THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE 39 



Upon their arrival at Plymouth they possessed neither 

 boats, supplies, nor fishermen to engage in the fisheries. 

 Eventually the salvation of the colonists rested upon the 

 abundance of clams and other fish that were easily ob- 

 tained; but their attempts to engage in the fisheries as a 

 business undertaking always resulted disastrously. 



This fact is a significant commentary on the business 

 ability of the Pilgrims when it is remembered that at this 

 time there w r ere between forty and fifty vessels on the 

 coast of Maine each year, making profitable trips in spite 

 of having to sail thousands of miles to the fishing grounds, 

 whereas the Pilgrims might fish within a few miles of their 

 settlement. The lack of success in the fisheries at Ply- 

 mouth is still more emphasized when contrasted with the 

 success soon to be established by the Massachusetts Bay 

 colony a success that made the fisheries for one hundred 

 and fifty years the "corner-stone of New England pros- 

 perity. ' 



The Pilgrims were fortunate to settle at a place where 

 both land and sea ministered to their wants. On the one 

 hand were the abandoned corn fields of the Indians, which 

 were easily cultivated by the new settlers ; on the other 

 hand was the sea with its abundance of clams to be obtained 

 easily at low tide, the run of fish that came up into the 

 brook in the month of April, and the supply of cod and 

 bass to be had at all seasons and tides. Then, too, they 

 were fortunate in having Squanto as a faithful Indian 

 friend. He was a native of the place, had been taken to 

 Spain as a slave, sold to a London merchant, spent some 

 time as a fisherman at Newfoundland, and had come to the 

 colonists with the opening of spring after the hardships 

 of the first winter were over. Among other matters he 

 instructed them how to catch the fish that came up into the 

 brook and how to use them for dressing under the hills 

 of corn. 



