[At least four pages of the letter are missing. In them, De Rasieres probably mentioned the occasion of his trip to Plymouth in September and October, 1627, and described the country along the way.] Coming out of the river Nassau,[148] you sail east-and-by-north about fourteen leagues, along the coast, a half league from the shore, and you then come to “Frenchman’s Point” at a small river where those of Patuxet have a house made of hewn oak planks, called Aptucxet,[149] where they keep two men, winter and summer, in order to maintain the trade and possession. Here also they have built a shallop, in order to go and look after the trade in sewan, in Sloup’s Bay[150] and thereabouts, because they are afraid to pass Cape Malabar,[151] and in order to avoid the length of the way; which I have prevented for this year by selling them fifty fathoms of sewan, because the seeking after sewan by them is prejudicial to us, inasmuch as they would, by so doing, discover the trade in furs;[152] which if they were to find out, it would be a great trouble for us to maintain, for they already dare to threaten that if we will not leave off dealing with that people, they will be obliged to use other means. If they do that now, while they are yet ignorant how the case stands, what will they do when they do get a notion of it? From Aptucxet the English can come in six hours, through the woods, passing several little rivulets of fresh water, to New Plymouth,[153] the principal place in the district Patuxet, so called in their patent from His Majesty in England. New Plymouth lies in a large bay to the north of Cape Cod, or Malabar, east and west from the said point[154] of the cape, which can be easily seen in clear weather. Directly before the commenced town lies a sand-bank,[155] about twenty paces broad, whereon the sea breaks violently with an easterly and east-northeasterly wind. On the north side there lies a small island[156] where one must run close along, in order to come before the town; then the ships run behind that bank and lie in a very good roadstead. The bay is very full of fish, of cod, so that the Governor before named has told me that when the people have a desire for fish they send out two or three persons in a sloop, whom they remunerate for their trouble, and who bring them in three or four hours’ time as much fish as the whole community require for a whole day—and they muster about fifty families.