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Show 54 XBOMAS, MASSACHUSETTS' POLICY TOWARD THE INDIANS 605 of the natives," be correct, then Mr Oliver is mistaken so far as his charge against this town is concerned. . , In regard to Salem, however, Mr Oliver's charge is no so c eaily refuted William Bentley, in his "Description of Salem,'" makes a weak apology for the town, as follows: An inquiry into the settlement of Salem will not necessarily lead to o«mi«o the authoHU of the royal patent, granted to the Plymouth company or o tho dispute r e t e t u g its extent. The right of possession, in regard, to par icular na tvesof IZ•ten, may he as unnecessary an inquiry, in regard to the mat er ol fact. The Indian deed or, as it might be called, quitclaim, granted, at so ate a year as lb86 Jo John Higginson, from the Indians of Chelmsford and Natick, and for ..small consideration could be nothing but an attempt to prevent future trouble and must satisfy us that no proper settlement had been made by the conse,it.ot th n .an For Salem there is an apology which is sufficient: The natives had forsaken this spot, before the English had reached it. ^Ou the soil, they found no natives, of whom we have any record. No natives ever claimed it, and the possession was.uninterrupted. Reverend John Higginson reports from tradition, that there had been an Indian town in North-fields, but no particular settlement, about the time of the infancy of the colony, appears. On several points of land, convenient lor t.sh.ng, several "raves have been-found, which indicate the visits of the fishing Indians. Butthes^ are too few to agree with any settlements. Mr. Williams, who came to Salem and settled within two years after Winthrop arrived, and who has given us the most early aud best history of the Indians, does not mention them near Salem, and Gookin does not find them upon this spot. Williams speaks, as if tho Indians, known to him, buried their dead, laying in their graves; but all the graves, which have been opened, shew that the dead were buried sitting at Neumkeage. No where bavo Indian uames obtained, but English names were immediately adopted. These facts are sufficient to satisfy that no Indian claims were regarded, in the first settlement of Salem. This apology, based on the idea that there were no Indian claimants, does not accord exactly with the fact that John Higginson obtained a deed "to prevent trouble," nevertheless it is possible that both statements may be correct. Barnstable.-No account of the first settlement of this towu, called by the Indians Mattachecset, appears to be on record. The Kevereud Mr Mellen, in his "Topographical Description," says "there is reason to think that no part of the town was settled without purchase or consent of the natives; for though no record remains of any considerable tract on the north side being purchased of the Indians, yet it appears by several votes and agreements of the town, extracted from the first town book aud preserved iu the second, that all tho south side of the town was amicably purchased of Wianue and several other sachems about the year 1650." Xantuclet.-The whole of the island was purchased piecemeal, beginning at the western end. The land about Sandwich and Marshpee was. purchased about 1660 from Quachatisset and others, but, strange to say, for tho use and benefit of other Indians. •Collections Massachusetts Historical Society (1800), vol. VI, pp. S.IO-'JSl, |