never-failing resource.  These and the great variety of fish they catch, constitute the principal food of the inhabitants.  It was likewise that of the aborigines, whom the first settlers found here; the posterity of whom still live together in decent houses along the shores of Miacomet pond, on the south side of the island.  They are an industrious, harmless race, as expert and as fond of a seafaring life as their fellow inhabitants the whites.  Long before their arrival they had been engaged in petty wars against one another; the latter brought them peace, for it was in quest of peace that they abandoned the main.  This island was then supposed to be under the jurisdiction of New York, as well as the islands of the Vineyard, Elizabeth’s, etc., but have been since adjudged to be a part of the province of Massachusetts Bay.  This change of jurisdiction procured them that peace they wanted, and which their brethren had so long refused them in the days of their religious frenzy:  thus have enthusiasm and persecution both in Europe as well as here, been the cause of the most arduous undertakings, and the means of those rapid settlements which have been made along these extended sea-shores.  This island, having been since incorporated with the neighbouring province, is become one of its counties, known by the name of Nantucket, as well as the island of the Vineyard, by that of Duke’s County.  They enjoy here the same municipal establishment in common with the rest; and therefore every requisite officer, such as sheriff, justice of the peace, supervisors, assessors, constables, overseer of the poor, etc.  Their taxes are proportioned to those of the metropolis, they are levied as with us by valuations, agreed on and fixed, according to the laws of the province; and by assessments formed by the assessors, who are yearly chosen by the people, and whose office obliges them to take either an oath or an affirmation.  Two thirds of the magistrates they have here are of the society of Friends.

Before I enter into the further detail of this people’s government, industry, mode of living, etc., I think it accessary to give you a short sketch of the political state the natives had been in, a few years preceding the arrival of the whites among them.  They are hastening towards a total annihilation, and this may be perhaps the last compliment that will ever be paid them by any traveller.  They were not extirpated by fraud, violence, or injustice, as hath been the case in so many provinces; on the contrary, they have been treated by these people as brethren; the peculiar genius of their sect inspiring them with the same spirit of moderation which was exhibited at Pennsylvania.  Before the arrival of the Europeans, they lived on the fish of their shores; and it was from the same resources the first settlers were compelled to draw their first subsistence.  It is uncertain whether the original right of the Earl of Sterling, or that of the Duke of York, was founded on a fair