Frank G. Speck

“ The principal field of decoration among the Mohegan and Niantic, so far as we can now tell, seems to have been chiefly in paintings on baskets. Decorative wood-carving upon household utensils and sometimes upon implements was also quite common. Bead-work, on the other hand, appears to have been a secondary activity. A short account of the basket-making itself is required, before the basket decorations are described. For household and gardening purposes these people have developed a few types [Pg 2] of baskets (manu· ́da [3] “receptacle”) varying in shape, size, and weave. ”

“ So Nenebuc told her, “Let me hear you singing. Is that what you are going to do to cure her?” “Yes, I will sing and then pull out that arrow.” The Lions had sent for her at the foot of the lake to cure the queen. Nenebuc picked up a club and killed her, saying, “You are no doctor (macki·ki·′winini‵k·we ‘medicine-person woman’) at all.” Then he discovered that she was no person at all, but a big toad (omα′kαk·i·‵) . So he skinned her and put on the skin. The skin had a hole in the groin, and as he had no needle to sew it up with, his scrotum hung out when he put it on himself. ”

“ When the man reached the shore, Wemicus told him to go farther back on the island, saying, “That’s where the former husbands got their eggs, there are their bones.” He then started the canoe off in the water by singing, without using his paddle. Then Wemicus told the gulls to eat the man, saying to them, “I give you him to eat.” The gulls started to fly about the man, but the man had his paddle with him and he killed one of the gulls with it. He then took the gulls’ wings and fastened them on himself, filled his shirt with eggs, and started flying over the lake by the aid of the wings. ”

“ A fortunate phase of the research work among the Indians of New England has recently led to the extension of our knowledge of the decorative art of the eastern Algonkin tribes. This has been made possible by the discovery of specimens, and by information furnished by several aged Indians of the Mohegan and Niantic tribes of eastern Connecticut. ”

“ Accordingly, then, whenever they held a council there were shamans there. And according to their strength among these shamans it was known who was the most powerful. After they held their council they lighted their pipes and smoked. In the case of an exceedingly great shaman every time he drew upon his pipe, wampum fell from his mouth. If the wampum was white, then it denoted that the shaman was of medium power. If the wampum was half white and half reddish it denoted the least powerful shaman. ”

“ All the animals, once upon a time, were camped together—the Beaver, the Otter, the Muskrat, and the others. Their chief was Beaver. Every once in a while he would give a big feast, build a big wigwam, and invite all the men and women to come in and eat with him. He would tell them, “Well, I want to give a feast.” Then they would come in, sit around the inside of his big wigwam and pass the food around from one to the other. He would provide lots of grease in birch-bark dishes. ”

“ Here on native soil still dwell the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy. On the western and southern boundaries of Maine the Wabanaki bands escaped extinction only by fleeing to Canada, where their descendants now live at the village of St. Francis. Of the tribal names included in this group, however, one in particular, the Wawenock, has long been reckoned among the obsolete, though several times the suggestion had appeared in print that the Indians residing at Becancour, Province of Quebec, might be its survivors. ”

“ Several articles of bone, ornamentally carved, have come to light. Chief among these are whalebone canes, with skilfully made carvings. The handle of one of these canes represents a very natural looking human hand (Figure 22) . This same figure has been met with in the carvings of the Penobscot and Iroquois.
A few miscellaneous articles made by old Mohegan workmen have been discovered during the investigation, one of which is covered with decorative designs (Figure 23) . No discussion is warranted, since any possible interpretation has now been forgotten, even as to the function of the object. ”

“ Wiske·djak was always doing mischief in his lifetime among the Indians, so it is said. He was always doing everything he could to plague his countrymen, the Indians. He spent his life going about everywhere where there were Indians, to tease them and play mischief among them. Because he was so funny, it was thought good to have him going about in spite of his mischief. He had no canoe, so he always walked about, going great distances here and there and everywhere, until he had travelled almost all over the world, where he was heard of doing his mischievous pranks. ”

“ As for social organization no knowledge is preserved of the family hunting territories, for it seems that at Becancour hunting has not 177 been a practicable occupation for several generations. Neither dances nor ceremonies have been performed within the memory of the old people, so we only have the names of several dances which are remembered through tradition. The term alnαk`hadi ́·n denotes the common dance (Penobscot alnαba ́gan) performed as a part of the marriage ceremony which, like that of the Penobscot, is proposed by means of wampum. ”

“ Then Nenebuc let all the animals go from the raft. He started west and is there yet, lying on his back, singing and hammering at his wigwam poles, in place of drumming, all the time. He will stay there until he gets up again three years before the end of the world, when he will travel all over the world to see the animals and the Ojibwa again. He will not die until the end of the world. ”

“ All the small animals came and got fat for themselves. Last of all the animals came the Rabbit, when nearly all the grease was gone—only a little left. So he put some on the nape of his neck and some on his groin and for this reason he has only a little fat in those places. So all the animals got their fat except Rabbit. Then they all went, and poor Nenebuc got free at last. He looked around and found a bear’s skull that was all cleaned except for the brain, and there was only a little of that left, but he couldn’t get at it. ”

“ Many people have tried to go where your road leads; but they have never gotten there, for many creatures are seeking their lives. But I will help you.” Then she gave him a leg-bone of a lynx. “When you are in trouble, you may need this,” she told him. Then he started on, following the tracks of his woman. Every time he came to a lake, he shot an arrow across and sped before it as he had done at first. He was fast indeed.
Soon he came to another wigwam and peeped into this as he had done into the first. ”

“ The Bear, now a Squirrel, said he would continue to eat people, but he was so small that he could not do anything. “That is good,” said Nenebuc. “Now you can’t do any harm to the Indians. But you had better change your food. Just run up that black-spruce tree and taste the acorn seeds and then see whether you want to eat people any more. You are too small to eat people as you used to do.” So the Squirrel ran up the black-spruce tree and tasted the sweet seed of the cone. ”

“ Now Ciŋgəbis suspected some trick and told his wife not to go to the dance. “If I have to go, you must stay here at home and not move away from the wigwam.”
When the night of the dance came, they got everything ready—the drum and rattles, and everybody was coming from every camp. They prepared a kind of drink out of boiled bark and herbs with tobacco juice in it, that would make people dizzy when they drank it. Ciŋgəbis did not want to go to the dance at first, but everybody coaxed him until he started. But he told his wife to stay at home and not leave for anything. ”

“ On the eastern shore of this lake is a great rock where a Manitu is believed to live. Whenever anyone makes a noise in the vicinity, the Manitu becomes angry and growls. His plaints, the Indians believe, can be clearly heard when he is offended. The Ojibwa never go near there when they can avoid it; and they seldom throw a stone in the lake, splash their paddles, or shoot their guns near its shores. ”

“ And when the Indians get short of tobacco they will cut you and scrape the bark off you and dry you and use you to smoke for their tobacco.” He looked up higher toward the rocks where he fell down. There he saw his scabs sticking to the rocks where he had stuck, some large, some small. Said he to the rocks, “You will hold on to these scabs. Don’t ever let go. And when the Indians are hard put to it for something to eat, you will give them some of my scabs and tell them to wash them in cold water and boil them with rabbit meat or any kind of meat or fish. ”