They went on by further intelligent signs to supply information.

For instance, they placed six pebbles at equal distances to intimate that Massachusetts Bay was occupied by six tribes and governed by as many chiefs.

By drawings of growing maize and other plants they intimated that all these people lived by agriculture.
[Footnote 13: The pigeons referred to by Champlain were probably the Passenger pigeon (_Ectopistes_) which at one time was extraordinarily abundant in parts of North America, though it has now been nearly killed out by man.

It would arrive in flocks of millions on its migratory journeys in search of food.] Champlain thought Massachusetts (in his first voyage) a most attractive region in the summer, what with the blue water of the enclosed arms of the sea, the lofty forest trees, and the fields of Indian corn and other crops.
When these French explorers reached the harbour of Boston, the islands and mainland were swarming with the native population.

The Amerindians were intensely interested in the arrival of the first sailing vessel they had ever seen.