* *

the rendezvous, where we intercepted him, not suffering him to go in, as undoubtedly he would out of his boldness. He saluted us in English, and bade us welcome,' for he had learned some broken English among the Englishmen that came to fish at Monhiggon (Monhegan), and knew by name most of the captains, commanders, and masters that usually come. He was a man of free speech, as far as he could express his mind, and of a seemly carriage. We questioned him of many things; he was the first savage we could meet withal. He said he was not of these parts, but of Monattiggon (Monhegan), and one of the Sagamores, or lords thereof, and had been eight months in these parts, it lying hence a day's sail with a great wind, and five days by land. He discoursed of the whole country, and of every province, and of the Sagamores and their number and strength. The wind beginning to rise a little, we cast a horseman's coat about him, for he was nearly naked. He had a bow and two arrows, the one headed, and the other unheaded. He was a tall, straight man, the hair of his head black, and long behind, only short before, none on his face at all. He asked for some beer, but we gave him strong water, and biscuit, and butter, and cheese, and pudding, and a piece of mallard; all of which he liked well, and had been acquainted with such amongst the English.' * "We would gladly have been rid of him at night, but he was not willing to go this night." At length it was arranged that he should sleep on board the May Flower, which still lay in the harbor; but the wind and tide being unfavorable for the shallop to go to her and return, they finally concluded to lodge him at the house of Mr. Stephen Hopkins, of course keeping a watch over him. The next morning he left them, promising to return again, which he did in a day or two, bringing "five other tall and proper men" with him.

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Thus commenced the first acquaintance of the Plymouth colonists with the natives, by the kind services of this native of

Pemaquid, who for some time before returning to his own country, continued to make himself useful to them in giving them important information concerning the feelings of the neighboring Indians, the best places for fishing, the productions of the country, &c.

He introduced to them his friend Squanto, or Tisquantum, a native of the place, who could speak English, as he said, better than himself. This man was one of the twenty whom Hunt seized and undertook to sell into slavery six or seven years before this, and had resided some time in England. He afterwards proved himself a real friend, and Bradford says of him that he became a spetiall instrument sent of God for their good beyond their expectation."

While Samoset remained in Plymouth both he and Squanto manifested a more friendly spirit towards the colonists; and sought always to promote good feeling between them and the Indians. Through their instrumentality a treaty of peace and friendship was established between them and Massasoit, sagamore of a neighboring tribe, which was kept inviolate between them for more than fifty years, or until King Philip's war, as it has been called, which broke out in 1675. Philip was the youngest son of Massasoit, and succeeded an older brother as sagamore of the same tribe.

Many other services of Samoset to the Plymouth Colony cannot be here given in detail. When or by what means Samoset returned to his native Pemaquid we are not informed; but we hear of him next at " Capmanwagan" (Southport) at the time of Levett's visit there in the winter of 1623-4. Levett introduces him to us as a "sagamore that hath been found very faithful to the English, and hath saved the lives of many of our natives, some from starving and some from killing. He met Levett and his company with the same generous confidence he had ever before shown in his intercourse with the English, and proposed that perpetual friendship should be main

tained between them "until Tanto carried them to his wigwam, that is, until they died." He had with him, at this time, his wife and son, and several other attendants; and all are placed before us in an interesting light by the simple narrative of Levett. Samoset's wife, in particular, conducted herself in truly royal style. "When we came to York," he says, "the masters of the ships came to bid me welcome, and asked what savages they were. I told them and thanked them, they used them kindly, and gave them meat, drink, and tobacco. The woman, or reported queen, asked me if they were my friends. I told them they were; then she drank to them, and told them they were welcome to her country, and so should all my friends be at any time; she drank also to her husband, and bid him welcome to her country too; for you must understand that her father was the sagamore of the place,1 and left it to her at his death, having no more children.”

This, it will be observed, was only a little more than a year before the date of the celebrated Indian deed to John Brown, of which an account has already been given. This deed was given by Samoset and Werongait, sagamores of the place. We have no information as to the second signer of the deed, as his name does not again occur; but Samoset lived many years after this at Pemaquid, in quiet and peaceful intercourse with the settlement, so far as we know. In 1641, and again in 1653, his name is mentioned. At the last date it is probable that he was an old man, and we may suppose soon passed away. It is very certain that he was not living at the time of King Philip's war.

Though only an "untutored savage," he has left behind him acts highly creditable to him as a man of elevated rank among his countrymen. He appears not only to have been entirely free from the jealousies and petty vices of his race, but on all

1 It must be noticed that they were now at York, which it seems was her native place, but she had married a man out of her own tribe.

occasions manifested a love of truth and justice, and a generous confidence in others, quite superior to many of the Europeans with whom he came in contact. And the fact, that seventy years after the last date above mentioned, his name was still remembered among the natives as that of a "famous sachem," shows that his manly character was not unappreciated by his countrymen.

GEORGE WEYMOUTH AND THE KENNEBEC.

BY THE REV. EDWARD BALLARD, OF BRUNSWICK.

The following notice of this early navigator1 and his discoveries has been prepared by the editor, to supply in part a connection in the events, which led to the founding of the colony under President George Popham. In past times, the "most excellent river," entered and explored by him without his giving its name to the public of his day, has been claimed, more as the opinions of the different writers have chosen to regard it, than as proved by an examination of all the evidence. The Penobscot, the Kennebec, the Saco, the Hudson, the James, and more recently, the George's, have each had their defenders, as the one which Weymouth examined and Rosier described. The purposed obscurity of the account naturally led to these disagreements. But fuller information and more accurate investigations, leave no uncertainty in determining the truth involved in the inquiry.

Little is known of GEORGE WEYMOUTH before he engaged in his voyage to the Arctic regions, in search of a Northwest passage, from which he returned in 1603. His experience "by employments in discoveries and travels from his childhood,"

1 The sentiment in his honor will be found on page 127.

and specially in this last effort in exploring, as well as his active fidelity to the duties of his commission, made him a suitable person to be employed by the Earl of Southampton and Lord Arundel of Wardour, in a new enterprise to the American shores. The fear, that the neighboring nations of Europe might be stimulated to the like efforts in the same direction, if the expectations connected with the voyage were known, caused its patrons to conceal its destination and hopes from general knowledge; and the public mind was allowed to believe that this second attempt was to be directed to the same northern quarter as its predecessor. But in reality, it was sent to explore the coast of New England, then known as North Virginia, for the purpose of colonization and the benefits to accrue therefrom. With a partial equipment of men, with provisions more than enough for the time occupied, and articles for traffic with the natives, he sailed in the ship" Archangel" from Ratcliffe, England, March 5, 1605, "upon a right line "1 to the new world. He first went to Dartmouth Haven to complete his crew, where he was detained by opposing winds. But on the thirty-first day he put to sea, with "the whole company, being but twenty-nine persons." The narrator of the voyage was JAMES ROSIER; who says that the obscurity of his narration, by omitting to give the latitude, longitude, and names of places, was intended, so as to prevent foreign nations from gaining an advantage from the success of the English.

But this account, now read with the light thrown upon it from other sources, tells us that Weymouth came to the coast of New England in the neighborhood of Cape Cod, on the 13th of May; and that afterwards, in turning his course away from the perils of that shore, he was misled in seeking land, "and much marveled that we descried it not, wherein we found our sea-charts 2 very false, putting land where none is."

1 Formerly the course had been by the West Indies. 2 Prepared by former navigators, perhaps Gosnold.