way adapted to a savage condition, and in part were the result of their habits of life. From their earliest moments to their latest age, their lives consisted of one continued scene of savage exposure and hardship. Of course they had few invalids among them. Those who could endure the hardening, lived and became mighty hunters and brave warriors; and such as could not, died off. They had no physicians, no clergymen, nor special artisans among them. They had no written language, and cultivated no science. They believed in the Great Spirit—they heard his voice in the thunder—saw his bow in the cloud, and his arrows in the lightning—and all the means which they employed for the restoration of their sick consisted of superstitious incantations, with rude invocations to the Great Spirit.
In 1623, Massasoit, who was Sachem of the Wampanoags, was severely sick, and supposed by the Indians to be dying. Mr. Winslow, a deputy from the whites, found the chief in a critical condition, and but just alive. A multitude of Indians of both sexes stood around, practising
