BULL. ;jO] 



WOMEN S NATIONAL WOODWORK 



973 



bride price, when such was given, did 

 not confer, it seems, on the husband, 

 absolute right over the Hfe and liberty of 

 the wife: it was rather compensation to 

 her kindred and household for the loss 

 of her services. Among the Navaho the 

 husband possesses in reality but very 

 little authority over his wife, although 

 he has obtained her by the payment of 

 a bride price or present ( Westermarck, 

 Human Marriage, 392 et seq.) 



Among all the tribes of Indians north 

 of Mexico, woman, during the catame- 

 nial period, and, among many of the 

 tribes, during the period of gestation and 

 parturition, was regarded as abnormal, 

 extra-human, sacred, in the belief that 

 her condition revealed the functioning of 

 orenda or magic power so potent that if 

 not segregated from the ordinary haunts 

 of men it would disturb the usual course 

 of nature. The proper view point is that 

 while in either condition the woman 

 involuntarily was the seat of processes 

 which marred, if they did not thwart, 

 the normal exercise of human faculties, 

 rather than that she was merely "un- 

 clean," and so an object to be tabooed. 

 Yet, it appears that this species of tem- 

 porary but recurrent taboo did not affect 

 the status of the woman in the social and 

 political organization in any way detri- 

 mental to her interests. 



It appears also that in many instances 

 woman aspired to excel in some of the 

 vocations which might be regarded as 

 peculiar to the male sex — hunting, fish- 

 ing, fowling, and fighting beside the man. 

 At times also she was famed, even noto- 

 rious, as a sorceress. Some of the weird- 

 est tales of sorcery and incantation are 

 connected with the lives and deeds of 

 noted woman sorcerers, who delighted 

 in torture and in destruction of human 

 life. 



Some students maintain, on seemingly 

 insufficient grounds, that the institution 

 of maternal descent tends to elevate the 

 social status of woman. Apart from the 

 independence of woman, brought about 

 by purely economic activities arising from 

 the cultivation of the soil, it is doubtful 

 whether woman ever attains any large 

 degree of independence and authority 

 aside from this potent cause. AVithout a 

 detailed and carefully compiled body of 

 facts concerning the activities and the 

 relations of the sexes, and the relation 

 of each to the various institutions of the 

 community, this question can not be sat- 

 isfactorily decided. The data concerning 

 the rights of women as compared with 

 those of men to be found in historical 

 accounts of various tribes are so meager 

 and indefinite that it is diflicult, if not 

 impossible, to define accurately the effect 

 of either female or male descent on the 



status of the woman. It is apparent, 

 however, that among the sedentary and 

 agricultural communities the woman en- 

 joyed a large, if not a preponderating, 

 measure of independence and authority, 

 greater or less in proportion to the extent 

 of the community's dependence for daily 

 sustenance on the product of the woman's 

 activities. 



For additional information on the avo- 

 cations of women among the several tribes, 

 see Basketry, Di/es and Figments, Skin and 

 Skin dressing, Wearing. (j. n. b. h.) 



Women's National Indian Association. 

 See National Indian Association. 



Wompam. See Wampum. 



Wonalancet. See Wannalancet. 



Wonasquam. A village in 1686 on the 

 seacoast in Essex co., Mass., about the 

 present Annisquam. — Dunton (1705) in 

 Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., 2d s., ii, 122, 1814. 



Wongen. See Wangan. 



Wongunk ('at the bend'). A former 

 village on the e. bank of Connecticut r., 

 about the present Chatham, Middlesex 

 CO., Conn., belonging, according to De 

 Forest, to the Mattabesec. 



Wangum.— De Forest, Inds. Conn., 54, 1852. 

 Wongonks.— Field, Middlesex Co., 56, 1819. Won- 

 gums.— Ibid. Wongunck.— Stiles (1761) in Mass. 

 Hist. Soc. Coll., 1st s., X, 105, 1809. Wongung.— 

 Trumbull, Hist. Conn., i, 40, 1818. Wongunk.— De 

 Forest, op. cit. 



Wonongoseak. A former village, prob- 

 ably of the Potawatomi, between the N. 

 and s. branches of Elkhart r., apparently 

 in Noble co., Ind. 



Wo-non-go-seak Village.— Hough, map in Indiana 

 Geol. Rep. 1882, 1883. 



Woodchuck. One of the names of the 

 ground-hog {Arctomys monax), called 

 moonack in parts of the S. The present 

 form of the word, as if from " wood " and 

 "chuck," is a corruption by folk-etymol- 

 ogy of woodschock, woodshaw, or wejack, a 

 name applied to this animal by the 

 hunters and traders of the Hudson Bay 

 region. The word is derived from the 

 Cree otchek or the Chippewa otchig or 

 odjik, the name of the fisher {Mnstela 

 pennanti), this Algonquian term having 

 been transferred by the whites to the 

 ground-hog. In the fur nomenclature of 

 the Hudson's Bay Company the skins of 

 these animals have long been known as 

 ivoodschocks. (a. f. c.) 



Woodchuck day. Candlemas (February 

 2d), which is so designated from a rural 

 belief that the appearance of the ground- 

 hog on that day presages a return of cold 

 weather and a late spring. (w. r. g.) 



Woodwork. Much use is made of wood 

 by the Indians, who, with few exceptions, 

 are skilful workers in that material. 

 Some areas may be classed as favorable 

 for the development of woodworking art, 

 having an abundant supply of straight- 

 grained timber, easily split and worked, 

 and other growths furnishing a variety 



