Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-10-13

and for 10 years labored among the
aborigines carrying the gospel to the
Anacostans. He baptized Tayar, EN-.
peror Of the Piscataways, who Is known
to history also as Chitomachon. With
the Puritan party in the ascendant in
chains back to his native country.
THE Indians bound their hair in .
knot to the left ear, relates Fa-
ther White, and fastened 1t with q
band. An ornament was usually worn.
Some sported fish in copper on
their foreheads, while beads adorned
their necks. Deerskins clothed them,
hanging behind, as cloak. Aprons
were worn about the middle Of the
body.
The soles of their feet are hard
as horn" wrote the Jesuit, land they
tread on thorns and briars without
being hurt.
THE weapons Of the Indians are
bows and arrows feet long, tipped
with stays horn or white flint sharp.
ened at the end. They shoot these
with such skill that they can stand
of and hit sparrow in the middle;
and in order to become expert by prac-
tice they throw spear in the air and
then send an arrow from the bow
string and drive it into the spear be-
fore it falls. ." BY means Of these
weapons they live, and go out every
day through the fields and woods to
hunt squirrels, partridges, turkeys and
wild animals"
The kings and chief men, the Jesuit
found, lived in their own private
apartments and slept in beds made
from posts driven into the ground
with poles placed properly over the
wood. The natives were of frank
and cheerful disposition and surpassed
Europeans in their keenness of sight
and smell. They lived on pone. a sort
of paste, and omini (hominy), both
made from Indian corn. They used
fish and oysters, boiled and roasted.
They married several wives and trans
acted a large buiness in beavers.
The Indians strove to please an
imaginary being called Ochre and
they worshiped corn and fire as gods,
bounteous givers to mankind. The
medicine men worked their charms
over the sick.
Father White was S. years old
when he came to Maryland, and
in 1889 he labored at the town Of
Kittamaquindi, which some believe
to be near Washington and on the
site of a village of Piscataway.
In the District and vicinity the
Powhatan language was spoken. The
historians have set down some of it,
thus: Attomois, a dog; crenero.
woman; coan. snow; pisquaon, duck:
caasun. village; aquintan. boat; boca-
taw, fire; ohawas, crow; pomotow.
hill, mountain; wiroance. chief;
woscan, a bone; wushagun, deer:
yohacan, house, and nammas, fish.
THE scientists Of the Smithsonian
Institution say the Indians lived
long in the District of Columbia, as
evidenced by the extent Of the debris
of their habitations. The learned
men say that peculiar to Nacotch-
tanke was long thin blade Of quartz
lite, which has been dubbed "the shad
knife" because it Is believed to have
been employed in this use The ruins
of the kitchens of Nacotchtanke yield
pottery-in fragments now-but tell.
ing eloquently that here was the per.
manent abode Of man.
Whence came the first Indian to
this region science does not say.
Out of the gravelS Of the Potomac
he fashioned his implements. The
quartzite worker of the Potomac Is
shrouded in the mists of time. Some
think that he imported his ideas from
the Delaware. But he left mighty
little for posterity to ponder. His Lam
guage is a myth and his monument is
but the shreds that men can dig up
laboriously frorn the hidden places Of
the earth. The stature of this first
| resident of the District of Column
bia must be sketched in by science
on the basis Of sound information
and tangible evidence.
Hunters, warriors, fishermen and
farmers were the ancient people Of
Nacotchtanke. All the way from GieS-
bcro Point to Bladensburg they lived
On the eastern bank of the Anacostia
River. Due east of the Capitol, say
the scientists of the Anthropological
Society of washington, was the prin-
cipal part of Nacotchtanke. Strange
how the white man should move his
council chamber a short distance
away, into the path Of the setting sun.
OF the great Algonquin stock were
the warriors of this region. The Ian.
guage of the Powhatan Condeferacy
was theirs. Around the vicinity Of
Wilmington, Del; Philadelphia and
Trenton, N. j., the Delawares ruled.
On the western side of Delaware Bay
were the Atquanachukes. Between
them and the Conestogas to the west.
ward were the Tocwoghs. Southwest.
ward of the Atquanachukes were the
Nanticokes, in what is now the East.
ern Shore country.
On the west side Of Chesapeake
Bay was found the Powhatan Con-
federacy, extending as far northward
as the vicinity of Baltimore. West.
ward of Fredericksburg, Va, and In
the upper Potomac River region dwelt
the Mannahoacs, whose territory
came almost to Washington. The
Monacans were west of Richmond and
Petersburg, Va.
A race of wandering hunters, says
Mr.. Mooney, the Monacans and Man.
nahoacs were enemies of the Powhatan
tribes. The cornfields Of the Powhatan
tribes were the envy of even the white
man. Wild fruits and nuts were
found in abundance. The tubers Of
tuckaho, found in the marshes, were
used for bread, and the wild rice found
hereabout formed another item in the
grocery basket Of the Indians. With
relish they lived on fish and oysters.
THE Indians around Washington.
particularly those Of Southern
Maryland. opened their oysters by
| mine than,