That he may shun the persecutor's ire,
And pray his God without the fear of men.
On Waban's words my brother may repose,
Whilst these far feet imprint the distant snows."
XLIII.
Then from the hearth a quenchéd brand he took,
And on the skin traced many a curving line;
Here rolled the river, there the winding brook,
Here rose the hills, and there the vales decline,
Here spreads the bay, and there the ocean broke,
Along red Waban's map of rude design.
The work now finished, he to Williams spoke,
"Here, brother, on the red man's country look.
XLIV.
"Here's Waban's lodge, thou seest it smokes between
Dark rolling Seekonk and Cohannet's wave;[1]
Both floods on-flowing through their borders green,
In Narraganset's basin find their grave.
O'er all the country 'twixt those waters sheen
Reigns Massasoit, Sachem good and brave;
Yet he has subject Keenomps far and near,
Who bring him tribute of the slaughtered deer,
XLV.
"And bend his battle bow.—Strong is he now,
But has been stronger. Ere dark pestilence
Devoured his warriors—laid his hundreds low,—
That Sachem's war-whoop roused to his defence
Three thousand bow-men; and he still can show
A mighty force, whene'er the kindling sense
Of common wrong does in the bosom glow,
And prompts to battle with the offending foe.
- ↑ Cohannet, the Indian name for Taunton, is here applied to the river.
