[55]The Pilgrims were in a situation far different from that of later pioneers who settled elsewhere as independent farmers. According to the terms of their stringent contract with the “merchant adventurers,” their primary concern was to produce salable goods (e.g., fish, lumber, furs) for their sponsors. This commitment was to endure seven years, during which the sponsors were to continue their support of the settlers. The English businessmen seem to have taken full advantage of the dependent situation of the Pilgrims who had no other sources of supply nor outlets for their goods. [56]Clark’s Island, in Plymouth Harbor. [57]guard-house; i.e., a shelter affording some security against possible attack [58]mistress of a household, (a title of respect) [59]I.e., 8¼ by 49½ feet. [60]The _Mayflower_ was a vessel of 180 tons. [61]I.e., approximately 600 feet. [62]hip-bone [63]Presumably a misprint for _Carver_. There is no other mention of a Leaver in the party. [64]open [65]fence-stave [66]This may refer to mud used for plastering the inner side of clapboard walls, typical of the frame houses which were among the first permanent buildings at Plymouth. During these early months, however, it may conceivably refer to a more fundamental structural feature in temporary huts of wattle-and-daub construction, where mud is the principal material, daubed over a framework of small saplings. [67]A cannon with 3¼ inch bore, firing a 4 pound shot. [68]Presumably a misprint for _saker_, a cannon with 4 inch bore, firing a 6 pound shot. [69]small cannons with 1¼ inch bore, firing ½ pound shot [70]beef’s [71]hard; steadily [72]On first encounter, the Pilgrims were hardly hospitable to Samoset, whose friendly help in many respects was invaluable to them in later years. [73]Presumably, Monhegan Island, off southeastern Maine. [74]I.e., 9 inches. [75]A generic term for liquor. [76]The fact that bubonic plague had recently decimated a major portion of the indigenous population along the entire coast of New England was interpreted by the Pilgrims as divine intervention, and served as a convenient rationalization for English claims to the land. [77]I.e., to the Wampanoag village where Massasoit was sachem. [78]Actually members of a crew led by Capt. Thomas Dermer, on an expedition sponsored by Gorges. [79]Thomas Hunt, captain of a ship in Capt. John Smith’s company. [80](in Spain) [81]leggings [82]Ireland was little better known than New England in the early seventeenth century, and comparisons between Indians and Irishmen are frequent in the descriptive accounts of English explorers of the period. [83]clowns [84]smoked