omport with every fact and
feature of the case, was "the ship's-merchant," her accountant, factor,
and usually--when such was requisite--her "interpreter," on every
considerable (trading) voyage.

It is altogether probable that it was in his capacity of "interpreter"
(as Samoset and Tisquantum knew but little English), and on account of
what knowledge of the Indian tongue he very probably possessed, that
Standish chose Williamson as his associate for the formal reception of
Massasoit. It is indeed altogether probable that it was this familiarity
with the "trade lingo" of the American coast tribes which influenced
--perhaps determined--his employment as "ship's-merchant" of the
MAY-FLOWER for her Pilgrim voyage, especially as she was expected to
"load back" for England with the products of the country, only to be had
by barter with the Indians. It is evident that there must naturally
have been some provision made for communication with the natives, for
the purposes of that trade, etc., which the Planters hoped to establish.
Trading along the northern coast of Virginia (as the whole coast strip
was then called), principally for furs, had been carried on pretty
actively, since 1584, by such navigators as Raleigh's captains, Gosnold,
Pring, Champlain, Smith, Dermer, Hunt, and the French and Dutch, and
much of the "trade lingo" of the native tribes had doubtless been
"picked up" by their different "ship's-merchants." It appears by
Bradford' that Dermer, when coasting the shores of New England, in Sir
Ferdinando Gorges's employ, brought the Indian Tisquantum with him, from
England, as his interpreter, and doubtless from him Dermer and other
ship's officers "picked up" more or less Indian phrases, as Tisquantum
(Squanto) evidently did of English. Winslow, in his "Good Newes from
New England," written in 1622, says of the Indian tongue, as spoken by
the tribes about them at Plymouth, "it is very copious, large, and
difficult. As yet we cannot attain to any great measure thereof, but
can understand them, and explain ourselves to their understanding, by
the help of those that daily converse with us." This being the case,
after two years of constant communication, and noting how trivial
knowledge of English speech Samoset and Tisquantum had, it is easy to
understand that, if Williamson had any knowledge of the native tongue,
Standish would be most anxious to have the benefit of it, in this prime
and all-important effort at s