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204

XI.

THE DESIGN OF THE EMBASSY.

CHAP. and give credit to his message accordingly; also requesting him that such as have skins should bring them 1621. to us, and that he would hinder the multitude from oppressing us with them. And whereas, at our first arrival at Paomet,' called by us Cape Cod, we found there corn buried in the ground, and finding no inhabitants, but some graves of dead new buried, took the corn, resolving, if ever we could hear of any that had right thereunto, to make satisfaction to the full for it; yet since we understand the owners thereof were fled for fear of us, our desire was either to pay them with the like quantity of corn, English meal, or any other commodities we had, to pleasure them withal; requesting him that some one of his men might signify so much unto them, and we would content him for his pains And last of all, our governor requested one favor of him, which was that he would exchange some of their corn for seed with us, that we might make trial which best agreed with the soil where we live.

With these presents and message we set forward the June 10th Junc," about nine o'clock in the morning, our July guide resolving that night to rest at Namaschet,' a town 3. under Massasoyt, and conceived by us to be very near,

10 or

because the inhabitants flocked so thick upon every slight occasion amongst us; but we found it to be some

on page 125, and with the rest of the Journal, I con

1 See note 2 note on page 202.

2 See note 1 on page 134.

June 10th being Lord's Day,
it is very unlikely that they set out
then, and is also inconsistent with
the rest of the Journal; whereas
July 2d is Monday, when Governor
Bradford says,
'We sent Mr. Ed-
ward Winslow and Mr. Steven
Hopkins to see our new friend
Massasoit; though, to comport

clude that on Monday, July 2d, they agreed to send, but set not out till the next morning." Prince, Ann. 191. Morton, in his Memorial, p. 69, says it was July 2.

4 Namaschet, or Namasket; that part of Middleborough, which the English first began to settle. See Mass. Hist. Coll. iii. 148. Capt. Dermer was at this place in 1619. See note3 on page 190.

THE MESSENGERS REACH MIDDLEBOROUGH.

205

XI.

fifteen English miles. On the way we found some CHAP. ten or twelve men, women, and children, which had pestered us till we were weary of them, perceiving 1621. July that (as the manner of them all is) where victual is 3. easilest 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 Namaschet. Thither we came about three o'clock after noon, the inhabitants entertaining us with joy, in the best manner they could, giving us a kind of bread called by them maizium,' and the spawn of shads, which then they got in abundance, insomuch as they gave us spoons to eat them. With these they boiled musty acorns; but of the shads we eat heartily. After this they desired one of our men to shoot at a crow, complaining what damage they sustained in their corn by them; who shooting some fourscore off and killing, they much admired at it, as other shots on other occasions.

2

Being willing to has

After this, Tisquantum told us we should hardly in one day reach Packanokick, moving us to go some eight miles further, where we should find more store and better victuals than there. ten our journey, we went and came thither at sunsetting, where we found many of the Namascheucks (they so calling the men of Namaschet) fishing upon a wear 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

1 Made of maize, or Indian corn. See note on page 131.

Paces or yards, understood.
At or near a village now called
Titicut, on Taunton river, in the
northwest part of Middleborough,

adjoining Bridgwater, is a noted
place, which was formerly called
the Old Indian Wear. Though
other wears have been erected on
Taunton river, yet this is probably
the place intended. F.

206

THEY FORD TAUNTON RIVER.

XI.

1621.

CHAP them of our victuals, not doubting but we should have enough where'er 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 are 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 2 not long since; and pity it was and is to see so many goodly fields, and so well seated, without men to dress and manure the same. Upon this river dwelleth Massasoyt. It cometh into the sea at the Narrohigganset bay, where the Frenchmen so much use. A ship may go many miles up it, as the salvages report, and a shallop to the head of it; but so far as we saw, we are sure a shallop may.3 But to return to our journey.

July

4.

The next morning we brake our fast, took our leave, and departed; being then accompanied with some six salvages. Having gone about six miles by the river side, at a known shoal place,' it being low water, they spako to us to put off our breeches, for we must wado through. Here let me not forget the valor and courage of some of the salvages on the opposite side of the river; for there were remaining alive only two men, both aged, especially the one, being above threescore. These two, espying a company of men entering the river, ran very swiftly, and low in the grass, to meet

'The Winnatuckset, one of the
tributaries of Taunton river, has its
source in Carver, seven miles from
Plymouth.

* See note on page 183.
The river is navigable for sloops
as far as Taunton.

4 About six miles below Old Indian Wear is a noted wading place. The opposite shore of Taunton river is in Raynham. F.- Baylies, says, i. 75, it is "near the new forge on Taunton river, about three miles from the Green.

DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY.

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XI.

us at the bank; where, with shrill voices and great CHAP. courage, standing charged upon us with their bows, they demanded what we were, supposing us to be 1621. July enemies, and thinking to take advantage on us in the 4. 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 in our journey, the weather being very hot for travel; 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. But the salvages 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 accords; also, fearing we were or would be weary, offered to carry our pieces; 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 salvage 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, both oak, walnut tree, fir, beech, and exceeding great chestnut trees. The country, in respect of the lying of it, is both champaign and hilly, like many places in England. In some places it is very rocky, both above ground and in it; and though

208

XI.

THEY ARRIVE AT BARRINGTON, R. I.

CHAP. the country be wild and overgrown with woods, yet the trees stand not thick, but a man may well ride a 1621. horse amongst them.'

July

4.

Passing on at length, one of the company, an Indian, espied a man, and told the rest of it. We asked them if they feared any. They told us that if they were Narrohigganset men, they would not trust them. Whereat we called for our pieces, and bid them not to fear; for though they were twenty, we two alone would not care for them. But they hailing him, he proved a friend, and had only two women with him. Their baskets were empty; but they fetched water in their bottles, so that we drank with them and departed. After we met another man, with other two women, which had been at rendezvous by the salt water; and their baskets were full of roasted crab fishes and other dried shell fish, of which they gave us; and we eat and drank with them, and gave each of the women a string of beads, and departed.

After we came to a town of Massasoyt's, where we cat oysters and other fish. From thence we went to Packanokick; but Massasoyt was not at home.

1 See note on page 124.
This was a general name for
the northern shore of Narraganset
Bay, between Providence and Taun-
ton rivers, and comprehending the
present townships of Bristol, War-
ren, and Barrington, in the State of
Rhode Island, and Swanzey, in
Massachusetts. Its northern ex-
tent is unknown. The principal
seats of Massasoit were at Sowams
and Kikemuit. The former is a
neck of land formed by the conflu-
ence of Barrington and Palmer's
rivers; the latter is Mount Hope."
Belknap's Am. Biog. ii. 221.

Callender, in his Historical Dis

course on Rhode Island, says, that "Sowams is the neck since called Phebe's Neck, in Barrington;" but intimates in a note that "perhaps Sowams is properly the name of the river, where the two Swanzey rivers meet and run together for near a mile, when they empty themselves in the Narraganset Bay, or of a small island, where these two rivers meet, at the bottom of New Meadow Neck, so called." See Rhode Island Hist. Coll. iv. 84.

Morton says, p. 69, that "they found his (Massasoit's) place to be about forty miles from New Plymouth."

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