 | THE HUMAN SACRIFICE. Legends of New-England |  |
Note.—
The early settlers of the valley of the Connecticut were under the
firm belief that the Indians of Matchit-Moodus, offered human sacrifices to
their evil spirit, or Hobamocko. The legend of the “Moodus noises” is one
of the most singular which has ever reached our knowledge. It is said that
these noises, which growled occasionally from a hill or mountain in East-Haddam,
created much alarm among the early settlers of the country. There
is a story prevalent in the neighborhood that a man from England, a kind
of astrologer or necromancer, undertook to rid the place of the troublesome
noises. He told them that the sound proceeded from a carbuncle—a precious
gem, growing in the bowels of the rock. He hired an old blacksmith's
shop, and worked for some time with closed doors, and at night. All at once
the necromancer departed, and the strange noises ceased. It was supposed
he had found the precious gem, and had fled with it to his native land. The
following is an extract from a poem written upon this singular legend by the
lamented Brainard:
With mattock, bar and spade—
The summit is gain'd, and the toil began,
And deep by the rock where the wild lights ran,
The magic trench is made.”
“Then upward stream'd the brilliant's light.
It stream'd o'er crag and stone:—
Dim look'd the stars, and the moon, that night;
But when morning came in her glory bright,
The man and the jewel were gone.
“But wo to the bark in which he flew
From Moodus' rocky shore;
Wo to the Captain, and wo to the crew,
That ever the breath of life they drew,
When that dreadful freight they bore.
“Where is that crew and vessel now?
Tell me their state who can?
The wild waves dash o'er their sinking bow—
Down, down to the fathomless depths they go,
To sleep with a sinful man.
Beneath the mighty wave;
But the light shines upward so gloriously,
That the sailor looks pale, and forgets his glee,
When he crosses the wizard's grave.”
| THE HUMAN SACRIFICE. Legends of New-England | |