for servants.

hundred; or as you finde hee hath extraordinarily deserved, by it selfe to him and his heires for ever; all his charges being defrayed to his lord or master, and publike good: In so doing, a servant that will labour, within foure or five Incouragements yeares may live as well there as his master did here: for where there is so much land lie waste, it were a madnesse in a man at the first to buy, or hire, or pay any thing more than an acknowledgement to whom it shall be due; and hee is double mad that will leave his friends, meanes, and freedome in England, to be worse there than here. Therefore let all men have as much freedome in reason as may be, and true dealing, for it is the greatest comfort you can give them, where the very name of servitude will breed much ill bloud, and become odious to God and man; but mildly temper correction with mercy, for I know well you will have occasion enough to use both; and in thus doing, doubtlesse God will blesse you, and quickly triple and multiply your numbers, the which to my utmost I will doe my best indevour.

The planting Bastable or Salem and Charlton, a description of the Massachusets.

1629.

In all those plantations, yea, of those that have done least, yet the most will The planting say, we were the first; and so every Salem. next supply, still the next beginner: But seeing history is the memory of time, the life of the dead, and the happinesse of the living; because I have more plainly discovered, and described, and discoursed of those Countries than any as yet I know, I am the bolder to continue the story, and

for Salem.

doe all men right so neere as I can in those new beginnings, which hereafter perhaps may bee in better request than a forest of nine dayes pamphlets. În the yeare 1629. about March, six good ships are gone with 350. men, women, and Their provisions children, people professing themselves of good ranke, zeale, meanes and quality : also 150. head of cattell, as horse, mares, and neat beasts; 41. goats, some conies, with all provision for houshold and apparell; six peeces of great Ordnance for a Fort, with Muskets, Pikes, Corslets, Drums and Colours, with all provisions necessary for the good of man. They are seated about 42. degrees and 38. minutes, at a place called by the natives Naemkecke, by our Royall King Charles, Bastable ; but now by the planters, Salem; where they arrived for most part exceeding well, their cattell and all things else prospering exceedingly, farre beyond their expectation.

lem and Charlton.

At this place they found some reasonable good provision and houses built by some few The planting Sa- of Dorchester, with whom they are joyned in society with two hundred men, an hundred and fifty more they have sent to the Massachusets, which they call Charlton, or Charles Towne: I tooke the fairest reach in this Bay for a river, whereupon I called it Charles river, after the name of our Royall King Charles; but they find that faire Channell to divide it selfe into so many faire branches as make forty or fifty pleasant Ilands within that excellent Bay, [p. 25.] where the land is of divers and sundry sorts, in some places very blacke and fat, in others good clay, A description of sand and gravell, the superficies neither too flat in plaines, nor too high in hils. In the Iles you may keepe your hogs, horse, cattell, conies or poultry, and secure for little or nothing, and to command when you list, onely

the Massachusets

Bay.

having a care of provision for some extraordinary cold winter. In those Iles, as in the maine, you may make your nurseries for fruits and plants where you put no cattell; in the maine you may shape your Orchards, Vineyards, Pastures, Gardens, Walkes, Parkes, and Corne fields out of the whole peece as you please into such plots, one adjoyning to another, leaving every of them invironed with two, three, foure, or six, or so many rowes of well growne trees as you will, ready growne to your hands, to defend them from ill weather, which in a champion you could not in many ages; and this at first you may doe with as much facility, as carelesly or ignorantly cut downe all before you, and then after better consideration make ditches, pales, plant young trees with an excessive charge and labour, seeing you may have so many great and small growing trees for your maineposts, to fix hedges, palisados, houses, rales, or what you will; which order in Virginia hath not beene so well observed as it might: where all the woods for many an hundred mile for the most part grow streight, like unto the high grove or tuft of trees, upon the high hill by the house of that worthy Knight Sir Humphrey Mildmay, so remarkable in Essex in the Parish of Danbery, where I writ this discourse, but much taller and greater, neither grow they so thicke together by the halfe, and much good ground betweene them without shrubs, and the best is ever knowne by the greatnesse of the trees and the vesture it beareth. Now in New-England the trees are commonly lower, but much thicker and firmer wood, and more proper for shipping, of which I will speake a little, being the chiefe engine wee are to use in this worke, and the rather for that within a square of twenty leagues, you may have all, or most of the chiefe materials belonging to them, were they wrought to their perfection as in other places.

The master-peece

[p. 26.] Of all fabricks a ship is the most excellent, requiring more art in building, rigging, of workmanship. Sayling, trimming, defending, and moaring, with such a number of severall termes and names in continuall motion, not understood of any landman, as none would thinke of, but some few that know them; for whose better instruction I writ my Sea-Grammar, a booke most necessary for those plantations, because there is scarce any thing belonging to a ship but the Sea-termes, charge and duty of every officer is plainly expressed, and also any indifferent capacity may conceive how to direct an unskilfull Carpenter or Sailer to build Boats and Barkes sufficient to saile those coasts and rivers, and put a good workman in minde of many things in this businesse hee may easily mistake or forget. But to be excellent in this faculty is the master-peece of all the most necessary workmen in the world. The first rule or modell thereof being directed by God himselfe to Noah for his Arke, which he never did to any other building but his Temple, which is tossed and turned up and downe the world with the like dangers, miseries, and extremities as a ship, sometimes tasting the fury of the foure Elements, as well as shee, by unlimited tyrants in their cruelty for tortures, that it is hard to conceive whether those inhumanes exceed the beasts of the Forrest, the birds of the Aire, the fishes of the Sea, either in numbers, greatnesse, swiftnesse, fiercenesse or cruelty; whose actions and varieties, with such memorable observations as I have collected, you shall finde with admiration in my history of the Sea, if God be pleased I live to finish it.

CHAP. XII.

Extraordinary meanes for building, many caveats, increase of corne, how to spoyle the woods, for any thing, their healths.

meanes for

Caveats for

For the building houses, townes, and fortresses, where shall a man finde the Extraordinary like conveniency, as stones of most sorts, buildings. as well lime stone, if I be not much deceived, as Iron stone, smooth stone, blew slate for covering houses, and great rockes we supposed Marble, so that one place is called [p. 27.] the marble harbour: There is grasse plenty, though very long and thicke stalked, which being neither mowne nor eaten, is very ranke, yet all their cattell like and prosper well therewith, but indeed it is weeds, herbs, and grasse growing together, which although they be good and sweet in the Summer, they will deceive your cattell in winter; therefore be carefull in the Spring to mow the swamps, cattell. and the low Ilands of Auguan, where you may have harsh sheare-grasse enough to make hay of, till you can cleare ground to make pasture, which will beare as good grasse as can grow any where, as now it doth in Virginia; and unlesse you make this provision, if there come an extraordinary winter, you will lose many of them & hazard the rest, especially if you bring them in the latter end of Summer, or before the grasse bee growne in the Spring, comming weake from Sea. All things they plant prosper exceedingly: but one man of 13. gallons of Indian corne, reaped that yeare 364. bushels London measure, as they confidently report, at which I much wonder, having planted many bushels, but no such increase.