BILL. 30] 



SECOTAN SECRET SOCIETIES 



495 



strong." For synonyms, see the village, 

 following. ' (j. M.) 



Secotan. The chief Secotan village in 

 the 16th century, situated on the n. bank 

 of Pamlico r. in the present Beaufort co. , 

 N. C. For an illustration from White's 

 drawing, see Halntations. 

 Assamacomoe.— Raleigh (loS9) quoted by Martin, 

 N. C, I, as, 1S29 (perhaps a corruption of Dasa- 

 mon(iuepenc). Secota, — De Bry, map (en. 1585) 

 in Hawks, N. C, I. 1859. Secotan.— Barlowe 

 (1584). ibid., 87. Sequotan.— Ibid., 86. Sicopan.— 

 Sclioolcraft, Ind. Tribes, Vi, 92, 1857 (misprint). 

 Wangadacea.— Martin, N. C, I, 33, 18J9. Winga- 

 docea, — Martin. X. C, 1, 10. 18J9. Wingandacoa. — 

 Barlowe (1584) quoted by Hawks, N. C, I, 78, 

 1859 (said by Raleigh to mean "you wear good 

 clothes," the reply of the natives to questions 

 of the English and mistaken by them for the 

 name of the cnuntrv). Wingandagoa. — Straeliey 

 (1612), Va.. 143, 1849. Winginans.— Rafinesque in 

 Marshall, Ky., introd., i, 36, 1824. Winginas.— 

 Ibid., 27. 



Secowocomoco. A former Algonquian 

 tribe or subtribe of Maryland, living on 

 Wicomico r. in St Mary and Charles cos. 

 In 1608 their village was on the e. bank of 

 Wicomico r. at its junction with the Poto- 

 mac in St iNIary co., and was estimated to 

 contain 50 warriors. They are distinct 

 from the Wicomoco. They are the tribe 

 among whom the first Maryland colonists 

 landed and made their primary settle- 

 ment. At that time (1634) they had 

 their village on St Marys r. , but soon af- 

 terward abandoned it, nominally for the 

 benefit of the English, but more likely on 

 account of the frequent inroads of the 

 Conestoga. It is probable that this and 

 other small tri))es in this section of Mary- 

 land formed parts of or were closely 

 connected with the Conoy. In 1651 they 

 with other tribes were removed to a res- 

 ervation at the head of Wicomico r. 



According to White (Relatio Itineris) 

 they were very tall and well propor- 

 tioned ; they painted their faces dark blue 

 above tlie nose and red below, or the re- 

 verse. Their hair was gathered in a knot 

 at the left ear and fastened with a liand. 

 Their houses were built "in an oblong 

 oval shape." Their chief deity was 

 named Ochre, and they also paid a kind 

 of adoration to corn and fire. For sub- 

 sistence they depended largely on agri- 

 culture. 



Cecomocomoco. — Smith (1629), Va., I, map, repr. 

 1819 (misprint). Secowocomoco. — Ibid., 118. Wi- 

 comocons, — Bozman, Md., ll, 421. 1837. Yaoco- 

 mico.— White (ca. 1634), Relatio Itineris, 36. 1874 

 (apparently the chief's name). Yaocomoco.— 

 Ibid. Yaomacoes. — Shea misquoting Bozman in 

 Alsop.Md., 119, note, 1880. Yoamaco.— Harris, Voy. 

 and Trav., ii, 259, 1705. Yoamacoes.— Bozman, 

 Md., 11,29, 1837. 



Secret societies. Societies or brother- 

 hoods of a secret and usually sacred char- 

 acter existed among very many American 

 tribes, among many more, doubtless, than 

 those from which there is definite infor- 

 mation. 



On the Plains the larger number of 

 these were war societies, and they were 



graded in accordance with the age and 

 attainments of the members. The Buf- 

 falo society was a very important body 

 devoted to healing disease. The Omaha 

 and Pawnee seem to have had a great 

 number of societies, organized for all sorts 

 of purposes. There were societies con- 

 cerned with the religious mysteries, with 

 the keeping of records, and with the 

 dramatization of myths, ethical societies, 

 and societies of mirth-makers, who strove 

 in their performances to reverse the nat- 

 ural order of things. We find also a 

 society considered able to will people to 

 death, a society of " l)ig-bellied men," 

 and among the Cheyenne a society of fire- 

 walkers, who trod ui>on fires with their 

 bare feet until the fiames were extin- 

 gui.shed. 



According to Hoffman the Grand JNTedi- 

 cine society, or Midewiwin, of the Chip- 

 pewa and neighboring tribe.s, was a secret 

 society of four degrees, or lodges, into 

 which one could be successively inducted 

 by the expendittn-e of a greater and greater 

 amount of property on the accompanying 

 feasts. As a result of these initiations the 

 spiritual insight and power, especially 

 the power to cure disease, was successively 

 increased, while on the purely material 

 side the novitiate received instruction re- 

 garding the medicinal virtues of many 

 plants. The name of this society in the 

 form medeu occurs in Delaware, where it 

 was applied to a class of healers. In the 

 neighborhood of New York bay there was 

 a body of conjurers who " had no fixed 

 homes, pretended toal)solute continence, 

 and both exorcised sickness and officiated 

 at the funeral rites." Their name is in- 

 terpreted by Brinton to mean " Great 

 Snake," and they participated in certain 

 periodical festivals where ' ' a sacrifice was 

 prepared, which it was believed was car- 

 ried off by a huge serpent." 



In the S. W. each Pueblo tribe con- 

 tains a number of esoteric societies, wdiich 

 mediate between men and the zoo- 

 morphic beings of Pueblo mythology. 

 At Zuni there are 13 of these societies, 

 and they have to do especially with heal- 

 ing, either collectively in their ceremo- 

 nies or through individual members. 

 They also endeavor to bring rain, but 

 only by means of the influence which the 

 beast gods are able to exert over the an- 

 thropic beings who actually control it. 

 Rain-bringing itself is properly the func- 

 tion of the rain priests and of the Kotikilli 

 society, the latter consisting of Zuni of the 

 male sex, and occasionally some females. 

 Admi.ssion to this is necessary in order 

 that one may have access after death to 

 the dance-house of the anthropic goda. 

 There are six divisions of the Kotikilli, 

 holding their ceremonies in as many kivas 

 corresponding to the six world-quarters, 



