WAMPANOAG INDIANS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 893 



Unlike the aids to the study of Egyptology, the monuments of the 



Indians arc of the simplest kind, very apt to be wholly overlooked by 

 the modern observer, or regarded by him as an interesting curiosity 

 for his children to play with. In truth, this tribe of Indians appear to 

 be almost wholly lacking in the spirit which prompted the Egyptians 

 to raise lasting memorials of their lives and deeds. These Indians 

 were poor, and not very far advanced in the arts, and could not, there- 

 fore, be expected to erect such monuments; but nevertheless, one 

 would hardly expect, after having carefully passed over so large a 

 region as that of Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket, where 

 we know that many Indians once lived, and where abundant evidence 

 may still be seen of their skill and perseverance in fashioning articles 

 of ornament, weapons, or utensils, to find not a trace of any attempt 

 on the part of the natives, before their contact with the whites, to con- 

 vey to later generations an idea, either historical or otherwise, in a 

 form likely to last. It is possible that records of wars or other remark- 

 able events in the history of this tribe may have been kept by them, 

 as in the case of other tribes, preserved as pictographs embroidered on 

 wampum; but these, of course, cannot now be found if they ever were in 

 the possession of this part of the Wampanoag tribe. Inscribed tablets 

 of stone, or bowlders with picture writings upon them, have, I believe, 

 never been found in this region, if we except, of course, such instances 

 as the gravestones at Gay Head, inscribed after the Indian language, 

 had been reduced to writing by the whites. In an Indian burying- 

 ground on Assawamset-neck, in Lakeville, near Middleboro', on the 

 land of Mr. Charles Jewett, containing twenty -five or more graves, was 

 one bearing a peculiar inscription of two letters or characters. 



This graveyard is the resting place of the relatives, and some of the 

 ancestors of the three Indians before mentioned residing on Betty's- 

 Neck, descendants of Massasoit and Tuspaquin. The latter name, con- 

 tracted into Squiun or Squeen, appears on one of the stones, lately 

 broken into fragments by some vandal Two or three of the graves have 

 well engraved slate head-stones, much like those in any old grave-yard 

 of New England. Most of them have no stones whatever, and a few 

 have a short, thick, plain slab of stone or bowlder at one or both ends. 

 It is very probable that all these graves were made after the Indians 

 had ceased to bury interesting relics with their dead. I mention this 

 fact because I heard that the three surviving Indian women living near 

 by were greatly distressed a short time ago to find that some relic hunters 

 had tried to dig up some of their ancestors. Considering the circum- 

 stances of these burials, and the prominent part- taken by the ancestors 

 of these persons in the early Indian history of this vicinity, it seems a 

 pity that the'graves cannot remain undisturbed as a reminder to future 

 generations of the Indians of New England, now that so few monuments 

 of them remain. Not to overlook entirely a very interesting rock about 

 which there has been endless speculation, it may be well to mention 



