The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1911-02-10

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|" he Montauk tribe of Indians
is officially and legally dead. 1t
Y Is SO writ in the records. and
the waves beating against the
Long Island shore moan 1t as a
requiem. Before Columbus or Cabot
set sail for the hemisphere somewhere
far away to the unknown west the
ancient Montauks, Indians alike of land
and sea, were wont to greet the sun
as it rose with smiling face from out
the deep or toss their weather-tanned
heads when the waves welled in stormy
tumult. Now, from the deck of the
passing liner one may picture the bent
figure that once typified the grandeur
Of race that was.
Long Island, in the days before
the coming of the Dutch, was called
Island Of Shells. It was the aborig-
inal treasure house, the home of that
which spelled wealth. Wampum grew
thereon as the gold nestles In the
rocks. Wampum was Indian money, it
was made from the stock or stem Of
periwinkle. PaQue was q medium of
exchange OF lesser value. It was cut
from the purple heart Of the hard
clam shell. Some bronze-face finan-
cier gave the fiat that the sandbanks
were to be the tribal Repositories,
and from that time on, for generation
after generation, Montauk was at once
the bourse and the Wall street Of In
dian operations. The fame of the tribal
opulence was waited on the winds to
the lands OF the Mohicans, the Iro-
quois and the Narragansetts, where
at there was much wonder. When a
soft-eyed maiden gave her heart to a
bean-shanked buck the old folks would
empty into their honeymoon canoe sew
eral feet of select wampum and send
them on their happy way full Of the
Rockefeller spirit
Wealth carried with 1t responsible
ties In those good old days as It does
today. Sachem Wyandance was the
great auditor of his tribe. His o. X.
was necessary on all transactions from
q decker for canoe-load Of bluefish
to an installment purchase Of bunga-
low site on a shoal inlet. He was
called in the Montauk dialect toto
mua, which in modern phrase Is a
tightwad.
One day, when Long Island sound
lay warm and placid, two-score or
more of Pequots, who lived on the Con-
necticut shore, bundled into their
canoes and padded over to the head
lands OF Montauk. They sent word
to the island sachem to come out with
some of his strong-arm boys and take
a walloping. On receipt of this chal-
lenge there was some poopoohing.
The Montauks sent the millionaire
(wampum) company to meet hated and
poverty stricken Pequots. 1t was q
sad affair. The Montauks were trim
med. That night when the PeQuots
pointed their barks for Connecticut
they carried with them a portion OF
their neighbor's bankroll.
It didn't take long for the news to
get around that the Montauks had all
OF the sunny side OF Easy street In the
way of ready cash. A considerable
tribe of ambitious and hopeful Indians.
known az the Narragansetts, occupied
among other places what Is now fash
ionable Newport. They bathed, at such
times as 1t seemed absolutely neces-
sary, on what is now called Bailey's
beach. It Is said, too, that they had
q club house somewhere near the pres
emit site Of the Casino. Well, the Mar
ragansetts having heard that 1t was
like taking lemon stick from child
at kindergarten door to make the
Montauks part with their money. sent
part Of the naval reserve OF the time
to make demonstration on the
island.
This time the Montauks weren't 80
easy. They met the Narragansetts on
the beach and fought them until dark
Just how many fell >on that occasion
will never be known, for the tide car
ried the bodies of the slain out to sea
and they never came back to be count
ed. Some time thereafter, or about
1641, an understanding was arrived ct
by which the Montauks and the Nara
gansetts got along without further
fighting. !.
The citadel OF Montauk authority
stood at what is known as Fort hill.
It was ret with stone towers at each
Of its four corners and was fortress
which never once was taken by an
enemy. Sachem Wyandance himself