and even gave some ground to hope, that the whole nation would submit to religious instruction.*

This meeting, however, was concluded with a frolic and a drinking match, agreeably to the usual custom of the Indians. Their dancing on these occasions, is not only a la-, borious, but a dangerous exercise; and it is a striking proof of the power of habit over the human frame, that it is not more frequently followed by fatal consequences. They dance, Mr. Sergeant informs us, round a large fire, till they are nearly ready to faint, and are completely drenched with sweat. They then run out of the house, strip themselves naked, expose their warm bodies to the cold air; or if there be snow on the ground, roll themselves in it, till they are perfectly cooled. They then return to the dance; and when they are again hot and tired, cool themselves in a similar This operation they repeat, probably, four or five times in the course of the night, concluding the whole with excessive drinking; and when they are drunk, they often fall asleep in the open air, perhaps buried in snow.†

manner.

Soon after this meeting, several of them were taken ill, and two of them suddenly died of a violent fever. Easy as it was to account for their death from natural causes, especially as, at the time of their dance, the weather was extremely cold, and there was a deep snow on the ground, the Indians were persuaded it was the effect of poison, and resolved to apply to the invisible powers for the discovery of the murderers. Mr. Sergeant was then absent; but Mr. Woodbridge, his assistant in the Indian school, having heard of their design, rode down to the place of their meeting; and, on his arrival, found upwards of forty of them assembled in the wigwam of one of their chiefs. The house was swept clean, large fires were kindled, and the Indians were sitting around them from one end of the hut to the other; only in one quarter, a space of about five or six feet was left for the

Hopkin's Mem.

+ Ibid.

VOL. I.

K

powaws or conjurers. Each of the Indians had two sticks, about a foot and a half long, one of them split at the end, which he held under his legs. When Mr. Woodbridge arrived, they were all prepared for the exercise; but had not as yet begun it. He asked them, whether they would allow him to be present at the ceremony; but before they returned him an answer, the oldest priest lifted up his eyes to heaven, and spoke with great earnestness, after which they told him he might remain. They then began to sing and rap with their sticks, and in the meanwhile, the eldest powaw was sitting, and talking, and acting a different part from all the rest. This lasted about an hour. The priest then rose from his seat, threw off all his clothes, except a flap about his middle, and in this naked state passed from one end of the hut to the other, with his eyes closed, to appearance in most exquisite agony, and employing the most frightful and distorted gestures, it is almost possible to imagine. This continued about another hour. The first powaw being exhausted, at length retired; a second then rose and acted the same part, afterwards a third, and finally, a fourth. In this manner they spent the whole night, except a few short intervals, during which, they either smoked a pipe, or they all rose up in a body and danced. They did not appear, however, to gain their object; and on Mr. Woodbridge representing to them the folly and criminality of such a mode of worship, they promised never again to have recourse to it, and some of them even seemed extremely sorry for the step they had taken.*

In the course of a short time, Mr. Sergeant's hearers greatly increased in number: many of them appeared to be seriously impressed with religion; and within a few months, he had the pleasure of baptizing upwards of fifty of them, among whom were the two principal men, with their wives and children. Most of them appeared anxious to obtain re

ligious instruction; a remarkable reformation of manners ensued among them; and vice, especially drunkenness, the sin to which, of all others, they are most addicted, seemed for the present nearly banished from among them. They themselves were surprised at the change; and expressed the difference between their former and their present state, by the terms infancy and manhood, dreaming and waking, darkness and light, and other similar metaphors.*

As the circumstance of the Indians living in two different places at a distance from each other was attended with many inconveniences, there was a design, from the commencement of the mission, to grant them some new ground in the neighbourhood in exchange for part of their lands, that so they might all live in one town, and that there might be room for others of the tribe who might be disposed to join them. But when this proposal was made to them, they at first viewed it with extreme jealousy, apprehending that the English had some ill design under it; but, at length, through the prudent exertions of Mr. Sergeant, and the faithfulness of the government in the whole transaction, their suspicions were, in a great measure, removed, and the affair was brought to a happy termination.†

In May 1736, the Indians settled in their new town, which was called Stockbridge, and was situated in the great meadow above the mountain Housatunnuk, the whole of which was now appropriated to their use. Notwithstanding their former jealousies, they were greatly pleased with the arrangement; and they now applied so diligently to husbandry, that even in the first year, they planted at least three times more corn than they had ever done before. The The government soon after ordered that a church forty feet by thirty, together with a school-house, should be erected for the use of the Indians, at the expense of the province.‡

* Hopkin's Mem.

+ Ibid.

+ Ibid.

Even at an early period of his labours, Mr. Sergeant had perceived, that the plan he was at first obliged to adopt of preaching to the Indians through the medium of an interpreter, would answer his purpose in a very imperfect degree, being not only a slow, but a very uncertain method of communicating instruction to them. He was himself unable to judge of what was delivered to them, and had even reason to fear that the truths he endeavoured to teach them were conveyed to their minds in a very inadequate manner; for the best interpreter that could be found, possessed but an imperfect knowledge of the principles of religion, as well as of the English terms by which they were expressed. Influenced by these considerations, he had early engaged in the study of the Indian language, and prosecuted it with the utmost assiduity. It was extremely difficult to learn, being entirely different from every other language with which he was acquainted. He even thought it a more arduous task, than it would have been to acquire all the learned languages usually taught in the schools. After about three years study, however, he attained so much knowledge of it, as to be able to pray with his people in their own tongue, and even to preach in it with some little assistance from his interpreter. He, at length, indeed, became so great a master of it, that the Indians used to say: "Our minister speaks our language better than we do ourselves."*

Previous to this period, Mr. Sergeant, with the assistance of his interpreter, had translated some prayers into the Indian language for the use of his people, together with Dr. Watt's First Catechism, for the instruction of the children. Besides these small pieces, he afterwards translated a great part of the Bible into their language; namely, such portions of the Old Testament as appeared most useful and necessary, as the history of the creation, of the fall of man, of the call of Abraham, of the conduct of Providence to the patriarchs

and the children of Israel, the prophecies concerning the coming of Christ, &c.; and the whole of the New Testament, unless we are to except the book of Revelation, which we are uncertain whether he ever finished.*

Besides these important pursuits, Mr. Sergeant's ordinary pastoral labours, were more than double those of most other ministers. Every week he was obliged to compose four discourses, two for the Indians, and two for the English, for he had likewise some white people under his care. Those which he prepared for the Indians cost him particular labour, for he had first to write them at large in English, and then to translate them into the Mohegan language, Besides delivering all these on the Sabbath, it was his regular practice in summer to spend about an hour with the Indians after public worship in the afternoon, instructing, exhorting, and warning them, in a familiar and affectionate manner. As their language abounds in gutturals, the pronunciation of it was a most laborious exercise; so that, owing to this circumstance; combined with the number of services he performed, his strength and spirits were often so exhausted, that he was scarcely able to speak when the whole was over.†

But while Mr. Sergeant laboured with so much diligence and zeal, he met with no small trials from the Indians, as well as from other quarters. The Dutch traders in the neighbourhood, though they had not succeeded in fomenting the jealousies of the savages, never relaxed in their endeavours to corrupt them with rum; and though the Indians passed strong resolutions against drinking, and even kept them for a considerable time, yet some of them unhappily relapsed into that and other vices, even after they appeared to be completely weaned from them. One of the chiefs, who had been peculiarly zealous against drunkenness, and seemed firmly established in the ways of godliness, conducted himself for a year or two in a very disorderly manner, was fre

* Hopkin's Mem.