Samoset’s Visit
CHAPTER VI
Samoset’s Visit
Fri. Mar. 26
On Friday, Mar. 26, an Indian walked boldly into the settlement. He saluted them in English and bade them “Welcome.” He explained that his home was in Maine where he had learned some English from the captains of fishing vessels that frequented the coast in the vicinity of Monhegan Island, lying half way between the Penobscot and Kennebec Rivers and about twelve miles off the coast. From him they gathered much information. “He discoursed of the whole country and of every province and of their sagamores and their number of men and strength.”
“He told us that the place where we now live is called ‘Patuxet’ and that about four years ago all the inhabitants died of an extraordinary plague and there is neither man, woman nor child remaining, as indeed we have found none; so there is none to hinder our possession, or lay claim unto it.”
The night Samoset stayed at the house of Stephen Hopkins where they “watched him,” being suspicious of the scattering bands previously seen. He had told them of another Indian whose name was Squanto, a native of the place who had been in England and could speak better English than himself and whom he would later bring with him.
Sat. Mar. 27
The following day he returned to the Wampanoags whence he had come. This tribe, with the Nausets, occupied the territory lying between Narragansett Bay and Cape Cod. He also spoke particularly of the Nausets to the southeast who were one hundred strong while the former numbered approximately sixty. Massasoit was the Sachem or overlord of the Indians in the territory stated. It appeared that the Nausets were much provoked against the English, having been deceived by a Captain Hunt who “got them under cover of trucking with them, twenty out of this very place and seven men from the Nausets, and carried them away and sold them for slaves.”