Yet they were glad when land was in sight and when the ship passed out of the region of tumultuous waves into the quiet and peaceful harbor of Massachusetts Bay.
CHAPTER II
THE NEW HOME
Six years had swiftly passed by since that memorable landing, and the
Massachusetts Company had in this time made fine progress.
The band of emigrants, numbering about a thousand people, had settled in various places, some in Salem, but the majority in the new Colony of Boston, which Governor Winthrop made the capital.
He was an excellent leader, and as soon as he had established his Colony, a steady stream of immigrants poured in from England, though there were troubles and hardships enough for the settlers.
Mr. Bradley came over from Salem, and selling his little farm in the forest clearing, started a business in Boston, where he dealt with the Indians, of whom he bought rich and costly furs, which they exchanged for such articles as the white people had to offer.
The Indians wanted cooking utensils, guns, and above all fire-water; guns were more effective than their bows and arrows when they were hunting wild animals, though later, when they became hostile to the white people, the governors did all in their power to prevent traders from furnishing them rifles and ammunition.
They also forbade them to sell to the Indians the much-desired fire-water or whiskey, for this insidious poison worked great havoc among them. So anxious were they to obtain it, that they sold their last fur blanket to the white trader, and when they got their whisky they drank to excess, and in their fits of drunkenness committed outrages both upon their own people and the whites.
Mr. Bradley was a true Christian, and therefore refrained from selling to the Indians such things as might harm them. They were like children, and would have given in exchange for worthless beads and trinkets the most expensive and valuable furs. In this way, Mr. Bradley could have made much money, but his heart was not covetous, and he tried his best to teach the Indians what articles were really of use to them.