Glimpses of the Past: History of the River St. John, A.D. 1604-1784Raymond, W. O. (William Odber)
History
Glimpses of the Past: History of the River St. John, A.D. 1604-1784
Raymond, W. O. (William Odber)
New Brunswick -- History; Saint John River Valley (Me. and N.B.)
"Thursday ye 11th. This Day we Remained In ye Indian Village called
Medocatike, I observed ye Squaws could not by any means Content
themselves without having their Dance. they Continued Teasing my
master to Such a Degree, to have ye Liberty to Dance Round me, that he
Consented they might if they would Promis to not abuse me, they
Desired none of ye Rest, but me was all they aimed at for what Reason
I cannot Tell. When my masters had Given ym Liberty, which was Done in
my absence, there Came Into ye Camp, two Large Strong Squaws, and as I
was Setting by one of my masters, they Caught hold of my armes with
all their Strength, and Said Something in Indian, yt I Supposed was to
tell me to Come out of ye Camp, and halld me of my Seat. I Strugled
with ym and cleard my Self of their hold, and Set down by my master;
they Came upon me again Verey Vigorously, and as I was Striving with
them, my master ordered me to Go, and told me they would not hurt me.
At this I was obliged to Surrender and whent with ym, they Led me out
of ye Camp, Dancing and Singing after their manner, and Carried me to
one of their Camps where there was a Company of them Gathered for
their frolick, they made me Set down on a Bears Skin in ye Middle of
one of their Camps, and Gave me a pipe and Tobacoe, and Danced Round
me till the Sweat Trickled Down their faces, Verey plentyfully, I
Seeing one Squaw that was Verey Big with Child, Dancing and foaming at
ye mouth and Sweating, to Such a degree yt I Could not forbear
Smilling, which one of ye old Squaws Saw, and Gave me two or three
twitches by ye hair, otherwise I Escaped without any Punishment from
them at the time."
While he was at Medoctec one of the chiefs desired Pote to read a
contract or treaty made about fourteen years before by his tribe with
the Governor of Nova Scotia. He also had an interview with one Bonus
Castine,[18] who had just arrived at Medoctec, and who examined him
very strictly as to the cargo of the Montague and took down in writing
what he said. Castine told Pote that the Penobscot Indians were still
at peace with the English and he believed would so continue for come
time. Pote thought it not prudent to contradict him, though he was
confident there were several Penobscot Indians in the party that had
captured the Boston schooners. At his master's suggestion he remained
close in camp, as the Indians were dancing and singing the greater
part of the night, and Castine had made use of expressions that showed
his life was in great danger.
[18] In his journal Pote terms him "Bonus Castine from Pernobsquett;"
there can be little doubt that he was a descendant of Baron de
St. Castin, already mentioned in these pages.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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