884 



W A AHOO W A BAN 



[B. A. E. 



objects are nearly always painted with 

 red ocher, which is used also as a face 

 paint. Babiche of walrus-hide, obtained 

 in trade with down-stream natives, is 

 used for netting snowshoes, fish -nets, and 

 the like. 



The tribe was governed by a chief 

 whose authority is said to have been des- 

 potic; he detailed hunting parties and 

 dictated their duties, and had sole power 

 to apportion the product of the hunt. 

 During the absence or incapacity of a 

 chief, a patriarchal form of government 

 exists, important matters being decided 

 by the elders in council. Public opinion 

 has great weight in controlling the chief's 

 personal actions. Sometimes the Vunta- 

 kutchin intermarry with other tribes, and 

 sometimes outside children are adopted 

 into a family. Couples were often be- 

 trothed in marriage while children, the 

 arrangementof course beingmade by their 

 parents, although the engaged couple had 

 a voice in the question of the final mar- 

 riage. When between 10 and 15 years the 

 boy went to live with the parents of the 

 girl, but they were not married until the 

 boy was able to support a wife. On the 

 death of a wife or a husband it was not 

 customary for the survivor to remarry 

 for several years. 



Ceremonial tribal feasts are given on 

 various occasions, such as at the birth of 

 A child, when the eldest son kills his first 

 game, or when a girl reaches puberty. 

 In the lastinstance the girl, after the feast, 

 goes about a mile from home, where she 

 lives in isolation for a year under the care 

 of a relative of her betrothed. During 

 this period fresh meat is tabooed, other- 

 wise game would become scarce during 

 the ensuing year. The body of a de- 

 ceased chief was burned by men em- 

 ployed for the piirpose; the burned bones 

 and ashes were then placed in a wooden 

 receptacle and hung in a tree. The men 

 who burned the body ate no fresh meat 

 for a year, else, it was believed, they too 

 would die. It is said that a belief is cur- 

 rent among them to the effect that when 

 a person dies his spirit returns to a wo- 

 man and is reborn. Property is not in- 

 herited by relatives on the death of a 

 chief, but is distributed to visitors at a 

 potlatch which lasts several days, or un- 

 til the supplies are exhausted, and to 

 which members of related tribes are in- 

 vited. 



As among many tribes the medicine- 

 men perform their functions by dreams, 

 incantation, and magic, whether it is de- 

 sired to heal the sick, to overcome the 

 enemy, or to make a hunt successful. 

 The power supposed to be possessed by 

 a medicine-man to promote the tribal 

 welfare is believed also to be employed 

 sometimes in the malevolent practice of 

 sorcery. 



Richardson (Arct. Exped., 397, 1851) 

 gave their population in 1817 as 80 men; 

 in 1866 they numbered 60 men, of whom 

 about 25 were hunters. Their present 

 population is not known. 



Consult Schmitter in Smithson. Misc. 

 Coll., Lvi, no. 4, 1910. 



Gens des Rats.— Dall in Cont. N. A. Ethnol., I, 31, 

 1876 (so called by voyageurs). Gens du Rat. — 

 Ross, MSJ. Ndtes on Tinne, B. A. E. Rat Indians.— 

 Ibid. Rat People.— Diill in Proc. Am. A. A. S. 1869, 

 271, 1870. Vanae-ta-Kouttchin. — Petitot, Autour du 

 lac des Esclavcs, 361,1891 ('people of the lakes'). 

 Van-tah-koo-chin. — Hardistv in Smithson. Rep. 

 1866,311, 1872. Vanta-Kutchi.— Richardson, Aret. 

 Exped., I, 399, 1851. Vanta-Kutchin.— Bancroft, 

 Nat. Races, i, 115, 1882. Vanta kutshi.— Latham, 

 Nat. Races Russ. Emp., 294, 1854. Vcn'-ta-Kut- 

 tohin'.— Petitot, MS. vocab., B. A. E., 1865. Voen 

 Kuttchin.— Petitot, Diet. Den^-Dindjit\ xx, 1876. 

 Vondt-way-Kutchin. — Jones in Smithson. Rep. 1866, 

 320, 1872. Viin'-tah ku'tch'-in.— Ross, MS. notes on 

 Tinne, B. A. E. VuntaKutchin.- Dall in Proc. Am. 

 A. A. S. 1869, 271, 1870. Zjen Kuttchin.— Petitot, 

 Diet. D^ne-Dindjie, xx, 1876 ('rat people'). 

 Zjen-ta-Kouttchin.— Petitot, Autonr du lac des 

 Esclaves, 361,1891 ('muskrat people'). 



Waahoo. See Wahoo. 



Waaih {Wa-aVh, 'maggot'). An ex- 

 tinct division of the Comanche. — Mooney 

 in 14th Rep. B. A. E., 1045, 1896. 



Waatch. A ]\Iakahvillageatthe mouth 

 of a creek of the same name, 4 m. from 

 Neeah, Wash.; pop. 126 in 1863. 

 Waatch.— Swan in Smithson. Cent., xvi, 6, 1870. 



Wabakwa ( Wd-ba-kwa^) . A former 

 pueblo of the Jemez tribe, situated on a 

 mega n. of their present village in New 

 Mexico. (f. w. h.) 



Waban ( ' east ' ) . A " Praying Indian ' ' 

 of the Nipmuc tribe, born at Musketaquid, 

 the site of Concord, Mass., about 1604; 

 died late in 1676 or early in 1677. His 

 later home was 4 or 5 m. from Roxbury, 

 on the s. side of Charles r., near Water- 

 town mill, now in Newton towmship, at 

 a place where John Eliot in 1646 estab- 

 lished his first mission and which he 

 named Nonantum, signifying 'I rejoice.' 

 When John Eliot first visited the place 

 in 1646 he was welcomed by Waban, who 

 ever after encouraged the missionary in his 

 labors and manifested sincere friendship 

 toward the whites. He is said to have 

 been the first INIassachusetts chief to pro- 

 fess Christianity. In 1651 the mission of 

 Natick was established, and Waban and 

 his people removed thereto. In 1674 he 

 was the chief man of the latter place, 

 which then contained 29 families, and is 

 described by Gookin as "a person of great 

 prudence and piety: I do not know of any 

 Indian that excels him." When in 1676 

 a civil community was established there 

 Waban was made a "ruler of fifty," 

 and subsequently a justice of the peace. 

 While serving in this capacity, it is said 

 that he was asked by a young justice 

 what he would do when Indians got 

 drunk and quarreled. Waban replied, 

 "Tie um all up, and whip um plaintiff, 

 and whip um 'fendent, and whipum wit- 

 ness." He married the eldest daughter 



