Spirit Quest
Page 22
“I am glad they accepted you. I asked the spirits to consider that your case was complicated by the close tie between twins.”
“We will never forget what you did for us. We are your men now, Skyco.”
“Nevertheless,” Eracano interrupted, “it is time to conclude the husquenaugh.” He added herbs to the fire and began a long chant. At his instruction, we each added a pinch of uppówoc powder to the fire and we danced three times around it. We all thanked the spirits for their guidance, and I felt the answering reply from my bear. I thanked him again for guiding me and he replied, “Remember the dream I gave you, Skyco. I shall give you what you need if you will follow me.”
Eracano presented each of us with a medicine pouch, which was a small bag made from soft deerskin. We tied it around our waists with a strip of leather. He added a pinch of uppówoc powder to each pouch and we closed them again.
“During your lifetime as tribal members, you will find important objects that will identify you to the spirits. You will know what to add to your medicine pouch. Each man is different and adds different items. Tonight, after the feast, go to your mothers to receive the object that identifies your clan. It should be the first item in your bag.”
All of us exited the husquenaugh and stood nearby while Eracano burned down the small wigwam that sheltered us for so many days, purifying the space and putting an end to the ritual. That night, for the first time since the last new moon, we celebrated our success with the rest of our village and feasted. Our childhoods were behind us.
We had been reborn as men.
Author’s Note
Skyco was an actual Algonquin boy who played a role in the earliest English explorations of America. He lived in the town of Chowanook on the Chowan River in present day North Carolina. During his boyhood, English explorers first arrived in America, combing the coastline for a defensible location with a port to harbor ships, which would provide an English foothold in the new world. The initial scouting expedition in 1584 was followed one year later by the first English colonists. They built a fort on Roanoke Island, strategically located between the Outer Banks and the mainland, as well as between the Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds.
The party of men sent by Sir Walter Raleigh included the scientist Thomas Harriot, the artist and mapmaker John White, and the military commander Ralph Lane as Governor. Together, they explored the region for one year, from the summer of 1585 until the summer of 1586. During this time, they encountered many Native Americans, including the Roanoac tribe on Roanoke Island and the Chowanoacs, a powerful Algonquin tribe ruled by Chief Menatonon and centered on the Chowan River in western Albemarle Sound. Lane said that Menatonon ruled 18 towns with 700 fighting men, but most historians think that the tribe was about 2000 total people.
Menatonon told the English about the Chesapeake Bay to the north, and about a land to the interior, called Chaunis Temoatan, which produced copper, or as the English hoped, gold. Once settled, Lane kidnapped Menatonon’s son or heir, Skyco, and held him for several months to force Menatonon’s support of the English by providing them with food, guides, and protection from warring tribes. During the period of his captivity, the Englishmen befriended Skyco, and Skyco, in turn, aided the English by telling Lane of a plot among the Roanoacs to kill Lane and his party. As a result, Lane struck first, killing the chief of the Roanoac tribe and thus, not only heightening the animosity between the English and the Roanoacs, but increasing the tension among all the Algonquin tribes in the region.
Faced with rising native hostility, dwindling food supplies, and the delay of resupply ships, Lane’s group of colonists welcomed the appearance of Francis Drake’s flotilla of English ships, full of booty acquired from his lucrative raids against the Spanish in the Caribbean and Florida. Although Drake delivered hardware and trade items, he did not carry enough surplus food to sustain the fledgling colony, and rather than face the uncertainty of resupply by Raleigh’s ships, the colonists abandoned America and returned home to England aboard Drake’s ships. Skyco’s fate was not recorded, although it was noted that three Englishmen were left behind in America. It is probable that Skyco was freed to return to his own people when the colonists left.
A larger group of English colonists arrived one year later, in 1587, and this time included women and children. They planned to settle on the shores of Chesapeake Bay, but disembarked on Roanoke Island instead. There, the first English-American child, named Virginia Dare, was born, but her grandfather, John White, the artist who by then was Governor, was compelled to return to England to secure additional supplies. Unfortunately for the Roanoke colonists, his return was delayed for three years because England and English ships were fully engaged in a war with Spain. Ironically, it was the privateering raids of Drake against the Spanish that aggravated the English-Spanish conflict and led to the battle of the Spanish Armada. When White finally returned to Roanoke in 1590, the colonists had disappeared, but left the word “Croatoan” carved on a tree near the abandoned fort. The fate of those First Colonists remains a mystery.
Some historians think that the colonists went to the island of Croatoan on the Outer Banks, which has since been separated into Ocracoke and Hatteras Islands by the breach of Hatteras Inlet. Other historians argue that the colonists abandoned Roanoke for the Chesapeake, their original intended destination, and left only a small contingent of men to await John White’s return. Sometime during White’s long, three-year absence, these men went to Croatoan, and it was they who left the carved message. According to this view, the bulk of the “lost colonists” migrated to the Chesapeake while a remnant later moved to Croatoan. Twenty years later, in 1607, the first Jamestown settlers heard reports from Powhatan, the chief of the Chesapeake tribal confederacy, that he had killed the first English colonists who had settled on the Chesapeake and intermarried with members of a local tribe.
Manteo, from the Croatoan tribe, and Wanchese, from the Roanoke tribe, were taken to England from North Carolina by the first English explorers in 1584. They returned the next year, with the 1585 English expedition. Manteo continued to work with the English as interpreter and guardian, and may have suggested Croatoan as a place of refuge. Wanchese, however, returned to his tribe, turned against the English, and was implicated in an attack on the 1587 colonists.
With Manteo’s assistance, the polymath Thomas Harriot learned and preserved the Carolina Algonquin language, but only a brief report, which he wrote for Raleigh back in England, exists today. Harriot also labeled some of John White’s beautiful and accurate watercolors depicting the Algonquin villages, people, animals, and plants. Many of the drawings of animals are identified in Algonquian (the language of the Algonquin), which can be correlated with the English (and Latin) names used today. Ralph Lane recorded some Algonquin words, most of which were the names of important people and villages, in his report to Raleigh.
Many of the documents from these first settlements have been preserved, though Harriot’s extensive notes on language were not. Countless historians, David Quinn foremost among them, have pored over early records, annotated them, and mapped the area of English exploration during the Roanoke voyages. Another source of information comes from John Lawson, who traveled through what is now North and South Carolina in 1701, and published detailed information on the animals, plants, and native people he encountered.
While this story is one of fiction, I have adhered to the factual information that is available about the Carolinian Algonquins. The names of the characters are all Algonquin words, listed in the vocabulary included as an appendix. The Algonquin culture and customs presented came either directly from historical records, or suggested by what is known of other natives of the Southeast. In this story, Skyco is Menatonon’s heir, which is not the same as his son in the matrilineal society of Native Americans. Because children remain part of their mother’s clan or family line, the children of a man’s sister are more closely related to him than the
children of his wife. Thus, a man’s nephew is in his same family clan and would be his heir whereas his biological son is part of a different clan, that of his mother. It is unlikely that Lane understood this distinction, leaving Skyco’s designation as son or heir questionable.
In addition to presenting to historical and cultural information factually, biological detail is also accurate. Medicinal uses of plants as well as the behavior and distribution of animals are realistic. In some places, I specifically chose to highlight animals and plants that are rare today but were common historically and important to native peoples.
Most of the early Carolina Algonquin died from disease and other effects of English arrival, and those who survived largely assimilated into the growing European population. The Chowanoke Indian Nation, however, persists today near its historical location and is currently striving for legal federal recognition. The Algonquin people stretch all the way into Canada, and although they belong to the same ethnic and language group, linguists suggest Canadian Algonquin dialects are probably rather different from those of early Carolina Algonquin.
Today, Algonquian history is being preserved by those who are genealogically descended from the original historic Roanoke-Hatteras Indians of Dare County, and Mattamuskeet Indians of Hyde County, North Carolina. They aim to keep the heritage and culture of their ancestors alive for the benefit of their tribe members and the rest of their community. You can learn more about their mission at http://www.ncalgonquians.com.
The Chowanoke Indian Nation of Gates County, North Carolina, is currently seeking formal recognition from the federal government. You can learn more about their mission and history at http://meherrin-chowanoke.com.
Vocabulary
These Carolina Algonquian words were recorded by the first English visitors to America in 1585-1587. Their spellings are variable because each person who heard them may have spelled them slightly differently and even our English letters and spellings have changed somewhat in the intervening 425 or so years. (For example, White writes f for s; Raleigh is sometimes spelled Ralegh and Harriot is sometimes spelled Hariot). However, I used the words as Harriot and White spelled and recorded them on their documents; these are collected into The Vocabulary of Roanoke. I used Geary’s “The Language of the Carolina Algonkian Tribes” from Quinn’s The Roanoke Voyages to provide the meanings of words. His text describes sometimes extensive possible interpretations, and I picked what seemed to be the most logical one. I also used some of his words. Geary suggests that Harriot’s accent marks indicate stress or higher pitch on that syllable.
Governor Lane in 1586 recorded various human names, some of which I used, but I also selected from general vocabulary to create other names of characters. In 1701, John Lawson recorded a list of words in Pampticough, Woccon, and Tuscarora languages, but not in Chowan Algonquian, and the only word I have used from his book is the name Roncommock, a Chowan conjurer. Instead of “conjurer” or “priest,” the terms used by Lawson and Harriot, I use the terms “shaman” and “medicine man” because they are more associated with Native Americans of today.
While the recorded dialect was that of the Roanoac, and my characters are primarily Chowanoac, these tribes undoubtedly shared overlap in language. Manteo, who was of the Croatoan tribe, could converse with members of the Roanoac, Weapemeoc, and Chowanoac tribes and probably other Algonquin tribes as well. The Mangoaks, later known as the Tuscarora, spoke another language that was very different from the Algonquins, for they were derived from Iroquois rather than Algonquin.
JW indicates John White’s labeled drawings; TH indicates Thomas Harriot’s Brief and True Report; GQ indicates Geary from Quinn. Quotation marks are placed around possible meanings of the words as suggested by Geary.
Amakwa = general name of fish, GQ
Andacon = actual name of Roanoke warrior with Pemisapan, Lane; used as one of the twin boy’s name
Anshaham = Crayfish or Lobster “he swims backward,” GQ
Arasémec = Needlefish or Houndfish, 5-6 feet in length, JW
Artamóckes = Blue Jay, “bird that flies and eats certain things,” JW
Asanamáwqueo = Common Loon, “has on a head-dress,” JW
Ascopo = Sweet Bay Tree, “sharp taste,” TH, used as the name of Skyco’s friend
Black Drink = A tea brewed from yaupon holly leaves shown to have high levels of caffeine
Chacháquises = Downy Woodpecker, “small bird that cries out,” JW; used as name of assistant woodcarver
Chaham = Shad or Alewife, 2 feet in length, “great swimmer,” JW; used as name of young fisherman
Cháppacor = plant root, perhaps New Jersey Tea or Dogwood, TH; used as woman’s name
Chawanoac/Chowanoac = tribe on the Chowan River with Menatonon chief, Quinn
Chesepian = tribe on Chesapeake Bay, Quinn
Chigwusso = Red Drum, Channel Bass, Spot-tailed Bass, 5-6 feet in length, JW
Chúwhweeo = Towhee JW
Chúwquaro = Red winged blackbird, “little flame,” JW
Coppáuseo = Sturgeon, 10-13 feet in length, “he swallows shellfish or close-mouthed,” JW
Coscúshaw = plant root, likely Arrow-alum or Golden-club, “enclosing ear,” TH
Cossine = actual name of one of Manteo’s friends, Lane, used as the name of teacher of bow
Crenepos = Women, “she hinders death,” Lane
Ensenor = actual name of elder in Roanoke tribe who supported English, Lane
Eracano = actual name of one of Manteo’s friends, Lane, used as the name of medicine man
Granganimo = actual name of chief’s brother in Roanoke tribe, Lane
Habascon = plant root that is hot in taste, TH
Hockepúweo = Lamprey, 1 foot in length, “hides with effort,” JW
Jackáwanjes = Bluebird, “bird that eats from time to time,” JW, used as name of Roncommock’s wife
Jawéepuwes = Surf Scoter, JW
Kaiauk = Gull, JW, used as name of Ascopo’s older brother
Kaishúcpenauk = plant root, TH
Keetrauk = Catfish, 2 ½ feet in length, “they dart around,” JW, used as name of young fisherman, Tetszo’s brother
Kewás = Image of a god, TH
Kowabetteo = Gar, 5-6 feet in length, “he has rough teeth,” JW
Machicómuck = Temple where kewás is kept, TH
Macócqwer = Squash and gourds, “container,” TH
Mamankanois = Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly, “flying creature with big holes in wings,” JW, used as Skyco’s sister’s name
Manchauemec = Croaker, 1 foot in length, “wonderful fish,” JW, used a name of fisherman
Mangoak = tribal name, later Tuscarora, Iroquois federation, “rattlesnakes” GQ
Mangúmmenauk = Oak Acorn, “big nuts,” TH
Manteo = actual name of Croatoan prince and English supporter, traveled to England, Lane
Mantóac = Gods, TH
Maquówoc = perhaps Muskrat or Beaver (small mammal), “carves or burrows in ground,” TH
Marangahockes = Bowfin, 3-4 feet in length, “fish that burrows in mud,” JW
Maraseequo = Red headed Woodpecker, “gets his food by pecking,” JW
Masunnehockeo = Sheepshead, 2 feet in length, “he is painted on his body,” JW
Meemz = probably a Blue-grey Gnatcatcher, JW, used as a name of a warrior
Meesquouns = Cardinal, “he calls loudly from a distance,” JW
Memeo = Pileated Woodpecker, JW, used as name of master canoe carver
Meméskson = Skink, 1 foot in length, “he conceals himself well,” JW
Menatoan = actual name, Lane
Menatonon = actual Chief of Chowanoac tribe, Lane
Mesíckek = Striped Bass, 5-6 feet in length, “big fish,” JW
Metaquesúnnauk = Prickly Pear Cactus, TH
Minsal = Small Beads of Bone, TH
Moratuc = tribe at mouth of Roanoke River, Quinn
Nahyápuw = Bald Eagle, “he frequents the river,” JW
Okeepenauk = edible plant roots found in dry ground, TH
Okindgíer = Beans, TH
Okisco = actual name of Weapemeoc chief, Lane
Openauk = edible plant roots found in moist ground, TH
Opossum = derived from the tribe of Opossians
Osámener = Acorn, TH
Osocan = actual name of Roanoke warrior with Pemisapan, Lane; used a twin boy’s name
Pagatowr = Corn, “put in a kettle to boil,” TH
Pashockshin = Flounder, JW
Peeáwkoo = probably female or juvenile Common Loon, “he is covered in down,” JW
Pemisapan = actual name of Roanoke chief Wingina after his brother is killed, Lane
Piemacum = actual name, Lane
Pocosin = swamp on a hill
Poócqueo = Brown Thrasher, “he makes a hole by pecking,” JW
Pooneno = actual name, Lane; used as name of warrior with red hawk
Popogusso = Hell, TH
Pummuckóner = perhaps Hickory nuts, TH
Quurúcquaneo = Flicker, JW
Qvúnziuck = Merganser, JW
Rakíock = perhaps Tulip Tree, “soft wood,” TH
Renapoaks = Generic name for all Indians, Lane
Ribuckon = White Perch, 1 foot in length, JW; used as name of chief of Ricahokene
Roanoac = tribe on Roanoke Island and mainland, Quinn
Roncommock = Chowan conjurer, Lawson
Sacquenúmmener = Berries on a plant in shallow water, TH; used as name of Skyco’s grandmother
Sagatémener = Acorns, perhaps Chestnuts, TH
Sapúmmener = Nut like Chestnuts, perhaps Chinquapin nuts, TH
Saquenuckot = perhaps Raccoon (small mammal), TH “black footed or foot like a bear”