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Hobomok assured them there was no truth in the report, and said it was a plot of Squanto's, who was then in one of the boats. He knew that as to Massasoit, that chief would not engage in such an enterprise without consulting him. Although there was reason to believe this, or at least to confide in the sincerity of Hobomok, yet, as related in another place, the English saw fit to connive at Squanto's practices. "Hobomok was greatly beloved by Massasoit, notwithstanding he became a professed Christian, and Massasoit was always opposed to the English religion himself. He was the pilot of the English when they visited Massasoit in his sickness, whom before their arrival they considered dead, which caused great manifestations of grief in Hobomok. He often exclaimed, as they were on the way, 'My loving sachem! my loving sachem! many have I known, but never any like thee.' Then turning to Mr. Winslow, said: 'While you live, you will never see his like among the Indians, that he was no liar, nor bloody and cruel, like other Indians. In anger and passion, he was soon reclaimed, easy to be reconciled towards such as had offended him; that his reason was such as to cause him to receive advice of mean men; and that he governed his people better with few blows than others did with many.' In the division of the land at Plymouth, among the inhabitants, Hobomok received a lot as his share, on which he resided after the English manner, and died a Christian among them. The year of his death does not appear, but was previous to 1642."[19]

V. ENGLISH AND NARRAGANSETS.

       Table of Contents

      Territory of the Narragansets—Canonicus their sachem—His mode of challenging the English to War—Union proposed between the Pequods and Narragansets—How defeated—Haughty bearing of Miantonimoh—Accused of a conspiracy against the English—Accusations repelled—Peace concluded between him and Massachusetts—War between Uncas and Miantonimoh—The latter captured and delivered to the English—How disposed of—Troubles with the Narragansets under Ninigret—Expedition against him—Issue of it.

      The Narragansets were considered a great nation among the Indians. The territory of their sachem extended about thirty or forty miles from Sekunk river and Narraganset bay, including Rhode Island and other islands in that bay. Pawcatuck river separated it from the Pequods. Under the rule of Canonicus, in 1642, this nation was at the height of its greatness, and was supposed to embrace a population of thirty thousand inhabitants. He was sachem of the tribe at the time of the landing of the fathers on the shores of New England, and continued in this capacity to the time of his death, in 1647. He died, it is believed, at a very advanced age. At the period of the settlement of Plymouth, the Wampanoags were in great fear of the Narragansets, and at one time war actually existed. During its continuance, Massasoit fled before Canonicus, and sought the protection of the English.

      The Narragansets, at an early period, were not disinclined to seek a quarrel with the English. In view of the weakness of the latter, they began to utter threats, although the summer preceding they had desired and obtained peace. They deemed it a favorable opportunity for their purpose, as the English had just received an addition to their numbers, but not to their arms or provisions—a circumstance of which the Indians were advised. Their desire, or intention, was definitely made known by the following significant circumstance: In February, 1622, Canonicus sent a man, accompanied by one Tokamahamon, a friendly Indian, into Plymouth, bringing with him a bundle of arrows, bound with a rattle-snake's skin, and, leaving them there, immediately left the place. When Squanto was made acquainted with the incident, he informed the English that it was a challenge for war. The governor (Bradford) taking the rattle-snake's skin, and filling it with powder and shot, returned it to Canonicus. At the same time, he instructed the messenger to bid him defiance, and dare him to the combat. This had the desired effect upon the Indian sachem. He refused to receive the skin, as also the other chiefs, until it was at last returned to Plymouth. Canonicus was evidently awed by the hostile bearing and threat of the English.

      Governor Bradford and the Snake-skin.

      Not long after this affair, the Pequods proposed to the Narragansets to join them in rooting out the English: on the ground that if the Pequods were once destroyed, the ruin of the Narragansets was sure to follow. The English would want their lands. They were spreading fast. But a timely combination would save both tribes and their inheritance. On these politic representations, the historian Hubbard cleverly remarks that, "Machiavel himself, if he had sat in council with them, could not have insinuated stronger reasons to have persuaded them to a peace." It is said that the Narragansets felt the force of them, and were almost persuaded to accede to the proposal, and to join with the others against the English; but when they considered what an advantage they had put in their hands, by the power and favor of the English, to take full revenge of all their former injuries upon their inveterate enemies, the thought of that was so sweet, that it decided their hesitating minds.

      The governor of Massachusetts, in order to prevent a union between these savage nations, and to strengthen the bands of peace between the Narraganset Indians and the colony, sent for Miantonimoh, who was their sachem in connection with Canonicus, inviting him to come to Boston. Upon this, Miantonimoh, together with two of the sons of Canonicus, another sachem, and a number of their men, went to Boston, and entered into a treaty to the following effect: That there should be a firm peace between them and the English and their posterity—that neither party should make peace with the Pequods without the consent of the other—that they should not harbor the Pequods—and that they should return all fugitive servants, and deliver over to the English, or put to death, all murderers. The English were to give them notice when they went out against the Pequods, and they were to furnish them with guides. It was also stipulated that a free trade should be maintained between the parties.

      These articles were indifferently well observed by the Narragansets till their enemies, the Pequods, were totally subdued; but after that event, they began to grow insolent and treacherous, especially Miantonimoh himself. The English seem always to have been more favorably disposed towards other tribes than to the Narragansets, as appears from the interest they took in the wars between them and their enemies. As long as the other tribes succeeded against them, the English took no part in the contests; but whenever the Narragansets prevailed, they were ready to intercede.

      After the period of the Pequod war, in 1637, the Narragansets were the most numerous and powerful of the Indian tribes in this part of the country. Conscious of their power, and discontented that the whole sovereignty over the rest of the Indians was not adjudged to belong to them, or envious that Uncas, the chief sachem of the Mohegans, had gained the favor of the English more than themselves, they constantly sought occasions of disagreement with the Mohegans. This was in contravention of an agreement made between the English and the Narragansets, in the year 1637, when they had helped to destroy the Pequods, and also the triple league between the English, Mohegans, and Narragansets, entered into at Hartford in 1638. The Narragansets seemed to owe a special spite against Uncas and the Mohegans, from the time of the distribution of the Pequods after the termination of the war. They had probably expected the whole management of that affair for themselves. They therefore found occasions of quarrel with Uncas, and were hardly kept from making open war with him, when they saw all other attempts to destroy him by treachery, poison, and sorcery had failed. The Mohegans, though a less numerous and powerful people than the Narragansets, were yet more warlike in character and more politic in their intercourse with the whites.

      The disposition of Miantonimoh was haughty and aspiring, and he seemed to infuse the same spirit into the minds of his people. He possessed a fine figure, was tall of stature, and was a master of cunning and subtlely. It was strongly suspected that, in the year 1642, he had contrived to draw all the Indians throughout the country into a general conspiracy against the English. Letters from Connecticut, received at Boston, had announced the existence of such a conspiracy, and even the details of it were given. The time appointed for the assault was said to be after harvest—the manner, to be by several companies entering into the houses of the principal men, professedly for the purposes of trade, and then to kill them there; one company seizing their arms, and others being at hand

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