Christopher Levett,who was born in York, England, in 1586, landed on the Isles of Shoals in the autumn of 1623. Finding that this was no place for a permanent settlement, he crossed to the mouth of the Piscataqua River, where Robert Gorges, who had recently been appointed governor of the territory granted to the Council for New England, was making his colonial headquarters. Levett had been given the right to settle and hold six thousand acres wherever he might choose to locate within this territory. He selected an island at the mouth of Portland harbour. There he left ten men to maintain his possession while he went back to England for recruits and supplies. To assist in securing these, he wrote an account of the country and of his adventures therein, which he doubtless intended to print as soon as he returned home. A variety of causes hindered the carrying out of his plans, and the book was not published until 1628. The chapters now reprinted are those which contain the account of his experiences in New England. These chapters, as well as the extracts from Purchas and other works not otherwise credited, are taken from the copies of the original editions in the John Carter Brown Library at Providence, Rhode Island.
Christopher Levett,who was born in York, England, in 1586, landed on the Isles of Shoals in the autumn of 1623. Finding that this was no place for a permanent settlement, he crossed to the mouth of the Piscataqua River, where Robert Gorges, who had recently been appointed governor of the territory granted to the Council for New England, was making his colonial headquarters. Levett had been given the right to settle and hold six thousand acres wherever he might choose to locate within this territory. He selected an island at the mouth of Portland harbour. There he left ten men to maintain his possession while he went back to England for recruits and supplies. To assist in securing these, he wrote an account of the country and of his adventures therein, which he doubtless intended to print as soon as he returned home. A variety of causes hindered the carrying out of his plans, and the book was not published until 1628. The chapters now reprinted are those which contain the account of his experiences in New England. These chapters, as well as the extracts from Purchas and other works not otherwise credited, are taken from the copies of the original editions in the John Carter Brown Library at Providence, Rhode Island.