s. As
the power of the whites increased, and their name became more
terrible, these forays had almost ceased, and in most instances the
colonists were able, in one way and another, to obtain satisfaction
for the wrongs committed. There was no defined state of hostilities
existing betwixt them and the Taranteens, nor could it be said they
were strictly at peace with each other, and it was felt that great
advantages might result from an interchange of activities and a formal
establishment of friendly relations. The efforts of Winthrop and of
his council had been for some time directed to this object, but
hitherto they had been frustrated by the intrigues of the French, who
found it for their interest to discourage intercourse between the
Taranteens and the colonists, lest the lucrative trade with the
former, of which they enjoyed the monopoly, might be diverted from
them entirely, or diverted into other channels. In these exertions the
French traders were not a little aided by the Jesuit missionaries
scattered among them, who naturally favored their countrymen, and
besides were afraid of the spiritual influence which the heretical
Puritans might exercise over their dusky neophytes. For even at that
early period, the zeal of the Romish Church had penetrated the wilds
of North as well as of South America, and erected the sacred crucifix
where before stood the stake of the victim. Solitudes which, until
then, had only trembled to the horrid war-whoop, were now tranquilized
by the soft sounds of the lowly muttered mass. The ferocity of the
natives began to be softened, and if not christianized and practising
only the outward ceremonies of Christianity, they had at least taken
the first step towards civilization. In this state of things a
circumstance had occurred, which made abortive any further opposition
of the missionaries and traders.

A shallop, or small vessel employed by the colonists in fishing, had
picked up at sea, at a considerable distance from the land, a canoe
containing some half a dozen Indians, who were on the point of
perishing from hunger. They were Taranteens, who had probably ventured
out too far from the Main, and been caught in a storm, and swept out
by currents, until they lost all knowledge of their situation, and had
been for some days paddling about in the fogs, which prevail in those
latitudes near the coast, in a vain attempt to retrace their course to
land. The starving wretches had been taken o