ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses several early episodes in which English explorer took Indians captive as tokens, informants, or potential allies. Squanto and Pocahontas are only the most famous of these. Their behavior, captured in print and widely reproduced in colonial literature, became the basis for ethnological and historical interpretation. A counter-hegemonic history of the Indian Captive and the Captivating Colonist has only begun to be written. The Wampanoag known to his compatriots as Tisquantum was one of the few Indian captives whose allegiance was won through the dubious strategy of abduction. Tisquantum proved more enduringly useful to the English than did Epenow, in part because his interests happened to coincide more closely with those of his captors. Among the few well-documented cases of captivity as a colonial practice are Martin Frobisher's kidnappings of four Inuits from Baffin Island during his search in 1576–1577 for precious metals and a westward passage.
