[124]That is, the preceding journal. [125]hindrance [126]Presumably, Robert Cushman. See Introduction. [Illustration: THE MAYFLOWER Weighing about 180 tons, and only about 106 feet long, the overcrowded _Mayflower_ must have had a rough voyage. The Pilgrims sailed across the north Atlantic to avoid pirates who frequented the more temperate latitudes. No one knows exactly what the original _Mayflower_ looked like, but this reconstruction of a typical ship of the time and class is probably very similar.] [Illustration: THE SHALLOP Small groups of Pilgrims explored Cape Cod and Clark’s Island before selecting Plymouth as the site for their settlement. They plied between the _Mayflower_ and the shore in a shallop, a large open boat which could be rowed and/or fitted with sails.] [Illustration: INDIAN WIGWAM This reconstructed wigwam and its contents are like those encountered by the Pilgrims during their first explorations. The bark huts of their Algonquian Indian neighbors soon became familiar shelters to the Pilgrims, whose descriptive accounts allow us to understand much of the native way of life which fast disappeared in New England.] [Illustration: CONSTRUCTING A HOUSE AT PLYMOUTH Members of the group early agreed that each family should build its own house, “... thinking by that course men would make more haste.” Roofs were thatched with bundles of rushes and grass, which provided a good watershed but could easily be fired by a spark from the chimney, as is graphically described in _Mourt’s Relation_.] [Illustration: PILGRIM HOUSE IN WINTER Pilgrim houses like this may have been almost as snug as log cabins which were unknown in America until several years later. Clapboards prepared by the Pilgrims also constituted a major portion of the first shipment which was sent back to the sponsoring “merchant adventurers” in England.] [Illustration: A PILGRIM FAMILY Everyone had to work at securing food during the first difficult years in the new plantation. Corn, pumpkin, and turkey came to be major items in the diet of the Pilgrims after they learned their uses from the Indians.] [Illustration: THE FIRST THANKSGIVING It must have been a festive occasion when, “Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruit of our labors.” Massasoit and ninety other Indians were welcomed and contributed five deer to the three-day harvest festival.] [Illustration: PILGRIMS GOING TO CHURCH