200 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 191 



Upon his return from the Massomack country, Fleet's brother 

 conjfirmed this picture of fortified villages with large populations 

 and — more important to Fleet — reported the existence of great 

 stocks of furs. Seven days later, on the 10th of July, a party of 

 Massomack arrived to trade with Fleet. 



, . . These were laden with beaver, and came from a town called Usserahak, 

 where were seven thousand Indians. I carried these Indians aboard, and traded 

 with them for their skins. They drew a plot of their country, and told me there 

 came with them sixty canoes, but were interrupted by the Nacostines who always 

 do wait for them, and were hindered by them .... [Ibid., pp. 29-30.] 



The following day 



. . . there came from another place seven lusty men, with strange attire; 

 they had red fringe, and two of them had beaver coats, which they gave me. 

 Their language was haughty, and they seemed to ask me what I did there, and 

 demanded to see my truck, which, upon view they scorned . . . these Indians, 

 after they came aboard, seemed to be fair conditioned, and one of them, taking 

 a piece of chalk, made a plain demonstration of their country, which was nothing 

 different from the former plot drawn by the other Indians. These called them- 

 selves Mosticums, but afterwards I found they were of a people tliree days' 

 journey from these, and were called Hereckeenes, who, with their own beaver, 

 and what they get of those that do adjoin upon them, do drive a trade in Cannida, 

 at the plantation which is fifteen days' journey from this place .... [Ibid., 

 pp. 30-31.] 



However, Fleet was informed by one of the Hereckeenes ''that they 

 were a people of one of the four aforenamed nations." All of these 

 peoples — of Tonhoga, Mosticum, Shaunetowa, Usserahak, and also 

 the Hereckeenes — were designated as "cannibals" by the Tidewater 

 Indians (ibid., pp. 31, 33, 35). 



Although Spelman and Fleet use only the name Massomacks, 

 the name Massawomeck was apparently still in use and was used to 

 designate what would seem to be the same group. In Leonard 

 Calvert's letter of May 30, 1634, to Sir Richard Lechford, discussing 

 the state of the fur trade, the former wrote: 



. . . The nation we trade withal at this time a-year is called the Massawomeckes. 

 This nation cometh seven, eight, and ten days journey to us— these are those 

 from whom Kircke had formerly all his trade of beaver. We have lost by 

 our late coming 3000 skins, which others of Virginia have traded for .... 

 [Morrison, 1921, p. 224.] 



If we assume that Calvert is calculating his distances from the 

 lower falls of the Potomac, the distances (or rather, times of travel) 

 agree with Fleet's statements (see map 5). Assuming a travel rate 

 of 20 miles a day going upstream, we would have a distance of 140 

 miles in the case of Fleet's brother. Assuming that the return trip 

 covered the same route and distance we see that the return rate of 

 travel would be 28 miles a day. This rate is plausible if traveling 

 were by canoe, but not if on foot. The Indians, however, seem to 



