In former times, a good many moons ago, a bird, extraordinary for its size, used often to visit the south shore of Cape Cod, and carry from thence in its talons a vast number of small children. Maushope, who was an Indian giant, as fame reports, resided in these parts. Enraged at the havoc among the children, he, on a certain time, waded into the sea in pursuit of the bird, till he had crossed the sound, and reached Nantucket. Before Maushope forded the sound, the island was unknown to the red men. Maushope found the bones of the children in a heap under a large tree. He, then, wishing to smoke his pipe, ransacked the island for tobacco; but finding none, he filled his pipe with poke—a weed which the Indians sometimes used as a substitute.
“Ever since this memorable event, fogs have been frequent on the Cape. In allusion to this tradition, when the aborigines observed a fog rising, they would say, ‘There comes old Maushope’s smoke.’”[1] (Here the legend unfortunately ends.)
[1] Col. Mass. Hist. Soc. Vol. V. First Series, page 57.
The island of Nantucket, when first settled by the whites, was occupied by two tribes whose names have not been preserved. One occupied the west end of the island, and was supposed to have come from the mainland by way of Martha’s Vineyard. The other lived at the east end, and is said to have come direct from the mainland. The two tribes were independent and were, at a time, hostile to each other. The tribe which came from Martha’s Vineyard was subject to the Wampanoags.[2]
[2] “Hand-Book of American Indians,” Vol. II, p. 26.
When the original discovery of the island of Nantucket was made by foreigners is still a moot point, many writers alleging that two hardy Norsemen, Bjorne Herjulfson, in A. D. 986, and Leif Ericsson, in A. D. 1000, during their respective voyages, had both sighted the New England coast, and that Leif had visited Nantucket, and bestowed upon it the name of Nauticon. If this is probable, it is equally probable that the name Nauticon was merely a Norse approximation to the original Indian name of the island, viz: Natocket[3]. It is now generally believed, however, that neither of these navigators got nearer to the New England coast than Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, although there is much to be said on both sides of the question.
[3] H. B. Worth: Nantucket Hist. Asso., Vol. 11, Bull. 6, p. 290.