knowledge of the native tongue, Standish would be most anxious to have
the benefit of it, in this prime and all-important effort at securing a
permanent alliance with the ruling sachem of the region. Bradford, in
"Mourt's Relation," speaking of the speech of Governor Carver to
Massasoit, says: "He [Massasoit] liked well of the speech and heard it
attentively, though the interpreters did not well express it." Probably
all three, Tisquantum, Samoset, and Williamson, had a voice in it.

That "Master Williamson" was a veritable person at New Plymouth, in
February and March, 1620/21, is now beyond dispute; that he must have
been of the ship's company of the MAY-FLOWER is logically certain; that
he was one of her officers, and a man of character, is proven by his
title of "Master" and his choice by Standish and Mullens for exceptional
and honorable service; that the position of "ship's-merchant" alone
answers to the conditions precedent, is evident; and that such an officer
was commonly carried by ships of the MAY-FLOWER class on such voyages as
hers is indicated by the necessity, and proven by the facts known as to
other ships on similar New England voyages, both earlier and later. The
fact that he was called simply "Master Williamson," in both cases where
he is mentioned, with out other designation or identification, is highly
significant, and clearly indicates that he was some one so familiarly
known to all concerned that no occasion for any further designation
apparently occurred to the minds of Mullens, Carver, or Bradford, when
referring to him. In the case of Master John Hampden, the only other
notable incognito of early Pilgrim literature, the description is full,
and the only question concerning him has been of his identity with John
Hampden, the English patriot of the Cromwellian era. It is, therefore,
not too much to assert that the MAY-FLOWER carried a "ship's-merchant"
(or purser), and that "Master Williamson" was that officer. If close-
linked circumstantial evidence is ever to be relied upon, it clearly