Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-07-16
ENCOUNTERS WITH rHE INDIANS |.

ENCOUNTERS WITH THE INDIANS. =
Some Of the voyagers with Smith give fur
! Their account of the incidents of one of the trips
up the ''Patawomeke" After being some days
| out few became disturbed by fears that they
would be lost in these unknOwne large waters.
or be swallowed up in some stormie gust "
smith eSS2yed to calm their fears and exhOrted
| them to regain their spirits saying that he would
not return till he had seen the MaSsawomekes
iound Patawomeke, or the head of this water you
concert 10 be endlesse." This account states
that on the 18th of June we fell with the river
PataWomeke. feare being gone and our men re-
covered, we were all content to take some
palnes TO KNOW the name of that seyen-myle
broad river, for thirty myles say&e we could see
no INHABITANTS: then We were conducted by two
savages up q little bayed creek towards Onaw-
malnent, where all the woods were layed with
ambassadors, to the number Of three or four
thousand salvages, 80 strangely paynted, grimed
and disguised, shouting, yelling. and crying as
80 many spirits from he'll could not have showed
more terrible. Many bfavados they made, but
to appease their fury our captain prepared with
as seeming willingness Gas they to encounter
! them. But the grazing Of oar bullets upon the
water (many being shot on purpose they might
| see theru), with the COCO Of the woods. SO
amazed them, as down went their bowes and
arrOwes, (and exchanging hostage), James Wat
| kins was sent six myles up the woods to their
kings habtation. We were kindly treated by
these salvages, Of whom we understood they
were commanded to betray us by direction OF
POwhatan. The hike encounters we found at
Patawomeke, Cecowonee and divers other places
But at MoyaOnes, Nacotchtant and TOags the
people did their best to content u.s."
Having gone as high as they could with the
boat, they met divers savages in canoes. well
loaded with the flesh of bears, deer and other
beasts; mighty rocks were found growing
above the ground as high as the shrubby trees "
and in some places ''where the waters had falne
from the high mountaines they had left tinct-
ured spangied skurfe that made nanny bare
places seem as guided"
SEARCH FOR SILVER NINE.
The object of their search was a silver NINE OF
which report had reached them and procuring
guides from the king of Patawomeke to conduct
them up little river called the 'QuiyOugh
they prosecuted the search, going as high up it
as they could, then leaving their boats they
marched seven or eight miles, and finally came
to great rocky mountain, wherein the indians
mad dug great hole with shells and hatchetS
from which they procured substance highly
priced by them, which was sold all over the
country and used in painting their bodies and
| faces and their idols. and which made them look
like black -moores busted oyer with silver" 1t
proved to be OF no value, however, to the Eng
lish.
TRYING TO CATCH FISH WITH A FRYING PAN.
Beaver bear, mink and martin were found
and, says the account, in divers places that
abundance Of fish, laying SO thick with their
heads above the water, as for want of nets (oul
barge driving amongst them), we attempted to
eaten them with frying pan; but we found it a
bad instrument to catch fish with. Neither
better fish. more plenty. nor more variety for
small fsh had any Of us ever scene in any place
SO swimming the water; but they were not to be
caught with frying pans"
MOSCO-A LUSTY SALVAGE.
Among the Indians of Wighcocomoco on the
''Patawomeke." was one. Mosco by name IA
lnsty salvage" who developed special fondness
for the whites. MOsco was noticeable among a
beardless people for being the possessor of a
thick black bushy beard. He brought them
wood and water. and with some of his country
men, helped them to row against wind and tide
until they reached PatawOmeke. where he re-
manned until they returned from the head of the
river.
In sundry contests with the Indians on the
RappahannOck MOsco was OF good service. and
was rewarded with present Of captured canoes
and arrows. In one of these encounters an In
dian was wounded. who when found Lay as if
dead but upon having his wound dressed recoy-
cred sufficiently to converse with them. He
was asked why his tribe attacked those .'who
came to them in peace and to seek their loves
he replied because they thought the whites
were "a people who had come to take their
world from them"
The race Of Smith who came to the Indian.
''in peace, and Ito seek his love" has proven to
be a selfish and remOrseless intruder 1t has
tfansmOgrified the face of his domain by
methods which the red man could not master
and introduced conditions and rules of existence
to which his nature could not become accus-
toned. His forests his canoe and simple wig
wan of saplings and bark have disappeared.
and the farm, the steamboat aud more lasting
habtations have taken their place. But little
remains to him Of his original world that
little is rapidly growing less and
the Indian himself will soon cease to exist ex-
cept in the pages of history.
PRESENT NAMES OF THE LOCALITIES VISITED BIZ
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH,
The branch Of the Potomac, which Smith calls
Quiyough is now called Acquia Creek. Poto-
pace is almost identical in sound with Port To-
bacco, its present name. The Onawmanients
are supposed to have been located at Nominy
Bay. The PatawOmekeS had town with in
habtants, estimated at from 600 to 1900 souls,
located on a peninsula in Stafford county, Vir-
ginia, formed by the Potomac river and the creek
Of the same name at what is now called MarlbOr-
Ough Point. COan river, in Northumberland
county, was the seat of CecOcawanee; the Moya-
wanees were located about Broad Creek in
Prince Georges County on the Maryland side
of the river. The NacOtchtanks short dis
lance below the mouth of the Eastern Branch.
and the TOags somewhere about the great bend
in the Potomac, at Maryland Point. Tuaxen-
ent was near Mount Vernon: the Tessamattuck
near Oxen Run. On the Maryland side in Prince
Georges. county. The Cinquactack at Piscat
away; the Monanauk on the Maryland side OF
the river about Is or 20 miles from its mouth on
the same side about four or five miles above
Acquia Creek was Nussamek, and above this at
MattawOman Creek, Matanghquamend. The
names of some of these Indian tribes and
towns do not appear in Smiths narrative, but
are given on his map.
INTERPRETATION OF THE INDIAN NAMES.
The following interpretations were given to
Dalyrmple by Jesuit missionary who had been
for thirty years among the Odjibwa Indians Of
the northwest, whose language was close dia
lect Of the present language to which that
spoken by the Maryland Indians belonged.
POtomae-''River full of swarms of small fry
Where fishes spawn in shoals"
Piscatawaye-"One who has his hair plated
or twisted up sideway and backwards"
Chesapeake-"A sheet Of water opening more
and more wider"
Another authority makes it mean ''Great
Water"
Anacostan-"O One who prepares himself fol
self defence-to resist an attack"
POtopaco-"Tobaceo leaves"
WHO THE MAssAwOMEKEs WERE
and what became of them must remain a matter
of conjecture, as there are no authentic histori
cal data which afford a satisfactory solution