One familiar with the Pokanoket region readily perceives why Massasoit placed his capital where he did. Warren is situated midway between Barrington and Bristol, on an arm of Narragansett Bay, and is bounded on the north and east by the State of Massachusetts. A glance at the map of Rhode Island will show the reader that, at Warren, which is farther inland than either of its sister towns, the Wampanoags were, in a great measure, protected from the danger of sudden attack by their enemies, the Narragansetts who dwelt upon the opposite shore of the bay,[2] and that, in case of hostile invasion, they were easily able to retire to less exposed portions of their domains. The Indians were always particular to locate their permanent villages in the vicinity of springs of running water. Warren abounds in such springs. Its soil is generally fertile and its climate agreeable and healthy, as, owing to its somewhat inland position, it escapes the full rigor of the fierce winds, that, during the winter months, sweep the unsheltered shores of Bristol. In the days when the Wampanoags inhabited its territory, it was well timbered, and grapes, cherries, huckleberries, and other wild fruits grew abundantly in field and swamp. Its rivers teemed with fish of many varieties, and also yielded a plentiful supply of lobsters, crabs, oysters, clams, quahaugs, and mussels. Flocks of wild fowl haunted its marshes; deer and smaller game frequented its woods. Even in those seasons when food became generally scarce, the dwellers at Sowams probably suffered little from hunger in comparison with the inhabitants of many sections of New England less favored by nature. At Sowams, too, every facility for the manufacture of the shell beads used as currency by the aborigines was to be found. Any one who chose might become a _natouwompitea_, or coiner, and literally, “make as much money,” as he wished. From the rocks at hand the savage artificer shaped the rude implements which his craft demanded. The waters gave him freely the periwinkle and the quahaug. From the former he cut the _wampum_[3] or white beads. Of the “eye,” or dark portion of the latter, he fashioned the more valuable black beads called _suckauhock_. These beads were made into necklaces, scarfs, belts, girdles, bracelets, caps and other articles of dress and ornament “curiously strung,” says Roger Williams, “into many forms and figures, their black and white finely mixed together.” Not infrequently a savage arrayed in gala attire carried upon this person his entire stock of ready money. Governor Bradford states that the Narragansetts and Pequots grew “rich and potent” by the manufacture of wampum and, presumably, wealth contributed in no small degree towards establishing the prestige of the Wampanoags.