LITMIR.BIZ

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it had been the noise only of wolves and foxes. About five o'clock, however, they again heard a sudden and strange noise, which they knew to be the same voices, though they varied their notes. One of the company being abroad, came running in, and cried, "They are men, Indians! Indians!" and with this announcement came a shower of arrows. The whites ran out with all speed to recover their arms. The cry of the enemy was terrific, especially when they perceived what the whites were about to do. Their arms being secured, the Indians were ready to make an assault. One, who appeared to be the leader of the latter, a stout athletic man, stood behind a tree within a musket-shot, and there let his arrows fly at the English. Three several shots were poured in upon him without touching him—at length, one seemed to take effect, as he bounded off, and his company with him, yelling most hideously. It is not known that any blood was shed in this encounter, though the probability is, that the chief was wounded. Of the arrows that were left on the field, several were picked up, and sent as a curiosity to friends in England. Some of them were ingeniously headed with brass, some with harts' horn, and some with the claws of eagles.

      An intercourse of an agreeable character between the pilgrims and the natives soon commenced, by means of Samoset, whose manner of introducing himself to the settlement has been mentioned in another portion of this work. The hospitality with which he was treated, secured his friendship and confidence, and he communicated to the settlers, in answer to their inquiries, whatever information he possessed respecting the Indians and the country. He is described by an early historian as having been a tall, strait man, the hair of his head black, long behind, and short before, none at all on his face. He ate and drank freely of that which was offered him; and, although they wished his absence at night, yet he was unwilling to leave, and they could not do otherwise than keep and watch him. This visit of the kind Samoset was an augury of good to the colony. It seemed purely a providential event.

      The visit continued only until the next morning, but was repeated in the course of a day or two. His return then brought to the acquaintance of the colony other Indians who accompanied him. They were some of Massasoit's men, whose object was to trade with the English. As Samoset was charged not to let any who came with him bring their arms, these, therefore, left their bows and arrows at a distance from the place. They were entertained in a fitting manner; they ate liberally of the English victuals, and appeared very friendly; "sang and danced after their manner like antics." They were dismissed as soon as it could be done conveniently, without effecting any trade. Samoset, either being sick, or feigning himself so, would not depart, and contrived to continue several days longer. In this visit, some stolen articles were returned by the Indians, through Samoset's influence.

      At the next visit he made, he was accompanied by Squanto, as once before related. The latter was said to be the only native of Patuxet (the Indian name of Plymouth) living there at that period. His captivity and residence in England had prepared him, by understanding the English language, to render service to the colony. Squanto, it appears, was the only person that escaped the great sickness at Patuxet. The extent of its ravages, as near as can be judged, was from Narraganset bay to Kennebec, or, perhaps, Penobscot, and is supposed to have commenced about 1617, and its continuance between two and three years, as it was nearly abated in 1619. According to the account of the Indians, it was a terrific scene, the deaths occurring with such frequency, that the living were not able to bury the dead. In the language of an author of the time, "they died in heaps as they laid in their houses, and the living, that were able to shift for themselves, would runne away, and would let them dy, and let their carcasses ly above the ground without buriall. For in a place where many inhabited, there had been but one (referring to Squanto) left alive to tell what became of the rest." When the pilgrims arrived in this country, their bones were thick upon the ground in many places. Squanto, with another Indian and several Englishmen, was employed, on one occasion, to go in search of an English boy, who had been lost in the woods. Having been informed of some Indians that the boy was at Nauset, they proceeded in a vessel to that place, joined also by Iyanough, the sachem of Cummaquid, and two of his men. Aspinet, the chief at Nauset, being informed by Squanto that his English friends had come for the boy, he came with a great train, and brought the boy with him, one carrying him through the water. Not less than an hundred Indians appeared on this occasion, half of whom attending the boy to the boat, the rest standing aloof, with their bows and arrows, looking on. The child was delivered up in a formal manner, covered with beads, and Aspinet embraced the opportunity of making peace with the English, the latter giving him a knife, as also one to the kind Indian who first entertained the lost boy, and brought him to Nauset.

      Squanto had shown his early attachment to the English, in his conduct towards Captain Dermer, who visited the country the year before the pilgrims arrived here. When the Indians would have killed him on some occasion, Squanto successfully pleaded in his behalf. They had in view the avenging of some murders, which a foreigner, an Englishman, had a while before inflicted on their people. These two Indians, Samoset and Squanto, remained with the English, instructing them how to live in their country. Squanto became an important personage in the Indian politics. He was in the main friendly to the English; but his devices to enhance himself in the eyes of his new friends, or to make himself great in the eyes of his countrymen, were not always wise, and were not, unfrequently, mischievous. In 1622 he forfeited his life by plotting to destroy that of Massasoit. On that occasion, the latter went to Plymouth, burning with rage against Squanto, but the governor succeeded in quieting him for that time. Soon after, he sent a messenger to entreat the governor's consent to his being put to death; but the latter would not be persuaded to yield to his request. Squanto denied all knowledge of the plot. The English, however, seemed well satisfied that Squanto had laid this shallow scheme to set them against Massasoit, thinking they would destroy him, by which means he expected to become chief sachem himself; and this seems the more probable, as Massasoit was, for some time, irreconcilable, because they withheld Squanto from him. When the English understood his object, they assured the Indians that they did not concur in the plot, and that they would do no injury to them, unless the Indians began with the whites. Squanto was sharply reproved by the governor, but he was so necessary to the welfare of the colony, in respect to its intercourse with the Indians, that he was retained there.

      The following instance is related of his manœuvres to possess his countrymen with great fear of the English: He told them that the English kept the plague buried in one of their store-houses, and that they could send it at any time to any place, to destroy whatever persons or people they would, though they themselves stirred not out of doors. This piece of information was of course calculated to inspire them with great terror. Some sagacious Indians at length discovered the trick, by inquiring of the English respecting it.

      Squanto died during an expedition or trading voyage, which was undertaken among the Indians of Cape Cod, to buy corn in a time of scarcity. He was pilot on this occasion. He was seized with sickness in the midst of the undertaking, his disorder being a fever, and he bleeding much at the nose, which the Indians reckon a fatal symptom, the disease soon overpowered him. He desired the governor would pray for him, that he might go to the Englishman's God. He bequeathed his effects to sundry of his English friends, as remembrances of his affection.

      "Thus died the famous Squanto, or Tisquantum, in December, 1622. To him the pilgrims were greatly indebted, although he often, through extreme folly and short-sightedness, gave them, as well as himself and others, a great deal of trouble."

      One of the most interesting personages of Indian history is Massasoit, already spoken of incidentally. His visit to the pilgrims had been previously announced through Samoset and Squanto. He was chief of the Wampanoags, and resided at a place called Pokanet by the Indians, which is now included in the town of Bristol, Rhode Island. He was a friend to the English, and persevered in his friendship to the last. His renown was more in peace than in war, and is for that reason more precious in the memory of the wise and virtuous.

      "It has often been thought strange that so mild a sachem as Massasoit should have possessed so great a country, and our wonder has been increased, when we consider that Indian possessions are generally obtained by prowess and great personal courage. We know of none who could boast of such extensive dominions, where all were contented to consider themselves his friends and children. Powhatan, Pontiac, Little Turtle, Tecumseh, and many more that we could name, have swayed numerous tribes; but theirs was a temporary union in an emergency

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