HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. 



through the winter in the thick pine forests, and, at the return of spring, 

 floating down their rafts to a sure and profitable market. Another 

 portion are fishermen, familiar with the haunts of the cod, the mack- 

 erel, and the whale, and with all perils of the sea. In the principal 

 towns, various classes of artisans pursue a lucrative trade. The country 

 furnishes some staples for an advantageous foreign commerce ; and, 

 especially in Boston, not a few merchants have grown rich." * 



Peace had reigned in these Colonies since the close of 

 the Pequot war in the spring of 1636, — nearly forty years. 

 The last colonist who had gained experience in savage 

 warfare in that short but fierce struggle was now dead, or 

 too old for service; while the youngest immigrants who 

 had been trained to arms abroad were now in the same 

 category. Slight and temporary misunderstandings and 

 quarrels had taken place now and then; but the wise and 

 scrupulously just policy which the Pilgrims at Plymouth 

 had first initiated with the good Massasoit, had prevailed, 

 and borne its natural and pleasant fruit. On the whole, 

 the state of the Indians had been improved by the settling 

 of the English at their side. Though they had parted 

 with a good deal of the land over which they had been 

 accustomed to roam, they had still enough reserved for 

 their present wants. They had bettered their position, 

 in their fight with nature for food and shelter, by many 

 implements and suggestions from the superior culture of 

 their white neighbors. And although their exposure to 



* Hist. New England, iii : 134. 

 xix 



