IX. And in the morning we marched about it, and found CHAP. no inhabitants at all; and here we made our rendezvous all that day, being Saturday, 10th of December. 1620. On the Sabbath day we rested; and on Monday we sounded the harbour, and found it a very good harbour for our shipping. We marched also into the land,' re 1 This is the ever-memorable day of the Landing of the Fathers at Plymouth. "The place of the landing is satisfactorily ascertained. Unquestionable tradition had declared that it was on a large rock at the foot of a cliff near the termination of the north street leading to the water. In the year 1774 an attempt was made to remove this rock (over which a wharf had been built) to a more central situation. The rock was split in the operation. The upper part, weighing several tons, was moved, and now stands in front of the Pilgrim Hall, enclosed by a very appropriate iron railing, of an elliptical form. It is regarded by the inhabitants and by visiters as a precious memorial of that interesting event, the arrival of the first planters of New England at their place of settlement. The 22d of December, corresponding to the 11th, old style, has long been observed at Plymouth in commemoration of the landing of the Fathers. It has there universally the familiar and endearing appellation of Forefathers' Day." See Morton's Memorial, p. 48, and Thacher's Plymouth, pp. 29, 199. President Dwight, of Yale College, says, "Plymouth was the first town built in New England by civilized men; and those by whom it was built were inferior in worth to no body of men whose names are recorded in history during the last 1700 years. A kind of venerableness, arising from these facts, attaches to this town, which may be termed a prejudice. Still, it has its foundation in the nature of man, and will never be eradicated either by philosophy or ridicule. No New-Englander, who is willing to indulge his native feelings, can stand upon the rock where our ancestors set the first foot after their arrival on the American shore, without experiencing emotions very different from those which are excited by any common object of the same nature. No New-Englander could be willing to have that rock buried and forgotten. Let him reason as much, as coldly, and as ingeniously as he pleases, he will still regard that spot with emotions wholly different from those which are excited by other places of equal or even superior importance." Travels through New England, ii. 110. De Tocqueville, in the second chapter of his work on America, says, "Ce rocher est devenu un objet de vénération aux Etats Unis. J'en ai vu des fragmens conservés avec soin dans plusieurs villes de l'Union. Ceci ne montre-t-il pas bien clairement que la puissance et la grandeur de l'homme est tout entière dans son ame? Voici une pierre que les pieds de quelques misérables touchent un instant, et cette pierre devient célèbre; elle attire les regards d'un grand peuple; on en vénère les debris, on s'en partage au loin la poussière. Qu'est devenu le seuil de tant de palais? Qui s'en inquiète ?""This rock has become an object of veneration in the United States. I have seen bits of it carefully preserved in several towns of the Union. Does not this sufficiently show that all human power and Dec. 10. 162 THE SHALLOP RETURNS TO CAPE COD. CHAP. and found divers cornfields, and little running brooks, IX. a place very good for situation. So we returned to 1620. our ship' again with good news to the rest of our peo14. ple, which did much comfort their hearts. Dec. greatness is in the soul of man? They left the Mayflower in Plymouth. They probably started on their return to the ship on the 13th, and striking across the bay, a distance of 25 miles, reached her on the 14th. They found that the day after their leaving the vessel, December 7, Dorothy, the wife of William Bradford, who was one of the party in the shallop, fell overboard, and was drowned. See Prince, p. 165. CHAPTER X. OF THEIR LANDING AND SETTLING AT NEW PLYMOUTH. X. Dec. On the 15th day we weighed anchor to go to the CHAP. place we had discovered; and coming within two leagues of the land, we could not fetch the harbour, but 1620. were fain to put round' again towards Cape Cod, our 15. course lying west, and the wind was at northwest. But it pleased God that the next day, being Saturday the 16th day, the wind came fair, and we put to sea 16. again, and came safely into a safe harbour; and within half an hour the wind changed, so as if we had been letted but a little, we had gone back to Cape Cod. This harbour is a bay greater than Cape Cod, compassed with a goodly land; and in the bay two fine islands,2 uninhabited, wherein are nothing but woods, 'In the original, roome; manifestly an error of the press. 2 Clark's island is now the only island in Plymouth harbour. It has sometimes been supposed that a shoal, called Brown's island, which lies near the entrance of the harbour, about half a mile east by north of Beach point, was above water at the time the Pilgrims arrived. Gov. Winthrop, in his History of New England, i. 169, has the following record: "Octo ber 6, 1635, two shallops going, 164 PLYMOUTH HARBOUR. CHAP. oaks, pines, walnuts, beech, sassafras, vines, and other X. 1 trees which we know not. This bay is a most hope 1620. ful place; innumerable store of fowl, and excellent good; and cannot but be of fish in their seasons; Dec. 18. 3 skate, cod, turbot, and herring, we have tasted of; abundance of muscles, the greatest and best that ever we saw; crabs and lobsters, in their time, infinite. It is in fashion like a sickle, or fish-hook.5 Monday, the 18th day, we went a land, manned the mouth of the harbour." This seems conclusive of the point that Brown's island was then under water. The other island I suppose was Saquish, which, although a peninsula, very much resembles an island, and may very naturally have been mistaken for one; or at that time the water may have flowed across the narrow neck which now unites it with the Gurnet, and completely isolated it. Oldmixon, i. 30, commits an egregious blunder when he states, that the harbour (Plymouth) was a bay larger than Cape Cod, and two fine islands, Rhode Island and Elizabeth Island, in it!" The only forest trees now on Clark's island are three red cedars, which appear to be very old, and are decaying. This wood was the original growth of the island, a tree which loves the vicinity of rocks, which abound here. A few years since, the present proprietor of the island, whilst digging out some large roots on its margin, found a number of acorns four feet beneath the surface. Blackberry vines are still found there. On Saquish there is one solitary tree, which has weathered the storms of ages. In 1815 there were two. In earlier times the town forbade felling trees at Saquish within 40 feet of the bank. See Mass. Hist. Coll. xiii. 182. 2 Wild fowl are yet abundant in Plymouth harbour. 3 Skate and cod are still caught here. The European turbot, it is well known, is not found in our waters. The first settlers probably gave this name to the flounder or small halibut. See Storer's Report on the Fishes of Massachusetts, pp. 140, 145, 146. Higginson, in his New-England's Plantation,enumerates the turbot among other fish. T. Morton, in his New English Canaan, ch. vii. says, "there is a large-sized fish, called halibut, or turbot; some are taken so big that two men have much ado to haul them into the boat." Wood, ch. ix. says, "the halibut is not much unlike a plaice or turbot, some being two yards long, and one wide, and a foot thick." And Josselyn, p. 26, says, "some will have the halibut and turbot all one; others distinguish them; there is no question to be made of it but that they are distinct kinds of fish." The turbot and plaice are very much alike in appearance. See the figures of them in Yarrell's British Fishes, i. 209, 233. There are muscles in Plymouth, but generally small, and clams; the Journal probably refers to the latter. Crabs and lobsters are very abundant in the summer season.. 5 The form of Plymouth Bay, which includes Kingston and Duxbury harbours, is accurately described. The words "in the long-boat" seem to be omitted. THE TREES AND PLANTS OF PLYMOUTH. 165 X. Dec. with the master of the ship and three or four of the CHAP. sailors. We marched along the coast in the woods some seven or eight miles,' but saw not an Indian nor 1620. an Indian house; only we found where formerly had 18. been some inhabitants, and where they had planted We found not any navigable river, but four or five small running brooks of very sweet fresh water, that all run into the sea. their corn. the crust of the earth is, a spit's depth, 4 The land for excellent black mould, and fat in some places; two or three great oaks, but not very thick, pines, walnuts, beech, ash, birch, hazel, holly, asp, sassafras in abundance, and vines 5 every where, cherry trees, plum trees, and many others which we know not. Many kinds of herbs we found here in winter, as strawberry leaves innumerable, sorrel, yarrow, carvel, brooklime, liverwort, water Which ever way the travellers went, they could not have walked seven miles; because northwest, at the distance of four miles, they would have come to Jones's river in Kingston, and southeast, at the distance of three miles, to Eel river. These rivers, though not large, cannot be denominated brooks. F. North of the village, towards Kingston, there are five brooks, which were named by the original planters First Brook, Second Brook, &c. in order, beginning from the town. Half a mile south of the village is Wellingsly Brook, by the side of which dwelt Secretary Morton. Double Brook, or Shingle Brook of the first settlers, runs northerly by the post road to Sandwich, and unites with Eel river. Beaver Dam Brook is in the village of Manomet Ponds. Indian Brook is still further south on the shore. See Mass. Hist. Coll. xiii. 178, and Thacher's Plymouth, p. 322. See note on page 123. 4 This is an exact description of a strip of land, between the hills and the sea-shore, where the gardens now are. The soil too is good on Clark's Island, Saquish, and the Gurnet. 5 The wild grape, both white and red, the blackberry and the raspberry, are found here now. All the trees here enumerated are now found in Plymouth. The asp, or aspen, was probably our native poplar. The beach, about three miles long, which lies in front of the village, extending from Eel river, N. N. West, and protecting the harbour, was originally well wooded. Towards the northern part, till 1770, it was quite thickly covered with trees. The inner side of the beach was covered with plum and wild-cherry trees, and the swamp with large pitch pine and beech wood. Beech plums, wild gooseberries, and white grapes were found here in great quantities in their proper season. See a list of the trees, in Mass. |