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I
TRAVELS
IN
NEW-ETSTGLAND AND NEW-YORK.
BY
TIMOTHY DWIGHT, S. T. D. LL. D.
LATF. PRESIDENT OF YAT.E COLCEOE ;
AUTHOR or
THEOLOGY EXPLAINED AND DEFENDED.
IN POUR VOLUMES.
1L.LURTRATBD WITH MAPS, 8tC.
VOL. III.
^ LONDON:
MIINTED FOB WILLIAM BAYNES AND SON, AND
OGLE, DUNCAN, k CO PATERN06TER ROW ;
AND h! V. BAYN BB AND CO., BDINBURGH.
1898.
t
I •
LONDON:
PRIVTBD BT CHARLB8 WOOD, Pppp!ii*t Caut, Ftaet SiMCt.
CONTENTS
OP
VOL III.
JOURNEY TO PROVINCE TOWN.
Pag* LETTER III.
Grottm. Account qf the Peqttods. War between the CoUmists and thai Tribe. Oallant Attack and Destruction qf one qf their Forti by Captain Mason and his TVoops. Pursuit rf'the Pequods to Fairfield^ and their final Destruction. Death ofSassacus 1
LETTER IV.
Siottington ; cultivated partly by Tenants. Indians still renuUn* tMg here. Their degraded (trader and Situation. The Perfection to which Man arrives in a state of Nature. Gene^ nd Observations upon the remnants qf the Indian JVibes now fomnd m New^lmgland. Means qf effecting their Civili' yukm. i 15
LJ^TTER V,.
Wetter^. CharUsiawn. South^Kingston. Aboriginal Tribes formerly inhabiting New^En^and. Their Population. Num^ her qf Warriors^ as estimated by General Gookin, War with Ike NarrkagansetSs, Attack and Capture qf their Portress. GaQofU Ctmduet qf Qqkain Denison and others. Death qf
Hanuntenao • • 27
a2
iv CONTENTS.
Pag
LETTER VI.
Canonicui Island. Newpt)rt ; its Buildings^ Harbour, and For- tijications. Proposition of the French Government relative to the Occupancy qf Newport, Remarkable Cliffs and Chasm. Enumeration qf the Fish brought to this Market. Health- fulness and Commerce of Newport, Its Settlement 3
LETTER VIL
Battle between the Americans under General Sullivan and the British commanded by Sir Robert Pigot. Stone Bridge. Tiverton. State of Rhode-hland. Its Boundaries and Divi- sions. Original Settlement. State qf Religion and Learning. Common Schools 4>
LETTER VIIL
Helhume Woods. Wesiport. New-Bedford. Its Situation, Commerce, and Settlement. Attack on Fair- Haven by the British in 1778. Gallant Defence of the Place by Major Fearing, Rochester, Wareham, Proposed Canal across the Peninsula qf Cape Cod. Sandmch 5
LETTER IX.
Country between Sandwich and Barnstable. Barnstable. Yar- mouth. Salt Works qf Cape Cod, Observations on the Extent of this Mans^acture, Difficulties qf Christianizing the In- dians, Dennis. Harwich. Orleans 6
LETTER X.
Eastham, Truro. Province Town. Beacn Grass, its utility. Soil very thin, and blown away from the White Sand beneath. Manners and Habits of the Inhabitants qf Province Town, Its Fisheries and Harbour, Wellfleet. Return to Harwich. Innkeeper 7
LETTER XI.
Return to Sandwich. Mission among the Indians at Massapee. Visit to the Rev, Gideon Hawtey^ the Missionary, Descrip* tion of the Peninsula of Cape Cod. Its Soil, Population, ^c... fi
CONTENTS. T
Page LETTER XII.
f^iymoiak; the first Town $ettUd in NeW'England. Rock on Tt^ick the Colonists first landed. Their Cemetery, Reflections ^ntke care of Divine Providence over them. Fisheries and Commerce of Plymouth , , tfS
LETTER XIII .
Kin^ptoru Marshfield. Scituate. Hingham. Weymouth, Braintree. Quincy. Milton. Dorchester, Its early Set- tknscnt. Fortifications erected by General Washington. Rox'
kry^ Reverend John Elliott^ the Apostle of the Indians 1 07
LETTER XIV.
Dedh^zm. Honourable Mr. Ames. Medfield attacked by the
In d ism. Medway. Bellingham. Mendon. Peculiar kind
of Sheep, Uxbridge. Douglas. Forests. Thofnpson. The
^msinibaug and Country on its borders, Pon^fret. Asfford.
Maiufield. Coventry. "Bolton. Willington, Gap in the
Bc^itonHiUs 117
LETTER XV.
Brookl^. Major-General Putnam. Canterbwy 130
JOURNEY TO WHITESTOWN.
LETTER I.
^omejftoNew'Lebanon, Shakers 137
LETTER II.
^acountofthe Shakers ^ continued 150
LETTER IlL
'^<^»neyfrom New^Lebancn to Minden. Valley of the Mohawk,, ie. 'Minden. Thoughu on Religious Per$eaUion,
Tl CONTENTS.
Palatines, Gemum Flatt. Utica. New- Hartford. Bro- thertaum. Broikertown Indiam. Observations on the Dtf* Jtrences qf Complexion in the HumanRace 158
LETTER IV.
Hamilton. Oneida Academy. Paris. Iron Mine. The Measures adopted for the Support of Religion in this State unhappy 9 and the Laws imperfect, Rome. Battle between the English and Indians under Sir John Johnson and the American Militia under General Herkimer. Canal. Siege qf Fort Stanwix 175
LETTER V.
Story qf Captain Greg. Whitesborough, Judge White, Herkimer. Canal at Little Falls. Captain Butler. De- struction qf Clterry Valley. Canajoharoo. Cant^oharie 186
LETTER VL
Story qf Mr. Fonda, Sir William Johnson. Prospect from Tripe's Hill. Johnstown, Amsterdam. Character of Ho- nourable John Jay; and qf William Pitt Beers, Esq. Cohoes. Waterford. Haff-Moon, Stillwater, Saratoga.,. 197
LETTER VIL
Progress of General Burgoyne. Desertion qf Ticondcroga, Battle of Hubbardton ; qf Battle-hill, Wise Measures of General Schwfler. Drfeat of Colonels Baume and Breckman. Battles qf September \9th and October 1th. Surrender of General Burgoyne. Ructions 207
LETTER VIIL
Saratoga, Fort Miller. Port Edward. Cambridge, Argyle, The Baton Kill. Easton. Greenwich. Scotch Settlers. Journey to Williamstown. Petersburgh. Pownal. Excur* sion to the Summit qf Saddle Mountain. Natural Bridge..,. 220
LETTER IX.
Journey to Pittsfield. Bursting qf a Cloud. Observations on Forest Trees. Difference in the Quantity qf Snow falling
GONTBNT8. m
Page tx Plices near to each other. Qtrious Origin of a Thunder Stom, and qf a Tornado. Account qf Mooing Rocks. Whu Froits. Return 234
STATE OF NEW-YORK.
LETTER I.
State i^ New-York, lis Extent and Population. Account qf v)kiu has been done for the Support qf Learning and Religion. '^different Sects into which it is divided • 251
LETTER IL
Cw«ttirfio« qf the State. Legislature. Electors. Executive. ^Wf. Council qf Appointment and Supreme Court qf ^fTortf so constituted as to affect the State in a manner wtfor" 'Wflteciwi mischievous 262
JOURNEY TO LONG-ISLAND.
LETTER L
^^M^ /rom Nonoalk to Huntington. Lloyd's Neck. Town (\f Huntington. Smithtown. Setaucket. Brookhaven. tHoerhead: its Courts. Southhold. Oyster Point. Fisher's Idand. Plumb Island 269
LETTER IL
^caera/ Ohseroaiions cm, the Northern Pans qf Long^lsland, and cm the Stones and Sand qf which it is composed. In- fuenoe qf the Guff Stream in depositing Sand on the Eastern Coast qf the United States. Cultivation qf Wheat. Account qf the Hessian Ffy. Forest TVees. Fruit Drees. Improvement m Agriesdture. Scarcity qf Brooks and MiU^Streams. Fkkeriet 278
▼m iJONTKNTS.
Pa LETTER 111.
Shelter Island, Sagg Harbour, The Peninsula of Montauk, Indians who inhabit it. Light House. East-Hampton. Manners of the Inhabitants, Honourable Efforts qfthe People to maintain the Government of Law, and to discountenance Vice. Settled from NeW'England. Suffolk County. Gar- diner^s Island. Bridghampton, Southampton. O^noe Place. IVesthampton. The Fireplace 2^
LETTER IV.
Islip. Hempstead Plain. Grouse Plain. Huntington. Oyster
Bay^ Hempstead. North" Hempstead. Flushing. Mr.
Princess Fruit'Yard, Jamaica. Ride from Jamaica to
Brooklyn. Vegetation on different Parts qf the Island af'
fected by the prevailing Winds. Busikwick 30
LETTER V.
Brooklyn, Prospect from the Heiglus. Battle between the British, under General Howe, and the Americans under General Putnam. Retreat of the Ameincan Army to NeW' York. The East River, King's-county settled by the Dutch. Character qf the Inhabitants. Quakers. Return 31
FIRST JOURNEY TO LAKE GEORGE.
LETTER L
Journey through Goshen, ifc, to the Head qf Lake George. Voyage across the Lake. Excursion to Ticonderoga. Re- turn to the Head qf ike Lake» Manner of Hunting Deer. Huntsman. Overtake a Buck swimming on the Lake. Fort fVaiiam Henry. Bloody Pond 32
LETTER IL
Description of. Idike George. Prevalent Winds, Fish. Water qf the Lake uncommonly pure, and supplied by subjacent
CONTENTS. IX
Page Sprkp, MilU and Forges, Fine Scenery qf the iMke. The Water, Islands. Shore and Mountains, View while ittMmiiig/rom Ticonderoga ••• 332
LETTER III.
^Ic of Lake George. General Johnson wounded. General h^^n takes the command of the English Army, and drfeats ^^f French, Vindication qf General Lyman*s Character,
^^drick. Chief of the Mohawks, Baron Dieskau 344
LETTER IV.
Auack on Fort WUUam Henry, Gallant Defence by Colonel Monroe, Capitulation and Massacre. General Webb's Ex- P^^iiion to Ticonderoga. Retreat qf the English Amnf. Journct^ continued. Dalton. Partridgefield. Worthington. ^^seerfield. Ifest-Hampton 359
SECOND JOURNEY TO LAKE GEORGE.
LEITER L
^("ih'MUfof'd, Derby. Mant^factory at Humphreysville, ^ooeiiennuc River. Oxford. Southbury. NcW'Milford. ^^ika anciently existing in the Courses qf Rivers 373
LETTER IL
^Wian Monument. Kent, Major General Swift. Journey fhm SaHsbufy Cataract to Lake George. Caldwell, Northum- Ifcrland. Moreau. Saratoga Springs. Ballston Springs. Lansinghurgh. 7W>)f. Albany. Hudson, Livingston, Clermont. Rkinebeck. ClhUon. Poughkeepsie, Fishkill. PkiUpstown,.... 986
LEITER in.
Cokmd Beverfy Robkuon. Prospect Jn the Highlands. Visit t9 Fans Montgomery and.CUnton. . . Expedition qf the British
X CONTENTS.
Page up the Hudson, PeekskilL Corilandt. Prospect qf the - Hudson and in Shores below the Highlands. Mount Pleasant. Greenburgh. Yonkers, Capttare and Death qf Major Andre. The River Hudson and its tributary Streams ^ 1 1
LETTER IV.
City of New-York. Its Seulement and Extent. Its Streets^ Churchetj and other Public BuHdings. City Hall. Hospital. State Prison. Bridewell, and City Prison. Old and New Alms-House. Political and Benevolent Societies. Columbia College. College qf Physicians and Surgeons. Elgin Botanic Garden. Schools. Ldterary Societies. Orphan Asylum. Markets. Banks and Insurance Companies. Commerce. Exports and Amount qf Duties , 429
LETTER V.
Origin qf tfie Inhabitants qf New-York. Their Industry. Rapid Increase qf the City. Economy qf the Citizens. Their Hospitality. Respect for Religion. Intelligence. Lan- guage. Amusements. Religious Character. Police. Re- ceipts and Expenditures qf the Treasury. Water. Ferry- Boats. Appearance of the City and the adjacent Country. Distinguished Men 449
LETTER VI.
Island qf Manhattan. Country Seats. Roads. Battle of Haerlem. Surrender qf Fort Washington. Haerlem Bridge. West-Chester. Army qf General Howe. East-Chester. New- Rochelle. Mamaroneck. Rye. Mr. Jay. County of West- Chester. Appearance of this Country in m 7 461
LETTER VII.
Greenwich. Putnam's Hill. Stanford. Honourable Abraham Davenport. Rev. Dr. Wells. Honourable James Davenport. Shipan. Middlesex. Rev. Dr. Mather. Bumirtg of Nfir- walk. FairfL'ld. Expedition of the British Troops to Dan- bury, General Wooster. Creneral Silliman. Rev. Mr. Hobart. Burning qf Fairfield. Reflections. Burning of Green's Farms.,., 473
CONTENTS. xi
Piige
LETTER VIII.
Sintfori Bridgepcrt. Rev. Dr, Johnson. County qf Fair" JkH I(f Boundaries, Smface, Soil, Divisions^ HedUkfid" lesf, 4fc. MUford, Rev, Samuel Andrew. MUford Marble. LoHg'Idamd Sound. Hellgaie, or Hurlgate 4'96
LETTER IX.
Siak (f NeuhYork, Its Boundaries. Mountains, Rivers and Agriculture. Iron Ore and Marble. Gypsum. Inha» hitant$, whence derived. New-England Seitlas, their Cha- rscter. Irish, German, and Scotch Colonists. French Proustaut , 500
JOURNEY TO PROVINCE TOWN.
LETTER III.
^oton. Account of the Pequods. War between the Colo- niiit and that Tribe, Gallant Attack and Destruction of one of their Forts by Captain Mason and his Troops, Pursuit of the Pequods to Fairfield^ and their final Destruction, Death of Sassacus,
Dbar Sir;
Groton is a township, lying on the Thames about ^el?e miles, and on the Sound about six or seven. A tract, extending along the Sound through the whole breadth of the township, and another, a mile wide, along the Thames, ex- uding through the whole length of the township, are rich and pJeasant. The remainder is generally very stony, difficult of calfivation, and to a great extent forested. The soil of Gro- ^n is better fitted for grass than for grain. Several of the farms are cultivated by tenants.
The inhabitants carry on some commerce upon the Thames, ^m the shore immediately opposite to New- London ; and at 'ackei^s ferry on the Mystic, a mill-stream, which separates Proton from Stonington. At each of these places there is a email village. That which was opposite to New- London was Principally burnt by the British troops in Arnold's expedition. *^ damage was estimated at 78,890 dollars. It is now ^^ifSj rebuilt. Throughout the rest of the township, planta- ^ thinly scattered, are formed in many places. The pOQDdgp which are sufficiently fertile and easy of cultivation to
▼OL. III. B
3 JOURNEY TO PROVINCB TOWN.
invite the hand of the farmer, are everywhere taken up. The remainder seems destined to continue in a forested state ; for its surface is in a great measure covered with rocks and stones.
The inhabitants of Groton have been more generally regard- less of religion than those of most other places in Connecti- cut. It is a long period since they have had a minister of the Gospel*; and the last, a very worthy man, was obliged to leave them, for the want of support. This must have resulted from a general indisposition to support the worship of God. The people are so numerous, that they might support three minis- ters at least, without any inconvenience to themselves *. There are some honourable exceptions to these remarks.
Groton began to be settled soon after New-London, t. «. soon after the year 1648; but was not incorporated until 1706. In 1756, in contained 2,532 whites, 179 blacks, and 158 Indians ; in 1774, 3,488 whites, 169 blacks, and 191 In- dians; in 1790, 3,946; in 1800, 4,372; and, in 1810, 4,451.
Of the Indians, in the year 1770, it is said, 44 were able to read, and 17 were members of the Christian church. The number of these people is supposed now to be diminished by their customary vices. The aboriginal name of Groton was Mystic.
This township was the principal seat of the Pequods, who occupied New-London, Norwich, Lisbon, Bozrah, Franklia, Plainfield, Preston, Groton, Stonington, and most probably several other townships, a tract not far from thirty miles squaref* Under the command of several shrewd and brave
* Since the paragraph above was written,aoumber of the inhabitants, asiP awaked oat of a long slumber, have embodied themselves in a coDgregatioti, built a church, and settled a respectable minister. The blessings osuaAj' Bowing from tliese measures, or, more properly, following them, they htLvm already began to realize, and their ctiildren will hereafter rise up and calf them blessed.
t The legislature of the colony of Connecticut, in their answer to heads
of inquiry relative to the state and condition of the colony, signified by the
secretary of state, July 5th, 1773, say, page 5th, " The original title to the
lands on which the colony was first settled was, at the time the Enj^ish
'came hither, in the Pequod nation of Indians, who were nnmerous and
A.GCOUNT OP THK PEQU008. 8
chiefs, these people rendered themselves very formidable to moat of the inhabitants in southern New-Eagiand. Sassacus pardcnlarly, who was their principal sachem at the time when the colonists arrived, appears to have been regarded by his neighbours, as well as by his subjects, with that peculiar awe, w^Iiich is inspired by superior personal strength, activity, cou- rage, and cunning. By most of them he was considered as invincible ; and by all as a singularly dangerous enemy. To tJbose bodily endowments, which are the great means of savage ^lory, be nnited a mind, possessed of uncommon native vigour, ity, and resolution ; and proved his personal superiority ythe most difficult exploits, and by the successful conduct of KXiany bold military enterprises. For an Indian, he was un- ^^pestionably a great man, and had he been bom in an en- liglitened Bge and country, might perhaps have been a ^^Uharles, or an Alexander. Under his instruction, and by his ^sxample, a nomber of his chiefs also had become intrepid and a^kagacioas iprarriors. Animated by this band of heroes, the Pe- ^[oods had risen to the summit of glory, and held among the JMoathem tribes of New-England a station scarcely less dis- ^iaguidied than that of the Iroquois, in the western parts of ^ew-Yoik.
Sasiaeus, soon after the establishment of the first New- IXngland colonists, appears thoroughly to have comprehended danger, which, from this source, threatened his country- He beheld them gaining quiet possession of several portant tracts in the neighbourhood of his own territory, as "irdl as others in parts more remote. They erected houses and fortresses, built and navigated vessels, and exhibited a
Uke. Their country extended from Narrfaagansett to Hudson river, and over all Long-Iilaiid. Sassacus, their great sagamore, had under him twenty- ax sachems. He injuriously made war upon the English, exercised despo- tic domiiiaoD over his suljects, and, with all his sachems and people, were oonqocred, and made tributary to the Engfish. This account of the teriito- lies of the Peqoods most not be understood to denote the country which they actually inhabited, but that which they either subdued or awed into sobjectian by the terror of their name.**
fkniamfl is here called their great sagamore, and is said to have had under Ian twenty-six sachems. These titles were, I think^ mistaken by the le- pUmn. Sachwn^ •• far.ju I have been able to learn^ denoted the chief nler, aad nfaaora the.enhoiduiate.
b3
4 #OURNBY TO PROVINCB TOWN.
skill and policy in government, to which he and his country^ men had before been strangers. They possessed weapom also of a new and terrible kind, conveying death from an un- exampled distance, and with a certainty and extent of execu tion, pre-eminently alarming. At the same time they ap peared to be perfectly united, had already become numerous and were continually increasing. They had also begun to de mand of the Indians an adherence to their engagements, t( which they had never been habituated, to regulate commerce by new rules, and to construe treaties on principles mon strict than savages had ever been obliged to admit. To al these disagreeable things they added a kind of authority ii their proposals and requisitions, which savage independence could not brook, and which savage pride and resentment wen impatient to retribute.
This haughty Indian seems to have been the first wh< formed the politic design, afterwards executed by Philip, th< son of Massasoit, of embarking all the Indians in New-Eog land in a general enterprise, for the purpose of driving tin English colonists out of the country. The design was ub doubtedly conceived with the soundest policy ; and, had Sas sacus been able to carry it into complete execution, wonU probably have terminated in the entire ruin of the colonists But, happily for our ancestors and for us, there were at thi; time insuperable obstacles to a successful effort of this nature Sassacus and his people were more dreaded by all the neigh bouriug tribes, than were the English themselves. They wen hated and envied, as well as dreaded. Every proposal to em bark with them in any enterprise was therefore considered b; their neighbours as treacherously made, and dangerously ac cepted. Those, from whom we have already received injuries and by whom we have been often alarmed and distressed, an always regarded vrith more disgust and terror than new ene mies. A proffer of friendship and union from such a source i always suspected as intending concealed mischief; and, what ever advantages it may promise, it will be believed to promise them only to those by whom the proffer is made. With sucl prepossessions against him and his people, Sassacus attempted without success, to unite the surrounding nations in this enter prise. They heard bis proposals, and seem in several in
ACCOUNT OP THB PEQUOD8. 5
stances to have admitted their justice and propriety without opposition. But they hesitated, and declined, on various pre- tences, to embark with liim in any measure for carrying them into execution.
Even the Narrhagansetts, who greatly outnumbered the Pe-
quods, regarded these people and their chief (having often suf<*
fered from their prowess), with such apprehension, that they
could never be brought to an open and determined adoption
of the design. They were plainly bitter enemies of the Eng-
^h, and ardently wished for their extermination. They also
perfectly understood the policy and wisdom of the proposal,
^nd felt the force of the arguments by which it was urged.
I^He scheme of attack was too evidently wise and practicable,
^o fail of their approbation. This was to bum the houses and
^^stroy the cattle of the English, to ambush their roads, to
^^ng upon the skirts of their settlements, and to waste them
^^^ay by continual loss, alarm, discouragement, watching, and
^^tigue. Few as the colonists were at that time, no other kind
warfare seems to have been necessary in order to break up
eir settlements. The Narrhagansetts, however, were still
luctant to unite with their mortal enemies ; and, upon a pro-
I made by the governor of Massachusetts to renew the
^^^X'^eaty between them and the English, Miantonimoh, theur
^liief sachem, together with several subordinate chieftains,
^^^ent to Boston, and engaged in a peace with the English,
openly hostile to the Pequods.
Sassacus and his people, not discouraged by the disappoint- ne&t, persisted in their favourite design with an intrepidity, ^^luch, in a nation of Europe, would have commanded praise fnnn the pen of every historian.
In the year 1634, Captains Stone and Norton, with eight iM, in a vessel from St. Christopher's, entered Connecticut nver for the purpose of trade, under the pilotage of twelve In- dians, friends and allies of the Pequods, and were all mur- ^f^ by their pilots. Stone and two of his men were dis- pstehed while they were asleep. Norton made a gallant de- ^BBee; but, having placed some powder in an open vessel, that he Q^t load with the greater expedition, he accidentally set it^n fire, and was so burned as to be disabled from any far- ^ eflbrt The {dunder acquiied by this act of treachery
6 #OURNBY TO PROiriKCB TOWN.
and violence was shared by the Peqnods and some of their neighbours.
Sassacus and his men were apprehensive that the English would make war upon them, to avenge the death of Stone and his companions ; and, being imperfectly prepared for such an event, attempted to avert the blow by negociation. Accord- ingly they sent an ordinary warrior to Boston, with proposals to the governor of Massachusetts, of peace and reconciliation. The messenger was not received ; and was informed, that men of superior distinction must, be employed by the Pequods, if they expected any attention to their propositions. Accord- ingly they dispatched two envoys of higher rank, with a pre-^ sent, to accomplish their purpose. The only terms which they could obtain were, that they must deliver up the murderers. They replied, that the murderers were all dead, except two, whom they were willing to deliver up, if they should be found guilty. They also offered several other conditions, particu- larly to yield their right to Connecticut river, and its neigh- bourhood, to the English. The treaty was at length ratified upon these terms, and the English agreed to trade with them as friends.
After the treaty was signed, the messengers returned home, but the Pequods never fulfilled any of their engage- ments. The truth was, they had entered into them merely because the Dutch and the Narrhagansetts were prosecuting a war with them, and they thought it not safe to make new enemies.
In the vear 1685, John Oldham, an inhabitant of Dorches- ter, who had been trading in Connecticut, was murdered in the neighbourhood of Block Island, by some of its Indian in- habitants, together with several of the Ndrrbagansetts. A Mr. Gallup, who was sailing from Connecticut to Bostbb, passing by Oldham's vessel, saw a number of Indians on board, and a number of others going from it in a canoe with a load of English goods. Suspecting the cause, he hailed them; and, receiving no answer, steered immediately for Oldham's vessel. With only one man and two boys, he at- tacked them so briskly, that he instantly cleared the de^k. He then ran upon Oldham's vessel three several times, and gave it itth severe shocks, that she 6f the Indiims tit one fliile, aaM
WAR WITH THE PRQUODa. 7
five at another, leaped overboard, and perished. He then
boarded the vessel, bound two of the Indians, took oat Oldham's
coipse, together with the remaining furniture and goods, and
took the vessel in tow. The corpse he buried. The wind,
however, soon obliged him to set the vessel adrift, and she was
lost One of the Indians he was obliged to throw overboard*
the other he conveyed to Boston. Several of the murderers
of Oldham fled to the Pequods, and were protected by them.
The Narrhagansetts early, and sedulously, offered such satisfaction for their share in this treacherous business, as ultimately accepted by the government of Massachusetts'* ay.
In 1636, Captain Endicot was sent by this government to c^venge these injuries upon the Pequods, and the inhabitants of Block Island. This party ravaged Block Island, by de- Btroying the com, canoes, and weekwams ; made an ineffec- "dial effort of a similar nature upon the Pequods ; and then re- ^tnmed home, without having accomplished any object of im* portance.
The Pequods, who before hated the English, now despised them, and hegan their hostilities with vigour. They attacked Captain Underbill, and twenty men, destined to reinforce the garrbon at Saybrook, as he was lying in the harbour of New- London, took successively and tortured several of the men, and killed several others; waylaid the inhabitants of Say- brook, when about their ordinary business ; surrounded the fort with a kind of siege, and destroyed every thing valuable in its neighbourhood. In the spring of the succeeding year, renewing their attacks with still greater activity, they killed four men at Saybrook, and a fifth in the river. Two others, taken at the same time, they tortured in the most excruciating Banner, till they died. Another party of them killed six men and three women at Wethersfield, and captivated two girls. In consequence of these ravages, the government of Connec- ticut, although the whole jurisdiction comprised only three towns, Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield, determined to attack the Pequods in earnest, and raised ninety men for this pnpose. Massachusetts, at the same time, engaged to send two hundred men, and Plymouth forty, to their assistance. The little army of CSonnecticut, joined by seventy Moheagans,
u
8 JOURNKY TO PBOVINGB TOWN.
fell down the river on Wednesday, the 10th of May, under tli9 command of Captain John Mason, a man who was both bon% and bred a soldier. The Moheagans were headed by Uncas» % sachem extensively celebrated in the history of New-England^j The movement of their little fleet was so slow, that theMobea^ gans requested to be set on shore. On their march towardftj Say brook they fell in with a body of the Pequods, of whoiAi they killed seven, and took one a prisoner. This man, having' been concerned in all the treacheries and murders of his nam tion for a length of time, was claimed by Uncas, to be put toy death in the Indian manner, and expired under the inflictions of savage torture. u
Mason, although directed to proceed immediately to New*:.: London, judged it best (and brought his ofiicers into the same opinion) to sail to Narrhagansett-Bay, and secure the friend-, ship and assistance of Miantonimoh, or at least his neutrality »*, He found Miantonimoh disposed, without much reluctance, to* coincide with his wishes ; but he was hardly induced to believe that the English commander was in earnest in his avowed de- termination to attack the Pequods. Their number he consi- dered as too small to furnish even a remote prospect of sue* cess. However, when he saw Mason resolved to proceed, he sent two hundred of the Narrhagansetts along with him. They marched that day, Wednesday, May 24th, to Charles- town''^, and were joined the next morning by almost two hun- dred more, partly Narrhagansetts, and partly eastern Nahan- tics, who boasted much of the gallantry which they intended to display in fighting the Pequods. But upon approaching nearer to the enemy, and finding Captain Mason really deter- mined on an attack, a considerable number of them were so disheartened, that they left the army, and returned home.
The original design of Mason had been to attack the fort, in which Sassacus himself resided^. The desertion was occar sioned by the notification of this purpose to the Indians, all of whom trembled at his formidable name, and seem to have imagined, that no attempt against him could be attended with success. Upon inquiry. Captain Mason found, after a march of three miles fiirtber, that he was twelve miles firom the spoU
* In tbe state of Rbode-UUnd.
t Tkii ttood M far horn tin TbuMs • ^^ »!•» dboY^ the feny.
WJL& ^ITH THB FBQCT0D8. 9
At the nme time he was assured, that the other fort of the Feqaorfs was near at hand. He determined, therefore, to nttke diis the object of his first assault ; and, having ordered hb men to rest for the night, and sent out an Indian to recon- Mitie, discovered, with no small satisfaction, that bis enemies fail not even suspected his arrival, but were in a state of per- fect security.
About two hours before day, his little army began their math for the expected fortress, and came in sight of it at day- beak. The Indians immediately vanished. Uncas, however, shI Wequash, a Pequod chief, who had suffered several in- dignities from the imperiousness of Sassacus, at length re- uffcueij and apologized for the flight of their followers, alleg- iif, as their excuse, the terror with which they regarded these emiiies. Mason ordered them to collect their countrymen, adl encompass the fort at whatever distance they pleased, tkat they might see whether Englishmen would fight. They obeyed. Mason, with one division of his troops, attempted the eastern entrance of the palisade, while Underbill, with the other division, marched to the western. It will be proper to observe, that the fort stood on Mystic river, the boundary be- twten Stonington and Groton.
The English were discovered, by the barking of a dog, when the? were within a few rods of the palisade ; and, while the Indians were betaking themselves to their arms, poured a ge- neral discharge of their muskets through the interstices. Mason finding the eastern entrance small, and diflScult to be carried, listened round to the southern one, which was sufficiently large, and secured only by two small boughs. These he and his lieutenant instantly removed, and entered the fortress, the men crowding closely behind them. The Pequods fought with great resolution ; and, after they had been driven from the open g^und, secured themselves in the numerous week- wims, enclosed within the palisade. Hence they annoyed the EngSsh incessantly, without being visible. Wearied with tins incouTenient and firuitless mode of attack. Mason ordered his men to set the weekwams on fire ; and, seizing a brand, became their example. At this moment an Indian pointed an airow against him, and would have killed him instantly, had not a sQigeant, named Davis, cut the bowstring. The fivQ
10 JOURNBY TO PROVIMOB TOWN.
spread among the dry boughs and foliage with which the week warns were covered, with furious rapidity, and speedily ii volved them in a general conflagration. The English imnu diately retired without the fort The Pequods, following tbei in order to escape finom the flames, weoe slain by the Englirf or by their Indian allies, who, having assumed sufficient resell tion to become witnesses of the conffict, had formed then selves in a circle without the English.
The destruction was very great. Sev^L only of the Pequod escaped ; and ody seven more were made prisoners. Betwee five and six hundred are supposed to have fallen, of whom on hundred and forty were, in the opinion of Captain Masoi shot from die top of the palisade, whither they had climbed t avoid the fury of the flames. The English had originally dc terrained not to bum the fort ; but, when they found themselv< assailed from the weekwams by an enemy who could neithc be met nor seen, they resorted to this as a desperate and ii dispensable measure. When the victory was finished, after som litde desultory dLirmishing with other parties of the Pequodi who made an appearance of attacking them, but fled as soo as they approached, the English embarked on board their ves sels, which providentially came into the hari)Our just at tb time when the army, wearied by so much excessive fatigue impatiently wished for their arrival. Within three week from the commencement of the expedition they arrived a Hartfordr with the loss of two men killed and sixtee] wounded. Their Indian allies also returned to their respec tive homes.
Few efforts, made by man, have been more strongly market with wisdom in the projection, or with superior courage m conduct in the execution. Every step appears to have bee: directed by that spirit and prudence which mankind have, wit one voice, regarded with admiration and applause in td statesman and the hero. The Pequods were wholly the ag gressors ; and, however we may approve of the policy wit which they proposed to exterminate the English, we cannc fail to remember, that the English had entered peaceably int the country, and purchased the possessions at a fair price, c the lawful proprietors. Ninety men undertook and aocom plished this desperate enterprise against an enemy, commaiid
WAE WITH TUB- VBQUODS. II
ing probably not less than ooe thoasand or fifteen hnndred warriors, the most resolnte and soccessfal hi New-England, the terror and the scourge of all the surrounding nations, headed by a chief nniivalled in his sagacity and success, and possessed of erery miKtary endowment, and of all the skill and address attainable by savages.
When the news was carried to Sassacns, it produced •
tempest of conflicting passions in the minds of hi» people aod
tbeir chieftains. Regret for the loss of their countrymen, and
'Resentment against him, as the author of their calamities, en-
i^iged tfiem to such a degree, that they were on the point of
potting faim to death. His friends, however, interceded for
JUm powerfully, and finaDy saved his Ufe. But the terror pro-
dticed by their late disaster, agitated them into a frenzy. Inr
stead of waiting for another attack, they set fire to their week-
'Wams, and to the great fortress of Sassacus, and fled in dif-
f«ent directions. Sassacus, together with some of his chiefii,
cand abont seventy followers, went to the Iroquois. The
principal part of the nation were dispersed in the countries,
"^restward of Connecticttt river. The greatest body of them
directed their course by a winding route to Fairfield, where
^hey were received, and secreted by a tribe, who wens
wmtives of the place, and were called Unquowas. The prio*
cnpal fortress of these people was in a swamp, on the border
of tiie Sound, about two miles westward of the town of Fair-
^Id, and about a quarter of a mile eastward of Saseo
Tiver, lying immediately south of the old post road to New«-
York*.
Captmn Stougfatott, with a body of men firomMassachusettii, airiving speedily after the flight of the Pequods, determined to pursue them; and, having providentially discovered the place of dieir retreat, marched directly thither. Here he was soon joined by Mason, with forty men from Hartford. On die arrival of the English in the neighbourhood of the swamp, a part of them, advancing eagerly, sunk so deep into the ndre, that, being instantly attacked by the Indians, they were tery near being destroyed, and several of them were badly
* The presybt tompike road to If ew^Yoik psases throaf^ this swampi
13 JOURNBY TO PRO¥INCB TOWN.
wounded, before a sufficient number of their friends could come to their rescue. The Indians then requesting a parley» it was granted, and Thomas Stanton was sent by the English to propose to them terms of surrender ; and particularly to proffer life -to such Indians as had not been concerned in murdering the English. The chief of the Unquowas, with his family and people, to the amount of about two hundred, gladly accepted of these termsi and immediately left the fort^ Stanton was sent a second time, to renew the proffer to the rest. These, who were either chiefly or wholly Pequods, re- ceived the proposals with disdain. Stanton fled for his life^ The Indians pursued him with their arrows so vigorously, that, had not his friends hastened to rescue him, he would have been killed.
Upon this proof of determined hostility, the English resolved to surround the fort at a nearer distance, by cutting a passage through the swamp. Here they formed a circle, the men placing themselves at the distance of twelve feet from each other ; and in this manner completely enclosed their enemies. Towards morning a thick fog arose from the Sound, and co- vered the swamp. A considerable number of the enemy took this opportunity to make their escape, which, after several unsuccessful attempts, they accomplished by breaking through a quadrant of the circle, commanded by Captain Patrick. A considerable number more were killed in several attacks during the night ; and in the morning one hundred and eighty were taken prisoners. These were divided between the Massa- chusetts and the Connecticut troops. The people of Massa- chusetts sent several of the women and children to Bermuda, and sold them as slaves. The wife of Mononotto, the second in rank among the Pequod chiefs, was one of the captives. This woman had been formerly distinguished by a peculiar at- tachment to the two girls, taken by her countrymen at We- thersfield. She and her children were recommended to the particular favour of Governor Winthrop, and were received and treated by him with a kindness and generosity, wholly be- coming his character. The remainder of the nation, exclu- sively of those who had fled, and who probably were nu- merous, amounted to two hundred, beside women and chil-
DB8TRUCTION OF THE PBQUODS. IS
dren. Of these one hundred were given to Uncas, eighty to Miantonimoh, and twenty to Ninnigret, another sachem of the Narrhaganetts, to be incorporated among their own people *.
Sassacus was soon after killed by the Mohawks, and his scalp sent to Connecticut. Mononotto made his escape. Thus within the compass of a few weeks was a tribe of In- dians exterminated, who, according to the tradition of the cottDtry, had come from an inland region at a great distance, fought their way through all the intervening tribes to the ocean, planted themselves in the tracts which they had con- quered, and awed, with a general and indeterminate control, ^1 the nations in their neighbourhood. This tribe, appa- I'ently superior in their understanding to other savages, and possessed of loftier and more extensive views, was so far anni- hilated as to be thenceforth without a government, and with- out a name. It is not easy to travel through the country, "^bere they formerly resided, or to pass by the field, in which
* The legislatarc of Connccticot, in the answers above referred to, say, * * The war with the Pequods being ended, considemtions and settlements '^^«re made with such sachems and people as remained, who came in receired to their iiill contentment and satisfaction, and have at ail siisce been used and treated with justice and humanity. No grants made by the general assembly before the Indian title is purchased, Agreeably to the right of pre-emption granted by royal charter to the gover- nor and company of the colony."
Extract from the Records of Connecticut. — " Joseph Nyouke, a Pequod,
iMMeoted a petition, in behalf of himself and other Pequod Indians in Gro-
^OQ, coBceroing the laud reserved for that tribe in Groton, one half of which
Ind by pemussioo of the general assembly been divided into fifty-acre lots.
niib property had been misused by the whites, to whom it had been leased.
A committee was granted on this petition, May, 1750.^
From this extract, which I have taken the liberty to abbreviate, it is evi- deor, that the legblature of Connecdcut, from the conquest of the Pequods, itserred for them by law a considerable tract of land for their maintenance, and ftuperiotended their interests with the same attention which was paid to diose of the white inhabitants of the colony. This is a decisive instance of the justice, and of the humanity also, with which the Indians were treited by the early colonists of New-£nglaad, and which has been conti- iMMd to die proteot time.
14 JOURNBY TO PROVINCB TOWK.
they were finaUy overthrown, without indulging many sok and melancholy reflections.
The conquest of the Pequods filled the Indians of N* England with astonishment and terror. In the emphal language of revelation, the land, like that of Israel, under government of Othniel, after the victory over the king of 1 sopotamia, '' had rest forty years.''
I am. Sir, &c.
LETTER IV.
Simington ; cultivated partly by Tenants. Indians still remaining here. Their degraded Character and Situation. The perfection to which Man arrives in a state of Nature. General Observations upon the remnants of the Indian Tribes now found in New-England. Means of effecting their Civilization.
Dear Sir;
After crossing the Mystic, we entered Stonington. The face of the country became immediately better; and, though rough and stony to a considerable degree, was formed of easy and beautiful slopes, levels of considerable extent, and finely rounded eminences. The prospects were generally pleasant, and in several instances superior. The soil also was neb, and almost everywhere well-cultivated. This description is applicable to most of the township, which is one of the largest in Connecticut, extending, with a breadth of about six miles. Dot less than sixteen from the Sound into the interior**. Be- side grass, it yields maize, oats, barley, and rye, remarkably Veil. Wheat is cultivated in small quantities, and grows loxariantly ; but is often blasted. This is in part attributed to the exuberant vegetation of grass, which, when apparently destroyed by the plough, springs up from the seed, and choaks the wheat at the time when the kernel is forming. Flax for- nierly grew well ; but lately has been blasted also, probably fiom some defect in the mode of culture. Orchards abound lieie ; and are so prosperous, that apples and cider have become considerable articles of commerce. In the southern half of tlie township wood is scarce and dear, in the northern it is lufliciently abundant. The hills constitnte almost the whole
* Smoe Uns jouniey was taken, StomngUm has been divided into two ; tiiotooMidmaMdNortb'SlooiDgtoB.
1(5 JOURNBY TO PROVINCB TOWN.
surface, and are altogether the best land. The vallies, whidi are usually narrow and rough, present to the eye a confused mass of stones and rocks, apparently rolled together from the hills by some violent convulsion.
Within the limits of this township are found, on the summits of hills, in about fifty places, single large rocks, lying loose on the surface of other rocks, imbedded in the earth. One particularly, in the southern part of the township, is raised up from the surface on three stones, about twelve or fifteen inches in diameter. The diameter of the rock itself is about fifteen feet. How or when it was thus placed is unknown, and has hitherto bafl9ed conjecture.
The farms in this township contain from sixty to three hundred acres each. Almost half of them are cultivated bv tenants. A great part of these are poor people from Rhode- Island, who make Stonington their half-way house, in their progress towards the new settlements. Accustomed from their childhood to labour hard on a sterile soil, and to live on very scanty means of subsistence, they come with their families to the rich lands of Stonington, and take small farms, or parts of farms, upon lease. Here, with the most assiduous industry and a minute frugality, they gradually amass money enough to purchase farms in the wilderness. They then leave their habitations to successors from the same state, who regularly follow them in the same track. In this manner a considerable part of the inhabitants of this township are almost annually changed. It is, however, to be observed, that some of the Stonington people lease their own farms, and hire and cultivate others, which are larger.
The rents of these farms are from one to seven hundred dollars- per annum ; paid usually in their produce, and, in the gpreater number of instances, in cheese only. Of this commo- dity 370,000 pounds are annually exported from this township. Seventeen thousand pounds have been made in a year on the lands of Mr. Denison, the gentleman with whom we lodged. The mode, in which each farm is to be managed by the tenant, is regularly described with minute exactness in the lease.
I have mentioned this subject thus particularly, because it is in a great measure peculiar to this spot. There are, indeed, several instances in which farms are taken upon lease in Groton;
BRITISH ATTACH ON 8TONINGTON. 17
«Qi, in solitary instances, the same thing exists in other places ; but there arc probably more cases of this nature in Stonington than can be found elsewhere in a third part of the state.
There are four villages in Stonington : one on the Mystic ; another at the head of navigation on the Paukatuc ; a third, four miles further up the same stream, called Mill-Town ; and a fourth on Stonington Point. The population in these vil- lages is increasing ; in the rest of the township it is at a stand. T^be houses are, generally, good fanners' dwellings. The v^lages are built in a neat manner.
Stonington Point is a semi-ellipsis, a third of a mile in l^^ngth; and, where widest, a fourth of a mile in breadth. X^Tom the centre the surface declines every way, with an easy, •c^x^ed slope, to the shore. It is disagreeably encumbered *^w Jtfa rocks, but is otherwise handsome and pleasant. The bouses, about 170 in number, are neat in their appearance and "^Jieir appendages. There are two churches on the Point ; a ^E^resbyterian and a Baptist; both new, and good.
The Point is accommodated with two. harbours. That on ^lie western side has a bold shore ; is sufficiently deep for ves- sels, under two hundred and fifty tons, to load at the wharfs, 3iid is safe from all winds, except the south-west, and in die upper parts even from that. The wharfs are built of stone, and are in good order**.
* The following letter is an official account of an abortive attempt made during the late war, b^ the squadron under Commodore Hardy, to burn the WoQgh of Stonington.
" Stomington Borough, Aug. 21st, 1815. ** To the Hon. William H. Crawford, Secretary of War. **$!£; — ^Tbe former secretary of war put into my care, as chairman of ^oommittee of defence, the two eighteen pounders, and all the munitions of »ar that were here, belonging to the general goveraroent, to be used for ^defence of the town, and I gave my receipt for the same.
As there is no military officer here, it becomes my duty to inform you of ^ose we have made of it. That on the 9th of August last, the KamiHes M*enty-lbur, the Pactolut forty-four, the Terror bomb-ship, and the Det- pHcb tweo^ gun brig, anchored off our harbour. Commodore Hardy sent ^ t boat with a flag ; we met him with another from the shore, when the <4te of the flag banded me a note from Commodore Hardy, informing me, ^ one boiir was gjiven the unoffending inhabitants, before the town would ^destroyed. We recamed to the shore, where all the male inhabitants were collected^ TOL. III. C
,18 JOURNBY TO PROVINCB TOWN.
Mystic riyer is a good harbour for vesseLi of not more tfaaii fSiKty tons ; boft Hiey are loaded a mile and a half below th^
when I read the note aloud.' Tliey all ezchimed they would defond the •place to the last extremityy and if it was destroyed they would be buried m its ruins.
I We repaired to a small battery we had hove up, nailed our colours to the flag-staff, while others lined the shore with their muskets.
At about seven in the evening they put off five barges and a lai^ laonch, 'carrying from thirty- two to nine pound carronadcs in their bows, and opeaed their fire from the shipping with bombs, carcasses, roc^ts^ round grape apd cannister shot, and sent their boats to land under cover of their fire. We let them come within small grape distance, when we opened our fire upon them from pur two eighteen pounders with round and grape shot. They soon retreated out of grape distance, and attempted a landing on the east side of the village. We dragged a six pounder that we had mounted owr, ^d met them with grape ; and all our muskets opened a ^ upon them, so that they were willing to retreat the second time. They continued their £re till eleven at night.
The next morning, the brig Despatch anchored within pistol shot of our battery, and they sent five baiges and two large launches to land undercover of their whole fire (being joined by thei Nimrod twenty gun brig). When the boats approached within grape distance, we opened our fire upon them with round and grape shot; 4bey retreated and came roimd the east side of the town. We checked them with our six pounder and muskets, till w^ dragged oi(er one of our eighteen pounders. We put in a round shot, and about forty or fifty pounds cf grape, and placed it in the centre of then boats, as they were rowing up in a line and firing on us ; we tore one of their baiges all in pieces, so that two, one on each side, had to lash her up to keep her fit>m sinking. They retreated out of grape distance, and we turned our fire upon the brig, and expended all oar cartridges but five, which we re- served for the boats, if they made another attempt to land. We then lay four hours without being able to annoy the enemy in the least, except from muskets on the brig, while the fire of their whole fleet was directed against our buildings. After the third express to New-London, some fixed amm»- mdoii arrived ; we then turned our cannoo on <the brig, and she soon cot her cable and drifted out.
• The whole fleet then weighed, and anchored nearly out of reach of our shot, and continued this and the next day to bombard the town.
Tliey set the buildings on fire in more than twenty places ; and we as ofleu put them out. In the three days** bombardment they sent on shore Aore than sixty tons of metal, and, strange to tell, wounded only one man^ since dead. We have picked up fifteen tons, including some that was taken up but of the water, and the three anchors that we got. We took up and buriod four poor fellows that were hove overboard out of the sinking baigea - Since peace, the officers of the Despatch brig have been on shore hare. They acknowledge they had twenty-one killed, and fifty badly wounded; and further say, had we conrinued our fire any longer they should have
ssmrATiT or thb pbquod tribx. ift
setdement, at Paclei^s feriy. Pankatuck has a crooked obannel, admitting small Tessels only. Eveii these are loaded at a eonsidenble distance below the bridge. Those which are larger take in their lading at Stonington Point, appropriately called the Port
Between forty and fifty vessels (coasters, fishermen, and
others) are owned in Stonington. The cod fishery is by far
tke most profitable business done here. It is chiefly carried
CMi at Ghreen Island and the straits of Belleisle, and has been
^laiformly prosperous. The West-Indian business has been
generally nnprosperons.
A considerable number of Indians reside in this township cilso, and possess a tract of land on and about Lanthem-hill, isi the northern part of the township, and the most elevated ^K>tni iiiis region. Here some of (hem lire in weekwams, «uid others in houses resembling poor cottages ; at the best smsJU ragged, and unhealthy. Others, still, live on the farms of the white inhabitants, in houses built purposely for them^ «ind pi^ their rent by daily labour. Two-thirds of them are supposed to be contained in the Indian families, the remaining t&ird are employed in the service of the fiamers. One-half «f the fonner division live on the lands reserved for them. These are held in fee simple, and cannot be disposed of with- out the consent of the legislature or of the overseer.
The whole body of these Indians are a poor, degraded, miserable race of beings. The former pr6ud, heroic spirit of the Pequod, terrible even to other proud, heroic spirits around lum, is shrunk into the tameness and torpor of reasoning hratisni. All the vice of the original is left: all its energy has Tanished. ' They are lazy in. the extieme; and never labour, unless compelled by necessity. Nor are they less prodigal than lazy. The earnings of a year, hardly as tfiey are acquired, they will spend in a day, without a thought of themoiTOW. Wherever they caoi obtain 'credit, they involve thanaclves m debt; and never dreantof paying their debts.
fliivck; far tbey were is m linking cooditioo, for tine, wind blew soutb-west dinctly into the haibour. All the shot suitable for tliu canooa we have re- «nrcd. We have now more eighteen pound shot than was sent us by fovenrasent. We hmve put the two cannon into the arsenal, and housed ail the nontioiM of «NUp/^ "^■•
c 2
90 . JOURNEY TO PROVINCE TOWN.
imless under the iron hand of law. Thieves they are of course, but have too little enterprise to steal any thing of im* portanoe. It is hardly necessary to observe, that they are liars. They have no such thing among them as marriage ; but cohabit without ceremony or covenant, and desert each other at pleasure. Their children, when young, they place in English families as servants. In the earlier parts of life these children frequently behave well ; but, when grown up, throw off all that is respectable in their character, and sink to the level of their relatives. Some of them, when hired as la* bourers and servants, are tolerably industrious, from a convic^ tion that they cannot safely be indolent. The rest, and even these when not employed, doze away life in uniform sloth and stupidity. To strong drink their devotion is complete ; and for ardent spirits, or eider, they will part with every thing which they possess. Generally, they are healthy; but, when sick, seem in a great measure to be beyond the reach of medicine. Those, who live by themselves, are half-naked, and often half-starved. ^
The Indian, in a savage state, spent life chiefly in roving ; but he roved in pursuit of the deer, the bear, the wolf, or his enemy. A high sense of glory, an ardent passion for achieve* ment, a proud consciousness of independence, and a masculine spirit of exertion were the prominent features of his character; He had customarily an object before him ; in his view great, useful, and honourable. He had, therefore, powerful motives to rouse his faculties into action. When he had not, he either spent his time in violent gambling, in which, like the polished adventurers of civilized society, he hazarded and lost his all ; even his blanket and his gun ; or, when he Could not gamble, dozed away life in precisely the same paralytic m» activity, which is so remarkable in his tamed countrymen.
The Indian of the latter character lounges, saunters, gets drunk, eats when he can find food, and lies down to sleep under the nearest fence. Without any present or future object in view, without proposing any advantage to himselfi or feeling any interest in what is proposed by others, he leads Ae life, not of a man, but of a snail ; and is rather a moving vegetable than a rational being.
To these remarks there are some exceptions. The women.
8AVAGB STATE OP SOOIBTT. 21
who live in Eaigliah families, retain at times a degree of thai
fondness for dress, so remarkaUe and oniyersal among such as
still continue in a saTage state. Those who are educated in
these fJEunilies are often seen at church. A small number,
also, of both men and women are reputed to be honest,, and
ware, therefore, safelj belieyed to merit this character.
Bat the most remarkable exception is the following : at th^ settlement above-mentioned lives an aged Indian, who po»- a considerable share of understanding. This man, for series of years, has occasionally preached to them, and is d to give them useful exhortations. At times they very generally assemble to hear his discourses, and hold him in Kxinch respect; a strong proof that human nature^ in its lowest ^degradation of ignorance and vice, feels irresistibly the di»o ^ftinction between worth and the want of it, and renders, almost ustinctively, its homage to virtue.
If any thing is necessary to complete the miserable and xnebncholy picture, it is this additional feature, that not one of the rising generation appears to aim, even remotely, at any higher character.
Yon have, here, an account of that very state of society, ^which is preferred and extolled by Godwin as the perfection of man. Here the human race, as nearly as possible, are without the restraint of law, morals, or religion. At the same time they are free in the foflest sense. No private individud possesses or exercises any power to control their conduct; and the government of Connecticut, either from despair of domg them any good, or from the unwillingness of its magis* trates to execute law among these people, seems, in a manner vUch I cannot justify, to have resigned them to the dictates of their own passions and appetites. Flagrant breaches of law would undoubtedly be punished in them as in others. At kast such as respected property, life, or limb. But few or no exertions have for a long time been made to restrain their mumisirion of infericnr crimes, and to these crimes alone do they appear at present to have any strong propensity ; t. e. as they eatimote crimes, for lewdness seems not to be considered \ff tbem as crirainal. Ordinarily, they do just what they please. Fromiieuoua oononbinage also, Godwin's great and favourite
23 JOURNBY TO PROVIKCB TOWN.
0tep towards periection» they practice in the most uDUmitad manner. Nor are they less perfectly possessed of his other two essential ingredients in the constitution of his happy, society, Why then are they not perfect and happy ?
There are two great reasons to be assigned as an answer tp tills question, both of which have escaped this hoodwinked philosopher. The first is, that human depravity, or, in other words, sin, has no tendency to make a happy society ; but, among all intelligent beings, will always render the social state nnhappy, in exact proportion to the degree in which it exists. The other is, that labour is the only source of those enjoy- ments, which make up what Grodwin calls happiness, and that, without the dominion of law, which alone secures to man the benefit of his eflbrts, no hnman being will, labour. Godwin and his associates feel as if themselves should be happier if they were freed from the restraints which I have mentioned 4 not mistrusting, that without them others, enjoying the same licentiousness of disposition, and the same impunity in inr dulging it, wonld plunder them of liberty, property, and life. Equally are they insensible, that without the protection of law none would labour, and no part of those enjoyments, on which they riot, be brought into existence. Without law, religion, and morals, they might indeed be fornicators and adulterers, thieves and assassins, but they, would be beggars find vag^^ bonds. The very wickedness which prompted Godwin to write his books, and which he has poured out upon almost every page with a portentous turpitude, would render all around him as hostile to him as he is to religion, morals, and government, and make whatever he thought his own rights the tennis-ball of injustice and cruelty. In addition .to aU thi^i and in defiance of the sagacious calculations-^of one of. l^U^ pretended answerers, population, instead of being increased^ would rapidly decay. These Indians have continually de* clined in their numbers,, notwithstanding their decrease has been checked by their cohabitation with th^ blacks. WherQ^ the fruits of no man's labour are secured ;. where no. man ha^ acknowledged children to labour for ; where, according to thf^ wish of Godwin, every child is without a known lESBither» an4 possessed of a casual instead of a family name, no man will labour. He, who is willing to be induntxions, seeing all fail
8AVAGK STATB OF 80C1HTY> ^
eanmigs destined to become the prey of strangers and enemies^
of sloth and yillainy, irill retire from the hopeless pursuit with
diBdaiD, and consent to starve with the multitude, radier than-
toil for wretches, whom it must be difficult not to lude, and im*
possible not to despise. What a pity it is diat Godwin, and
afl who relish his doctrines, should not obtain the privilege of
abaring in the dignity and happiness enjoyed in this state of
human perfection !
The great calamity experienced by these Indians, and by all other people in the like circumstances, is this : within the horizon erf* their thought not a single motive arises, not a single inducement is Tisible, which might awaken their dosing energy^ or prompt them to any useful effort. Man, without motives to exertion, is a beast or a log ; with them, he can become an .Alfred or a Paul. But the motives must be such as he is fitted to feel ; and Indians, without greater exertions in their l>ehalf than tiiose which have hitherto been made, will never feeU iior even comprehend, such motives as influence civilised The great hindrance to their improvement does not lie, some dr^uning European philosophers have supposed, in tJie inferiority of their minds. Their minds are natively of the same structure with those of Frendimen or Englishmen. This position is completely proved by the fact^ that the duldren of Americana, Englishmen, Scotchmen, Irishmen, Dutchmen, and frenchmen, when cultivated by them in early life, become aaere Indians, distinguishable in nothing, except a small differ- ence of colour, from the native savages. Not one of them ever diseovered half the capacity, or rose to half the distinc- tion, which the history written by white men records of Miantonimoh, FUlip, Sassacus, Uncas, or the great Hen- driek. Nay, the Canadian descendants of the French pea- aaatiy are many of them inferior in every respect to the aborigines. Hie philosoirfiy of Buffon, therefore, of De Pauw and various otfaen conoermng this subject, would have been better spared ; for it is unsupported even by the shadow of a reason, or a fact The real cause of all this degradation in the Indiatt is the want of such motives to exertion as he is psepered to feel withm the view of his mind. The only causa of homan distinetion, also, -is the existence of such motives. Whete notUng prompts to action, nodung will be done ; where wBcieat indneeaMSits are (nresented, every thing will be done
9t JOURMKT TO PROVINCS TOWN.
wiuob is withia the gnmp <rf' hvinaD power. When motms oease to operate and excite, man will lounge away life; saunter from place to place without knowing why ; dress hini' self in a blanket ; seat himself upon a stone ; smoke through &e day at the door of a weekwam ; or stretch himself to sleqp under the nearest hedge. When motives arouse him to exer* tion« he will cross unknown oceans to discover new countries^ coast the polar ice to attack the whale ; ascend the Andes to measure the equatorial latitude; ransack the bowels of the earth to enlarge the science of mineralogy ; imprison himself in a cell for seven years to obtain the palm of eloquence ; fac« the fangs of the catamount or the tiger, to be called the best huntsman ; toil through life to accumulate an inheritance for his diildren ; or fight battles, or slaughter millions, to wreathe upon his Ihtow the garland of triumph. With sufficient mo- tives, also, he will resist temptation ; subdue his lusts ; expend his substance ; and yield his life for the cause of Christiani^, the salvation of men, and the glory of the Redeemer.
The Indian, when passing from savage ferocity into quiet life, undergoes this transmigration with the most unfavourable circuiflstances. All the considerations by which he was for- merly influenced are cut ofl^, and no new ones are introduced to his view. War and hunting, wisdom in council, and elo- quence in debate, the only objects of his former ambition, and the sources of all his former glory, vanish at once. To them nothing succeeds which presents him a single allurement. He hates labour, and is therefore poor. But among civilized peo- ple poverty is, in the common opinion, only another name for disgrace. For reflection and study he is utterly unqjaalified ; from the want, not of capacity, but of inclination. Labour and thought, therefore, being both odious, and in his view con- temptible, he is at the outset precluded from attempting either. But with these, all motives which prompt to any exertion in civilized life are inseparably connected. Hence his mind is left to the government of instinct, and the remain- ing influence of his former habits. In this manner he sinks down to the state of a mere animal, and in his mode of life resembles a brute more than a man. Ardent spirits in this case vary th^ dull course of his feelings with a pleasure, de- rived from nothing else» and therefore peculiarly agreeable. lli^lpQoIr'vhiggiah and dead, » fiw a mom^ brushed hy tm
OITILISATION OP SAYAGBS. 2S
agitating Kreeze ; but, when it is pfist, the broken Aomn unites; and resumes its former appearance of loathsome and noxioos sfa^ation.
Sarages can be snccessfully changed into ciTilized men only k two modes. Christianity, by establishing a sense of duty to Ood, always conveys with it motives capable of prompting the scml to any thing which it commands ; such as the attainment of mental peace, the approbation of God, the esteem of good men, safety from perdition, and a title to eternal life. Even Indians, under its influence, have in many instances exhibited fnr specimens of virtuous and commendable conduct In spite of all their habits, they have employed themselves in "txsefol business ; and, in spite of their ignorance and errors, liave acquired the esteem of Christians. If Indians are to be civilized without the immediate influence of Christianity, the ^^rork must be accomplished in such a manner, that they must -mot cease to feel the motives which produced their former conduct, until they have begun to feel new ones ; that they shall be engaged by new objects of allurement before they have bidden a final adieu to the old ; and that they shall not lose the sense and hope of reputation, while passing through the metamorphosis by which they are changed from savages into citizens. An Indian, hopelessly sunk below the posses- sion and the attainment of character, can never, without an exertion of Omnipotence, cease to be an Indian ; t. e. a sloth, a sot, and a vagabond.
The only passion, winch can be immediately substituted for the Indian love of gloiy , is that which has been substituted in every civilized nation ; viz. the love of property. Wherever Dbs can be estabKshed, Indians may be civilized : wherever it cannot, they will still remain Indians. The belief, that our exertions will promote our benefit and our consequence, w3I ever stimulate us to exertion. Without this belief, the great bodv of mankind will not exert themselves at all.
If the period should ever arrive, fn which the inhabitants of the United States should set themselves In earnest to do good to this miserable people; and under a sense of obligations, which can neither be denied nor lessened, should seriously at- tempt to make them comfortable, virtuous, and useful, here, and happj hereafter ; common sense will require, that such of them m vBtaum ni the Engfish settlements should be gatthered
28 JOURNBY TO PaOVlNOB TOWN.
on tracts, inhabited by themselves only. Those, indeed, who are to be the immediate agents in accomplishing this object, must reside with them, but no others. The contempt which this degraded people will always experience from us, and the sense of their own degradation and our superiority, will (ox ever keep them in their presjent state, if they are to remain dispersed among the English iAhabitai^ts. When they are by themselves, they will be equals ; and may, therefore, imbibe gradually a sense of personal character. Until this cap be accomplished, nothing can be done, unless they can be pejf- suaded cordially to embrace Christianity. Concerning diis subject I may have opportunity to make some observations to you hereafter.
The inhabitants of Stoningtpn have suffered in their religious interests from their neighbourhood to Rhpde-Island. There are six congregations in this town ; three of them conposed of Baptists. The number of Baptist ministers I know not There was no Congregational minister here ; and the Baptist preachers were mere uneducated farmers or mechanics. Public worship therefore was either not celebrated at all, of celebrated in a forbidding and vulgar manner. Licentiousness always follows,^ instantly, the loss. of public worship ; and con- t^npt for religion regularly follows the adininistration of it by ignorant men. Mankind are creatures of instruction, as welf as of habit Wh^i they are not taught, they will of course be ignorant; and when they are not admonished and reproved, they will of course be 'oose. The inquiries which I made concerning this town, of persons whose respectability could not be questioned, terminated in satisfScu^tory evidence, that although there were some religious, and many respectable people here, yet, by the mass of inhabitants, religion was fitde regarded, and the standard of morals low; facts .but too common along this border of Connecticttt **.
In the year 1756, Stonington contained 8,518 inhabitants';
blacks, 200; Indians, 96$: in 1774, 5,412; blacks, 219;
Indians, 245: in 1790, 5,648; in 1800, 5,487; blacks, 42:
and, in 1810, 3,048. The same year, North-Stonington
contained 2,534 : total, 5,677.
I am. Sir, &c.
^ Within . a few yean psst a rB8p«ctab)e minuiter has beeQ seated in Stonington. .
LETTER V.
I9^€sterty. Charlestawn. South-Kingston. Aboriginal Tribes formerly inhabiting NeuhEngland. Their Popur lotion. Number of WarriorSt <u estimated by General Crookin. War with the Narrhagansetts, Attack and Culture of their Fortress. Gallant Conduct of Captain Demisom and others* Death of Nanuntenoo.
ft
DsAR Sir;
Saturday, September 90th, we left the hospitable
house of Mr. D- , and rode to Newport through West-
eriy, CharlestowR, Sbutb-KiDgston, and Jamestown on Cano^ tkicut island ; thirty-eight miles.
About two miles from Mr. D 's we crossed Paokatne
river, which divides Connecticut from Bhode^Isiand, and Sionington from Westerly, At the bridge there is a pretty ▼iUage» principally in Westerly, containing perhaps twentf houses. In this village a bank has lately been established with a capital of 100,000 dollars, which may be increased to 150,000.
Paukatoo riter forms the only harbour in Westerly, and funishes excellent fisheries for bdss, eels, black-fish, shad, and heoingB. In the bay, which is formed at its mouth, these kinds of fiudi are caught in as great abundance as perhaps in any part of New-England. Long and round clams, dso, ojBteiB, aod a Kttia fiirtber out in the Sound lobsters, are found b gineat munben. .*
The land in tUs township is divided into two kinds. The border of the Sound, which is generally good, and that ki the interior, which is a collection of UUs, btohy, sandy, and- leail, QiiginaUy cofeied irith shrub oaks and pitch pines. This ground, which constitutes a considerable part of the township^
38 JOURNBY TO PROVINCB TOWN.
produces scarcely any thing, beside small crops of rye. On the former of these tracts the inhabitants are generally in good oircumstadces. On the latter, though said to be industrious, they are generally, and indeed necessarily, poor and unthrifty. Except the village above-mentioned. Westerly is a collection of farms.
There is a good common school near the bridge, styled an academy. There are several other schools in the township, as much inferior to this as the parochial schools in other parts of New-England are to the academies.
Immediately after leaving Paukatuc village, a traveller is struck with the sudden change of the whole artificial scenery. The houses, a few excepted, are small, old, and ragged. The bams vanishi and the tidy, thrifty appearance of Connecticut ceases. Every thing indicates a want of energy ; a destitution of all iglerws and efforts towards improvement ; a sluggish ac- quiescence in inconveniences and imperfections, which a more vigorous disposition would easily remove.
About one-fourth of the people of Westerly are supposed to be Sabbatarians, or seventh-day Baptists. Some of these people appear to be religious, and are more distinguished by good morals than most of their neighbours. The remainder are chiefly Baptists.
Charlestown resembles Westerly in soil and surface, in its bouses and inbabitants. The lands on the Sound are, however^ more beautiful and more fertile, consisting of smooth, easy slopes and handsome plains, divided into spacious fields, and fed by fine herds of cattle. The season was now remarkably dry, yet there were si]^cient proofs of the fertility of these grounds. A great part of the houses are ill-built, misshapen, and umrepaired ; and exhibit an absolute want of both taste and economy. The people of Charlestown, who live on the Sound lands, appear to bain good circumstances, and furnish for exportation a considerable quantity of beef, butter, and cheese ; all in good reputation. The whole of this tract seems to have reached the highest point of improvement, aimed at Iff th» inhabitants, and to be either stationary or decUaing. Their products, their houses, their manners, and their enjoy- ments, are much the same as they were fifty years ago, and asi diey probably will be fifty years to come.
CHARLB8TOWN POND. 29
In the southern part of tUs township is a pond> called Pan- waget, or Charlestown pond, and part of another called Cona- quotoag, the remaining part being in Westerly. The former is aboat four miles in length, and extensively visible along this road. It is separated from the Sound by a narrow beach, through which several passages have been made for the ad- mission of fish. In these two ponds, and several others in Westeriy, Charlestown, and South-Kingston, immense num* bers of streaked bass, and various other kinds of fish, are caught annually.
Westerly contabed, in 1790, 2,298 inhabitants ; in 1800, 2.829; and, in 1810, 1,911*.
Charlestown, in 1790, contained 2,032 inhabitants ; in 1800, 1>454 ; and, in 1810, 1,174. This extraordinary decrease I ^^ unable to explain.
On the north side of the road through both Westerly and Chariestown the ranges of hills, which are numerous and sudden^ tenmnate either immediately on the road, or at a small dis- tance, presenting to the eye their rough, ragged ends, covered ^th sands, or loaded with a dismal collection of naked rocks* Desolate and barren grounds are often scenes of romantic wild- Hefls and grandeur ; here they were objects of mere disgust.
About ten miles firom Newport the road turns directly north- ^Ward round a handsome hill, and winds along its eastern margin by the side of a river. At the end of two or three miles it turns eastward again, and crossing the river ascends a beautiful slope, and descends another of the same appearance to Cano* nicat £Bfiy •
Thewboleof South'Kingston, the next township to Charles- town, so far as it is visible in the road, is pleasant and fertile. The florface is extensively undulating. The hills rise and faU with great ease and elegance, and are rounded with lines pecu- liariy flowing and graceful. The inhabitants appeared to be pnwpeiousy and the agriculture superior to what we had before in tins state. In 1790, this township contained 4,181
; in 180(^3,488 ; and, in 1810, 3,560. Thm flat conntiy iii these three townships is appropriately
ofed Naifluiganset, or the Nairhaganset country.
_ •
* Weiterij was the principal seat of Ninigrety ooe of the two chief sach^roa of the Nanhagaaiets.
M JOUBKBY TO PROVIlfOfe TOWN.
Hh^ HonovraUe Major^Greneral Gookin.who has left, in maB] particiilfirB, the best ancient account extant of the natites o! this country, informs as, that, originally, five principal Indiu nations occupied the chief part of New-England. The Ktnit of this cocmtry on the north and west, were, at that tiine imperfectly defined. The tracts, assigned to these five nation by Mr. Gookiii, amount, also, to less than one half of the present New-England. We are, therefore, to understaoc this account witfi Impo.'tant qualifications.
The Pequods are the first of these nations. The jurisdictioi of this people spread over the country, commencing about five miles east of Paukatuc river, at a place called Wecapaug, ii! the township of Westerly, and terminating near the westen boundary of Connecticut Mr. Gookin observes, that then sachem held dominion over a part of Long-Island, the Mo* heagans, the Segamores of Quinipeake (Quinipiac, or New- Haven), the people on Connecticut river, and over the most southerly inhabitants of the Nipmuc country about Quinibaug, the southern part of the county of Worcester. The countrjr, inhabited by the Pequods, has been ahready pointed out.
The second of these nations was the Narrhagansets, who inhabited most of the country which is now tfie state oi Rhode-Island, and had also several tributaries.
The thiid nation was the Pawkunnakuts or Wampanoags, who inhabited the three counties of Plymouth, Bristol, ted Barnstable, or the old colony of Plymouth.
The fourdi of these nations was the Massachusetts, who occupied the counties of Sufiblk, Norfolk, and Middlesex, and probably the eastern border of Worcester.
The fifth nation was the Pawtuckets, who lived in the county of Essex, the northern part of Middlesex, and the county of Rockingham, in New-Hanipshire»
The two last of these nations I suppose to have been com- prehended under the common name of Aberginians. * To these nations may be added the Nipmucs, or Nipnets, who occupied the county of Worcester, and were extensively tributary to the three first, which have been mentioned; the Mohekaneews, who extended their jurisdiction over the coon* ties of Berkshire, in Massachusetts; Columbia, Rensselaer, a part of Washington* Ulster, Albany, and Saratoga in fhe
INDIAN POPULATION. 81
State of New-York ; and tke county of Benniiigton in Ver- mont; and the Tarrateens, who possessed a great part of the distiiet of Mune.
Westward of these aations* and bordering upon them, were the IixMiaois, These i shall have occasion to mention here- after.
Hie comparative strength of these chief nations, as declared b; die oldest Indians in Mr, Gookin's time, was as follows: —
Wamore, when most numerous.
The Pequods 4,000
Narrkagansets 6,000
Pawkunnakuts 3,000
Massachusetts 3,000
Pawtuckets 3,000
Nipnets, probably ........ 1,000
Mohekaneews 1,000
From the smallness of the number of children, who survive tbeir childhood, and the universal devotion to war among the saragos of this country, which makes eVery man a warrior as eidy and as late as he can possibly employ himself in this busi- Best, it may be safely detennined, that one person out of four is a varrior. The whole number of these nations, therefore. It the time of tbeir greatest known prosperity, may be safely CQudered as within Ae following enumeration : -—
The Pequods 16,000
Narrhaganscts 20,000
Pawkunnakuts 12,000
MassachusetU 12,000
Pawtuckets 12,000
Nipnets ...../ 4,000
Mohekaneews 4,000
Total 80,000
■This .population covered between thirty and forty thousand ifUBa viileii* dud may be considered as the acme of Indian popolation ; for there is no tract of country, equally distant bam ibid equator, which could boast of so many advantages, or fnriush equal means of subsistenoe to man, living in the bdiaii manner. It la behoved, that one third, if not one half
82 lOU&NBY TO PROVINGB TOWN.
of this popalatioD, was sustained on fish only. The Nanhib gansets^ whose country was much more populous than which was inhabited by any other of these tribes, ^ere prietors of the best fishing grounds ; t. e. for such fish, Indians were able to take, furnished by the conlineat North America. From this source was derived the mon populousness of the Narrhaganset territory.
Ja the numbers, mentioned above, are intentionally incfairf< all the subordinate and tributary tribes ; who, as I apprehend^ being either obliged or voluntarily inclined to take the with their lords paramount, were customarily reckoned i the number of their warriors. These numbers are given, as have observed, according to the accounts of the oldest dians within the knowledge of General Gookin. My opinion is, that they are most, if not all, exaggerated. Seventy' thousand, or two to a square mile, would, I am satisfied, m^ elude every Indian, living on this tract at any precedSsBip period.
The Narrhagansets were undoubtedly the most fonmdabia tribe in New-England after the Pequods. I have observed, that their dread of the Pequods prevented them from unitxag^ in the scheme of exterminating the people of New-England, proposed by Saccacus in 1637. Their dread of the Englub colonists prevented them from openly uniting with Philip, who formed the same design, and attempted to execute it in te year 1675. Still they favoured his enterprise ; and enter- tained his warriors with a hospitality, which contradicted bott their professions and their treaties. Their warriors, also, went into the field with this chieftain ; and took their share in his battles, murders, and conflagrations. Satisfied of these facts, the conmiissioners of the united colonies resolved, n the month of November, 1675, on an expedition' against these people ; and for this purpose directed an army of a thousand men to be immediately raised. Of these, Massachusetts was to furnish 527 ; Plymouth, 158 ; and Connecticut, 315. Con- necticut, however, sent 300 soldiers> and 150 Moheagans and Pequods. Major. Treat commanded the Connecticut troops ; Major Bradford, those of Plymouth ; and Major Appleton, those of Massachusetts. Mr. Winslow, governor of PlymouA, commanded the whole. The Massachusetts and Plymoufli
the IHth tbey were joined b; their friends firom fly-
■iid Massachusetts. He night rollowing was tem- m and very cold. The snow fell to a considerable
and the array was withoiit a shelter. Veiy early in imitqt of the lOlfa they mnrcfaed against the enemy, ied in a swamp, which 1 suppose to he that called
nramp, in the northern part of Charlestown. In the Hid thick recesses of this clismal place was an island, mtg fire or six acres of ground, enclosed with palisa-
Here the Narrhaganset warriois, above two thon- ti number, armed with one thousund muskets, beside nd arrows, foniisbed with ammunition, and possessed of I use them, hod collected their whole strength, together heir women and children, and their winter's stock of OBB. One of these people, named Peter, had qnar^ with his conntrymen, and fallen into the bauds of the ti. This man promised to guide thera to the fortress, jKtnally fulfilled his promise. The Massachusetts led 1 ; those of Plymouth occupied the centre ; and those necticut the rear.
sea miles this band of heroes waded through the snow, n the dawn and one o'clock P. M. They reached the hile their enemies were employed in dressing their , without a suspicion of their approach. The New- id forces could discover but one entrance into the fort ; ■ was on a Ic^, felled across the exterior ditch. The
84 JOVRNBY TO PROVINOE TOWN.
and driveo before them into the fort. From this embarrass- ment they were delivered by Peter, who led them to another opening. Here some trees, lying loosely as they fell, ob- structed their course; and a block-house, directly in front, threatened them with destruction. The passage, however, was possible ; and they attempted it without hesitation : bat the fire from the block-house was so great, and so well directed, that they were compelled to &U back. The attempt was im- mediately renewed, notwithstanding they lost a number of men in the onset, and, among others. Captains Johnson and Davenport, who fell while they were fighting gallantly at the liead of their companies.
Ihiring this stniggle the Connecticut troops became in:ipa- tient of their situation in the rear ; but found it impossible to ■aet with any advantage against the enemy, as the main body -of the army was between them and the fort. A part of them, therefore, moved round to the opposite side, and forced their way, over the hedge, through a gap in the palisado. The In- dians were so occupied in defending the entrance, where the Massachusetts' people began the assault, that these men crossed the hedge, and came upon their rear imobs^rved. Here they -poured upon them a well-directed fire. Every man took aim; and every man was a marksman. The execution, tberefoire, was great.
Just at this time some of the officers, commanding the maiii body of the Colonial army, cried out, '' They run." At the word the soldiers pushed their enemies with increased vigour, and compelled them firom liieir shelter. The contest then i)ecame still more violent : but it wiis now carried on in the open field ; and was therefore more destmctive to the Indians, •and less so to the New •England forces. The battle lasted from two to thiee houra ; and ended in the expulsion of the onemy firom the fort. The soldiers in the mean time Met fire to their weekwams, and destroyed them.
Three of the Massachusetts captains, Johnson, Davenport, and Gardiner ; and three of the Connecticut captains, Sedy, Gallup, and Marshall, were kiUed outright. Captain Mason of Connecticut, and Lieutenant Upham of Massaohosetts, died of their wounds. The killed and wounded soldiera amounted to two hundred and ten. Eighty of these imi.
UBPBAT OP THB SAVAQfiS. 86
itker on die field, or soon after the battle ; forty belonging ^o Connecticut, tiiirty to Massachusetts, and ten to Plymouth. The loss of the Indians, according to the confession of Potock, of their principal men, taken afterwards at Rhode-Island» ounted to seven hundred killed outright, and three hun- dred more who died of their wounds. Six hundred men, ^vvomen, and children, were taken prisoners. The whole num- l)er of the savages in the fort is supposed to have been four thousand. The remainder escaped.
After the battle, the New- England troops marched imme- diately back to their former places of rendezvous ; carrying ^ith tbem their wounded, and most of their dead. Their march lay through a pathless wilderness. The frost was severe, and the snow so deep, that they were scarcely able the next day to move at alL To these inclemencies the wounded were exposed, equaUy with the rest.
The Connecticut troops having suffered very severely from their march, as well as from the conflict and the succeeding hardships, it was thought proper, that they should return im- mediately to Stonington. The Massachusetts forces, toge- ther with those of Plymouth, took up their head quarters in the neighbourhood ; and by destroying the provisions of ihe Indians, frequently alarming them, captivating some, and killing others, distressed them not a little.
Few events in the annals of war have exhibited more ho- nourable proofs of patienoe and fortitude under severe suffer- iogs, or of grallantry and finnness in battle, than this enter- prise. The enemy greatly outnumbered the New-England anny ; aad in numbers, not less than theirs, were furnished with fire arms. They were at the same time immured in a fydMnesB, aad defended by a fortification, in the highest degree fafvnnrable to -the Jnduui manner of fighting : being secured in a gieal measure from the view of their enemies ; while their enemies were perfectly open to them. The savages were -hcBTe, and jdeipertiie : for they fought near three hours, and mM lmi£ mj€ iheir warriors fell. The New-England army, alio, lost cmrly in Ahe engagement the greater part of their oficers. Karching through snow, even of a mode- deptfa* ia attended widi ej^cessive fatigue ; and to be exr poiod nigfat after sight io repeated snow storms, and severe
d2
96 iOURNBY TO PROVINCB TOWN.
frosts, has of itself been often fatal. All these evils were ac- cumulated upon the New-Englanfl troops in a deep forest ; and were borne without a fear, a murmur, or a thought of re^ turning before the purpose was accomplished. Not a single instance of cowardice, impatience, or dishonour, is left on re- cord. The oflScers and men, without an exception, suffered, fought, and endured, as a band of brothers. When all the circumstances are considered, I am satisfied, that it will be difiicult to point out in the history of mankind a fairer speci- men of heroism or of fortitude.
The great reason for undertaking this enterprise, beside the treachery of the Narrhagansets, was the extreme danger apprehended from their inroads upon the colonies in the en- suing spring. The commissioners certainly acted very wisely in determining to attack them before the commencement of their hostilities. They had already proved themselves to be determined enemies ; and were waiting only for an advanta- geous opportunity to invade the colonies. Had they been let alone till the ensuing season, they would undoubtedly have destroyed great multitudes of the New- England people; great multitudes, I mean, more than they actually destroyed. The colonial troops marched at the critical moment. A snow first, which immediately after fell to a great depth ; and then a thaw, which dissolved the snow, and filled the low grounds with water ; would have rendered it impossible for them to reach the enemy, until the season was too far advanced to allow the hope of any important success. On the whole. Providence smiled on the undertaking in many important par- ticulars, every one of which seems to have been indispensable to its success.
In the ensuing spring the remainder of this people, joining themselves to Philip and his associates in different parts of New-England, destroyed many of the towns, and killed great numbers of the inhabitants.
In the month of March, Captain George Denison, of Ston- ington, one of the bravest and most skilful of partisans, made a successful incursion into the Narrhaganset country ; where he surprised and seized Nanuntenoo, son of Miantonimoh, and the chief sachem of this people. He was offered his life upon condition of living in peace with the colonists : but he
COMOLUSION OP THB INDIAN WAR. 37
lie offer with disdain ; and would not permit any in- to be made for his life ; declariog, with a loftiness which would have been admired in a Grecian hero, loae to die before his heart became soft, and before tered any thing unworthy of his character. course of this season, Denison, with his volunteers, 1 took, in several expeditions, 230 of the enemy, SKving one man either killed or wounded. This fact, any circumstances would have been extraordinary, istonishing; for the Indians are the most exact marks- 9 worid *. During the whole of this season Philip and lies were everywhere pursued, throughout the different le country, by Major Talcott, Captain Denison, Cap- ;li, and many other gallant officers and men, without Mi. Parties everywhere scoured the country, and iffians neither safety nor rest. In August, Philip, D and soul of the war, was surprised and shot by , one of the soldiers of Captain Church. With him and exertions of the enemy in the southern half of land expired. Peace was established the following lere were, a few years since, remaining in the country ndred of the descendants of these people, and of libours, the eastern Nianticks. I know nothing in raeter or circumstances, which distinguished them Endians of Stonington.
I am. Sir, &c.
i'
iw actions of the Connecticut Tolunteers have not been enough Demion's name ought to be perpetuated. The Narrhaganset ■■ged the Indians, and made them desperate; and the English after that, were in greater terror than before ; but this success- beai, and ferreting them out of their burrows, sunk and broke sod teems to have determined the fate of the English and ek nrtil then was doubtful and uncertain^— Hutcfainsoo, vol. i,
LETTER Vr.
Canonicut Island, Newport ; its Buildings, Harbour, and For tiji cations. Proposition of the French Government relative to the Occupancy of Newport. Remarkable Cliffs and Chasm, Enumeration of the Fish brought to this Market. Healthfulness and Commerce of Newport. Its Settlement.
DfiAR Sir;
We crossed Canonicnt fetty, lying between what fe here called Boston neck and that island ,' and then rode iKn'oA the isktid, otie mile in breadth, to Newport ferry.
Canonicnt is a beatitifal isldnd, sloping with great eleganc^il from the middle to the shores. All the lines of its surface are graceful, and the soil is rich. It is abont seven miles long from ndrth to goiith, arid iiicl tides a single townshijp, incorpo- rated in 1678 by the name of Jamestown, which, iti 1790, Con- tained 507 inhabitants ; in 1800, 301 ; and, in 1810, 604.
The prospects from the highest part of this island are un- commonly handsome.
We crossed Newport ferry, between Canonicut and the island of Rhode-Island, more rapidly than either of us wished; and arrived at 7 o'clock.
The next day, Sunday, September 21st, Wfe attended diviiib service in the Rev. Mr. Patten's church. Mondd^ and T\ife§-' day morning we spent in (examining the to'Wh, the fbtHficaticfh^ in the harbour, the remains of the British works erected during the revolutionary war, and several other objects in the neighbourhood.
Newport is built near the southern end of the island of Rhode-Island, upon the western shore. Its site is a beautiful slope, rising from the water to the eastern side of the town. It is unnecessary to observe, after what has been repeat-
. \
3
\
I \
DKAORIPTIOK OP NUWPOIIT.
edly gaid apon this subject, that it is irregularly laid out» like most other towus in the United States. The streets, except Main Street, ivhich is a mile in length, straight and wide, are narrow. Almost all the houses are built of wood ; few com- paratively are painted; many are out of repair, and many stand endwise upon the street. The town strikes the eye of a traveller, therefore, much less agreeably than he would natu- rally expect from the figure which it has long made in the history and commerce of this country. To most of the bouses are attached small, and to a considerable number large gardens, which difltise a cheerful sprightly aspect around them. The good houses, of which there is a considerable numbw» are scattered, and frequently illuminate spots, which would be otherwise absolutely gloomy. A few of them may be styled handsome.
Newport contains ten buildings erected for public worship, of which the Baptists have four, the Presbyterians two, the Epiicopalians, Moravians, Quakers, and Jews, one each. 0£ these buildings the best is the Episcopal church ; but even thu sppean old and neglected. There is also an academy, a libra- ry, i court-house, and a gaol. The court-house is a decent buiUiog. The library was formerly valuable ; but many of the books were lost or carried away, and many more were injured, vlule the British were in possession of the town.
The harbour of Newport is deep, and sufficiently capacious, to admit any number of vessels of any size, which will proba- U? ever be assembled in one body. Indeed, all the waters wUch encompass this island, except those on the south, may be regarded as one vast harbour. The anchorage is very good. The egress and ingress are perfectly easy, and its po- n&m is in the highest degree favourable for the commerce of tlie east and of the south.
Fortifications were begun here under the auspices of Presi- di&t AdaniMy who intended this place as a station for the future Ameriean navy. They consbt of six difierent erections, one OB Goat-Island, one on Rose-Island» one on Canonicut, at the point oaDed the Dumplings, two on Rhode-Island, and one on aiMitfaer island. These are all parts of a great scheme, in- (ottded 10 aflect and control the harbour and its entrances; tad, it hat btoM sopposed, will be sufficient for this purpose^
49 iOUKMBY TO PfiOYlNCB TOWN.
Of tbis subject I am a very incompetent jiidge» yet I cannot bnt confess myself doubtfiil concerning it
I was never so stmck with the insidiousness of flie prop(>< sal, made by the French government, to have this island and harboor ceded to them by congress, as at this time* Cqb« gress, indeed, had it not in their power to alienate any part of Ae territory of any state. Hie arguments adduced by the French, to persuade congress to a comptiance with their wishes, were, that a French fleet, being kept here, with a oon^ siderable body of land forces, would prevent the island froifa being seized anew by Great Britain, and preclude the British from a harbour on our coast, would be ready at all times, as an alljt to defend us in war, and would furnish a valuable markrt foK our productions in peace. Had< this story been told m plain English, it would have run thus :— Newport would finh nish a convenient station for French ships at all times; and es- pecially when France was at war with Crreat Britain, would enable the French to awe us in time of peace, and to distress n» by harassing our coast, and destroying our trade in tone of war ; would furnish us with just such an ally as the man in the Able became to the horse, when he assisted him to drive oflF the stag ; with masters, voluntarily invited by us, and kindly disposed to rule and ride us, according to their pleasure.
Soon after Mr. Jefierson's entrance upon the presidency, .the fortiiicatioos in this harbour were discontinued. Any na- tion that pleases may, therefore, now occupy this advantage- ous spot ; and will never be driven off from it by force, until ! the Americans shall have wisdom enough to raise up a fleet fljufficieut to command it on the side of the ocean. . The commerce of Newport was formerly extensive, but was destroyed in the revolutionary war. A part of the inhabttaats 'Wfdve driven ofi^, and the part which remained behind were not -A: .little distressed by their invaders. The efiects of these dis- asters are felt to the present time, and the town has nev^re- ;.il$tY«red its former prosperity. Before the revolution, also, ^jy^jB inhabitants carried on a brisk trade to the African coast. f>XhiH has been prohibited by the national government, and has therefore been chiefly, though it is said not entirely, disconti- nued* A few individuals, with a laudable spirit of enterpriBe» ^hi^e made several successful attempts in oommeroiBl bnsiDBii^
TtBWS AKOUNO MBWPORT. 41
•C^tker kmds ; and Ae spiiit of the citiaens, whkii leeiiiB to have been rather asleep than awake for some years past, is beginning to reviTO. Stiil an air of inactivity preyails here ; though many of the inlnbitants are said to be rich, few of seem to be engaged in any active designs of adding to their property. . On Monday morning, D. Lyman, Esq., collector of this a gentleman to whom we were indebted for many civili- nccompanied ns to the seat of the late Godfrey Malbone, .» now the property of Mr. William Rotch, of New-Bed- Cud. The gardens appear to have bera once well stored with at, and other productions. The spot is delightful ; and the oripnally incloded many conveniences, but its appear- mast have been always indiflforent The farm, on which it stmds, containing a thousand acres, is an objectjof great keenly and valne*
From diis place we proceeded to Tommany Hill, a little «ataaid of Mr. Malbone's house, on which ihe British built m fort, while they had possession of Newport This is a fine emiaence, commanding the best view of the island, the bay, tfie town, the neighbouring islands, the river far up towards Providence, and the opposite main.
In the afternoon I accompanied Major Lyman to the •onthem shore of the island. Here, at the distance of a mile and a half from the town, is a remarkable range of cUfis, fenned of pudding-stone, exactly like that which abounds in tte nei^ibourhood of Boston, particulariy on the Dedham and Plymouth roads. These clifiEi are forty feet in height, and contain a chasm six feet wide, one hundred and fifty feet long, neasoring back from their front, and descending below the anfiiee of the water, to a depth which is unknown. The darkness, raggedness, and perpendicularity of this chasm give it an awful appearance, and have entailed upon it the emj^ui* tical name of Purgatory.
One. of our American philosophers, whom Major Lyman ionduoted to this place some years since, and who observed thai he had never before seen any thing which resembled these socks, was asked what he thought concerning their origination. .Be answered^ that Aey were undoubtedly derived firom the pelrifirtion of vegetable matter. Upon being further asked
4S JOURNRY TO PROVINCK TOWN.
how long he supposed the progress of petrifaction had been going on, he replied, " probably a million of years, perhapi two million, and not improbably five or six. The period has nndonbtedly been a very long one, but how long it is impos- sible to determine."
A plain man, in the exercise of mere common sense, would naturally have recollected^ that v^getabl^ matter contains in itself no principle of petrifaction ; that whenever vegetables have been petrified, the induration has been invariably effected by means of some fluid existing in the earth or its waters ; that no vegetable was ever known to be petrified while lying in a dry position on its surface ; that vegetables are indeed capa* ble of becoming mould ; but that this mould, unless accumu" lated by rains or streams, do6s nowhere, even on this conti*- nent, where it seems to have been forming from the remotest^ period, exceed twenty-four inches in depth ; and that, there- fore, it cannot possibly have been accumulated here alone, to the depth of more than forty feet.
Such a man would also have asked, how this vegetable mat- ter was originally formed, and afterwards petrified, beneath the surface of the oceoui where no terrene vegetable could possi* bly grow. He would next have inquired, how the plums (t. 6. the pebbles, and other larger stones), often exceeding twelve inches in diameter, etnbosomed by this mass in iliim-' bd^B apparently infinite, could exist in petrified vegetable matter ; whether they originally grew within the substance of plants, shrubs, and trees, or whether they were aticiently (t. €. two or three millions of years ago) the kinds of fruit which they bore ; or whether the cause of the petrifhctionf proved by the uniformity of the embosoming mafis to be per- fectly simple, turned the vegetable matter, unifonn dlso, partly into this ikiass, and partly into the plums, of which dome aro slate, some are quartz almost pur6> some are granite, some are sandstone, and others are very different from each Otbeff and from them all. If neither of these modes of explanodon satisfied him, he would further ^k, whether, when the ftrst stratum of vegetable matter began to undergo the profHIsft of petrifaction, it lifted, by some unknown effort, die plnmt widch were beneath above its upper surface, that they might h^ tendy tbt the nett stratum ; and then another set of pliiiM»
FORMATION OF PUDDINO-STON B. 48
aboye the saiface of the second, to be ready for the third ; thus raising them through all the superincumbent strata, until, finalhr, the last collection was supplied for the stratum which was uppermost.
After making these inquiries, he would have recurred to hia own observation, if it had extended so far, and recollected, diat pudding stone exists at little distances in every part of this coontrv ; and that the embosoming mass always partakes of die natore, qualities, and appearances of the ground in which it is formed. He would recollect, that this mass is sometimes cemented loam, containing in it the same grit which is found in the adjoining earth ; that in sand, it is a mere sand stone, differing from the surrounding sand in nothing but hardness ; that in the soil called brick-mould, it varies from a brown, famdy shaded with red, to a red, approaching to crimson ; and that in yellow earth, its hue is a variety of the same colour. He would remember also, that in its tenacity it varies from mere earth to the most solid rock ; the parts being oflen so friable as to be easily pulverized between the thumb and finger ; that they are often decomposed by the weather, and that in both these oases they become again the very earth, of whieh they were fbrmed. He would remember also, that rocks of pudding-stone, both solid and stratified, of every form and every size, exist in the bowels of the earth, at every depth which has been explored, and iH the bowels of moun- tains ; and that they rise singly to a considerable height above the surface adjacent, so as to require fdr their formation, that the vegetable matter should be heaped up and confined in de'- tached spots, in an extraordinary manner. Finally, h^ might be informed, that great mountains are chiefly com|>osed of the same stone ; to the formation of which, it must be Hdnditted, a so3 unosoany productive, and a vegetation remarkably ptolific, were indispensable. From all this a plain man would natu- rally conclude, espe<iially as he always found the stones in the embosoming mass th^ very same, and lying in just sudh clus- ters as those imbedded in the earth around them, that pud- ding-stone Ls fbrmed by the efficacy of a fluid, cementing and thus petrifying the ^Mh ; and that its substance was hot ve- getable matter* The #»II-lM«d p#0y^le of Newport have the mtAh pbKthed,
44 JOURNEY TO I^ROVINCB TOWN.
agreeable manners which prevail along the eastern coast of Massachusetts. The decay of business has produced here its customary consequences. The men of wealth live by loaning their money, without entering, in any great degree, into active, useful business. The poor people catch fish for their suste- nance, and lounge and saunter for their pleasure. This state of things is unnecessary and unhappy.
Religion and morals are here not on a high scale. In the church, where we attended divine service, there were perhaps thirty persons present in the morning, and in the afternoon ^ not more than^sixty or seventy. The day was wet, but the streets are paved ; the members of the congregation live at little dis- tances from thej church, and the minister is respected and beloved. I was informed, that in all the other churches,' ex^ cept one belonging^to'^the Baptists, the attendance is usually thin.
The people of Newport are in general not very friendly to the college in Providence. For this, the following reason was mentioned to me. When the college was in projection, it was proposed to place it where the largest subscription should be obtained. Newport contributed the greatest sum, yet it was placed at Providence ; and the resentment of the people of Newport has not subsided.
In a former part of these Letters I mentioned, that I would give? some} account of the fish found on the coasts of New- England. Newport is acknowledged to be the best fish- market in the United States. The following list of the fish, caught in the neighbonring waters, was furnished me by my firiend Mr. S. of this town :— -
♦1. Alewife, 12. Cutfish,
*2. Anchovy, 13. Cravalley,
♦8. Bass, *14. Mud clam,
*4* Sea bass, *15. Beach clam,
*5. Blue fish, 16. Cockle,
6. Brill, 17. Conckle,
•7. Bonetta, ♦IB. Green crab,
8. Bill fish, 19. Sand crab,
9. Chiving, *90. Sea crab, 10. Cusk, 21. Spider crab,
*11. Cauchogsel^ 22. King crab,
FlftH CAUOHT NBAR NEWPORT.
46
23. RunniDg crab, *S4. Drum,
25. Dace,
2& Dogfish,
27. Egg fish, •28. Sea eel,
29. Sand eel, *30. Lamprey eel, *3L Commoo eel, *32. Flounder, «83. Fro6tfi8h, «84. Flying fish,
85. Grunt,
m. Haddock,
•87. Hake,
•38. HaUbut,
•39. English herring,
40. Lancet,
41. limpet, •42. Lobster,
43. Maid, •44. MnUet, •45. Black muscle, •46. Pale muscle, •47. Manhaden, •48. Round mackarel, •49. Small ditto, •SO. Spanish ditto, •SI. Large-horse ditto, •52. Oyster, •S3. Plaice, •54. Pout, •Sft- Pike, •56. PomiAk jBbh, •S7. PoUock, •58. Sea perch, •SO. Pond ditto,
60. Porpwe,
6L PeriwUde, •flB. QmlMMr. *
*63. Rudder fish, *64. Roach,
65. Seal,
66. Shark,
67. Stingray,
68. Skipjack, *Gd. Scuppague, ^0. Succoteague, ♦71. Sturgeon, ^2. Sheepshead, *73. Salmon,
74. Skate, ♦76. Shad, ♦76. Smelt,
77. Soal,
78. Sucking fish, «79. Silyerfish^ *Wi. Escallop,
81. Squid, *82. Shrimp, «83. Shiner,
84. Sea snail,
85. Sager,
86. Sword fish,
87. Tarpum,
•88. Taotaug or black fish,
89. Thomback, *90. Tom cod, •91. Trout. •92. Mud turtle, •93. Toad turtle, •94. Terrapin, •95. Loggerhead tortla,
96. Toad fish, •97. Whiting, •98. Winkle,
99. Wilke, 100. YeUow bdly, •101. Cod fish, •102. DolpUn,
46 40URMBY TO PHOYINCB TOWN.
103. Whale, 108. Horse-foot,
♦104. Redfin perch, 109. Razor-handle clam,
105. Sun fish, two sorts, 110. Fresh-water clam,
106. Pickerel, *111. Fresh- water sucker,
107. Portuguese man of war, 112. Star fish, or five finger. Mr. S. subjoins to this list the following observations : —
** Some of the fish named in the above schedule have been seen here but seldom. The horse mackarel formerly frequented this coast in immense numbers, and in the season were con- stantly to be found in the market. But about the close of the revolutionary war they forsook our waters, and have not made their appearance since. They were esteemed a great delicacy, and are the largest of the mackarel species. I have prefixed an asterisk to the names of those which have been found fit for the table. Those annexed to the following num- bers are in their season generally to be found in the Newport market. No. 3, 4, 5, 11, 14, 18, 30, 31, 38, 36, 38, 42, 48, 49, 52, 53, 62, 72, 88, 90, 92, 93, 94, 95, 101, 104.
On a skirt of this town is the foundation of a i^d-mill, erected some time in the seventeenth century. The cement of this work, formed of shell lime and beach gravd, has all the firmness of Roman moptar, and, when broken off, fio^uently brings with it a part of tjie stone. Time has made no im- pression on it, except to increase its firmness. JA would be an improvement in ii^e art of building in this country, if mortar, made ip the same mann^, ware to be generally employed.
Newport has always been esteemed one of the hefiibiesi spots in America. The air of this island is almost absolutely sea air, is damp, often replenished with mists, less cold than the neighbouring continent in the winter, pud less ^arm in the jsummer. The temperature resembles in some ilegree that of lEngland* WJiateFer is the cause, it has 4iWg en- joyed this reputation, and . has accordingly been a ^fdace of great resort, especially irom the southern states und the West-Indies.
Newport has ever subsisted by commerce, and is fttill to a considerable ^ei^ent <emplojrod in various kinds of commercial bushiess. It is the port^^ entry, if I mti^ake Aot, (for most of the trading iQwm m .the #tate, Providence excepted.
FIRST SETTLEMKNT OF NEWPORT. 47
The following is ao abstract of the duties collected here for ten years : —
Years. Duties.
1801 DoUars, 205,153
1802 173,067
1803 134,605
1804 136,511
1805 222,525
1806 180,602
1807 94,232
1808 63,380
1809 68,757
1810 59,075
This town was settled in 1639, by Mr. William Coddington, and seventeen others. These men, together with Mr. Vane, afterwards Sir Henry Vane, favoured the peculiar tenets of His. Hutchinson. As these tenets became more and more impopular, Mr. Coddington, who had been a councillor in the edooy of Massachusetts'-Bay, and been held in much reputation, VM unwilling to continue in a country where his character and ialaeBce had materially declined. In the year 1637, he and Uicompanions purchased this island, then known by the Indian Bane of Aquidnec, or Aquetnec. Here he soon after settled Unself, with several of his associates. Mr. Hutchinson ipeedily followed him with his family, and, by the zeal and aetirity of his wife, was chosen governor in the place of Mr. Codding^ton, whom this restless, turbulent woman, incapable af U¥ enjoyment unless when controlling both the civil and tadedastical afiairs of the community in which she lived, per- iiaded the inhabitants to lay aside. Mr. Hutchinson died in it42^and Mrs. Hutchinson removed tQ Manhattan, afterwards New- York. Mr. Codding^teo was then reinstated, and oon- tinotd to be respected until his death. From the effects of Ma*. Htttehinsorfs conduct on himself, be probably learned and wisdom. The colony does not appear to have mcdested by the Indians. In troth, the inhabitants were by the strength and bvavery of the other colonies, hewever, plaoed no confidence either in them or in neighbovrs «t Provi^Mioe, and would never receive them
I am. Sir, 8ic.
LETTER VII.
Battle between the Americans under General Sullivan and the British commanded by Sir Robert Pigot. Stone Bridge. Tiverton. State of Rhode-Island. Its Boun- daries and Divisions. Original Settlement. State of Religion and Learning. Common Schools.
Dear Sir;
Tuesday, September 23, we left Newport after dinner, and rode to Tiverton, twelve miles. In our journey we passed through almost the whole length and the whole breadth of the island of Rhode-Island. Everjrwhere We found the same finely rounded swells, elegant slopes, and handsome vallies ; which, beginning as a characteristic feature at South Kingston, and continuing through Canonicut^ ter- minated here. Except a few cliffs, which in some places form the shore, and are hanging and solemn, the surface is eveiy- where easy and graceful. The soil also is excellent, and especially fitted for grass. From thirty to forty thousand sheep are annually fed here, beside many neat cattle. The island abounds also in orchards; and yields a considerable quantity of garden fruit, particularly pears, of many varieties ; some of them very fine. Peaches are neither excellent nor prosperous. They are injured by the peach-worm. In the spring, the sea winds are supposed to chill and shrink, and sometimes to destroy every kind of fruit. The inhabitants, therefore, surround their orchards and fruit yards with a shelter of forest or other hardy trees. Among these, cherry trees are found firmly to resist the influence of the winds. Th^y are said to bear well ; but many of those, which we saw, still exhibited evident marks of British ravages during the hte war.
BATTLB BBTWBKN THB BRITISH AND AMBRICAN8. 4ft
The fences od this island are generally stone walls, mode- rately well-built, and in tolerable repair. The wood was chiefly cut down by the British. In some places it has grown again Co a considerable height. We passed the remains of several British works.
In a valley just below the hill, called Meeting House hill, and sometimes Quaker hill, a battle was fought between the Americans under General Sullivan and the British under Sir Robert Pigot The Americans had crossed the river with an intention of attacking the British force in Newport ; while the ¥rench fleet, under the command of the Count D^Estaing, ^ras expected to second their efforts by sea. The count being drawn from his station by the address of Lord Howe, put to sea in pursuit of the British fleet. Here he was overtaken by a violent storm, August 11th, and suffered so severely, that he concluded to return to Boston with his fleet A small number of his ships, only, came up with the British, and those were roughly handled. Thus the enterprise was abandoned hy the French admiral. Had the Americans marched for Nevport immediately after they had landed, or had D'Estaing retonied to Nevrport after his pursuit of Lord Howe was eided, it is not improbable, that the British force might have been obliged to surrender, especially as they were ill supplied vitk provisions. Neither of these efforts was, however, made, lord Howe, in the mean time, having sailed back to New- York, took on board 4,000 additional troops, and proceeded mtuA as possible for Rhode-Island. The American general, kving received intelligence of this measure, resolved to retreat 11 early as he could do it with safety. To cover this design, ke employed his men in throwing up works, and made the ippeaniiice of continuing his operations with spirit. On the KCh he withdrew his army from the neighbourhood of the Biitiih works in the evening, and' at three the next morning hd reached his destined position, near the north end of the idand, widiout molestation or loss. At seven the British, who, H aooa as they discovered the retreat, pursued them, began a knik fire upon an advanced body of their troops in this valley. Detachments were sent out from both armies, until the battle became in a great measure general. At the close of the eapgemeot the advantage lay on the side of the Americans.
VOL. 111. K
9fi 40URNSY TO PROVINCB TOWN.
They were ooounanded by General Greene, and belunred (the militia no less than the regular troops) with a gallantry higUy honourable to their character, especially as they were di»^ couraged by the desertion of Count D'Estaing, and had scarcely recovered from their severe sufferings, occasioned by the long-continued violence of a furious storm. The next day General Sullivan, being informed that Lord Howe was on his way to intercept his retreat with a body of men, employed himself with great diligence and success to deceive the enemy, and convey his army» together with their tents, baggage, stores, and artillery, to the main. Both these purposes he accom* plished in a manner very honourable to himself. All his men» and every thing belonging to them, arrived safe, except those who were killed or missing in the action. The Americans lest on this occasion thirty killed, one hundred and thirty-two wounded, and forty-four missing. The British lost thirty-eight killed, two hundred and ten wounded, and twelve missing.
Narrhaganset bay is formed by the influx of Taunton and Pawtucket rivers. The island of Rhode-Island lies in this bay, about six miles from the western, three from the northern, and where narrowest half a mile from the eastern shore. At this place we crossed the ferry, known here by the name of Howland's ferry. Two bridges have been erected over it; the frst at the expense of thirty thousand dollars, and the second at that of twenty-six thousand. The latter was mined by the sea-worms. Had the wooden piers, on whic^ it was built, been painted with verdigrise, the loss might pos- sibly have been prevented. A ship, whose bottom was covered with this pigment, lately returned from India to Newport, and was so sound, that the owner, it is said, sold the copper wifli which she was to have been sheathed. Since the loss of the second bridge it has been proposed to form a communicatio& between the main and this place by filling up the whole breadth of the river, except a narrow passage, with stone dropped into the water, and suffered to fall as chance may direct. Ob^ third of the depth is said to be fiUed with the foundation laid for the bridges already mentioned. On the Tiverton side stone can be obtained in any quantities, and in the most con- venient positions. Seventy thousand dollars, it is supposed, would cover the whole expense. When it is considered how
BRlimK OVER HCnVLA1«D*ft FKRRY. &1
necessary this work is for the defence of the island ; how desirable for the trade of the neighbouring inhabitants, and how cooTenient for the purposes of general intercourse, it is impossible not to wish success to sach an undertaking.
In the year 1806, the proposed bridge, mentioned in the
last paragraph, was finished. Masses of granite of various
sizes were, according to the plan specified, brought to the
spot, dropped into the water, and suffered to fall ad libitum.
In this manner two vast heaps, with a passage between them,
were raised to the low-water mark. Above this a bridge of
the same materials was raised, of mason-work, to the proper
heij^t above high-water mark, when strong walls of stone
were built at the sides, and the flooring covered with gravel.
Tins is undoubtedly the best bridge which has been erected in
fte United States. The work was executed under the super-
inteodence of Daniel Lyman, Esq., the gentleman mentioned
above, and cost 70,000 dollars.
On the ferry we had a full view of Mount Hope, now Bris- tol, one of the residences ofMassassoit, the celebrated sachem of the Wattipanoags, and of his son Philip.
We lodged at Tiverton, and the next morning we rode to New-Bedford, eighteen miles, through Westport, nine.
Tiverton is the north-eastern comer of this state. On the south it has Little Compton, on the east, Westport in Massa* clmsetts, and on the north, Somerset in the same state. The parts of this township, visible on the road, were generally Twky and lean. At some distance on both sides of the road tbe land, as we were informed, is good, yielding not unfre- qnently forty bushels of maize, and twenty of barley, per acre. Oq the shore near the ferry the hills are high, rocky, and banea. The only pleasant object on the land side is a small Tiiiage, Goosisting principally of new and neatly built houses, the inhabitants of which carrv on a little commerce.
Tiverfon ccmtained in 1790, 2,453 inhabitants; iri 1800, 2,717 ; and, in 1810, 2,837.
The state of Rhode- Island is situated between 41° 17', and CP nordi latitude, and between 71° 6' and 71° 62^ west longi- tude. On the north it is twenty-nine miles in extent ; on the AKitb forty-^tlkree ; on the west forty-nine; and on the east tUfty-nine. Almost the whole state lies on the western side
b2
53 JOUBNBY TO PROVINCE TOWN.
of Narrfaaganset bay. On the east are the townships of Tiverton and Little Compton ; and on the north* those of Bristol, Warren, and Barrington. The state of MassachusetU borders upon Pawtacket river, from the falls to the mouth of Providence bay, an extent of about twelve or fourteen milefl^ and includes the head of Mount Hope bay, into which Taunton river discharges its waters. Narrhaganset bay, formed by the influx of these rivers into the ocean, contains Rhode- Island proper, Canonicut, Prudence, Patience, Hog, Dutch, Gould, and Hope islands; together with several, which are still smaller. Block-Island, which lies off the coast of Charles- town, belongs also to this state. The whole number of islands contain about ninety square miles, Narrhaganset bay about two hundred, and the remaining part of the state about one thousand three hundred ; in the whole about one thousand six hundred.
This state is bounded on the west by Connecticut, on the north and east by Massachusetts, and on the south by the Air lantic. The climate and seasons are the same with those of the neighbouring countries. The soil on the islands, and a narrow border on the bay and the ocean, is rich; the te^ mainder is partly a lean sand, and partly a cold loam, re- plenished with stones and rocks, cultivated with difficulty, and yielding a slender reward to the labours of the husbandman.
There are no mountains in this state.
The principal rivers are Pawcatuck, in the south-west ^ Pawtucket, on the north-east ; and Patuxet, in the middle ; and these are only large mill-streams.
The state of Rhode-Island is divided into five countie9« Providence, containing ten townships ; Newport, sevea ; Washington, seven ; Kent, four ; Bristol, three.
In the year The Number of Inbabitaott '
1730 17,986
1748 34,128
1761 40,686
1774 50,678
1783 61,899*
1790 68,826
1800 69,122
1810 76,931
* This diminution was ucouioned by the revoludonary war.
RBLIG10U8 STATB OP RHODE-ISLAND. 59
The inhabitants of this state are almost wholly descended firom the English. The original planters were chiefly immi- grants from Massachusetts ; part of them led by Roger Wil- Kams, and a part by Mr. Coddington. The former settled at PjroTidencey and the latter at Newport. The former division consisted principally of Baptists. Mr. Coddington, after baring lived some time in Boston, became an Antinomian ; and, having lost much of his influence, removed to Rhode- Island with several other persons of the same class. Both he and Mr. Williams were held in high estimation by their fol- lowers. The wars carried on by Plymouth, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, against Philip and the Narrhagansets, wUch terminated in the reduction of both, secured Rhode- Idand from the hostilities of the Indians, and probably from abflointe rain. From the circumstances of its early settlement, Bhode-Island became naturally the resort not only of such ajtenturers as harmonized with them in religious opinions, but of most of those who were discontented and restless. A gnriaal aggregation, originated by a great variety of inci- dental causes, spread over the state, and occupied the whole of its territory. No single or regular scheme of colonization, bejt>Dd what has been already mentioned, was pursued. No common object united the immigrants, and no common cha- racter could be traced through the mass. Of the number, who finally filled up its extent, were Calvinistic, Arminian, Sabbatarian, and Separate Baptists; constituting, together, the largest class of inhabitants ; Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Moravians, Quakers, and Jews. Of most of these classes a considerable number are Nihilists. In such casual collections of mankind, it is an almost necessary consequence of their JQBction in society, that their peculiar religious opinions are held with less and less tenacity ; that concessions are gradually aod insensibly made by each to each ; that each class respects its own doctrines less, and becomes more and more indifierent to those of others ; and that all religious doctrines, impercep- tibly perhaps, but really, lose their influence, until the com- manity becomes dispossessed of that beneficent efiicacy, which is ever to be expected from the Gospel, wherever it is cor- diaUy befieved by an undivided body of men.
The inhabitantg of this state, in opposition to the rest of &eir New-England brethren, have uniformly refused to rap-
&4 JOURNSY TO PJtOVlNGfi TOWN*
port the public worship of God by law, or, in other words, to make a legal provision for the support of ministers and churches. A contract between a minister and his congrega- tion, for his maintenance, they have placed on the same foot- ing as contracts made at the gaming-table. Hence, exc^t in their large towns, a minister liberally educated cannot often be found. Hence the places of such ministers are filled by plain, ignorant individuals. Ordinarily these are farmers and mechanics, who push themselves into the desk for two reasons ; to avoid labour, and to display their gifts ; or, in other words, $rom sloth and spiritual pride. In the desk, almost all such men vociferate in a manner which in every other place would be thought grossly indecent ; distort doctrines and precepts ; dishonour ordinances ; pervert the meaning of the Scriptures, and murder arguments and language. They are destitute of dignity, propriety, and candour ; coarse and clownish in thw manners ; uncouth in their elocution ; and in their discourses clumsy and ridiculous. Next to a wicked ministry, the greatest evil which can befal the church is a weak ministry.
The churches in Providence and Newport I have already described. A large and handsome one has been lately erected at Providence. Those which I have seen in the countiy towns appear like badly built and decayed barns.
To remedy the evil which has been here specified, the sober and intelligent Baptists of this state founded Providence col- lege, or, as it is now called, " Brown University." The design was honourable both to their beads and their hearts. A con- siderable number of young men of this persuasion have been educated, and have been destined to the ministry. But, al- though the number of Baptists in most of the states in the Union is considerable, and in the whole great, the places ai>e not numerous to which sach ministers can look for a living. In the cities and large towns several of them find a suflScient maintenance. Elsewhere, as they are generally obliged to look only to voluntary contributions, they must receive an im- perfect support. Few of them therefore, as I believe, enter the ministry. This evil is radical ; and, while men contkrae such as they have hitherto been, can never be remedied but by the interposition of government. Of such interposition m Biiode- Island there is, however, very Uttle hope. . Schook usually go fMurallel with misisterB and ehnrches.
TRUB USB OP WKALTH. 5S
Here, certainly, diey move in the same oourse. Exciumve of a few attempts which have lately been made to estabKsh aca-^ denies (of -which I believe one, two, or three have succeeded), and some effoits which are made in the principal towns, schooh in tiiis state can hardly be said to exist. The gentlemen, with whom I conversed on this snbjeet, expressed their mortifi- cation and their reprobation of the condnct of the state, in strong terras ; bnt they seemed to be hopeless concerning a reformstion. Widioiit churches, men will be vicious of course ; without schools, ^y will be ignorant ; asd ignorance iBd vice are suflBciently melancholy characteristics of die people in whom they are united.
It is not impossible, perhaps not improbable, that the energy awakened in this state by the diffusion of manufactures, may be productive of some beneficial consequences both to learning and religion. The wealth of the inhabitants is visibly increas- ing with rapidity, and will probably continue to increase through an indefinite period. Wealth, wherever it is spread, geDerates of course the desire of character, and this passion regolarly stimulates mankind to the use of those means by which it may be gratified. The first step towards giving cha- racter to children is to give them at least a decent educatioii, and this step is always taken whenever wealth begins to be diffused. The next is not uncommonly the building of churches ; and the next, the settlement and support of ministers ; si^.ch, I mean, as are qualified to discharge the duties of the sacred office. Should this be the course of events in Rhode -Island, it is hardly possible that the character of the inhabitants at large should not be essentially meliorated *. The nmnners of the body of the people differ materially
* These obsenrmdoDS were made in the year 1800. Since than time, tlie predictioD of the writer has to a coDsiderable extent been fulfilled. The loaoo&cturiog establishments of this state have been enlarged and multi- plied, and the wealth of the inhabitants increased in a more rapid manner tlttB in any other part of New-England. With the acquisition of property, tlM people^ particolarly in the large towns, appear to have acquired more iibeial views coDceming tlie importance of learning to the community. Within three years, also, preceding 1821, revivals of religion have taken pbce io a good number of towns and churches, refreshing the hearts of Christians, and elevating the moral and religious character of the state.—
fi6 JOURNEY TO PROVINCE TOWN.
firom those of Massachusetts and* Connecticut, as you wiB easily detennine from the observations akeady made. The ▼ices of ignorant people are always low, vulgar, and ahnost always predominant. Horse-racing has for a long period been a favourite pursuit. This gross amusement turns polished men into clowns, and clowns into brutes.
The Sabbath with a great part of this people is merely a day of visiting and sport. Many of the inhabitants have cus- tomarily devoted it to labour. A considerable number of persons in the trading towns, Providence excepted, have been deeply engaged in the slave trade. Some of the missioDary societies have in their proceedings considered Rhode-Idand as missionary ground.
I am. Sir, &c.
! ■■ ; . .
ill.'? ' . .'• •• ../ .■>:;■' :'. >»^ <i *•.•.— •■■' ". *. ,; . •. :*
LETTER VIII.
HAmme WoodM, Westpori. New-Bedford. Its Situa- tkm. Commerce^ and Settlement. Attack on Fair-Haven \nf tke British in 1778. Oallant Defence of the Place by Major Fearing*, Rochester, Wareham, Proposed Canal across the Peninsula of Cape Cod. Sandwich.
Dear^Sir;
From Tiverton the road speedily entered a forest,
called Helbome woods: a wild, rocky, dreary tract, with
Wdly a cheerful object in view. The road is stony, and
iniserably repaired; the soil is lean; the little agricultare,
fonnd ID a few solitary spots, is wretched ; and the scattering
liouses appear as if they were inhabited by persons, who knew
dot where else to find a shelter. Happily, they are supplied
With one great necessary of life, fuel, on easy terms. This
forest is composed almost wholly of oak.
The moment we entered Westport the scene was changed. Ax the very boundary the earth assumes a handsomer aspect. The surface is less hilly, and less rocky. The soil, also, and the husbandry, are sensibly better. All this tract is better fitted for grazing than for agriculture. Here we saw pines, both yellow and white ; the former of which continued with little interruption to Race Point.
The houses in this township are decent farmers' habitations. Except a small, trading village near^the mouth of a creek, at some distance south of the road, the township is distributed iato plantations. The inhabitants are principally Quakers; tad furnish a considerable ^art of [the daily supplies for the maiket of New- Bedford.
Westport was incorporated in '1787 ; ^and contained, in 1790, 3,466 mhabitants; ml800, 2,361; and, in 1810, 2,585. Tlie number of houses, in 1790, was 865.
S8 JOURNEY TO PROVINC£ TOWN.
New-Bedford is a towDi situated on both sides of the riy«r Acchusnutt^y the Indian name of the neighbouring country. The township, beside a collection of farms, contains three villages ; the Town, or New-Bedford proper, on the western, and Oxford and Fair-Havea on the eastern side of the river.
The situation of New-Bedford proper is an easy declivity, sloping towards the river, which here forms a noble basio, about a mile in breadth. The surface is in some degree dis- figured by rocks, but is otherwise handsome. The streets are either parallel, or at right angles with the river ; bemg laid ont with perfect regularity. Unhappily they are only forty feet wide. There are five of the former, and four of the latter. The houses are generally good, and some of them expensive and handsome. There are seven vdnable man- nons here, inhabited by the family of Rotch.
The township contains three Presbyterian churches ; one lit New-Bedford, one at Fair-Haven, and one in the interior* The first and last are supplied by a single clergyman. It abo contains three Friends^ meeting-houses.
The soil is hard, but well fitted for pasturage. AppM and several other fruits abound : but peachesi altfaou^ they grow easily, and of good kinds, are much injured by the peach-worm.
The harbour is the basin mentioned above. The entrance is narrow, the anchorage good, and the depth sufficient to admit ships of four hundred tons to the wharfs, where they are sheltered fi-om every wind.
Both the Town and Fair- Haven are busy, eommercial vH^ lages. Fifteen thousand tons of shipping belong to Ibis port; the great body of which is owned by the inhabitants. It it chiefly made up of large vessels, employed in the whale fishery about Falkland Islands, in the Pacific ocean, and elsewhere:; or in a circuitous carrying trade. The business of nil kinds done here, considering the size of these villages, is great ; ami, hitherto, has been almost uniformly profitable : but the duties collected are of no great importance. Yet the importafions are probably smaller, when compared with the quantum of
♦ Written Acushnett by Mr. Colton, of Plymouth, 1674.
BRIDOB AT N£W-BBDFORD. SO
buMiiess done by the meichantSy than perhaps those of any other place in the union.
The following is an abstract of the duties collected in this port for ten years.
Years. Duties.
1801 Dollars, 68,964
1802 16,627
1803 13,824
1804 27,344
1805 36,163
1806 26,972
1807 40,018
1808 1,324
1809 6,806
1810 10,703
A bridge is begun across the Acchusnutt from the town of New-Bedford to Fair-Haven. The proprietors, that they might take the advantage of two small islands, lying in the rirer, and of a bar extending from one of them a considerable distance, have formed this structure in a circuitous manner. Tke abutments, islands, and bar, extend about 2,000 feet, and the bridge, 3,960, or three-fourths of a mile. The waiter in the channel is more than thirty feet deep. The expense, estimated at thirty thousand dollars, was defrayed by the in- kbitants of these two villages.
New-Bedford and Fair-Haven were both settled in the year 1764. The ground, on which they are built, was formerly m- duded in the township of Dartmouth, incorporated in 1664. OBTtmoath originally included the present Dartmouth, and the whole of the townships of New-Bedford and Westpcnrt. New- Bedford was not incorporated until the year 1787 : tlie Mme year wiA Westport. The ground, on which the town stands, was the property of a Mr. Russel ; and was purchased of him by Mr. J. Rotch, a native of Nantucket. When the question concerning the name of the proposed settlement wbs started, Mr. Rotch observed, that Russell was the name of he Duke of Bedford ; and that this spot, having been the ffoperty of a family having the same name, should be called Bedford. Fair-Haven received its name from the beauty of
00 JOURNKY TO PROVINCE TOWN.
its sitBation. Mr. Rotch speedily built a house, stores, and wharfs ; and was joined by several associates.
In Nantucket he had become thoroughly acquainted with the whaling business ; and had formed interesting connections^ both with the merchants and fishermen of that island. Witb this knowledge, and these connections, he began the business advantageously. Mr. Rotch was a Friend, of a fair character, sagacious, and persuasive. By his peculiar address he pro- cured first from the government of France, and then from that of Great Britain, the privilege of exporting oil to those coun^ tries duty free ; and was thus enabled to carry on his own business with the highest profit, and essentially to befriend that of his neighbours. In consequence of these happy b^ ginnings, and the industry and skill with which they weve followed, the town instantly began, and witb one exception has ever continued to be eminently prosperous. We were not in Fair-Haven; but its appearance was pleasant aid handsome.
No events of any peculiar* importance occurred in the huh tory of this town until the year 1778. On Saturday evening, the 3d of September, the British under General Gray landed* 4,000 troops upon Clark's Neck, the western boundary of the river at its mouth, and marched to the town. Here th^ burnt houses, wharfs, &c., to the amount of £11,241 ; and de^ stroyed English and West-India goods, provisions, naval stores, shipping, &c., to the amount of £85,730 ; amounting in the whole to £96,080, or 323,266 dollars. From this placg they marched around the head of the river to Sconticut Point, oft the eastern side, leaving in their course, for some unknown reason, the villages of Oxford and Fair-Haven. Here ihef* continued till Monday, and then re-embarked. The follow^ ing night a large body of them proceeded up the river, with ^^ design to finish the work of destruction by burning Faii^ Haven. A critical attention to their movements had con-^ vinced the inhabitants that this was their design, and induced them to prepare for their reception. The militia of the ne^fa^ bouring country bad been summoned to the defence of this village. Their commander was a man far advanced in years. Under the influence of that languor, which at this period en*
BRITISH ATTACK ON PAIR-HAVBN. ^
feebles both the body and the miud, he determined that the place must be given up to the enemy, and that no opposition to their ravages could be made with any hope of saccess. This decision of their officer necessarily spread its benumbing influence over the militia ; and threatened an absolute pre- tention of all enterprise, and the destruction of this handsome tillage.
Among the officers, belonging to the brigade, was Israel
Pearing, Esq., a major of one of the regiments. This gallant
young man, observing the torpor which was spreading
among the troops, invited as many as had sufficient spirit to
IbUow him, and station themselves at the post of danger.
Among those who accepted the invitation was one of the
colonels, who of course became the commandant ; but after
they had arrived at Fair- Haven, and the night had come on»
he proposed to march the troops back into the country. He
Wis wannly opposed by Major Fearing ; and, finding that he
could not prevail, prudently retired to a house three miles
distant, where be passed the night in safety.
After the colonel had withdrawn. Major Fearing, now com- maDder in chief, arranged his men with activity and skill ; and soon perceived the British approaching. The militia, in the strictest s^nse raw, already alarmed by the reluctance of their soperior officers to meet the enemy, and naturally judging that nea of years most understand the real state of the danger better than Major Fearing, a mere youth, were panic struck at the approach of the enemy, and instantly withdrew from tkeir post* At this critical moment Major Fearing, with the iuamam wldch awes men into a strong sense of duty, rallied dim^ and. placing himself in the rear, declared, in a tone vhkh removed all doubt, that he would kill the first man vkoni lie fooad retreating. The resolution of their chief re* callad.theira. With the utmost expedition he then led them toiAe scene of danger. The British had already set fire to sdveni stores. Between these buildings and the rest of the ▼iUage he Btationed his troops ; and ordered them to lie close b profound silence, until the enemy, who were advancing, skodd have come so near, that no marksman could easily ottskake his object. The orders were punctually obeyed. When the enemy had arrived within this distance, the Ame-
JOURNBT TO PROVINCB TOWN.
ricans rose, and, with a well-directed fire, gave them a warm and unexpected reception. The British fled instantly to their boats, and fell down the river with the utmost expedition. From the quantity of blood, found the next day in their line of march, it was supposed that their loss was considerable. Thus did this heroic youth, in opposition to his superior officers, preserve Fair- Haven, and merit a statue from its in- habitants^.
A wag, who had divined the true reasons of the coloneFs retreat, followed him to the house where he lodged ; and, finding by inquiry, that notwithstanding his original declanh tions to the contrary, he had concluded to take up his lodgings there for the night, resolved to be his sentinel. He therefore mounted the jaw-bone of a horse upon a pair of small wheels, instead of a cannon. This piece of artillery he charged and discharged, at regular intervals during the night, as the proper means of defence to his gallant commander; and had the satisfaction of seeing him safe and sound the next morning^.
The township of New-Bedford extends from Dartmouth to Rochester, four miles, and from Buzzard's bay to Freetown, thirteen. In 1790, it contained 454 houses, and 3,313 inha^ bitants ; in 1800, 626 dwelling-houses, and 4,361 inhabitaaDt»; and, in 1810, 5,651.
Thursday, November 25th, we left New- Bedford bbbAj in llie morning, and rode to Sandwich, thirty miles; tfiraiq;k Rochester, twelve ; and Wareham, thirteen. On our way we visited a manufactory of twine at the head of the harbour^ and about four miles firom the town. It is the property of Mr. Rotch ; and will cost, it is said, forty thousand dolfam when completed. It contains five stands of quills, each af which spins thirty pounds of flax per day ; and a twisting mw* chine, which easily twists all that is spun. One hundred anA fifty pounds of flax, therefore, are converted daily into twine at this manufactory, or 46,950 pounds in twelve montha. Sewing twine only is spun at present, and is said to be of a good quality ; but it is intended soon to spin that, which v designed for netting. The flax is chiefly imported firom Con-
^ This account of New-Bedford I had from Edward Pope, Esq., (MA whoiv I received Many ciYilitieaw
SOIL NBAR WARBHAM. 68
njacticut. This was an application of water machinery to the cttiTemeoce of man, which I have not before seen.
Soon after we passed the Acchnsnutt we entered upon the great sandy plain, which forms the south-eastern region of Massachusetts. Between New-Bedford and Rochester it is tolerably firm. Thence to Wareham it becomes lighter, and the road heavier. From Wareham to Sandwich the horse may be said to wade. The forest throughout this region is principally formed of yellow pines. Oaks are however inter- spersed in New- Bedford and Rochester. The soil in Ro- cketer is principally hard, and furnishes a good road.
Rochester consists of scattered plantations. The soil, so far as we had opportunity to see it, is thin and indifferent. AiooDd a decent church we saw several well-looking houses, and a number of others in difierent parts of the township.
Rochester was incorporated in 1686; and contained, in 17M), 2,644 inhabitants; in 1800, 2,546; and, m 1810, 2.9B4.
Wareham, on the road, is almost merely a sandy plain, ex- cept a few spots lying chiefly along the streams. The soil, vhidi is light and thin, lies immediately upon a stratum of wbite saad, 6rom half an inch to eight or ten inches in thick- ness. Beneath this lies another stratum of yellow sand, de* iteoding below any depth to which it has been explored. As aD this country is formed in the same manner to Province Town, with few and small interruptions, I shall have occasion kereafter to resume this subject.
Hie congregational church in Wareham is decent ; but nei- ther tfaisp nor the church in Rochester, has a steeple.
The lands in this township, near the ocean, are said to be Qach better than those on the road.
Wareham was incorporated in 1739; and, in 1790, con* taoed 854 inhaUtants ; in 1800, 770 ; and, in 1810, 851.
Between Wareham and Sandwich we crossed the neck, or iithmos, which connects the peninsula of Cape Cod with the mmsL Two streams from this peninsula empty their waters iato. Barnstable-Bay on the east, and Buzzard's-Bay on the lest, whose head-waters are very near to each other. A sdienie has long nnce been projected, and often been bronght op to the view of the public, for making a canal, ta coBneet
•A JOUEN&Y TO PROVINC& TOWN.
(IhosectwQ w«ijt$)rs> of 4ui6^cct dep^-to admit y^se^ oCpbpm- derftble burden, add 4io& save then the Toyage roiii;id Cqpe Ood> vlucti ^t somfd seasons of the year is not a litfle ha- zardous. The design is accompanied by the following .\rei| jenou^ difficulties. The expense, as estimated by seveiyd 8UO cessive surveyors, will be very great. There is no hmrbour at •dl9 entrance in Barnstable-Bay, to secure vessels aiming at the ^i39iial in tempestuous weather. This evil is radical^ and cm be remedied only by an expensive mole at this spot. If the canal should be guarded with locks, it would in the winter be 0rozen, and thus preclude all navigation at the time ot the greatest exposure. If the canal should be left open, it is be;- Ueved that a sand bar would be formed at one of the en- trances. The importance of this work, however, is so gvefOt ttiat it will probably be one day attempted. During fivp months out of the nine, in which it would be open» eas^^ly -stDrms more or less prevail. Many vessels are lost; and a great mass of property is sunk in the ocean. The commeiioe of Boston, and other towns on the eastern shore of Maasacha- setts, would also be rendj^red so much safer and easier, Ihttt^ could not fail of being greatly increased. Perhtqps there new was a spot, in. which such a work was more ^eces6ary,.«r in which it would be more useful to mankind^ than in this. The : distance* between the navigable waters of these two bi^;]» five miles. >
The soil of Sandwich ia much better than that which we saw at Wareham. The surface is an interchange of hills and Tal- lies ; which, though not beautiful in themselves, were particu- larly agreeable to us, after having languished over so extensive a plain. These, to a considerable extent, are moderately well covered with earth. The meadows were often brilliant. The arable land bears good crops of the grains common to the country, and among them of wheat, which not uncommonly yields well. The maize was small ; but ^thej season had been very dry, and stinted its growth. Generally the crop is good. A stranger surveying this ground would suppose, from its ap- pearance, that vegetation of every kind must be greatly infe- rior to that which really exists. There are several good orchards in this town, and one cider-mill, the only one on the peninsula.
PRB8BMT 0TATJI OP SANDWICH. 06
'ttm town of Sandwich is btiilt on tbe northern^ or» ^at it is cMmuMily cafled, the western side of the isthmus, on a hill of considerable height. The most compact part of it surrounds a clear, pleasant-looking pond. From this water runs a hand- some stream, on which stands a grist-mill. The church is an anrient building, as are also many of the houses.
A considerable salt marsh along the shore of the bay yields the inhabitants a large quantity of hay, which is valuable both as fodder and as manure. Near it is a small harbour, called the Town harbour, where, and in some other inlets belonging to die township, about thirty vessels are employed in the coasting bunness, especially in carrying wood to Boston.
The general appearance of Sandwich is not unpleasant ; and from the high grounds there is a fine prospect of the bay, and of tiie neighbouring country. There is a small academy, eoofmung at tins time a considerable collection of students.
Sandwich is divided into two parishes. It was incorporated m 1689 ; and, in 1790, contained 1,991 inhabitants ; in 1800, 296 dwelling-houses, and 2,034 inhabitants; and, in 1810, VBB2. There is one society of Friends, and another of Me- thodists, in this township.
..The inhabitants of Sandwich have very civil, decent man- iaa, ' Since we were on diis ground there has been a consi- todde revival of religion in the congregation of the Reverend Kr. Burr.
I am. Sir, &c.
tOL. 111.
•r;
LETTER IX.
tlountry between Sandwich and Barnstable. Bamstahle. Yarmouth, Salt Works of Cape Cod. Observations on the Extent of this Manufacture. Difficulties of Christianizing the Indians. Dennis. Harwich. Or- leans.
■< »
Dbar Sir;
Monday* September 29th, we left our fneii|d^,j|]^ Sandwich* and rode to Orleans* thirty miles; through Bani^ stable, twelve ; Yarmouth* isixteen ; Dennis* twenty-one ; and Harwich* twenty-five*
llie country from Sandwich to Barnstable is hilly* and in a great degree bare* bleak* and desolate, the inhabitwts having universally cut dowp their forests and groves* and takei^ no! measures to renew them. The soil is thin and unproduq^yi^, and furnishes very little that is sprightly to enliven the scen^: The road is in many places worn through the soil down to ^hp . yellow sand* and is deep and very heavy. The hills succeed each other so rapidly* and the acclivities and declivities are so sudden as to render the travelling very laborious. It ought tp ^ be mentioned* however* that in the vallies* and towards the bc^* a number of meadows alternate the prospect pleasantly. Th^. views from the heights are frequently extensive and interestr ing. The streams are few and small. The houses on tho road are neither numerous* nor* except in a very few instanpes^j* of much value.
Barnstable lies at the bottom* or the southern extremity cf Ma8sachusetts*-Bay. The township extends across the penin- sula* which here is from five to nine miles wide* and about eight : miles from Sandwich to Yarmouth. A noble prospect is seen from the high grounds* consisting of the town and neighbonr- ing country. A very extensive salt marsh* at that time co-
BARNSTABLE. 07
vered with several thonsand stacks of hay ; the harbour, a mile wide, and four or five miles long ; a long, lofty, wild, and fan* tastical beach, thrown into a thousand grotesque forms by the united force of winds and wared ; and ttie bay, bounded on the north only by sky, on the east by the peninsula of Cape Cod, and on the west by the eastern shore of Massachusetts ; Ply- mouth Point, a very long beach running several miles into the bay, and Duxborough Point, another beach of considerable extent, and lapfung upon that of Plymouth, are conspicuous and very pleasing objects in ibis view.
The soil in Barnstable is plainly richer, as the situation is better, than that of Sandwich. The forest growth in both towQships is chiefly oak and yellow pine. The land produces good crops of maize, rye, and other grains, a good deal of flax, and a great quantity of onions. On some grounds, and in fa- Tourable seasons, wheat grows well. Salt hay is furnished by fli^ marahes in abundance.
The town is built on the northern declivity of a range of hills, running near the middle of the peninsula. The greater part of tlte houses stand on the road : taken together they are su- perior to those of Sandwich. Many of them are neat, and se- Teial exhibit proofs of wealth and taste. The public buildings, which we saw, were a Presbyterian church and a court- bose ; the latter decent and well repaured ; the former dis- apeeable to the eye. The church is unusually low, while the tower of die steeple is disproportionately high, aj^pearing m if madef for some other building, and by accident annexed to this*
Barnstable was incorporated in 1639, and is the shire town of the county, which h&ats this name. This distinction it ac- ifmd in 16SS, aiid, although situated^-near the western end of the peninsula, has qniedy retained it ever since. From tids source the manners of the inhabitants have received some degree of polish, and their morals some injury. Many of the idhabttants are seamen, and' a greater part farmers.
Bamstable includes two parishes, and three congregations ; two Preabyterian, and a small Baptist. In 1790, the number of tahabitants was 3,010 ; in 1600, %964 ; houses 406 ; and, IB mo, 8,64&
r2
08 iOURNBT TO PROVINCB TOWN.
From BarnstaUe to Yarmouth the road is deep and heayy, like that last described.
The soil of this township is inferior to any which we had seen, except some parts of Wareham. Here we were first witnesses of that remarkable phenomenon, so interesting to the inhabitants of this peninsula, the blowing of the sand. I shsl describe it hereafter.
The houses in Yarmouth are inferior to those in Barnsta- ble, and much more generally of the class, which may be called with propriety Cape Cod houses. These have one story, and four rooms on the lower floor ; and are covered on the sides, as well as the roofs, with pine shingles, eighteen inches in length. The chimney is in the middle, immediatel] behind the front door ; and on each side of the door are twf windows. The roof is straight. Under it are two chambers ; and there are two larger and two smaller windows in the gabfa end. This is the general structure and appearance of tk great body of houses from Yarmouth to Race Point There are, however, several varieties, but of too little importance to be described. A great proportion of them are in good repfur. Generally they exhibit a tidy, neat aspect in themselves, and in their appendages, and furnish proofs of comfortable livingi by which I was at once disappointed and gratified. The bams are usually neat, but always small.
At Yarmouth also may be said to commence the general addictioh of the people on this peninsula to fishing. Bom anji bred at the verge of the water, they are naturally tempted to seek for plenty and prosperity*on the waves, rather than glean a pittance from the field. From this source is derived theii wealth, and much of their subsistence.
In Yarmouth we first found the salt-works, which are now beginning to engross the attention of the people on thi^pe- ninsula.
During the revolutionary war, many persons, here and elsewhere along the coast, applied themselves to the business of making salt. The process consisted in evaporating sea water from large boilers by fire. The quantity obtained in this manner was necessarily small, and the consumption of fiid great. It was therefore given up at the ensuing peac^ ; but
SALT WORKS OP CAPB COf). 60
the snlgect was not absolately forgotten. A Mr, Kelly, hating professedly made several improvements in the means of acconn plishing this business, obtained a patent about two years beforo this journey was taken, for making salt works on the plan now generally adopted in this region. Of these the following is a description.
Vats, of a number suited to the owner's design, twenty feet sqoare and ten or twelve inches in depth, are formed of pine planks, an inch and a half thick, and so nicely joined as to be water-tight* These are arranged into four classes. The first class, or that next to the ocean, is called the water-room ; the second the pickle-room; the third the lime-room, and the fourth the salt-room. Each of these rooms, except the first, is placed so much lower than the preceding, that the water flows readily from it into another in the order specified. The water-room is filled from the ocean by a pump, furnished with Tans or sails, and turned by the wind. Here it continues until of the proper strength to be drawn into the pickle-room, and flnis successively into those which remain. The lime, with wluch the water of the ocean abounds, is deposited in the Erne-room. The salt is formed into small crystals in the salt- room, very white and pure, and weighs firom seventy to seventy- five pounds a bushel. The process is carried on through the warm season.
After the salt has ceased to crystallize, the remaining water if suffered to fireeze. In this manner a large quantity of Glaabei^s salt is obtained in crystals, which are clean and good. The residuum is a strong brine, and yields a great proportion of mariDe salt. Eke that dready described.
To shelter the vats firom the dews and rains, each is furnished ^rith a hipped roof, large enough to cover it entirely. The roofii of two vats are connected by a beam, turning upon an upright post, set firmly in the ground, and are moved easily on tbis pivot by a child of fourteen, or even twelve years. To oover and uncover them is all the ordinary labour.
Tlie marine salt^ made here, is sold for seventy-five cents a
budiel, and the Glaubei^s salt, at firom six to ten cents a pound.
At these prices the salt works were supposed, by the several
penons wiA whom we conversed, to yield an annual profit of
26, 96, 27, 80, and 88i per cent on the principal employed.
70 JOURNEY TO PROVIKCB TOWN,
If this estimate b not excessive, tfie business must oertEoify he better than most others. It is useful, permanent, liable to' few accidents, seccore of a market, incapable of being overdbiM^ and unattended with any material expense, either for fabooi' or repidrs. In ordiniary cases a child can perform the labour of a considerable establishment, and the repairs are almost confined to the roof, and the pieces of ti^nber by which tKfe works are supported. If these were smeared with oil and Spanish brown, or lampblack, diey #ould last a long- time. The brine itself secures the vats from decay.
The people of Dennis, the town immediately east of Yah mouth, began this business. The improvements of Mr. KeBy were represented to me as contested and doubtful. What> ever the truth may be concerning this part of -the subject, thb people of Demiis have the merit, and ought unqubstionaUy to have the honour of commencing efficaciously this usdU emi^f^rment.
• ,The sight of these works excited in my mind a train oi thought^ which others, perhaps, will pronounce romantic. 1 oould not easyy avoid thinking, however, diat tiiis businesi might one day prove the source of a mighty change in iht fyoe of this country. The American coast, as you know, v chiefly barren, and of csourse thinly inhabited^ It is, also, almost everywhere low and level ; and, therefore, while it ii nnsuited to most other employments, is remarkably fitted tc tliiis. Why, then, may it not be'beli€^Fed, that many diousandi of persons may one day be profitably employed in making salt along the immense exteilt of our shore. Why may not com* fort, and even wealth, be easily, as well as usefully obtainei here by great multitudes, who otherwise might hardly earn f subsistence. For aught that appears, this business ma^ hi followed with success and profit, to an extent which it woulc be very difficult to define. A small capital is Sufficient ti begin the employment with advantage. The demand for sal is at present very g^at, and is every year increasing. T1ie» are (1811) seven millions of inhabitants widiin the Unitec States : within a moderate period there will be seventy. Thf West^Indian sources, from which we principally derive thi necessary article of life, are now more than sufficient. Th^ time is near, in which the demand will exceed the'suppBei
PRAYING INDIANS. 71
ftom Aot quarter. To wliat means eaa the inhabitants of this coontiy so natmally betake themselves, as to those which I haTe< specified^ Will they not of course ^rect works of thia natmne^ .in succession, firom St. Mary's to Maohias ? Will not comfort, therefore, and even affluence, spring np on sands and wastes, which now seem doomed to everlasting desolation? Will not towns and villages smile in tracts, which are now condemned to gloom and solitade? May not multitudes, who hsbitnally spend Hfe in casual and parsimonious efforts to ac quire a bare subsistence, interluded with long periods of sloth aad> 4nnikenne6S, become sobers diligent, and even virtuous, and be formed for usefulness and immortality?
About forty years since, there stood within the limits of Tarmonth an Indian church, in the neighbouribood of which, caled Indian Town, resided a small congregation of praying Indians, of the Paukunnakut, or Wampanoag tribe. This was among the last relics of the efforts successfully made by Mor anoestors for the conversion of the Indians to Christianity. FnHn the obstinate belief which extensively prevails, that these peqple can never become Christians until they shall have been fint civiliaed, one would naturally suppose the trial never to hve been made, or to have been made without any success ; jet lustory informs us, that our ancestors spread the religion gf the Gospel among them, with as few obstacles and as Jiappy effects as were, peifaaps, ever known to attend efforts of Ae Ifte nature among any barbarians since the early days 9{ the church.
From Major-General Gookin, a perfectly unexceptionable
liritnesa, we learn with certainty, that in the colony of Massa^
thnaetta'-Bay theitB were, in his time, eleven hundred praying
^yiaiymfi ID fourteen villages. In the colony of Plymoudi there
at the same time, including those of all ages, not far from
tkomaBd* In Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket there
tpttfe^ periiape, fifteen hundred more. When to these we add
Aoae in C^ineetiont, the number may be estimated at not far
fnm ten thousand. These facts perfectly refute the opinion,
4nt tfieie is some peculiar difficulty attending the conversion
oC Indiana, which is inherent in their character or manners.
1i camot, however^ be denied, that the attempts which have
Wm made in modem times to spread the inflnmice of the
79 JOURNBT TO rBOVlMCS
Gospel amoDg tbem have in a greaC
ful. Two jfreat causes hare, in my
thitt effifct. The first of these was the
excitrd liy Philip, that the English were
Riifl WITH embarked in a general design to _
of thuir lands. This persuasion appears to tate ^*|^
thi^ H^ffiicy of that sagacious chieftain, thnwgbo^t 4e P''^
|Mrt of New-England, in a manner remarkably twpimim
i:urioiiH, So firmly were the Indians satisfied of Ac Is
an<l HiniBter designs of the colonists, that the "^
iiKif<-r h(!f?n effrctuully erased. Whenerer onr
Ihrm, ilicn'fon?, they are met with apprehension sad ^
Htrongly chfriKhtMl by the sense of their own
(limimiHon, and of the population and power of die
TIk; othrr cauM* of this diflSculty is found in the c;
conduct of thofte who are called Indian traders.
cliiKH of nifn, who, for a long period, employed thMisovcs
i^xolian^ing ronr.se Eunipean goods and ardent spirits, muw
powdi^r and bull, flints, hatchets, knives, and some other cfli
inodKioK, with tho Indians, for furs and peltry, Somefi*
thry rosidod anion^ them permanently, and sometimes oei
Nionully, nnd in either case acquired often considerable ssee
Avmiy ovrr thrni. (lenorally they were men of loose Bn
ufl well (IK of loosif principles. In their trade they were gree
and opprr9siv(\ nnd in their ordinary conduct licentious.
grciit purt of their gains arose from the sale of ardent spin
ix hiiHiness, to the snrcoss of which the vice, particularly '
inteiiipermuH*, of ttu* Indians was indispensable. Agai
Christianity nnd its niissiouaries, therefore, these men arnr
themselves, and made on the minds of their customers
most unfavoumhle impressions concerning both. At the S8
time, they themselves wt^e white men, and in the view of
Indians were of course Christians. With Christianity, th<
fore, these; ignorant people almost necessarily connected
unprinripled and profligate lives of the traders, as being oi
the only, and always the prominent, examples of what t
suppostrd to l>e tho proper effects of the Christian religion*
* The sftinc etlrcts tire produced in the minds of the Hindoos, b] lonne lives nf the British inhabitants ofHindostan. The most solidg niOf»t it|vcrRti%'r, objection hroupht by them against the Christian relij
DIFFICULTY OF CIVILIZINO INDIANS. 73
*o these great causes must, in certain cases, be added a
sometimes was not inferior to either in its efficacy ;
the very censorable character of that class of men,
vBoany plant themselves upon the frontier of the English
Its, a class composed princqially of the foresters
tofore described. These men almost of course alienate
minds of the Indians firom every thing adopted by the
Its.
idently of these causes, there b nothing in the Indian
incter, which can rationally discourage efforts for their con-
ikmotL They are savages, it is true, and a savage life is
Ksstile to religion ; but how often has Christianity triumphed
Ofcr this obstacle. What I especially intend is, that there is
vtting of a peculiar nature in their circumstances, which would
itfe their conversion more hopeless and difficult than that of
oner savages. Of this decisive proof is furnished in the facts
mch have been already stated. A strong illustration of the
ame proof is also exhibited in the remarkable success of the
oeeUent Brainerd, who, at Cross-week-sung, converted by
b preaching, so far as the human eye can judge, seventy-five
bfians, oot of one hundred^ to the faith and obedience of the
Gospel, within twelve mouths. What minister can boast of
pester success in any congregation of civilized life 1 Such a
&ct is a flaming proof, that the difficulty here complained of
(bet not lie in the mere character of these people.
Yarmouth was incorporated in 1639. In 1790, it contained %678 inhabitants, Dennis being then included within its limits, lii 1800, Yarmouth alone contained 1,727 ; and, in 1810, 2,134. Of Dennis we saw little, except the ground on which ve rode, and occasional extensions of our prospect over the oe^glibouring countiy. Of the houses and inhabitants we saw few, and those distinguished by no peculiarity. A consider- dile part of the road firom Yarmouth to Orleans, where we
trf that which is obriftted with the greatest difficulty, has heen derived fiva tUt loarce. The Mexicans made the same objection, and as they t^Mijbt incMlibly, againet the religion that was taught them by the Sp»- audi. The inhabitants of Tanjore, after having been a short time witnesses ^^^ fife oF Schwartz, never thought of questioning either the reality or the. "toBsDoe of hb religion.
94 JOURNBY TO PROVINCU TOWN.
lodged, 18 hilly and unpleasant. The soil is principally le (}ie v^rdore ftlded premattiiely ; the forests, which 'in Dd extend along^ the road in one place' three miles, are low ukithrifiy; and the surface, though suffiei^itly varied, ii lata 4)f -beauty. The Tiews of the bay, and tike tidy, comi able, aippeaiance of the houses, are* hefre ' ahtnost the < ejbj^tft 'whicb^.caB gratify the eye of a traveller. On northern shore the soil is said to be better. Rye, In ^om, and omona are said to grow well ; and are ciiltivatec greater quantities than are necessary for the consumptioi the inhabitants.
The highest land in the county of Barnstable is Scf hill, in this townsUp.
The following account of the salt works in Bamst county is isken firoin the collections of the Historical Soc of Massachusetts, vol. viii, page 138.
Number of Worki. Nomber of FeeC.
In Dennis 47 33,800
Yarmouth 4 16,630
Barnstable 14 11,717
Sandwich 4 2,702
Fahnouth 4 1,900
Harwich 21 18,600
Chatham 6 11,500
Orleans : . 11 3,080
Eastbam 12 9,100
Wellfleet 2 180
Truro 1 700
Province Town 10 11,404
136 121,318
. You are to be informed, that these feet denote the are the several vats contained in each salt work ; and that a j has here a singular meaning, and denotes ten actual feet. ' veal amount of the whole area of the vats erected on peninsula, was, in the year 1802, 1,213,130 square feet was calculated, that these works would yield annually 40, bushels of marine salt, and 181,969 pounds of Glauber^s i
BASMBTABLE SALT WORKS. 75
worth in die whole 4L97OI doUans S6 cents ; of which the nuaine salt, valued at 75 c^its a bushel, amounts to 90,328 4olbnt 50 cents; and the Glauber^s salt, valued at 6| cents per lb. to 11,373 dollars, 00 cents.
Captain John Sears, of Dennis, was the first and principal author of this method of manufacturing salt, and is to be con- lidered as one of the benefactoiB of hb country ; particularly as he persevered in bringing the design to perfection, in spite of the sneers and ridicule of his nei^bours ; weapons often employed in a very shameful, though successful, manner to discourage useful inventions.
There is a flourishing village on Bass river; running be- tween Yarmouth and Dennis, on the south side of the pe-
Dennis was incorporated in 1793. In 1800, it contained 188 dwelling-houses, and 1,408 inhabitants; and, in 1810, 1,739.
Harwich presents a handsomer aspect than any other town after Barnstable. It is situated on an easy declivity towards the south, and has a tolerably good soil. The verdure was more ?ivid, and the agriculture more successful. The houses are generally such as have been already described *.
Orleans is not greatly distinguished by any thing from Har- wich, except that it is much inferior in pleasantness of appear- ance. The soil also is lighter, and apparently less productive. Oq Pocket neck, however, lying upon the south, it is much better than in the main body of the township ; and on Pocket island, in Pleasant bay, is still better. In the body of the township twelve bushels of maize, and eight of rye, are the arerage crop ; on the neck, from fifteen to twenty of maize, and firom eight to twelve of rye ; and on the island twenty boihds of maize, without the aid of manure. Old men and ko;s are principally the husbandmen ; the middle, aged, and Toangmen are chiefly onployed infidiing. Clams are the
* la tbe jtmt 180S, the towDship of Harwich was divided, and the fint iviih incorporated hj the name of Brewster. This is the part throu|^ wtttcb we tniTelled. In the year 1790, the township contained 2,392 inha- ^MMs ; and, b 1800, 9,987 ; in the year 1810, the present Harwich con- tmd 1,949, and Brewster 1,113 ; total 3,054.
76 lOUJINKT TO VROTINCI TOWK.
bait lued bv the fiaheniieD, of wfakh firom rix hmdred to • thousand barrels are coUecled here in a single season. In tUi business many poor people find employment and subsistem Very little wood grows in this township. Imported wood ad peat are the fuel of the inhabitants. Tlie township is di?ided into scattered plantations.
Orleans was formerly a part of Eastham» and was incoipo- rated in 1797. In 1800, it contained 1,096 inhabitants ; md, in 1810, 1,248.
I am. Sir, &c.
. ■ i
»
LETTER X.
[oBL Truro. Province Town. Beach dross, its iify. Soil very thin, and blown away from the White wi beneath. Manners and Habits of the Inhabitants Province Town. Its Fisheries and Harbour. Well' t. Return to Harwich. Innkeeper.
AE Sir ;
Wb left our comfortable inn in Orleans, September and rode to Province Town, through Eastham, Well- md Tmro : tiurty miles. When we had proceeded half on our journey the road turned to the north, and thence Bortfa-west, this spot being the elbow of the peninsula, itham the surface became a perfect plain ; and the pe- I so narrow, that we had a full view of Massachusetts'- id the Atlantic at the same time. The bay was oYeiy- magnificent, and on the north was like the ocean, with- nts. We were, therefore, presented with the prospect » immense oceans, separated only by a strip of land, niles in breadth. Few spots on a continent unite two bjects in a single view.
Basdiam the cultivation of the earth was a point of per*
y less consequence than in Orieans. The soil was
more barren; the fields were large, as if owned in
m by many proprietors ; the fences were low, as if little
r was apprehended from cattle ; and large tracts were
{■dosed. All these appearances increased, until, at the
se of perhaps six miles from Orleans, we entered a
composed at first of oaks, and afterwards of oaks and
still lower and leaner than any which we had seen be-
lUs forest lasts, without intermission, to Wellfleet, and
mj fitde to the borders of Truro. At first the groond
78 iOURNEY TO PROVINCE TOWN.
is high, but level. After we had travelled a few miles, it ht- came broken into hills and vallies. On the eastern sidetif this township, however, there is a tract of very good land, containing about two hundred acres, probably the best in thb county ; yielding, when well manured, from thirty to forty-five bushels of maize, and from twenty to thirty bushels of rye. Greneratly, the land on the eastern side is better than that on the western. More than one thousand bushels of maize are annually sent to maricet by the farmers.
Eastham was incorporated in 1646 ; and, including Orleans eoatained, in 1790, 1,834 inhabitants ; in 1800, Eastham alone contained 650, and both townships 1,764 ; and, in 1810, Eisst- ham contained 761.
Our journey through the forest mentioned above was dis- agreeable. The surface was unpleasant, and the trees were destitute of thrift and beauty. The road, also, became within a few miles a mere b^d of deep scmd, through which oinr horses moved with excessive difficulty. Yet even in tins foi^st we saw planted, at considerable distanceB, tidy, snug< houses, vsttdly KUnionnded by a fence, inclosiAg a small fiece <rf greuttd. On most of these weve orchards of apple-trees, Ath fetided from the sea winds by' a barrier of cherry-trees, '<6r locusts^ Under these trees we had from time to time 'the pleasure of seeing patches of verdure, not indeed very brffliaii^ yet very agreeable to us ; accustomed^ as we liad Mw bi^iBii for a great distance, to fields cover^dwith a melancholy rtia§^ These houses are almost all built in vallies; surround^ t>y hills of c6nsi&rMile height, and defended by the foreists whMft cover them. A small bam is commonly built near the hoiiife, in which is lodged the salt hay, destined to be the food of ene or more i^ows. These animftls, having never known betM^ food, will, it is said, live well on Ais fodder. ' > !
Our road pasi^ed Welifleet on the right, at 'such ^ ^tanb^i tiiat we saw litfle of Hiis to^vn uiitil oiir retum. " "' ''»
Truro, t. «. the toim, lies on the "weisteni side of tliftf ^einiH sula; being built,' Hke most of thoi»e through which W^ hbti passed, upon the harbour. The principal concern of Hiese people, you will remeinber, lies witt the ocean. The village^ of Truro and WelMeet; and tibe'lioiises scattered through these fiiWnMps, are almost -entirely' MAtioiled in vollies; elM vyf
6BNBRAU ASPfiCT OF TAUBO. 79
vkieh, towards the northern part of the township, riins across, or nearly across* the peninsula. On these low gronnds they find a better soil, and security from the violence of the winds. The hills, contrary to what is found almost everywhere else in New-England, are dry, sandy, and barren.
The general aspect of the township, and of the buildings vhich it contains, differs in nothing remarkable from those, which have been ahready described. It includes two villages, one of about forty, and the other of about thirty houses ; to- gether with several hamlets, and a number of scattered habita- tions. The houses have the same tidy, comfortable appear*- ance, which has been heretofore remarked ; but are painted m fewer instances than in Yarmouth, and some other places* The church is large and decent^ but without a steeple* From the ground, on which this building stands, there is a noble proqpect of the bay and the ocean. This view is frequently^ repeated in the way to Province Town.
In passing through this township we saw a few melancholy* com fields, partienlarly towards the northern limits. The flom hiOa, formed by the hoe, were all standings as if the fields M yidded their last crop, and were finally forsaken. The feaces ^peaied to have been, designed rather to mark the boondaries of the fields, than to defend them against the inr tnuHon <if eattle. Yet these lands are said, in ancient times^ to iwire porodaeed fifty bushels of maiie to the acre, and firom tteen to twenty busheb of wheat.
Traro contained, in 1790, 1,198 inhabitants, and 165 dwell- nqpi; in 1800, 1,152 inhabitants; and, in 1810, 14209.
From Tniro to Province Town onr road lay chiefly on the
n^gin of a beach, which ni^tesit with Truro. Tlie form of
this toiWBafaip, wolusively of Ijong Point, is not unlike that
of a diemical retort : the tow!n lying in the inferior arch of the
Whi $md Raee Point on the exterior, and the beach being
Ike stern* Immediately befhre the town is the harbour, com-
aopfyfltjfled Cape Cod harbour;, the waters of which es:tend
raosd the north end q£ Tnuro a considerable distance^ and
«e dbere terauoatedby an extensive salt marsh, whi(ch reaches
"ome diitande into the last mentioned township. Between
this asnh and thewators of Province Town harbovr mi one
iMb, sat th^iAdanfieM the o(her» runs ftie beach. FKim
80 JOURNBT TO PROYINCK TOWM.
obserriikg it in Taiious places along the road from ^'^■****»w>, I waf induced to believe, that it borders the ocean from Bsm Point to the Elbow, and perhaps reaches still farther.
This remarkable object is an enormous mass of sand, ndi as has been already described ; fine, light, of a yellowish hn^ and the sport of every wind. It is blown into plains* vallies, and hills. The hills are of every height from ten to two hm* dred feet. Frequently they are naked, round, and extreoMlf elegant ; and often rough, pointed, wild, and fantastical, wtt all the varied forms, which are seen at times in drifts of raov. Some of them are covered with beach-fi^ass : some fringed with whortleberry bushes ; and some tufted with a small aoi singular growth of oaks. The variety and wildness of the forms, the desolate aspect of the surface, the height of tki loftier elevations, the immense length of the range, and thi tempestuous tossing of the clouds of sand, formed a group of objects, novel, sublime, and more interesting than can be ioM* gined. It was a barrier against the ambition and fretfrdnMi of the ocean, restlessly and always employed in assailing ill strength, and wearing away its mass. To my own fancy it appeared as the eternal boundary of a region, wild, dreaiji and inhospitable, where no hiunan being could dwell, and iati which every human foot was forbidden to enter. The portl of this barrier, which are covered with whortleberry busheiR and with oaks, have been either not at all, orverylittfe Uowi. The oaks, particularly, appear to be the continuation of the forests originally formed on this spot. Their appearance w» new and singular. Few if any of them rose above the middk stature of man ; yet they were not shrubs, but trees of a re» gular stem and structure. They wore all the marks of ex- treme age ; were in some instances already decayed, and in odiers decaying; were hoary with moss, and were defonned by branches, broken and wasted, not by violence, but by tiiMi. The whole appearance of one of these trees strongly reminded me of a Httle, withered old man. Indeed, a lillipntian of threescore years and ten, compared with a veteran of Brob- dingnag, would very naturally illustrate the resemblance, or rather the contrast, between one of these dwarfs and a fiilt grown tenant of our forests.
This stinted vegetation is partially, and perh^M justly, Mir
BBACH GRASS. 81
trilMedtb the infhieiioe of the «ea winds. The chief oraae,
however, is imdoubtediy the sterility of the soil. Throughout
the whole of this peninsula the forest trees, and all others,
even those in the most favoured spots, are unusually small.
Ton will remember, that with the exception of a thin soil, and
a few spots of salt marsh, it is formed entirely of sand. In
such ground no forest tree can grow, either with rapidity or
vigour. All the trees, and all their branches, are blunt and
unthrifty in their appearance, and humble in their stature.
The water, which nourishes them, is received upon a mere
sieve, which retains it but for a moment, and supplies them
with a scanty, parsimonious nurture. Accordingly, the trees
are in the literal sense starved. On the beach this evil exists
in a peculiar degree. The hills, on which these remariiable
vegetables stand, are of very small compass ; and the water
imis down their sides, and oozes from their declivities. Hence,
the supply of nutriment is still less, and the growth more
stinted, than on the body of the peninsula.
On the driest and most barren of these grounds grows a plmt, which I had never before seen, known here by the nane of beach-grass. This vegetable bears a general resem- Uuice to sedge ; but is of a light bluish green, and of a coarse Clearance. On these sands, sterile as they appear, it flou- riibes with a strong and rapid vegetation ; and, I believe, not It all, or veiy rarely, on any other ground ; and here, one vnNild naturally think nothing could grow.
From a Bfr* Collins, now an inhabitant of Plymouth, and fimeiiy of Truro, I received the following information. When he lived at Truro the inhabitants were, under the au- tbority of law, regularly warned in the month of April, yearly, tb phot beach-grass, as in other towns of New-England they M warned io repair highways. You will observe, that it was i«(aired by the laws of the states and under the proper penal* lies for disobedience, being as regular a public tax as any other. The people, therefore, generally attended, and per* bnned the labour. The grass was dug in the bunches, in lUch it naturally grows; and each bunch divided into a mimber of smaller ones. These were set out in the sand at diitaBces of three feet After one row was set, others were fheed behind it in such a manner, as to shut up the inter-
VUL. 111. 6
as JOURNEY TO PROVIHCB TOWN.
stiees ; or» as a carpenter would say, so as to break die joiott « It was placed in this manner, in order to prevent the wiad fiom having an open course through the grass in any direc- tion, lest it should drive the sand away. When it is once set, it grows of course, and spreads with rapidity. Eveiy bunch enlarges ; and, with its seeds, plants new onea around iL The seeds are so heavy, that they bend the heads of the grass ; and, whpn ripe, drop directly down by its side, where they immediately vegetate. Thus in a short time the ground is covered.
. Where this covering is found, none of the sand is blown. On the contrary, it is accumulated and raised continually* as snow gathers and rises among bushes, or branches of trees» out and spread upon the earth. Nor does the grass merely d^end the surface on which it is planted ; but rises, as thai rises, by new accumulations ; and always overtops the saod» however high that may be raised by the wind.
Within the memory of my informant the sea broke over the beach, which connects Truro with Province Town (the eastern end of which, for three miles, is within the limits of the former township) ; and swept the body of it away for some distance. The beach-grass was immediately planted on the spot ; in con* sequence of which the beach was again raised to a suffioieat height, and in various places into hills.
The wisdom and goodness of the Creator, exhibited in the formation of this plant, in this place, certainly claim the ad* miration and gratitude of man. But for this single, un* sightly vegetable, the slender barrier, which here has so long resisted the ravages of the ocean, had, not improbably, been long since washed away. In the ruins, Province Town, and its most useful harbour, must have been lost ; and the relief which the harbour, and the inhabitants, furnish to multitodaa of vessels in distress, and which no other place or peopie oould pojMibly furnish, must have been prevented. No other plant grows on this sand. The purpose for which it seema to have been created, it answers easily, permanently, and pw- fecdy. Perhaps at some period, at a more advanced state of knowledge, when war shall have become less, and the ad* vancement of h^^iness more the object of human pursuit, uses of similar importance nay be found for most, fgmHf
81NaUL.AR APPBARANCB OP THB 80IL. 88
for all cAer objects, however useless they may be thought mt present, and however neglected in the inqoiries <^ man.
The benefit of this osefbl plant, and of these prudent regn- htions, is however in some measure lost There are in Pro- vince town, as I was informed, one hundred and forty cows. These animals, being stinted in their means of subsistence, are pcmitted often to wander, at times in search of food. In every such case they make depredations on the beach grass, and prevent its seeds from being formed. In this manner the plant is ultimately destroyed.
It has been a frequent opinion, that this beach, and not im probably the whole township of Province Town, will one day, and that at no distant period of time, be swept away by the ocean. I was not able to obtain satisfactory information con- cerning this subject, particularly as judicious persons difiered entirely both as to facts and probabilities. Some averred, that tbe beach has been greatly diminished within a moderate pe- liod. Others, particulariy one, a discreet man, insisted, that what it lost on one side it regularly gained on the other. It is now a mere line of sand, in several places not more than one kmdred yards wide, and appears to tfie eye of a stranger, as if every vestige of it might be easily swept away within two or tree years.
From Tmro to Province Town the road and the scenery are b«th singular. Beside the beach and the salt-marsh already descfibed, the high grounds of Truro, on the south-west, exhi* \it a prospect entirely peculiar. Bleak, barren, and desolate 11 if never designed to be the residence of man, they are ne- verdielefls divided into fields, inclosed in the low, slender man- Mr mentioned aboTe, and covered with short grass, now russet mA melancholy. The soil, here scarce an inch thick, has, in ipets spread over all these fields at little distances, been either Hown or washed away, and left the white sand immediatdy teaeaih it bare. These spots exactly resemble the remains of i Bght soow einefly melted and vamshed, yet still whitening Ak gronnd in many places, and with perpetually differing (ladalions of rastre.
The road, exoept when the tide has declined, lies along ike •MCb-weslen marghd of the beach in a mass of sand, through IkUk a iMme wades wiOi excesnve fiitigne. When the tide
o2
84 JOURNEY TO PROVINGB TOWN.
has saffidenily fallen, a path is fiimished by that part of the beach which has been washed, better in our opinion than afanost any which we had found after we had left Roches- ter. The only objects in this tract, which can be called beauti- fol, except the water, are the naked hills of sand. These in many instances are perfectly re^lar, graceful sweUs, highly or- namented with fine waving figures of great elegance, wrought in the sand by the various motions of the wind.
Province Town stands on the end of the peninsula^ aod near the western limit of the beach. Race Point, the northern termination of the peninsula, lies three miles farther north ; and Long Point, a hook extending from its western border, shoots out towards the south four and a half. Between this hook and a beach, connected with the north-western corner of Truro, winds the entrance of the harbour, which is thus com- pletely land-locked, and perfectly safe. The town is built on the north side of the harbour, and on the southern margin of the beach. When we were on the ground, it contained 140 houses ; all, as far as we saw them, of one story. . They were new, neat, and comfortable ; but are built on a bed of deep sand, and set upon blocks of wood. They are built in rows, the first of which is complete ; the second, immediately behind it, broken with interstices ; and the third, short and broken also. All, or nearly all of them face toward the harbour. There are a few court-yards, but no other inclosures of any kind. Cellars, where they exist, are built of bricks in a circu- lar form, to prevent the sand from forcing in the walls by its pressure. It is said, that there are two or three gardens at itome distance from the town; and some of the inhabitants cultivate a few summer vegetables in their court-yards. Al- most all their food, except fish, is imported from Boston* Fish is the only commodity of domestic use with which they supply themselves.
The earth is here a mere residence, and can scarcely be said to contribute at all to the sustenance of man. All his support, and all his comforts, are elicited from the ocean. To the ocean he betakes himself as the only field of Ins exertions, and as if it were his native element. The Uttle children were wading as familiarly in the harbour, as elsewhere they are seen ]daying in the streets. Their sports, and their serious occupa-
MAMNBRS OP PROVINCB TOWN. 86
tioos, are alike found there. Little boys managed boats of considerable size with the fearlessness, and apparently with the skyi, of experienced boatmen. Every employment, except within doors, seemed to be connected with the water, and in- tended for the sea. To fish in every various manner, to se- cure that which had been caught, to cure fish, to extract oil, and to manage different sorts of vessels, firom the canoe to the dnp, engrossed apparently the whole attention of the in- habitants.
The manners of all those whom we saw, of every age and of both sexes, were very becoming, plain, frank, obliging, and olmoasly sincere. Nothing was perceived of the roughness which I had expected from a mere collection of fishermen and MdloTs. The inn, in which we lodged, was kept by a respect- able man, who, with his whole family, did every thing which we could wish for our accommodation.
All these people appear to be industrious and enterprising. They are said to be excelled by no seamen in their resolution, skill, and activity. Many of them command ships belonging to Boston, and the other trading towns in its neighbourhood. Uany of them also are said to amass wealth to a considerable degree; and some of them retire into the interior, where they purehase farms of their less industrious and less prosperous coontrymen.
The fishery of Province Town is an important object. For lome years the scarcity of whales has been such as to discou- fige the whale fishery ; bnt as they have now become more nonerous, they are banning to be objects of more attention. Hie cod fishery is pursned with great spirit and success. Just before we arrived, a schooner came in from the great bank with S6,000 fish, about l,fiOO quintals, taken in a single voyage ; the Bain deck, as I was informed, being, on her return, eight inches underwater in calm weather. They also fish for sharks, ad take gveat numbers of them ; for mackarel, horse macka- vd, haddock, &c. Herrings are also taken in prodigious fttntities.
The baclKmr of Province Town is very capacious, secure, •pen at all times, and of good bottom. Its depth is suffi- cient for ships of any size, and it will contain more than three ifMisand Tendi at once. Its importance is incalculable* The
86 JOURMfiY TO PROriMCR TOWV*
exterior coatt of the peninsiila is pecoliaily hanrdons. The fllomiSy which prerail on die American coast, genenJly ecuM firom the east ; and there is no other harbonr on a windwavd riioie within two hundred miles. A vast nnmber of vessels aate always {dyin^ in this commercial region ; and thonsmdi hare fonnd safety berey which would otherwise have perished.
About 87,000 quintab of cod fish, aad about 5,000 baneb of herrings, are annually cau^t by the people o£ ProYinoe Town. The herrings are about four dollars a barrel^ and ood ish about three dollars and a third, or twenty shillings a qinntal.
Within tins township there are two horses, len yoke of oxen, and one hundred and forty cows. These, except whea they purloin the beach grass, are fed from the marsh in tha neighbourhood.
All the inhabitants whom we saw, c£ every age, weoe weD clad; and no marks of poverty were discerned by us.
Ph)vince Town contains a Presbyterian church. Mr. P" , the present minister, is much and deservedly respected by his people ; and his public labours are very generally at- tended. This, undoubtedly, is a prime source of the solniety and decency conspicuous among the inhabitants^ He was settled, as we were told, when there were only seventeen tif miUes on the spot ; the town having been in a great meaanie deserted during the revolutionary war.
A stranger, bom and educated in the interior of New** England, amid the varied beauties of its surface, and the luxuriant succession of its produce, naturally concludes, when he visits Province Town, that the inhabitants and the neigh* boms also must possess a very limited share of enjoyment. Facts, however, refute this conclusien. For aught thai we ocmld discern, dey were as cheerful, and appeared to enjoy life as well, as any equal number of their countrymen. This, indeed, is easily explicable. Food and clothing, honsca. lodging, and fuel, they possess of such a quality, and with so much ease in the acquisition, as to satisfy all the demands -of that middle state in life, which wise men of every age have dignified by the name of golden. Nature and habit endear to ftem the place in which they were born and live, and prevent Aem from feeling what would be serious ineonvemeaoea^ te a
BMTBVtBlSB 0F TBI 11IHAM9AIIT8. tBh
■UMgci, Their mode of life is natimlly not hn pleawpg
tim tkut of die fiurnier or mechanie ; for no people are more
alteolied to their employment than teamen. The enterprise^
wfaieh this hfe requires^ and the energy which it supplies,
reader it leas even and dull, and are probably as well suited to
tiie natiml taste of man, as arts or agriculture. The situations
of otiMn they rarely see, and are therefore rarely led to make
iitaoHie comparisons. The lawn» the meadow, the orchard,
smI the harvest, excite in their minds, neither wishes nor
tkonghta. Tlie draught of herrings, the fare of cod fish, the
conquest of a shark, and the capture cyf a whale, prompt their
ambition, eagross thebr care, and furnish pleasures, as entirely
mknown to the farmer, as the joy of harvest is to them. To
nGtnde they are strangers. An active, enterprising life is
scarcely molested by ennui. Almost every day strangers visit
Province Town from different parts of the world ; for there is
hardly any spot, except great trading cities, which is more fire-
qnented by vessels of ail descriptions than this. By these
Hmj «e fi»»hed with bosiiiess and intelligence, and with not
a few of those little varieties in thought and feeling, which
eontribnte so much to the cheerfulness of life. Nor do they
fial of enjoying a conscious uninterrupted superiority over
Buere landsmen. While most of their countrymen have been
chained to a small spot of earth, they have traversed the
ocean. While the husbandman has followed the plough, or
brandished the sickle, the inhabitant of Province Town has
toasted the shores of Greenland, swept the Brazilian seas, or
CTOMcd the Pacific ocean, in chase of the whale. Who, that
has eircnnmavigated the globe, will not look down on him,
who ban aooroely travelled out of his native county, or spent
life on his owafiurm?
The tmtii is,^ a great part of human happiness or misery ansts from oomparison merely. Our misfortunes spring not fran oar poverty, for we are rarely poor in such a sense as to nfer, bal from a perception that we are not so rich as others. To this spirit there are no bounds. Alexander would have been oontented with Macedon, had there been no Persia, with Pua, had the Indus and the ocean limited the Asiatic conti- lart, and with the station of a man, had there been in his ap- BO gods. Whtf e objects of superiority and com-
8B JOURNBY TO PAOVINCB TOWN.
pariBon do not exist, the pain arising from this souroe b not felt. Such, in a good degree, is the situation of these people. Their lot is the lot of all around them. They have little to coyet, because they possess most of what is seen and known. Happily, Providence has, in cases of real importance, conci- fiated us, partially at least, to the sources of our enjoyment Were we naturally and generally prompted to an unirersal comparison of our condition with that of others, how many, who are now satisfied, would make themselves miserable, because they were not seated on thrones and wielding sceptres. How many would pine, that they were not to glitter on the page of the historian and the poet. How many would spend life in sighing for the fine enthusiasm of Spenser and Seattle, the exquisite elegance of Addison and Virgil, or the sublime raptures which thrilled in the bosom of Homer, Milton, or Isaiah.
Province Town, in 1790, contained 434 inhabitants; in 1800, 812 ; in 1802, there were 196 families, and, by a pro- portional calculation, 946 persons ; rather less than five, to a family; and, in 1810, 936.
Wednesday, September 30th, we left our hospitable and friendly inn, and rode to Harwich ; thirty-five miles. We began our journey at an early hour, in order to take the bene- fit of a hard path, furnished by that part of the beach which is covered by the tide at high- water. For several miles we were presented with a fine view of the Atlantic, now rolling against the shore under the pressure of a strong wind with inexpres- sible grandeur. After we had ascended the high ground on which stands the church of Truro, I was struck with the re- semblance between this spot and some parts of Scotland, as they are often exhibited in description. ** Bleak and barren," like ^' Scotia's Hills *,*' the country seemed to forbid the cul- tivation and the hopes of man. Providence appeared, in the very formation of the ground, to have destined it to accidental . visitation, or eternal solitude. In spite of facts the imagina- tion irresistibly asked. Who, that could make his retreat, would fix his residence here ?
On this ground there is a handsome lighthouse, stationed
* Beatties Minstrel
A IMMOLATS BOAD. f 89.
vpQD a 1BB88 of claj remarkable for its fimmess, and notiloM 80 finr being found bere. Greneral Lincoln, a gentleman to wbom his conntry is indebted for many important sendees, sqierinteiided its erection ; and it is said to be contrived in a mmer imeommonly nsefiiL
On our way we passed through the town of Wellfleet ; and fiiuid the booses generally like those heretofore described, but with more appearances of attention and taste.
Here we saw a collection of sand-hills surrounding the har-
boiir. They were of different sizes, and, in some degree, of
diff^^eat figures ; but were all obtuse cones, smooth, regular,
iiid elegant* Such a number, adorning a handsome piece of
vater, winding beautifully until it opened with a vista-like
pavage into the bay, were, after all the similar objects which
ve had seen, new and interesting. No mass of earth is com-
' parable to these hills for regularity and elegance of figure and
mifaee. Were they as cheerful as they are regular, were they
dressed with the verdure which so generally adorns New-
Englaud, they would be amoug the most beautiful objects in
nature.
At Wellfleet formerly lived Colonel Elisha Doane, who massed in tins spot an estate of £ ] 20,000 sterling.
In 1790, Wellfleet contained 1,113 inhabitants ; hi 1800, 1,907; and, in 1810, 1,402.
At Eastham we changed our road a few miles before we inched Orieans ; and, after passing by the church, an ordi- ttiy building in indifferent repair, entered a large sandy waste, Ijiog towards the bay. Here about one thousand acres were entirely blown away to the depth, in many places, of ten feet. Nothing can exceed the dreariness and desolation of this scene. Not a living creature was visible ; not a house ; nor eien a green thing, except the whortleberries, which tufted a few lonely hillocks, rising to the height of the original surface, imI prevented by this defence from being blown away also. These, although they varied the prospect, added to the gloom hf their strongly picturesque appearance, by marking exactly the ori^al level of the plain, and by showing us, in this man- ser, the immensity of the mass which had thus been carried away by the wind. The beach grass had been planted bere, and the ground had been formerly inclosed ; but the gates had
M lOURNBY TO PROTINCB TOWN.
been left open, and the cattle had destroyed this invalnaUe plant The inhabitants were, I presume, discooraged, and yielded up their possessions to ruin. When and where this evil will stop, cannot easily be calculated ; for the sand spreads a perfect sterility in its progress, and entirely desolates the ground on which it fails. The impression made by this land- scape cannot be realized without experience. It was a com- pound of wildness, gloom, and solitude. I felt myself trans* ported to the borders of Nubia, and was well prepared to meet the sandy columns so forcibly described by Bruce, and after Inm by Darwin. A troop of Bedouins would have finished the picture, banished every thought of our own country, and set us down in an Afiican waste.
The day had now become very warm ; the wind blew from behind us; the sand was very deep; and our horses were obliged to move slowly, and with extreme difficulty. Nothing could better elucidate the strength and beauty of that Am image of Isaiah, ** A weary land ;" and to us ** the shadow of a great rock** would have been inexpressibly delightful.
The rocks on this peninsula terminated, upon our road, ii Orleans. They are the common, grey granite of the country.
We lodged at Harwich with a Captain A. Thb man had been thirty years at sea, and, as he informed us with emphasis, had seen the world. Now he was the principal farmer in Harwich, and cut annually from four to eight loads of English hay* ; a greater quantity, as he told us, than was cut by any single farmer fiirther down the Cape. A fimner in the in^ terior, who cuts annually from one to two hundred tons, 11117 perhaps smile at this story.
I am. Sir, 8cc«
* Spear grass.
LETTER XI.
Bitwm to Samdwieh* Mission among tie Indians ai Mas^ sapse. Yisii to the Rev. Gideon Hawlejff the Missionary. Ikscription of the Peninsula of Cape Cod* Its Soilr
Dear Sir;
Thb next monnng, Tlnirsday, October 1st, we rode to Ttrmouth, nine miles, to breakfast ; and spent a consider- aUe time in examining the salt works of Peter Thatcher, Esq. Hence we proceeded to Marshpee, or Massapee, fifteen, to dumer. In the erening we retomed to Sandwich, twelve ; k aD, thirty-six miles. Our road was better than on the three freoeding days.
Massapee is one of the few tracts in the popnlons parts of New-England, which are still occn|Med by the aborigines. A wsaionary has been regularly supported here, with small in- temiptions, from the establishment of this Indian colony, by the efibrts of Mr. Richard Bourne, the first missionary. This geetlemaR, with a disinterestedness and piety highly hononr- lUe to him, obtained, in the year 16G0, a deed firom an Indian, med Quachatisset, and others, to the In^Uans of Massapee ; or, as they were then called, ** the Sonth Sea Indians," coyer- ing the tract which bears this name. The instrument was so inwn, that the land could never be sold without the consent ofereiry Indian belonging to the settlement. On this founda- te he began a mission to this place, and was ordained as a nuaonary in 1670. In 1685, he died ; and was succeeded ^ an Indian preacher, named Simon Popmonet, who lived in tb character about forty years ; and was racceeded, in 1729, ^y Mr. Joseph Bourne, a descendant of Richard. This gen- ^I^QaD rengned die office in 1742; and was followed by a ■•(•nd Indian miiaooaffy, a regolar minister^ and a good.
9fi JOURNBY TO PROVINCE TOWN.
sensible preacher. During his life two gentlemen were suc-