Traditions of the North American Indians Volume III Part 14

If Makusue went to gather _Moscharnewatchar_[A], he was sure to find the Evil Spirit perched near, trying to frighten him away; if he went to dig the _Ehawshoga_[B], his enemy had certainly caused the earth to freeze, that he might be defeated of his object. If Makusue wished to cross the lake, the wind was sure to blow violently the moment he entered his canoe, and rain to drench him before he left it. If he sought an opportunity to surprise the Coppermines, the Evil Spirit flew with the speed of a loon before a high wind to apprise them of his intentions. Equally great was the hatred of Makusue for the Evil Spirit. If he found any one disposed to worship him, he was indefatigable in his endeavours to detach him from him. He never failed to make sport and derision of him when he was raging, nor to shout and halloo after him when he saw him flying over, nor to set the dogs upon him, when he was prowling about the village at midnight. So there was a bitter warfare kindled between the Matchi Manitou and the good priest, and each did the other all the harm he could. Both grinned at each other whenever they met, like a couple of cross dogs who have found a bone, or a woman at her husband who brings a younger wife to supplant her in place and affection.

[Footnote A: Mos-char-ne-wat-char--"It causes heat and cold"--Indian balsam, said to be one of the most valuable articles belonging to the Indian cla.s.s of remedies. They give an infusion of it in colds, coughs, asthmas, and consumptions.]

[Footnote B: Ehawshoga--"Bite the mouth"--Indian turnip, another of their remedies.]

But, at length, the success of Makusue in drawing away worshippers from his enemy became so great, that the latter feared the utter dis-peopling of his Hunting-Grounds, or Land of Wicked Souls. To him the greatest enjoyment was that of tormenting the spirits of men, and this enjoyment, if Makusue continued his course of success, he was likely to be deprived of. So he went to the Great Spirit and spoke to him thus:--

"When _we_ made man, did we not agree that I should take the souls of the wicked, and thou those of the good?"

"We agreed that thou shouldst take the souls of the wicked, and I the souls of the good," answered the Great Spirit. "And wilt thou say that the agreement has not been kept?"

"Thou hast not broken it, nor have I, and yet it is broken."

"In what way, and by whom then, is it broken?"

"By Makusue, the priest and chief of the Knisteneaux."

"What has Makusue done?"

"Baffled and thwarted me in every pursuit: if one proposes to offer me sacrifice, along comes Makusue and extinguishes the fire. There is death written on the face of another, but Makusue speaks powerful words over the _mastinjay_[A], the patient drinks it, gets well, and I am the loser. Thus I am deprived of the pleasing occupation of tormenting the wicked. There is n.o.body dies now that belongs to me."

[Footnote A: Dittany, used by the Indians as a remedy for various diseases.]

"What wouldst thou have me do?" demanded the Great Spirit. "Makusue is a good servant, and a very honest priest. I cannot allow him to be harmed. But that thou mayst not altogether want business, I will allow thee to torment, for three suns and three sleeps, the souls of all the Knisteneaux that belong to me--the souls of the wicked remain thine.

But thou shalt kindle the flames to burn them in the low and marshy grounds only."

"It is well," answered the Evil Spirit. "I will see that the fire shall be kindled in the low and marshy grounds only."

So the Evil Spirit, much pleased with his bargain, returned to the land of the Knisteneaux to watch for the souls of their dead, and the Great Spirit winged his way back to the Mountain of Thunder.

When it was told Makusue of the agreement which the Great Spirit had made with the Spirit of Evil, grief for his people filled the heart of the good priest. At nightfall he repaired to the hill, with olay upon his hair, and addressed his master thus:

"I have served thee long, and thou didst say faithfully, yet thou hast given the souls of my people that I have brought to thee into the hands of the Evil Spirit, to be tormented for three suns and three sleeps."

"I know that I have done this," answered the Master. "Is it not well!"

"Thou canst not do otherwise than well," answered the priest; "and yet why should those be punished, even for so short a period, whom thou hast deemed worthy to live in the Happy Hunting-Grounds for ever after?"

"What thou sayest has reason with it, Makusue," answered the Great Spirit. "It was not well advised in me to grant so great a favour to the Matchi Manitou. But it is said, and cannot be recalled."

"But it may be evaded," answered the cunning priest.

"How?" demanded the Master.

"Thou hast told the Evil Spirit that he may torment the souls of the Knisteneaux for three suns and three sleeps, taking care to kindle the fire in the low and marshy grounds only."

"I have."

"Let the souls of the dead, as thou hast said, repair to those spots, but let them first take a form which it shall not be in the power of the Evil Spirit to torture. Let them repair thither in the form of fog or vapour."

"It is well," answered the Great Spirit. So he bade the spirit of each Knisteneau, immediately on its leaving the body, to wear for three suns and three sleeps the form of fog or mist. It was by this trick of the wise Makusue's, that the souls of our people were reprieved from the tortures which the Matchi Manitou was preparing for them. And still does the same thing continue. When the breath of a Knisteneau leaves the body, it repairs for the allotted period to the low marshy grounds, where it becomes fog and vapour. If my brother will go to one of those spots, upon either of the three days next following the death of a Knisteneau, he will see that my words are not the words of a mocking-bird, but of a man who knows that the anger of the Great Spirit will be upon him, if he does not speak the truth.

THE DEVIL OF CAPE HIGGIN.

A long time ago, before the occupation of the Island of Nope by the white people, there dwelt, upon the north side, and near its western end, a spirit or goblin--a very good-natured, peaceable, clever, old fellow, very fond of laughter and a good joke. The Indians called him _Moshup_, which signifies a very bad Spirit, but, when the white people came, they named him with reference to the little elbow, or promontory of land, where he had his usual residence, the Devil of Cape Higgin. There is another tradition, in which, it is said, that he once lived upon the main land, opposite Nope, and near the brook which was ploughed out by the Great Trout[A]. It was said, that Moshup came to Nope in search of some children, which had been carried away by a great bird, and finding the spot pleasant, people clever, and food abundant, concluded to take up his abode there[B].

[Footnote A: See the "Legend of Coatuit Brook," p. 307 of this vol.]

[Footnote B: See "The Legend of Moshup," v. ii, p. 261.]

Moshup, the Devil of Cape Higgin, was by no means so bad as his t.i.tle implies. Faults he had, it is true, but no one is without faults. And then, compared with the vices of men, the vices of the devil sunk into mere trifles. He was a little loose in his morals, and withal, rather cross to his wife, but he made up for the latter fault by his unwearied attentions to the wives of his neighbours. He gave into very few indulgences, drank nothing stronger than water, and never ate more than a small whale, or five or six porpoises, at one meal. His greatest indulgence was in smoking the Indian weed, which he did to excess. He was moderate in his exactions from the Indians, requiring, as a tribute, only a tenth part of all the whales, gramp.u.s.s.es, and finbacks, which might be taken by the inhabitants of the Island, together with all the porpoises caught in the Frog-Month. The evil of scarcity, so it was not occasioned by indolence, he bore with much composure. But, if a cheat were attempted to be practised upon him, by sending him the poorest fish, or if any part of his share was abstracted, if a porpoise or a halibut was hidden, or the head of a finback sunk, with a buoy attached to it, or the fin of a whale buried in the sand, he showed most terrific symptoms of wrath and anger, and never failed to make the Indians pay dearly for their roguery. But those who dwelt in his vicinity, indeed all liable to be called upon for t.i.thes, little disposed at any time to battle with spirits and demons, paid their dues with great prompt.i.tude, and so seldom came in collision with their grim and powerful neighbour. To tell my brother the truth, it was not for their interest to quarrel with him. He was of much importance to them in many of their pursuits, and a.s.sisted them with a great deal of good advice and sound and profitable counsel. He frequently directed them to a fine school of black-fish, or bade them see whales, or man their canoes for the chase of the finback; he told them when to plant and gather in their corn, and foretold to them the approach of storms with an accuracy productive of the greatest advantages to them. He also a.s.sisted the young people in their courtships up to the time of joining hands, but this it was whispered he did from a disposition very proper to a naughty being like himself, who could not fail to find his account in multiplying human miseries, and thereby increasing the chances of their going to the dominions of Hobbamock, his master. Was any little rogue of a maiden solicited to become the wife of a youth, and her parents stood out to the time of more usquebagh, who but Moshup was called in to negociate for a less quant.i.ty? If a father said, "It shall not be,"

and Moshup could be prevailed on to say, "It shall be," the father was sure to find a pretext for changing his mind. If a young woman was beloved by one, and she pouted and pretended indifference, three words from Moshup were sure to make her reasonable. And, when women were much given to scolding, he had, somehow, a singular knack at taming them. Taking every circ.u.mstance into view, it will be readily concluded that he was a favourite with the Indians; indeed some of our fathers say, that he was once their grand Sachem; the greater part, however, think he was the first governor of the whites, and this I believe.

But spirits and demons, as well as the children of this world, whether white or red, are subject to changes of opinion and conduct--to many whims and phantasies. Moshup grew harsh and ill-natured as he grew older. The change was first felt in his own family, the peace of which was soon destroyed by continual strife and quarrelling. He would beat his old woman for nothing, and his children for a great deal less. He soon began to hara.s.s his subjects with new demands and querulous exactions. He now frequently demanded the half of a whale instead of a tenth, or took, without asking, the whole of a grampus or finback.

Instead of contributing his aid to promote marriages, he was very diligent in preventing them; instead of healing love-quarrels, he did his best to make them irreconcileable. He broke many well-ordered matches, and soured much matrimonial bliss, set many friendly families by the ears, and created frequent wars between the different tribes of the Island. The wild ducks he frightened with terrific shouts, so that the Indian archer could no longer come near them; he cut the springes set for grouse and woodc.o.c.ks--in short, he became a very troublesome and dangerous spirit. There was, however, no use in fretting; he was seated firmly on their necks, and there was no shaking him off. So the Indians bore his freaks with great patience, calmly took up with the offal of the whale, and only adopted the precaution of removing as far from him as possible. His harsh behaviour unpeopled his neighbourhood; and soon the little elbow of land, which the white people call Cape Higgin, had, for its only occupants, the Spirit Moshup and his family.

Upon the southern sh.o.r.e of the same Island of Nope, at a distance of ten or twelve miles from the residence of Moshup, lived, at the same period of time, Hiwa.s.see, the proud and arbitrary Sachem of that portion of the Island which lies most exposed to the fogs of spring.

He was a very rich and mighty man, had abundance of grape-vines, and a vast many ponds, well stocked with clams, oysters, perch, crabs, and wild fowl; many swamps filled with terrapins and cranberries; and much land, well adapted to the growing of maize and other good things. He was accounted the most powerful Sachem on the Island. He was, besides, on excellent terms with Moshup, and so escaped all taxes, contributions, and tenths, merely now and then making him a present of a few baskets of grapes, or a few terrapins. This Sachem had a daughter, young, and more beautiful than any maiden that had ever been seen in Nope. She was taller than Indian maidens generally are, her hair was long and glossy as the raven's, and her step very light and graceful. Then she excelled very far the women of her tribe in the exercises which belong to the other s.e.x. None drew the bow with equal strength, or tortured the prisoner with so much ingenuity, or danced the war-dance with equal agility, or piped the war-song with lungs as efficient. I must tell my brother that, according to the tradition of our nation, the Indian females were first taught by her to introduce the crab's claw into the cartilage of the nose, and to insert the sh.e.l.l of a clam into the under-lip, as ornaments. She was, indeed, a beautiful creature, and understood better than any one else the art of attracting all the brave and best of the land; the love and admiration of the other s.e.x followed her whithersoever she went. Her father's wigwam was filled with the suitors who came to solicit her love. There were the chiefs of the tribes which dwelt at Neshamoyes, Chabbaquiddic, Popannessit, Suckata.s.set, and many other places; warriors, famed and fearless, who asked her of the Grand Sachem in marriage. But no, she was deaf to their entreaties, laughed at all their presents of conch-sh.e.l.ls, terrapins, and eagle's feathers, and carefully and scrupulously barred the doors of her father's wigwam against all the suitors, who, according to the Indian forms of courtship, came when the lights were extinguished and the parents were sleeping, to whisper soft tales at the side of her couch. The truth, which must be told my brother, is, that she had long before placed her affections upon a young warrior, stern to his enemies, but to her all gentleness, who dwelt at the western end of the Island, and was reckoned the favourite, some said he was the son, of the Devil of Cape Higgin. They had loved each other long, and with the truest affection(1), and all their hopes centered in a union.

But my brother knows--if he does not I will tell him--that fathers and mothers will not always permit daughters to have their own way in marriage. The proud father objected to the lover, because he had slain but three foes, and was not descended from a line of chiefs, distinguished by their wisdom or valour. What was to be done? The lovers talked the matter over and over again, and finally determined to apply to Moshup, for his aid and advice. They forthwith repaired to the usual residence of the goblin. It was a most auspicious moment; they found him in a delirium of joy. A school of whales, in a recent dark night, becoming bewildered, had foundered upon a neighbouring ledge of rocks, and a great many fine calves had been deposited at the mouth of his cave as his share. Withal a brother goblin, residing somewhere upon the main land, had sent him some excellent old tobacco; and these, with the occurrence at the happy moment of other enlivening circ.u.mstances, had wrought him up to such unusual good temper that he quite forgot his very recent determination to annoy all lovers, and promised to befriend the hapless pair. He rose from his seat, put a few hundred pounds of tobacco in his pouch, took a half-roasted grampus from the coals to pick by the way, and set off for Sanchequintacket, the place of Hiwa.s.see's residence: the young warrior perched upon his shoulder, and the maiden, reposing on a litter formed by his arm, lay horizontally on his breast.

Moshup was no devil with wings, but he had two legs, and could use them to much advantage. So he set off at a pretty smart trot, and was very soon at the end of his journey. He found the Grand Sachem busy at a feast, but this did not prevent him from telling his errand at once.

With great calmness and in perfect silence, for he was not in one of his talkative fits, he heard the maiden's father give his reasons for refusing his daughter to the lover. They were those which have been a thousand times urged before--"Poverty--poverty--low parentage--low parentage; not sufficiently known--not sufficiently celebrated."

"Is this all you have to say against the young man, you old fool?"

asked Moshup. "What do you want? What must the young man have?"

"He must have a great deal of land--he must have an island," answered Hiwa.s.see.

"Good," said Moshup, drawing a huge quant.i.ty of smoke into his mouth, and blowing it out through his nose: "follow me!"

At the time whereof I speak, the island of Nope extended to and comprehended the little island of Tuckanuck. The little island was then a part of the larger island; but once upon a time there came a great storm, the winds raged and the thunders rolled, and the storms beat upon the island, and it was disjointed and became two islands. To a high cliff, upon the eastern side of this same Tuckanuck, Moshup conducted Hiwa.s.see, his daughter, her lover, and a great crowd of other Indians, who followed to see what wonderful feat he would perform. Being arrived, he sat down upon the ground, and commenced his charm. First he dug a great hole in the earth, into which he threw many heated stones, the while muttering many words, which no one but himself understood. Then he filled his pipe with tobacco, kindling it with the rays from a flash of lightning. When this was done, he bowed once to the rising sun, twice to the North Star, blew thrice in a conch-sh.e.l.l, muttered more unintelligible words, and commenced smoking at a great rate. In a few minutes it was as dark as the darkest night, and a terrible tempest arose. The thunders rolled awfully, the lightnings flashed, the rains poured down, and abundance of voices were heard in the east, puffing and blowing as of men in great labour.

Presently there was a hissing sound, like that of live embers dropped into water--Moshup had emptied his pipe. There now came up a strong wind from the west, which, gradually dispersing the smoke he had created, displayed to their view a low dark something in the east. It was the promised island--the ashes from Moshup's pipe. The couple upon whom Moshup bestowed this island gave it the name of Nantucket, and such it bears at this day.

I have no more to say.

NOTE.

(1) _Loved each other with the truest affection._--p. 327.

It has been the practice to accuse American Indians of great coldness of temper, and to represent them as incapable of sincere and permanent attachment. It is a mistake. It is true that on the part of the males all expressions of affection are repressed, from the belief that the display of any pa.s.sion or emotion inflicts deep and indelible disgrace upon a man, especially if he is a warrior. This is the mere result of education, and proves nothing. It is certain that the females, whom the tyranny of opinion does not bind in this respect, are full of tenderness and a.s.siduity. The story of Pocahontas is too well known to be repeated. When Mr. Nutall was with the Osages, he was near witnessing a tragical termination to a trifling dispute, from the belief of an Indian wife that harm was intended to her husband. She had been several years married to a French hunter, living with that tribe. Soon after the arrival of a trader at the Indian camp, intoxication had taken place, and a quarrel ensued between the husband of this woman and another of the French hunters. Their altercation filled her with terror, and she gave way to tears and lamentations, not doubting but that the antagonist, who was the aggressor, intended the death of her husband, as threats among Indians are the invariable preludes to fatal actions. When, at length, they began to struggle with each other, without any more ado she seized a hatchet, and would instantly have dispatched the man who fought with her husband, if she had not been prevented by the bystanders. In another instance an Omawhaw and his wife, on a solitary hunting expedition, were discovered at a distance from their temporary lodge, by a Sioux war-party. They endeavoured to escape from the enemy, but the wife was soon overtaken, struck to the ground, and subjected to the terrible operation of scalping. The husband, although at this time beyond the reach of the arrows of the Sioux, seeing his wife in their hands, immediately turned upon them, and drawing his knife, the only weapon he had, furiously rushed among them, in order to revenge her death, even with the inevitable sacrifice of his own life, but he was almost immediately dispatched, without having accomplished his heroic purpose.

When their affections have become deeply engaged, they will frequently affect insanity with a view to melt the heart of the obdurate beloved.