From the inscription written by Dr. Charles W. Eliot, President Emeritus of Harvard, for the Memorial Monument to the Pilgrims in Provincetown, Massachusetts. _Exploration_: While the Mayflower lay at anchor in Cape Cod bay, two exploring parties had been sent out to search for a suitable place for a settlement. On Wednesday, Dec. 16 (N.S.) the third expedition sailed along the shore in the shallop owned by the Pilgrim company. There were eighteen men on board: two officers, the master-gunner, and three seamen from the Mayflower, and ten Pilgrim volunteers. These were Gov. Carver, Capt. Standish, William Bradford, Edward Winslow, John Tilley, Edward Tilley, John Howland, Stephen Hopkins, Edward Dotey, Richard Warren, and two of the Pilgrims’ own seamen, John Allerton and Thomas English. The weather was cold and rough, and the voyage proved an adventurous and memorable one. On the second day, they escaped unharmed a sudden and violent attack from a band of Indians on the shore. When they resumed their voyage a storm arose, and in the blinding snow, with high winds and a rough sea, they were nearly shipwrecked. At last in the darkness they found shelter in the lee of a small island at the mouth of Plymouth harbor, and passed the night safely on shore. When the sun shone the next morning, they dried their soaked clothing, looked after their firearms, repaired the damaged shallop, and gave thanks to God “for his mercies in their manifold deliverances.” “And this being the last day of the week, they prepared there to keep the Sabbath.” _Plymouth Rock_: On Monday, December 21, they crossed to the mainland, finding a channel “fit for shipping” and a sheltered harbor. There they made their first landing on a rock on the shore. The situation seemed promising. They marched into the land and found deserted corn fields “and little running brooks.” “A place fit for situation; at least it was the best they could find.” “So they returned to their ship again, with this news to the rest of their people, which did much comfort their hearts.” The Mayflower then weighed anchor for Plymouth, where three days were spent in anxious deliberation. They asked Divine Guidance on the momentous question of the settlement, and it was at last decided to accept the first site considered, and build their houses on the bank of the brook running into the sea, near the rock where they first landed. Thus Plymouth Rock became “the stepping-stone of a nation.” The Rock has long been fully identified; notably in 1741 by Elder Thomas Faunce, who, at the age of ninety-five, in the presence of his sons and many spectators, declared his knowledge of it was received from his father and the Pilgrims still living in his boyhood. THE MONUMENT OVER PLYMOUTH ROCK For the 300th anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims, the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America built a beautiful portico of Doric columns over the Rock.