The letters consist of a series of answers to questions about Indian culture. Unfortunately there is no existing list of the questions. Subjects covered are mainly appearance, matters of health, cures, hygiene, and child care. In many cases the questions asked can be guessed, and the author’s notes as to other primary sources on similar subjects are useful. There is no information not already covered in other standard primary sources, but the information here nicely confirms other writers’ observations. The time of writing is about 1690. The Indian group of main concern is the Narragansett.
43. Knight, M.F., “Wampanoag Indian Tales,” JOURNAL OF AMERICAN FOLKLORE, Vol. XXXVIII, 1925, pp. 134-7.
Information is 19th. and 20th. century; influences of acculturation are obvious.
44. Leach, Douglas Edward, FLINTLOCK AND TOMAHAWK: NEW ENGLAND IN KING PHILIP’S WAR (New York: The Macmillan Company) 1959.
Contains a brief introductory sketch of Indian culture. Population subsistence, houses, physical appearance, division of labor, etc. are treated generally.
45. Lechford, T., PLAIN DEALING OR NEWS FROM NEW ENGLAND, J.H. Trumbull, ed., (Boston: J. K. Wiggin & William Parsons Lunt) 1868.
——also MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS, Series 3, Vol. III, 1833.
Originally published in 1642, this work does not contain a great deal of information about Indian culture. Relevant passages concern hairdressing, ornament, fire-making, weapons, and government.
46. Macy, Zaccheus, “A Short Journal of the First Settlement of the Island of Nantucket,” MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS, Series 1, Vol. III, 1794, pp. 155-60.