DE RASIERES' LETTER.

In the Massachusetts Hist. Collections, vol. 3, first series, there is a record of correspondence between the Dutch at Manhattan [New York], and the Pilgrims at Plymouth. Afterwards Isaac De Rasieres was despatched from the Dutch West India Company at Manhattan, on an embassy to the colony of New Plymouth. Having arrived at Buzzard's Bay, he addressed a letter to Gov. Bradford acknowledging the reception of former letters and expressing the salutatory regards of the Hon. Lords of the West India Company, whereupon the Governor sent a boat for him, and the visit was highly beneficial in its results.

Afterwards, De Rasieres, in a letter to one of his employers, gave a description of Plymouth, a part of which has been found, and is too appropriate and interesting to be omitted here. It was obtained in Holland by the instrumentality of Mr. Broadhead, late secretary of legation at the court of London. Mr. Broadhead says, "Unfortunately the letter is defective, and we may reasonably infer that the missing portion would have been of the highest interest. But quite enough remains to induce lively congratulation that a happy chance has now placed so precious a fragment within our reach." It was first published in the New York Hist. Colls., and has been published by Mr. Russell in his "Pilgrim Memorials."

"Coming out of the river Nassau* you sail east and by north about fourteen miles, along the coast, a half a mile from the shore, and you then come to Frenchman's Point,'† at a small river where those of Patucxet have a house made of hewn oak planks, called Aptucxet,§ where they keep two men, winter and summer, in order to maintain the trade and possession. Where also they have built a shallop, in order to go and look after the trade in sewan, in Sloup's Bay || and

Narraganset Bay.

† De Rasieres dates his letter to Gov. Bradford, of 4th October, 1627, from "aboard the barque Nassau," off this point. [See Coll. N. Y. Hist. Soc., Vol. I., new series, p. 362.]

The Indian name for New Plymouth.

§ See Bradford's description of Manomet, in Prince, p. 67; and see also Coll. N. Y. Hist. Soc., Vol. I., new series, pp. 357, 358.

The western entrance to Narraganset Bay.

*

thereabouts, because they are afraid to pass Cape Malabaer, and in order to avoid the length of the way; which I have prevented for this year by selling them fifty fathoms of sewan, because the seeking after sewan by them is prejudicial to us, inasmuch as they would, by so doing, discover the trade in furs; which if they were to find out, it would be a great trouble for us to maintain, for they already dare to threaten that if we will not leave off dealing with that people, they will be obliged to use other means; if they do that now, while they are yet ignorant how the case stands, what will they do when they do get a notion of it?

"From Aptucxet the English can come in six hours, through the woods, passing several little rivulets of fresh water, to New Plymouth, the principal place in the country Patucxet, so called in their 'Octroye' from His Majesty in England. New Plymouth lies in a large bay to the north of Cape Cod, or Malabaer, east and west from the said [north] point of the cape, which can be easily seen in clear weather. Directly before the commenced town lies a sand-bank, about twenty paces broad, whereon the sea breaks violently with an easterly and north-easterly wind. On the north side there lies a small island where one must run close along, in order to come before the town; then the ships run behind that bank and lie in a very good roadstead. The bay is very full of fish [chiefly] of cod, so that the Governor before named,† has told me that when the people have a desire for fish, they send out two or three persons in a sloop, whom they remunerate for their trouble, and who bring them, in three or four hours' time, as much fish as the whole community require for a whole day and they muster about fifty families.

"At the south side of the town there flows down a small river of fresh water, very rapid, but shallow, which takes its rise from several lakes in the land above, and there empties into the sea; where in April and the beginning of May there come so many herring from the sea which want to ascend that river, that it is quite surprising. This river the English have shut in with planks, and in the middle with a little door, which slides up and down, and at the sides with trellice work, through which the water has its course, but which they can also close

* See also Bradford's account of this transaction, in Coll. N. Y. Hist. Soc., Vol. I., new series, p. 357.

† Probably in the portion of this letter which is unfortunately missing. In the original Dutch, "elft," is generally translated Shad, — perhaps it would be more properly rendered alewives.

J. j. B.

with slides. At the mouth they have constructed it with planks, like an eel pot, with wings, where in the middle is also a sliding door, and with trellice work at the sides, so that between the two [dams] there is a square pool, into which the fish aforesaid come swimming in such shoals, in order to get up above, where they deposit their spawn, that at one tide there are 10,000 to 12,000 fish in it, which they shut off in the rear at the ebb, and close up the trellices above, so that no more water comes in; then the water runs out through the lower trellices and they draw out the fish with baskets, each according to the land he cultivates, and carry them to it, depositing in each hill three or four fishes, and in these they plant their maize, which grows as luxuriantly therein as though it were the best manure in the world; and if they do not lay this fish therein, the maize will not grow, so that such is the nature of the soil.

"New Plymouth lies on the slope of a hill stretching east towards the sea-coast, with a broad street about a cannon shot of 800 [yards] long, leading down the hill; with a [street] crossing in the middle, northwards to the rivulet, and southwards to the land. The houses are constructed of hewn planks, with gardens also inclosed behind and at the sides with hewn planks, so that their houses and courtyards are arranged in very good order, with a stockade, against a sudden attack; and at the ends of the streets there are three wooden gates. In the centre, on the cross street, stands the Governor's house, before which is a square inclosure upon which four patereros [steenstucken] are mounted, so as to flank along the streets. Upon the hill, they have a large square house, with a flat roof, made of thick sawn planks, stayed with oak beams, upon the top of which they have six cannons, which shoot iron balls of four and five pounds, and command the surrounding country. The lower part they use for their church, where they preach on Sundays and the usual holidays. They assemble by beat of drum, each with his musket or firelock, in front of the captain's door; they have their cloaks on and place themselves in order, three abreast, and are led by a sergeant without beat of drum. Behind comes the Governor, in a long robe; beside him, on the right hand, comes the preacher with his cloak on, and on the left hand the captain with his side arms and cloak on, and with a small cane in his hand, and so they march in good order, and each sets his arms down near him. Thus they are constantly on their guard night and day.

"Their government is after the English form. The Governor has his council, which is chosen every year by the entire community by

election or prolongation of term. In the inheritance they place all the children in one degree, only the eldest son has an acknowledgment for his seniority of birth.

"They have made stringent laws and ordinances upon the subject of fornication and adultery, which laws they maintain and enforce very strictly indeed, even among the tribes which live amongst them. They [the English] speak very angrily, when they hear from the savages that we should live so barbarously in these respects, and without punishment.

"Their farms are not so good as ours, because they are more stony, and consequently not so suitable for the plough. They apportion their land according as each has means to contribute to the Eighteen Thousand Guilders which they have promised to those who had sent them out; whereby they have their freedom without rendering an account to any one; only if the king should choose to send a Governor-General they would be obliged to acknowledge him as sovereign chief.

"The maize seed which they do not require for their own use is delivered over to the Governor, at three guilders the bushel, who in his turn sends it in sloops to the North for the trade in skins among the savages; they reckon one bushel of maize against one pound of beaver's skin; in the first place, a division is made, according to what each has contributed, and they are credited for the amount in the account of what each has to contribute yearly towards the reduction of his obligation. Then with the remainder they purchase what next they require, and which the Governor takes care to provide every year.

"They have better means of living than ourselves, because they have the fish so abundant before their doors. There are also many birds, such as geese, herons, and cranes, and other small-legged birds, which are in great abundance there in the winter. The tribes in their neighborhood have all the same customs as already above described, only they are better conducted than ours, because the English give them the example of better ordinances and a better life; and who, also, to a certain degree, give them laws, by means of the respect they from the very first have established amongst them.

"The savages [there] practice their youth in labor better than the savages round about us; the young girls in sowing maize, the young men in hunting; they teach them to endure privation in the field in a singular manner, to wit: when there is a youth who begins to approach manhood, he is taken by his father, uncle, or nearest friend, and is conducted blindfolded into a wilderness, in order that he may

not know the way, and is left there by night or otherwise, with a bow and arrows, and a hatchet and a knife. He must support himself there a whole winter, with what the scanty earth furnishes at this season, and by hunting. Towards the spring they come again, and fetch him out of it, take him home and feed him up again until May. He must then go out again every morning with the person who is ordered to take him in hand; he must go into the forest to seek wild herbs and roots which they know to be the most poisonous and bitter; these they bruise in water and press the juice out of them, which he must drink and immediately have ready such herbs as will preserve him from death or vomiting; and if he cannot retain it, he must repeat the dose until he can support it, and until his constitution becomes accustomed to it so that he can retain it. Then he comes home, and is brought by the men and women, all singing and dancing, before the Sackima; and if he has been able to stand it all out well, and if he is fat and sleek, a wife is given to him.

"In that district there are no lions or bears, but there are the same kinds of other game, such as deers, hinds, beavers, otters, foxes, lynxes, seals, and fish, as in our district of country. The savages say that far in the interior, there are certain beasts of the size of oxen, having but one horn, which are very fierce. The English have used great diligence in order to see them, but cannot succeed therein, although they have seen the flesh and hides of them which were brought to them by the savages. There are also very large elks there which the English have indeed seen. The lion skins which we sometimes see our savages wear, are not large, so that the animal itself must be small; they are of a mouse grey color, short in the hair, and long in the claws. The bears are some of them large and some small; but the largest are not as large as the middle-sized ones which come from Greenland. Their fur is long and black, and their claws large. The savages esteem the flesh and grease as a great dainty. Of the birds, there is a kind like starlings, which we call maize thieves, because they do so much damage to it. They fly in large flocks, so that they flatten the corn in any place where they light, just as if cattle had lain there. Sometimes we take them by surprise and fire amongst them with hail shot, immediately that we have made them rise, so that sixty, seventy, and eighty fall all at once, which is very pleasant to see. There are also very large turkeys living wild; they have very long legs, and can run extraordinarily fast, so that we generally take savages with us when we go to hunt them, for even when one has deprived them of the power of flying, they yet run so fast that we cannot catch