Then how the cunning beasts were captured all, As through the fractured ice they sought to crawl.

XL.

"Bravely," said Williams, "has my brother done, No more the cunning wights will mock his skill. Waban is rich; will he not journey soon

To the pale wigwams, and his girdle fill
With the bright wampum?-e'er to-morrow's sun
Shall hide behind the top of yonder hill,
Waban may gain the pale-faced stranger's town,
And in his brother's wigwam sit him down."

XLI.

"The hunter goes," said Waban in reply,
Then fired his calumet and curled its smoke,
And silent sat in all the dignity,

Which conscious worth can give the human look. When ceased to mount the fragrant clouds on high, He from the exhausted bowl the embers shook, Then spread on earth the brown deer's rustling hide, Expanding to the eye its naked side.

XLII.

And thus he spake, "my brother doth require

Waban to show where neighboring sachems reign, Doubtless he seeks to light his council fire, Within some valiant and good chief's domain; That he might shun the persecutor's ire, And pray his God without the fear of men. On Waban's words my brother may repose, Whilst these far feet are printing distant snows."

XLIII.

Then from the hearth a quenched brand he took
And on the skin traced many a curving line;
Here rolled the river-there the winding brook,
Here rose the hills, and there the vales decline,
Here spreads the bay, and there the ocean broke
Along red Waban's map of rude design.

The work now finished, he to Williams spoke,
Brother, here, on the red man's country look.

XLIV.

*

"Here's Waban's lodge, thou seest it smokes between
Dark rolling Seekonk and Cohannet's wave;'
Both floods on-flowing through their borders green,
In Narraganset's basin find their grave."
O'er all the country 'twixt those waters sheen,
Reigns Massasoit, Sachem good and brave;
Yet he has subject Keenomps far and near,
Who bring him tribute of the slaughtered deer,

XLV.

"And bend his battle bow-strong is he now,
But has been stronger-ere dark pestilence
Devoured his warriors-laid its hundreds low,
That Sachem's war-whoop roused to his defence
Three thousand bow-men, and he still can show

A mighty force, whene'er the stirring sense
Of common wrong, does in the bosom glow,
And prompts to battle with the offending foe.

XLVI.

"His highest chief is Corbitant the stern-
He bears a fox's head and panther's heart,
He 'gainst Awanux does in secret turn,
Sharpens his knife, and whets his thirsty dart.
His council fires in Mattapoiset burn,†

Of Pokanoket's woods his licensed part.

Cruel is he, and terrible his train.

Light not your fires within that wolf's domain.

XLVII.

"Here tow'rd the winter, where the fountains feed These rolling rivers, do the Nipnets dwell,

They Massasoit bring the skin and bead,

And rush to war when rings his battle yell;

*The Indian name for the place where Taunton now is, was Cohan net, and is here applied to the river.

+Mattapoiset, now Swansey.

Valiant are they, yet oft their children bleed,

When the far west sends down the Maquas fell;
Warriors who hungry on their victims steal,
And make of human flesh a dreadful meal.

XLVIII.

"Here lies Namasket tow'rd the rising sun-
There Massasoit spends his seasons cold,
The warriors there are led by Annawan,
Of open hand and of a bosom bold;
Here farther down, Cohannet's banks upon,
Spreads broad Pocasset, strong Apannow's hold;
The bowmen there tread Massasoit's land,
E'en to Seconnet's billow-beaten strand...

XLIX.

"Still tow'rd the rising sun might Waban showAnd count each tribe, and each brave keenomp name, But then his brother's footseps do not go

Toward the pale-face, and the fagot's flame;

He looks toward the tomahawk and bow,

And does the friendship of the red man claim : Therefore will Waban, on the western shores, Count Narraganset's men, and sagamores.

L.

"Two mighty chiefs, one cautious, wise and old,
One
young and strong, and terrible in fight,
All Narraganset and Coweset hold;

One lodge they build, one council fire they light;
One sways in peace, and one in battle bold-
Five thousand warriors give their arrows flight-
This is Miantonomi strong and brave,

And that Canonicus his uncle grave.*

LI.

*

"Dark rolling Seekonk does their realm divide
From Pokanoket, Massasoit's reign,

Thence sweeping down the bay, their forests wide
Spread their dark foliage to the billowy main;

*See note.

Thence tow'rd the setting sun, by ocean's side,

Stretches their realm, to where the rebel train, Ruled by grim Uncas, with their hatchets died In brothers' blood, on Pequot stream abide.*

LII.

"Canonicus is as the beaver wise,

And M'antonomi as the panther bold;
But tow'rd the faces pale their watchful eyes
Are oft in awful thinking silence rolled;
And often, in their heaving bosoms rise,

Thoughts that their lips have none save Keenomps told; They seem two buffalos the herds that lead, Scenting the hunters gathering round their mead.

LIII.

"When first his fire Awanux kindled here,

Haup's chief was weak, and broken was his heart ;† Disease had swept his warriors far and near,

And at his breast looked Narraganset's dart;
Awanux gave him strength, and with strange fear
Did M'antonomi at the big guns start;

He dropt his hatchet, but his hate remains,
And naught save counsel wise his wrath restrains.

LIV.

"He sees the strangers spreading far around,
*And earth turn pale as fast their numbers grow,
And fiercely would he to the battle bound,

And for his country strike the deadly blow;
But at his back the Pequot's yells resound,
And on his left the Nipnet bends the bow-
And even thus his hatchet scarcely sleeps;
It dreams of Haup, and in its slumber leaps.

LV.

"But brother still Miantonomi is

A Sachem valiant, yea, and generous too,

* See note.

+ Haup, or Mount Hope, the summer residence of Massasoit.

And gray Canonicus is just and wise,

His hands are ever to his tongue most true; If from their lands my brother's smoke should rise, Whate'er those Sachems say, that will they do ; But Waban still doth not his friend advise, To cross the Seekonk where their country lies.

LVI.

"Brother attend, and hear the reasons why, There at Mooshausick dwells a dark pawaw, Who hates Awanux, doth his God defy,

And worships Chepian with the deepest awe; He'll give my brother's town a cloudy sky,

And to his councils under-sachems draw; E'en now he whets the Narraganset knife, Points at our clan, and thirsts for human life.

66

LVII.

Safer on Seekonk's hither border may

My brother build, and wake his council blaze, Clear are the meads-the trees were swept away By mighty burnings in our fathers' days. There early verdure springs, and flow'rets gayLong grows the grass, and thrifty is the maize; And good old Massasoit's sheltering wing

Will shield thy weakness from each harmful thing."

LVIII.

"Brother I thank thee," said our founder here,
Oft have I seen thy chief on Plymouth's shore,
I will to-morrow seek those meadows clear,
And thy fair Seekonk's hither banks explore.
But will not Waban pass Namasket near,
Where oft that wise and good old Sagamore,

Brave Massasoit, spends the season drear?

66

'He will my brother"-" Then let Waban hear

LIX.

Tell thou that Sachem, generous and wise,
That Williams lingers in thy cabin low,
That he his children and his country flies,