counsel as he was valiant in war; and,
although his age prevented his assuming the office of Sachem, or ruler
of the village,[*] on the death of his brother, yet his wisdom and
experience gave him great influence with Chingook, the present Chief,
and caused his life to be regarded as of peculiar value by the whole
community.

[Footnote: Almost every considerable village has its Sachem, or Chief,
who is subordinate to the great Sachem or Sagamore, of the whole
tribe.]

The arrival of so celebrated a Powow as Tisquantum during a time of
sickness-and especially when the death of so important a personage as
Terah was apprehended--was hailed with great joy by the whole village;
and presents of food, clothing, and arms poured into the lodge that
formed his temporary abode, from such of the Crees as desired to secure
his medical and supernatural aid for the relief of their suffering
relatives. All day he was occupied in visiting the wigwams of the sick,
and employing charms or incantations to drive away the evil spirits
from his patients; sometimes also administering violent emetics, and
other drugs from his _obee-bag,_ or medicine-pouch; which contained a
multitude of heterogeneous articles, such as herbs, bones, shells,
serpents' teeth, and pebbles--all necessary to the arts and practices
of a Powow. On the venerable Terah his skill and patience were
principally exercised, and many were the torments that he inflicted on
the dying old savage, and which were borne by the Pince with all the
calm endurance that became his dignity and reputation. Terah, like all
others of his exalted rank, had attained to the honor of being a Pince
by serving a hard apprenticeship to suffering and privation in his
early youth. He had passed through the ordeal triumphantly--and he who
had run barefoot through sharp and tearing thorns--who had endured to
have his shins beaten with a hard and heavy mallet, and his flesh
burned with red hot spears--and had not even betrayed a sense of pain--
in order to attain the rank of a great counselor, and the privilege of
attending the Sachem as one of his guard of honor--did not shrink when
his barbarous physician burned a blister on his chest with red-hot
ashes, and scarified the horny soles of his feet till the blood flowed
plentifully. Those, and strong emetic herbs, which he forced his
patient to repeat until he fainted away, constituted the medical
treatment of Tisquantum: but much greater benefit was e