USA > Maine > The beginnings of colonial Maine, 1602-1658 > Part 9
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This promise evidently gave great satisfaction to the colonists, and strengthened the hope that thus early strong friendly relations would be opened with one of the most powerful of the neighbor- ing Indian tribes. Accordingly, three days later, Tuesday, Sep- tember 8, Gilbert, accompanied by twenty-two others, started east- ward, taking with them various kinds of merchandise for traffic with the Indians. But again the wind was contrary, and in wait- ing for more favorable weather conditions, they delayed so long that they were not able to reach Pemaquid at the appointed time. When they finally came to the place, the Indians, whom they were to meet, and who were to conduct them to the "bashabe", had left. They "found no living creature. They all were gone from thence". This is a noteworthy record in the Relation, inas- much as it furnishes information with reference to conditions existing at Pemaquid at that time. Indians were its only inhabi- tants, and they had now left. If Gilbert and his men, in their
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THE BEGINNINGS OF COLONIAL MAINE.
search for the Indians, found at Pemaquid any traces of other inhabitants or of an earlier European civilization1, they failed to record the fact. Early references to Pemaquid make mention only of Indian occupation, or traces of such occupation.
But Gilbert and his companions, disappointed in not finding the Indians, and especially Nahanada and Skidwarres, did not aban- don the expedition, but sailing round Pemaquid point, Gilbert directed his boat to the eastward in the hope of reaching by water the seat of the "bashabe" upon the Penobscot river. Three days were spent in this endeavor, but the river did not open to them in that time, and their food supply not warranting a farther search, the explorers were at length compelled to turn about and make their way back to their companions at the mouth of the Sagadahoc.
Meanwhile the storehouse within the fort had been so far com- pleted, that September 7, the removal of supplies from the Mary and John began. But work on the fort was not discontinued.
1 The "Commissioners in Charge of the Remains of the Ancient Fortifica- tions at Pemaquid", in their report dated December 13, 1902, say (p. 3): "The remnants of a well-populated and well-built town with paved streets now quite below the surface of the present cultivated soil-the date of which establishment has not yet been discovered- show that this was also in very early times occupied with intention of permanence." The reason for this non-discovery is found in the fact that search is made where nothing is to be found, if by "very early times" is meant some period prior to the Popham Colony. In connection with their report the commissioners print a "Memo- rial" submitted by Hon. R. K. Sewall, who refers to "marked remains and relics of Spanish occupation". Members of the Popham colony visited Pemaquid on four different occasions, but make no mention of indications of earlier "Spanish occupation" or any other occupation than Indian, nor did the Indians call their attention to "marked remains" ; neither did such careful explorers as Pring, de Monts, Champlain, Capt. John Smith and others make any mention of such remains. In connection with the construction of Fort Willian Henry (1692) a very substantial structure, "paved streets", i. e., good roadway approaches to the fort, were doubtless made, or, in 1729, when upon the ruins of Fort William Henry (destroyed in 1696) Fort Fred- eric was built. This last strong fortification was demolished early in the Revolution in order that it might not become a British stronghold. With the utter overthrow of these Pemaquid fortifications, any "paved streets" made in connection with them naturally disappeared.
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The season, however, was advancing so rapidly that it seemed desirable to make a more extended exploration of the river before it should be closed by ice. Accordingly, September 23, Gilbert and nineteen others started "for the head of the river of Sagada- hock". For two days and a part of a third day, the course of the Kennebec was followed as far as the falls at Augusta. With some difficulty these were successfuly passed, and Gilbert and his com- panions ascended the river about a league farther. But night coming on they landed and went into camp. The evening had not far advanced when their rest was disturbed by a call in broken English from some Indians on the opposite side of the river. A response was made, but the strangers soon withdrew and the night
passed without added interruption. The use of broken English by these savages indicated an earlier contact with Englishmen in American waters. Possibly this was in the preceding year when Hanham and Pring were on the coast. It is perhaps more probable that the "broken English" of these Indians was the result of trading relations with English fishermen, whose vessels had visited American waters from the opening of the century, or at least shortly after its opening.
On the following morning, Saturday, September 26, four Indi- ans appeared and made themselves known as the Indians who had called to them from the opposite side of the river the evening before. Evidently they had received information of the progress of Gilbert and his men up the river, and wished to learn the sig- nificance of the presence of the visitors. One of the four announced himself as "Sebanoa Lord of the river of Sagada- hock".
With this announcement, the manuscript Relation, followed in this narrative thus far, abruptly closes at the bottom of a page. There can be little, if any doubt whatever, that originally there were added pages which in some way became detached, and so were finally lost in the vicissitudes through which the manuscript passed before it found a safe resting place in the library of Lam- beth Palace. The story of the Popham colony that is found in
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William Strachey's Historie of Travaile into Virginia, follows so closely the Relation to this point as to leave little doubt from the character of the rest of the story, that Strachey had all the miss- ing pages of the manuscript before him while writing his narra- tive. As there is reason to believe that the manuscript-doubtless prepared for the information of the patrons of the enterprise-was continued only to October 6, 1607, the probable date of the sail- ing of the Mary and John for England, the loss is not a great one, and happily is in part at least supplied by Strachey's narrative, supplemented from other sources than those available now.
Strachey's narrative continues the story of Gilbert's interview with Sebanoa, recording acts of duplicity and treachery on the part of the Kennebec Indians as well as other acts of kindness and good-will. Gilbert seems to have conducted himself with tact and discretion under circumstances that were full of peril to himself and his party. It was his declared purpose in the exploration to go "to the head of the river", but the rapids he had now reached made progress difficult. His experiences with the Indians, also, had been by no means what he desired. At all events he now abandoned farther advance up the river, and having erected a cross at the highest point he had reached, he set out on his return to the settlement. On the way down the river, search was made for the "by river of some note called Sasanoa", by which plainly was meant the tidal river that connects the Kennebec opposite Bath with the waters of Sheepscot bay. Concerning this inland passage into the Sagadahoc, information doubtless had been received from Indians they had met in interviews already men- tioned ; but though Gilbert and his party looked for it carefully, a fog at length settled down upon them and they were obliged to make their way homeward as best they could.
They reached the fort on September 29. September 30 and October 1 and 2, all were busy about the fort. On the Mary and John, too, now nearly ready to sail on her return voyage to Eng- land, there were doubtless many evidences of preparations for the voyage. September 3, Skidwarres, crossing the river in a
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canoe, brought a message to President Popham, saying that Nahanada, also the bashabe's brother and other Indians, were on the opposite side of the river, and would visit the colonists on the following day. This they did, two canoes conveying the party, which included Nahanada and his wife, Skidwarres, the bashabe's brother and a chief called Amenquin. Popham entertained his guests with kindness and generosity during two days, the last day being Sunday, on which "with great reverence and silence" the Indians attended the religious services of the colonists both morn- ing and evening. With the exception of Amenquin, all the Indians departed on Monday, October 6, and on this date the daily journal in Strachey's narrative ends. This abrupt suspen- sion of the daily record of the Popham colony gives probability to the inference that it was brought to a close because of the sailing of the Mary and John about this date; the journal having been kept apparently for the purpose of affording the patrons of the colony in England eagerly awaited information at the earliest pos- sible opportunity. As the plan of Fort St. George, already men- tioned, bears the inscription, "taken out on the 8th of October, 1607", it is possible that in these few words is recorded the exact date on which the Mary and John sailed out of the river home- ward bound.1
The vessel arrived in the harbor of Plymouth, England, on the first day of December. No one with a deeper personal interest welcomed the tidings the Mary and John brought from the colo- nists than Sir Ferdinando Gorges. The journal was placed in his hand, and added information with reference to the colony was communicated by the officers of the vessel. It was "great news", and the commander of the fort at Plymouth late that very night -evidently having spent the preceding hours in personal inter- views with the returning voyagers-hastened to make known to Secretary Cecil at Hatfield house the information he had received.2
1 Thayer, Sagadahoc Colony, 192-196, has a valuable paper on the"Move- ments of the Ships".
2 Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his Province of Maine, III, 154-157.
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The colonists, he wrote, had successfully established themselves in a fertile country, with gallant rivers, stately harbors and a peo- ple tractable, if only they were discreetly dealt with. To be sure, the Mary and John had brought no such cargo as would satisfy the expectation of those who had furnished the funds for financing the undertaking, and this fact, he said, might be used to the dis- advantage of the enterprise; but it should be remembered, he added, that the colonists during the two months following their arrival at the mouth of the Sagadahoc had been busily engaged in establishing themselves in a secure position there. But this was not the whole story, and Gorges was compelled to add that already among the colonists there were discordant elements, occasioned by the "defect and want of understanding of some of those employed, to perform what they were directed unto, from whence there did not only proceed confusion, but, through pride and arro- gancy, faction and private resolution", concerning which he would inform his lordship more fully at another time.
But though Gorges evidently was considerably discouraged on account of the reported condition of things among the colonists, he had no difficulty in finding excellent reasons why his associates in the enterprise should not steadfastly resolve to follow it up with energy and hopefulness. Such reasons he found in "the boldness of the coast, the easiness of the navigation, the fertility of the soil, and the several sorts of commodities that they are assured the country do yield, as namely fish in the season in great plenty, all along the coast mastidge for ships, goodly oaks, and cedars with infinite other sorts of trees, rosin, hemp, grapes very fair and excellent good, whereof they have already made wine, much like to the claret wine that comes out of France; rich furs if they can keep the Frenchmen from the trade; as for metals, they can say nothing, but they are confident there is in the country, if they had means to seek for it, neither could they go so high as the alum mines are which the savages doth assure them there is great plenty of". The manufacture of alum from pyritic shale was at that time exciting public interest not only in England but upon the
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continent ; and the fact that thus early the colonists had satisfied themselves of the existence of deposits of pyritic shale in the Sag- adahoc country was one especially welcome to Gorges.1
In a second letter to Cecil, dated December 3, 1607,2 Gorges gives fuller expression to the reports he had received with refer- ence to the general confusion already existing among the colo- nists. President Popham, he described as "an honest man, but old and of an unwieldly body, and timorously fearful to offend or contest with others that will or do oppose him; but otherwise a discreet, careful man". Concerning Gilbert, the second in com- mand, Gorges says he is described by those who returned in the Mary and John as "desirous of supremacy and rule, a loose life, prompt to sensuality, little zeal in religion, humorous, headstrong and of small judgment and experience, other ways valiant enough". Of the other officials, the preacher, Rev. Robert Seymour, was especially commended "for his pains in his place and his honest endeavors". Honorable mention was also made of Captain Robert Davies and Mr. Turner, the company's physician. But of the col- onists in general, little was said. Evidently they were regarded by Gorges as unfit for employment in such an undertaking. "Childish factions" had already developed among them.
Naturally, Gorges was disturbed on account of this condition of things in the new colony ; and he expresses to Cecil the wish that the king, "unto whom by right the conquest of kingdoms doth appertain", would take the matter into his own hands, and so not allow the project to fail. Delicacy did not allow Gorges to with- hold the suggestion that in case this were done he would be "most happy to receive such employment" from the king as his highness shall deem him fitted, and he had no doubt that, with
1 "Large deposits of pyritic shale, or more popularly alum stone, exist near the Sagadahoc. It occurs at the mouth of Sprague's river, near Small point, in Georgetown ; and an extensive belt of it extends through the towns of Lisbon and Litchfield. On Jewell's island alum has been successfully manufactured from pyritic shales within a recent period." Baxter, Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his Province of Maine, III, 156, note.
2 Ib., III, 158-160.
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"very little charges", he would be able "to bring to pass infinite things".
In all probability Cecil laid before the king this discouraging report. We have no reason to believe, however, that it gave the easy-going monarch any part of that deep anxiety that disquieted his devoted servant in command of the fort at Plymouth; and Gorges' suggestion concerning the man for the hour evidently received no consideration whatever. But there was occasion for anxiety, as Gorges well knew. If, as he desired, government assistance in supporting the colony could not be obtained, there was no lack of whole-heartedness in his continued endeavors to render all possible aid with reference to English colonization in the new world.
Information concerning affairs at the mouth of the Sagadahoc after the departure of the Mary and John is derived for the most part from Strachey's narrative; but such information is exceed- ingly meagre. The colonists, he says, finished the fort and for- tified it with twelve pieces of ordnance. They also built fifty houses within the inclosure, besides a church and a storehouse. In this mention of the number of houses erected by the colonists there is evidently an error. No such number was required for present occupancy. Moreover, the plan of the fort found in the library at Simancas, which apparently was drawn with reference to completeness of design, shows not a third of the number of buildings mentioned by Strachey. To have completed, before winter set in, even the number indicated on the plan, would have required a force of workmen far beyond that which was at Popham's command. The most that was attempted, doubtless, was to provide for the colonists as comfortable quarters as the means at their disposal admitted.
Added information with reference to the colonists is furnished in a letter1 written by Gorges February 7, 1608, to Secretary Cecil, informing him of the arrival of the Gift of God in the harbor of Ply- mouth. Probably the date of the letter is the date of the arrival of
1 Ib., III, 161-164.
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the Gift, as Gorges was not likely to lose any time in conveying to the government this latest intelligence from the mouth of the Saga- dahoc. First of all, he refers to the severity of the cold at Sagada- hoc, by which the colonists had been sorely pinched, although it was probably not later than the middle of December when the Gift's return-voyage was commenced and the winter then was only in its early stages. The health of the colonists, however, was good. But the troubles among them which had appeared even before the departure of the Mary and John were still operative, and Gorges was compelled to report "idle proceedings" and the existence of "divisions", "factions", each "disgracing the other, even to the savages".1 The picture was a dark one and might have been made even darker. Certainly Gorges could have found in the report little encouragement, either for himself or Cecil, with reference to the success of an undertaking to which he had given his best endeavors. In fact, his only hopes in connection with English colonization upon American soil seemed now to hang upon the king, "the chief spring of our happiness who at the last must reap the benefit of all our travail, as of right it belongs unto him" ; and so he urges upon the secretary careful consideration of the whole matter, adding his own public and pri- vate reasons in seeking to extend the glory of England beyond the sea-namely "the certainty of the commodities that may be had from so fertile a soil as that is, when it shall be peopled, as well for building of shipping, having all things rising in the place wherewith to do it". This, also, would be for "the increase of the king's navy, the breeding of mariners, the employment of his people, filling the world with expectation and satisfying his sub-
1 Thayer (The Sagadahoc Colony, 205-211) has a very carefully prepared paper on the "Character of the Colonists". The review he presents is unfa- vorable. After quoting various writers he says (210): "In the dim reflected light of these few expressions, we get a blurred but not wholly misleading view of the colonists, as at least in part a low class of men, of light weight in character by former practices, or by reaction from former pressure of severe administration of law, inclined to be lawless and emulous of base and wicked deeds."
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jects with hopes, who now are sick in despair and in time will grow desperate through necessity". Moreover, to abandon American colonization would afford an opportunity for others to seize the prize, which England might have. "At this instant", adds Gorges, "the French are in hand with the natives to practice upon us, promising them, if they will put us out of the country, and not trade with none of ours, they will come unto them", etc. "The truth is", he adds, "this place is so stored with excellent harbors and so bold a coast, as it is able to invite any actively minded to endeavor the possessing thereof, if it were only to keep it out of the hands of others". These words of Gorges indicate a strong and even statesmanlike grasp upon problems that had much to do with the future of the island kingdom; and they admirably illustrate the prevalent thought and purpose of those best informed in England, not only then but in the generations that followed, until the inspiring dream of England's hold upon American soil had finally been realized.
Of course, in the present state of affairs at the mouth of the Sag- adahoc, if anything was to be done by the government, it must be done quickly ; and Gorges suggests to Cecil that the king furnish for the undertaking "one of his middle sort of ships, with a small pinnace, and withal to give his letters, and commission, to coun- tenance and authorize the worthy enterpriser". This would put new life into the colony, and Gorges, ready to serve his sovereign and the country, declared his willingness to take command for the discovery of the whole American coast "from the first to the second colony".
In this letter to Cecil, Gorges makes no mention of the fact that a part of the colonists returned to England on the Gift of God. Purchas, however, in his Pilgrimes, published in 1614, says in his reference to the Popham colony that "forty-five remained there, after the departure of the Gift, and refers to a letter written by President Popham as his authority for the statement. Captain John Smith, in his General History of New England, published ten years later, says, "They were glad to send all but forty-five of
(Ad pedes (erenysim regis fu humullime fe prosent Georguns Pophamus prefidens . Secunde cotone Virginie, Si diuna magestats ture placuerit patientice aferuo. ~. objet uan tifs mio de denotifsimo quambis indiano panca recupere, ab Altitudines'tua claritate Vel minimu alice nare arbitror Quonia in der gloria fublimitatis' vestre amplitudine et Brittanoru Vilitatem reddundare Dideantut peraqu igitur rudicaus magestati tua notu fiert qued apud Virginios, et moaffones' nullus ~ in orbe terrazu magis admiratur qua Dominus Jacobus Brillanoru imperator; propter admitabilem iustitia at mcredibile contantia que istaru pointiatu natuis non mediocre perfect , letitia, dicenti 59 in fuper nullu efse den Vete' adorandu preter illu Domini Facchi fub cuius di trone atoz imperio libenter milli tare Voluerint Fahanida brus ex noticis qui Brittanice adfurt Destras ~ 1 landes at Virtutes hic illes illustrant Quidet quantu in his negocys fubeundy et illocu ammos con fie man dis Valere, conu fit inditex que domi volutarunt Jecenter agnoftens omnes conatus meos porice cu in compatione officy debit enga principe habeantue Optima me tenet opinio dei gloria facile in his region bus elucefcere, Vestne magistatis imperiu amplificari et Brillano rempub brewster augmentar, quod ad mercimoni altenet, omnes mdegina constanter affirmant his meße provincijs' nuces amificas, maciam, et ~ Imamomu: preteria Betumen, lignu Brafelia Cuchinela et Amberarche cu multis alys magni moment et Valeris' alag eag, maxima quide mabundantia Infuper affirmative & mecu agunt esse mare aliquod mannerfavel occidentale huis provincia parte non plus Septem dieru iteneris ( paciu a presidio -.- ' nostro Sanch Georgy m Sagadahoc umplu, latu et profundu , cuius ~ terminos prorfus ignorant, quod alind esse non potest mf auftrale, ~ tendens ad regiones Chince que longe abhis partibus procul dubro esse non profsunt Si igitur placuerit dilunos habere occulos tuos apertos m Subiecto certificaciones meu, non dubito quin Cellitudo Vestra absolut opus' deo gratisimu magnificentic vestre honor ficu, et repub tuce maxme conducibile, quod ardentifimis precious vehementer exopto et a deo - optimo maximo contendado Vl reqis mer Domi facolimagestatem qua diutifsime feruat gloriofam Al presidio Sancti Georgy m Sagadahoe de. Ungema 130 December 1607
Seruus'vestra magestatis ommmodis devotifsimus Georgius pophamus
PRESIDENT GEORGE POPHAM TO JAMES 1.
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their company back again". As none of the colonists returned in the Mary and John, so far as is known, the reference must be to the colonists who returned in the Gift of God. Such a lessening of the number of the colonists before even a single winter had passed was the most discouraging fact which the arrival of the Gift revealed to Gorges, and he had no heart to make it known to Cecil in this first report of the arrival of the second vessel.1
One added report from the colony is found in a letter to King James written by President Popham, December 13, 1607.2 Gorges makes no reference to it, and of its existence there was no knowl- edge until it was discovered a little more than half a century ago by George Bancroft, the historian, while making some researches in the Records Office in London. The letter was written in Latin that cannot be called classic, and abounds in those flattering, adu- latory words and phrases that were so pleasing to the heart of the king. Popham makes no mention of discouraging circumstances. He had no reference even to the winter cold that had chilled so thoroughly the interest of so many of the colonists. It is his "well-considered" opinion "that in these regions the glory of God may easily be evidenced", the empire enlarged, and its welfare speedily augmented. His report concerning the products of the country, however, is not so well considered; for he informs the king that "there are in these parts shagbarks, nutmegs and cinna- mon, besides pine wood and Brazilian cochineal and ambergris, with many other products, and these in the greatest abundance". Allowance must be made for the exaggeration of enthusiasm, but evidently the president's nutmegs, cinnamon and Brazilian cochi- neal were the products of excited imaginations.
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