Those who seek to identify the Mound-Builders with the barbarous Indians
find nothing that will support their hypothesis. Nevertheless, some of
them have tried very strangely to give it aid by one or two quotations
from early voyagers to America. The most important are taken from
Brereton's account of Gosnold's voyage in 1602. The following occurred
on the coast of Maine:
"Eight Indians, in a Basque shallop, with mast and sail, an iron
grapple, and a kettle, came boldly aboard us, one of them appareled with
a waistcoat and breeches of black serge, made after our sea fashion,
hose and shoes on his feet: all the rest (saving one that had a pair of
breeches of blue cloth) were naked."
It is known that the Basques were accustomed to send fishing vessels to
the northeastern coast of America long before this continent was
discovered by Columbus. They continued to do this after the discovery.
These Indians had evidently become well acquainted with the Basques,
and, therefore, did not fear to approach Gosnold's ship. Probably some
of them had been employed on board Basque fishing vessels. Certainly
their boat and apparel came from the Basque fishermen, and did not show
them to be Mound-Builders. Of the Indians on the coast of Massachusetts,
Brereton says:
"They had great store of copper, some very red, some of a paler color;
none of them but have chains, earrings, or collars of this metal. They
had some of their arrows herewith, much like our broad arrow-heads,
very workmanly made. Their chains are many hollow pieces cemented
together, each piece of the bigness of one of our reeds, a finger in
length, ten or twelve of them together on a string, which they wear
about their necks: their collars they wear about their bodies like
bandeliers a handful broad, all hollow pieces like the other, but
somewhat shorter, four hundred pieces in a collar, very fine and evenly
set together." He adds: "I am persuaded they have great store (of flax)
growing upon the main, as also mines and many other rich commodities,
which we, wanting time, could not possibly discover."
If all this had been true, it would not serve the purpose for which it
is quoted; for remains of the Mound-Builders have never existed in
Massachusetts, and we should necessarily suppose these Indians had
procured copper and copper ornaments by trading with the Basques or with
other French voyagers. If only one or two Indians had been represented
as wearing ornaments made of copper, this explanation could be readily
accepted. But he avers that they had "great store of copper," and adds,
"None of them but have chains, earrings, or collars of this metal."
Therefore his statement is incredible. The following considerations will
show why it must not be regarded as honest, unadorned truth.
1. Those interested in Gosnold's voyage aimed to establish a colony on
that coast; and all who served them, or were controlled by them, were
easily moved to tell seductive stories of the country "upon the main."
The chief aim of Brereton's account of this voyage was to incite
emigration. Therefore he gave this wonderfully colored account of
mines, flax-growing, copper chains and collars, and "other rich
commodities" among the wild Indians of Massachusetts. Settlements on
that coast, it was believed, would bring profit to those in whose
interest he wrote. Gosnold actually proposed at that time to establish a
colony on one of the islands in Buzzard's Bay, and had with him twenty
men who were expected to stay as colonists, but finally refused to do
so. He saw a great deal of the Indians, and knew much more of their
actual condition than the story admits.
2. Eighteen years later the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth from the
Mayflower. Neither copper mines nor flax fields were then known in
Massachusetts. No Indians with "great store" of copper and flax, and
covered with copper ornaments, were seen or heard of by the Pilgrims,
either at that time or afterward. In 1602, Brereton, or any other writer
employed to write in such a way as would promote emigration, could tell
such stories, and romance freely concerning the Indians, without fear of
contradiction. Afterward, when the actual barbarism of the Indian tribes
in New England and other parts of the country had become generally
known, no one could describe any of these Indians as successful miners
and flax-growers, and assert gravely that they had such stores of copper
that "none of them" lacked great abundance of copper "chains, earrings,
collars," and the like, without being laughed at. Brereton's story must
be regarded as an invention designed to serve a special purpose, but not
warranted by any thing seen during the voyage he describes. Neither in
New England nor any where else in our part of the continent did the
early colonists find Indians who worked copper mines and had "great
store of copper." What Brereton says was not true of any Indians known
to our first colonists or to their successors. It corresponds to no
reality found in any part of our territory during the last two hundred
and fifty years. Therefore, to use his story in support of an absurd
hypothesis is not a satisfactory proceeding.