Note 91 — A Journey to Pokanoket, the habitation of the great King MASSASOIT; as also our message, the answer and entertainment we had of him.

The derivation of this name is not clear. Six different spellings occur even within this book: Plimoth, and New Plimoth (both on the title page!), Plimouth, Plimmouth, New Plimmouth, and New Plimmouth. It is true that Plymouth was the town from which the settlers had finally set sail from their native country, “... having been kindly entertained and courteously used by divers friends there dwelling.” Furthermore, the land company which granted their patent had once been called the Plymouth Company. But we need evoke neither sentimentalism nor commercial diplomacy on the part of the Pilgrims to account for the name. In fact, this site was called “Plimouth” on the map which they carried on the Mayflower, from Capt. John Smith’s Description of New England (London, 1616); supposedly it was arbitrarily so designated by Prince Charles when Smith showed him a draft of the map.