BULL. 30] PRAYING INDIANS PRESERVATION OF COLLECTIONS 305 



Praying Indians. Indians of different 

 tribes who accepted the teachingrs of the 

 missionarie.s, Catiioliclrocjuois, ^loravian 

 Indians, and, more especially, those In- 

 dians of i:. JIassachusetts and the adja- 

 cent I'l'gion who were organized into 

 Chi'istian congregations by John Eliot 

 and his successors. The missionary work 

 was begun by Eliot in 1646 at Nonantum, 

 a small village a few miles from Boston. 

 His efforts were so successful that he soon 

 had a considerable numl)er of converts, 

 who removed in 1650-51 to Natick, where 

 a tract was reserved for them, and a new 

 town was established under English reg- 

 ulations. These converts w'ere some of 

 the remnants of the Massachuset. The 

 powerful tribes of the AVampanoag, Nar- 

 raganset, and especially the ]\lohegan 

 opposed the work and generally refused 

 to allow the missionaries within their 

 territories. The work went on rapidly 

 along the e. coast and on the islands. In 

 a few years the greater part of the na- 

 tives of INIarthas Vineyard and Nantucket 

 were classed as Christians, while there 

 Avere also numerous congregations on the 

 peninsula k. of Buzzards bay and others 

 in the interior farther n. In 1674, just 

 before the outbreak of King Philip's war, 

 there were in e. INIassachusetts, excluding 

 the peninsula, 7 principal praying towns: 

 Hassanamesit, ]\lagunkaquog, Nashobah, 

 Natick, Okommakamesit, Punkapog, and 

 Wamesit. There were also 7 new pray- 

 ing towns in the Nipmuc country, whose 

 inhabitants had more recently been 

 brought under missionary influence: 

 Chabanakongkomun, Manchaug, Manex- 

 it, AVacuntug, Pakachoog, (^uantisset, 

 and Wabaquasset. The last three were 

 in N. E. Connecticut. Wamesit, and per- 

 haps Nashobah, were within the territory 

 of the Pennacook, the others being occu- 

 pied by the Massachuset and Nipn)uc. 

 The 14 villages numbered about 1,100 

 souls. Around Plymouth and on C. 

 Cod were about 500 more, distributed 

 among 23 villages. Those in Nantucket 

 and ^larthas Vineyard numbered per- 

 haps 1,000 more, and there were a few 

 others among the Mohegan. The entire 

 number of professed Christian Indians 

 in s. New England at the outbreak of 

 King Philip's war was thus about 2,500. 

 When the general Indian rising occurred 

 in 1675, the Praying Indiaiis found them- 

 .selves in danger from both sides. The 

 hostiles viewed them as traitors and ren- 

 egades, while the whites despised them 

 for theirapparent weakness and suspected 

 them to be secret allies of the enemy. 

 The contemptuous treatment and harsh 

 dealing of the English had already ren- 

 dered the converts restive, and the result 

 was that a great part of them joined the 



3456— Bull. 30, pt. 2—07 20 



enemy, the inhabitants of several villages 

 going off in a body. The others offered 

 their services to the English, who ac- 

 cepted the help of a few, but had those 

 remaining in the 7 original i>raying towns 

 removed to an island in Boston harbor 

 until the war was ended. These were 

 soon reduced to 300 souls by starvation 

 and exposure. The war practically ended 

 the mission work. In 1682 only 4 of the 

 14 first-named praying towns remained, 

 and only about 300 of their 1,100 inhab- 

 itants. The Indians e. of Buzzards bay 

 also suffered, though in a less degree, but 

 from their isolated position had generally 

 remained quiet. Those on Marthas Vine- 

 .yard and Nantucket refrained from hostil- 

 ities, mainly on account of their affection 

 for the missionary, Mayhew. After the 

 disjiersion or destruction of the more jaow- 

 erful tribes through this war, the remain- 

 ing Indians ceased to be of importance, 

 and the term " Praying Indians " lost its 

 distinctive meaning. (.j. m.) 



Precaute. An Abnaki village in 1602 

 on the N. E. coast of Maine. — Purchas 

 (1625) in Me. Hist.Soc. Coll., v, 156, 1857. 



Pregney. Mentioned as a pueblo of the 

 province of Atripuy (q. v. ), in the region 

 of the lower Rio Grande, N. Mex., in 

 1598.— Onate (1598) in Doc. Ined., xvi, 

 115, 1871. 



Presentacidn. A former settlement on 

 the w. side of the Rio Colorado, in Lower 

 California, doubtless belonging to the so- 

 called Quiquima (Quigyuma), visited by 

 Father Kino in Nov. 1701. — Bancroft, 

 No. Mex. States, i, 497, 1884. 



Preservation of Collections. Fur, skin, 

 feathers, woolen fabrics, and other or- 

 ganic materials subject to attack by in- 

 sects enter so largely into ethnological 

 collections that much attention is given 

 to their preservation. Specimens are 

 first subjected to the vapor of gasoline in 

 an air-tight recejitacle, where they may 

 remain for several hours, after which they 

 are removed and aired. Gasoline used 

 freely will not injure specimens, and is 

 efficient in destroying the eggs, larva^, 

 and adults of all insects, as well as molds 

 and other low forms of life. The second 

 step is dampening the sterilized speci- 

 mens with a solution of corrosive subli- 

 mate, made by dissolving one-fourth 

 ounce of bichloride of mercury in a 

 pint of alcohol and adding a pint of 

 soft water. A brush is used to apply the 

 solution, which is used sparingly on col- 

 ors that will "run." Some specimens 

 may be dipped in the solution, but deli- 

 cate articles are sprayed by means of an 

 atomizer. Experience and judgment are 

 necessary in the use of the poisonous and 

 explosive preservatives. Before speci- 

 mens having feathers, fur, or the like be- 



