Page:History of Barrington, Rhode Island (Bicknell).djvu/58

34 being a good length. Thousands of men have lived there which died in a great plague, not long since."

The land of this western section of Pokanoket has a southerly slope towards the bay, somewhat hilly in the eastern part, toward the Taunton River, but nearly level in the central and western parts. Originally it was heavily wooded with oak, walnut, cedar, and pine forests, with the exception of the borders of the several rivers, on the margins of which were unequal widths, as now, of fresh and salt meadows, with various clearings on the uplands adjoining these water courses, which afforded the Indians an opportunity to cultivate the soil in their rude and simple style. Game of all kinds abounded in the woods and fish were plenty in the streams, and waters of the bays. An attractive country, surely, for any people, and especially so to these lords of the soil, who so easily obtained from land and sea all they thought needful for their subsistence and happiness.

As we are dealing with a nomadic people, our ideas of town and village life have little in common with those of the Wampanoags. Where the conditions of life were the most comfortable and supplies of food the easiest, there was the Indian's home. During the season of shad and aleswives at Palmer's and Taunton Rivers, the people sought these resorts. The bays could be always depended on for shell and fin fish, in summer or in winter. In winter, the bear, the deer, the fox, the wolf, the panther, the rabbit, the partridge, the quail, and other game, taken for food or clothing, led them to the forests, to the north and east. We may suppose, however, that the main portion of the time of the tribe, especially of the women and children, was spent in some fixed localities on or near Narragansett Bay. Mr. W. J. Miller in his story of the Wampanoags locates two permanent villages on Bristol territory, one at Mount Hope, and a second at Kickemuit.

As Barrington has so long a salt water boundary on the bay and navigable rivers, it is a matter of certainty that the Indians made it a favorite dwelling place, and that villages