Mr. Davenport and his company, on the 30th of March, 1638, sailed from Boston to Quinnipiac (New Haven), and arrived at the desired spot at about the middle of April. A portion of their company, with Eaton at their head, had made a journey to Connecticut during the preceding autumn, to explore the lands and harbors on the sea-coast; and having fixed upon Quinnipiac as the best place for a settlement, erected a hut there, in which a few men passed the winter. The first Sabbath which Mr. Davenport spent in the wilderness, was on the 18th of April, 1638, when he preached a discourse on the _Temptations of the Wilderness_. In a short time, at the close of a day of fasting and prayer, they entered into what they called a plantation covenant, in which they solemnly engaged, in their civil ordinances as well as religion, they would be governed by the rules of scripture. At different times, and in separate contracts, they purchased their lands of the Indians, by the payment of such articles as were satisfactory to the latter. As the New Haven adventurers were the most opulent company which came into New England, they were disposed and able to lay the foundation of a first-rate colony--the proofs of which are visible, in part, in the elegant city which became its capital. The foundations of the civil and religious polity of the colony were laid on the 4th of June, 1639, with every due solemnity. The act was not consummated until the 25th of October of the same year, as a term of trial was required for the seven men who were to constitute the seven pillars of the church. The number of subscribers to the compact, on the 4th of June, was sixty-three; to which there were soon after added about fifty other names. This colony enjoyed great comparative order and tranquillity, as well from the extreme care with which it was constituted at the beginning, the superior wealth and character of its founders, and their wise and prudent intercourse with their neighbors, the Indians.