CANTO SECOND.

STANZAXIII.

In a vast eagle’s form embodied, HeDid o’er the deep on outstretched pinions spring.

In a vast eagle’s form embodied, He

Did o’er the deep on outstretched pinions spring.

It was the belief of the Chippewas, a tribe supposed to have descended from the same original stock (Lenni Lenape) with the Narragansets, that, before the earth appeared, all was one vast body of waters; that the Great Spirit, assuming the shape of a mighty eagle, whose eyes were as fire, and the sound of whose wings was as thunder, passed over the abyss, and that, upon his touching the water, the earth rose from the deep. It was a prevailing tradition among the Delawares and other tribes, according to Heckewelder, that the earth was an island, supported on the back of a huge tortoise, called in the text Unamis. It is the object of the author to embrace in the text a selection of their scattered traditions on the subject of creation, and to give them something like the consistency of a system. Waban, therefore, adopting their leading ideas, has drawn out his description into the appropriate sequency of events. Their Creator was a Manittoo, a mysteriously operating power, and of the same nature as that principle of causation which they felt in themselves, as constituting their own being. The termCowwewonck, in the Narraganset dialect, signified the soul, and was derived fromCowwene, to sleep; because, said they, it operates when the body sleeps. Hence in the text, whilst the Great Spirit slept, he is represented as commencing the work of creation—operating on the immense of waters as a part of his own being, and imparting to it organic existences, (as the soul from itself creates its own conceptions,) thus giving a sort of dreamy existence to the earth and all living things, ere He assumed the shape of the eagle, and at his fiat imparted to them substantial form and vital energy. The idea, that the earth was raised out of the Ocean, seems to have been pretty general amongst the Aborigines.

STANZAXIX.

Yet man was not; then great Cawtantowit spokeTo the hard mountain crags, and called for man.

Yet man was not; then great Cawtantowit spoke

To the hard mountain crags, and called for man.

According to the traditions of the Narragansets, the Great Spirit formed the first man from a stone, which, disliking, he broke, and then formed another man and woman from a tree; and from this pair sprang the Indians.

STANZAXXII.

Then did he send Yotaanit on high—

Yotaanit was the God of Fire; Keesuckquand, God of the Sun; Nanapaushat, of the Moon; and Wamponand was the ruling Deity of the East.

STANZAXXIII.

All things thus were formed from what was good,And the foul refuse every evil had;But it had felt the influence of the God,(How should it not?)—

All things thus were formed from what was good,

And the foul refuse every evil had;

But it had felt the influence of the God,

(How should it not?)—

Heckewelder ascribes to the Indians the opinion that nothing bad could proceed from the Great and Good Spirit. Waban is here speaking in conformity to that opinion. Hence he represents the creation of Chepian, or the evil principle, as an incidental but necessary effect, yet forming no part of the original design.

STANZAXXVII.

And manittoos, that never death shall fear,Do too within this moral form abide.

And manittoos, that never death shall fear,

Do too within this moral form abide.

“They conceive,” says Williams, “that there are many gods, or divine powers, within the body of man—in his pulse, heart, lungs, &c.”

STANZAXXVIII.

But if a sluggard and a coward, thenTo rove all wretched in the gloom of night.

But if a sluggard and a coward, then

To rove all wretched in the gloom of night.

“They believe that the soules of men and women go to the southwest—their great and good men to Cawtantowit his house, where they have hopes, as the Turks have, of carnal joys. Murtherers, liars, &c., their soules (say they) wander restless abroad.”—Williams’ Key.

STANZAXXXVIII.

This yet unproved and doubted by the best.

The Charter of Pennsylvania was granted in 1681. The philanthropic Penn was preceded by Williams in the adoption of a mild and pacific policy toward the natives. Both seem to have been equally successful.

STANZAXLV.

Ere dark pestilenceDevoured his warriors—laid its hundreds low,That sachem’s war-whoop roused to his defenceThree thousand bow-men, and he still can showA mighty force.

Ere dark pestilence

Devoured his warriors—laid its hundreds low,

That sachem’s war-whoop roused to his defence

Three thousand bow-men, and he still can show

A mighty force.

The pestilence, to which Waban has reference, is that which shortly preceded the arrival of the Plymouth planters. The Wampanoags, before this calamity, were relatively a powerful people. Patuxet, afterwards Plymouth, was then under the government of their sachem, who, at times, made it his place of residence. Indeed the whole country between Seekonk and the ocean, eastward, seems to have been occupied by tribes more or less subject to him. Those toward the Cape and about Buzzard’s Bay were, however, rather his tributaries than his subjects. The different clans or communities, in this extensive territory, were under the government of many petty sachems, who regarded Ousamequin (afterwards Massasoit) as their chief. Availing themselves of the misfortune of their neighbors, the Narragansets extended their conquests eastward over some of these under-sachems; and when Ousamequin fled from Pawtuxet to Pokanoket, to avoid the devouring sickness, he found not only Aquidnay, but a part of Pokanoket, subject to his enemies. (Seenote to stanzaxxxiiicantoiv.) Pokanoket was the Indian name of the neck of land between Taunton riveron the east, and Seekonk and Providence rivers on the west. Mount Hope, or Haup as it is called in the text, forms its southeastern extreme. The number of warriors stated in the text as subject to Ousamequin, is hypothetical. Some of the Nipnets were tributary to the Narragansets, but the greater part of them were the allies or subjects of the Wampanoag Chief.

STANZAXLVI.

His highest chief is Corbitant the stern—He bears a fox’s head and panther’s heart.

His highest chief is Corbitant the stern—

He bears a fox’s head and panther’s heart.

Mr. Winslow, who had frequent conferences with this chief, represents him as “a hollow-hearted friend to the Plymouth planters, a notable politician, &c.” He, with others, was suspected of conspiring against the whites, and Captain Standish was sent, on one occasion, to execute summary justice upon him and his confederates. He, however, escaped, and afterwards made his peace with them through the mediation of Massasoit.

His residence was at Mattapoiset, now Swanzey.

STANZAXLVII.

Yet oft their children bleedWhen the far west sends down her Maquas fell—Warriors who hungry on their victims steal,And make of human flesh a dreadful meal.

Yet oft their children bleed

When the far west sends down her Maquas fell—

Warriors who hungry on their victims steal,

And make of human flesh a dreadful meal.

In compliance with the common orthography, the name of this tribe is writtenMaqua. Williams says, that in the Narraganset dialect they were called Mohawaugsuck, or Mauquauog, from mobo, to eat; and were considered Cannibals. It is probable, from its location, that he speaks of the same tribe under the name of Mitucknechakick, or tree eaters, “a people,” says he, “so called, living between three and four hundred miles west into the land, from their eating Mituckquash—that is, trees. They are men-eaters—they set no corn, but live on the bark of the chestnut and other fine trees,” &c. Again, he says, “The Maquaogs, or men-eaters, that live two or three hundred miles west,” &c. Thus it is plain that the Maquas were considered, by the Narragansets and their neighboring tribes, Cannibals.

STANZAXLVIII.

Here lies Namasket tow’rd the rising sun.

Namasket was within the limits of the territory which now constitutes the township of Middleborough, and was about fifteen miles from Plymouth.

Here farther down, Cohannet’s banks uponSpreads broad Pocasset, strong Appanow’s hold.

Here farther down, Cohannet’s banks upon

Spreads broad Pocasset, strong Appanow’s hold.

The territory under that name, now forms a part of Fall River, Mass., and all, or nearly all, Tiverton, R. I. The territory south to the sea, was called Sagkonate, now written Sekonnet, or Seconnet, forming at this time the township of Little Compton. The northeasterly part of the island of Aquidnay was also called Pocasset. This word may be a derivative from the Indian name of the strait separating the island from the mainland. The name of the chieftain in the text must be received exclusively on Waban’s authority.

STANZAL.

Two mighty chiefs, one cautious, wise, and old,One young and strong, and terrible in fight,All Narraganset and Coweset hold;One lodge they build—one council fire they light.

Two mighty chiefs, one cautious, wise, and old,

One young and strong, and terrible in fight,

All Narraganset and Coweset hold;

One lodge they build—one council fire they light.

In a deposition of Williams, dated the 18th June, 1682, he says, that it was the general and constant declaration that the father of Canonicus had three sons—that Canonicus was his heir—that his youngest brother’s son, whose name was Miantonomi, was his marshal, or executioner, and did nothing without his consent.

Five thousand warriors give their arrows flight.

This is the number at which Williams estimates them. Calendar says they were a numerous, rich, and powerful people, and though they were, by some, said to have been less fierce and warlike than the Pequots, yet it appears that they had, before the English came, not only increased their numbers by receiving many who fled to them from the devouring sicknessor plague in other parts of the land, but they had enlarged their territories, both on the eastern and western boundaries. Their numbers must have diminished rapidly, as Hutchinson estimates their warriors in 1675 at two thousand; this estimate, however, might not embrace those tribes which were subject to, or dependant on them, when Williams entered the country. They seem to have been a people greatly in advance of their neighbors. They excelled in the manufacture of Wampumpeag, and supplied other nations with it—also with pendants, bracelets, tobacco pipes of stone, and pots for cookery. After the arrival of the whites, they traded with them for their goods, and supplied other tribes with them at an advance.

STANZALI.

Dark rolling Seekonk does their realm divideFrom Pokanoket, Massasoit’s reign—

Dark rolling Seekonk does their realm divide

From Pokanoket, Massasoit’s reign—

Under the general name of Narraganset, was included Narraganset proper and Coweset. Narraganset proper extended south from what is now Warwick to the ocean; Coweset, from Narraganset northerly to the Nipmuck country, which now forms Oxford, Mass., and some other adjoining towns. The western boundaries of Narraganset and Coweset cannot be definitely ascertained. Gookins says, the Narraganset jurisdiction extended thirty or forty miles from Seekonk river and Narraganset bay, including the islands, southwesterly to a place called Wekapage, four or five miles to the eastward of Pawcatuck river—that it included part of Long Island, Block Island, Coweset and Niantick, and received tribute from some of the Nipmucks. After some research, I am induced to believe that the Nianticks occupied the territory now called Westerly; if so, then the jurisdiction of the Narragansets extended to the Pawcatuck, and perhaps beyond it. The tribe next westward was that which dwelt “in the twist of Pequot river,” now called the Thames; and was under the control of the fierce and warlike Uncas, a chief who had rebelled against Sassacus, the Pequot sachem, and detached from its allegiance a considerable portion of his nation, of which he had formed a distinct tribe.

STANZALIII.

Awanux gave him strength, and, with strange fear,Did M’antonomi at the big guns start.

Awanux gave him strength, and, with strange fear,

Did M’antonomi at the big guns start.

“We cannot conceive,” says Mourt in his journal, “but that he [Massasoit] is willing to have peace with us: for they have seen our people sometimes alone, two or three in the woods at work and fowling, whereas they offered them no harm: and especially, because he hath a potent adversary, the Narrohigansets, that are at war with him, against whom he thinks we may be of some strength to him; for our pieces are terrible unto them.”

STANZALXXIV.

At length his vision opened on a space,Level and broad, and stretching without boundSouthward afar—nor rose, o’er all its face,A tree, or shrub, or rock or swelling mound.

At length his vision opened on a space,

Level and broad, and stretching without bound

Southward afar—nor rose, o’er all its face,

A tree, or shrub, or rock or swelling mound.

It may excite our wonder that the barren plains of Seekonk should have been at first selected by our Founder for a place of settlement. But it is possible that at the time when the selection was made they were in a state, as to fertility, different from their present. However this may be, one thing is certain, that Williams made the selection during the winter, when vegetation afforded no criterion of the soil, whilst its very nakedness was in some respects a recommendation. It was an object with the early settlers to establish themselves in the neighborhood of some clearing, and particularly on meadows in the vicinity of rivers. These yielded pasturage through the summer, and forage for their cattle during winter, and land for tillage without the preparatory steps of clearing.

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