soul were aroused to avenge her husband's death. She was by birth the
princess of another tribe, and it appears that she had power, woman
though she was, to lead three hundred warriors into the field.

Philip was a man of superior endowments. He clearly understood the
power of the English, and the peril to be encountered in waging war
against them. And yet he as distinctly saw that, unless the
encroachments of the English could be arrested, his own race was
doomed to destruction. At one time he was quite interested in the
Christian religion; but apparently foreseeing that, with the
introduction of Christianity, all the peculiarities of manners and
customs in Indian life must pass away, he adopted the views of his
father, Massasoit, and became bitterly opposed to any change of
religion among his people. Mr. Gookin, speaking of the Wampanoags,
says:

"There are some that have hopes of their greatest and
chiefest sachem, named Philip. Some of his chief men, as I
hear, stand well-inclined to hear the Gospel, and himself is
a person of good understanding and knowledge in the best
things. I have heard him speak very good words, arguing that
his conscience is convicted. But yet, though his will is
bound to embrace Jesus Christ, his sensual and carnal lusts
are strong bands to hold him fast under Satan's dominion."

Some time after this, Rev. Mr. Elliot records that, in conversation
with King Philip upon the subject of religion, the Wampanoag chieftain
took hold of a button upon Mr. Elliot's coat, and said, very
deliberately,

"Mr. Elliot, I care no more for the Gospel of Jesus Christ than I do
for that button."

For nine years Philip was probably brooding over the subject of the
encroachments of the English, and the waning power of the Indians.
This was the inevitable result of the idle, vagabond life of the
Indians, and of the industry and energy of the colonists. The Indians
had not thus far been defrauded. Mr. Josiah Winslow, governor of
Plymouth Colony, writes, in a letter dated May 1, 1676:

"I think I can truly say that, before these present troubles
broke out, the English did not possess one foot of land in
this colony but what was fairly obtained by honest purchase
of the Indian proprietors."

The discontent of Philip did not, however, escape the notice of the
English, and for a long time they saw increasing indications that a
storm was gathering.