New England

1694. The great historical, geographical and poetical dictionary by Louis Moreri.

New-England was first discovered by Sebastian Cabot, in 1497. and 1584. Mr. Philip Amadas and Mr. Arthur Barlow took possession of it for Queen Elizabeth. Next Year Sir Richard Greenvil conveyed an English Colony thither under Mr. Ralph Lane, who in a Year after returned with Sir Francis Drake into England. It is seated on the North of Mary-land, and South of Virginia, in the 40. and 41. Deg. of North Latitude, and hath 70 Miles of Sea-Coast, with several good Havens, some capable of giving safe Harbour to 500 Sail; about 200 Isles which lie on the Coast breaking the Rage of the Sea and Winds. Captain Smith, being taken by the Native•, gives this Account of their Superstition; That in a House where he lay, seven of their Priests, each with a Rattle began at Ten in the Morning to Sing about a Fire which they encompassed with a Circle of Meal; at the End of every Song they laid down some Grains of Wheat; then the Chief-Priest, cloathed with a Skin, and his Head adorned with Weazels Skins, &c. and a Coronet of Feathers painted as ugly as the Devil, at the end of every Song he used strange and vehement Gestures, throwing Cakes of Deer Suet and Tobaco into the Fire, and thus continued for three days till Six at Night: Pretending that it was to know of their God, whether any more English would come, and what they designed. They fed the Captain so high, that he was afraid of being Sacrificed to their God, than whose Image nothing can be more Monstrous. Being set at Liberty, and President of the Company, the Women gave him a very odd Entertainment, thus; Thirty of them came out of the Wood, their Bodies being covered with Leaves and variously painted; their Leader had a Pair of large Stagg's Horns, Bows and Arrows, the rest were dressed in the same manner, they rush'd through the Streets with hellish Shouts, and danced round a Fire for an hour; after which they solemnly invited him to their Lodging, where they all surrounded him, crying, Love you not me; and after having feasted him with great Variety in their mad way of Cookery, conducted him home with a Firebrand. The Natives wear loose Mantles, Aprons of Deer-skin round their middle, all else being naked; their Stature is like ours in England; they Paint themselves; and he is reckoned the greatest Gallant that is most deformed. The Women embroider their Leggs, Hands, &c. with Figures of Serpents, &c. and black Spots in their Flesh. Their Houses are made of small Poles set round, fastned at top like our Arbours, and covered with Matts. They are expert Archers, and shoot flying or running. One of our Men was shot through the Body and both the Arms at once with an Arrow. And an Indian shot an Arrow of an Ell long through a Target which was Pistol-proof. Their Bows are of tough Hazel, their Strings of Leather, their Arrows of Cane or Hazel, pointed with Stone or Horn. They soon faint, if their Arrows do not execution in Battle. They say they have Men of above two hundred years old. When they design to make War, they first consult with their Priests and Conjurers, and adore whatever they think may unavoidably hurt them, as Fire, Water, Lightning, Thunder, our Guns, Muskets, and Horses. Nay some of them were once so terrified at seeing an English Boar set up his Bristles, that they were in a mighty fear, taking him to be the God of the Swine, and angry at them. Their chief object of Worship is the Devil, whom they call O-kee; conferr with him, and fashion themselves like him. In their Temple they have his Image ill-favouredly carved and painted, with Chains, Copper, and Beads, and covered with a Skin. When their Kings die they embowell them, drie them on a Hurdle adorn'd with Chains and Beads, and wrapping them in white Skins and Mats, intomb them in Arches of the same with their Wealth at their Feet, but the common People they wrap in Skins and Mats, put them in a Hole, and laying Sticks upon them, cover them afterwards with Earth, which being done, the Women paint their Faces black with Coal and Oil, and mourn in the House together twenty four hours, yelling by turns. In 1606. A small Colony of English was sent hither under Captains Popham and Gilbert, at the Charge of Sir John Popham, but without effect. Soon after some Honourable Persons of the West of England obtained of King James I. a Patent of North America, called New-England, from 40 to 48 degrees of North Latitude; but the Descriptions being uncertain and false, little other Improvement was made, save the erecting some few Cottages for Fishers and Planters. In 1610. Mr. Robinson, a dissenting Minister, with other English, then at Leyden, obtain'd a Grant from King James I. to plant themselves in New-England, about Hudson's River, and enjoy the Liberty of their Conscience. They sail'd from Plimouth in September, for the South of New-England, but escaping many Dangers, were about the 11th of November cast upon a bosom of Cape-Cod, in Massachuset's Bay. Winter drawing on a pace, wanting opportunity to remove, and being encouraged by the Soil and Courtesie of the Heathen, they founded a New Colony, calling it New-Plimouth, (because Plimouth was the last Town they sailed from in England,) extending about 100 Miles in length, but not half so broad. From thence to 1636. they were very successfull, and increased; but the Naragansets, the Fiercest and most Warlike of the Natives, murthered several of them, and the Dutch, as Captain Stone, Captain Oldham, &c. but the Inhabitants of the Colonies falling unanimously upon them in 1637. cut off about seven hundred, and the rest were kill'd by the Neighbouring Indians, to whom before they were terrible, upon which Miantonimoh, Chief of the Magahins, expecting to be sole Ruler over the Indians, fell upon some that were Confederate with the English, which was proved upon him at Boston by one of his Fellows, called Uncas, for which he made War upon him at his Return; but Uncas taking him, cut of his Head by Advice of the English, An. 1643. from whence to 75. there was Peace on all Sides, till Sachem of Mount-Hope raised some Disturbances against the English. So that from first to last the English gave no Ground of Quarrel. In 1620. three Months after the first Plantation of Plimouth Colony, Massassoit, or the Chief Commander of that Side of the Country entred a League offensive and defensive with them, which he confirmed in 1630. a little before his Death, for himself and his Heirs, his two Sons Alexander and Philip being with him; he would fain have engaged them not to draw any of his Subjects from their Heathenism, but they would make no such Treaty with him; so that he hated the English for being Christians, which appearing more discernibly in his Son, it occasioned the rooting out of that Part of the Indians; so that Pastaconaway, the great Sachim or Sagamore of Merimack River, being sensible of the fatal Consequence of opposing rhe English, in his last Farewell to his Children and People, cautions them against it. But Alexander, Son to the Massassoit aforesaid, plotted against the English, whereupon a stout Gentleman was sent to bring him before the Council of Plimouth, who surpriz'd him and Eight more in a Hunting-house, at which he was so grieved that he fell into a Fever, and died. His Brother Philip, commonly called King Philip for his haughty Spirit, came in Person in 1662. with Sausaman, his Chief Secretary, to renew the above-mentioned League, and for seven Years lived in good Correspondence with the English; but in 1676. he plotted a General Insurrection against their Colonies, and caused Sausaman to be murthered for discovering it; for which the Murtherers being apprehended, were executed; and Philip took himself openly to Arms, destroying the English and their Habitations with the utmost Cruelty for two Years; till at last, being several times defeated, having lost his Wife, Son and Treasures, he was surprized in his Den upon Mount-Hope, and shot through the Heart by one of his own Subjects that joined with the English. The Country is possessed by divers sorts of People judged to be Tartars by Descent, and are divided into several Tribes, the Churchers, Tarentines and Monhegans to the East and North-East, the Pequets and Maragansets to the South, Connecticuts and Mowhacks to the West, Matachusets, Wippanaps and Tarentines to the North; and the Poranets who live West of Plimouth. There was a great Mortality among them at the first Arrival of the English, so that the Matachusets from 30000 were reduced to 300. The Pequods were destroyed by the English, the Mowhacks are about 500, and speak a Dialect of the Tartars: They are Tall, well Limbed, pale and lean Visag'd, black Ey'd, have long, curled black Hair, but no Beards; their Teeth are white, short and even, and they have generally flat Noses; their young Women are plump in Face and Body, of a soft and smooth Skin, and good Complexion, but that they dye themselves Tawny, and all of a modest Demeanour considering their savage Breeding. The Natives are inconstant, crafty and timorous, but very ingenious, quick of Apprehension, soon Angry, barbarously Cruel, prone to Revenge, Haters of Strangers, very Thievish, and all of them Cannibals; the Men keep two or three Wives according to their Ability or Strength of Body, and the Women have the easiest Labour of any in the World; when their Time is come, they go out alone, carrying a Board with them two Foot long, and a Foot and a half broad, bored full of Holes on each Side, having a Foot beneath, and on the top a broad strap of Leather, which they put over their Fore-head, the Board hanging at their Back; when they come to a convenient Bush or Tree, they lay them down, and are delivered in an Instant, without one Groan, wrapping the Child in a young Beaver-skin, with his Heels close to his Buttocks, and laced down to the Board upon its Back; thus they trudge Home with the Child, and dye it in Liquour of Hemlock-bark; and if they suspect it begot by any other Nation, throw it into the Water; and if it swim, acknowledge it to be their own. They love English Names, as Robbin, Harry, Philip, and are very indulgent to their Children as well as Parents; but if they live so long as to be burthensome, they either starve, or bury them alive. Their Apparel was the Skin of Wild-beasts with the Hair on, Buskins of Deer-skin or Mouse drawn with yellow, blue or red Lines; but since the English came among them, they buy of them a Cloth called Trading-Cloth, with which they make Mantles, Caps and Coats. They deck themselves with white and blue Beads, paint their Faces with variety of Colours, and weave Coats of Turkey-feathers for their Children. They abound with Rivers, in which together with the Sea are taken abundance of excellent Fish of all sorts. Nor are they worse provided with Fowl, wild and tame Beasts of all kinds. The most hurtfull things of this Country are rattle Snakes and stinging Flies. Here are also Oak, Cyprus, Pine, Cedar, and the ordinary sorts of Fruit-trees, as also Timber to build Ships, Furs, Flax, Linen, Amber, Iron, Pitch, Tar, Cables, Masts, and several sorts of Grains wherewith they drive a considerable Trade to Barbado's and other English Plantations, whence they bring Sugars and other Commodities. They trade also with England for Wearing-Apparel, Stuffs, Cloth, Iron, Brass, &c. Their Coins, Weights and Measures are the same with those of England, though they use Barter more than Money. The English in this Country are very powerfull, have many potent Colonies, and are Governed by Laws of their own making, assembling once a Month for making of new, abolishing old Laws, and determining Cases. Each County elect their Officers annually, the Government both Civil and Ecclesiastical is in the Hand of Independents and Presbyterians; and the Military Government is by one Major-General, and three Serjeant-Majors. Boston is the Metropolis, a large Town, well built, commodiously seated, and hath a considerable Trade to Barbado's, the Caribbees, England and Ireland. It is also a Place of good strength, the adjoyning Hills being fortified and mounted with Cannon. They have several other remarkable Towns, as Charles-Town, Dorchester, Cambridge which hath two Colleges, New-Plimouth, Reading, Salem, and abundance of others seated on the Shore or Navigable Rivers, and having their Names from some Towns in England. In the late Revolution they declared for his present Majesty King William III. who hath confirmed their ancient Charter and Privileges, which were infringed in the late Reigns of Charles II. and James II.