Page:History of Barrington, Rhode Island (Bicknell).djvu/74

48 the Namasket Indians fishing at a weir, where they caught plenty of bass. The natives exchanged provisions and shared their lodgings with them in the open fields at night. The land was well cleared and productive, and the evidences were manifest of many settlements along the banks of the stream but the pestilence of the previous years had been so fatal that the living were unable to bury the dead, and many Indian skeletons lay bleaching on the ground. Six of the natives joined them in the morning on their journey, and .about three miles below the Taunton Green they reached a fording place where two old Indians on the west bank of the stream prepared to resist their passage. A show of friendship and a bracelet of beads conquered their hostile spirit, and the emigrants or ambassadors were received with the kindest welcome, the natives vying with each other in acts of hospitality, by giving them food, by carrying them in their arms over the small rivers, and by kindred acts of civility. In passing down the Taunton River they found evidences that the country had been recently thickly settled, but rank weeds spread over the fertile soil, and desolation now reigned throughout the country.

Traveling on through the Indian country, known as Mattapoyset, in the eastern part of Swansea, they came to an Indian village, where they were fed with fish and oysters and in the afternoon arrived at Sowams, the residence of Massassoit. They discharged their muskets as a salute to the grand sachem, and received from him a hearty welcome. The coat and chain pleased the chief and his people highly, and Massassoit pledged them his constant friendship, promised to prevent any further molestation by his people and to send seed corn to Patuxet or Plymouth as they requested. He then addressed his own people, spoke of his extensive dominions, and encouraged trade with the English. With all his greatness, however, the royal commissariat was limited to two fishes to be distributed between forty guests; and between scanty food, filthy cabins, and sleepless nights, they were compelled to frame excuses for a hasty departure,