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Mount Hope appears to have been called by the Indians Mont Haup, or Montaup; and has been thence easily corrupted into its present name. It has given occasion for many pleasant puns to Mr. Hubbard and Cotton Mather. As when Philip fled there in his last exigency, it is called Mount Hope, rather Mount Misery—“Lucus a non lucendo,” &c. It is called Haup throughout the poem; improperly, I believe—Transeat cum cæteris. The following description is pretty correct; although somebody has been playing a hoax upon the worthy meditator among the tombs; first, as to the name of the hill: secondly, as to the fact of Philip's choosing the most conspicuous situation he could possibly select when he most needed concealment; and, thirdly, as to the circumstance of his droll exhibition on the occasion of his death. That there is no foundation for this tradition seems evident from the account of Captain Church himself, extracted in the notes to the Sixth Canto.

“King Philip, as he is usually called, erected his wigwam on a lofty and beautiful rise of land in the eastern part of Bristol, which is generally known by the name of Mount Hope. According to authentic tradition, however, Mon Top was the genuine aboriginal name of this celebrated eminence. To this there was no doubt an appropriate meaning; but it cannot, at present, be easily ascertained.

“From the summit of this mount, which is, perhaps, less than three hundred feet above high-water mark, it is said, that in a clear day every town in Rhode-Island may be seen. The towering spires of Providence in one direction, those of Newport in another, the charming village of Bristol, the fertile island of Poppasquash, fields clothed with a luxuriant verdure as far as the eye can stretch, irregular meandering waters intersecting the region to the west, Mount Hope bay on the east, and distant lands with various marks of high cultivation, form, in the aggregate, a scene truly beautiful and romantic.

“The late Lieutenant-Governor Bradford, in early life, knew an aged squaw, who was one of Philip's tribe, was well acquainted with this sagamore in her youthful days, and had often been in his wigwam. The information through her is, therefore, very direct, as to the identical spot where he fixed his abode. It was a few steps south of Captain James De Wolf's summer-house, near the brow of the hill, but no vestige of the wigwam remains. The eastern side of this hill is very steep, vastly more so than that at Horse Neck, down which the intrepid Putnam trotted his sure-footed steed, in manner worthy of a knight of the tenth century, in time of the revolutionary war, and wonderfully escaped his pursuing enemy.

“When Church's men were about to rush upon Philip, he is said to have evaded them by springing from his wigwam as they were entering it, and rolling, like a hogshead, down the precipice which looks towards the bay.

“Having reached the lower part of this frightful ledge of rocks without breaking his bones, he got upon his feet, and ran along the shore in a north-easterly direction about a hundred rods, and endeavoured to screen himself in a swamp, then a quagmire, but now terra-firma.

“Here the sachem of Mon Top, long the magormissabib of the New-England colonies, was shot, on the 12th of August, 1676, by Richard, one of his Indians, who had been taken a little before by the noted Captain Church, and was become his friend and soldier.

“The ledge of rocks, forming the precipice before mentioned, extends for a considerable distance nearly parallel with the shore of the bay. In a certain situation between the site of the wigwam and the place where Philip received his death wound, and where the solid mass of quartz, which forms the basis of Mon Top, is nearly perpendicular and forty or fifty feet high, is a natural excavation of sufficient dimensions to afford a convenient seat. It is five or six feet from the ground, and is known by the name of Philip's Throne. A handsome grass plat of small extent lies before it. At the foot of the throne is a remarkably fine spring of water, from which proceeds a never-failing stream. This is called Philip's Spring.

“On that throne, tradition says, Philip used often to sit in regal style, his warriors forming a semicircle before him, and give law to his nation.”— Rev. T. Alden's Collection of Epitaphs, Pentade I., vol. iv.

Aquetnet was the Indian name for the island now called Rhode Island.—New-England's Memorial, 116.

The Pocasset shore, now called Tiverton, is opposite Mount Hope.

“As for the rest of the Indians, ever since the suppression of the Pequods, in the year 1637, until the year 1675, there was always in appearance amity and good correspondence on all sides; scarce an Englishman was ever known to be assaulted or hurt by any of them until after the year 1674,” &c.—Hubbard's Narrative of the Indian Wars in New-England, &c.

“The Pequots, or Pequods, were a people seated in the most southerly bounds of New-England; whose country the English of Connecticut jurisdiction doth now for the most part possess. This nation were a very warlike and potent people about forty years since; at which time they were in their meridian. Their chief sachem held dominion over divers petty sagamores; as over part of Long Island, over the Mohegans, and over the sagamores of Quinapeake, yea, over all the people that dwelt upon Connecticut river, and over some of the most southerly inhabitants of the Nipmuck country, about Quinabaag. The principal sachem lived at or about Pequot, now called New-London. These Pequots, as old Indians relate, could in former times raise four thousand men fit for war; and held hostility with their neighbours that lived bordering upon them to the east and north, called the Narragansitts, or Nechegansitts; but now they are few, not above three hundred men; being made subject unto the English, who conquered and destroyed most of them, upon their insolent deportment and just provocation, anno 1638.”—Gookin's Historical Collections of the Indians in New-England; first printed from the original manuscript, at Boston, in 1792.

“Historians have treated of the Pequots and Moheagans as two distinct tribes, and have described the Pequot country as lying principally within the three towns of New-London, Groton, and Kensington. All the tract above this, as far north and east as has been described, they have represented as the Moheagan country. Most of the towns in this tract, if not all of them, hold their lands by virtue of deeds from Uncas, or his successors, the Moheagan sachems. It is, however, much to be doubted, whether the Mohegans were a distinct nation from the Pequots. They appear to have been a part of the same nation, named from the place of their situation. Uncas was evidently of the royal line of the Pequots, both by his father and mother; and his wife was daughter of Tatobam, one of the Pequot sachems. He appears to have been a petty sachem, under Sassacus, the great prince of the nation. When the English first came to Connecticut, he was in a state of rebellion against him, and of little consequence among the Indians. The Pequots were by far the most warlike nation in Connecticut, or even in New-England, &c. Their principal fort was on a commanding and most beautiful eminence in the town of Groton, a few miles south-easterly from Fort Griswold. This was the royal fortress, where the chief sachem had his residence. He had another fort near Mystic river, a few miles to the eastward of this, called Mystic fort. The Pequots, Moheagans, and Nehantics, could doubtless muster a thousand bowmen.”—Trumbull's History of Connecticut, vol. i., p. 42.

“The Mahiccanni,” says Mr. Heckewelder, “have been called by so many names that I was at a loss which to adopt, so that the reader might know what people were meant. Lookiel calls them ‘Mohicans,’ which is nearest to their real name Mahiccanni, which, of course, I have adopted. The Dutch called them Mahicanders; the French Mourigans, and Mahingans; the English, Mohiccons, Mohuccans, Mohegans, Muhheekanew, Schaticooks, River Indians.

They are called Muhhekaneews, by Dr. Edwards, in his “Observations” on their language, published at New-York, 1801. The old historians of New-England term them Moheags, Moheaks, and Mohegins, &c. I have adopted in the text the mode of writing it which seemed most euphonious. These people were one of the most martial and important tribes of the great family to which the Delawares belonged, called Lenopi by Mr. Jefferson, in his “Notes on Virginia,” and Lenni Lenape, by Mr. Heckewelder. The latter author agrees with the venerable historian of Connecticut, as to the Mohicans being the same race with the Pequods.

I have thought it necessary to make the foregoing extracts in relation to the people, who, after their decisive overthrow, mentioned in the text, always took part with the English against Philip. But as the events, recapitulated in the fourth and sixth following stanzas, were merely premised, as explanatory of the allusions made in the poem, it is unnecessary to give much more than references to the authors who have recorded them.

The name of the Pequod sagamore is thus written, without the diæresis, by the Rev. Mr. Hubbard. The accent is, however, placed on the first syllable, in a poem by Governor Winthrop, preserved in the “Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society.” “At Sassacus' dread name,” &c.

The Pequods quarrelled with the colonists at an early period of the settlement: and, after a hollow treaty of peace, which they entered into in the year 1636, they protected certain of the Narragansetts who had murdered some of the English on Block-Island. This led to a war, in the course of which the Narragansetts, with the versatile and jealous policy of Indian nations, made their own peace with the English, and refused to assist the Pequods. They appear, however, to have experienced some compunction when the Pequod fort was attacked by the English on the 26th May, 1637; when, after a vigorous and desperate resistance by the savages, the fort was fired by Captain Mason's men, sixty or seventy wigwams burnt, and seven hundred of the miserable Pequods destroyed. The Narragansetts were mere spectators on this occasion. They either felt, or pretended, an unconquerable fear of Sassacus, whom they called invincible; saying, “he was all one god.” Uncas, sachem of the Mohegans, who, as has been already mentioned, was in a state of revolt against the great sagamore when the English first settled in Connecticut, was their guide to the fortress of his enemy; and ever after, with wary and more consistent policy than belonged to his brethren, adhered to the interests of his new allies. Sassacus fled to the Mohocks (termed Mohogs and Maquas by the old historians), who murdered him and sent his scalp to the conquerors.—See Trumbull's History of Connecticut, and the authorities there quoted; also Hubbard's Narrative of the Troubles with the Indians, first published, by authority, at Boston, 1677. New-England's Memorial, Boston printed, Newport reprinted, 1777. Prince's Chronological History of New-England, Boston, 1736. Mather's Magnalia, Book VII. &c.

“The Paukanawkutts were a great people heretofore. They lived to the east and northeast of the Narragansitts; and their chief sachem held dominion over divers other petty sagamores, upon the island of Nantuckett, and Nope, or Martha's Vineyard, of Nawsett, of Mannamoyk, of Sawkattukett, Nobsquasitt, Matakees and several others, and some of the Nipmucks. Their country, for the most part, falls within the jurisdiction of New-Plimouth colony. This people were a potent nation in former times; and could raise, as the most credible and ancient Indians affirm, about three thousand men. They held war with the Narragansitts, &c. This nation, a very great number of them, were swept away by an epidemical and unwonted sickness, an. 1612 and 1613, about seven or eight years before the English arrived in those parts to settle the colony of New-Plimouth. Thereby Divine Providence made way for the peaceable and quiet settlement of the English in those nations. What this disease was that so generally and mortally swept away, not only those, but other Indians, their neighbours, I cannot well learn. Doubtless it was some pestilential disease. I have discoursed with some old Indians, that were then youths; who say, that the bodies all over were exceeding yellow, describing it by a yellow garment they showed me, both before they died, and afterward.”—Gookin.

Of this people, the Wampanoags, or Wampanoogs, &c. (as it is differently written), seem to have been the immediate clan or family of old Massasoit, or Massasoiet, or Woosamequen, the father of Metacom, or Metacomet, called King Philip by the English. The latter, however, signs his treaties, “Philip, Sachem of Pokanoket, his mark, P.”

“When Plimouth colony was first planted, within three monettes after their first landing, March 16, 1620, Massasoit, the chief sachem of all that side of the country, repaired to the English at Plimouth, and entered into a solemn league upon sundry articles, printed in N. E. Memorial, 1669, p. 24. The words are as followeth,” &c.—Hubbard, old edition 7. Edition of 1814, p. 56.

“The which league the same sachim, Sept. 25, 1630, a little before his death, coming with his eldest son [Mooanam or Wamsutta], afterward called Alexander, did renew with the English at the court of Plimouth, for himself and his son, and their heirs and successors; and after that he came to Mr. Brown's, that lived not far from Mount Hope, bringing his two sons, Alexander and Philip, with him, desiring that there might be love and amity after his death between his sons and them, as there had been betwixt himself and them in former times: yet it is very remarkable that this Massasoit, called also Woosamequen (how much soever he affected the English, yet) was never in the least degree any wayes well affected to the religion of the English, but would have had them engaged never to attempt to draw away any of his people from their old Pagan superstition and devilish idolatry,” &c.—Idem.

“After the death of this Woosamequen, or Massasoit [about 1656], his eldest son succeeded him about twenty years since, Alexander by name, who, notwithstanding the league he had entered into with the English, together with his father, in the year 1639, had neither affection to the Englishmen's persons, nor yet to their religion, but had been plotting with the Narhagansets to rise against the English, of which the governour and council of Plimouth being informed, they presently sent for him to bring him to the court; the person to whom that service was committed was a prudent and resolute gentleman, the present governour of the said colony, who was neither afraid of danger, nor yet willing to delay in a matter of that moment. He forthwith, taking eight or ten stout men with him well armed, intended to have gone to the said Alexander's dwelling, distant at least forty miles from the governour's house, but by a good providence he found him whom he went to seek at an hunting-house, within six miles of the English towns, where the said Alexander, with about eighty men, were newly come in from hunting, and had left their guns without doors, which Major Winslow, with his small company, wisely seized, and conveyed away, and then went into the wigwam, and demanded Alexander to go along with him before the governour, at which message he was much appalled, but being told by the undaunted messenger, that if he stirred or refused to go he was a dead man; he was, by one of his chief counsellors, in whose advice he most confided, perswaded to go along to the governour's house, but such was the pride and height of his spirit, that the very surprizal of him raised his choler and indignation, that it put him into a feaver, which, notwithstanding all possible means that could be used, seemed mortal; whereupon intreating those that held him prisoner, that he might have liberty to return home, promising to return again if he recovered, and to send his son as hostage till he could do so; on that consideration he was fairly dismissed, but dyed before he got half-way home.”—Idem. Our author then makes a sort of apology for the treatment of Alexander. He says it was never urged as a cause of offence by the said Alexander's brother, by name Philip, commonly for his ambitious and haughty spirit nicknamed King Philip. Nothing, he says, could have induced the said Philip to make war on the English, “besides the instigation of Satan, that either envied at the prosperity of the Church of God here seated, or else fearing lest the power of the Lord Jesus, that had overthrown his kingdome in other parts of the world, should do the like here, and so the stone taken out of the mountain without hands should become a great mountain itself, and fill the whole earth, no cause of provocation being given by the English.”

Thus died of a broken heart the proud-spirited brother of Philip. Cotton Mather, who treats the Netops, as he calls them, with very little ceremony, condescends to mention, that “Alexander was treated with no other than that humanity and civility which was always essential to the major-general; nevertheless, the inward fury of his own guilty and haughty mind threw him into such a fever as cost him his life.”—Magnalia, Book VII. Ecclesianum prœlia, or the Wars of the Lord, p. 45, a. and b.

To him succeeded Metacom, or King Philip, anno 1662; “who,” as the learned, but quaint, annalist goes on to state, “after he had solemnly renewed his covenant of peace with the English, most perfidiously broke it by making an attempt of war upon them in the year 1671, wherein being seasonably and effectually defeated, he humbly confessed his breach of covenant, and subscribed articles of submission, &c. Indeed, when the Duke of Archette, at his being made governour of Antwerpe castle, took an oath to keep it faithfully for King Philip of Spain; the officer that gave him his oath used these odd words, If you perform what you promise, God help you; if you do it not, the devil take you body and soul! And all the standers by cried, Amen. But when the Indian King Philip took an oath to be faithful unto the government of New-England, nobody used these words unto him; nevertheless, you shall anon see whether these words were not expressive enough of what became of him.”—Idem, p. 45, b.

It would be too troublesome, as well as unnecessary, to give even a sketch of the life of Philip up to the time when the poem commences. A connected account of the sachem's adventures may be found in Mather's Magnalia, Increase Mather's Brief History, &c.; Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, vol. i.; and Trumbull's History of Connecticut, vol. i. The following note in Holmes's American Annals does justice to his character, and makes proper allowance for the measures taken by the English.

“The death of Philip, in retrospect, makes different impressions from what were made at the time of the event. It was then considered as the extinction of a virulent and implacable enemy; it is now viewed as the fall of a great warrior, a penetrating statesman, and a mighty prince. It then excited universal joy and congratulation, as a prelude to the close of a merciless war; it now awakens sober reflections on the instability of empire, the peculiar destiny of the aboriginal race, and the inscrutable decrees of Heaven. The patriotism of the man was then overlooked in the cruelty of the savage; and little allowance was made for the natural jealousy of the sovereign, on account of the barbarities of the warrior. Philip, in the progress of the English settlements, foresaw the loss of his territory, and the extinction of his tribe; and made one mighty effort to prevent those calamities. Our pity for his misfortunes would be still heightened, could we entirely rely on the tradition (mentioned by Calendar, 73), that Philip and his chief old men were at first averse to the war; that Philip wept with grief at the news of the first English who were killed; and that he was pressed into the measures by the irresistible importunity of his young warriors. The assurance, on the other hand, of the equity of our ancestors, in giving the natives an equivalent for their lands, is highly consoling. The upright and pious Governor Winslow, in a letter dated at Marsfield, 1st May, 1676, observes: ‘I think I can clearly say, that before these present troubles broke out, the English did not possess one foot of land in this colony, but what was fairly obtained by honest purchase of the Indian proprietors. We first made a law that none should purchase, or receive of gift, any land of the Indians, without the knowledge and allowance of our court. And lest yet they should be streightened, we ordered that Mount Hope, Pocasset, and several other necks of the best land in the colony, because most suitable and convenient for them, should never be bought out of their hands.’ See Hubbard's Narrative (where this important letter is inserted entire), and Hazard, Coll. ii. 531-534.” —Holmes's American Annals, vol. i. p. 365.

Whatever wrongs Philip may have sustained during his life, from the arms and pens of his enemies, it seems that his shade will be fully propitiated in the present day. He will have Mr. Southey for his bard; and has already had Mr. Irving for his biographer. To those who have had occasion to examine the rude annals of the earlier settlers in the east, it must surely be a matter of admiration to see with what facility and grace the author of Knickerbocker has extricated and made use of all the prominent and interesting particulars in the history of that period.

“Then she called for the Mount Hope men, who made a formidable appearance, with their faces painted, and their hair trimmed up in comb-fashion, with their powder-horns and shot-bags at their backs; which among that nation is the posture and figure of preparedness for war.” Thomas Church's “Entertaining History of King Philip's War,” &c. Boston, 1716. Newport, reprinted, 1772. By comb-fashion, is meant a crest, from the forehead to the back of the head. “The priests in Secota,” says Purchas, “haue their haire on the crowne like a combe, the rest being cut from it: only a foretop on their forehead is left, and that combe. They are great wisards.” Purchas's Pilgrim, Part 3d, p. 949. “Table 2, is an Indian man in his summer dress. The upper part of his hair is cut short, to make a ridge which stands up like the comb of a cock, the rest is either shorn off, or knotted behind his ear.” History of Virginia, second edition, London, 1822; said in a manuscript note, in the copy belonging to the New-York Historical Library, to be by one Robert Beverly.

The author last mentioned calls the wampum beads peak; it is generally written peag. “The women of distinction,” says he, “wear deep necklaces, pendants, and bracelets, made of small cylinders of the conque-shell, which they call peak.” The white beads were made from the hollow of conchs; the purple, which were most prized, from muscle-shells. They were strung on leather. Colden's History of the Five Nations. Heckewelder, &c. And see a subsequent note to this Canto.

“It being now about sun-setting, or near the dusk of the evening, the Netops came running from all quarters loaden with the tops of dry pines, and the like combustible matter, making a huge pile thereof, near Mr. Church's shelter, on the open side thereof; but by this time supper was brought in, &c.; but by the time supper was over, the mighty pile of pine knots and tops, &c. was fired, and all the Indians, great and small, gathered in a ring round it. Awashonks, with the oldest of her people, men and women mixed, kneeling down, made the first ring next the fire, and all the lusty stout men, standing up, made the next, and then all the rabble in a confused crew surrounded on the outside. Then the chief captain stepped in between the rings and the fire, with a spear in one hand, and a hatchet in the other, danced round the fire, and began to fight with it, making mention of all the several nations and companies of Indians in the country that were enemies to the English; and at naming of every tribe, he would draw out and fight a new fire-brand, and at finishing his fight with each particular fire-brand, would bow to him and thank him; and when he had named all the several nations and tribes, he stuck down his spear and hatchet, and came out; and another stept in and acted over the same dance, with more fury, if possible, than the first; and when about half a dozen of their chiefs had thus acted their parts, the captain of the guard stept up to Mr. Church, and told him, ‘They were making soldiers for him,’” &c. Church's History, p. 49, 50.

Weetamoe, the sunk squaw, or squaw sachem of the Pocassets, was a kinswoman of Philip. Captain Church was hard beset by her people, at the breaking out of the war. She is not to be confounded with Awashonks, squaw sachem of the Seaconets, who dwelt southerly from the Pocasset Indians.

“East of Connecticut were the Narraganset Indians: these were a numerous and powerful body. When the English settled Plymouth, their fighting men were reckoned at three or four thousand; fifty years after this time they were estimated at two thousand. The Pequots and Narragansets maintained perpetual war, and kept up an implacable animosity between them.” Trumbull, I. 43. This jealousy was a great source of safety to the English, both in the Pequot war, when they were joined by the Narragansets, and in the war with Philip, when the Pequods (or Mohegans) assisted them in exterminating the Narragansets. The Niantics, or Nehantics, were a branch of the Narragansets who joined the English interest, under their sachem Aganemo. For a further account of the Narragansets, see Gookin.

“On the northeasterly and northern part of the colony were the Nipmuck Indians. Their principal seat was about the great ponds in Oxford, in Massachusetts, but their territory extended southward into Connecticut more than twenty miles.” Trumbull, I. 43. These people are also called Nipnets by Hubbard; it has been already mentioned that they were tributary to the Pawkanawkutts. The situation of all these tribes is thus briefly given by Hubbard. “The seacoast, from the pitch of Cape Cod to the mouth of Connecticut river, [was] inhabited by several nations of Indians, Wampanoogs (the first authors of the present rebellion), Narragansetts, Pequods, Mohegins, and the more inland part of the country by the Nipnets (a general name for all inland Indians betwixt the Massachusetts and Connecticut river).”

Sausaman was the son of Christian Indians, but apostatized, and became King Philip's secretary, who, as Dr. Mather sarcastically remarks, could not even read. A letter dictated by Philip, and written by Sausaman, is preserved in the collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, vol. ii. p. 40. Sausaman afterward returned to the English, and became an instructer among the Indians. In the year 1674, he informed the governor of Plymouth that Philip was plotting with all the Indian nations, to destroy the English. Little notice was taken of this communication at first. But Sausaman was soon after found murdered on Assawamsett pond, at a place now called Middleborough, Massachusetts. When he was missed, the neighbours sought for and found the dead body, which had been put under a hole in the ice; but his hat and gun, being left, led to the discovery. “A jury was impanelled,” says C. Mather, “and it was remarkable, that one Tobias, a counsellor of King Philip's, whom they suspected as the author of this murder, approaching to the dead body, it would still fall a bleeding afresh, as if it had been newly slain, &c. Afterward an Indian, called Patuckson, gave his testimony, that he saw this Tobias, with certain other Indians, killing of John Sausaman, &c. Hereupon Tobias, with two other Indians, being apprehended, they were, after a fair trial, by a jury consisting half of English and half of Indians, convicted, and so condemned; and though they were all successively turned off the ladder at the gallows, utterly denying the fact, yet the last of them happening to break or slip the rope, did, before his going off the ladder again, confess that the other Indians did really murder John Sausaman, and that he was himself, though no actor in it, yet a looker on. Things began by this time to have an ominous aspect.” —Math. Magnalia, VII. 46. a. See also Hubbard, new edition, 66–71. Church, 9. Increase Mather, 2, and the Postscript to the same; also the Postscript in the old edition of Hubbard, apologizing for the justness of the war, &c.

“Philip, conscious to his own guilt, pusht on the execution of his plot as fast as he could; he armed his men, and sent away their women [to the Narragansets], and entertained many strange Indians that flocked in unto him from several parts of the country, and began to be tumultuous.”—C. Mather ubi supra.

Thus broke out King Philip's war, which terminated in almost the total extermination of his allies. Happily for the settlers, it commenced prematurely. The sachem's plans were general, and deeply laid. The Narragansets had promised to rise with four thousand men, according to Hubbard. It is unnecessary to make any particular references on the miseries of war, alluded to in Stanza VII.

In the winter of 1675–6 the commissioners of the United Colonies determined to attack the Narraganset fortress, situated near Pawcatuck river, “on an elevated ground, or piece of upland, of perhaps three or four acres, in the middle of a hideous swamp; about seven miles nearly due west from Narraganset south ferry.”—Church, 29. The following account of that tragical business is the most full and perspicuous.

“The next morning (Dec. 19th), at the dawning of the day, they commenced their march towards the enemy, who were in a swamp at about fifteen miles distance. The troops proceeded with great spirit, wading through the snow, in a severe season, until nearly one o'clock, without fire to warm or food to refresh them, except what had been taken on the way. At this time they had arrived just upon the seat of the enemy. This was upon a rising ground, in the centre of a large swamp. It was fortified with palisades, and compassed with a hedge without, nearly of a rod's thickness. The only entrance which appeared practicable was over a log, or tree, which lay up five or six feet from the ground. This opening was commanded in front by a kind of log-house, and on the left by a flanker. As soon as the troops entered the skirts of the swamp, they discovered an advanced party of the enemy, upon whom they immediately fired. The enemy returned the fire, and retired before them, until they were led to the very entrance by the block-house. Without reconnoitering the fort, or waiting for the army to march up and form for the attack, the Massachusetts troops, led on by their officers with great courage, mounted the tree and entered the fort; but they were so galled from the block-house, and received such a furious and well-directed fire from almost every quarter, that after every exertion of skill and courage of which they were capable, they were obliged to retreat out of the fort. The whole army pressed forward with the utmost courage and exertion, but such were the obstructions from the swamp and the snow, that it was a considerable time before the men could all be brought up to action. Captains Johnson and Davenport, and many brave men of the Massachusetts, were killed. The Connecticut troops, who formed in the rear, coming up to the charge, mounted over the log before the blockhouse, the captains leading and spiriting up the men in the most undaunted manner. About the same time that the main body of the Connecticut troops were forcing their way by the blockhouse, a few bold men ran round to the opposite part of the fort, where they found a narrow spot where there were no palisades, but a high and thick hedge of trees and brush. The sharpness of the action in the front had drawn off the enemy from this part, and climbing over unobserved, they ran down between the wigwams, and poured a heavy and well-directed fire upon the backs of the enemy, who lay wholly exposed to their shot. Thus assaulted in front and rear, they were driven from the flanker and blockhouse. The captains crying out, they run, the men pressed so furiously upon them that they were forced from that part of the fort. The soldiers without rushed in with great spirit, and the enemy were driven from one covert and hiding-place to another, until the middle of the fort was gained; and after a long and bloody action they were totally routed, and fled into the wilderness. As they retired, the soldiers set fire to the wigwams, about six hundred of which were instantly consumed. The enemy's corn, stores, and utensils, with many of their old men, women, and children, perished in the conflagration. It was supposed that three hundred warriors were slain, besides many wounded, who afterward died of their wounds and with the cold. Nearly the same number were taken, with three hundred women and children. From the number of wigwams in the fort, it is probable that the whole number of the Indians was nearly four thousand. Those who were not killed in battle, or did not perish in the flames, fled to a cedar swamp, where they spent the night without foot, fire, or covering. It was, nevertheless, a dearly-bought victory. Six brave captains fell in the action, and eighty men were killed or mortally wounded. A hundred and fifty were wounded, who afterward recovered. After the fatiguing march, and hard-fought battle of three hours, in which the troops had been exercised, the army, just at the setting of the sun, having burnt and destroyed all in their power, left the enemy's ground; and carrying about two hundred dead and wounded men, marched back, sixteen or eighteen miles, to head-quarters. The night was very cold and stormy. The snow fell deep, and it was not until midnight, or after, that the army got in. Many of the wounded, who otherwise might have recovered, died with the cold,” &c.—Trumbull's History of Connecticut, vol. i. p. 338–340. See also Mather's Magnalia, 49, 50. Hubbard, 130–133. Increase Mather, 20. Captain Church was severely wounded in this action. “He was struck with three bullets, one on his thigh, which was near half cut off as it glanced on the joint of his hip-bone; another through the gatherings of his breeches and drawers, with a small flesh-wound; a third pierced his pockets, and wounded a pair of mittens that he had borrowed of Captain Prentice; being wrapped up together, had the misfortune of having many holes cut through them with one bullet; however, he made shift to keep on his legs,” &c.—Church, 27. This kind of defensive armour seems to have been not unusual in those chivalrous days. “Mr. Gill was struck with a musket-ball on the side of his belly; but being clad with a buff coat, and some thickness of paper under it, it never broke his skin.”—Church, 11.

The jealousies of the confederated Indians among themselves hastened their separation, and consequent destruction in detail. “This quarrel proceeded to that height, that from that time forward those several Indians that had for so long a time been combined together resolved now to part, and every one to shift for themselves, and return to their own homes; Philip to Mount Hope, and the Narragansets to their own country again; the Nipnets and the River [Connecticut] Indians bending their course westward, others northward,” &c.—Hubbard, 211. C. Mather says their demons deserted them. See notes to Canto III.

Of the once powerful nation of the Narragansets, Mr. Hubbard, immediately after the war, says, “there is none of them left on that side of the country, unless some few, not exceeding seventy in number, that have sheltered themselves under the inhabitants of Rhode-Island, as a merchant of that place, worthy of credit, lately affirmed to the writer hereof. It is considered by what degrees they have been consumed and destroyed.”— Hubbard, new edit., p. 158. Most of the persecuted tribes went westward, and were never heard of thereafter. Some settled among the Moheagans, on the Hudson river. An incredible number were executed at different places.

“After this,” says Church, “Dartmouth's distresses required succour, great part of the town being laid desolate, and many of the inhabitants killed; the most of Plymouth forces were ordered thither; and coming to Russel's garrison at Ponoganset, they met with a number of the enemy that had surrendered themselves prisoners on terms promised by Captain Eels of the garrison, and Ralph Earl, who persuaded them (by a friend Indian he had employed) to come in. And had their promises to the Indians been kept, and the Indians fairly treated, it is probable that most, if not all the Indians in those forts had soon followed the example of the Indians who had now surrendered themselves; which would have been a good step towards finishing the war. But in spite of all that Captains Eels, Church, or Earl, could say, argue, plead, or beg, somebody else that had more power in their hands improved it; and without any regard to the promises made them on their surrendering themselves, they were carried away to Plymouth, there sold, and transported out of the country, being about eight-score persons.”

In another place, the narrator says, “They met the general, and presented him with eighteen of the enemy they had captivated. The general, pleased with the exploit, gave them thanks, particularly to Mr. Church, the mover and chief actor of the business, and sending two of them (likely boys) a present to Boston; smiling at Mr. Church, told him that he made no doubt his faculty would supply them with Indian boys enough before the war was ended.”

Again; “Captain Church hastening with his prisoners through the woods to Plymouth, disposed of them all, except only one Jeffery, who proved very ingenuous and faithful to him, in informing him where other parcels of Indians harboured,” &c.—E.

Philip's uncle Uncompoën, sometimes called Uncomdaen, was slain July 31st, 1676, and his sister taken prisoner at the same time. On the 2d of August, he narrowly escaped from Captain Church, leaving his peag, wife, and son. His friends of any distinction among the other tribes had been killed before, viz., Canonchet, Pomham, Matoonas, &c.

Among Philip's other hair-breadth deliverances, the following is recorded by Captain Church; it happened on Taunton river, near Bridgewater. “Next morning Captain Church moved very early with his company, which was increased by many of Bridgewater that enlisted under him for that expedition, and by their piloting, soon came very still to the top of the great tree which the enemy had fallen across the river; and the captain spy'd an Indian sitting on the stump of it on the other side of the river, and he clapp'd his gun up, and had doubtless despatched him, but that one of his own Indians called hastily to him not to fire, for he believed it was one of their own men; upon which the Indian upon the stump looked about, and Captain Church's Indian seeing his face, perceived his mistake, for he knew him to be Philip, clapp'd up his gun and fired, but it was too late, for Philip immediately threw himself off the stump, leap'd down a bank on the side of the river, and made his escape.”—Church, 62.

“Philip was now upon a little spot of upland, that was in the south end of the miry swamp, just at the foot of the mount, which was a spot of ground that Captain Church was well acquainted with.”—Idem, 70.

“The Indians,” says C. Mather, “covered themselves with green boughs, a subtilty of the same nature, though not of the same colour, that they affirm to be used by the cuttle-fish.”

The counsellors of the Indian kings in New-England were termed the Paniese. These were not only the wisest, but largest and bravest men to be found among their subjects. They were the immediate guard of their respective sachems, who made neither war nor peace, nor attempted any weighty affair, without their advice.” “These paniese, or ministers of state, were in league with the priests, or powaws. To keep the people in awe, they pretended, as well as the priests, to have converse with the invisible world, and that Hobbamock often appeared to them.”—Trumbull.

“The moon now shining bright, he saw him [Annawon] at a distance coming with something in his hands, and coming up to Captain Church, he fell upon his knees before him, and offered him what he had brought, and speaking in plain English, said, “Great Captain, you have killed Philip, and conquered his country; for I believe that I and my company are the last that war against the English, so suppose the war is ended by your means; and therefore these things belong unto you.” Then opening his pack, he pulled out Philip's belt, curiously wrought with wompom, being nine inches broad, wrought with black and white wompom, in various figures and flowers, and pictures of many birds and beasts. This, when hung upon Captain Church's shoulders, reached his ankles; and another belt of wompom he presented him with, wrought after the former manner, which Philip was wont to put upon his head; it had two flags on the back part, which hung down on his back; and another small belt with a star upon the end of it, which he used to hang on his breast; and they were all edged with red hair, which Annawon said they got in the Mohog's country. Then he pulled out two horns of glazed powder, and a red cloth blanket. He told Captain Church these were Philip's royalties, which he was wont to adorn himself with when he sat in state.”—Church, p.84. I have seen a cape made of feathers, said to have been Philip's, and a pouch of the same materials, at Brown College, in Providence. The Antiquarian Society in Rhode-Island profess, I believe, to have his scull.

I am well aware that there is, properly, no such American animal; but it is a better sounding word, in poetry, than cat of the mountain, &c. I have also called a couguar a tiger, in the sixth Canto, to avoid a repetition of the word.

“About thirty miles below the falls of St. Anthony, at which I arrived the tenth day after I left Lake Pepin, is a remarkable cave of an amazing depth. The Indians term it Wakon-teebe, that is, the Dwelling of the Great Spirit. The entrance into it is about ten feet wide, the height of it five feet. The arch within it is near fifteen feet high and about thirty feet broad. The bottom of it consists of fine clear sand. About twenty feet from the entrance begins a lake, the water of which is transparent, and extends to an unsearchable distance; for the darkness of the cave prevents all attempts to acquire a knowledge of it. I threw a small pebble towards the interior parts of it with my utmost strength: I could hear that it fell into the water, and notwithstanding it was of so small a size, it caused an astonishing and horrible noise that reverberated through all those gloomy regions. I found in this cave many Indian hieroglyphics, which appeared very ancient, for time had nearly covered them with moss, so that it was with difficulty I could trace them. They were cut in a rude manner upon the inside of the walls, which were composed of a stone so extremely soft that it might easily be penetrated with a knife; a stone everywhere to be found near the Mississippi. The cave is only accessible by ascending a narrow steep passage that lies near the brink of the river.”—Carver's Travels, p. 39, 40.

“Whither is that breath flown, which a few hours ago sent up smoke to the Great Spirit?”—Carver's Travels, p. 282. The usual Indian metaphors for war and peace are generally known.—“Straight roads, smooth waters, clear sky, smoking the white calumet on a beaver blanket under the tree of peace, the war kettle,” &c. &c. are terms familiar to all who have looked into Colden's History of the Five Nations, Carver's Travels, &c. I have not, therefore, thought it needful to make any note on particular expressions of this description. The following list of metaphors is extracted from Heckewelder, and comprises, I believe, most of those employed in the text.

“‘The sky is overcast with dark blustering clouds.’ We shall have troublesome times; we shall have war.—‘A black cloud has arisen yonder.’ War is threatened from that quarter, or from that nation.—‘The path is already shut up.’ Hostilities have commenced; the war is begun.—‘The rivers run with blood.’ War rages in the country.—‘To bury the hatchet.’ To make or conclude a peace.—‘To lay down the hatchet, or to slip the hatchet under the bedstead.’ To cease fighting for a while, during a truce; or, to place the hatchet at hand, so that it may be taken up again at a moment's warning.—‘The hatchet you gave me was very sharp.’ As you have satisfied me, I have done the same for you; I have killed many of your enemies.—‘Singing birds.’ Tale-bearers, story-tellers, liars.—‘Don't listen to the singing of the birds which fly by.’ Don't believe what stragglers tell you.—‘To kindle a council fire at such a place.’ To appoint a place where the national business is to be transacted; to establish the seat of government there.—‘I will place you under my wings.’ (Meaning under my arm-pits.) I will protect you at all hazards; you shall be perfectly safe; nobody shall molest you.—‘Suffer no grass to grow on the war-path.’ Carry on the war with vigour.—‘To open a path from one nation to another, by removing the logs, brush, and briers out of the way.’ To invite the nation to which the path leads to a friendly intercourse; to prepare the way to live on friendly terms with them.—‘I have covered yon spot with fresh earth; I have raked leaves, and planted trees thereon;’ means, literally, I have hidden the grave from your eyes; and figuratively, you must now be cheerful again!—‘To bury deep in the earth’ (an injury done). To consign it to oblivion.”— Heckewelder, p. 125, 126, 127, 128, 129.

“It is incredible to what a degree the superstitious belief in witchcraft operates on the mind of an Indian. The moment his imagination is struck with the idea he is bewitched, he is no longer himself. Of this extraordinary power of their conjurers, of the causes which produce it, and the manner in which it is acquired, they have not a very definite idea. The sorcerer, they think, makes use of some deadening substance, which he conveys to the person he means to ‘strike,’ in a manner which they can neither understand nor describe. The person thus ‘stricken’ is immediately seized with an unaccountable terror. His spirits sink, his appetite fails, he is disturbed in his sleep, he pines and wastes away, or a fit of sickness seizes him, and he dies at last a miserable victim to the workings of his own imagination.”—Heckewelder, 229–231. See also Carver, Charlevoix, Bartram, Hearne, &c. referred to in Dr. Jarvis's discourse on the religion of the Indian tribes, &c. delivered before the N.Y. Historical Society, December 20, 1819. And see notes to Canto IV. Dr. Jarvis, p. 51, takes notice of the mistake, made by Carver and others, in confounding the jongleurs, or jugglers (in English), with the priests. The expression, sorcerer, made use of in the text, alludes to the former order. I have generally, however, termed them pow-wahs, and their brethren, who followed the more regular practice, prophets. It is somewhat singular that Mr. Southey, in one of his ‘Songs of the North-American Indians,’ should put the French term jongleur in the mouth of a native.

“They believe (the Chepewyans) that immediately after their death they pass into another world, where they arrive at a large river, on which they embark in a stone canoe, and that a gentle current bears them on to an extensive lake, in the centre of which is a most beautiful island; and that in the view of this delightful abode, they receive that judgment for their conduct during life which terminates their final state and unalterable allotment. If their good actions are declared to predominate, they are landed upon the island, where there is to be no end to their happiness; which, however, according to their notions, consists in an eternal enjoyment of sensual pleasure and carnal gratification. But if their bad actions weigh down the balance, the stone canoe sinks at once, and leaves them up to their chins in water, to behold and regret the reward enjoyed by the good, and eternally struggling, but with unavailing endeavours, to reach the blissful island from which they are excluded for ever.”—Mackenzie's Voyages, p. 84, New-York edit. 1802.

It is said in Bartram's Travels that the deer are enticed by the olive leaves.

“Thank you.”—Heckewelder.

“Les chasseurs se rangent sur quatre lignes, qui forment un très grand quarré, et commencent par mettre le feu aux herbes, qui sont séches alors, et fort hautes; puis, à mesure que le feu gagne, ils avancent en se reserrant. Les bœufs, qui craignent extrêmement le feu, fuyent toujours, et se trouvent à la fin si serrés les uns contre les autres, qu'on les tuë ordinairement jusqu'au dernier.” “Quand il [le bœuf] est blessé il est furieux, et se retourne sur les chasseurs.”—Charlevoix, tom. iii. 131.

I know not if the quantity of this word be correct. Miantonimo was the chief sachem of the Narragansets, and was defeated and taken prisoner in a pitched battle with Uncas, who cut off his head and sent it to the English. They stuck it on a pole, in terrorum, anno 1643. Canonchet was Miantonimo's son. He was captured in 1676 by the Connecticut forces and their Indian confederates, the Mohegans and Niantics, under their sachem, old Ninigret. Canonchet was one of the most gallant chieftains of that day. A very interesting account, too long to be inserted, is given of his capture, in Hubbard, p. 159–162. He was honourably shot by some Mohegans of his own rank. Mr. Irving has mentioned him in his life of Philip. Panoquin was the friend of Canonchet, and also a sub-sachem among the Narragansets.—Hubbard. Mather's Magnalia. Increase Mather, &c.

“But on whatever occasion they [the Indians' mounds] may have been made, they are of considerable notoriety among the Indians: for a party passing, about thirty years ago, through the part of the country where this barrow is, went through the woods directly to it, without any instructions or inquiry; and having staid about for some time, with expressions which were construed to be those of sorrow, they returned to the high road, which they had left about half a dozen miles to pay this visit, and pursued their journey.”—Jefferson's Notes, p. 161, 162.

“Il paroît, madame, que dans ces chansons on invoque le dieu de la guerre, que les Hurons appellent Areskoui et les Iroquois Agreskoué. Je ne sçai pas quel nom ou lui donne dans les langues Algonquines.” “L'Areskoui des Hurons et l'Agreskoué des Iroquois est dans l'opinion de ces peuples le Souverain Etre, et le Dieu de la Guerre.”—Charlevoix, III. 207–344. I do not know, any better than Father Charlevoix, the name of the war-god among the Lenapé; but find a totally different word for the verb to make war, which, in the Iroquois, is derived from the name of the deity. The New-England Indians, I believe, had no such person in their mythology. The word is, therefore, improperly put into King Philip's mouth. Mr. Campbell writes it Ariouski, in “Gertrude of Wyoming.”

“I observed that the main body of the Fox river came from the southwest, that of the Ouisconsin from the north-east. That two such rivers should take their rise so near each other, and after running different courses, empty themselves into the sea, at a distance so amazing (for the former, having passed through several great lakes, and run upwards of two thousand miles, falls into the Gulf of St. Lawrence; and the other, after joining the Mississippi, and having run an equal number of miles, disembogues itself into the Gulf of Mexico), is an instance scarcely to be met in the extensive continent of North America. I had an opportunity, the year following, of making the same observations on the affinity of various head branches of the waters of the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi [which] in some places approached so near that I could have stepped from the one to the other.”—Carver's Travels, p. 28.

“They will not suffer any belonging to them to fetch such things as are necessary, even fire, from these retreats, though the want is attended with the greatest inconvenience. They are also so superstitious as to think, if a pipe-stem cracks, which among them is made of wood, that the possessor has lighted it at one of these polluted fires,” &c.—Carver's Travels, p. 152. This alludes to a particular custom, to which the simile in the text has no reference. See, also, for that custom, Adair's History of the North American Indians. M'Kenzie's History of the Fur Trade, p. 87. Star in the West, by Dr. Boudinot &c. and the notes to Canto IV.

“The Indians say that when the leaf of the white oak, which puts forth in the spring, is of the size of the ear of a mouse, it is time to plant corn; they observe that now the whipperwill has arrived, and is continually hovering over them, calling out his Indian name ‘Wekolis,’ in order to remind them of the planting time, ‘Hackihack!’ go to planting corn!”—Heckewelder, p. 305. Carver, mentioning the same circumstance, says, the Indians term the bird “Muckawiss.”—p. 310.

The mortality among the Indians, previous to the coming of the English, has been mentioned before, in the note from Gookin, on the Pawkanawkutts. And see notes to Canto III.

This was the name given to the English by the Indians. Thus, when the enemy approached Mystic Fort, the sentry of the Pequods cried out, O wanux! O wanux! or, as C. Mather has it, Wannux! Wannux!—Magnalia, VII. 42.

Is, I perceive, borrowed from Young,—

“One house, one fire, and one canoe, is to say that they constituted together one people, one family.”—Heckewelder, 79.

I transcribed these lines hastily, without referring to their precise allusion. The second line may be stricken out, without injuring the sense of the passage. Those, however, who are disposed to be captious, are perfectly welcome to all the blunders I may have committed, here and elsewhere.

“I had like to have omitted a very extraordinary circumstance relative to these straits (Michillimackinack). According to observation, made by the French, while they were in possession of the fort, although there is no diurnal flood or ebb to be perceived in these waters, yet, from an exact attention to their state, a periodical alteration in them has been discovered. It was observed that they rose by gradual, but almost imperceptible degrees, till they had reached the height of about three feet. This was accomplished in seven years and a half; and in the same space they as gently decreased, till they had reached their former situation; so that in fifteen years they had completed this inexplicible revolution.”—Carver, p. 92.

“He,” the Prophet, “likewise told me, that departed souls always went southward; and that the difference between the good and bad was this—that the former were admitted into a beautiful town, with spiritual walls, or walls agreeable to the nature of souls; and that the latter would for ever hover round those walls, and in vain attempt to get in,” &c.—Diary of David Brainerd.—E. See also Carver, p. 251. M'Kenzie, &c. &c.

Cotton Mather thus pathetically laments the introduction of fire-arms among the Indians. “After this the Land rested from War for forty Years together, even until the Sins of the Land called for a new Scourge; and the Indians, by being taught the use of Guns, which hitherto they had not learnt, were more capable to be made the instruments of inflicting it. The English Interest in America must at last, with Bleeding Lamentations, cry out Heu! patior telis vulnera facta meis. For after this, the Auri sacra Fames, that cursed Hunger of Lucre, in the diverse Nations of Europeans here, in diverse Colonies bordering upon one another, soon furnished the Savages with Tools to destroy those that furnish'd them;—Tools pregnant with infernal flame,” &c.—Magnalia, VII. 44. The Dutch sold great quantities of fire-arms to the Indians.

This mode of expression is, I believe, improper for an Indian. The author last quoted has this curious remark, speaking of the destruction of the Pequod fort. “When they came to see the ashes of their friends mingled with the ashes of the fort, and the bodies of so many of their Country terribly Barbikew'd, where the English had been doing a good morning's work, they Howl'd, they Roar'd, they stamp'd, they tore their hair; and though they did not Swear (for they knew not how!) yet they Curs'd, and were the Pictures of so many Devils in Desperation.”—Magnalia, VII. 43.

The Indians in the western parts of Connecticut were tributary to the Mohawks. The cry of “a Mohawk! a Mohawk!” struck them with universal panic. The Mohawks announced their coming by the shout, “We are coming, we are coming, to suck your blood!” See Colden's History, vol. i. p. 3., and Trumbull, p. 56. These conquerors made a descent upon Philip's confederates, during this war, and destroyed numbers of them. See the notes to Canto III.

See a note to Canto V.

See a subsequent note to this Canto.

“The Indians esteem the old year's fire as a most dangerous pollution, regarding only the supposed holy fire, which the Archimagus annually renews for the people.”—Adair, p. 22.

“The Cheerake Indians have a pointed proverbial expression, signifying ‘The great hawk is at home.’”—Adair, p. 17, speaking of the Indian contempt of avarice.

The following extracts relate to what some writers call “making black boys,” and Mr. Heckewelder, “the initiation of boys.” See the notes to Dr. Jarvis's discourse; and to the Fourth Canto.

“I do not know how to give a better name (initiation of boys) to a superstitious practice which is very common among the Indians, and, indeed, is universal among those nations that I have become acquainted with. By certain methods which I shall presently describe, they put the mind of a boy in a state of perturbation, so as to excite dreams and visions; by means of which they pretend that the boy receives instructions from certain spirits or unknown agents as to his conduct in life, that he is informed of his future destination, and of the wonders he is to perform in his future career throughout the world.

“When a boy is to be thus initiated, he is put under an alternate course of physic and fasting, either taking no food whatever, or swallowing the most powerful and nauseous medicines, and occasionally he is made to drink decoctions of an intoxicating nature, until his mind becomes sufficiently bewildered, so that he sees, or fancies that he sees, visions, and has extraordinary dreams, for which, of course, he has been prepared beforehand. He will fancy himself flying through the air, walking under ground, stepping from one ridge or hill to the other across the valley beneath, fighting and conquering giants and monsters, and defeating whole hosts by his single arm. Then he has interviews with the Mannitto, or with spirits, who inform him of what he was before he was born, and what he will be after his death. His fate in this life is laid entirely open before him, the spirit tells him what is to be his future employment, whether he will be a valiant warrior, a mighty hunter, a doctor, a conjuror, or a prophet. There are even those who learn, or pretend to learn, in this way, the time and manner of their death.

“When a boy has been thus initiated, a name is given to him analogous to the visions that he has seen, and to the destiny that is supposed to be prepared for him. The boy, imagining all that happened to him while under perturbation to have been real, sets out in the world with lofty notions of himself, and animated with courage for the most desperate undertakings. They could always cite numerous instances of valiant men, who, in former times, in consequence of such dreams, had boldy attacked their enemy with nothing but the Tamahican in their hand, had not looked about to survey the number of their opponents, but had gone straight forward, striking all down before them.”—Heckewelder, p. 238–9.

The extract which follows, is, perhaps, as satisfactory an explanation of this singular custom, as any that has been given since the author's time. The same, or similar rites, being used by the Indians of the north, probably gave occasion to the same superstition among the settlers there, as was entertained by those of the south; namely, that the savages sacrificed their children to Moloch, or the Devil.

“The Indians have their altars and places of sacrifice. Some say, they now and then sacrifice young children: but they deny it, and assure us, that when they withdraw their children, it is not to sacrifice them, but to consecrate them to the service of their god. Smith tells of one of these Sacrifices in his time, from the Testimony of some People who had been Eye-witnesses. His Words are these.” Here follows a quotation from Smith, referred to in the notes to Dr. Jarvis's Discourse. He then proceeds; “I take this story of Smith's to be only an example of Huskanawing, which, being a ceremony then altogether unknown to him, he might easily mistake some of the Circumstances of it.

“The solemnity of the Huskanawing is commonly practis'd once every fourteen or sixteen years, or oftener, as their young Men happen to grow up. It is an Institution or Discipline which all young Men must pass, before they can be admitted to be of the Number of the great Men, Officers, or Cockarouses of the Nation; whereas by Captain Smith's Relation, they were only set apart to supply the Priesthood. The whole ceremony of Huskanawing is performed after the following manner:—

“The choicest and briskest young Men of the Town, and such only as have acquired some Treasure by their Travels and Hunting, are chosen out by the Rulers to be Huskanawed; and whoever refuses to undergo this Process, dares not remain among them. Several of those odd preparatory Fopperies are premis'd in the Beginning, which have been before related; but the principal Part of the Business is, to carry them into the Woods, and there keep them under Confinement, and destitute of all Society, for several Months; giving them no other Sustenance, but the Infusion or Decoction of some poisonous, intoxicating Roots; by virtue of which Physick, and by the severity of the Discipline which they undergo, they become stark staring Mad: In which raving Condition they are kept eighteen or twenty Days. During these Extremeties, they are shut up, Night and Day, in a strong Inclosure, made on Purpose, one of which I saw, belonging to the Pamaunkie Indians, in the year 1694. It was in Shape like a Sugar-loaf, and every way open like a lattice, for the air to pass through. In this Cage, thirteen young men had been Huskanaw'd, and had not been a Month set at liberty when I saw it. Upon this Occasion it is pretended, that these poor Creatures drink so much of that Water of Lethe, that they perfectly lose the Remembrance of all former Things, even of their Parents, their Treasure, and their Language. When the Doctors find that they have drank sufficiently of the Wysoccan (so they call this mad Potion), they gradually restore them to their senses again, by lessening the Intoxication of their Diet; but before they are perfectly well, they bring them back into their Towns, while they are still wild and crazy, through the Violence of the Medicine. After this they are very fearful of discovering any thing of their former Remembrance; for if such a thing should happen to any of them they must immediately be Huskanaw'd again. Thus they unlive their former Lives, and commence Men, by forgetting that they ever have been Boys. The Indians pretend that this violent Method of taking away the Memory, is to release the Youth from all their childish Impressions, and from that strong Partiality to Persons and Things which is contracted before Reason comes to take place.”— History of Virginia, p. 175, 176, 177, 178, 179.

“One thing,” says Dr. Mather, “which imboldened King Philip in all his Outrages, was an assurance which his Magicians, consulting their Oracles, gave him, that no Englishman should ever kill him; and indeed if any Englishman might have had the honour of Killing him, he must have had a good measure of Grace to have repressed the Vanity of Mind whereto he would have had some Temptations. But this will not extend the Life of that Bloody and Crafty Wretch above half his days!”—Magnalia, VII. p. 54.

A word euphonized by my deceased friend, I believe, from some more uncouth name. All the letters, however, belong to the alphabet of these Indians. The rude sound of the Indian names was distressing to the writers of Philip's age, as appears from several remarks of Mather, and others. The author of some verses, meant to be complimentary, prefixed to Hubbard's Narrative, calls them,

With all due deference, however, the appellations of many of these chieftains, particularly in the vicinity of Narraganset bay, if connected with classical associations, would seem full as sonorous as the names of the ancient heroes.

See notes to Cantos III and IV.

So the Indians term the full moon.—Heckewelder, p. 307.

The name of the heroine was, in the original copy, scriptural. My friend afterward altered it; and I have left the one he selected.

I believe no example is on record, of a Christian woman, of any refinement, voluntarily leaving her friends, and going off with an Indian. There have been many instances where they have been carried off by the savages; and after having become used to their mode of life, refused to return to their connexions. La Hontan and Charlevoix are at issue, on a point respecting the taste of the French women. I quote from a poor translation of the former author, not having the original work. Speaking of the conduct of the savages, at the fair at Montreal, after they have intoxicated themselves a little, he says,—“'Tis a comical sight to see 'em running from shop to shop, stark naked, with their bow and arrow. The nicer sort of women are wont to hold their fans before their eyes, to prevent their being frighted with the view of their ugly parts. But these merry Companions, who know the brisk She-Merchants as well as we, are not wanting in making an offer, which is sometimes accepted of, when the present is tempting. If we may credit the common report, there are more than one or two of the Ladies of this country, whose Constancy and Vertue have held out against the attacks of several officers, and at the same time vouchsafed a free access to these homely paramours. 'Tis presum'd their Compliance was the effect of Curiosity, rather than of any nice Relish; for, in a word, the Savages are neither brisk nor constant. But whatever is the matter, the women are the more excusable upon this Head, that such opportunities are very unfrequent.”—La Hontan's Voyage to N. America, done into English, London, 1703.

“Si par hazard, Madame, vous tombez sur le livre de la Hontan, où il est parlé de cette Foire, donnez vous bien de garde de prendre tout ce qu'il en dit pour des vérités. La vraisemblance n'y est pas même gardée. Les Femmes des Montreal n'ont jamais donné lieu à ce que cet Auteur y met sur leur compte, et il n'y a rien à craindre pour leur honneur de la part des Sauvages. Il est sans exemple qu'aucun d'eux ait jamais pris la moindre liberté avec les Françoises, lors même qu'elles ont été leurs Prisonnieres. Il's n'en sont pas même tentés, et il seroit a souhaiter que les François eussent le même dégout des Sauvagesses. La Hontan ne pouvoit pas ignorer ce qui est de notorieté publique en ce Pays; mais il vouloit égayer ses Mémoires, et pour y réussir, tout lui étoit bon,”&c.—Charlevoix, III. p. 142–3.

“The Wakon bird, as it is termed by the Indians, appears to be of the same species as the birds of paradise. The name they have given it is expressive of its superior excellence and the veneration they have for it; the Wakon bird being in their language the bird of the Great Spirit. It is nearly the size of a swallow, of a brown colour, shaded about the neck with a bright green; the wings are of a darker brown than the body; its tail is composed of four or five feathers, which are three times as long as its body, and which are beautifully shaded with green and purple. It carries this fine length of plumage in the same manner as a peacock does,”&c.—Carver, p. 814. Wakon, however, is the term for God, or the Great Spirit, in the Naudowessie dialect. In the language of the Algonquins, Chippewyans, &c. which is radically the same with that of the New-England Indians, the name of the Deity, or Good Spirit, is Kitchi Manitou; as that of bad Spirits is Matchi Manitou. The term used in the text is therefore improper, as is also (though less objectionable, as it is applied), the phrase Wakon cave, employed in the Fourth Canto.

According to Adair, the Southern Indians termed the sacred traditions of their forefathers, “the beloved speech.”

“On dit qu'il [le Chevreuil] jette des larmes, lorsqu'il se voit poussé à bout par les chasseurs.”—Charlevoix, III. p. 132.

Awashonks, the “Sunke Squaw” of Seaconet, shortly before this time, had submitted, with ninety of her warriors, to Major Bradford. Her Indians accompanied the English in their last chase after Philip. See Magnalia, VII. 53. Hubbard, new edit., 213. Church, 21, 43, &c.

Charlevoix mentions a feast in honour of what may be supposed to be the Hunter Genius, p. 118.

“Les Renards donnent la chasse aux oiseaux de Riviere, d'une maniere fort ingénieuse. Ils s'avancent un peu dans l'Eau, puis se retirent et font cent cabrioles sur le Rivage. Les Canards, les Outards, et d'autres Oiseaux semblables, que ce jeu divertit, s'approchent du Renard; quand il les voit à sa portée, il se tient fort tranquile d'abord, pour ne les point effaroucher, il renmuë seulement sa Queuë, comme pour les attirer de plus près, et ces sots Animaux donnent dans le piége, jusqu'a becquetter cette Queuë. Alors le Renard saute dessus, et manque rarement son coup.”—Charlevoix, III. p. 183.

“Un officier digne de foi m'a assûré avoir vû une Fontaine, dont l'Eau est comme de l'Huile, et a le goût de Fer. Il m'a ajoûté qu'un peu plus loin, il y en a une autre toute semblable, et que les Sauvages se servent de son Eau, pour appraiser toutes sortes de douleurs.”—Idem. p. 224.

“They soon captivated the Numponsets, and brought them in, not one escaping. This stroke he [Church] held several weeks, never returning empty handed. When he wanted intelligence of their kennelling places, he would march to some place likely to meet with some travellers or ramblers, and scattering his company, would lie close, and seldom lay above a day or two, at the most, before some of them would fall into his hands, whom he would compel to inform where their company was; and so, by his method of secret and sudden surprises, took great numbers of them prisoners.”—Church.—E.

The savages, naturally enough, ascribed supernatural effects to the sacrament of Baptism. See Charlevoix, 249.

As soon as night comes on, these birds will place themselves on the fences, stumps, or stones that lie near some house, and repeat their melancholy notes without any variation till midnight. The Indians, and some of the inhabitants of the back settlements, think if this bird perches upon any house, that it betokens some mishap to the inhabitants of it.”—Carver, 311.

The author of the “History of Virginia,” before quoted, makes mention, p. 185, of a bird, said to contain the soul of one of their princes, by the Indians. Their ideas of the transmigration of souls are referred to in the notes to Canto V.

“They march one man behind the other, treading carefully in each other's steps, so that their number may not be ascertained by the prints of their feet.”—Heckewelder.

It is mentioned in “New England's Memorial,” that the Indians supposed the white men had the power of burying the smallpox under ground, or letting it escape among them. They were severely afflicted with this disease, particularly in the spring of 1634. Owing to their total want of comfort and cleanliness, few of them could escape, who caught it. “Being very sore,” says the memorial, “what with cold and other distempers, they die like rotten sheep.” Cotton Mather says, it was the plague, which Squanto told his countrymen the English kept in a cellar.

The difficulties encountered by the first emigrants, in crossing the ocean, and after their arrival, are generally known. They are faithfully narrated in the Magnalia, Prince's Chronological History, New-England's Memorial, Purchas's Collections, &c. and in the modern histories of Hutchinson, Trumbull, &c. It would be useless to make any extracts in these brief notes, unless required by the text.

“Some of the ancient Indians, that are surviving at the writing hereof, do affirm, that about some two or three years before the first English arrived here, they saw a blazing star, or comet, which was a forerunner of this sad mortality, for soon after it came upon them in extremity. Thus God made way for his people by removing the heathen.” &c.—N. E. Memorial, Boston printed, Newport reprinted, 1772. Of this mortality among the Indians, mentioned in the notes to Canto First, the Memorial says,—“The Lord was disposed much to waste them by a great mortality, together with which were their own civil dissensions and bloody wars, so as the twentieth person was scarce left alive when these people arrived; there remaining sad spectacles of that mortality in the place where they seated, by many bones and skulls of the dead lying above-ground: whereby it appeared that the living of them were not able to bury them.” Id. p. 25.

C. Mather, Magnalia, I. 7, speaking of this mortality, says, “It is remarkable that a Frenchman, who not long before these transactions had by a shipwreck been made a captive among the Indians of this country, did as the survivors reported, just before he dy'd in their hands, tell those tawny Pagans that God, being angry with them for their wickedness, would not only destroy them all, but also people the place with another nation, which would not live after their brutish manners. Those infidels then blasphemously reply'd, God could not kill them; which blasphemous mistake was confuted by an horrible and unusual plague,” &c. This story is told more at length in N. E. Memorial, p. 29, 80.

“But before I pass on, let the reader take notice of a very remarkable particular, which was made known to the planters at Plymouth some short space after their arrival; that the Indians, before they came to the English to make friendship with them, got all the powahs in the country, who for three days together, in a horrid and devilish manner, did curse and execrate them with their conjurations; which assembly and service they held in a dark and dismal swamp. Behold how Satan laboured to hinder the gospel from coming into New-England.”—N. E. Memorial, p. 32.

That the miseries of this famine are not exaggerated may be seen by a reference to the authorities.

“It is to be observed, that the spring before this sickness there was a numerous company of flies, which were like for bigness unto wasps' bumblebees; they came out of little holes in the ground, and did eat up the green things, and made such a constant yelling noise as made the woods ring of them, and ready to deafen the hearers; the Indians said that sickness would follow, and so it did very hot in the months of June, July, and August, of that summer.”—N. E. Memorial, 99. The account of the sickness is given in the same place.

See the same book, p. 43, 103, &c.

This circumstance is particularly dwelt upon by Nathaniel Morton (author of the Memorial), and C. Mather.

“After the English of the Massachusetts were returned, the Pequots took their time and opportunity to cut off some of the English at Connecticut, as they passed up and down upon their occasions; and tortured some of them in putting them to death in a most barbarous manner, and most blasphemously in (the Pequots' horrible blasphemy) this their cruelty, bade them call upon their God, or mocked and derided them when they so did.”—N. E. Memorial, 107.

“Those who fell into their hands alive were cruelly tortured after a most barbarous manner, by insulting over their prisoners in a blasphemous wise, when in their dying agonies, under the extremity of their pains (their flesh being first slashed with knives, and then filled with burning embers), they called upon God and Christ, with gasping groans, resigning up their souls into their hands; with which words these wretched caitiffs used to mock the English afterward, when they came within their hearing and view.”—Hubbard, p. 23, 24.

Alluding to the differences in religious opinions, which were so unsavoury in the nostrils of those worthy and stubborn sectarians, who had themselves emigrated that they might enjoy the free exercise of their tenets. One Thomas Morton, at an early period, appears to have been particularly and deservedly obnoxious for his open profanity. See N. E. Memorial, p. 76, 77. Magnalia, &c. This man, among the other offences laid to his charge, is said to have sold guns and powder to the natives.

“But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.”—Jonah, c. iv. v. 7.

“Verba Doct. Arrowsmith, in Orat. Antiweigelianâ, Faxit Deus Optimus, Maximus, tenacem adeo veritatis hanc Academiam, ut deinceps, in Angliâ Lupum, in Hiberniâ Bufonem, invenire facilius sit, quàm aut Socinianum aut Arminianum in Cantabrigiâ.”—Magnalia, iv. 138.

See the Notes to Canto IV.

Josh. c. 10. v. 8.

“The Indians took five or six of the English Prisoners; and that the Reader may understand, crimine ab uno, what it is to be taken by such Devils Incarnate, I shall here inform him: They Stripp'd these unhappy Prisoners, and caused them to run the Gantlet, and Whipped them after a Cruel and Bloody manner; they then threw Hot Ashes upon them, and cutting off Collops of their Flesh, they put Fire into their Wounds, and so, with Exquisite, Leisurely, Horrible Torments, Roasted them out of the World.”— Magnalia, vii. 51, b. “But now was the time for Deliverance! There was an Evil Spirit of Dissention strangely sent among the Indians, which disposed them to separate from one another: The Dæmons, who visibly exhibited themselves among them at their Powawing or Conjuring, signified still unto them that they could now do no more for them: the Maquas, a Powerful Nation in the West, made a Descent upon them, ranging and raging through the Desart with irresistible Fury; Fevers and Fluxes became Epidemical among them, &c. And an unaccountable terror at the same time so Dispirited them, that they were like men under a Fascination.”—Idem, p. 52, a.

“Whether for the loss of some of their own company in that day's enterprise (said to be an hundred and twenty), or whether it was the devil in whom they trusted that deceived them, and to whom they made their address the day before by sundry conjurations of their powaws; or whether it were by any dread that the Almighty sent upon their execrable blasphemies, which it is said they used in torturing some of their poor captives (bidding Jesus come and deliver them out of their hands from death, if he could), sure it is that after this day they never prospered in any attempt they made against the English, but were continually scattered and broken, till they were in a manner all consumed.”—Hubbard, new ed. p. 186.

“Yea, and now we speak of things Ominous, we may add, Some time before this, in a Clear, Still, Sunshiny Morning, there were divers persons in Malden who heard in the Air, on the South-East of them, a Great Gun go off, and presently thereupon the Report of Small Guns like Musket Shot, very thick discharging, as if there had been a Battel. But that which most of all astonished them was the Flying of Bullets, which came Singing over their Heads, and seemed very near to them; after which the sound of Drums passing along Westward was very Audible; and on the same day, in Plymouth Colony, in several Places, invisible Troops of Horses were heard Riding to and fro.”—Magnalia, VII. p. 46. For a further account of these prodigies, see Hubbard, p. 74, and Increase Mather, p. 34, who says he had the relation “from serious, faithfull, and Judicious hands, even of those who were ear-witnesses of these things.”

There are several instances related of the interposition of Divine Providence in behalf of the English, during their conflicts with the Indians. One of the most remarkable is said to have happened at Bridgewater. We borrow the words of Hubbard. “The Indians presently began to fire the town, but it pleased God so to spirit and encourage several of the inhabitants, issuing out of their garrison houses, that they fell upon them with great resolution, and beat them off; at the same instant of time, the Lord of Hosts also fighting for them from Heaven, by sending a storm of thunder and rain very seasonably, which prevented the burning of the houses which were fired.”—E.

The story of Fitzgerald, previous to his emigration, is irrelevant to our subject. I have retained it, however, as it formed so considerable a portion of my friend's share of the poem. I have added three long stanzas, narrating the manner in which the daughter was won and carried off by the Indian. The ideas are probably borrowed from the wooing of Othello. How should they not be?

“Manucodiatæ, eastern birds of Paradise, that doe live on aire and dew.”—Burton's Anat. Mel.

‘Who builds not upon hope,” says Sir Philip Sidney, “shall fear no earthquake of despair.”—Aphorisms. So Seneca, in Medea,

The decisive battle of Naseby was fought in the year 1645, with nearly equal forces, on the sides both of the king and parliament. The fortune of the day turned against Charles, and he was finally obliged to quit the field, with the loss of about eight hundred men; though the parliament lost above a thousand.—E.

“As fern grows in untild grounds, and all manner of weeds, so do grose humours in an idle body: ignavum corrumpunt otia corpus.” “Cozen german to idleness, and a concomitant cause, which goes hand in hand with it, is nimia solitudo, too much solitude—which is either coact, enforced, or else voluntary.” “Voluntary solitude is that which is familiar with melancholy, and gently brings on, like a Screw, a shooing horn, or some Sphinx, to this irrevocable gulf. Most pleasant it is at first, to such as are melancholy given, to lie in bed whole dayes, and keep their chambers, to walk alone in some solitary grove, betwixt wood and water, by a brook side, to meditate upon some delightsome and pleasant subject which shall affect them most; amabilis insania, and mentis gratissimus error,” &c. &c.—Anat. Mel.

Deuteronomy, chap. vii. ver. 1–4.

In the account of the means by which the intelligence of Philip was conveyed, we have deviated, not materially, however, from historical accuracy, in order the better to interweave it with the story. We quote the following from Church's history.—“Not seeing or hearing of any of the enemy, they went over the ferry (from Pocassel) to Rhode Island, to refresh themselves. The Captain, with about half a dozen in his company, took horse and rid about eight miles down the island, to Mr. Sandford's, where he had left his wife; who no sooner saw him but fainted with surprise; and by that time she was a little revived, they spied two horsemen coming a great pace. Captain Church told his company that those men (by their riding) came with tidings. When they came up they proved to be Major Sandford and Captain Golding; who immediately asked Captain Church, what he would give to hear some news of Philip? He reply'd, That was what he wanted. They told him, They had rid hard with some hopes of overtaking him, and were now come on purpose to inform him, that there were just now tidings from Mount Hope; an Indian came down from thence (where Philip's camp now was) on to Sand-point, over against Trip's, and halloo'd, and made signs to be fetched over, he reported, That he was fled from Philip, who, (said he) has killed my BROTHER just before I came away, for giving some advice there displeased him. And said, he was fled for fear of meeting with the same thing his brother had met with; told them also, That Philip was now in Mount Hope neck.”—E.

“Sir” (said some of the Indians to Captain Church), “you have now made Philip ready to die, for you have made him as poor and miserable as he used to make the English; for you have now killed or taken all his relations. That they believed he would now soon have his head, and that this bout had almost broke his heart.”—Church.—E.

“Et l'on prétend que la présence de l'Esprit se manifeste par un Vent impétueux, qui se leve tout à coup; ou par un Mugissement, que l'on entend sous terre,” &c. Charlevoix is here speaking, however, of the Spirit which occasions mental wandering in sickness; which I have identified with the Spirit of Dreams.

“They (four savages from the west) further informed us, That the Nation of the Asseni poulaes, whose lake is down in the map, and who lie North-East of the Issatti, was not above six or seven Days Journey from us: That none of the Nations within their Knowledge, who lie to the West and the North-West of them, had any great Lake about their Countries, which were very large, but only Rivers, which coming from the North, run cross the countries of their Neighbouring Nations, which border on their Confines, on the side of the Great Lake, which, in the Language of the Savages is the same as sea. That Spirits, and Pigmies, or men of little Stature, did inhabit them, as they had been informed by People that lived farther up than themselves; and that all the nations which lie beyond their Country, and those which are next to them, do dwell in Meadows and large Fields, where are many wild Bulls and Castors, which are greyer than those of the North, and have their Coat more inclining to Black; with many other wild Beasts, which yield very fine Furrs.”—Hennepin's New Discovery of a Vast Country in America, &c. Lóndon, translated with additions, 1699.

It is probable that Father Hennepin confounded the general name of the sea, among the savages, with the particular name given to the Assinapoil lake. Charlevoix says, “Le veritable Pays des Assinaboils est aux environs d'un Lac, qui porte leur nom, et que l'on connoit peu. Un François, que j'ai vu à Montreal m'a assûré y avoir été, mais il l'avoit vû, comme on voit la mer dans un Port, et en passant, L'opinion commune est que ce Lac a six cent lieuës de circuit; qu'on ne peut y aller que par des chemins presque impratiquables; que tous les Bords en sont charmans, &c. Quelques Sauvages le nomment Michinipi, qui veut dire la Grande Eau. C'est bien dommage que ce Lac n'ait pas été connû des Sçavans, qui ont cherché partout le Paradis Terrestre; il auroit été pour le moins aussi bien placé là que dans la Scandinavie,”—III. p. 185.

“Celui qui doit commander ne songe point à lever des Soldats qu'il n'ait jeûné plusieurs jours, pendant lesquels il est barbouillé de noir, n'á presque point de conversation avec personne, invoque jour et nuit son Esprit tutelaire, observe surtout avec soin des Songes. La persuasion où il est, suivant le génie présomptueux de ces Barbares, qu'il va marcher à une Victoire certaine, ne manque guéres de lui causer des Rêves selon ses desirs.”—Charlevoix, III. p. 216.

“C'est toujours un Chef de Guerre, qui marque le tems de la chasse de l'ours, et qui a soin d'inviter les chasseurs. Cette invitation est suivie d'une Jeûne de huit jours, pendant lesquels il n'est pas même permis de boire une goutte d'eau. Le Jeûne s'observe pour obtenir des Esprits qu'ils fassent connôitre où l'on trouvera beaucoup d'ours,” &c. &c.—Charlevoix, p. 115.

“Le tems de la chasse de l'Ours est l'Hyver. Alors ces Animaux sont cachés dans les creux d'arbres; ou s'ils en trouvent d'abattus, ils se font de leurs Racines une Taniere, dont ils bouchent l'entrée, avec des Branches de Sapin, et où ils sont parfaitément à l'abri des rigueurs le da Saison. Si tout cela leur manque, ils font un Trou en Terre, et ont grand soin, quand ils y sont entrés, d'en bien fermer l'ouverture. On est bien assûré qu'il n'y porte ancune provision, et par conséquent que pendant tout ce temps-là il ne boit, ni ne mange.”—Charlevoix, p. 117.

With regard to the state in which the savages supposed the soul to be during sleep, Charlevoix has this passage. “Il n'y a rien, sur quoi ces Barbares ayent porté plus loin la superstition, et l'extravagance, que ce qui regarde les Songes; mais ils varient beaucoup dans la maniere, dont ils expliquent leurs pensées sur cela. Tantôt c'est l'Ame raisonnable, qui se promene, tandis que l'Ame sensitive continue d'animer le corps. Tantôt c'est le Génie familier, qui donne des avis salutaires sur ce qui doit arriver: tantôt c'est une visite, qu'on reçoit de l'Ame de l'Objet, auquel on rêve; mais de quelque façon, que l'on conçoive le Songe, il est toujours regardé comme une chose sacrée, et comme le moyen le plus ordinaire, dont les Dieux se servent pour faire connôitre aux Hommes leurs volontés.”—Charlevoix, p. 354.

It formed, according to our author, a great amusement of the savages, to tell their dreams in an enigmatic manner, and compel each other to divine them. A feast of dreams, as it was ordinarily called, but which was named by the Iroquois “the confusion of brains,” was occasionally held. Its orgies were fantastical, and sometimes dangerous; for if any one took it into his head to say that he had dreamed of killing another, the person threatened had need of ready wit, to avert the literal fulfilment of the vision. An account of this festival is given in Charlevoix, p. 356. There was another strange custom growing out of this superstition. Previous to entering the enemies' country, the warriors ran about their camp, proclaiming their obscure visions; and he whose riddle was not satisfactorily guessed, had the privilege of returning without comment or dishonour. “Voila,” says Charlevoix, “qui donne beau jeu aux Poltrons.”—P. 237. These enigmas, as this author repeatedly remarks, were always ascribed to the inspiration of a genius.

“Il n'est pas étonnant après cela que les Sauvages croyent aux Revenans: aussi en font-ils des contes de toutes les façons. J'ai vû un pauvre Homme, qui à force d'en entendre parler, s'étoit imaginé qu'il avoit toujours une troupe de Morts a ses trousses, et comme on avoit pris plaisir à augmenter sa frayeur, il en etoit devenu fou.”—P. 374.

“On ne refuse rien au malade de ce qu'il demande, parce que, dit-on, ses desirs en cet état sont des ordres du Génie, qui veille â sa conservation; et quand on appelle les Jongleurs, c'est moins à cause de leur habilité, que parce qu'on suppose, qu'ils peuvent mieux sçavoir des Esprits la cause du mal, et les remedes, qu'il y faut appliquer.” “Selon les Iroquois, toute Maladie est un desir de l'Ame, et on ne meurt, que parce que le desir n'est pas accompli.”—P. 367–370.

In consequence of this superstition, they would not begrudge any trouble or danger, to satisfy the wildest wishes of an invalid. The jugglers or quack doctors among them, take advantage of this belief, to prescribe, in desperate cases, the accomplishment of some impossible task, which they pretend is wished by the patient, as the Spirits have revealed to them.— Id. p. 368.

Fools and madmen were supposed to be entirely under the influence of Spirits. The words of the latter were regarded as oracles.—Idem.

“Il se commence (le Jongleur) par se faire suer, et quand il est bien fatigué à crier, à se debattre, et à invoquer son Génie, &c. Alors, plein de sa prétenduë Divinité, et plus semblable à un Energumene, qu'a un homme inspiré du Ciel,” &c.—Idem.

“The Conjurer is a partner with the Priest, not only in the Cheat, but in the Advantages of it, and sometimes they officiate for one another. When this Artist is in the act of Conjuration, or of Pauwawing, as they term it, he always appears with an Air of Haste, or else in some convulsive posture, that seems to strain all the Faculties, like the Sybils, when they pretended to be under the power of Inspiration.”—History of Virginia, p. 183.