(in 1637): "Mr. Endecot and my ſelfe ſalute you in the Lord Jeſus, etc. Wee haue heard of a diuidence of women and children in the bay and would bee glad of a ſhare, viz.: a young woman or girle and a boy if you thinke good. I wrote to you for ſome boyes for Bermudas, which I thinke is conſiderable." M. H. S. Coll., iv., vi., 95.
In this application of Hugh Peter we have a glimpse of the beginning of the Colonial Slave-Trade. He wanted "ſome boyes for the Bermudas," which he thought was "conſiderable."
It would ſeem to indicate that this diſpoſition of captive Indian boys was in accordance with custom and previous practice of the authorities. At any rate, it is certain that in the Pequod War they took many priſoners. Some of theſe, who had been "diſposed of to particular perſons in the country," Winthrop, i., 232, ran away, and being brought in again were "branded on the ſhoulder," ib. In July, 1637, Winthrop ſays, "We had now ſlain and taken, in all, about ſeven hundred. We ſent fifteen of the boys and two women to Bermuda, by Mr. Peirce; but he, miſſing it, carried them to Providence Iſle," Winthrop, i., 234. The learned editor of Winthrop's Journal, referring to the fact that this proceeding in that day was probably juſtified by reference to the practice or inſtitution of the Jews, very quaintly obſerves, "Yet that cruel people never ſent priſoners ſo far." Ib., note.
Governor Winthrop, writing to Governor Bradford of Plymouth, 28th July, 1637, an account of their ſucceſs againſt the Pequods—"ye Lords greate
