Pokanoket nation, they did not in 1674, much exceed three hundred of all descriptions.

5. The Pawtuckets, extended from the Massachusetts nation, as far as the limits of Massachusetts province. Under their dominion, were the Pennakooks, Aggawams, Naumkeiks, Piscataquas, Accomentas, and some other tribes. Once their number was about three thousand; but like the two last mentioned nations, they were very much diminished by the fatal epidemic that has been mentioned, and in 1674, but about two hundred and fifty warriors remained.

The Indians northward of Piscataqua river, and west of the Connecticut, are not included in the account of Gookins. But from others, it appears that the natives northerly of the former river, including the territory, now Main, were called Abenequas, or Tarrateens. These were divided into many tribes, both on the sea coast, and the interior country. By the French, the eastern Indians were called Etechemins; and whether the tribes were any way united does not appear. To the west of Connecticut river, extending a short distance west of the Hudson, and into the present state of Vermont, was a nation called Mohicans, or Muhheakunnucks; their chief seat was at Albany, called by them Pempotawuthut, or the place of fire; the Stockbridge tribe belonged to this nation. Muhhaakunnuk, in their language is said to signify a great water, or sea, that is constantly in motion, either flowing or ebbing; and these Indians state that they came from a country far to the west, where they lived in towns, by the side of a great water or sea; and were very numerous until compelled to scatter, by reason of a great famine.* Westward of this people, was the powerful confederacy of the five nations, with which the New England people had no intercourse, excepting with the Mowhawks, residing on the river of that name in the province of New York.

In Connecticut, according to Dr. Trumbull, the Indians were more numerous, in proportion to the extent of country, than in other parts of New England. From accounts handed down, he estimates them from twelve thousand to sixteen thousand, as the minimum, and twenty thou* Massachusetts Hist. Collection, Vol. ix, p. 99-old series.

sand as the maximum of their former population. On Connecticut river, alone, he says, four thousand warriors might be raised, the principal part within the towns of Middletown, Weathersfield, Hartford and Windsor; and in 1670, their bowmen were reckoned at two thousand. In Middletown was the seat of Sowheag, the sachem of the Indians at that place, and those at Weathersfield. At Chatham, East Haddam and Lyme, were seated the Wongung, Machemoodus, and western Nehanticks, and in East Windsor, near the south line, resided the Podunks, who at the commencement of Philip's war, consisted of two or three hundred, most of whom joined his forces; at East Hartford was the Hoccanum tribe.*

On Connecticut river, in Massachusetts, were several tribes. The Aggawams at Sprinfield, Nonaticks at Northampton, Pocumtucks at Deerfield, and Squakheags at Northfield; all of which were sometimes designated by the general name of Pocumtucks.-At Westfield was a tribe called Waranokes. Several tribes were seated within the county of Worcester, in Massachusetts; of these the Qinaboags at Brookfield, the Nashuas at Lancaster, and the Nipmucks in the southwest quarter of the county, extending into Connecticut, were the most noted.

On Connecticut river, between New Hampshire and Vermont, probably were a few tribes, whose names are not given by early historians. At Coos, a considerable tribe is said to have occasionally resided; but few permanent lodges were known to the English within the limits of the present state of Vermont.

Prior to their intercourse with Europeans, the weapons of the Indians, were bows and arrows, clubs, tomahawks and spears of wood, curiously wrought with stones, shells or other sharply pointed implements. The tomahawks, spears and arrows, were generally edged with stones, bones or other materials that could be shaped to an acute point. For the defence of their persons, they had targets, fabricated of the bark of trees, and other flexile substances. The bark of the small shrub called moos wood, which was plentifully found in the woods, furnished excellent cordage, and a sort of wild hemp was used for the same *History of Connecticut, Vol. i. p. 40.

purpose. After they began to traffic with the Europeans, their rude weapons were laid aside for those of iron, or other metals; and before the commencement of the war with Philip, though the trade was strictly restrained by the government of the provinces, the Indians had obtained many fire arms, and used them with dexterity.

In the construction of their canoes, which were of the highest importance in many of their expeditions, as well as their ordinary business, they were singularly curious; these were fabricated from the bark of certain trees, generally of the white birch, or hallowed out of the trunks of soft timber, by burning and scraping with their rude implements. The former, though they required skill in the workman, were not so difficult in their construction, as the log canoe; they were ingeniously shaped and curiously sewed together with roots, and besmeared with gums of various trees to render them tight, and strengthened within with ribs, or transverse pieces. A bark of this kind, sufficient for the transportation of five or six Indians, was portable on the back of a single man; and in this manner they were carried with facility over the portages between rivers and lakes.

The construction of the log canoe, required much labor as well as patience and perseverance. A large tree was to be felled and hollowed out by fire, or by their imperfect tools, or with both united. Roger Williams, who had many opportunities of observing their modes of construction, says, "I have seen a native go into the woods with his hatchet, carrying only a basket of corn, and stones to strike fire; when he had felled his tree, and made a little house or shed of bark, he puts fire and follows the burning in many places; his corn he boils, and hath his brook by him, and sometimes angles for a little fish; but so he continues his burning and hewing, until he hath, within ten or twelve days, finished his boat "*

The food of the natives, was principally obtained from the game and fish, with which the country abounded. But they cultivated in the intervals, considerable quantities of corn, beans, pumpkins and squashes; the forest furnished a great variety of nuts and other fruits, which, in the sale of their lands to the English, they generally *Key to the Indian Language. Collect. Massachusetts Hist. Society.

Indian corn was an import

Reserved for their own use. ant article; this after being parched and pounded to a coarse meal, and moistened with water, was called nokehick, and eaten on all occasions, when animal food could not be procured, or expedition forbid the time necessary for more protracted cookery. On all excursions, parched corn was carried in small baskets, or sacks, and was a sure preservative against famine.

Various were their devices for taking their large game. One was the constructing of slight fences of brush, in two lines, wide at one extremity and converging at a point at the other, where was a narrow opening. Here the huntsman placed himself, under some cover, and shot the game as it passed through. Sometimes a curious kind of trap was contrived at the opening, by bending down a flexible staddle, to which was attached a snare for seizing the animal. When caught in this trap, his struggles disengaged the staddle, and suspended him in the air. A mare, belonging to one of the early settlers, straying in the woods, was caught in one of these traps and raised into the air; the Indians discovered her, and observing the shoes upon her feet, at once concluded that she belonged to the English, and running with great rapidity, told them their squaw-horse was hanging to a tree.

Fish were an important article of food, and were taken with nets, hooks and long spears. With the latter they supplied themselves with shad and salmon in abundance, as they ascended the cataracts of the rivers, in the spring season. The contrivance was the following: The extremity of the horn of a deer or other animal, having a cavity at one end, and sharply pointed at the other, was loosely placed upon the end of the spear; a cord attached to the horn was stretched along the shaft, and held in the hand that directed the stroke. On plunging the point into the fish, the spear was drawn a little back, and the horn slipping off, turned across the perforation, and the fish was drawn from the water.

The skill with which the Indians directed their course in the pathless forests, as well as their perseverance and rapidity, were astonishing. "I have," says Roger Williams, "known many of them run between four score and a hundred miles, in a summer's day, and back within

two," In travelling, "I have been guided by them, twenty, thirty, and forty miles, through the woods on a straight course, out of any path. When the English first came to this country," adds he, "it was admirable to see what paths their naked feet had made in the wilderness, in the most stony and rocky places."*

For their apparel, the Indians were indebted to the moose, deer, bear, beaver, otter, fox, racoon, and some other animals. The skin of the deer was an important material these when dressed, furnished a pliable cover, and were much worn. But their clothing was but imperfectly fitted to their bodies, and some parts were left uncovered. After the arrival of the English, the natives very readily exchanged their fur dresses for woollen blankets, and other clothes of European manufacture, and in this change the English found a profitable trade.

For travelling in cold seasons, they wore a rude kind of shoe, called a mockason, which was fabricated from moose and deer skins, gathered to shape the feet, by sinews of animals; but they were a poor defence for the feet in wet weather. In In travelling in deep snows, they had recourse to snow shoes or rackets. A light flexible peice of walnut or other wood, was bent into an elliptical form, terminating in a point behind; two light peices of wood extended across the shoe, for the purpose of strengthening the bow, affording also a rest for the foot, and the whole space included within the bow, was interlaced with thongs of deer or moose hide, in a reticulated manner. The foot resting upon the cross bars, was lashed so as to confine it to the shoe. Owing to its elasticity, the strides of the traveller were much greater than those usually made on a firm surface without them. Habituated from their youth to this mode of travelling, the Indians were dexterous in the use of the snow shoe, and in the depth of winter, performed marches truly astonishing.

In their winter expeditions, their bivouac or night camp, was in a swamp, or other thick wood, where they were shielded from the winds and storms. Usually the snow was cleared away, and their fires kindled upon the earth, around which, boughs of ever greens, such as hemlock and fir, were spread upon the sloping sides of the Key to the Indian Language.