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With this view, the exiles applied to the Virginia company. Smith tendered his services; but the subordination he required of the puritans did not suit their free spirits, and he was rejected. Several London merchants advanced the sum necessary for the expenses of the expedition, to be repaid out of the proceeds of the industry of the adventurers. With the means thus procured, the emigrants purchased one vessel of 60, and hired another of 180 tons. These vessels met at Southampton, and thence proceeded on their western voyage; but the smaller vessel was obliged to put back to Dartmouth for repairs. After other delays, the pilgrims finally set sail in one vessel, the Mayflower, on the 6th of September, 1620. They numbered 102 persons.

HE voyage was long and tempestuous; and the captain, either through ignorance or treachery, instead of conveying them to Hudson's River, whither they expected to go, carried them as far north as Cape Cod, where they arrived on the 11th of November. This part of the country was not included in the patent they had obtained in England, and to supply the want of a more formal title, they composed and signed a written constitution of government, recognizing the authority of the English crown, and expressing their own combination into a body politic, and their determination to enact all just and necessary

THE

was attended with considerable delay and difficulty. On the 11th of November, some men were sent on shore to obtain wood and make discoveries. They returned at night, without having met with any person or habitation. On the 15th, Captain Miles Standish, with 16 armed men, landed for the purpose of making explorations. He observed

and followed some Indians, but did not overtake them. Soon after the party came upon four bushels of seed-corn, secured in a sort of cellar. These they appropriated, without any "compunctious visitings," and this discovery afterwards proved the means of preserving the colony from famine. During the absence of this party, the wife of William White gave birth to a son, who, from the circumstances attending his birth, was named Peregrine.

N the 6th of December, Carver, Bradford, Winslow and some seamen, embarked in a shallop and sailed round the bay, in search of a place for a settlement. On landing, they were saluted with a shower of Indian arrows; but a discharge of musketry speedily dispersed the assailants. A storm came on. The shallop lost its rudder, and was nearly, shipwrecked. Reaching an island on the 9th, they reposed themselves and kept the Christian Sabbath with the usual solemnities. The next day a harbor was found, which they deemed commodious, and the surrounding country was pleasant and well watered. They returned with the agreeable intelligence to their friends, and the ship was brought into this harbor on the 15th. The 18th and 19th were passed in exploring the land; and on the 20th, after imploring the Divine guidance and protection, the people landed and commenced the settlement. This day is still celebrated by the descendants of the pilgrims as the anniversary of New England's birth.

They gave the town the name of Plymouth, in remembrance of the hospitalities they had received at the last port in England from which they had sailed. Their first operations consisted in measuring out the land to the different families, laying a platform for their ordnance, and erecting habitations. The hardships endured by the people in exploring the bay and effecting a landing, sowed the seeds of a fatal disease. Their provisions were scanty, the winter severe and the Indians hostile. Before spring, Governor Carver and more than one half of the colonists died. Carver was succeeded by William Bradford, who governed the colony for many years. By the constitution adopted, the whole body of freemen in the colony formed the legislature, and the governor and a council of five, elected annually, the executive.

The emigrants had seen the natives only in the short hostile encounter, but afterwards learned that a severe pestilence had thinned their numbers. The crime of Hunt also had filled the country with horror and dread of the strangers. To their surprise, on the 16th of March, 1621, a savage almost naked, in the most confident manner, walked through the village, and addressed those he met in broken English. They crowded round him, and on their eager inquiry, learned that his name was Samoset; that he belonged to the Wampanoags, a somewhat distant tribe; and that their immediate neighbours were the people of Massassoit and the Nausites, the latter of whom had been the assailants in the late conflict. They treated him liberally with strong waters and food, presented him with a greatcoat, knife, and ornaments, and begged him to return with some of his countryAfter a brief absence, he reappeared with "five proper men,"

men.

presenting the usual grotesque attire and ferocious aspect. They all heartily danced and sung. A few days later he brought Squanto, whose restoration to his native country, as we have already narrated, had rendered him extremely friendly to our name. Being ready to act as interpreter and mediator, he opened a communication with Massassoit; and on the 22d of March, that great sagamore, with Quadequina his brother, and sixty men, were announced as in the vicinity. Difficulties were felt as to the meeting from want of mutual confidence; however, Squanto having brought an invitation to parley, Edward Winslow went with presents, and was kindly received. The governor, then, after obtaining some Indians as hostages, marched out at the head of six musketeers, kissed hands with the great chief, and presented a bottle of strong waters, of which he drank somewhat too copiously. A treaty was concluded, both of abstinence from mutual injury, and protection against others; and it was long faithfully observed.

Two of the settlers now accepted an invitation to visit his residence. After a laborious journey of fifteen miles through trackless woods, they were received with great courtesy, but found a total deficiency of victuals,