least gave his consent to its perpetration. The account is in the
words of Juet, as follows: "In the morning we manned our scute with four
muskets and six men, and took one of their shallops and brought it
aboard. Then we manned our boat and scute with twelve men and muskets,
and two stone pieces, or murderers, and drave the salvages from their
houses, and took the spoil of them, as they would have done of us."
After this exploit they returned to the ship and set sail immediately.
It does not appear from the journal that the natives had ever offered
them any harm or given any provocation for so wanton an act. The writer
only asserts that they would have done it if they could. No plea is more
commonly used to justify tyranny and cruelty than the supposed bad
intentions of the oppressed.

He now continued southward along the coast of America. It appears that
Hudson had been informed by his friend, Captain John Smith, that there
was a passage to the western Pacific Ocean south of Virginia, and that,
when he had proved the impossibility of going by the northeast, he had
offered his crew the choice either to explore this passage spoken of by
Captain John Smith or to seek the northwest passage by going through
Davis Strait. Many of the men had been in the East India service, and
in the habit of sailing in tropical climates, and were consequently very
unwilling to endure the severities of a high northern latitude. It was
therefore voted that they should go in search of the passage to the
south of Virginia.

In a few days they saw land extending north, and terminating in a
remarkable headland, which he recognized to be Cape Cod. Wishing to
double the headland, he sent some of the men in the boat to sound along
the shore, before venturing nearer with the ship. The water was five
fathoms deep within bow-shot of the shore, and, landing, they found, as
the journal informs us, "goodly grapes and rose-trees," which they
brought on board with them. He then weighed anchor and advanced as far
as the northern extremity of the headland. Here he heard the voice of
someone calling to them, and, thinking it possible some unfortunate
European might have been left there, he immediately despatched some of
the men to the shore. They found only a few savages; but, as these
appeared very friendly, they brought one of them on board, where they
gave him refreshments and also a present of three or four glass buttons,
with which he seemed greatly de