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III. notes to the Poems in this Volume.
Note 1, page 15. “O vine of Sibmah! I will weep for thee with the weeping of Jazer!” Jeremiah XLVIII. 32. Note 2, page 19. August. Soliloq. cap. XXXI. ‘Interrogavi Terramn Zzz’ etc. Note 3, page 79. Dr. Withington, author of The Puritan, under the name of Jonathan Oldbug. Note 4, page 79. Thomas ä Kempis in De Imitatione Christi. Note 5, page 236. Goody Cole was brought before the Quarter Sessions in 1680 to answer to the charge of being a witch. The court could not find satisfactory evidence of witchcraft, but so strong was the feeling against her that Major Waldron, the presiding magistrate, ordered her to be imprisoned, with ‘a lock kept on her leg’ at the pleasure of the Court. In such judicial action one can read the fear and vindictive spirit of the community at large. Note 6, page 249. The reference is to Bayard Taylor's poem, The Song of the Camp. Note 7, page 357. Mogg Megone, or Hegone, was a leader among the Saco Indians, in the bloody war of 1677. He attacked and captured the garrison at Black Point, October 12th of that year; and cut off, at the same time, a party of Englishmen near Saco River. From a deed signed by this Indian in 1664, and from other circumstances, it seems that, previous to the war, he had mingled much with the colonists. On this account, he was probably selected by the principal sachems as their agent in the treaty signed in November, 1676. Note 8, page 358. Baron de St. Castine came to Canada in 1644. Leaving his civilized companions, he plunged into the great wilderness, and settled among the Penobscot Indians, near the mouth of their noble river. He here took for his wives the daughters of the great Modocawando,—the most powerful sachem of the East. His castle was plundered by Governor Andros, during his reckless administration; [413] and the enraged Baron is supposed to have excited the Indians into open hostility to the English. Note 9, page 358. The owner and commander of the garrison at Black Point, which Mogg attacked and plundered. He was an old man at the period to which the tale relates. Note 10, page 358. Major Phillips, one of the principal men of the Colony. His garrison sustained a long and terrible siege by the savages. As a magistrate and a gentleman, he exacted of his plebeian neighbors a remarkable degree of deference. The Court Records of the settlement inform us that an individual was fined for the heinous offence of saying that ‘Major Phillips's mare was as lean as an Indian dog.’ Note 11, page 358. Captain Harman, of Georgeana, now of York, was for many years the terror of the Eastern Indians. In one of his expeditions up the Kennebec River, at the head of a party of rangers, he discovered twenty of the savages asleep by a large fire. Cautiously creeping towards them until he was certain of his aim, he ordered his men to single out their objects. The first discharge killed or mortally wounded the whole number of the unconscious sleepers. Note 12, page 358. Wood Island, near the mouth of the Saco. It was visited by the Sieur de Monts and Champlain, in 1603. The following extract, from the journal of the latter, relates to it: ‘Having left the Kennebec, we ran along the coast to the westward, and cast anchor under a small island, near the mainland, where we saw twenty or more natives. I here visited an island, beautifully clothed with a fine growth of forest trees, particularly of the oak and walnut; and overspread with vines, that, in their season, produce excellent grapes. We named it the island of Bacchus.’ —Les Voyages de Sieur Champlain, LIV. 2, c. 8. Note 13, page 359. John Boniton was the son of Richard Bonython, Gent., one of the most efficient and able magistrates of the Colony. John proved to be ‘a degenerate plant.’ In 1635, we find by the Court Records that, for some offence, he was fined 40s. In 1640, he was fined for abuse toward R. Gibson, the minister, and Mary, his wife. Soon after he was fined for disorderly conduct in the house of his father. In 1645, the ‘Great and General Court adjudged [414] John Boniton outlawed, and incapable of any of his Majesty's laws, and proclaimed him a rebel.’ （Court Records of the Province, 1645.) In 1651, he bade defiance to the laws of Massachusetts, and was again outlawed. He acted independently of all law and authority; and hence, doubtless, his burlesque title of ‘the Sagamore of Saco,’ which has come down to the present generation in the following epitaph:—Here lies Boniton, the Sagamore of Saco;By some means or other, he obtained a large estate. In this poem, I have taken some liberties with him, not strictly warranted by historical facts, although the conduct imputed to him is in keeping with his general character. Over the last years of his life lingers a deep obscurity. Even the manner of his death is uncertain. He was supposed to have been killed by the Indians; but this is doubted by the able and indefatigable author of the History of Saco and Biddeford.— Part I. p. 115.
He lived a rogue, and died a knave, and went to Hobomoko.
Note 14, page 359. Foxwell's Brook flows from a marsh or bog, called the ‘Heath,’ in Saco, containing thirteen hundred acres. On this brook, and surrounded by wild and romantic scenery, is a beautiful waterfall, of more than sixty feet. Note 15, page 361. Hiacoomes, the first Christian preacher on Martha's Vineyard; for a biography of whom the reader is referred to Increase Mayhew's account of the Praying Indians, 1726. The following is related of him: ‘One Lord's day, after meeting, where Hiacoomes had been preaching, there came in a Powwaw very angry, and said, “I know all the meeting Indians are liars. You say you don't care for the Powwaws; ” then calling two or three of them by name, he railed at them, and told them they were deceived, for the Powwaws could kill all the meeting Indians, if they set about it. But Hiacoomes told him that he would be in the midst of all the Powwaws in the island, and they should do the utmost they could against him; and when they should do their worst by their witchcraft to kill him, he would without fear set himself against them, by remembering Jehovah. [415] He told them also, he did put all the Powwaws under his heel. Such was the faith of this good man. Nor were these Powwaws ever able to do these Christian Indians any hurt, though others were frequently hurt and killed by them.’ — Mayhew, pp. 6, 7, c. I. Note 16, page 363. ‘The tooth-ache,’ says Roger Williams in his observations upon the language and customs of the New England tribes, ‘is the only paine which will force their stoute hearts to cry.’ He afterwards remarks that even the Indian women never cry as he has heard ‘some of their men in this paine.’ Note 17, page 364. Wuttamuttata, ‘Let us drink.’ Wee kan, ‘It is sweet.’ Vide Roger Williams's Key to the Indian Language, ‘in that parte of America called New England.’ —London, 1643, p. 35. Note 18, page 365. Wuttamuttata,—a house god, or demon. “They—the Indians—have given me the names of thirty-seven gods which I have, all which in their solemne Worships they invocate!” R. Williams's Briefe Observations of the customs, manners, Worships, etc., of the natives, in Peace and Warre, in life and death: on all which is added Spiritual Observations, General and Particular, of Chiefe and Special use—upon all occasions—to all the English inhabiting these parts; yet Pleasant and Profitable to the view of all Mene: p. 110, c. 21. Note 19, page 368. Mt. Desert Island, the Bald Mountain upon which overlooks Frenchman's and Penobscot Bay. It was upon this island that the Jesuits made their earliest settlement. Note 20, page 369. Father Hennepin, a missionary among the Iroquois, mentions that the Indians believed him to be a conjurer, and that they were particularly afraid of a bright silver chalice which he had in his possession. ‘The Indians,’ says Pere Jerome Lallamant, ‘fear us as the greatest sorcerers on earth.’ Note 21, page 370. Bomazeen is spoken of by Penhallow as ‘the famous warrior and chieftain of Norridgewock.’ He was killed in the attack of the English upon Norridgewock, in 1724. [416] Note 22, page 371. Pere Ralle, or Rasles, was one of the most zealous and indefatigable of that band of Jesuit missionaries who at the beginning of the seventeenth century penetrated the forests of America, with the avowed object of converting the heathen. The first religious mission of the Jesuits to the savages in North America was in 161l. The zeal of the fathers for the conversion of the Indians to the Catholic faith knew no bounds. For this they plunged into the depths of the wilderness; habituated themselves to all the hardships and privations of the natives; suffered cold, hunger, and some of them death itself, by the extremest tortures. Pere Brebeuf, after laboring in the cause of his mission for twenty years, together with his companion, Pere Lallamant, was burned alive. To these might be added the names of those Jesuits who were put to death by the Iroquois,—Daniel, Garnier, Buteaux, La Riborerde, Goupil, Constantin, and Liegeouis. ‘For bed,’ says Father Lallamant, in his Relation de ce qui s'est dans le pays des Hurons, 1640, c. 3, ‘we have nothing but a miserable piece of bark of a tree; for nourishment, a handful or two of corn either roasted or soaked in water, which seldom satisfies our hunger; and after all, not venturing to perform even the ceremonies of our religion without being considered as sorcerers.’ Their success among the natives, however, by no means equalled their exertions. Pere Lallamant says: ‘With respect to adult persons, in good health, there is little apparent success; on the contrary, there have been nothing but storms and whirlwinds from that quarter.’ Sebastian Ralle established himself, some time about the year 1670, at Norridgewock, where he continued more than forty years. He was accused, and perhaps not without justice, of exciting his Praying Indians against the English, whom he looked upon as the enemies not only of his king, but also of the Catholic religion. He was killed by the English, in 1724, at the foot of the cross which his own hands had planted. His Indian church was broken up, and its members either killed outright or dispersed. In a letter written by Ralle to his nephew he gives the following account of his church and his own labors: ‘All [417] my converts repair to the church regularly twice every day: first, very early in the morning, to attend mass, and again in the evening, to assist in the prayers at sunset. As it is necessary to fix the imagination of savages, whose attention is easily distracted, I have composed prayers, calculated to inspire them with just sentiments of the august sacrifice of our altars: they chant, or at least recite them aloud, during mass. Besides preaching to them on Sundays and saints' days, I seldom let a working-day pass without making a concise exhortation, for the purpose of inspiring them with horror at those vices to which they are most addicted, or to confirm them in the practice of some particular virtue.’— Vide Lettres Edifiantes et Cur., vol. VI. p. 127. Note 23, page 377. The character of Ralle has probably never been correctly delineated. By his brethren of the Romish Church, he has been nearly apotheosized. On the other hand, our Puritan historians have represented him as a demon in human form. He was undoubtedly sincere in his devotion to the interests of his church, and not over-scrupulous as to the means of advancing those interests. ‘The French,’ says the author of the History of Saco and Biddeford, ‘after the peace of 1713, secretly promised to supply the Indians with arms and ammunition, if they would renew hostilities. Their principal agent was the celebrated Ralle, the French Jesuit.’ —p. 215. Note 24, page 379. Hertel de Rouville was an active and unsparing enemy of the English. He was the leader of the combined French and Indian forces which destroyed Deerfield and massacred its inhabitants, in 1703. He was afterwards killed in the attack upon Haverhill. Tradition says that, on examining his dead body, his head and face were found to be perfectly smooth, without the slightest appearance of hair or beard. Note 25, page 380. Cowesass?—tawhich wessaseen Are you afraid?—why fear you?
