i,
for their wives, as the Jews d id : ” and apparently in common with the Jews alone, they “ separate
their women, during the time of their monthly sickness, in a little house alone by themselves, four or
five days, and hold it an irreligious thing fof either father, or husband, or any male, to come near
them ; ” for the “ practice they plead nature and tradition.” In accordance with “ the Greeks and
other nations,” they call the seven stars “ mosk or paukunnawaw,” the bear. “ They have many
strange relations of one Wetucks, a man that wrought great miracles amongst them, walking upon
the sea, etc.” The “ southwest, Sowwaniu, is the great subject of their discourse ; from thence their
traditions ; there,” is “ the court of their great god Cawtantowwit; at the southwest, are their forefathers
souls ; ” and there, “ they go themselves, when they die : from the southwest, came their c o r n
and b e a n s , out of the great god Cawtantowwit’s field.” Some connexion is inferred with the Southwest
wind being the “ pleasingest ” and most desired by the natives, “ making fair weather ordinarily.”
They “ are exceedingly delighted with salutations in their own language ; ” are “ remarkably free and
courteous to invite all strangers into their houses ; ” and he “ acknowledged amongst them an heart
sensible of kindnesses,” having “ reaped kindness again from many, seven years after, when ” he
himself “ had forgotten.” Their provision for a journey of three or fouf days, is “ nokehick” parched
meal: of their other dishes, parched corn, “ msickquatash ” (succotash) boiled corn whole, “ manu-
squussedash ” beans, and “ nawsaump ” (samp) a kind of meal pottage unparched, are mentioned.
“ They generally all take t o b a c c o ; " one of the causes alleged being “ against the rheum, which causeth
the t o o t h - a k e . " Howling “ and shouting is their alarm, they having no drums nor trumpets.” When
“ they have had a bad dream, which they conceive to be a threatening from God, they fall to prayer
at all times of the night, especially early before day.” Having “ no letters nor arts, it is admirable
how quick they are in casting up great numbers, with the help of grains of corn, instead of Europe’s
pens or counters : ” the names of numbers up to “ nquitteraittannug ” thousand, are g iv en ; and even
by combination, up to one hundred thousand. “ They hold the band of brother-hood so dear, that
when one had committed a murder and fled, they executed his brother; and it is common for a brother
to pay the debt of a brother deceased ; ” their “ virgins are distinguished by a bashful falling down of
the hair over their eyes : there are no beggars among them, nor fatherless children unprovided for :
their affections, e.specially to their children, are very strong; ” and this, “ together with want of learning,
makes their children saucy, bold, and undutiful. ‘ Nickquenum ’ I am going home, is a solemn
Vvord amongst them ; and no man will offer any hinderance to him, who after some absence, is going
to visit his family, and useth this word : ” two “ families will live comfortably and lovingly in a little
round house, of some fourteen or sixteen feet over, and so more ancl more families in proportion : ”
they “ are as full of business, and as impatient of hinderance, in their kind, as any merchant in
Europe: ” they “ have amongst them natural fools, either so born, or accidentally deprived of reason.”
They “ are much delighted after battle, to hangup the hands and heads of their enemies.” Their
“ desire of, and delight in news, is great as the Athenians ; ” and “ upon any tidings,” I have “ seen
near a thousand in a round,” and many “ will deliver themselves ” with “ very emphatical speech and
great action, commonly an hour, and sometimes two hours together: ” in “ time of war, he that is a
messenger runs swiftly, and at every town the messenger comes, a fresh messenger is s e n t : ” their
word for letter is from “ wussuckwhommin ” to paint, “ for having no letters, their painting comes the
nearest.” They “ have thirteen months, according to the several moons; and they give to each of
them significant names.” It “ is admirable to see, what paths their naked hardened feet have made in
the wilderness, in most stony and rocky places : ” I have “ known many of them run between fourscore
or an hundred miles in a summer’s day, and back within two days : ” they “ are joyful in meeting
of any in travel, and will s t r i k e f i r e either with stones or sticks, to take tobacco, and discourse a
little together; ” I have travelled “ many a hundred miles among them, without need of .stick or staff,
for any appearance of danger amongst them ; yet it is a rule amongst them, that it is not good for a
man to travel without a weapon, nor alone : ” if justice be refused in case of robbery between persons
o f different states, “ they grant a kind of letter of mart to take satisfaction themselves; yet they are
careful not to exceed in taking from others, beyond the proportion of their own loss : I could never
hear that murders or robberies are comparably so frequent, as in parts of Europe, amongst the English,
French, etc.” Some “ of them account seven winds; some, eight or nine.” A certain small
bird is called “ sachim,” from its “ courage and command over greater birds ” (the k i n g - b i r d , Musci-
capa tyrannus) : a hawk “ wushowunan ” is kept “ tame about their houses, lo keep the little birds
from their corn” (compare origin of f a l c o n r y ) . They “ are very exact and punctual in the bounds of
their lands, belonging to this or that ” people, “ even to a river, brook, etc. ; and I have known them
make bargain and sale among themselves for a small piece or quantity of ground : ” when “ a field is
to be broken up,” all “ the neighbours, men and women, forty, fifty, a hundred, etc. join, and come in
to help freely; with friendly joining they break up their fields, build their forts, hunt the woods, stop
and kill fish in the r iv e r s : ” the “ women to this day, notwithstanding our hoes, do use their natural
hoes of shells and wood.” The “ variety of their dialects and proper speech, within thirty or forty
955
miles of each other, is very great, as appears in ” the word for d o g : “ anum” in the Cowweset dialect,
ayim^ m the Narroganset, “ arum ” in the Quunnipieuck, and “ alum ” in the Neepmuck ; “ moos-
soog IS thename of the “ great ox, or rather red d e e r ” (m o o s e ) . “ Paumpagussit ” is the “ name
winch they give that deity or god-head, which they conceive to be in the sea: ” a sail is called “ sepa-
kehig, and “ their own reason hath taught them to pull off a coat or two, and set it up on a small
pole, with 0 i c h they will sail before the wind ten or twenty miles ; ” some of their canoes will carry
twenty, thirty, forty men ; ” and “ I have known thirty or forty of tlieir canoes filled with men, and
near as many more of their enemies, in a sea fight.” I have heard a native lamenting the loss of a
rtild, cry out, ‘ O God, thou hast taken away my child ! thou art angry with me ; O turn thine anger
from me, and spare the rest of my children; ’ if they receive any good in hunting, fishing, harvest, etc.,
they acknowledge God in i t ; yea, if it be but an ordinary accident, a fall, etc., they will say, God was
angry and did it: bu t” they “ branch their godhead into many gods,” and “ have given me the names
of thirty-seven, all which in their solemn worships they invocate,” as the great southwest god Cau-
tantowwit, the eastern god, the western god, the northern god, the southern god, the house god, the
woman s god, the children’s god “ Muckquacliuckquand ; ” the last-named, believed by a dying native
to have appeared to him “ many years before, and bid him, when he was in distress, call upon him: ”
they also worship created things, in which “ they conceive doth rest some deity,” as the sun god. the
moon god, the sea god, the r t r e g o d ; ‘ Can it, say they, be but this fire must be a god, or divine
power, that out of a stone will arise in a spark, and when a poor naked Indian is ready to starve with
cold in the house, and especially in the woods, often saves his life, doth dress all our food for us, and
it It be angry, will burn the house about us, yea if a spark fall into the dry wood, burns up the country
: besMes Uiere is a general custom amongst them, at the apprehension of any excellency in men,
vyomen, birds, beasts, etc., to cry out ‘ manittoo,’ that is, it is a g o d ; ” and further, “ they conceive
that there are many gods, or divine powers, within the body of a man, in his pulse, his heart, his
lungs, etc. : ” in sickness, the “ powwaw” or priest “ comes close to the sick person, and performs
many strange actions about him, and threatens and conjures out the sickness : ” they “ have an exact
form of king, priest, and prophet; ” their “ priests perform and manage their worship ; their wise and
old men, of which number the priests are also, make solemn speeches and orations, or lectures to
them concerning religion, peace, or war, and all things : ” besides the public feasts or dances, iidi-
viduals groe private ones, expending “ sometimes beyond their estate : ” the word for soul “ cowwe-
wonck ” IS “ derived from ‘ cowwene ’ to sleep, because, say they, it works and operates, when the
body sleeps ; ‘ michachunck ’ the soul, in a higher notion, which is of affinity with a word .si»nifyin» a
looking glass or clear resemblance.” Besides “ their general subjection to the highest sachims,"to
whom they carry presents, they have also particular protectors, under-sachims, to whom they also
carry presents, and upon any injury received, and complaint made, these protectors will reven»e i t :
the sachims, although they have an absolute monarchy over the people, yet they will not conclude of
ought that concerns all, either laws, or subsidies, or wars, unto which the people are adverse and by
p n t le persuasion cannot be brought: ” the “ most usual custom with them in executing punishments
I S for the sachim either to beat, or whip, or put to death vvith his own hand; to which the commor!
quietly submit.” Marriage “ they solemnize by consent of parents and publick approbation
publickly; the “ number of wives is not stinted ; yet the chief nation in the country, the Narro»an!
sets, generally have but one wife ; ” the “ men put away frequently for other occasions beside adultery
; yet I know many couples, that have lived twenty, thirty, forty years togetlier ” They have
m o n e y : t h o white cailed “ wompain,” made “ of the stem or stock of the periwinkle, when all the
shell is broken off ( D e n t a l i u m ? ) ; and the black, called “ suckauhock,” made of the shell of the
‘ poquauhock ” ( V e n u s m e r c e n a r i a ) ; and for this money, the natives “ bring down all their sorts of
furs, which they take in the country: ” they have great difference in their money; “ some that will
not pass without allowance ; and some again, made of a counterfeit sh e ll; and their very black, counterfeited
by a stone and other materials; yet I never saw any of them much de c eiv ed ” Of their
occupations, some “ follow only making bows; some, arrows; some, dishes; and the women make
all their earthen vessels ; some follow fishing; some, hunting; most on the sea side make money
and store up shells in summer against winter,” and before obtaining awl-blades, “ they made shift t(i
bore their shell money with stone: they also felled their trees with stone set in a wooden s ta ff”
They have games, “ private and publick: ” one, “ like unto the English cards, yet instead of cards they
+ a y with strong rushes ; secondly, they have a kind of dice, which are plumstones painted, wliicii
they cast m a tray ; “ ntakesemin, I am telling or counting, for their play is a king of arithmetick • ”
their £ iu b lick games are solemnized with the meeting of hundreds, sometimes thousands:” the
chief gamesters amongst them much desire to make their gods side with them in their games - therefore
I have seen them keep ” a kind of stone “ which is like unto a crystal, which they di» out of the
pound, under some tree thundersmitten, and from this stone they have an opinion of success • ”
besides gambling-houses, “ puttuckquapuonck, a playing arbour.” on “ which they hang great store of
' l l
■\ ' : to hi to
: ) » ' t o "
■1,1 ra