The 2. Booke. THE rest of this History (if God give me life, & opportunitie) I shall, for brevitis sake, handle by way of annalls, noteing only the heads of principall things, and passages as they fell in order of time, and may seeme to be profitable to know, or to make use of. And this may be as yo 2. Booke. The remainder of Ano: 1620. I SHALL a litle returne backe and begine with a combination made by them before they came ashore, being yo first foundation of their govermente in this place; occasioned partly by y discontented & mutinous speeches that some of the strangers amongst them had let fall from them in yo ship That when they came a shore they would use their owne libertie; for none had power to comand them, the patente they had being for Virginia,* and not for Newengland, which belonged to an other Goverment, with which y Virginia Company had nothing to doe. And partly that shuch an [54] acte by them done (this their condition considered) might be as firme as any patent, and in some respects more sure. The forme was as followeth. In ye name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwriten, the loyall subjects of our dread soveraigne Lord, King James, by y grace of God, of Great Britaine, Franc, & Ireland king, defender of ye faith, &c., haveing undertaken, for ye glorie of God, and advancemente of ye Christian faith, and honour of our king & countrie, a voyage to plant ye first colonie in ye Northerne parts of Virginia, doe by these presents solemnly & mutualy in ye presence of God, and one of another, covenant & combine our selves togeather into a civill body politick, for our better ordering & preservation & furtherance of ye ends aforesaid; and by vertue hearof to enacte, constitute, and frame such just & equall lawes, ordinances, acts, constitutions, & offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meete & convenient for ye generall good of ye Colonie, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witnes wherof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cap-Codd yo 11. of November, in ye year of ye raigne of our soveraigne lord, King James, of England, France, & Ireland ye eighteenth, and of Scotland y fiftie fourth. Ano: Dom. 1620.* * See page 41. - ED. After this they chose, or rather confirmed,† Mr. John Carver (a man godly & well approved amongst them) their Governour for that year. And after they had provided a place for their goods, or comone store, (which were long in unlading for want of boats, foulnes of winter weather, and sicknes of diverce,‡) and begune some small cottages for their habitation, as time would admitte, they mette and consulted of lawes & orders, both for their civill & military Govermente, as y necessitie of their condition did require, still adding therunto as urgent occasion in severall times, and as cases did require. In these hard & difficulte beginings they found some discontents & murmurings arise amongst some, and mutinous speeches & carriags in other; but they were soone quelled & overcome by y wisdome, patience, and just & equall carrage of things by y Gov and better part, wch clave faithfully togeather in ye maine. But that which was most sadd & lamentable was, that in 2. or 3. moneths time halfe of their company dyed, espetialy in Jan: & February, being ye depth of winter, and wanting houses & other comforts; being infected with y scurvie & [55] other diseases, which this long vioage & their inacomodate condition had brought upon them; so as ther dyed some times 2. or 3. of a day, in ye foresaid time; that of 100. & odd persons, scarce 50. remained.* And of these in ye time of most distres, ther was but 6. or 7. sound persons, who, to their great comendations be it spoken, spared no pains, night nor day, but with abundance of toyle and hazard of their owne health, fetched them woode, made them fires, drest them meat, made their beads, washed their lothsome cloaths, cloathed & uncloathed them; in a word, did all ye homly & necessarie offices for them wch dainty & quesie stomacks cannot endure to hear named; and all this willingly & cherfully, without any grudging in ye least, shewing herein their true love unto their freinds & bretheren. A rare example & worthy to be remembred. Tow of these 7. were Mr. William Brewster, ther reverend Elder, & Myles Standish, ther Captein & military comander, unto whom my selfe, & many others, were much beholden in our low & sicke condition. And yet the Lord so upheld these persons, as in this generall calamity they were not at all infected either with sicknes, or lamnes. And what I have said of these, I may say of many others who dyed in this generall vissitation, & others yet living, that whilst they had health, yea, or any strength continuing, they were not wanting to any that had need of them. And I doute not but their recompence is with yo Lord. * Bradford gives no list here of the signers of this compact. Morton must have had some other authority than this History for the names he has appended to it in the Memorial, or else he supplied them by conjecture from Bradford's list of passengers in the Appendix. If we may suppose this compact to have been signed by all the adult male passengers, it would seem that other names besides those Morton has given should have been included. - ED. † See page 99, note †. - ED. "Monday, the first of January, we went betimes to work. We were much hindered in lying so far off from the land, and fain to go as the tide served, that we lost much time; for our ship drew so much water that she lay a mile and almost a half off, though a ship of seventy or eighty tons at high water may come to the shore." Mourt, in Young, p. 171. This tract contains a chronological history of events in the colony down to the latter part of March, and should be read in connection with the narrative in the text. This portion was doubtless from Bradford's pen. - ED. * The bill of mortality, as collected by Prince, from Bradford's pocket-book, is as follows. There died in December, 6; in January, 8; in February, 17; in March, 13; total, forty-four. According to Smith, before the arrival of the Fortune, November 9th, six more were added to the list, which would include Carver and his wife, making the number of deaths fifty. See also list of passengers in the Appendix, No. Ι. ; Prince, I. 80, 98, 103, 104, 105; Smith's New England's Trials, p. 16. - ED. But I may not hear pass by an other remarkable passage not to be forgotten. As this calamitie fell among yo passengers that were to be left here to plant, and were hasted a shore and made to drinke water, that ye sea-men might have y more bear, and one* in his sicknes desiring but a small cann of beere, it was answered, that if he were their owne father he should have none; the disease begane to fall amongst them also, so as allmost halfe of their company dyed before they went away, and many of their officers and lustyest men, as y boatson, gunner, 3. quarter-maisters, the cooke, & others. At wch ye m2. was something strucken and sent to ye sick a shore and tould y Gov he should send for beer for them that had need of it, though he drunke water homward bound. But now amongst his company [56] ther was farr another kind of carriage in this miserie then amongst y passengers; for they that before had been boone companions in drinking & joyllity in y time of their health & wellfare, begane now to deserte one another in this calamitie, saing they would not hasard ther lives for them, they should be infected by coming to help them in their cabins, and so, after they came to dye by it, would doe litle or nothing for them, but if they dyed let them dye. But shuch of y passengers as were yet abord shewed them what mercy they could, wch made some of their harts relente, as y boatson (& some others), who was a prowd yonge man, and would often curse & scofe at y passengers; but when he grew weak, they had compassion on him and helped him; then he confessed he did not deserve it at their hands, he had abused them in word & deed. O! saith he, you, I now see, shew your love like Christians indeed one to another, but we let one another lye & dye like doggs. Another lay cursing his wife, saing if it had not ben for her he had never come this unlucky viage, and anone cursing his felows, saing he had done this & that, for some of them, he had spente so much, & so much, amongst them, and they were now weary of him, and did not help him, having need. Another gave his companion all he had, if he died, to help him in his weaknes; he went and got a litle spise & made him a mess of meat once or twise, and because he dyed not so soone as he expected, he went amongst his fellows, & swore y rogue would cousen him, he would see him choaked before he made him any more meate; and yet y pore fellow dyed before morning. * Which was this author him selfe. All this while y Indians came skulking about them, and would sometimes show them selves aloofe of, but when any aproached near them, they would rune away. And once they stoale away their tools wher they had been at worke, & were gone to diner. But about yo 16. of March a certaine Indian came bouldly amongst them, and spoke to them in broken English, which they could well understand, but marvelled at it. At length they understood by discourse with him, that he was not of these parts, but belonged to yo eastrene parts, wher some English-ships came to fhish, with whom he was aquainted, & could name sundrie of them by their names, amongst whom he had gott his language. He became proftable to them [57] in aquainting them with many things concerning ye state of yo cuntry in yo east-parts wher he lived, which was afterwards profitable unto them; as also of ye people hear, of their names, number, & strength; of their situation & distance from this place, and who was cheefe amongst them. His name was Samaset; he tould them also of another Indian whos name was Squanto, a native of this place, who had been in England & could speake better English then him selfe. Being, after some time of |