MAYFLOWER
A Story of Courage, Community, and War
Viking Press
C 2006 Nathaniel Philbrick
Massasoit was a local Native American leader. In this scene of the book he is dying. Edward Winslow visits him...
pages 144 145
"Winslow began to examine the interior of the sachem's mouth. it was "exceedingly furred," and his tongue was so swollen that it was little wonder he had been unable to eat anything. After scraping the "Corruption" from his mouth and tongue, Winslow fed him more of the preserves.
"Massasoit may have been suffering from typhus, probably brought to the village by the recently departed Dutch traders. Spread by infected lice, typhus was known as "pestilential fever" in the seventeenth century and was most common in winder and spring. Typhus thrived In the crowded, unsanitary conditions typical of an Indian or, for that matter, English village of the time, and there were also several other Pokanokets (the tribe of Massosoit) suffering from the same disease. According to a modern description of typhus, symptoms include "fever and chills, vomiting, constipation or diarrhea, muscle ache and delirium or stupor. The tongue is first coated with a white fur, which then turns brown. The body develops small red eruptions which may belled." In severe cases, the morality rate can reach 70 percent."
Winslow fed him fruit preserves and this lead to Massasoit's recovery!
