ABNAKI 



[b. a. e. 



t'roni Maine, together with remnants of 

 other New England tribes, are now at 

 St Francis and Becanconr, in Quebec, 

 where, under the name of Abiiaki, they 

 numbered 395 in 1903. At the same 

 time the Malecite, or Amalicite, were 

 numbered at 801 in several villages in 

 New Brunswick and Quebec, with about 

 •325 Penobscot and Passamacjuoddy in 

 Maine. The present Penobscot say they 

 num))er between 300 and 400, while the 

 Passamaquoddy claim as many as SOO 

 souls. 



Ciitoms and bt'llefx. — According to tlie 

 writers on early Maine, the Abnaki were 

 more gentle in manners and more docile 

 than their western congeners. Yet they 

 were implacable enemies and, as Maurault 

 states, watched for opportunities of re- 

 venge, as did other Indians. Notwith- 

 standing Vetromile's statement to the 

 contrary, if Maurault's assertion (Hist. 

 Abenakis, 25, 1866) applies to this tribe, 

 as seems evident, they, like most other 

 tribes, were guilty of torturing their pris- 

 oners, except in the case of females, who 

 were kindly treated. Although relying 

 for subsistence to a large extent on hunt- 

 ing, and still more on fishing, maize was 

 an important article of diet, es|iecially in 

 winter. Sagard states tliat in his day 

 they cultivated the soil in tlie manner of 

 the Huron. They used the rejected and 

 superfluous lish to fertilize tlieir fields, 

 one or two fish being placed near the roots 

 of the plant. Their houses or wigwams 

 were conical in form and covered with 

 birch-bark or with woven mats, and sev- 

 eral families occupied a single dwelling. 

 Their villages were, in some cases at least, 

 inck)sed with palisades. Each village had 

 its council house of considerable size, 

 oblong in form and roofed with bark; 

 and similar structures were used by the 

 males of the village who preferred to 

 club together in social fellowship. Po- 

 lygamy was practised but little, and 

 the marriage ceremony was of the sim- 

 plest character; presents were offered, 

 and on their acceptance marriage was 

 consummated. Each tribe had a war 

 chief, and also a civil chief whose duty it 

 was to preserve order, though this was 

 accomplished through advice rather than 

 by command. They had two councils, 

 the grand and the general. The former, 

 consisting of the chiefs and two men from 

 each family, determined matters that 

 were of great importance to the tribe, 

 and pronount-ed sentence of death on 

 those deserving that punishment. The 

 general council, composed of all the trilje, 

 including males and females, decided 

 questions relating to war. The Abnaki 

 believed in the innnortality of the soul. 

 Their chief deities were Kechi Niwaskw 

 and Machi Niwaskw, representing, re- 



spectively, the good and the evil; the for- 

 mer, they believed, resided on an island 

 in the Atlantic; Machi Niwaskw was the 

 more powerful. According to ^laurault 

 they believed that the first man and 

 woman were created out of a stone, but 

 that Kechi Niwaskw, not being satisfied 

 with these, destroyed them and created 

 two more out of wood, from whom the 

 Indians are descended. The\ l)uried 

 their dead in graves excavated in the soil. 

 Trilxil dirisi'-iis. — The tribes included 

 in the confederacy as noted by Maurault 

 have already l>een given. In a letter 

 sent by the AVmaki in 1721 to the gov- 

 ernor of Ne\v England their divisions are 

 given as follows: Naranteouuk (Norridge- 

 wock), Pentugouet (Penobscot), Nara- 

 kamigou (Rocameca), Anmissoukanti 

 (Amaseconti), Muanbissek, Pegouakki 

 (Pequawket, N. H.),Medoktek (Medoc- 

 tec), Kwupahag, Pesmokanti (Passama- 

 quoddy), Arsikantegou (Arosagunta- 

 cook), Ouanwinak (Wewenoc, s. edge of 

 N. H.). The following is a full list of 

 Abnaki tribes: Accominta, Amaseconti, 

 Arosaguntacook, Etchimin, Malecite, 

 Missiassik, Norridgewock (the Abnaki 

 in the most limited sense), Passama- 

 quoddy, Penobscot, Pequawket, Roca- 

 meca, Sokoki, and Wewenoc. The bands 

 residing on St Croix and ISt Johns rs. 

 spoke a different dialect from those to 

 the southward, and were known collect- 

 ively as Eti'himin. They are now known 

 as Passamaquoddy and Malecite. Al- 

 though really a jrart of the Abnaki, they 

 were freciuently classed as a distinct body, 

 while on the other hand the Peimacook 

 tribes, although distinct from the Abnaki, 

 were often c-lassed with them on account 

 of their connection during the Indian 

 wars and after their removal to Canada. 

 According to Morgan they had fourteen 

 gentes: 1, Mals'-sum, Wolf; 2, Pis-suh', 

 Black Wildcat; 3, Ah-weh'-soos, Bear; 

 4, Skooke, Snake: 5, Ah-lunk-soo, Spotted 

 Animal; 6, Ta-ma'-kwa, Beaver; 7, Ma- 

 guh-le-loo^. Caribou; 8, Ka-biih'-seh, Stur- 

 geon; 9, Moo^-kwa-suh^ Muskrat; 10, 

 K'-che-gii-gong^-go, Pigeon Hawk; 11, 

 Meh-ko-!l^ Squirrel; 12, Che-gwii^-lis, 

 Spotted Frog; 13, Koos-koo', Crane; 14, 

 Mii-dii^-weh-soos, Porcupine. According 

 to Chauvignerie their principal totems 

 were the pigeon and the bear, while they 

 also had the partridge, beaver, arid otter 

 totems. 



The Abnaki villages, so far as their 

 names have been rei'orded, were Amase- 

 conti, Ammoncongan, Aquadocta (?), 

 Arosaguntacook, Asnela, Aucocisco, Bag- 

 aduce, Becancour, Calais (Passama- 

 quoddy) Gunasquamekook (Passama- 

 quoddy). Imnarkuan (Passamaquoddy), 

 Kennebec, Ketangheanycke, I.,incoln 

 Island, Masherosqueck, Mattawamkeag 



