Having related unto you the pleasant situation of the country, the healthfulness of the climate, the nature of the soil, with his vegetatives and other commodities, it will not be amiss to inform you of such irrational creatures as are daily bred and continually nourished in this country, which do much conduce to the well-being of the inhabitants, affording not only meat for the belly but clothing for the back. The beasts be as followeth:

The kingly lion and the strong-armed bear,
The large-limbed mooses, with the tripping deer,
Quill-darting porcupines, and raccoons be
Castled in the hollow of an aged tree;
The skipping squirrel, rabbit, purblind hare,
Immured in the selfsame castle are,
Lest red-eyed ferrets, wily foxes should
Them undermine, if rampired but with mold.
The grim-faced ounce, [bobcat] and ravenous, howling wolf,
Whose meagre paunch sucks like a swallowing gulf.
Black, glistering otters and rich-coated beaver,
The civet-scented musquash [muskrat] smelling ever.

Affirming lions [mountain lion], I will not say that I ever saw any myself, but some affirm that they have seen a lion at Cape Ann, which is not above six leagues from Boston. Some likewise being lost in woods have heard such terrible roarings as have made them much aghast, which must either be devils or lions, there being no other creatures which use to roar saving bears, which have not such a terrible kind of roaring. Besides, Plymouth men have traded for lions' skins in former times. But sure it is that there be lions on that continent, for the Virginians saw an old lion in their plantation, who having lost his jackal, which was wont to hunt his prey, was brought so poor that he could go no further.

For bears, they be common, being a great black kind of bear which be most fierce in strawberry time, at which time they have young ones. At this time likewise they will go upright like a man, and climb trees, and swim to the islands; which if the Indians see, there will be more sportful bear-baiting than Paris Garden can afford. For seeing the bears take water, an Indian will leap after him, where they go to water cuffs for bloody noses and scratched sides; in the end the man gets the victory, riding the bear over the watery plain till he can bear him no longer. In the winter they take themselves to the clefts of rocks and thick swamps to shelter them from the cold; and food being scant in those cold and hard times, they live only by sleeping and sucking their paws, which keepeth them as far as they are in summer. There would be more of them if it were not for the wolves, which devour them. A kennel of those ravening runnagadoes [renegades] setting on a poor single bear will tear him as a dog will tear a kid.

It would be a good change if the country had for every wolf a bear, upon the condition all the wolves were banished; so should the inhabitants be not only rid of their greatest annoyance but furnished with more store of provisions, bears being accounted very good meat, esteemed of all men above venison. Again they never prey upon the English cattle, or offer to assault the person of any man, unless being vexed with a shot, and a man run upon them before they be dead, in which case they will stand in their own defence....

The beast called a moose is not much unlike red deer, This beast is as big as an ox, slow of food, headed like a buck, with a broad beam, some being two yards wide in the head. Their flesh is as good as beef, their hides good for clothing. The English have some thoughts of keeping them tame and to accustom them to the yoke, which will be a great commodity: first, because they are so fruitful, bringing forth three at a time, being likewise very uberous [supplying milk or nourishment in abundance]; secondly, because they will live in winter without fodder. There be no many of these in the Massachusetts Bay, but forty miles to the northeast there be great store of them. These poor beasts likewise are much devoured by the wolves.

The ordinary deer be much bigger than the deer of England, of a brighter color, more inclining to red, with spotted bellies. The most store of these be in winter, when the more northern parts of the country be cold for them. They desire to be near the sea, so that they may swim to the island when they are chased by the wolves. It is not to be thought into what great multitudes they would increase were it not for the common devourer, the wolf. They have generally three [calves] at a time, which they hide a mile one from another, giving them suck by turns. Thus they do, that if the wolf should find one he might miss the other. These deer be fat in the deep of winter. In summer it is hard catching of them with the best greyhounds that may be procured because they be swift of food. Some credible persons have affirmed that they have seen a deer leap threescore feet at little or no forcement; besides, there be so many old trees, rotten stumps, and Indian bars, that a dog cannot well run without being shoulder-shot. Yet I would not dissuade any from carrying good dogs, for in the wintertime they be very useful, for when the snow is hard frozen, the deer being heavy sinks into the snow; the dogs being light run upon the top and overtake them and pull them down. Some by this means have gotten twenty bucks and does in a winter. The horns of these deer grow in a straight manner (overhanging their heads) that they cannot feed upon such things as grow low until they have cast their old horns. Of these deer there be a great many, and more in the Massachusetts Bay than in any other place, which is a great help and refreshment to these planters.

The porcupine is a small thing not much unlike a hedge hog, something bigger, who stands upon his guard and proclaims a nole mi tangere ["Do not touch me"] to man and beast that shall approach too near him, darting his quills into their legs and hides. The raccoon is a deep-furred beast, not much unlike a badger, having a tail like a fox, as good meat as a lamb; there is one of them in the Tower [of London]. These beasts in the daytime sleep in hollow trees, in the moonshine night they go to feed on clams at a low tide by the seaside, where the English hunt them with their dogs....

The beasts of offence be skunks, ferrets, foxes, whose impudence sometimes drives them to the goodwives' hen roost to fill their paunch. Some of these be black; their fur is of much esteem.

The ounce or the wildcat is as big as a mongrel dog. This creature is by nature fierce and more dangerous to be met withal than any other creature, not fearing either dog or man. He useth to kill deer, which he thus effecteth: knowing the deer's tracts, he will lie lurking in long weeds, the deer passing by he suddenly leaps upon his back, from thence gets to his neck and scratcheth out his throat. He hath likewise a device to get geese, for being much of the color of a goose he will place himself close by the water, holding up his bob tail, which is like a good neck; the geese seeing this counterfeiting goose approach nigh to visit him, who with a sudden jerk apprehends his mistrustless prey. The English kill many of those, accounting them very good meat. Their skins be a very deep kind of fur, spotted white and black on the belly.

The wolves be in some respect different from them in other countries. It was never known yet that a wolf ever set upon a man or woman. Neither do they trouble horses or cows; but swine, goats, and red calves, which they take for deer, be often destroyed by them, so that a red calf is cheaper than a black one in that regard in some places. In the time of autumn and in the beginning of spring, these ravenous rangers do most frequent our English habitations, following the deer which come down at that time to those parts. They be made much like a mongrel, being big boned, lank paunched, deep breasted, having a thick neck and head, prick ears, and long snout, with dangerous teeth, long-staring hair, and a great bush tail. It is thought of many that our English mastiffs might be too hard for them; but it is no such matter, for they care no more for an ordinary mastiff than an ordinary mastiff cares for a cur. Many good dogs have been spoiled by them. Once a fair greyhound, hearing them at their howlings, run out to chide them, who was torn in pieces before he could be rescued. One of them makes no more bones to run away with a pig than a dog to run away with a marrow bone. It is observed that they have no joints from their head to the tail, which prevents them from leaping, or sudden turning....

These be killed daily in some place or other, either by the English or Indian, who have a certain rate for every head. Yet there is little hope of their utter destruction, the country being so spacious and they so numerous, travelling in the swamps by kennels. Sometimes ten or twelve are of a company. Late at night and early in the morning they set up their howlings and call their companies together--at night to hunt, at morning to sleep. In a word they be the greatest inconveniency the country hath, both for matter of damage to private men in particular, and the whole country in general.

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[Wood's Impressions of American Indians]

 To enter into a serious discourse concerning the natural conditions of these Indians might procure admiration from the people of any civilized nations, in regard of their civility and good natures. If a tree may be judged by his fruit, and dispositions calculated by exterior actions, then may it be concluded that these Indians are of affable, courteous, and well-disposed natures, ready to communicate the best of their wealth to the mutual good of one another;  .  .  .
      If it were possible to recount the courtesies they have showed the English since their first arrival in those parts, it would not only steady belief that they are a loving people, but also win the love of those that never saw them, and wipe off that needless fear that is too deeply rooted in the conceits of many who think them envious and of such rancorous and inhumane dispositions that they will one day make an end of their English inmates. The worst indeed may be surmised, but the English hitherto have had little cause to suspect them but rather to be convinced of their trustiness, seeing they have as yet been the disclosers of all such treacheries as have been practised by other Indians. And whereas once there was a proffer of an universal league amongst all the Indians in those parts, to the intent that they might all join in one united force to extirpate the English, our Indians refused the motion, replying they had rather be servants to the English, of whom they were confident to receive no harm and from whom they had received so many favors and assured good testimonies of their love, than equals with them who would cut their throats upon the least offence and make them the shambles of their cruelty. Furthermore, if any roving ships be upon the coasts and chance to harbor either eastward, northward, or southward in any unusual port, they will give us certain intelligence of her burthen and forces, describing their men either by language or features, which is a great privilege and no small advantage. Many ways hath their advice and endeavor been advantageous unto us, they being our first instructors for the planting of their Indian corn, by teaching us to cull out the finest seed, to observe the fittest season, to keep distance for holes and fit measure for hills, to worm it and weed it, to prune it and dress it as occasion shall require.  .  .  .
      Such is the wisdom and policy of these poor men that they will be sure to keep correspondence with our English magistrates, expressing their love in the execution of any service they command them (so far as lies in their power).  .  .  .
      These people be of a kind and affable disposition, yet are they very wary with whom they strike hands in friendship. Nothing is more hateful to them than a churlish disposition, so likewise is dissimulation; he that speaks seldom and opportunely, being as good as his word, is the only man they love. The Spaniard they say is all one aramouse (viz., all one as a dog); the Frenchman hath a good tongue but a false heart; the Englishman all one speak, all one heart, wherefore they more approve of them than of any nation. Garrulity is much condemned of them, for they utter not many words, speak seldom, and then with such gravity as is pleasing to the ear. Such as understand them not desire yet to hear their emphatical expressions and lively action.  .  .  .