I have inserted this list from Prince, who found it at the end of Gov. Bradford's MS. From modesty, Bradford omits the title of Mr. to his own name. The figures denote the number in each family. Those with an asterisk (*) prefixed to their names, 21 in number, died before the end of March. Those with an obelisk (†) affixed, 18, brought their wives with them. Three, Samuel Fuller, Richard Warren, and Francis Cook, left their wives for the present either in Holland or England. Some left behind them part, and others all their children, who afterwards came over. John Howland was of Carver's family, George Soule of Edward Winslow's, and Dotey and Leister of Hopkins's family. Martin, Warren, Hopkins, Billington, Dotey, Leister, and probably some others, joined them in England. John Allerton and English were seamen. The list includes the child that was born at sea, and the servant who died; the latter ought not to have been counted. The number living at the signing of the compact was therefore only 100. "So there were just 101, (no, 100,)

who sailed from Plymouth in England, and just as many arrived in Cape Cod harbour. And this is the solitary number, who, for an undefiled conscience and the love of pure Christianity, first left their native and pleasant land, and encountered all the toils and hazards of the tumultuous ocean, in search of some uncultivated region in North Virginia, where they might quietly enjoy their religious liberties and transmit them to posterity." Prince, p. 173.

"These were the founders of the Colony of New Plymouth. The settlement of this colony occasioned the settlement of Massachusetts Bay, which was the source of all the other colonies of New Engand. Virginia was in a dying state, and seemed to revive and flourish from the example of New England. I am not preserving from oblivion the names of heroes whose chief merit is the overthrow of cities, provinces, and empires, but the names of the founders of a flourishing town and colony, if not of the whole British empire in America." Hutchinson, ii. 462. The same day "they choose Mr.

1

3

John Carver, a pious and well approved gentleman, their governor for the first year." Bradford, in Prince, p. 162.

2

The men appear to have been landed on Long Point, which tradition says has been diminished in its length, breadth, and height. F. By the bay is intended the harbour. See p. 120. Plymouth harbour is afterwards called a bay; and the same name is given to the harbour of Cummaquid, or Barnstable. F.

3 That is, Barnstable bay. F.

Gosnold, on landing at Cape Cod, in 1602, found "the sand by the shore somewhat deep." Smith, too, calls it "a headland of high hills of sand." The downs, or dunes, along the coast of Holland, are formed by the wind blowing up the sands of the sea-shore. To check the dispersion of the sand, the dunes are sowed regularly every year with a species of reed grass (arundo arenaria.) In a short time the roots spread and combine so as to hold the sand fast together. Linnæus, in his journey to the islands of Oeland and Gothland, in the Baltic, pointed out to the natives the advantage of planting the seareed grass to arrest the sand and form soil on the shores, to which it is extremely well adapted by the length of its roots. A similar practice has within a few years been adopted at Cape Cod, under the direction and at the expense of the general government. Large tracts of white sand at Provincetown have been planted with the beach grass (psamma arenaria.) The grass, during the spring and summer, grows about two feet and

a half. If surrounded by naked beach, the storms of autumn and winter heap up the sand on all sides, and cause it to rise nearly to the top of the plant. In the ensuing spring the grass sprouts anew; is again covered with sand in the winter; and thus a hill or ridge continues to ascend as long as there is a sufficient base to support it, or till the surrounding sand, being also covered with beach grass, will no longer yield to the force of the wind. See Purchas, iv. 1648; Mass. Hist. Coll. xxvi. 119, viii. 110; Bigelow's Plants of Boston and its Vicinity, p. 40; Pulteney's General View of the Writings of Linnæus, p. 35.

5 The depth of a spade. F. "A spade's depth thrown out in digging is still called a spit." Richardson's Dict. art. Spade.

Some persons may smile at reading of "a spade's depth of excellent black earth" at the extremity of Cape Cod. And yet, even now, after the woods are cut down, and free scope is given to the winds to scatter the sands over the vegetable mould of centuries, there is, at High Head, in Truro, within four miles of Long Point, where the Mayflower was anchored, an “excellent black earth" more than a foot in depth, which for years, without manure, has produced 50 to 60 bushels of corn to the acre. It is based on an old Indian clambed, in which I observed the shells of the oyster, the scallop, the quahaug, the sea clam, and the common clam. This rich soil is on the property of James Small, whose hospitable dwelling is near the Highland Light.

124

1620.

Nov.

3

1 See note on page 118.

2 There are three kinds of oak on the Cape, the red oak, (quercus rubra,) the black oak, (quercus tinctoria,) and the white oak, (quercus alba.) The frames of the oldest buildings there are made of white oak, which is one of the most durable kinds of timber. The pine is the pitch pine, (pinus rigida); the birch is the white birch, (betula populifolia); the holly is the American holly, an evergreen, (ilex opaca); the ash is the white ash, (fraxinus Americana,) and the walnut is the white walnut, (juglans tomentosa.)

3 "The salvages are accustomed to set fire to the country in all places where they come, and to burn it twice a year, viz. at the spring, and the fall of the leaf. The reason that moves them to do so is because it would otherwise be so overgrown with underweeds, that it would be all a coppice wood, and the people would not be able in any wise to pass through the country out of a beaten path. This custom of firing the country is the means to make it passable, and by that means the trees grow here and there, as in our parks, and makes the country very beautiful and commodious." Morton's New English Canaan, ch. 18. (printed in 1632. Morton was here in 1622 and 1625.) "Whereas it is generally conceived that the woods grow so thick that there is no more clear ground than is hewed out by labor of men, it is nothing so; in many places, divers

acres being clear, so that one may ride a hunting in most places of the land. There is no underwood, saving in swamps and low grounds; for it being the custom of the Indians to burn the woods in November, when the grass is withered, and leaves dried, it consumes all the underwood and rubbish, which otherwise would overgrow the country, making it impassable, and spoil their much affected hunting. So that by this means, in these places where the Indians inhabit, there is scarce a bush or bramble, or any cumbersome underwood to be seen in the more champaign ground." Wood's New England's Prospect, ch. 5. (Wood was here in 1633.) The woods in some parts of Wellfleet and Eastham are now entirely free from underwood, as in the time of the Pilgrims.

4 The juniper was no doubt the red cedar, or savin, (juniperus Virginiana,) an evergreen which is still common on the Cape. It resembles very much the juniperus sabina or common savin of Europe, which bears the juniper berries. The taste of the leaves in the two species is nearly the same. The wood of the red cedar is odorous, and the leaves, when bruised, emit a resinous, aromatic odor. It burns freely on account of its resinous qualities. Morton says, "Of cedar there is abundance; and this wood was such as Solomon used for the building of that glorious temple of Hierusalem. This wood cuts red."