172 WAWENOCK MYTH TEXTS FROM MAINE 



[ETH. ANN. 13 



is now thought to be George's Harbor, encountered men of the 

 Wawenock. The chances are, however, about even that they were 

 Wawenock or Penobscot. We may assume in either case, neverthe- 

 less, that some of the descriptions, which the scribe of the expedition, 

 James Rosier, left us, refer to the Wawenock, because subsequently 

 during his sojourn in the neighborhood he met a great many natives, 

 concerning some of whom he has given considerable information. ° 



Subsequent historical literature contains nothing, so far as I could 

 find, imtil about a century later when the Wabanaki tribes of Maine 

 had become hostile to the English colonists in Massachusetts. Father 

 Rasles, the Jesuit missionary who took charge of a mission in 1690, 

 founded at Norridgewock several years before, mentions the tribe as 

 the Warinakiens.'" An estimate for this year states that the Sheepscot 

 (a local name for the Wawenock) had 150 men and the Pemaquid 

 100." The Wawenock were one of the tribes to be represented in 

 the mission at Norridgewock, which was some 50 miles from the 

 heart of their coimtry.'- During this period the Wawenock appear 

 to have gradually drifted northward toward the interior, probably in 

 order to associate more closely with the Christian proselytes of the 

 Norridgewock and Aroosaguntacook.'^ 



Mention is made of a withdrawal of some of the Indians in 1713 to 

 Becancour, Province of Quebec, which probably refers to the Wawe- 

 nock.'* Another notice, dated 1717, gives under the name of Wawe- 

 nock, a total of 15 men; the same source stating that in 1726 those at 

 "Sheepcut" numbered 3 and at "Pemaquid" 10.'^ 



As regards the mission at Norridgewock, Father Rasles "was 

 accused of attaching the tribes so warmly to the French cause that 

 they soon became regarded as dangerous enemies of the English 

 colonists. In 1724 an expedition was sent against the Norridgewock, 

 which resulted in the destruction of their village, the dispersion of the 

 tribe, and the death of Rasles.'^ 



Much has been written, both by English and French historians, 

 showing that Father Rasles was murdered and mutilated by the 

 English in this unfortunate massacre," but another version of the 



9 A True Relation of the Voyage of Captain George Waymouth (1609), By James Rosier, p. 67 et seq. 

 (Early English and French Voyages (1534-1608) in Original Narratives of Early American History.) 

 " Mass. Hist. Soc. Colls., 2d ser.. Vol. VIII, p. 263 (1819). 

 " New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 1866, p. 9. 



12 Rasles, in a letter to his brother written at Norridgewock in 1723 (Jesuit Relations, 1716-1727, vol. 67, 

 pp. 183-195), speaks of a tribe of " Amalingans," who evidently lived near the sea, whom he converted. Is it 

 possible that he meant the " Warinakiens "? 



13 That the Indians at the mouth of Kennebec River were not always on the best of terms with the bands 

 up river appears from a reference in Jesuit Kclatioos for 1652, quoted by Maurault (op. cit., p. 8), saying that 

 the latter had been on the point of declaring war on them. 



>< Handbook of .\merican Indians, Bull. 30, Bur. .\mer. Ethn., part 1, p. 881. 



1* New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 1866, p. 9. 



" Handbook of American Indians, Bull. 30, Bur. Amer. Ethn,, part 2, p. 83. 



1^ The original account of this event is by Father de la C basse, Quebec. 1724, cf. Jesuit Relations, 1716-1727, 

 vol. 67, pp. 231-238. Maurault (op, cit,, pp, 403-404) also gives an account of the same based on Charlevoix, 

 Histoire G6D6ral de la Nouvolle France, vol. iv, pp. 120-121, and Bancroft, History of the United States, 

 vol. ii, p. 122, and Chietien Le Clercq, "First Establishment of the Faith in New France," translated 

 by J. G. Shea, New York, 1881. 



