ever seen near at hand, they must have made to them a somewhat imposing, as well as interesting spectacle.
Leaving a few of their number among the whites, as hostages, the Wampanoags retired to the woods about half a mile distant and spent the night; and Winslow acted as their hostage. The English were not yet prepared, it would seem, to put faith in the professions of savages; for they kept strict watch all night, besides retaining the security just named. Their guests, on the contrary, enjoyed themselves quietly in the woods; and there were some of their wives and children with them, who must have come upon this courteous visit from a distance of forty miles. The sachem sent several of his people the next morning, to signify his wish that some of his new friends would honor him with their presence. Standish and one Alderton [8] "went venturously" among them, and were cordially, if not royally welcomed with an entertainment of tobacco and ground-nuts. "We cannot yet conceive," continues our still unsatisfied informant, "but that he is willing to have peace with us; for they have seen our people sometimes alone two or three in the woods at work and fowling, when they offered them no harm, as they might easily have done." They remained at their encampment till late in the forenoon; the Governor requiting the sachem's liberality, meanwhile, by sending an express messenger for his large kettle, and filling it with dry peas. "This pleased them well; and so they went their way;"—the one party as much relieved, no doubt, as the other was gratified. [9]
We meet with Massasoit again in July, 1621; an embassy being then sent to him at his own residence, Montaup or Sowams. This embassy consisted of Edward Winslow and Stephen Hopkins; and the objects of it were, says Mourt, [10] "that forasmuch as his subjects came often and without fear upon all occasions amongst us," so the English went now to visit him, carrying with them a coat from the Governor to his friend the sachem, as a token of good will, and desire to live peaceably. It was farther intimated, though with great delicacy, that whereas his people came frequently and in great numbers to Plymouth, wives, children, and all, and were always welcome—yet being but strangers in the land, and not confident how their corn might prosper, they could no longer give them such entertainment as they had done, and still wished to do; If Massasoit himself, however, would visit them, or any special friend of his, he should be welcome. A request was then made, that the Pokanokets, who had furs, should be permitted to dispose of them to the Colonists. The Governor wished him also to exchange some corn for seed with the Plymouth people.
The remaining article in this message is more illustrative of the relations understood to exist and to be desirable between the parties. On the first arrival of the Colonists at Cape Cod, it seems they had found corn buried there in the ground. Seeing no inhabitants in the neighborhood, "but some graves of the dead newly buried," they took the corn, with the intention of making full satisfaction for it whenever it became practicable. The owners of it were supposed to have fled through fear. It was now proposed, that these men should be informed by Massasoit—if they could be found—that the English were ready to pay them with an equal quantity of corn, English meal, or "any other commodities they had to pleasure them withal;" and full satisfaction was offered for any trouble which the sachem might do them the favor to take. This proposal was equally politic and just.
The visitors met with a generous, though humble hospitality, which reminds one of the first reception of Columbus by the West-Indian islanders. They reached Namaschet about three o'clock in the afternoon; and there, we are told, the inhabitants entertained them with joy, in the best manner they were able; giving them sweet bread [11] and fish, with a less acceptable accompaniment of boiled musty acorns. Various civilities were exchanged after this primitive and savory repast—as ancient, by the way, as the early Greeks—and some time was passed very pleasantly in shooting a crow at a considerable distance, to the vast astonishment and amusement of the Indians. They were then directed to a place about eight miles distant, (Middleborough) where, says the Journalist, they should find "more store and better victuals." They were welcomed, on their arrival, by a party who were catching great numbers of fine bass in Taunton river, and who gave them a supper and a breakfast in the morning, besides the privilege of lodging in the woods near by over night.
Attended by six of their hosts the next day, they were assisted in passing the river; and here they met with the first indications of ill-will, in the persons of two old Indians upon the opposite bank. These two, espying them as they entered the river, ran swiftly and stealthily among the high grass to meet them; and then, with loud voices and drawn bows, demanded of the strangers who they were; "but seeing we were friends," it is added, "they welcomed us with such food as they had, and we bestowed a small bracelet of beads on them." The remarks which follow this, upon the conduct of the six attendants we cannot forbear citing at large, irrelevant to our main purpose as they are. "When we came to a small brook," says our accurate writer, "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 [it being excessively hot,] we should have them carried; and as the one of them had found more special kindness from one of the messengers, and the other savage from the other so they showed their thankfulness accordingly, in offering us help and furtherance in the journey."
After one more entertainment on the way, our travelers reached Sowams. Massasoit was not at home, but arrived soon after, and was saluted by his visitors with a discharge of musketry. He welcomed them kindly after the Indian manner, took them into his lodge, and seated them by himself. They then delivered their message and presents, the latter comprisinig a horseman's coat of red cotton, embroidered with fine lace. The sachem mounted this superb article without delay, and hung the chain, which they also gave him, about his neck, evidently enjoying the unspeakable admiration of the Wampanoags, who gaze upon him at a distance. He now answered the message, clause after clause; and particularly signified his desire to continue in peace and friendship with his neighbors. He gathered his men around him, in fine, and harangued them; they occasionally confirming what he said by their customary ejaculations. Was not he, Massasoit, commander of the country about them? Was not such a town within his dominions—and were not the people of it his subjects—and should they not bring their skins to him, if he wished it?
Thus he proceeded to name about thirty of his small settlements, his attentive auditors responding to each question. The matter being regularly settled, he lighted tobacco for his guests, and conversed with them about their own country and King, marveling, above all, that his Majesty should live with out a squaw. As it grew late, and he offered no more substantial entertainment than this—no doubt for the sound reason, that he had nothing to offer—his guests intimated a wish to retire for the night. He forthwith accommodated them, with himself and his wife, they at one end and his visitors at the other, of a bed consisting of a plank platform, raised a foot or two from the ground and covered with a thin mat. Two of his chief men, probably by way of compliment, were also stationed upon the same premises; and this body-guard performed their pressing duty of escort so effectually, that no other circumstances were necessary to make the honored guests "worse weary of their lodging than they had been of their Journey."
On the following day, many of the petty chiefs, with their subjects, came in from the adjacent country, and various sports and games were got up for the entertainment of the English. At noon, they partook, with the sachem and about forty others of a meal of boiled fish shot by himself, (probably with arrows.) They continued with him until the next morning, when they departed, leaving Massasoit "both grieved and ashamed" that he could not better entertain him. Very importunate he was, adds the Journalist, to have them stay with him longer; but as they had eaten but one meal for two days and a night, with the exception of a partridge, which one of them killed; and what with their location at night, the "savages' barbarous singing of themselves to sleep," mosquitoes without doors, and other trifling inconveniences within, could not sleep at all; they begged to be excused—on the score of conscience, Sunday being near at hand—not to mention that they were growing light-headed, and could hardly expect, if they stayed much longer, to be able to reach home.
Massasoit's friendship was again tested in March, 1622, when an Indian, known to be under Squanto's influence, [12] came running in among a party of colonists, with his face gashed, and the blood fresh upon it, calling out to them to flee for their lives, and then looking hind him as if pursued. On coming up, he told them that the Indians, under Massasoit, were congregating at a certain place