he summer had passed away and autumn was beginning to tinge the varied
foliage of the forest with all its gaudy hues of yellow, and scarlet,
and purple, when the Nausetts, and such of their Pequodee friends as
desired to share in their hunting expedition, set forth from the
village. Many women and girls accompanied the caravan, the greater part
on foot, and bearing on their shoulders either the younger children, or
a large pack of baggage; while their husbands, and fathers, and
brothers, marched before them, encumbered only with their arms and
hunting accoutrements. Such was, and still is, the custom among the
uncivilized tribes of America, where women have ever been regarded as
being very little more exulted than the beasts that perish, and have
been accustomed to meet with scarcely more attention and respect. But
there are exceptions to this, as to every other rule; and where women
have possessed unusual strength of mind, or powers of influence, their
condition has been proportionately better. Such had been the ease with
Tisquantum's wife: and he had ever treated her with gentleness and
respect, and had never imposed on her any of those servile duties that
commonly fall to the lot of Indian squaws, even though they may be the
wives and daughters of the most exalted chiefs. To his daughter the
Sachem was equally considerate, and none but the lightest toils of
domestic Indian life were ever required from her; nor was any burden
more weighty than her own bow and quiver ever laid upon her slender and
graceful shoulders, when she followed her father in his frequent
wanderings.

On the present occasion, as the journey promised to be unusually long
and uninterrupted, Tisquantum obtained for her a small and active horse
of the wild breed, that abounds in the western woods and plains; and of
which valuable animals the Pequodees possessed a moderate number, which
they had procured by barter from the neighboring Cree Indians. The
purchase of this steed gave Henrich the first opportunity of remarking
the Indian mode of buying and selling, and the article that formed
their medium of commerce, and was employed as money. This consisted of
square and highly-polished pieces of a peculiar kind of a peculiar
muscle-shell, called quahock, in each of which a hole was bored, to
enable it to be strung on a slender cord. The general name for this
native money was wampum, or white, from the color of those shells most
esteemed; but a dark-colo