had been able to collect in their
general storehouse on 'the Burying Hill.'

From this period, an active trade was carried on between the two
settlements, which proved highly advantageous to both--the Dutch
supplying the men of Plymouth with sugar, linen, and other stuffs, in
return for their skins, timber, and tobacco.

During all this time, an almost perfect peace was maintained with the
neighboring Indian tribes; and the friendship that had so early been
established between the English settlers and the Wampanoges became more
confirmed and strengthened. All external matters now wore a far more
prosperous aspect than they had hitherto done; and the Pilgrims felt
that they had both the means and the leisure to add to the comforts of
their social and domestic life. Some years previously, a small portion
of land had been assigned to each family for its own particular use:
but the possession of this land had not been made hereditary; and
although the fact of its being appropriated to one household had
considerably increased the zeal and industry of the cultivators, yet
they still desired that feeling of inalienable property which so
greatly adds to the value of every possession.

To gratify this natural desire, the Governor and his council had deemed
it advisable to depart so far from the terms of the original treaty as
to allot to each colonist an acre of land, as near the town as
possible, in order that, if any danger threatened, they might be able
to unite speedily for the general defense. This arrangement gave much
satisfaction to the settlers; but in the year 1627 they were placed in
a still more comfortable and independent position. They were, by their
charter, lords of all the neighboring land for a circle of more than
one hundred miles. That portion of their territory, therefore, which
was most contiguous to the town, was divided into portions of twenty
acres, five long on the side next the coast, and four broad; and to
each citizen one of these portions was assigned, with the liberty of
purchasing another for his wife, and also one for every child who
resided with him. To every six of these pieces were allotted a cow, two
goats, and a few pigs; so that each settler became possessed of a
little farm of his own, and a small herd of cattle to stock it with:
and peace and plenty at length seemed to smile on the hardy and long-
enduring settlers.

Meanwhile, the colony of Massachusetts, which had been founded in