English: GROUP OF ABNAKI ( PASSAMAQUODDY )

Identifier: bulletin3011907smit Year: 1901 (1900s) Authors: Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology Subjects: Ethnology Publisher: Washington : G. P. O. Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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Text Appearing Before Image: Bl'LL. 30] ABNAKI Stofkbridges, and Munnee about Green bay, Wis. By the Puritans they were generally called Tarrateens, a term appar- ently obtained from the southern New- England tribes; and though that is the general conclusion of modern authorities, there is some doul)t as to the aboriginal origin of this term. In later times, after the main body of the Abnaki had re- moved to Canada, the name was applied more especially to the Penobscot tribe. The Iroquois called them Owenunga, which seems to be merely a moditication of Abnaki, or Abnaqui, the name applied by the French and used by most modern writers. The form Openango has been used more especially to designate the eastern tribes. Maurault (Hist, des Aben.,2,1866) says: "Some English au- thors have called these savages Waba- noaks, 'those of the east'; this is the reason they are called 'Al)enakis' by some among us. This name was given them because they were toward the east with reference to the Narragansetts. Ethnic relations.âIn his tentative ar- rangement Brinton (Len. Leg., 11, 1885) brings into one group the Nascapee, ^lic- mac, Malecite, Etchimin, and Aljnaki, but this is more of a geographic than a linguistic grouping. Vetromile (Abnakis, 20, 1866), following other autiiors, says that we should embrace und er tl i is term all the tribes of the Algic [Algomiuian] family, who occupy or have occupied the E. or N. E. shore of North America; thus, all the Indians of the seashores, from Virginia to Nova Scotia, were Abnaki." Maurault gives the following as the prin- cipal tribes of the A])naki confederacy: Kanibesinnoaks (Norridgewock in part; see Keimebee and Xorridgeirock); Pat- suikets (Sokoki in part); Sokouakiaks (Sokoki); Nurhantsuaks( Norridgewock); Pentagoets (Penobscot); Etemankiaks (Etchimin); Ouarastegouiaks(Malecite), the name Abnaki being applied in the restricted sense to the Indians of Kenne- bec r. AUthesetribes spoke substantially the same language, the chief dialectal differences being between the Etchimin and the other tribes of the group. The Etchimin, who formed a subgroup of the Abnaki confederacy, included the Passa- maquoddy and Malecite. Linguistically the Abnaki do not appear to be more closely related to the Micmac than to the Delaware group, and Dr William Jones finds the Abnaki closely related to the central Algonquian languages. In cus- toms and beliefs they are more nearly related to the Micmac, and their ethnic relations appear to be with the tribes n. of the St Lawrence. History.âThe history of the Abnaki may be said to begin with Verrazano's visit in 1524. The mvthical accounts of Norumbega (q. v.) of the early writers and navigators finally dwindled to a village of a few bark-covered huts under the name Agguncia, situated near the mouth of Penobscot r., in the country of the Abnaki. In 1604 Champlain ascended the Penobscot to the vicinity of the pres- ent Bangor, and met the lord of No- rumbega, doubtless an Abnaki chief. From that time the Abnaki formed an important factor in the history of the region now embraced in the state of Miane. From the time of their discovery until their partial withdrawal to Canada they occupied the general region from the St Johns til the Saco; but the earliest English accounts indicate that about 1605-20 the s. w. part of the coast of Maine was occu- pied by other Indians, whose chief seat was near Pemaquid, and who were at Mar with the Abnaki, or Tarrateen, as the English termed them, who were more to the x; but these other tribes were iinally (â on(iuen'(l by the Al)naki and proliably

Text Appearing After Image: GROUP OF ABNAKI ( PASSAMAQUODDy) absorbed by them. Who these Indians were is unknown. The Abnaki formed an early attachment for the French, chiefly through the influence of their missionaries, and carried on an almost constant war with the P^nglish until the fall of the French power in America. The accounts of these struggles during the settlement of Maine are familiar episodes in American history. As the whites encroacheil on them the Abnaki gradually withdrew to Canada and settled chiefly at Becancour and Sillery, the latter being afterward abamloned by thein for St Francis, near Pierreville, Quebec. The Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, and Malecite, however, remained in their ancient homes, and in 1749 the Penobscot, as the leading tribe, made peace with the English, accepting fixed bounds. Since that period the different tribes have gradually dwindled into insignificance. The descendants of those who emigrated

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