6

CONDUCT OF EARLY VOYAGERS

[Book II. the harbor of Plymouth, where I then commanded." Three* of whose natives, namely, Manida, Skettwarroes and Tasquantum, "I seized upon. They were all of one nation, but of several parts, and several families. This accident must be acknowledged the means, under God, of putting on foot and giving life to all our plantations."

Paying great attention to these natives, he soon understood enough by them about the country from whence they came to establish a belief that it was of great value; not perhaps making due allowance for its being their home. And Sir Ferdinando adds, "After I had those people sometimes in my custody, I observed in them an inclination to follow the example of the better sort; and in all their carriages, manifest shows of great civility, far from the rudeness of our common people. And the longer I conversed with them, the better hope they gave me of those parts where they did inhabit, as proper for our uses; especially when I found what goodly rivers, stately islands, and safe harbors, those parts abounded with, being the special marks I leveled at as the only want our nation met with in all their navigations along that coast. And having kept them full three years, I made them able to set me down what great rivers run up into the land, what men of note were seated on them, what power they were of, how allied, what enemies they had," &c.

Thus having gained a knowledge of the country, Sir Ferdinando got ready "a ship furnished with men and all necessaries" for a voyage to America, and sent as her captain Mr. Henry Challoung, with whom he also sent two of his Indians. The names of these were Assacumet and Manida. Chalons, having been taken sick in the beginning of the voyage, altered his course, and lost some time in the West Indies. After being able to proceed northward, he departed from Porto Rico, and was soon after taken by a Spanish fleet, and carried into Spain, “where their ship and goods were confiscate, themselves made prisoners, the voyage overthrown, and both my natives lost." One, however, Assacumet, was afterwards recovered, if not the other. This voyage of Chalons was in 1606.

It appears that the Lord Chief Justice Popham had agreed to send a vessel to the aid of Chalons, which was accordingly done before the news of his being taken was known in England. For Sir Ferdinando Gorges says, "It pleased the lord chief justice, according to his promise, to despatch Capt. [Martin] Prin from Bristol, with hope to have found Capt. Challounge;" "but not hearing by any means what became of him, after he had made a perfect discovery of all those rivers and harbors," "brings with him the most exact discovery of that coast that ever came to my hands since, and, indeed, he was the best able to perform it of any I met withal to this present, [time,] which, with his relation of the country, wrought such an impression in the lord chief justice, and us all that were his associates, that (notwithstanding our first disaster) we set up our resolutions to follow it with effect."

Dehamda and Skettwarroes were with Pring in this voyage, and were, without doubt, his most efficient aids in surveying the coast. It appears from Gorges, that Dehamda was sent by the chief justice, who we suppose had considered him his property, and Skettwarroes by himself. They returned again to England with Prin.

*It seems, from this part of his narrative, that he had but three of them, but, from subsequent passages, it appears he had them all. See also America painted to the Life.

+ Challons, by some. Gorges has him, sometimes, Chalowns, Chalon, &c.

The same who presided at the trial of Sir W. Ralegh and his associates, in 1603. See Prince's Worthies of Devon, 672, 673. Fuller, in his Worthies of England, ii. 234, says, "Travelers owed their safety to this judge's severity many years after his death, which happened Anno Domini 16**" thinking, no doubt, he had much enlightened his reader by definitely stating that Sir John Popham died some time within a hundred years. The severity referred to has reference to his importuning King James not to pardon so many robbers and thieves, which, he said, tended to render the judges contemptible, and "which made him more sparing afterward."

Gorges, one of the main springs of these transactions, who wrote the account we give, makes no mention of any other captain accompanying him; yet Dr. Holmes's authorities, Annals, i. 125, led him to record Thomas Hanam as the performer of this voyage. And a writer of 1622 says, Hanam, or, as he calls him, Haman, went commander, and Prinne master. See 2 Col. Mass. Hist. Soc. ix. 3. This agrees with the account of Gorges the

The next year, 1607, these two natives piloted the first New England colony to the mouth of Sagadahock River, since the Kennebeck. They left England 30 May, and did not arrive here until 8 August following. "As soon as the president had taken notice of the place, and given order for landing the provisions, he despatched away Captain Gilbert, with Skitwarres his guide, for the thorough discovery of the rivers and habitations of the natives, by whom he was brought to several of them, where he found civil entertainment, and kind respects, far from brutish or savage natures, so as they suddenly became familiar friends, especially by the means of Dehamda and Skitwarrers." “So as the president was earnestly intreated by Sassenow, Aberemet, and others, the principal Sagamores, (as they call their great lords,) to go to the Bashabas, who it seems was their king." They were prevented, however, by adverse weather, from that journey, and thus the promise to do so was unintentionally broken, "much to the grief of those Sagamores that were to attend him. The Bashebas, notwithstanding, hearing of his misfortune, sent his own son to visit him, and to beat a trade with him for furs."

Several sad and melancholy accidents conspired to put an end to this first colony of New England. The first was the loss of their store-house, containing most of their supplies, by fire, in the winter following, and another was the death of Lord Popham. It consisted of 100 men, and its beginning was auspicious; but these calamities, together with the death of their president, broke down their resolutions. So many discouragements, notwithstanding a ship with supplies had arrived, determined them to abandon the country, which they did in the spring. What became of Dehamda and Skettwarroes there is no mention, but they probably remained in the country with their friends, unless the passage which we shall hereafter extract, be construed to mean differently.t

*

To return to Tisquantum. There is some disagreement in the narratives of the cotemporary writers in respect to this chief, which shows, either that some of them are in error, or that there were two of the same name-one carried away by Waymouth, and the other by Hunt. From a critical examination of the accounts, it is believed there was but one, and that he was carried away by Waymouth, as Sir Ferdinando Gorges relates, whose account we have given above. It is impossible that Sir Ferdinando should have been mistaken in the names of those he received from Waymouth. The names of those carried off by Hunt are not given, or but few of them, nor were they kidnapped until nine years after Waymouth's voyage. It is, therefore, possible that Squantum, having returned home from the service of Gorges, went again to England with some other person, or perhaps even with Hunt. But we are inclined to think that there was but one of the name, and his being carried away an error of inadvertence.

Patuxet, afterward called Plimouth, was the place of residence of Squantum, who, it is said, was the only person that escaped the great plague of which we shall particularly speak in the life of Massasoit; where, at the same time, we shall take up again the life of Squantum, whose history is so intimately connected with it.

It was in 1611 that Captain Edward Harlow§ was sent "to discover an Ile supposed about Cape Cod," who "falling with Monagigan, they found onely Cape Cod no Ile but the maine; there [at Monhigon Island] they detained three Saluages aboord them, called Pechmo, Monopet and Pekenimne, but Pechmo leapt ouerboard, and got away; and not long after, with his consorts, eut their Boat from their sterne, got her on shore, and so filled her with sand and guarded her with bowes and arrowes, the English lost her."||

This exploit of Pechmo is as truly brave as it was daring. To have got

*They had "seated themselves in a peninsula, which is at the mouth of this river, [Sagadabock,] where they built a fortress to defend themselves from their enemies, which they named St. George." America painted to the Life, by Ferd. Gorges, Esq. p. 19.

See life Massasoit.

It is plain, from Prince, Chron. 134, that his authors had confounded the names of these Indians one with another.

Sir Ferd. Gorges is probably wrong in calling him Henry Harley.

Capt. Smith's Gen. Hist. N. Eng.

8

HUNT'S VOYAGE.

[Book II. under the stern of a ship, in the face of armed men, and at the same time to have succeeded in his design of cutting away and carrying off their boat, was an act as bold and daring, to say the least, as that performed in the harbor of Tripoli by our countryman Decatur.

From Monhigon Harlow, proceeding southward, fell in with an island called then by the Indians Nohono. From this place" they tooke Sakaweston, that after he had lived many years in England, went a soldier to the wars of Bohemia."* Whether he ever returned we are not told. From this island they proceeded to Capawick, since called Capoge, [Martha's Vineyard.] Here "they tooke Coreconam and Epenow," and "so, with fiue Saluages, they returned for England."

Epenow, or, as some wrote, Epanow, seems to have been much such a character as Pechmo-artful, cunning, bold and daring. Sir Ferdinando Gorges is evidently erroneous in part of his statement about this native, in as far as it relates to his having been brought away by Hunt. For Harlow's voyage was in 1611, and Epanow was sent over to Cape Cod with Captain Hobson, in 1614, some months before Hunt left.

As it is peculiarly gratifying to the writer to hear such old venerable writers as Smith, Gorges, &c. speak, the reader perhaps would not pardon him were he to withhold what the intimate acquaintance of the interesting Epanow says of him. Hear, then, Sir Ferdinando :—

"While I was laboring by what means I might best continue life in my languishing hopes, there comes one Henry Harley unto me, bringing with him a native of the Island of Capawick, a place seated to the southward of Cape Cod, whose name was Epenewe, a person of goodly stature, strong and well proportioned. This man was taken upon the main, [by force,] with some 294 others by a ship of London that endeavored to sell them for slaves in Spaine, but being understood that they were Americans, and being found to be unapt for their uses, they would not meddle with them, this being one of them they refused, wherein they exprest more worth than those that brought them to the market, who could not but known that our nation was at that time in travel for setling of Christian colonies upon that continent, it being an act much tending to our prejudice, when we came into that part of the countries, as it shall further appear. How Capt. Harley came to be possessed of this savage, I know not, but I understood by others how he had been shown in London for a wonder. It is true (as I have said) he was a goodly man, of a brave aspect, stout and sober in his demeanor, and had learned so much English as to bid those that wondered at him, WELCOME, WELCOME; this being the last and best use they could make of him, that was now grown out of the people's wonder. The captain, falling further into his familiarity, found him to be of acquaintance and friendship with those subject to the Bashaba, whom the captain well knew, being himself one of the plantation, sent over by the lord chief justice, [Popham,] and by that means understood much of his language, found out the place of his birth," &c.

Before proceeding with the history of Epanow, the account of Capt. Thomas Hunt's voyage should be related; because it is said that it was chiefly owing to his perfidy that the Indians of New England were become so hostile to the voyagers. Nevertheless, it is plain, that (as we have already said) Hunt did not commit his depredations until after Epanow had escaped out of the hands of the English. Capt. John Smith was in company with Hunt, and we will hear him relate the whole transaction. After stating that they arrived at Monhigon in April, 1614,§ spent a long time in trying to catch whales without success; and as "for gold, it was rather the master's device to get a voyage, that projected it;" that for trifles they got "near 11000 beaver skins, 100

* Capt. Smith's Gen. Hist. N. Eng.

+ Perhaps not the Capt. Harlow before mentioned, though Prince thinks Gorges means him. If in this he refers to those taken by Hunt, as I suppose, he sets the number higher than others. His grandson, F. Gorges, in America Painted, &c., says 24 was the number seized by Hunt.

Smith had an Indian named Tantum with him in this voyage, whom he set on shore at Cape Cod.

martin, and as many otters, the most of them within the distance of 20 leagues," and his own departure for Europe, Capt. Smith proceeds :

"The other ship staid to fit herself for Spain with the dry fish, which was sold at Malaga at 4 rials the quintal, each hundred weight two quintals and a half-But one Thomas Hunt, the master of this ship, (when I was gone,) thinking to prevent that intent I had to make there a plantation, thereby to keep this abounding country still in obscurity, that only he and some few merchants more might enjoy wholly the benefit of the trade, and profit of this country, betrayed four-and-twenty of those poor salvages aboard his ship, and most dishonestly and inhumanly, for their kind usage of me and all our men, carried them with him to Malaga; and there, for a little private gain, sold these silly salvages for rials of eight; but this vile act kept him ever after from any more employment to those parts."

F. Gorges the younger is rather confused in his account of Hunt's voyage, as well as the elder. But the former intimates that it was on account of Hunt's selling the Indians he took as slaves, the news of which having got into England before Epanow was sent out, caused this Indian to make his escape, and consequently the overthrow of the voyage; whereas the latter, Sir Ferdinando, does not attribute it to that. We will now hear him again upon this interesting subject:

“The reasons of my undertaking the employment for the island of Capawick. "At the time this new savage [Epanow] came unto me, I had recovered Assacumet, one of the natives I sent with Capt. Chalownes in his unhappy employment, with whom I lodged Epenaw, who at the first hardly understood one the other's speech, till after a while; I perceived the difference was no more than that as ours is between the northern and southern people, so that 1 was a little eased in the use I made of my old servant, whom I engaged to give account of what he learned by conference between themselves, and he as faithfully performed it."

There seems but little doubt that Epanow and Assacumet had contrived a plan of escape before they left England, and also, by finding out what the English most valued, and assuring them that it was in abundance to be had at a certain place in their own country, prevailed upon them, or by this pretended discovery were the means of the voyage being undertaken, of which we are now to speak. Still, as will be seen, Sir Ferdinando does not speak as though he had been quite so handsomely duped by his cunning man of the woods. Gold, it has been said, was the valuable commodity to which Epanow was to pilot the English. Gorges proceeds :—

66

They [Capt. Hobson and those who accompanied him] set sail in June, in Anno 1614, being fully instructed how to demean themselves in every kind, carrying with them Epenow, Assacomet, and Wanape,* another native of those parts sent me out of the Isle of Wight, for my better information in the parts. of the country of his knowledge: when as it pleased God that they were arrived upon the coast, they were piloted from place to place, by the natives themselves, as well as their hearts could desire. And coming to the harbor where Epenow was to make good his undertaking, [to point out the gold mine, no doubt,] the principal inhabitants of the place came aboard; some of them being his brothers, others his near cousins, [or relatives,] who, after they had communed together, and were kindly entertained by the captain, departed in their canoes, promising the next morning to come aboard again, and bring some trade with them. But Epenow privately (as it appeared) had contracted with his friends, how he might make his escape without performing what he had undertaken, being in truth no more than he had told me he was to do though with loss of his life. For otherwise, if it were found that he had dis

Doubtless the same called by others Manawet, who, it would seem from Mr. Hubbard, (Hist. N. Eng. 39.) died before Epanow escaped, " soon after the ship's arrival."

How he came there, we are at a loss to determine, unless natives were carried off, of whom no mention is made. This was unquestionably the case, for when it came to be a common thing for vessels to bring home Indians, no mention, of course, would be made of them, especially if they went voluntarily, as, no doubt, many did.

EPANOW.

[Book II. covered the secrets of his country,* he was sure to have his brains knockt out as soon as he came ashore for that cause I gave the captain strict charge to endeavor by all means to prevent his escaping from them. And for the more surety, I gave order to have three gentlemen of my own kindred to be ever at hand with him; clothing him with long garments, fitly to be laid hold on, if occasion should require. Notwithstanding all this, his friends being all come at the time appointed with twenty canoes, and lying at a certain distance with their bows ready, the captain calls to them to come aboard; but they not moving, he speaks to Epenow to come unto him, where he was in the forecastle of the ship, he being then in the waste of the ship, between the two gentlemen that had him in guard; starts suddenly from them, and coming to the captain, calls to his friends in English to come aboard, in the interim slips himself overboard: And although he were taken hold of by one of the company, yet, being a strong and heavy man, could not be stayed, and was no sooner in the water, but the natives, [his friends in the boats,] sent such a shower of arrows, and came withal desperately so near the ship, that they carried him away in despight of all the musquetteers aboard, who were, for the number, as good as our nation did afford. And thus were my hopes of that particular [voyage] made void and frustrate."

From the whole of this narration it is evident that Epanow was forcibly retained, if not forcibly carried off, by the English. And some relate‡ that he attacked Capt. Dermer and his men, supposing they had come to seize and carry him back to England. It is more probable, we think, that he meant to be revenged for his late captivity, and, according to real Indian custom, resolved that the first whites should atone for it, either with their life or liberty. Gorges does not tell us what his brave "musquetteers" did when Epanow escaped, but from other sources we learn that they fired upon his liberators, killing and wounding some, but how many, they could only conjecture. But there is no room for conjecture about the damage sustained on the part of the ship's crew, for it is distinctly stated that when they received the "shower of arrows," Capt. Hobson and many of his men were wounded.§ And Smith||| says, "So well he had contrived his businesse, as many reported he intended to have surprised the ship; but seeing it could not be effected to his liking, before them all he leaped ouer boord."

We next meet with Epanow in 1619. Capt. Thomas Dormer, or Dermer, in the employ of Sir F. Gorges, met with him at Capoge, the place where, five years before, he made his escape from Capt. Hobson. Gorges writes, "This savage, speaking some English, laughed at his owne escape, and reported the story of it. Mr. Dormer told him he came from me, and was one of my servants, and that I was much grieved he had been so ill used as to be forced to steal away. This savage was so cunning, that, after he had questioned him about me, and all he knew belonged unto me, conceived he was come on purpose to betray him; and [so] conspired with some of his fellows to take the captain; thereupon they laid hands upon him. But he being a brave, stout gentleman, drew his sword and freed himself, but not without 14 wounds. This disaster forced him to make all possible haste to Virginia to be cured of his wounds. At the second return [he having just come from there] he had the misfortune to fall sick and die, of the infirmity many of our nation are subject unto at their first coming into those parts."

The ship's crew being at the same time on shore, a fight ensued, in which some of Epanow's company were slain. "This is the last time," says a writer in the Historical Collections, "that the soil of Martha's Vineyard was stained with human blood; for from that day to the present [1807] no Indian has been killed by a white man, nor white man by an Indian."

In relation to the fight which Dermer and his men had with the Indians at the Vineyard, Morton ¶ relates that the English went on shore to trade with them, when they were assaulted and all the men slain but one that kept the

*The secrets of the sandy island Capoge, or the neighboring shores of Cape Cod, whatever they are now, existed only in faith of such sanguine minds as Sir Ferdinando and his adherents. We need no better display of the craft of Epanow, or proof of his cunning in deep plots. Belknap, Amer. Biog. 1. 362. Smith's New England. N. Eng. Memorial, 58, 59.

Ibid.