OCR Text |
Show S "' - . , . : 11 Modem Sisters of Pocahontas to-Build Monument ; 'I lk I By WILLIAM ATHERION DU PUY wft ; fhoivtas is lo havo a monument lis mestoivn. The. Daughters of Po-tas. Po-tas. a nationalorganization, has ,8 :$5000, congress lias .supplemented f im bv an ecpial amount, tlio statin "s, ing made and will bo dedicated 'J tia:e during the .summer. In I ho I I" these facta it is interesting to (hat there is lost in the wilds .Northern .Tcch of Virginia, but ,back of .lameslowu, a remnant frihe of which the Indian priu-ho priu-ho was th best friend lo thej cttlcrs was a member, in thali ut of a tribe is preserved in purity I ho very blood of Uu: girl who waved J ho life of Cap-ihn Cap-ihn Smith and the eolony from There is in (he tribe today a a girl of I." who in the very part of the Poen lion tas of his-Such his-Such year the people of the tribe heinselves in eostume and por-o por-o Kcenes of early times as ve v as do the peasants at Uber-inn Uber-inn in tho "Passion Play.' On loeeiisions t ho young girl of (.lie !Mike3 river foreshadows morn near-llv near-llv original of ihe Indian maiden IlLolds first place in the affections JtlJmericnns than has any artist or ajri of fiction. She is tho Poca- viatiity-fonr miles lo the east of QjSLtbnd winds the. Pamunkey river, j-JflSc parallel with the .lames. It jCiiiit3 name from the Indians who Kiloated their canoes on its bosom ' thousand 3'oar.s. Upon ila banks Cfflgrown some of the first tobacco Jijhe colonists ever circulated among :ljjjelves as money or seat b.ick to irjfMnd for sale at fancv prices. Tn sjnSnl davs this region to the inland yjA'hstly more important than that a? .Jamestown, which was at best Mfttein)orary post. Here tho great; 4Hk with the red men were fought -dWore magnificent plantations were Snapped. On the Lank of tho Pa-, Pa-, .jj jjiy within a mile of the aboriginal sitoo( tnc so-called Whito 'Jm$ where young George Wushing-aQlebrated Wushing-aQlebrated his wedding with the 9. Custis, which had .just- taken Wwf St. Peter's church near by. ;HProtectecl Native People. ..MlMiiost strangely historic, of all tho j3i"nai "HVC transP'rc'l ou tho lazy -SBgkoy is the manner in whicji that .-Bis has protected and maintained a Mient of its native pooplo, tucked QofRiin a crook of one of its elbows, aaais beud.it has isolated a body of ijKsontaiuinir some S00 acres. All HjjTbf it are j)rotcctod by the breast-aflfdf breast-aflfdf tho stream with ho exception riSinarrow nock that ties it to the flJJjihd. irere. the little band ha3 sWKled in maintaininir itself through vjajfiising centuries. The narrow neck tvffiicn the scenes of n score of Thor-.uBVps Thor-.uBVps in its raco histor', and all 'ju'cuii won. Hero today live 110 .'flJS, '' free, wild people, subsisting iffiy u-on fishing and hunting, mnin-'ilii'fe mnin-'ilii'fe their tribal government, glory-ijmit glory-ijmit the blood of their fathers and v;g it pure from I he contamination JsHyer races. Tho tepee has given Afito the lumber-built houses, seat-pKnondcscriptly seat-pKnondcscriptly about tho rescrya- CjtAt home they have eomo to live Ijjfns do the whiles of the section, gtherwiso the lifo is nor. greatly maS5ht from what is was beforo Co- wont voyaging. '.'Mrh'atan. the great chief: of colonial ;jKhad succeeded in uniting thirty jjgin tidewater Virginia and Mary-3$$nder Mary-3$$nder his control. At his call wrc -ljravcs. Of these one-eighth were 'TthkoYS. this being his homo tribe -jtrtrongest of them all. Powhatan tV general of no mean ability, as iJllblonistB learned to their . sorj-ow. JUfPontas was his fair daughter, who IJJLv to be honored. 78Greater 1111111 Powhatan, 26 jLamong the Pamunke3r8 there is Beater than Powhatan. Opochan- 'liF was rom M vcry lieart of TJhomo settlement, was a brother Vyiiphatau and his successor. "If, was v .jto led tho massacre of IC22. t " "B, who, when over a hundred years t JhEistod on being carried on a mio the bnttlefleld and directing the 1 when so old that the lids of his rJt jiUBt bo rai8od by the lingers of rm Irpd ones that ho might see. Bo-ftjof Bo-ftjof theso groat doeds Opechanca-' Opechanca-' wis ranked as greater than Pow- Ioti the Indians camo to rocog-preponderance rocog-preponderance of tho gods of & men and submitted to them, mnkey has novor recognized the ty of any man. Mon, tho' hold, the instruments o their godB. ods also give magic to their and thoy conquer again the force of this magic. The tho white man, as shown the execution of their weapons, porior to the gods of tho red 'hoy bowed to those gods and or sought to placato them. 3 fceon nearly throe centurios 3 Famimkoys yielded to the gods ivJuto mon and turned to their ion in the bond of the river, ibos stronger and more numer-e numer-e disappeared, but tho Pamun-70 Pamun-70 remained. There was about no quality that refused to yield tho oblivion of tho vanquished id thoy aro still intact. Their nt is officially known nB "Intra, "In-tra, and is located in King Wil-mty. Wil-mty. Thoy live so quietly that inrB ago, tho congressman from trict denied their existence. Yet, ttor of fact, tho tribe has been changing for 200 yoarB. It is l0 strong, and tho numbers havo acttcally at that figure for two s. A stalwart, wiry race, still to the core, it lias maintained istinct in an eddy of a vast ' Ration that has built up about it. Jm Maintained, Itself, -ijfjis tho only tribe in Virginia that .flmntained itself as such, and there liko it east of tho Mississippi. :,Sn'ds are held under a grant from iflkto. .They arc owned( in common .'-lb privilege of occupying a given $!j5s given by tho chief and his 4'JiTho tribo governs itself through od regulations that arc made by its own officials, and it is rare indeed 1 that slate authorities have t foiling ill necessary lo interfere with its affairs. I In reality it is a Jittle republic in itself, se f-di reel ing, self-support fug. nndor the; nominal control of tho stale of Vir-, ginia, but in reality unaffected by that control. The government is still Indian In-dian in its manner of working out. Tt is Indian in its reverence for the groat' while father. It pa3-s no faxes lo the; state or nation, yet each year it sends i an Indian tribute to the" governor of I Virginia in tho form on' a brace of j ducks, a wild turkey or a deer. This, has been done since the time, of tho fust, treaty, and the act today is one of Ihochiof ceremonies of the tribe. Forgot Their Own Language. Yo.t despite this fjdelity to Indian blood and Indian custom, ihe Pamunkoys of todav are. withouL a language of their own. They speak only English. 'They have forgbllon the language of their fathers. There is but an occasional word that has persisted. Thoy may speak of a son in terms of endearment as "lonshec," which is a tribal word. " Kenaanee " means friendship, and tho old men of the tribo may use. it occasionally. occa-sionally. ' '.Moccasins' and "tomahawk" "toma-hawk" are words that the English language added through this identical tribe, but the tribesmen lenow of them, only through the English. There is a stale school in .Indian Town, taught by a whito teacher. All tho men and women of Indian Town read and wrifo English. Their education in that language lan-guage is similar to those of other people living in very rural communities. They aro in this respect on a par with the rural whites. But by nature thoy aro still fwc, wild. Indians. Thoy scorn -work on their farms, as did tho haughty braves of yore. It is labor fit only for negroes, and in fact thoy omploy theso on occasions occa-sions to cultivate their gardens. But there are no huntsmen or ilflhormen, in Ofz to - mB0ftF American superior to tho Pnmunkeys. A few sportsmen know this, and go into their country each season, secure a Pa-numkev Pa-numkev guido and aro initiated into the wood lore of tho aborigiuo. Hichard Crokor was, in his prime, an annual visitor vis-itor to Indian Town. Thero is duck and wild turkey and deer. Occasionally a bear is killed, and when autumn comes on there aro the wild boar hunts. The Indians oxerciso littlo care ovor their hogs and those that remain in tho woods are outlawed and become tho prizes of tho hunters. Hero is rare sport indeed. in-deed. Tho capture of tho "sora," or reed bird, has tho flavor of the old Indian da3'C. A "sora horse" is tho means of this and is mado of clay. This is merely an affair tho size and shapo of a clothes basket, which is scO- up in a march or boat and a fire, built in it. Tho sora are attracted to it in the samo way that moths como to a candle in tho darkness. They fly about it in great 7iumbers, and tho huutor knocks them down" with a paddle. Great Fishermen. But tho first lovo of tho modern sons of Powhatan is the water. They aro tho greatost fisliormcn that the Atlantic coast knows. "When the, shad begin to run, then is their harvest time. All tho waters from Norfolk fo New York know them, for thoj' readily daro tho opou sea in their open boats. Yet tho men with whom thoy deal do not solve tho mystery tho nationality of tho strango fishermen. The shad first bo-gins bo-gins to run in tho streams pf the south in tho early spring, going inland to spawn. With this soasou tho work of tnc fishermon begins. Each week sees the fish entor a stream further north. At some point along the ooast the shad fishing is at its height for a period of two months. Throughout this season tho dugout canooB and the more modem mod-em boats obtained through purchase aro busily at work. Tho fishermen go out of t.hc streams with one tide and return' re-turn' with tho next laden with their catch. All night they wade waist deep in tho water hauling in their nets. It is man's work with the need of Ine in stinct of tho born fisherman back of it. This instinct and tho lovo of ?l makes tho Pamunkey the bos: of all fisliormcn. Because of those expeditious the Indian In-dian has learned manj' things that aro unknown to Iho white men who livo in rural Virginia near him. Half: the men of the tribo have mado greater excursions excur-sions than these, and havo bocoine familiar fa-miliar with the coast of Soul': America, Africa, of all the seas of tho world, for that matter, for thoy enlist as aail I or men and travel tho world around. ! But always they return. Thoy havo the homin" instinct as naturally developed as has" the shad, and they run with tho seasons to the 6lngciah waters of the eastern shore of Virginia Sail thqy. bring back tho loro of. other lands. It is bocauso of this that tho Indian of Virginia la a smartor man than his white fellow of the same surrounding. His mental Huneriority is evident. Ho .OTcrtons any of his fellows, -white or black. Ho is a stalwart, upstanding man of choractor and intelligence. Eace Integrity Preserved. Maintaining their, raco integrity is a dominatingassion with tho Pamun-keya. Pamun-keya. On occasion they are permitted to, intermarry with whites, but never with other races. The ne-ro is especially espe-cially put under a ban. and thcr-s js an interesting cause for this. There wis a time in slave davs w'.v;n outlaw sl.n-o traders raided ,hj reservation and carried car-ried away their children am. old them ns slaves. In thosu days protecting their children rcqiuvjd eternal v:i-lance, v:i-lance, and nn intennixrnio of negro blood would have oil'oti.,1 at.dilionnl excuse ex-cuse to tho trado:1?. Thoroforo :ho ban was early placed upon the negro, and one has never been allowed to spend tho night in :ho settlement. Also, because be-cause of their hatred for lhj slave traders, the Pamunkeys took tho part of the north in the ( ivil war and did good service as scouts for the l"uwii forces. Their precautions ngair.st i.iio adulteration of tho raio are shown today to-day in the fact that they an; the. firft clauses in their statute's. These are pretty good English, though erratic in spelling as, for instance, in the following: follow-ing: 1st Kes. No member of the Pnniun-r Pnniun-r koy Tribe suill intermarry .with anny nntion except White and Indian under penalty o' 'o''c" re of their rights in Town. "No non-residei. shall be allowed to be hired o- sheltered more than three months." That they are law-abiding and easily governed is shown by the fact that in their laws thero is little punishment asido from Cues and banishment. The great prido that the individual takos in hiB town Tights and his fear of losing them, koops him in order. Tho simplicity of the codo sometimes becomes humorous. humor-ous. Some of its provisions are as follows: fol-lows: "Any person slandering another without sufficient evidence shall bo fined in the 1st offense $5 Scoond $10 and in the third they are to be removed prom the place. Anny person found guilty of stealing shall "be fined $1 -to $5. If anny citizen are notifiod to attend a meeting and fail to do so without sufficient excuse shall bo fined $1 to $1.50. Be it known that no person are allowed to swear on tho high way. Bo it known that wo shall have a fence law and it shall bo four fcctHhigh. All male citizens of Indian Town from 18 years upward shall pay $1 a year and until the umount is paid they will not bo given no land." Here is a cominunitv in which slander slan-der is the greatest of offenses and where tho affairs of the municipality are conducted con-ducted at an expense of $L for each mature ma-ture male, or about $35 a year. The chief of the tribe until rccentlj H held his office by right of birth. Tin IH iiionarchial form of . government has however, been thrown off and now tlx H chief and councilmen arc elected onc H in four years, fn each case two caudi IH dates arc nominated. When clcclior IH day comes the able-bodied men of thr H community file to the school house. H where tho balloting takes tdace. Tlif . H candidates arc No. L and No. 2. Those IH voting for No. 1 place a grain of cost H in the ballot, box. Those voting foi H No. 2 put in a bean. Later the graiiu .1 if corn and (he beans are counted, and 'H Hie successful candidate announced H There is no ballot stuffing. H Forefathers' Day. H The greatest festival of tho vear H H Forefather:;' Jay. This lakes place aj the opening ot summer, when the wcalh H or is fine and- the larder is well filled H for the .shad toason is not long past. H The object of the festival is to kcer H "men in tho miuda of the. Pamunkey the memories of the glories of the past H William Ten-ill Rradby is at present he H irraud old man of the tribe. His name. H like that of Georgp Major Cook, the H present chief, ami Thcoplx'tlis Dennis, an cx- -esKlciit, has little Indian signifi cauce. Vet these are f'no family name? H of the vfibc Bradhy has been mauv jH times clt'u'f and claims to be a 'lineal H descendant of Powhnlan. Tins claim would probably be true of any member pf tho tribe, so constantly have thov IH intermingled through marriage. Bradhy H is most insistent upon keeping up thr customs of the tribe of old. lie is a H nijlu of considerable intelligence and jH learning and an endless talker, lie hu? IH traveled several times around the world. when he cruised as a sailormnn in hi? IH prime. lie reads everything .available IH upon the life of tho early Indians. Then IH he insists that the tribe revert to those IH Playlet in Natural Theater. In pursuance with this idea the play- , jH let of Pocahontas and Captain John Smith is put on in the woods during IH the forefather celebration. Tho scene H is identical with that which must have surrounded its origiual production IH There is the samo blood in the vein!: of the supernumeraries in the mob IH sceno as flowed in the veins of those who actually attempted the execution 300 years ago. t William Tcrrill Brad by jH impersonates his ancestor, Powhatan, and a better Indian typo it would bo hard to find. Captoln Ulalah Cook phiya the part of Pocahontas. She is the best IH of them all a slip of a girl of 15, .slim, trim and beautiful a creature-of the woods. Just such a girl must Pocahou-tas Pocahou-tas havo bcon when she saved Smith H from death. Tn all the world there i probably not another creature today so liko the Pocahontas who served tho col-onists col-onists as is Captola IJIalah Cook, The braves of the tribe in costume aro all that might havo been expected of the braves of romance, and fall not so far IH short of the idealization of that same IH romance. lH But ordinarily the Pamuuke3rs pursue the even tenor of . their ways. They are kind, hospitable. God-fearing pco-plo. pco-plo. They aro devoutly religious hard-shelled hard-shelled Baptists to tho core. Every man attends church. The minister was ill the Sunday I was there. Different lead-ing lead-ing men prayed. X recognized a quality in the first prayer that was individual. There was a certain wild freedom in it. It smacked of the gcat woods, the sweep of the streams, the chant of the I war song. Other men prayed and there was the snmc quality. 1 decided that they had made the same prayor book tho basis of thoir endeavors. 1 asked about this and found that they' had no prayer book. It was but tho spirit of IH the native American asserting itself. tho Indian seeking expression. |