p.40 CHAPTER III.
THE INDIANS OF MAINE.
This chapter aims to give the general reader the information
about the tribes, language, traditions, government and customs
of the Maine Indians, not easily accessible to him in books.
It does not rehearse the details of border warfare and treaties,
which may be found in all standard works.
When their resemblances are emphasized, rather than their diff-
ences, it is easy to understand the ethnological place of the
New England Indians. Within historic times they have all been
of the great Algonquin stock, whose nations, broken only by the
great "islands" of the Sioux and the Iroquois, extended from
the Blackfeet of the Rockies to the Boethuks of Newfoundland,
from Hudson Bay to the Carolinas. All spoke languages essent-
ially similar. Many of the words in Longfellow's "Hiawatha"
are used by Maine Indians today, and Maqua, the word by which
Cooper's Mohicans always called the Iroquois, is the word the
Pebobscot still uses when speaking of his once dreaded foe.
Of the seven principal tribes of New England, three were crush-
ed in open conflict with the English - the Pequots, the Narra-
gansetts and the Wampanoags (including the Pokanokets of Cape
Cod), and three others, - the Massachusetts Bay Indians, the
Quinnipiaks of New Haven and the Mohegans of the Sound - either
drifted westward or wore away insensibly. King Philip's War in
1675, ended all acute dangers from the Indians of southern New
England. But with the seventh division, the Eastern Indians,
or Abenakis, it was only the beginning of almost a century of
the bloodiest warfare in Indian history.
From Deerfield to Haverhill, from Dunstable to Dover, from Ber-
wick to Penobscot was the frontier of all frontiers, held only
by incomparable English steadfastness.
The word Abenaki, (from waban, dawn and aki, land) happily
rendered by Joseph Necolar as "the dawnlanders," is the pre-
cise equivalent of "Eastern Indians," Treaties1 show that
these included all from the upper Connecticut River to the
Micmacs of Nova Scotia. Though many writers limit the Abenakis
to the typical tribes of the central rivers of Maine, Lescarbot,
in 1611, included the Micmacs, and Dr. William Douglass, in 1755,
included the Masiassuks of Lake Champlain. According to the
treaties, the Abenakis,2 from west to east were: first, the
Penacooks of New Hampshire, always friendly or neutral; second,
the Saco Indians (called Sokokis by the French, Sokwakiaks by the
Indians) nearly
Footnotes. 1. For example, that of Aug. 11, 1693, at Pemequid,
and that of Jan 7, 1698-9, at Casco Bay, ratified by the Merri-
mack River Indians, though not actually signed by them.
2. Written also Abenaqui, Abnaki, Wabanaki and Wapanki.
(pp.41, 42, 43 - illustrations)
p.44 MAINE.
related to the Pennacooks, but warlike, whose fighting sub-
tribe, the Pigwackets or Pequakets, was broken by their defeat
at Fryeburg, 1725; third, the Androscoggins or Anasagunticooks
of whom the Pejepscots at Brunswick were a sub-tribe; fourth,
the Kennebec Indians, including the Norridgwocks of the upper,
the Canibas, Kenebis or Kennebecs proper, of the middle, and
the Sheepscots of the mouth of the Kennebec River; fifth, the
Wawenocks of Knox and Lincoln Counties, centering upon George's
River; sixth, the Penobscots and the Pentagoets; seventh, th
Passamaquoddies of the Machias and St. Croix Rivers; eighth,
the St. John River Indians.
The early records show a bewildering variety, which later writers
have copied have copied only too faithfully. When John could be
spelled "Goen" and the Pilgrim Winslow could be transformed into
"Monsieur Huisland" (Parkman), and the signature of Joseph Orono
could become "J.Horns" (Baxter Manuscripts, XX:81) what happen-
ed to the aboriginal names, pulled and hauled between French and
English, distances the imagination. It is always correct to desig-
nate any tribe by the name of the river lying nearest to it.
INSERT.
THE LOVELY RIVERS AND LAKES OF MAINE.
The Lovely Rivers And Lakes Of Maine
by George B.Wallis
O, The lovely rivers and Lakes of Maine!
I am charmed with their names, as my song will explain;
Aboriginal muses inspire my strain,
While I sing the bright rivers and lakes of Maine-
From Cupsuptic to Cheputmatticook
From Sagadahock to Pohenegamook-
'gamook, 'gamook, Pohenegamook,
From Sagadahock to Pohenegamook.
For light serenading the "Blue Moselle",
"Bonnie Doon" and "Sweet Avon" may do very well;
But the rivers of Maine, in their wild solitudes,
Bring a thunderous sound from the depth of the woods:
The Aroostook and Chimmenticook,
The Chimpanaoc and Chinquassabamtook-
'bamtook, 'bamtook, Chinquassabamtook,
The Chimpassoc and Chinquassabamtook,
Behold how they sparkle and flash in the sun!
The Mattewamkeag and the Mussungun;
The kingly Penobscot, the wild Woolastook,
Kennebec, Kennebago and Sebasticook;
The pretty Presumpscut and gay Tulanbic;
The Ess'quilsagook and little Schoodic-
Schoodic, Schoodic; The little Schoodic;
The Ess'quilsagook and little Schoodic.
Yes, Yes, I prefer the bright rivers of Maine,
To the Rhine or the Rhone or the Saone or the Seine;
These may do for the Cockney, but give me some nook,
On the Ammonoosuc or the Wytopadiook.
On the Umsaskis or the Ripogenis,
The Ripogenis or the Piscataquis-
'aguis, 'aguis,
The Piscataguis. "Away down South," the Cherokee
Has named his river the Tennessee,
The Chattahoochee and the Ocmulgee,
The Congaree and the Ohoopee;
But what are they, or the Frenchy Detroit,
To the Passadumkeag or the Wassatoquoit-
'toquoit, 'toquoit, The Wassatoquoit,
To the Passadumkeag or the Wassatoquoit-
Then turn to the beautiful lakes of Maine
To the Sage of Auburn be given the strain,
The statesman whose genius and bright fancy, makes
The earth's highest glories to shine in its lakes;
What lakes out of Maine can we place in the book
With the Matagomon and the Pangokomook
''ommok, 'ommok, The Pangokomook,
With the Matagomon and the Pangokomook?
Lake Leman, or Como, what care I for them,
When Maine has the Moosehead and Pangokwahem,
And, sweet as the dews in the violet's kiss,
Wallahgosqueqamook and Telesimis;
And when I can share in the fisherman's bunk
On the Moosetuckmaguntic or Mol'tunkamunk?
And Maine has the Eagle Lakes, Cheppawagan,
And the little Sepic and the little Scapan,
The spreading Sebago, the Congomgomoc,
The Milliemet and Motesoinloc,
Caribou and the fair Anmonjenegamook,
Oquassaac and rare Wetokenebacook-
'acook, 'accook
Oquassac and rare Wetokenebacook.
And there are the Pokeshine and Patquongomis;
And there is the pretty Coscomgonnosis,
The Pemadumook and the old Chesuncook,
Sepois and Mooseleuk; and take care not to miss
The Umbazookskus or the Sysladobsis.
'dobsis, 'dobsis, The Sysladobsis.
O, Give me the rivers and lakes of Maine
In her mountains or forests or fields of grain,
In the depth of the shade or the blaze of the sun,
The lakes of Schoodic and the Basconegun,
And the dear Waubasoos and the clear Aquessuc,
The Cosbosecontic and Millenkikuk-
'kikuk, 'kikuk, The Millenkikuk,
The Cosbosecontic and Millenkikuk!
Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth
Contrary to the popular opinion that there were sharp differ-
ences between these Indian tribes, making reference to them
a matter of nice distinctions, within historic times, the
Maine Indians have moved about as freely as the whites of one
county intermingle with those of another.
They intermarried, visited, even signed treaties as delegates
from tribes not their own, and the differences in their dialects
were less than those of the English counties of today. Although
of all the tribes the most stable tribe, the Penobscots within
the last century have included, but not always for life, indivi-
duals from Tobique, Lewey's Island, the Saguenay River and Vielle
Lorette, some Micmacs, many Passamaquodies, some from the St.
Francis tribe near Quebec, many descended from the Norridgewocks
and even some of their inveterate foes, the Mohawks. They in turn
have wandered far, living for years in distant places. That some-
thing similar occured in ancient days, we shall discover when we
try to ascertain the origin of the great chief, Madockawando.
The language of the Abenakis falls into three natural dialects.
The New Hampshire and Saco Indians used one dialect, now extinct.
The Androscoggin, Kennebec and Penobscot tribes spoke the true
Abenaki of the French, now represented by the modernized "Penob-
scot Indian."
The St. John's and Passamaquoddy Indians speak a third dialect,
called Maliseet, (Mareschite, Amalcite), which varies in pro-
nuniations, terminations and in many important words. To the
Abenakis of Maine, as a linguistic group, must be added two
tribes of Canada Indians, the Walinonoakes of the mission Becan-
court, and the Alsigunticooks (Ercegunticooks) or Arousagunti-
cooks of the English writers) or St. Francis Indians. These
were Maine Indians - mingled Penobscot, Norridwocks,
p.45 THE INDIANS OF MAINE
Pigwackets and Ossipee Indians, broken by the combined English
and Mohawk wars and removed by the French to a safer location.*
The first of these emigrations began, according to the Abbe'
Maurault,* about 1680, as the result of the Mohawk, or Iroq-
uois, invasions. The second great emigration was the result
of the successful English raids of 1724 and 1725. The move-
ment was not complete until a quarter of a century later.
These historic emigrations to the northwest must be disting-
uished from the prehistoric migrations from the westward by
which the Abanakis arrived in Maine.* Their own traditions
recognize such a movement. Long ago, Chief Francis of the
Penobscots told Judge Williamson that all the Maine Indians
"between the Saco and the River St. John, both inclusive,
were brothers; that each tribe was younger as we passed
eastward." Joseph Necolar* says that K'chi-sko-tek, the
Great Council Fire at Caughnawaga, "the people divided into
the classes, the father, the eldest son and the youngest son.
'Odur-wur' was the father, 'Wur-bar-Nar-ki-dawn-lander, the
eldest son and 'Mik-Mur - the last born', was the youngest
son. And after the division was made the oldest Mik-Mur
present was undressed and put into T'ki-nur-gann, cradle,
where he was kept tied and fed all day like a little baby,
and every time the delegation met at the grand council fire
this performance was repeated, showing that (since) the Mik-
Mur was once selected as the youngest of all, he must always
be treated like a little baby." Mikmur is clearly Mickmuc, or
Micmac, a tribe with Abenaki traditions but widely aberrant
in language and habits. This Indian tradition recognizes them
as comparatively new to their present home.
What this eastward movement was the archaeologist and the
linguist must determine; but the Abenaki tongue bears witness
in a curious way to the fact that when the English settlers
first came in numbers, the Maine Indians were massed near to
Massachusetts Bay. Remembering what wanderers they were, how
King Philip's cousin signs Maine deeds, how Samo-
Footnotes. "History of Maine," (1795); Hutchinson, "History
of Massachusetts Bay Colony," (1767); Douglass, Summary Histor-
ical and Political, etc., (1755).
'L'histoire des Abenakis (Montreal, 1865).
*Archaeology lies outside the province of this chapter, but
nowhere are there more interesting evidences of earlier occu-
pation of the land than in Maine. Its shores are dotted with
shell-heaps left by departed tribes, some four hundred having
been mapped out years ago by Professor Arlo Bates. Those at
Damariscotta were the largest known, the work of centuries, so
old that since last used, large oak trees had grown on them.
This was neutral ground and tribal traditions say that even
from Massachusetts the tribes came thither to gather the
oysters, clams and acorns.
THE RED PAINT PEOPLE.
In 1892, Mr. C. C. willoughby discovered evidences of a still
earlier occupation, which Professor Warren Moorehead in 1912
and since, has studied critically. From the abundance of red
ochre found in the burial places, he has named these "the
Red-paint People." Their remains are found principally on the
lower Penobscot River and down the east coast of that bay and
shoreward easterly.
Mr. Walter L. Smith, of Brewer, has made important local studies,
and in 1877, Mr. Manly Hardy found on Great Deer Island the first
authentic evidence of cannibalism in New England, so often
mentioned by the early voyagers
*The Life and Traditons of the Red Man (Bangor, 1893), p.
138.3
p.46 HISTORY OF MAINE.
THE FIRST LAND DEED EVER DRAWN IN MAINE.
set, who greeted the Pilgrims at Plymouth with "Much welcome,
Englishmen," was the same John Summerset who sold the land be-
tween Pemeguid and Round Pond, by the first land deed ever
drawn in Maine, it is not necessary to imagine any complete or
long withdrawal from their own territory. But the language in-
dicates that at just the period when it had to take on many
new words they were out of touch with the French and were in-
timate with English domestic life. The Abenaki tongue is full
of English words. Among the Penobscots, the Maliseets and the
St. Francis Indians, alike, the names of all domestic animals
except the dog, of all imported articles of food, save a few
trifles, of many introduced conveniences, and other important
words - are English. Hahas, knose (or Kooz) and piks repre-
sented not unfairly the early English settlers' pronunciat-
tion of "horse," "cow" and "pigs." Pussoo' the wild cat, if
not "cat" is "puss" while besahwis, Penobscot for the domest-
ic cat (pussoois in Maliseet) is only "little pussy." Cats
were highly prized by the Indians and this term of endearment
would seem to have been learned from English children about
the fireside. In all three of these widely separated tribes,
cat, horse, ox, cow, pig, sheep, vinegar, salt, molasses,
sugar, cheese, potatoes, turnips, cabbages, brandy, cider,
money, clock, steel-trap, with such later words as tea,
coffee, cars, steamboats, etc., are but disguised English
words. Yet "cows' wigwam" for stable, "big cows' wigwam"
for barn, "cow's meat" for beef, "little cow's meat" for veal
and many others, show how they avoided a new word when they
could devise a substitute. With the St. Francis and Maliseet
tribes, but not with the Penobscots at present, all Americans
are still Pastoniak, "Boston folk," and the St. Francis Indians
still call our President "the big Boston Chief," - Pastoni-
k'chi-sogmo. This is evidence that their first intimate re-
lations with the whites were with the English of Massachusetts
Bay.
The date is shown almost to the year by two other words. An
Oldtown Indian, asked recently what was their word for "King,"
responded "kinzhamus Olamon," - that is, King James the First!
Both the other tribes have the same word. A queen today is
"King-James-his squaw," and Queen Victoria's birthday was
known among the St. Francis, as "King James-his squaw-her day."
A king at cards, however is sogmo, that is, chief. King James
died in 1625, and this word for "king" could not have been
introduced after that date.
On the other hand, the Penobscot word kuose, and the Maliseet
varient kaoz (cow), could have been adopted only after the
Indians themselves had seen the strange creature.
John Winslow intoduced the first English cattle in 1624.
Therefore, both of these words must have been acquired, the one
not earlier, the other not later than dates a year apart. It is
more than a matter of curiousity that while the Penobscot has
called a cow, "a cow" for almost three centuries, and the
Micmac still speaks of her by his primitive descriptive word,
"wenjooteam" "the Frenchman's moose."
p.47 HISTORY OF MAINE.
THE INDIANS OF MAINE.
The indelible impress of the language of their bitter enemy
upon the Abenaki tongue is hardly more remarkable than the
failure of the French language, which most of them have
spoken far better than they could speak English, to make any
impression.
King James I, is still remembered; none of the Louis of France
have left a trace. Very few words, and those mostly unimport-
ant, have come from the French; such as, lago (ragout), lasob
(la soupe), labiel (la biere) and lamiscad (la mouscade -
nutmeg). Patlios - prayers, is the Latin for pater nosters,
the paters being the large beads of the rosary. A priest is a
"prayer man," a nun is a "prayer lady," but the French tongue
has not given them even the name for Sunday; it is not le
Dimanche, but Sanda, or Sunte - English, again.
The conclusion is irresistible that for some decades after the
English came the Maine Indians hovered near their settlements.
This brings up the discussion of some tribal names purposely
passed by - such as Almouchiquois, Etchemin, Tarratine; to
which should be added Penobscot and Pentagoet.
Judge Williamson said of the Abenakis and the Etchemins, that
"the two peoples have been by Historians much confounded."
That verdict is too mild. Everybody else has been confounded
by the historians and the "two peoples" have been left just
where they were, waiting to be untangled. The difficulties
of understanding the matter are few, if all the later histor-
ians are set aside and the early records are studied without
prejudice.
All these people lived either within the present Hancock and
Washington counties (Maine) or upon territory adjacent. And
during most of the period since the English came to Massa-
chusetts, the greater part of this region had had few Indian
inhabitants or none.
No Indian treaties show signers from the Union, Narraguagus
and Machias Rivers and in 1763, Governor Bernard wrote to the
Passamaquoddies that "the lands on the East Side of the Peno-
scot River and about Mount Desert...have not been inhabited by
Indians for many years past." Yet the archaeological remains
and the testimony of the early voyagers point to its once be-
ing well peopled.
ALMOUCHIQUOIS.
The name Almouchiquois was a nickname given to these people
by the Micmacs. Father Maurault's derivation from alemos -
dog, with the meaning, "people of the little dogs" is clearly
erroneous. There never could have been any little dogs there.
Much more likely is it to be connected with Oulamon, red paint,
and to refer to the used of red ochre by the inhabitants of
this section. But the people's name for themselves was
Etchemins, or Etechemins. It is essentially the same word as
o-ski-tchin, or skejim, (meaning "we," "the people") which the
Passamaquoddies and other Maliseets use today in speaking of
themselves. Champlain, in 1604, called the St. Croix the
"Riviere des Etchemins." The Etchemins, or Almouchiquois were
the ancestors of the present Passamaquoddies.
It is true that most authors declare this a tribe of very
recent origin.
p.48 HISTORY OF MAINE.
It was no doubt much augmented then but its antiquity is proved
by the Jesuit Relation of 1677, in which Pessemonquote, -
(Passamaquoddy) is mentioned as a river on which the Indians
were settled. In 1694, Villebon wrote that the Maliseets live
on the St. John and along the sea-shore, occupying "Pesmon-
quadis, Majais (Machias), les Monts Deserts and Penagoet",
(Castine).* In addition to this, a letter dated February
10, 1638* (old style) from Louis XIII, to the Sieur D'Aunay
de Chantsay, "commandant of the forts of La Hever, Port Royal,
Pentagoet and the coasts of the Etchemins," establishing the
boundary between D'Aulnay and De la Tour, shows clearly that
the Etchemins occupied not only the St. Croix vallye, but the
whole southeastern coast of Maine, including the eastern coast
of Penobscot Bay. After this the identity of the Etchemins with
the modern Maliseets and the antiquity of the Passamaquoddy tribe
can hardly be denied.
But a new problem comes up as to the identity of the Indians
among whom the Baron St. Castin lived so many years. Villebon,
the governor of the province, called them Maliseets. They were
a considerable tribe, as is shown in the census** taken Novemb-
er, 1780, by Father de la Chasse. He enumerates twenty-six long
houses, containing 388 men, women and children, including 126
men and boys able to bear arms.
The French "General Memoirs" of 1686,* says "At the river of
Pentagouet is the Sieur de Castin, who trades with the savages
and with the English. It is a very lovely country, full of
harbors, with three good rivers, and there are two very con-
siderable nations in the region which recognize France, and
are enemies of the English." The two nations are clearly the
Etchemins and the ancestors of the present Penobscot indians.
In all likelihood, Villebon was correct in calling the Castine
Indians - "Etchemins" (that is, "Quoddies"), but considering
their numbers and isolation for a long time, it is safe to
recognize them as Pentagoets.
They occupied the region from Castine to Naskeag Point, and
perhaps beyond and deserve a sub-tribal status by virtue of
their location.
There remain the Tarratines. This word has been much affected
by late writers as a superior name for the Penobscot Indians,
but like most affectations, it is false.
The modern Penobscots know no such word and can assign no
meaning to it. The Tarratines, or more correctly, the
Tarentines, were Micmacs, and the name is conjectured by
Professor William F. Ganong* to mean the "traders," being a
nickname applied to the Micmacs by the New England Indians.
The first mention made of them is in the account of the Saga-
dahoc colony, in 1607, whose records say that when
Footnotes. Thwaite's edition, Vol LX: 262-263.
Murdoch, Nova Scotia, Vol. I, p. 214.
Misprinted in Baxter Manuscripts, IV: 142, as 1658, or long
after the death of King Louis XIII.
Now in the Edward E. Ayer Collection, in the Newberry Library,
Chicago. Quoted in Baxter Manuscripts, IV, 24. In a letter to
writer.
p.49 HISTORY OF MAINE.
THE INDIANS OF MAINE.
off Cape La Have, Nova Scotia, they saw Indians. "We take these
people to be the Tarentyns." In 1614, Captain John Smith inter-
viewed the natives of Camden, Maine, who told him that "on the
east of it (Penobscot Bay) are the Tarrantines, their moral
enemies, where the French inhabit, as they report, that live
with those people as one Nation or family." This clearly places
the home of the Tarrantines at that time as not far from Port
Royal, Nova Scotia. Further negative evidence is the statement
of Governor Bradford regarding the Massachusetts Bay Indians in
1620."* He says, "The people were much affraid of the Tarentins,
a people to the Eastward which used to come in harvest time and
take away their corn & many times kill their persons." But the
Penobscots raised their own corn and did not need to steal it.
And at this very time, the Penobscots were putting King James
the First, into their language forever and therefore were
friendly with the residents of Massachusetts Bay. Moreover,
no one ever gave the Penobscot Indians so black a name as the
one history has bestowed upon the Tarentines. "A barbarous
and cruell people called the Tarratines." writes Johnson, in
his "Wonderworking Providence,"* reporting what the Bay Indians
were saying in 1631, "who said they would eat such men as they
caught alive, tying them to a tree, and gnawing their flesh
piece-meal off their bones, as also that they were a strong and
numerous people, and are now coming, which made them flee to
the English.
Thus is explained how English words became fixed in the
Abanaki dialects. Further, in upwards of forty thousand pages
of treaties, deeds, official correspondence and similar contem-
poray material the word "Tarratine" has been found but once,
and that in the forged deed dated 1629, purporting to have been
given by the Indians of New Hampshire to Reverend John Wheel-
wright of Exeter. It speaks of the protection afforded by the
English against the Tarratines. The clumsy and unlegal way in
which this reference is dragged in to bolster up a forged date
breeds a strong suspicion that between 1629, the purported date,
and 1662, or thereabout, the real date of drawing up the deed,
the Tarratines or Tarentines, had ceased to be a menace.
The exact story is recorded in an old contemporary French
source. Membertou was the great sagamore of the Micmacs, or
Souriquois, and Bessabez, or Bashabes (usually styled by
English writers as "the Bashaba," as if his name were a title.)
was the great chieftain of the Abenakis, then including the
Armouchiquois. This is the same chief who in 1604 (not 1605)
met Champlain upon the site of Bangor.
At that time the Abenakis were supreme and Bashabas was the
greatest Chief they ever had. But in
Footnotes. In his History of Plimouth Plantation," (commonly
called "The log of the Mayflower"), Boston, 1901, p. 126.
Edition, Scribners Sons, New York, 1910, p.78. LaDefaite des
sauages Armouchiquois par le Sagamo Merberou & ses alliez
sauuages en la Nouvelle France, au mois de Jullet dernier, 1607,
det. Paris, 1609. ME - 4.
p.50 MAINE - A HISTORY BY LOUIS CLINTON HATCH - MAINE
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
But in the fall of 1606, some of the Abenakis plundered and
killed Panoniac, a Micmac chief. Then Membertou, the Micmac,
gathering to his own men the Indians of Gaspe and the Etchemins
of southeastern Maine, made war upon Bashabes in July, 1607 and
defeated him. They did not kill him, for that same fall Popham's
colony report him as alive.
The war continued for some years, the Tarentines gaining. The
Camden natives told Captain John Smith that Mount Battie was
"as a fortress to them" and the Megunticook range, a barrier
against the Tarentines; hence they seem to have occupied
temporarily the Etchemins' country and perhaps to have broken
into the region across Penobscot Bay. Emboldened by their
successes, they invaded Massachusetts Bay, as Winthrop,
Bradford and Johnson testify; but the timely coming of the
English prevented a permanent conquest.
p.49 HISTORY OF MAINE.
THE INDIANS OF MAINE.
off Cape La Have, Nova Scotia, they saw Indians. "We take these
people to be the Tarentyns." In 1614, Captain John Smith inter-
viewed the natives of Camden, Maine, who told him that "on the
east of it (Penobscot Bay) are the Tarrantines, their moral
enemies, where the French inhabit, as they report, that live
with those people as one Nation or family." This clearly places
the home of the Tarrantines at that time as not far from Port
Royal, Nova Scotia. Further negative evidence is the statement
of Governor Bradford regarding the Massachusetts Bay Indians in
1620."* He says, "The people were much affraid of the Tarentins,
a people to the Eastward which used to come in harvest time and
take away their corn & many times kill their persons." But the
Penobscots raised their own corn and did not need to steal it.
And at this very time, the Penobscots were putting King James
the First, into their language forever and therefore were
friendly with the residents of Massachusetts Bay. Moreover,
no one ever gave the Penobscot Indians so black a name as the
one history has bestowed upon the Tarentines. "A barbarous
and cruell people called the Tarratines." writes Johnson, in
his "Wonderworking Providence,"* reporting what the Bay Indians
were saying in 1631, "who said they would eat such men as they
caught alive, tying them to a tree, and gnawing their flesh
piece-meal off their bones, as also that they were a strong and
numerous people, and are now coming, which made them flee to
the English.
Thus is explained how English words became fixed in the
Abanaki dialects. Further, in upwards of forty thousand pages
of treaties, deeds, official correspondence and similar contem-
poray material the word "Tarratine" has been found but once,
and that in the forged deed dated 1629, purporting to have been
given by the Indians of New Hampshire to Reverend John Wheel-
wright of Exeter. It speaks of the protection afforded by the
English against the Tarratines. The clumsy and unlegal way in
which this reference is dragged in to bolster up a forged date
breeds a strong suspicion that between 1629, the purported date,
and 1662, or thereabout, the real date of drawing up the deed,
the Tarratines or Tarentines, had ceased to be a menace.
The exact story is recorded in an old contemporary French
source. Membertou was the great sagamore of the Micmacs, or
Souriquois, and Bessabez, or Bashabes (usually styled by
English writers as "the Bashaba," as if his name were a title.)
was the great chieftain of the Abenakis, then including the
Armouchiquois. This is the same chief who in 1604 (not 1605)
met Champlain upon the site of Bangor.
At that time the Abenakis were supreme and Bashabas was the
greatest Chief they ever had. But in
Footnotes. In his History of Plimouth Plantation," (commonly
called "The log of the Mayflower"), Boston, 1901, p. 126.
Edition, Scribners Sons, New York, 1910, p.78. LaDefaite des
sauages Armouchiquois par le Sagamo Merberou & ses alliez
sauuages en la Nouvelle France, au mois de Jullet dernier, 1607,
det. Paris, 1609. ME - 4.
p.50 MAINE - A HISTORY BY LOUIS CLINTON HATCH - MAINE
HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
But in the fall of 1606, some of the Abenakis plundered and
killed Panoniac, a Micmac chief. Then Membertou, the Micmac,
gathering to his own men the Indians of Gaspe and the Etchemins
of southeastern Maine, made war upon Bashabes in July, 1607 and
defeated him. They did not kill him, for that same fall Popham's
colony report him as alive.
The war continued for some years, the Tarentines gaining. The
Camden natives told Captain John Smith that Mount Battie was
"as a fortress to them" and the Megunticook range, a barrier
against the Tarentines; hence they seem to have occupied
temporarily the Etchemins' country and perhaps to have broken
into the region across Penobscot Bay. Emboldened by their
successes, they invaded Massachusetts Bay, as Winthrop,
Bradford and Johnson testify; but the timely coming of the
English prevented a permanent conquest.
to be continued.
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