e, it is supposed they had the
greatest influence, and that their dialect is more truly perpetuated
than any other in that confederacy.

The Sokokis inhabited the country bordering on the Saco River, but were
mostly limited to its head waters. Their villages were located on the
alluvial lands in what is now Fryeburg, Me., and Conway, N. H. The
Pegwakets and Ossipees were either identical with or branches of this
tribe. In 1725 Capt. John Lovewell with about fifty soldiers, on a
scouting adventure in the vicinity, fell in with a war party of the
tribe, and a sanguinary battle ensued, disastrous to both parties. Their
chief, Paugus, was slain; and within a short period the remainder of
the tribe, dispirited by their misfortunes, retired to Canada.

The Pennacooks were probably the only occupants of the waters of the
Merrimac, and perhaps included nearly all the nations who resided in
what is now the State of New Hampshire. Their principal residence was at
Amoskeag Falls, the site of the present manufacturing city of
Manchester. It is usual to name the Pennatuckets, Wambesitts, Souhegans,
and some others as tribes, but there can be no doubt they all owned
fealty to the head sagamore of the Pennacooks, and were only branches of
that tribe, as were all the Indians on the Piscataqua and its waters. It
is also probable the small band of Cowasacks, on the upper Connecticut,
were of this tribe. The Pennacooks must have been at one time a numerous
community, and were less warlike than any of the Abenaki race. It is
likely they were more disposed to cultivate the soil, and their
historian, Judge Potter, represents them as amiable and friendly to the
whites. Notwithstanding, they were the earliest emigrants to Canada.
They left their pleasant hunting grounds with regret, and often returned
to cultivate their ancient fields; but few of them resided permanently
there after about 1700.

It is proper to add to the names of the original Abenaki tribes, that of
the Malacite or Amalecite, who have always resided on the St. John. It
is not known that any part of this tribe emigrated to Canada with those
of Maine, but in 1828 about thirty families emigrated there, and settled
on a branch of the River Verte. But the largest part still reside in New
Brunswick.

We come now to trace the emigration of the Abenakis to the banks of the
St. Lawrence. As the Jesuits had been in constant communication with the
tribes in Maine for more than half