CHAPTER II.

THE INDIANS

Reference has been made to Indians in the South Pond area and the name “Kamesit” which they are said to have given the region.

Miss Catherine Marten of Plimoth Plantation has written a scholarly monograph called _The Wampanoags in the Seventeenth Century_, dated December, 1970, an extensive ethnography of these Indian people of the coastal area of Southern New England at the time of Massasoit.

By the time settlers came to the South Pond area almost 150 years had passed since the arrivals of 1620 and it would seem that few Indians were in the general area by 1770. Those who were had by necessity been strongly oriented to the white culture. Their habitations near the woods enabled them to be near lands for hunting and the growing of corn, squash and other crops. Fish and shellfish along the coast were a traditionally substantial part of their diet and probably could be obtained without great harassment well into the eighteenth century. In the early 1600’s it was customary for the Indians to spend the winters in communal long houses back away from the coast for better protection from the weather. Spring, summer and fall were spent near the ocean for the gathering of fish and shellfish and the planting of crops. Meat and fish were preserved by smoking and drying. Corn, groundnuts, acorns and nuts could be preserved and cooked and provide starch and protein for their diet. They had no animals domesticated except dogs. The men did the hunting and the women tended the crops. One of the big chores was to scare away the birds until the seedlings were self-sustaining, requiring a constant all-day vigil in which the children helped.

Plymouth had been occupied by the Patuxet, or more accurately, the Wampanoags, one of the tribes designated as Algonquins, according to Squanto the only native to survive. He had been brought to England in 1619 by a coastal vessel, and had come back with a knowledge of English and was a faithful and helpful friend to the settlers in their relations with the Indians.

The proprietors, whose function we see in connection with the division of the ten great lots, had jurisdiction over the deeds of land bought from Indians. In 1643 the General Court required that all purchases of Indian lands have its approval. In 1660 it further required that it was prohibited to receive any lands under the pretence of a gift from the Indians without the approval of the Court. Until by conquest in King Philips War in the 1670’s, all Indian lands were secured to them by purchase or treaty. Major conflicts until then were avoided in comparison with other New England settlements.

The Indian population in Southern New England before 1620 has been estimated at 20,000, and the Indian population was .22 Indians per square mile.

The Indians had a valuable cultural trait in that they emphasized hospitality and considered giving to be as important as receiving, if not more so.

By 1800 the town voted that the sale of Indian lands that were held by the town should have the proceeds of their sale applied to the support of the schools, but the records are silent concerning the amount realized from the sales, according to Wm. T. Davis.

Arrowheads have been found in some quantity over the years in this vicinity. They are often found on the shores of the ponds, particularly in the early spring when ice scours the sand. It has never been my good fortune to find one.

When there were Indians or a few surviving Indians in the region there have been marriages between them and whites. There are people in Plymouth today who have Indian blood in their veins, and who although quiet about it, do seem to have a happy pride in the fact.

The first European to visit and observe and also to write an account of his experiences with the Indians of this region, the Wampanoags in particular, is Giovanni Verrazzano, a Florentine and a resident of Rouen, sailing under French auspices in the ship _Dauphine_ in 1524. They began near the Azores and sighted land at New Jersey. He and his party voyaged north for eleven weeks up to the coast of Maine. He gives us the first description of Rhode Island and Narragansett Bay, about forty miles from Plymouth. He spent fifteen days there from late April into May, the planting season for the Indians. They were in a fertile part of New England and he was impressed by the open prairies, well peopled by sedentary Indians, the vegetation largely patterned by man.

These quotations from Verrazzano accounts are taken from _Sixteenth Century North America_, by Carl O. Sauer, University of California Press, 1971.

Professor Sauer tells about a score of boats coming out to greet the _Dauphine_. The natives clambered aboard, among them two “kings” of fine stature and carriage. He then quotes Verrazzano:

“The elder had about his naked body a buckskin, worked with damask and with various adornments; the head was bare and hair coiled at the back with various bindings; about them a large chain with stones of diverse colors ... these are the most handsome people and gentle in their manners of any we have met on this navigation. They exceed ourselves in size; color; the profile sharp, the hair long and black and they give great attention to its care; the eyes are black and alert, and their bearing is sweet and gentle, much in the manner of olden days.

“... They are very generous and give anything they have. We formed great friendship with them. One day when we were trying to come into port with the ship from a league at sea, the weather being contrary, they came to the ship with a great number of their boats, their faces painted and made up in different colors in token of friendliness, and bringing us of their food. They showed us where we should make port to save the ship and accompanied us to the place where we dropped anchor.”

Sauer goes on to say:

“The observations were made of the Narragansett nation living on the western side of the bay and the Wampanoag of the east side. Both nations were numerous and well practiced in agriculture, fishing and hunting. The houses were the Algonquian wigwams in the form of a bell-shaped beehive, the frame of saplings set in the ground, bent together and lashed at the top, covered with mats or bark. The idyll of Narragansett Bay called to mind the virtuous life of olden times that men of the Renaissance learned from classical writings.”

The lands of the Wamponoags, that virtuous group of people, extended to the area of Plymouth Rock. We shall see how the new arrivals and their descendants set about to distribute these lands for the good of all the inhabitants by means of land grants.

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