USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > Truro > Truro-Cape Cod; or, Land marks and sea marks > Part 4
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affections, and would needs bestow a kettle of some six or eight gallons on him, and would not accept of anything in lieu thereof, saying he was rich, and could afford to bestow such favors on his friends whom he loved." The Indian of Pawmet accompanied Captain Standish to Plymouth, and was importunate that the captain should take the first opportu- nity of a fair wind to go with him, but the governor caused Captain Standish to send him away without any distate.
This "confederacy" mentioned by Mr. Winslow was under- stood by the fiery captain and the Pilgrims - whether with or without cause has been often discussed -to be between the Massachusetts, represented by Winterwemet, "a nota- ble, insulting villain," and the Cape tribes, of whom the lusty Pawmet was a party, to kill Captain Standish and his little company. While it became the English to be ever on the alert, they sometimes, doubtless, were over suspicious. History has held Standish responsible for the slaughter of Winterwemet.
It is a matter of history that the Cape Indians were more friendly to the English, more humane and more easily con- verted to Christianity, than any other nation.
Undoubtedly, one of the nine kings who signed the treaty declaring themselves the loyal subjects of King James, men- tioned by Mr. Winslow, was sachem of the Pamets. Which of them it seems impossible to determine. Robert Cushman confirms this opinion when he writes, and Massassoit says, " Both he and many kings that are under him, acknowledge the king's majesty of England, as Pamet, Nauset, Cumma- quid, Narrowhigginsett, (Narragansett)," etc., giving relative importance to Pamet. Captain Richard Bourne, the faithful missionary of the Praying Indians on the Cape, writes in 1674:
" Pamet, Billingsgate and Nauset have two hundred and sixty-four Christianized Indians. That Pamet, since the death of Potanumatack, a prudent, sober man, and much lamented, is now destitute of a teacher."
Mr. Bourne procured for the Indians, at the court in Plym- outh, the establishment of Courts of Justice, and appointed
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THE NATIVE AMERICAN.
Pampumnunacke, Keckomset, Watanamatuckes, Nanquidun- macks, Kanoomis, and Mocuist, residents of different local- itics. The court ordered "that what homage accustomed legally due to any superior sachem be not infringed."
Up to 1700, the Indian population were in considerable numbers. In 1674, Mr. Bourne reported seventy-two praying Indians at Pamet, most of whom had learned to read ; and it is noticeable that two of the Indians wrote their names on the agreement with the proprietors of drift fish.
The aborigines were not naturally inclined, like the negro race, to be religious. It is reasonable that not half of their number were good enough, or willing to be called " Praying Indians."
An approximate calculation would give not far from two hundred Indians at Pamet at this time. In 1671 the Indians of the Cape were requested "to engage themselves to fidel ity." The first who signified a willingness to this engagement, were the Pamets, signed by Mr. John, and Quaguaguausuke of Paomet, April 10,-
The genuine Wampanoags (Pokonokets) had, like the Narragansetts, resisted all attempts to convert them to Christianity, although under Massassoit and Alexander his son, they had kept in good faith the simple league of 1621, with the Pilgrims. Philip allowed "The Praying Indians were subjects, but he and his people were not subjects."
After the permanent settlement on the Cape by the English, and the disposal of their lands, the Indians dwindled rapidly away. Heman Doane, of Eastham, affirms that in 1763 there were but five Indians in that town.
In 1792, Rev. Mr. Damon wrote to the Massachusetts Historical Society, that there was but one Indian family living in Truro. I have been told by a lady now living in that town, that she has often heard her grandmother, a daughter or granddaughter of Dr. William Dyer, say, that when a girl, there were as many Indian boys and girls as white ; that they used to go to school and play together ; and " that sometimes the little Injuns tried to crow over us."
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In 1716 Massachusetts contained ninety-four thousand white inhabitants, two thousand slaves, one thousand two hundred Indians professing Christianity and tilling the land in peace. It will be seen that the result of the first one hundred years of all the settlements in Massachusetts, was less than one thousand a year. During the same time the decrease of the Indians could scarcely have been less.
The loss of life by fire, by flood, by pestilence, by famine, by Indian wars, the suffering, the ventures, the immense losses, are a part of the price paid for our inheritance.
We have referred to the mortality of the native race, thereby leaving their lands to the undisturbed possession of the Pilgrims, which they afterwards purchased of Massassoit.
Another circumstance as clearly providential as any event in history, and without which we cannot see how the. Pilgrims could have survived, was the friendship of Samoset, Squanto, and Massassoit. As subjects of rare historical interest, honesty and nobility of character, they are an honor to their race, and worthy a niche in the temple of fame. From savage tribes, thinned by pestilence, and basely betrayed by the white men, came these three men from different channels, and differing widely in offices, yet with a unity of purpose to serve the Englishman in his weakness and necessity. According to the white man's purposes and provocations, he should have expected deadly foes. Why they were not foes instead of friends, is not in the limits of human calculation. Had the Pilgrim experiment failed, in all probability no effort would have been again made for a hundred years. The result of the kindness of these three Indians cannot be calculated - Samoset, Squanto and Massassoit ! a trinity to redeem the savage taint and share the gratitude of the world. "When shall we three meet again ?"
When the dreams of life are fled, When its wasted lamps are dead, When in cold oblivion's shade, Beauty, health and strength are laid, Where immortal spirits reign, There we three shall meet again.
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THE NATIVE AMERICAN.
The foregoing verse is from the well-known and once very popular hymn beginning with the first line of the witch of Macbeth. It is said to have been composed by three Indians at the planting of a memorial piece, on leaving Dartmouth College, where they had received a Christian education.
IN MEMORY OF THE INDIAN RACE.
I have seen a picture of a majestic river flowing through a valley of marvellous natural beauty. The magic hand of civilization had touched its teeming resources. On the bank of the river in the distance, are seen the spires, and towers, and domes of a thriving city. Its busy industries are indi- cated by scores of tall chimneys. Nearer, a massive bridge with broad, high arches, spans the river. A long train of cars just emerging from a tunnel, is rushing over the bridge. Nearer still, steamboats are dashing on toward the busy town. In the immediate foreground, on the edge of a forest, a settler has built a cabin, and made a clearing. On a high bluff overlooking the whole valley, stands a little group of Indians. With unstrung bow, and quiver full of arrows, they look helplessly and hopelessly upon the mag. nificent picture, and point sadly to the sites of their wig- wams and to the graves of their fathers.
This picture is the history of the Indian race in North America.
CHAPTER III.
ENGLISH ADVENTURES AND THE RISE OF THE PILGRIMS.
Cape Cod and Cornwall. The Golden Age. English Sailors. Hudson. A Mermaid. Sir Francis Drake. Bart Gosnold. Cape Cod named. Benjamin Drew's Poem. The Ancient Mariner's Log. Repeated Failures. American Fisheries. The Condi- tion of Europe. Who were the Pilgrims? How they came to think so. Buxton. Victor Hugo. The Human Mind. The Roman Yoke. Green. Social life in Eng- land. The Bible. The Love of moral Beauty. The Puritan Mind. Independency. The Covenant. The Puritan Character. The Westminster Declaration. The Pilgrims or Separatists. Their Union and Covenant. Persecution. Removal. In Holland. Emigration. The Mayflower. Sight of Land. Cape Cod. Mourt's Re- lation. Bradford's Description. Poop of the Mayflower. The first Landing. De Costa. American Sahara. The Compact. A Historic Picture. Various Opin- ions. The Weight of Testimony. The Mayflower and Plymouth Rock.
F ROM Land's End to John O'Groat's house is, as old, but less fabulous, than King Arthur and his Round Table. Take your atlas - Johnson's, if you have it -and turn to the map of England. At the extreme southwest, jutting out into the ocean like Cape Cod, nearly surrounded by water on all its irregular sides, is the county of Cornwall. In shape it has been compared to a Wellington boot, but the general configuration is not altogether unlike Cape Cod. With a little imagination, Land's End with the Longships Light- house and Lizard Head, both well known to sailors the world over, may compare with the Highlands and Race Point.
The Scilly Isles may match the Vineyard Islands, and the celebrated Eddystone, blazing out in the English Channel, not inaptly supplies Minot's Light. To help our
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comparison, during spring tides the ocean has threatened to sweep across the low-lying lands between St. Ives and Mounts Bay, making an island just as the Atlantic has threatened to cut off the lower part of the Cape.
The parallel holds remarkably good also in the employ- ment, habits, customs, and peculiar phraseology of the peo- ple; but here it ends. Instead of sandy shores, Cornwall presents a precipitous, iron-bound coast, its highest granite point rising to one thousand three hundred and sixty-eight feet. Huge rocks tossed and balanced upon each other like icebergs in the arctic regions. The stubborn granite, the gray syenite, and the motley serpentine are splintered and battered by a thousand fierce storms.
Here, and in the adjoining counties of Devon and Dorset, are a score of familiar names ; as Barnstable, Falmouth, Truro, Kingston, Dartmouth, Yarmouth, Weymouth, Portsmouth, Dover, Exeter, etc .; all plainly indicating the old homes of our ancestors who perpetuated home memories across the ocean. From these places came the great Devonshire seamen of Elizabeth's prosperous reign, the Golden Age, which gave name and fame the world over to England - her great navi- gators and discoverers! Rainsborough, high in command in the Parliamentary army with Cromwell, had been a " skip- per at sea." Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Humphrey Gilbert, both born in Devonshire, the sons of one mother, were favorites at the court of Elizabeth. On one she bestowed a grant larger than her own kingdom, and on the other a golden anchor. The queen used to say, " The Cornish gen- tlemen were all courtiers with a becoming confidence."
Longfellow's ballad revives the memory of Sir Hum- phrey : ---
Beside the helm he sat, The Book was in his hand. " Do not fear ; Heaven is as near," He said, " by water as by land."
The sons of the first settlers on the Cape, the small farm- ers and fishermen, first "skippers at sea," became the first
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masters and navigators of our merchant marine, took an active part in our infant navy, and later became merchants in our cities.
In 1609 Captain Henry Hudson claims to have discovered Cape Cod, and anchored at the north end of the headland. His men went on shore and brought off wild grapes and roses. He, being a Dutchman, called it New Holland, by which name it is represented on the old Dutch maps. The extremity, probably Race Point, he called White Point, from the white sand. The abundance of wild roses and grapes still growing among the wooded hills near the beach, well sustain Hudson's report. He also claims that they here discovered a live mermaid, which species are not now often found in our waters. Perhaps Professor Baird, with his powerful electric light, will be able to discover her hibernating with the mackerel and bluefish. Captain Hudson afterwards discovered the noble river that bears his name. Upon the authority of Drake, the historian, the first Englishman that set foot upon the soil of New England was Sir Francis Drake, in 1586, and that it was upon some part of Cape Cod that the great circumnavigator landed. Bancroft also asserts that Cape Cod was the first spot trod by an Englishman.
It has been stated that Captain Bart Gosnold was the first Englishman to tread the shores of Cape Cod ; but from the evidence, we think the claim fails. Captain Gosnold sailed from Falmouth, March 26, 1602, in the Concord of Dartmouth, and was the first English navigator who shaped a straight course across the ocean. Previously, all vessels made the passage by the way of the Canaries, as did Columbus in 1492. Whatever else did or did not this ancient mariner, everybody is agreed that he named Cape Cod; and so effectually, that blow high or low, cold or hot, thick or thin, fish or no fish, it has hung on like a lamper-eel, from that day to this. Cotton Mather says : " A name, I suppose, it will never lose till the shoals of codfish be seen swimming on the highest hills." And says Robert C. Winthrop: "The homely, but now endeared and honored title of Cape Cod." Captain John Smith named it Cape James, for his king. Another statement is, that
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Charles, Prince of Wales, changed the name from Cape Cod to Cape James, in honor of his father. The Stuart name did not stick, though backed up by princely favor, for which we are glad. The French called it Cape Blanco (white), from the white sandhills. Both the French and Dutch called the southern part, from a shipwreck there, Cape Malabarre (Bad- bar). The southern point of Chatham still retains the French name.
Captain Gosnold has left a " relation " of his voyage by the hand of Gabriel Archer, who acted as secretary for the old captain, and wrote up his log. We quote from the relation : "On the fifteenth day of May we had again sight of land, which made ahead, being as we thought an island, by reason of a large sound that opened westward (Cape Cod Bay) between it and the mainland; for coming to the west end thereof, we did perceive a large opening. We called it Shoal Hope. Hope was a Celtic word then considerably in use, meaning an inclined plane between ridges or hills, in more common use, broken hills, which to Gosnold, lying in fifteen fathoms, with Cape Cod Bay open, would have been a perfect description. Near this cape we came to anchor in fifteen fathoms, where we took great store of codfish, for which we altered the name and called it Cape Cod." As appropriate to this connection and as part of our history, I need not apologize for here introducing so much of Benjamin Drew's sprightly poem, read at the inauguration of the Cape Cod Association in Boston, as refers to the above christening : -
There sailed an ancient mariner, Bart Gosnold was he high - The Cape was all a wilderness When Gosnold hove in sight.
He saw canoes and wigwams rude, By ruder builders made, Squaws pounded samp about the door, And dark pappooses played.
The hills were bold and fair to view, And covered o'er with trees, Said Gosnold : " Bring a fishing-line, While lulls the evening breeze.
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" I'll christen that there sandy shore From the first fish I take - Tautog, or toadfish, cusk or cod, Horse-mackerel, or hake.
" Hardhead or haddock, sculpin, squid, Goose-fish, pipe-fish, or cunner - No matter what - shall with its name
Yon promontory honor."
Old Neptune heard the promise made, Down dove the water-god - He drove the meaner fish away And hooked the mammoth cod.
Quick Gosnold hauled. "Cape- Cape-Cape-Cod !" " Cape Cod," the crew cried louder ;
" Here, steward ! take the fish along, And give the boys a chowder."
He afterwards landed, giving a description which agrees with all the first visitors who landed on the lower part of the Cape. Vast sums of money, much warfare, and multiplied attempts had been made to effect permanent settlements in connection with the development of the fisheries, the christianization of the nations, and the ambition of adventure.
Sir Ferdinando Gorges with his great wealth and indomitable enterprise, had spent twenty thousand pounds in vain. Two hundred and fifty years ago, one hundred thousand dollars was a large amount of private capital to stake in a single enterprise.
Sir Ferdinando had been an officer in Queen Elizabeth's navy, and was intimately connected with Mason, who settled New Hampshire, and with Sir Walter Raleigh. He was determined to have his name and fame honorably connected with the history of America. Mason spent an equal sum in attempts at permanent settlements at Dover Neck and Pis- cataqua.
The heroic Sir Walter Raleigh bad pushed colonization with his eager enthusiasm. But the wealth and position of Gorges and Mason, the chivalry and genius of Raleigh, could not secure a foothold in the New World. The fickleness of
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fortune and the ingratitude of republics, is well illustrated in the history of these enterprising noblemen, who not only lost their fortunes, but have scarcely been remembered in this great land.
One hundred and twenty-eight years had passed since the discovery of America by Columbus, one hundred and twenty- four by the Cabots, yet with the exception of the languishing and distracted settlement at Jamestown, not a settlement had been made on the coast of North America.
Holmes remarks, " At the death of Queen Elizabeth, in 1603, neither the French, Dutch nor English, nor any other nations excepting the Spanish, had made any permanent settlement in America."
Governor Hutchinson writes, in 1691, " Whether Britain would have had any colonies in America at this day, if reli- gion had not been the great inducement, is doubtful. After repeated attempts had failed, with great loss of money, it seems less probable that any should undertake it."
These few references show the continued failure of the English, French and Dutch, the three great maritime nations of the world, to make successful settlements in New Eng- land before the Pilgrims. It should be further shown, that during this time, and many years before, the European nations had been greatly agitated over the fisheries of North America, till four hundred vessels had come annually from Europe to fish on these coasts." As early as 1548, the English fishery on the American coast had become an object of national importance and legislative enactment. The English Parliament passed an act, the first parliamentary act relating to America, prohibiting the exaction of money, fish, or other rewards by any officer of the Admiralty, under any pretext whatever, from the English fishermen and mariners going in the service of the fishery at Newfoundland." England was waking from the sleep of centuries. The dream of the Mediaval Ages was passing away. The human mind was stretching out its arms to gain strength, and opening its eyes to the light. The people had heard the sound, and were
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seeking by all means to better their condition; and as is always the case, new wants succeeded new endeavors. Ad- venture by sea and land had called for a world of handicraft. The axe rang in the old Saxon holdings. Furnaces gleamed along the valleys. The factory hummed with the busy notes of industry. The starving retainer became an artisan. A better civilization calling for improved living started a new life. All this could be traced to commerce, principally among which were the fisheries on the North American coast. Brave men dared the broad ocean and the stormy coasts.
Brave men who work while others sleep, Who dare while others fly ; They build a nation's pillars deep, And lift them to the sky.
Such was the condition of North America, and such the prospect of a successful settlement there, when the little Mayflower spread her scant sail on the Atlantic in search of a home for religious freedom.
Leaving this lone speck on the ocean, we return, first, to gather from history some knowledge of the men all unher- alded and unknown, who led this seemingly forlorn hope. Second, to present various opinions concerning them. Of the Pilgrims, it is easier to say much than little. Theodore Parker said: "It is easier to praise the fathers of New England ; easier to praise them for virtues they did not possess, than to discriminate and fairly judge these remark- able men."
Much the Pilgrims concern our history. Relations so inti- mate and historic, can scarcely be over-cherished or over- wrought in our lives. While we admire their character, revere their history, love their virtues, and honor their mem- ory, we must be just and judge them fairly.
To fairly consider the Pilgrims, we must consider important connections ; the slow outcome of many generations. Buxton. the English essayist, remarks, " Not only what a man think: is important, but how he came to think so."
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The history of the Pilgrims is pretty well known. But the civil wars and religious revolutions, the persecutions and martrydoms of many hundred years, were the slow fires tem- pering the English head and heart to the Puritan mind. These we must consider, or we cannot wisely discriminate or fairly judge them. The head and heart did not die.
It is the human mind which was named John IIuss, and which did not die on the funeral pile of Constance ; which was named Luther, and shook orthodoxy to its centre ; which was named Voltaire, and shook faith; which was named Mira- beau, and shook royalty. It is the human mind which, since history began, has transformed societies and governments according to a law progressively accept- able to reason - which has been theocracy, aristocracy, monarchy, and which is to-day democracy. It is the human mind which is the great factor of the gener- ations, and which, in short, has always marched toward the just, the beautiful. and the true, enlightening multitudes, elevating life, raising more and more the head of the people towards right, and the head of the individual towards God. - Victor Hugo.
Could we carefully follow the multiform meanderings, the mysterious aggregations, and the persistent onflow of the human mind through these centuries of religious chaos, perse- cution and blood, of
- Wasting fire and dying groan, And priest slain on the altar stone,
we should notice events of most prodigious import slowly unfolding in the world's history ; the harbingers of a better civilization.
To trace these steps in the majestic march of conscience and liberty, from the long mediaval night of absolutism to the daydawning of religious enlightenment, would lead through fire and sword, to the dungeon and the stake.
The Roman yoke, both civil and ecclesiastical, was ever galling to the Briton's neck. Here and there, during this night of a thousand years, many helpless hands were raised to Heaven ; many protests were shamelessly trampled under foot by Roman imperialism.
The controlling forces that preceded and created the Puritan movement, shook the moral world, and produced a tremendous religious upheaval of the people.
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Green says, "It affected the noble and the squire, as much as the shopkeeper and the farmer, the middle and professional man."
Religiously and mentally, the social life of England was blank and sterile. " No history, no romance, no poetry, save the little known verses of Chaucer, existed in the English tongue when the Bible was ordered to be set up in the churches." The people flocked to the Bible; they accepted literally, without gainsaying or mental reservation, its teach- ings and its history. They wrought its phraseology into daily conversation, its morals into daily practice, and its righteousness grew daily in the form and face of the human temple. "England become the people of a book, and that book was the Bible." As the Bible became more and more the study of daily life, the Renaissance passed more and more into the shadowy past, and the love of moral Beauty blossomed more and more in the Puritan life. It produced the unruffled temper, the sterling love of justice, and the noble self-control which distinguished the Puritan gentleman for many generations. It touched the imagina- tion. Shakespeare's brain became the Castalian fountain of Parnassus, from whence sprang forth his mother tongue, crystallized in rubies and emeralds of immortal verse. Mil- ton's genius grasped the wing of faith, and rode resplen dent amid the empyrean host, while poor John Bunyan dreamed out in Bedford prison an edition of illustrated theol- ogy that has become a companion of the Bible around the Christian world.
The final and tangible conception of religious liberty in the Puritan mind became known throughout the world as Inde- pendency. This conception, wrung from kings and prelates, assumed due shape and proportion in the following, which is substantially the constitution of the Congregational Church to-day :
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