Page:Massasoit's town Sowams in Pokanoket, its history, legends and traditions (IA massasoitstownso00bake).pdf/22

16 presence of two or three of his most trusted counsellors, charged him to acquaint Winslow with the existence of a plot originated by the Massachusetts Indians against Weston's colony at Wessagusset and the settlement at Plymouth. Hobbamock faithfully obeyed his sachem's instructions. What would have been the fate of the Pilgrims had this timely warning not been given, we can only conjecture. Massasoit advised his white allies to "kill the men of Massachuset who were the authors of this intended mischief," and this advice they were constrained to follow.

This second visit of the English to Sowams marks an epoch in the history of both red men and white. It firmly cemented, by mutual gratitude and esteem, the friendship first established on a political basis. Previous to it, Massasoit appears to have cherished some misgivings regarding the good faith of his Christian allies. But his restoration to health by their ministrations removed every doubt from his generous mind. Witness his words, "Now I see that the English love me and are my friends, and whilst I live I will never forget this kindness they have showed me." He never did forget it.

Less than a decade after this eventful visit, an English trading house was established within the limits of Sowams of which at one period, Thomas Prince, afterwards governor of Plymouth colony, was "master." The location of this trading house has caused historians as much perplexity as the location of Sowams village itself. William J. Miller in his "History of the Wampanoag Indians" says (p. 24), "The trading post was supposed to have been located on the Barrington side of the river (Warren River) on the land known as Phebe's Neck." A little thought will convince anyone familiar with the Sowams region that the trading house would never have been placed in Barrington, for the reason that a wide, deep, and unfordable river lay between Phebe's Neck and Massasoit's town which the white men would have been