In The Year 1763, Above Half Of
The Indians Of This Island Perished By A Strange Fever, Which The
Europeans Who Nursed Them Never Caught; They Appear To Be A Race
Doomed To Recede And Disappear Before The Superior Genius Of The
Europeans.
The only ancient custom of these people that is
remembered is, that in their mutual exchanges, forty sun-dried
clams, strung on a string, passed for the value of what might be
called a copper.
They were strangers to the use and value of wampum,
so well known to those of the main. The few families now remaining
are meek and harmless; their ancient ferocity is gone: they were
early christianised by the New England missionaries, as well as
those of the Vineyard, and of several other parts of Massachusetts;
and to this day they remain strict observers of the laws and customs
of that religion, being carefully taught while young. Their
sedentary life has led them to this degree of civilisation much more
effectually, than if they had still remained hunters. They are fond
of the sea, and expert mariners. They have learned from the Quakers
the art of catching both the cod and whale, in consequence of which,
five of them always make part of the complement of men requisite to
fit out a whaleboat. Many have removed hither from the Vineyard, on
which account they are more numerous on Nantucket, than anywhere
else.
It is strange what revolution has happened among them in less than
two hundred years!
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