Anxious, therefore, to secure his settlement on a firm basis, and to obtain an acknowledged title to the soil, Calvert submitted to a neighboring chief, his propositions to purchase land of him, but received an answer of sullen indifference, “I will neither bid you go nor ask you to stay.” Such was the address and courtesy of the governor, however, and the just and pacific policy of his people, that not only was the stoic warrior won over to their interests, but he also exerted his influence with the neighboring tribes, on behalf of the new comers. Through his aid a council of the neighboring Indians was soon convened. The governor appeared in pomp, and addressed them, calling them brothers, and asking for a piece of ground, that he and his people might plant corn, and the red man and the pale face would live together in peace and unity. He described to them, in their own exaggerated rhetoric, the power of the King of England, and his master, the Lord of Baltimore, and told them the kind messages he had sent to his forest children. The Indians replied in the language of kindness and conciliation. “The white man should have land--room enough for both people--plenty room--White chief very good to send word to the Indians.” The governor and chief then embraced each other, and the pipe of peace was passed round the circle, each one gravely taking a few whiffs. A treaty was then made, giving to the settlers a considerable tract of land, within which was the Indian town of Taocomoco. To this town they gave the name of St. Mary’s, in honor of the Virgin, and the first building erected was a chapel dedicated to her worship. The Indians looked upon the colonists with surprise, they mingled freely with them, and had many curious and amusing questions to ask concerning every thing they saw, and which was all new to them. One morning a party of them wandered into the church, and gazed with bewildered air upon the pictures and crucifixes with which it was decorated. Shortly after this, one of their number being on a visit to the governor, he presented him with a rosary, having a small crucifix attached; the happy fellow received it with a yell of delight, and ran off to his comrades, whirling up his prize, and they immediately commenced kneeling and crossing themselves in the same manner they had observed the worshippers do in the chapel. It is something refreshing and ennobling, amid the dark and sickening catalogue of bigotry, slaughter, and desolating wars which disgraced the history of too many of our states, to look back on one green spot, where fellow men were not spurned and despised on account of their creed, and where the poor Indian was treated with kindness.