“We saw their dwellings, which are circular in form, about ten or twelve paces in circumference, made of logs split in half, without any regularity of architecture, and covered with roofs of straw, nicely put on, which protect them from wind and rain. There is no doubt that they would build stately edifices if they had workmen as skillful as ours, for the whole sea-coast abounds with shining stones, crystals, and alabaster, and on this account it has dens and retreats for animals. They change their habitations from place to place, as circumstances of situation and season may require. This is easily done, for they have only to take with them their mats, and they have other houses immediately prepared.
“The father and the whole family dwell together in one house. In some of their houses we saw twenty-five or thirty persons. Their food is pulse, as that of the other people, which is here better than elsewhere, and more carefully cultivated. In the time of sowing they are governed by the moon, which they think effects the sprouting of the grain. They have many other ancient customs. They live by hunting and fishing, and they are long lived. If they fall sick ...[402] they cure themselves without medicine, with the heat of fire. Death comes to them at last from extreme old age. We judged them to be very affectionate and charitable toward their relatives, for they make loud lamentations in their adversity, and in their misery call to remembrance all their good deeds. When they die their relations mutually join in weeping mingled with singing for a long while. This is all that we could learn of them.
“This region is situated on the parallel of Rome, in 41⅔ degrees, as I shall narrate hereafter to your serene majesty.[403] At present I shall describe the situation of this place. At its south end the channel is narrow and a half league wide. It extends, between east [south?], and north, twelve leagues. Then it enlarges and forms a very spacious bay twenty leagues in circuit, in which are five small islands, very fertile and attractive, and covered with high trees. The bay is so spacious that between these islands any number of vessels might ride at ease without fear of tempests and other dangers. At the entrance of the bay, farther south, there are very attractive hills on both sides of the channel, and many streams of clear water flow from the eminences into the sea. In the middle of the mouth there is a rock of freestone (uno scoglio di viva pietra), formed by nature and suitable for the construction of any kind of machine or bulwark for the defence of the haven.”
Verrazzano’s description of Narragansett Bay, named Port du Refuge on Gastaldi’s map of 1553,[404] is so accurate that without any other information it would be easy to determine the situation of the place where for fifteen days, ending the sixth of May (old style), he and his crew held familiar intercourse with the friendly Indians inhabiting the islands and the main-land in the vicinity of the anchorage of the Dauphine. The latitude of the bay given by Verrazzano cannot be gainsaid.[405]
Departing, on the sixth of May, from Port du Refuge, the Dauphine sailed on a southeasterly course to pass the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. Having steered fifty leagues in this direction, Verrazzano found the coast to trend toward the north, which he followed until he again cast anchor off the coast of Maine, a little north of the forty-third parallel.
The wary aborigines of this part of the New Land would not venture near the Dauphine, nor could they be induced to part with their commodities until they were remunerated with such things as were most useful to them. The landing of twenty-five men from the vessel provoked an attack, and yet after this show of hostility the Indians fled to the woods.
Speaking of his departure from Narragansett Bay, Verrazzano writes: “Having supplied ourselves with every thing necessary, on the sixth of May [old style], we departed from the port, and sailed one hundred and fifty leagues, keeping close enough to the coast not to lose it from our sight. The character of the country appeared much the same as before, but the mountains were a little higher, and in all appearance rich in minerals.
“We did not stop to land, as the weather was very favorable for pursuing our voyage, and the country presented no variety. The shore stretched to the east, and fifty leagues beyond more to the north, where we found a more elevated country, full of very dense woods of pine, cypress, and the like, indicative of a cold climate.
“The people were entirely different from the others we had seen, whom we had found kind and gentle, but these were so rude and barbarous that we were unable, by any signs we could make, to hold any communication with them. They clothe themselves with the skins of bears, wolves, lynx, marine, and other animals. Their food, which we inferred from several visits to their dwellings, is obtained by hunting and fishing. They have certain vegetables which are roots of spontaneous growth. They have no pulse, and we saw no signs of its cultivation. The land appears sterile and unfit for the growth of fruits or grain of any kind. If we wished at any time to traffic with them, they came to the sea-shore and stood upon the rocks, from which they lowered down by a cord to our boats beneath whatever they had to barter, continually crying out to us not to come nearer, and instantly demanding from us that which was to be given in exchange. They took from us only knives, fish-hooks, and sharpened steel. No regard was paid to our courtesies. When we had nothing left to exchange with them, the men at our departure made the most brutal signs of disdain and contempt possible. Against their will, we penetrated two or three leagues into the interior with twenty-five men. When we came to the shore, they shot at us with their arrows, uttering the most horrible cries, and afterward fleeing to the woods. In this region we found nothing extraordinary except vast forests, and some metalliferous hills as we inferred, for we saw that many of the people wore copper ear-rings.”