Part 7
The Wampanoags only religious practitioner was the powow. His role was that of intermediary between the humans and the supernatural.[558] When illness was thought to be of supernatural origin he was called in to determine the kind of force at work and to carry out the proper ceremonies to restore health.[559] For this work he received payment in advance. Should the patient not recover, his relatives were apt to be angry with the powow; they would demand the return of the fee and perhaps his life if they felt that deception had been involved.[560]
Certain of the powow’s activities were deliberately misleading. He often used tricks to help demonstrate his command of supernatural powers. A powow was said to be able to accomplish such feats as making water burn, turning ashes into green leaves in the winter, making ice appear upon water in the summer, or turning himself into a “flaming man”. His skill at sleight of hand aided in the working of some of these wonders.[561]
A man became a powow by having a dream in which he was promised the type of supernatural power that would make him a powerful religious practitioner.[562] The man announced this dream to others on the following day, and in the course of a two-day celebration it was proclaimed that he was a powow.[563] The success and competence of the new powow would be judged by his future performance.
APPENDIX
Tools and Appliances
This section contains a list of some Wampanoag tools and appliances described by early observers. Where processes of manufacture and methods of use are known and have not been more appropriately included in previous sections they will be found in the following pages. Basketry, clothing, and ornaments are thoroughly described elsewhere.
The descriptive notes are arranged in the following order: item, followed by use (where known), followed by material (where known), followed by any details of construction, etc., followed by references as to location of the data in the literature.
BOW: weapon and hunting: walnut or “wich hasell”; 5-6′ long, painted black and yellow; strung with twisted sinew thicker than European boxstrings of the time; effective range “six to seven score”. (Josselyn, p. 257; Bushnell, p. 675; Wood, pp. 97, 101; Howe, p. 71)
ARROW: weapon, hunting, fishing; shaft of “young elderne”; 18″ long; made with detachable tips, the point bound to a 6-8″ piece of wood, which is then inserted in a socket in the main shaft and held by binding; fletching of long, broad, black feathers of eagle, vulture, or kite, attached with glue and binding. (Wood, p. 100; Mourt’s Relation, p. 183; Howe, p. 71)
ARROW POINTS: stone—quartz (generally white), slate (Chapin, p. 3); metal—copper, iron, brass; triangular or “hart shaped” (Brereton, p. 43-44; Williams, p. 137; Wood, p. 100; Willoughby, pp. 237-39), bone (Willoughby, pp. 237-39); end of tail of horseshoe crab. (Howe, p. 120)
FISHING SPEAR: shaft wood; point stone (quartz—usually white—or slate) or metal—iron, copper, (Chapin, p. 3; Brereton, pp. 43-44; Williams, p. 137; Bushnell, p. 675)
LONG SPEAR: carried into battle by a chief and used for carrying back the heads of slain enemies; metal blade attached for point. (Wood, p. 95; Gookin, p. 152, Lechford, p. 120)
KNIFE: handle antler; blade stone (quartz, flint, or slate) or metal; hafted by insertion of the blade into sleeve cut in handle; handle might be decorated by incised lines; two holes drilled diagonally until they meet to form an opening provide for suspending cord. (Willoughby, p. 239-40, illustrated; Chapin, p. 30)
HARPOON: used in fishing. (Wood, p. 100-101; Williams, p. 137)
GAMING PIECES: playing _Puim_; small reeds of about a foot long; 50 to 60 make up a set. (Wood, p. 83)
GAMING PIECES: playing _Hubbub_; bone dice, painted black on one side, white on the other; sets of five. (Wood, p. 83)
GAMBLING TRAY: used in hubbub; carved and polished wood. (Wood, pp. 96-98)
BOWL OR DISH: eating stews, etc.; wood burls, including elm and maple; well smoothed and polished, sometimes with handle carved to represent animal. (Willoughby, p. 258; Mourt’s Relation, p. 144; Morton, pp. 158-59; Bushnell, p. 675)
PAIL: carrying water; birch bark; square, bail-type handle, two to three gallon capacity; made by “skillful folding” (probably sewn together). (Gookin, p. 151)
HAND BASKET: use not stated; “made of crabshells wrought together”. (Mourt’s Relation, p. 144)
CLAY POT: cooking; thin, about the same thickness as iron pots; sizes quart to gallon. (Morton, p. 158; Mourt’s Relation, p. 144; Wood, p. 75; Gookin p. 151)
STONE BOWLS: soapstone; with or without ears or handles; known examples are rather rough of finish. (Chase, p. 900; Chapin, p. 15)
KETTLE: cooking; iron, brass, copper. (Wood, p. 75; Gookin, p. 151)
DRINKING CUPS: unworked shell (_Fulgur canaliculata_); copper, broad and shallow (“skull-shaped”). (Willoughby, pp. 237-39; Brereton, pp. 43-44)
BOX: birch bark. (Bushnell, p. 675)
HOE: cultivating and preparing gardens; wood and clamshell. (Williams, p. 176; Wood, p. 87; Howe, pp. 116-17)
SPOON: eating stews, etc.; Wood (burls of elm, maple, or other), finely finished, handle often elaborately carved in openwork or other ornamental figures; Bone (one example), U-shaped, 104 × 41 mm, three small perforations in flat end for hafting; Deer antler; Sheet copper and brass (Willoughby, pp. 237-39, 258; Bushnell, pp. 675, 683-4; Gookin, p. 151)
LADLE: burl of elm, maple, or other. (Willoughby, p. 258; Gookin, p. 151)
SNOWSHOES: round, “bearpaw” type, rectangular weaving[B]; three crossbars; netting attached to frame by wrapping. The toe hole, characteristic of most North American snowshoes, is lacking. (Davidson, pp. 31-2, 96)
MOULDS: for casting pipes, buttons, small ornaments, shot and bullets of all sizes; slate or other suitable stone; both one and two piece. (Willoughby, p. 243-44; Bradford, p. 52)
CRADLE BOARD: wood (perhaps also bark); forked shaped ends, dimensions 2 × 1 feet; braided strap for tying on child; furs for covers. (Bushnell, p. 675; Wood, p. 108; Morton, p. 147)
TORCHES: as fishing lures and for lighting inside houses; birch bark or pitch pine; splints or cloven pieces bound into a bundle. (Bushnell, p. 675; Willoughby, p. 294)
FISH HOOKS: bone—one form consists of the shank bone of a fawn, ends cut off to make a tubular shape 120 mm. long; line is looped through the tube; catches by fish swallowing. Wood with a spear-shaped piece of bone attached at more or less right angle, producing a fang-shape; point lashed on with hemp. Iron (imported ready made from Europe). (Bushnell, p. 675; Howe, pp. 110-15; Wood, p. 100)
NET SINKERS: for keeping stationary net in place; stone. (Chapin, p. 11)
FISH DRYING SCAFFOLDS: no descriptions. (Wood, p. 107)
ROASTING SPIT: for cooking meat over the fire inside the house; stick of wood, notched at one end, other end sharpened to stick into ground. (Wood, p. 75)
BUTTONS: pewter, made by casting; decorated. (Illustrated in Willoughby, p. 243, fig. 131)
LARGE PIPES: carved wood, stone (probably soapstone), carvings to represent men and animals; 2 feet long. (Williams, pp. 72-3)
SMALLER PIPES: soapstone (made in imitation of the English style), pewter, clay, brass, combinations of these—stone with brass bound bowl, clay stem with bowl of copper. (Williams, pp. 72-3; Willoughby, pp. 243-4, 240; Chapin, p. 17; Brereton, p. 38)
PESTLE: for grinding; stone; one example with top carved to represent an animal’s head. (Bushnell, p. 675; Willoughby, pp. 237-9)
STONE MORTAR: containing material during grinding (corn specifically mentioned); sized from immovable boulder to a smaller portable style to cup size (for grinding pigments).
WOODEN MORTAR: used with stone pestle for corn and probably other uses similar to stone mortar; trough-shaped. (Bushnell, p. 675)
ADZE: woodworking; wood handle and stone head; head smooth and convex on one side, often double-grooved on the other side for hafting; sizes run from two to ten inches in length, also with imported European iron head. (Willoughby, 237-39)
AXE: woodworking; wood handle, stone head; differ quite markedly in weight, thickness, polish, workmanship, and size; approximately bi-symmetrical; large ones grooved to hold sinews that bind head to handle. Iron head; both axe and hatchet size (from Europeans). (Williams; p. 176; Chapin, pp. 6-7).
DRILLS: for beads; stone, later metal. (Williams, p. 176)
SCRAPERS: woodworking (probably something similar used in skin preparation); clam and oyster shell. (Wood, p. 102)
CHISEL: beaver incisor hafted onto some sort of handle. (Willoughby, pp. 237-39)
AWL: bone. (Willoughby, pp. 237-39)
NEEDLE: sewing mats together; bone (“splinter bone of a cranes legge”) half of the split rib of a deer. (Morton, p. 135; Willoughby, pp. 244-45)
BAG FOR CARRYING PARCHED CORNMEAL: leather; long pouch worn around the waist. (Wood, p. 76)
TOBACCO BAG: for carrying pipe and tobacco; worn hung down the back. (Williams; pp. 72-3)
QUIVER: contain arrows; woven bulrushes; length one yard; one is described as having a decorative band about one foot wide on the top and about six inches wide at the bottom of the quiver, in red diamonds and patterns of other colors. (Winslow, p. 307; Howe, p. 71)
CLUB: weapon. (Gookin, p. 152)
TOMAHAWK: weapon; wood handle with sharp stone fastened into it. (Gookin, p. 152)
SHIELD: bark. (Gookin, p. 152)
COMB: one example, made of moose horn, perhaps unique in shape, consisted of small set of teeth at the end of a very long handle. (Bushnell, p. 683)
DUGOUT CANOE: pine or chestnut; size variable—some 40-50 feet long will carry 20 people; others are about one and a half to two feet wide and twenty feet long; hollowed out of tree trunks. (Wood, p. 102; Gookin, p. 152)
BIRCH BARK CANOES: sizes probably various—one that would carry nine passengers was 17′ × 4′, weighing about 60 pounds; another had a seating capacity of five or six. Seams were closed by sewing “oziers or twigs” and pitched; ends were pointed, fore and aft, but the bow curved slightly upwards. Inside were thin, broad ribs. (Wood, p. 102; Pring, p. 58; Gookin, pp. 152-53)
CANOE PADDLES: ash or maple; lightweight, length about two yards, flat on the ends. (Pring, p. 58)
SAILS: used occasionally; mast of small pole; consisted of skins of the sort used for mantles, one or two of these used at a time. (Williams, p. 133)
TOYS: bow and arrow: bow of a stick and arrows of reeds; Pottery vessels (miniature). (Wood, pp. 97-98; Willoughby, pp. 237-39)
SCAFFOLD FOR HANGING POTS OVER FIRE: see p. 64
FIRE-MAKING KIT
FISHING LINE
FISHING NET
EUROPEAN IMPORTS: in addition to those already mentioned, the following items of European technology were obtained and used by the Wampanoags: tin cups; pails of tin and iron; wooden chests; glass bottles; weapons—guns, pistols, sword and rapier blades, hatchets, and axes. (Gookin, pp. 151-52; Mourt’s Relation, p. 144)
FOOTNOTES
[A] Observation by writers of the period tend to be heavily biased by their own intense interest in Christianity, making them less useful for ethnographic purposes than most of the contemporary comment. Therefore this section can be little more than a listing of a few of the traits that comprised Wampanoag religious beliefs.
[B] D. S. Davidson, “Snowshoes,” MEMOIR OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, #6 (Philadelphia, 1937), pp. 31-2. “As the name implies, rectangular weaving consists of a series of warp and woof strands interwoven at right angles, in most cases in an over one under one fashion. Since embellishments in the forms of double strands, twists, and half hitches are often found, the term ‘rectangular’ has been selected as better suited than ‘plaiting’. This type of weaving is almost limited to North America. It is concentrated in Alaska and the Mackenzie region.... Elsewhere in North America it occurs sporadically.”
NOTES
[1] Alden T. Vaughan, NEW ENGLAND FRONTIER: PURITANS AND INDIANS 1620-1675, p. 54.
[2] “And though there be difference in a hundred miles’ distance of place, both in language and manners, yet not so much but that they very well understand each other. And thus much of their lives and manners.”; Edward Winslow, “Winslow’s Relation” in CHRONICLES OF THE PILGRIM FATHERS OF THE COLONY OF PLYMOUTH FROM 1602 TO 1625, Alexander Young, ed. pp. 366-67; also Roger Williams, A KEY INTO THE LANGUAGE OF AMERICA: OR AN HELP TO THE LANGUAGE OF THE NATIVES IN THAT PART OF AMERICA, CALLED NEW-ENGLAND, p. 20; Daniel Gookin, HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF THE INDIANS IN NEW ENGLAND, p. 149. Willoughby states that the Massachusetts, Wampanoags, Narragansetts, and Nipmucs, together with the Nontauks of Long Island formed a dialect group by themselves; Charles C. Willoughby, ANTIQUITIES OF THE NEW ENGLAND INDIANS, p. 276.
[3] Vaughan, p. 54.
[4] Gookin, p. 158.
[5] James Mooney, “The Aboriginal Population of America North of Mexico,” SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS LXXX (February 6, 1928), p. 3.
[6] Douglas Edward Leach, FLINTLOCK AND TOMAHAWK: NEW ENGLAND IN KING PHILIP’S WAR (New York, 1959), p. 1.
[7] Professor Demitri Shimkin, personal communication.
[8] Vaughan, p. 53.
[9] Emmanuel Altham, “Emmanuel Altham to Sir Edward Altham, September, 1623”, THREE VISITORS TO EARLY PLYMOUTH, Sydney V. James, Jr., ed. (Plimoth Plantation, 1963), p. 29; Gookin, p. 158.
[10] Altham, p. 29.
[11] Gookin, p. 158.
[12] Figures on Wampanoag population, unlike the case for several other New England groups, are not abundant. This is the only estimate found by the author; Leach, p. 1.
[13] Mooney, p. 3.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Vaughan, p. 28.
[16] In actual fact, exposure to the sun, the usual coating of grease, and an inevitable layer of dust must have altered skin color somewhat.
[17] Willoughby, pp. 230-31.
[18] Ibid.
[19] Ibid., p. 66. The Narragansetts’ name for the Englishmen was “knive men”; Williams, p. 176.
[20] Willoughby, p. 243.
[21] Ibid., pp. 243-44; Williams, pp. 72-73.
[22] William Bradford, HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH PLANTATION 1620-1647, II (Boston, 1912), pp. 52-53.
[23] For an example of the Indians’ sentiment toward the embrace of Christianity, the following passage from Wood: “... since the English frequented those parts, they daily fall from his the devil’s colours, relinquishing their former fopperies, and acknowledge our God to be supreame. They acknowledge the power of the Englishmans God, as they call him, because they could never yet have power by their conjurations to damnifie the English either in body or goods; and besides, they say hee is a good God that sends them so many good things, so much good corne, so many cattell, temperate raines, faire seasons, which they likewise are the better for since the arrivall of the English; the time and seasons being much altered in seven or eight years, freer from lightning and thunder, long droughts, suddaine and tempestuous dashes of raine, and lamentable cold Winters.”; William Wood, NEW ENGLAND’S PROSPECT (Boston, 1865), p. 94.
[24] M. K. Bennett, “The Food Economy of the New England Indians,” THE JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY, LXIII (October, 1955), p. 395.
[25] John Elliot, quoted in Edward Winslow, “The Glorious Progress of the Gospel Amongst the Indians in New England,” Massachusetts Historical Society, COLLECTIONS, Ser. 3 IV (Boston, 1834), p. 81.
[26] Willoughby, pp. 297-98.
[27] Bennett, pp. 385-86; Leach, p. 3; Thomas Morton, THE NEW ENGLISH CANAAN (Boston, 1883), p. 138; Williams, pp. 74-75; Willoughby, pp. 297-98; Wood, pp. 100-101.
[28] Gookin, pp. 150-51. According to the account by Champlain, the artichoke, _Helianthus tuberosa_, was actually cultivated by the Indians; Henry F. Howe, PROLOGUE TO NEW ENGLAND (New York and Toronto, 1943), pp. 72-73. Williams, pp. 120-22; Willoughby, pp. 297-99; Wood, pp. 75-76.
[29] Williams mentions another kind of berry, for which he did not know the name, “... growing in fresh Waters all the Winter, Excellent in conserve against Feavers”. The editor of Williams’ work suggests that perhaps this was the cranberry; Williams, pp. 120-21.
[30] Willoughby, p. 299.
[31] Bennett, pp. 385-86; Frank G. Speck and Ralph W. Dexter, “Utilization of Marine Life by the Wampanoag Indians of Massachusetts,” JOURNAL OF THE WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES XXXVIII (Menasha, August 15, 1948), p. 262; Vaughan, p. 30; Willoughby, pp. 297-98; Wood, p. 170.
[32] Wood, p. 170.
[33] Vaughan, p. 30; Williams, pp. 115-16.
[34] Williams, p. 115; Wood, p. 75.
[35] Williams, p. 116.
[36] Ibid., p. 115.
[37] Ibid.
[38] Ibid.
[39] Ibid., pp. 188-193; Vaughan, p. 30; Wood, pp. 98-100.
[40] Ibid.
[41] Williams, pp. 188-193.
[42] Wood, pp. 98-99.
[43] MOURT’S RELATION OR JOURNAL OF THE PLANTATION OF PLYMOUTH (London, 1622), reprinted in Alexander Young, CHRONICLES OF THE PILGRIM FATHERS FROM 1602-1625, Alexander Young, ed. (Boston, 1841), pp. 136-37; Williams, pp. 188-193; Winslow, p. 362; Wood, pp. 98-100.
[44] Wood, pp. 99-100.
[45] MOURT’S RELATION, pp. 136-37.
[46] Wood, pp. 99-100.
[47] Williams, pp. 188-193.
[48] Ibid.
[49] Ibid.
[50] Ibid.
[51] Ibid.; Wood, pp. 99-100.
[52] Williams, pp. 188-193; Winslow, p. 362.
[53] Williams, pp. 188-93.
[54] Ibid., Wood, pp. 99-100.
[55] Williams, pp. 188-93.
[56] Wood, pp. 99-100.
[57] “... it being the custome of the Indians to burne wood in November when the grass is withered, and leaves dryed.”; Wood, p. 17. “The Salvages are accustomed to set fire of the Country in all places where they come, and to burne it twize a yeare, viz. at the Spring and the fall of the leafe”; Morton, p. 172.
[58] Wood, p. 101.
[59] Bradford, I, p. 168; D. S. Byers, “The Environment of the Northeast”, MAN IN NORTHEASTERN NORTH AMERICA, Frederick Johnson, ed. (Andover, 1946), p. 25; Williams, p. 136.
[60] turbot, halibut, plaice, flounder.
[61] resembles a smelt.
[62] Champlain in Howe, pp. 110-115; Gookin, p. 150. It is not really possible to tell which of these fish were in most frequent use; bass seems to be the most mentioned by writers on tribes in the area. Josselyn lists the following as favorites of the Indians: striped bass, sturgeon, salmon, eels and lamphreys and frostfish. Since he does not tell the specific groups he was writing about and since his home was to the north of our area of concern, it is not certain that this list is representative of the preferences of Indians in the Plymouth area; Bennett, pp. 385-86. MOURT’S RELATION, pp. 196, 205; Williams, pp. 136-37, 142; Wood, pp. 100-102.
[63] Byers, p. 26.
[64] Bennett, pp. 385-86.
[65] “Of their fishing, in this trade they be very expert, being experienced in the knowledge of all baites, fitting sundry baites for the severall fishes, and diverse seasons; being not ignorant likewise of the removall of fishes, knowing when to fish in rivers, and when at rocks, when in Baies, and when at seas....”; Wood, p. 100.
[66] Champlain in Howe, pp. 110-115; Wood, pp. 100-101, 107.
[67] Champlain in Howe, pp. 110-115; Wood, p. 107.
[68] Wood, p. 107.
[69] Williams, p. 142; Wood, pp. 100-101.
[70] Wood, pp. 100-102.
[71] Williams, p. 137.
[72] MOURT’S RELATION, p. 205. One technique, found among the 19th century descendants of the Wampanoags, was: “Fish wiers were built in shallow water with nets having notched stone sinkers tied to them for anchorage.”; Speck and Dexter, p. 264.
[73] Williams, p. 137.
[74] Wood, pp. 100-101.
[75] MOURT’S RELATION, p. 196.
[76] Bradford, I, p. 162. There is no information as to the role of the dog in Wampanoag culture.
[77] Wood, p. 94.
[78] MOURT’S RELATION, p. 133; Willoughby, p. 296.
[79] Martin Pring’s Narrative in Howe, pp. 72-73.
[80] Ibid.; Willoughby, p. 296.
[81] Williams, p. 123; Wood, p. 106.
[82] Williams, p. 114.
[83] Ibid., p. 117.
[84] Willoughby, pp. 297-98.
[85] Wood, p. 106.
[86] Champlain in Howe, p. 130.
[87] Ibid. Early observers were impressed with the agricultural skill of the Indians and characterized them as being mainly dependent for their livelihood upon the corn they grew. Speaking from a present-day vantage point, with considerably more information at hand about the practices of primitive horticulturalists, one must be more cautious about drawing such a conclusion. In regard to the amount of corn produced, Williams says: “The woman of the family will commonly raise two or three heaps of twelve, fifteene, or twentie bushells a heap ... and if she have the helpe of her children or friends, much more.” (p. 124). Presumably the size of the fields on which this was grown averaged out to about an acre per family. The Pilgrims were able to get corn from the Indians in order to survive their initial hardships. Later they tell of obtaining rather large amounts of corn from the Indians along the coast to take north to trade (Willoughby, pp. 297-98). However, before assuming that agriculture was the major food source for the Wampanoags, it should be remembered that these Indians and their neighbors were best known to the early chroniclers in their coastal farming settlements. When they were living in the forest during hunting season and in the winter villages they were probably seldom seen by the Europeans. Therefore, the foreigner’s view of Indian dietary habits may not contain the entire story. The habitual use of acorns and ground nuts as starvation foods indicates that their control of agricultural food supplies was not as yet always dependable. Probably horticulture had come to largely supplant a pattern of summer gathering of vegetable foods and to be ordinarily more productive than the former practice. But without the addition of animal foods, the crops alone probably would not normally have provided enough food to sustain the Indians.
[88] Williams, p. 136; Willoughby, p. 299; Wood, p. 107.
[89] Wood, p. 107.
[90] Ibid. Meat was probably dried in the same way, but the only mention of this is smoke-dried moose’s tongue (a delicacy); Willoughby, p. 299.
[91] Wood, p. 107.
[92] Morton, p. 160; Williams, p. 120.
[93] MOURT’S RELATION, p. 133.
[94] Ibid.; p. 141. Champlain notes that the depth of these holes was “some five or six feet,” and that they were mounded up three or four feet; Howe, p. 133. Morton, p. 160, notes the capacity of these storage pits as being a “hogshead” apiece. Williams, pp. 120-22.
[95] Wood, p. 106.
[96] Ibid., p. 107; Williams, p. 136.
[97] Wood, p. 75; Gookin, pp. 150-151.
[98] “Their spits are no other than cloven sticks sharped at one end to thrust into the ground; onto these cloven sticks they thrust the flesh or fish they would have rosted, behemming a round fire with a dozen of spits at a time, turning them as they see occasion.”; Wood, p. 75.
[99] Gookin, p. 150.
[100] Ibid.
[101] Williams, p. 136.
[102] Ibid.
[103] Gookin, pp. 150-51; Williams, p. 40; Wood, p. 76.
[104] D. Bushnell, Jr., “The Sloane Collection in the British Museum,” AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, ns., VIII (1906), p. 675.
[105] Gookin, p. 150; Williams, p. 40.
[106] Gookin, pp. 150-51; Williams, p. 40; Wood, p. 76.
[107] Williams, p. 40.
[108] Ibid., pp. 120-22; Gookin, pp. 150-51.
[109] Williams, p. 122.
[110] Ibid., p. 121.
[111] Ibid., p. 120.
[112] Ibid.; no description of the process is given.
[113] Including snakes. John Brereton’s narrative in SAILORS NARRATIVES OF VOYAGES ALONG THE NEW ENGLAND COAST 1524-1624, George Parker Winship, ed. (Boston, 1905), p. 50.
[114] This is the conclusion reached by Bennett after a study of the subject, and the current writer could not find reference to its use by Indians of the area either; Bennett, p. 384.
[115] Bennett estimates that 65% of the caloric intake was provided by corn; Ibid., p. 394.
[116] Wood, pp. 75-76.
[117] Ibid., p. 77; Williams, p. 136.
[118] Williams, p. 120.
[119] Martin Pring, “The Voyage of Martin Pring” in SAILORS NARRATIVES—, George Parker Winship, ed. (Boston, 1905), p. 56. This combined with the evidence of periodic scarcity provided by the existence of “starvation foods” and the evidence for large gatherings of people to take fish during their spring runs, suggests that there was a fairly heavy dietary dependence upon fish from early spring until the time the corn ripened.
[120] Morton, p. 137.
[121] Wood, p. 76.
[122] Ibid., pp. 75-76.
[123] Ibid.
[124] Leach, p. 137.
[125] Williams, p. 40; Wood, p. 76.
[126] Morton, p. 137; Wood, p. 77.