The Puritan Dilemma

"As the sea-weary company of men and women looked ashore at the straggling collection of huts and hovels and canvas booths that went by the name of Salem, they must have been staggered by the crudity of the life that lay ahead of them. The land was lovely but savage. Only a few hundred acres were cleared: beyond lay the forest, and they had seen for themselves how the huge trees came down to the shore along the coast to the north and east."