one of the commonest things in the world for a savage tribe to absorb weak neighbours by adoption, and thus increase its force preparatory to a deadly assault upon other neighbours.  When Eliot in 1657 preached to the little tribe of Podunks near Hartford, and asked them if they were willing to accept of Jesus Christ as their saviour, their old men scornfully answered No! they had parted with most of their land, but they were not going to become the white man’s servants.  A rebuke administered to Eliot by Uncas in 1674 has a similar implication.  When the apostle was preaching one evening in a village over which that sachem claimed jurisdiction, an Indian arose and announced himself as a deputy of Uncas.  Then he said, “Uncas is not well pleased that the English should pass over Mohegan river to call his Indians to pray to God.” [31]

Thus, no matter how benevolent the white man’s intentions, he could not fail to be dreaded by the Indians as a powerful and ever encroaching enemy.

Even in his efforts to keep the peace and prevent tribes from taking the warpath without his permission, he was interfering with the red man’s cherished pastime of murder and pillage.  The appeals to the court at Plymouth, the frequent summoning of sachems to Boston, to explain their affairs and justify themselves against accusers, must have been maddening in their effects upon the Indian; for there is one sound instinct which the savage has in common with the most progressive races, and that is the love of self-government that resents all outside interference.  All things considered, it is remarkable that peace should have been maintained in New England from 1637 to 1675; and probably nothing short of the consuming vengeance wrought upon the Pequots could have done it.  But with the lapse of time the wholesome feeling of dread began to fade away, and as the Indians came to use musket instead of bow and arrow, their fear of the English grew less, until at length their ferocious temper broke forth in an epidemic of fire and slaughter that laid waste the land. [Sidenote:  It is remarkable that peace should have been so long preserved]

Massasoit, chief sachem of the Wampanoags and steadfast ally of the Plymouth colonists, died in 1660, leaving two sons, Wamsutta and Metacom, or as the English nicknamed them, Alexander and Philip.  Alexander succeeded to his father’s position of savage dignity and influence, but his reign was brief.  Rumours came to Plymouth that he was plotting mischief, and he was accordingly summoned to appear before the General Court of that colony and explain himself.  He seems to have gone reluctantly, but he succeeded in satisfying the magistrates of his innocence of any evil designs.  Whether he caught cold at Plymouth or drank rum as only Indians can, we do not know.  At any rate, on starting homeward, before he had got clear of English territory, he was seized by a violent fever and died.  The savage mind knows nothing