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-1627] The Pilgrim Fathers. 13 acquiescent character of the Puritanism of Plymouth as distinguished from the militant and aggressive type of Puritanism which animated the later settlement of Massachusetts. "Pilgrim Fathers" is a wholly appro- priate term as describing the Plymouth settlers: we miss a significant distinction if we apply it to their successors. The poverty of the refugees was a difficulty which had to be surmounted. To this end the delegates entered into negotiations with certain London traders, who were, in modern language, to "finance" the colony and to receive in return all profits accruing after provision had been made for the subsistence of the settlers. This was to last for seven years: then the partnership was to be dissolved and the stock sold. The choice of a site for the settlement caused no little difficulty. Some of the London partners wished to settle under the Plymouth Company, not that of Virginia. Some of the intended colonists proposed Guiana. Then a project was started for settling on the territory of the Dutch West India Company. This last design was disapproved by the States General ; and the agreement with the Virginia Company was ratified. Finally, as we shall see, the site of the colony was determined not of deliberate choice but by chance. In August, 1620, after various mishaps and delays, the emigrants, one hundred in number, sailed from Plymouth in that historic vessel called the Mayflower. A stormy voyage brought them to a point far north of the Virginia Company's territory. The ship-master was ordered to sail south-west, but he disobeyed orders, and, as the pilgrims thought, of deliberate treachery, landed them in Cape Cod Harbour. Owing to the various delays in sailing and the length of the voyage the emigrants had to face the winter unprepared. Their sufferings were great, and deaths were not a few. In similar circumstances Popham's settlers had despaired and fled ; but the Plymouth pilgrims were strong in religious faith, and in the sense of a divine mission. Happily too, whereas Popham's colony had to face a winter of exceptional severity, the first winter passed by the Pilgrim Fathers was peculiarly mild. Fortu- nately for the colonists, their relations with the natives were from the outset friendly. Edward Winslow, one of the leading men in the colony, had some knowledge of medicine, and saved the neighbouring Indian chief when his life was despaired of ; and the Indians in their gratitude befriended the settlers and instructed them in the cultivation of maize. The alliance with the London merchants proved unsatisfactory. They looked exclusively or mainly to their own pecuniary gain, not to the permanent welfare of the community. Thus the colonists were glad to make an arrangement whereby, in 1627, the interests of the London partners were transferred to six of the chief settlers. The bargain bore hard on the settlers for the time being, but they were more than compensated by the increase of independence. At the outset the system of industry was purely communal. The CH. I