The colonists may have headed north toward the Chesapeake Bay area and there established a settlement inland of the Bay. The native Americans of this area, the Chesapeakes, were a small group of no more than 1,000 people. If assimilation occurred, the settlers would have adopted Indian ways of living to a considerable extent, perhaps transforming their village into an Indian-style one or even amalgamating with Skicoac or another community. With the opportunities for hunting, fishing, and agriculture that the area afforded, such a village, no doubt separately organized at first, could enjoy a good living, given the absence of war, internal dissension, and epidemic disease, none of which can be eliminated.
The phrase "amalgamating with" could best be replaced by which of the following words?
