whom they choose by election, who generally is he who is richest in
sewan, though of less consideration in other respects. When any
stranger comes, they bring him to the Sackima. On first meeting they
do not speak--they smoke a pipe of tobacco; that being done, the
Sackima asks: "Whence do you come?" the stranger then states that, and
further what he has to say, before all who are present or choose to
come. That being done, the Sackima announces his opinion to the
people, and if they agree thereto, they give all together a
sigh--"He!"--and if they do not approve, they keep silence, and all
come close to the Sackima, and each sets forth his opinion till they
agree; that being done, they come all together again to the stranger,
to whom the Sackima then announces what they have determined, with the
reasons moving them thereto.

All travellers who stop over night come to the Sackima, if they have no
acquaintances there, and are entertained by the expenditure of as much
sewan as is allowed for that purpose; therefore the Sackimas generally
have three or four wives, each of whom has to furnish her own seed-corn.

The Sackima has his fixed fine of sewan for fighting and causing blood
to flow. When any are--[here four pages, at least, are missing in the
original manuscript].

Coming out of the river Nassau, you sail east-and-by-north about
fourteen leagues, along the coast, a half miles from the shore, and you
then come to "Frenchman's Point" at a small river where those of
Patucxet have a house made of hewn oak planks, called Aptucxet, where
they keep two men, winter and summer, in order to maintain the trade
and possession. Here also they have built a shallop, in order to go
and look after the trade in sewan, in Sloup's Bay and thereabouts,
because they are afraid to pass Cape Mallabaer, and in order to avoid
the length of the way; which I have prevented for this year by selling
them fifty fathoms of sewan, because the seeking after sewan by them is
prejudicial to us, inasmuch as they would, by so doing, discover the
trade in furs; which if they were to find out, it would be a great
trouble for us to maintain, for they already dare to threaten that if
we will not leave off dealing with that people, they will be obliged to
use other means; if they do that now, while they are yet ignorant how
the case stands, what will they do when they do get a notion of it?

From Aptucxet the English can come in six hours, through th