Part 4

Birch bark canoes were made by the Massachusetts, and Pring reports them in use by the Wampanoag.[270] The vessels or the material for them might have been obtained in trade, or, as one writer suggests, suitable-sized pieces of bark may have been achieved by piecing together the bark of birches that were stunted stragglers outside their normal range.[271] Birch bark canoes have the advantage of being light and easily transported over portages.[272] These canoes were joined by sewing, probably with bast fiber or something similar.[273] The seams were caulked with rosin from the pitch pine.[274] The vessels were strengthened by placing broad, thin ribs across the inside rather close together.[275]

=Other Manufactures=: The Indians also made glue of a combination of deer antler and “fishes sounds”.[276] Its use is mentioned for fletching arrows.

STRUCTURES

=Architecture=: There were two basic architectural styles used by the Wampanoags, both variations on a single structural type: A framework made of poles—large ends set into the ground, smaller ends bent to meet each other and lashed together—along with a series of horizontal elements that crossed the uprights at regular intervals and a covering of bark or woven mats. The smaller of the two styles was round in floor plan, and basically hemispherical in shape.[277] The larger type was oblong or oval in its floor plan, the side framework being two rows of parallel poles, retaining the rounded proof pattern.[278]

=Dwellings=: Both styles of house were used as dwellings; which one was used depended upon the season of the year. The larger house was a winter dwelling, the type used when the various constituent families of a village met to live together for that season. Dimensions varied, depending upon the size of the group that was living in the house.[279] They are described as being about thirty feet wide and ranging from fifty to one hundred feet in length.[280] Each family unit that lived in the house had its own fireplace, and a smoke hole was left in the roof over each of these.[281] There was a door at each end of the house.[282]

During the summer, when the Wampanoags were engaged in gardening, ocean fishing, and shellfish collecting, the smaller, round house was used. This is the sort of house, probably occupied by one or two nuclear family units, that early explorers saw strung out along the New England coast.[283] The size of the house varied according to the number of people to be fit in. Fifteen to twenty feet would probably be a good estimate of average diameter.[284]

The fireplace was located in the center of the floor, and above it was a smoke hole about one and a half feet across, which had a mat to cover it when the wind was strong.[285] Doorways were low—about a yard high—and had a mat or bark covering.[286] The location of the door was shifted as the wind changed; several panels were left with detachable coverings for this purpose.[287] Some Indians got boards and nails from the English and made doors and bolts for their wigwams after the fashion of the colonists. Both kinds of doors were fastened at night or if the family were leaving for a journey. In the latter case, the last one to leave fastened the door from the inside and left the house via the smoke hole.[288]

House frames for both styles of house were lashed together. One material mentioned for this use was walnut bark.[289] The outer covering of the house was either bark or matting. The mats were made of coarse grasses such as flagg or bulrush by sewing or weaving.[290] The bark used for house coverings was birch or chestnut.[291] It was removed from the trees when the “sap was up”. Sheets of green bark were placed under heavy logs to keep them from curling while they dried.[292] Bark-covered houses were considered to be warmer and preferable to those covered with mats.[293]

Bark covering is mentioned as being customary for summer houses of the Narragansetts.[294] Probably bark covering was the rule for winter village longhouses, since it was warmer. For groups dwelling along the coast and on Cape Cod, mat covering is most frequently mentioned.[295] Portability rather than warmth was likely the important factor in “summer” house coverings, since they also had to serve as covering for the hunting house in the fall and the fishing house in the spring. For this reason, mats were probably preferred over bark for summer houses. House frames were left standing when the family moved, and they were re-used the next year.

These houses were largely both dry and warm. There was a second layer of matting made of bulrushes on the inside of the house for added insulation. Since they were small and the fire was always burning, they were quite smoky, especially when the smoke hole and the door were closed against the elements. At such times the people inside often had to lie close to the floor in order to breathe properly.[296]

=Other Structures=: The Wampanoags had several other kinds of structures. Unfortunately, detailed descriptions of these are for the most part nonexistent.

It is reported that the houses of chiefs were different from the ordinary dwelling. They were larger, and finer mats were used for their walls.[297] Also different was the hunting house, which served as a base of operations for the fall hunting season. It provided shelter and a place to store the paraphernalia used in hunting.[298] Available data on construction tells only that they were of a more temporary nature than the regular dwelling house and that “barks and rushes” were used in the building.[299] Another structure was the dance house, built for ceremonial occasions. This was a longhouse measuring as much as one or two hundred feet.[300]

Other outbuildings in the settlement included: watch houses in the corn fields, menstrual huts, and sweat houses.[301] Of these, there is some information on the structural details of the sweat houses. They were commonly constructed by excavating a cave into the side of a hill. Sometimes an earth-covered extension was built out from the side of the cave, forming a structure that altogether measured about eight feet in diameter and four feet in height. The door covering was a blanket or a skin. The sweat house was placed as near as possible to a stream or lake, so that the bathers could plunge themselves into cold water at the termination of the bath. Heat was provided by a pile of stones heated on a fire.[302]

EQUIPMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF BUILDINGS

The furnishings of Wampanoag houses were simple. This was necessary because of the Indians’ mobile life. All household equipment, including the covering of the house itself, had to be carried from camp to camp by the women of the household.

The interiors of houses were lined with bulrush matting. This was decorated with painting or “embroidery”.[303] Beds were family-sized—about six to eight feet across.[304] They were raised a foot to a foot and a half off the ground.[305] Forked sticks were set into the ground to hold poles, across which planks were laid.[306] Rush mats served as the mattress, and the sleepers covered themselves with skins, dressed with the hair left on.[307] Such a bed served the entire family and any visitors they might have.

The remainder of the furnishings consisted mainly of the various containers used for storage, cooking, and food service.[308] Cooking pots were sometimes made of clay, but if possible iron, brass, or copper kettles were obtained from the Europeans, since these were not so easily broken.[309] Birch bark pails were used as water containers, while various sizes of bags and baskets served to store food.[310] Carved wooden bowls, plates, and spoons were also part of the furniture, and some milling equipment probably occupied an indoor place.[311]

Indoor fires were always kept burning.[312] Fuel was either what windfalls could be gathered or an occasional larger tree which was cut and dragged in to be fed into the fireplace by degrees.[313] Over the fireplace, which was a simple hearth made of field stones, there was often a square frame of sticks, supported on forked branches.[314] Pots were hung from this framework. There was almost always a pot of boiling food over the fire, or else there was meat suspended on a stick whose end was buried in the ground.[315] Drying fish or meat was also kept in the house at times—to benefit from the fire when the weather outside was damp. Bundles of rushes, bast fiber, hemp, and the like for making mats and baskets probably would have about completed the inventory of household goods, save for personal possessions and tools.[316]

SETTLEMENT

Descriptions of village layouts, locations and sizes are virtually nonexistent. What information there is, along with some suggested interpretations, is offered as follows:

Both Champlain’s map and drawings of Wampanoag houses at Plymouth harbor suggest that the summer coastal settlements were laid out with each family’s house (or in some cases, probably each wife’s house) being located amid or beside its field.[317] Average field size was probably about one acre.[318] Drawings made by Champlain show fields fenced with parallel poles placed upright in the manner of a low stockade.[319] It was in these summer villages that the Wampanoags spent the most time during the year.[320] Actually, a family might make one or two moves during the summer, although staying in the same general area. When the fields planted later in the season were too far away for convenience, the family would move into another house near the field they were currently cultivating. Another resident of southern coastal New England, the flea, sometimes prompted a shift in residence during the summer. Fleas lived in the dust in the houses, and when they became unbearable an Indian family would move to a fresh dwelling.[321]

Reports of visitors to the southern New England coast prior to the plague give the impression that settlements of the “summer village” type were strung out all along the coast.[322] Settlements apparently were variable in size.[323] Writers who made this observation may have been looking both at actual variation in total group size and at seasonal variation in population concentration and dispersal. The most concentrated settlements were the winter villages.[324] A longhouse in one of the winter villages might shelter 40 or 50 people; there is no indication as to the number of longhouses that might have been found in such a village.[323]

Fall hunting encampments were, like the summer settlements, dispersed. Men moved onto the lands to which they had the hunting rights. Since more land was needed for hunting than farming, the spread of dwellings would have been much thinner. As for the spring fishing camps, it is known only that large numbers of people gathered at them; sources give no hint of settlement pattern.

ENERGY AND POWER

The principal source of light and heat for the Wampanoags was the same fire over which they cooked their meals. Additional light was sometimes provided by torches. One variety was made of birch bark and was used in night fishing.[324] Pine splints also served as torches, used for lighting the interiors of houses.[325]

Both percussion and friction methods of fire-making were used. For kindling fire by percussion the Indian carried with him a small pouch containing the proper materials for striking a light—a piece of spongy dry wood for tinder and stones for producing the spark. One stone was fastened onto the tinder stick to more surely catch the spark when it fell.[326]

Aside from fire for heat, light, and cooking, and occasional use of the sail, no naturally occurring sources of energy and power were controlled by the Wampanoags.

COMMUNICATION

The Wampanoags did not use any mechanical devices, such as whistles or drums for sending messages. Instead, they used their voices to call out information. When news had to be transmitted beyond shouting distance, a messenger was sent. If he had trouble locating his destination he would give a shout when he thought himself a mile or so away, and answering calls would guide him to the village he sought.[327]

Since they had no system of writing, all information that was to be passed on to other people, whether news of the day or tribal tradition, had to be memorized. To help in this task pre-literate societies sometimes use mnemonic devices. The Wampanoag had such a practice. Along the side of trails, near the place where some event of historical significance had occurred, they dug small holes, about a foot deep and a foot wide to mark the spot. These were meticulously re-excavated when they seemed to be filling in. As a Wampanoag passed through his country the sight of these markers reminded him of the stories they represented. Thus reminded, he would tell them to others.[328]

EXCHANGE

=Gift Giving=: Dances were held periodically, and at these the dancers would dole out presents such as wampum, to the spectators. Each man who was to dance would take his turn at it, giving away his possessions bit by bit until he had no more to give and was exhausted from dancing.[329]

At the Nickomo feast, held in the winter, the person giving the feast, besides providing food for perhaps hundreds of people (the size of the guest list depended upon what one could afford to pay for) presented goods and money to his guests.[330] Upon receipt of the gift, the guest would call out three times an invocation for the prosperity of his host.[331]

=Trade=: The several groups of Indians of southeastern New England traded among themselves in pottery vessels, wooden bowls, bows, arrows, pipes, shell money, stone bowls, skins, and food products of the hunt and the fields.[332] The manufacture of some of these items appears to have been specialized according to local group. That is, the women of one locality seem to have made cooking pots, and these were traded to the women of other groups.[333] Wooden bowls seem to have been the specialty of the Wampanoags. Soapstone pipes and bowls were produced by the Narragansetts and were traded north at least to Cape Cod.[334] At a time that was probably early in the seventeenth century the Narragansetts also took over the production of wampum for the region. Craftsmen spent the summer collecting suitable shells and the winter making the beads.[335] Trade in furs among Indian groups was not highly developed prior to the arrival of Europeans. It seems to have been mainly a matter of trading for kinds of skins that were scarce or finer than those in one’s own territory.[336] Food was probably traded according to need. It was also traded on the basis of geographical location, coastal tribes exchanging with interior tribes.[337]

The arrival of Europeans in the New World provided a great trade stimulus. The major trading interest between Indians and Europeans was the fur trade. Here coastal dwelling Indian groups such as the Wampanoags took the advantage. Being first to meet the Europeans, they quickly established themselves as go-betweens in the trade, and besides doing trapping of their own, they traded for the furs of inland tribes, which they then traded to the Europeans for a profit.[338] The fur trade caused increased emphasis upon hunting and trapping. Since it was more profitable to trade skins than to wear them, the fur trade was a force that encouraged Indians to adopt European textiles and dress.

The fur trade also was responsible for the introduction of wampum into Wampanoag culture. Wampum, used as money, was a trait belonging to Indian groups to the south. Purple wampum may have first originated on Long Island.[339] When the Dutch settled New Netherland, they found it a convenient medium of exchange and adopted it. The regular use and production of wampum found its way north to the Narragansetts, but it did not become popular with the Wampanoags until after 1627, the year in which the Dutch first brought wampum to Plymouth and suggested its virtues to the English settlers there.[340] Once its value was appreciated, Indians of the Plymouth area began to make it also.[341] Within the next twenty years, wampum as ornament and money became ingrained in Wampanoag culture.

Purple wampum was double the value of white. Wampum was reckoned in value by count, 360 white beads equalling a fathom, which was worth five shillings. This number of beads might exceed or fall short of a fathom in linear measure, but the number of beads rather than actual length was the important criterion.[342] The value of wampum, however, was based on the market in furs.[343] After 1648 this market dropped, and after that date a 5-shilling “fathom” of wampum had to consist of 480 white beads. In the period immediately prior to King Philip’s War the use of wampum as currency declined.[344]

Not all trade was in terms of skins and wampum. These were basic but not the exclusive goods in circulation. Guns and alcohol were popular items, introduced onto the market chiefly by the French—much to the distress of the English colonists and missionaries. Corn was also much involved in New England commerce.[345] Settlers traded corn with the Indians, according to the needs of each in a particular year. The Pilgrims at Plymouth traded corn to Indians in Maine for furs, although this pattern came to be replaced by an exchange of furs for wampum.[346]

LABOR

The basic division of labor was between the sexes. Certain tasks were those of women; certain others were those of men—neither did the work of the other. Apparently there were also individual craft specialty avocations, in terms of tribe or local group. That is, besides doing all the tasks that were necessary every day to produce food, clothing, and shelter, some people also made bowls, pottery, pipes, etc. It is not known, however, which people (i.e. a few individuals or almost everyone) within the group made these things.

The tasks of women centered about the home and fields. Theirs was the job of building the house. They set up the poles, made the mats to cover them, and fastened on the covering. When the family moved they took down the mats and carried them on their backs to the next homesite, where they were put onto the family dwelling in that place.[347] The woman did all the tending of the crops—she planted them, weeded them, saw that they were guarded from birds, harvested them, processed them, and stored them. She also made the various containers in which they were stored. Whichever of these products were to be carried to their next camping spot she also carried.[348]

The various collecting activities were the woman’s job—gathering shellfish for food and to bait her husband’s line, collecting roots, berries, and seeds, and also gathering the various raw materials needed for making bags and baskets.[349] When fish or game was captured by the man of the house he left the kill where it had fallen and sent his wife to fetch it in. Having collected the game, the woman skinned it, prepared the meat and dressed the hide, which she might then make into clothing or some household article.[350] Besides these things women had the job of motherhood. Along with the household goods, the baby rode on his mother’s back when the family moved.[351] Women were valued as highly productive members of the community. Bride-price is one institution that emphasizes their importance. The more women there were in a group, the more prosperous it was considered to be. In war, female captives were prized. A wife who wanted to leave her husband could run away to the enemy and be welcomed.[352]

The business of men was to hunt for game, catch fish, and provide protection for the weaker members of the village.[353] Raising tobacco was an exclusive activity of men. Men made and maintained their hunting and war weapons. They also manufactured many of the household tools and utensils.[354] Woodworking in general was the province of men: they carved spoons and dishes; they made canoes; they cut and shaped the poles for houses; they cut down trees to make new farm land; they constructed fortifications.[355]

Certain tasks were performed by groups of people from the larger community. One of these was breaking ground for spring planting, Williams writes that “All the neighbours men and Women forty, fifty, a hundred &c., joyne, and come in to help freely”.[356] Hunting by drive, fishing of some kinds, and the building of fortifications were also communal projects, as was war.[357]

Children, as soon as they were old enough, imitated the tasks of the similar-sexed parent. Toy bows and arrows and miniature pots were among their playthings. Children were useful for help in the fields at such tasks as weeding and keeping away birds. Men who were too old to hunt might also assist in the agricultural activities, if they wanted to.[358] Older women whose families were grown no doubt helped take care of toddlers so that mothers could do things outside the house such as gardening.

TRAVEL AND TRANSPORT

The Wampanoag had two means of travel available to him—going on foot or by canoe. Likewise, for the transport of his belongings and any trade goods he could use his canoe or his back.

Travel on foot through the forests was difficult, owing to the dense growth of bushes and low trees. There were paths worn along regular routes, but hunters had to traverse the woods. Early observers reported that in order to ease movement through the woods the Indians periodically set fire to the woods and burned out the undergrowth.[359]

The Wampanoags were efficient about the business of foot travel. They knew the country well and crossed seemingly trackless woods with accuracy of direction.[360] They trained at running from early childhood and a man could travel along all day at a jog-trot with ease.[361] The traveling costume was designed for a minimum of encumbrance on the journey—the normal dress being the breech clout. The traveler carried a bag of parched corn meal for sustenance and a pouch of tobacco, along with flints and pipe. He either wore or carried his moccasins. A quiver of arrows hung over his left shoulder, with the end resting in his right hand. In the left hand the runner carried his bow.[362] A small quantity of corn sustained him during the day, and by night he would seek shelter among friends of another village, or if alone he would kindle his own fire and dine on corn meal and water.

For water travel, either the birch bark or the dugout canoe was used. The bark canoe was probably preferred for travel on inland waterways, since portages could be made with greater ease, owing its lesser weight.[363] Birch bark canoes were said to be difficult to keep from capsizing. The Wampanoags, however, were skilled in the use of these bark boats, and they are described as venturing out in rough coastal waters.[364] They were strong swimmers and quite prepared to rescue themselves in case of mishap. The canoeist knew how to right his craft while swimming alongside and scramble in again.[365] Canoes were usually propelled by paddles.[366] However, the occasional use of sails is noted. A pole served for the mast and a skin robe or two for canvas.[367]

RECREATION