SPECK] INTRODUCTION 173 



affair is related by the Wawenock informant. In this it is claimed 

 that Rasles secretly betrayed the mission to the EngHsh." 



After this unfortunate event the Wawenock who still dwelt there 

 moved from Norridgewock with their relatives, the Aroosagunta- 

 cook " allies, who became known thereafter as the St. Francis Abe- 

 naki. The Wawenock never became so thoroughly incorporated 

 with the St. Francis Indians as to lose their identity as did the other 

 bands from southern Maine. They did, however, share in the 

 general term Abenaki, and were designated in later accounts as the 

 Abenaki of Becancour. 



According to their own traditions of the removal,'" the Wawenock 

 informant says, they reached the St. Lawrence River opposite the 

 mouth of St. Maurice River, having probably come down the St. 

 Francis River from the south. The place is known in Wawenock 

 as Noda'waqgaijk, "Place of the dance." ^' The e.xiles, who were 

 of course obliged to recognize the territorial hunting rights of the 

 Algonquin proprietors,-' are said to have asked if they could hunt 

 with them. In response, it is claimed, the Algonquin gave the 

 Abenaki a concession extending 2 leagues above Three Rivers, down 

 to the St. Lawrence to the mouth of a river on the south side where 

 there is an island called Matasu', a corruption of the name of the 

 Seigneur Montesson who held the title to it.^^ There the Wawenock 

 separated from the Abenaki allies and located on what is now Becan- 

 cour River. Maurault ^^ says that in the move of 1679 the Sokoki 

 (Sako'kiak "Saco River people") in part settled at Becancour.^" 



•' The legend runs as follows: When the English came to Norridgewock the French priest sold the Indians 

 to the English. The English gave him a bag of gold and they promised that he should not bo killed when 

 the attack was made. On that day he called the Indians into the church, but one of the old women (the 

 Malecite call her Pukdji'nskwes) warned them not to go. as she had had a presentiment of trouble. Her 

 folks riduculed her, saying that she was silly with old age. When they had gathered in the church the 

 EngUshattackedandtheold woman was the only one to escape, taking with her her grandchild on a cradle 

 board and swimming Kennebec River. The rest of the people were killed. - During the massacre one of the 

 Indians tomahawked or shot Rasles in revenge. The same story, strange to say, is well known among the 

 Penobscot and the Malecite. Among the Penobscot there are supposed descendants of this grandchild, 

 whose name was Bamzi\ according to an historical legend. 



" The original form of this term is alsiga'ntagwi'ak, for which the following three meanings, depending 

 upon the translation of the first two syllables, have been ;issigned by difTerent authorities. The Indians 

 of St. Francis, the .\roosaguntacook themselves, suggtst in explanation (1) " people of the river abounding 

 in grass," deriving the first part of the term from a'lsi^l, "river grasses," and -gan, " abundance of," and 

 (2) ** people of the river abounding in shells," from als, "moUusk shell." The related Penobscot generally 

 render the name (3) *' people of the empty house river," taking alsigan to mean "empty house." There 

 seems to be on etymological grounds about equal reason for all the suggestions, so far as can be shown. 

 Different writers, according to their extent of knowledge or opinion on the matter, have favored one or 

 the other of these interpretations. For instance, Maurault (op. cit.. pp. 272-273 and p. vii) inclines to 

 interpretation (1). Prof. J. D. Prince (.Vmerican .\nthropologist, n. s. Vol. IV, p. 17 (1902)) favors the 

 thu-d, and quotes Gill (Notes sur les Vieux Manuscrits -Vbenakis, Montreal, 1866, p. 13) as showing the 

 same opinion. The second interpretation receives favor from Joseph Laurent (Lola), "New Familiar 

 Abenakis and English Dialogues," Quebec, 1SS4. p. 206. 



" Maurault (op. cit., p. 284) states that the Indians first began their settlement at Becancour as early 

 as 1680. 



'1 Our informant, Francois Neptune, says that the site is near the railroad bridge at Three Rivers. 



" Maurault (op. cit., pp. I09-U2) speaks of friendly relations existing between the Algonquins and the 

 Wabanaki tribes as early as 1613. 



'< Maiu^ault (op. cit., p. 290) mentions the same and has something to say about the identity of the 

 owner of the name. 



" Op. cit., p. 174. 



^ Kendall (op. cit., pp. 143-144) also states that Sakokiak settled at Becancour. 



