Wichita eagle., 1889-06-19
MAINE INDIAN RELICS.
REMARKABLE DISCOVERIES MADE on
MAcKWORTH's ISLAND.

and the Visions OF the taSI Iney In
spired-An That Ii Left Of Brown
Skinned Chief and His Tribe.
| There are numerous knobs slightly ele-
| waited above the surrounding surface on the
| southern and eastern slopes of Mackworth's
| island, and from their shape and the vivid
green of the fine short heritage which adorns
| them, so much fresher and brighter than
anything near by, suggest to the observer
those fairy haunted rings whose emerald
| sheen 50 awed the woodland wanderers Of
Arthurian days.
| 1t seems almost sacrilegesto put the great
| pillow into this ground, but the ambitious
teanster, with his four sturdy horses as i'm
patient as himself to begin the work, is ready,
and only awaits direction where to begin
We will start near the great mound.
Deeply sinks the share into the earth, and
cutting the rich turf like cheese, throws up
windows of dark soil almost wholly COM
posed of decayed shells, but topped with
white masses of other shells only partially
broken, until the whole mound lies exposed to
view, like lakelet furrowed with white
capped waves, and we may approach and in
spect 1t.
THE OLD STONE AK.
Here In the center Is great heap of ashes
and stones marked by fire; bones Of beasts,
bird and fish; tusks Of bear and teeth of rab
bit and coon, revealing to us that we are in
vading the hearthstone of a departed race.
Impressive thought! which must perforce
awaken serious reflection.
Here was q home-the home of chief,
doubtless, from its superior size-where do
nestle life ran Its eventful course, where
councils upon public affairs took place and
feast and rrymadng marked suspicious
occurrences. At this freside swung in his
rude cradle the infant who was to succeed his
father in the craftsmanship of his tribe, while
beside him his dark eyed mother forecast his
future, glorified with deeds of proves and
limited only by the horizon of savage aspira-
ton, narrow enough, certainly, to the Chris
tan view.
But these are only the sports of Fancy, and
we fain would have more tangible reminders
of the people who once dwelt on these sunny
slopes. Here are smooth, round stones, fire
stained and crumbling from much heating,
which were plunged red hot into the water
contained in the receptacle Of birch bark,
whose seams were smeared with pitch, and
which served as kettle In which to seeth the
savory pottage.
OF what this pottage was composed is evil
dent, for mingled with the soil are the bones
Of the partridge and pigeon; the teeth Of the
bear, the hare and the coon; the larger bones
of the moose and deer, as well as the vetebrfe
of the cod, and the shells Of the whelk; COM
Portable viands, certainly; and, Eurekal
here at hand, is a stone axl Shade of Skit-
teragasset! was this ak thinea Didst thou
hold this bit of stone, with smoothly polished
edge, in thy tawny hand when 'sPoor Levett'
sought thy wigwam on the opposite shorei
But, 10! bodkin Of bone broken, alas by
the plowshare.
What slender fingers have held this, pune
turing with its arrowy point the sweet SMELL
ing birch! How like magic wand this frail
thing summons before US picture of tawny
women plying their simple tasksi and we
dream while the white winged vessels and
the steamers with trailing pennons of smoke
go by, some seaward, to return, perchance,
no more forever, like these pictures of the
misty past.
And now we turn up long stone, rounded
and smooth. 1t was employed in dressing
the skins Of beasts, which are made soft and
pliable by frequent beating With the skins
of beasts SO prepared the luxurious gallants
Of the courts of King James and his unfortu
nate son were wont to royalty bedeck them
selves; aye, the king himself, once upon
time, caused to be made for his added pate
"a fayre bonnet" Of which he was absurdly
proud. And here we have stone gouge, the
point worn away and broken by much use
Surely it had an industrious owner. And a
broken arrow head, what tale does this tella
Was it broken in trial of skill between rival
marksmen9 Most likely it was broken by
tree or other hard substance against which it
was directed
THE RAREST THING OF ALL.
Turning the soil Just outside these charmed
circles, little heap of white sea sand brought
from the beach below is revealed It was not
brought here by ants, but by human hands.
Perhaps it was placed here to please the dar-
ling of the wigwam, for heap of sand was
doubtless as attractive to the golden skinned
papooses of bygone age as it is today to our
own rudy checked darlings. May be here
stood the wigwam of the savage potter, who
used the sand to mingle with the clay from
which he shaped the rude samp bowl or to-
bacco pipe, for numerous bits of such pottery
are scattered about.
Away from the shells, along the bank of
the old spring which separated the camps,
here, near the spring, are the fragments of
a samp bowl 1t repeats to fancy's ear a ia
mihar story. Some one going to the spring
met with a catastrophe, serious one, too,
for the bowl was precious, and the person
who broke this, which was one of the better
sort, being decorated with broken lines in
intaglio made by sharp stone Or bone or
pointed stick, met with sore reproof and the
maiden, if such it was, who broke this pre-
cious bowl, returned not to the parental Wig
wan with bounding step and hilarious music;
indeed, the sad catastrophe may have so dwelt
In memory as to have been related to grand
children as warning against carelessness
But at last our search has been rewarded
by finding the rarest thing OF al, pipe, a
genuine Indian pipe, with square corners, and
decorated in the rude manner common 20 the
Indians of this region The snare has frac-
tured ii, but it can be readily restored We
hold it In our hand In admiration. By the
great Bashaba Of the PenobscotI this pipe has
been inaged upon the retina Of Black Will
lam, who slew Bagnan at Richmond Island;
OF Passaconoway and Skitteragasset, per-
hapsof Tsquantum, Madockawando, Wenape
and Skittawaroes. Why, John Winter,
George Cleeve, Arthur Mackworth, Richard
Vines and ever so many more, yes, all Of our
old acouaintapces of the Seventeenth century,
have handled it, and admired It, Yes, and
smoked it too.
But the evidence sof race viii soon disap-
pear The ashes Of former fires, the shells
and bones Of former feasts are being mingled
with the soil TO furnish food for the future
crop, aud the good people Of Portland viii
enjoy the peas, the sugar corn, the squash
and other sNcculent Vegetables which the hus-