"I die. My friends, you have no cause to grieve: No mists conceal Keesuckquand from our eyes." About 1642, a son of Canonicus died, at which his grief was very great ; insomuch that, "having buried his son, he burned his own palace, and all his goods in it, to a great value, in solemn remembrance of his son." Like other men ignorant of science, Canonicus was superstitious, and was greatly in fear of the English, chiefly, perhaps, from a belief in their ability to hurt him by enchantment, which belief very probably was occasioned by the story that Squanto circulated, of which, in a previous chapter, we have spoken. When Roger Williams fled into his country, he at first viewed him with distrust, and would only frown upon him; at length he accused him, as well as the other English, of sending the plague among the Indians; but, as we have said before, he soon became reconciled to him, gave him lands, and even protected him. They became mutual helps to each other, and, but for animosities among the English themselves, it may be fair to conclude, friendship would have continued with the Narragansets through several generations. Our attention is now called to consider the lives of several sachems, who, though of less notoriety than the one of which we have just taken a view, will be found by no means wanting in interest. Montowampate, sagamore of Lynn and Marblehead, was known more generally among the whites as Sagamore James. He was son of Nanepashemet, and brother of Wonohaquaham and Winnepurkitt.* He died in 1633, of the small-pox, “ with most of his people. It is said that these two promised, if ever they recovered, to live with the English, and serve their God." The histories of those times give a melancholy picture of the distresses caused by the small-pox among the "wretched natives." "There are," says Mather, "some old planters surviving to this day, who helped to bury the dead Indians; even whole families of them all dead at once. In one of the wigwams they found a poor infant sucking at the breast of the dead mother." The same author observes that, before the disease began, the Indians had begun to quarrel with the English about the bounds of their lands, "but God ended the controversy by sending the small-pox among the Indians at Saugus, who were before that time exceedingly numerous." We have mentioned another of the family of Nanepashemet, also a sachem. This was Wonohaquaham, called by the English Sagamore John, of Winisimet. His residence was at what was then called Rumneymarsh, part of which is now in Chelsea and part in Saugus.* As early as 1631, he had cause to complain that some of the English settlers had burnt two of his wigwams. "Which wigwams," says Governor Dudley,|| 66 were not inhabited, but stood in a place convenient for their shelter, when, upon occasion, they should travel that way." The court, upon examination, found that a servant of Sir R. Saltonstall had been the means of the mischief, whose master was ordered to make satisfaction, "which he did by seven yards of cloth, and that his servant pay him, at the end of his time, fifty shillings sterling." Sagamore John died at * Lewis's Hist. Lynn, 16, 17. Relation, &c. 23. f Hist. of New England, 195. || Letter to the Countess of Lincoln, in Col. Mass. Hist. Soc. Prince's Chronology. Winisimet, in 1633, of the small-pox.* He desired to become acquainted with the Englishmen's God, in his sickness, and requested them to take his two sons and instruct them in Christianity, which they did.f Winnepurkitt, who married a daughter of Passaconaway, makes considerable figure also in our Indian annals. He was born about 1616, and succeeded Montowampate at his death, in 1633. The English called him George Rumneymarsh, and at one time he was proprietor of Deer Island, in Boston harbor. "In the latter part of his life, he went to Barbadoes. It is supposed that he was carried there with the prisoners who were sold for slaves, at the end of Philip's war. He died soon after his return, in 1684, at the house of Muminquash, aged 68 years." Ahawayetsquaine, daughter of Poquanum, is also mentioned as his wife, by whom he had several children.§ Manatahqua, called also Black-william, was a sachem, and proprietor of Nahant, when the adjacent country was settled by the whites. His father lived at Swampscot, and was also a sagamore, but probably was dead before the English settled in the country.|| A traveller in this then¶ wilderness world, thus notices William, and his possessing Nahant. "One Black-william, an Indian Duke, out of his generosity gave this place in general to the plantation of Saugus, so that no other can appropriate it to himself." He was a great friend to the whites, but his friendship was repaid, as was that of many others of that and even much later times. There was a man by the name of Walter Bagnall, nicknamea Great Wot, "a wicked fellow," who had much wronged the Indians,** killed near the mouth of Saco River, probably by some of those whom he had defrauded. This was in October, 1631. As some vessels were upon the eastern coast in search of pirates, in January, 1633, they put in at Richmond's Island, where they fell in with Black-william. This was the place where Bagnall had been killed about two years before, but whether he had any thing to do with it, does not appear, nor do I find that any one, even his murderers, pretended he was any way implicated; but out of revenge for Bagnall's death, these pirate hunters hanged Black-william. On the contrary, it was particularly mentionedff that Bagnall was killed by Squidrayset and his men, some Indians belonging to that part of the country. This Squidrayset, or Scitterygusset, for whose act Manatahqua suffered, was the first sachem who deeded land in Falmouth, Maine. A creek near the mouth of Presumpscot River perpetuates his name to this day. Mr. Willis supposes he was sachem of the Aucocisco tribe, who inhabited between the Androscoggin and Saco rivers; and that from Aucocisco comes Casco. There can be but little doubt that Bagnall deserved his fate,§§ if any deserve such; but the other was the act of white men, and we leave the reader to draw the parallel between the two: perhaps he will inquire, Were the murderers of MANATAHQUA brought to justice? All we can answer is, The records are silent. Perhaps it was considered an offset to the murder of Bagnall. Nattahattawants, in the year 1642, sold to Simon Willard, in behalf of "Mr. Winthrop, Mr. Dudley, Mr. Nowell, and Mr. Alden," a large tract *History of New England, 195, 650. Wonder-working Providence. Hist. Lynn. + Spelt also Winnaperket. 1633. William Wood, author of New Eng. Prospect. ** Winthrop's Journal, i. 62, 63. tt Col. Maine Hist. Soc. i. 68. tt Winthrop, ib. He had in about three years, by extortion, as we infer from Winthrop, accumulated about £400 from among the Indians. See Journal ut supra. of land upon both sides Concord River. "Mr. Winthrop, our present governor, 1260 acres, Mr. Dudley, 1500 acres, on the S. E. side of the river, Mr. Nowell, 500 acres, and Mr. Allen, 500 acres, on the N. E. side of the river, and in consideration hereof the said Simon giueth to the said Nattahattawants six fadom of waompampege, one wastcoat, and one breeches, and the said Nattahattawants doth covenant and bind himself, that hee nor any other Indians shall set traps within this ground, so as any cattle might recieve hurt thereby, and what cattle shall receive hurt by this meanes, hee shall be lyable to make it good." [In the deed, Nattahattawants is called sachem of that land.] Witnessed by The mark of NATAHATTAWANTS. WINNIPIN, an Indian that traded for him.* The name of this chief, as appears from documents copied by Mr. Shattuck, was understood Tahattawan, Tahattawants, Attawan, Attawanee, and Ahatawanee. He was sachem of Musketaquid, since Concord, and a supporter and propagator of Christianity anrong his people, and an honest and upright man. The celebrated Waban married his eldest daughter. John Tahatlawan was his son, who lived at Nashoba, where he was chief ruler of the praying Indians-a deserving Indian. He died about 1670. His widow was daughter of John, sagamore of Patucket, upon the Merrimack, who married Oonamog, another ruler of the praying Indians, of Marlborough. Her only son by Tahattawan‡ was killed by some white ruffians, who came upon them while in their wigwams, and his mother was badly wounded at the same time. Of this affair we shall have occasion elsewhere to be more particular. Naanashquaw, another daughter, married Naanishcow, called John Thomas, who died at Natick, aged 110 years. We know very little of a sachem of the name of Wahgumacut,§ except that he lived upon Connecticut River, and came to Boston in 1631, with a request to the governor "to have some English to plant in his country;" and as an inducement said he would "find them corn, and give them, yearly, 80 skins of beaver." The governor, however, dismissed him without giving him any encouragement; doubting, it seems, the reality of his friendship. But it is more probable that he was sincere, as he was at this time in great fear of the Pequots, and judged that if some of the English would reside with him, he should be able to maintain his country. There accompanied Wahgumacut to Boston an Indian named Jack *Suffolk Records of Deeds, vol. i. No. 34. t Hist. Concord, Mass. passim chap. i. Mr. Gookin writes this name Tohatooner, that of the father Tanattawarre. MS. Hist. Praying Indians, 105. Wahginnacut, according to Mr. Savage's reading of Winthrop. Our text is according to Prince, who also used Winthrop in MS. It is truly diverting to see how the author of Tales of the Indians has displayed his invention upon the passage in Winthrop's Journal bringing to our knowledge this chief. We will give the passage of Winthrop, that the reader may judge whether great ignorance, or misrepresentation "of set purpose" be chargeable to him. "He [Gov. Winthrop] discovered after [Wahginnacut was gone,] that the said sagamore is a very treacherous man, and at war with the Pekoath (a far greater sagamore.") Now, every child that has read about the Indians, it seems to us, ought to know that the meaning of Pekoath was mistaken by the governor, and no more meant a chief than the Massasoits meant what the Plimouth people first supposed it to mean. In the one case, the name of a tribe was mistaken for that of a chief, and in the other the chief for the tribe. Mistakes of this kind were not uncommon before our fathers became acquainted with the country. Winthrop says, too, the Mohawks was a great sachem. Now, who ever thought there was a chief of that name ? straw, who was his interpreter. We have labored to find some further particulars of him, but all that we can ascertain with certainty, is, that he had lived some time in England with Sir Walter Ralegh. How Sir Walter came by him, does not satisfactorily appear. Captains Amidas and Barlow sailed to America in his employ, and on their return carried over *Probably so named from the Maidstone minister, who flourished in Wat Tyler's rebellion, and whose real name was John Ball, but afterwards nick-named Jack Straw. He became chaplain to Wat's army, they having let him out of prison. A text which he made great use of in preaching to his liberators was this: When Adam dalfe and Eve span, Who was then a gentleman? This we apprehend was construed, Down with the nobility! See Rapin's Eng. i. 457. In Kennet, . 247, John Wraw is called Jack Straw. He was beheaded. t Sagamore John was also with him.. "The imputation of the first bringing in of tobacco into England lies on this heroic knight." Winstanley's Worthies, 259. "Besides the consumption of the purse, and impairing of our inward parts, the immoderate, vain and phantastical abuse of the hellish weed, corrupteth the natural sweetness of the breath, stupifieth the brain; and indeed is so prejudicial to the general esteem of our country." Ibid. 211. Whether Jack-straw were the servant who acted a part in the often-told anecdote of Sir Walter Ralegh's smoking tobacco, on its first being taken to England, we shall not presume to assert, but for the sake of the anecdote we will admit the fact; it is variously related, but is said to be, in substance, as follows. At one time, it was so very unpopular to use tobacco in any way in England, that many who had got attached to it, used it only privately. Sir Walter was smoking in his study, at a certain time, and, being thirsty, called to his servant to bring him a tankard of beer. Jack hastily obeyed the summons, and Sir Walter, forgetting to cease smoking, was in the act of spouting a volume of smoke from his mouth when his servant entered. Jack, seeing his master smoking prodigiously at the mouth, thought no other but he was all on fire inside, having never seen such a phenome non in all England before; dashed the quart of liquor at once in his face, and ran out screaming, "Massa's a fire! Massa's a fire!" Having dismissed the servant, every one might reasonably expect a few words concerning his master. Sir Walter Ralegh may truly be said to have lived in an age fruitful in great and worthy characters. Capt. John Smith comes to our notice through his agency, and the renowned first English circumnavigator was his cotemporary. He, like the last named, was born in the county of Devonshire, in 1552, in the parish of Budley. Sir Humphrey Gilbert, so well known in our annals, was his half brother, his father having married Sir Humphrey's mother, a widow, by whom he had Walter, a fourth sou.t The great successes and discoveries of the celebrated admiral Sir Francis Drake, gave a new impetus to the English nation in maritime affairs, and consequent thereupon was the settlement of North America; as great an era, to say the least, as was ever recorded in history. No one shone more conspicuous in those undertakings than Sir Walter Ralegh. After persevering a long time, he established a colony in Virginia, in 1607. He was a man of great valor and address, and a favorite with the great Queen Elizabeth, the promoter of his undertakings, one of whose "maids of honor" he married. In this affair some charge him with having first dishonored that lady, and was for a time under the queen's displeasure in consequence, but marrying her restored him to favor. The city of Ralegh in Virginia was so named by his direction. He was conspicuous with Drake and Howard in the destruction of the Spanish armada in 1588. On the death of the queen, he was imprisoned almost 13 years in the tower of London, upon the charge of treason. It was during his imprisonment that he wrote his great and learned work, the History of the World. The alleged crime of treason has long since been viewed by all the world as without foundation, and the punishment of Ralegh reflects all its blackness upon the character of James I. The ground of the charge was, that Ralegh and others were in a conspiracy against the king, and were designing to place on the throne Arabella Stewart. He was never pardoned, although the king set him at liberty, and permitted him to go on an expedition to South America in search of a gold mine of which he had gained some intimations in a previous visit to those Countries. His attempt to find gold failed, but he took the town of St. Thomas, and cstablished in it a garrison. This was a depredation, as Spain and England were then at peace, but Ralegh had the king's commission. The Spanish ambassador complained *"Of Otho Gilbert, of Compton, Esq." Polhele's Hist. Devon, ii. 219 56 JAMES-PRINTER, OR JAMES-THE-PRINTER. [BOOK II. two natives from Virginia, whose names were Wanchese and Manteo.* It is barely possible that one of these was afterwards Jack-straw. A Nipmuck Indian, of no small note in his time, it may in the next place be proper to notice. James Printer, or James-the-printer, was the son of Naoas, brother of Tukapewillint and Anaweakin. When a child, he was instructed at the Indian charity school, at Cambridge. In 1659, he was put apprentice to Samuel Green, to learn the printer's business; and he is spoken of as having run away from his master in 1675. If, after an apprenticeship of 16 years, one could not leave his master without the charge of absconding, at least, both the master and apprentice should be pitied. In relation to this matter, Mr. Hubbard says,§ "He had attained some skill in printing, and might have attained more, had he not, like a false villain, ran away from his master before his time was out." And the same author observes that the name printer was superadded to distinguish him from others named James. "July 8, [1676.] Dr. I. Mather has this record of James-printer. Whereas the council at Boston had lately emitted a declaration, signifying, that such Indians as did, within 14 days, come in to the English, might hope for mercy, divers of them did this day return from among the Nipmucks. Among others, James, an Indian, who could not only read and write, but had learned the art of printing, notwithstanding his apostasy, did venture himself upon the mercy and truth of the English declaration, which he had seen and read, promising for the future to venture his life against the common enemy. He and the other now come in, affirm that very many of the Indians are dead since this war began; and that more have died by the hand of God, in respect of diseases, fluxes and fevers, which have been amongst them, than have been killed with the sword." Mr. Thomas says, it was owing to the amor patria of James-printer that he left his master and joined in Philip's war. But how much amor loudly against the transaction, and the miserable James, to extricate himself, and appease the Spanish king, ordered Ralegh to be seized on his return, who, upon the old charge of treason, was sentenced to be beheaded, which was executed upon him 29th Oct. 1618.* "I shall only hint," says Dr. Polwhele,f "that the execution of this great man, whom James was advised to sacrifice to the advancement of the peace with Spain, hath left an indelible stain on the memory of that misguided monarch" It appears from another account that Sir Walter, on arriving at the mouth of the Oronoko, was taken "desperately sick," and sent forward a company under one of his captains in search of the gold mine. That they were met by the Spaniards, who attacked them, and that this was the cause of their assaulting St. Thomas, and being obliged to descend the river without effecting the object they were upon. The following circumstance respecting the celebrated History of the World, not being generally known, cannot but be acceptable to the reader. The first volume (which is what we have of it) was published before he was imprisoned the last time. Just before his execution, he sent for the publisher of it. When he came, Sir Walter took him by the hand, and, "after some discourse, askt him how that work of his sold. Mr. Burre [the name of the publisher] returned this answer, that it had sold so slowly that it had undone him. At which words of his, Sir Walter Ralegh, stepping to his desk, reaches his other part of his history to Mr. Burre, which he had brought down to the times he lived in; clapping his hand on his breast, he took the other unprinted part of his works into his hand, with a sigh, saying, Ah, my friend, hath the first part undone thee, the second volume shall undo no more; this ungrateful world is unworthy of it.' When, immediately going to the fire-side, threw it in, and set his foot on it till it was consumed."§ *See Cayley's Life Sir W. Ralegh, i. 70. ed. Lond. 1816, 2 vols. 8vo. + Some author of Indian tales might delight himself for a long time in ringing changes on this Indian preacher's name, without inventing any new ones; for it is not, as I remember, spelt twice alike in our authorities. Thomas, Hist. Printing. ¶ Hist. Printing, i. 290. Ó Narrative, 96. || Brief Hist. 89. *Tindal's notes in Rapin, ii. 195. ↑ Hist. Devonshire, i. 259. |