At a Court held at Naticke among the Indians, Sept. 14, 1681. The testimonies of several aged and principal Indians hereafter named, taken in Court, as followeth:
Present, Daniel Gookin senr. Esq., Assistant.
| Rulers. | Interpreters. |
| Waban, | Mr. John Eliot, senr., |
| Piamrbow, | Andrew Pittimee, |
| Tom Tray, | Peter Ephraim, |
‘Waban, aged about eighty years, Piambow, aged about eighty years, Nowanit, aged about 81 years, Jethro, aged about 70 years, William, aged 68 years, Anthon ray and Tom Tray, unkells by the father's side unto John Wonlpas deceased, aged 60 years and fifty-eight or thereabout,’ testified that the said “John Woampas was no Sachem, and had no more right or title to any lands in the Nipmuk country within [the bounds] of Massachusetts than any other common Indians;” and therefore they disclaimed and repudiated all sales or gifts of land pretended to have been made by him.2
Under the joint instruction and superintendence of Eliot and Gookin, slow but encouraging progress was made in civilizing and Christianizing the Indians in Massachussetts, as far west as the westerly border of Worcester County; and a similar good work was accomplished in the Colony of Plymouth. The two races maintained peaceful relations with each other until 1675, when that terrible contest commenced, which is generally known as Philip's War. And even then, Gookin insists that the Christian Indians, in the seven old praying towns, were true friends to the English, and rendered them important assistance; and he intimates that the magistrates agreed with him in opinion, while the popular branch of the government and the common people
