Chapter IV: Part 4

[87] Ibid. Early observers were impressed with the agricultural skill of the Indians and characterized them as being mainly dependent for their livelihood upon the corn they grew. Speaking from a present-day vantage point, with considerably more information at hand about the practices of primitive horticulturalists, one must be more cautious about drawing such a conclusion. In regard to the amount of corn produced, Williams says: “The woman of the family will commonly raise two or three heaps of twelve, fifteene, or twentie bushells a heap ... and if she have the helpe of her children or friends, much more.” (p. 124). Presumably the size of the fields on which this was grown averaged out to about an acre per family. The Pilgrims were able to get corn from the Indians in order to survive their initial hardships. Later they tell of obtaining rather large amounts of corn from the Indians along the coast to take north to trade (Willoughby, pp. 297-98). However, before assuming that agriculture was the major food source for the Wampanoags, it should be remembered that these Indians and their neighbors were best known to the early chroniclers in their coastal farming settlements. When they were living in the forest during hunting season and in the winter villages they were probably seldom seen by the Europeans. Therefore, the foreigner’s view of Indian dietary habits may not contain the entire story. The habitual use of acorns and ground nuts as starvation foods indicates that their control of agricultural food supplies was not as yet always dependable. Probably horticulture had come to largely supplant a pattern of summer gathering of vegetable foods and to be ordinarily more productive than the former practice. But without the addition of animal foods, the crops alone probably would not normally have provided enough food to sustain the Indians.

[88] Williams, p. 136; Willoughby, p. 299; Wood, p. 107.

[89] Wood, p. 107.

[90] Ibid. Meat was probably dried in the same way, but the only mention of this is smoke-dried moose’s tongue (a delicacy); Willoughby, p. 299.

[91] Wood, p. 107.

[92] Morton, p. 160; Williams, p. 120.

[93] MOURT’S RELATION, p. 133.

[94] Ibid.; p. 141. Champlain notes that the depth of these holes was “some five or six feet,” and that they were mounded up three or four feet; Howe, p. 133. Morton, p. 160, notes the capacity of these storage pits as being a “hogshead” apiece. Williams, pp. 120-22.

[95] Wood, p. 106.

[96] Ibid., p. 107; Williams, p. 136.

[97] Wood, p. 75; Gookin, pp. 150-151.

[98] “Their spits are no other than cloven sticks sharped at one end to thrust into the ground; onto these cloven sticks they thrust the flesh or fish they would have rosted, behemming a round fire with a dozen of spits at a time, turning them as they see occasion.”; Wood, p. 75.

[99] Gookin, p. 150.

[100] Ibid.

[101] Williams, p. 136.

[102] Ibid.

[103] Gookin, pp. 150-51; Williams, p. 40; Wood, p. 76.

[104] D. Bushnell, Jr., “The Sloane Collection in the British Museum,” AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, ns., VIII (1906), p. 675.

[105] Gookin, p. 150; Williams, p. 40.

[106] Gookin, pp. 150-51; Williams, p. 40; Wood, p. 76.

[107] Williams, p. 40.

[108] Ibid., pp. 120-22; Gookin, pp. 150-51.

[109] Williams, p. 122.

[110] Ibid., p. 121.

[111] Ibid., p. 120.

[112] Ibid.; no description of the process is given.

[113] Including snakes. John Brereton’s narrative in SAILORS NARRATIVES OF VOYAGES ALONG THE NEW ENGLAND COAST 1524-1624, George Parker Winship, ed. (Boston, 1905), p. 50.

[114] This is the conclusion reached by Bennett after a study of the subject, and the current writer could not find reference to its use by Indians of the area either; Bennett, p. 384.

[115] Bennett estimates that 65% of the caloric intake was provided by corn; Ibid., p. 394.

[116] Wood, pp. 75-76.

[117] Ibid., p. 77; Williams, p. 136.

[118] Williams, p. 120.

[119] Martin Pring, “The Voyage of Martin Pring” in SAILORS NARRATIVES—, George Parker Winship, ed. (Boston, 1905), p. 56. This combined with the evidence of periodic scarcity provided by the existence of “starvation foods” and the evidence for large gatherings of people to take fish during their spring runs, suggests that there was a fairly heavy dietary dependence upon fish from early spring until the time the corn ripened.

[120] Morton, p. 137.

[121] Wood, p. 76.

[122] Ibid., pp. 75-76.

[123] Ibid.

[124] Leach, p. 137.

[125] Williams, p. 40; Wood, p. 76.

[126] Morton, p. 137; Wood, p. 77.

[127] Bennett, p. 395.

[128] Ibid.

[129] Williams, pp. 72-73.

[130] Ibid.

[131] Brereton, p. 38.

[132] Williams, pp. 72-73.

[133] Ibid., p. 100.

[134] Ibid., p. 43; The use of tobacco by women is listed by Flannery as a southern New England trait.

[135] Ibid.

[136] Wood, p. 73.

[137] Ibid., p. 101; Williams, p. 145.

[138] Williams, p. 145.

[139] Morton, p. 142; Wood, p. 73.

[140] “... they have likewise another sort of mantles, made of Mose skinnes, which beast is a great large Deere so bigge as a horse; these skinnes they commonly dress bare, and make them wondrous white.”; Morton, pp. 142-43.

[141] Probably the material used for this embroidery was moose hair and/or porcupine quills as was done by the Algonquians living farther north. The information about the style of this decoration is not very extensive: “... in forme like lace set on by a Taylor ... of severall fashions very curious, according to the several fantasies of the workmen, wherein they strive to excell one another....”; Morton, pp. 142-43; Williams, p. 145; Wood, p. 101.

[142] Morton, p. 143.

[143] Gookin, p. 152; Wood, p. 73.

[144] Morton, p. 141.

[145] Ibid., pp. 135-37.

[146] Ibid., p. 143; Williams, p. 40; Willoughby, p. 239; Wood, p. 76.

[147] Some information about items in this category has come to light through archaeology. Where pieces of textile have been buried near metal objects, as was sometimes the case in Indian graves in this region, the metal acted to preserve fragments of the otherwise highly perishable textile industry.

[148] Byers, pp. 16-17; Gookin, p. 151; Willoughby, pp. 233, 244-45, 248.

[149] Wood, pp. 101-102.

[150] One such line was collected by John Winthrop eventually placed in the British Museum. Its length is 13.6 meters; Bushnell, p. 84.

[151] In this case, the line itself was made out of bast fiber; Champlain in Howe, p. 115.

[152] Williams, p. 137.

[153] Wood, p. 102.

[154] Ibid., p. 107; Williams, pp. 65, 133; Willoughby, p. 248.

[155] Willoughby, p. 248.

[156] Gookin, p. 151; Wood, p. 107.

[157] Willoughby, pp. 244-45.

[158] Samuel Champlain’s narrative in SAILOR’S NARRATIVES—, George Parker Winship, ed. (Boston, 1905), p. 90.

[159] Gookin, p. 152; Morton, pp. 142-43.

[160] This is the technique for making similar garments used by other American Indian groups.

[161] Morton, pp. 134-35; Wood, p. 30.

[162] Willoughby, pp. 244-45.

[163] Ibid.; Gookin, p. 152.

[164] Gookin, p. 151; MOURT’S RELATION, pp. 144-45. “From the tree where the bark grows, they make severall sorts of baskets, great and small. Some will hold four bushels, or more: and so downward, to a pint. In their baskets they put their provisions. Some of their baskets are made of rushes; some, of bents; others of maize husks: others, of a kind of silk grass: others of a kind of wild hemp: and some, of barks of trees: many of them very neat and artificial, with the portraitures of birds, beasts, fishes, and flowers upon them in colours.”; Wood, p. 107.

[165] Wood, p. 107.

[166] Willoughby, p. 248.

[167] Ibid.; Gookin, p. 150.

[168] Willoughby, p. 248.

[169] Williams, p. 40.

[170] MOURT’S RELATION, p. 133.

[171] Willoughby, p. 244.

[172] Wood, p. 107.

[173] Ibid.

[174] MOURT’S RELATION, pp. 144-45.

[175] Willoughby, p. 151, illustrates one basket, dating about 1675 and made by the Narragansetts. It is a twined basket; the materials are basswood bark and corn husk, the decoration being in the latter. Red wool yarn also once was part of the decoration, but that has been since destroyed. Designs are worked in light corn husk, which forms part of the weft element. Design form is geometric, non-representational, diagonal steps, horizontal bands, and disconnected square spots. Design field covers the entire side area of the basket, which is tall and narrow in shape. Recalling Gookin’s description of zoomorphic decoration, there is reason to suspect considerable scope to the decorative content of this style.

[176] Brereton, p. 50, writes of them as being four feet long and six inches wide. Pring in Howe, p. 72. Pring, p. 56, says the belts were “sixe foot long” and made of a snake’s skin.

[177] Gookin, p. 152.

[178] Breech clouts worn by women are described as hanging down a little longer in back than those worn by men; Pring in Howe, p. 72; Williams, p. 143.

[179] Williams, p. 143.

[180] Vaughan, pp. 47-48, lists fish oil, eagle and rackoon fat, bear and later pig grease used for this purpose.

[181] The deerskin from which both breech clouts and leggings were made was de-haired; Morton, pp. 142-43. The method of fastening leggings aboriginally is not described. Wood, p. 73, says that they were attached to the belt with buttons, which in post-contact times is not so unlikely, considering that the Indians learned to mould buttons out of pewter. MOURT’S RELATION, pp. 186-87; Winslow, p. 72.

[182] Morton, pp. 142-43; Willoughby, p. 208.

[183] Wood, p. 73.

[184] Pring in Howe, p. 72; MOURT’S RELATION, pp. 186-87; Winslow, p. 365.

[185] Morton, p. 144.

[186] Ibid., pp. 142-43.

[187] Massasoit sometimes wore a mantle of black wolf skin; Altham, p. 30; Gookin, p. 152; Wood, p. 73.

[188] Morton, p. 144.

[189] Champlain, p. 90.

[190] Twilling is a variety of plaited weaving.

[191] “This fringe is formed of the ends of the warp reinforced with loops of the same material to give additional thickness, all being nicely bound together by a single double woof cord of twined weaving.”; Willoughby, p. 247.

[192] Ibid., p. 280; Pring in Howe, p. 72.

[193] Morton, p. 143.

[194] Materials mentioned for sleeves are otter, fox, and cat fur; Winslow, p. 365 and MOURT’S RELATION, pp. 186-87; Willoughby, p. 247; Wood, p. 73.

[195] MOURT’S RELATION, pp. 186-87.

[196] Morton, pp. 142-43.

[197] Williams, p. 98.

[198] Wood, p. 73.

[199] Rowlandson gives the following description of Indians in 1676 wearing festive attire: “He was dressed in his Holland shirt, with girdles of wampom upon his head and shoulders. She had a kersey coat, covered with girdles of wampom from the loins upward. Her arms from her elbows to her hands were covered with bracelets; theyre were handfuls of necklaces about her neck, and several sorts of jewels in her ears. She had fine red stockings, and white shoes, her hair powered, and her face painted red....”, in S. G. Drake, TRAGEDIES OF THE WILDERNESS (Boston, 1841), pp. 51-52.

[200] Gookin, p. 152.

[201] Ibid. This material came in widths of about a yard and half, and was colored blue, red, purple, and some was used white. About two yards would be used to make a mantle for a man or woman.

[202] Williams, pp. 143-45.

[203] These items also appear archaeologically, but in most cases the dating is imprecise.

[204] All work in copper and brass was done by pounding the soft metal into shape, and cutting was probably done by scoring with a sharpened stone. Metal casting was unknown to the Wampanoags prior to the arrival of European settlers.

[205] Archer’s narrative in Howe, p. 59. A breastplate of this description was excavated in a burial at Fall River, Massachusetts; Willoughby, p. 233.

[206] It is thought, based on excavated remains, that the wood used was elder; Willoughby, pp. 233, 238-39.

[207] A burial was excavated in which a bandolier lay across the copper breastplate, possibly indicating simultaneous wearing; Willoughby, p. 233.

[208] Willoughby, pp. 240-41. These were joined by running a thread through the bead and looping it around two threads running along the ends of the beads; Ibid., p. 233. Stringing material in one case was a 2-ply twisted cord; Ibid., p. 238.

[209] Brereton, pp. 43-44, reported the wearing of this style of necklace simultaneously with a bandolier.

[210] Brereton, p. 43; Archer in Howe, p. 59. A gorget recovered archaeologically was disc-shaped, of sheet brass, with two perforations; Willoughby, pp. 238-39.

[211] A large copper necklace was placed about the neck of an important chief’s daughter in a Rhode Island burial that dates to about 1660; H. H. Wilder, “Notes on the Indians of Southern Massachusetts,” AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, ns. XXV (1923), p. 211.

[212] Wood, p. 74.

[213] Willoughby, p. 265, notes that “... the term _Wampum_ or _wampumpeage_ was usually applied by the New England tribes to the white beads and _suckauhock_, _mowhackees_ or _macheis_ to the purple variety, both types were generally known to the English as _wampum_.”

[214] Bradford, II, p. 43.

[215] Altham, p. 30.

[216] Gookin, p. 152; Thomas Lechford, PLAIN DEALING, OR NEWS FROM NEW ENGLAND, J. H. Trumbull, ed. (Boston, 1868), pp. 116-117, describes one such belt as having a checkered design.

[217] Bushnell, p. 674; Lechford, pp. 116-117; Williams, pp. 177-78.

[218] A “belt” of wampum might range in size from one to five or more inches wide; Williams, pp. 177-78. Willoughby, p. 271, cites a contemporary account of wampum belts owned by King Philip: “One of King Philip’s belts, ‘curiously wrought with black and white wampum in various figures and flowers and pictures of many birds and beasts’ was nine inches broad, and when hung about Captain Church’s shoulders reached to his ankles. Philip had two other belts, one with two flags upon the back which hung from his head, the other with a star upon the end which hung from his breast. When Philip visited Boston he wore a coat and leggings, set with wampum ‘in pleasant wild works’ and a broad belt of the same.”

[219] Willoughby, p. 265.

[220] Ibid.; Bushnell, p. 647; Williams, p. 176.

[221] A breastplate, the collar made of wampum and the main body of “shells out of the up country fresh water lakes”, worn on occasion of war and feast, was among the items collected and described by John Winthrop; Bushnell, p. 674.

[222] Willoughby, pp. 271-74.

[223] Ibid., pp. 238-39.

[224] Willoughby, p. 198, describes a group of seeds “resembling those of the _Cornus_” with the ends ground off preparatory to stringing. These were found archaeologically, associated with European trade beads. MOURT’S RELATION, p. 194, describes Massasoit as wearing a “great chain of white bone beads about his neck”.

[225] Verrazano’s narrative in Howe, p. 15. It is possible that glass trade beads were not very popular among the Wampanoags in the early 17th century. There are 16th century accounts of glass beads given to the Indians by explorers, and glass beads dating to the early 16th century have been in graves in this area, but glass beads are not mentioned as a part of Indian dress by writers of the early colonial period.

[226] Wood, p. 74.

[227] “... in forme of mullets or spur-rowels”; Ibid. Mullet is the same shape as a rowel.

[228] Gookin, p. 153; Rowlandson, pp. 51-52.

[229] Gookin, p. 153; MOURT’S RELATION, p. 194.

[230] Gookin, p. 153; Verrazano in Howe, pp. 15, 59; MOURT’S RELATION, p. 194, mentions painted faces “with crosses, and some other antic works....” This could be actual painting in patterns or a mistaking of tattoos for paint.

[231] Archer in Howe, p. 59; Champlain, p. 91; Gookin, p. 153; MOURT’S RELATION, p. 194; Vaughan, p. 42; Verrazano in Howe, p. 15; Wood, p. 74.

[232] Gookin, p. 153.

[233] Ibid.; Rowlandson, pp. 51-52; Vaughan, p. 42.

[234] Lechford, p. 116.

[235] “Their Virgins are distinguished by a bashfull falling downe of their haire over their eyes.”; Williams, p. 58.

[236] Winslow, p. 364.

[237] “... Their boyes being not permitted to weare their haire long till sixteene years of age, and then they must come to it by degrees....”; Wood, pp. 71-72.

[238] Ibid.

[239] MOURT’S RELATION, pp. 183, 187.

[240] Pring in Howe, p. 72.

[241] Ibid.; Champlain, p. 90; Gookin, p. 153; Lechford, p. 116; Wood, pp. 71-72, gives a description of hairstyles for the Massachusetts. For a youth above sixteen there was a long lock in front, on the crown, and on either side. The rest of the hair was shaved off close to the scalp. A warrior wore his hair long on one side and short on the other.

[242] Gookin, p. 153.

[243] Ibid.; Pring in Howe, p. 72; Lechford, p. 116.

[244] Gookin, p. 153; Archer in Howe, p. 59; MOURT’S RELATION, p. 187.

[245] Lechford, p. 116. An ornamental comb of the same style in brass was recovered archaeologically; Willoughby, pp. 235, 243-44.

[246] Champlain, p. 90.

[247] Ibid., p. 91; Wood, p. 72.

[248] Brereton in Howe, p. 64.

[249] Ibid., p. 105.

[250] Byers, p. 16.

[251] Williams, p. 206.

[252] Gookin, pp. 152-53.

[253] H. M. Chapin, “Indian Implements found in Rhode Island,” Rhode Island Historical Society, COLLECTIONS, XVIII (1924), p. 15, notes that soapstone quarries known to have been used by the Indians are located at Johnstone and Westerly, R.I., and Wood, p. 69, mentions the source of stone pipes as being to the south, among the Narragansetts. Although it is true that copper and brass were early obtained by trade from Europeans, native copper was also available. Byers, p. 5, cites several locations of outcroppings in western Massachusetts and Connecticut. Copper items from at least one site in Massachusetts have been analyzed and found to be of native materials.

[254] These items were probably all available in surface outcroppings, and specialized techniques other than knocking off chunks were unnecessary; Chapin, p. 3.

[255] It is not known whether the Wampanoags made their own clay pots or traded for them. However, explorers reported that there were outcroppings of potting quality clay in Plymouth. Brereton, p. 38, reports that there was clay on Martha’s Vineyard which the Indians there used for making pipes.

[256] Chapin, p. 15.

[257] Ibid.

[258] Wood, pp. 69-70.

[259] Bradford, II, p. 52; Willoughby, pp. 243-44.

[260] Willoughby, pp. 243-44.

[261] Gookin, p. 152.

[262] Champlain in Howe, p. 105; Wood, p. 102.

[263] Champlain in Howe, p. 105; Gookin, p. 152; Willoughby, p. 154; Wood, p. 102.

[264] Champlain in Howe, p. 105.

[265] Ibid.

[266] Willoughby, p. 154.

[267] Champlain in Howe, p. 105; Wood, p. 102.

[268] Champlain in Howe, p. 105.

[269] Once a bowl was thus far completed, it is reported that they would “soak it in their minerall springs to dye it”; Bushnell, p. 675.

[270] Pring, p. 58.

[271] Byers, p. 16.

[272] The weight of even a large version of this canoe (9-passenger) did not exceed 60 pounds; Pring, p. 58.

[273] “... sewing them with a kind of bark....”; Gookin, pp. 152-53. “... sowed together with strong and tough oziers or twigs....”; Pring p. 58.

[274] Ibid.

[275] Gookin, p. 152-53; Wood, p. 102.

[276] Bushnell, p. 675.

[277] Champlain in Howe, pp. 117, 133-34; Morton, pp. 134-35; MOURT’S RELATION, p. 144; Verrazano in Howe, p. 17; Williams, pp. 60-61; Wood, pp. 105-6.

[278] Gookin, pp. 149-50; Vaughan, p. 46; Williams, pp. 60-61.

[279] Williams, pp. 60-61.

[280] Ibid.; Gookin, pp. 149-50; Wood, pp. 105-6.

[281] Vaughan, p. 46.

[282] Ibid.

[283] And it is the type with which the early colonists of Plymouth would have been the most familiar. We have no firsthand accounts of the use of the longhouse by the Wampanoags; however, we do know that it was in use among the Narragansetts and the Massachusetts, which is strong evidence that the Wampanoags, who followed a similar pattern of seasonal settlement had this structure also.

[284] “Two families will live comfortably and lovingly in a little round house of some fourteen or sixteen foot over, and so more and more families in proportion”; Williams, pp. 60-61. However, according to Gookin, they might go up to 40 feet in diameter: “These houses they make of several sizes, according to their activity and ability; some twenty, some forty feet long, and broad.” Gookin, pp. 149-50.

[285] Champlain, p. 117.

[286] MOURT’S RELATION, p. 144; Williams, p. 67.

[287] Morton, pp. 134-35, says that they place the mats of their houses “... leaving severall places for dores, according as the winde sitts.”

[288] Williams, p. 67.

[289] Morton, pp. 134-35.

[290] Their manufacture is discussed more fully in a previous section on textiles.

[291] Williams, p. 67.

[292] Gookin, pp. 149-50.

[293] Ibid.

[294] Williams, p. 61.

[295] Gookin, pp. 149-50; Champlain in Howe, pp. 117, 133-34; Morton, pp. 134-135; MOURT’S RELATION, p. 144.

[296] Wood, pp. 105-6.

[297] Williams, p. 163. The sachem’s house is called by a different name from that of an ordinary dwelling; Winslow, p. 317.

[298] Wood, p. 98.

[299] Williams, p. 189. These would probably have varied considerably depending on whether it was a single hunter or two that was being housed or whether the whole family made the move. As mentioned earlier, both patterns were followed. Structures housing single hunters could have been mere lean-to’s or something like the bark _wickiup_ used to the north. When a family was living in the hunting camp, there would have been women to carry up the mats, and the house was probably more elaborate; it may have been built in the usual hemispherical plan.

[300] Rowlandson, p. 50; Williams, p. 194.

[301] Williams, pp. 60-61, 114.

[302] Ibid., pp. 211-12; E. L. Butler, “Sweat Houses in the Southern New England Area,” BULLETIN OF THE MASSACHUSETTS ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, VII (October, 1945), p. 12.

[303] Williams, pp. 60-61; Willoughby, pp. 244-45. “Embroidery” might also refer to designs that were woven into the mats.

[304] Gookin, p. 150.

[305] Ibid.; Morton, pp. 135-37.

[306] Gookin, p. 150; Champlain in Howe, pp. 133-34; Morton, pp. 135-37.

[307] Gookin, p. 150; Morton, pp. 135-37. Kinds of skins mentioned for this purpose are: deer, bear, otter, beaver, racoon.

[308] Gookin, p. 151.

[309] Ibid.; Wood, p. 75.

[310] MOURT’S RELATION, pp. 144-45; Williams, p. 65.

[311] Gookin, p. 151; MOURT’S RELATION, pp. 144-45.

[312] Morton, pp. 135-37.

[313] Ibid.

[314] MOURT’S RELATION, pp. 144-45; Willoughby, 292.

[315] Morton, pp. 135-37.

[316] “... we found also two or three deer’s heads, one whereof had been newly killed, for it was still fresh. There was also a company of deer’s feet stuck up in the house, hart’s horns, and eagles’ claws, and sundry such like things there was; also two or three baskets full of parched acorns, pieces of fish, and a piece of a broiled herring”; MOURT’S RELATION, pp. 144-45. Willoughby, p. 248.

[317] Champlain in Howe, pp. 112, 133; Rowlandson, pp. 46-47, has wives occupying separate households, where there are multiple wives.

[318] Champlain in Howe, pp. 172-73.

[319] Ibid., p. 112.

[320] Wood, p. 106.

[321] Williams, pp. 74-75.

[322] When Plimoth Plantation was established there were no Indians settlements in its immediate neighborhood. The former village of Patuxet, once located on the site of Plymouth and said to have had a population of two thousand, was wiped out by the plague prior to the settlement of Europeans. Altham, p. 29, reports that the nearest Indian settlement to Plymouth was called Manomet and was fourteen miles away. This is probably identical with the town of Mannamit, described by Chase as being in Sandwich, near the bottom of Buzzard’s Bay; H. E. Chase, “Notes on the Wampanoag Indians,” SMITHSONIAN ANNUAL REPORT, 1883 (Washington, 1885), p. 888.

[323] If, as reports indicate, twelve to twenty men went out from each summer village in the fall to their hunting camps, and it may be assumed that these represent most of all the able-bodied adult male population, then we would seem to be dealing with summer village populations whose total numbers would equal in size the population of a winter longhouse. It might further be surmised that the personnel of each are identical; in other words, the same group of 40 to 50 people may have formed a camping-together unit for most of the year, living together in the same longhouse in winter and camping near each other as a summer village.

[324] Wood, pp. 100-101.

[325] “... a bundle of Indian candles or splints of the pitch tree”; Bushnell, p. 675. Willoughby, p. 294.

[326] Brereton in Howe, pp. 63-64; John Josselyn, “An account of Two Voyages to New England,” Massachusetts Historical Society COLLECTIONS, Ser. 3, III, (Boston, 1883), p. 257; Morton, p. 172; Williams, p. 100.

[327] Williams, pp. 57, 87.

[328] Winslow, p. 367.

[329] Gookin, p. 153.

[330] Williams, p. 153, estimates the value of each gift as about “... eighteen pence, two Shillings, or thereabouts....”

[331] Ibid.; Rowlandson, p. 50.

[332] Chase, p. 900; Morton, pp. 141, 158-59; Williams, pp. 174-75.

[333] Morton, pp. 158-59; Williams, pp. 174-75.

[334] Chase, p. 900.

[335] Williams, pp. 174-75.

[336] Morton, p. 141.

[337] Ibid., pp. 158-59.

[338] Williams, p. 173; Wood, p. 69.

[339] Willoughby, p. 266.

[340] Ibid., pp. 266-67.

[341] Bradford, II, pp. 43-44.

[342] Willoughby, pp. 270-71.

[343] Morton, p. 157.

[344] Willoughby, p. 270.

[345] Morton, p. 157.

[346] Willoughby, p. 267.

[347] Gookin, p. 151; Williams, pp. 66, 75; Winslow, p. 363.

[348] Winslow, p. 363; Williams, p. 66.

[349] Winslow, p. 363; Wood, p. 105.

[350] Wood, p. 105.

[351] Williams, p. 66.

[352] Winslow, p. 364.

[353] Ibid., p. 363; Willoughby, p. 132.

[354] Vaughan, pp. 49-50.

[355] Gookin, p. 151; Williams, pp. 32, 132; Williams, p. 75.

[356] Williams, p. 123.

[357] Ibid.

[358] Willoughby, p. 132.

[359] Ibid., pp. 282-83; Byers, pp. 22-23; Morton, p. 172.

[360] Williams, p. 98.

[361] Ibid., pp. 97-98.

[362] Morton, p. 144.

[363] Gookin, pp. 152-53.

[364] Ibid., Williams, p. 134; Wood, p. 102.

[365] Wood, p. 102.

[366] Ibid.; Pring, p. 58.

[367] Williams, p. 134.

[368] Wood says that this is so that a player would not know who to blame for any injury he might receive on the playing field.

[369] Williams, p. 196; Wood, pp. 83, 96-98.

[370] “... their swimming is not after our English fashion of spread armes and legges which they hold too tiresome, but like dogges their armes before them cutting through the liquids with their right shoulder; in this manner they swim very swift and farre....”; Wood, pp. 97-98.

[371] Ibid.

[372] Ibid., pp. 95-96.

[373] “The bones being all blacke or white make a double game; if three be of a colour and two of another, then they afford but a single game; foure of a colour and one differing is nothing; so long as a man wins, he keepes the Tray; but if he loose, the next man takes it”; Ibid.

[374] Ibid., Williams, p. 194.

[375] Winslow, p. 307; Wood, pp. 83, 95-96.

[376] Williams, p. 194.

[377] Ibid., p. 196; Winslow, p. 307; Wood, p. 83.

[378] Williams, p. 197. The Europeans whose writings provide most of the information about Wampanoag culture thought such gatherings were occasions for communion with the devil, and most feared to attend and risk being corrupted. Therefore, information is scarce as to the purpose and form of “ceremonial” activities.

[379] Elliot, p. 81; Morton, p. 138.

[380] Williams, p. 151.

[381] Ibid.

[382] Ibid., p. 153.

[383] Ibid., pp. 82-83.

[384] Gookin, p. 153. None of the music has survived, but it seems to have struck Europeans as pleasant sounding. Wood, p. 108, reports that the sound of an Indian woman singing a lullaby was sweet to his ears.

[385] There is one report of the use of a kettle to beat on as a drum during a dance, but there is no indication of aboriginal use or manufacture of drums; Rowlandson, pp. 48-50. Williams, p. 57.

[386] Eight in one case.

[387] It is not known whether all personal property was buried with the owner or whether some was inherited by friends or relatives.

[388] Lands were allotted upon request for planting, and hunting territories were probably granted in a similar way. Both individuals and some form of “family” are mentioned as receiving such lands; Vaughan, pp. 33-34, 105; Williams, pp. 120, 188-93.

[389] Williams, pp. 188-93; Winslow, pp. 316-62.

[390] Vaughan, p. 54.

[391] There is no information to be gained from early accounts as to what further subdivisions of territory were made or the basis for them. One could speculate that some aspect of land tenure was based on the “winter villages”—that is, a certain territory may have been allotted to the band of co-residence groups who dwelt in adjacent longhouses during the winter.

[392] Occasional unification of the group under a strong leader implies that there were also occasions when it was not so unified, meaning that centralized authority for all Wampanoags as a body was not institutionalized.

[393] Winslow, pp. 360-61.

[394] During the early years of European settlement at Plymouth a sachem called Corbitant was dissatisfied with Massasoit’s friendship with the settlers and plotted to overthrow him.

[395] Winslow, pp. 360-61; Wood, p. 89.

[396] Eliot, p. 139; Gookin, p. 154.

[397] Winslow, pp. 360-61.

[398] Ibid.; Altham, p. 29; Morton, p. 154.

[399] Winslow, pp. 361-62.

[400] Wood, p. 90.

[401] Winslow, p. 362.

[402] Gookin, p. 154; Williams, p. 164; Wood, p. 90.

[403] Winslow, pp. 288, 359-60.

[404] Morton, p. 149; Williams, pp. 152-53.

[405] Ibid.

[406] Possibly the “winter village band” was the group over which this official exercised authority.

[407] Williams, p. 164.

[408] Winslow, pp. 307-8.

[409] Ibid., pp. 364-65; Williams, p. 166.

[410] Winslow, pp. 307-8.

[411] Ibid., p. 168.

[412] Gookin, p. 149.

[413] Williams, p. 102.

[414] Ibid.

[415] Winslow, pp. 364-65; Wood, p. 90.

[416] Williams, p. 57.

[417] Gookin, p. 149.

[418] Winslow, p. 291; Wood, p. 90.

[419] Winslow, pp. 364-65.

[420] Williams, p. 166.

[421] Winslow, pp. 364-65.

[422] Morton, pp. 153-54.

[423] Williams, p. 102; Winslow, pp. 307-8.

[424] Williams, pp. 58, 68; Winslow, pp. 360-61.

[425] Morton, pp. 170-71. What European observers saw as a “royal family” was probably a chiefly clan or lineage.

[426] Wood, p. 74.

[427] Williams, p. 163.

[428] Ibid., p. 178.

[429] Massasoit is said to have had five wives; Altham, p. 29; Wood, p. 91.

[430] Williams, p. 68.

[431] Wood, pp. 77-78.

[432] Ibid.; Williams, pp. 45-46.

[433] Morton, p. 137; Williams, pp. 45-46.

[434] Morton, p. 137; Williams, p. 47.

[435] Wood, pp. 77-78.

[436] Altham, p. 29; Williams, p. 36; Wood, pp. 78-79.

[437] Wood, p. 77.

[438] Winslow, pp. 304-5.

[439] In one case the gift presented was a basket of tobacco and some beads; Ibid., p. 307.

[440] Wood, p. 91.

[441] Williams, p. 169.

[442] Ibid.

[443] Gookin, p. 149; Winslow, p. 364.

[444] Winslow, p. 364.

[445] Ibid.; Williams, p. 168; Wood, p. 91.

[446] Winslow, p. 364.

[447] Gookin, p. 149; Rowlandson, pp. 45-47.

[448] Ibid.; Wood, p. 91.

[449] Thus enhancing wealth and in turn the possibilities for displays of generosity.

[450] Williams, pp. 168-69. This practice is fairly common among pre-literate peoples on a world-wide basis. The reason usually given is the fear that should the mother conceive again before the child is weaned, her milk would dry up.

[451] Ibid., p. 34.

[452] Ibid, pp. 170-71; Morton, pp. 145-46; Winslow, p. 358.

[453] Williams, p. 170.

[454] Winslow, p. 358; Wood, p. 108.

[455] Wood, p. 108.

[456] Ibid.; Morton, p. 147.

[457] Wood, p. 108.

[458] Ibid.

[459] Gookin, p. 149; Williams, p. 59.

[460] Williams, p. 169.

[461] Wood, p. 98.

[462] Ibid., pp. 97-98.

[463] Issack de Rasieres, letter to Samuel Blommaert, in NARRATIVES OF NEW NETHERLANDS, J. Franklin Jameson, ed. (New York, 1909), pp. 113-14.

[464] Winslow, p. 356.

[465] Morton, p. 145; Thomas Shepard, “The Clear Sun-Shine of the Gospel Breaking Forth upon the Indians in New England”, Massachusetts Historical Society, COLLECTIONS, Ser. 3, IV (Boston, 1834), p. 40.

[466] De Rasieres, pp. 113-14.

[467] Winslow, pp. 363-64.

[468] “... they train up the most forward and likeliest boys, from their childhood, in great hardness, and make them abstain from dainty meat, observing divers orders prescribed, to the end that when they are of age, the devil may appear to them; causing to drink the juice of sentry and other bitter herbs, till they cast, which they must disgorge into the platter, and drink again and again, till at length through the extraordinary oppressing of nature, it will seem to be all blood; and this the boys will do with eagerness at the first, and so continue till by reason of faintness, they can scarce stand on their legs, and then must go forth into the cold. Also they beat their shins with sticks, and cause them to run through bushes, stumps and brambles to make them hardy and acceptable to the devil, that in time he may appear unto them.”; Ibid., p. 360.

[469] Ibid., pp. 359-60.

[470] Vaughan, pp. 38-39; Willoughby, p. 287; Wood, pp. 94-95.

[471] Willoughby, p. 285 ff., published a collection of important descriptions of fortifications for the entire New England area.

[472] Williams, p. 99.

[473] Vaughan, p. 39.

[474] Wood, p. 95.

[475] Ibid.

[476] Ibid., p. 89; Vaughan, p. 37; Williams, pp. 201-2.

[477] Rowlandson, pp. 48-49.

[478] Lechford, p. 120; Williams, p. 204; Vaughan, p. 39.

[479] Wood, p. 95.

[480] Williams, p. 204; Vaughan, p. 39.

[481] A skillful conjuror was often called upon to produce such storms; Winslow, p. 366.

[482] Williams, p. 134.

[483] Ibid., pp. 78-80; Wood, p. 95.

[484] Vaughan, pp. 40-41.

[485] Ibid.

[486] Williams, p. 63.

[487] Ibid.

[488] Winslow, pp. 365-66.

[489] Williams, p. 93.

[490] Winslow, pp. 365-66.

[491] Ibid.; Williams, p. 93.

[492] Winslow, pp. 365-66.

[493] There are reports of the use of sweating to alleviate the symptoms of the following: “the French disease”, “plague or smallpox”, “colds, surfeits, sciatica”, “pains fixed in the limbs”; Butler, pp. 12-13; Williams, pp. 211-12.

[494] Gookin, p. 154; Wood, p. 84.

[495] Wood, p. 84.

[496] Frank G. Speck, “Medicine Practices of the Northeastern Algonquians,” PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF AMERICANISTS (Paris, 1917), p. 303.

[497] Williams, p. 78. There is not a great deal of specific information on the herbal remedies used by the Wampanoags and their neighbors. Writing of herbal remedies over the entire Northeastern Algonquian area, Speck notes that there is variation from area to area and probably among curers within a single area as to what herb was used for what symptom.

[498] Gookin, p. 154; Mayhew, letter in “The Light Appearing More and More Towards the Perfect Day, etc.”, Henry Whitfield, compiler, Massachusetts Historical Society, COLLECTIONS, Ser. 3 IV (Boston, 1834) p. 202; Williams, pp. 212-13; Winslow, pp. 357-58; Wood, p. 84.

[499] Williams, p. 210; Winslow, pp. 313, 317-18, 362-63.

[500] Williams, pp. 152, 212-13; Winslow, pp. 357-58.

[501] Wood, pp. 92-93.

[502] Mayhew, p. 202; Williams, p. 152; Winslow, pp. 357-58.

[503] Gookin, p. 154.

[504] Ibid.; Mayhew, p. 202; Williams, pp. 212-13; Winslow, pp. 317-18; Wood, pp. 92-93. Gookin says that there were both male and female powows and that they cured both by magic and by herbal means. Williams states that the powows administered nothing in the course of a cure, but proceeded by verbal means only. In none of the reports that recount the actual actions used by the powow is there any mention of the use of herbal cures as part of the process.

[505] Williams, pp. 212-13.

[506] Winslow, pp. 362-63.

[507] Ibid., p. 359.

[508] B. Bassett, “Fabulous Traditions and Customs of the Indians of Martha’s Vineyard,” Massachusetts Historical Society, COLLECTIONS, Ser. 1, I (Boston, 1792), p. 40.

[509] Williams, p. 210.

[510] Wood, pp. 84-85.

[511] Williams, p. 148.

[512] Ibid., pp. 111, 154; Winslow, p. 356; Wood, pp. 105-6. This interpretation of Wampanoag religious philosophy may reflect the bias of European observers conditioned by their own Christian beliefs and the desire to see parallels to them. In actual fact, Wampanoags seem to have had a concept of multiple souls, and the fate of all these was perhaps not the same, considering the fear they had of spirits of all the dead.

[513] Wood, pp. 104-105.

[514] Ibid.; MOURT’S RELATION, pp. 130-33, 142-43; Williams, pp. 216-18; Willoughby, pp. 233, 237-39, 241-42.

[515] Winslow, p. 363.

[516] Williams, pp. 216-18.

[517] Winslow, p. 363; Morton, pp. 169-170.

[518] Willoughby, p. 233.

[519] Williams, pp. 216-18.

[520] Morton, pp. 170-71.

[521] Ibid.; Wood, p. 104.

[522] Williams, p. 214.

[523] Wood, p. 104.

[524] Morton, p. 133; Winslow, p. 363.

[525] Williams, pp. 216-18. It is likely that considerable of this display was less of what we would call “grief” than an attempt to convince the spirit of the deceased not to linger and trouble those who were close to him in life. Malevolence on the part of spirits of the dead is a typical northern Algonquian pattern, and abandoning the house to trick the spirit of a dead relative is a very common practice in primitive groups throughout the world.

[526] Morton, pp. 170-71; Williams, pp. 71, 214-15; Winslow, p. 362; Wood, p. 104.

[527] Williams, pp. 214-15.

[528] Winslow, p. 363.

[529] Morton, p. 133; Wood, p. 104.

[530] Morton, p. 133; Williams, pp. 35, 216.

[531] Williams, pp. 214-15.

[532] Ibid., p. 34.

[533] John Elliot and Thomas Mayhew, “Tears of Repentance, etc.,” Massachusetts Historical Society, COLLECTIONS, Ser. 3, IV (Boston, 1834) p. 202.

[534] Williams, pp. 82, 150.

[535] Ibid., pp. 114, 128; John Elliot, “The Day Breaking, if not the Sun Rising of the Gospell with the Indians of New England,” Massachusetts Historical Society, COLLECTIONS, Ser. 3, IV (Boston, 1834), p. 19; Elliot and Mayhew, pp. 186, 202; Winslow, pp. 357-58.

[536] Elliot, “The Day Breaking—,” pp. 16, 19; Mayhew and Elliot, p. 186; Williams, pp. 48-49, 154.

[537] Williams, pp. 149-50.

[538] Elliot and Mayhew, p. 202.

[539] Ibid., pp. 186, 202; Williams, p. 152; Winslow, pp. 357-58.

[540] Williams, pp. 114, 128.

[541] Elliot and Mayhew, p. 202.

[542] Morton, pp. 167-68, Williams, pp. 114, 148-49; Winslow, pp. 355-56.

[543] Williams, p. 111.

[544] Winslow, pp. 355-56; Wood, p. 86.

[545] Williams, pp. 157-58; Winslow, pp. 355-56. Morton, pp. 167-68, also recounts a creation story, in which the people so anger Kiehtan that he destroys all that are evil in a flood. Morton’s version sounds like a re-make of the flood story in Genesis. However, a common tale in North American Indian mythology involves the existence of the world in some other state, its destruction and subsequent transformation into its present form. It is impossible to tell from the evidence at hand the extent to which the story’s aboriginal content has been altered through contact with Christian mythology.

[546] Williams, p. 114.

[547] Ibid., p. 148-49; Winslow, pp. 355-56.

[548] Williams, pp. 148-49.

[549] Ibid., p. 151; Winslow, pp. 355-58; Wood, p. 92.

[550] Williams, p. 94.

[551] Ibid, p. 151; Gookin, p. 153; Winslow, pp. 355-56.

[552] Winslow, p. 358-59.

[553] Ibid.

[554] Wood, p. 92.

[555] Williams, pp. 48-49.

[556] Ibid., pp. 34-35.

[557] Ibid.

[558] Ibid., p. 152.

[559] Ibid., pp. 152, 212-13; Winslow, pp. 357-58.

[560] Elliot, “The Day Breaking—,” pp. 19-20.

[561] Morton, pp. 150-52; Winslow, p. 366; Wood, pp. 92-93.

[562] Some of the historical sources and the example of other Algonquian groups suggest that this power varied in its nature from one powow to another, depending upon the kind of spirit which gave it, thus the abilities of powows would vary accordingly as to what sorts of things they were able to do. This in turn was displayed in various individualized types of tricks.

[563] Elliot “The Day Breaking—,” pp. 19-20; Elliot and Mayhew, p. 186. As far as can be ascertained, the role of the powow was not formally hereditary. In practice the office probably remained closely tied to certain families, if only because association and heredity stimulated the appropriate dreams in the offspring of those who were powows.

AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF ETHNOGRAPHIC MATERIALS FOR THE PLYMOUTH AREA

1. Allen, Z. NATIVE INDIANS OF AMERICA (Providence, 1881).

Quotes standard primary sources and portrays the Indian as the
“first settler” in the New World; nothing new is presented in the
way of ethnographic data.

2. Altham, Emmanuel, “Emmanuel Altham to Sir Edward Altham, March 1623/1624; Emmanuel Altham to James Sherley, May, 1624,” letters in James, THREE VISITORS, etc.

Relevant information not extensive; concerns general appearance,
polygyny, distribution of Indian settlements in Plymouth region,
Massasoit, and Indian guests and their dances on the occasion of
Bradford’s wedding.

3. Anonymous, “A Description of Mashpee,” MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS, Series 2, Vol. III, 1846.

A 1767 account of general census and welfare information.

4. Anonymous, “Saconet Indians,” MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS, Series 1, Vol. X, 1809.

18th century population records; no ethnographic information.

5. Archer, Gabriel, Archer’s Narrative of the Gosnold Voyage: (information may be found in H. Howe, PROLOGUE TO NEW ENGLAND).

Contains a brief description of the general appearance of the
Nausett Indians in the second year of the 17th. century.

6. Bacon, O. N., A HISTORY OF NATICK (Boston, 1856).

Mentions the historical context of the praying town; no
ethnographic information.

7. Badger, Rev. Stephen, “Historical and Characteristic Traits of the American Indians in General and those of the Natick in Particular,” MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS, Series 1, Vol. V, 1835.

A report on the condition of the Indians around Natick in 1797.

8. Bartlett, J. R., ed. “Letters of Roger Williams,” PUBLICATIONS OF THE NARRAGANSETT CLUB, VI, 1874.

The main relevance of these documents is Anglo-Indian relationships.

9. Bassett, B., “Fabulous Traditions and Customs of the Indians of Martha’s Vineyard,” MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS, Series 1, 1792, pp. 139-40.

Contains information on 17th. century curing ritual.

10. Bennett, M. K., “The Food Economy of the New England Indians, 1605-1675,” THE JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY, Vol. LXIII, No. 55 (October, 1955) pp. 369-395.

This paper represents an attempt to work out the daily food
intake of Indians in southeastern New England in the period
1605-1675. The information for the 17th. century comes from the
standard sources—Williams, Morton, Winslow, etc. The attempt at
quantification in the absence of much quantitative data of any kind
to work from is interesting. Whether or not it is valid may be open
to question—probably the guess of an expert is better than anyone
else’s.

11. Bradford, William, HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH PLANTATION 1620-1647 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. for the Massachusetts Historical Society), 1912.

A basic source; data mainly on appearance, food quest, the
introduction of wampum, and diplomacy.

12. Brereton, John, Narrative of the Gosnold Voyage (in Winship, SAILORS’ NARRATIVES, also Howe, Prologue to New England).

Relevant information concerns the Nausett, Wampanoag, and probably
Narragansett; data on pipes, tobacco, use of copper, use of snakes,
fire-making, cordage, and location of clay. Voyage made in 1602.

13. Bushnell, D. Jr., “The Sloane Collection in the British Museum,” AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, ns., Vol. 8, 1906, pp. 671-685.

This describes a series of Indian artifacts collected and sent
back to England in the 17th. century; provides some basic data on
technology that is not present in other sources.

14. Butler, E. L., “Sweathouses in the Southern New England Area,” BULLETIN OF THE MASSACHUSETTS ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, Vol. VII, (October, 1945) pp. 11-15.

Tabulation of the information, of which there is not a great deal
for southern New England, on sweat houses and sweating procedure;
also talks about New York and northern New England for comparison.

15. Byers, D. S., “The Environment of the Northeast,” in “Man in Northeastern North America,” Frederick Johnson, ed., PAPERS OF THE ROBERT S. PEABODY FOUNDATION FOR ARCHAEOLOGY, Vol. III (Andover: Philips Academy) 1946.

General outline of the environment; information on distribution of
basic materials and animals used by the Indians.

16. de Champlain, Samuel, Narratives (in Winship, SAILORS’ NARRATIVES, & Howe, PROLOGUE TO NEW ENGLAND)

——also see VOYAGES OF SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN 1604-1618, W. L. Grant, ed. ORIGINAL NARRATIVES OF EARLY AMERICAN HISTORY (New York; Charles Scribner’s Sons) 1970

——and THE WORKS OF SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN, Vol. I, H. R. Biggar, ed. (Toronto) 1922

——and others.

Narrative of visits to the New England coast in the first decade
of the 17th. century. Relevant information concerns Nausetts and
Wampanoags—horticulture, food storage, clothing, textiles, housing,
settlement pattern, general appearance, weapons, living conditions,
and dugout canoes.

17. Chapin, H.M., “Indian Implements found in Rhode Island,” RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS, Vol. XVIII, 1924-25.

A fairly good range of gadgets is shown; illustrations might be
useful. Gives location of some soapstone quarries. No evidence
given to support the historic and proto-historic attributions given
the artifacts.

18. Chapin, H.M., SACHEMS OF THE NARRAGANSETTS (Providence) 1931.

Historical-biographical data; no ethnographic information.

19. Chase H.E., “Notes on the Wampanoag Indians,” ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION for 1883 (Washington, D.C.: The Smithsonian Institution).

Sort of a general 19th. century population survey, together with
notes of the location of sites and towns in the 17th. and 18th.
centuries. Quotes the standard sources.

20. Cotton, John, “Vocabulary of the Massachusetts (or Natik) Indians,” MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS, Series 3, Vol. II, 1830, pp. 147-257.

Contains lexical data only; no ethnographic information.

21. Davidson, D.S., “Snowshoes,” AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY MEMOIR #6 (Philadelphia: the American Philosophical Society) 1937.

All inclusive on the subject of snowshoes in North America. This is
the only reference there seems to be on the style of snowshoes worn
by the Wampanoags.

22. Drake, S.G., CHRONICLES OF THE INDIANS (also called OLD INDIAN CHRONICLE in some editions), (Boston: by the author) 1867.

Accounts of King Philip’s War, presumably written by
contemporaries; a chronology of events relating to the Indians. The
emphasis is historical rather than ethnographic.

23. Drake, S.G., TRAGEDIES OF THE WILDERNESS (also called INDIAN CAPTIVITIES in later editions), (Boston) 1841.

Contains the account of Mrs. Rowlandson, who was captured by the
Wampanoags in the time of King Philip’s War. Evidence of residence
patterns of polygynous household; also information as to dress at
that time. Probably best to disregard some things (such as diet) as
not being typical, since the conditions are not normal—this is a
group of Indians moving rather rapidly across the landscape much of
the time, living off what they can carry and pick up along the way.

24. Elliot, John, “An Account of Indian Churches in New England in a Letter Written A.D. 1673,” MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS, Series 1, Vol. X, pp. 124-29.

Concerns the requirements of Indians for church membership and
their practices as members.

25. Elliot, John “The Day Breaking, if not the Sun Rising of the Gospell with the Indians of New England,” MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS, Series 3, Vol IV, 1834, pp. 1-23.

A good account of how shamans are chosen. Recounts the beginnings
of Elliot’s missionary work—attitude toward conversion of the
Indians, the things Indians were taught about Christianity, the
establishment of praying towns, some of the regulations placed upon
the way of life of would-be-converts.

26. Elliot, John, A GRAMMAR OF THE MASSACHUSETTS INDIAN LANGUAGE, new edition (Boston) 1822.

Lexical information; no ethnographic data.

27. Elliot, John, THE INDIAN PRIMER (Edinburgh) 1877.

Compiled for use in teaching reading and catechism to Indians by
the 17th century missionary. Contains no ethnographic information.

28. Elliot, John, and Thomas Mayhew, “Tears of Repentance: or, A Further Narrative of the Progress of the Gospel Amongst the Indians in New England,” MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS, Series 3, Vol. IV, 1834.

Letters dating ca. 1653; information concerning aboriginal
religious beliefs and the way of becoming a powow.

29. Ellis, G.E., “The Indians of Eastern Massachusetts,” MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON, J. Winsor, ed., Vol I. (Boston) 1880, pp. 241-71.

Deals with the history of Anglo-Indian relationships. Not much
ethnographic information.

30. Flannery, R., AN ANALYSIS OF COASTAL ALGONQUIAN CULTURE (Washington, D. C.; The Catholic University of America Press) 1939.

Trait list for southern New England; very complete, but the
inclusion of tribes other than those in the immediate Plymouth
region—i.e. Connecticut—calls for cross checking before accepting
all things as true of local Indians.

31. Freeman, Frederick, CIVILIZATION AND BARBARISM, (Cambridge: The Riverside Press) 1878.

Running account of relations between Indians and white men from
1620 to the end of King Philip’s War. Ethnographic information
is nonexistent; however, a general picture of Indian-English
relationships as they unfolded can be gained.

32. Gookin, Daniel, “Historical Collections of the Indians in New England,” MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS, Series 1, Vol I, 1792.

This is a basic source, covering all aspects of Indian culture.
Concerns mainly the Massachusetts.

33. Guernsey, S.J., “Notes on the Exploration of Martha’s Vineyard,” AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, ns. Vol. XVIII, 1916, pp. 81-97.

Discusses the investigation of some burials and the collection
of some typical artifacts (cord and fabric-impressed and incised
sherds).

34. Hawley, G., “Mashpee Indians,” MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS, Series 1, Vol. X, 1809, p. 113.

Contains 18th. century population records.

35. Hawley, Rev. Mr., “Account of an Indian Visitation, A.D. 1698,” MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS, Series 1, Vol. X, 1809, p. 129.

Concerns the location and religious conditions of various Indian
congregations of 1698.

36. Haynes, H. W., “Agricultural Implements of the New England Indians,” PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY, Vol. XXII, 1883, pp. 437-43.

Discusses shell and stone hoes and spades that might have been used
by the Indians in historic times. Information it contains is better
gotten in entirety from original sources than piecemeal here.

37. Higginson, F., “New England’s Plantation,” MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS, Series 1, 1806, pp. 117-24.

Brief ethnographic sketch, dealing with appearance, weapons,
houses, seasonal mobility, religion, and labor.

38. Howe, Henry F. PROLOGUE TO NEW ENGLAND (New York, Toronto: Farr and Rinehart, Inc.) 1943.

This book covers the voyages of exploration and the accounts
of them from the Vikings to the Pilgrims. The author provides
continuity and explanatory passages, but there are extensive
quotations from original sources, making this an excellent source
for such journalists as Verrazano, Champlain, and Smith; most
writings by them relevant to the Indians of this area are included.

39. James, Sydney V., Jr., ed., THREE VISITORS TO EARLY PLYMOUTH (Plimoth Plantation) 1963.

Contains the accounts of John Pory, Emmanuel Altham, and Issack de
Rasieres.

40. Josselyn, John, “New England’s Rarities Discovered,” TRANSACTIONS AND COLLECTIONS OF THE AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY, IV., 1860, pp. 130-238.

Main concern is the natural history of the region, but there is a
description of the dress (acculturated), ornament, and hairstyle of
an “Indian Squa”.

41. Josselyn, John, “Two Voyages to New England,” MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS, Series 3, Vol. III, 1833.

Information on Indian culture not extensive; relevant information
covers material for bows and fire-making.

42. Kitteredge, G.L., “Letters of Samuel Lee and Samuell Sewell Relating to New England and the Indians,” PUBLICATIONS OF THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS XV, 1912, pp. 142-86.

The letters consist of a series of answers to questions about
Indian culture. Unfortunately there is no existing list of the
questions. Subjects covered are mainly appearance, matters of
health, cures, hygiene, and child care. In many cases the questions
asked can be guessed, and the author’s notes as to other primary
sources on similar subjects are useful. There is no information
not already covered in other standard primary sources, but the
information here nicely confirms other writers’ observations. The
time of writing is about 1690. The Indian group of main concern is
the Narragansett.

43. Knight, M.F., “Wampanoag Indian Tales,” JOURNAL OF AMERICAN FOLKLORE, Vol. XXXVIII, 1925, pp. 134-7.

Information is 19th. and 20th. century; influences of acculturation
are obvious.

44. Leach, Douglas Edward, FLINTLOCK AND TOMAHAWK: NEW ENGLAND IN KING PHILIP’S WAR (New York: The Macmillan Company) 1959.

Contains a brief introductory sketch of Indian culture. Population
subsistence, houses, physical appearance, division of labor, etc.
are treated generally.

45. Lechford, T., PLAIN DEALING OR NEWS FROM NEW ENGLAND, J.H. Trumbull, ed., (Boston: J. K. Wiggin & William Parsons Lunt) 1868.

——also MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS, Series 3, Vol. III, 1833.

Originally published in 1642, this work does not contain a great
deal of information about Indian culture. Relevant passages concern
hairdressing, ornament, fire-making, weapons, and government.

46. Macy, Zaccheus, “A Short Journal of the First Settlement of the Island of Nantucket,” MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS, Series 1, Vol. III, 1794, pp. 155-60.

Description of settlement of the island in 1659 speaks briefly
of the Indians as kind and hospitable people. Gives population
figures in 1763 (358) prior to an epidemic in the same year that
substantially eradicated that population.

47. Miller, W.J., NOTES CONCERNING THE WAMPANOAG TRIBE OF INDIANS (Providence) 1880.

Concerns the history of English dealings with the tribe; no
ethnographic data.

48. Mooney, James, “The Aboriginal Population of America North of Mexico,” SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS, Vol. LXXX, no. 7, (February, 1928).

Gives estimate of population for the area. Presumably this is based
on historical sources rather than any formula, although he does not
say how the figures were arrived at.

49. Mooney, J., “Handbook of American Indians,” BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY, XXX, Vols. I and II, 1910, pp. 810 (vol. I), 903-4 (vol. II).

For the Wampanoag there is a brief description concerning matters
of history, linguistics, and population. There is also a list of
town names.

50. Morton, Thomas, THE NEW ENGLISH CANAAN, (Boston: The Prince Society) 1883.

This work, originally published in 1637, is a basic source for the
study of both early colonists and Indians; covers all aspects of
Indian culture. The tribe being described is the Massachusett.