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north and south, and ten east and west. The best is one mile long. On the centre square stands a meeting house with a steeple and a bell, and a church with a steeple, bell, clock and organ. It is a beautiful place, and from the water has an appearance not inferior to that of Canterbury. Of six parishes contained in it three are Episcopal. The people are said to be the most polite of any in the colony, owing to the singular moderation of the town in admitting, latterly, Europeans to settle among them. Many persons came also from the islands and southern provinces for the benefit of their health.

"Here was erected the first Episcopal church in Connecticut. A very extraordinary story is told concerning the occasion of it, which I shall give to the reader the particulars of, the people being as sanguine in their belief of it as they are of the ships sailing over New Haven.

"An ancient religious rite called the pow-wow was commonly celebrated by the Indians, and commonly lasted several hours every night for two or three weeks. About 1690 they convened to perform it on Stratford Point, near the town. During the nocturnal ceremony, the English saw, or imagined they saw, devils rise out of the sea, wrapped up in sheets of flame, and flying round the Indian camp, while the Indians were screaming, cutting and prostrating themselves before their fiery gods. In the midst of the tumult, the devils darted in among them, seized several, and mounted into the air. The cries and groans issuing from them quieted the rest. In the morning, the limbs of Indians, all shrivelled, and covered with sulphur, were found in different parts of the town. Astonished and terrified at these spectacles, the people of Stratford began to think the devils would take up their abode among them, and called together all the ministers in the neighbourhood to exorcise and slay them.

"The ministers began, and carried on their warfare with prayers, hymns and objuration; but the pow-wows continued, and the devils would not obey. The inhabitants were about to quit the town when Mr. Nell spoke and said, "I would to God that Mr. Visey,^[1] the Episcopal minister at New York, was here, for he would expel these evil spirits." They laughed at his advice; but on his reminding them of the little maid who directed Naaman to a cure for his leprosy, they voted him their permission to bring Mr. Visey at the next pow-wow. Mr. Visey attended accordingly, and as the pow-wow commenced with bowlings and