Fig. 457 was also incised on birch bark by Sapiel Selmo and described by him.
Fig. 457.—Passamaquoddy wikhegan.
Two Indian hunters follow the river to hunt. They go together as far as the river’s forks and then separate. One went to the river c. The other follows river e and kills a moose. They both build their winter wigwams.
Indian b went to hunt and found a bear’s den under the foot of a big tree. He attempted to stab the bear, but missed the vital part. The bear got hold of him, bit him severely, and mortally wounded him. He went to his wigwam h and thinks he is going to die, so he makes his mark or wikhegan on a birch-bark. He makes notches j on the bark to mean his tracks and also marks a tree as in f and also a bear as in g. His friend d came to visit him and found him lying dead in his wigwam, and also found the marks on the piece of birch-bark, which he read and knew at once his partner was killed by the bear, and he followed his bear tracks, and he also found the bear dead.
a. Main river. b. One of the Indians who goes up c, branch of river. d. The other Indian who goes on e, another branch of river. f. Tree above the bear’s den. g. Bear. h. Wigwam of Indian b. i. Moose which Indian d killed. j. Tracks of Indian b. k. Bear’s den under the tree. l. Indian d’s wigwam.
Fig. 458.—Passamaquoddy wikhegan.
Fig. 458 originally scraped on birch bark tells its own story, but was described by Sapiel Selmo, who drew it, thus:
Two Indian hunters, b and c, went to hunt and follow river, a. They continued together as far as d, where the river branches off. Indian c follows the east branch e. He went as far as lake f, where he built his wigwam g. Indian c is very unlucky; he doesn’t kill any bears or moose, so he became very hungry. Indian b, who had followed the north branch and built his wigwam, l, near lake k, went to visit Indian c, who was away at the time, but b found mark on the birch bark, a pot upside down, h; this means hunger. He also makes his own mark, i, a moose’s head, showing success. He appoints lake j, where he killed moose, and wants him, c, to come to his, b’s, wigwam l.