Contribution to Passamaquoddy Folk-Lore | Page 5

witnessed
it not many years ago. It is said to be more common among the
Micmacs than among the Passamaquoddies.
The participants, one or more in number, go to the wigwam of another
person, and when near the entrance sing a song. The leader then enters,
and, dancing about, sings at the same time a continuation of the song he
sang at the door of the hut. He then points out some object in the room
which he wants to buy, and offers a price for it. The owner is obliged to
sell the object pointed out, or to barter something of equal value. The
narrator remembers that the dress of the participants was similar to that
of the Indians of olden times. He remembers, in the case of women,
that they wore the variegated, pointed cap covered with beads, the loose
robe, and leggings. The face of the participant was painted, or daubed
black with paint or powder.
This song is recorded on cylinder 17.
The singer told me, and I can well believe it, that the song is very
ancient. I have little doubt that in this ceremony we have a survival of

dances of the olden times, when they assumed a significance now either
wholly lost or greatly modified.
It is not without probability that the songs sung as ancient songs may
have modern strains in them, but as a general thing I think we can say
that they are authentic. I do not think I draw on my imagination when I
say that one can detect a general character in them which recalls that of
Western Indians. In order to experiment on this, I submitted the records
to a person who had heard the songs of the Plain Indians, and who did
not know whether the song which she heard from the phonograph was
to be Indian or English. She immediately told me correctly in all cases
which was the Indian, although she had never before heard the
Passamaquoddy songs.
The folk stories of the Passamaquoddies are but little known to the
young boys and girls of the tribe. It is mostly from the old and
middle-aged persons that these stories can be obtained. I was told by
one of these story-tellers that it was customary, when he was a boy, for
the squaws to reward them for collecting wood or other duties with
stories. A circle gathered about the fire after work, and listened for
hours to these ancient stories, fragments no doubt of an ancient
mythology, upon which possibly had been grafted new incidents
derived by the Indians from their intercourse with the various
Europeans with whom they had been brought in contact.
WAR SONGS.
I succeeded in getting upon the phonograph several war songs, typical
of a large number known to the Passamaquoddies. The words of many
are improvised, though there is no doubt that the tunes are ancient. The
words of one of these songs are given below.
I will arise with tomahawk in my hand, and I must have revenge on that
nation which has slain my poor people. I arise with war club in my
hand, and follow the bloody track of that nation which killed my people.
I will sacrifice my own life and the lives of my warriors. I arise with
war club in my hand, and follow the track of my enemy. When I
overtake him I will take his scalp and string it on a long pole, and I will

stick it in the ground, and my warriors will dance around it for many
days; then I will sing my song for the victory over my enemy.
"M' TOULIN."
Passamaquoddy Indians are believers in a power by which a song, sung
in one place, can be heard in another many miles away. This power is
thought to be due to m' toulin, or magic, which plays an important part
in their belief. Several instances were told me, and others have
published similar observations. Leland, in his "Algonquin Legends of
New England," pp. 517, 518, gives a weird account of an Indian who
was so affected by m' toulin that he left his home and travelled north to
find a cold place. Although lightly clad and bare-footed, he complained
that it was too hot for him, and hastened away to find a climate more
congenial to his tastes. In this account one is led to believe that the man
was insane, and that to the Indian insanity is simply the result of m'
toulin.
THE ORIGIN OF THE THUNDER-BIRD.
In a very interesting paper of A.F. Chamberlain, on "The Thunder-Bird
among the Algonquins," in the "American Anthropologist," January,
1890, reference is made to the belief in this being among the
Passamaquoddy Indians. On my recent visit to Calais I