34 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



tribe, the brave Pemmyhaouet, grand sachem of the Malacites, with 

 a hundred of his warriors, immediately prepared to defend the fort. 

 The contest which ensued was one of the most memorable of which 

 there is mention in the Indian legends. The brave Pemmyhaouet 

 fell and his son was mortally wounded. In proportion as the defenders 

 fell under the arrows and tomahawks of the assailants, their wives 

 and daughters took their places. It was only after an engagement of 

 several days that the brave defenders, overpowered by the arrows 

 and spears of the foe, were forced to abandon the place. 



"The ferocious Mohawks found in the ruined fort, crouched in a 

 retired corner, two women, who demanded death as a deliverance: 

 they were Necomah, the wife of the old chief, and Malobiannah, the 

 betrothed of the son of Pemmyhaouet. The son of the sachem had 

 succumbed to his wounds and the two women had braved the fury 

 of the Mohawks to give burial to those they loved. 



"The Iroquois, flushed with their success, resolved to pursue 

 their ravages as far as the lower valley of the river, but they were not 

 familiar with the navigation. They accordingly laid hold of the 

 two captives and carried them along as guides of their expedition. 



"When night had fallen the bark canoes were tied together, the 

 river being here very tranquil, and left to the guidance of the young 

 Malobiannah . . . Necomah, the wife of the old chief being already 

 dead of grief. 



"Malobiannah, weeping for her lover, weeping for the mis- 

 fortunes of her people, but concealing in her heart the thought of 

 revenge, resolved to sacrifice her life to avenge those whom she loved 

 and at the same time to save her brothers of Medoctec and of Ekpa- 

 hawk, the villages below, from the disaster that awaited them by 

 directing the frail barks of the enemy over the murderous falls.- 



"At some distance from the Gulf some of the Mohawk braves, 

 worn out with fatigue, were in a profound slumber. Aroused by the 

 roaring of the falls they asked their guide the cause of the strange 

 rumbling noise that they heard. 'It is a fall at the mouth of a river 

 that joins the Walloostook^ here,' calmly replied the young Malacite. 

 Meanwhile the flotilla was already sweeping rapidly on toward the 

 abyss, but the Mohawks, reassured by the sang-froid of the captive, 

 lay down again to sleep. It was now but a few hundred yards to the 

 Gulf, and a current deep and strong — the current of death — bore 

 them onward to the brink of the precipice. Realizing too late their 

 imminent peril they sprang from their canoes. Hurling their male- 



^The height of the Falls is 74 feet perpendicular. 

 ^Indian name of the St. John river. 



