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This fall the women have been harvesting the squash, beans and corn we had planted in spring. After the harvest we save corn for next year by burying it in woven bags on the hill that watches the bay. My younger brother asked father to explain why every year we move inland to our winter homes. He explained that it is more sheltered in the forests and valleys, and that there is more wood to burn.
 Lately I have begun to show some skill at providing. I made my own trap to catch a rabbit, which my mother made into a delicious sobaheg. Soon after that, my father gave me my first real ahtomp and brought me with him on the hunt. We killed deer, turkey and squirrel. We blessed the spirit of the animals and gave them thanks. Because of the strength and accuracy I displayed with the ahtomp, I was asked to join in on other hunts. On one hunt we gave chase all the way back to the place of the cleared land, and there we saw it—the hill that watched the bay was disturbed! Our corn for next year had been dug up and was gone! |
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 This thievery caused much disturbance among our People. Our Sachem arranged a scouting party to go back, and around the 13th moon they returned to the bay and discovered the culprits: white men, covered head-to-toe in cloth, paddling a mishoon back to what looked like a great bird on the water! Some older men have seen this before and say that it is a huge mishoon called a ship. Whether these strange people are friend or foe, we know not. I wonder what our Sachem and his counselors will decide to do.
Diary entry of 12-year-old Pometacomet, a fictional member of the Pokanoket tribe of the Wampanoag nation. |
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Wampanoag Words
Sobaheg: meat stew
Ahtomp: bow
Sachem: chief
Mishoon: canoe |
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