 posed by sea and land, proved too severe for his advanced age, and he sunk under 
 the burden. Finding his time short, he made a proper disposition of his estate, and. 
 charged his nephew, Matthew Somers, who commanded under him, to return with 
 the provision- to Virginia. But the love of his native country prevailed. Having 
 buried the entrails at Bermuda, he carried the corpse of his uncle to England, and 
 deposited it at Whitchurch, in Dorsetshire. A monument was afterward erected at 
 Bermuda to the memory of this excellent man. The town of St. George was named 
 for him, and the islands were called Somer Islands. The return of this vessel gave 
 the first account in England of the discovery of those islands. 
 
 Virginia, thus left destitute of so able and virtuous a friend, was soon after de 
 prived of the presence of its Governor, Lord Delaware. Having built two forts at 
 
128 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 the mouth of James River, and another at the falls; and having rendered his government 
 respectable in the view both of the English and Indians, he found his health so much 
 impaired, that he was obliged in nine months to quit the country, intending to go to 
 Nevis for the benefit of the warm baths. By contrary winds he was forced to the 
 Western Islands, where he obtained great relief from the fresh fruits of the country ; 
 but he was advised not to hazard himself again in Virginia till his health should be more 
 perfectly restored by a voyage to England. Sir Thomas Dale and Sir Thomas Gates 
 having previously gone at different times to England, the government was again left 
 in the hands of Mr. Percy, a gentleman of a noble family and a good heart, but of 
 very moderate abilities. 
 
 At the time of Lord Delaware s departure (March 28, 1611) the colony consisted 
 of above two hundred people, most of whom were in good health and well provided ; 
 but when Sir Thomas Dale arrived, in less than two months (May 10), with three 
 ships, bringing an addition of three hundred people, he found the old colonists again 
 relapsing into their former state of indolence and penury. Depending on the public 
 store, they had neglected planting, and were amusing themselves with bowling and 
 other diversions in the streets of Jamestown. Nothing but the presence of a spirited 
 governor and a severe execution of his orders could induce these people to labor. 
 The severities exercised upon them were such as could not be warranted by the laws 
 of England. The consequences were discontent and insurrection in some, and ser 
 vile acquiescence in others. Sir Thomas Dale was esteemed as a man who might 
 safely be entrusted with power ; but the laws by which he governed, and his rigor 
 ous administration of them, were the subject of bitter remonstrance and com 
 plaint. 
 
 The adventurers in England were still in a state of disappointment ; and when 
 Sir Thomas Gates arrived without bringing any returns adequate to their expecta 
 tions, the council entered into a serious deliberation whether to proceed in their ad 
 venture or abandon the enterprise. Lord Delaware s arrival in England cast a deeper 
 gloom on the melancholy prospect. But the representations of these gentlemen, de 
 livered in council and confirmed by oath, served to keep up their spirits, and induce 
 them still to renew their exertions. 
 
 The substance of these representations was, that the country was rich in itself, 
 but that time and industry were necessary to make its wealth profitable to the ad 
 venturers ; that it yielded abundance of valuable woods, as oak, walnut, ash, sassafras, 
 mulberry trees for silk-worms, live oak, cedar and fir for shipping, and that on the 
 banks of the Potowmack there were trees large enough for masts; th^t it produced a 
 species of wild hemp for cordage, pines which yielded tar, and a vast quantity of iron 
 ore ; besides lead, antimony, and other minerals, and several kinds of colored earths ; 
 that in the woods were found various balsams and other medicinal drugs, with an im 
 mense quantity of myrtle-berries for wax ; that the forests and rivers harbored bea 
 vers, otters, foxes, and deer, whose skins were valuable articles of commerce ; that 
 sturgeon might be taken in the greatest plenty in five noble rivers; and that without 
 the bay, to the northward, was an excellent fishing bank for cod of the best quality ; 
 that the soil was favorable to the cultivation of vines, sugar-canes, oranges, lemons, 
 almonds, and rice ; that the winters were so mild that cattle could get their food 
 abroad, and that swine could be fatted on wild fruits ; that the Indian corn yielded 
 a most luxuriant harvest ; and, in a word, that it was " one of the goodliest countries 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 129 
 
 (says Purchas), promising as rich entrails as any kingdom of the earth, to which the 
 sun is no nearer a neighbor." 
 
 Lord Delaware further assured them, that notwithstanding the ill c tatc of his 
 health, he was so far from shrinking or giving over the enterprise, that he was willing 
 to lay all he was worth on its success, and to return to Virginia with all convenient 
 expedition. 
 
 Sir Thomas Gates was again sent out with six ships, three hundred men, one hun 
 dred cattle, two hundred swine, and large supplies of every kind. He arrived in the 
 beginning of August, i6n, and received the command from Sir Thomas Dale, who 
 retired to Varina, and employed himself in erecting a town, Henrico, and improving 
 his plantation at New Bermuda. 
 
 In the beginning of the next year (1612), Captain Argal, who had carried home 
 Lord Delaware, came again to Virginia with two ships, and was again sent to the 
 Potowmack for corn, of which he procured fourteen hundred bushels. There he en 
 tered into an acquaintance with Japazaws, the sachem, an old friend of Captain Smith, 
 and of all the English who had come to America. In his territory Pocahontas, the 
 daughter of Powhatan, was concealed. The reason of her quitting the dominion of 
 her father is unknown. Certain it is, that he had been in a state of hostility with the 
 colony ever since the departure of Smith ; and that the frequent depredations and 
 murders committed by the Indians on the English were in the highest degree painful 
 to this tender-hearted princess. Argal contrived a plan to get her into his possession. 
 He bargained with Japazaws to bring her on board the ship, under pretense of 
 a visit, in company with his own wife ; then dismissing the sachem and his wife with 
 the promised reward, he carried Pocahontas to Jamestown, where she had not been 
 since Captain Smith had left the colony. 
 
 A message was sent to Powhatan to inform him that his daughter was in their 
 hands, and that she might be restored to him on condition that he would deliver up 
 all the English whom he held as captives, with all the arms, tools, and utensils which 
 the Indians had stolen, and furnish the colony with a large quantity of corn. This 
 proposal threw him into much perplexity, for though he loved his daughter, he was 
 loth to give so much for her redemption. After three months he sent back seven of 
 the captives, with three unserviceable muskets, an axe, a saw, and one canoe, loaded 
 with corn. He also sent word, that when they should deliver his daughter he would 
 send them five hundred bushels of corn, and make fullsatisfaction for all past injuries. 
 No reliance could be placed on such a promise. The negotiation was broken, and 
 the King was offended. The next spring (1613) another attempt was made, accom 
 panied with threatening on the part of the English, and stratagem on the part of the 
 Indians. This proved equally ineffectual. At length it was announced to Powhatan 
 that John Rolfe, an English gentleman, was in love with Pocahontas, and had ob 
 tained her consent, and the license of the governor to marry her. The prince was 
 softened by this intelligence, and sent one of his chiefs to attend the nuptial solem 
 nity. After this event Powhatan was friendly to the colony as long as he lived ; and 
 a free trade was carried on between them and his people. 
 
 The visit which this lady made to England with her husband, and her death, 
 
 which happened there in the bloom of her youth, have been related in the life of 
 
 Captain Smith. It is there observed that "several families of note in Virginia are 
 
 descended from her." The descent is thus traced by Mr. Stith : Her son, Thomas 
 
 17 
 
130 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 Rolfe, was educated in England and came over to Virginia, where he became a man 
 of fortune and distinction, and inherited a large tract of land, which had been the 
 property of his grandfather Po what an. He left an only daughter, who was mar 
 ried to Colonel Robert Boiling. His son, Major John Boiling, was father to Colonel 
 John Boiling, whose five daughters were married to Colonel Richard Randolph, 
 Colonel John Fleming, Dr. William Gay, Mr. Thomas Eldridge, and Mr. James 
 Murray. Such was the state of the family in 1747. 
 
 The reconciliation between Powhatan and the English awakened the fears of the 
 Indians of Chickahominy a formidable and free people. They were governed 
 by an assembly of their elders or wise men, who also bore the character of priests. 
 They hated Powhatan as a tyrant, and were always jealous of his design to subject 
 them. They had taken advantage of the dissension between him and the English 
 to assert their liberty ; but, on the reconciliation, they apprehended that he might 
 make use of the friendship of the colony to reduce them under his yoke. To pre 
 vent this, they sent a deputation to Sir Thomas Dale to excuse their former ill-con 
 duct and submit themselves to the English Government. Sir Thomas was pleased 
 with the offer, and, on a day appointed, went with Captain Argal and fifty men to 
 their village, where a peace was concluded on the following conditions: 
 
 1. That they should forever be called [Tossentessas] New Englishmen, and be 
 true subjects of King James and his deputies. 
 
 2. That they should neither kill nor destroy any of the English nor their stray 
 cattle, but bring them home. 
 
 3. That they should always be ready to furnish the English with three hundred 
 men against the Spaniards or any other enemy. 
 
 4. That they should not enter any of the English settlements without previously 
 sending in word that they were New Englishmen. 
 
 5. That every bow-man at harvest should bring into the store two measures [two 
 one-half bushels] of corn as a tribute, for which he should receive a hatchet. 
 
 6. That eight elders or chiefs should see all this performed or receive punishment 
 themselves ; and that, for their fidelity, each one should receive a red coat, a copper 
 chain, and a picture of King James, and should be accounted his noblemen. 
 
 Though this transaction passed whilst Sir Thomas Gates was at the head 
 of the government and residing within the colony, yet nothing is said of his 
 assenting to it or giving any orders about it. Dale appears to have been the most 
 active and enterprising man ; and, on Gates return to England in the spring of 1614, 
 the chief command devolved on him. 
 
 The experience of five years had now convinced all thinking men among the En 
 glish that the colony would never thrive whilst their lands were held in common, and 
 the people were maintained out of the public stores. In such a case there is no 
 spur to exertion the industrious person and the drone fare alike, and the former 
 has no inducement to work for the latter. The time prescribed in the King s in 
 structions for their trading in a common stock and bringing all the fruits of their 
 labor into a common store was expired. An alteration was then contemplated, but 
 the first measure adopted did not much mend the matter. Three acres only were 
 allotted to each man as a farm, on which he was to work eleven months for the store 
 and one month for himself, and to receive his proportion out of the common stock. 
 Those who were employed on Sir Thomas Dale s plantation had better terms. One 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 131 
 
 month s labor only was required, and they were exempted from all further service : 
 and, for this exemption, they paid a yearly tribute of three barrels and a half of corn 
 to the public store. These farms were not held by a tenure of common soccage, 
 which carries with it freedom and property, but merely by tenancy at will, which 
 produces dependence. It is, however, observed, that this small encouragement gave 
 some present content, and the fear of coming to want gradually disappeared. 
 
 About two years after (1616), a method of granting lands in freeholds and in lots 
 of fifty acres, was introduced into Virginia. This quantity was allowed to each per 
 son who came to reside, or brought others to reside there. The design of it was to 
 encourage emigration. Besides this, there were two other methods of granting lands. 
 One was a grant of merit. When any person had conferred a benefit, or done a serv 
 ice to the colony, it was requited by a grant of land which could not exceed two 
 thousand acres. The other was called the adventure of the purse. Every person 
 who paid twelve guineas into the company s treasury was entitled to one hundred 
 acres. 
 
 After some time, this liberty of taking grants was abused ; partly by the ignorance 
 and knavery of surveyors, who often gave draughts of land without ever actually sur 
 veying them, but describing them by natural boundaries, and allowing large meas 
 ure, and partly by the indulgence of courts, in a lavish admittance of claims. When 
 a master of a ship came into court and made oath that he had imported himself with 
 so many seamen and passengers, an order was issued granting him as many rights of 
 fifty acres, and the clerk had a fee for each right. The seamen at another court 
 would make oath that they had adventured themselves so many times into the coun 
 try, and would obtain an order for as many rights, toties quoties. The planter who 
 brought the imported servants would do the same, and procure an order for as many 
 times fifty acres. These grants, after being described by the surveyors in the above 
 vague and careless manner, were sold at a small price, and whoever was able to pur 
 chase any considerable number of them, became entitled to a vast quantity of land. 
 By such means the original intention of allotting a small freehold to each emigrant 
 was frustrated, and the settlement of the country in convenient districts was pre 
 cluded. Land speculators became possessed of immense tracts, too large for cultiva 
 tion, and the inhabitants were scattered over a great extent of territory in remote 
 and hazardous situations. The ill effects of this dispersion were : insecurity from the 
 savages; a habit of indolence; an imperfect mode of cultivation; the introduction 
 of convicts from England, and of slaves from Africa. 
 
 The same year (1616) Sir Thomas Dale returned to England, carrying with him 
 Pocahontas, the wife of Mr. Rolfe, and several other Indians. The motive of his re 
 turn was to visit his family and settle his private affairs, after having spent five or 
 six years in the service of the colony. He is characterized as an active, faithful gov 
 ernor, very careful to provide supplies of corn, rather by planting than by purchase. 
 So much had these supplies increased under his direction, that the colony was able 
 to lend to the Indian princes several hundred bushels of corn, and take mortgages of 
 their land in payment. He would allow no tobacco to be planted till a sufficiency 
 of seed-corn was in the ground. He was also very assiduous in ranging and explor 
 ing the country, and became extremely delighted with its pleasant and fertile ap 
 pearance. He had so high an opinion of it that he declared it equal to the best parts 
 of Europe if it were cultivated and inhabited by an industrious people. 
 
132 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 SIR SAMUEL ARGAL AND SIR GEORGE 
 
 YEARDLEY. 
 
 SAMUEL ARGAL EXPEDITION TO THE NORTHERN PART OF VIRGINIA ATTACKS THE FRENCH AT 
 MOUNT DESART TAKES POSSESSION OF THEIR FORT TAKES AND DESTROYS PORT ROYAL 
 HIS CONFERENCE WITH BIENCOURT VISITS THE DUTCH AT HUDSON S RIVER DUTCH GOV 
 ERNOR SURRENDERS TO HIM HIS VOYAGE TO ENGLAND APPOINTED DEPUTY GOVERNOR 
 OF VIRGINIA ARRIVES IN VIRGINIA REVIVES DISCIPLINE BECOMES ODIOUS BY HIS RIGOR 
 CHARGED WITH PECULATION HE IS SUPERSEDED ESCAPES BY AID OF THE EARL OF 
 WARWICK COMMANDS A SHIP AGAINST THE ALGERINES KNIGHTED BY KING JAMES HIS 
 CHARACTER GEORGE YEARDLEY, GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA ENCOURAGES THE CULVIVATION 
 OF TOBACCO ATTACKS THE CHICKAHOMINY INDIANS SUPERSEDED BY ARGAL APPOINTED 
 GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF VIRGINIA RESIGNS RESUMES THE GOVERNMENT HIS DEATH. 
 
 WE have no account of Captain ARGAL before the year 1609, when he came to 
 Virginia to fish for sturgeon and trade with the colony. This trade was then pro 
 hibited, but being a kinsman of Sir Thomas Smith, his voyage was connived at, and 
 the provisions and wine which he brought were a welcome relief to the colony. He 
 was there when the shattered fleet, escaped from the tempest, arrived without their 
 commanders ; and he continued to make voyages in the service of the colony, and for 
 his own advantage, till he was made Deputy Governor, under Lord Delaware. 
 
 The principal exploit in which he was engaged was an expedition to the northern 
 part of Virginia. Sir Thomas Dale, having received some information of the intru 
 sion of the French and Dutch within the chartered limits of Virginia, sent Argal, 
 ostensibly on a trading and fishing voyage, to the northward ; but with orders to 
 seek for and dispossess intruders. No account of this force is mentioned by any 
 writer. Having visited several parts of the coast of North Virginia, and ob 
 tained the best information in his power, he arrived at the island now called Mount 
 Desart, in the District of Maine ; where two Jesuits, who had been expelled from 
 Port Royal, by the governor, Biencourt, for their insolence, had made a plantation 
 and built a fort. A French ship and bark were then lying in the harbor. Most of 
 the people were dispersed at their various employments, and were unprepared to 
 receive an enemy. Argal at once attacked the vessels with musketry, and made an 
 easy conquest of them. One of the Jesuits was killed in attempting to level one of 
 the ship s guns against the assailants. Argal then landed, and summoned the fort. 
 The commander requested time for consultation, but it was denied ; on which the 
 garrison abandoned the fort, and, by a private passage, escaped to the woods. Argal 
 took possession in the name of the Crown of England, and the next day the people 
 came in, and surrendered themselves and their commission, or patent. He treated 
 them with politeness, giving them leave to go either to France in the fishing vessels 
 which resorted to the coast, or with him to Virginia. 
 
 The other Jesuit, Father Biard, glad of an opportunity to be revenged on Bien 
 court, gave information of his settlement at Port Royal, and offered to pilot the 
 vessel thither. Argal sailed across the Bay of Fundy, and, entering the harbor, 
 landed forty men. A gun was fired from the fort, as a signal to the people aboard ; 
 but Argal advanced with such rapidity that he found the fort abandoned, and took 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 133 
 
 possession. He then sailed up the river with his boats; where he viewed their fields, 
 their barns, and mill ; these he spared ; but at his return he destroyed the fort, and 
 defaced the arms of the King of France. 
 
 Biencourt was at this time surveying the country at a distance, but was called 
 home suddenly, and requested a conference with the English commander. They 
 met in a meadow with a few of their followers. After an ineffectual assertion of 
 rights, equally claimed by both, Biencourt proposed, if he could obtain a protection 
 from the Crown of England, and get the obnoxious Jesuit into his possession, to 
 divide the fur trade and disclose the mines of the country ; but Argal refused to 
 make any treaty, alleging that his orders were only to dispossess him ; and threaten 
 ing, if he should find him there again, to use him as an enemy. Whilst they were 
 in conference one of the natives came up to them, and in broken French, with suit 
 able gestures, endeavored to mediate a peace ; wondering that persons who seemed 
 to him to be of one nation should make war on each other. This affecting incident 
 served to put them both into good humor. 
 
 As it was a time of peace between the two Crowns, the only pretext for this 
 expedition was the intrusion of the French into limits claimed by the English, in 
 virtue of prior discovery. This mode of dispossessing them has been censured, 
 as "contrary to the law of nations, because inconsistent with their peace." It was, 
 however, agreeable to the powers granted in the charter of 1609 ; and even the seizure 
 of the French vessels, on board of which was a large quantity of provision, clothing, 
 furniture, and trading goods, was also warranted by the same charter. There is no 
 evidence that this transaction was either approved by the Court of England or 
 resented by the Crown of France ; certain it is, however, that it made way for a 
 patent, which King James gave to Sir William Alexander, in 1621, by which he 
 granted him the whole territory of Acadia, by the name of Nova Scotia ; and yet 
 the French continued their occupancy. 
 
 On his return toward Virginia with his prizes, Argal visited the settlement which 
 the Dutch had made at Hudson s River, near the spot where Albany is now built, 
 and demanded possession ; alleging that Hudson being an English subject, though 
 in the service of Holland, could not alienate the lands which he had discovered ; 
 which were claimed by the Crown of England, and granted by charter to the com 
 pany of Virginia. The Dutch Governor, Hendrick Christiaens, being unable to make 
 any resistance, quietly submitted himself and his colony to the Crown of England, 
 and was permitted to remain there. But on the arrival of a reinforcement the next 
 year, they built another fort, on the south end of the Island Manhattan, where the 
 city of New York now stands, and held the country for many years, under a grant 
 from the States-General, by the name of New Netherlands. 
 
 The next spring (1614) Argal went to England, and two years after, Sir Thomas 
 Dale followed him, leaving George Yeardley to govern the colony in his absence. It 
 had been a grand object with Dale to discourage the planting of tobacco ; but his 
 successor, in compliance with the humor of the people, indulged them in cultivating 
 it, in preference to corn. When the colony was in want of bread, Yeardley sent to 
 the Indians of Chickahominy for their tribute, as promised by the treaty made with 
 Dale. They answered, that they had paid his master ; but that they had no orders, 
 nor any inclination to obey him. Yeardley drew out one hundred of his best men, 
 and went against them. They received him in a warlike posture ; and after much 
 
134 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 threatening on both sides, Ycardley ordered his men to fire. Twelve of the natives 
 were killed, and as many were made prisoners, of whom two were Elders of Senators. 
 For their ransom, one hundred bushels of corn were paid, in addition to the tribute. 
 Three boats were loaded for Jamestown, one of which was overset in the passage, 
 and eleven men, with her whole cargo, were lost. The natives were so awed by this 
 chastisement, that they supplied the colony with such provisions as they could spare 
 from their own stock, or procure by hunting; and being thus supplied, the colonists 
 gave themselves chiefly to the planting of tobacco. 
 
 In 1617 Captain Argal was appointed deputy governor of the colony under Lord 
 Delaware, and Admiral of the adjacent seas. When he arrived, in May, he found 
 the palisades broken, the church fallen down, and the well of fresh water spoiled ; 
 but the market-square and the streets of Jamestown were planted with tobacco, and 
 the people were dispersed, wherever they could find room to cultivate that precious 
 weed ; the value of which was supposed to be much augmented by a new mode of 
 cure, drying it on lines, rather than fermenting it in heaps. The author of this dis- 
 covery was a Mr. Lambert ; and the effect of it was a great demand from England 
 for lines, which afterward became a capital article of traffic. 
 
 To counteract the ill effects of Yeardlcy s indulgence, Argal revived the severe 
 discipline which was grounded on the martial laws framed by his patron, Sir Thomas 
 Smith ; a specimen of which may be seen in the following edicts. He fixed the 
 advance on goods imported from England, at twenty-five per cent., and the price of 
 tobacco at three shillings per pound ; the penalty for transgressing this regulation 
 was three years slavery. No person was allowed to fire a gun, except in his own 
 defense, against an enemy, till a new supply of ammunition should arrive; on pen 
 alty of one year s slavery. Absence from church on Sundays and holidays was 
 punished by laying the offender neck and heels, for one whole night, or by one 
 week s slavery ; the second offense, by one month s and the third by one year s 
 slavery. Private trade with the savages, or teaching them to use the arms, was pun 
 ishable by death. 
 
 These and similar laws were executed with such rigor, as to render the deputy 
 governor odious to the colony. They had entertained a hope of deliverance, by the 
 expected arrival of Lord Delaware, who sailed from England for Virginia (Arril, 
 1618) in a large ship, containing two hundred people. After touching at the West 
 ern Islands, a succession of contrary winds and bad weather protracted the voyage 
 for sixteen weeks, during which time many of the people fell sick, and about thirty 
 died, among whom was Lord Delaware. This fatal news was known first in Virginia ; 
 but the report of Argal s injurious conduct had gone to England, and made a deep 
 impression to his disadvantage on the minds of his best friends. Besides a great 
 number of wrongs to particular persons, he was charged with converting to his own 
 use what remained of the public stores ; with depredation and waste of the revenues 
 of the company ; and with many offenses in matters of State and government. At 
 first the company were so alarmed as to think of an application to the Crown for 
 redress; but on further consideration, they wrote a letter of reprehension to him, 
 and another of complaint to Lord Delaware, whom they supposed to be at the head 
 of the colony, requesting that Argal might be sent to England, to answer the charges 
 laid against him. 
 
 Both these letters fell into Argal s hands. Convinced that his time was short, he 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 135 
 
 determined to make the most of it for his own interest. Having assumed the care 
 of his lordship s estate in Virginia, he converted the labor of the tenants and the 
 produce of the land to his own use. But Edward Brewster, who had been appointed 
 overseer of the plantation, by his lordship s orders before his death, endeavored to 
 withdraw them from Argal s service, and employ them for the benefit of the estate. 
 When he threatened one who refused to obey him, the fellow made his complaint to 
 the governor ; Brewster was arrested, tried by a court-martial, and sentenced to 
 death, in consequence of the aforesaid law of Sir Thomas Smith. Sensible of the 
 extreme severity of these laws, the court which had passed the sentence, accom 
 panied by the clergy, went in a body to the governor, to intercede for Brewster s life, 
 which, with much difficulty, they obtained, on this condition, that he should quit 
 Virginia, never more to return ; and should give his oath that he would, neither in 
 England nor elsewhere, say or do anything to the dishonor of the governor. On his 
 going to England he was advised to appeal to the company ; and the prosecution of 
 this appeal, added to the odium which Argal had incurred, determined them to send 
 over a new governor, to examine the complaints and accusations on the spot. 
 
 The person chosen to execute this commission was Yeardley, his rival, who, on 
 this occasion, was knighted, and appointed governor-general of the colony, where he 
 arrived in the spring of 1619. 
 
 The Earl of Warwick, who was Argal s friend and partner in trade, had taken 
 care to give him information of what was doing, and to dispatch a small vessel, which 
 arrived before the new governor, and carried off Argal with all his effects. By this 
 maneuver, and by virtue of his partnership with the Earl, he not only escaped the 
 intended examination in Virginia, but secured the greater part of his property, and 
 defrauded the company of that restitution which they had a right to expect. 
 
 The character of Captain Argal, like that of most who were concerned in the 
 colonization and government of Virginia, is differently drawn. On the one hand, he 
 is spoken of as a good mariner, a civil gentleman, a man of public spirit, active, 
 industrious, and careful to provide for the people, and keep them constantly em 
 ployed. On the other hand, he is described as negligent of the public business, 
 seeking only his own interest, rapacious, passionate, arbitrary, and cruel; pushing 
 his unrighteous gains by all means of extortion and oppression. Mr. Stith, who, from 
 the best information which he could obtain, at the distance of more than a century, 
 by searching the public records of the colony, and the journals of the company, pro 
 nounces him " a man of good sense, of great industry and resolution," and says that 
 " when the company warned him peremptorily to exhibit his accounts, and make 
 answer to such things as they had charged against him, he so foiled and perplexed 
 all their proceedings, and gave them so much trouble and annoyance, that they were 
 never able to bring him to any account or punishment." 
 
 Nothing more is known of him, but that, after quitting Virginia, he was employed 
 in 1620 to command a ship of war in an expedition against the Algerines ; and that 
 in 1623 he was knighted by King James. 
 
 About the same time that Lord Delaware died at sea, the great Indian prince, Pow- 
 hatan, died at his seat in Virginia (April, 1618). He was a person of excellent 
 natural talents, penetrating and crafty, and a complete master of all the arts of 
 savage policy ; but totally void of truth, justice, and magnanimity. He was suc 
 ceeded by his second brother, Opitchapan ; who, being decrepit and inactive, was 
 
136 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 soon obscured by the superior abilities and ambition of his younger brother, Ope- 
 chancanough. Both of them renewed and confirmed the peace which Powhatan had 
 made with the colony ; Opechancanough finally engrossed the whole power of 
 government; for the Indians do not so much regard the order of succession as 
 brilliancy of talents and intrepidity of mind in their chiefs. 
 
 To ingratiate themselves with the prince and attach him more closely to their in 
 terest, the colony built a house for him after the English mode. With this he was 
 so much pleased that he kept the keys continually in his hands, opening and shut 
 ting the doors many times in a day, and showing the machinery of the locks to his 
 own people and strangers. In return for this favor he gave liberty to the English to 
 seat themselves at any place on the shores of the rivers where the natives had no 
 villages, and entered into a further treaty with them for the discovery of mines and 
 for mutual friendship and defense. This treaty was at the request of Opechanca 
 nough engraven on a brass plate and fastened to one of the largest oaks, that it might 
 be always in view and held in perpetual remembrance. 
 
 Yeardley, being rid of the trouble of calling Argal to account, applied himself to 
 the business of his government. The first thing he did was to add six new mem 
 bers to the council Francis West, Nathaniel Powel, John Pory, John Rolfe, William 
 Wickham, and Samuel Maycock. The next was to publish his intention to call a 
 General Assembly, the privileges and powers of which were defined in his commis 
 sion. He also granted to the oldest planters a discharge from all service to the colony, 
 but such as was voluntary or obligatory by the laws and customs of nations, with a con 
 firmation of all their estates, real and personal, to be holden in the same manner as 
 by English subjects. Finding a great scarcity of corn, he made some amends for 
 his former error by promoting the cultivation of it. The first year of his adminis 
 tration (1619) was remarkable for very great crops of wheat and Indian corn, and for 
 a great mortality of the people, not less than 300 of whom died. 
 
 In the month of July of this year the first General Assembly of the colony of 
 Virginia met at Jamestown. The deputies were chosen by the townships or bor 
 oughs, no counties being at that time formed. From this circumstance the lower 
 House of Assembly was always afterward called the House of Burgesses till the Rev 
 olution in 1776. In this assembly the governor, council, and burgesses sat in one 
 house and jointly " debated all matters thought expedient for the good of the col 
 ony." The laws then enacted were of the nature of local regulations, and were 
 transmitted to England for the approbation of the treasurer and company. It is 
 said that they were judiciously drawn up, but no vestige of them now remains. 
 
 Thus, at the expiration of twelve years from their settlement, the Virginians first 
 enjoyed the privilege of a Colonial Legislature, in which they were represented by 
 persons of their own election. They received as a favor what they might have 
 claimed as a right, and, with minds depressed by the arbitrary system under which 
 they had been held, thanked the company for this favor, and begged them to reduce 
 a compendium, with his Majesty s approbation, the laws of England suitable for Vir 
 ginia; giving this as a reason, that it was not fit for subjects to be governed by any 
 laws but those which received an authority from their sovereign. 
 
 It seems to have been a general sentiment among these colonists not to make 
 Virginia the place of their permanent residence, but, after having acquired a fortune 
 by planting and trade, to return to England. For this reason most of them were 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 137 
 
 destitute of families, and had no natural attachment to the country. To remedy 
 this material defect, Sir. Edwin Sandys, the new treasurer, proposed to the company 
 to send over a freight of young women to make wives for the planters. This pro 
 posal, with several others made by that eminent statesman, was received with uni 
 versal applause ; and the success answered their expectations. Ninety girls, " young 
 and uncorrupt," were sent over at one time (1620) ; and sixty more, " handsome and 
 well recommended," at another (1621). These were soon blessed with the object of 
 their wishes. The price of a wife at first was one hundred and twenty pounds of 
 tobacco ; but, as the number became scarce, the price was increased to one hundred 
 and fifty pounds the value of which in money was three shillings per pound. By 
 a subsequent act of Assembly, it was ordained that " the price of a wife should have 
 the precedence of all other debts of recovery and payment, because, of all kinds of 
 merchandise, this was the most desirable." 
 
 To this salutary project of the company, King James was pleased to add another, 
 which he signified to the treasurer by a letter, commanding them to send to Virginia 
 one hundred dissolute persons, convicted of crimes, who should be delivered to them 
 by the knight-marshal. The season of the year (November) was unfavorable for 
 transportation ; but so peremptory was the King s command, and so submissive the 
 temper of the company, that they became bound for the subsistence of these wretches 
 till they could sail, which was not till February. The expense of this equipment 
 was ,4,000. 
 
 On this transaction, Mr. Stith, who takes every opportunity to expose the weak 
 and arbitrary government of King James, makes the following remarks : 
 
 "Those who know with how high a hand this King carried it, even with his Par 
 liaments, will not be surprised to find him thus unmercifully insult a private com 
 pany, and load them against all law, with the maintenance and extraordinary expense 
 of transporting such persons as he thought proper to banish. And I can not but re 
 mark, how early that custom arose of transporting loose and dissolute persons to Vir 
 ginia, as a place of punishment and disgrace, which though originally designed for the 
 advancement and increase of the colony, yet has certainly proved a great hindrance 
 to its growth. For it hath laid one of the finest countries in America under the un 
 just scandal of being another Siberia, fit only for the reception of malefactors, and 
 the vilest of the people. So that few have been induced willingly to transport them 
 selves to such a place, and our younger sisters, the northern colonies, have accord 
 ingly profited thereby. For this is one cause that they have outstripped us so much 
 in the number of their inhabitants, and in the goodness and frequency of their towns 
 and cities." 
 
 In the same year (1620) the merchandise of human flesh was further augmented 
 by the introduction of negroes from Africa. A Dutch ship brought twenty of them 
 for sale, and the Virginians, who had but just emerged from a state of vassalage 
 themselves, began to be the owners and masters of slaves. 
 
 The principal commodity produced in Virginia besides corn was tobacco, an arti 
 cle of luxury much in demand in the north of Europe. Great had been the difficul 
 ties attending this trade, partly from the jealousy of the Spaniards, who cultivated it 
 in their American colonies ; partly from the obsequiousness of James to that nation ; 
 and partly from his own squeamish aversion to tobacco, against the use of which, in 
 his princely wisdom, he had written a book. 
 18 
 
138 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 The Virginia Company themselves were opposed to its cultivation, and readily 
 admitted various projects for encouraging other productions of more immediate use 
 and benefit to mankind. As the country naturally yielded mulberry trees and vines, 
 it was thought that silk and wine might be manufactured to advantage. To facili 
 tate these projects, eggs of the silk-worm were procured from the southern countries 
 of Europe; books on the subject were translated from foreign languages. Persons 
 skilled in the management of silk-worms and the cultivation of vines were engaged ; 
 and to crown all, a royal order from King James, inclosed in a letter from the treas 
 urer and council, was sent over to Virginia, with high expectations of success. But 
 no etcertions nor authority could prevail to make the cultivation of tobacco yield to 
 that of silk and wine ; and after the trade of the colony was laid open, and the 
 Dutch had free access to their ports, the growth of tobacco received such encourage 
 ment ar, to become the grand staple of the colony. 
 
 At this time the company in England was divided into two parties : the Earl of 
 Warwick was at the head of one, and the Earl of Southampton of the other. The 
 former was the least in number, but had the ear and support of the King ; and their 
 virulence was directed against Yeardley, who had intercepted a packet from his own 
 secretary, Pory, containing the proofs of Argal s misconduct, which had been pre 
 pared to be used against him at his trial, but which the secretary had been bribed to 
 convey to his close friend, the Earl of Warwick. The governor being a man of mild 
 and gentle temper, was so overcome with the opposition and menaces of the faction, 
 which were publicly known in the colony, that his authority was weakened, his 
 spirits dejected, and his health impaired to that degree that he became unfit for 
 business, and requested a dismission from the cares of government. His commission 
 expired in November, 1621, but he continued in the colony, was a member of the 
 council, and enjoyed the respect and esteem of the people. 
 
 During this short administration many new settlements were made on James and 
 York Rivers, and the planters being supplied with wives and servants, began to think 
 themselves at home, and to take pleasure in cultivating their lands ; but they neg 
 lected to provide for their defense, placing too great confidence in the continuance 
 of that tranquillity which they had long enjoyed by their treaty with the Indians. 
 
 SIR FRANCIS WYAT. 
 
 SIR FRANCIS WYAT SUCCEEDS YEARDLEY IN THE GOVERNMENT OF VIRGINIA DECEIVED BY 
 THE INDIAN CHIEFS MASSACRE OF THE COLONISTS HE OPPOSES THE CHANGE OF GOV 
 ERNMENT ATTEMPTED BY THE CROWN HE RETURNS TO IRELAND. 
 
 WHEN Sir George Yeardley requested a dismission from the burden of govern 
 ment, the Earl of Southampton recommended to the company Sir Francis Wyat as 
 his successor. He was a young gentleman of a good family in Ireland, who, on ac 
 count of his education, fortune, and integrity, was every way equal to the place, and 
 was accordingly chosen. 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 139 
 
 He received from the company a set of instructions, which were intended to be a 
 permanent directory for the governor and council of the colony. In these it was rec 
 ommended to them to provide for the service of God, according to the form and dis 
 cipline of the Church of England ; to administer justice according to the laws of En 
 gland ; to protect the natives and cultivate peace with them ; to educate their chil 
 dren, and to endeavor their civilization and conversion ; to encourage industry ; to 
 suppress gaming, intemperance, and excess in apparel ; to give no offense to any 
 other Prince, State, or people; to harbor no pirates; to build fortifications; to culti 
 vate corn, wine, and silk ; to search for minerals, dyes, gums, medical drugs ; and to 
 " draw off the people from the excessive planting of tobacco." 
 
 Immediately on Wyat s arrival (October, 1621) he sent a special message to Opit- 
 chapan and Opechancanough by Mr. George Thorpe, a gentleman of note in the col 
 ony, and a great friend to the Indians, to confirm the former treaties of peace and 
 friendship. They both expressed great satisfaction at the arrival of the new gov 
 ernor, and Mr. Thorpe imagined that he could perceive an uncommon degree of re 
 ligious sensibility in Opechancanough. That artful chief so far imposed on the cre 
 dulity of this good gentleman, as to persuade him that he acknowledged his own re 
 ligion to be wrong, that he desired to be instructed in the Christian doctrine, and 
 that he wished for a more friendly and familiar intercourse with the English. He 
 also confirmed a former promise of sending a guide to show them some mines above 
 the falls. But all these pretenses served only to conceal a design which he had long 
 meditated, to destroy the whole English colony. 
 
 The peace which had subsisted since the marriage of Pocahontas had lulled the 
 English into security, and disposed them to extend their plantations along the banks 
 of the rivers, as far as the Potowmack, in situations too remote from each other. 
 Their houses were open and free to the natives, who became acquainted with their 
 manner of living, their hours of eating, of labor and repose, the use of their arms and 
 tools, and frequently borrowed their boats for the convenience of fishing and fowling, 
 and to pass the rivers. This familiarity was pleasing to the English, as it indicated 
 a spirit of moderation, which had been always recommended by the company in En 
 gland to the planters ; and, as it afforded a favorable symptom of the civilization and 
 conversion of the natives ; but, by them, or their leaders, it was designed to. conceal 
 the most sanguinary intentions. 
 
 In the spring of the next year (1622) an opportunity offered to throw off the mask 
 of friendship, and kindle their secret enmity into a blaze. Among the natives who 
 frequently visited the English, was a tall, handsome young chief, renowned for cour 
 age and success in war, and excessively fond of finery in dress. His Indian name was 
 Nematanow ; but by the English he was called Jack of the Feather. Coming to the 
 store of one Morgan, he there viewed several toys and ornaments, which were very 
 agreeable to the Indian taste, and persuaded Morgan to carry them to Pamunky, 
 where he assured him of an advantageous traffic. Morgan consented to go with 
 him, but was murdered by the way. 
 
 In a few days Nematanow came again to the store with Morgan s cap on his 
 head, and being interrogated by two stout lads who attended there, what was be 
 come of their master, he answered that he was dead. The boys seized him and en 
 deavored to carry him before a magistrate; but his violent resistance and the inso 
 lence of his language so provoked them, that they shot him. The wound proved 
 
140 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 mortal; and when dying, he earnestly requested of the boys, that the manner of his 
 death might be concealed from his countrymen, and that he might be privately buried 
 among the English. 
 
 As soon as this transaction was known, Opechancanough demanded satisfaction ; 
 but being answered that the retaliation was just, he formed a plan for a general mas 
 sacre of the English, and appointed Friday, the 22d day of March, for its execution ; 
 but he dissembled his resentment to the last moment. Parties of Indians were dis 
 tributed through the colony, to attack every plantation, at the same hour of the day, 
 when the men should be abroad and at work. On the evening before, and on the 
 morning of that fatal day, the Indians came as usual to the houses of the English, 
 bringing game and fish to sell, and sat down with them to breakfast. So general was 
 the combination, and so deep the plot, that about one hour before noon, they fell on 
 the people in the fields and houses, and, with their own tools and weapons, killed in 
 discriminately, persons of all ages, sexes, and characters ; inhumanly mangling their 
 dead bodies, and triumphing over them, with all the expressions of frantic joy. 
 
 Where any resistance was made it was generally successful. Several houses were 
 defended, and some few of the assailants slain. One of Captain Smith s old soldiers, 
 Nathaniel Causie, though wounded, split the skull of an Indian, and put his whole 
 party to flight. Several other parties were dispersed by the firing of a single gun, or 
 by the presenting of a gun, even in the hand of a woman. 
 
 Jamestown was preserved by the fidelity of Chanco, a young Indian convert, who 
 lived with Richard Pace, and was treated by him as a son. The brother of this In 
 dian came to lie with him the night before the massacre, and revealed to him the 
 plot, urging him to kill his master, as he intended to do by his own. As soon as he 
 was gone in the morning, Chanco gave notice of what was intended to his master, 
 who, having secured his own house, gave the alarm to his neighbors, and sent an 
 express to Jamestown. 
 
 Three hundred and forty-nine people fell at this general massacre, of which num 
 ber six were members of the council. None of these were more lamented than Mr. 
 George Thorpe. This gentleman was one of the best friends of the Indians, and had 
 been earnestly concerned in the business of instructing and evangelizing them. He 
 had left a handsome estate, and an honorable employment in England, and was 
 appointed chief manager of a plantation and a seminary, designed for the maintenance 
 and education of young Indians in Virginia. He had been remarkably kind and gen 
 erous to them, and it was by his exertion that the house was built in which Opechan 
 canough took so much pleasure. Just before his death, he was warned of his danger 
 by one of his servants, who immediately made his escape ; but Mr. Thorpe would not 
 believe that they intended him any harm, and thus fell a victim to their fury. His 
 corpse was mangled and abused in a manner too shocking to be related. 
 
 One effect of this massacre was the ruin of the iron-works at Falling Creek, 
 where the destruction was so complete that, of twenty-four people, only a boy and 
 girl escaped, by hiding themselves. The superintendent of this work had discovered 
 a vein of lead ore, which he kept to himself; but made use of it, to supply himself 
 and his friends with shot. The knowledge of this was lost, by his death, for many 
 years. It was again found by Colonel Byrd, and again lost. The place was a third 
 time found by John Chiswcll ; and the mine is now, or has been lately, wrought tt; 
 advantage. 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 141 
 
 Another consequence of this fatal event was an order of the government to draw 
 together the remnant of the people into a narrow compass. Of eighty plantations, 
 all were abandoned but six, which lay contiguous, at the lower part of James River. 
 The owners or overseers of three or four others refused to obey the order, and 
 intrenched themselves, mounting cannon for their defense. 
 
 The next effect was a ferocious war. The Indians were hunted like beasts of 
 prey, and as many as could be found were destroyed. But as they were very expert 
 in hiding themselves and escaping the pursuit, the English resolved to dissemble 
 with them in their own way. To this they were further impelled by the fear of 
 famine. As seed-time came on, both sides thought it necessary to relax their 
 hostile operations and attend to the business of planting. Peace was then offered 
 by the English, and accepted by the Indians ; but when the corn began to grow the 
 English suddenly attacked the Indians in their fields, killed many of them, and 
 destroyed their corn. The summer was such a scene of confusion that a sufficiency 
 of food could not be obtained, and the people were reduced to great straits. 
 
 The unrelenting severity with which this war was prosecuted by the Virginians 
 against the Indians transmitted mutual abhorrence to the posterity of both ; and 
 procured to the former the name of "the long knife," by which they are still distin 
 guished in the hieroglyphic language of the natives. 
 
 Though a general permission of residence had been given by Powhatan and his 
 successors to the colonists, yet they rather affected to consider the country as 
 acquired by discovery or conquest; and both these ideas were much favored by the 
 English Court. The civilization of the natives was a very desirable object ; but 
 those who knew them best thought that they could not be civilized till they were 
 first subdued, or till their priests were destroyed. 
 
 It is certain that many pious and charitable persons in England were very warmly 
 interested in their conversion. Money and books, church plate and other furniture 
 were liberally contributed. A college was in a fair way of being founded ; to the 
 support of which lands were appropriated and brought into a state of cultivation. 
 Some few instances of the influence of Gospel principles on the savage mind, partic 
 ularly Pocahontas and Chanco, gave sanguine hope of success ; and even the massacre 
 did not abate the ardor of that hope, in the minds of those who had indulged it. The 
 experience of almost two centuries has not extinguished it ; and, however discour 
 aging the prospect, it is best for the cause of virtue that it never should be aban 
 doned. There may be some fruit, which, though not splendid nor extensive, yet 
 may correspond with the genius of a religion which is compared by its Author to 
 "leaven hid in the meal." The power of evangelical truth on the human mind 
 must not be considered as void of reality because not exposed to public observation. 
 
 When the news of the massacre was carried to England the governor and colony 
 were considered as subjects of blame by those very persons who had always enjoined 
 them to treat the Indians with mildness. However, ships were dispatched with a 
 supply of provisions, to which the corporation of London, as well as several persons 
 of fortune, largely contributed. The King lent them twenty barrels of powder, and 
 a quantity of unserviceable arms from the Tower, and promised to levy four hundred 
 soldiers, in the several counties of England, for their protection; but though fre 
 quently solicited by the company in England, and the colony in Virginia, he never 
 could be induced to fulfill this promise. 
 
142 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 The calamities which had befallen the colony, and the dissensions which had agi 
 tated the company, became such topics of complaint, and were so represented to the 
 King and his privy council, that a commission was issued, under the great seal, to 
 Sir William Jones, Sir Nicholas Fortescue, Sir Francis Gofton, Sir Richard Sutton, 
 Sir William Pitt, Sir Henry Bouchier, and Sir Henry Spilm.in, or any four of them, 
 to inquire into all matters respecting Virginia, from the beginning of its settlement. 
 To enable them to carry on this inquiry, all the books and papers of the company 
 were ordered into the custody of the commissioners ; their deputy treasurer was 
 arrested and confined ; and all letters which should arrive from the colony, were, by 
 the King s command, to be intercepted. This was a very discouraging introduction 
 to the business, and plainly showed not only the arbitrary disposition of the King, 
 but the turn which would be given to the inquiry. On the arrival of a ship from 
 Virginia, her packets were seized, and laid before the privy council. 
 
 The transactions of these commissioners were always kept concealed; but the 
 result of them was made known by an order of council (October, 1623), which set 
 forth, " That his Majesty having taken into his princely consideration the distressed 
 state of Virginia, occasioned by the ill government of the company, had resolved by 
 a new charter, to appoint a Governor and twelve assistants to reside in England ; 
 and a Governor with twelve assistants to reside in Virginia ; the former to be nomi 
 nated by his Majesty in council; the latter to be nominated by the Governor and 
 assistants in England, and to be approved by the King in council ; and that all pro 
 ceedings should be subject to the royal direction." The company was ordered to 
 assemble and resolve whether they would submit, and resign their charter; and in 
 default of such submission, the King signified his determination to proceed for 
 recalling their charter, in such manner as to him should seem meet. 
 
 This arbitrary mandate so astonished the company, that when they met, it was 
 read over three times, as if they had distrusted their own cars. Then a long silence 
 ensued ; and when the question was called for, twenty-six only voted for a surrender, 
 and one hundred and twelve declared against it. 
 
 These proceedings gave such an alarm to all who were concerned in the planta 
 tion or trade of the colony, that some ships which were preparing to sail were stop 
 ped ; but the King ordered them to proceed; declaring that the change of govern 
 ment would injure no man s property. At the same time he thought it proper to 
 appoint commissioners to go to Virginia, and inquire into the state of the colony. 
 These were Sir John Harvey, afterward Governor; John Pory, who had been secre 
 tary; Abraham Percy, Samuel Matthews, and John Jefferson. The subjects of their 
 inquiry were : " How many plantations there be ; which of them be public and which 
 private ; what people, men, women, and children, there be in each plantation ; what 
 fortifications, or what place is best to be fortified ; what houses and how many ; what 
 cattle, arms, ammunition, and ordnance; what boats and barges, what bridges and 
 public works ; how the colony standeth in respect of the savages ; what hopes may 
 be truly conceived of the plantation and the means to attain these hopes." The 
 Governor and council of Virginia were ordered to afford their best assistance to the 
 commissioners; but no copy of their instructions was delivered to them. 
 
 After the departure of the commissioners, a writ of quo warranto was issued by 
 the Court of King s Bench against the company (November 10, 1623), and upon the 
 representation of the Attorney-General that no defense could be made by the com- 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 143 
 
 v 
 
 pany without thuir books and their deputy treasurer, the latter was liberated and 
 the former were restored. The re-delivery of them to the privy council was pro 
 tracted, till the clerks of the company had taken copies of them. 
 
 In the beginning of 1624 the commissioners arrived in Virginia and a General 
 Assembly was called not at their request, for they kept all their designs as secret 
 as possible. But notwithstanding all the precautions which had been taken to pre 
 vent the colony from getting any knowledge of the proceedings in England, they 
 were by this time well informed of the whole, and had copies of several papers 
 which had been exhibited against them. 
 
 The Assembly, which met on the I4th of February, drew up answers to what 
 had been alleged in a spirited and masterly style ; and appointed John Porentis, one 
 of the council, to go to England as their agent, to solicit the cause of the colony. 
 This gentleman, unhappily, died on his passage, but their petition to the King and 
 their address to the Privy Council were delivered, in which they requested that in 
 case of a change of the government they might not again fall into the power of Sir 
 Thomas Smith or his confidants ; that the governors sent over to them might not 
 have absolute authority, but be restrained to act by advice of council ; and, above 
 all, that they might " have the liberty of General Assemblies, than which nothing 
 could more conduce to the public satisfaction and utility." They complained that 
 the short continuance of their governors had been very disadvantageous. " The 
 first year they were raw and inexperienced, and generally in ill-health through a 
 change of climate ; the second, they began to understand something of the affairs 
 of the colony; and the third, they were preparing to return." 
 
 To the honor of Governor Wyat it is observed that he was very active and 
 joined most cordially in preparing these petitions, and was very far from desiring 
 absolute and inordinate power, either in himself or in future governors. 
 
 The Assembly was very unanimous in their proceedings, and intended, like the 
 commissions, to keep them secret. But Pory, who had long been versed in the arts 
 of corruption, found means to obtain copies of all their acts. Edward Sharpies, 
 clerk of the council, was afterward convicted of bribery and breach of trust, for 
 which he was sentenced to the pillory and lost one of his ears. 
 
 The commissioners, finding that things were going in the Assembly contrary to 
 their wishes, resolved to open some of their powers with a view to intimidate them, 
 and then. endeavored to draw them into an explicit submission to the revocation of 
 their charter. But the Assembly had the wisdom and firmness to evade the pro 
 posal by requesting to see the whole extent of their commission. This being denied, 
 they answered that when the surrender of their charter should be demanded by au 
 thority, it would be time enough to make a reply. 
 
 The laws enacted by this Assembly are the oldest which are to be found in the 
 records of the colony. They contain many wise and good provisions. One of them 
 is equivalent to a Bill of Rig/its, defining the powers of the Governor, Council, and 
 Assembly and the privileges of the people, with regard to taxes, burdens, and per 
 sonal service. The 22d of March, the day of the massacre, was ordered to be sol 
 emnized as a day of devotion. 
 
 Whilst these things were doing in the colony, its enemies in England were en 
 deavoring, by means of some persons who had returned from Virginia, to injure the 
 character of the Governor; but he was sufficiently vindicated by the testimony of 
 
144 TUP; AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 
 
 other persons, who asserted on their own knowledge the uprightness of his proceed 
 ings, and declared upon their honor and conscience that they esteemed him just and 
 sincere, free from all corruption and private views. As he had requested leave to 
 quit the government at the expiration of his commission, the company took up the 
 matter ; and, when Sir Samuel Argal was nominated as a candidate in competition 
 with him, there appeared but eight votes in his favor and sixty-nine for the continu 
 ance of Wyat. 
 
 The Parliament assembled in February, 1624, and the company finding them 
 selves too weak to resist the encroachments of a prince who had engrossed almost 
 the whole power of the State, applied to the House of Commons for protection. 
 The King was highly offended at this attempt, and sent a prohibitory letter to the 
 speaker, which was no sooner read than the company s petition was ordered to be 
 withdrawn. 
 
 However singular this interference on the one hand, and compliance on the other, 
 may now appear, it was usual at that time for the King to impose his mandates, and 
 for the Commons, who knew not the extent of their own rights, to obey; though not 
 without the animadversions of the most intelligent and zealous members. The royal 
 prerogative was held inviolably sacred, till the indiscretions of a subsequent reign re 
 duced it to an object of contempt. In this instance, the Commons, however passive 
 in their submission to the Crown, yet showed their regard to the interest of the com 
 plainants as well as of the nation, by petitioning the King that no tobacco should 
 be imported but of the growth of the colonies. To this James consented, and a 
 proclamation was issued accordingly. 
 
 The commissioners, on their return from Virginia, reported to the King, "that 
 the people sent to inhabit there were most of them, by sickness, famine, and massa 
 cre of the savages, dead ; that those who were living were in necessity and want, and 
 in continual danger from the savages ; but that the country itself appeared to be fruit 
 ful, and to those who had resided there some time, healthy ; that if industry were used, it 
 would produce divers staple commodities, though for sixteen years past it had yielded 
 few or none ; that this neglect must fall on the governors and company, who had 
 power to direct the plantations ; that the said plantations were of great importance, 
 and would remain a lasting monument to posterity of his Majesty s most gracious and 
 happy government, if the same were prosecuted to those ends for which they were 
 first undertaken; that if the provisions and instructions of the first chanter (1606) 
 had been pursued, much better effect had been produced than by the alteration 
 thereof into so popular a course, and among so many hands as it then was, which 
 caused much confusion and contention." 
 
 On this report, the King, by a proclamation (July 15), suppressed the meetings 
 of the company,, and, till a more perfect settlement could be made, ordered a privy 
 council to sit every Thursday, at the house of Sir Thomas Smith, for conducting the 
 affairs of the colony. Soon after, viz, in Trinity term, the quo warranto was brought 
 to trial in the Court of King s Bench ; judgment was brought against the company, 
 and the charter was vacated. 
 
 This was the end of the Virginia Company, one of the most public-spirited socie 
 ties which had ever been engaged in such an undertaking. Mr. Stith, who had 
 searched all their records and papers, concludes his history by observing that they 
 were " gentlemen of very noble, clear, and disinterested views, willing to spend much 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 145 
 
 of their time and money, and did actually expend more than 100,000 of their own 
 fortunes, without any prospect of present gain or retribution, in advancing an enter 
 prise which they conceived to be of very great consequence fo their country." 
 
 No sooner was the company dissolved than James issued a iv.-w commission 
 (August 26) for the government of the colony. In it the history of the plantation 
 was briefly recited. Sir Francis Wyat was continued governor, with eleven assistants 
 or counselors, Francis West, Sir George Yeardley, George Sandys, Roger Smith, 
 Ralph Hamor, who had been of the former council, with the addition of John Mar 
 tin, John Harvey, Samuel Matthews, Abraham Percy, Isaac Madison, and William 
 Clayborne. The governor and council were appointed during the King s pleasure, 
 with authority to rule the colony and punish offenders, as fully as any governor and 
 council might have done. No assembly was mentioned or allowed, because the 
 King supposed, agreeable to the report of the commissioners, that " so popular a 
 course" was one cause of the late calamities, and he hated the existence of such a 
 body within any part of his dominions, especially when they were disposed to inquire 
 into their own rights, and redress the grievances of the people. 
 
 After the death of James, which happened on the 2/th of March, 1625, his son 
 and successor, Charles, issued a proclamation, expressing his resolution, that the 
 colony and government of Virginia should depend immediately on himself, without 
 the intervention of any commercial company. He also followed the example of his 
 father in making no mention of a representative assembly in any of his subsequent 
 commissions. 
 
 Governor Wyat, on the death of his father, Sir George Wyat, having returned to 
 Ireland, the government of Virginia fell again into the hands of Sir George Yeardley. 
 But, his death happening within the year 1626, he was succeeded by Sir John Harvey. 
 
 BARTHOLOMEW GOSNOLD, MARTIN PRING, BARTHOLO 
 MEW GILBERT, GEORGE WEYMOUTH. 
 
 BARTHOLOMEW GOSNOLD HIS VOYAGE TO VIRGINIA DISCOVERS CAPE COD HIS INTERVIEW 
 AND TRAFFIC WITH THE NATIVES SAILS FOR ENGLAND ACCOMPANIES JOHN SMITH TO 
 VIRGINIA HIS DEATH MARTIN PRING SAILS FOR NORTH VIRGINIA DISCOVERS FOX 
 ISLANDS ENTERS MASSACHUSETTS BAY INTERVIEW WITH THE NATIVES RETURNS TO 
 ENGLAND HIS SECOND VOYAGE BARTHOLOMEW GILBERT HIS VOYAGE TO VIRGINIA HE 
 IS KILLED BY THE NATIVES GEORGE WEYMOUTH SAILS FOR AMERICA DISCOVERS 
 GEORGE S ISLANDS AND PENTECOST HARBOR KIDNAPS SOME OF THE NATIVES. 
 
 THE voyages made to America by these navigators, in the beginning of the 
 seventeenth century, may be considered as the leading steps to the colonization of 
 New England. Excepting the fishery at Newfoundland, the Europeans were at that 
 time in actual possession of no part of North America ; though the English claimed 
 a right to the whole, by virtue of prior discovery. The attempts which Raleigh had 
 made to colonize the southern part of the territory, called Virginia, had failed; but 
 19 
 
THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 he and his associates enjoyed an exclusive patent from the Crown of England for the 
 whole coast ; and these adventurers obtained a license, under this authority, to make 
 their voyages and settlements. 
 
 BARTHOLOMEW GOSNOLD was an active, intrepid, and experienced mariner, in 
 the west of England. He had sailed in one of the ships employed by Raleigh, to 
 Virginia ; and was convinced that there must be a shorter and safer way across the 
 Atlantic than the usual route by the Canaries and the West India Islands. At 
 whose expense he undertook his voyage to the northern part of Virginia does not 
 appear; but that it was with the approbation of Sir Walter Raleigh and his associates 
 is evident from an account of the voyage which was presented to him. 
 
 On the 26th of March, 1602, Gosnold sailed from Falmouth, in a small bark, the 
 tonnage of which is not mentioned, carrying thirty-two persons, of whom eight were 
 mariners. The design of the voyage was to find a direct and short course to Vir 
 ginia ; and, upon the discovery of a proper seat for a plantation, twelve of the company 
 were to return to England, and twenty to ren.ain in America, till further assistance 
 and supplies could be sent to them. 
 
 The former part of this design was accomplished, as far as the winds and other 
 circumstances would permit. They went no farther southward than the thirty- 
 seventh degree of latitude, within sight of St. Mary, one of the Western Islands. In 
 the forty-third degree they approached the continent of America, which they first 
 discovered on the I4th of May, after a passage of seven weeks. The weakness of 
 their bark, and their ignorance of the route, made them carry but little sail, or they 
 might have arrived some days sooner. They judged that they had shortened the 
 distance 500 leagues. 
 
 It is not easy to determine from the journal what part of the coast they first saw. 
 Oldmixon says it was the north side of Massachusetts Bay. The description in the 
 journal does, in some respects, agree with the coast, extending from Cape Ann to 
 Marblehead, or to the rocky point of Nahant. 
 
 From a rock, which they called Savage Rock, a shallop of European fabric came 
 off to them, in which were eight savages; two or three of whom were dressed in 
 European habits. From these circumstances they concluded that some fishing vessel 
 of Biscay had been there, and that the crew were destroyed by the natives. These 
 people, by signs, invited them to stay, but "the harbor being naught, and doubting 
 the weather," they did not think proper to accept the invitation. 
 
 In the night they stood to the southward, and the next morning found them 
 selves " embayed with a mighty headland," which at first appeared " like an island, 
 by reason of a large sound which lay between it and the main." Within a league 
 of this land they came to anchor in fifteen fathoms, and took a very great quantity 
 of cod. From this circumstance the land was named Cape Cod. It is described as a 
 low, sandy shore, but without danger, and lying in the latitude cf 42. Captain 
 Gosnold, with Mr. Bricrton and three men, went to it and found the shore bold and 
 the sand very deep. A young Indian, with copper pendants in his ears, a bow in his 
 hand, and arrows at his back, came to them, and in a friendly manner offered his 
 service; but as they were in haste to return to the ship, they had little conference, 
 with him. 
 
 On the i6th they sailed by the shore southerly; and, at the end of twelve 
 leagues, saw a point of land, with breakers at a distance. In attempting to double 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 147 
 
 this point, they came suddenly into shoal water; from which they extricated them 
 selves by standing off to sea. This point they named Point Care, and the breakers, 
 Tucker s Terror, from the person who first discovered the danger. In the night they 
 bore up toward the land, and came to anchor in eight fathoms. The next day 
 (i/th), seeing many breakers about them, and the weather being foul, they lay at 
 anchor. 
 
 On the 1 8th, the weather being clear, they sent their boat to sound a beach, 
 which lay off another point, to which they gave the name of Gilbert s Point. The 
 ship remained at anchor the whole of this day ; and some of the natives came from 
 the shore in their canoes to visit them. These people were dressed in skins, and 
 furnished with pipes and tobacco ; one of them had a breast-plate of copper. They 
 appeared more timorous than those of Savage Rock, but were very thievish. 
 
 When the people in the boat returned from sounding, they reported a depth of 
 water from four to seven fathoms, over the breach ; which the ship passed the next 
 day (igth) and came to anchor again above a league beyond it. Here they remained 
 two days surrounded by schools of fish and flocks of aquatic birds. To the north 
 ward of west, they saw several hummocks, which they imagined were distinct islands ; 
 but when they sailed toward them (on the 2 1st), they found them to be small hills 
 within the land. They discovered also an opening, into which they endeavored to 
 enter, supposing it to be the southern extremity of the sound between Cape Cod 
 and the mainland. But on examination, the water proving very shoal, they called 
 it Shoal Hope, and proceeded to the westward. The coast was full of people, who 
 ran along the shore, accompanying the ship as she sailed ; and many smokes ap 
 peared within the land. 
 
 In coasting along to the westward, they discovered an island, on which the next 
 day (22d) they landed. The description of it in the journal is this: " A disinhabited 
 island; from Shoal Hope it is eight leagues; in circuit it is five miles, and hath 
 forty-one degrees and one quarter of latitude. The place most pleasant ; for we 
 found it full of wood, vines, gooseberry bushes, hurtberries, raspices, eglantine 
 [sweet-brier], etc. Here we had cranes, herns, shoulers, geese, and divers other 
 birds ; which there, at that time, upon the cliffs, being sandy with some rocky stones, 
 did breed and had young. In this place we saw deer. Here we rode in eight fath 
 oms, near the shore ; where we took great store of cod, as before at Cape Cod, but 
 much better. The island is sound, and hath no danger about it." They gave it the 
 name of Martha s Vineyard, from the great number of vines which they found on it. 
 
 From this island, they passed (on the 24th) round a very high and distinguished 
 promontory; to which they gave the name of Dover Cliff; and came to anchor "in 
 a fair sound, where they rode all night." 
 
 Between them and the main, which was then in sight, lay a " ledge of rocks, ex 
 tending a mile into the sea, but all above water, and without danger." They went 
 round the western extremity of this ledge, and came to in eight fathoms of water, a 
 quarter of a mile from the shore, in one of the stateliest sounds that ever they had 
 seen." This they called Gosnold s Hope. The north side of it was the mainland 
 stretching east and west, distant four leagues from the island, where they came to 
 anchor, to which they gave the name of Elisabeth, in honor of their Queen. 
 
 On the 28th of May, they held a council respecting the place of their abode, 
 which they determined to be " in the west part of Elizabeth Island, the north-east 
 
148 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 part running out of their ken." The island is thus described : " In the western side, 
 it admitteth some creeks or sandy coves, so girded, as the water in some places 
 meeteth ; to which the Indians from the main, do often resort for fishing crabs. 
 There is eight fathom very near the shore, and the latitude is 41 10 . The breadth 
 of the island from sound to sound, in the western part, is not passing a mile, at most ; 
 altogether unpeopled and disinhabited. 
 
 " It is overgrown with wood and rubbish. The woods are oak, ash, beech, wal 
 nut, witch-hazel, sassafrage, and cedars, with divers others of unknown names. The 
 rubbish is wild-peas, young sassafrage, cherry trees, vines, eglantine (or sweet-brier), 
 gooseberry bushes, hawthorn, honeysuckles, with others of the like quality. The 
 herbs and roots are strawberries, rasps, ground nuts, alexander, surrin, tansy, etc., 
 without count. Touching the fertility of the soil, by our own experience, we found 
 it to be excellent ; for, sowing some English pulse, it sprouted out in one fortnight 
 almost half a foot. 
 
 " In this island is a pond of fresh water, in circuit two miles ; on one side not dis 
 tant from the sea thirty yards. In the centre of it is a rocky islet, containing near 
 an acre of ground, full of wood and rubbish, on which we began our fort and place 
 of abode, and made a punt or flat-bottomed boat to pass to and fro over the fresh 
 water. 
 
 " On the north side, near adjoining to Elizabeth, is an islet, in compass half a 
 mile, full of cedars, by me called Hill s Hap ; to the northward of which, in the mid 
 dle of an opening on the main, appeared another like it, which I called Hap s Hill." 
 When Captain Gosnold, with divers of the company, " went in the shallop toward 
 Hill s Hap, to view it and the sandy cove, they found a baik canoe which rhe Indians 
 had quitted for fear of them. This they took and brought to England. It is not 
 said that they made any acknowledgment or recompense for it." 
 
 Before I proceed in the account of Gosnold s transactions, it is necessary to make 
 some remarks on the preceding detail, which is either abridged or extracted from the 
 journal written by Gabriel Archer. This journal contains some inaccuracies which 
 may be corrected by carefully comparing its several parts, and by actual observations 
 of the places described. I have taken much pains to obtain information by consult 
 ing the best maps and conversing or corresponding with pilots and other persons. 
 But, for my greater satisfaction, I have visited the island on which Gosnold built his 
 house and fort, the ruins of which are still visible, though at the distance of nearly 
 two centuries. 
 
 That Gosnold s Cape Cod is the promontory which now bears that name, is evi 
 dent from his description. The point which he denominated Care, at the distance ol 
 twelve leagues southward of Cape Cod, agrees very well with Malebarre, or Sandy 
 Point, the south-eastern extremity of the county of Barnstable. The shoal water 
 and breach, which he called Tucker s Terror, correspond with the shoal and breakers 
 commonly called the Pollock Rip, which extends to the south-east of this remark 
 able point. 
 
 To avoid this danger, it being late in the day, he stood so far out to sea as to 
 overshoot the eastern entrance of what is now called the Vineyard Sound. The land 
 which he made in the night was a white cliff on the eastern coast of Nantucket, now 
 called Sankoty Head. The breach which lay off Gilbert s Point I take to be at the 
 Bass Rip and the Pollock Rip, with the cross ripplings which extend from the south- 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 149 
 
 east extremity of that island. Over these ripplings there is a depth of water from four 
 to seven fathoms, according to a late map of Nantucket, published by Peleg Coffin, 
 Esq., and others. That Gosnold did not enter the Vineyard Sound, but overshot it 
 in the night, is demonstrated by comparing his journal with that of Martin Pring, 
 the next year; a passage from which shall be cited in its proper place. 
 
 The large opening which he saw, but did not enter, and to which he gave the 
 name of Shoal Hope, agrees very well with the open shore to the westward of the 
 little island of Muskeget. 
 
 The island which he called Martha s Vineyard now bears the name of No-Man s 
 Land. This is clear from his account of its size, five miles in circuit ; its distance 
 from Shoal Hope, eight leagues, and from Elizabeth Island, five leagues ; the safety 
 of approaching it on all sides ; and trie small, but excellent cod which are always 
 taken near it in the spring months. The only material objection is, that he found 
 deer upon the island ; but this is removed by comparing his account with the journal 
 of Martin Pring, who, the next year, found deer in abundance on the large island, 
 now called the Vineyard. I have had credible testimony that deer have been seen 
 swimming across the Vineyard Sound when pursued by hunters. This island was a 
 sequestered spot, where those deer who took refuge upon it would probably remain 
 undisturbed and multiply. 
 
 The lofty promontory, to which he gave the name of Dover Cliff, is Gay Head ; 
 an object too singular and entertaining to pass unobserved, and far superior in mag 
 nitude to any other cliff on any of these islands. The " fair sound," into which he 
 entered after doubling this cliff, is the western extremity of the Vineyard Sound, 
 and his anchoring-place was probably in or near Menemsha Bight. 
 
 For what reason and at what time the name of Martha s Vineyard was trans 
 ferred from the small island so called by Gosnold to the large island which now bears 
 it, are questions which remain in obscurity. That Gosnold at first took the southern 
 side of this large island to be the main, is evident. When he doubled the cliff at its 
 western end he knew it to be an island, but gave no name to any part of it except 
 the Cliff. 
 
 "The ledge of rocks extending a mile into the sea," between his anchoring- 
 ground and the main, is that remarkable ledge distinguished by the name of the Sow 
 and Pigs. The " stately sound " which he entered after passing round these rocks 
 is the mouth of Buzzard s Bay, and the island (Elisabet/i) is the westernmost of the 
 islands which now go by the name of Elizabeth s Islands. Its Indian name is Cut- 
 tyhunk, a contraction of Poo-cut-oh-hunk-un-noh, which signifies a thing that lies 
 out of the water. The names of the others are Nashawena, Pasque, Naushon, Ne- 
 nimisset, and Peniquese, besides some of less note. 
 
 In this island at the west end on the north side is a pond of fresh water three- 
 quarters of a mile in length and of unequal breadth ; but if measured in all its sinu 
 osities, would amount to two miles in circuit. * In the middle of its breadth near the 
 west end is a " rocky islet, containing near an acre of ground." 
 
 To this spot I went on the 2Oth day of June, 1797, in company with several gen 
 tleman, whose curiosity and obliging kindness induced them to accompany me. The 
 protecting hand of Nature has reserved this favorite spot to herself. Its fertility 
 and its productions are exactly the same as in Gosnold s time, excepting the wood, 
 of which there is none. Every species of what he calls " rubbish," with strawber- 
 
150 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 ries, peas, tansy, and other fruits and herbs, appear in rich abundance, unmolested 
 by any animal but aquatic birds. We had the supreme satisfaction to find the cel 
 lar of Gosnold s storehouse, the stones of which were evidently taken from the neigh 
 boring beach, the rocks of the islet being less movable and lying in ledges. 
 
 The whole island of Cuttyhunk has been for many years stripped of its wood, 
 but I was informed by Mr. Greenill, an old resident farmer, that the trees which for 
 merly grew on it were such as are described in Gosnold s journal. The soil is a very 
 fine garden mold, from the bottom of the valleys to the top of the hills, and affords 
 rich pasture. 
 
 The length of the island is rather more than two miles and its breadth about one 
 mile. The beach between the pond and the sea is twenty-seven yards wide. It is 
 so high and firm a barrier,. that the sea neveV flows into the pond but when agitated 
 by a violent gale from the north-west. The pond is deep in the middle. It has no 
 visible outlet. Its fish are perch, eels, and turtles: and it is frequented by aquatic 
 birds, both wild and domestic. 
 
 On the north side of the island, connected with it by a beach, is an elevation, the 
 Indian name of which is Copicut. E- ther this hill or the little island of Peniquese, 
 which lies a mile to the northward, is the place which Gosnold called Hill s Hap. 
 Between Copicut and Cuttyhunk is a circular sandy cove with a narrow entrance. 
 Pfap s Hill, on the opposite shore of the main, distant four leagues, is a round eleva 
 tion, on a point of land near the Dumplin Rocks, between the rivers of Apoone- 
 ganset and Pascamanset, in the township of Dartmouth. 
 
 From the south side of Cuttyhunk, the promontory of Gay Head, which Gosnold 
 called Dover Cliff, and the island which he named Martha s Vineyard, lie in full view, 
 and appear to great advantage. No other objects in that region bear any resem 
 blance to them, or to the description given of them ; nor is there a ledge of rocks 
 projecting from any other island a mile into the sea. 
 
 Whilst Gabriel Archer and a party, generally consisting of ten, labored in clearing 
 the " rocky islet " of wood, and building a storehouse and fort, Captain Gosnold and 
 the rest of the company were employed either in making discoveries, or fishing, or 
 collecting sassafras. On the 3 1st of May he went to the mainland, on the shore of 
 which he was met by a company of the natives, "men, women, and children, who, 
 with all courteous kindness, entertained him, giving him skins of wild beasts, to 
 bacco, turtles, hemp, artificial strings, colored [wampum], and such like things as 
 they had about them." The stately groves, flowery meadows, and running brooks 
 afforded delightful entertainment to the adventurers. The principal discovery which 
 they made was of two good harbors ; one of which I take to be Apooneganset, and 
 the other Pascamanset, between which lies the round hill, which they called Hap s 
 Hill. They observed the coast to extend five leagues further to the south-west, as 
 it does to Seconnet Point. As they spent but one day in this excursion, they did 
 not fully explore the main, though frcffn what they observed, the land being broken, 
 and the shore rocky, they were convinced of the existence of other harbors on that 
 coast. 
 
 On the 5th of June an Indian chief and fifty men, armed with bows and arrows, 
 landed on the island. Archer and his men left their work and met them on the 
 beach. After mutual salutations they sat do.vn and began a traffic, exchanging such 
 things as they, had to mutual satisfaction. The ship then lay at anchor a league off. 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 151 
 
 Gosnold seeing the Indians approach the island, came on shore with twelve men, and 
 was received by Archer s party with military ceremony, as their commander. The 
 captain gave the chief a straw hat and two knives. The former he little regarded ; 
 the latter he received with great admiration. 
 
 In a subsequent visit they became better acquainted, and had a larger trade for 
 furs. At dinner they entertained the savages with fish and mustard, and gave them 
 beer to drink. The effect of the mustard on the noses of the Indians afforded them 
 much diversion. One of them stole a target and conveyed it on board of his canoe ; 
 when it was demanded of the chief it was immediately restored. No demand was 
 made of the birch canoe which Gosnold had a few days before taken from the Indians. 
 When the chief and his retinue took their leave, four or five of the Indians stayed 
 and helped the adventurers to dig the roots of sassafras, with which, as well as furs 
 and othe.r productions of the country, the ship was loaded for her homeward voyage. 
 Having performed this service, the Indians were invited on board the ship, but they 
 declined the invitation and returned to the main. This island had no fixed inhab 
 itants ; the natives of the opposite shore frequently visited it for the purpose of gath 
 ering shell-fish, with which its creeks and coves abounded. 
 
 All these Indians had ornaments of copper. When the adventurers asked them, 
 by signs, whence they obtained this metal, one of them made answer by digging a 
 hole in the ground and pointing to the main ; from which circumstance it was under 
 stood th:.t the adjacent country contained mines of copper. In the course of al 
 most two centuries, no copper has been there discovered ; though iron, a much more 
 useful metal, wholly unknown to the natives, is found in great plenty. The question, 
 whence did they obtain copper ? is yet without an answer. 
 
 Three weeks were spent in clearing the islet, digging and stoning a cellar, build 
 ing a house, fortifying it with palisades, and covering it with sedge, which then grew 
 in great plenty on the sides of the pond. During this time a survey was made of 
 their provisions. After reserving enough to victual twelve men, who were to go 
 home in the bark, no more could be left with the remaining twenty than would suf 
 fice them for six weeks, and the ship could not return till the end of the next autumn. 
 This was a very discouraging circumstance. 
 
 A jealousy also arose respecting the profits of the ship s lading ; those who stayed 
 behind claiming a share as well as those who should return to England. Whilst these 
 subjects were in debate, a single Indian came on board, from whose apparently grave 
 and sober deportment they- suspected him to have been sent as a spy. In a few days 
 after, the ship went to Hill s Hap, out of sight of the fort, to take in a load of cedar, 
 and was there detained so much longer than they expected, that the party at the fort 
 had expended their provision. Four of them went in search of shell-fish, and divided 
 themeslves, two and two, going different ways. One of these small parties was sud 
 denly attacked by four Indians in a canoe, who wounded one of them in the arm with 
 an arrow. His companion seized the canoe and cut their bow-strings, on which they 
 fled. It being late in the day, and the weather stormy, this couple were obliged to 
 pi.ss the night in the woods, and did not reach the fort till the next day. The whole 
 party subsisted on shell-fish, ground nuts, and herbs till the ship came and took 
 them on board. A new consultation was then holden. Those who had been most 
 resolute to remain, were discouraged, and the unanimous voice was in favor of re 
 turning to England. 
 
152 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 On the I7th of June they doubled the rocky ledge of Elizabeth, passed by Dover 
 Cliff, sailed to the island which they had called Martha s Vineyard, and employed 
 themselves in taking young geese, cranes, and herns. The next day they set sail 
 for England ; and, after a pleasant passage of five weeks, arrived at Exmouth, in 
 Devonshire. 
 
 Thus failed the first attempt to plant a colony in North Virginia, the causes of 
 which are obvious. The loss of Sir Walter Raleigh s company, in South Virginia, 
 was then recent in memory, and the same causes might have operated here to pro 
 duce the same effect. Twenty men, situated on an island, surrounded by other 
 islands and the main, and furnished with six weeks provisions only, could not main 
 tain possession of a territory to which they had no right against the force of its 
 native proprietors. They might easily have been cut off when seeking food abroad, 
 or their fort might have been invested, and they must have surrendered at dis 
 cretion, or have been starved to death, had no direct assault been made upon them. 
 The prudence of their retreat is unquestionable to any person who considers their 
 hazardous situation. 
 
 During this voyage, and especially whilst on shore, the whole company enjoyed 
 remarkably good health. They were highly pleased with the salubrity, fertility, and 
 apparent advantages of the country. Gosnold was so enthusiastic an admirer of it, 
 that he was indefatigable in his endeavors to forward the settlement of a colony in 
 conjunction with Captain John Smith. With him, in 1607, he embarked in the 
 expedition to South Virginia, where he had the rank of a counselor. Soon after his 
 arrival, by excessive fatigue in the extremity of the summer heat, he fell a sacrifice, 
 \\ ith fifty others, to the insalubrity of that climate and the scanty measure and bad 
 quality of the provisions with which that unfortunate colony was furnished. 
 
 The discovery made by Gosnold, and especially the shortness of the time in 
 which his voyage was performed, induced Richard Hakluyt, then Prebendary of St. 
 Augustine s Church in Bristol, to use his influence with the mayor, aldermen, and 
 merchants of that opulent mercantile city, to prosecute the discovery of the northern 
 parts of Virginia. The first step was to obtain permission of Raleigh and his asso 
 ciates. This was undertaken and accomplished by Hakluyt, in conjunction with 
 John Angel and Robert Salterne, both of whom had been with Gosnold to Amer 
 ica. The next was to equip two vessels; one a ship of fifty tons, called the Speedwell, 
 carrying thirty men ; the other a bark of twenty-six tons, called the Discoverer, 
 carrying thirteen men. The commander of the ship was Martin Pring and his mate 
 Edmund Jones. The bark was commanded by William Browne, whose mate was 
 Samuel Kirkland. Salterne was the principal agent, or supercargo ; and was fur 
 nished with various kinds of clothing, hardware, and trinkets, to trade with the 
 natives. The vessels were victualed for eight months, and sailed on the loth of 
 April, 1603, a few days after the death of Queen Elizabeth. 
 
 They went so far to the southward as to be within sight of the Azores; and in the 
 beginning of June fell in with the American coast, between the forty-third and forty- 
 fourth degrees of latitude, among those numerous islands which cover the district of 
 Maine. One of these they named Fox Island, from some of that species of animal 
 which they saw upon it. Among these islands, in the mouth of Penobscot Bay, they 
 found good anchorage and fishing. The land being rocky, they judged it proper for 
 the drying of cod, which they took in great plenty, and esteemed better than those 
 usually taken at Newfoundland. 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 153 
 
 Having passed all the islands, they ranged the coast to the south-west and en 
 tered four inlets, which are thus described : " The most easterly was barred at the 
 mouth ; but, having passed over the bar, we ran up it for five miles, and for a certain 
 space found very good depth. Coming out again, as we sailed south-west, we 
 lighted on two other inlets, which we found to pierce not far into the land. The 
 fourth and most westerly was the best, which we rowed up ten or twelve miles. In 
 all these places we found no people, but signs of fires, where they had been. How- 
 beit, we beheld very goodly groves and woods, and sundry sorts of beasts. But 
 meeting with no sassafras, we left these places, with all the aforesaid islands, shap 
 ing our course for Savage Rock, discovered the year before by Captain Gosnold." 
 
 From this description, I conclude that after they had passed the islands as far 
 westward as Casco Bay, the easternmost of the four inlets which they entered, was the 
 mouth of the river Saco. The next two were Kennebunk and York Rivers ; the 
 westernmost, and the best, was the river Piscataqua. The reason of their finding no 
 people was, that the natives were at that season (June) fishing at the falls of the 
 rivers ; and the vestiges of fires marked the places at or near the mouths of the rivers 
 where they had resided and taken fish in the earlier months of the spring. In steer 
 ing for Savage Rock, they must have doubled Cape Ann, which brought them into 
 the bay of Massachusetts, on the northern shore of which I suppose Savage Rock to 
 be situated. 
 
 It seems that one principal object of their voyage was to collect sassafras, which 
 was esteemed a highly medicinal vegetable. In several parts of these journals, and 
 in other books of the same date, it is celebrated as a sovereign remedy for the plague, 
 the venereal disease, the stone, strangury, and other maladies. One of Gosnold s 
 men had been cured by it, in twelve hours, of a surfeit, occasioned by eating greedily 
 of the bellies of dog-fish, which is called a " delicious meat." 
 
 The journal then proceeds : " Going on the main at Savage Rock, we found 
 people, with whom we had no long conversation, because here also we could find no 
 sassafras. Departing hence, we bare into that great gulf which Capt. Gosnold overshot 
 the year before ; coasting and finding people on the north side thereof. Not yet 
 satisfied in our expectation, we left them and sailed over, and came to anchor on the 
 south side, in the latitude of forty-one degrees and odd minutes; where we went on 
 land, in a certain bay, which was called Wliitson Bay, by the name of the worshipful 
 master, John Whitson, then mayor of the city of Bristol, and one of the chief ad 
 venturers. Finding a pleasant hill adjoining, we called it Mount Aldworth, for master 
 Robert Aldsworth s sake, a chief furtherer of the voyage, as well with his purse as 
 with his travel. Here we had sufficient quantity of sassafras." 
 
 In another part of this journal, Whitson Bay is thus described : " At the entrance- 
 of this excellent haven we found twenty fathoms of water, and rode at our ease in 
 seven fathoms, being land-locked ; the haven winding in compass like the shell of a 
 snail; and it is in latitude of 41 20 . We also observed that we could find no sassa 
 fras but in sandy ground." 
 
 Though this company had no design to make a settlement in America, yet, con 
 sidering that the place where they found it convenient to reside was full of inhabit 
 ants, they built a temporary hut, and inclosed it with a barricade, in which they 
 kept constant guard by day and night, whilst others were .employed in collecting 
 sassafras in the woods. The Indians frequently visited them in parties of various 
 20 
 
154 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 numbers, from ten to a hundred. They were used kindly, had trinkets presented to 
 them, and were fed with English pulse ; their own food being chiefly fish. They 
 were adorned with plates of copper ; their bows, arrows, and quivers were very neatly 
 made ; and their birchen canoes -.verc considered as great curiosities, one of which, 
 of seventeen feet in length and four in breadth, was carried home to Bristol as a 
 specimen of their ingenuity. Whether it was bought or stolen from them is uncer 
 tain. 
 
 The natives were excessively fond of music, and would dance in a ring round an 
 English youth, who played on an instrument called a gitterne. But they were greatly 
 terrified at the barking of two English mastiffs, which always kept them at a dis 
 tance, when the people were tired of their company. 
 
 The growth of the place consisted of sassafras, vines, cedar, oak, ash, beech, 
 birch, cherry, hazel, walnut, maple, holly, and wild plum. The land animals were 
 stags and fallow deer in abundance, bears, wolves, foxes, luscrnes, porcupines, and 
 dogs with short noses. The waters and shores abounded with fish and shell-fish of 
 various kinds, and aquatic birds in great plenty. 
 
 By the end of July they had loaded their bark with sassafras, and sent her to 
 England. After v/hich they made as much dispatch as possible in lading their ship, 
 the departure of which was accelerated by the following incident : 
 
 The Indians had hitherto been on friendly terms with the adventurers; but see 
 ing their number lessened and one of their vessels gone, and those who remained 
 dispersed at their several employments, they came one day, about noon, to the num 
 ber of one hundred and forty, armed with bows and arrows, to the barricado, where 
 four men were on guard with their muskets. The Indians called to them to come 
 out, which they refused, and stood on their defense. Captain Pring, with two men 
 only, were on board the ship; as soon as he perceived the danger, he secured the 
 ship as well as he could, and fired one of his great guns, as a signal to the laborers 
 in the woods, who were reposing after their fatigue, depending on the mastiffs for 
 protection. The dogs hearing the gun, awoke their masters, who, then hearing a 
 second gun, took to their arms, and came to the relief of the guard. At the sight 
 of the men and dogs, the Indians desisted from their purpose, and affecting to turn 
 the whole into a jest, went off laughing without any damage on either side. 
 
 In a few days after, they set fire to the woods where the sassafras grew, to the 
 extent of a mile. These alarming circumstances determined Pring to retire. After 
 the people had embarked, and were weighing the anchors, a larger number than ever 
 they had seen, about two hundred, came down to the shore, and some in their canoes 
 came off to the ship, apparently to invite the adventurers to a longer continuance. 
 It was not easy to believe the invitation friendly, nor prudent to accept it. They 
 therefore came to sail, it being the gth of August. After a passage of five weeks, 
 by the route of the Azores, they came into soundings ; and on the 2d of October 
 arrived at King Road, below Bristol, where the bark arrived about a fortnight before 
 them. This whole voyage was completed in six months. Its objects were to make 
 discoveries, and to collect furs and sassafras. No instance of aggression on the part 
 of the adventurers is mentioned, nor on the part of the natives, till after the sailing 
 of the bark. 
 
 At the same time that Martin Pring was employed in his yoyage, BARTHOLOMEW 
 GILBERT went on a farther discovery to the southern part of Virginia, having it also 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 155 
 
 in view to look for the lost colony of Sir Walter Raleigh. He sailed from Plymouth, 
 May 10, 1603, in the bark Elizabeth, of fifty tons, and went by the way of Madeira 
 to the West Indies, where he touched at several of the islands, taking in lignumvitas, 
 tortoise, and tobacco. 
 
 On the 6th of July he quitted the islands and steered for Virginia. In four days 
 he got into the Gulf Stream and was becalmed five days. After which the wind 
 sprang up, and on the 2oth he saw land in the 4Oth degree of latitude. His object 
 was to fetch the mouth of Chesapeake Bay ; but the wind being adverse, after beat 
 ing against it for several days, the necessity of wood and water obliged them to 
 come to anchor about a mile from the shore, where there was an appearance of the 
 entrance of a river. 
 
 On Friday, the 2Qth of July, Captain Gilbert, accompanied by Thomas Canner, 
 a gentleman of Bernard s Inn ; Richard Harrison, mate ; Henry Kcnton, surgeon ; 
 and Derrick, a Dutchman, went on shore, leaving two boys to keep the boat. Im 
 mediately after they had entered the wood the savages attacked, pursued, and killed 
 every one of them. Two of them fell in sight of the boys, who had much difficulty 
 to prevent the Indians from hauling the boat on shore. 
 
 With heavy hearts they got back to the ship, whose crew, reduced to eleven, in 
 cluding the boys, durst not make any further attempt, but steered for the western 
 islands. After passing them they arrived in the River Thames about the end of Sep 
 tember, when the city of London was " most grievously infected with the plague." 
 
 After the peace which King James made with Spain in 1604, when the passion 
 for the discovery of a north-west passage was in full vigor, a ship was sent from En 
 gland by the Earl of Southampton and Lord Arundel of Wardor with a view to this 
 object. The commander of the ship was GEORGE WEYMOUTH. He sailed from the 
 Downs on the last day of March, 1605, and came in sight of the American coast on 
 the 1 3th of May, in the latitude of 41 degrees, 30 minutes. 
 
 Being there entangled among shoals and breakers, he quitted this land, and, at 
 the distance of fifty leagues, discovered several islands, to one of which he gave the 
 name of St. George. Within three leagues of this island he came into a harbor, 
 which he called Pentecost Harbor, and sailed up a noble river, to which it does not 
 appear that he gave any name, nor does he mention any name by which it was called 
 by the natives. 
 
 The conjectures of historians respecting this river have been various. Oldmixon 
 supposes it to have been James River in Virginia, whilst Beverly, who aims to cor 
 rect him, affirms it to have been Hudson s River in New York. Neither of them 
 could have made these mistakes if they had read the original account in Purchas 
 with any attention. In Smith s History of Virginia an abridgment of the voyage is 
 given, but in so slight and indefinite a manner as to afford no satisfaction respecting 
 the situation of the river, whether it were northward or southward from the land 
 first discovered. 
 
 To ascertain this matter I have carefully examined Weymouth s journal and 
 compared it with the best maps; but, for more perfect satisfaction, I gave an ab 
 stract of the voyage with a number of queries to Captain John Foster Williams, an 
 experienced manner and commander of the revenue cutter belonging to this port, 
 who has very obligingly communicated to me his observations made in a late cruise. 
 Both of these papers are here subjoined. 
 
156 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 Abstract of the Voyage of Captain George Weymoutli to tlic Coast of America, from 
 the Printed Journal extant in Purchas Pilgrims, Part IV., Page 1659. 
 
 A.D. 1605, March 31. Captain George Weymouth sailed from England in the 
 Archangel for the northern part of Virginia, as the whole coast of North America 
 was then called. 
 
 May 13. Arrived in soundings 160 fathoms. 
 
 14. In five or six leagues distance shoaled the water from one hundred to five 
 fathoms. Saw from the mast-head a whitish, sandy cliff, N.N.W. six leagues. Many 
 breaches nearer the land, the ground foul, and depth varying from six to fifteen 
 fathoms. Parted from the land. Latitude 41 degrees, 30 minutes. 
 
 15. Wind between W.S.VV. and S.S.W. In want of wood and water. Land 
 much desired, and, therefore, sought for it where tlic wind would best suffer us. 
 
 QUERY i. As the wind then blew, must not the course be to the north and 
 east ? 
 
 16. In almost fifty leagues run, found no land ; the charts being erroneous. 
 
 17. Saw land which bore N.N.E. a great gale of wind and the sea high. Stood 
 off till two in the morning, then stood in again. At eight A.M. saw land again bear 
 ing N.E. It appeared a mean high land ; being, as we afterward found it, an island 
 of no great compass. About noon came to anchor on the north side in forty fath 
 oms about a league from shore. Named the island St. George. 
 
 QUERY 2. Could this island be Segwin or Monttegan ? or if neither, what island 
 was it ? 
 
 Whilst we were on shore on the island our men on board caught thirty large cod 
 and haddock. From hence we discerned many islands, and the main land extending 
 from W.S.W. to E.N.E. A great way up into the main, as it then seemed, we dis 
 cerned very high mountains ; though the main seemed but low land. The mountains 
 bore N.N.E. from us. 
 
 QUERY 3. What mountains were these? 
 
 19. Being Wliitsunday, weighed anchor at twelve o clock, and came along to the 
 other islands more adjoining to the main, and in the road directly to the mountains, 
 about three leagues from the first island found a safe harbor, defended from all winds, 
 in an excellent depth of water for ships of any burthen in six, seven, eight, nine, ten 
 fathoms, upon a clay ooze, very tough, where is good mooring even on the rocks, by 
 the cliff side. Named it Pentecost Harbor. 
 
 QUERY 4. Do these marks agree with Sagadahock or Musquito Harbor or St. 
 George s Island ; or, if not, with what harbor do they agree ? 
 
 20. Went ashore, found water issuing from springs down the rocky cliffs, and dug 
 pits to receive it. Found, at no great depth, clay blue, red, and white ; good lob 
 sters, rock-fish, plaise, and lumps. With two or three hooks caught cod and haddock 
 enough for the ship s company three days. 
 
 24. The captain, with fourteen men armed, marched through two* of the islands, 
 one of which we guessed to be four or five miles in compass, and one broad. Abun 
 dance of great muscles, some of which contained pearls. One had fourteen pearls in it. 
 
 30. The captain, with thirteen men, departed in the shallop, leaving the ship in 
 harbor. 
 
 31. The shallop returned, having discovered a great river trending far up into 
 the main. 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 157 
 
 QUERY 5. What river was this? 
 
 June i. Indians came and traded with us. Pointing to one part of the main, 
 eastward, they signified to us that the Bashabe, their king, had plenty of furs, and 
 much tobacco. 
 
 N.B. Here Weymouth kidnapped five of the natives. 
 
 11. Passed up into the river with our ship about twenty-six miles. 
 
 Observations by tlie A ntlwr of the Voyc.gc, James Rosier. 
 
 " The first and chief thing required for a plantation is a bold coast, and a fair 
 land to fall in with. The next is a safe harbor for ships to ride in. 
 
 " The first is a special attribute of this shore, being free from sands or dan 
 gerous rocks, in a continual good depth, with a most excellent land-fall as can be 
 desired, which is the first island, named Si. George. 
 
 " For the second, here are more good harbors for ships of all burthens than all 
 England can afford. The river, as it runneth jjp into the main very nigh forty miles, 
 toward the Great Mountains, beareth in breadth a mile, sometimes three-fourths, and 
 a half a mile is the narrowest, where you shall never have less than four or five 
 fathoms, hard by the shore ; but six, seven, eight, nine, ten, at low water. On both 
 sides, every half mile, very gallant coves, some able to contain almost one hundred 
 sail of ships ; the ground is an excellent soft ooze, with tough clay for anchor hold ; 
 and ships may lie without anchor, only moored to the shore with a hawser. 
 
 " It floweth fifteen or eighteen feet at high water. 
 
 " Here are made by nature most excellent places, as docks to grave and careen 
 ships of all burthens, secure from all winds. 
 
 " The river yieldeth plenty of salmon and other fishes of great bigness. 
 
 "The bordering land is most rich, trending all along on both sides, in an equal 
 plain, neither mountainous nor rocky, but verged with a green border of grass ; 
 which may be made good feeding ground, being plentiful, like the outward islands, 
 with fresh water, which streameth down in many places. 
 
 " As we passed with a gentle wind, in our ship, up this river, any man may con 
 ceive with what admiration we all consented in joy ; many who had been travelers 
 in sundry countries, and in the most famous rivers, affirmed them not comparable to 
 this. I will not prefer it before our river of Thames, because it is England s richest 
 treasure ; but we did all wish those excellent harbors, good depths, continual con 
 venient breadth, and small tide-gates, to be as well therein, for our country s good, 
 as we found them here ; then I would boldly affirm it to be the most rich, beautiful, 
 large, secure, harboring river that the world affordeth." 
 
 12. " Our captain manned his shallop with seventeen men, and ran up to ihccoddeot 
 the river, where we landed, leaving six to keep the shallop. Ten of us, with our shot, 
 and some armed, with a boy to carry powder and match, marched up the country 
 toivard the mountains, which were described at our first falling in with the land, and 
 were continually in our view. To some of them the river brought us so near, as we 
 judged ourselves, when we landed, to be within a league of them ; but we found them 
 not, having marched well-nigh four miles, and passed three great hills. Wherefore, 
 because the weather was hot, and our men in their armor, not able to travel far and 
 return to our pinnace at night, we resolved not to travel further. 
 
 "We no sooner came aboard our pinnace, returning down toward our ship, but 
 
158 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 we espied a canoe coming from the farther part of the codde of the river, eastward. 
 In it were three Indians, one of whom we had before seen, and his coming was very 
 earnestly to importune us to let one of our men go with them to the Bashabe, and 
 then the next morning he would come to our ship with furs and tobacco." 
 
 N. IL They did not accept the invitation, because they suspected danger from the 
 savages, having detained five of their people on board to be carried to England. 
 
 13. " By two o clock in the morning, taking advantage of the tide, we went in our 
 pinnace up to that part of the river which trendeth west into the main, and we car 
 ried a cross to erect at that point (a thing never omitted by any Christian travelers). 
 Into tliat river we rowed, by estimation, twenty miles. 
 
 " What profit or pleasure is described in the former part of the river is wholly doubled 
 in this ; for the breadth and depth is such that a ship drawing seventeen or eighteen 
 feet of water might have passed as far as we went with our shallop, and much farther, 
 because we left it in so good depth. From the place of our ship s riding in the har 
 bor at the entrance into the Sound, to the farthest point we were in this river, by our 
 estimation, was not much less than threescore miles." [That is, as I understand it, 
 from Pentecost Harbor they went in tlie sliip forty miles to the codde of the river, and 
 thence in the shallop, or pinnace, twenty miles up the west branch]. 
 
 QUERY 6. What is meant by codde? It appears to be an old word. 
 
 " We were so pleased with this river, and so loth to forsake it, that we would have 
 continued there willingly for two days, having only bread and cheese to cat. But the 
 tide not suffering it, we came down with the ebb. We conceived that the river ran 
 very far into the land, for we passed six or seven miles altogether fresh water (where 
 of we all drank) forced up by the flowing of the salt water. 
 
 14. " We warped our ship down to the river s mouth, and there came to anchor. 
 
 15. " Weighed anchor, and with a breeze from the land, came to our watering 
 place, in Pentecost Harbor, and filled our cask. 
 
 "Our captain, upon a rock in the midst of this harbor, made his observation by 
 the sun of the height, latitude, and variation, exactly, upon all his instruments, viz, 
 astrolabe, semisphcre, ring, and cross-staff, and an excellent variation compass. The 
 latitude he found 43 20 north; the variation n 15 west." 
 
 N. B. In this latitude no part of the American coast lies, except Cape Porpoise, 
 where is only a boat harbor. The rivers nearest to it are on the south, Kennebunk, 
 a tide river of no great extent, terminating in a brook ; and on the north, Saco, the 
 navigation of which is obstructed by a bar at its mouth, and by a fall at the distance 
 of six or seven miles from the sea. Neither of these could be the river described in 
 Wcymouth s journal. His observation of the latitude, or the printed account of it, 
 must have been erroneous. 
 
 Captain Williams will be so obliging as to put down his remarks on the above 
 abstract in writing for the use of his humble servant, 
 
 BOSTON, Aug. 4, 1797. JEREMY BELKNAP. 
 
 Captain Williams Answer. 
 
 The first land Captain Weymouth saw, a whitish sandy cliff, W.N.W. six leagues, 
 must have been Sankoty Head [Nantucket]. With the wind at W.S.W. and S.S.W. 
 he could have fetched into this bay [Boston], and must have seen Cape Cod had the 
 weather been clear. 
 
UNIVERSITY 
 
 BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 
 
 The land he saw on the i/th, I think must be the Island Monhegan, as no other 
 island answers the description. In my last cruise to the eastward, I sounded, and 
 had thirty fathoms, about one league to the northward of the island. The many 
 islands he saw, and the main land, extending from W.S.W. to E.N.E., agree with 
 that shore; the mountains he saw bearing N N.E. were Penobscot Hills or Mount 
 ains ; for from the place where I suppose the ship lay at anchor, the above mountains 
 bear N.N.E. 
 
 The harbor where he lay with his ship, and named Pentecost Harbor, is, I sup 
 pose, what is now called George s Island Harbor, which bears north from Monhegan, 
 about two leagues; which harbor and islands agree with his descriptions, I think, 
 tolerable well, and the name, George s Islands, serves to confirm it. 
 
 When the captain went in -his boat and discovered a great river trending far up 
 into the main, I suppose he went as far as Two Bush Island, about three or four 
 leagues from the ship, from thence he could discover Penobscot Bay. 
 
 Distance from the ship to Two Bush Island is about ten miles; from Two Bush 
 Island to Owl s Head, nine miles ; from Owl s Head to the north end of Long Island, 
 twenty-seven miles ; from the north end of Long Island to Old Fort Pownal, six 
 miles ; and from the Old Fort to the head of the tide, or falls, in Penobscot River, 
 thirty miles; whole number, eighty-two miles. 
 
 I suppose he went with his ship round Two Bush Island, and then sailed up to 
 the westward of Long Island, supposing himself to be then in the river; the mount 
 ains on the main to the westward extending near as high up as Belfast Bay. I think 
 it probable that he anchored with his ship off the point which is now called the Old 
 Fort Point. 
 
 The codde of the river, where he went with his shallop, and marched up in the 
 country, toward the mountains, I think must be Belfast Bay. 
 
 The canoe that came from the farther part of the codde of the river, eastward, 
 with Indians, I think it probable came from Bagaduce. 
 
 The word codde is not common ; but I have often heard it ; as, " up in the codde 
 of the bay," meaning the bottom of the bay. I suppose what he calls " the codde 
 of the river," is a bay in the river. 
 
 The latitude of St. George s Island Harbor, according to Holland s map, is forty- 
 three degrees, forty-eight minutes, which is nine leagues more north than the obser 
 vation made by Captain Weymouth. 
 
 BOSTON, October i, 1797. 
 
 SIR : I made the foregoing remarks, while on my last cruise to the eastward. If any farther 
 information is necessary, that is in my power to give, you may command me. 
 
 I am, with respect, Sir, your obedient humble servant, 
 REV. DR. BELKNAP. JOHN FOSTER WILLIAMS. 
 
 Weymouth s voyage is memorable only for the discovery of Penobscot River, 
 and for the decoying of five of the natives on board his ship, whom he carried to 
 England. Three of them were taken into the family of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, 
 then Governor of Plymouth, in Devonshire. The information which he gained from 
 them, corroborated by Martin Pring, of Bristol, who made a second voyage in i6o5 
 (and prosecuted the discovery of the rivers in the District of Maine), prepared the 
 way for the attempt of Sir John Popham and others to establish a colony at Sagada- 
 
160 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 hock, in 1607 ; an account of which attempt, and its failure, is already given in the 
 life of Sir Fcrdinando Gorges. 
 
 In the early accounts of this country we find the names of Mavoshcn and Norum- 
 bcga. Mavoshen was a name for the whole District of Maine, containing nine or ten 
 rivers ; the westernmost of which was Shawakotock (written by the French Choua- 
 koet, and by the English, Saco). The easternmost was Quibequesson, which I take 
 to be eastward of Penobscot, but can not say by what name it is now called. Nor- 
 umbega was a part of the same district, comprehending Penobscot Bay and River ; 
 but its eastern and western limits are not described. 
 
 It is also to be noted that the river Penobscot was sometimes called Pemaquid, 
 though this latter name is now restricted to a point or neck of land which lies about 
 six leagues to the westward. Penobscot is called by the French, Pentagoct. 
 
 This confusion of names occasions no small perplexity to inquirers into the 
 geography and early history of this country. 
 
 JOHN ROBINSON. 
 
 JOHN ROBINSON HIS BIRTH AND EDUCATION MINISTER OF A CONGREGATION OF DISSENTERS 
 HIS CONGREGATION PERSECUTED REMOVES WITH HIS CHURCH TO AMSTERDAM HIS 
 DISPUTATION WITH EPISCOPIUS HIS CHURCH CONTEMPLATES A REMOVAL APPLY TO THE 
 VIRGINIA COMPANY PREACHES TO THEM PREVIOUS TO REMOVAL -HIS AFFECTIONATE 
 LEAVE OF THOSE WHO EMBARKED FOR AMERICA HIS DEATH, CHARACTER, AND POSTERITY. 
 
 THE first effectual settlements of the English in New England were made by 
 those who, after the Reformation, dissented from the Establishment of the Episcopal 
 Church, who suffered on account of their dissent, and sought an asylum from their 
 sufferings. Uniformity was insisted on with such rigor as disgusted many conscien 
 tious ministers and people of the Church of England, and caused that separation 
 which has ever since subsisted. Those who could not conform to the Establishment, 
 but wished for a more complete reformation, were at first distinguished by the name 
 of Puritans ; and among these, the most rigid were the Brownists, so called from 
 Robert Brown, "a fiery young clergyman," who, in 1580, headed a zealous party, and 
 was vehement for a total separation. But his zeal, however violent, was void of con 
 sistency ; for, in his advanced years, he conformed to the Church ; whilst others, who 
 more deliberately withdrew, retained their separation, though they became more 
 candid and moderate in their principles. Of these people a congregation was formed, 
 about the year 1602, near the confines of the counties of York, Nottingham, and 
 Lincoln ; who chose for their ministers Richard Clifton and John Robinson. 
 
 Mr. Robinson was born in the year 1576, but the place of his birth is unknown. 
 He was probably educated in the University of Cambridge; and he. is said to have 
 been " a man of learned, polished, and modest spirit ; pious and studious of the truth ; 
 largely accomplished with gifts and qualifications suitable to be a shepherd over this 
 flock of Christ." Before his election to this office, he had a benefice, near Yarmouth 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 161 
 
 in Norfolk, where his friends were frequently molested by the bishop s officers, and 
 some were almost ruined by prosecutions in the ecclesiastical courts. 
 
 The reigning Prince at that time was James I., than whom a more contemptible 
 character never sat on the British throne. Educated in the principles of Presbyte- 
 rianism in Scotland, he forgot them all on his advancement to the throne of the 
 three kingdoms. Flattered by the bishops, he gave all ecclesiastical power into their 
 hands, and entrusted sycophants with the management of the State, whilst he in 
 dolently resigned himself to literary and sensual indulgencies ; in the former of which 
 he was a pedant, in the latter an epicure. The prosecution of the Puritans was con 
 ducted with unrelenting severity in the former part of his reign, when Bancroft was 
 Archbishop of Canterbury. Abbott, who succeeded him, was favorable to them ; but 
 when Laud came into power, they were treated with every mark of insult and cruelty. 
 
 Robinson s congregation did not escape persecution by separating from the Es 
 tablishment and forming an independent Church. Still exposed to the penalties of 
 the ecclesiastical law, they were extremely harassed ; some were thrown into prison, 
 some were confined to their own houses ; others were obliged to leave their farms 
 and suspend their usual occupations. Such was their distress and perplexity, that 
 an emigration to some foreign country seemed the only means of safety. Their first 
 views were directed to Holland, where the spirit of commerce had dictated a free 
 toleration of religious opinions a blessing which neither the wisdom of politicians 
 nor the charity of clergymen had admitted into any other of the European States. 
 But the ports of their own country were shut against them ; they could get away only 
 by seeking concealment and giving extravagant rates for their passages and fees to 
 the mariners. 
 
 In the autumn of 1606 a company of these dissenters hired a ship at Boston, in 
 Lincolnshire, to carry them to Holland. The master promised to be ready at a cer 
 tain hour of the day to take them on board, with their families and effects. They 
 assembled at the place, but he disappointed them. Afterward he came in the night ; 
 and, when they were embarked, betrayed them into the hands of searchers and other 
 officers, who, having robbed them of money, books, and other articles, and treated 
 the women with indecency, carried them back into the town, and exposed them as a 
 laughing spectacle to the multitude. They were arraigned before the magistrates, 
 who used them with civility, but could not release them without an order of the King . 
 and council. Till this arrived, they suffered a month s imprisonment ; seven were 
 bound over to the assizes, and the others were released. 
 
 The next spring (1608) they made another attempt, and hired a Dutch vessel, 
 then lying in the harbor, to take them on board. The place agreed on was an un 
 frequented common, between Hull and Grimsby, remote from any houses. The 
 women and children, with the baggage, were sent down the river in a small bark, 
 and the men agreed to meet them by land ; but they came to the place a day before 
 the ship arrived. The water being rough, and the women sick, they prevailed on 
 the pilot of the bark to put into a small creek, where they lay aground, when the 
 Dutchman came and took one boat load of the men on board. Before he could send 
 for the others a company of armed men appeared on horseback, which so frightened 
 him that he weighed anchor, and, the wind being fair, put to sea. Some of the men 
 who were left behind made their escape ; othe,rs, who went to the assistance of the 
 women, were with them apprehended, and carried from one justice of the peace to 
 21 
 
10.2 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 another; but the justices, not knowing what to do with so many helpless and dis 
 tressed persons, dismissed them. Having sold their houses, cattle, and furniture, 
 they had no homes to which they could retire, and were, therefore, cast on the 
 charity of their friends. Those who were hurried to sea without their families, and 
 destitute even of a change of clothes, endured a terrible storm, in which neither sun, 
 moon, nor stars appeared for seven days. This storm drove them far to the north 
 ward, and they very narrowly escaped foundering. After fourteen days they arrived 
 at Amsterdam, where the people were surprised at their deliverance, the tempest 
 having been very severe, and much damage having been sustained, both at sea and 
 in the harbors of the continent. 
 
 This forlorn company of emigrants were soon after joined by their wives and 
 families. The remainder of the church went over in the following summer; Mr. 
 Robinson, with a few others, remained to help the weakest, till they were all embarked. 
 
 At Amsterdam they found a congregation of their countrymen, who had the 
 same religious views, and had emigrated before them. Their minister was John 
 Smith, a man of good abilities and a popular preacher, but unsteady in his opinions. 
 These people fell into controversy, and were soon scattered. Fearing that the infec 
 tion might spread, Robinson proposed to his church a further removal; to which, 
 though much to their disadvantage in a temporal view, they consented ; and after 
 one year spent at Amsterdam, they removed to Leyden, where they continued 
 eleven years. During this time their number so increased, by frequent emigrations 
 from England, that they had in the church three hundred communicants. 
 
 At Leyden they enjoyed much harmony among themselves, and a friendly inter 
 course with the Dutch ; who, observing their diligence and fidelity in their business, 
 entertained so great a respect for them that the magistrates of the city (1619), in the 
 seat of justice, having occasion to censure some of the French Protestants, who had 
 a church there, made this public declaration : " These English have lived among us 
 ten years, and yet we never had any suit or accusation against any of them ; but 
 your quarrels are continual." 
 
 The year (1609) in which Mr. Robinson went to Leyden was remarkable for the 
 death of Jacobus Arminius, one of the Divinity Professors of the University of that 
 city. Between his successor, Episcopius, and the other theological professor, Poly- 
 ander, there was much opposition ; the former teaching the doctrine of Arminius, 
 and the other that of Calvin. The controversy was so bitter, that the disciples of the 
 one would scarcely hear the lectures of the other. Robinson, though he preached 
 constantly three times in the week, and was much engaged in writing, attended the 
 discourses of each, and became master of the arguments on both sides of the con 
 troverted questions. Being fully persuaded of the truth of the Calvinian system, and 
 openly preaching it, his zeal and abilities rendered him formidable to the Armin- 
 ians ; which induced Episcopius to publish several theses, and engage to defend 
 them against all opposers. 
 
 Men of equal abilities and learning, but of different sentiments, are not easily in 
 duced to submission ; especially in a country where opinion is not fettered and re 
 strained by the ruling power. Polyander, aided by the ministers of the city, requested 
 Robinson to accept the challenge. Though his vanity was flattered by the request, 
 yet being a stranger, he modestly declined the combat. But their pressing importu 
 nity prevailed over his reluctance, and judging it to be his duty, he, on a set day, held 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 163 
 
 a public disputation with the Arminian professor, in presence of a very numerous 
 assembly. 
 
 It is usual, on such occasions, for the partisans on both sides to claim the victory 
 for their respective champions. Whether it were so at this time, can not be deter 
 mined, as we have no account of the controversy from the Arminian party. Gover 
 nor Bradford, who was a member of Robinson s church, and probably present at the 
 disputation, gives this account of it : " He so defended the truth, and foiled the op- 
 poser, as to put him to an apparent nonplus in this great and public audience. The 
 same he did a second and a third time, upon the like occasions ; which, as it caused 
 many to give praise to God, that the truth had so famous a victory, so it procured 
 for Mr. Robinson much respect and honor from these learned men and others." 
 
 When Robinson first went to Holland, he was one of the most rigid separatists 
 from the Church of England. He had written in defense of the separation in answer 
 to Dr. William Ames, whose name, in the petulance of his wit, he had changed to 
 Amiss. After his removal to Holland he met with Dr. Ames and Mr. Robert Parker, an 
 eminent divine of Wiltshire, who had been obliged to fly thither from the terrors of 
 the High Commission Court, under the direction of Archbishop Bancroft. In a free 
 conversation with these gentlemen, Robinson was convinced of his mistake, submit 
 ted to the reproof of Dr. Ames, and became, ever after, more moderate in his senti 
 ments respecting separation. In a book which he published (1610) he allowed and 
 defended the lawfulness of communicating with the Church of England, " in the word 
 and prayer," that is, in the extempore prayer before the sermon, though not in the 
 use of the liturgy, nor in the indiscriminate admission to the sacraments. Yet he 
 would allow the pious members of the Church of England, and of all the Reformed 
 Churches, to communicate with his church ; declaring that he separated from no 
 church ; but from the corruptions of all churches. This book gained him the title 
 of semi-separatist, and was so offensive to the rigid Brownists of Amsterdam, that 
 they would scarcely hold communion with the Church of Leyden. These were called 
 Robinsonians and Independents ; but the name by which they distinguished them 
 selves, was, a Congregational Church. 
 
 Their grand principle was the same which was afterward held and defended by 
 Chillingworth and Hoadley, that the Scriptures, given by inspiration, contain the 
 true religion ; that every man has a right to judge for himself of their meaning; to 
 try all doctrines by them, and to worship God according to the dictates of his own 
 enlightened conscience. They admitted, for truth, the doctrinal articles of the Church 
 of England, as well as of the Reformed Churches in France, Geneva, Switzerland, and 
 the United Provinces ; allowing all their members free communion, and differing 
 from them only in matters of an ecclesiastical nature. Respecting these, they held 
 (i). That no church ought to consist of more members than can conveniently meet 
 together for worship and discipline. (2). That every church of Christ is to consist only 
 of such as appear to believe in and obey Him. (3). That any competent number of 
 such have a right, when conscience obliges them, to form themselves into a distinct 
 church. (4). That this incorporation is, by some contract or covenant, expressed or 
 implied. (5). That being thus incorporated, they have a right to choose their own 
 officers. (6). That these officers are Pastors, or teaching Elders, Ruling Elders and 
 Deacons. (7.) That elders being chosen or ordained, have no power to rule the 
 church but by consent of the brethren. (8). That all elders and all churches are 
 
164 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 equal in respect of powers and privileges. (9). With respect to ordinances, they held 
 that baptism is to be administered to visible believers and their infant children ; but 
 they admitted only the children of communicants to baptism. That the Lord s Sup 
 per is to be received sitting at the table ; whilst they were in Holland they received 
 it every Lord s Day. That ecclesiastical censures were wholly spiritual, and not to 
 be accompanied with temporal penalties. (10). They admitted no holy days but the 
 Christian Sabbath, though they had occasionally days of fasting and thanksgiving. 
 And, finally, they renounced all right of human invention or imposition in religious 
 matters. 
 
 Having enjoyed their liberty in Holland eight or nine years, in which time they 
 had become acquainted with the country and the manners of its inhabitants, they 
 began to think of another removal (1617). The reasons of which were these: (i). 
 Most of them had been bred to the business of husbandry in England ; but in Hol 
 land, they were obliged to learn mechanical trades, and use various methods for their 
 subsistence, which were not so agreeable to them as cultivation. (2). The language, 
 manners, and habits of the Dutch were not rendered pleasing by familiarity; and, in 
 particular, the loose and careless manner in which the Sabbath was regarded in Hol 
 land, gave them great offense. (3). The climate was unfavorable to their health ; 
 many of them were in the decline of life; their children, oppressed with labor and 
 disease, became infirm, and the vigor of nature seemed to abate at an early age. (4). 
 The licentiousness in which youth was indulged was a pernicious example to their 
 children ; some of whom became sailors, others soldiers, and many were dissolute in 
 their morals; nor could their parents restrain them without giving offense and in 
 curring reproach. These considerations afforded them the melancholy prospect, 
 that their posterity would, in time, become so mixed with the Dutch, as to lose 
 their interest in the English nation, to which they had a natural and strong attach 
 ment. (5). They observed, also, that many other English people who had gone to 
 Holland, suffered in their health and substance; and either returned home to bear 
 the inconveniencies from which they had fled, or were reduced to poverty abroad. 
 For these reasons, they concluded that Holland was not a country in which they 
 could hope for a permanent and agreeable residence. 
 
 The question then was, to what part of the world should they remove, where 
 they might expect freedom from the burdens under which they had formerly 
 groaned, and the blessings of civil and religious liberty, which they had lately 
 enjoyed. 
 
 The Dutch merchants being apprised of their discontent, made them large offers, 
 if they would go to some of their foreign plantations ; but their attachment to the 
 English nation and government was invincible. Sir Walter Raleigh had, about this 
 time, raised the fame of Guiana, a rich and fertile country of America, between the 
 tropics, blessed with a perpetual spring, and productive of everything which could 
 satisfy the wants of man, with little labor. To this country the views of some of 
 the most sanguine were directed; but considering that in such warm climates, dis 
 eases were generated, which often proved fatal to European constitutions, and that 
 their nearest neighbors would be the Spaniards, who, though they had not actually 
 occupied the country, yet claimed it as their own, and might easily dispossess them, 
 as they had the French of Florida ; the major part disapproved of this proposal. 
 
 They then turned their thoughts toward that part of America comprehended 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 165 
 
 under the general name of Virginia. There, if they should join the colony already 
 established, they must submit to the government of the Church of England. If 
 they should attempt a new plantation, the horrors of a wilderness, and the cruelties 
 of its savage inhabitants were presented to their view. It was answered, that the 
 Dutch had begun to plant within these limits, and were unmolested : that all great 
 undertakings were attended with difficulties ; but that the prospect of danger did 
 not render the enterprise desperate ; that, should they remain in Holland, they 
 were not free from danger, as a truce between the United Provinces and Spain, 
 which had subsisted twelve years, was nearly expired, and preparations were making 
 to renew the war; that the Spaniards, if successful, might prove as cruel as the 
 savages; and that liberty, both civil and religious, was altogether precarious in 
 Europe. These considerations determined their views toward the uninhabited part 
 of North America, claimed by their native prince as part of his dominions; and 
 their hope was, that by emigrating hither, they might make way for the propagation 
 of the Christian religion in a heathen land, though (to use their own phrase) " they 
 should be but as stepping-stones to others," who might come after them. 
 
 These things were first debated in private and afterward proposed to the whole 
 congregation, who, after mature deliberation and a devout address to Heaven, deter 
 mined to make application to the Virginia Company in London, and to inquire 
 whether King James would grant them liberty of conscience in his American domin 
 ions. John Carver and Robert Cushman were appointed their agents on this occa 
 sion, and letters were written by Mr. Robinson and Mr. Brewster (their ruling elder) 
 in the name of the congregation to Sir Edwin Sandys and Sir John Worstenholme, 
 two principal members of the Virginia Company. 
 
 In those letters they recommended themselves as proper persons for emigration, 
 because they were " weaned from the delicate milk of their own country, and so in 
 ured to the difficulties of a strange land that no small things would discourage them 
 or make them wish to return home; that they had acquired habits of frugality, in 
 dustry and self-denial; and were united in a solemn covenant, by which they were 
 bound to seek the welfare of the whole Company and of every individual person." 
 They also gave a succinct and candid account of their religious principles and prac 
 tices for the information of the King and his council. 
 
 The answer which they received was as favorable as they could expect. The Vir 
 ginia Company promised them as ample privileges as were in their power to grant. 
 It was thought prudent not to deliver their letter to the King and council, but appli 
 cation was made to Sir Robert Norton, Secretary of State, who employed his inter 
 est with Archbishop Abbot, and, by means of his mediation, the King promised to 
 connive at their religious practices, but he denied them toleration under the great 
 seal. With an answer and some private encouragement the agents returned to Hol 
 land. 
 
 It was impossible for them to transport themselves to America without assistance 
 from the merchant adventurers in England. Further agency and agreements were 
 necessary. The dissensions of the Virginia Company were tedious and violent, and 
 it was not till after two whole years that all the necessary provisions and arrange 
 ments could be made for their voyage. 
 
 In the beginning of 1620 they kept a solemn day of prayer, when Mr. Robinson 
 delivered a discourse from I Samuel xxiii. 3, 4, in which he endeavored to remove 
 
166 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 their doubts and confirm their resolutions. It had been previously determined that 
 a part of them should go to America and prepare the way for the others ; and that, 
 if the major part should consent to go, the pastor should go with them otherwise 
 he should remain in Holland. It was found on examination that though a major 
 part was willing to go, yet they could not all get ready in season ; therefore, the 
 greater number being obliged to stay, they required Mr. Robinson to stay with them. 
 Mr. Brewster (the ruling elder) was appointed to go with the minority, who were 
 " to be an absolute church of themselves as well as those that should stay;" with this 
 proviso, that, as any should go over or return, they should be reputed as members 
 without farther dismission or testimonial. The others were to follow as soon as 
 possible. 
 
 In July they kept another day of prayer, when Mr. Robinson preached to them 
 from Ezra viii. 21, and concluded his discourse with an exhortation which breathes 
 a noble spirit of Christian liberty and gives a just idea of the sentiments of this 
 excellent divine, whose charity was the more conspicuous because of his former nar 
 row principles and the general bigotry of the Reformed ministers and churches of 
 that day. 
 
 " Brethren," said he, "we are now quickly to part from one another, and whether 
 I may ever live to see your faces on earth anymore, the God of Heaven only knows; 
 but whether the Lord hath appointed that or not, I charge you before God and His 
 blessed angels, that you follow me no farther than you have seen me follow the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 " If God reveal anything to you by any other instrument of His, be as ready to 
 receive it as ever you were to receive any truth by my ministry ; for I am verily per 
 suaded I am very confident that the Lord has more truth yet to break forth out 
 of His holy word. For my part, I can not sufficiently bewail the condition of the 
 Reformed Churches, who are come to a period in religion, and will go, at present, no 
 farther than the instruments of their reformation. The Lutherans can not be drawn 
 to go beyond v/hat Luther said : whatever part of His will our good God has re 
 vealed unto Calvin, they will rather die than embrace it. And the Calvinists, you 
 see, stick fast where they were left by that great man of God, who yet saw not all 
 things. 
 
 "This is a misery much to be lamented ; for though they were burning and shin 
 ing lights in their times, yet they penetrated not into the whole counsel of God ; but 
 were they now living, would be as willing to embrace farther light, as that which 
 they first received. I beseech you, remember, it is an article of your church cove 
 nant, that you be ready to receive whatever truth shall be made known to you from 
 the written word of God. Remember that, and every other article of your sacred 
 covenant. But I must, herevvithal, exhort you to take heed what you receive as truth. 
 Examine it, consider it, and compare it with other scriptures of truth before you re 
 ceive it ; for it is not possible that the Christian world should come so lately out of 
 such thick anti-Christian darkness, and that perfection of knowledge should break 
 forth at once. 
 
 " I must also advise you to abandon, avoid, and shake off the name of Brownists. 
 It is a mere nickname; and a brand for the making religion, and the professors of it, 
 odious to the Christian world." 
 
 Having said this, with some other things relating to their private conduct, he de 
 voutly committed them to the care and protection of Divine Providence. 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 167 
 
 On the 2 ist of July the intended passengers quitted Leyden to embark at Delft- 
 haven, to which place they were accompanied by many of their brethren and friends, 
 several of whom had come from Amsterdam to take their leave of them. The eve 
 ning was spent, till very late, in friendly conversation ; and the next mornir.g, the 
 wind being fair, they went on board ; where Mr. Robinson, on his knees, in a most 
 ardent and affectionate prayer, again committed them to their divine Protector, and, 
 with many tears, they parted. 
 
 After their arrival in New England, he kept up a friendly correspondence with 
 them ; and when any of them went to Europe they were received by him with the 
 most cordjal welcome. The difficulties which then attended a voyage across the 
 Atlantic, the expense of an equipment for a new colony, and the hardships necessarily 
 incident to a plantation in a distant wilderness, proved a burden almost too great for 
 those who came over. They had a hard struggle to support themselves here, and 
 pay the debts which they had contracted in England ; whilst those who remained in 
 Holland were, in general, too poor to bear the expense of a removal to America with 
 out the help of their brethren who had come before them. These things prevented 
 Mr. Robinson from gratifying his earnest desire to visit his American brethren, and 
 their equally ardent wish to see him, till he was removed by death to a better 
 country. 
 
 He continued with his church at Leyden, in good health, and with a fair prospect 
 of living to a more advanced age, till Saturday, the 22d of February, 1625, when he 
 was seized with an inward ague ; which, however distressing, did not prevent his 
 preaching twice on the next day. Through the following week his disorder increased 
 in malignity, and on Saturday, March I, put an end to his valuable life ; in the fiftieth 
 year of his age, and in the height of his reputation and usefulness. 
 
 Mr. Robinson was a man of good genius, quick penetration, ready wit, great 
 modesty, integrity, and candor. His classic literature and acuteness in disputation 
 were acknowledged by his adversaries. His manners were easy, courteous, and 
 obliging. His preaching was instructive and affecting. Though in his younger years 
 he was rigid in his separation from the Episcopal Church, by whose governors he and 
 his friends were treated with unrelenting severity, yet, when convinced of his error, 
 he openly acknowledged it, and by experience and conversation with good men, he 
 became moderate and charitable, without abating his zeal for strict and real religion. 
 It is always a sign of a good heart, when a man becomes mild and candid as he grows 
 in years. This was eminently true of Mr. Robinson. He learned to esteem all good 
 men of every religious persuasion, and charged his flock to maintain the like candid 
 and benevolent conduct. His sentiments respecting the Reformers, as expressed in 
 his valedictory discourse, will entail immortal honor to his memory; evidencing his 
 accurate discernment, his inflexible honesty, and his fervent zeal for truth and a good 
 conscience. He was also possessed, in an eminent degree, of the talent of peace 
 making, and was happy in composing differences among neighbors and in families ; 
 so that peace and unity were preserved in his congregation. It is said that " such 
 was the reciprocal love and respect between him and his flock, that it might be said 
 of them, as it was said of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius and the people of Rome, that 
 it was hard to judge whether he delighted more in having such a people or they in 
 having such a pastor." Besides his singular abilities in moral and theological matters, 
 he was very discerning and prudent in civil affairs, and able to give them good advice 
 
168 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 in regard to their secular and political conduct. He was highly esteemed, not only 
 by his own flock, but by the magistracy and clergy of Leyden, who gave him the use 
 of one of their churches, in the chancel of which he was buried. Mr. Prince, who 
 visited that city in 1714, says that the most ancient pe ople then living told him from 
 their parents, that the whole city and university regarded him as a great and good 
 man, whose death they sincerely lamented ; and that they honored his funeral with 
 their presence. 
 
 This event proved the dissolution of the church over which he had presided at 
 Leyden. Some of them removed to Amsterdam, some to other parts of the Nether 
 lands, and others came to New England, among whom were his widow and children. 
 His son Isaac lived to the age of ninety, and left male posterity in the county of 
 Barnstable. 
 
 JOHN CARVER. 
 
 JOHN CARVER APPOINTED AGENT BY THE ENGLISH SETTLERS AT LEYDEN SUPERINTENDS 
 THE EQUIPMENTS FOR EMIGRATION CHOSEN GOVERNOR OF THE COMPANY MAKFS AN 
 EXCURSION FROM CAPE COD TO LOOK FOR A HARBOR SKIRMISH WITH THE NATIVES 
 LANDS ON CLARK S ISLAND MAKES A SETTLEMENT AT PLYMOUTH HIS SICKNESS AND 
 RECOVERY HIS INTERVIEW WITH MASSASOIT HIS DEATH, CHARACTER, AND POSTERITY 
 HIS SWORD IN THE CABINET OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 WE have no particulars of the life of Mr. Carver previous to his appointment as 
 one of the agents of the English Congregational Church in Leyden. At that time 
 he was in high esteem, as a grave, pious, prudent, judicious man, and sustained the 
 office of a deacon. In the letters written by Sir Edwin Sandys, of the Virginia 
 Company, to Mr. Robinson, the agents are said to have " carried themselves with 
 good discretion." 
 
 The business of the agency was long delayed by the discontents and factions in 
 the company of Virginia, by the removal of their former treasurer, Sir Thomas 
 Smith, and the enmity between him and Sir Edwin Sandys, his successor. At length 
 a patent was obtained, under the company s seal ; but, by the advice of some friends, 
 it was taken in the name of John Wincob, a religious gentleman, belonging to the 
 family of the Countess of Lincoln, who intended to accompany the adventurers to 
 America. This patent and the proposals of Thomas Weston, of London, mer 
 chant, and other persons who appeared friendly to the design, were carried to 
 Leyden, in the autumn of 1619, for the consideration of the people. At the same 
 time there was a plan forming for a new council in the west of England, to super 
 intend the plantation and fishery of North Virginia, the name of which was changed 
 to New England. To this expected establishment Weston and the other merchants 
 began to incline, chiefly from the hope of present gain by the fishery. This caused 
 some embarrassment, and a variety of opinions; but considering that the council for 
 New England was not yet incorporated, and that if they should wait for that event 
 they might be detained another year, before which time the war between the Dutch 
 and the Spaniards might be renewed, the majority concluded to take the patent 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 169 
 
 which bad been obtained from the Company of South Virginia, and emigrate to 
 some place near Hudson s River which was within their territory. 
 
 The next spring (1620) Weston himself went over to Leyden, where the people 
 entered into articles of agreement with him, both for shipping and money, to assist 
 in their transportation. Carver and Cushman were again sent to London, to receive 
 the money and provide for the voyage. When they came there, they found the 
 other merchants so very penurious and severe, that they were obliged to consent 
 to some alteration in the articles ; which, though not relished by their constituents, 
 yet were so strongly insisted on, that without them the whole adventure must have 
 been frustrated. 
 
 The articles, with their amendments, were these : " (i). The adventurers and 
 planters do agree, that every person that goeth, being sixteen years old and upward, 
 be rated at ten pounds ; and that ten pounds be accounted a single share. (2). 
 That he that goeth in person, and furnisheth himself out with ten pounds, either in 
 money or other provisions, be accounted as having twenty pounds in stock, and in 
 the division shall receive a double share. (3). The persons transported and the ad 
 venturers shall continue their joint stock and partnership, the space of seven years, 
 except some unexpected impediments do cause the whole company to agree other 
 wise ; during which time all profits and benefits that are gotten by trade, traffic, 
 trucking, working, fishing, or any other means, of any other person or persons, shall 
 remain still in the common stock, until the division. (4). That at their coming 
 there, they shall choose out such a number of persons, as may furnish their ships 
 and boats, for fishing upon the sea ; employing the rest, in their several faculties, 
 upon the land ; as building houses, tilling and planting the ground, and making 
 such commodities as shall be most useful for the colony. (5). That at the end of 
 the seven years, the capital and profits, viz, the houses, lands, goods, and chattels, 
 be equally divided among the adventurers ; if any debt or detriment concerning this 
 adventure. (6). Whosoever cometh to the colony hereafter, or putteth anything 
 into the stock, shall, at the end of the seven years, be allowed proportionally to the 
 time of his so doing. (7). He that shall carry his wife, or children, or servants, shall 
 be allowed for every person, now aged sixteen years, and upwards a single share in 
 the division ; or if he provide them necessaries, a double share, or if they be between 
 ten years old and sixteen, then two of them to be reckoned for a person, both 
 in transportation and division. (8). That such children as now go, and are under 
 ten years of age, have no other share in the division than fifty acres of unmanured 
 land. (9). That such persons as die before the seven years be expired, their execu 
 tors to have their parts or shares, at the division ; proportionally to the time of their 
 life in the colony, (to). That all such persons as are of the colony, are to have 
 meat, drink, and apparel out of the common stock and goods of the said colony." 
 
 The difference between the articles as first agreed on, and as finally concluded, 
 lay in these two points: (i). In the former, it was provided that "the houses and 
 lands improved, especially gardens and home-fields, should remain undivided, 
 wholly to the planters at the end of the seven years; " but, in the latter, the houses 
 and lands were to be equally divided. (2). In the former, the planters were 
 allowed two days in the week, for their own private employment, for the comfort 
 of themselves and families, especially such as had them to take care for." In the 
 latter, this article was wholly omitted. 
 22 
 
170 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 On these hard conditions, and with this small encouragement, the pilgrims 
 of Leyden, supported by a pious confidence in the Supreme Disposer of all things, 
 and animated by a fortitude resulting from steady principles of the religion which 
 they professed, determined to cast themselves on the care of Divine Providence, and 
 embark for America. 
 
 With the proceeds of their own estates, put into a common stock, and the assist 
 ance of the merchants, to whom they had mortgaged their labor and trade for seven 
 years, two vessels were provided. One in Holland, of sixty tons, called the Speed 
 well, commanded by a Captain Reynolds, which was intended to transport come 
 of them to America, and there to remain in their service, one year, for fishing and 
 other uses. Another of one hundred and eighty tons, called the Mayflower, was 
 chartered by Mr. Cushman in London, and sent round to Southampton in Hamp 
 shire, whither Mr. Carver went to superintend her equipment. This vessel was com 
 manded by a Captain Jones, and after discharging her passengers in America, was to 
 return to England. Seven hundred pounds sterling were expended in provisions and 
 stores, and other necessary preparations; and the value of the trading venture which 
 they carried was seventeen hundred pounds. Mr. Weston came from London to 
 Southampton, to see them dispatched. The Speedwell, with the passengers, having 
 arrived there from Leyden, and the necessary officers being chosen to govern the 
 people and take care of the provisions and stores on the voyage ; both ships, carrying 
 one hundred and twenty passengers, sailed from Southampton on the fifth day 
 of August, 1620. 
 
 They had not sailed many leagues down the channel before Reynolds, master of 
 the Speedwell, complained that his vessel was too leaky to proceed. Both ships then 
 put in at Dartmouth, where the Speedwell was searched and repaired, and the work 
 men judged her sufficient for the voyage. On the 2ist of August they put to sea 
 again, and, having sailed in company about one hundred leagues, Reynolds renewed 
 his complaints against his ship; declaring that by constant pumping he could 
 scarcely keep her above water, on which both ships again put back to Plymouth. 
 Another search was made, and, no defect appearing, the leaky condition of the ship 
 was judged to be owing to her general weakness, and she was pronounced unfit for 
 the voyage. About twenty of the passengers went on shore. The others, with their 
 provisions, were received on board the Mayflower ; and, on the 6th of September, 
 the company, consisting of one hundred and one passengers (besides the ship s offi 
 cers and crew), took their last leave of England, having consumed a whole month in 
 these vexatious and expensive delays. 
 
 The true causes of these misadventures did not then appear. One was that the 
 Speedwell was overmasted ; which error being remedied, the vessel afterward made 
 several safe and profitable voyages. But the principal cause was the deceit of the 
 master and crew, who, having engaged to remain a whole year in the service of the 
 colony, and apprehending hard fare in that employment, were glad of such an ex 
 cuse to rid themselves of the bargain. 
 
 The Mayflower (Jones) proceeded with fair winds in the former part of her voy 
 age, and then met with bad weather and contrary winds, so that for several days no 
 sail could be carried. The ship labored so much in the sea that one of the main 
 beams sprung, which renewed the fears and distress of the passengers. They had 
 then made about one-half of their voyage, and t he chief of the company began a 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 
 
 consultation with the commander of the ship whether it were better to proceed or 
 to return. But one of the passengers having on board a large iron screw, it was ap 
 plied to the beam and forced it into its place. This successful effort determined 
 them to proceed. 
 
 No other particulars of this long and tedious voyage are preserved ; but that the 
 ship being leaky and the people close stowed, were continually wet; that one young 
 man, a servant of Samuel Fuller, died at sea ; and that one child was born and called 
 Oceamts he was son of Stephen Hopkins. 
 
 On the gth of November at break of day they made land, which proved to be the 
 white, sandy cliffs of Cape Cod. This land-fall being further northward than they 
 intended, they immediately put about the ship to the southward ; and, before noon, 
 found themselves among shoals and breakers. Had they pursued their southern 
 course (as the weather was fine), they might in a few hours more have found an open 
 ing and passed safely to the westward agreeably to their original design, which was 
 to go to Hudson s River. But, having been so long at sea, the sight of any land 
 was welcome to women and children ; the new danger was formidable; and the eager 
 ness of the passengers to be set on shore was irresistible. These circumstances, coin 
 ciding with the secret views of the master, who had been promised a reward by some 
 agents of the Dutch West India Company if he would not carry them to Hudson s 
 River, induced him to put about to the northward. Before night the ship was clear 
 of the danger. The next day they doubled the northern extremity of the cape 
 (Race-Point), and, a storm coming on, the ship was brought to anchor in Cape Cod 
 Harbor, where she lay perfectly secure from winds and shoals. 
 
 This harbor, being in the forty-second degree of north latitude, was without the 
 territory of the South Virginia Company. The charter which these emigrants had 
 received from them of course became useless. Some symptoms of faction at the 
 same time appearing among the servants, who had been received on board in En 
 gland purporting that when on shore they should be under no government, and that 
 one man would be as good as another it was thought proper, by the most judicious 
 persons, to have recourse to natural law; and that, before disembarkation, they 
 should enter into an association and combine themselves in a political body to be 
 governed by the majority. To this they consented ; and, after solemn prayer and 
 thanksgiving, a written instrument being drawn, they subscribed it with their own 
 hands, and, by a unanimous vote, chose John Carver their Governor for one year. 
 
 The instrument was conceived in these terms: "In the name of God, amen. 
 We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign Lord, 
 King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, De 
 fender of the Faith, etc., having undertaken, for the glory of God, and the advance 
 ment of the Christian faith, and honor of our King and country, a voyage to plant 
 the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do, by these presents, solemnly and 
 mutually, in the presence of GOD and of one another, covenant and combine our 
 selves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation, 
 and furtherance of the ends aforesaid ; and, by virtue hereof, to enact, constitute, and 
 frame such just and equal laws and ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from 
 time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of 
 the colony, unto which we promise all due subjection and obedience. In witness 
 whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names, at Cape Cod, the eleventh day of 
 
172 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 November, in the year of the reign of our sovereign Lord, King James, of England, 
 France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini 
 1620." 
 
 Government being thus regularly established on a truly republican principle, six 
 teen armed men were sent on shore, as soon as the weather would permit, to fetch 
 wood and make discoveries. They returned at night with a boat load of juniper wood, 
 and made report " that they found the land to be a narrow neck, having the harbor on 
 the one side and the ocean on the other; that the ground consisted of sand-hills, like 
 the Downs in Holland ; that in some places the soil was black earth, a spit s depth ; 
 that the trees were oak, pines, sassafras, juniper, birch, holly, ash, and walnut ; that 
 the forest was open and without underwood ; that no inhabitants, houses, nor fresh 
 water were to be seen." This account was as much as could be collected in one 
 Saturday s afternoon. The next day they rested. 
 
 Whilst they lay in this harbor, which was the space of five weeks, they saw great 
 flocks of sea-fowl and whales every day playing about them. The master and mate, 
 who had been acquainted with the fishery in the northern seas of Europe, supposed 
 that they might, in that time, have made oil to the value of three or four thousand 
 pounds. It was too late in the season for cod, and, indeed, they caught none but 
 small fish, near the shore, and shell-fish. The margin of the sea was so shallow, that 
 they were obliged to wade ashore ; and the weather being severe, many of them took 
 colds and coughs, which, in the course of the winter, proved mortal. 
 
 On Monday, the ijth of November, the women went ashore under a guard to 
 wash their clothes, and the men were impatient for a further discovery. The shal 
 lop, which had been cut down and stowed between decks, needed repairing, in which 
 seventeen days were employed. Whilst this was doing, they proposed that excur 
 sions might be made on foot. Much caution was necessary in an enterprise of this 
 kind, in a new and savage country. After consultation and preparation, sixteen men 
 were equipped with musket and ammunition, sword and corselet, under the command 
 of Captain Miles Standish, who had William Bradford, Stephen Hopkins, and Edward 
 Tilly for his council of war. After many instructions given, they were rather per 
 mitted than ordered to go, and the time of their absence was limited to two days. 
 
 When they had traveled one mile by the shore they saw five or six of the natives, 
 who, on sight of them, fled. They attempted to pursue ; and, lighting on their track, 
 followed them till night ; but the thickets through which they had to pass, the 
 weight of their armor, and their debility, after a long voyage, made them an unequal 
 match, in point of traveling, to these nimble sons of nature. They rested, at length, 
 by a spring, which afforded them the first refreshing draught of American water. 
 
 The discoveries made in this march were few, but novel and amusing. In one 
 place they found a deer-trap, made by the bending of a young tree to the earth, with 
 a noose under ground, covered with acorns. Mr. Bradford s foot was caught in the 
 trap, from which his companions disengaged him, and they were all entertained with 
 the ingenuity of the device. In another place they came to an Indian burying- 
 ground, and in one of the graves they found a mortar, an earthen pot, a bow and ar 
 rows, and other implements, alt which they very carefully replaced, because they 
 would not be guilty of violating the repositories of the dead. But when they found 
 a cellar carefully lined with bark and covered with a heap of sand, in which about four 
 bushels of seed-corn in ears were well secured, after reasoning on the morality of the 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 173 
 
 action, they took as much of the corn as they could carry, intending, when they should 
 find the owners, to pay them to their satisfaction. On the third day they arrived, weary 
 and welcome, where the ship lay, and delivered their corn into the common store. 
 The company resolved to keep it for seed, and to pay the natives the full value when 
 they should have opportunity. 
 
 When the shallop was repaired and rigged, twenty-four of the company ventured 
 on a second excursion to the same place to make a further discovery ; having Cap 
 tain Jones for their commander, with ten of his seamen and the ship s long-boat. 
 The wind being high and the sea rough, the shallop came to anchor under the land, 
 whilst part of the company waded on shore from the long-boat, and traveled, as they 
 supposed, six or seven miles, having directed the shallop to follow them the next 
 morning. The weather was very cold, with snow, and the people having no shelter, 
 took such colds as afterward proved fatal to many. 
 
 Before noon the next day the shallop took them on board, and sailed to the place 
 which they denominated Cold Harbor. Finding it not navigable for ships, and 
 consequently not proper for their residence, after shooting some geese and ducks, 
 which they devoured with " soldiers stomachs," they went in search of seed-corn. 
 The ground was frozen and covered with snow, but the cellars were known by heaps 
 of sand, and the frozen earth was penetrated with their swords, till they gathered 
 corn to the amount of ten bushels. This fortunate supply, with a quantity of beans 
 preserved in the same manner, they took on the same condition as before, and it is 
 remarked by Governor Bradford that in six months after, they paid the owners to 
 their entire satisfaction. The acquisition of this corn they always regarded as a par 
 ticular favor of Divine Providence, without which the colony could not have subsisted. 
 
 Captain Jones in the shallop went back to the ship with the corn and fifteen of 
 the weakest of the people, intending to send mattocks and spades the next day. The 
 eighteen who remained, marched, as they supposed, five or six miles into the woods, 
 and returning another way, discovered a mound of earth, in which they hoped to 
 find more com. On opening it, nothing appeared but the skull of a man, preserved 
 in red earth, the skeleton of an infant, and such arms, utensils, and ornaments as are 
 usually deposited in Indian graves. Not far distant were two deserted wigwams, 
 with their furniture and some venison, so ill-preserved that even soldiers stomachs 
 could not relish it. On the arrival of the shallop they returned to the ship the 1st 
 of December. During their absence the wife of William White had been delivered 
 of a son, who, from the circumstances of his birth, was named Peregrine. 
 
 At this time they held a consultation respecting their future settlement. Some 
 thought that Cold Harbor might be a proper place, because, though not deep enough 
 for ships, it might be convenient for boats, and because a valuable fishery for whales and 
 cod might be carried on there. The land was partly cleared of wood, and good for corn, 
 as appeared from the seed. It was also likely to be healthful and defensible. But 
 the principal reasons were, that the winter was so far advanced as to prevent coasting 
 and discovery, without danger of losing men and boats ; that the winds were variable, 
 and the storms sudden and violent ; that by cold and wet lodgings the people were 
 much affected with coughs, which, if they should not soon obtain shelter, would prove 
 mortal ; that provisions were daily consuming and the ship must reserve sufficient for 
 her homeward voyage, whatever became of the colony. 
 
 Others thought it best to go to a place called Agawam, twenty leagues north- 
 
174 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 ward, where they had heard of an excellent harbor, good fishing, and a better soil for 
 planting. To this it was answered that there might possibly be as good a place 
 nearer to them. Robert Coppin, their pilot, who had been here before, assured 
 them that he knew of a good harbor and a navigable river, not more than eight 
 leagues across the bay to the westward. Upon the whole, they resolved to send 
 the shallop round the shore of the bay on discovery, but not beyond the harbor of 
 which Coppin had informed them. 
 
 On Wednesday, the 6th of December, Governor Carver, with nine of the prin 
 cipal men, well armed, and the same number of seamen, of which Coppin was one, 
 went out in the shallop. The weather was so cold that the spray of the sea froze on 
 their coats, till they were cased with ice, " like coats of iron." They sailed by the 
 eastern shore of the bay, as they judged, six or seven leagues, without finding 
 any river or creek. At length they saw " a tongue of land, being flat off from the 
 shore, with a sandy point ; they bore up to gain the point, and found there a fair 
 income, or road of a bay, being a league over at the narrowest, and two or three in 
 length ; but they made right over to the land before them." As they came near the 
 shore they saw ten or twelve Indians cutting up a grampus, who, at sight of them, 
 ran away, carrying pieces of the fish which they had cut. They landed at a distance 
 of a league or more from the grampus, with great difficulty, on account of the flat 
 sands. Here they built a barricade, and, placing sentinels, lay down to rest. 
 
 The next morning, Thursday, December /th, they divided themselves into two 
 parties ; eight in the shallop, and the rest on shore, to make further discovery of this 
 place, which they found to be "a bay without either river or creek coming into it." 
 They gave it the name of Grampiis Bay, because they saw many fish of that species. 
 They tracked the Indians on the sand, and found a path into the woods, which they 
 followed a great way, till they came to old corn-fields and a spacious burying-ground, 
 inclosed with pales. They ranged the wood till the close of the day, and then came 
 down to the shore to meet the shallop, which they had not seen since the morning. 
 At high water she put into a creek ; and six men being left on board, two came on 
 shore and lodged with their companions, under cover of a barricade and a guard. 
 
 On Friday, December 8th, they rose at five in the morning, to be ready to go 
 on board at high water. At the dawn of day they were surprised with the war-cry 
 of the natives and a flight of arrows. They immediately seized their arms, and on 
 the first discharge of musketry all the Indians fled but one stout man, who stood 
 three shots behind a tree, and then retired, as they supposed, wounded. They took 
 up eighteen arrows, headed either with brass, deers horns, or birds claws, which they 
 sent as presents to their friends in England. This unwelcome reception, and the 
 shoal water of the place, determined them to seek further. They sailed along the 
 shore as near as the extensive shoals would permit, but saw no harbor. The weather 
 began to look threatening, and Coppin assured them that they might reach the 
 harbor of which he had some knowledge before night. The wind being south 
 easterly, they put themselves before it. After some hours it began to rain ; the storm 
 increasing, their rudder broke, their mast sprung, and their sails fell overboard. In 
 this piteous plight, steering with two oars, the wind and the flood tide carried them 
 into a cove full of breakers, and, it being dark, they were in danger of being driven 
 on shore. The pilot confessed that he knew not the place ; but a stout seaman, who 
 was steering, called to the rowers to put about and row hard. This effort happily 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 175 
 
 brought them out of the cove, into a fair sound, and under a point of land, where 
 they came safely to anchor. They were divided in their opinions about going on 
 shore ; but about midnight, the wind shifting to the north-west, the severity of the 
 cold made a fire necessary. They, therefore, got on shore, and with some difficulty 
 kindled a fire, and rested in safety. 
 
 In the morning they found themselves on a small, uninhabited island within the 
 entrance of a spacious bay. Here they stayed all the next day (Saturday) drying their 
 clothes, cleaning their arms, and repairing, as well as they could, their shallop. The 
 following day, being the Christian Sabbath, they rested. 
 
 On Monday, December nth, they surveyed and sounded the bay, which is de 
 scribed to be " in the shape of a fish-hook ; a good harbor for shipping, larger than 
 that of Cape Cod ; containing two small islands without inhabitants ; innumerable 
 store of fowls, different sorts of fish, besides shell-fish in abundance. As they marched 
 into the land they found corn-fields and brooks, and a very good situation for build 
 ing." With this joyful news they returned to the company ; and on the i6th of De 
 cember the ship came to anchor in the harbor, with all the passengers, except four, 
 who died at Cape Cod. 
 
 Having surveyed the land, as well as the season would permit, in three days, they 
 pitched upon a high ground on the south-west side of the bay, which was cleared of 
 wood, and had formerly been planted. Under the south side of it was " a very sweet 
 brook, in the entrance of which the shallop and boats could be secured, and many 
 delicate springs of as good water as could be drank." On the opposite side of the 
 brook was a cleared field, and beyond it a commanding eminence, on which they in 
 tended to lay a platform, and mount their cannon. 
 
 They went immediately to work, laying out house-lots and a street ; felling, saw 
 ing, riving, and carrying timber ; and before the end of December, though much in 
 terrupted by stormy weather, by the death of two, and the sickness of many of their 
 number, they had erected a storehouse with a thatched roof, in which their goods were 
 deposited under a guard. Two rows of houses were begun, and as fast as they could 
 be covered, the people, who were classed into nineteen families, came ashore and 
 lodged in them. On Lord s day, the 3ist of December, they attended divine service 
 for the first time on shore, and named the place PLYMOUTH, partly because this 
 harbor was so called in Captain Smith s map, published three or four years before, 
 and partly in remembrance of the very kind and friendly treatment which they had 
 received from the inhabitants of Plymouth, the last port of their native country from 
 which they sailed. 
 
 At this time some of the people lodged on shore and others on board the ship, 
 which lay at the distance of a mile and a half from the town, and, when the tide 
 was out, there could be no communication between them. On the I4th of January, 
 very early in the morning, as Governor Carver and Mr. Bradford lay sick in bed at 
 the storehouse, the thatched roof by means of a spark caught on fire and was soon 
 consumed ; but, by the timely assistance of the people on shore, the lower part of 
 the building was preserved. Here were deposited their whole stock of ammunition 
 and several loaded guns, but happily the fire did not reach them. The fire was seen 
 by the people on board the ship, who could not come on shore till an hour afterward. 
 They were greatly alarmed at the appearance, because two men who had strolled 
 into the woods were missing, and they were apprehensive that the Indians had made 
 
1T6 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 an attack on the place. In the evening the strollers found their way home, almost 
 dead with hunger, fatigue, and cold. 
 
 The bad weather and severe hardships to which this company were exposed, in a 
 climate much more rigorous than any to which they had ever been accustomed, with 
 the scorbutic habits contracted in their voyage and by living so long on shipboard, 
 caused a great mortality among them in the winter. Before the month of April 
 nearly one-half of them died. At some times the number of the sick was so great 
 that not more than six or seven were fit for duty, and these were almost wholly em 
 ployed in attending the sick. The ship s company was in the same situation ; and 
 Captain Jones, though earnestly desirous to get away, was obliged to stay till April, 
 having lost one-half of his men. 
 
 By the beginning of March the Governor was so far recovered of his first illness 
 that he was able to walk three miles to visit a large pond which Francis Billington 
 had discovered from the top of a tree on a hill. At first it was supposed to be part 
 of the ocean, but it proved to be the head water of the brook which runs by the 
 town. It has ever since borne the name of the first discoverer, which would other 
 wise have been forgotten. 
 
 Hitherto they had not seen any of the natives at this place. The mortal pesti 
 lence which raged through the country four years before had almost depopulated it. 
 One remarkable circumstance attending this pestilence was not known till after this 
 settlement was made. A French ship had been wrecked on Cape Cod. The men 
 were saved and the provisions and goods. The natives kept their eyes on them till 
 they found an opportunity to kill all but three or four and divide their goods. The 
 captives were sent from one tribe to another as slaves. One of them learned so 
 much of their language as to tell them that " God was angry with them for their 
 cruelty, and would destroy them and give their country to another people." They 
 answered that " they were too many for God to kill." He replied that " if they 
 were ever so many, God had many ways to kill them of which they were then igno 
 rant." When the pestilence came among them (a new disease, probably the yellow 
 fever) they remembered the Frenchman s words, and, when the Plymouth settlers 
 arrived at Cape Cod, the few survivors imagined that the other part of his prediction 
 would soon be accomplished. Soon after their arrival the Indian priests or powwows 
 convened and performed their incantations in a dark swamp three days successively, 
 with a view to curse and destroy the new-comers. Had they known the mortality 
 which raged among them they would doubtless have rejoiced in the success of their 
 endeavors, and might very easily have taken advantage of their weakness to exter 
 minate them. But none of them were seen till after the sickness had abated ; 
 though some tools, which had been left in the woods, were missing, which they had 
 stolen in the night. 
 
 On the 1 6th of March, when the spring was so far advanced as to invite them to 
 make their gardens, a savage came boldly into the place alone, walked through the 
 street to the rendezvous or storehouse, and pronounced the words, Welcome, English 
 men ! His name was Samoset. He belonged to a place distant five days journey 
 to the eastward, and had learned of the fishermen to speak broken English. 
 
 He was received with kindness and hospitality, and he informed them " that by 
 the late pestilence, and a ferocious war, the number of his countrymen had been so 
 diminished, that not more than one in twenty remained ; that the spot where they 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 
 
 were now seated was called Patukset, and though formerly populous, yet every 
 human being in it had died of the pestilence." This account was confirmed by the 
 extent of the fields, the number of graves, and the remnants of skeletons lying on 
 the ground. 
 
 The account which he gave of himself, was " that he had been absent from home 
 eight moons, part of the time among the Nausets, their nearest neighbors at the 
 south-east, who were about one hundred strong, and more lately among the Wom- 
 paneags at the westward, who were about sixty ; that he had heard of the attack 
 made on them by the Nausets at Namskeket ; that these people were full of resent 
 ment against the Europeans, on account of the perfidy of Hunt, master of an En 
 glish vessel, who had some years before the pestilence decoyed some of the natives 
 (twenty from Patukset and seven from Nauset) on board his ship, and sold them 
 abroad as slaves ; that they had killed three English fishermen, besides the French 
 men aforementioned, in revenge for this affront. He also gave information of the 
 lost tools, and promised to see them restored ; and that he would bring the natives 
 to trade with them." 
 
 Samoset being dismissed with a present, returned the next day with five more of 
 the natives, bringing the stolen tools, and a few skins for trade. They were dis 
 missed with a request to bring more, which they promised in a few days. Samoset 
 feigned himself sick, and remained ; but as his companions did not return at the 
 time, he was sent to inquire the reason. 
 
 On the 22d he returned, in company with Squanto or Squantum, a native of 
 Patukset, and the only one then living. He was one of the twenty whom Hunt had 
 carried away ; he had been sold in Spain, had lived in London with John Slany 
 Merchant, Treasurer of the Newfoundland Company ; had learned the English 
 language, and came back to his native country with the fishermen. These two 
 persons were deputed by the sachem of the Wompaneags, Ma-sass-o-it, whose 
 residence was at Sowams or Pokanoket, on the Narraganset Bay, to announce his 
 coming and bring some skins as a present. In about an hour, the sachem, with 
 his brother Q,ua-de-qui-nah, and his whole force of sixty men, appeared on the hill 
 over against them. Squantum was sent to know his pleasure, and returned with the 
 sachem s request, that one of the company should come to him. Edward Winslow 
 immediately went alone, carrying a present in his hand, with the Governor s compli 
 ments, desiring to see the sachem, and enter on a friendly treaty. Masassoit left 
 Winslow in the custody of his brother, to whom another present was made, and 
 taking twenty of his men, unarmed, descended the hill toward the brook, over which 
 lay a log bridge. Captain Miles Standish, at the head of six men, met him at the 
 brook, and escorted him and his train to one of the best houses, where three or four 
 cushions were placed on a green rug, spread over the floor. The Governor came in, 
 preceded by a drum and trumpet, the sound of which greatly delighted the 
 Indians. After mutual salutations, he entered into conversation with the sachem, 
 which issued in a treaty. The articles were : " (i). That neither he nor his should 
 injure any of ours. (2). That if they did, he should send the offender, that we 
 might punish him. (3). That if our tools were taken away, he should restore them. 
 (4). That if any unjustly warred against him, we would aid him ; and if any warred 
 against us, he should aid us. (5). That he should certify his neighbor confederates 
 of this, that they might not wrong us, but be comprised in the conditions of peace. 
 23 
 
178 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 (6) . That when their men came to us, they should leave their bows and arrows 
 behind them ; as we should leave our pieces when we came to them. (7). That in 
 doing thus, King JAMES would esteem him as his friend and ally." 
 
 The conference being ended, and the company having been entertained with such 
 refreshments as the place afforded, the sachem returned to his camp. This treaty, 
 the work of one day, being honestly intended on both sides, was kept with fidelity 
 as long as Masassoit lived, but was afterward broken by Philip, his successor. 
 
 The next day Masassoit sent for some of the English to visit him. Captain 
 Standish and Isaac Allerton went, were kindly received, and treated with ground 
 nuts and tobacco. 
 
 The sachem then returned to his headquarters, distant about forty miles ; but 
 Squantum and Samoset remained at Plymouth, and instructed the people how to 
 plant their corn, and dress it with herrings, of which an immense quantity came into 
 the brooks. The ground which they planted with corn was twenty acres. They 
 sowed six acres with barley and peas; the former yielded an indifferent crop; but 
 the latter were parched with the heat, and came to nothing. 
 
 Whilst they were engaged in this labor, in which all were alike employed, on the 
 5th of April (the day on which the ship sailed for England), Governor Carver came 
 out of the field, at noon, complaining of a pain in his head, caused by the heat of the 
 sun. It soon deprived him of his senses, and in a few days put an end to his life, to 
 the great grief of this infant plantation. He was buried with all the honors which 
 could be shown to the memory of a good man by a grateful people. The men were 
 under arms, and fired several volleys over his grave. His affectionate wife, overcome 
 with her loss, survived him but six weeks. 
 
 Mr. Carver is represented as a man of great prudence, integrity, and firmness of 
 mind. He had a good estate in England, which he spent in the emigration to Hol 
 land and America. He was one of the foremost in action, and bore a large share of 
 sufferings in the service of the colony, who confided in him as their friend and father. 
 Piety, humility, and benevolence were eminent traits in his character; and it is par 
 ticularly remarked, that in the time of general sickness which befell the colony, and 
 with which he was affected, after he had himself recovered he was assiduous in 
 attending the sick, and performing the most humiliating services for them, without 
 any distinction of persons or characters. 
 
 One of his grandsons lived to the age of one hundred and two years ; and about 
 the middle of the present century (1755) he, his son, grandson, and great-grandson 
 were all, at the same time, at work in the same field, whilst an infant of the fifth 
 generation was within the house, at Marshfield. 
 
 The memory of Governor Carver is still held in esteem ; a ship belonging to 
 Plymouth now bears his name ; and his broadsword is deposited, as a curiosity, in 
 the cabinet of the Historical Society, at Boston. 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 179 
 
 WILLIAM BRADFORD. 
 
 WILLIAM BRADFORD HIS BIRTH AND EDUCATION REMOVES TO AMSTERDAM ACCOMPANIES 
 THE ADVENTURERS TO NEW ENGLAND HIS WIFE DROWNED CHOSEN GOVERNOR OF NEW 
 PLYMOUTH CONSPIRACY OF THE INDIANS HE ADOPTS MEASURES OF DEFENSE SURREN 
 DERS THE PATENT TO THE COLONY HIS DEATH AND CHARACTER HIS DESCENDANTS. 
 
 WILLIAM BRADFORD was born in 1588, at Ansterfield, an obscure village in the 
 north of England. His parents dying when he was young, he was educated, first by 
 his grandparents, and afterward by his uncles, in the practice of agriculture. His 
 paternal inheritance was considerable ; but he had no other learning but such as gen 
 erally falls to the share of the children of husbandmen. 
 
 At twelve years of age his mind became seriously impressed by divine truth, in 
 reading the Scriptures ; and as he increased in years a native firmness enabled him 
 to vindicate his opinions against opposition. Being stigmatized as a Separatist, he 
 was obliged to bear the frowns of his relatives and the scoffs of his neighbors ; but 
 nothing could divert or intimidate him from attending on the ministry of Mr. 
 Richard Clifton, and connecting himself with the church over which he and Mr. 
 Robinson presided. 
 
 When he was eighteen years old he joined in their attempt to go over to Hol 
 land, and was one of the seven who were imprisoned at Boston, in Lincolnshore, as 
 is already related in the life of Robinson ; but he was soon liberated on account of 
 his youth. He was also one of those who, the next year, fled from Grimsby Com 
 mon, when part of the company went to sea, and part were taken by the pursuivants. 
 
 After some time he went over to Zealand, through various difficulties ; and v/as 
 no sooner set on shore than a malicious passenger in the same vessel accused him 
 before the Dutch magistrates as a fugitive from England. But when they under 
 stood the cause of his emigration they gave him protection, and permission to join 
 his brethren at Amsterdam. 
 
 It being impossible for him to prosecute agriculture in Holland, he was obliged 
 to betake himself to some other business; and, being-then under age, he put himself 
 as an apprentice to a French Protestant, who taught him the art of silk-dyeing. As 
 soon as he attained the years of manhood he sold his paternal estate in England, and 
 entered on a commercial life, in which he was not very successful. 
 
 When the Church of Leyden contemplated a removal to America, Bradford 
 zealously engaged in the undertaking, and came with the first company, in 1620, to 
 Cape Cod. Whilst the ship lay in that harbor he was one of the foremost in the 
 several hazardous attempts to find a proper place for the seat of the colony, in one 
 of which he, with others of the principal persons, narrowly escaped the destruction 
 which threatened their shallop. On his return from this excursion to the ship with 
 the joyful news of having found a harbor and a place for settlement, he had the mor 
 tification to hear that, during his absence, his wife had accidentally fallen into the 
 sea and was drowned. 
 
 After the sudden death of Governor Carver, the infant colony cast their eyes on 
 Bradford to succeed him ; but being at that time so very ill that his life was despaired 
 of, they waited for his recovery, and then invested him with the command. He was 
 
180 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 in the thirty-third year of his age; his wisdom, piety, fortitude, and goodness of 
 heart were so conspicuous as to merit the sincere esteem of the people. Carver had 
 been alone in command. They confided in his prudence that he would not advent 
 ure on any matter of moment without the consent of the people or the advice of the 
 wisest. To Bradford they appointed an assistant, Isaac Allerton, not because they 
 had not the same confidence in him, but partly for the sake of regularity, and partly 
 on account of his precarious health. They appointed but one, because they were so 
 reduced in number that to have made a greater disproportion between rulers and 
 people would have been absurd ; and they knew that it would always be in their 
 power to increase the number at their pleasure. Their voluntary combination was 
 designed only as a temporary expedient till they should obtain a charter under the 
 authority of their sovereign. 
 
 One of the first acts of Bradford s administration was, by the advice of the com 
 pany, to send Edward Winslow and Stephen Hopkins to Masassoit, with Squanto 
 for their guide. The design of this embassy was to explore the country, to confirm 
 the league, to learn the situation and strength of their new friend, to carry some 
 presents, to apologize for some misbehavior, to regulate the intercourse between them 
 and the Indians, and to procure seed-corn for the next planting season. 
 
 These gentlemen found the sachem at Pokanoket,* about forty miles from 
 Plymouth. They delivered the presents, renewed the friendship, and satisfied them 
 selves respecting the strength of the natives, which did not appear formidable, nor 
 was the entertainment which they received either liberal or splendid. The marks of 
 desolation and death, by reason of the pestilence, were very conspicuous in all the 
 country through which they passed ; but they were informed that the Narragansets, 
 who resided on the western shore of the bay of that name, were very numerous, and 
 that the pestilence had not reached them. 
 
 After the return of this embassy, another was sent to Nauset to recover a boy 
 who had straggled from Plymouth, and had been taken up by some of the Indians 
 of that place. They were so fortunate as to recover the boy, and to make peace with 
 Aspinet, the sachem, when they paid for the seed-corn which they had taken out of 
 the ground at Paomet in the preceding autumn. During this expedition an old 
 woman, who had never before seen any white people, burst into tears of grief and 
 rage at the sight of them. She had lost three sons by the perfidy of Thomas Hunt, 
 who decoyed them, with others, on board his ship, and sold them for slaves. Squanto, 
 who was present, told her that he had been carried away at the same time ; that 
 Hunt was a bad man; that his countrymen disapproved his conduct, and that the 
 English at Plymouth would not offer them any injury. This declaration, accompa 
 nied by a small present, appeased her anger, though it was impossible to remove the 
 cause of her grief. 
 
 It was fortunate for the colony that they had secured the friendship of Masassoit, 
 for his influence was found to be very extensive. He was regarded and reverenced 
 by all the natives from the Bay of Narraganset to that of Massachusetts. Though 
 
 * This was a general name for the northern shore of the Narraganset Bay, between Providence and 
 Taunton Rivers, and comprehending the present townships of Bristol, Warren, and Barrington in the State 
 of Rhode Island, and Swanzey in Massachusetts. Its northern extent is unknown. The principal seats of 
 the sachem were at Sowams and Kikemuit. The former is a neck of land formed by the confluence of Bar 
 rington and Palmer s Rivers ; the latter is Mount Hope. 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 181 
 
 some of the petty sachems were disposed to be jealous of the new colony, and to dis 
 turb its peace, yet their mutual connection with Masassoit proved the means of its 
 preservation ; as a proof of which, nine of the sachems voluntarily came to Plymouth, 
 and subscribed an instrument of submission in the following terms, viz : 
 
 "September 13, Anno Domini 1621. Know all men by these presents, that we, 
 whose names are underwritten, do acknowledge ourselves to be the loyal subjects of 
 King James, King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc. 
 In witness whereof, and as a testimonial of the same, we have subscribed our names, 
 or marks, as followeth : 
 
 Ohquamehud, Nattawahunt, Quadequina, 
 
 Cawnacome, Caunbatant, Huttamoiden, 
 
 Obbatinua, Chikatabak, Apannow." 
 
 Hobamak, another of these subordinate chiefs, came and took up his residence at 
 Plymouth, where he continued as a faithful guide and interpreter as long as he lived. 
 The Indians of the island of Capawock, which had now obtained the name of Martha s 
 or Martin s Vineyard, also sent messengers of peace. 
 
 Having heard much of the Bay of Massachusetts, both from the Indians and the 
 English fishermen, Governor Bradford appointed ten men, with Squanto and two 
 other Indians, to visit the place and trade with the natives. On the i8th of Septem 
 ber they sailed in a shallop, and the next day got to the bottom of the bay, where 
 they landed under a cliff,* and were kindly received by Obbatinua, the sachem who 
 had subscribed the submission at Plymouth a few days before. He renewed his submis 
 sion, and received a promise of assistance and defense against the Squaw Sachem of 
 Massachusetts and other enemies. 
 
 The appearance of this bay was pleasing. They saw the mouths of two rivers 
 which emptied into it. The islands were cleared of wood, and had been planted ; but 
 most of the people who had inhabited them either were dead or had removed. Those 
 who remained were continually in fear of the Tarratenes, who frequently came from 
 the eastward in a hostile manner, and robbed them of their corn. In one of these 
 predatory invasions, Nanepashamet, a sachem, had been slain ; his body lay buried 
 under a frame, surrounded by an intrenchment and palisade. A monument on the 
 top of a hill designated the place where he was killed. 
 
 Having explored the bay and collected some beaver, the shallop returned to 
 Plymouth, and brought so good a report of the place, that the people wished they 
 had been seated there. But having planted corn and built huts at Plymouth, and 
 being there in security from the natives, they judged the motives for continuance to 
 be stronger than for removal ; many of their posterity having judged otherwise. 
 
 In November a ship arrived from England with thirty-five passengers to augment 
 the colony. Unhappily they were so short of provisions that the people of Plymouth 
 were obliged to victual the ship home, and then put themselves and the new-comers to 
 half allowance. Before the next spring (1622) the colony began to feel the rigor of 
 famine. In the height of this distress the Governor received from Canonicus, sachem 
 of Narraganset, a threatening message in the emblematic style of the ancient Scyth 
 ians a bundle of arrows bound with the skin of a serpent. The Governor sent an 
 answer in the same style, the skin of the serpent filled with powder and ball. The 
 
 * Supposed to be Copp s Hill in the town of Boston 
 
182 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 Narragansets, afraid of its contents, sent it back unopened ; and here the correspond 
 ence ended. 
 
 It was now judged proper to fortify the town. Accordingly it was surrounded 
 with a stockade and four flankarts ; a guard was kept by day and night, the company 
 being divided into four squadrons. A select number were appointed, in case of acci 
 dental fire, to mount guard with their backs to the fire, to prevent a surprise from the 
 Indians. Within the stockade was inclosed the top of the hill, under which the 
 town was built, and a sufficiency of land for a garden to each family. The works 
 were begun in February and finished in March. 
 
 At this time the famine was very severe. Fish and spring waters were the only 
 provision on which the people subsisted. The want of bread reduced their flesh ; 
 yet they had so much health and spirit, that, on hearing of the massacre in Virginia, 
 they erected an additional fort on the top of the hill, with a flat roof, on which the 
 guns were mounted ; the lower story served them for a place of worship. Sixty 
 acres of ground were planted with corn, and their gardens were sown with seeds of 
 other esculent vegetables in great plenty. 
 
 The arrival of two ships with a new colony, sent out by Thomas Weston, but 
 without provisions, was an additional misfortune. Some of these people being sick, 
 were lodged in the hospital at Plymouth till they were so far recovered as to join 
 their companions, who seated themselves at Wessagusset, since called Weymouth. 
 
 The first supply of provisions was obtained from the fishing vessels ; of which 
 thirty-five came this spring, from England to the coast. In August, two ships arrived 
 with trading goods ; which the planters bought at a great disadvantage, giving beaver 
 in exchange. The summer being dry, and the harvest short, it became necessary to 
 make excursions among the natives, to procure corn and beans, with the goods pur 
 chased from the ships. Governor Bradford undertook this service, having Squanto 
 for his guide and interpreter; who was taken ill on the passage, and died at Mano- 
 moik. Before his death, he requested the Governor to pray for him, "that he might 
 go to the Englishman s God." 
 
 In these excursions, Mr. Bradford was treated by the natives with great respect ; 
 and the trade was conducted, on both parts, with justice and confidence. At Nauset, 
 the shallop being stranded, it was necessary to put the corn, which had been pur 
 chased, in stack and leave it covered with mats and sedge, in the care of the Indians, 
 whilst the Governor and his party came home, fifty miles on foot. It remained there 
 from November to January; and when another shallop was sent, it was found in 
 perfect safety, and the stranded shallop was covered. 
 
 At Namasket [Middleborough], an inland place, he bought another quantity, 
 which was brought home, partly by the people of the colony, and partly by the 
 Indian women; their men disdaining to bear burdens. 
 
 At Manomet [Sandwich] he bargained for more, which he was obliged to leave 
 till March, when Captain Standish went and fetched it home, the Indian women 
 bringing it down to the shallop. The whole quantity thus purchased amounted to 
 twenty-eight hogsheads of corn and beans; of which Weston s people had a share, 
 as they had joined in the purchase. 
 
 In the spring (1623) the Governor received a message from Massasoit that he was 
 sick; on which occasion it is usual for all the friends of the Indians to visit them, or 
 send them presents. Mr. Winslow again went to visit the sachem, accompanied by 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 183 
 
 Mr. John Hamden, and they had Hobamak for their guide and interpreter. The 
 visit was very consolatory to their sick friend, and the more so, as Winslovv carried 
 him some cordials, and made him broth after the English mode, which contributed 
 to his recovery. In return for this friendly attention, Masassoit communicated to 
 Hobamak intelligence of a dangerous conspiracy then in agitation among the Indians 
 which he had been solicited to join. Its object was nothing less than the total extir 
 pation of the English, and it was occasioned by the imprudent conduct of Weston s 
 people in the Bay of Massachusetts. The Indians had it in contemplation to make 
 them the first victims, and then to fall on the people of Plymouth. Masassoit s 
 advice was that the English should seize and put to death the chief conspirators, 
 whom he named ; and said that this would prevent the execution of the plot. Hoba 
 mak communicated this secret to Winslow as they were returning, and it was report 
 ed to the Governor. 
 
 On this alarming occasion the whole company were assembled in court, and the 
 news was imparted to them. Such was their confidence in the Governor, that they 
 unanimously requested him, with Allerton, his assistant, to concert the best meas 
 ures for their safety. The result was to strengthen the fortifications, to be vigilant 
 at home, and to send such a force to the Bay of Massachusetts, under Captain Stand- 
 ish, as he should judge sufficient to crush the conspiracy. An Indian who had come 
 into the town was suspected as a spy, and confined in irons. Standish with eight 
 chosen men, and the faithful Hobamak, went in the shallop to Weston s plantation, 
 having goods as usual to trade with the Indians. Here he met the persons who had 
 been named as conspirators, who personally insulted and threatened him. A quar 
 rel ensued, in which seven of the Indians were killed. The others were so struck 
 with terror, that they forsook their houses and retreated to the swamps, where many 
 of them died with cold and hunger ; the survivors would have sued for peace, but 
 were afraid to go to Plymouth. Weston s people were so apprehensive of the con 
 sequences of this affair, that they quitted the plantation ; and the people of Plym 
 outh, who offered them protection, which they would not accept, were glad to be 
 rid of such troublesome neighbors. 
 
 Thus, by the spirited conduct of a handful of brave men, in conformity to the ad 
 vice of the friendly sachem, the whole conspiracy was annihilated. But when the 
 report of this transaction was carried to their brethren in Holland, Mr. Robinson, in 
 his next letter to the Governor, lamented with great concern and tenderness, " O that 
 you had converted some before you had killed any ! " 
 
 The scarcity which they had hitherto experienced was partly owing to the increase 
 of their numbers and the scantiness of their supplies from Europe ; but principally 
 to their mode of laboring in common, and putting the fruit of their labor into the 
 public store ; an error which had the same effect here as in Virginia. To remedy 
 this evil, as far as was consistent with their engagements, it was agreed, in the spring 
 of 1623, that every family should plant for themselves on such ground as should be 
 assigned to them by lot, without any division for inheritance ; and that in the time 
 of harvest a com-petent portion should be brought into the common store for the 
 maintenance of the public officers, fishermen, and such other persons as could not be 
 employed in agriculture. This regulation gave a spring to industry ; the women and 
 children cheerfully went to work with the men in the fields, and much more corn was 
 planted than ever before. Having but one boat, the men were divided into parties 
 
184 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 of six or seven, who took their turns to catch fish ; the shore afforded them shell-fish, 
 and ground-nuts served them for bread. When any deer was killed the flesh was 
 divided among the whole colony. Water fowl came in plenty at the proper season, 
 but the want of boats prevented them from being taken in great numbers. Thus 
 they subsisted through the third summer, in the latter end of which two vessels ar 
 rived with sixty passengers. The harvest was plentiful ; and after this time they had 
 no general want of food, because they had learned to depend on their own exertions 
 rather than on foreign supplies. 
 
 The combination which they made, before their landing at Cape Cod, was the first 
 foundation of their government ; but, as they were driven to this expedient by ne 
 cessity, it was intended to subsist no longer than till they could obtain legal author 
 ity from their sovereign. As soon as they knsw of the establishment of the Council 
 of New England, they applied for a patent, which was taken in the name of John 
 Peirce, in trust for the colony. When he saw that they were well seated, and 
 that there was a prospect of success to their undertaking, he went, without their 
 knowledge, but in their name, and solicited the council for another patent of greater 
 extent, intending to keep it to himself, and allow them no more than he pleased, 
 holding them as his tenants, to sue and be sued at his courts. In pursuance of this 
 design, having obtained the patent, he bought a ship, which he named the Paragon ; 
 loaded her with goods, took on board upwards of sixty passengers, and sailed from 
 London for the colony of New Plymouth. In the Downs he was overtaken by a tem 
 pest which so damaged the ship that he was obliged to put her into dock, where she 
 lay seven weeks, and her repairs cost him one hundred pounds. In December, 1622, 
 he sailed a second time, having on board one hundred and nine persons ; but a series 
 of tempestuous weather, which continued fourteen days, disabled his ship, and forced 
 him back to Portsmouth. These repeated disappointments proved so discouraging 
 to him that he was easily prevailed upon by the company of adventurers to assign 
 his patent to them for five hundred pounds. The passengers came over in other 
 ships. 
 
 In 1629 another patent of larger extent was solicited by Isaac Allerton, and taken 
 out in the name of " William Bradford, his heirs, associates, and assigns." This patent 
 confirmed their title (as far as the Crown of England could confirm it) to a tract of 
 land bounded on the east and south by the Atlantic Ocean, and by lines drawn west 
 from the rivulet of Conohasset, and north from the river of Narraganset, which lines 
 meet in a point, comprehending all the country called Pokanoket. To this tract they 
 supposed they had a prior title from the depopulation of a great part of it by a pes 
 tilence, from the gift of Masassoit, his voluntary subjection to the Crown of England, 
 and his having taken protection of them. In a declaration, published by them in 
 1636, they asserted their "lawful right in respect of vacancy, donation, and purchase 
 of the natives," which, together with their patent from the Crown, through the Council 
 of New England, " formed the warrantable ground and foundation of their govern 
 ment, of making laws and disposing of lands." 
 
 In the same patent was granted a large tract bordering on the river Kennebeck, 
 where they had carried on a traffic with the natives for furs, as they did also at Con 
 necticut River, which was not equally beneficial, because there they had the Dutch 
 for rivals. The fur trade was found to be much more advantageous than the fishery. 
 Sometimes they exchanged corn of their own growth for furs ; but European coarse 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 185 
 
 cloths, hardware, and ornaments, were good articles of trade when they could com 
 mand them. 
 
 The company in England with which they were connected did not supply them 
 in plenty. Losses were sustained by sea ; the returns were not adequate to their 
 expectations ; they became discouraged ; threw many reflections on the planters, and 
 finally refused them any further supplies ; but still demanded the debt due from 
 them, and would not permit them to connect themselves in trade with any other 
 persons. The planters complained to the Council of New England, but obtained no 
 redress. After the expiration of the seven years (1628) for which the contract was 
 made, eight of the principal persons in the colony, with four of their friends in Lon 
 don, became bound for the balance ; and from that time took the whole trade into 
 their own hands. These were obliged to take up money at an exorbitant interest, 
 and to go deeply into trade at Kennebec, Penobscot, and Connecticut; by which 
 means, and their own great industry and economy, they were enabled to discharge 
 the debt, and pay for the transportation of thirty-five families of their friends from 
 Leyden, who arrived in 1629. 
 
 The patent had been taken in the name of Mr. Bradford, in trust for the colony ; 
 and the event proved that their confidence was not misplaced. When the number 
 of people was increased, and new townships were erected, the General Court, in 
 1640, requested that he would surrender the patent into their hands. To this he 
 readily consented ; and by a written instrument, under his hand and seal, surrendered 
 it to them, reserving for himself no more than his proportion, by previous agreement. 
 This was done in open court, and the patent was immediately re-delivered into his 
 custody. 
 
 Whilst they were few in number the whole body of associates or freemen assem 
 bled for legislative, executive, and judicial business. In 1634 the Governor and 
 assistants were constituted a Judicial Court, and, afterward, the Supreme Judiciary. 
 Petty offenses, and actions of debt, trespass, and damage, not exceeding forty shil 
 lings, were tried by the selectmen of each town, with liberty of appeal to the next 
 Court of Assistants. The first Assembly of Representatives was held in 1639, when 
 two deputies were sent from each town, and four from Plymouth. In 1649 Plymouth 
 was restricted to the same number with the other towns. These deputies were 
 chosen by the freemen ; and none were admitted to the privilege of freemen but such 
 as were twenty-one years of age, of sober and peaceable conversation, orthodox in 
 the fundamentals of religion, and possessed of twenty pounds ratable estate. 
 
 By the former patent the Colony of Plymouth was empowered to " enact such 
 laws as should most befit a State in its nonage, not rejecting, or omitting to observe, 
 such of the laws of their native country as would conduce to their good." In the 
 second patent the power of government was granted to William Bradford and his 
 associates, in the following terms : " To frame and make orders, ordinances, and 
 constitutions, as well for the better government of their affairs here (in England), 
 and the receiving or admitting any to his or their society ; as also for the better gov 
 ernment of his or their people, at sea, in going thither, or returning from thence ; 
 and the same to be put in execution by such officers and ministers as he or they 
 shall authorize and depute ; provided, that the said laws be not repugnant to the 
 laws of England, or the frame of government by the said president and council here 
 after to be established." 
 24 
 
186 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 At that time a general government over the whole territory of New England was 
 a favorite object with the council which granted these patents ; but, after several 
 attempts, it finally miscarried to the no small joy of the planters, who were then 
 at liberty to govern themselves. 
 
 In the formation of the laws of New Plymouth, regard was had, "primarily and 
 principally, to the ancient platform of God s law." For, though some parts of that 
 system were peculiar to the circumstances of the sons of Jacob, yet, " the whole be 
 ing grounded on the principles of moral equity," it was the opinion of our first 
 planters not at Plymouth only, but in Massachusetts, New Haven, and Connecticut 
 that "all -men, especially Christians, ought to have an eye to it in the framing of 
 their political constitutions." A secondary regard was had to the liberties granted 
 to them by their sovereign and the laws of England, which they supposed " any im 
 partial person might discern in the perusal of the book of the laws of the colony." 
 
 At first they had some doubt concerning their right of punishing capital crimes. 
 A murder which happened in 1630 made it necessary to decide this question. It 
 was decided by the divine law against shedding human blood, which was deemed 
 indispensable. In 1636 their code of laws was revised, and capital crimes were 
 enumerated and defined. In 1671 it was again revised and the next year printed 
 with this title, "The Book of the General Laws of the Inhabitants of the Jurisdic 
 tion of New Plymouth " a title very similar to the codes of Massachusetts and 
 Connecticut, which were printed at the same time by Samuel Green at Cambridge. 
 
 The piety, wisdom, and integrity of Mr. Bradford were such prominent features 
 in his character, that he was annually chosen Governor as long as he lived, excepting 
 three years, when Mr. Winslow, and two, when Mr. Prince, were chosen, and even 
 then Mr. Bradford was the first in the list of assistants, which gave him the rank of 
 Deputy Governor. In 1624 they chose five assistants and in 1633 seven ; the Gov 
 ernor having a double vote. These augmentations were made at the earnest request 
 of Mr. Bradford, who strongly recommended a rotation in the election of a Gov 
 ernor, but could not obtain it for more than five years in thirty-five, and never for 
 more than two years in succession. His argument was " that if it were an honor or 
 benefit, others beside himself should partake of it ; if it were a burthen, others beside 
 himself should help to bear it." Notwithstanding the reasonableness and equity of 
 his plea, the people had a strong attachment to him and confidence in him that they 
 could not be persuaded to leave him out of the government. 
 
 For the last twelve years of his life he was annually chosen without interruption, 
 and served in the office of Governor. His health continued good till the autumn 
 of 1556, when it began to decline; and, as the next spring advanced, he became 
 weaker, but felt not any acute illness till the beginning of May. 
 
 After a distressing day his mind was in the following night so elevated with the 
 idea of futurity, that he said to his friends in the morning, " God has given me a 
 pledge of my happiness in another world and the first-fruits of eternal glory." The 
 next day, being the gth of May, 1657, he was removed from this world by death in 
 the sixty-ninth year of his age, to the immense loss and grief of the people not only 
 in Plymouth, but the neighboring colonies, four of which he lived to see established, 
 beside that of which he was one of the principal founders. 
 
 In addition to what has been said of Mr. Bradford s character, it may be observed 
 that he was a sensible man, of a strong mind, a sound judgment, and a good memory 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 187 
 
 Though not favored with a learned education, he was much inclined to study and 
 writing. The French and Dutch languages were familiar to him, and he attained a 
 considerable knowledge of the Latin and Greek ; but he more assiduously studied the 
 Hebrew, because he said that " he would see with his own eyes the ancient oracles 
 of God in their native beauty." 
 
 He had read much of history and philosophy, but theology was his favorite study. 
 He was able to manage the polemic part of it with much dexterity, and was particu 
 larly vigilant against the sectaries which infested the colonies ; though by no means 
 severe or intolerant as long as they continued peaceable, wishing rather to foil them 
 by argument, and guard the people against receiving their tenets, than to suppress 
 them by violence, or cut them off by the sword of magistracy. Mr. Hubbard s char 
 acter of him is, that he was a " person of great gravity and prudence, of sober princi 
 ples, and for one of that persuasion (Brownists) very pliable, gentle, and condescending." 
 
 He wrote a history of Plymouth people and colony, beginning with the first for 
 mation of the church, in 1602, and ending in 1646. It was contained in a folio vol 
 ume of 270 pages. Morton s Memorial is an abridgment of it. Prince and Hutchin- 
 son had the use of it, and the manuscript was carefully deposited with Mr. Prince s 
 valuable collection of papers, in the library of the Old South Church in Boston, which 
 fell a sacrifice to the unprincipled fury of the British army in the year 1775, since 
 which time it has not been seen. He also had a large book of copies of letters rela 
 tive to the affairs of the colony, a fragment of which was, a few years ago, recovered 
 by accident, and published by the Historical Society. To the fragment is subjoined 
 another, being a " descriptive and historical account of New England," in verse, which, 
 if it be not graced with the charms of poetry, yet is a just and affecting narrative, in 
 termixed with pious and useful reflections. Besides these, he wrote, as Dr. Mather 
 says, " some significant things, for the confutation of the errors of the times, by which 
 it appears that he was a person of a good temper, and free from that rigid spirit of 
 separation which broke the Separatists to pieces." 
 
 In his office of chief magistrate he was prudent, temperate, and firm. He would 
 suffer no person to trample on the laws or disturb the peace of the colony. During 
 his administration there were frequent accessions of new inhabitants ; some of whom 
 were at first refractory, but his wisdom and fortitude obliged them to pay a decent 
 respect to the laws and customs of the country. One particular instance is preserved. 
 A company of young men, newly arrived, were very unwilling to comply with the 
 Governor s order for working on the public account. On a Christmas day they ex 
 cused themselves under pretense that it was against their conscience to work. The 
 Governor gave them no other answer than that he would let them alone till they 
 should be better informed. In the course of the day, he found them at play in the 
 streets, and commanding the instruments of their game to be taken from them, he 
 told them that it was against his conscience to suffer them to play while others were 
 at work, and that if they had any religious regard to the day, they should show it in 
 the exercise of devotion at home. This gentle reproof had the desired effect, and 
 prevented a repetition of such disorders. 
 
 His conduct toward intruders and false friends was equally moderate, but firm and 
 
 decisive. John Lyford had imposed himself upon the colony as a minister, being 
 
 .recommended by som of the adventurers. At first his behavior was plausible, and 
 
 he was treated with respect ; but it was not long before he began, in concert with John 
 
188 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 Oldham, to excite a faction. The Governor watched them, and when a ship was 
 about sailing for England, it was observed that Lyford was very busy in writing let 
 ters, of which he put a great number on board. The Governor in a boat followed the 
 ship to sea, and by favor of the master, who was a friend to the colony, examined 
 the letters, some of which he intercepted and concealed. Lyford and Oldham were 
 at first under much apprehension, but as nothing transpired, they concluded that the 
 Governor had only gone on board to carry his own letters, and felt themselves secure. 
 
 In one of the intercepted letters, Lyford had written to his friends, the discon 
 tented part of the adventurers, that he and Oldham intended a reformation in Church 
 and State. Accordingly, they began to institute a separate church ; and when Old- 
 ham was summoned to take his turn at a military watch, he not only refused com 
 pliance, but abused Captain Standish, and drew his knife upon him. For this he 
 was imprisoned ; and both he and Lyford were brought to trial before the whole 
 company. Their behavior was insolent and obstinate. The Governor took pains 
 to convince them of their folly, but in vain. The letters were then produced ; their 
 adherents were confounded ; and the evidence of their factious and disorderly conduct 
 being satisfactory, they were condemned, and ordered to be banished from the plan 
 tation. Lyford was allowed six months for probation, but his pretenses proved 
 hypocritical, and he was obliged to depart. After several removals he died in Vir 
 ginia. Oldham having returned after banishment, his second expulsion was con 
 ducted in this singular manner : "A guard of musketeers was appointed, through 
 which he was obliged to pass; every one was ordered to give him a blow on the 
 hinder parts with the butt end of his musket ; then he was conveyed to the water 
 side, where a boat was ready to carry him away, with this farewell, Go and mend your 
 manners" This discipline had a good effect on him ; he made his submission, and 
 was allowed to come and go on trading voyages. In one of these he was killed by 
 the Pequod Indians, which proved the occasion of a war with that nation. 
 
 Mr. Bradford had one son by his first wife ; and by his second, Alice Southworth, 
 whom he married in 1623, he had two sons and a daughter. His son William, born 
 in 1624, was Deputy Governor of the colony after his father s death, and lived to the 
 age of eighty, as appears by his grave-stone in Plymouth churchyard. One of his 
 grandsons and two of his great-grandsons were counselors of Massachusetts. Several 
 other of his descendants have borne respectable characters, and have been placed in 
 stations of honor and usefulness. One of them, William Bradford, has been Deputy 
 Governor of the State of Rhode Island, and a Senator in the Congress of the United 
 States. Two others, Alden Bradford and Gamaliel Bradford, are members of the 
 Historical Society. 
 
 WILLIAM BREWSTER. 
 
 WILLIAM BREWSTER HIS EDUCATION ENTERS THE SERVICE OF DAVISON HONORED BY THE 
 STATES OF HOLLAND REMOVES TO HOLLAND SETS UP A PRINTING OFFICE REMOVES TO 
 AMERICA OFFICIATES AS A PREACHER HIS DEATH AND CHARACTER. 
 
 THE place of this gentleman s birth is unknown. The time of it was A.D. 1560. 
 He received his education at the University of Cambridge, where he became seriously 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 189 
 
 impressed with the truth of religion, which had its genuine influence on his character 
 through his whole life. 
 
 After leaving the university he entered into the service of William Davison, a 
 courtier of Queen Elizabeth, and her ambassador in Scotland and in Holland ; who 
 found him so capable and faithful that he reposed the utmost confidence in him. 
 He esteemed him as a son, and conversed with him in private both on religious and 
 political subjects with the greatest familiarity ; and when anything occurred which 
 required secrecy, Brewster was his confidential friend. 
 
 When the Queen entered into a league with the United Provinces (1584), and 
 received possession of several towns and forts, as security for her expenses in defend 
 ing their liberties, Davison, who negotiated the matter, intrusted Brewster with the 
 keys of Flushing, one of those cautionary towns ; and the States of Holland were so 
 sensible of his merit as to present him with the ornament of a golden chain. 
 
 He returned as ambassador to England, and continued in his service till Davison, 
 having incurred the hypocritical displeasure of his arbitrary mistress, was imprisoned, 
 fined, and ruined. Davison is said to have been a man of abilities and integrity, but 
 easy to be imposed upon, and for that very reason was made Secretary of State. 
 When Mary, the unfortunate Queen of Scotland, had been tried and condemned, 
 and the Parliament of England had petitioned their sovereign for her execution, 
 Elizabeth privately ordered Davison to draw a death-warrant, which she signed, and 
 sent him with it to the Chancellor to have the great seal annexed. Having per 
 formed this duty, she pretended to blame him for his precipitancy. Davison ac 
 quainted the council with the whole transaction; they knew the Queen s real senti 
 ments, and persuaded him to send the warrant to the Earls of Kent and Shrewsbury, 
 promising to justify his conduct, and take the blame on themselves. These earls 
 attended the execution of Mary ; but, when Elizabeth heard of it, she affected sur 
 prise and indignation ; threw all the blame on the innocent secretary, and committed 
 him to the Tower, where he became the subject of raillery from those very counsel 
 ors who had promised to countenance and protect him. He was tried in the star 
 chamber, and fined ten thousand pounds, which, being rigorously levied upon him, 
 reduced him to poverty. 
 
 During these misfortunes, Brewster faithfully adhered to him, and gave him all 
 the assistance of which he was capable. When he could no longer serve him he 
 retired into the north of England, among his old friends, and was very highly 
 esteemed by those who were most exemplary for religion. Being possessed of a 
 handsome property, and having some influence, he made use of both in promoting 
 the cause of religion, and procuring persons of good character to serve in the office 
 of ministers to the parishes in his neighborhood. 
 
 By degrees he became disgusted with the impositions of the prelatical party, and 
 their severity toward men of a moderate and peaceable disposition. This led him to 
 inquire critically into the nature of ecclesiastical authority ; and having discovered 
 much corruption in the constitution, forms, ceremonies, and discipline of the 
 Established Church, he thought it his duty to withdraw from its communion, and 
 join with others of the same sentiments in the institution of a separate Church ; 
 of which the aged Mr. Clifton and the younger Mr. Robinson were appointed 
 pastors. The newly formed society met on the Lord s day, at Mr. Brewster s 
 house ; where they were entertained at his expense, with much affection and respect, 
 as long as they could assemble without opposition from their adversaries. 
 
190 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 But when the resentment of their hierarchy, heightened by the countenance and 
 authority of James, the successor of Elizabeth, obliged him to seek refuge in a 
 foreign country, Brewster was the most forward to assist them in their removal. 
 He was one of those who went on board of a vessel, in the night, at Boston in Lin 
 colnshire, (as already related in the life of Robinson ;) and being apprehended by the 
 magistrates, he was the greatest sufferer, because he had the most property. When 
 liberated from confinement, he first assisted the weak and poor of the society in 
 their embarkation, and then followed them to Holland. 
 
 His family was large, and his dependents numerous; his education and mode of 
 living were not suited to a mechanical or mercantile life, and he could not practice 
 agriculture in a commercial city. The hardships which he suffered in consequence 
 of this removal were grievous and depressing ; but when his finances were exhausted, 
 he had a resource in his learning and abilities. In Leyden he found employment as a 
 tutor ; the youth of the city and university came to him for instruction in the English 
 tongue : and by means of the Latin, which was common to both, and a grammar of 
 his own construction, they soon acquired a knowledge of the English language. By 
 the help of some friends, he also set up a printing office, and was instrumental in 
 publishing several books against the hierarchy, which could not obtain a license 
 in England. 
 
 His reputation was so high in the Church of which he was a member, that they 
 chose him a ruling elder, and confided in his wisdom, experience, and integrity, 
 to assist in conducting their temporal as well as ecclesiastical concerns, particularly 
 their removal to America. With the minority of the Church he came over, and 
 suffered all the hardships attending their settlement in this wilderness. He partook 
 with them of labor, hunger, and watching; his Bible and his arms were equally 
 familiar to him ; and he was always ready for any duty or suffering to which he 
 was called. 
 
 For some time after their arrival, they were destitute of a teaching elder; 
 expecting and hoping that Mr. Robinson, with the remainder of the Church, would 
 follow them to America. Brewster frequently officiated as a preacher, but he never 
 could be persuaded to administer the sacraments, or take on him the pastoral office ; 
 though it had been stipulated before his departure from Holland, that "those who 
 first went should be an absolute Church of themselves, as well as those who staid ; " 
 and it was one of their principles, that the brethren who elected, had the power of 
 ordaining to office. 
 
 The reason of his refusal was his extreme diffidence ; being unwilling to assume 
 any other office in the Church than that with which he had been invested by the 
 whole body. This plea might have had some force during Robinson s life, by whose 
 advice he had been prevailed upon to accept the office of ruling elder; but after his 
 death there was less reason for it, and his declining to officiate was really productive 
 of very disagreeable effects. 
 
 A spirit of faction and division was excited in the Church, partly by persons of 
 different sentiments and characters, who came over from England, and partly by un 
 easy and assuming brethren among themselves. Such was the notoriety and melan 
 choly appearance of these divisions, that their friends in England seriously admon 
 ished them, and recommended to them "to let their practice in the Church be 
 complete and full ; to permit all who feared God to join themselves to them without 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 191 
 
 delay, and to let all divine ordinances be used completely in the Church, without 
 longer waiting upon uncertainties or keeping a gap open for opposites." 
 
 With this salutary advice they did not comply ; and one great obstacle to their 
 compliance was the liberty of " prophesying, which was allowed not only to the 
 elders, but to such private members as were " gifted." In Robinson s apology this 
 principle is explained in a very cautious manner: the exercise of the gift was subject 
 to the judgment of the minister; and whilst they were under his superintendence 
 their prophesyings were conducted with tolerable regularity ; but when they came 
 to practice on this principle where they had not that advantage, the consequence was 
 prejudicial to the establishment of any regular ministry among them. " The preach 
 ments of the gifted brethren produced those discouragements, to the ministers, that 
 almost all left the colony, apprehending themselves driven away by the neglect and 
 contempt with which the people on this occasion treated them." This practice was 
 not allowed in any other Church in New England except that of Plymouth. 
 
 Beside the liberty of prophesying and public conference, there were several other 
 peculiarities in their practice which they learned from the Brownists, and in which 
 they differed from many of the Reformed Churches. They admitted none to their 
 communion without either a written or oral declaration of their faith and religious 
 experiences, delivered before the whole Church, with liberty for every one to ask 
 questions till they were satisfied. They practiced ordination by the hands of the 
 brethren. They disused the Lord s prayer and the public reading of the Scriptures. 
 They did not allow the reading of the psalm before singing, till, in compassion to a 
 brother who could not read, they permitted one of the elders or deacons to read it 
 line by line, after it had been previously expounded by the minister. They admitted 
 no children to baptism, Unless one, at least, of the parents were in full communion 
 with the Church ; and they accounted all baptized children proper subjects of ecclesi 
 astical discipline. Whilst in Holland they had the Lord s Supper every Sabbath ; 
 but when they came to America they omitted it till they could obtain a minister, 
 and then had it monthly. Most of these practices were continued for many years, 
 and some are yet adhered to, though others have been gradually laid aside. 
 
 The church of Plymouth had no regular minister till four years after the death 
 of Mr. Robinson and nine years after their coming to America. In 1629 they set 
 tled Ralph Smith, who continued with them about five years and then resigned. 
 He is said to have been a man of " low gifts," and was assisted three years by Roger 
 Williams, of "bright accomplishments, but offensive errors." In 1636 they had 
 John Reyner, " an able and godly man, of a meek and humble spirit, sound in the 
 truth, and unreprovable in his life and conversation." He continued with them 
 till 1654, when he removed to Dover in New Hampshire, where he spent the re 
 mainder of his life. 
 
 During his ministry at Plymouth, Elder Brewster having enjoyed a healthy old 
 age died on the :6th of April, 1644; being then in the eighty-fourth year of his 
 age. He was able to continue his ecclesiastical functions and his field-labor till 
 within a few days of his death, and was confined to his bed but one day. 
 
 He had been remarkably temperate through his whole life, having drank no liq 
 uor but water till within the last five or six years. For many months together he 
 had through necessity lived without bread, having nothing but fish for his suste 
 nance, and sometimes was destitute of that. Yet, being of a pliant and cheerful 
 
192 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 temper, he easily accommodated himself to his circumstances. When nothing but 
 oysters or clams were set on his table, he would give thanks with his family that 
 they could " suck of the abundance of the seas and of the treasures hid in the sand." 
 
 He was a man of eminent piety and devotion not prolix, but full and compre 
 hensive in his public prayers esteeming it his duty to strengthen and encourage the 
 devotion of others, rather than to weary them with long performances. On days of 
 fasting and humiliation he was more copious, but equally fervent. As an instance 
 of this it is observed that in 1623, a drought of six weeks having succeeded the 
 planting season, in July a day was set apart for fasting and prayer. The morning 
 was clear and hot as usual, but, after eight hours employed in religious exercises, the 
 weather changed, and before the next morning a gentle rain came on, which con 
 tinued with intermissions of fair and warm weather fourteen days, by which the lan 
 guishing corn revived. The neighboring Indians observed the change, and said that 
 "the Englishman s God was a good God." 
 
 In his public discourses Mr. Brewster was very clear and distinguishing as well as 
 pathetic ; addressing himself first to the understanding and then to the affections of 
 his audience : convincing and persuading them of the superior excellency of true 
 religion. Such a kind of teaching was well adapted and, in many instances, effect 
 ual to the real instruction and benefit of his hearers. What a pity that such a man 
 could not have been persuaded to take on him the pastoral office ! 
 
 In his private conversation he was social, pleasant, and inoffensive ; yet, when 
 occasion required, he exercised that fortitude which true virtue inspires, but mixed 
 with such tenderness that his reproofs gave no offense. 
 
 His compassion toward the distressed was an eminent trait in his character; and, 
 if they were suffering for conscience sake, he judged them of all others most deserv 
 ing of pity and relief. Nothing was more disgusting to him than vanity and hypoc 
 risy. 
 
 In the government of the Church he was careful to preserve order and purity and 
 to suppress contention. Had his diffidence permitted him to exercise the pastoral 
 office, he would have had more influence and kept intruders at a proper distance. 
 
 He was owner of a very considerable library, part of which was lost when the 
 vessel in which he embarked was plundered at Boston in Lincolnshire. After his 
 death his remaining books were valued at forty-three pounds in silver, as appears by 
 the colony records, where a catalogue of them is preserved. 
 
 ROBERT CUSHMAN. 
 
 ROBERT CUSHMAN EMBARKS FOR AMERICA RETURNS TO ENGLAND ARRIVES AT PLYMOUTH 
 DELIVERS A DISCOURSE ON SELF-LOVE SAILS FOR ENGLAND TAKEN BY THE FRENCH 
 HIS DEATH AND CHARACTER. 
 
 ROBERT CUSHMAN was a distinguished character among that collection of wor 
 thies who quitted England on account of their religious difficulties and settled with 
 Mr. John Robinson (their pastor) in the city of Leyden. Proposing afterward a 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 193 
 
 removal to America in the year 1617, Mr. Cushman and Mr. John Carver (afterward 
 the first Governor of New Plymouth) were sent over to England as their agents to 
 agree with the Virginia Company for a settlement, and to obtain if possible a grant 
 of liberty of conscience in their intended plantation from King James. 
 
 From this negotiation, though conducted on their part with great discretion and 
 ability, they returned unsuccessful to Leyden in May, 1618. They met with no diffi 
 culty indeed from the Virginia Company, who were willing to grant them sufficient 
 territory, with as ample privileges as they could bestow ; but the pragmatical James, 
 the pretended vicegerent of the Deity, refused to grant them that liberty in religious 
 matters which was their principal object. This persevering people determined to 
 transport themselves to this country, relying upon James promise that he would 
 connive it, though not expressly tolerate them, and Mr. Cushman was again dispatched 
 to England in February, 1619, with Mr. William Bradford, to agree with the Virginia 
 Company on the terms of their removal and settlement. 
 
 After much difficulty and delay, they obtained a patent in the September follow 
 ing, upon which part of the church at Leyden, with their elder, Mr. Brewster, deter 
 mined to transport themselves as soon as possible. Mr. Cushman was one of the 
 agents in England to procure money, shipping, and other necessaries for the voyage, 
 and embarked with them at Southampton, August 5, 1620. But the ship in which 
 he sailed proving leaky, and after twice putting into port to repair, being condemned 
 as unfit to perform the voyage, Mr. Cushman with his family and a number of others 
 were obliged, though reluctantly, to relinquish the voyage for that time, and return 
 to London. Those in the other ship proceeded and made their settlement at Plym 
 outh in December, 1620, where Mr. Cushman also arrived in the ship Fortune from 
 London on the loth of November, 1621, but took passage in the same ship back 
 again, pursuant to the directions of the merchant adventurers in London (who fitted 
 out the ship, and by whose assistance the first settlers were transported), to give 
 them an account of the plantation. He sailed from Plymouth, December 13, 1621, 
 and arriving on the coast of England, the ship, with a cargo valued at 500 sterling, 
 was taken by the French. Mr. Cushman, with the crew, was carried into France ; 
 but arrived in London in the February following. During his short residence at 
 Plymouth, though a mere lay character, he delivered a discourse on the sin and dan 
 ger of self-love, which was printed in London (1622) and afterward reprinted in Bos 
 ton (1724) and again at Plymouth (1785). And though his name is not prefixed to 
 either of the two former editions, yet unquestionable tradition renders it certain that 
 he was the author, and even transmits to us a knowledge of the spot where it was 
 delivered. Mr. Cushman, though he constantly corresponded with his friends here, 
 and was very serviceable to their interest in London, never returned to the country 
 again ; but, whilst preparing for it, was removed to a better, in the year 1626. The 
 news of his death and Mr. Robinson s arrived at the same time at Plymouth, by Cap 
 tain Standish, and seems to have been equally lamented by their bereaved and suffer 
 ing friends there. He was zealously engaged in the prosperity of the plantation, a 
 man of activity and enterprise,well versed in business, respectable in point of intellectual 
 abilities, well accomplished in scriptural knowledge, an unaffected professor, and a 
 steady, sincere practicer of religion. The design of the above-mentioned discourse was 
 to keep up that flow of public spirit, which, perhaps, began then to abate, but which 
 was thought necessary for their preservation and security. The policy of that entire 
 25 
 
1!H THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 c minunity of interests which our fathers established, and which this sermon was de 
 signed to preserve, is, nevertheless, justly questionable. The love of separate prop 
 erty, for good and wise purposes, is strongly implanted in the heart of man. So far 
 from being unfavorable to a reasonable generosity and public spirit, it better enables 
 us to display them, and is not less consistent with the precepts of Scripture, rightly 
 understood, than with the dictates of reason. This is evidenced by the subsequent 
 conduct of this very people. In the year 1623, departing a little from their first sys 
 tem, they agreed that every family should plant for themselves, bringing in a compe 
 tent portion at harvest, for the maintenance of public officers, fishermen, etc., and in 
 all other things to go on in the general way (as they term it) as before ; for this pur 
 pose they assigned to every family a parcel of land, for a year only, in proportion to 
 their number. Even this temporary division, as Governor Bradford, in his manuscript 
 history, observes, "has a very good effect; makes all industrious; gives content; 
 even the women and children now go into the field to work, and much more corn is 
 planted than ever." In the spring of the year 1624, the people being still uneasy, 
 one acre of land was given to each, in fee simple; no more to be given till the expira 
 tion of the seven years. In the year 1627, when they purchased the interest of the 
 adventurers in England, in the plantation, there was a division and allotment of al 
 most all their property, real and personal ; twenty acres of tillage land to each, be 
 sides what they held before ; the meadows and the trade only remaining in common. 
 
 Thus it is observable how men, in spite of their principles, are naturally led into 
 that mode of conduct which truth and utility, ever coincident, point out. Our 
 fathers deserve the highest commendation for prosecuting, at the hazard of life and 
 fortune, that reformation in religion which the Church of England left imperfect ; 
 taking for this purpose the Sacred Scriptures as their only .guide, they traveled in 
 the path of truth, and appealed to a most noble and unerring standard ; but when 
 from their reverence to this divine authority, in matters of religion, they were in 
 clined to esteem it the only guide in all the affairs of life, and attempted to regulate 
 their civil polity upon church ideas, they erred and involved themselves in innumer 
 able difficulties. 
 
 The end of civil society is the security of the temporal liberty and prosperity of 
 man, not all the happiness and perfection which he is capable of attaining, for which 
 other means are appointed. Had not our fathers placed themselves upon such a 
 footing, with respect to property, as was repugnant to the nature of man, and not 
 warranted by the true end of civil society, there would probably have been no just 
 ground of complaint of a want of real and reasonable public spirit ; and the neces 
 sity of the exhortation and reproof contained in Mr. Cushman s discourse, would 
 have been superseded. Their zeal, their enterprise, and their uncommon sufferings 
 in the prosecution of their arduous undertaking, render it morally certain that they 
 would have ever cheerfully performed their duty in this respect. Their contempo 
 raries might censure them for what they did not, but their posterity must ever ad 
 mire and revere them for what they did exhibit. 
 
 After the death of Mr. Cushman, his family came over to New England. His 
 son, Thomas Cushman, succeeded Mr. Brewster as ruling elder of the Church of 
 Plymouth, being ordained to that office in 1649. He was a man of good gifts, and 
 frequently assisted in carrying on the public worship, preaching and catechising. 
 For it was one of the professed principles of that Church, in its first formation, " to 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 195 
 
 choose none for governing elders but such as were able to teach. He continued 
 in this office till he died, in 1691, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. 
 
 The above-mentioned discourse of Mr. Robert Cushman, in 1621, may be con 
 sidered as a specimen of the " prophesyings " of the brethren. The occasion was 
 singular; the exhortations and reproofs are not less so; but were adapted to the 
 then state of society. Some specimens may not be disagreeable, and are therefore 
 here inserted : 
 
 " Now, brethren, I pray you remember yourselves, and know that you are not in 
 a retired monastical course, but have given your names and promises one to another, 
 and covenanted here to cleave together in the service of God and the King. What 
 then must you do? May you live as retired hermits, and look after nobody? Nay, 
 you must seek still the wealth of one another ; and inquire, as David, how liveth 
 such a man? how is he clad? how is he fed? He is my brother, and my associate; 
 we ventured our lives together here, and had a hard brunt of it ; and we are in 
 league together. Is his labor harder than mine? surely I will ease him. Hath he 
 no bed to lie on ? I have two; I ll lend him one. Hath he no apparel? I have two 
 suits, I ll give him one of them. Eats he coarse fare, bread and water? and have I 
 better? surely we will part stakes. He is as good a man as I, and we are bound each 
 to the other ; so that his wants must be my wants, his sorrows my sorrows, his sick 
 ness my sickness, and his welfare my welfare ; for I am as he is. Such a sweet sym 
 pathy were excellent, comfortable, yea, heavenly, and is the only maker and conserver 
 of churches and commonwealths. 
 
 " It wonderfully encourageth men in their duties, when they see the burthen 
 equally borne ; but when some withdraw themselves, and retire to their own particu 
 lar ease, pleasure, or profit, what heart can men have to goon in their business? 
 When men are come together to lift some weighty piece of timber, or vessel, if one 
 stand still and do not lift, shall not the rest be weakened and disheartened ? Will 
 not a few idle drones spoil the whole stock of laborious bees? So one idle belly, 
 one murmurer, one complainer, one self-lover, will weaken and dishearten a whole 
 colony. Great matters have been brought to pass, where men have cheerfully, as 
 with one heart, hand, and shoulder, gone about it, both in wars, buildings, and plan 
 tations ; but where every man seeks himself, all cometh to nothing. 
 
 " The country is yet raw ; the land untilled ; the cities not builded ; the cattle not 
 settled. We are compassed about with a helpless and idle people, the natives of 
 the country, which can not, in any comely or -comfortable manner, help themselves ; 
 much less us. We also have been very chargeable to many of our loving friends which 
 helped us hither, and now again supplied us. So that before we think of gathering 
 riches we must even in conscience think of requiting their charge, love, and labor ; 
 and curses be on that profit and gain which aimeth not at this. Besides, how many 
 of our dear friends did here die at our first entrance! many of them, no doubt, for 
 want of good lodging, shelter, and comfortable things ; and many more may go after 
 them quickly, if care be not taken. Is this, then, a time for men to begin to seek 
 themselves? Paul saith that men in the last days shall be lovers of themselves (2 
 Tim. iii. 2) ; but it is here yet but the first days, and, as it were, the dawning of this 
 new world. It is now, therefore, no time for men to look to get riches, brave clothes, 
 dainty fare : but to look to present necessities. It is now no time to pamper the 
 flesh, live at ease, snatch, catch, scrape, and hoard up ; but rather to open the doors, 
 
196 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 the chests, and vessels, and say, Brother, neighbor, friend, what want ye? anything 
 that I have? make bold with it ; it is yours to command, to do you good, to comfort 
 and cherish you ; and glad I am that I have it for you. 
 
 " Let there be no prodigal son to come forth and say : Give me the portion of 
 lands and goods that appertaineth to me, and let me shift for myself. It is yet too 
 soon to put men to their shifts; Israel was seven years in Canaan before the land was 
 divided unto tribes, much longer before it was divided unto families ; and why 
 wouldest thou have thy particular portion but because thou thinkest to live better 
 than thy neighbor, and scorncst to live so meanly as he? But who, I pray thee, 
 brought this particularizing first into the world ? Did not Satan, who was not con 
 tent to keep that equal state with his fellows, but would set his throne above the 
 stars ? Did not he also entice man to despise his general felicity and happiness, and 
 go try particular knowledge of good and evil ? Nothing in this world doth more 
 resemble heavenly happiness than for men to live as one, being of one heart and one 
 soul ; neither anything more resembles hellish horror than for every man to shift for 
 himself; for if it be a good mind and practice thus to affect particulars, mine and 
 thine, then it should be best also for God to provide one heaven for thee and another 
 for thy neighbor. 
 
 " Objection. But some will say, If all men will do their endeavors, as I do, I 
 could be content with this generality ; but many are idle and slothful, and eat up 
 others labors, and therefore it is best to part, and then every man may do his 
 pleasure. 
 
 " If others be idle and thou diligent, thy fellowship, provocation, and example may 
 well help to cure that malady in them, being together, but, being asunder, shall they 
 not be more idle, and shall not gentry and beggary be quickly the glorious ensigns of 
 your commonwealth ? 
 
 " Be not too hasty to say men are idle and slothful. All men have not strength, 
 skill, faculty, spirit, and courage to work alike. It is thy glory and credit that thou 
 canst do so well, and his shame and reproach that he can do no better; and are not 
 these sufficient rewards to you both? 
 
 " If any be idle, apparently, you have a law and governors to execute the same, 
 and to follow that rule of the apostle, to keep back their bread, and let them not 
 eat ; go not, therefore, whispering, to charge men with idleness ; but go to the Governor 
 and prove them idle, and thou shall see them have their deserts. 
 
 "There is no grief so tedious as a churlish companion. Bear ye one another s 
 burdens, and be not a burden one to another. Avoid all factions, frowardness, sin 
 gularity, and withdrawings, and cleave fast to the Lord, and one to another, con 
 tinually; so shall you be a notable precedent to these poor heathens, whose eyes 
 are upon you, and who very brutishly and cruelly do daily eat and consume one 
 another, through their emulations, ways, and contentions ; be you, therefore, ashamed 
 of it, and win them to peace, both with yourselves and with one another, by your 
 peaceable examples, which will preach louder to them than if you could cry in theii 
 barbarous language; so also shall you be an encouragement to many of your Chris 
 tian friends, in your native country, to come to you, when they hear of your peace, 
 love, and kindness. But, above all, it shall go well with your souls, when that God 
 of peace and unity shall come to visit you with death, as He hath done many of 
 your associates, you bei-.ig found of Him, not in murmurings, discontent, and jars, 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 
 
 but in brotherly love and peace may be translated from this wandering wilderness 
 unto that joyful and heavenly Canaan. Amen." 
 
 EDWARD WINSLOW. 
 
 EDWARD WINSLOW HIS BIRTH AND EDUCATION TRAVELS ON THE CONTINENT REMOVES TO 
 AMERICA HIS VISIT TO MASASSOIT RETURNS TO ENGLAND SAILS AGAIN FOR PLYMOUTH 
 SENT AS AGENT TO ENGLAND COMMITTED TO THE FLEET PRISON RELEASED RETURNS 
 TO NEW ENGLAND AND CHOSEN GOVERNOR CHOSEN COMMISSIONER OF THE UNITED COL 
 ONIES SENT BY CROMWELL AGAINST THE SPANIARDS DIES ON THE PASSAGE TO JAMAICA 
 ACCOUNT OF HIS DESCENDANTS. 
 
 THIS eminently useful person was the eldest son of a gentleman of the same name, 
 of Droitwich, in Worcestershire, where he was born in 1 594. Of his education and 
 first appearance in life we have no knowledge. In the course of his travels on the 
 continent of Europe, he became acquainted with Mr. Robinson and the Church under 
 his pastoral care at Leyden, where he settled and married. To this Church he joined 
 himself, and with them he continued till their removal to America. He came hither 
 with the first company, and his name is the third in the list of those who subscribed 
 the covenant of incorporation before their disembarkation at Cape Cod. His family 
 then consisted of his wife and three other persons. He was one of the company who 
 coasted the bay of Cape Cod, and discovered the harbor of Plymouth ; and when the 
 sachem Masassoit came to visit the strangers, he offered himself as a hostage whilst 
 a conference was held and a treaty was made with the savage prince. 
 
 His wife died soon after his arrival; and, in the following spring, he married Su 
 sanna, the widow of William White, and mother of Peregrine, the first English child 
 born in New England. This was the first marriage solemnized in the colony (May 
 12, 1621). 
 
 In June he went, in company with Stephen Hopkins, to visit Sachem Masassoit 
 at Pokanoket. The design of this visit is related in Bradford s Life. The particular cir 
 cumstances of it may properly be detailed here, in the very words of Winslow s 
 original narrative : 
 
 " We set forward the loth of June, about nine in the morning; our guide [Tis- 
 quantum] resolving that night to rest at Namasket, a town under Masassoit, and 
 conceived by us to be very near, because the inhabitants flocked so thick, on every 
 slight occasion, among us ; but we found it to be fifteen English miles. On the way, 
 we found ten or twelve men, women, and children, which had pestered us till we were 
 weary of them ; perceiving that (as the manner of them all is) where victuals is easiest 
 to be got, there they live, especially in the summer; by reason whereof, our bay 
 affording many lobsters, they resort every spring-tide thither, and now returned with 
 us to Namasket. Thither we came about three in the afternoon ; the inhabitants 
 entertaining us, with joy, in the best manner they could, giving us a kind of bread, 
 called by them Mazium, and the spawn of shad, which then they got in abundance ; 
 insomuch as they gave us spoons to eat them ; with these they boiled musty acorns, 
 
198 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 but of the shad we ate heartily. They desired one of our men to shoot at a crow, 
 complaining what damage they sustained in their corn by them ; who shooting and 
 killing, they much admired it, as other shots on other occasions. 
 
 " After this, Tisquantum told us we should hardly, in one day, reach Pakanokick, 
 moving us to go eight miles farther, where we should find more store and better 
 victuals. Being willing to hasten our journey, we went, and came thither at set 
 ting-sun ; where we found many of the men of Namasket fishing at a ware which they 
 had made on a river which belonged to them, where they caught abundance of bass. 
 These welcomed us also, gave us of their fish, and we them of our victuals, not 
 doubting but we should have enough wherever we came. There we lodged in the 
 open fields ; for houses they had none, though they spent the most of the summer 
 there. The head of this river is reported to be not far from the place of our abode ; 
 upon it arc and have been many towns, it being a good length. The ground is very 
 good on both sides, it being, for the most part, cleared. Thousands of men have 
 lived there, which died in a great plague not long since ; and pity it was and is to see 
 so many goodly fields, and so well seated, without men to dress the same. 
 
 " The next morning we brake our fast, and took our leave, and departed ; being 
 then accompanied with six savages. Having gone about six miles by the river s side, 
 at a known shoal place, it being low water, they spake to us to put off our breeches, 
 for we must wade through. Here let me not forget the valor and courage of some 
 of the savages, on the opposite side of the river ; for there were remaining alive only 
 two men, both aged. These two, spying a company of men entering the river, ran 
 very swiftly, and low in the grass, to meet us at the bank ; where, with shrill voices, 
 and great courage, standing, charged upon us with their bows, they demanded what 
 we were, supposing us to be enemies, and thinking to take advantage of us in the 
 water; but, seeing we were friends, they welcomed us with such food as they had; 
 and we bestowed a small bracelet of beads on them. Thus far, we are sure, the tide 
 ebbs and flows. 
 
 " Having here again refreshed ourselves, we proceeded on our journey, the weather 
 being very hot ; yet the country so well watered that a man could scarce be dry, but 
 he should have a spring at hand to cool his thirst, beside small rivers in abundance. 
 The savages will not willingly drink but at a spring-head. When we came to any 
 small brook, where no bridge was, two of them desired to carry us through of their 
 own accord ; also fearing we were or would be weary, they offered to carry our pieces 
 [guns] ; also, if we would lay off any of our clothes, we should have them carried ; 
 and as the one of them had found more special kindness from one of the messengers, 
 and the other savage from the other, so they showed their thankfulness accordingly 
 in affording us all help and furtherance in the journey. 
 
 " As we passed along, we observed that there were few places by the river but 
 had been inhabited by reason whereof much ground was clear, save of weeds, which 
 grew higher than our heads. There is much good timber, oak, walnut, fir, beech, and 
 exceeding great chestnut trees. 
 
 " Afterward we came to a town of Masassoit s, where we eat oysters and other 
 fish. From thence we went to Pockanokick, but Masassoit was not at home. There 
 we staid, he being sent for. When news was brought of his coining, our guide, Tis 
 quantum, requested that at our meeting we would discharge our pieces. One of us 
 going to charge his piece, the women and children, through fear, ran away, and could 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 199 
 
 not be pacified till he laid it down again ; who afterward were better informed by our 
 interpreter. 
 
 " Masassoit being come, we discharged our pieces, and saluted him, who, after 
 their manner, kindly welcomed us, and took us into his house, and set us down by 
 him, where, having delivered our message and presents, and having put the coat on 
 his back and the chain about his neck, he was not a little proud to behold himself, 
 and his men also to see their king so bravely attired. 
 
 " For answer to our message, he told us we were welcome ; and he would gladly 
 continue that peace and friendship which was between him and us ; and for his men, 
 they should no more pester us, as they had done ; also that he would send to Paomet, 
 and help us to seed-corn, according to our request. 
 
 " This being done, his men gathered near to him, to whom he turned himself and 
 made a great speech, the meaning whereof (as far as we could learn) was, that he was 
 commander of the country, and that the people should bring their skins to us. He 
 named at least thirty places; and their answer was confirming and applauding what 
 he said. 
 
 " He then lighted tobacco for us, and fell to discoursing of England and of the King, 
 marvelling that he could live without a wife. Also he talked of the Frenchmen ; bid 
 ding us not to suffer them to come to Narrowhiganset, for it was King James s 
 country, and he was King James s man. It grew late, but he offered us no victuals, 
 for indeed he had not any, being so newly come home. Sd we desired to go to rest. 
 He laid us on the bed with himself and his wife ; they at the one end, and we at the 
 other; it being only planks, laid a foot from the ground, and a thin mat upon them. 
 Two more of his chief men, for want of room, pressed by and upon us, so that we 
 were worse wearied of our lodging than of our journey. 
 
 " The next day being Thursday, many of their sachems or petty governors came 
 to see us, and many of their men also. They went to their manner of games for 
 skins and knives. We challenged them to shoot for skins, but they durst not ; only 
 they desired to see one of us shoot at a mark ; who shooting with hail-shot, they 
 wondered to see the mark so full of holes. 
 
 " About one o clock, Masassoit brought two fishes that he had shot ; they were 
 like bream, but three times so big, and better meat. [Probably the fish called 
 Tataug.] These being boiled, there were at least forty that looked for a share 
 in them ; the most eat of them. This meal only, we had in two nights and a day ; 
 and had not one of us brought a partridge, we had taken our journey fasting. Very 
 importunate he was with us to stay with him longer ; but we desired to keep the 
 Sabbath at home and feared we should be light-headed for want of sleep ; for what 
 with bad lodging, barbarous singing (for they used to sing themselves to sleep), lie; 
 and fleas within doors, and musketoes without, we could hardly sleep, all the time 
 of our being there ; and we much feared that if we should stay any longer, we should 
 not be able to recover home for want of strength. 
 
 " On Friday morning, before sun-rising, we took our leave and departed. Masas 
 soit being both grieved and ashamed, that he could not better entertain us. Retain 
 ing Tisquantum to send from place to place, to procure truck for us, he appointed 
 another [guide] Tokamahamon in his place, whom we found faithful before and after 
 upon all occasions." 
 
 This narrative gives us a just idea of the hospitality and poverty of the Indians. 
 
200 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 They gladly entertain strangers with the best they can afford ; but it is familiar to 
 them to endure long abstinence. Those who visit them must be content to fare as 
 they do, or carry their own provisions and share it with them. 
 
 Mr. Winslow s next excursion was by sea to Monahigon, an island near the 
 mouth of Penobscot Bay, to procure a supply of bread from the fishing vessels, who 
 resorted to the eastern coast in the spring of 1622. This supply, though not large, 
 was freely given to the suffering colony ; and being prudently managed in the dis 
 tribution, amounted to one-quarter of a pound for each person, till the next harvest 
 By means of this excursion, the people of Plymouth became acquainted with the 
 eastern coast ; of which knowledge they afterward availed themselves, for a beneficial 
 traffic with the natives. 
 
 In the spring of the year 1623 Mr. Winslow made a second visit to the sachem, 
 on account of his sickness ; the particular circumstances of which are thus given 
 in his own words : 
 
 " News came to Plymouth that Massassowat was like to die, and that at the same 
 time there was a Dutch ship driven so high on the shore, before his dwelling, by stress 
 of weather, that till the tides increased, she could not be got off. Now it being 
 a commendable manner of the Indians, when any, especially of note, are dangerously 
 sick, for all that profess friendship to them to visit them in their extremity ; 
 therefore it was thought meet, that as we had ever professed friendship, so we 
 should now maintain the same, by observing this their laudable custom ; and the 
 rather, because we desired to have some conference with the Dutch, not knowing 
 when we should have so fit an opportunity. 
 
 "To that end, myself having formerly been there, and understanding in some 
 measure the Dutch tongue, the Governor [Bradford] again laid this service on 
 myself, and fitted me with some cordials to administer to him; having one Mr. John 
 Hamden, a gentleman of London, who then wintered with us, and desired much 
 to sec the country, for my comfort, and Hobamock for our guide. So we set 
 forward, and lodged the first night at Namaskat, where we had friendly en 
 tertainment. 
 
 " The next day, about one o clock, we came to a ferry in Conbatant s country, 
 where, upon discharge of my piece, divers Indians came to us, from a house not far 
 off. They told us that Massassowat was dead, and that day buried ; and that the 
 Dutch would be gone before we could get thither, having hove off their ship already. 
 This news struck us blank ; but especially Hobamock, who desired me to return 
 with all speed. I told him I would first think of it, considering now, that he being 
 dead, Conbatant, or Corbitant, was the most likely to succeed him, and that we were 
 not above three miles from Mattapuyst, his dwelling place. Although he were but 
 a hollow-hearted friend to us, I thought no time so fit as this to enter into more 
 friendly terms with him, and the rest of the sachems thereabouts ; hoping, through 
 the blessing of God, it would be a means in that unsettled state, to settle their affec 
 tions toward us; and though it were somewhat dangerous, in respect of our personal 
 safety, yet esteeming it the best means, leaving the event to God in His mercy, 
 I resolved to put it in practice, if Mr. Hamden and Hobamock durst attempt it with 
 me, whom I found willing. So we went toward Mattapuyst. 
 
 " In the way, Hobamock manifesting a troubled spirit, brake forth into these 
 speeches. Neen womasn Sagmnus, etc. My loving Sachem ! many have I known 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 201 
 
 but never any like thee ! Then turning to me, he said, whilst I lived, I should 
 never see his like among the Indians. He was no liar, he was not bloody and cruel 
 like other Indians ; in anger and passion he was soon reclaimed ; easy to be recon 
 ciled toward such as had offended him ; ruled by reason, in such measure as he would 
 not scorn the advice of mean men ; and that he governed his men better with few 
 strokes than others did with many; truly loving where he loved; yea, he feared we 
 had not a faithful friend left among the Indians, showing how often he restrained 
 their malice. He continued a long speech, with such signs of lamentation and un 
 feigned sorrow, as would have made the hardest heart relent. 
 
 "At length we came to Mattapuyst, and went to the sachem s place; Conbatant 
 was not at home, but at Pokanokick, five or six miles off. The squaw sachem gave 
 us friendly entertainment. Here we inquired again concerning Massassowat ; they 
 thought him dead ; but knew no certainty. Whereupon I hired one to go with all 
 exhibition to Pokanokick, that we might know the certainty thereof, and withal to 
 acquaint Conbatant with our being there. About half an hour before sunsetting 
 the messenger returned, and told us that he was not yet dead, though there was no 
 hope that we should find him living. Upon this, we were much revived, and set 
 forward with all speed, though it was late within night when we got thither. About 
 two o clock that afternoon the Dutchman had departed, so that, in that respect, our 
 journey was frustrate. 
 
 " When we came thither, we found the house so full of men, as we could scarce 
 get in, though they used their best diligence to make way for us. They were in the 
 midst of their charms for him, making such a hellish noise, as distempered us that 
 were well, and therefore unlike to ease him that was sick. About him were six or 
 eight women, who chafed his arms and legs to keep heat in him. When they had 
 made an end of their charming, one told him that his friends the English were come 
 to see him. Having his understanding left, though his sight wholly gone, he asked 
 who was come? they told him Winsnoiv ; (for they can not pronounce the letter L, 
 but ordinarily N in place of it ;) he desired to speak with me. When I came to him 
 and they told him of it, he put forth his hand to me, which I took ; then he said 
 twice, though very inwardly, keen Winsnow ? art thou Winslow ? I answered 
 a/t/ic, that is, yes. Then he doubled these words, Matta ncen wonckunct namen 
 Winsnow! that is to say, O Winslow, I shall never see thee again! Then I 
 called Hobamock, and desired him to tell Masassoit, that the Governor hearing of 
 his sickness, was sorry for the same ; and though, by reason of many businesses, he 
 could not himself come, yet he had sent me, with such things for him as he thought 
 most likely to do him good in this extremity; and whereof if he pleased to take, I 
 would presently give him ; which he desired ; and, having -a confection of many 
 comfortable conserves, on the point of my knife, I gave him some, which I could 
 scarce get through his teeth ; when it was dissolved in his mouth, he swallowed the 
 juice of it, whereat those that were about him were much rejoiced, saying he had 
 not swallowed anything in two days before. Then I desired to see his mouth, which 
 was exceedingly furred, and his tongue swelled in such a manner, that it was not 
 possible for him to eat such meat as they had. Then I washed his mouth, and 
 scraped his tongue ; after which I gave him more of the confection, which he swal 
 lowed with more readiness. Then he desired to drink ; I dissolved some of it in 
 water, and gave him thereof: and within half an hour, this wrought a great altera- 
 26 
 
202 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 tion in him, and presently after his sight began to come to him. Then I gave him 
 more, and told him of a mishap we had by the way, in breaking a bottle of drink, 
 which the Governor also sent him, saying, if he would send any of his men to Plym 
 outh, I would send for more of the same ; also for chickens, to make him broth, and 
 for other things which I knew were good for him, and would stay the return of the 
 messenger. This he took marvellous kindly, and appointed some who were ready to 
 go by two o clock in the morning, against which time I made ready a letter, declar 
 ing our good success, and desiring such things as were proper. He requested me 
 that I would the next day take my piece, and kill him some fowl, and make him 
 such pottage as he had eaten at Plymouth, which I promised ; but his stomach com 
 ing to him, I must needs make him some without fowl, before I went abroad. I 
 caused a woman to bruise some corn and take the flour from it, and set the broken 
 corn in a pipkin (for they have earthen pots of all sizes). When the day broke, we 
 went out to seek herbs (it being the middle of March), but could not find any but 
 strawberry leaves, of which I gathered a handful and put into the same, and because 
 I had nothing to relish it, I went forth again and pulled up a sassafras root, and 
 sliced a piece and boiled it till it had a good relish. Of this broth I gave him a pint, 
 which he drank and liked it well ; after this his sight mended, and he took some 
 rest. That morning he caused me to spend in going among the sick in the town, 
 requesting me to wash their mouths, and give them some of the same I gave him. 
 This pains I took willingly, though it were much offensive to me. 
 
 " When the messengers were returned, finding his stomach come to him, he would 
 not have the chickens killed, but kept them for breed. Neither durst we give him 
 any physic, because he was so much altered, not doubting of his recovery if he were 
 careful. Upon his recovery he brake forth into these speeches : Now I see the En 
 glish are my friends, and love me ; whilst I live I will never forget this kindness they 
 have showed me. At our coming away he called Hobamock to him, and privately told 
 him of the plot of the Massachusetts againt Wcston s colony, and so against us. But he 
 would neither join therein, nor give way to any of his. With this he charged him to 
 acquaint me, by the way, that I might inform the Governor. Being fitted for our re 
 turn, we took leave of him, who returned many thanks to our Governor, and also to 
 ourselves, for our labor and love ; the like did all that were about him. So we 
 departed." 
 
 In the autumn of the same year, Mr. Winslow went to England as agent to the 
 colony, to give an account of their proceedings to the adventurers, and procure such 
 things as were necessary. Whilst he was in England he published a narrative of the 
 settlement and transactions of the colony at Plymouth, under this title : " Good 
 News from New England ; or, A Relation of things Remarkable in that Plantation. 
 By E. Winslow." 
 
 This narrative is abridged in Purchas Pilgrims, and has been of great service to all 
 succeeding historians. To it he subjoined an account of the manners and customs, 
 the religious opinions and ceremonies of the Indian natives ; which, being an original 
 work and now rarely to be found, is inserted in the Appendix. 
 
 In the following spring (March, 1624) Mr. Winslow returned from England, hav 
 ing been absent no longer than six months, bringing a good supply of clothing and 
 other necessaries, and, what was of more value than any other supply, three heifers 
 and one bull the first neat cattle brought into New England. 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 203 
 
 The same year he went again to England, where he had an opportunity of cor 
 recting a- mistake which had been made in his former voyage. The adventurers had 
 then, in the same ship with the cattle, sent over John Lyford, as a minister, who was 
 soon suspected of being a person unfit for that office. When Mr. Winslow went again to 
 England he imparted this suspicion, and at a meeting of the adventurers, it appeared 
 on examination that Lyford had been a minister in Ireland, where his conduct had 
 been so bad as to oblige him to quit that kingdom, and that the adventurers had 
 been imposed upon by false testimony concerning him. With this discovery, Mr. 
 Winslow came back to Plymouth in 1625, and found the court sitting on the affair of 
 Oldham, who had returned after banishment. The true characters of these impostors 
 being thus discovered, they were both expelled from the plantation. 
 
 About the same time, Governor Bradford having prevailed on the people of Plym 
 outh to choose five assistants instead of one, Mr. Winslow was first elected to this 
 office, in which hq was continued till 1633, when by the same influence he was chosen 
 Governor for one year. 
 
 Mr. Winslow was a man of great activity and resolution, and therefore well qual 
 ified to conduct enterprises for the benefit of the colony. He frequently went to 
 Penobscot, Kennebec, and Connecticut Rivers on trading voyages, and rendered 
 himself useful and agreeable to the people. 
 
 In 1635 he undertook another agency in England for the colonies of Plymouth 
 and Massachusetts partly on occasion of the intrusions which were made on the 
 territory of New England by the French on the east and by the Dutch on the west, and 
 partly to answer complaints which had been made to the Government against the 
 Massachusetts colony by Thomas Morton, who had been twice expelled for his mis 
 behavior. 
 
 At that time the care of the colonies was committed to a number of bishops, 
 lords, and gentlemen, of whom Archbishop Laud was at the head. It was also in 
 contemplation to establish a general government in America, which would have su 
 perseded the charters of the colonies. 
 
 Winslow s situation at that time was critical and his treatment was severe. In 
 his petition to the commissioners he set forth the encroachments of the French and 
 Dutch, and prayed for " a special warrant to the English colonies to defend them 
 selves against all foreign enemies." Governor Winthrop censured this petition as 
 " ill-advised, because such precedents might endanger their liberties ; that they should 
 do nothing but by commission out of England." 
 
 The petition, however, was favorably received by some of the Board. Winslow 
 was heard several times in support of it, and pointed out a way in which the object 
 might have been attained without any charge to the Crown, by furnishing some of 
 the chief men of the colonies with authority, which they would exercise at their 
 own expense and without any public national disturbance. This proposal crossed 
 the design of George and Mason, whose aim wac to establish a general government ; 
 and the Archbishop, who was engaged in their interest, put a check to Winslow s 
 proposal by -questioning him on Morton s accusation for his own personal conduct in 
 America. The offenses alleged against him were that he not being in holy orders, 
 but a mere layman had taught publicly in the church and had officiated in the cele 
 bration of marriages. To the former Winslow answered " that sometimes, when the 
 church was destitute of a minister, he had exercised his gift for the edification of his 
 
THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 brethren." To the latter, " that, though he had officiated as a magistrate in the sol 
 emnizing of marriage, yet he regarded it only as a civil contract ; that the people of 
 Plymouth had for a long time been destitute of a minister, and were compelled by 
 necessity to have recourse to the magistrate in that solemnity ; that this was not to 
 them a novelty having been accustomed to it in Holland, where he himself had 
 been married by a Dutch magistrate in the State house." On this honest confession 
 the Archbishop pronounced him guilty of the crime of separation from the national 
 Church, and prevailed on the Board to consent to his imprisonment. He was there 
 fore committed to the Fleet prison, where he lay confined seventeen weeks ; but 
 after that time, on petitioning the Board, he obtained release. 
 
 At his return to New England the colony showed him the highest degree of re 
 spect by choosing him their Governor for the succeeding year (1636). In this office 
 he conducted himself greatly to their satisfaction. In 1644 he was again honored 
 with the same appointment, and, in the intermediate years, was the first on the list 
 of magistrates. 
 
 When the colonies of New England entered into a confederation for their mutual 
 defense in 1643, M r - Winslow was chosen one of the commissioners on behalf of 
 Plymouth, and was continued in that office till 1646, when he was solicited by the 
 colony of Massachusetts to go again to England to answer to the complaints of 
 Samuel Gorton and others, who had charged them with religious intolerance and 
 persecution. The times being changed and the Puritans being in power, Mr. Wins- 
 low had great advantage in this business, from the credit and esteem which he en 
 joyed with that party. We have no account of the particulars of this agency, but 
 only in general, that, " by his prudent management, he prevented any damage and 
 cleared the colony from any blame or dishonor." 
 
 One design of the confederation of the colonies was to promote the civilization 
 of the Indians and their conversion to the Christian religion. In this great and good 
 work Mr. Winslow was from principle very zealously engaged. In England he 
 employed his interest and friendship with members of the Parliament, and other gen 
 tlemen of quality and fortune, to erect a corporation there for the prosecution of the 
 design. For this purpose an act of Parliament was passed (1649), incorporating a 
 society in England " for propagating the Gospel in New England." The commis 
 sioners of the United Colonies were constituted a Board of Correspondents, and dis 
 tributors of the money, which was supplied in England by charitable donations from 
 all the cities, towns, and parishes in the kingdom. By the influence and exertions 
 of both these respectable bodies, ministers were supported among the Indians of 
 New England ; the Bible and other books of piety were translated into the Indian 
 tongue, and printed for their use ; and much pains were taken by several worthy 
 ministers, and other gentlemen, to instruct the Indians, and reduce them to a civil 
 ized life. This society is still in existence, and, till the revolution in America, they 
 kept up a Board of Correspondents at Boston, but since that period it has been 
 discontinued. Of this corporation, at its first establishment, Mr. Winslow was a very 
 active and faithful member in England, where his reputation was great and his 
 abilities highly valued by the prevailing party, who found him so much employment 
 there, and elsewhere, that he never returned to New England. 
 
 When Oliver Cromwell (1655) planned an expedition against the Spaniards in the 
 West Indies, and sent Admiral Penn and General Venables to execute it, he ap- 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 205 
 
 pointed three commissioners to superintend and direct their operations, of which 
 number Winslow was the chief; the other two were Richard Holdrip and Edward 
 Blagge. Their object was to attack St. Domingo, the only place of strength which 
 the Spaniards had in Hispaniola. 
 
 The commanders disagreed in their tempers and views, and the control of the 
 commissioners was of no avail. The troops, ill appointed and badly provided, were 
 landed at too great a distance from the city, and lost their way in the woods. Worn 
 with hunger and thirst, heat and fatig ue, they were routed by an inconsiderable 
 number of Spaniards ; six hundred were killed, and the remnant took refuge on 
 board their vessels. 
 
 To compensate as far as possible for this unfortunate event, the fleet sailed for 
 Jamaica, which surrendered without any resistance. But Mr. Winslow, who partook 
 of the chagrin of the defeat, did not enjoy the pleasure of the victory. In the pas 
 sage between Hispaniola and Jamaica, the heat of the climate threw him into a 
 fever, which, operating with the dejection of his mind, put an end to his life on the 
 8th of May, 1655, in the sixty-first year of his age. His body was committed to the 
 deep with the honors of war, forty-two guns being fired by the fleet on that occasion. 
 
 The following well-meant, but inelegant lines were written by one of the passen 
 gers on board the same ship in which he died : 
 
 " The eighth of May, west from Spaniola shore, 
 God took from us our grand commissioner, 
 Winslow by name ; a man in chiefest trust, 
 Whose life was sweet and conversation just ; 
 Whose parts and wisdom most men did excel ; 
 An honor to his place, as all can tell." 
 
 Before his departure from New England Mr. Winslow had made a settlement on 
 a valuable tract of land in Marshfield, to which he gave the name of Carswell, prob 
 ably from a castle and seat of that name in Staffordshire. His son, Josiah Winslow, 
 was a magistrate and Governor of the colony, and general of the New England 
 forces, in the war with the Indians, called Philip s war. He died in 1630. Isaac, 
 the son of Josiah Winslow, sustained the chief civil and military offices in the county 
 of Plymouth, after its incorporation with Massachusetts, and was President of the 
 Provincial Council. He died in 1738. John Winslow, the son of Isaac, was a cap 
 tain in the unfortunate expedition to Cuba in 1740, and afterward an officer in the 
 British service, and major-general in several expeditions to Kennebec, Nova Scotia, 
 and Crown Point. He died in 1774, aged seventy-one. His son, Dr. Isaac Winslow, 
 is now in possession of the family estate at Marshfield. By the favor of this gentle 
 man, the letter-books and journals of his late father, Major-General Winslow, with 
 many ancient family papers, containing a fund of genuine information, are deposited 
 in the library of the Historical Society. There are several other reputable branches 
 of this family in New England and Nova Scotia. 
 
206 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 MILES STANDISH. 
 
 MILES STANDISH A SOLDIER IN THE NETHERLANDS EMBARKS FOR AMERICA COMPELS COR- 
 B1TANT TO SUBMIT HIS RESOLUTE CONDUCT WITH THE INDIANS HIS EXPEDITION TO 
 WESSAGUSSET AND CAPE ANN MR. HUBBARD S OBSERVATIONS RELATING TO HIM MR. 
 ROBINSON S LETTER STANDISH RETURNS TO PLYMOUTH EXPEDITION AGAINST MORTON 
 HIS SETTLEMENT AT DANBURY HIS DEATH AND DESCENDANTS STITH S REMARKS ON 
 SENDING CONVICTS TO VIRGINIA. 
 
 THIS intrepid soldier, the hero of New England, as John Smith was of Virginia, 
 was a native of Lancashire, in the north of England ; but the date of his birth is not 
 preserved. Descended from the younger branch of a family of distinction, he was 
 " heir apparent to a great estate of lands and livings, surreptitiously detained from 
 him," which compelled him to seek subsistence for himself. Though small in stature, 
 he had an active genius, a sanguine temper, and a strong constitution. These 
 qualities led him to the profession of arms; and the Netherlands being, in his youth, 
 a theater of war, he entered into the service of Queen Elizabeth, in aid of the Dutch ; 
 and, after the truce, settled with the English refugees at Leyden. 
 
 When they meditated a removal to America, Standish, though not a member of 
 their church, was thought a proper person to accompany them. Whether he joined 
 them at their request or his own motion, does not appear ; but he engaged with zeal 
 and resolution in their enterprise, and embarked with the first company, in 1620. 
 
 On their arrival at Cape Cod, he was appointed commander of the first party of 
 sixteen men, who went ashore on discovery ; and when they began their settlement 
 at Plymouth he was unanimously chosen captain, or chief military commander. In 
 several interviews with the natives he was the first to meet them, and was generally 
 accompanied with a very small number of men, selected by himself. 
 
 After the league was made with Masassoit, one of his petty sachems, Corbitant, 
 became discontented, and was meditating to join with the Narragansets against the 
 English. Standish, with fourteen men and a guide, went to Corbitant s place (Swanzey), 
 and surrounded his house ; but not finding him at home, they informed his people 
 of their intention of destroying him if he should persist in his rebellion. Corbitant, 
 hearing of his danger, made an acknowledgment to Masassoit, and entreated his 
 mediation with the English for peace. He was soon after [September. 13, 1621] 
 admitted, with eight other chiefs, to subscribe an instrument of submission to the 
 English Government. 
 
 In every hazardous enterprise Captain Standish was ready to put himself fore 
 most, whether the objects were discovery, traffic, or war, and the people, animated 
 by his example, and confiding in his bravery and fidelity, thought themselves safe 
 under his command. 
 
 When the town of Plymouth [1622] was inclosed and fortified, the defense of it 
 was committed to the Captain, who made the most judicious disposition of their 
 force. He divided them into four squadrons, appointing those whom he thought 
 most fit, to command ; and ordered every man, on any alarm, to repair to his respect 
 ive station, and put himself under his proper officer. A select company was 
 appointed, in case of accidental fire, to mount guard, with their backs to the fire, 
 that they might prevent the approach of an enemy during the conflagration. 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 207 
 
 Being sent on a trading voyage to Matachiest [between Barnstable and Yarmouth 
 Feb., 1623], a severe storm came on, during the first night, by which the harbor was 
 filled with ice, and Captain Standish, with his party, was obliged to lodge in one of 
 the huts of the savages. They came together in a considerable number, and, under 
 the mask of friendship, promised to supply him with corn. Standish, suspecting by 
 their number that their intention was hostile, would not permit his men to lie down 
 all at once, but ordered them to sleep and watch by turns. In the morning a discov 
 ery was made that some things had been stolen from his shallop. The captain im 
 mediately went with his whole force, consisting of six men, surrounded the house of 
 the sachem lanough, and obliged him to find the thief and restore the stolen things. 
 This resolute behavior struck them with awe ; the trade went on peaceably, and when 
 the harbor was cleared the shallop came off with a load of corn, and arrived safely at 
 Plymouth. 
 
 This was the first suspicion of a conspiracy, which had for some time been form 
 ing among the Indians, to destroy the English. In the following month [March] he 
 had another specimen of their insolence at Manomet, whither he went to fetch home 
 the corn which Governor Bradford had bought in the preceding autumn. The cap 
 tain was not received with that welcome which the Governor had experienced. Two 
 Indians from Massachusetts were there, one of whom had an iron dagger, which he 
 had gotten from some of Weston s people at Wessagusset [Weymouth], and which 
 he gave to Canacum, the sachem of Manomet, in the view of Standish. The present 
 was accompanied with a speech, which the captain did not then perfectly understand, 
 but the purport of it was, " That the English were too strong for the Massachusetts 
 Indians to attack without help from the others : because if they should cut off the 
 people in their bay, yet they feared that those of Plymouth would revenge their 
 death. He, therefore, invited the sachem to join with them and destroy both col 
 onies. He magnified his own strength and courage, and derided the Europeans be 
 cause he had seen them die, crying and making sour faces, like children." An Indian 
 of Paomet was present, who had formerly been friendly, and now professed the same 
 kindness, offering his personal service to get the corn on board the shallop, though 
 he had never done such work before ; and inviting the captain to lodge in his hut, as 
 the weather was cold. Standish passed the night by his fire, but though earnestly 
 pressed to take his rest, kept himself continually in motion, and the next day, by the 
 help of the squaws, got his corn on board, and returned to Plymouth. It was after 
 ward discovered that this Indian intended to kill him if he had fallen asleep. 
 
 About the same time happened Mr. Winslow s visit to Masassoit in his sickness, 
 and a full discovery of the plot which the Indians at Massachusetts had contrived to 
 destroy the .English. The people whom Weston had sent to plant a colony at Wes 
 sagusset were so disorderly and imprudent, that the Indians were not only disgusted 
 with them, but despised them. These were destined to be the first victims. Their 
 overseer, John Sanders, was gone to Monhegan to meet the fishermen at their com 
 ing to the coast, and get some provisions. During his absence the Indians had grown 
 more insolent than before ; and it was necessary that some force should be sent 
 thither, as well to protect the colony as to crush the conspiracy. Standish was- the 
 commander of the party ; and as this was his capital exploit, it may be most satisfac 
 tory and entertaining to give the account of it as related by Mr. Winslow in his nar 
 rative : 
 
208 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 " The 2$d of March [1623] being a yearly Court day, we came to this conclusion : 
 that Captain Standish should take as many men as he thought sufficient to make his 
 party good against all the Indians in Massachusetts Bay ; and because it is impossible 
 to deal with them in open defiance, but to take them in such traps as they lay for 
 others ; therefore, that he should pretend trade, as at other times ; but first to go to the 
 English and acquaint them with the plot and the end of his own coming, that by 
 comparing it with their carriage towards them, he might better judge of the certainty 
 of it, and more fitly take opportunity to revenge the same ; but should forbear, if it 
 were possible, till such time as he could make sure of Wittuwamat, a bloody and bold 
 villain, whose head he had orders to bring with him. Upon this, Captain Standish 
 made choice of eight men, and would not take more, because he would prevent 
 jealousy. On the next day, before he could go, came one of Weston s company to 
 us, with a pack on his back, who made a pitiful narration of their lamentable and 
 weak estate, and of the Indians carriage; whose boldness increased abundantly, in 
 somuch as they would take their victuals out of their pots, and eat before their faces ; 
 yea, if in any thing they gainsaid them, they were ready to hold a knife at their 
 breasts. He said that, to give them content, they had hanged one of the company 
 who had stolen their corn, and yet they regarded it not ; that another of them had 
 turned savage ; that their people had mostly forsaken the town, and made their ren 
 dezvous where they got their victuals, because they would not take pains to bring it 
 home ; that they had sold their clothes for corn, and were ready to perish with 
 hunger and cold, and that they were dispersed into three companies, having scarcely 
 any powder and shot. As this relation was grievous to us, so it gave us good en 
 couragement to proceed; and the wind coming fair the next day, March 25, Captain 
 Standish being now fitted, set forth for Massachusetts. 
 
 " The captain being come to Massachusetts, went first to the ship, but found 
 neither man nor dog therein. On the discharge of a musket, the master and some 
 others showed themselves, who were on shore gathering ground-nuts and other food. 
 After salutation, Captain Standish asked them how they durst so leave the ship, and 
 live in such security? They answered, like men senseless of their own misery, that 
 they feared not the Indians, but lived and suffered them to lodge with them, not 
 having a sword nor a gun, or needing the same. To which the captain replied, that 
 if there were no cause, he was glad. But upon further inquiry, understanding that 
 those in whom John Sanders had reposed most confidence were at the plantation, 
 thither he went and made known the Indians purpose, and the end of his own com 
 ing ; and told them that if they durst not stay there, it was the intention of the Gov- 
 enor and people of Plymouth to receive them till they could be better provided for. 
 These men answered that they could expect no better; and it was of God s mercy 
 that they were not killed before his coming, desiring that he would neglect no op 
 portunity to proceed ; hereupon he advised them to secrecy, and to order one-third 
 of their company that were farthest off to come home, and on pain of death to keep 
 there, himself allowing them a pint of Indian corn to a man for a day, though that 
 was spared out of our seed. The weather proving very wet and stormy, it was the 
 longer before he could do anything. 
 
 " In the meantime an Indian came to him and brought some furs, but rather to 
 get what he could from the captain than to trade, and though the captain carried 
 things as smoothly as he could, yet at his return the Indian reported that he saw by 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 209 
 
 his eyes that he was angry in his heart, and therefore began to suspect themselves dis 
 covered. This caused one Pecksout, who was a Pinese [chief], being a man of 
 a notable spirit, to come to Hobamock [Standish s Indian guide and interpreter] 
 and tell him that he understood the captain was come to kill himself and the rest of 
 the savages there. Tell him, said he, we know it, but fear him not, neither will 
 we shun him ; but let him begin when he dare, he shall not take us at unawares. 
 Many times after, divers of them, severally, or a few together, came to the plantation, 
 where they would whet and sharpen the points of their knives before his face, and 
 use many other insulting gestures and speeches. Among the rest, Wittuwamat 
 bragged of the excellency of his knife, on the handle of which was pictured a wom 
 an s face. But, said he, I have another at home, wherewith I have killed both 
 French and English, and that hath a man s face on it, and by and by these two must 
 be married. Further he said of that knife which he there had, Hinnain namcn, 
 hinnain michen, matta cuts, that is to say, by and by it should sec, by and by it should 
 eat, but not speak. Also Pecksout being a man of greater stature than the captain, 
 told him, Though you are a great captain, yet you are but a little man ; though I be 
 no sachem, yet I am a man of great strength and courage. These things the cap 
 tain observed, but for the present bore them with patience. 
 
 "On the next day, seeing he could not get many of them together at once, but 
 Pecksout and Wittuwamat being together with another man and the brother of Wit 
 tuwamat, a youth of eighteen, putting many tricks on the weaker sort of men, and 
 having about as many of his own men in the same room, the captain gave the word 
 to his men, and the door being fast shut, he begun himself with Pecksout, and snatch 
 ing the knife from his neck, after much struggling killed him therewith ; the rest kill 
 ed Wittuwamat and the other man ; tne youth they took and hanged. It is incredi 
 ble how many wounds these men received before they died, not making any fearful 
 noise, but catching at their weapons and striving to the last. Hobamock stood by as a 
 spectator, observing how our men demeaned themselves in the action ; which being 
 ended, he, smiling, brake forth and said: Yesterday Pecksout bragged of his own 
 strength and stature, and told you that though you were a great captain, yet you 
 were but a little man ; but to-day I see you are big enough to lay him on the ground. 
 
 " There being some women at the same time there, Captain Standish left them in 
 the custody of Weston s people at the town, and sent word to another company to kill 
 those Indian men that were among them. These killed two more ; himself with 
 some of his own men went to another place and killed another, but through the neg 
 ligence of one man an Indian escaped, who discovered and crossed their proceedings. 
 
 " Captain Standish took one-half of his men with one or two of Weston s and 
 Hobamock, still seeking them. At length they espied a file of Indians making toward 
 them, and there being a small advantage in the ground by reason of a hill, both com 
 panies strove for it. Captain Standish got it, whereupon the Indians retreated, and 
 took each man his tree, letting fly their arrows amain, especially at himself and 
 Hobamock. Whereupon Hobamock cast off his coat and chased them so fast that 
 our people were not able to hold way with him. They could have but one certain 
 mark, the arm and half the face of a notable villain as he drew [his bow] at Captain 
 Standish, who with another, both discharged at him and brake his arm. Whereupon 
 they fled into a swamp ; when they were in the thicket they parlied, but got nothing 
 but foul language. So our captain dared the sachem to come out and fight like a 
 27 
 
210 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 man, showing how base and womanlike he was in tonguing it as he did ; but he re 
 fused and fled. So the captain returned to the plantation, where he released the 
 women and took not their beaver coats from them, nor suffered the least discourtesy 
 to be offered them. 
 
 " Now were Weston s people resolved to leave the plantation and go to Monhe- 
 gan, hoping to get passage and return [to England] with the fishing-ships. The cap* 
 tain told them that for his own part he durst live there with fewer men than they 
 were, yet since they were otherwise minded, according to his orders from the Gov 
 ernor and people of Plymouth, he would help them with corn which he did, scarce 
 leaving himself more than brought them home. Some of them disliked to go to 
 Monhegan ; and, desiring to go with him to Plymouth, he took them into the shal 
 lop ; and, seeing the others set sail and clear of Massachusetts Bay, he took leave 
 and returned to Plymouth, bringing the head of VVittuwamat, which was set up on 
 the fort. 
 
 " This sudden and unexpected execution had so terrified and amazed the other 
 people who intended to join with the Massachusencks against us that they forsook 
 their houses running to and fro like men distracted living in swamps and other 
 desert places, and so brought disease upon themselves, whereof many are dead as 
 Canacum, sachem of Manomet ; Aspinet, of Nauset ; and lanough, of Mantachiest. 
 This sachem [lanough], in the midst of these distractions, said the God of the 
 English was offended with them and would destroy them in His anger. From one 
 of these places a boat was sent with presents, to the Governor, hoping thereby to 
 work their peace ; but the boat was lost and three of the people drowned. Only 
 one escaped, who returned ; so that none of them durst come among us." 
 
 The Indian who had been confined at Plymouth on his examination confessed 
 the plot, in which five persons were principally concerned, of whom two were killed. 
 He protested his own innocence, and his life was spared on condition that he would 
 carry a message to his sachem (Obtakiest), demanding three of Weston s men whom 
 he held in custody. A woman returned with his answer, that the men were killed 
 before the message arrived, for which he was very sorry. 
 
 Thus ended Weston s plantation within one year after it began. He had been 
 one of the adventurers to Plymouth, but quitted them and took a separate patent, 
 and his plantation was intended to rival that of Plymouth. He did not come in 
 person to America till after the dispersion of his people some of whom he found 
 among the eastern fishermen, and from them he first heard of the ruin of his enter 
 prise. In a storm he was cast away between the rivers of Piscataqua and Merri- 
 mack, and was robbed by the natives of all which he had saved from the wreck. 
 Having borrowed a suit of clothes from some of the people at Piscataqua, he came 
 to Plymouth; where, in consideration of his necessity, the Government lent him two 
 hundred weight of beaver, with which he sailed to the eastward with such of his 
 own people as were disposed to accompany him. It is observed that he never re 
 paid the debt but with enmity and reproach. 
 
 The next adventure in which we find Captain Standish engaged was at Cape Ann, 
 where the fishermen of Plymouth had in 1624 erected a stage, and a company from the 
 west of England in the following year had taken possession of it. Standish was or 
 dered from Plymouth with a party to retake it, but met a refusal. The controversy 
 grew warm, and high words passed on both sides. But the prudence of Roger Conant, 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS.* 211 
 
 agent for the west countrymen, and of Mr. Pierce, master of their ship, prevented 
 matters from coming to extremity. The ship s crew lent their assistance in building 
 another stage, which the Plymouth fishermen accepted in lieu of the former, and 
 thus peace and harmony were restored. Mr. Hubbard, who has preserved the mem 
 ory of this affair, reflects on Captain Standish in the following manner : 
 
 " He had been bred a soldier in the low countries, and never entered into the 
 school of Christ or of John the Baptist ; or, if ever he was there, he had forgot his 
 first lessons to offer violence to no man, and to part with the cloak rather than 
 needlessly contend for the coat, though taken away without order. A little chimney 
 is soon fired, so was the Plymouth captain ; a man of very small stature, yet of a 
 very hot and angry temper. The fire of his passion, soon kindled and blown up 
 into a flame by hot words, might easily have consumed all, had it not been season 
 ably quenched." 
 
 When the news of the transactions at Wessagusset, where Standish had killed the 
 Indians, was carried to Europe, Mr. Robinson from Leyden wrote to the Church of 
 Plymouth, "to consider the disposition of their captain, who was of a warm temper. 
 He hoped the Lord had sent him among them for good, if they used him right ; but 
 he doubted whether there was not wanting that tenderness of the life of man, made 
 after God s image, which was meet ; and he thought it would have been happy if 
 they had converted some before they had killed any." 
 
 The best apology for Captain Standish is, that as a soldier he had been accustomed 
 to discipline and obedience ; that he considered himself as the military servant of 
 the colony, and received his orders from the Governor and people. Sedentary 
 persons are not always the best judges of a soldier s merit or feelings. Men of his 
 own profession will admire the courage of Standish, his promptitude and decision in 
 the execution of his orders. No one has charged him either with failure in point 
 of obedience or of wantonly exceeding the limits of his commission. If the arm of 
 flesh were necessary to establish the rights and defend the lives and property of 
 colonists in a new country, surrounded with enemies and false friends, certainly such 
 a man as Standish, with all his imperfections, will hold a high rank among the 
 worthies of New England. Mr. Prince does not scruple to reckon him among those 
 heroes of antiquity " who chose to suffer affliction with the people of God ; who 
 through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped 
 the mouths of lions, waxed valiant in fight, and turned to flight the armies of the 
 aliens;" and even Mr. Hubbard, in another part of his history, says that Captain 
 Standish " was a gentleman very expert in military service ; by whom the people 
 were all willing, to be ordered in those concerns. He was likewise improved 
 [employed] to good acceptance and success in affairs of the greatest moment in that 
 colony, to whose interest he continued firm and steadfast to the last, and always 
 managed his trust with great integrity and faithfulness." 
 
 Two ships which had come with supplies to the colony the same year (1625) re 
 turned in the autumn with cargoes of fish and furs. In one of these Standish 
 embarked as agent for the colony, and arrived safely in England ; the other was 
 captured by a Turkish ship of war, and the loss of her valuable cargo was a severe 
 blow to the colony. He arrived in a very unfortunate time : the plague raging in 
 London, carried off more than forty thousand people in the space of one year. Com 
 merce was stagnated, the merchants and members of the Council of New England 
 
212 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 were dispersed and no meeting could be holden. All that Captain Standish could 
 do, was, by private conference, to prepare the way for a composition with the 
 company of adventurers, and by the help of a few friends, with great trouble and 
 danger, to procure a small quantity of goods for the colony, amounting to ,150, 
 which he took up at the exorbitant interest of 50 per cent. With this insufficient, 
 but welcome supply, he returned to Plymouth in the spring of 1626 ; bringing the 
 sorrowful news of the death of Mr. Robinson and Mr. Cushman. 
 
 Several attempts were, about this time, made to form plantations, within the 
 Bay of Massachusetts, at Cape Ann and Piscataqua. Among these adventurers was 
 one Captain Wollaston, "a man of considerable parts, and with him three or four 
 more of some eminence, who brought over many servants and much provisions." 
 He pitched on the southern .side of the bay, at the head of the creek, and called an 
 adjoining hill Mount Wollaston, [Quincy]. One of his company was Thomas 
 Morton, " a pettifogger of Furnival s Inn," who had some property of his own, or of 
 other men committed to him. After a short trial, Wollaston, not finding his ex 
 pectations realized, went to Virginia, with a great part of the servants ; and being 
 better pleased with that country, sent for the rest to come to him. Morton thought 
 this a proper opportunity to make himself head of the company; and, in a drunken 
 frolic, persuaded them to depose Filcher, the lieutenant, and set up for liberty and 
 equality. 
 
 Under this influence they soon became licentious and debauched. They sold 
 their goods to the natives for furs, taught them the use of arms, and employed them 
 in hunting. They invited and received fugitives from all the neighboring settle 
 ments; and thus endangered their safety, and obliged them to unite their strength 
 in opposition to them. Captain Endicott, from Naumkeag, made them a visit, and 
 gave them a small check, by cutting down a May-pole, which they had erected as a 
 central point of dissipation and extravagance ; but it was reserved for Captain 
 Standish to break up their infamous combination. After repeated friendly admoni 
 tions, which were disregarded, at the request and joint expense of the scattered 
 planters, and by order of the Government of Plymouth, he went to Mount Wol 
 laston, and summoned Morton to surrender. Morton prepared for his defense, 
 armed his adherents, heated them with liquor, and answered Standish with abusive 
 language. But, when he stepped out of his door, to take aim at his antagonist, 
 the captain seized his musket with one hand and his collar with the other, and made 
 him prisoner. The others quietly submitted. No blood was shed nor a gun fired. 
 They were all conducted to Plymouth, and then sent to England ; where Morton 
 was treated with less severity than he deserved, and was permitted to return and 
 disturb the settlements, till the establishment of the Massachusetts colony, when 
 he retired to Piscataqua, and there ended his days. 
 
 After this encounter, which happened in 1628, we have no particular account of 
 Captain Standish. He is not mentioned in the account of the Pequot war, in 1637. 
 He was chosen one of the magistrates or assistants of Plymouth colony as long as 
 he lived. As he advanced in years he was much afflicted with the stone and the 
 strangury; he died in 1656, being then very old, at Duxbury, near Plymouth, where 
 he had a tract of land, which to this day is known by the name of Captain s Hill. 
 
 He had one son, Alexander, who died in Duxbury. The late Dr. Wheelock, 
 founder of Dartmouth College, and Mr. Kirkland, missionary to the Indians, were 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 2i:j 
 
 descended from him. One of his grandsons was in possession of his coat of mail, 
 which is now supposed to be lost ; but his sword is preserved in the cabinet of the 
 Historical Society, of which one of his descendants, John Thornton Kirkland, is a 
 member. His name is still venerated, and the merchants of Plymouth and Boston 
 have named their ships after him. His posterity chiefly reside in several towns of 
 the county of Plymouth. 
 
 JOHN WINTHROP, 
 
 FIRST GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 JOHN WINTHROP HIS BIRTH AND ANCESTRY FIRST GOVERNOR OF THE COLONIES HIS CHAR 
 ACTEREXAMINATION OF HIS ACCOUNTS AND HONORABLE RESULT HIS HUMILITY, FIRM 
 NESS, AND DECISION HIS DIFFICULTIES WITH MRS. HUTCHINSON AND HER FOLLOWERS 
 HIS FIRM AND CORRECT CONDUCT WITH THE CHURCH AT BOSTON HIS OPINIONS OF 
 DEMOCRACY, MAGISTRACY, AND LIBERTY HIS PECUNIARY EMBARRASSMENTS AND AFFLIC 
 TIONS HIS DEATH PRESERVATION OF HIS PICTURE IN THE SENATE CHAMBER OF 
 MASSACHUSETTS HIS POSTERITY. 
 
 THIS worthy gentleman was descended from a family remarkable for its attach 
 ment to the Reformed religion, from the earliest period of the Reformation. His 
 grandfather, Adam Winthrop, was an eminent lawyer and lover of the Gospel, in the 
 reign of Henry VIII., and brother to a memorable friend of the Reformation, in the 
 reign of Mary I., in whose hands the martyr Pliilpot left his paper, which makes a 
 considerable part of the History of the Martyrs. His father, Adam Winthrop, was 
 a gentleman of the same profession and character. Governor Winthrop was born at 
 the family seat at Groton, in Suffolk, June 12, 1587, and was bred to the law, though 
 he had a strong inclination to theological studies. At the age of eighteen he was 
 made a justice of the peace, and his virtues became conspicuous. He was exemplary 
 in his profession as an upright and impartial magistrate, and in his private character 
 as a Christian. He had wisdom to discern, and fortitude to do right in the execution 
 of his office ; and, as a gentleman, was remarkable for liberality and hospitality. 
 These qualities rendered him dear to men of sobriety and religion, and fitted him to 
 engage in the great and difficult work of founding a colony. 
 
 When the design of settling a colony in New England was by some eminent per 
 sons undertaken, this gentleman was, by the consent of all, chosen for their leader. 
 Having converted a fine estate of six or seven hundred pounds sterling per annum 
 into money, he embarked for New England, in the forty-third year of his age, and 
 arrived at Salem, with the Massachusetts charter, June 12, 1630. Within five days 
 he, with some of the principal persons of the colony, traveled through the woods 
 twenty miles, to look out a convenient situation for a town, in some part of the Bay 
 of Massachusetts. Some of them built their huts on the north side of Charles 
 River [Charlestown], but the Governor, and most of the assistants, pitched upon the 
 peninsula of Shawmut, and lived there the first winter, intending in the spring to 
 build a fortified town, but undetermined as to its situation. On the 6th of December 
 they resolved to fortify the isthmus of that peninsula ; but, changing their minds 
 
214 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 before the month expired, they agreed upon a place about three miles above 
 Charlestown, which they called first Newtown, and afterward Cambridge, where they 
 engaged to build houses the ensuing spring. The rest of the winter they suffered 
 much by the severity-of the season, and were obliged to live upon acorns, ground 
 nuts, and shell-fish. One of the poorer sort, coming to the Governor to complain, 
 was told that the last batch was in the oven, but of this he had his share. They had 
 appointed the 22d of February for a fast ; but before it came a ship arrived with 
 provisions, and they turned it into a day of thanksgiving. 
 
 In the spring of 1631, in pursuance of the intended plan, the Governor set up 
 the frame of a house at Newtown ; the Deputy Governor also built one, and 
 removed his family. About this time Chicketawbu, the chief of the Indians in that 
 neighborhood, made a visit to the Governor, with high professions of friendship. 
 The apprehension of danger from the Indians abated, and the scheme of a fortified 
 town was gradually laid aside ; though if it had been retained, the peninsula would 
 have been a situation far preferable to Newtown. The Governor took down his 
 frame and removed it to Shawmut, which was finally determined upon for the me 
 tropolis, and named Boston. 
 
 The three following years he was continued, by annual election, at the head of 
 the government, for which office he was eminently qualified, and in which he shone 
 with a lustre which would have done him honor in a larger sphere and a more ele 
 vated situation. He was the father, as well as the Governor, of an infant planta 
 tion. His time, his study, his exertions, his influence, and his interest were all 
 employed in the public service. His wisdom, patience, and magnanimity were con 
 spicuous in the most severe trials, and his exemplary behavior as a Christian added 
 a splendor to all his rare qualifications. He maintained the dignity of a Governor 
 with the obliging condescension of a gentleman, and was so deservedly respected 
 and beloved, that when Archbishop Laud, hearkening to some calumnies raised 
 against the country on account of their Puritan principles, summoned one Mr. 
 Cleaves before King Charles I., in hopes of getting some accusation against the 
 Governor, he gave such an account of his laudable deportment in his station, and 
 withal of the devotion with which prayers were made, both in private and public, 
 for the King, that Charles expressed his concern that so worthy a person as Mr. 
 Winthrop should be no better accommodated than in an American wilderness. 
 
 He was an example to the people of that frugality, decency, and temperance 
 which were necessary in their circumstances, and even denied himself many of the 
 elegancies and superfluities of life which his rank and fortune gave him a just title 
 to enjoy, both that he might set them a proper example, and be the better enabled 
 to exercise that liberality in which he delighted, even, in the end, to the actual im 
 poverishment of himself and his family. He would often send his servants on some 
 errand, at meal-times, to the houses of his neighbors, to see how they were provided 
 with food ; and if there was a deficiency, would supply them from his own table. 
 The following singular instance of his charity, mixed with humor, will give us an 
 idea of the man. In a very severe winter, when wood began to be scarce in Boston, 
 he received private information that a neighbor was wont to help himself from the 
 pile at his door. " Docs he? " said the Governor; " call him to me, and I will take a 
 course with him that shall cure him of stealing." The man appeared, and the Gov 
 ernor addressed him thus : " Friend, it is a cold winter, and I hear you are meanly 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 215 
 
 provided with wood ; you are welcome to help yourself at my pile till the winter is 
 over." And then merrily asked his friend whether he had not put a stop to the 
 man s stealing ! 
 
 In the administration of justice, he was for tempering the severity of law with 
 the exercise of mercy. He judged that in the infancy of a plantation, justice should 
 be administered with more lenity than in a settled state. But when other gentle 
 men of learning and influence had taken offense at his lenity, and adopted an opirt- 
 ion that a stricter discipline was necessary, he submitted to their judgment, and 
 strictly adhered to the proposals which were made to support the dignity of govern 
 ment, by an appearance of union and firmness, and a concealment of differences and 
 dissensions among the public officers. 
 
 His delicacy was so great that though he could not without incivility decline ac 
 cepting gratuities from divers towns, as well as particular persons, for his public serv 
 ices, yet he took occasion in a public speech, at his third election, to declare that " he 
 received them with a trembling hand in regard of God s Word and his own infirmity," 
 and desired them, that for the future they would not be offended if he should 
 wholly refuse such presents. 
 
 In the year 1634, and the two years following, he was left out of the magistracy. 
 Though his conduct, from his first engaging in the service of the colony, had been ir 
 reproachable, yet the envy of some raised a suspicion of his fidelity, and gave him a 
 small taste of what, in other popular governments, their greatest benefactors have 
 had a large share of. An inquiry having been made of his receipts and disburse 
 ments of the public moneys during his past administration, though it was conducted 
 in a manner too harsh for his delicate sensibility, yet he patiently submitted to the 
 examination of his accounts, which ended to his honor. Upon which occasion he 
 made a declaration which he concluded in these words : " In the things which I offer, 
 I refer myself to the wisdom and justice of the Court, with this protestation, that it 
 repenteth me not of my cost and labor bestowed in the service of this Common 
 wealth ; but I do heartily bless the Lord our God that He has been pleased to honor 
 me so far as to call for anything He hath bestowed upon me for the service of His 
 church and people here ; the prosperity whereof, and His gracious acceptance, shall 
 be an abundant recompense to me." 
 
 The same rare humility and steady equality of mind were conspicuous in his be 
 havior, when a pretense was raised to get him left out of the government, lest by the too 
 frequent choice of one man, the office should cease to be elective, and seem to be his by 
 prescription. This pretense was advanced even in the election sermons, and when he 
 was in fact reduced to a lower station in the government, he endeavored to serve the 
 people as faithfully as in the highest, nor would he suffer any notice to be taken of 
 some undue methods, which were used to have him left out of the choice. An in 
 stance of this rare temper, and the happy fruit of it, deserves remembrance. There was 
 a time when he received a very angry letter from a member of the Court, which hav 
 ing read, he delivered back to the messenger with this answer: " I am not willing to 
 keep by me such a matter of provocation." Shortly after the writer of this letter 
 was compelled by the scarcity of provision to send to buy one of the Governor s cat 
 tle ; he begged him to accept it as a gift, in token of his good-will. On which the 
 gentleman came to him with this acknowledgment : " Sir, your overcoming yourself 
 hath overcome me." 
 
216 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 But though condescending and gentle on every occasion of personal ill-treatment, 
 yet where the honor of government or religion, and the interest of the people were 
 concerned, he was equally firm and intrepid, standing foremost in opposition to those 
 whom he judged to be really public enemies, though in the disguise of warm and 
 zealous friends. Of this number was the famous ANNA HUTCHINSON, a woman of a 
 masculine understanding and consummate art, who held private lectures to the 
 women at her house, in which she advanced these doctrines, viz : That the Holy 
 Ghost dwells personally in a justified person, and that sanctification does not evidence 
 justification." Those who held with her were said to be " under a covenant of grace," 
 and those who opposed her " under a covenant of works." Into those two denomina 
 tions the whole colony began to be divided. Her adherents prevailed in 1636, to 
 choose for Governor, HENRY VANE, a young gentleman of an apparently grave and 
 serious deportment, who had just arrived from England, and who had paid great 
 attention to this woman, and seemed zealously attached to her distinguishing tenets. 
 Winthrop, then Deputy Governor, not only differed in sentiment, but saw the perni 
 cious influence of this controversy with regret, and feared, that if it were suffered to 
 prevail, it would endanger the existence of the colony. In the heat of the contro 
 versy, Wheelwright, a zealous sectarian, preached a sermon, which not only carried 
 these points to their utmost length, but contained some expressions which the Court 
 laid hold of as tending to sedition, for which he was examined ; but a more full 
 inquiry was deferred for that time. Some warm brethren of Boston petitioned the 
 Court in Wheelwright s favor, reflecting on their proceedings, which raised such a 
 resentment in the Court against the town that a motion was made for the next election 
 to be made at Cambridge. Vane, the Governor, having no negative voice, could only 
 show his dislike by refusing to put the question. Winthrop, the Deputy Governor, 
 declined it, as being an inhabitant of Boston ; the question was then put by Endicot, 
 of Salem, and carried for the removal. 
 
 At the opening of the election (May 17, 1637), a petition was again presented by 
 many inhabitants of Boston, which Vane would have read previous to the choice. 
 Winthrop, who clearly saw that this was a contrivance to throw all into confusion, 
 and spend the day in debate, that the election might be prevented for that time, 
 opposed the reading of the petition until the election should be over. Vane and his 
 party were strenuous, but Winthrop called to the people to divide, and the majority 
 appeared for the election. Vane still refused, till Winthrop said he would proceed 
 without him, which obliged him to submit. The election was carried in favor of 
 Winthrop and his friends. The sergeants who had waited on Vane to the place of 
 election, threw down their halberds, and refused to attend the newly-elected Gov- 
 enor; he took no other notice of the affront than to order his own servants to bear 
 them before him, and when the people expressed their resentment, he begged them 
 to overlook the matter. 
 
 The town of Boston being generally in favor of the new opinions, the Governor 
 grew unpopular there, and a law which was passed this year of his restoration to 
 office, increased their dislike. Many persons who were supposed to favor those opin 
 ions were expected from England, to prevent whose settlement in the country, the 
 Court laid a penalty on all who should entertain any strangers, or allow them the use 
 of any house, or lot, above three weeks, without liberty first granted. This severe 
 order was so ill received in Boston, that on the Governor s return from the Court of 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 21T 
 
 Cambridge, they all refused to go out to meet him, or to show him any token of re 
 spect. The other towns on this occasion increased their respect toward him, and 
 the same summer, in a journey to Ipswich, he was guarded from town to town with 
 more ceremony than he desired. 
 
 The same year a synod was called to determine on the controverted points, in 
 which assembly Winthrop, though he did not preside, yet, as the head of the civil 
 magistracy, was obliged often to interpose his authority, which he did with wisdom 
 and gravity, silencing passionate and impertinent speakers, desiring that the divine 
 oracles might be allowed to express their own meaning, and be appealed to for the 
 decision of the controversy ; and when he saw heat and passion prevail in the assembly, 
 he would adjourn it, that time might be allowed for cool consideration, by which 
 prudent management the synod came to an amicable agreement in condemning the 
 errors of the day. But the work was not wholly done until the erroneous persons 
 were banished from the colony. This act of severity the Court thought necessary for 
 the peace of the Commonwealth. Toleration had not then been introduced into any 
 of the Protestant countries, and even the wisest and best men were afraid of it as the 
 parent of all error and mischief. 
 
 Some of the zealous opinionists in the Church of Boston would have had the 
 elders proceed against the Governor in the way of ecclesiastical discipline, for his ac 
 tivity in procuring the sentence of banishment on their brethren. Upon this occasion, 
 in a well-judged speech to the congregation, he told them that " though in his private 
 capacity it was his duty to submit to the censure of his brethren, yet he was not 
 amenable to them for his conduct as a magistrate, even though it were unjust. That, 
 in the present case, he had acted according to his conscience and his oath, and by 
 the advice of the elders of tlie Church, and was fully satisfied that it would not have 
 been consistent with the public peace to have done otherwise." These reasons satis 
 fied the uneasy brethren, and his general condescending and obliging deportment so 
 restored him to their affections, that he was held in greater esteem than before ; as a 
 proof of this, upon occasion of a loss which he had sustained in his temporal estate, 
 they made him a present amounting to several hundred pounds. 
 
 A warm dispute having arisen in the General Court concerning the negative voice 
 of the Upper House, the Governor published his sentiments in writing, some pas 
 sages of which, giving great offense, he took occasion at the next meeting of the 
 Court in a public speech to tell them " that, as to the matter of his writing, it was 
 according to his judgment, which was not at his own disposal, and that having ex 
 amined it by the rules of reason, religion, and custom, he saw no cause to retract it ; 
 but as for the manner, which was wholly his own, he was ready to acknowledge what 
 ever was blameable. He said that what he wrote was on great provocation and to 
 vindicate himself and others from unjust aspersions, yet he ought not to have 
 allowed a distemper of spirit, nor to have been so free with the reputation of his 
 brethren ; that he might have maintained his cause without casting any reflection on 
 them, and that he perceived an unbecoming pride and arrogancy in some of his ex 
 pressions, for which he desired forgiveness of God and man ! " By this condescend 
 ing spirit he greatly endeared himself to his friends, and his enemies were ashamed 
 of their opposition. 
 
 He had not so high an opinion of a dcinocratical government as some other gen 
 tlemen of equal wisdom and goodness, but plainly perceived a danger in referring 
 28 
 
218 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 matters of counsel and judicature to the body of the people; and, when those who 
 had removed to Connecticut were about forming their government, he warned them 
 of this danger in a friendly and faithful letter, wherein are these remarkable words : 
 " The best part of a community is always the least, and of that best part the wiser 
 is still less ; wherefore the old canon was, Choose ye out judges, and thou shalt bring 
 the matter before the judge." 
 
 In 1645, when he was Deputy Governor, a great disturbance was raised by some 
 petitioners from Hingham, who complained that the fundamental laws of England 
 were not owned in the colony as the basis of government; that civil privileges were 
 denied to men, merely for not being members of the churches; and they could not 
 enjoy divine ordinances because they belonged to the Church of England. With 
 these complaints they petitioned for liberty of conscience or, if that could not be 
 granted for freedom from taxes and military services. The petition concluded with 
 a menace, that, in case of a refusal, complaint would be had to the Parliament of 
 England. This petition gave much offense, and the petitioners were cited to Court 
 and fined as "movers to sedition." Winthrop was active in their prosecution, but a 
 party in the House of Deputies was so strong in their favor as to carry a vote re 
 quiring him to answer for his conduct in public ; the result of which was that he was 
 honorably acquitted. Then, resuming his seat, he took that opportunity publicly to 
 declare his sentiments on the questions concerning the authority of the magistracy 
 and the liberty of the people. " You have called us," said he, " to office, but, being 
 called, we have our authority from God. It is the ordinance of God, and hath the 
 image of God stamped on it ; and the contempt of it hath been vindicated by God 
 with terrible examples of His vengeance. When you choose magistrates, you take 
 them from among yourselves: men subject to the like passions with yourselves. If 
 you see our infirmities, reflect on your own, and you will not be so severe on ours. 
 The covenant between us and you is, that we shall govern you and judge your causes 
 according to the laws of God and our best skill. As for our skill, you must run the 
 hazard of it ; and if there be an error not in the will, but the skill it becomes you 
 to bear it. Nor would I have you mistake in the point of your liberty. There is a 
 liberty of corrupt nature, which is inconsistent with authority, impatient of restraint, 
 the grand enemy of truth and peace, and all the ordinances of God are bent against 
 it. But there is a civil, moral, federal liberty, which is the proper end and object of 
 authority a liberty for that only which is JUST and GOOD. For this liberty you 
 are to stand with your lives ; and whatever crosses it, is not authority, but a dis 
 temper thereof. This liberty is maintained in a way of subjection to authority, and 
 the authority set over you will, in all administrations for your good, be quietly sub 
 mitted to all but such as have a disposition to shake off the yoke and lose their lib 
 erty by murmuring at the honor and power of authority." 
 
 This kind of argument was frequently urged by the fathers of New England in 
 justification of their severity toward those who dissented from them. They main 
 tained that all men had liberty to do right, but no liberty to do wrong. However 
 true this principle may be in point of morality, yet in matters of opinion, in modes 
 of faith, worship, and ecclesiastical order, the question is, who shall be the judge of 
 right and wrong? and it is too evident from their conduct, that they supposed the 
 power of judging to be in those who were vested with authority ; a principle de 
 structive of liberty of conscience, and the right of private judgment, and big with 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 
 
 all the horrors of persecution. The exercise of such authority they condemned in 
 the high church party, who had oppressed them in England ; and yet, such is the 
 frailty of human nature, they held che same principles, and practiced the same op 
 pressions on those who dissented from them. Winthrop, before he left England, 
 was of more catholic spirit than some of his brethren ; after he had come to Amer 
 ica, he fell in with the reigning principle of intolerancy, which almost all the Re 
 formers unhappily retained as a relic of the persecuting Church, from which they had 
 separated ; but as he advanced in life, he resumed his former moderation ; and in 
 the time of his last sickness, when Dudley, the Duputy Governor, pressed him to 
 sign an order for the banishment of a person who was deemed heterodox, he refused, 
 saying, that " he had done too much of that work already." 
 
 Having devoted the greatest part of his interest to the service of the public, and 
 suffering many losses by accidents, and by leaving the management of his private 
 affairs to unfaithful servants, whilst his whole time and attention were employed in 
 the public business, his fortune was so much impaired, that some years before his 
 death, he was obliged to sell the most of his estate for the payment of an accumu 
 lated debt. He also met with much affliction in his family, having buried three 
 wives and six children. These troubles, joined to the opposition and ill-treatment 
 which he frequently met with from some of the people, so preyed upon his nature, 
 already much worn by the toils and hardships of planting a colony in a wilderness, 
 that he perceived a decay of his faculties seven years before he reached his grand 
 climateric, and often spoke of his approaching dissolution, with a calm resignation to 
 the will of Heaven. At length, when he had entered the sixty-third year of his 
 age, a fever occasioned by a cold, after one month s confinement, put an end to his 
 life on the 26th of March, 1649. 
 
 The island called Governor s Island, in the harbor of Boston, was granted to him, 
 and still remains in the possession of his descendants. His picture is preserved in 
 the Senate Chamber, with those of other ancient Governors. The house in which 
 he lived remained till 1775, when, with many other old wooden buildings, it was 
 pulled down by the British troops for fuel. He kept an exact journal of the occur 
 rences and transactions in the colony during his residence in it. This journal was of 
 great service to several historians, particularly Hubbard, Mather, and Prince. It is 
 still in possession of the Connecticut branch of his family, and was published at 
 Hartford in 1790. It affords a more exact and circumstantial detail of events within 
 that period, than any compilation which has been or can be made from it ; the prin 
 ciples and conduct of this truly great and good man, therein appear in the light 
 which he himself viewed them ; while his abilities for the arduous station which he 
 held, the difficulties which he had to encounter, and his fidelity in business, are dis 
 played with that truth and justice in which they ought to appear. 
 
 He had five sons living at his decease, all of whom, notwithstanding the reduc 
 tion of his fortune, acquired and possessed large property, and were persons of emi 
 nence. Many of his posterity have borne respectable characters, and filled some of 
 the principal places of trust and usefulness. 
 
220 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 JOHN WINTHROP, F.R.S., 
 
 GOVERNOR OF CONNECTICUT. 
 
 JOHN WINTHROP, GOVERNOR OF CONNECTICUT HIS BIRTH AND EDUCATION HIS REMOVAL 
 TO NEW ENGLAND OBTAINS A CHARTER INCORPORATING CONNECTICUT AND NEW HAVEN- 
 GOVERNOR OF THE COLONY OF CONNECTICUT ELECTED FELLOW OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY 
 HIS DEATH. 
 
 JOHN WINTHROP, eldest son of Governor Winthrop, by his first wife, was born 
 at Groton, in Suffolk, Feb. 12, 1605. His fine genius was much improved by a liberal 
 education, in tlr? Universities of Cambridge and Dublin, and by traveling through 
 most of the European kingdoms, as far as Turkey. He c;mie to New England with 
 his father s family, Nov. 4, 1631, and though not above twenty-six years of age, was, 
 by the unanimous choice of the freemen, appointed a magistrate of the colony of 
 which his father was Governor. He rendered many services to the country, both at 
 home and abroad, particularly in the year 1634, when returning to England, he was 
 by the stress of weather forced into Ireland ; where meeting with many influential 
 persons at the house of Sir John Closworthy, he had an opportunity to promote the 
 interest of the colony, by their means. 
 
 The next year he came back to New England, with powers from the Lords Say 
 and Brooke to settle a plantation on Connecticut River. But, finding that some 
 worthy persons from Massachusetts had already removed, and others were about 
 removing to make a settlement on that river at Hartford and Wethersficld, he gave 
 them no disturbance; but, having made an amicable agreement with them, built 
 a fort at the mouth of the river, and furnished it with artillery and stores which 
 had been sent over, and began a town there, which, from the two lords who had a 
 principal share in the undertaking, was called Saybrook. This fort kept the Indians 
 in awe, and proved a security to the planters on the river. 
 
 When they had formed themselves into a body politic they honored him with an 
 election to the magistracy, and afterward chose him Governor of the colony. At 
 the restoration of King Charles II. he undertook a voyage to England, on the behalf 
 of the people both of Connecticut and New Haven ; and, by his prudent address, 
 obtained from the King a charter, incorporating both colonies into one, with a grant 
 of privileges and powers of government superior to any plantation which had been 
 settled in America. During this negotiation, at a private conference with the King, 
 he presented his Majesty with a ring which King Charles I. had given to his grand 
 father. This present rendered him very acceptable to the King, and greatly facili 
 tated the business. The people, at his return, expressed their gratitude to him by 
 electing him to the office of Governor, for fourteen years together, till his death. 
 
 Mr. Winthrop s genius led him to philosophical inquiries, and his opportunities 
 for conversing with learned men abroad furnished him with a rich variety of knowl 
 edge, particularly of the mineral kingdom ; and there are some valuable communica 
 tions of his in the Philosophical Transactions, which procured him the honor of being 
 elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. He had also much skill in the art of physic; 
 and generously distributed many valuable medicines among the people, who con- 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 221 
 
 stantly applied to him whenever they had need, and were treated with a kindness 
 that did honor to their benefactor. 
 
 His many valuable qualities as a gentleman, a Christian, a philosopher, and a 
 public ruler, procured him the universal respect of the people under his government ; 
 and his unwearied attention to the public business, and great understanding in the art 
 of government, was of unspeakable advantage to them. Being one of the commis 
 sioners of the United Colonies of New England, in the year 1676, in the height of 
 the first general Indian war, as he wa attending the service at Boston, he fell sick 
 of a fever, and died on the 5th of April, in the seventy-first year of his age, and was 
 honorably buried in the same tomb with his excellent father. 
 
 UNIVEKSITY 
 
 GEORGE CALVERT, CECILIUS CALVERT (LORDS 
 BALTIMORE), LEONARD CALVERT. 
 
 GEORGE CALVERT HIS BIRTH AND EDUCATION IN THE SERVICE OF SIR ROBERT CECIL HE 
 IS MADE SECRETARY CF STATE HE RECEIVES A PENSION FROM KING JAMES BECOMES A 
 CATHOLIC CREATED BARON OF BALTIMORE HE ATTEMPTS A SETTLEMENT AT NEW 
 FOUNDLAND VISITS VIRGINIA. RECEIVES A GRANT OF THE TERRITORY NORTH OF THE 
 POTOWMACK HIS DEATH HIS CHARACTER CECIL CALVERT HE RECEIVES A PATENT OF 
 MARYLAND SETTLES THE COLONY APPOINTS HIS BROTHER, LEONARD, GOVERNOR- 
 LEONARD CALVERT CONDUCTS SETTLERS TO THE COLONY. 
 
 GEORGE CALVERT was descended from a noble family of Flanders, and born at 
 Kipling, in Yorkshire (1582). He received his education at Trinity College, in 
 Oxford, and, after taking his bachelor s degree (1597), traveled over the continent of 
 Europe. At his return to England, in the beginning of the reign of James I., he was 
 taken into the office of Sir Robert Cecil, Secretary of State ; and when Sir Robert 
 was advanced to the Lord High Treasurer, he retained Calvert in his service, and 
 employed him in several weighty matters of state. 
 
 By the interest of Sir Robert, then Earl of Salisbury, he was appointed one of the 
 clerks of the council, and received the honor of knighthood (1617), and in the following 
 year was made Secretary of State, in the room of Sir Thomas Lake. Conceiving the 
 Duke of Buckingham to have been instrumental in his preferment, he presented him 
 with a jewel of great value; but the duke returned it, with a message that he owed 
 his advancement to his own merit and the good pleasure of his sovereign, who was 
 fully sensible of it. His great knowledge of public business, and his diligence and 
 fidelity in conducting it, had rendered him very acceptable to the King, who granted 
 him a pension of ^1,000 out of the customs. 
 
 In 1624 he conscientiously became a Roman Catholic, and having freely owned 
 his principles to the King, resigned his office. This ingenuous confession so affected 
 the mind of James, that he not only continued him on the list of Privy Counselors, 
 but created him Baron of Baltimore, in the County of Longford, in Ireland. 
 
 Whilst he was Secretary of State and one of the committee of trade and planta- 
 
222 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 tions, he obtained from the King a patent for the south-eastern peninsula of New 
 foundland, which he named the Province of Avalon from Avalonius, a monk, who 
 was supposed to have converted the British King Lucius and all his court to Chris 
 tianity ; in remembrance of which event the Abbey of Glastonbury was founded at 
 Avalon, in Somersetshire. Sir George gave his province this name, imagining it would 
 be the first place in North America where the Gospel would be preached. 
 
 At Ferryland, in his Provinee of Avalon, he built a fine house, and spent 25,000 
 in advancing his plantation, which he visited twice in person. But it was so annoyed 
 by the French that though he once repulsed and pursued their ships and took sixty 
 prisoners, yet he found his province so much exposed to their insults and the trouble 
 and expense of defending it so very great, that he was obliged to abandon it, and be 
 content with the loss of what he had laid out in the improvement of a territory, the 
 soil and climate of which were considered as unfavorable to his views. 
 
 Being still inclined to form a settlement in America, whither he might retire with 
 his family and friends of the same religious principles, he made a visit to Virginia, the 
 fertility and advantages of which had been highly celebrated, and in which he had 
 been interested, as one of the adventurers. But the people there being Protestants 
 of the Church of England, regarded him with a jealous eye on account of his religion ; 
 and by their unwelcome reception of him, he was discouraged from settling within 
 their jurisdiction. 
 
 In visiting the Bay of Chesapeake he observed that the Virginians had established 
 trading houses on some of the islands ; but that they had not extended their planta 
 tions to the northward of the river Potowmack, although the country there was 
 equally valuable with that which they had planted. 
 
 When he returned to England he applied to King Charles I. for the grant of a 
 territory northward of the Potowmack, and the King, who had as great an affection 
 for him as had hi father, James, readily complied with his request. But owing to 
 the tedious forms of public business before a patent could be completed and pass the 
 seals, Lord Baltimore died at London, on the I5th of April, 1632, in the fifty-first year 
 of his age. 
 
 The character of this noble man is thus drawn. Though he was a Roman Catholic, 
 he kept himself disengaged from all interests, behaving with such moderation and pro 
 priety, that all parties were pleased with him, and none complained of him. He was 
 a man of great good sense, not obstinate in his opinions, taking as much pleasure in 
 hearing the sentiments of others as in delivering his own. Whilst he was Secretary 
 of State, he examined all letters, and carried to the King every night an exact and 
 well-digested account of affairs. He agreed with Sir John Popham in the design of 
 foreign plantations, but differed in the manner of executing it. Popham was for extir 
 pating the original inhabitants ; Calvert was for civilizing and converting them. The 
 former was for present profit ; the latter for reasonable expectation, and for employing 
 Governors who were not interested merchants, but unconcerned gentlemen ; he was 
 for granting liberties with caution, leaving every one to provide for himself by his 
 own industry, and not to depend on a common interest. He left something respect 
 ing America in writing, but it does not appear that it was ever printed. 
 
 After the death of Sir George, the patent was again drawn in the narne of his 
 eldest son, Cecil, Lord Baltimore, and passed the seals on the 28th of June, 1632. 
 The original draught being in Latin, the patentee is called Cecilius and the country 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 223 
 
 " Terra Maria, alias Maryland," in honor of Henrietta Maria, the Queen consort of 
 Charles I. 
 
 From the great precision of this charter the powers which it gives to the proprie 
 tor, and the privileges and exemptions which it grants to the people, it is evident that 
 Sir George himself was the chief penman of it. One omission was soon discovered ; 
 no provision was made that the laws should be transmitted to the sovereign for his 
 approbation or disallowance. The commissioners of trade and plantations made a 
 representation of this defect to the House of Commons, in 1633, and an act of Parlia 
 ment was proposed as the only remedy. 
 
 The province of Maryland is thus described. All that part of a peninsula in 
 America, lying between the ocean on the east, and the Bay of Chesapeake on the 
 west and divided from the other part by a right line drawn from Watkin s Point, in 
 the aforesaid bay, on the west, to the main ocean on the east. Thence to that part 
 of Delaware Bay on the north which lieth under the fortieth degree of north latitude 
 from the equinoctial, where New England ends. Thence in a right line, by the 
 degree aforesaid, to the true meridian of the first fountains of the river Potowmack. 
 Thence following the course of said river to its mouth, where it falls into the Bay of 
 Chesapeake. Thence on a right line, across the bay to Watkin s Point : with all the 
 islands and islets within these limits. 
 
 This region was erected into a province, and the proprietor was invested with 
 palatine honors. In conjunction with the freemen or their delegates he had legisla 
 tive, and, in person, or by officers of his own appointment, he had executive powers. 
 He had also the advowson of churches, the erection of manors, boroughs, cities, and 
 ports ; saving the liberty of fishing and drying fish, which was declared common to 
 all the King s subjects. The charter provided, that if any doubts should arise con 
 cerning the sense of it, such an interpretation should be given as would be most 
 favorable to the interest of the proprietor. 
 
 The territory is said to be " in the parts of America not yet cultivated, though 
 inhabited by a barbarous people," and it is provided, that the province " should not 
 be holden or reputed as part of Virginia, or of any other colony, but immediately 
 dependent on the Crown of England." These clauses, together with the con 
 struction put on the fortieth degree of latitude, proved the ground of long and 
 bitter controversies, one of which was not closed till after the lapse of a century. 
 
 Twelve years before the date of the charter (1620), John Porey, some time secre 
 tary of Virginia, who had sailed into the northern part of the Bay of Chesapeake, 
 reported that he found near one hundred English people very happily settled there, 
 and engaged in a fur trade with the natives. In the year before the date of the 
 charter (1631), King Charles had granted a license under the privy seal of Scotland, 
 to Sir William Alexander, proprietor of Nova Scotia, and to William Cleyborne, 
 counselor and secretary of Virginia, to trade in those parts of America for which 
 there had not been a patent granted to others ; and sent an order to the Governor 
 of Virginia to permit them freely to trade there. In consequence of which, Sir John 
 Harvey and his council, in the same year, had granted to the said Cleyborne a per 
 mission to sail and traffic to the " adjoining plantations of the Dutch, or to any En 
 glish plantation on the territory of America." As nothing is said in these instru 
 ments of the Swedes, v/ho first planted the shores of the Bay of Delaware, it has 
 been inferred by the advocates of Baltimore, that they had not settled there previous 
 
224 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 to the charter of Maryland ; though the family of Perm insisted on it as a fact, that 
 the occupancy of the Swedes was prior to that period. In consequence of the 
 license given to Cleyborne, he and his associates had made a settlement on the Isle 
 of Kent, far within the limits of Maryland ; and claimed a monopoly of the trade of 
 the Chesapeake. Thc-j people, it is said, sent Burgesses to the Legislature of 
 Virginia, and were considered as subject to its jurisdiction, before the establishment 
 of Maryland. 
 
 After receiving the charter, Lord Baltimore began to prepare for the collecting 
 and transporting a colony to America. At first he intended to go in person, but 
 afterward changed his mind, and appointed his brother, Leonard Calvert, Governor, 
 with two assistants, Jeremy Hawly and Thomas Cornwallis. These, with about two 
 hundred persons, of good families and of the Roman Catholic persuasion, embarked 
 at Cowes, at the Isle of Wight, and on the 22d of November, 1633, and after a cir 
 cuitous voyage through the We.st India Islands, touching first at Barbadoes and then 
 at St. Christopher s, they came to anchor before Point Comfort, in Virginia, on the 
 241)1 of February, 1634; and, on going up to Jamestown, delivered to Governor 
 Harvey the letters which the King had written in their favor. The Governor and 
 his council received them with that civility which was due to the command of their 
 sovereign ; but they resolved " to maintain the rights of the prior settlement." They 
 afforded to the new colony supplies of provision for domestic use, but considered 
 them as intruders on their territory, and as obstructing that traffic from which they 
 had derived and expected to derive much advantage. 
 
 On the 3d of March, Calvert, with his colony, proceeded in the Bay of Chesapeake 
 to the northward, and entered the Potowmack, up which he sailed twelve leagues, 
 and came to anchor under an island, which he named St. Clement. Here he fired his 
 cannon, erected a cross, and took possession " in the name of the Saviour of the world 
 and the King of England." Thence he went with his pinnaces fifteen leagues higher 
 to the Indian town of Potowmack, on the Virginia side of the river, now called New 
 Marlborough, where he was received in a friendly manner by the guardian regent, the 
 prince of the country being a minor. Thence he sailed twelve leagues farther, to the 
 town of Piscataway, on the Maryland side, where he found Henry Fleet, an English 
 man, who had resided several years among the natives, and was held by them in great 
 esteem. He procured an interview between Calvert and the Werowance, or lord of 
 the place, and officiated as their interpreter. Calvert, determining to pursue a course 
 of conduct founded on pacific and honorable intentions, asked the Werowance whether 
 he was willing that he and his people should settle in his country. His answer was 
 short and prudent : " I will not bid you to go, nor to stay; but you may use your 
 own discretion." This interview was held on board the Governor s pinnace; the 
 natives on shore crowded to the water s edge to look after their sovereign, and were 
 not satisfied of his safety till he stood up and showed himself to them. 
 
 Having made this discovery of the river, and convinced the natives that his de 
 signs were amicable, the Governor, not thinking it advisable to make his first settle 
 ment so high up the river, sailed down to the ships, taking Fleet with him for a guide. 
 The natives, who, when they first saw the ships and heard the guns, had fled from St. 
 Clement s Island and its neighborhood, returned to their habitations, and seemed to 
 repose confidence in their new friends ; but this was not deemed a proper station. 
 Under the conduct of Fleet, the Governor visited a creek on the northern side of the 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 225 
 
 Potowmack, about four leagues from its mouth, where was an Indian village, sur 
 rounded by corn-fields, and called Yoacomaco. Calvert went on shore, and acquaint 
 ed the prince of the place with his intention ; who was rather reserved in his answer, 
 but entertained him in a friendly manner, and gave him a lodging in his own bed. 
 
 On the next day he showed Calvert the country, which pleased him so well that 
 he determined there to fix his abode, and treated with the prince about purchasing 
 the place. Calvert presented him and his principal men with English cloth, axes, 
 hoes, and knives ; and they consented that their new friends should reside in one part 
 of their town, and themselves in the other part, till the next harvest ; when they 
 promised to quit the place, and resign it wholly to them. Both parties entered into 
 a contract to live together in a friendly manner; or, if any injury should be done on 
 either side, the offending party should make satisfaction. Calvert having given them 
 what he deemed a valuable consideration, with which they appeared to be content, 
 they readily quitted a number of their houses and retired to the others ; and, it being 
 the season for planting, both parties went to work. Thus on the 2/th of March, 
 1634, the English colony took peaceable possession of the country of Maryland ; and 
 gave to the town the name of St. Mary, and to the creek on which it was situate, the 
 name of St. George. 
 
 The desire of quieting the natives by giving them a reasonable and satisfactory 
 compensation for their lands, is a trait in the character of the first planters whieh 
 will always do honor to their memory. 
 
 It was a fortunate circumstance for these adventurers that, previous to their 
 arrival, the Indians of Yoacomaco had resolved to quit their country and retire to 
 the westward, that they might be free from the incursions of the Susquehanocks, a 
 powerful and warlike nation residing between the Bays of Chesapeake and Delaware, 
 who frequently invaded them and carried off their provisions and women. Some 
 had actually removed and others were preparing to follow, but were encouraged to 
 remain another season by the presence of the English. They lived on friendly terms 
 with the colony. The men assisted them in hunting and fishing, the women taught 
 them to manage the planting and culture of corn and making it into bread, and they 
 were compensated for their labor and kindness in such tools and trinkets as were 
 pleasing to them. According to their promise they quitted the place wholly in the 
 following year, and the colony had full and quiet possession. 
 
 At his first settlement in this place Calvert erected a house, and mounted a guard 
 for the security of his people and stores. He was soon after visited by Sir John 
 Harvey and by several of the Indian princes. At an entertainment on board one of 
 the ships, the Werowance of Patuxent was seated between the Governor of Virginia 
 and the Governor of Maryland. One of his own subjects coming on board and see 
 ing his sovereign in that situation started with surprise, thinking him a prisoner, as 
 he had been once before to the Virginians. The Prince rose from the table and sat 
 isfied the Indian that he was safe, which prevented his affectionate subject from leap 
 ing into the water as he had attempted. This Werowance was so much pleased with 
 the conduct of Calvert and his people, that, after many other compliments, he said 
 to them at parting : " I love the English so well, that, if I knew they would kill me, 
 I would command my people not to revenge my death ; because I am sure they 
 would not kill me but through my own fault." 
 
 The colony had brought with them English meal, but they found Indian corn in 
 2t) 
 
226 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 great plenty, both at Barbadoes and Virginia ; and, by the next spring, they were 
 able to export one thousand bushels to New England and Newfoundland, for which 
 they received dried fish and other provisions in return. They procured cattle, swine, 
 and poultry from Virginia. They were very industrious in building houses and mak 
 ing gardens, in which they sowed the seeds of European esculent vegetables, and 
 had the pleasure of seeing them come to high perfection. They suffered much in 
 their health by the fever and ague, and many of them died ; but, when the sur 
 vivors were seasoned to the climate, and had learned the use of indigenous medic 
 inal remedies, they enjoyed their health much better. The country had so many 
 natural advantages that it soon became populous. Many Roman Catholic families 
 from England resorted thither, and the proprietor, with a degree of wisdom and 
 generosity then unparalleled but in Holland, after having established the Christian 
 religion upon the footing of common law, granted liberty of conscience and equal 
 privileges to Christians of every denomination. With this essential benefit was con 
 nected security of property. Lands were given in lots of fifty acres to every emi 
 grant in absolute fee simple. Under such advantages the people thought them 
 selves so happy, that, in an early period of their colonial existence, they in return 
 granted to the proprietor a subsidy of fifteen pounds of tobacco on every poll " as 
 a testimony of their gratitude for his great charge and solicitude in maintaining the 
 government, in protecting the inhabitants in their rights, and for reimbursing his 
 vast expense;" which, during the first two years, exceeded forty thousand pounds 
 sterling. 
 
 WILLIAM PENN. 
 
 WILLIAM PENN HIS BIRTH AND EDUCATION HE TRAVELS TO FRANCE GOES TO IRELAND- 
 ATTACHES HIMSELF TO THE QUAKERS HIS ARREST AND DISCHARGE DISCARDED BY HIS 
 FATHER BECOMES AN ITINERANT PREACHER IMPRISONED IN THE TOWER HIS SECOND 
 JOURNEV TO IRELAND HIS FATHER RECONCILED TO HIM HIS IMPRISONMENT IN NEW 
 GATEHE PLEADS FOR THE QUAKERS BEFORE PARLIAMENT RECEIVES A CHARTER OF 
 PENNSYLVANIA HIS TERMS OF SETTLEMENT SENDS A LETTER TO THE INDIANS EMBARKS 
 WITH A NUMBER OF QUAKERS FOR AMERICA ARRIVES AT NEWCASTLE GOES TO CHESTER 
 NAMES HIS SETTLEMENT PHILADELPHIA SPECIMEN OF HIS STYLE OF PREACHING HIS 
 DEPARTURE FOR ENGLAND HE PUBLISHES A BOOK ON THE LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE 
 SUSPECTED OF BEING AN ENEMY TO KING WILLIAM HE IS INVOLVED IN DEBT HIS 
 PRUDENT MEASURES SIGNS A NEW CHARTER RETURNS TO ENGLAND HIS EMBARRASS 
 MENTSHIS DEATH. 
 
 THE founder of Pennsylvania was the grandson of Captain Giles Penn, an 
 English Consul in the Mediterranean, and the son of Sir William Penn, an Admiral 
 of the English navy, in the protectorate of Cromwell, and in the reign of Charles II., 
 in which office he rendered very important services to the nation, particularly by the 
 conquest of Jamaica from the Spaniards, and in a naval victory over the Dutch. 
 William was born October 14, 1644, in the parish of St. Catharine, near the Tower 
 of London, educated at Chigwell, in Essex, and at a private school in London ; and 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 22T 
 
 in the fifteenth year of his age entered as a student and gentleman commoner of 
 Christ Church, in Oxford. 
 
 His genius was bright, his disposition sober and studious, and, being possessed 
 of a lively imagination and a warm heart, the first turn of his mind toward religious 
 subjects was attended with circumstances bordering on enthusiasm. Having re 
 ceived his first impressions from the preaching of Thomas Loe, an itinerant Quaker, 
 he conceived a favorable opinion of the flights and refinements of that rising sect, 
 which led him, while at the University, in conjunction with some other students, to 
 withdraw from the established worship, and hold a private meeting, where they 
 preached and prayed their own way. The discipline of the University being very 
 strict in such matters, he was fined for the sin of nonconformity. This served to fix 
 him more firmly in his principles and habits, and exposed his singularity more openly 
 to the world. His conduct being then deemed obstinate, he was, in the sixteenth 
 year of his age, expelled as an incorrigible offender against the laws of uniformity. 
 
 On his return home he found his father highly incensed against him. As neither 
 remonstrances, nor threatenings, nor blows could divest him of his religious attach 
 ments, he was, for a while, turned out of the house ; but by the influence of his 
 mother he was so far restored to favor as to be sent to France, in company with 
 some persons of quality, with a view to unbend his mind and refine his manners. 
 Here he learned the language of the country, and acquired such a polite and courtly 
 behavior, that his father, after two years absence, received him with joy, hoping 
 that the object of his wishes was attained. He was then admitted into Lincoln s 
 Inn, where he studied law till the plague broke out in 1665, when he returned to his 
 father s house. 
 
 About this time (1666), the King s coffers being low, and claims for unrewarded 
 services being importunate, grants were frequently made of lands in Ireland; and 
 the merits of Sir William Penn being not the least conspicuous, he received a valu 
 able estate in the county of Cork, and committed the management of it to his son, 
 then in the twenty-second year of his age. Here he met with his old friend Loe, and 
 immediately attached himself to the Society of Quakers, though at that time they 
 were subject to severe persecution. This might have operated as a discouragement 
 to a young gentleman of such quality and expectations, especially as he exposed 
 himself thereby to the renewed displeasure of a parent who loved him, had not the 
 integrity and fervor of his mind induced him to sacrifice all worldly considerations to 
 the dictates of his conscience. 
 
 It was not long before he was apprehended at a religious " conventicle," and, with 
 eighteen others, committed to prison by the Mayor of Cork ; but upon his writing a 
 handsome address to the Earl of Orrery, Lord President of Munster, in which he 
 very sensibly pleaded for liberty of conscience, and professed his desire of a peace 
 able, and his abhorrence of a tumultuous and disrespectful, separation from the 
 established worship, he was discharged. This second stroke of persecution engaged 
 him more closely to the Quakers. He associated openly with them, and bore, with 
 calmness and patience, the cruel abuse which was liberally bestowed on that singular 
 party. 
 
 His father, being informed of his conduct, remanded him home; and though now 
 William s age forbade his trying the force of that species of discipline to which, as a 
 naval commander, he had been accustomed, yet he plied him with those arguments 
 
THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 * 
 
 which it was natural for a man of the world to use, and which, to such an one, would 
 have been prevailing. The principal one was a threatening to disinherit him ; and 
 to this he humbly submitted, though he could by no means be persuaded to take 
 off his hat in presence of the King, the Duke of York, or his father. For this in 
 flexibility he was again turned out of doors ; upon which he commenced as an itinerant 
 preacher, and had much success in making proselytes. In these excursions the 
 opposition which he met with from the clergy and the magistracy frequently brought 
 him into difficulties, and sometimes to imprisonment ; but his integrity was so mani 
 fest, and his patience so invincible, that his father at length became softened toward 
 him, and not only exerted his interest to release him from confinement, but winked 
 at his return to the family whenever it suited his convenience. His mother was 
 always his friend, and often supplied his necessities without the knowledge of the 
 father. 
 
 In the year 1668 he commenced as author, and having written a book entitled 
 " The Sandy Foundation Shaken," which gave great offense to the spiritual lords, he 
 was imprisoned in the Tower, and the visits of his friends were forbidden. But his 
 adversaries found him proof against all their efforts to subdue him ; for a message 
 being brought to him by the Bishop of London, that he must either publicly recant or die 
 a prisoner, his answer was : " My prison shall be my grave. I owe my conscience to 
 no man. They are mistaken in me ; I value not their threats. They shall know that 
 I can weary out their malice, and baffle all their designs by the spirit of patience." 
 During this confinement he wrote his famous book, " No Cross, no Crown," and an 
 other, " Innocency with her open face," in which he explained and vindicated the 
 principles which he had advanced in the book for which he was imprisoned. 
 This, with a letter* which he wrote to Lord Arlington, Secretary of State, aided by 
 the interest which his father had at court, procured his release, after seven months 
 confinement. 
 
 Soon after this he made another visit to Ireland to settle his father s concerns, in 
 which he exerted himself with great industry and success. Here he constantly ap 
 peared at the meetings of the Quakers, and not only officiated as a preacher, but used 
 his interest with the Lord-Lieutenant and others of his nobility, to procure indul 
 gence for them, and get some of them released from their impris9nment. 
 
 In 1670 an act of Parliament was made which prohibited the meetings of dissent 
 ers under severe penalties. The Quakers being forcibly debarred entering their 
 meeting-house in Grace Church Street, London, assembled before it in the street, 
 where Penn preached to a numerous concourse, and being apprehended on the spot 
 by a warrant from the Lord Mayor, was committed to Newgate, and at the next ses 
 sion took his trial at the Old Bailey, where he pleaded his own cause with the free 
 dom of an Englishman and the magnanimity of a hero. The jury at first brought 
 in their verdict, "guilty of speaking in Grace Church Street ; " but this being unsatis 
 factory to the Court, they were detained all night, and the next day returned their 
 verdict, " not guilty." The Court were highly incensed against them, fined them forty 
 marks each, and imprisoned them along with Penn, till their fines and fees were paid. 
 An unlucky expression which dropped from the recorder on this trial, rendered the 
 cause of the Quakers popular, and their persecutors odious : " It will never be well 
 with us," said the infamous Sir John Howell, "till something like the Spanish Inqui 
 sition be established in England." The triumph of Penn was complete ; being ac- 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 229 
 
 quitted by his peers, he was released from prison, on the payment of his fees, and 
 returned to the zealous exercise of his ministry. 
 
 His conduct under this prosecution did him great honor. His father became per 
 fectly reconciled to him, and soon after died, leaving his parental blessing and a 
 plentiful estate. This accession of fortune made no alteration in his manners or 
 habits ; he continued to preach, to write, and to travel as before, and within a few 
 months afterward, was taken up again for preaching in the street, and carried to the 
 Tower; from whence, after a long examination, he was sent to Newgate, and being 
 discharged without any trial, at the end of nine months, he went over to Holland and 
 Germany, where he continued traveling and preaching, till the King published his 
 declaration of indulgence to tender consciences ; upon which he returned to England, 
 married a daughter of Sir William Springet, and settled at Rickmansworth, in Here 
 fordshire, where he pursued his studies, and multiplied his controversial writings for 
 about five years. 
 
 In 1677 he " had a drawing "to renew his travels in Holland and Germany, in 
 company with Fox, Barclay, Keith, and several others of his brethren. The induce 
 ment to this journey was the candid reception which had been given by divines, 
 and other learned men in Germany, to the sentiments of every well-meaning preacher 
 who dissented from the Church of Rome. In the course of these travels they set 
 tled the order of church government, discipline, correspondence, and marriage 
 among their friends in Holland ; dispersed their books among all sorts of people 
 who were inclined to receive them ; visited many persons of distinction, and wrote 
 letters to others, particularly to the King of Poland and the Elector Palatine. They 
 were received very courteously by the Princess Elizabeth, granddaughter of King 
 James I., then resident at Herwerden, who, though not perfectly initiated into the 
 mystery of " the holy silence," yet had been brought to " a waiting frame," and 
 admitted them to several private meetings and conferences in her apartments, in 
 company with the Countess of Homes, and other ladies, her attendants; and after 
 ward kept up a correspondence with Mr. Penn till her death. 
 
 On his return to England, he found his friends suffering by the operation of a 
 law made against Papists, the edge of which was unjustly turned against them. The 
 law required a certain oath to be tendered to those who were suspected of popery; 
 and because the Quakers denied the lawfulness of oaths in any case whatever, they 
 were obliged to bear the penalty annexed to the refusal of this oath, which was no 
 less than a fine of twenty pounds per month, or two-thirds of their estate. By 
 Penn s advice they petitioned the Parliament for redress of this grievance, and after 
 explaining the reason of their declining the oath, offered to give their word to the 
 same purport, and to submit to the penalty, " if they should be found faulty." Penn 
 had a hearing before a committee of Parliament, when he pleaded the cause of his 
 friends and of himself, in a sensible, decent, convincing manner ; and what he said 
 had so much weight, that the committee agreed to insert in a bill then pending, a 
 proviso for their relief. The bill passed the Commons, but before it could be got 
 through the House of Lords, it was lost by a sudden prorogation of Parliament. 
 
 We have hitherto viewed Mr. Penn as a Christian and a preacher ; and he appears 
 to have been honest, zealous, patient, and industrious in the concerns of religion. 
 His abilities and his literary acquirements were eminently serviceable to the frater 
 nity with which he was connected ; and it was owing to his exertions, in conjunction 
 
230 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 with Barclay and Keith, that they were formed into order, and that a regular cor 
 respondence and discipline were established among the several societies of them 
 dispersed in Europe and America. His writings served to give the world a more 
 just and favorable idea of their principles, than could be had from the harangue of 
 illiterate preachers, or the rhapsodies of enthusiastic writers ; while his family and 
 fortune procured for them a degree of respectability at home and abroad. His con 
 troversial writings are modest, candid, and persuasive. His book, entitled "The 
 Christian Quaker," is a sensible vindication of the doctrine of Universal Saving 
 Light. His style is clear and perspicuous; and though he does not affect so much 
 scholastic subtility in his argumentation as his friend Barclay, yet he is by no means 
 inferior to him in solidity of reasoning. His character is thus drawn by the editor 
 of his works: "Our worthy friend, William Penn, was known to be a man of great 
 abilities; of an excellent sweetness of disposition; of quick thought and ready 
 utterance ; full of love, without dissimulation ; as extensive in charity as comprehen 
 sive in knowledge, so ready to forgive enemies, that the ungrateful were not except- 
 ed. He was learned without vanity ; apt without forwardness ; facetious in con 
 versation, yet weighty and serious ; of an extraordinary greatness of mind, yet void 
 of the stain of ambition." 
 
 We shall now view him in the character of a legislator, in which respect his learn 
 ing, his sufferings, his acquaintance with mankind, and his genuine liberality, were of 
 great use to him. Among his various studies he had not omitted to acquaint him 
 self with the principles of law and government; and he had more especial induce 
 ments to this, from the prosecutions and arrests which he frequently suffered, into 
 the legality of which it was natural for him to inquire. He had observed in his travels 
 abroad, as well as in his acquaintance at home, the workings of arbitrary power and 
 the mischiefs of usurpation ; and he had studied the whole controversy between regal 
 and popular claims : the result of which was, that government must be founded in 
 justice, and exercised with moderation. One of his maxims was, that "the people 
 being the wife-politic of the prince, is better managed by wisdom than ruled by force." 
 His own feelings, as well as reflections, led him to adopt the most liberal idea of tol 
 eration. Freedom of profession and inquiry, and a total abhorrence of persecution 
 for conscience sake, were his darling principles ; and it is a singular circumstance in 
 the history of mankind, that Divine Providence should give to such a man as William 
 Penn an opportunity to make a fair and consistent experiment of these excellent max 
 ims, by establishing a colony in America on the most liberal principles of toleration, 
 at a time when the policy of the oldest nations in Europe was ineffectually employed 
 in endeavoring to reduce the active minds of men to a most absurd uniformity in 
 articles of faith and modes of worship. 
 
 It has been observed that his father, Sir William Penn, had merited much by his 
 services in the English navy. There were also certain debts due to him from the 
 Crown at the time of his death, which the royal treasures were poorly able to dis 
 charge. His son, after much solicitation, found no prospect of getting his due, in the 
 common mode of payment, and therefore turned his thoughts toward obtaining a 
 grant of land in America, on which he might make the experiment of settling a col 
 ony, and establishing a government suited to his own principles and views. 
 
 Mr. Penn had been concerned, with several other Quakers, in purchasing of Lord 
 Berkeley his patent of West Jersey ; to make a settlement for their persecuted 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 231 
 
 brethren in England, many of whom transported themselves thither in hope of an ex 
 emption from the troubles which they had endured from the execution of the penal 
 laws against dissenters. But they found themselves subject to the arbitrary imposi 
 tions of Sir Edmund Andros, who governed the Duke of York s territory, and exer 
 cised the jurisdiction over all the settlements on both sides the Delaware. Penn and 
 his associates remonstrated against his conduct, but their efforts proved ineffectual. 
 However, the concern which Penn had in this purchase gave him not only a taste for 
 speculating in landed interest, but a knowledge of the middle region of the American 
 coasts ; and being desirous of acquiring a separate estate, where he might realize his 
 sanguine wishes, he had great advantage in making inquiry and determining on a 
 place. 
 
 Having examined all the former grants to the companies of Virginia and New En 
 gland, the Lord Baltimore and the Duke of York, he fixed upon a territory bounded 
 on the east by the bay and river of Delaware, extending southward to Lord Balti 
 more s province of Maryland, westward as far as the western extent of Maryland, and 
 northward "as far as plantable." For this he petitioned the King; and being ex 
 amined before the Privy Council, on the I4th of June, concerning those words of his 
 petition, " as far as plantable," he declared " that he should be satisfied with the ex 
 tent of three degrees of latitude ; and that in lieu of such a grant, he was willing to 
 remit his debt from the Crown, or some part of it, and to stay for the remainder till 
 his Majesty should be in a better condition to satisfy it." 
 
 Notice of this application was given to the agents of the Duke of York and Lord 
 Baltimore, and inquiry was made how far the pretensions of Penn might consist with 
 the grants already made to them. The peninsula between the bays of Chesapeake 
 and Delaware had been planted by detached companies of Swedes, Finlanders, Dutch, 
 and English. It was first by force, and afterward by treaty, brought under the do 
 minion of the Crown of England. That part of it which bordered on the Delaware 
 was within the Duke of York s patent, while that which joined on the Chesapeake 
 was within the grant to Lord Baltimore. 
 
 The Duke s agent consented that Penn should have the land west of Delaware 
 and north of Newcastle, " in consideration of the reason he had to expect favor 
 from his Majesty." Lord Baltimore s agent petitioned that Penn s grant might 
 be expressed to lie north of Susquehannah fort, and of a line drawn east and west 
 from it, and that he might not be allowed to sell arms and ammunition to the In 
 dians. To these restrictions Penn had no objection. 
 
 The draft of a charter being prepared, it was submitted to Lord Chief-Justice 
 North, who was ordered to provide by fit clauses for the interest of the King and the 
 encouragement of the planters. While it was under consideration, the Bishop of 
 London petitioned that Penn might be obliged by his pateut to admit a chaplain of 
 his lordship s appointment, at the request of any number of the planters. The 
 giving a name to the province was left to the King. 
 
 The charter, consisting of twenty-three sections, "penned with all the appearance 
 of candor and simplicity," was signed and sealed by King Charles II., on the 4th of 
 March, 1681. It constitutes William Penn, and his heirs, true and absolute proprie 
 taries of the province of Pennsylvania, saving to the Crown their allegiance and the 
 sovereignty. It gives him, his heirs and their deputies, power to make laws " for 
 the good and happy government of the country," by advice of the freemen, and to 
 
232 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 erect courts of justice for the execution of those laws, provided they be not repug 
 nant to the laws of England. For the encouragement of planters, they were to 
 enjoy the privileges of English subjects, paying the same duties in trade; and no 
 taxes were to be levied on them, but by their own Assemblies or by acts of Parlia 
 ment. With respect to religion, no more is said than what the Bishop of London 
 had suggested, that if twenty inhabitants should desire a preacher of his lordship s 
 approbation, he should be allowed to reside in the province. This was perfectly 
 agreeable to Mr. Penn s professed principles of liberty of conscience ; but it may 
 seem rather extraordinary that this distinguished leader of a sect, who so pointedly 
 denied the lawfulness of war, should accept the powers given him in the sixteenth 
 article of the charter, " to levy, muster, and train all sorts of men ; to pursue and 
 vanquish enemies; to take and put them to death by the laws of war; and to do 
 everything which belonged to the office of Captain-General in an army." Mr. Penn, 
 for reasons of state, might find it convenient that he and his heirs should be thus in 
 vested with the power of the sword, though it was impossible for him or them to 
 exercise it, without first apostatizing from their religious profession. 
 
 The charter being thus obtained, he found himself authorized to agree with such 
 persons as were disposed to be adventurers to his new province. By a public adver 
 tisement, he invited purchasers, and described the country with a display of the ad 
 vantages which might be expected from a settlement in it. This induced many 
 single persons, and some families, chiefly of the denomination of Quakers, to think 
 of a removal. A number of merchants and others formed themselves into a com 
 pany, for the sake of encouraging the settlement and trade of the country, and 
 purchased twenty thousand acres of his land. They had a president, treasurer, 
 secretary, and a committee of twelve, who resided in England and transacted their 
 common business. Their objects were to encourage the manufacturers of leather 
 and glass, the cutting and sawing of timber, and the whale-fishery. 
 
 The land was sold at the rate of twenty pounds for every thousand acres. 
 They who rented lands were to pay one penny yearly per acre. Servants, when 
 their terms were expired, were entitled to fifty acres, subject to two shillings per 
 annum; and their masters were allowed fifty acres for each servant so liberated, but 
 subject to four shillings per annum ; or if the master should give the servant fifty 
 acres out of his own division, he might receive from the proprietor one hundred 
 acres, subject to six shillings per annum. In every hundred thousand acres, the 
 proprietor reserved ten for himself. 
 
 The quit rents were not agreed to without difficulty. The purchasers remon 
 strated against them as a burden, unprecedented in any other American colony. 
 But Peun distinguished between the character of proprietor and Governor, urging 
 the necessity of supporting government with dignity, and that by complying with 
 this expedient, they would be freed from other taxes. Such distinctions are very 
 convenient to a politician, and by this insinuation the point was carried : upon 
 which it was remarked (perhaps too severely), that " less of the man of God now 
 appeared, and more of the man of the world." 
 
 According to the powers given by the charter " for regulating and governing 
 property within the province," he entered into certain articles with the purchasers 
 and adventurers (July u, 1681) which were entitled "Conditions and Concessions." 
 These related to the laying out roads, city and country lots, the privilege of water 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 233 
 
 courses, the property of mines and minerals, the reservation of timber and mulberry 
 trees, the terms of improvement and cultivation, the traffic with the Indians and the 
 means of preserving peace with them, of preventing debtors and other defaulters 
 from making their escape, and of preserving the morals of the planters by the exe 
 cution of the penal laws of England till an Assembly should meet. 
 
 These preliminaries being adjusted, the first colony under his authority came over 
 to America and began their settlement above the confluence of the Schuylkill with 
 the Delaware. By them the proprietor sent a letter to the Indians informing them 
 that " the GREAT GOD had been pleased to make him concerned in their part of the 
 world, and that the King of the country where he lived had given him a great prov 
 ince therein, but that he did not desire to enjoy it without their consent ; that he 
 was a man of peace, and that the people whom he sent were of the same disposition ; 
 but if any difference should happen between them, it might be adjusted by an equal 
 number of men chosen on both sides." With this letter he appointed commis 
 sioners to treat with the Indians about purchasing land, and promised them that he 
 would shortly come and converse with them in person. 
 
 About this time (November, 1681) he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. 
 The next spring he completed a frame of government (April 25, 1682), with the 
 express design " to support power in reverence with the people, and to secure the 
 people from the abuse of power." It is prefaced with a long discourse on the nat 
 ure, origin, use, and abuse of government ; which shows that he had not only well 
 studied the subject, but that he was fond of displaying his knowledge. 
 
 By this frame of government there was to be a Provincial Council, consisting of 
 seventy-two persons (answering to the number of elders in the Jewish sanhedrim), 
 who were to be divided into three classes twenty-four to serve for three years, 
 twenty-four for two years, and twenty-four for one year the vacancies thus made to 
 be supplied by new elections ; and, after seven years, every one of those who went 
 off yearly were to be incapable of re-election for one year following. This rotation 
 was intended "that all might be fitted for government and have experience of the 
 care and burthen of it." Of this council two-thirds were to be a quorum, and the 
 consent of two-thirds of this quorum was to be had in all matters of moment ; but 
 in matters of lesser moment, one-third might be a quorum, the majority of whom 
 might determine. The distinction between matters of moment and of lesser mo 
 ment was not defined, nor was it declared who was to be judge of the distinction. 
 The Governor was not to have a negative, but a treble voice. The Council were to 
 prepare and propose bills to the General Assembly, which were to be^published 
 thirty days before its meeting. When met, the Assembly might deliberate eight 
 days ; but on the ninth were to give their assent or dissent to the proposed biJls 
 two-thirds of them to be a quorum. With respect to the number of the Assembly, 
 it was provided that the first year all the freemen in person might compose it ; after 
 ward, a delegation of two hundred, which might be increased to five hundred. The 
 Governor with the Council to be the supreme executive, with a parental and prudential 
 authority, and to be divided into four departments of eighteen each one of which 
 was called a committee of plantations, another of justice and safety, another of trade 
 and revenue, and another of manners, education, and arts. 
 
 To this frame of government was subjoined a body of fundamental laws agreed 
 upon by Penn and the adventurers in London, which respected moral, political, and 
 30 
 
234 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 economical matters, which were not to be altered but by the consent of the Gov 
 ernor or his heirs, and six parts in the seven of the freemen met in Provincial Coun 
 cil and Assembly. In this code we find that celebrated declaration which has con 
 tributed more than anything else to the prosperity of Pennsylvania, viz, " That all 
 persons living in the province, who confess and acknowledge the ONE almighty and 
 eternal GOD to be the Creator, Upholder, and Ruler of the world, and hold them 
 selves obliged in conscience to live peaceably and justly in civil society, shall in no 
 ways be molested for their religious persuasion or practice in matters of faith and wor 
 ship ; nor shall they be compelled at any time to frequent or maintain any religious 
 worship, place, or ministry whatever." To which was added another equally conducive 
 to the welfare of society : " That, according to the good example of the primitive Chris 
 tians and the ease of the creation, every first day of the week, called the Lord s day, 
 people shall abstain from their common daily labor, that they may the better dispose 
 themselves to worship God according to their understandings." 
 
 These laws were an original compact between the Governor and the freemen of 
 the colony. They appear to be founded in wisdom and equity, and some of them 
 have been copied into the declarations of rights prefixed to several of the present 
 republican constitutions in America. The system of government which Penn pro 
 duced has been regarded as an Utopian project ; but, though in some parts visionary 
 and impracticable, yet it was liberal and popular, calculated to gain adventurers with 
 a prospect of republican advantages. Some of its provisions, particularly the rotation 
 of the Council, have been adopted by a very enlightened body of American legislators, 
 after the expiration of a century. The experiment is now in operation, and without 
 experiment nothing can be fairly decided in the political any more than in the 
 physical world. 
 
 Having, by the help of Sir William Jones and other gentlemen of the long robe, 
 constructed a plan of government for his colony, Mr. Penn prepared to make the 
 voyage to America, that he might attempt the execution of it. 
 
 A part of the lands comprehended within his grant had been subject to the gov 
 ernment, which was exercised by the deputy of the Duke of York. To prevent any 
 difficulty, he thought it convenient to obtain from the Duke a deed of sale of the 
 province of Pennsylvania, which he did on the 2ist of August, 1682; and by two 
 subsequent deeds, in the same month, the Duke conveyed to him the town of New 
 castle, situate on the western side of the Delaware, with a circle of twelve miles 
 radius from the center of the town, and from thence extending southerly to the 
 Hoar Kills, at Cape Hcnlopen, the western point of the entrance of Delaware Bay ; 
 which tract contained the settlements made by the Dutch, Swedes, and Fins. This 
 was called the Territory, in distinction from the Province, of Pennsylvania, and was 
 divided into three counties, Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex. 
 
 At this time the penal laws against dissenters were executed with rigor in En 
 gland, which made many of the Quakers desirous of accompanying or following Penn 
 into America, where they had a prospect ol the most extensive liberty of conscience. 
 Having chosen some for his particular companions, he embarked with them in 
 August, 1682, and from the Downs, where the ship lay waiting for a wind, he wrote 
 an affectionate letter to his friends, which he called " a farewell to England." After 
 a pleasant passage of six weeks, they came within sight of the American coast, and 
 were refreshed by the land breezes, at the distance of twelve leagues. As the ship 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 235 
 
 sailed up the Delaware, the inhabitants came on board, and saluted the new Governor 
 with an air of joy and satisfaction. He landed at Newcastle, and summoned the 
 people to meet him, when possession of the soil was given him in the legal form of 
 that day; and he entertained them with a speech, explaining the purpose of his 
 coming and the views of his government, assuring them of his intention to preserve 
 civil and religious liberty, and exhorting them to peace and sobriety. Having 
 renewed the commissions of their former magistrates, he went to Chester, where he 
 repeated the same things, and received their congratulations. The Swedes appointed 
 a delegate to compliment him on his arrival, and to assure him of their affection and 
 fidelity. 
 
 At this time the number of inhabitants was about three thousand. The first 
 planters were the Dutch, and after them the Swedes and Fins. There had been 
 formerly disputes among them, but for above twenty years they had been in a state 
 of peace. The Dutch were settled on the bay, and applied themselves chiefly to 
 trade ; at Newcastle they had a court-house and a place of worship. The Swedes 
 and Fins lived higher up the river, and followed husbandry. Their settlements were 
 Christina, Tenecum, and Wicoco ; at each of which they had a church. They were a 
 plain, robust, sober, and industrious people, and most of them had large families. The 
 colony which Penn had sent the year before began their settlement above Wicoco, 
 and it was, by special direction of the proprietor, called PHILADELPHIA. The prov 
 ince was divided into three counties, Chester, Buckingham, and Philadelphia. 
 
 Three principal objects engaged the attention of Mr. Penn ; one was to unite the 
 territory with the province ; another was to enter into a treaty with the Indians ; 
 and the third was to lay out a capital city. 
 
 The first was entered upon immediately. Within a month after his arrival he 
 called a General Assembly at Chester, when the Constitution, which had been formed 
 in England, was to undergo an experiment. 
 
 The freemen both of the province and territory were summoned to compose this 
 Assembly in person. Instead of which, they elected twelve members in each county, 
 amounting in all to seventy-two, the precise number which by the frame of govern 
 ment was to compose one house only. The elections were accompanied by petitions 
 to the Governor, importing that the fewness of the people, their inability in estate, 
 and unskillfulness in government, would not permit them to serve in so large a coun 
 cil and assembly, and therefore it was their desire that the twelve now returned from 
 each county, might serve both for Provincial Council and General Assembly, with the 
 same powers and privileges which by the charter were granted to the whole." 
 
 The members were accordingly distributed into two houses ; three out of each 
 county made a council, consisting of eighteen, and the remaining part formed an 
 Assembly of fifty-four. In this Assembly was passed " the act of settlement," in 
 which the frame of government made in England, being styled a probationary act, was 
 so far changed, as that three persons of each county might compose the Council, 
 and fix the Assembly. After several other " variations, explanations, and additions," 
 requested by the Assembly, and yielded to by the Governor, the aforesaid charter 
 and frame of government was " recognized and accepted, as if with these alterations 
 it was supposed to be complete." The Assembly is styled " the General Assembly 
 of the province of Pennsylvania and the territories thereunto belonging." 
 
 Thus the lower counties at this time manifested their willingness to be united 
 
836 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 with the province of Pennsylvania ; but the proprietor had not received from the 
 Crown any right of jurisdiction over that territory, though the Duke had sold him 
 the right of soil, and it was not in the power of the people, as subjects of the King 
 of England, to put themselves under any form of government, without the royal 
 authority. The want of this, with the operation of other causes, produced difficul 
 ties which afterward rendered this union void, and the three lower counties had a 
 separate Assembly, though under the same Governor. 
 
 Mr. Penn s next object was to treat with the natives. The benevolence of his 
 disposition led him to exercise great tenderness toward them, which was much in 
 creased by an opinion which he had formed, and which he openly avowed, that they 
 were descendants of the ten dispersed tribes of Israel. He traveled into the country, 
 visited them in their cabins, was present at their feasts, conversed with them in a free 
 and familiar manner, and gained their affection by his obliging carriage, and his fre 
 quent acts of generosity. But on public occasions he received them with ceremony, 
 and transacted business with solemnity and order. 
 
 In one of his excursions in the winter he found a chief warrior sick, and his wife 
 preparing to sweat him, in the usual manner, by pouring water on a heap of hot 
 stones, in a closely-covered hut, and then plunging him into the river, through a hole 
 cut in the ice. To divert himself during the sweating operation, the chief sang the 
 achievements of his ancestors, then his own, and concluded his song with this reflec 
 tion : " Why are we sick, and these strangers well ? It seems as if they were sent to 
 inherit the land in our stead ! Ah ! it is because they love the Great Spirit, and we 
 do not ! The sentiment was rational, and such as often occurred to the sagacious 
 among the natives. We can not suppose it was disagreeable to Mr. Penn, whose 
 view was to impress them with an idea of his honest and pacific intentions, and to 
 make a fair bargain with them. 
 
 Some of their chiefs made him a voluntary present of the land which they 
 claimed ; others sold it at a stipulated price. The form of one of these treaties is 
 thus described, in a letter which he wrote to his friends in England : " The King 
 sat in the middle of a half moon, and had his council, old and wise, on each hand. 
 Behind, at a little distance, sat the young ones, in the same figure. Having consulted 
 and resolved the business, the King ordered one of them to speak to me. He stood 
 up, came to me, took me by the hand, saluted me in the name of the King, told me 
 he was ordered by the King to speak to me, and that now it was not he that spoke, 
 but the King, because what he should say was the King s mind. [Having made an 
 apology for their delay], he fell to the bounds of the land they had to dispose of, 
 and the price, which is now dear, that which would once have bought twenty miles, 
 not now buying two. During the time this person was speaking, not a man of them 
 was observed to whisper or smile. When the purchase was agreed, great promises 
 passed between us of kindness and good neighborhood, and that the English and 
 Indians must live in love, as long as the sun gave light. Which done, another made 
 speech to the Indians in the name of all the sachems, first to tell them what was 
 done, next to charge them to love the Christians, to live in peace with me and my 
 people, and that they should never do me or my people any wrong. At every sen 
 tence of which they shouted, and said Amen, in their way. The pay or presents I 
 made them were not hoarded by the particular owners, but the neighboring Kings 
 and clans being present when the goods were brought out, the parties chiefly con- 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 237 
 
 cerned consulted what and to whom they should give them. To every King, then, 
 by the hands of a person, for that work appointed, was a proportion sent, sorted 
 and folded, with that gravity which is admirable. Then that King subdivided it in 
 like manner among his dependents, they hardly leaving themselves an equal share 
 with one of their subjects." 
 
 Mr. Penn was so happy as to succeed in his endeavors to gain the good-will of 
 the Indians. They have frequently, in subsequent treaties many years after, ex 
 pressed great veneration for his memory ; and to perpetuate it, they have given to 
 the successive Governors of Pennsylvania the name of Onas, which signifies a Pen. 
 By this name they are commonly known and addressed in the speeches made by the 
 Six Nations in all their treaties. 
 
 One part of his agreement with the Indians was, that they should sell no lands 
 to any person but to himself or his agents ; another was, that his agents should not 
 occupy nor grant any lands but those which were fairly purchased of the Indians. 
 These stipulations were confirmed by subsequent acts of Assembly ; and every bar 
 gain made between private persons and the Indians without leave of the proprietor, 
 was declared void. The charter which Mr. Penn had obtained of the Crown, com 
 prehended a far greater extent of territory than it was proper for him at first to 
 purchase of the natives. 
 
 He did not think it for his interest to take any more at once than he had a pros 
 pect of granting away to settlers. But his colony increased beyond his expectation, 
 and when new tracts were wanted, the Indians rose in their demands. His first pur 
 chases were made at his own expense, and the goods delivered on these occasions 
 went by the name of presents. In a course of time when a treaty and a purchase 
 went on together, the Governor and his successors made the speeches, and the As 
 sembly were at the expense of the presents. When one paid the cost, and the other 
 enjoyed the profit, a subject of altercation arose between the proprietary and the 
 popular interests, which other causes contributed to increase and inflame. 
 
 The purchases which Mr. Penn made of the Indians were undoubtedly fair and 
 honest ; and he is entitled to praise for his wise and peaceable conduct toward them. 
 But there is such a thing as overrating true merit. He has been celebrated by a 
 late author, as having in these purchases " set an example of moderation and justice 
 in America, which was never thought of before by the Europeans." It had been a 
 common thing in New England, for fifty years before his time, to make fair and 
 regular purchases of land from the Indians ; and many of their deeds are preserved 
 in the public records. As early as 1633 a law was enacted in the colony of Massa 
 chusetts, that " no person shall put any of the Indians from their planting grounds 
 or fishing places ; and that upon complaint and proof thereof, they shall have relief 
 in any of the courts of justice, as the English have." To prevent frauds in private- 
 bargains, it was ordered by the same act, that " no person shall buy land of any 
 Indian, without license first had and obtained of the General Court." Other regu 
 lations respecting traffic with them were made at the same time, which bear the 
 appearance, not only of justice and moderation, but of a parental regard to their 
 interest and property. 
 
 Nor is it to be supposed that other Europeans neglected their duty in these re 
 spects. Several purchases were made before Penn s time in New Jersey. Mr. Penn 
 himself, in one of his letters, speaking of the quarrels between the Dutch and the 
 
238 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 Swedes, who had occupied the lands on the Delaware before him, says : " The Dutch, 
 who were the first planters, looked on them [the Swedes] as intruders on their purchase 
 and possession." Of whom could the Dutch have purchased those lands but of the 
 natives? They could not have occupied them without the consent of the Indians, 
 who were very numerous, and could easily have extirpated them, or prevented their 
 settlement. It is probable that this Dutch purchase is referred to in that part of 
 Penn s letter before quoted, where he speaks of the land at that time (1683) as dearer 
 than formerly, for how could this have been ascertained but by comparing his with 
 former purchases? 
 
 It may then be proper to consider Mr. Pcnn as having followed the " examples 
 of justice and moderation " which had been set by former Europeans, in their conduct 
 toward the natives of America : and as having united his example with theirs, for the 
 imitation of succeeding adventurers. This will give us the true idea of his merit, 
 without detracting from the respect due to those who preceded him in the arduous 
 work of colonizing America. 
 
 Mr. Penn easily foresaw that the situation of his province, and the liberal encourage 
 ment which he had given to settlers, would draw people of all denominations thither, 
 and render it a place of commerce ; he therefore determined to lay the plan of a 
 capital city, which in conformity to his catholic and pacific ideas, he called Philadcl- 
 phia. The site of it was a neck of land between the river Delaware, on the east, and 
 the Schuylkill, Hiding Creek, a branch, on the west ; and he designed that the city 
 should extend from one to the other, the distance being two miles. This spot was 
 chosen on account of the firm soil, the gentle rising from each river toward the midst, 
 the numerous springs, the convenience of coves capable of being used as docks, the 
 depth of water for ships of burthen, and the good anchorage. The ground was sur 
 veyed, and a plan of the intended city was drawn by Thomas Holme, surveyor-gen 
 eral. Ten streets, of two miles in length, were laid out from river to river, and 
 twenty streets, of one mile in length, crossing them at right angles. Four squares were 
 reserved for common purposes, one in each quarter of the city, and in the center, on 
 the most elevated spot, was a larger square of ten acres, in which were to be built a 
 state-house, a market-house, a school-house, and a place of worship. On the side of 
 each river it was intended to build wharves and warehouses, and from each front 
 street nearest to the rivers, an open space was to be left, in the descent to the shores, 
 which would have added much to the beauty of the city. All owners of 1,000 acres 
 were entitled to a city lot in the front streets or in the central high street, and before 
 each house was to be an open court, planted with rows of trees. Smaller purchasers 
 were to be accommodated in the other streets ; and care was taken in all, that no 
 building should encroach on the street lines. This last regulation has been always 
 attended to, though in some other respects the plan has been either disregarded or 
 not completed. 
 
 The city was begun in 1682, and within less than a year " eighty houses and cot 
 tages were built, wherein merchants and mechanics exercised their respective occu 
 pations;" and they soon found the country around them so well cultivated by the 
 planters, as to afford them bread and vegetables, while the venison, fowl, and fish 
 made an agreeable variety with the salted provisions which they imported. Penn 
 himself writes, with an air of cheerfulness, that he was well contented with the 
 country and the entertainment which he found in it. This letter is among his printed 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 239 
 
 works, and in the same collection we find an affectionate address to the people of 
 Pennsylvania ; in it he appears to have a tender concern for their moral and religious 
 improvement, and warns them against the temptations to which they were exposed. 
 Their circumstances were, indeed, peculiar ; they had suffered contempt and perse 
 cution in England, and were now at rest ; in the enjoyment of liberty, under a popu 
 lar form of government ; the eyes of the world were upon them ; their former enemies 
 were watching their conduct, and would have been glad of an opportunity to re 
 proach them ; it was, therefore, his desire that they should be moderate in pros 
 perity, as they had been patient in adversity. The concluding words of this address 
 may give us a specimen of his style and manner of preaching : " My friends, remem 
 ber that the Lord hath brought you upon the stage ; He hath now tried you with 
 liberty, yea, and with power; He hath put precious opportunities into your hands: 
 have a care of a perverse spirit, and do not provoke the Lord by doing those things 
 by which the inhabitants of the land, that were before you, grieved His Spirit ; but 
 sanctify God, the living God, in your hearts, that His blessing may fall and rest, as 
 the dew of Heaven, on you and your offspring. Then shall it be seen to the nations 
 that there is no enchantment against Jacob, nor divination against Israel ; but your 
 tents shall be goodly and your dwellings glorious." 
 
 In the spring of 1683 a second Assembly was held in the new city of Philadel 
 phia, and a great number of laws were passed. Among other good regulations, it 
 was enacted, that to prevent lawsuits, three arbitrators, called peace-makers, should 
 be chosen by every county court, to hear and determine small differences between 
 man and man. This Assembly granted to the Governor an impost on certain goods 
 exported and imported, which he, after acknowledging their goodness, was pleased, 
 for the encouragement of the traders, " freely to remit." But the most distinguished . 
 act of this Assembly was their acceptance of another frame of government which 
 the proprietor had devised, which was " in part conformed to the first, in part 
 modified according to the act of settlement, and in part essentially different from 
 both." The most material alterations were the reducing the number of the As 
 sembly from seventy-two to fifty-four, and the giving the Governor a negative in lieu 
 of a treble voice in acts of legislation. Their " thankful " acceptance of this second 
 charter was a proof of his great ascendency over them, and the confidence which 
 they placed in him ; but these changes were regarded by some as a departure from 
 the principles on which the original compact was grounded. 
 
 The state of the province at this time has been compared to that of " a father 
 and his family, the latter united by interest and affection ; the former revered for 
 the wisdom of his institutions and the indulgent use of his authority. Those who 
 were ambitious of repose, found it in Pennsylvania ; and as none returned with an 
 evil report of the land, numbers followed. All partook of the leaven which they 
 found: the community wore the same equal face: no o ne aspired, no one was 
 oppressed ; industry was sure of profit, knowledge of esteem, and virtue of venera 
 tion." When we contemplate this agreeable picture, we can not but lament that 
 Mr. Penn should ever have quitted his province ; but after residing in it about two 
 years, he found himself urged, by motives of interest as well as philanthropy, to 
 return to England. At his departure in the summer of 1684, his capital city, then 
 only of two years standing, contained nearly three hundred houses and two 
 thousand inhabitants ; besides which there were twenty other settlements begun, 
 
240 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 including those of the Dutch and Swedes. He left the administration of government 
 in the hands of the Council and Assembly, having appointed five commissioners to 
 preside in his place. 
 
 The motives of his return to England were two : a controversy with Lord Bal 
 timore, the proprietor of Maryland, concerning the limits of their respective patents; 
 and a concern for his brethren, who were suffering by the operation of the penal 
 laws against dissenters from the Established Church. 
 
 The controversy with Lord Baltimore originated in this manner : Before Penn 
 came to America, he had written to James Frisby and others, at their plantations 
 on Delaware Bay, then reputed a part of Maryland, advising them that as he was 
 confident they were within his limits, they should yield an obedience to the laws of 
 Maryland. This warning served as a pretext to some of the inhabitants of Cecil 
 and Baltimore counties, who were impatient of control, to withhold the payment of 
 their rents and taxes. Lord Baltimore and his council ordered the military officers 
 to assist the sheriffs in the execution of their duty, which was accomplished, though 
 with great difficulty. After this, Markham, Penn s agent, had a meeting with Lord 
 Baltimore at the village of Upland, which is now called Chester, where a discovery 
 was made by a quadrant, that the place was twelve miles south of the 4Oth degree 
 of latitude, a circumstance before unknown to both parties. Baltimore, therefore, 
 concluded to derive an advantage from precision, whilst Penn wished to avail him 
 self of uncertainty. After Penn s arrival in America, he visited Lord Baltimore, and 
 had a conference with him on the subject. An account of this conference, taken in 
 , short-hand by a person present, with a statement of the matter in debate, were sent 
 by Lord Baltimore to England, and laid before the Lords of Trade and Plantations 
 in April, 1683. Upon which, letters were written to both, advising them to come to 
 an amicable agreement. This could not be done ; and therefore they both went to 
 England, and laid their respective complaints before the Board of Trade. Baltimore 
 alleged that the tract in question was within the limits of his charter, and had 
 always been so understood, and his claim allowed until disturbed by Penn. The 
 words of his charter were, " to that part of Delaware Bay on the north, which lies 
 under the 4Oth degree of northerly latitude from the equinoctial." Penn, on the 
 other hand, affirmed that Lord Baltimore s grant was of " lands not inhabited by 
 the subjects of any Christian prince ; " that the land in question was possessed by the 
 Dutch and Swedes prior to the date of the charter of Maryland ; that a surrender 
 having been made by the Dutch of this territory to King Charles, in 1664, the 
 country had ever since been in possession of the Duke of York. The Lords at 
 several meetings, having examined the evidences on both sides, were of opinion that 
 the lands bordering on the Delaware did not belong to Lord Baltimore, but to the 
 King. They then proceeded to settle the boundary, and on the 7th of November, 
 1685, it was determined, that "for avoiding further differences, the tract of land lying 
 between the river and bay of Delaware, and the eastern sea, on the one side, and 
 Chesapeake Bay on the other side, be divided into two equal parts by a line from 
 the latitude from Cape Henlopen, to the 4Oth degree of northern latitude, and that 
 one-half thereof lying toward the Bay of Delaware and the eastern sea, be adjudged 
 to belong to his Majesty, and that the other half remain to the Lord Baltimore, 
 as comprised within his charter." To this decision Lord Baltimore submitted, 
 happy that he had lost no more, since a quo warranto had been issued against his 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 241 
 
 charter. But the decision, like many others, left room for a farther controversy, 
 which was carried on by their respective successors for above half a century. The 
 question was concerning the construction of " the 4Oth degree of latitude," which 
 Penn s heirs contended was the beginning, and Baltimore s the completion of the 4Oth 
 degree, the difference being sixty-nine miles and a half. 
 
 The other cause of Mr. Penn s departure for England proved a source of much 
 greater vexation, and involved consequences injurious to his reputation and interest. 
 His concern for his suffering brethren induced him to use the interest which he had at 
 court for their relief. He arrived in the month of August, and the death of Charles, 
 which happened the next February, brought to the throne James II., under whom, 
 when Lord High Admiral, Penn s father had commanded, and who had always main 
 tained a steady friendship with the son. This succession rather increased than di 
 minished his attachment to the court ; but as James openly professed himself a Pap 
 ist, and the prejudices of a great part of the nation against him were very high, it was 
 impossible for his intimate friends to escape the imputation of being popishly affected. 
 Penn had before been suspected to be a Jesuit, and what now contributed to fix the 
 stigma upon him was, his writing a book on liberty of conscience, a darling prin 
 ciple at court, and vindicating the Duke of Buckingham, who had written on the 
 same subject. Another circumstance which strengthened the suspicion was, his tak 
 ing lodgings at Kensington, in the neighborhood of the court, and his frequent at 
 tendance there to solicit the liberation of his brethren who now filled the prisons of 
 the kingdom. 
 
 He endeavored to allay these suspicions by publishing an address to his brethren, 
 in which he refers to their knowledge of his character, principles, and writings for eight 
 een years past, and expresses his love of moderation, and his wish that the nation might 
 not become " barbarous for Christianity, nor abuse one another for God s sake." But 
 what gave him the greatest pain was, that his worthy friend, Doctor Tillotson, had 
 entertained the same suspicion, and expressed it in his conversation. To him he 
 wrote an expostulatory letter, and the doctor frankly owned to him the ground of his 
 apprehension, which Penn so fully removed, that Doctor Tillotson candidly acknowl 
 edged his mistake, and made it his business on all occasions to vindicate Penn s char 
 acter. This ingenuous acknowledgment, from a gentleman of so much information, 
 and so determined an enemy to Popery, is one of the best evidences which can be 
 had of Mr. Penn s integrity in this respect ; but the current of popular prejudice was 
 at that time so strong, that it was not in the power of so great and good a man as 
 Doctor Tillotson to turn it. 
 
 Had Mr. Penn fallen in with the discontented part of the nation, and encouraged 
 the emigration of those who dreaded the consequences of King James open profes 
 sion of Popery, he might have made large additions to the numbers of his colonists, 
 and greatly increased his fortune ; but he had received such assurances from the King 
 of his intention to introduce universal toleration, that he thought it his duty to wait 
 for the enlargement which his brethren must experience from the expected event. 
 His book on liberty of conscience, addressed to the King and council, had not been 
 published many days before the King issued a general pardon, and instructed the 
 Judges of Assize on their respective circuits to extend the benefit of it to the Qua 
 kers in particular. In consequence of this, about thirteen hundred of them, who had 
 been confined in the prisons, were set at liberty. This was followed by a declaration for 
 31 
 
242 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 liberty of conscience, and for suspending the execution of the penal laws against dis 
 senters, which was an occasion of great joy to all denominations of them. The Qua 
 kers, at their next general meeting, drew up an address of thanks to the King, which 
 was presented by Mr. Penn. 
 
 The declaration of indulgence being a specimen of that dispensing power which 
 the house of Stuart were fond of assuming, and being evidently intended to favor the 
 free exercise of the Popish religion, gave an alarm to the nation, and caused very 
 severe censures on those who, having felt the benefit of it, had expressed their grati 
 tude in terms of affection and respect. The Quakers in particular became very ob 
 noxious, and the prejudice against Penn as an abetter of the arbitrary maxims of the 
 court was increased ; though on a candid view of the matter, there is no evidence that 
 he sought anything more than an impartial and universal liberty of conscience. 
 
 It is much to be regretted that he had not taken this critical opportunity to return 
 to Pennsylvania. His controversy with Lord Baltimore had been decided by the 
 council, and his pacific principles ought to have led him to acquiesce in their deter 
 mination, as did his antagonist. He had accomplished his purpose with regard to his 
 brethren, the Quakers, who, being delivered from their difficulties, were at liberty 
 either to remain in the kingdom, or follow him to America. The state of the prov 
 ince was such as to require his presence, and he might at this time have resumed his 
 office and carried on his business in Pennsylvania with the greatest probability of 
 spending the remainder of his days there in usefulness and peace. 
 
 The revolution which soon followed, placed him in a very disagreeable situation. 
 Having been a friend to James, he was supposed to be an enemy to William. As he 
 was walking one day in Whitehall, he was arrested and examined by the lords in 
 council, before whom he solemnly declared "that he loved his country and the Prot 
 estant religion above his life, and that he had never acted against either ; but that King 
 James had been his friend and his father s friend, and that he thought himself bound 
 in justice and gratitude to be a friend to him." The jealous policy of that day had 
 no ear for sentiments of the heart. He was obliged to find securities for his appear 
 ance at the next term, and thence to the succeeding term, in the last day of which, 
 nothing having been specially laid to his charge, he was acquitted. 
 
 The next year (1690) he was taken up again on suspicion of holding correspond 
 ence with the exiled King. The lords requiring security for his appearance, he ap 
 pealed to King William in person, who was inclined to acquit him, but to please 
 some of the council, he was for a while held to bail, and then acquitted. 
 
 Soon after this his name was inserted in a proclamation, wherein eighteen lords 
 and others were charged with adhering to the enemies of the kingdom ; but no evi 
 dence appearing against him, he was a third time acquitted by the Court of King s 
 Bench. 
 
 Being now at liberty, he meditated a return to Pennsylvania, and published pro 
 posals for another emigration of settlers. He had proceeded so far as to obtain from 
 the Secretary of State an order for a convoy ; but his voyage was prevented by a fourth 
 accusation, on the oath of a person whom the Parliament afterward declared a cheat 
 and impostor; a warrant was issued for apprehending him, and he narrowly escaped 
 an arrest, at his return from the funeral of his friend, George Fox, on the i6th of 
 January, 1691. He then thought it prudent to retire, and accordingly kept himself 
 concealed for two or three years, during which time he employed himself in writing 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 243 
 
 several pieces, one of which, entitled " Maxims and Reflections relating to the Con 
 duct of Human Life," being the result of much observation and experience, has been 
 much celebrated, and has passed through several editions. In 1693, by the media 
 tion of several persons of rank, he was admitted to appear before the King in council, 
 where he so maintained his innocence of what had been alleged against him, that he 
 was a fourth time honorably acquitted. 
 
 The true cause of these frequent suspicions was the conduct of his wife, who, 
 being passionately attached to the Queen, consort of James, made a practice to visit 
 her at St. Germains every year, and to carry to her such presents as she could collect 
 from the friends of the unhappy royal family. Though there was no political con 
 nection cr correspondence between Penn s family and the King s, yet this circum 
 stance gave color to the jealousy which had been conceived ; but the death of his 
 wife, which happened in February, 1694, put an end to all these suspicions. He 
 married a second wife in 1696, a daughter of Thomas Callowhill, of Bristol, by whom 
 he had four sons and one daughter. 
 
 By his continual expenses, and by the peculiar difficulties to which he had been 
 exposed, he had run himself deeply into debt. He had lost 7,000 before the revo 
 lution, and .4,000 since, besides his paternal estate in Ireland, valued at 450 per 
 annum. To repair his fortune, he requested his friends in Pennsylvania, that one 
 hundred of them would lend him 100 each, for some years, on landed security. 
 This, he said, would enable him to return to America, and bring a large number of 
 inhabitants with him. What answer was given to this request does not appear, but, 
 from his remaining in England six or seven years after, it may be concluded that he 
 received no encouragement of this kind from them. The low circumstances of the 
 first settlers must have rendered it impossible to comply with such a request. 
 
 Pennsylvania had experienced many inconveniences from his absence. The Pro 
 vincial Council, having no steady hand to hold the balance, had fallen into a controversy 
 respecting their several powers and privileges, and Moore, one of the proprietary 
 officers, had been impeached of high misdemeanors. Disgusted with their disputes, 
 and dissatisfied with the Constitution which he had framed and altered, Penn wrote 
 to his commissioners (1686) to require its dissolution ; but the Assembly, perceiving 
 the loss of their privileges, and of the rights of the people to be involved in frequent 
 innovations, opposed the surrender. The commissioners themselves were soon after 
 removed by the proprietor, who appointed for his deputy John Blackwcll, an officer 
 trained under Cromwell, and completely versed in the arts of intrigue. He began 
 his administration in December, 1688, by a display of the power of the proprietor, 
 and by endeavoring to sow discord among the freemen. Unavved by his insolence, 
 they were firm in defense of their privileges, whilst at the same time they made a 
 profession of peace and obedience. He imprisoned the Speaker of the Assembly 
 which had impeached Moore, and by a variety of artifices evaded the granting an 
 habeas corpus. He delayed as long as possible the meeting of a new Assembly, 
 and when they entered on the subject of grievances he prevailed on some of the 
 members to withdraw from their seats, that there might not be a quorum. The 
 remainder voted that his conduct was treacherous, and a strong prejudice was con 
 ceived, not only against the deputy, but the proprietor who had appointed him. 
 The province also fell under the royal displeasure. Their laws had not been pre 
 sented for approbation, and the new King and Queen were not proclaimed in Penn- 
 
244 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 sylvania for a long time after their accession ; but the administration of government 
 was continued in the name of the exiled monarch. At what time the alteration was 
 made we can not be certain ; but in the year 1692 the King and Queen took the 
 government of the colony into their own hands, and appointed Colonel Fletcher Gov 
 ernor of New York and Pennsylvania, with equal powers and prerogatives in both, 
 without any reference to the charter of Pennsylvania. 
 
 It being a time of war between England and France, and the province of New 
 York being much exposed to the incursions of the Indians in the French interest, 
 the principal object which Fletcher had in view was to procure supplies for the de 
 fense of the country and the support of those Indians who were in alliance with the 
 English. The Assembly insisted on a confirmation of their lavvs as a condition of 
 their granting a supply, to which he consented during the King s pleasure. They 
 would have gone farther and demanded a redress of grievances, but Fletcher having 
 intimated to them that the King might probably annex them to New York, and 
 they, knowing themselves unable to maintain a controversy with the Crown, sub 
 mitted for the present to hold their liberties by courtesy and voted a supply. On 
 another application of the same kind, they nominated collectors in their bill, which 
 he deemed inconsistent with his prerogative, and, after some altercation, dissolved 
 them. 
 
 In 1696 William Markham, Deputy Governor under Fletcher, made a similar pro 
 posal, but could obtain no supply till an expedient was contrived to save their priv 
 ileges. A temporary act of settlement was passed, subject to the confirmation of 
 the proprietor, and then a grant was made of three hundred pounds; but as they 
 had been represented by some at New York as having acted inconsistently with their 
 principles in granting money to maintain a war, they appropriated the grant to " the 
 relief of those friendly Indians who had suffered by the war." The request was re 
 peated every year as long as the war continued, but the infancy, poverty, and em 
 barrassments of the province were alleged for non-compliance. The peace of Rys- 
 wick in 1698 put an end to these requisitions. 
 
 Thus the province of Pennsylvania, as well as its proprietor, experienced many 
 inconveniences during their long separation of fifteen years ; and it is somewhat 
 singular to remark, that, whilst they were employed in an ineffectual struggle with 
 the royal Governor and his Deputy, he (whom Montesquieu styles the American 
 Lycurgus) was engaged in his darling work of religious controversy and of itinerant 
 preaching through England, Wales, and Ireland. 
 
 In August, 1699, he embarked with his family, and, after a tedious passage of 
 three months, arrived in Pennsylvania. By reason of this long voyage they escaped 
 a pestilential distemper, which during that time raged in the colony. 
 
 He did not find the people so tractable as before. Their minds were soured by 
 his long absence, by the conduct of his Deputies and the royal Governors ; their sys 
 tem of laws was incomplete, and their title to their lands insecure. After much time 
 spent in trying their tempers and penetrating their views, he found it most advisable 
 to listen to their remonstrances. Five sessions of Assembly were held during his 
 second residence with them. His expressions in his public speeches were soothing 
 and captivating, and he promised to do everything in his power to render them 
 happy. They requested of him that in case of his future absence he would appoint 
 for his Deputies men of integrity and property, who should be invested with full 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 245 
 
 powers to grant and confirm lands, and instructed to give true measure ; and that he 
 would execute such an instrument as would secure their privileges and possessions. 
 To these requests he seemed to consent, and, with the most flattering complaisance, 
 desired them to name a person for his substitute, which they with equal politeness 
 declined. 
 
 In May, 1700, the charter was surrendered by six parts in seven of the Assembly 
 under a solemn promise of restitution, with such alterations and amendments as 
 should be found necessary. When a new charter was in debate, the representatives 
 of the lower counties wanted to obtain some privileges peculiar to themselves which 
 the others were not willing to allow. The members from the territory therefore re 
 fused to join, and thus a separation was made of the province of Pennsylvania from 
 the three lower counties. 
 
 In this new charter the people had no voice in the election of counselors; who 
 ever afterward served in this capacity were appointed by,the proprietor, but they had 
 no power of legislation. The executive was vested solely in him, and he had a neg 
 ative on all their laws. On the other hand, the Assembly had the right of originat 
 ing laws which before had been prepared for their deliberation. The number of 
 members was four from each county, and more. if the Governor and Assembly should 
 agree. They were invested with all the powers of a legislative body, according to 
 the rights of English subjects and the practice of other American colonies. The 
 privileges before granted were confirmed, and some of their most salutary laws were 
 included in the body of the charter; all which were declared irrevocable, except by 
 consent of six-sevenths of the Assembly with the Governor; but the clause respect 
 ing liberty of conscience was declared absolutely irrevocable. A provisional article 
 was added, that, if in three years the representatives of the province and territories 
 should not join in legislation, each county of the province might choose eight per 
 sons and the city of Philadelphia two to represent them in one Assembly, and each 
 county of the territory the same number to constitute another Assembly. On the 
 28th of October, 1701, this charter was accepted by the representatives of the prov 
 ince, previous to which (viz, on the 25th) the city of Philadelphia was incorporated 
 by another charter and the government of it committed to a Mayor and Recorder, 
 eight Aldermen, and twelve Common Councilmen. The persons in each of these 
 offices were appointed by name in the charter, who were empowered to choose suc 
 cessors to themselves annually, and to add to the number of Aldermen and Common 
 Councilmen so many of the freemen as the whole court should think proper. 
 
 These two charters were the last public acts of Mr. Penn s personal administration 
 in Pennsylvania. They were done in haste, and while he was preparing to re-embark 
 for England, which he did immediately on signing them. The cause of his sudden 
 departure was an account which he had received, that a bill was about to be brought 
 into Parliament for reducing the proprietary and chartered governments to an im 
 mediate dependence on the Crown. In his speech to the Assembly he intimated his 
 intention to return and settle among them with his family ; but this proved to be his 
 last visit to America. He sailed from Philadelphia in the end of October, and arrived 
 in England about the middle of December, 1701. The bill in Parliament, which had 
 so greatly alarmed him, was, by the solicitation of the friends of the colonies, post 
 poned, and finally lost. In about two months King William died, and Queen Anne 
 came to the throne, which brought Penn again into favor at Court, and in the name 
 
THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 of the society, of which he was at the head, he presented to her an address of con 
 gratulation. 
 
 He then resumed his favorite employment of writing, preaching, and visiting the 
 societies of Friends in England till the year 1707, when he found himself involved in 
 a suit at law with the executors of a person who had formerly been his steward. The 
 cause was attended with such circumstances that though many thought him ill used, 
 the Court of Chancery did not give him relief; which obliged him to live within the 
 rules of the Fleet prison for about a year, till the matter was accommodated. After 
 this he made another circuitous journey among his friends, and in the year 1710 took 
 a handsome seat at Rushcombe, in Buckinghamshire, where he resided during the 
 remainder of his life. 
 
 At his departure from Philadelphia he left for his deputy Andrew Hamilton, 
 whose principal business was to endeavor a reunion of the province and territory, 
 which, being ineffectual, the province claimed the privilege of a distinct Assembly. 
 
 On Mr. Hamilton s death, John Evans was appointed, in 1704, to succeed him. 
 His administration was one unvaried scene of controversy and uneasiness. The ter 
 ritory would have received the charter, and the Governor warmly recommended a 
 union, but the province would not hearken to the measure. They drew up a state 
 ment of their grievances, and transmitted to the proprietor a long and bitter remon 
 strance, in which they charge him with not performing his promises, but by deep-laid 
 artifices evading them ; and with neglecting to get their laws confirmed, though he 
 had received great sums of money to negotiate the business. They took a retro 
 spective view of his whole conduct, and particularly blamed his long absence, from 
 1684 to 1699, during which the interest of the province was sinking, which might 
 have been much advanced if he had come over according to his repeated promises. 
 They complained that he had not affixed his seal to the last charter ; that he had 
 ordered his deputy to call assemblies by his writs, and to prorogue and dissolve them 
 at his pleasure ; that he had reserved to himself, though in England, an assent to 
 bills passed by his deputy, by which means three negatives were pat on their acts, 
 one by the Deputy Governor, another by the proprietor, and a third by the Crown. 
 They also added to their list of grievances, the abuses and extortions of the secre 
 tary, surveyor, and other officers, which might have been prevented if he had passed 
 a bill proposed by the Assembly, in 1701, for regulating fees; the want of an estab 
 lished judicature between him and the people, for the judges, being appointed by him, 
 could not, in that case, be considered as independent and unbiased ; the imposition 
 of quit rents on the city lots, and leaving the ground, on which the city was built, 
 encumbered with the claim of its first possessors, the Swedes. 
 
 The language of this remonstrance was plain and unreserved ; but the mode of 
 their conducting it was attended with a degree of prudence and delicacy which is 
 not commonly observed by public bodies of men in such circumstances. They sent 
 it to him privately by a confidential person, and refused to give any copy of it 
 though strongly urged. Tliey were willing to reclaim the proprietor to a due sense 
 of his obligations, but were equally unwilling to expose him. They had also some 
 concern for themselves ; for if it had been publicly known that they had such objec 
 tions to his conduct, the breach might have been so widened as to dissolve the rela 
 tion between them ; in which case, certain inconveniences might have arisen re 
 specting oaths and militia laws, which would not have been pleasing to an Assembly 
 consisting chiefly of Quakers. 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. . 247 
 
 Three years after (viz, in 1707), they sent him another remonstrance, in which 
 they complained that the grievance before mentioned was not redressed ; and they 
 added to the catalogue articles of impeachment against Logan, the Secretary, and 
 Evans, the Deputy Governor. The latter was removed from his office, and was suc 
 ceeded by Gookin in 1709, and he by Sir William Keith in 1717; but Logan held 
 his place of secretary, and was in fact the Prime Minister and mover in behalf of 
 the proprietor, though extremely obnoxious to the people. 
 
 These Deputy Governors were dependent on the proprietor for their appoint 
 ment, and on the people for their support ; if they displeased the former, they were 
 recalled ; if the latter, their allowance was withheld ; and it was next to impossible 
 to keep on good terms with both. Such an appointment could be accepted by none 
 but indigent persons, and could be relished by none but those who were fond of 
 perpetual controversy. 
 
 To return to the proprietor. His infirmities and misfortunes increased with his 
 age, and unfitted him for the exercise of his beloved work. In 1711 he dictated a 
 preface to the journal of his old friend John Banks, which was his last printed work. 
 The next year he was seized with a paralytic disorder, which impaired his memory. 
 For three succeeding years he continued in a state of great debility, but attended 
 the meeting of Friends at Reading, as long as he was able to ride in his chariot, and 
 sometimes spoke short and weighty sentences, being incapable of pronouncing a long 
 discourse. Approaching by gradual decay to the close of life, he died on the 3Oth 
 of July, 1718, in the 74th year of his age, and was buried in his family tomb at 
 Jordon s in Buckinghamshire. 
 
 Notwithstanding his large paternal inheritance, and the great opportunities which 
 he enjoyed of accumulating property by his connection with America, his latter days 
 were passed in a state far from affluent. He was continually subject to the impor 
 tunity of his creditors, and obliged to mortgage his estate. He was on the point of 
 surrendering his province to the Crown for a valuable consideration, to extricate 
 himself from debt. The instrument was preparing for his signature, but his death, 
 which happened rather unexpectedly, prevented the execution of it ; and thus his 
 province in America descended to his posterity, who held it till the Revolution. 
 
 APPEN DIX. 
 
 MR. WINSLOW S ACCOUNT OF THE NATIVES OF NEW ENGLAND, ANNEXED TO HIS NARRATIVE 
 OF THE PLANTATIONS, A.D. 1624 [PURCHAS IV., 1667]. 
 
 A FEW things I thought meet to add hereunto, which I have observed amongst 
 the Indians ; both touching their religion and sundry other customs among them 
 And first, whereas myself and others, in former letters (which came to the press 
 against my will and knowledge), wrote that the Indians about us are a people with 
 out any religion, or knowledge of any God ; therein I erred, though we could then 
 gather no better; for as they conceive of many divine powers, so of one, whom they 
 
248 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 call Kiehtan, to be the principal maker of all the rest ; and to be made by none. 
 He, they say, created the heavens, earth, sea, and all creatures contained therein. 
 Also that he made one man and one woman, of whom they, and we, and all man 
 kind came; but how they became so far dispersed, that they know not. At first, 
 they say, that there was no sachem or king, but Kiehtan, who dwelleth above the 
 heavens, whither all good men go when they die, to see their friends and have their 
 fill of all things. This his habitation lieth westward in the heavens, they say ; 
 thither the bad men go also, and knock at his door, but he bids them quachet, that 
 is to say, walk abroad, for there is no place for such ; so that they wander in restless 
 want and penury. Never man saw this Kiehtan, only old men tell them of him, and 
 bid them tell their children, yea charge them to teach their posterities the same, and 
 lay the like charge upon them. This power they acknowledge to be good ; and 
 when they would obtain any great matter, meet together and cry unto him ; and so 
 likewise for plenty, victory, etc., sing, dance, feast, give thanks, and hang up gar 
 lands and other things in memory of the same. 
 
 Another power they worship, whom they call Hobbamock, and, to the northward 
 of us, Hobbamoqiti ; this, as far as we can conceive, is the devil. Him they call upon 
 to cure their wounds and diseases. When they are curable, he persuades them he 
 sends the same for some conceived anger against them ; but upon their calling upon 
 him can and doth help them ; but when they are mortal and not curable in nature, 
 then he persuades them Kiehtan is angry, and sends them, whom none can cure ; 
 insomuch as in that respect only they somewhat doubt whether he be simply good, 
 and, therefore, in sickness never call upon him. This Hobbamock appears in sundry 
 forms unto them, as in the shape of a man, a deer, a fawn, an eagle, etc., but most 
 ordinarily a snake. He appears not to all, but the chiefest and most judicious among 
 them ; though all of them strive to attain to that hellish height of honor. He ap 
 pears most ordinary, and is most conversant with three sorts of people : one, I con 
 fess, I neither know by name or office directly ; of these they have few, but esteem 
 highly of them, and think no weapon can kill them ; another they call by the name 
 of Powak, and the third Paniese. 
 
 The office and duty of the Powah is to be exercised principally in calling upon 
 the devil, and curing diseases of the sick or wounded. The common people join 
 with them in the exercise of invocation, but do but only assent, or, as we term it, say 
 Amen to that he saith ; yet sometimes break out into a short musical note with him 
 The Powah is eager and free in speech, fierce in countenance, and joineth many antic 
 and laborious gestures with the same, over the party diseased. If the party be 
 wounded, he will also seem to suck the wound ; but if they be curable (as they say) 
 he toucheth it not ; but a shooke, that is, the snake, or Wobsacuck, that is, the 
 eagle, sitteth on the shoulder, and licks the same. This none see but the Powah, 
 who tells them he doth it himself. If the party be otherwise diseased, it is accounted 
 sufficient if in any shape he but come into the house, taking it for an undoubted sign 
 of recovery. 
 
 And as in former ages Apollo had his temple at Delphos, and Diana at Ephesus, 
 so have I heard them call upon some as if they had their residence in some certain 
 places, or because they appeared in those forms in the same. In the Powah s speech 
 he promiseth to sacrifice many skins of beasts, kettles, hatchets, beads, knives, and 
 other the best things they have, to the fiend, if he will come to help the party 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 249 
 
 diseased ; but whether they perform it I know not. The other practices I have seen, 
 being necessarily called sometimes to be with their sick, and have used the best 
 arguments I could to make them understand against the same. They have told me 
 I should see the devil at those times come to the party; but I assured myself and 
 them of the contrary, which so proved ; yea, themselves have confessed they never 
 saw him when any of us were present. In desperate and extraordinary hard travail 
 in child-birth, when the party can not be delivered by the ordinary means, they send 
 for this Powah, though ordinarily their travail is not so extreme as in other parts of 
 the world, they being of a more hardy nature ; for on the third day after child-birth 
 I have seen the mother with the infant, upon a small occasion, in cold weather, in a 
 boat upon the sea. 
 
 Many sacrifices the Indians use, and in some cases they kill children. It seemeth 
 they are various in their religious worship in a little distance, and grow more and 
 more cold in their worskip-to Kiehtan, saying, in their memory he was much more 
 called upon. The Narohiggansets exceed in their blind devotion, and have a great 
 spacious house, wherein only some few (that are, as we may term them, priests) 
 come ; thither, at certain known times, resort all their people, and offer almost all the 
 riches they have to their gods, as kettles, skins, hatchets, beads, knives, etc., all 
 which are cast by the priests into a great fire that they make in the midst of the 
 house, and there consumed to ashes. To this offering every man bringeth freely ; 
 and the more he is known to brin^, hath the better esteem of all men. This the 
 other Indians about us approve of as good, and wish their sachems would appoint the 
 like ; and because the plague has not reigned at Narohigganset as at other places 
 about them, they attribute it to this custom there used. 
 
 The Panieses are men of great courage and wisdom, and to these also the devil 
 appeareth more familiarly than to others, and, as we conceive, maketh covenant with 
 them to preserve them from death by wounds with arrows, knives, hatchets, etc., or 
 at least both themselves and especially the people think themselves to be freed from 
 the same. And though against their battles all of them, by painting, disfigure them 
 selves, yet they are known by their courage and boldness, by reason whereof one of 
 them will chase almost an hundred men ; for they account it death for whomsoever 
 stand in their way. These are highly esteemed of all sorts of people, and are of the 
 sachem s counsel, without whom they will not war or undertake any weighty business. 
 In war their sachems, for their more safety, go in the midst of them. They are com 
 monly men of great stature and strength, and such as will endure most hardness, and 
 yet are more discreet, courteous, and humane in their carriages than any amongst 
 them, scorning theft, lying, and the like base dealings, and stand as much upon their 
 reputation as any men. And to the end they may have store of these, they train up 
 the most forward and likeliest boys, from their childhood, in great hardness, and 
 make them abstain from dainty meat, observing divers orders prescribed, to the end 
 that when they are of age the devil may appear to them, causing to drink the juice 
 of sentry and other bitter herbs till they cast, which they must disgorge into the 
 platter, and drink again and again, till at length, through extraordinary pressing of 
 nature, it will seem to be all blood ; and this the boys will do with eagerness at the 
 first, and so continue till, by reason of faintness, they can scarce stand on their legs, 
 and then must go forth into the cold ; also they beat their shins with sticks, and 
 cause them to run through bushes and stumps and brambles to make them hardy and 
 acceptable to the devil, that in time he may appear unto them. 
 32 
 
250 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 Their sachems can not be all called kings, but only some few of them, to whom 
 the rest resort for protection and pay homage unto them ; neither may they war 
 without their knowledge and approbation ; yet, to be commanded by the greater, as 
 occasion seemeth. Of this sort is Massassowat, our friend, and Conanacus, of Narohig- 
 ganset, our supposed enemy. Every sachem taketh care of the widow and fatherless, 
 also for such as are aged and any way maimed, if their friends be dead, or not able to 
 provide for them. A sachem will not take any to wife but such an one as is equal to 
 him in birth ; otherwise, they say their seed would become ignoble ; and, though 
 they have many other wives, yet are they no other than concubines or servants, and 
 yield a kind of obedience to the principal, who ordereth the family and them in it. 
 The like their men observe also, and will adhere to the first during their lives ; but 
 put away the other at their pleasure. This government is successive and not by 
 choice ; if the father die before the son or daughter be of age, then the child is com 
 mitted to the protection and tuition of some one amongst them who ruleth in his 
 stead, till he be of age, but when that is I know not. 
 
 Every sachem knoweth how far the bounds and limits of his own country ex- 
 tendeth ; and that is his own proper inheritance ; out of that, if any of his men desire 
 land to set their corn, he giveth them as much as they can use, and sets them in their 
 bounds. In this circuit, whoever hunteth, if any kill venison, they bring him his fee, 
 which is four parts of the same, if it be killed on land, but if in the water, then the 
 skin thereof. The great sachems or kings know not their own bounds or limits of 
 land as well as the rest. All travelers or strangers, for the most part, lodge at the 
 sachem s. When they come they tell them how long they will stay, and to what 
 place they go ; during which time they receive entertainment according to their per 
 sons, but want not. Once a year the Panieses used to provoke the people to bestow 
 much corn on the sachem. To that end they appoint a certain time and place, near 
 the sachem s dwelling, where the people bring many baskets of corn and make a great 
 stack thereof. There the Panieses stand ready to give thanks to the people on the 
 sachem s behalf; and after acquainting the sachem therewith, who fetches the same, 
 and is no less thankful, bestowing many gifts on them. When any are visited with 
 sickness, their friends resort unto them for their comfort, and continue with them 
 oftentimes till their death or recovery. If they die, they stay a certain time to mourn 
 for them. Night and morning they perform this duty, many days after the burial, 
 in a most doleful manner, insomuch as though it be ordinary and the note musical, 
 which they take from one another and altogether, yet it will draw tears from their 
 eyes and almost from ours also. But if they recover, then, because their sickness was 
 chargeable, they send corn and other gifts unto them, at a certain appointed time, 
 whereat they feast and dance, which they call coinmoro. When they bury the dead 
 they sew up the corpse in a mat, and so put it in the earth ; if the party be a sachem, 
 they cover him with many curious mats, and bury all his riches with him, and enclose 
 the grave with a pale. If it be a child, the father will also put his own most special 
 jewels and ornaments in the earth with it ; also he will cut his hair, and disfigure 
 himself very much in token of sorrow. If it be the man or woman of the house, they 
 will pull down the mats and leave the frame standing, and bury them in or near the 
 same, and either remove their dwelling or give over housekeeping. 
 
 The men employ themselves wholly in hunting and other exercises of the bow, ex 
 cept at some times they take some pains in fishing. The women live a most slavish life ; 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 251 
 
 they carry all their burdens ; set and dress their corn, gather it in, and seek out foi 
 much of their food; beat and make ready the corn to cat, and have all household 
 care lying upon them. 
 
 The younger sort reverence the elder, and do all mean offices, whilst they are to 
 gether, although they be strangers. Boys and girls may not wear their hair like men 
 and women, but are distinguished thereby. 
 
 A man is not accounted a man till he do some notable act, or show forth such 
 courage and resolution as becometh his place. The men take much tobacco, but for 
 boys so to do they account it odious. 
 
 All their names are significant and variable ; for when they come to the state of 
 men and women, they alter them according to their deeds or dispositions. 
 
 When a maid is taken in marriage she first cutteth her hair, and after weareth a 
 covering on her head till her hair be grown out. Their women are diversely disposed, 
 some as modest as they will scarce talk one with another in the company of men ; being 
 very chaste also ; yet other some are light, lascivious, and wanton. If a woman have 
 a bad husband, or can not affect him, and there be war or opposition between that 
 and any other people, she will run away from him to the contrary party, and there live, 
 where they never come unwelcome ; for where are most women there is greatest plenty. 
 
 When a woman hath her monthly terms she separateth herself from all other com 
 pany and liveth certain days in a house alone ; after which she washeth herself and 
 all that she hath touched or used, and is again received to her husband s bed or 
 family. For adultery the husband will beat his wife and put her away, if he please. 
 Some common strumpets there are, as well as in other places ; but they are such as 
 either never married, or widows, or put away for adultery ; for no man will keep such 
 a one to wife. 
 
 In matters of unjust and dishonest dealing, the sachem examineth and punisheth 
 the same. In case of theft, for the first offense, he is disgracefully rebuked ; for the 
 second, beaten by the sachem with a cudgel on the naked back ; for the third, he is 
 beaten with many strokes, and hath his nose slit upwards, that thereby all men may 
 know and shun him. If any man kill another he must likewise die for the same. The 
 sachem not only passeth sentence upon malefactors, but executeth the same with his 
 own hands, if the party be then present ; if not, sendeth his own knife in case of death, 
 in the hands of others, to perform the same. But if the offender be to receive other 
 punishment, he will not receive the same but from the sachem himself, before whom, 
 being naked, he kneeleth, and will not offer to run away, though he beat him never 
 so much, it being a greater disparagement for a man to cry during the time of his 
 correction than in his offense and punishment. 
 
 As for their apparel, they wear breeches and stockings in one, like some Irish, 
 which is made of deer-skins, and have shoes of the same leather. They wear also a 
 deer s skin loose about them like a cloak, which they will turn to the weather side. 
 In this habit they travel ; but when they are at home, or come to their journey s end, 
 they presently pull off their breeches, stockings, and shoes, wring out the water, if 
 they be wet, and dry them, and rub or chafe the same. Though these be off, yet 
 have they another small garment which covereth their secrets. The men wear also, 
 when they go abroad in cold weather, an otter or fox skin on their right arm ; but 
 only their bracer on the left. Women, and all of that sex, wear strings about their 
 legs, which men never do. 
 
 The people are very ingenious and observative : they keep account of time by 
 
252 THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. 
 
 the moon, and winters or summers. They know divers of the stars by name ; in par 
 ticular, they know the North Star, and call it ^fask(, which is to say, the Bear ; also 
 they have many names for the winds. They will guess very well at the wind and 
 weather beforehand, by observations in the heavens. They report also that some 
 of them can cause the wind to blow in what part they list can raise storms and 
 tempests, which they usually do when they intend the death or destruction of other 
 people, that by reason of the unseasonable weather they may take advantage of their 
 enemies in their houses. At such times they perform their greatest exploits, and at 
 such seasons, when they are at enmity with any, they keep more careful watch than 
 at other times. 
 
 As for their language, it is very copious, large, and difficult ; as yet we can not 
 attain to any great measure thereof; but can understand them, and explain our 
 selves to their understanding, by the help of those that daily converse with us. 
 
 And though there be difference in an hundred miles distance of place, both in 
 language and manners, yet not so much but that they very well understand each 
 other. And thus much of their lives and manners. 
 
 Instead of records and chronicles they take this course : where any remarkable 
 act is done, in memory of it, cither in the place, or by some pathway near adjoining, 
 they make a round hole in the ground about a foot deep, and as much over, which, 
 when others, passing by, behold, they inquire the cause and occasion of the same, 
 which, being once known, they are careful to acquaint all men, as occasion serveth 
 therewith ; and, lest such holes should be filled or grown up by any accident, as men 
 pass by they will oft renew the same ; by which means many things of great an 
 tiquity are fresh in memory. So that as a man traveleth, if he can understand his 
 guide, his journey will be less tedious, by reason of many historical discourses which 
 will be related to him. 
 
 For that continent on which we are, called New England, although it hath ever 
 been conceived by the English to be a part of the main land adjoining to Virginia, 
 yet by relation of the Indians it should appear to be otherwise ; for they affirm con 
 fidently that it is an island, and that either the Dutch or French pass through from 
 sea to sea between us and Virginia, and drive a great trade in the same. The name 
 of that inlet of the sea they call Mo/icgan, which I take to be the same which we call 
 Hudson s River, up which Master Hudson went many leagues, and for want of 
 means (as I hear) left it undiscovered. For confirmation of this their opinion thus 
 is much; though Virginia be not above an hundred leagues from us, yet they never 
 heard of PowJiatan, or knew that any English were planted in his country, save only 
 by us and Tisquantum, who went thither in an English ship ; and therefore it is more 
 probable, because the water is not passable for them, who are very adventurous in 
 their boats. 
 
 Then, for the temperature of the air, in almost three years experience I can 
 scarce distinguish New England from Old England in respect of heat and cold, frost, 
 snow, rain, wind, etc. Some object because our plantation lieth in the latitude of 
 two and forty, it must needs be much hotter. I confess I can not give the reason of 
 the contrary; only experience teaches us that if it do exceed England it is so little 
 as must require better judgments to discern it. And for the winter, I rather think 
 (if there be difference) it is both sharper and longer in New England than in Old ; 
 and yet the want of those comforts in the one which I have enjoyed in the other 
 may deceive my judgment also. But in my best observation, comparing our own con- 
 
BIOGRAPHIES OF THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. 253 
 
 ditions with the relations of other parts of America, I can not conceive of any to 
 agree better with the constitutions of the English, not being oppressed with the ex 
 tremity of heat, nor nipped by biting cold, by which means, blessed be God, we enjoy 
 our health, notwithstanding these difficulties we have undergone, in such a measure as 
 would have been admired had we lived in England with the like means. The day is two 
 hours longer than here when at the shortest, and as much shorter when at the longest. 
 
 The soil is variable, in some places mold, in some clay, and others a mixed sand, 
 etc. The chiefest grain is the Indian maise, or Guinea wheat ; the seed-time begin- 
 neth in the middle of April, and continueth good till the midst of May. Our har 
 vest beginneth with September. This corn increaseth in great measure, but is infe 
 rior in quality to the same in Virginia : the reason I conceive is because Virginia is 
 far hotter than it is with us, it requiring great heat to ripen. But whereas it is ob 
 jected against New England, that corn will not grow there except the ground be 
 manured with fish : I answer, that where men set with fish (as with us) it is more 
 easy so to do than to clear ground, and set without some five or six years, and so 
 begin anew, as in Virginia and elsewhere. Not but that in some places, where they 
 can not be taken with ease in such abundance, the Indians set four years together 
 without them, and have as good corn or better than we have, that set with them ; 
 though indeed I think if we had cattle to till the ground, it would be more profit 
 able and better agreeable to the soil to sow wheat, rye, barley, peas, and oats, than 
 to set maise, which our Indians call Ewachim ; for we have had experience that they 
 like and thrive well ; and the other will not be procured without good labor and 
 diligence, especially at seed-time, when it must also be watched by night, to keep 
 the wolves from the fish, till it be rotten, which will be in fourteen days ; yet men 
 agreeing together, and taking their turns, it is not much. 
 
 Much might be spoken of the benefit that may come to such as shall plant here, 
 by trading with the Indians for furs, if men take a right course for obtaining the 
 same ; for I dare presume upon that small experience I have had to affirm, that the 
 English, Dutch, and French return yearly many thousand pounds profit by trade 
 only, from that island on which we are seated. 
 
 Tobacco may be there planted, but not with that profit as in some other places, 
 neither were it profitable there to follow it, though the increase were equal, because 
 fish is a better and richer commodity, and more necessary, which may be, and there are 
 had in as great abundance as in any other part of the world ; witness the west coun 
 try merchants of England, which return incredible gains yearly from thence. And 
 if they can do so, which here buy their salt at a great charge, and transport more 
 company to make their voyage than will sail their ships, what may the planters ex 
 pect when once they are seated, and make the most of their salt there, and employ 
 themselves at least eight months in fishing, whereas the other fish but four, and have 
 their ship lie dead in the harbor all the time, whereas such shipping as belong to 
 plantations may take freight of passengers or cattle thither, and have their lading 
 provided against they come? I confess we have come so far short of the means, to 
 raise such returns, as with great difficulty we have preserved our lives; insomuch as 
 when I look back upon our condition, and weak means to preserve the same, I rather 
 admire at God s mercies and providence in our preservation, than that no greater 
 things have been effected by us. But though our beginning have been thus raw, 
 small and difficult, as thou hast seen, yet the same God that hath hitherto led us 
 through the former, I hope will raise means to accomplish the latter 
 
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