^2.] PRINCE— A MODERN DELAWARE TALE. 23 



in the Ojibwe words have the Italian and the consonants the Eng- 

 lish values. 



The subject matter of Montour's tale is interesting, dealing as it 

 does with cannibalism, a vice which was unknown amorg the Algon- 

 quin tribes, except in the case of wizards. In this particular 

 story it should be noticed that the spirit Muttontoe (the Abenaki 

 Madahodo * Devil ') desires to devour an aged man. This maybe a 

 survival of the primitive time when it was actually the custom to eat 

 the old people, apparently in order to get rid of them, as has been 

 the case until quite recently among the Tierra del Fuego tribes. It 

 is at least curious that the Muttontoe desires to eat the elderly 

 rather than the young man, who would be a better subject for mere 

 cannibalism. It is also very striking that the uncle becomes sick 

 first and thus incapacitated. This would seem to indicate a 

 survival of some archaic idea, concealed here under the veil of a 

 witchcraft superstition, that the old man was the proper prey for the 

 man-eater. This tale seems to embody a different principle from 

 that shown in the Passamaquoddy account of two wizards who 

 retired to an isolated island (Grand Manan) to devour the body 

 of a man.^ In the latter instance, the cannibalism was of the 

 ordinary sacramental character, viz., the cannibals hoped to 

 absorb some of their victim's mental qualities by devouring his 

 flesh. It is not impossible that the custom of eating grandparents 

 and other aged incapable persons might have had for its basis a 

 similar sacramental idea — i. e., that the old people, by entering the 

 bodies of their descendants, should live again and at the same time 

 impart to the younger cannibals some of the nature of the aged 

 victims. 



As literature in modern Delaware is so rare, I have given a care- 

 ful philological analysis of Montour's tale, so far as my imperfect 

 knowledge of the language has permitted. 



A Youth and His Uncle. 



WiTHKEELNO WAUK WSHEETHA. 



1. * Weekwaum lawee kohpe 

 weekena withkeelno wauk wshee- 

 tha mahji kihkweelno wrhalin 

 neepnumo. ^ Tah lickee wshee- 

 tha weenamulthoo, oonjeemawuh 



5 See Prince, Prog. Amer. Philos. Soc, xxxviii, pp. 182, 184, nr. v. 



1. * In a wigwam in the midst 

 of the forest lived a youth and his 

 uncle of many summers. ^ Once 

 upon a time the old man was 

 taken ill (and) called his nephew 



