in the defeat, by Capt. John Lovewell and thirty-four men, of a large Indian force, commanded by the chiefs Paugus and Wahwa. After this event the "Coossucks," as the Indians were called who inhabited the Coos country, deserted their abodes, and removing to Canada became identified there with the tribe at St. Francis. Subsequent to the reduction of Canada by the English, in 1760, several Indian families returned to Coos, and remained there until they became extinct.*

The extent of the Indian settlements at Newbury has never been fully ascertained. The character of the country was such as would naturally suit the taste of those who depended upon hunting and fishing for support, for the woods were filled with bears, moose, deer, and game, while the Connecticut abounded in salmon, and the brooks were alive with trout. Of the evidences of savage life which have been found in this vicinity, the following account by a citizent of Newbury may be relied on as correct. "On the high ground, east of the mouth of Cow Meadow brook, and south of the three large projecting rocks, were found many indications of an old and extensive Indian settlement. There were many domestic implements. Among the rest were a stone mortar and pestle. The pestle I have seen. Heads of arrows, large quantities of ashes, and the ground burnt over to a great extent, are some of the marks of a long residence there. The burnt ground and ashes were still visible the last time the place was ploughed. On the meadow, forty or fifty rods below, near the rocks in the river, was evidently a burying-ground. The remains of many of the sons of the forest are there deposited. Bones have frequently been turned up by the plough. That they were buried in the sitting posture, peculiar to the Indians, has been ascertained. When the first settlers came here, the remains of a fort were still visible on the Ox Bow, a dozen or twenty rods from the east end of Moses Johnson's lower garden, on the south side of the lane. The size of the fort was plain to be seen. Trees about as large as a man's thigh, were growing in the circumference of the old

* An account of a few of the Indians who inhabited the Coos country, during the latter part of the last and the earlier portion of the present century, is given in the "Historical Sketches of the Coos country" by the Rev. Grant Powers, pp. 178-189. Consult also Thompson's Vermont, Part II.. pp. 205, 206.

↑ David Johnson, Esq., a son of the worthy Col. Thomas Johnson, whose name has already appeared in these pages. The extract given in the text is taken from Powers's Coos Country, pp. 39, 40.

1725-1800.]

INDIAN SCULPTURES.

587

fort. A profusion of white flint-stones and heads of arrows may yet be seen scattered over the ground."*

The picture writing of the Indians, which is to be seen in two localities in Eastern Vermont, affords satisfactory evidence of the fact, that certain tribes were accustomed to frequent the Connecticut and the streams connected with it, even though they were not actual residents of the pleasant banks within which those waters are confined. At the foot of Bellows Falls, and on the west side of the channel of the Connecticut, are situated two rocks, on which are inscribed figures, the meaning of which it is difficult

pying nearly a central position in the group. From its head, which is supported by a neck and shoulders, six rays or feathers extend, which may be regarded as emblems of excellence or power. Four of the other heads are adorned each with a pair of similar projections.

On a separates rock, situated a short distance from the main

group, a single head ani

is sculptured, which is up finished with rays or feathers, and was pro-4

bably intended to designate an Indian chief. The length of

the head, exclusive of the rays, is fourteen inches, and its breadth across the forehead in its widest part is ten inches. These sculpturings seem to have been intended to commemorate some event in which a chief and a number of his

tribe performed some noted exploit, or met with some sad disaster. The former supposition is undoubtedly the more correct. It is well known that the Indians were usually careful to conceal the traces of their misfortunes, and eager to publish the evidence of their successes.

The rocks are situated about eight rods south of the bridge for common travel, across the Falls. That on which the group is pictured is, during much of the time, under water. The other, which is further from the river, is not so much affected by the wash of the stream. Whenever a freshet occurs, both

are covered. An idea of the locality of these sculpturings may be obtained from the accompanying engraving. The view presented is from a point between the two noted rocks, which are respectively designated by the letters A and B. A train on the Sullivan Railroad

ala is seen passing up

on the other side of the river. In

the back-ground rise the mountains of New Hampshire.* On the south bank of the Wantastiquet or West river, in the

In his "Travels through the Northern Parts of the United States, in the Years 1807 and 1808," Edward Augustus Kendall, Esq., referred to the sculptures at Bellows Falls, and endeavored by them to prove that the characters on the rock at Dighton, Massachusetts (or "the Writing Rock on Taunton River," as he designated it), were inscribed by the Indians. A few extracts from his work will show the pompous style in which he treated the subject. After describing Bellows Falls, then often called the Great Falls, he proceeded to his argument, in these words:

"The entire basin of the cataract is of coarse granite, fractured into large masses. On the smooth and inclined face of one of these masses, situate on the south side of the bridge, and on the west side of the river, are the sculptures. These have a comparative insignificance when placed beside the Writing Rock on Taunton

town of Brattleborough, is situated the "Indian Rock." Its location is about one hundred rods west of the point of junction of the Wantastiquet and Connecticut rivers. It lies low, and

River. They consist in outlines of a variety of heads, some of which are human, and some belonging to animals. Unlike the sculptures of the Writing Rock, they are parts of no connected work, but are scattered over the face of the rock, in the most even and eligible places.

"It is to these sculptures, then, that I appeal, as to conclusive evidence of the Indian origin of the Writing Rock. They are too rude, too insignificant, and too evidently without depth of meaning to be attributed to Phoenicians or Carthaginians. No person will carry European vanity so far as to contend that there is anything here above the level of the Indian genius. But, if Indians were the authors of these sculptures, then Indians were the authors of the Writing Rock also. The style of the drawing is the same; the style of sculpture is the same; and it is for this reason that I add nothing now, to what I have already advanced, in regard to these particulars. All that requires any special notice is this, that the rock at the Great Falls, which is of an exceedingly coarse granite, must have been wrought with still more difficulty than the rock on Taunton River....... These sculptures, so obviously the work of idle hours, and for the accomplishment of which the rudest artist, once provided with a tool, must be allowed to be competent, supply us with the fact, that the Indians were able to sculpture rocks, and that when they did sculpture them, the sculpture resembled the sculpture of the Writing Rock.

"In more than one of the heads sculptured at the Great Falls, we see an exact similitude to the heads sculptured on the Writing Rock, and particularly in the circumstances, that a single dot or hollow is made to serve both for nose and mouth; that no ears are given to the human heads; and that the crowns of the heads are bare....... Thus, we ascertain that in the sculptures observed upon the Writing Rock, there is the strictest similitude, in workmanship and drawing, to those observed upon the rocks at the Great Falls. . . . . . . Thus, all questions are answered, except those that regard the nature of the tool by the edge of which the rocks have been wrought upon, and the occasions upon which the figures have been wrought.

......

"With respect to the nature of the tool, every difficulty would be dismissed by supposing that the sculptures were not wrought till after the introduction of iron by the Europeans: but, there appears to be good reason for thinking them more ancient, and we shall, therefore, in all probability, be compelled to believe, that the tool was of no better material than stone.

"One only question remains, upon which I shall venture to hazard any remark, and this respects the occasions upon which rocks have been sculptured by the Indians.

.......

"In the first place, it is matter of notoriety that the Indians have always pursued the practice of representing, by delineation, carving, and, as we are now entitled to add, by sculpture, those objects and those events concerning which they either wished to make some instant communication, or to preserve some durable monument . . . . . . . In the second place, there can be little reason to doubt, that they sometimes exercised their skill, in all the arts now mentioned, for the mere purposes of pastime; and, in this view, it appears unnecessary to admit the doctrine, advanced by some persons in the neighborhood of the Great Falls, in regard to the sculptures there displayed, namely, that the heads wrought upon the rocks are the heads of men, women, children, and animals that have

during a part of the year is covered with water, or with sand and dirt, the deposit of the river. On first examining this

rock, the fig

per part of it

were alone visiof ble. Just beglow them, the rock was covered with earth to the depth of six inches. The earth was removed, until a surface measuring ten feet in

width, and eight feet in height, was exposed. At the point where the workmen ceased digging, the rock was covered with three feet of earth. The whole surface of the rock, was, upon closer scrutiny, found to be covered with inscriptions. Among these the date 1755 was to be distinguished. The two figures in the upper corner of the engraving, and on a line with one another, are each about eight inches in height, and six inches across, measuring from the extremities of the lateral appendages. Of the ten figures here presented, six are supposed to designate birds, two bear a resemblance to snakes, one is not unlike a dog or a wolf, and one conveys no idea either of bird, beast, or reptile. The chiselling of these sculptures is deeper and more easily traced than that of the sculptures at Bellows

been drowned in the cataract-the Indians being used to commemorate by sculptures particular catastrophes of this kind. We may object to this, first, that there is no reason to believe in the occurrence of so many fatal accidents at this spot, as the number of heads must in such case attest; secondly, that the sculptures on these rocks are disposed with no solemnity or order, but are scattered in the most careless manner; and, thirdly, that it is highly probable that they were the work of idle hours spent among these rocks, at a place so favourable for fishing as the foot of a cataract, and therefore so much a place of resort.

"In this view, the sculptured rocks at the Great Falls will be a monument only of this, the ancient existence of a neighbouring population, and the ancient fish eries pursued here; while the Writing Rock, also found in a situation favourable for fishing, will be regarded, from the variety which it contains, and the appa rent combinations and relations of parts which it betrays, as an elaborate monument of some transaction of which no other trace remains to elucidate this imperfect iconography."-iii. 205, 206, 207, 209–213.