198 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 191 



great lake, or some inlet of some sea that falleth into the South sea. These 

 Massawomekes are a great nation and very populous. For the heads of all these 

 rivers, especially the Patawomekes [Potomacs], the Pautuxuntes [Patuxents], the 

 Sasquesahanocks [Susquehannocks], the Tockwoughes [Wiccomiss], are con- 

 tinually tormented by them. . . . [Smith, 1624; 1884, pp. 71, 367.] 



In the course of his 1608 exploration of the upper Chesapeake Bay, 

 John Smith actually did encounter seven canoes containing Massa- 

 womeck warriors: 



. . . whose Targets, Baskets, Swords, Tobaccopipes, Platters, Bowes and 

 Arrowes, and every thing shewed, they much exceeded them of our parts: and 

 their dexteritie in their small boats, made of the barkes of trees sowed with barke, 

 and well luted with gumme, argueth that they are seated vpon some great water. 

 [Smith, 1884, pp. 72, 367; see also pp. 349, 350, 422, 427-428.] 



Since John Smith never uses these two names together in the same 

 text, it would appear that Pocaughtawonaucks was a Powhatan name 

 which he later dropped in favor of Massawomeck, a Nanticoke or 

 Wiccomiss name. In his description of the peoples and languages 

 surrounding the Powhatan confederacy, for example, he states: 



Amongst those people are thus many severall nations of sundry languages, that 

 environ Powhatans Territories. The Chawonokes, the Mangoags, the Monacans, 

 the Mannahokes, the Masawomekes, the Powhatans [sic], the Sasquesahanocks, 

 the Atquanachukes, the Tockwoghes, and the Kuscarawaokes. Al those not any 

 one vnderstandeth another but by Interpreters .... [Smith, 1884, pp. 55, 351.] 



In contrast to Smith, William Strachey treats these two names as if 

 they were separate and distinct, informing us in his "The Historic of 

 Travell into Virginia Britania . . . (1612)" that Powhatan's 

 territory extended to the southwest as far as 



. . . Anoeg . . .: West to Mona/iassanw^^ [of Monacan], which stands at the foote 

 of the mountaines . . .; Nor-west to the borders of Massawomeck and Bocootaw- 

 wonaugh: Nor-east and by East to Accohanock, Accowmack, and some other petty 

 nations, lying on the east side of our bay .... [Strachey, 1849, pp. 48-49.] 



However, since Strachey does not mention either the Mannahoke or 

 the Susquehannock, his account would seem to be less accurate and 

 reliable than John Smith's. The equivalence of the two names 

 "Pocaughtawonauck" and "Massawomeck" may be regarded as 

 highly probable, although it cannot be considered to be established 

 absolutely. 



2. MASSAWOMECK-MASSOMACK CONNECTION 



Evidence for the equivalence of the names Massawomeck and 

 Massomack derives in part from the similarity in the names and in 

 part from the similarities in location, activity, and relationship with 

 the colonists indicated by the sources. The similarity in the names 

 is evident. The information given by John Smith places the Massa- 

 womeck in the mountains west of the Potomac. The sources re- 



