seeking a harbour. They escaped this danger, however, and landed at night on a small island. Here they kept the Christian Sabbath with strict observance, and on the day following, December 11, found the long sought harbour, to which, in grateful remembrance of the friends they had left at their last port in England, they gave the name of Plymouth.

In a few days, the Mayflower was safely moored in Plymouth harbour; the surrounding country was then explored, and a high ground facing the bay, where the land was cleared and the water good, was selected for building.

On the morning of the 20th of December, 1620, after imploring the divine guidance and blessing, the Pilgrims landed on the rock of Plymouth. The spot which their footsteps first touched, on this memorable occasion, has ever since been regarded by their descendants as sacred, and the day is still celebrated with all the enthusiasm of religion and patriotism.

When the landing of the Pilgrims was effected, their difficulties and distresses were but just begun. We are to recollect that it was in the depth of a New England winter, that their company was already suffering with colds, lung fevers, and incipient consumptions, contracted by their exposure to snow, rain, and the beating surf, in exploring the coast; that their stock of provisions was scanty; and that the care of their wives and children

What passed on the 11th ?-When did the Pilgrims land?

54

DISTRESSES OF THE PILGRIMS.

was added to hardships which manhood was hardly able

to encounter.

The month of January was spent in erecting such tenements as their scanty means afforded. Sickness attended them, and mortality thinned their numbers through the winter; and it was not until the spring was far advanced that health revisited the remnant of the colony. Half their number had perished. Carver, their first governor, died in March; and William Bradford was chosen to succeed him.

Privation and want were still to be endured. A reinforcement of emigrants, which came out in the autumn of 1621, brought no supply of provisions, and the colony was compelled to subsist, for six months longer, on half allowance. The scarcity of provisions continued, with only occasional relief, for two years longer.

A mistaken policy, or a desire to conform to the simplicity of apostolic times, had induced the Pilgrims to adopt the system of community of property. This was one of the causes of scarcity. In the spring of 1623, each family was allowed a parcel of ground to cultivate for itself; and after the harvest of that year, no general want of food was experienced.

A profitable commerce was established with the Indians. European trinkets were exchanged for furs; and the colonists were at length enabled to barter corn with them for the products of the chase. The Indians were not numerous in the vicinity of Plymouth; for before the arrival of the English, a sweeping pestilence had carried off whole tribes of them, but enough were left to render a sort of military organisation necessary for the defence of the colony; and Captain Miles Standish, a man of great courage and fortitude, obtained the chief command.

In March, 1621, the colonists were visited by Samoset, a chief of the Wampanoags, who bade them welcome; and in the name of his tribe gave them permission to occupy the soil, which there was no one of the original possessors alive to claim.

In the same month, Massasoit, the greatest king of the

How was their first winter passed?-When did Carver die ?-Who succeeded him?-When did a reinforcement arrive?-What cause of distress remained ?-For how long a time?-What mistake was made by the Pilgrims?-When was it rectified?-How?-With whom did they trade-In what commodities?-What had thinned the Indians?Who was the military leader of the Pilgrims -Who visited them?

neighbouring Indians, paid them a visit, and entered into a league of friendship, which was inviolably observed for upwards of fifty years.

This event was followed by others of the same character. A sachem who had threatened hostilities was compelled to sue for peace; and nine chiefs subscribed an instrument of submission to King James. Canonicus, the sachem of the Narragansetts, sent a bundle of arrows, wrapped in a rattlesnake's skin, to the governor, in token of defiance; but Bradford coolly stuffed the skin with powder and shot, and returned it. The Indian's courage failed at the sight of this unequivocal symbol; and he followed the example of his countrymen by subscribing a treaty of peace.

The population of the old colony at Plymouth increased slowly. Ten years after the first settlement there were only three hundred inhabitants. But they had spread over a wide territory, and become firmly rooted in the soil.

The government of the old colony was strictly republican. The governor was elected by the people, and restricted by a council of five, and afterwards of seven, assistants. The legislature was at first composed of the whole body of the people. But as the population increased, they adopted the representative system.

Who made a treaty with them?--What events followed ?-Tell the story of Canonicus.-For what country was a patent afterwards granted? What is said of the population of the Plymouth colony-What is said of the government?

56

THE PLYMOUTH COMPANY.

CHAPTER XI.

PROGRESS OF THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES.

THE old Plymouth company, for the planting, ruling, ordering, and governing New England, in America,' whose extensive and very exclusive charter has already been mentioned, had made no other use of its inordinate privileges than an attempt to exclude from the trade and fisheries all who would not pay the company a heavy tax. No monopoly could be more odious to the people of England than this. Their privileges were violently assailed in the House of Commons, and the patentees were finally compelled to relinquish their claims. They continued, however, to issue patents for portions of their immense territory, to different companies and individuals.

One of these, having been granted to Robert Gorges, the son of Sir Ferdinand, for a tract extending ten miles on Massachusetts Bay, and thirty miles into the interior, he was appointed by the company lieutenantgeneral of New England, with extensive powers. But this grant was productive of no permanent settlement, and the powers of Gorges were never exercised.

In 1622, Sir Ferdinand Gorges and John Mason took a patent for a territory called Laconia, extending from the Atlantic to the St. Lawrence, and from the Merrimac to the Kennebec. Under this patent Portsmouth and Dover were settled, in 1623. A fresh patent, for the country between the Merrimac and Piscataqua, was obtained by Mason in 1629. This was the patent for New Hampshire. Its early progress was so slow that, in thirty years after its settlement, Portsmouth contained no more than sixty families.

In 1628, a number of settlements were commenced on the coast of Maine, under a succession of patents granted by the Plymouth council. But, as most of these were merely temporary, having for their object the pursuits of hunting and fishing, they were soon abandoned.

What use did the old Plymouth company make of its charter ?-Who opposed their claims?-Were they abandoned?-What practice did they. continue?What is said of Gorges' patent?-When was New Hamp shire settled ?-By whom?-What fact proves its slow progress ?--What was done in Maine ?

SETTLEMENT OF SALEM.

57

A district of forty miles square, which was called Lygonia, and situated between Harpswell and the Kennebunk river, was settled in 1630 and given up the next year, the settlers retiring to Massachusetts.

Sir Ferdinand Gorges obtained, in 1635, a patent for the district lying between the Kennebec and the Piscataqua, and sent his nephew, William Gorges, to govern the territory, who found some settlers on the Saco and Kennebec; but he remained in the country only two years, and it was then left without a government. Sir Ferdinand still continued his schemes for colonisation, and was subsequently constituted lord proprietary of the country by a royal charter.

New England would have increased but slowly in wealth and population, had not the same causes which drove the Brownists from England still continued to operate. The Puritans were constantly the objects of persecution in England, and numbers of them were desirous to seek an asylum in the new world. Several emigrations were consequently made to Massachusetts.

Mr. White, a Puritan minister of Dorchester, in England, had induced some merchants and gentlemen to join him (1624) in sending out a small colony, who began a plantation at Cape Ann, recognising, however, the supremacy of the Plymouth settlers.

In 1627, Mr. White and his company concluded a treaty with the council of Plymouth, for the purchase of that part of New England lying three miles south of Charles river, and three miles north of Merrimac river, and extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific. A small number of emigrants, under the direction of John Endicott, were soon afterwards sent out, who laid the foundation of Salem, the first permanent town in the Massachusetts colony, in 1628.

The adventurers did not deem themselves able to affect all their objects without the aid of more opulent partners. Some London merchants joined them, and a charter was obtained from the crown confirming the grant from the council of Plymouth, and conferring powers of government. The supreme authority was vested in persons residing in London,-a most unwise provision, as the history of the Virginia company sufficiently proved. The

What was done by Gorges in 1635 ?-By Mr. White in 1624 ?-In 1627 ? When was Salem settled By whom -What new company was formed}