[middle of May to the middle of July, they had not one shower of rain, and the extreme heat of the sun upon their sandy soil had so dried up their corn, that they were almost in despair of its ever being restored; but in the evening after a day of fasting and prayer it began to rain, and by repeated showers their corn recovered its verdure, and they had a plentiful harvest. They afterwards found by experience that such droughts are frequent in this climate; but a kind Creator has so ordered the seasons, that these droughts have always been followed, before the end of the summer, with refreshing rains; and, although the fruits of the earth have been much diminished, yet harvest hath never failed; men and beasts have been supported, and ordinarily, in the next succeeding year, there has been a remarkable plenty.

The terror which fire-arms struck into the Indians, prevented them from destroying this small company.

There were not above seven men capable of bearing arms in the time of sickness the first winter. Soon after the potent nation of Naraganset sent to the English a bundle of arrows tied with a snake's skin, as a defiance and denunciation of war. The English filled the skin with bullets, and sent it back with this answer; that they had done them no wrong, did not fear them, and were provided for them come when they would. The Naragansets would not suffer the bullets to come near them, and they were moved about from place to place, till they found their way back to the English again, and the Indians remained quiet. As the Indians learned the use of fire-arms, the English increased in number, and until the year 1675, there was no open rupture, except the short offensive war with the Pequots in their own country, which ended in their destruction.

However rigid the New Plymouth colonists may have been at their first separation from the church of England, yet they never discovered that persecuting spirit which we have seen in the Massachusetts. When Mrs. Hutchinson and her adherents were banished from that colony, they applied to the colony of Plymouth for leave to settle upon Aquidnick or Rhode Island, which was then acknowledged to be within Plymouth patent, and it was readily granted, although their tenets were no more approved by Plymouth than by the Massachusetts. Some of the Quakers also fled to Plymouth bounds, and probably saved their lives; for although laws were made severe enough against erroneous opinions, yet were these in no case capital. The Baptists also were

still more favourably received; the town of Swansey being principally settled by Baptist refugees from the Massachusetts colony, and when one of their ministers settled in the church of Plymouth, they were content that he should baptize by immersion, or dipping any who desired it, provided he took no exception to the other minster's sprinkling such for whom immersion was not judged necessary.

Until 1629, they were in doubt about their title to their lands. They were constantly soliciting a grant, or, as they term it, an assurance from the council of Plymouth. In 1624, they employed one John Pierce, who procured a grant to himself for about £50, but he kept it in his own hands, and refused to assign it for less than £500. This they justly complained of as a great breach of trust, and attributed to it several losses and disappointments he met with in his intended voyage, which frightened him and made him also look upon them as the punishment of his perfidy and to relinquish his claim. We do not find that those who employed him reaped any benefit from the grant. After they had their patent in 1629, they were easy until the restoration; but when Connecticut and Rhode Island, who held their lands, or most of them, under patents from the council of Plymouth, thought it necessary to solicit, and had obtained a royal confirmation and charter, giving authority to govern, New Plymouth solicited also, but they were rather too late. The court began to be jealous of the colonists. Such sort of charters as had been granted left them, it was said, too much to themselves, and although they were not peremptorily refused, they were put off from time to time, and told that the only difficulty was to settle such a form of government as should secure their dependence as a colony, and should nevertheless afford to them liberties and privileges to their satisfaction.

This was no easy matter for both sides to agree upon, and thus a state of suspense made the colony more pliable and obsequious than their neighbours of Massachusetts. This was particularly the case when the commissioners from King Charles came to New England in 1664, and when Plymouth submitted to their determination a controversy between that colony and Rhode Island about bounds. At this time they received, indeed, a very gracious letter from the king, but all ended in mere professions.We can easily conceive of a parent state growing every day more and more popular in its government, and nevertheless at the same time re-]

[straining the liberties of its colonies for the sake of continuing the connection; but when there is a scheme of establishing absolute power in the parent state, how can it be expected that popular governments should be established in the colonies? However, no advantage was ever taken of their want of authority, and their proceedings were connived at until the general shipwreck of charters in 1684, when an arbitrary government was established in the other colonies, and they could not expect to escape. All their hopes being at an end, they made as loud complaints of oppression, under Andros, as any people of his government, and perhaps with as much reason; and when the Massachusetts imprisoned him and reassumed their charter, Plymouth assumed their old form of government also. Now it was that they first sensibly found the want of a charter. Connecticut and Rhode Island, who had resigned their charters, were justified, by the example of the corporations in England, in assuming them again; but Plymouth had none to assume. Their first attempt was to procure a charter and to continue a distinct government. In this they could not succeed. Perhaps, if it had been solicited in the best manner, they might have succeeded, but interior divisions prevented any proper measures being pursued. Mr. Hinkley, their governor, wrote to Mr. Mather, the Massachusetts agent, to desire him to solicit in their behalf, but the people refused to advance any money, and so small a sum as £200 sterling could not be raised. The inhabitants of some of the principal towns subscribed, upon condition the whole sum should be raised. Some of the towns refusing, the whole subscription failed. Such was the effect of their divisions, that neither party would acknowledge the authority of the government when any act passed which they did not approve of. Mr. Wiswall, one of their ministers, by advice of some gentlemen in Boston, went to England, but having no commission, and, which is more fatal to those who have affairs at court, no money, he never could make a public appearance, and served only to give offence to the ministry, by offering exceptions to the proposal of joining Plymouth to the Massachusetts, and, eventually, occasioned their being annexed to New York. It is said, however, that they were taken out of Slaughter's commission by Mr. Mather's interest; for although Slaughter arrived at New York the year before Phipps arrived in the Massachusetts, and sent his orders to Little Compton in Plymouth colony, in terms as high and authoritative as if

he had been their governor, or depended upon being such; yet was their junction with New York suspended until they were actually included in the Massachusetts.

It has been said this last determination gave, and continues to give, to this day, great satisfaction to every individual in the colony of Plymouth, and that there is not one who does not think it a most happy circumstance that they were annexed to Massachusetts rather than to New York. There might, indeed, at first, have been jealousies of unequal distinctions, upon some occasions, in favour of the Massachusetts, yet they have long since been at an end, and the customs, manners, and religious opinions of the two colonies being much the same, they mutually consider themselves as having one joint general interest as fully in all respects as if they had been one colony from the beginning. For a continuation of this history, see Index to additional matter concerning Massachusetts.]

[PLYMOUTH, a town of New York in Onondago County, lately laid out and named by E. Watson, Esq. a native of Plymouth, New England. The town lies about 12 miles s. e. of Geneva, on a beautiful declivity on the e. side of Seneca Lake, and commands a charming and extensive view of the whole lake. The town plat is on the spot formerly called Apple Town, and was the head-quarters of the Seneca Indians, who were conquered and dispersed by General Sullivan, in his western expedition in 1779. The situation is healthful and pleasant, well watered by copious living springs. Twenty houses were building here in 1796, and as the new state-road from the Cayuga intersects the town, a ferry established, and another town laid out on the opposite side of the lake, it promises fair to become a considerable and very thriving village. It is well watered by copious springs.]

[PLYMOUTH, a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut.]

[PLYMOUTH, a post-town of New Hampshire; situate in Grafton County, at the mouth of Baker's River, on its s. side, where it falls into the river Pemigewasset; 36 miles n. of Concord, 61 n. w. of Portsmouth, and 277 n. e. of Philadelphia. The township was incorporated in 1763, and contains 625 inhabitants.]

[PLYMOUTH, the name of two townships in Pennsylvania, the one in Luzerne County, the other in that of Montgomery.]

[PLYMOUTH, a small post-town of N. Carolina, on the s. side of Roanoke River, about five

miles above Albemarle Sound. It is 14 miles s. w. by s. of Edenton.7

[PLYMOUTH, a settlement on the s. peninsula of the island of St. Domingo, and in the dependence of Jeremie.]

[PLYMOUTH Town, in the island of Tobago in the W. Indies.]

[PLYMPTON, a township in Plymouth County, Massachusetts; 27 miles s. e. of Boston. It was incorporated in 1707, and contains 956 inhabitants.

POANGUE, a river of the kingdom of Chile, which rises in the mountains of the cordillera, runs many leagues under ground, and enters the Maipo. From its source it proceeds through minerals of gold and through aqueducts; is girt on either side by fine trees. Its waters are salutary, and contribute greatly to digestion; and although the appetite they provoke is, perhaps, excessive, they cause an agreeable hilarity. This river is not without a beneficial influence, even in its subterraneous course, for communicating itself by veins all through the valley, it imparts a useful and fertilizing moisture from beneath; so much so, that although it never rains during the summer, and the place does not obtain other irrigation, it is not wanting in the production of the most abundant and exquisite fruits, particularly maize and melons, which no where else are so good.

POBLACION, NUEVA, a town of the province and government of Paraguay, on the shore of the river Paraná, in the part where it enters the grand river of Curitaba.

POBLACION, another settlement, in the province and captainship of Rey in Brazil, on the coast, between this province and the great lake of Los Patos.

[POCAHONTAS, a town in Chesterfield County, Virginia; within the jurisdiction of Petersburgh in Dinwiddie County. It probably derives its name from the famous Princess Pocahontas, the daughter of King Powhatan.]

POCHOTLA, a settlement of the head settlement of the district of Atengo, and alcaldía mayor of Chilapa in Nueva España. It contains only 11 families of Indians, and is one league from its head settlement.

POCHUTLA, SAN PEDRO DE, a principal and head settlement of the district of the alcaldía mayor of Huamelula in Nueva España, at the foot of a lofty mountain-plain, six leagues from the sea; on the shore of which is a bay known by the name of Barra de Coyula; and in the

VOL. IV.

passage from this to the settlement of San Agus tin, dwell 50 families of Indians, applied to the cultivation of cotton. Seven leagues from Hua. tulco.

POCHUTLA, another, a small settlement or ward, in the head settlement of the district of Moloacan and alcaldía mayor of Acayuca in the same kingdom; distant a musket-shot from its head settlement.

[POCKREKESKO, a river of New Britain, N. America.]

POCOANCA, a settlement of the province and corregimiento of Aimaraes in Peru. POCOATA, a settlement of the province and corregimiento of Chayanta or Charcas in Peru. POCOMACK. [See PATOWMACK.]

POCONA, a settlement of the province of Mizque, and government of Santa Cruz de là Sierra in Peru. It is of an agreeable and delightful temperature, fertile in choice fruits; and having in its vicinity a lake two leagues in cir cumference.

POCOPO, a settlement of the province and corregimiento of Porco in Peru.

POCORAI, a settlement of the province and corregimiento of Chilques and Masques in Peruz annexed to the curacy of Acchaamansaya.

[POCOTALIGO, a village of S. Carolina; 15 miles from Combahee Ferry, and 67 from Charlestown.]

POCOTO, a settlement of the province and corregimiento of Yamparaes, and archbishopric of Charcas in Peru. It has in its district a very devout sanctuary of the title of Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria de Piosera.

POCQUIURA, a settlement of the province and corregimiento of Abancay in Peru.

POCRI, a river of the province and alcaldía mayor of Nata in the kingdom of Tierra Firme. It has its origin near the mountain of the mine of Guerrero, and empties itself into the S. Sea.

POCSI, a settlement of the province and corregimiento of Moquehua in Peru.

PODRE, a small river of the province and country of Las Amazonas, in the part and territory possessed by the Portuguese. It enters the Madera by the w. side.

[POGE, Cape, the n. e. point of Chabaquiddick Island, near Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. From Holmes's Hole to this cape the course is s. e. by e. 34 leagues distant. In the channel between them there are 11 and 12 fathoms water. thoms water. Lat. 41° 24' 30" n. Long. 70° 22′ 30′′ w. from Greenwich.]

BB

POQUATANCATON, a sea-port on the coast of the province and colony of Maryland to the s. of Cold Cape.

[POINT, a township in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania.]

[POINT ALDERTON, the s. w. point of Boston Harbour. Lat. 42° 17' n. Long. 70° 52′ w.]

[POINT AU FER, a place near the head or n. part of Lake Champlain, within the limits of the United States. It was delivered up by the British in 1796.]

[POINT LE PRO, the e. limit of Passamaquoddy Bay, on the coast of New Brunswick.] [POINTE DES PIEGES, a cape on the s. side of the island of St. Domingo, two leagues w. of the mouth of Pedernales River.]

[POINT JUDITH, in the township of S. Kingstown, is the s. extremity of the w. shore of Narraganset Bay in Rhode Island. It is 10 miles s.s. w. of Newport. Lat. 41° 19′ n. Long. 71° 28' w.]

[POINT PETRE, in the island of Guadalupe, has strong fortifications, and lies about 20 miles from Fort Louis.]

POINTE BASSE, a settlement and parish of the island of Martinique, a curacy and establishment of the religious of St. Domingo, on the n. coast, on the shore of the river of its name.

POINTE, another, with the surname of Noire, in the island of Guadalupe, on the w. coast of Basse Terre, between the rivers Caillou and Baille-argent.

POINTE, a small river of the province of N. Carolina, which runs n. e. and enters the Couhaway, between the settlements of Walker and Roseaux.

POINTE, another, a small river of the island Martinque, which runs n. and enters the sea between those of Falaise and Roche.

POINTE, a point of the n. coast of Lake Erie, in Canada in N. America.

[POINTE. See PUNTA.]

POISON BLANC, Point of, on the s. coast of Lake Superior in Canada, one of those which form the mouth of the strait by which this lake communicates with Lake Huron.

[POJAUHTECUL, called by the Spaniards, Volcan de Orizaba, a celebrated mountain in Mexico, or New Spain, which began to send forth smoke in 1545, and continued to do so for 20 years; but for two centuries past there has not been observed the smallest sign of burning. The mountain, which is of a conical figure, is the highest land in Mexico, and is descried by

seamen, who are steering that way, at the distance of 50 leagues; and is higher than the Peak of Teneriffe. Its top is always covered with snow, and its border adorned with large cedars, pine, and other trees of valuable wood, which make the prospect of it every way beautiful. It is 104 miles e. of the city of Mexico.]

[POKONCA, a mountain in Northampton County, Pennsylvania; 22 miles n. w. of Easton, and 26 s. e. of Wyoming Falls.]

POLANCO, Asperities of. Some very craggy sierras of the province and captainship of Rey in Brazil.

POLANCO, a river of the province and government of Buenos Ayres, which runs n. and enters the Gil.

[POLAND, a township in Cumberland County, district of Maine.]

POLINDERA, a large and ancient province, now incorporated with that of Popayán, of the Nuevo Reyno de Granada; discovered by Sebastian de Benalcazar, in 1536. It has in it some rich gold mines; but these are not worked, the territory being desert and full of woods.

POLLARD, a settlement of the island of Barbadoes; situate on the e. coast of the s. part.

[POLLIPLES Island, a small rocky island, about 80 or 100 rods in circumference, at the n. entrance of the high lands in Hudson's River; remarkable only remarkable only as the place where sailors require a treat of persons who have never before passed the river.]

POLONIA, S. a settlement of Indians, of the missions which were held by the Jesuits in the province of Topia of N. America.

POMA, a settlement of the province and corregimiento of Lucanas in Peru; annexed to the curacy of Querobamba.

POMABAMBA, a province and corregimiento of Peru; bounded n. by that of Tomina, e. and s. e. by the lands of the infidel Indians; s. and s. w. by the province of Pilaya and Paspaya, w. by that of Porco, and n. w. by that of Yamparaes. Its length is 24 leagues from e. to w. without any other curacy or settlement than the town of its name, and one settlement annexed, in the province of Tomina, called Taraita, all the other parts consisting of campaign-estates. It was separated from the aforesaid province through a certain subject; who having obtained of his majesty the title of Castellano, found himself under the necessity of posting a garrison in that part most advanced on the Chiriguanos Indians, and it thus also obtained the title of province and

corregimiento. Its inhabitants, who should amount to 3000, gain a scanty subsistence from their agriculture and cattle, the which are often plundered by those infidels.

It has at the distance of seven miles to the n. a river which they call Parapeti: and 30 leagues further on is the river Nuevo, just in the territory of the barbarian Indians; whither the inhabitants repair, at great risk, to fish for very large dories and olive-fish, which they carry to La Plata and Potosi in the frosty season only, since in the hot weather they corrupt.

The capital and only settlement is the town of the same name; situate on the shore of the river Parapeti, about nine miles e. with a slight inclination to the s. of La Plata. Lat. 19° 55′ s. and long. 64°8′w.

POMABAMBA, another settlement, of the province and corregimiento of Vilcas Huaman in Peru; annexed to the curacy of Cangallo.

POMACANCHE, a settlement of the province and corregimiento of Guarochiri in Peru; annexed to the curacy of Huanchor.

POMACANCHE, another settlement, in the province and corregimiento of Quispicanchi in the same kingdom.

POMACARAN, S. JUAN DE, a settlement of the head settlement of the district of Arantrán, and alcaldía mayor of Valladolid in the province and bishopric of Mechoacán. It contains 36 families of Indians applied to the culture of seeds, cutting woods, fabricating earthenware, and saddle trees.

POMACOCHA, or PUMACOCHA, a settlement of the province and corregimiento of Guarochiri in Peru; annexed to the curacy of the settlement of Yauli.

POMACOCHA, another settlement, in the province and corregimiento of Andahuailas in the same kingdom; annexed to the curacy of the settlement of Pampachiri.

POMACOCHA, another, of the province and corregimiento of Chachapoyas in the same kingdom; annexed to the curacy of the settlement of Corobamba.

POMACOCHA, another, of the province and corregimiento of Canta in the same kingdom.

POMACOCHA, a large and fertile valley of the province and corregimiento of Vilcas Huaman in Peru, on the shore of the river Pampas.

POMACOCHA, a large lake, formed by three small ones, uniting by a short canal in the province and corregimiento of Tarma in Peru; situate in the mountains, and from it rises the river Paria.

POMAGUACA, a settlement of the province and government of Jaen de Bracamoros in the kingdom of Quito.

POMALLACTA, a settlement of Indians of the province and corregimiento of Riobamba in the kingdom of Quito. It was celebrated in the time of the Incas, but now destroyed, nothing remaining but the ruins of a palace belonging to the emperors, and resembling that mentioned in article ATUNCANAN, with the which this palace is said to have had a subterraneous communication, notwithstanding at the distance of six leagues from each other; nor is it other than a fact, that there is in the palace of Atuncañan a sort of door blocked up with earth in the interior of the tower. This settlement is annexed to the curacy of that of Guasuntos, and is four leagues from Quito.

POMARE, SIERRAS DE, a cordillera of mountains of the province and captainship of Seara in Brazil, which runs from s. to n. between the rivers of Concepcion or San Francisco and La Cruz, closest to the former.

POMASQUE, a settlement of the kingdom of Quito, in the district of the corregimiento of Los Cinco Leguas de Esta Ciudad; celebrated for a miraculous image of Christ, which is vene rated in the convent of the religious Recoletans of San Francisco, much frequented from the devotion paid to it by the faithful of all those settlements near the capital; from whence this settlement is four leagues distant.

POMATA, a settlement of the province and government of Chucuito in Peru; in which are two very good hermitages, one dedicated to Nuestra Señora del Rosario, and the other to Santa Barbara. It is situate on the shore of the great lake of Chucuito, 17 leagues from its capital.

[POMFRET, a township in Windsor County, Vermont; containing 710 inhabitants. It is 10. miles w. of the ferry on Connecticut River, in the town of Hartford, and 55 n. n. e. of Bennington.]

[POMFRET, a post-town of Connecticut, in Windham County. It is 29 miles e. of Hartford, 56 s. w. of Boston, and contains a Congrega tional church, and a few neat houses. The township was first settled in 1686 by emigrants from Roxbury. It was part of the Mashamoquet purchase, and in 1713 it was erected into a township. Quinabaug River separates it from Killingly on the e. In Pomfret is the famous cave, where General Putnam conquered and slew the wolf.]

POMMES, River of, in the province of Nova