The Ahquedaukenash then of the Indians, and the Aquedahcan and Aquedoctan of the English, were one and the same name, applied the fishing place, of the Indians, at the outlet of lake Winnepesaukee, now known as "The Weirs." This was called Ahquedaukee, or the Weirs, from the fact that the dams or weirs at this place were permanent ones. The Winnepesaukee is not a variable river, and at the outlet of the lake the water for some distance passed over a hard pebbly bottom, and did not average more than two feet in depth. This was an excellent place for ahquedaukenash or dams, and could not fail of being duly improved by the Indians. Accordingly as before suggested, they had here permanent weirs. Not being able to drive stakes or posts into the hard pebbly bottom of the river, they placed large rocks at convenient distances from each other, in a zig-zag line across the river. Against these they interwove their brushwood weirs, or strung their hempen nets, according to their ability. Such weirs were used in the spring and fall, both when the fish went up and down the river. Such ahquedaukenash were frequent upon this and other rivers, and the rocks thus placed in the river by the Indians, remained in their position long after the settlement of the English in that neighborhood, and were used by them for a like purpose; hence the name of weirs as continued at the present time.
In the fishing season, the whole Pennacook nation were at their home at Namaoskeag, and welcomed strangers from abroad with feasting and revelry. The first thing to be done was to make an "ahquedaukee" or weir. This was usually done after this wise: a line of stout sapling stakes was extended across the river, some ten or twelve feet apart, at a point where the bottom was soft, so that the stakes could be driven into the sand or mud. These stakes were inclined down stream, and were interwoven with birch tops and other brush wood, or nets were strung from stake to stake, so as to present an effectual barrier to the fish. On one side of the river, one or more stakes in distance were left clear of brush or nets, so that the fish might have a free passage up.
There can be little doubt of the fact, that at the outlet of the basin, at the foot of the main falls of Namaoskeag, and upon the west side of the Merrimack, a place now known as the eddy, as before suggested, that the Indians had a permanent weir, made by placing boulders of stone at convenient distances across the outlet of the basin, in like manner as at their ahquedaukenash at the outlet of the Winnepesaukee. The position was equally eligible, and had this superior advantage, that when constructed, both salmon and shad were secured in the basin above.
A run or school of fish would pass up till they met the swift water from the falls, when they would retreat in myriads down the stream, till they came in contact with the wier--here they would turn again to meet the rushing school from above. Thus in a little time the capacious basin above the weir would be filled, and black with fish,-- the strong and athletic salmon throwing himself out of the water in his affright and rage. This was the favorable time for the Indian fishers. The watch would give the signal, and the birch canoes would speed their way to the scene, an Indian in the stern of each plying his light paddle, and another in each bow with a spear or dip-net, according to his ability or ingenuity. When fish were so penned up as it were, it required but little skill to catch them, and a thrust with the spear, or a dip of the net, was seldom unsuccessful. When the canoes were filled, or the fishers became tired of their labor or sport, the fish were taken to the shore and delivered over to the squaws, who stood ready with their knives, and dressing the fish, split them and laid them in the sun to dry, or hung them upon the centre-pole of their wigwams to smoke. Each night was passed in dancing and feasting, a kind of Thanksgiving for the success of the day. At these fishing seasons lover's vows were plighted, marriages were consummated, speeches made, and treaties formed. There can be little doubt that it was a fishing season at Namaoskeag, when in 1660 Passaconnaway made his dying speech, spoken of by Hubbard, and that here too both Passaconnaway, and Wannalancet his son, heard the apostle Eliot preach to their people, and set the example to their followers of publicly recommending the Christian religion.
Another method of taking fish, practised extensively by the Indians, was 'by spearing them in the night time, by torch light. This kind of fishing was practised in the spring and when the water is, too cold for "schooling," and the fish solitary in their habits, and lay near the shore. The spear stood in the bow of the boat with his spear, while the torch-bearer stood near him to show the fish. A third man propelled the boat gently along, and stopped the boat when a fish was in sight, at a signal from the spearman, to give him an opportunity to strike the fish. To be successful in this kind of fishery required great dexterity, as the canoe would careen with the slightest touch, and their spear was constructed of a single pike of stone, properly adjusted to a pole. Yet with this rude instrument they were successful fishermen, both by day and night. In short, the Indians were most expert in all kinds of fishing--except with the hook--and with that even, made of bone, they were successful. Their fish hook was made of two pieces of bone--one piece for the shank, and another for the hook or barb fastened to the end of the shank. The shank was usually from the leg or wing bone of some bird. The lower end was scarfed off to a point on one side, and another piece of bone of the same size, and an inch, or inch-and-a-half in length, was scarfed at one end to fit the scarf of the shank. The pieces were then fastened together with sinews, and the upper end of the short piece being sharpened, the hook was completed. The line was made of Indian hemp, or of the inner bark of the elm, chestnut and other trees.
It is most probable that the Indians took fish with the bone hook after the peculiar manner that may be called hooking, for we can hardly conceive of their taking them in the usual manner with so clumsy an instrument. Hooking fish was often practiced in the winter upon the Winnepesaukee, in former years, if not now, and was doubtless a mode of fishing borrowed from the Indians.
The mode was thus: The fisherman first cut a hole in the ice, usually near the entrance of some brook into the lake, and at a place the water was of convenient depth. Near the hole he placed a plank, or for want of this, hemlock or pine boughs. Upon the plank, or boughs the fisherman stretched himself at his length, looking upon the bottom of the lake through the hole in the ice, having in his right hand a slender, straight stick, of such length as somewhat more than reached whale in connection with taking other fish, it is fair to presume that they attacked the "Leviathan of the deep" when he made his appearance upon the coast. That they took large fish, such as the sturgeon, porpoise and albicore, with a great deal of skill, and with an instrument somewhat like, and answering all the purposes of the modern harpoon, is evident and susceptible of proof. Roger Williams says, speaking of the sturgeon, (Kanposh) "Divers parts of the country abound with this fish, yet the natives, from the goodness and greatness of it, much prize it, and will neither furnish the English with so many, nor so cheap, that any great trade is likely to be made out of it, UNTIL THE ENGLISH THEMSELVES ARE FIT TO FOLLOW THE FISHING." Thus whatever the method was of taking this fish and other large ones, it seems the English did not then know how to practice it.
But Jocelyn, who was here in 1638, more than two hundred years ago, describes the method of taking these large fish. He says, "The Bass and Blue-fish they (the Indians) take in Harbors and at the mouth of barred rivers, being in their canoes, striking them with their fishgig, a kind of dart or staff, to the lower end whereof they fasten a sharp, jagged bone (since they make them of Iron) with a string fastened to it, as soon as the fish is struck, they pull away the staff, leaving the bony head in the fishes body and fasten the other end to the canoe. Thus they will hale after them to shore half a dozen or half a score great fishes: this way they take sturgeon."2 This is almost precisely the method of taking the whale. The form of the harpoon was the same, save that the rope was fastened to the head of it, instead of the handle, arid the head was made to be separated from the handle, and to be left in the fish. Whereas, now the iron head and handle of the harpoon are inseparable. Thus it would seem that the use of the harpoon in taking large fish, as well as the manner of thus taking them, was unknown to the English that first came to New England, and that they acquired a knowledge of its use from the natives.
Upon the sea-coast, the Indians caught large quantities of fish with their hemp nets in the following manner. They stretched these nets across small creeks and rivulets by means of stales driven into the mud, after the manner of their weirs. The fish would run up the creeks at flood tide, over and around the nets, but when the tide ebbed, they would naturally betake themselves to the channel of the creek, and thus would be left above the nets, often on dry ground, or in such shoal water as to be easily secured by the Indians. Net fishing is pursued in a like manner, at the present time, on the seacoast of Maine, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, both by the Indians and the Whites.
As with other Indians, agriculture, hunting, and fishing, and the making of the implements necessary to prosecute these avocations successfully, seem to have been the appropriate duties of the men, among the Pennacooks, before the advent of the Europeans ; but after their arrival, the Indian men imposed the duties of the planting ground and garden upon their women, together with the drudgery of the wigwam while war, hunting and fishing were considered the appropriate labor of the men.
The labor of tilling the soil, thus imposed upon the women, and the toils of hunting and fishing being rendered light and easy by the introduction of guns, traps, hooks. and the like, by the Europeans, agriculture became of very little consequence to the Indians, and they spent their time in idleness--soon had little or no attachment to the soil; became migratory, choosing to lounge about the skirts of civilization, and to adopt most of the vices, and very few of the virtues of their white neighbors. Thus this change of habit in the Pennacooks, as in other Indians, from tillers of the soil to warriors and hunters,--mere idlers, was the bane of their tribe. The agriculture of the Pennacooks was confined to the raising of corn, beans, melons, squashes, pumpkins, and gourds, and to the digging of groundnuts and the gathering of acorns, walnuts, and chesnuts.
Rude and simple implements were alone necessary,--the axe and the hoe. Intervales, or meadows--probably the bottoms of ponds or lakes--their waters having subsided through outlets formed in their disintegrated barriers, were usually chosen by the Indians, as their planting grounds. Such choice furnished them with fertile soils, and saved them the labor of felling trees, as these Intervales were usually bare of trees of large growth, or such were so scattered, as to give little obstruction to the growth of their corn and other vegetables; and by the process of girdling, could be removed by decay in a few years. Such were their planting grounds upon our rivers. Upon the sea-coast, they were under the necessity of clearing their lands and destroyed trees by girdling and burning. The trees were so thick, and so interwoven with vines and underbrush, that a fire set in the proper season, was almost sure to clear the ground sufficiently for Indian cultivation. If some monarch oak remained unscathed, the shell-knife of the squaw inflicted upon it. the deadly girdle, and deprived of its sap, it decayed with equal certainty.
The soil was dug up with the axe and hoe. The axe or hatchet, called the tomhegun or tomahawk, was made at first of wood, and afterwards of granite or slate, and had a groove cut around it near the head--instead of an eye, and which held the handle.
The handle was a mere withe, or sapling, so pliant as to be bent around the axe, in this groove, and was then fastened or tied with the roots of the spruce, or with the sinews of animals. They sometimes formed their hatchet handles by a more slow, but surer process. They selected a small, straight hickory, oak, or other tough sapling of the proper size, and splitting it as it stood, thrust the stone axe through the cleft till the parts closed around the axe, in the groove made for that purpose. They there left it till such time as the sapling, in its growth, enclosed the axe firmly within its wood. The sapling was then cut at the proper length, and fashioned into shape according to the taste and skill of the owner. With this axe, the Indians felled their trees, cut their wood, chipped and formed stones into other axes, dug up bushes and roots, and formed the "hills for the reception of their seed-corn and other vegetables. It was their main instrument in agriculture, as well as
Other business, and was in use all through the tribes of Northern North Amierica. The Micmac of Nova Scotia, used it in constructing his canoe, and fashioning his pipe; the Iroquois of New York, in building his fort, and forming his sledge and the Ojibway in hammering his native copper on the Ontonagon river, or in cleaving his pipe-stone from the quarry of St. Peters.
Their hoe was made of granite sometimes, and in the shape like carpenter's adz, with the groove instead of an eye for the handle, which was fastened in like manner, with the handle of. the axe. Their hoes were generally made of clam shells, however, fastened to stiff handles.
Their only dressing was fish. After their planting grounds became exhausted, and the location was desirable, they dressed them with fish--putting an alewife or shad to each hill of corn or other vegetable, These fish were found in abundance in planting time, in every brook or rivulet that is tributary to the Merrimack. So plentiful were they, that the women, the wives of the first settlers, shoveled them out of the brooks with fire slices and "shod~shovels," while their husbands were in the fields preparing for their reception as manure--a kind of husbandry they had adopted from the Indians.
The Pennacooks commenced their preparation for planting, "When the oak leaf became as large as a mouse's ear." This was their rule as given to the first settlers.
They planted in rows, much the same as we do at present. The crows, which they called "Kaukont," from the sound of its caw or screech, devoured the young corn, and to prevent the depredations of this and other birds, small lodges were built in the fields, in which the elder children watched, and the men themselves oftentimes. They did not kill these crows, as they held them as sacred, as their greatest benefactors. They had a belief, that a crow brought their first kernel of corn and a bean into the country from the outhwest--a present from their Great Manit, "Kautantonwit's" field, in the south west. From this kernel of corn, and this bean, they supposed they derived all their corn and beans.
Hence, they thought the crow entitled to a share, and did not offer a bounty for his head, even though he might at times take more than was fairly his share.
Their corn was of various sorts and colors, and was cured in various ways. Much of it was used when green, either boiled or roasted for immediate use; and still another portion was gathered when in the milk, and dried in the sun upon mats for fall and winter use. The corn thus prepared, was called sweet corn, and when boiled or soaked and roasted, had much the same taste as green corn thus prepared. The ripe corn was gathered into heaps, and dried thoroughly and put by for parching, and grinding. They generally parched their corn before grinding, or pounding rather, as they usually pounded their corn with stone pestles, in wooden mortars. Their pestles were usually of granite but often of other stone. They were often elaborately finished, and sometimes upon the top of them there was an attempt at rude sculpture. Dr. Belknap speaks of one, upon which was sculptured the head of a Serpent.
Their mortars were often formed of stone, but were more usually formed out of the transverse section of a log, and often times were made in the top of a stump. Their parched corn meal they preserved in leathern bags, ate it with their meat, taking a little of it between their fingers, and placing it in their mouths. It was called Nokehick. Mixed with water and boiled into "hasty pudding," or mush, it was called "Nasamp." Hence our English word, "Samp," which is applied to a 'hasty pudding," or mush made of new corn ground very coarsely. Green corn and beans mixed and boiled together were called "Succotash." Hence our English name of Succotash applied to a variety of corn, excellent when green, for boiling. Oftentimes, the Indians would put a portion of their ripe corn into mats and bury it in the sand. The beans, they thought, originated with their corn, with their Great Manit in the south west. They were of various colors, and no doubt were varieties of the Mexican bean. They were mostly picked green for immediate use or drying, so as to preserve the taste of the green bean when cooked. A part were permitted to ripen, and as with us, were cooked different ways. The variety mostly by them was the one known as the "Kidney bean."
They had gourds of various kinds. The common gourd they cultivated for dippers and musical instruments, use and pleasure.
Other specimens of the gourd were cultivated for their edible properties, and were designated by the general name of Askutaquash. The English preserved only the last syllable of the word as spoken by the Indians, and have continued it to this day-- squash being applied to particular species of the Gourd or Pompion, wich has become one of the vegetable luxuries of the modern table. How many persons are aware of the fact, when partaking of this luxurious and nutritious vegetable, that
the name, and some of the best varieties of the squash, are of Indian origin.
They cultivated the Water Melon and the Pompion or Pumpkin. The water melon was used in fevers. The squash and pumpkin were cooked by boiling or steaming, and often eaten raw.
Hunting, with the Pennacooks and other ancient Indians, before the arrival of the Europeans, was a labor, as may well be supposed.
The bow, tomahawk, spear and knife, were the only weapons of offence or defence; and these were of the rudest kind.
The bow of the Pennacooks was usually made of Walnut, White Ash, or White Oak. The arrow was pointed with stone; sometimes of fine granite, but oftener of quartz and slate. The spear head and knife were of the same materials.
The bow was in. constant use by the Indians from childhood and they became wonderful proficients in its use. When bending the bow, the string was drawn with three fingers, while the fore finger and thumb held the arrow. In this manner, a strong man could bend a very stiff bow, and one too that would throw an arrow with very great velocity.
Under favorable circumstances, an athletic Indian would send an arrow entirely through a bear or moose, so that the arrow would go at some distance, after having passed through the animal, and fall to the ground with its spent force.
It is said by Major Long, that under favorable positions, the Indians of the West, will send an arrow through the body of a bison or buffaloe.
The Pennacooks, unlike the Indians of the present day, had no horses for the chase. They approached their game by stealth, and to get within bow-shot, required much skill and practice, and was a severe labor, and often unsuccessful at last. Hence, other contrivances were resorted to. A common one, and upon an extensive scale, was the driving yard. A well known resort for moose and deer was selected (and enclosed on two sides of a triangle, forming a figure like the letter V. At the apex of the angle, a space was left open for the game to pass through, and near this open space, the marksmen were placed to shoot what game might pass. The less experienced of the Indians were sent out to beat the woods, and to drive the game within the enclosure. Once within this, the drivers closed up, and the game attempting to escape through the open space, were shot down by the marksmen. In this way, they were often successful in taking moose and deer. They often set snares of ropes at the open space of the drive, which being attached to the tops of saplings bent down for the purpose, would lift the game high in the air, in like manner as boys at the present time, with the same kind of snare, upon a small scale, take and suspend hares and partridges.
The English, before becoming acquainted with this kind of trap, were sometimes taken with them and suspended in mid air, much to their own astonishment, and to the amusement of their companions. Thus, in November, 1620, soon after the arrival of the "Mayflower," as Stephen Hopkins, William Bradford, and others were walking in the woods, they came to a tree where a young sprit was bowed down over a bow, and some acorns strewed underneath. As Bradford went about it, it gave a sudden jerk up, and he was immediately caught up by the legs, and hung dangling in the air!
They often selected a point or cape for these drives. The point of land extending from Auburn into the Massabesic, (Massa-nipe-sauke much pond place,) over which the "Derry Turnpike" passed in Auburn, was thus used for a "drive." The deer were driven upon the point, and then shot upon the shore; or, if they took to the water, they were pursued in canoes and taken. This point of land is now called "Deer Neck," from this circumstance. Another Indian "drive" was at "Fox Point," Newington, a point extending into the Piscataqua. It is used for a fox drive, at the present day. The hunters assemble upon the Greenland road, forming an unbroken line of drivers at short distances from each other, from Portsmouth Plains to Greenland. They then close up towards "Fox Point," shouting, blowing horns, and making such a general din, as shall start up all the foxes in the pine woods, far and near. As they approach the extremity of the point, they send forward their marksmen to shoot the game. The fox will not take to the water, and becomes an easy prey.
In like manner, the Indians took deer at this very place in olden times, and the present practice of hunting the fox for boisterous amusement, is one borrowed from the natives, in their necessity.
The bear and smaller game were often taken in the wooden trap, called by the Indians, "Kulheag." The kulheag was large or small according to the size of the game intended to be trapped.
A tree or sapling was first placed upon the ground in a place frequented by the game. Near the large end of the tree or sapling, two stakes of the proper size and length were driven into the earth, one on either side, to 'keep it in its place. Directly over this another tree or sapling was placed, with the top or small end resting upon the bottom log or tree, and its large end suspended to a proper height betwixt the stakes, by the usual contrivance of the "figure 4," or by a small cord connected with a spindle. Upon the spindle such "bait" was placed, as to be the most palatable to the animal sought;-- and if the slightest nibble was made at the "bait," the curious intruder was secured by the fall of the suspended tree or sapling. The kulheag was a simple, but formidable and successful trap. With it, the Indians caught the Bear, Beaver, Lynx, and Sable; or, as the Pennacooks would say, the Moshq, Tumunk, Psoughk and Whoppernocker.
A necessary part of an Indian hunter's outfit, was his rackets or snow shoes, and, the canoe. The racket consisted of a hoop of oval. form, two feet in length, by a foot and a quarter in. breadth; interlaced with sinews, or thongs of leather, and so strong as to bear the weight of a man. Near the front part of the racket was placed a strong strap of proper length, and fastened at each end transversely or across the lacing. Into this strap or thong, or rather under it, the foot was thrust and fastened, leaving the racket disengaged from the heel. This arrangement relieved the traveler; as the racket at every step, dragged its heel upon the snow, instead of rising with the foot, and thus was rid of the loose snow upon the top of it.--With the racket, the Indians could walk over deep snows with great speed, and could thus overtake the fleet deer, and powerful moose, encumbered and tired by that obstacle, which human ingenuity had overcome, on the part of the pursuer.
The canoe of the Pennacook was made of birch bark, stayed with hoops and splints of the spruce. A suitable tree was selected and felled. The bark was then slit with a knife, lengthwise of the tree, and peeled off in one piece. A sapling of some tough wood, usually ash, maple, or walnut, was split into two parts, made smooth, and of the requisite form. These were tied together at both ends, and then spread apart to the proper width and shape, and fastened in their position by stout cross pieces of proper length, and securely fastened with sinews, or the roots of the spruce, or the root of a small shrub called by the Indians "Wickapee." These pieces of sapling thus stayed and secured, constituted the gunwale of the canoe. It was taken and placed within the birch bark, and the edges of the back sewed or fastened to the gunwale with roots. Splints of maple, ash, pine, or cedar, five or six feet in length, two or three inches wide, and an eighth or half of an inch in thickness were then placed lengthwise of the inside of the bark, and were secured to their places by strong hoops placed transverse of them, and fastened to the gunwale of the canoe. These hoops gave form to the boat as well as confined the splints, which were for the protection of the bark. Pitch was applied to the cracks and seams of the bark, and also to the splints, to keep them more firmly in their places. These canoes upon our river, were from twelve to twenty feet in length, and would carry from two to six hunters with their baggage. The canoes for lake or sea-coast service, were much longer and wider; and capable of carrying from six to twenty men each. They were propelled by small paddles, and those riding were invariably seated upon the bottom of the canoe. A river canoe is easily carried by two Indians across portages; and when carried, is placed bottom upwards upon the head and shoulders, a cross piece resting upon the back of each Indian. They are a treacherous affair to those not initiated, but to the Indians, they afford the best means of conveyance upon the water, and without his bark canoe he would be miserable.
They will stand a stiff breeze and a rough sea, and in Passamaquoddy Bay, and the entrance of the Bay of Fundy, when the Steamer "Maid of Erin," was laboring against a strong tide, and a stiff breeze "dead a head," the Micmacs were "scudding" athwart our bows in their birch canoes, trimmed with "leg o' mutton sails," and with the most perfect impunity!
Of these canoes, John Jocelyn, June 28, 1639, being a passenger on board the Fellowship, then lying in Boston Harbor, thus speaks:--
"In the afternoon, I returned to our ship; being no sooner aboard but we had the sight of an Indian Pinnace, sailing by us, made of birch bark, sewed together with the roots of spruce and white cedar (drawn out into threads) with a deck, and trimmed with sails, top and top-gallant, very sumptuously."3
The Indian women had to build the wigwams, gather the wood, till the ground, carry the luggage, and perform all the culinary duties of the wigwam. The wigwam was constructed by planting some eight or ten saplings in the ground in a circular form, the tops being bent over and fastened together.
This rude frame was covered with bark, excepting a space in the top for the smoke to pass out. There was also an opening left in the side of the wigwam, towards the north, and another towards the south, to answer the purpose of a doorway. Deer skin's, or those of some other animals were hung at these apertures to answer the purpose of doors; and were pushed aside when they wished to enter or pass out. In the centre of the wigwam a pole was planted reaching to the top of the same. Into this pole, at the proper height, a large pin was driven, upon which to hang the kettle of clay, copper, or iron.
Against the bottom of the pole, and directly under this pin, was placed a large flat stone, against which the fire was made, and which protected the pole from injury by burning. Upon this pole, they hung their fish to dry, and there, too, they hung the scalps of their enemies whom they had slain.
Mats were placed round upon the ground, and upon these, they sat, took their meals, and slept. Their cooking was very simple. Meat, they roasted upon split sticks or forks of wood, and if they were too poor to own an earthern or copper kettle, they boiled their nasamp or hominy, and their vegetables in a wooden trough by throwing hot rocks into the water. They used dishes of birch bark, and drank from clam and gourd shells, or from cups made of birch bark. They sometimes baked their meat in a hole in the ground; the hole being partially filled with rocks and heated. The meat was then wrapped in leaves and bark, and then covered with other hot stones, and last, the whole was covered up with loam. If a slack bake was anticipated, fire was built upon the top of this simple oven, and continued until the meat was thoroughly cooked.
They ate their food from their fingers, without the aid of the fork. The men were first served, and usually finished their meals before the squaws partook. Great deference was always paid to the men by the women, particularly when in the wigwam. For a woman to step over the bow, arrow, hatchet, or pipe of a man, when they were lying on the ground even, was a great indecorum, and to be severely reprimanded. From these facts, it will be seen that the household duties were not very arduous. Sweeping, dusting, and the washing of dishes, were not of every day occurrence. Still there were great labor and heavy burdens imposed upon the Indian women. They had to raise the corn and all the other vegetables cultivated by the Indians. For this purpose, they must prepare the ground, plant and hoe the corn, beans, pumpkins, squashes and melons. This they did thoroughly, it would seem, as Roger Williams says, 'they plant it, dress it, gather it, beat it, and take as much pains with it as any people in the world;" and again, "the men assist in breaking up the fields; they also burn down the trees and burn or cut the saplings for the wigwam poles." "When they brake up a field," says Williams, "they had a very loving, sociable, speedy way to despatch it;" somewhat like our huskings, and apple bees. "All the neighbors, men and women, forty, fifty, a hundred, &c., join and come to help freely." Thus they broke up their fields and built their forts.
The women of a family would often raise thirty or forty bushels of ears of corn and secure it properly.
It was the duty of the women to grind or pound the corn. This was done with the pestle and mortar. It was a laborious work. The pestle was of stone, and weighed from five to ten pounds. It was made with some sort of a head to it, to which to fasten a cord, and the other end of the cord was fastened to the top of a sapling, or pole, which would bend readily, and which would thus lift the pestle at every spring, and ease the labor of the squaw.
Their wigwams were usually twelve or fourteen feet in diameter, and were often fitted up with comfort, particularly for the winter season. They were often lined with mats of rushes, and bark, and these were most curiously wrought in colors. The women were very skilful and ingenious in embroidering their mats, moccasins, and baskets, and in such work, they were diligently occupied, when nothing more pressing required their labor.
The wigwam for the summer was a frail and temporary affair, as it was removed from the winter encampment, to the fishing place, and from thence to the planting ground, then from one field to the other, and then again, oftentimes, from one spot in the field to another, to get rid of the fleas, which were numerous in hot weather, and which insect they called Poppek, from its celerity of movement.
The squaws not only displayed great ingenuity in their embroidery of mats, &c., but also in working in feathers. Their feather mantles were most beautiful; and the coronets they wrought for the Sagamons were of splendid appearance. There was one of these ornaments presented to President Wheelock, of Dartmouth College, and which was worn by a Sagamon, that would have graced the head of Wellington. It was coved with scarlet feathers, probably from the Scarlet Tanager, and in form not unlike a German cap, making an unique appearance.
The Indian women of the higher class, were very affectionate to their husbands, to their children, and to each other. There was seldom any difficulty among them, even when two or more wives dwelt in one wigwam. Among the Indians of substance, the wife employed some one to assist in taking care of the children. Often an old man would come into the wigwam, and divert the children with his stories for which service he was always requited with nasamp, succotash, or some savory morsel. The Indian men and women were noted for their hospitality. A stranger happening in their village was entertained by the Chief. If he went into a wigwam, he was not asked if he had dined or supped, but the squaws placed food before him without the asking and he was invited to partake and was expected to do so. They felt injured if their food was refused by declining to partake of it.
Next after the food, the pipe was offered, and to refuse this was to insult them: If you ate only a single mouthful, or smoked a single whiff, they were satisfied.
The Indian children were kept lashed to the cradle till they could sit alone, and often afterwards. When necessary to convey them away, they were always carried upon the cradle. The cradle consisted of a piece of board two feet and a half in length by one foot in width. A row of holes was made the whole length of the board, upon each side and one or two inches from the edges. Across the foot of the board, a piece of wood was fastened some three inches wide, as a support for the feet of the child. A thin pad of deer skin was fastened sometimes across the head of the board as a support for the child's head but they were often without this appendage. To the head of the board was attached a strap of moose leather, by which to suspend the cradle from the pole of the wigwam, or upon the mother's back, the strap passing about her forehead. To this board the Indian babe was tied with thongs, lying upon its back. In this position the babe was carried from place to place upon its mother's back, or suspended from the branch of a tree, when she was in the field, or from the pole of the wigwam when she was about her domestic work.
To divert the child, playthings were often suspended over its head and within its reach, from a hoop at the top of the board, for that purpose, while the mother was ever ready to chant a "lullaby," in no unpleasant strains. By this treatment, the limbs of the Indian children were of perfect symmetry, and their bodies assumed an erect position, traits so remarkably developed in the adult Indians.
Polygamy was practiced among the Pennacooks, and a man and wife could separate without ceremony. Yet separation took place but seldom. An elopement sometimes took place, but was punished in a most summary manner.
The Pennacooks stood pre-eminent among the Indians as warriors. War with them--war of conquest, was a settled and fixed purpose. And they followed out this purpose, till, under the counsels of the renowned Passaconnaway, they had subjected to their power, or secured their alliance, by conquest, negotiation, or marriage, the Wachusetts, Saugusaukes, Agawams, Wamesits, Pawtuckets, Nashuas, Namaoskeags, Coosaukes, Winnepesaukies, Pequauquaukes, Newichewannocks, Piscataquaukes, Sqamscotts, Winnecowetts, Sacos, and Amariscoggins.
The Pennacooks, within the scope of our New England history, sent into the battle field, noted and skilful warriors. The bravery, skill, and address of Passaconnaway, is proved by the extent of the confederacy of which he was the acknowledged head, while the attack upon Salmon Falls, and "Cocheco," with the fierce battle at Pequauquauke, show the skill and courage of Kancamagus, Mesandowit and Wahowah,--Pennacook Chiefs of a later day.
Their weapons of offence were the bow and arrow, the tomahawk, and scalping knife. The bow was displaced with the Pennacooks, by the light French shot-gun; and in their use, they became as expert as the French and English hunters themselves.
Their tomahawk, originally, was but a billet of wood--consisting of a handle about two feet and a half-long, with a knob upon the end of it, very much like the war-clubs of the Indians of the Pacific Islands of the present day.
Hatchets of istone were likewise used; and after the advent of iron and steel, took their places.
These at first were made with no great skill--having a "bit" of steel, with an "eye" for the handle, somewhat like that of the hoe now in use. They afterwards became to be elaborately finished, and oftentimes of the most exquisite workmanship, the blade of polished steel, and the head fashioned into a pipe, and the handle used as a stem--doing a great deal of credit to the skill of their English and French manufacturers, if not to their humanity.
The scalping knife was originally of stone, but this, in like manner, gave place to the finished cutlery of the French and English. War was determined upon the Chiefs in Council, and once determined upon, the principal Chief announced the conclusion of the Council to the young warriors, and asked their assistance. The beating up recruits, or enlisting, was practiced in various ways; but always with much ceremony. One method was by a dance, which may be called "The Fire
Brand Dance." Brushwood, pitch knots, clubs, and sticks were gathered in an immense pile near the wigwam of the Sagamon. The Sagamon and his principal Chiefs formed a ring around this pile of brush, setting cross legged upon the ground.
Next to these, the warriors formed a second ring; and back of these, the old men, women and children were mixed without order or rank. The pile being fired, in due time, the principal Chief stepped into the ring and dancing around, flourished his tomahawk and knife, naming his exploits, and the people with whom he was at enmity. At the mention of every enemy, he would strike the fire with his hatchet, seize a brand, flourish it about in numberless vibrations with his hands, and contorting his body into every conceivable shape, he would bury his hatchet deep in the ground and leave the ring. Others would follow, and in the same manner dance about the fire, and fight it; closing with burying their hatchets in the ground till the whole of the warriors inclined to follow the war path, had joined in the dance. Every man who joined in the dance, was considered as enlisted for the war.
Another "War Dance" was performed in like manner around a sapling in the grove, or one standing near the wigwam of the Sagamon. After relating their adventures, as they danced about the ring, each warrior closed his dance by striking his tomahawk into the sapling; and every one who struck the sapling, was universally claimed as a volunteer upon the war path.
The Chief then appointed his rendezvous, and the warriors repaired to their wigwams to make their slight preparations for their departure.
The "Fire Brand Dance," was usually performed in the night after a feast for the occasion, while the "Sapling Dance," was performed in the day time.
At the appointed time, each warrior was at the place of rendezvous. To be tardy, was a blot upon a warriors character. His bow and quiver of arrows, tomahawk, scalping-knife, pipe, tobacco, paint, and a pouch of parched corn meal completed his outfit for the longest war path. Their faces were besmeared with red and black paints, without reference to any other effect than that of producing terror. Upon the breast was usually painted the totem of the tribe, that is, the particular animal or bird held in veneration by the tribe, and in connection with this, the individual totem of the Sagamon or Chief. The totem or family arms of the Pennacooks, and Passaconaway their Chief, was a Bear. The quiver was worn upon the back, and suspended by a belt passing over the right shoulder. The knife was hung upon the girdle, worn invariably about the loins by all the Indians; and to this also was attached the tobacco, meal, and medicine pouches. A mantle or coat of fur was drawn about the shoulders and loins, and flowing or fastened by the girdle which fastened the covering of the legs, reached to the knees, and was ornamented with the pendent tail of the animal, of whose skin it was made. As a substitute for fur, the mantle was often made of feathers of the turkey and wild duck, which sewed upon skin or cloth, made a fine appearance. Oftentimes, the mantle was made of the neck skins of aquatic birds, with the bills attached to them, and pendent in rows about the mantle. Mantles of the skins of the necks of grey geese, with the bills hanging in this manner, are spoken of by Jocelyn, as being very striking, and beautiful.
The feet were covered with moccasins, and to complete the out-fit of the Indian war costume, a feather of the hawk or eagle, was fastened very curiously in the scalp lock. The Pennacook and other New England Chiefs, wore a kind of cap or coronet upon State occasions, but upon the war path, the feather in the scalp lock was the usual ornament of the head.
When about making war upon a weaker tribe or one their equal, a herald was sometimes sent to make known the fact. A snake skin with a bundle of arrows, or a snake skin filled with powder and balls, were the usual symbols of war-like intentions upon such occasions. The recipients then had their choice, of peace or war. If they were inclined to negotiation or peace, the pipe was usually returned by the messenger. But if determined for war, an answer of defiance was returned, and the tribe prepared for attack or defence.
But their attacks were more often made in secret. They would hover around the village or residence of their enemy, waiting for a fitting opportunity for ambush or open attack, and when the favorable time arrived, would rush upon the foe, shouting the war whoop and filling the air with their savage yells. The 'war whoop' was a yell made loud and long and consisted of two notes, the last much higher than the former and both were uttered distinctly, but rapidly, and with the full force of the lungs. It was given only when rushing to the attack. It was a yell of terror, and followed with the savage attack was one that struck dismay and horror into the stoutest hearts.
When an attack was made, the killing the foe was not the only object to be attained by the warrior. He must show proof of his prowess. Hence the custom of scalping. When an Indian saw an enemy fall by his arrow or bullet, if opportunity offered, he immediately rushed up, finished him with his tomahawk., if not already dead, and took his scalp. If the battle raged, and there was no opportunity to approach without risk of being hit or taken, he waited till the end of the conflict. Scalping was performed in this manner:
The Indian placed his foot upon the neck of his prostrate enemy, twisted the fingers of his left hand into his scalp lock, with the knife in his right, dexterously made a circular gash around the lock, and tearing the scalp from the head with the left hand, fastened it to his girdle with a yell of triumph, which gave notice to his comrades of his success.
The scalps of their enemies, were treasured trophies, displayed upon the pole of the wigwam, and attached to the person of the warrior on state occasions. When the village of St. Francis was destroyed by Major Rogers and his party in 1759, six hundred scalps, it is said, were found attached to the poles of the wigwams of the Indians inhabiting that village.4
Returning from an expedition unsucessful, the warriors came into their village without ceremony and if any of their numbers had been killed, the squaws filled the air with their wails and howlings.
But if successful in their expedition, great ceremony attended their return to their village. Arriving within a short distance of their village, a herald was sent forward to announce the approach of the party. If captives and scalps had been taken, great was the rejoicing, and peculiar the parade. The Pennacooks, and probably other New England Indians, performed the ceremony of making their captives run the "Gantlet," as it was called. This ceremony consisted in compelling their prisoners as they entered their village, to pass through two continuous lines of Indians, composed of all at home, who were able to wield a club or raise their feet, and these struck and kicked the prisoners as they passed through the lines. A striking example of this ceremony is given as performed upon two of our New Hampshire men, John Stark of Derryfield, (now Man-chester,) and Amos Eastman of Pennacook, (now Concord,) who were taken prisoners in 1752, and carried to St. Francis. If one of the warriors fell in the attack, the mother or wife, had the choice of the death of a captive or the adoption of one to take the place of the deceased. Among the Pennacooks, adoption of the captive was usually chosen. The "Scalp Dance" was sometimes performed on the return of a war party. This differed little from the other Indian dances, save that each Indian hung to his girdle, the scalp locks he had taken in his other wars if he had taken any, while the fresh scalps were held by the hair between his teeth. The Indians thus garnished with these horrid trophies, took a stooping posture, so that the scalps, suspended from their teeth might not touch their bodies, and in such positions, commenced the most hideous cries, and furious stamping, jumping and dancing
On great occasions, and in their villages, the dancers often kept time to the music of a drum, and the chanting of singers, the drum consisting of the section of a hollow log, on one end of which was stretched the prepared skin of an animal. This was struck with a single stick, made no very bad music. The running the gantlet, as before stated, was the usual ceremony, when the war party returned with captives; and the 'Scalp Dance' was performed when scalps were obtained by the returning war party.
Footnotes
about like mad men; ever and anon, taking the scalps from their teeth, to recite the incidents connected with the killing of the enemy, and then replacing them, to continue the frantic dance, with redoubled fury. These dances were truly horrible, and led Nathaniel Segar, who witnessed one in l781 on the sources of the Amariscoggin, as performed by Tom Hegon and his party, to this quaint and laconic description. "Such scenes are beyond description. Their actions are inconceivable. It would seem that bedlam had broken loose, and that hell was in an uproar!"
2Mass. His. Coll. Vol. III. 3d series, page 230. Return
3See Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. Vol. III. 3d Senes p. 230. Return
4 Roger's Reminicences of the French War. Return
