After Nicholson's administration, Sir Edmund Andros, recently expelled by the people of Massachusetts, assumed for a while the gov ernment of Virginia. The affairs of the colony during the next forty/684-1734 or fifty years are not of sufficient interest and importance to require extended notice in an abridgment of American history. At the outbreak of the French and Indian War, Virginia will show to the world that the labors of Smith, and Gosnold, and Bacon have not been in vain.

CHAPTER XIII.

MASSACHUSETTS.-SETTLEMENT.

HE spring of 1621 brought a ray of hope to the distressed Pilgrims of New Plymouth. Never was the returning sun more welcome. The fatal winter had swept off one-half of the number. The son of the benevolent Carver was among the first victims of the terrible climate. The governor himself sickened and died, and the broken-hearted wife found rest in the same grave with her husband. But now, with the approach of warm weather, the destroying pestilence was stayed, and the spirits of the survivors revived with the season. Out of the snows of winter, the desolations of disease, and the terrors of death the faith of the Puritan had come forth triumphant.

The army of
Deserted wig-

For a while the colonists were apprehensive of the Indians. In February, Miles Standish was sent out with his soldiers to gather information of the numbers and disposition of the natives. New England consisted of six men besides the general. wams were found here and there; the smoke of camp-fires arose in the distance; savages were occasionally seen in the forest. These fled, however, at the approach of the English, and Standish returned to Plymouth.

A month later the colonists were astonished by the sudden appearance in their midst of a Wampanoag Indian named Samoset. He ran into the village, offered his hand in token of friendship, and bade the strangers welcome. He gave an account of the numbers and strength of the neighboring tribes, and recited the story of a great plague by which, a few years before, the country had been swept of its inhabitants. The present feebleness and desolate condition of the natives had resulted from the fatal malady. Another Indian, by the name of Squanto, who had been carried away by Hunt in 1614, and had learned to speak English, came also to Plymouth, and confirmed what Samoset had said.

By the influence of these two natives friendly relations were at once established with the Wampanoags. Massasoit, the great sachem of the nation, was invited to visit the settlement, and came attended by a few of his warriors. The Pilgrims received him with as much parade and ceremony as the colony could provide; Captain Standish ordered out his soldiers, and Squanto acted as interpreter. Then and there was ratified the first treaty made in New England. The terms were few and simple. There should be peace and friendship between the whites and the red men. No injury should be done by either party to the other. All offenders should be given up to be punished. If the English engaged in

THE TREATY BETWEEN GOVERNOR CARVER AND MASSASOIT.

war, Massasoit should help them; if the Wampanoags were attacked unjustly, the English should give aid against the common enemy. Mark that word unjustly: it contains the essence of Puritanism.

The treaty thus made and ratified remained inviolate for fifty years. Other chiefs followed the example of the great sachem and entered into friendly relations with the colony. Nine of the leading tribes acknowledged the sovereignty of the English king. One chieftain threatened hostilities, but Standish's army obliged him to beg for mercy. Canonicus, king of the Narragansetts, sent to William Bradford, who had been chosen governor after the death of Carver, a bundle of arrows wrapped in the skin of a rattlesnake; but the undaunted governor stuffed the skin with