Chapter III: Introduction: vii (3)

Born in Holland, Isaack de Rasieres was sent to America by the Dutch West India Company in 1626 to be chief trading agent (_Opper Koopman_) for the Company and Secretary to the new Director-General of New Netherland, Peter Minuit. While duties in government and commerce impeded each other so much that he wanted to drop his Secretaryship, De Rasieres dealt with the Plymouth Colony in his dual capacity. After an encouraging exchange of letters, he went to visit Governor Bradford in October, 1627, to reach an agreement on trade between the two colonies. De Rasieres, a man who liked order and futilely tried to impose it on the fur trade under his control, saw in the Pilgrim colony much that he strove for in New Netherland.

Among the wares which De Rasieres took to start business was a large quantity of sewan (i.e., wampum or “wampumpeag”), the belts of beads made from parts of the shells of the quahog, whelk, or periwinkle, which served as a kind of money among Indians who traded with the Dutch. De Rasieres hoped to spread the use of this medium of exchange among the New England natives, and with the fifty fathoms purchased from him in 1627, the Pilgrims accomplished this aim in two years. But instead of taking a big portion of their profit to New Netherland to buy wampum, as De Rasieres had planned, the Plymouth traders found other sources of supply and quickly rose to first place in the fur trade in New England. Sewan was easy to get from coastal tribes; the supply could not be controlled by anyone, as the shell-fish which make the raw material are very numerous. So De Rasieres merely helped turn the trading ambitions of the Plymouth Colony from fish to fur, the means by which the province ultimately paid its debts to the last of the Adventurers.

Some time after his return to Fort Amsterdam, De Rasieres lost his position as a result of factional disputes among the employees of his Company, and returned to Holland. He married a niece of one of the directors of the West India Company in 1633 and went to Brazil with her four years later, in the Company’s employ. Later information about him indicates only that he was still in Brazil in 1651, raised a family, and was thought to be in Barbados in 1669, after the Portuguese had ousted the Dutch from Brazil.

The text of De Rasieres’ letter to Samuel Blommaert which follows is substantially that by William I. Hull (from the original in the National Archives at the Hague) in J. F. Jameson (ed.), _Narratives of New Netherlands 1609-1664_ (“Original Narratives of Early American History”; 1909), 102-115. The fragment translated by J. A. C. Fagginger Auer in H. R. Shurtleff, _The Log Cabin Myth_ (edited and with introduction by S. E. Morison; 1939), 106-107, has been incorporated in the Hull version, and the editor has changed the punctuation in spots and standardized proper nouns when possible. One sentence, partly omitted in other English versions, appears here thanks to translation by Prof. Rosalie Colie of Wesleyan University, who has kindly checked the rest of the English text against the Dutch. Notes by Jameson retained here have been marked, “J.F.J.”

An earlier translation by J. Romeyn Brodhead, from a transcript of the Dutch original, appears in New York Hist. Soc., _Collections_, second series, II, 343-354. The Dutch text, edited by A. Eekhof, has been printed in _Nederlandsch Archief voor Kerkgeschiedenis_, new series, XV (1919), 249-280.

De Rasieres’ letter bears no date. Statements in it indicate that it was written after his return to Holland probably in 1628 or 1629. Several pages are missing in the middle.

Isaack de Rasieres to Samuel Blommaert[129]

c. 1628.

Mr. Blommaert:

As I feel myself much bound to your service, and in return know not how otherwise to recompense you than by this slight memoir, (wherein I have in part comprised as much as was in my power concerning the situation of New Netherland and its neighbors, and should in many things have been able to treat of or write the same more in detail, and better than I have now done, but that my things and notes, which would have been of service to me herein, have been taken away from me), I will beg you to be pleased to receive this, on account of my bounden service, etc.

On the 27th of July, Anno 1626, by the help of God, I arrived with the ship, _The Arms of Amsterdam_, before the bay of the great Mauritius River,[130] sailing into it about a musket shot from Godyn’s Point,[131] into Coenraet’s Bay[132] (because there the greatest depth is, since from the east point there stretches out a sand bank on which there is only from 9 to 14 feet of water); then sailed on, northeast and north-northeast, to about half way from the low sand bank called Godyn’s Point to the Hamels-Hoofden,[133] the mouth of the river, where we found at half ebb 16, 17, 18 feet water, and which is a sandy reef a musket shot broad, stretching for the most part northeast and southwest, quite across, and, according to my opinion, having been formed there by the stream, inasmuch as the flood runs into the bay from the sea, east-southeast; the depth at Godyn’s Point is caused by the tide flowing out along there with such rapidity.

Between the Hamels-Hoofden the width is about a cannon’s shot of 2,000 [yards]; the depth 10, 11, 12 fathoms. They are tolerably high points, and well wooded. The west point is an island, inhabited by from eighty to ninety savages, who support themselves by planting maize. The east point is a very large island,[134] full 24 leagues long, stretching east by south and east-southeast along the sea-coast, from the river to the east end of the Fisher’s Hook.[135] In some places it is from three to four leagues broad, and it has several creeks and bays, where many savages dwell, who support themselves by planting maize and making sewan,[136] and who are called Siwanoys and Shinnecocks.[137] It is also full of oaks, elms, walnut and fir trees, also wild cedar and chestnut trees. The tribes are held in subjection by, and are tributary to, the Pyquans, hereafter named.[138] The land is in many places good, and fit for plowing and sowing. It has many fine valleys, where there is good grass. Their form of government is like that of their neighbors, which is described hereafter.

The Hamels-Hoofden being passed, there is about a league width in the river, and also on the west side there is an inlet, where another river runs up about twenty leagues,[139] to the north-northeast, emptying into the Mauritius River in the highlands, thus making the northwest land opposite to the Manhattas an island eighteen leagues long. It is inhabited by the old Manhattans; they are about two hundred to three hundred strong, women and men, under different chiefs, whom they call _Sackimas_. This island is more mountainous than the other land on the southeast side of the river, which opposite to the Manhattas is about a league and a half in breadth. At the side of the before-mentioned little river, which we call “Achter Col,” there is a great deal of waste reedy land; the rest is full of trees, and in some places there is good soil, where the savages plant their maize, upon which they live, as well as by hunting. The other side of the same small river, according to conjecture, is about 20 to 23 leagues broad to the South River,[140] in the neighborhood of the Sancicans, in so far as I have been able to make it out from the mouths of the savages; but as they live in a state of constant enmity with those tribes, the paths across are but little used, wherefore I have not been able to learn the exact distance; so that when we wish to send letters overland, they (the natives) take their way across the bay, and have the letters carried forward by others, unless one amongst them may happen to be on friendly terms, and who might venture to go there.

The island of the Manhattas extends two leagues in length along the Mauritius River, from the point where the Fort “New Amsterdam” is building. It is about seven leagues in circumference, full of trees, and in the middle rocky to the extent of about two leagues in circuit. The north side has good land in two places, where two farmers, each with four horses, would have enough to do without much clearing at first. The grass is good in the forest and valleys, but when made into hay is not so nutritious for the cattle as here,[141] in consequence of its wild state, but it yearly improves by cultivation. On the east side there rises a large level field, of from 70 to 80 morgens of land,[142] through which runs a very fine fresh stream; so that that land can be plowed without much clearing. It appears to be good. The six farms, four of which lie along the River Hellgate,[143] stretching to the south side of the island, have at least 60 morgens of land ready to be sown with winter seed, which at the most will have been plowed eight times. But as the greater part must have some manure, inasmuch as it is so exhausted by the wild herbage, I am afraid that all will not be sown; and the more so, as the managers of the farms are hired men. The two hindermost farms, Nos. 1 and 2, are the best; the other farms have also good land, but not so much, and more sandy; so that they are best suited for rye and buckwheat.

The small fort, New Amsterdam, commenced to be built, is situated on a point opposite to Noten Island;[144] [the channel between] is a gun-shot wide, and is full six or seven fathoms deep in the middle. This point might, with little trouble, be made a small island, by cutting a canal through Blommaert’s Valley, so as to afford a haven winter and summer, for sloops and ships; and the whole of this little island ought, from its nature, to be made a superb fort, to be approached by land only on one side (since it is a triangle), thus protecting them both.[145] The river marks out, naturally, three angles; the most northern faces and commands, within the range of a cannon shot, the great Mauritius River and the land; the southernmost commands, on the water level, the channel between Noten Island and the fort, together with the Hellgate; the third point, opposite to Blommaert’s Valley, commands the lowland. The middle part, which ought to be left as a market-place, is a hillock, higher than the surrounding land, and should always serve as a battery, which might command the three points, if the streets should be arranged accordingly.

Up the river the east side is high, full of trees, and in some places there is a little good land, where formerly many people have dwelt, but who for the most part have died or have been driven away by the Wappenos.[146]

These tribes of savages all have a government. The men in general are rather tall, well proportioned in their limbs, and of an orange color, like the Brazilians; very inveterate against those whom they hate; cruel by nature, and so inclined to freedom that they cannot by any means be brought to work. They support themselves by hunting, and when the spring comes, by fishing. In April, May and June, they follow the course of these,[147] which they catch with a drag-net they themselves knit very neatly, of the wild hemp, from which the women and old men spin the thread. The kinds of fish which they principally take at this time are shad, but smaller than those in this country ordinarily are, though quite as fat, and very bony; the largest fish is a sort of white salmon, which is of very good flavor, and quite as large; it has white scales; the heads are so full of fat that in some there are two or three spoonfuls, so that there is good eating for one who is fond of picking heads. It seems that this fish makes them lascivious, for it is often observed that those who have caught any when they have gone fishing, have given them, on their return, to the women, who look for them anxiously. Our people give the same report; it is the same with them when they eat a great deal at one time, as can be shown by the shirts.

As an employment in winter they make sewan, which is an oblong bead that they make from cockle-shells, which they find on the sea-shore, and they consider it as valuable as we do money here, since one can buy with it everything they have. They string it, and wear it around the neck and hands; they also make bands of it, which the women wear on the forehead under the hair, and the men around the body; and they are as particular about the stringing and sorting as we can be here about pearls. They are very fond of a game they call _Senneca_, played with some round rushes, similar to the Spanish feather-grass, which they understand how to shuffle and deal as though they were playing with cards; and they win from each other all that they possess, even to the lappet with which they cover their private parts, and so they separate from each other quite naked. They are very much addicted to promiscuous intercourse. Their clothing is simple as to leave the body almost naked. In the winter time they usually wear a dressed deer skin; some have a bear’s skin about the body, some a coat of scales, some a covering made of turkey feathers which they understand how to knit together very oddly, with small strings. They also use a good deal of duffel cloth, which they buy from us, and which serves for their blanket by night, and their dress by day.

The women are fine looking, of middle stature, well proportioned, and with finely cut features, with long and black hair, and black eyes set off with fine eyebrows. They are of the same color as the men. They smear their bodies and hair with grease, which makes them smell very rankly. They are very much given to promiscuous intercourse.

They have a marriage custom amongst them, namely, when there is one who resolves to take a particular person for his wife, he collects a fathom or two of sewan, and comes to the nearest friends of the person whom he desires, to whom he declares his object in her presence, and if they are satisfied with him, he agrees with them how much sewan he shall give her for a bridal present. That being done, he then gives her all the Dutch beads he has, which they call _Machampe_, and also all sorts of trinkets. If she be a young virgin, he must wait six weeks more before he can sleep with her, during which time she bewails or laments over her virginity, which they call _Collatismarrenitten_. All this time she sits with a blanket over her head, without wishing to look at anyone, or anyone being permitted to look at her. This period being elapsed, her bridegroom comes to her. He in the meantime has been supporting himself by hunting, and what he has taken he brings there with him; they then eat together with the friends, and sing and dance together, which they call _Kintikaen_. That being done, the wife must provide the food for herself and her husband, as far as breadstuffs are concerned, and [should they fall short] she must buy what is wanting with her sewan.

For this reason they are obliged to watch the season for sowing. At the end of March they begin to break up the earth with mattocks, which they buy from us for the skins of beavers or otters, or for sewan. They make heaps like molehills, each about two and a half feet from the others, which they sow or plant in April with maize, in each heap five or six grains; in the middle of May, when the maize is the height of a finger or more, they plant in each heap three or four Turkish beans, which then grow up with and against the maize, which serves for props, for the maize grows on stalks similar to the sugar-cane. It is a grain to which much labor must be given, with weeding and earthing-up, or it does not thrive; and to this the women must attend very closely. The men would not once look to it, for it would compromise their dignity too much, unless they are very old and cannot follow the chase. Those stalks which are low and bear no ears, they pluck up in August, and suck out the sap, which is as sweet as if it were sugar-cane. When they wish to make use of the grain for bread or porridge, which they call _Sappaen_, they first boil it and then beat it flat upon a stone; then they put it into a wooden mortar, which they know how to hollow out by fire, and then they have a stone pestle, which they know how to make themselves, with which they pound it small, and sift it through a small basket, which they understand how to weave of the rushes before mentioned. The finest meal they mix with lukewarm water, and knead it into dough; then they make round flat little cakes of it, of the thickness of an inch or a little more, which they bury in hot ashes, and so bake into bread; and when these are baked they have some clean fresh water by them in which they wash them while hot, one after another; and it is good bread, but heavy. The coarsest meal they boil into a porridge, as is before mentioned, and it is good eating when there is butter over it, but a food which is very soon digested. The grain being dried, they put it into baskets woven of rushes or wild hemp, and bury it in the earth, where they let it lie, and go with their husbands and children in October to hunt deer, leaving at home with their maize the old people who cannot follow. In December they return home, and the flesh which they have not been able to eat while fresh, they smoke on the way, and bring it back with them. They come home as fat as moles.

When a woman here addicts herself to fornication, and the husband comes to know it, he thrashes her soundly, and if he wishes to get rid of her, he summons the Sackima with her friends, before whom he accuses her. And if she be found guilty, the Sackima commands one to cut off her hair in order that she may be held up before the world as a whore, which they call _poerochque_; and then the husband takes from her everything that she has, and drives her out of the house. If there be children, they remain with her, for they are fond of them beyond measure. They reckon consanguinity to the eighth degree, and revenge an injury from generation to generation unless it be atoned for; and even then there is mischief enough, for they are very revengeful.

And when a man is unfaithful, the wife accuses him before the Sackima, which most frequently happens when the wife has a preference for another man. The husband being found guilty, the wife is permitted to draw off his right shoe and left stocking (which they make of deer or elk skins, which they know how to prepare very broad and soft, and wear in the winter time); she then tears off the lappet that covers his private parts, gives him a kick behind, and so drives him out of the house; and then “Adam” scampers off.

It would seem that they are very libidinous—in this respect very unfaithful to each other; whence it results that they breed but few children, so that it is a wonder when a woman has three or four children, particularly by any one man whose name can be certainly known. They must not have intercourse with those of their own family within the third degree, or it would be considered an abominable thing.

Their political government is democratic. They have a chief Sackima whom they choose by election, who generally is he who is richest in sewan, though of less consideration in other respects. When any stranger comes, they bring him to the Sackima. On first meeting they do not speak; they smoke a pipe of tobacco. That being done, the Sackima asks, “Whence do you come?” The stranger then states that, and further what he has to say, before all who are present or choose to come. That being done, the Sackima announces his opinion to the people, and if they agree thereto, they give all together a sigh, “_He!_” and if they do not approve, they keep silence, and all come close to the Sackima, and each sets forth his opinion till they agree. That being done, they come all together again to the stranger, to whom the Sackima then announces what they have determined, with the reasons moving them thereto.

All travellers who stop over night come to the Sackima, if they have no acquaintances there, and are entertained by the expenditure of as much sewan as is allowed for that purpose. Therefore, the Sackimas generally have three or four wives, each of whom has to furnish her own seed-corn.

The Sackima has his fixed fine of sewan for fighting and causing blood to flow. When any are

[At least four pages of the letter are missing. In them, De Rasieres probably mentioned the occasion of his trip to Plymouth in September and October, 1627, and described the country along the way.]

Coming out of the river Nassau,[148] you sail east-and-by-north about fourteen leagues, along the coast, a half league from the shore, and you then come to “Frenchman’s Point” at a small river where those of Patuxet have a house made of hewn oak planks, called Aptucxet,[149] where they keep two men, winter and summer, in order to maintain the trade and possession. Here also they have built a shallop, in order to go and look after the trade in sewan, in Sloup’s Bay[150] and thereabouts, because they are afraid to pass Cape Malabar,[151] and in order to avoid the length of the way; which I have prevented for this year by selling them fifty fathoms of sewan, because the seeking after sewan by them is prejudicial to us, inasmuch as they would, by so doing, discover the trade in furs;[152] which if they were to find out, it would be a great trouble for us to maintain, for they already dare to threaten that if we will not leave off dealing with that people, they will be obliged to use other means. If they do that now, while they are yet ignorant how the case stands, what will they do when they do get a notion of it?

From Aptucxet the English can come in six hours, through the woods, passing several little rivulets of fresh water, to New Plymouth,[153] the principal place in the district Patuxet, so called in their patent from His Majesty in England.

New Plymouth lies in a large bay to the north of Cape Cod, or Malabar, east and west from the said point[154] of the cape, which can be easily seen in clear weather. Directly before the commenced town lies a sand-bank,[155] about twenty paces broad, whereon the sea breaks violently with an easterly and east-northeasterly wind. On the north side there lies a small island[156] where one must run close along, in order to come before the town; then the ships run behind that bank and lie in a very good roadstead. The bay is very full of fish, of cod, so that the Governor before named has told me that when the people have a desire for fish they send out two or three persons in a sloop, whom they remunerate for their trouble, and who bring them in three or four hours’ time as much fish as the whole community require for a whole day—and they muster about fifty families.

At the south side of the town there flows down a small river of fresh water, very rapid, but shallow, which takes its rise from several lakes in the land above, and there empties into the sea; where in April and the beginning of May, there come so many shad from the sea which want to ascend that river, that it is quite surprising. This river the English have shut in with planks, and in the middle with a little door, which slides up and down, and at the sides with trellice work, through which the water has its course, but which they can also close with slides.

At the mouth they have constructed it with planks, like an eel-pot, with wings, where in the middle is also a sliding door, and with trellice work at the sides, so that between the two [dams] there is a square pool, into which the fish aforesaid come swimming in such shoals, in order to get up above, where they deposit their spawn, that at one tide there are 10,000 to 12,000 fish in it, which they shut off in the rear at the ebb, and close up the trellices above, so that no more water comes in; then the water runs out through the lower trellices, and they draw out the fish with baskets, each according to the land he cultivates, and carry them to it, depositing in each hill three or four fishes, and in these they plant their maize, which grows as luxuriantly therein as though it were the best manure in the world. And if they do not lay this fish therein, the maize will not grow, so that such is the nature of the soil.

New Plymouth lies on the slope of a hill stretching east towards the sea-coast, with a broad street about a cannon shot of 800 feet long, leading down the hill; with a [street] crossing in the middle, northwards to the rivulet and southwards to the land.[157] The houses are constructed of clapboards, with gardens also enclosed behind and at the sides with clapboards, so that their houses and courtyards are arranged in very good order, with a stockade against sudden attack; and at the ends of the streets there are three wooden gates. In the center, on the cross street, stands the Governor’s house, before which is a square stockade upon which four patereros are mounted, so as to enfilade the streets. Upon the hill they have a large square house, with a flat roof, built of thick sawn planks stayed with oak beams, upon the top of which they have six cannon, which shoot iron balls of four and five pounds, and command the surrounding country. The lower part they use for their church, where they preach on Sundays and the usual holidays. They assemble by beat of drum, each with his musket or firelock, in front of the captain’s door; they have their cloaks on, and place themselves in order, three abreast, and are led by a sergeant without beat of drum. Behind comes the Governor, in a long robe; beside him on the right hand, comes the preacher with his cloak on, and on the left hand, the captain with his side-arms and cloak on, and with a small cane in his hand; and so they march in good order, and each sets his arms down near him. Thus they are constantly on their guard night and day.

Their government is after the English form. The Governor has his Council, which is chosen every year by the entire community, by election or prolongation of term. In inheritances they place all the children in one degree, only the eldest son has an acknowledgment[158] for his seniority of birth. They have made stringent laws and ordinances upon the subject of fornication and adultery, which laws they maintain and enforce very strictly indeed, even among the tribes which live amongst them. They speak very angrily when they hear from the savages that we live so barbarously in these respects, and without punishment. Their farms are not so good as ours, because they are more stony, and consequently not so suitable for the plow. They apportion their land according as each has means to contribute to the eighteen thousand guilders which they have promised to those who had sent them out;[159] whereby they have their freedom without rendering an account to anyone. (Only if the King should choose to send a governor-general, they would be obliged to acknowledge him as sovereign overlord.) The maize seed which they do not require for their own use is delivered over to the Governor, at three guilders the bushel, who in his turn sends it in sloops to the north for the trade in skins among the savages; they reckon one bushel of maize against one pound of beaver’s skins; the profits are divided according to what each has contributed, and they are credited for the amount in the account of what each has to contribute yearly towards the reduction of his obligation. Then with the remainder they purchase what next they require, and which the Governor takes care to provide every year. They have better sustenance than ourselves, because they have the fish so abundant before their doors. There are also many birds, such as geese, herons and cranes, and other small-legged birds, which are in great abundance there in the winter.

The tribes in their neighborhood have all the same customs as already above described, only they are better conducted than ours, because the English give them the example of better ordinances and a better life; and who also, to a certain degree, give them laws, in consequence of the respect they from the very first have established amongst them.

The savages utilize their youth in labor better than the savages round about us: the young girls in sowing maize, the young men in hunting. They teach them to endure privation in the field in a singular way, to wit:

When there is a youth who begins to approach manhood, he is taken by his father, uncle, or nearest friend, and is conducted blindfolded into a wilderness, in order that he may not know the way, and is left there by night or otherwise, with a bow and arrows, and a hatchet and a knife. He must support himself there a whole winter with what the scanty earth furnishes at this season, and by hunting. Towards the spring they come again, and fetch him out of it, take him home and feed him up again until May. He must then go out again every morning with the person who is ordered to take him in hand. He must go into the forest to seek wild herbs and roots, which they know to be the most poisonous and bitter; these they bruise in water and press the juice out of them, which he must drink, and immediately have ready such herbs as will preserve him from death or vomiting. And if he cannot retain it, he must repeat the dose until he can support it, and until his constitution becomes accustomed to it so that he can retain it.

Then he comes home, and is brought by the men and women, all singing and dancing, before the Sackima; and if he has been able to stand it all well, and if he is fat and sleek, a wife is given to him.

In that district there are no lions or bears, but there are the same kinds of other game, such as deers, hinds, beavers, otters, foxes, lynxes, seals and fish, as in our district of country. The savages say that far in the interior there are certain beasts of the size of oxen, having but one horn, which are very fierce. The English have used great diligence in order to see them, but cannot succeed therein, although they have seen the flesh and hides of them which were brought to them by the savages. There are also very large elks there, which the English have indeed seen.

The lion skins which we sometimes see our savages wear are not large, so that the animal itself must be small; they are of a mouse-gray color, short in the hair and long in the claws.

The bears are some of them large and some small; but the largest are not so large as the middle-sized ones which come from Greenland. Their fur is long and black and their claws large. The savages esteem the flesh and grease as a great dainty.

Of the birds, there is a kind like starlings, which we call “maize thieves,” because they do so much damage to the maize. They fly in large flocks, so that they flatten the corn in any place where they alight, just as if cattle had lain there. Sometimes we take them by surprise and fire amongst them with hail-shot, immediately that we have made them rise, so that sixty, seventy, and eighty fall all at once, which is very pleasant to see.

There are also very large turkeys living wild; they have very long legs, and can run extraordinarily fast, so that we generally take savages with us when we go to hunt them; for even when one has deprived them of the power of flying, they yet run so fast that we cannot catch them unless their legs are hit also.

In the autumn and in the spring there come a great many geese, which are very good, and easy to shoot, inasmuch as they congregate together in such large flocks. There are two kinds of partridges; the one sort are quite as small as quails and the other like the ordinary kind here. There are also hares, but few in number, and not larger than a middle-sized rabbit; and they principally frequent where the land is rocky.

This, sir, is what I have been able to communicate to you from memory, respecting New Netherland and its neighborhood, in discharge of my bounden duty. I beg that the same may so be favorably received by you, and I beg to recommend myself for such further service as you may be pleased to command me in, wherever you may find me.

In everything your faithful servant,

ISAACK DE RASIERES.

Bibliographical Note

The standard sources of information on early Plymouth are quickly named: William Bradford, _Of Plymouth Plantation_ (1952, or other edition); the items in Alexander Young (ed.), _Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers_ (1844), most of which were printed for “Everyman’s Library” under the same title, 1910; and G. F. Willison, _The Pilgrim Reader_ (1953). Other books which proved useful in the preparation of this one have been cited in footnotes. In addition to these, several ought to receive notice.

On John Pory there are articles in _Dictionary of National Biography_ (by Charlotte Fell-Smith) and _Dictionary of American Biography_ (by A. C. Gordon, Jr.). See also Leo Africanus, _The History and Description of Africa_, translated by John Pory, ed. and intro. by Robert Brown (1896); W. F. Craven, _Dissolution of the Virginia Company_ (1932) and _The Southern Colonies in the Seventeenth Century_ (1949); S. M. Kingsbury (ed.), _Records of the Virginia Company of London_ (1933, 1935), III, IV; Mass. Hist. Soc., _Collections_, fourth series, IX, 8-47; J. H. R. Yardley, _Before the Mayflower_ (1931).

Emmanuel Altham’s name until now has been virtually missing from the Pilgrim literature. The late Dr. Otto Fisher, of Detroit, had a file containing such information as exists on Altham and his family, compiled by Victor C. Sanborn and Oliver R. Barrett with the aid of correspondents in England. Dr. Fisher kindly let the editor of this volume use the file.

The life of Isaack de Rasieres is covered and illuminated by J. F. Jameson, “Introduction” to “Letter of Isaack de Rasieres to Samuel Blommaert, 1628 (?),” _Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664_ (“Original Narratives of Early American History”; 1909), 98-99; and “Letter from Isaack de Rasière to the Amsterdam Chamber of the West India Company, September 23, 1626,” in A. J. F. van Laer (translator and editor), _Documents Relating to New Netherland, 1624-1626, in the Henry E. Huntington Library_ (1924), 171-251, 260-276. See also A. C. Flick (editor), _History of the State of New York_ (1933), I, II.

About New England in general and the fishing business, see also C. F. Adams, _Three Episodes in Massachusetts History_ (1894), I; C. K. Bolton, _The Real Founders of New England_ (1929); I. S. Proper, _Monhegan the Cradle of New England_ (1930); Frances Rose-Troup, _John White the Patriarch of Dorchester_ (1930) and _The Massachusetts Bay Company and its Predecessors_ (1930); C. K. Shipton, _Roger Conant of Massachusetts_ (1945); and William Vaughan, _The Golden Fleece_ (London, 1626), Part III.

Footnotes

[1]Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, Treasurer (chief executive)
of the Virginia Company of London, 1620-24.

[2]Thomas Jones, Captain of the _Discovery_, the ship in the service of
the Virginia Company on which Pory was traveling. (Not to be
confused with Christopher Jones, master of the _Mayflower_ in 1620.)

[3]Sandys was Treasurer of the Virginia Company, 1619-20, a notable
Puritan and opponent of royal absolutism, influential in granting a
patent to the Pilgrims and their backers permitting them to
establish a “particular plantation” in Virginia, which then extended
as far north as 41°, thus including the mouth of the Hudson River.
John Ferrar was Deputy to the Treasurer in 1620. Sir George
Yeardley, knighted and sent out as Governor to Virginia in 1619, was
the candidate of Sandys’s party.

[4]Christopher Jones or John Clarke, a pilot experienced in the northern
route to Virginia (on which a ship sighted land at or near Cape Cod
and proceeded down the coast to Chesapeake Bay).

[5]Provincetown, Mass.

[6]Gloucester or Annisquam, Mass.

[7]“Anna” in the manuscript.

[8]Englishmen tended to translate Indian customs into feudal law.
Plymouth and the territory around it had been the home of a tribal
group of which Squanto was the only survivor. Neighboring Indians
traditionally had no rights there. The Pilgrims interpreted the
claims of Massasoit, the Wampanoag chief, as feudal overlordship
over southeastern Massachusetts, so the vacant parts of it which
they took up logically had to be a feudal domain of some kind.

[9]Bermudas.

[10]Romans 11:16.

[11]William Bradford.

[12]Alewives.

[13]Town Brook.

[14]The whole passage reads: “Naturam expelles furca licet, tamen usque
recurret, et mala perrumpet furtim fastidia victrix.” “You may drive
out Nature with a pitchfork, yet she will ever hurry back, and, ere
you know it, will burst through your foolish contempt in triumph.”
Horace, “Epistles, Book I, Epistle x,” _Satires, Epistles and Ars
Poetica_ with English translation by H. Rushton Fairclough (Loeb
Classical Library, 1932), 316, 317.

[15]Odoric of Pordenone (c. 1286-1331, formally beatified in the
eighteenth century) was a Franciscan friar and missionary who
traveled widely in the Far East. The story of his travels became
popular in the fourteenth century, but fell from favor as it gained
a reputation for embroidery. The phenomenon to which Pory refers
occurred at a place described as “Moumoran” in the printed version
with which Pory was probably familiar, that in Hakluyt, _Principal
Navigations_ (1599), II, 57.

[16]A stream running from the Smelt Pond to Plymouth Bay, entering it at
the mouth of the Jones River, about two miles northwest of Plymouth.

[17]“Skeines” in the manuscript.

[18]High tide in tidal streams.

[19]“Muskles and slammes” in the manuscript.

[20]Virginia.

[21]Delicacies.

[22]Chief town on Terceira, one of the Azore Islands, where Pory was
detained a prisoner on his way to England.

[23]Raspberries.

[24]The “musky” flavor common to the muscat grape varieties. “Muskadell”
in the manuscript.

[25]Pory was wrong; it is north of 41°.

[26]“Conahassit,” an old form, in the manuscript.

[27]Massasoit, chief of the Wampanoag or Pocanocket Indians, who lived
in the territory around present-day Bristol, R. I., which was then
called Pocanocket.

[28]Pamet is present-day Truro, Nauset is the area from Eastham to the
Denises, both on Cape Cod. Capawack is the island, Martha’s
Vineyard.

[29]Capt. Thomas Hunt took two dozen Indians captive in 1614, some at
Plymouth, some on Cape Cod, and sold several as slaves at Málaga.
While Hunt’s deeds were not excusable, they were merely the worst of
several such incidents. Capt. John Smith pointed out that Hunt could
not be responsible for the special hostility of the Capawack Indians
toward the English. Rather, their ill will may be traced to the
kidnaping of Epenow and Coneconam by Capt. Harlow, in 1614 or
earlier; the series of degrading experiences which Epenow underwent
at the hands of English captors; his influence on his countrymen
after his return to Capawack; and the somewhat mysterious friction
between him and Capt. Dermer in 1620, in which the latter was
mortally wounded. The Capawack Indians probably feared reprisal for
this and related incidents. Capt. John Smith, _Generall Historie of
Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles_ (1632), 204-205; Samuel
Purchas, _Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas His Pilgrimes_ (1625), IV,
1778, 1828, 1841, 1849; James P. Baxter, _Sir Ferdinando Gorges and
His Province of Maine_ (Prince Society, 1890), I, 104n-106n; W. F.
Gookin, _Capawack alias Martha’s Vineyard_ (1947), 8-17.

[30]Canonicus, the Narragansett sachem.

[31]Netherlanders who traded around the mouth of the Hudson River before
the actual founding of New Amsterdam in 1626.

[32]Whenever the king might come.

[33]“Combotant” in the manuscript.

[34]Squanto, the Pilgrims’ friend and sole survivor of the Patuxet
natives, had been one of the Indians gathered by Sir Ferdinando to
get information about New England. Gorges sent him back to America
in 1618 or 1619 as guide to Capt. Dermer.

[35]“Monhaccke” in the manuscript. In the early seventeenth century,
Iroquois Indians ranged as far east as New Hampshire.

[36]Hip-length coats of some protective strength.

[37]Eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay, where Pory had held land.

[38]Charts.

[39]Pacific Ocean. The French knew about the Great Lakes.

[40]Indians, quite powerful in Pory’s day, living in the lower part of
the river valley of the same name.

[41]The letter was written at the fishing grounds off northern New
England, probably Monhegan.

[42]In 1628 John Gibbs was master of the _Marmaduke_ in the service of
the New Plymouth Adventurers.

[43]Virginia Company of London.

[44]William Vengham. He was living and selling cured fish at Monhegan
(probably by arrangement with the island’s owners) in 1624, and
perhaps when Pory was in the region.

[45]“Tlemmish” in the manuscript.

[46]In 1622, the Council for New England made Sir Samuel Argall its
“Admiral” with the duty of excluding unlicensed operators from the
Council’s territory, North America from 40° to 48°. American
Antiquarian Society, _Proceedings_, Apr. 1867, 66-83.

[47]Possibly an illusion, possibly Block Island. It appears as
_Cabeleaus Eyleut_ (?) on the “Carte Figurative” (1616), reproduced
in T. A. Janvier, _The Dutch Founding of New York_ (1903), between
pages 20 and 21.

[48]Pory was mixed up. Boston Bay was _Graaf Hendrycks Bay_; Casco Bay
(or sometimes the water between Cape Ann and Portsmouth, N. H.),
_Graaf Willem_’s; Port Royal is now Annapolis Basin, Nova Scotia.
The Dutch names in the text have been left in the half-translated
state in which Pory wrote them. In modern Dutch, “States Hooke”
would be _Staten Hoek_.

[49]_Aquamachukes_ on the “Figurative Map” (1616), _Aquauachuques_ on
map by Vander Donck (1656), reproduced in J. Winsor (ed.),
_Narrative and Critical History of America_ (1884), IV, 433, 438.

[50]Weston’s rowdy crew at Wessagussett.

[51]Damariscove Island, off Boothbay, Me.

[52]Plymouth, England.

[53]Huckleberries.

[54]“Hugh” in the manuscript.

[55]This river is not identifiable. It may be an error in copying
“Pentagoet,” the French name for the Penobscot.

[56]Flat, open.

[57]Gloucester or Annisquam.

[58]“Anna” in the manuscript.

[59]The _Bona Nova_ was a ship often employed in the Virginia trade.
Nothing further is known about Swabber and the dead man.

[60]Indians.

[61]Goods for barter.

[62]Indians who performed the massacre of 1622 in Virginia.

[63]Edward Winslow, who left Plymouth for England on the _Anne_, Sept.
10, 1623.

[64]The other ship was the _Anne_, of 140 tons, William Peirce, master.
The Company of Adventurers for New Plymouth (sometimes called by
variants of this name) was the organization of merchants who helped
finance the Plymouth settlement. They “adventured” their money; the
Pilgrims were “planters,” although in modern estimation they were
more adventurous.

[65]The only passenger known to have a name similar to Jennings was John
Jenny, who lived to be an important man in the Plymouth Colony. This
woman may have been one in his series of wives.

[66]Indian name for Plymouth.

[67]Double his money.

[68]Monhegan and Damerill’s Cove (Damariscove) are islands off the coast
of Maine, each with a well-protected small harbor. Pemaquid is the
peninsula east of Boothbay, Me.; Sagadahoc is the extension of the
Kennebec River below its junction with the Androscoggin. Anquam is
Gloucester or Annisquam on Cape Ann, Mass. The Isles of Shoals are
off New Hampshire.

[69]A fishing stage, built over rock ledges near some convenient harbor,
was a scaffold or “wharf built of spruce trees, boards, and beach
stones where the fish could be cleaned,” salted and cured in the
sun. The fishermen raced from Europe to get the best places, so a
ship already in New England waters could hope to beat them all. S.
E. Morison, _The Story of the “Old Colony” of New Plymouth_ (1956),
122. The new year began on March 25 in the Old Style dating system.

[70]“Alcerme” in the manuscript. Both Altham and Capt. John Smith
believed that alkermes berries existed in North America. Perhaps
they thought cranberries were the same things. Actually, alkermes
berries are insects (species _coccus ilicis_) which live in the bark
of the kerm oak, a tree found around the Mediterranean Sea. The
pregnant females have a bright red color, and juice squeezed from
them was used as a dye and a cordial, especially in times when they
were still thought to be a vegetable.

[71]A master salter went over on the _Anne_, but he proved a better
talker than practitioner of his business. The Pilgrims gave him a
lot of help, but he made no salt. In spite of the logic of the idea,
saltmaking never became important in the Plymouth Colony.

[72]Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.

[73]“Bowle alminact” in the manuscript. The term had many variants, but
referred to an astringent earth found in Armenia, used as a styptic.

[74]Capt. Thomas Dermer made two voyages of exploration along the
Atlantic coast between Monhegan and Virginia in 1619 and 1620,
employed by Sir Ferdinando Gorges and others interested in
developing New England. He learned much and tried to establish peace
with the Indians, but in his dealings with those near Narragansett
Bay (where he liberated some French mariners) and Martha’s Vineyard,
he may have stirred up fear of the English. He was mortally wounded
in a fight with Epenow, an Indian who had once been a captive of Sir
Ferdinando and shown off as a curiosity in England. W. F. Gookin,
_Capawack alias Martha’s Vineyard_, 14-17.

[75]This is not impossible with Indian corn, but exceedingly unlikely.

[76]Hobomok was a Wampanoag, from west of Plymouth; Squanto, the last of
the Indians formerly living around Patuxet, had died in 1622.

[77]William Bradford married his second wife, Alice, daughter of
Alexander Carpenter, widow of Edward Southworth, Aug. 14, 1623.

[78]Saw. “Say” is an obsolete equivalent.

[79]Thomas Weston, the London merchant who originally promoted the
Company of Adventurers for New Plymouth in 1620. He wanted profit
from the business and, when his patience wore thin with a complete
settlement, sent out the private all-male colony which Altham here
refers to. Without family considerations, the men were expected to
stick to money-making activities like trade with the Indians and
grow food for themselves in their spare time. The colony was planted
at Wessagusset in present Weymouth, Mass., after sixty or so “lusty
men” had lived at the charge of the Pilgrims during the summer of
1622. Weston was devoted to America as well as profit and shady
deals, though, and went to Virginia and Maryland as a planter for
several years before dying in England, deep in debt. C. M. Andrews,
_Colonial Period of American History_ (1934), 1, 261-265, 330-331.

[80]Capt. Standish and his company went to the Wessagusset settlement to
warn the men of the conspiracy. After days of cautious waiting and
veiled exchange of threats with some of the leading Massachusetts
Indians, Standish got four of them into a room with about an equal
number of his men and assassinated three, including Pecksuot and
Wituwamat, whose head he took to Plymouth. In other ambuscades, with
some aid by Weston’s men, the Pilgrim expeditionary force killed
several others. The Wessagusset settlers, who had been reduced to
great want and dependence on the Indians, abandoned their place,
most going to the Maine coast to work for the fishermen and get
passage back to England. The story is told most fully in Edward
Winslow, “Winslow’s Relation,” in Young (ed.), _Chronicles of the
Pilgrim Fathers_ (“Everyman’s Library,” 1936), 313-332, or some
other edition of Winslow’s _Good News from New England_.

[81]Flag.

[82]Adventurers and Planters were both members of the Company under the
terms of the agreement made in 1620. Settlers were accounted as
having put in the value of a £10 share.

[83]Ralph Hawtry, husband of Altham’s sister Mary.

[84]Samuel Purchas, _Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas His Pilgrimes_
(London, 1625), 4 vol. The books had been announced as early as
1621.

[85]The Leventhorpes were neighbors and close friends of the Althams.
Sir Edward Altham married one of Sir John’s daughters. Sir John
Fowle had married another daughter. “My brother Thomas” was the son
and heir of Sir John Leventhorpe. Mary Leventhorpe was another
daughter.

[86]Margaret Wolley at least had him in her will, proved in 1635, eight
months before Altham’s death.

[87]Mr. Denn was rector in Latton, a man of Puritanical leanings. Stracy
was a tenant of the Althams; Mr. Bland, a minister and family
friend; Watson, a London gunsmith; Wells, a tenant of the Althams.

[88]James Sherley, goldsmith and treasurer of the Company of
Adventurers.

[89]On this voyage, Altham went as far as the Narragansett Indians; that
is, at least to western Rhode Island of today.

[90]Before experience showed the falsity of the idea, promoters of
colonies in America thought of the settlements as glorified trading
posts. This plan did work in Asia and logically ought to have in
America if, as men like Altham or other Adventurers thought, profit
was to be gained by trade and farming be only a spare-time adjunct.

[91]Not all went back. Nor was the damage so great; three or four houses
burned down. The common store house and its contents were saved by
means of good organization and wet cloths, although the fire started
in an adjoining shed. Bradford said the blaze was started by some
sailors from a ship in the service of the Council for New England.
The men, who wanted a cheerful atmosphere for a carousal, built a
big fire which may have gone out of control. Evidence also turned up
to show that the storehouse was deliberately lit. Bradford, _Of
Plymouth Plantation_, 136-137.

Furthermore, the town was more than restored quite soon. Captain
John Smith printed a description of Plymouth in 1624 which, in
addition to information about the government and economy of the
settlement, reported that “At New Plymouth is about 180 persons,
some cattle and goats, but many swine and poultry; thirty-two
dwelling houses, whereof seven were burnt the last winter, and the
value of five hundred pounds in other goods. The town is impaled
about half a mile in compass. In the town upon a high mount they
have a fort well built with wood, loam and stone, where is planted
their ordnance; also a fair watchtower, partly framed, for the
sentinel.” This passage, in original spelling, may be found in
“Generall Historie of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles,”
edition of 1624, reprinted in Edward Arber and A. G. Bradley (eds.),
_Travels and Works of Captain John Smith_ (1910), II, 782.

[92]Plymouth. The ship was anchored outside Plymouth harbor when the
storm blew up and almost drove her on the flats called Brown’s
Islands.

[93]Englishmen of the seventeenth century thought life barely possible
without beer.

[94]Altham’s nephews, sons of Sir Edward.

[95]See notes 21, 23, 25 to preceding letter.

[96]Old family servants. See preceding letter.

[97]On the _Charity_.

[98]The troublemaker probably was one of the men drowned in the wreck of
the _Little James_ (see below). The sailors of the pinnace, however,
had been discontented since early in the voyage. They believed they
had signed on for privateering, to get their pay in shares of prize
ships. After a near mutiny at Plymouth, Gov. Bradford helped arrange
regular wages for them, and kept them on the ship for the
exploration of southern New England, but they still insisted that
they would not go on a fishing voyage. “A Letter of William Bradford
and Isaac Allerton, 1623,” _American Historical Review_, VIII
(1902-03), 296.

[99]William Peirce was to be shipmaster of the _Charity_ on her return
voyage. Edward Winslow had returned from England on that ship.

[100]In 1624 all goods in the general storehouse at Plymouth belonged to
the Company.