179

THE SPIRIT OF THE LAW VERSUS THE STORM SPIRIT: A WABANAKI CASE

Alvin H. Morrison State University of New York at Fredonia

INTRODUCTION

The intent of the Native American Religious Freedom Act (Pub­ lic Law 95-341) is that Whites should accept as valid whatever In­ dian practitioners claim to be their traditional religious beliefs; the opinions of non-practitioners are deemed non-valid. However, when evidence exists that makes Indian claims questionable, what is to be accepted as valid? Such a thesis/antithesis situation arises in the Wa­ banaki claims regarding the native religious use of Maine's highest peak, Mt. Katahdin, versus qualifying, if not contrary, folklore, ethnohistory, and other data obtained by Whites. While a conclusive synthesis may be impossible at this time in this case, it stands as an example of a major problem in implementing PL 95-341. This paper1 attempts no definite answers to the questions of Wa­ banaki religion that are its chief concern. Indeed, the true answers may never be found, as is so often the case in ethnohistorical matters. However, a tentative conclusion is offered that supports the real pur­ pose of the paper, which is to exemplify a major difficulty in imple­ menting the clear intent of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act. Our title,"Th e Spirit of the Law versus the Storm Spirit", suc­ cinctly points out the basic elements in a problem of conflicting evi­ dence as to what were the traditional Wabanaki religious beliefs and practices pertaining to Maine's highest mountain. Section 2 of this PL 95-342 dated 11 August, 1978 reads, in part: The President shall direct the various Federal departments, agencies, and other instrumentalities responsible for administering relevant laws to evaluate their policies and procedures in consultation with native traditional religious leaders in order to determine appropriate changes necessary to protect and pre­ serve Native American religious cultural rights and practices. [Emphasis added.]

The intended meaning and purpose of such "consultation with native traditional religious leaders" is spelled out on pages 5-6 of

Grateful acknowledgement is due to both Ms. Alice E. Sproul, Legal Assis­ tant in the Department of the Attorney General (Augusta, Maine), and Mr. A. Lee Tibbs, Director of Baxter State Park (Millinocket, Maine), for their kind help while the author was researching this paper. However, the conclusions pre­ sented herein are solely the responsibility of the author, and are not to be con­ sidered the official opinions of the State of Maine or of any of its departments. 180 Alvin H. Morrison

Senate Indian Affairs Committee Report 95-709 dated 21 March, 1978: Because much of the present problem [of curtailed Indian religious freedom] stems from lack of knowledge of what traditional native religions constitute, it is imperative that the evaluation find a source of knowledge if it is to rectify the problem. It is the intent that that source be the practitioner of the religion, the medicine people, religious leaders, and traditionalist [sic] who are Natives—and not Indian experts, political leaders, or any other nonpractitioner. The com­ mittee has determined that only through consultation with Native religious lead­ ers will the administration be able to clearly understand how their policies and regulations impact on Native American religious practices and, thus, be able to protect against infringements. [Emphasis added.]

Of course the interface of religion and politics always holds the potentiality for trouble, but this expressed intent just cited seems naively to be inviting it openly. No intent whatever is expressed to hear opposing evidence, let alone to use it as a check against possibly exaggerated or biased (or even bogus) claims as to what were tradi­ tional Indian religious practices. The model of the one-sided treaty lives on still, despite all that has been said against it in recent de­ cades. While the corrective theory behind the expressed intent un­ doubtedly is honourable, it all too easily provokes problems of im­ plementation because of its imbalance. And contractual imbalance is a certain route to worsen, not to ameliorate, interracial and inter- ethnic relations.

THE WABANAKI THESIS

"Wabanaki" (translated as "Dawnlanders") is a collective term for the closely-related east-northeast Algonquian peoples of sub-St. Law­ rence Canada and northern New England. From east to west they are or were the Micmac, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Abenaki, and Pennacook. The State of Maine occupies a keystone-like position in this arch of Wabanaki distribution, and Maine has been the arena for centuries of conflict—first military, now legal—between the races, religions, nations, and political groupings involved. As things eventually turned out, the following Wabanaki example did not come under the terms of PL 95-341, but it well might have done so; certainly the Indians wanted it to. During the 1970's, the Passamaquoddies and Penobscots successfully sued for and won U.S. Federal jurisdiction, formerly having been considered State of Maine Indians. They also made claim to 12.5 million acres of land within Maine (over 60 percent of the state), initiating legal proceed­ ings against the state itself and a collection of large land-owners; they exempted the multitude of small land-owners from their suit. The Spirit of the Law 181

This land claim case never went beyond the pre-trial stages, how­ ever, because late in 1980, the U.S. Congress bought off the Passa­ maquoddies and Penobscots (and the Houlton Band of Maliseets, too) with a total payment-pledge of $81.5 million. Of this money, $54 million was to be used by the Indians to buy 300,000 acres of mutually-agreed-upon land from the large land-owners. The State of Maine kept all of its state-owned land intact, including Baxter State Park—the location of Mt. Katahdin, Maine's highest peak and the focal point of this paper. All other and further claims by the Indians were extinguished by the terms of this 1980 Congressional settle­ ment. This extinguishing of all other and further claims becomes impor­ tant in considering the Katahdin matter. During the legal maneuver - ings in the land-claim case, a side-issue arose in 1977 and 1978 con­ cerning the supposedly traditional religious use of Mt. Katahdin by the Wabanaki peoples. Indeed, in a "Joint Memorandum of Under­ standing" dated 6 February, 1978, representatives of the Passama­ quoddy and Penobscot Tribes and a White House Work Group stated in Item C.9 on pages 7-8: If a settlement can be reached with the State of Maine, the White House Work Group will use its best efforts to obtain for the tribes assured access under mutu­ ally agreeable regulations to a designated place in Baxter State Park for religious ceremonial purposes. If the Work Group's efforts to obtain such assured access are unsuccessful, the tribes have reserved the right to reject a settlement with the State of Maine. [Emphasis added.] Thus, religious ceremonialism at Mt. Katahdin was considered in early 1978 to be a sine qua non in the land-claim settlement, but (strangely) it was omitted in the 1980 considerations and did not be­ come a part of the actual settlement. Katahdin-centered ritualism had first come to the attention of Maine State officials in June 1977 when a group of Penobscots met with the Director of Baxter State Park at his Millinocket office, re­ questing fee-less "freedom of access and camping" within the park "for ceremonial purposes" involving "primarily Mt. Katahdin and the southwest portion of the Park." (The mountain itself is in the south­ east region of the vertically-rectangular park.) Special facilities (in­ cluding sweat-lodges) would be constructed in "a location of their own choosing outside of our present camping facilities." About ten persons for 3 or 4 days' ceremonies would come at approximately two-week intervals during the summer and less frequently at other times of year. (All of these details and request were made orally; in­ deed, supposedly no written proposals about Katahdin ever have been received from the Wabanaki by Baxter State Park officials.) In a Baxter State Park Director's Memo to Authority Members 182 Alvin H. Morrison

(K) Mt. Katahdin (Elev. 5267') in Baxter State Park (Maine) (w) Mt. Washington (Elev. 6288') formerly Agiochook (NH) dated 29 June, 1977, it is stated: "Their request is clearly contrary to our present rules and regulations but was neither approved nor denied." Later that year, at a regular meeting of the Baxter State Park Au­ thority on 2 August, 1977 at Augusta, an Indian delegation appeared to make further oral statements and/or requests "on behalf of the Wabanaki Nation which is made up mainly of four tribes—Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Micmac and Maliseet." Selections from the "Minutes of Meeting" from pages 2-3 follow: 1) Mt. Katahdin was the spiritual mountain of the Wabanaki people and the whole mountain and the area around it is sacred. 2) They have cultural rights within Baxter State Park. Indicated there was a village on the east side of the flat land on the western plateau. 3) When they get the land back through the land case they will go back and settle on the mountain. 4) Any area used including the mountain would be restricted or closed to non-Indians and any fee would be waived. . . . The Spirit of the Law 183

7) Ceremonies would include feasting, praying and use of sweat lodges for purification of the mind. The purification ceremony can be done as often as needed but the vision quest ceremony is done just once in a lifetime from the highest point. 8) Medicine man goes up every year for spiritual ceremony with indication that sweat lodges and ceremonies have been used right along. No permission ever requested or granted for special use of the park for these purposes ....

After the presentation. . . it was suggested that the group make their various requests in writing to the Authority so they can consider each item on its merits and how they varied from the rules and regulations governing use of the Park by the general public. [Emphasis added.]

More than a year later, at a regular meeting of the Baxter State Park Authority on 17 October, 1978 at Millinocket, a delegation of "25-30 Indians" attended to declare their continuing interest in hold­ ing religious ceremonies on Mt. Katahdin. As reported in the minutes of this meeting, pages 4-5, no specifics were given, even orally, be­ cause they wanted the Authority members to meet with them "at our home. And at that time we will discuss all other aspects of this." The Authority Chairman suggested that such a meeting take place after 7 November and the Indians' spokesman agreed. The spokes­ man then requested "to go into the Park for a brief ceremony. . . and come back out." The Chairman replied, "The Park is open to day use, so I guess your request can be honored." As a follow-up, the Park Authority Chairman wrote on 30 October, 1978 a 3-page letter to the Indian spokesman, explicitly stating the Authority's continuing willingness to consider any written requests from the Wabanaki. The next month's regular meeting of the Baxter State Park Au­ thority, on 15 November, 1978 at Augusta, saw a moment of light if not of truth. The same Indian spokesman apparently had been noti­ fied of the November meeting to stimulate the promised invitation from the Indians. But the Indians had no specifics to offer. However. the Indian spokesman is quoted in the minutes of this meeting, pages 3-6 as saying, in part: Basically. . .the [Indian] people. . .do not want to define some of the spirit - tual or religious aspects of traditional ways within the confines that the Park [Authority] might want. They. . .do not want to define generally or specifically what they are doing there [in the Park]. . . .

I have to come back to our land case and the reality of it that it [the Park] might be ours anyway. . . .

There is certain things. . .that wasn't available before, which deals with pub­ lic laws and relationship to our power to exercise our rights. . . . We do have technically within the law free access to anything within our claim. . .. 184 Alvin H. Morrison

An attorney for the State then interjected, in part:

Now you know it is not the States's position that you own Baxter Also, Baxter Park is not Federal land and a Federal agency.

To this, the Indian spokesman reportedly responded, in part:

I think Federal law supersedes State Law. Nothing more to indicate to the Authority. . . we are exercising some of our rights that have been established. . . we do know about this .... Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you.

This seems to have been the end of all Wabanaki communication with the Baxter State Park Authority. However, (reportedly) some of the Indians' Congressionally-supplied land claim settlement funds now are being used to buy (from large land-owners) approximately half a township of wilderness land just outside the northeastern part of the park, near its only eastern and upper roadgate. Whether or not this will end old problems and/or create new ones only time will tell, because Mt. Katahdin itself and Baxter Park surrounding it remain state-owned, and there exists a body of data which at least qualifies if not negates parts of the Wabanaki thesis of traditional Mt. Katahdin ceremonialism.

THE WHITEMAN'S ANTITHESIS

The West Branch of the Penobscot River flows past the foot of Mt. Katahdin, thereby tangibly demonstrating the association of the park with the river and its Penobscot people. Indeed, the major spokesmen for the Wabanaki groups at Baxter State Park Authority meetings in 1977-78 were from the Indian Island Penobscot Reservation, and through them we have heard modern Penobscot claims regarding Mt. Katahdin as a place of religious ceremonialism, namely:

1) The whole mountain and surrounding area are sacred; 2) A former village site was close-by the mountain; 3) Their vision-quest ritesar e or would be held at the summit; 4) They desire to settle again on the mountain; 5) Their sweat-lodge facilities are or would be used there regularly.

But what about earlier Penobscot claims about Mt. Katahdin? Un­ fortunately, our information is all from or through Whites, whose opinions are irrelevant according to the expressed spirit of PL 95-341. However, several such witnesses, all long deceased, have left us their testimony from traditional times. In historical order of appearance, they express purported Indian beliefs from 1642, ca. 1690, 1764, The Spirit of the Law 185

1804, 1837, and ca. 1845—i.e., all prior to 1850. Then there are gen­ eralizations by two f ieldworkers among the Penobscots who published prior to 1950: ethnohistorian Fannie Hardy Eckstorm (d. 1946) and ethnologist Frank Gouldsmith Speck (d. 1950). While no one of these witnesses can be said to destroy the modern claims, collectively they do have a qualifying effect, at least on some matters. Bypassing the very earliest account (1642) for the moment, let us start with the ca. 1690 affairs reported by captive John Giles. Abduc­ ted from Pemaquid, Maine, in 1689, when about 11 years old, Giles lived among the Maliseet at Meductic (now under water) on the St. John River for much of his nine-year captivity. Mt. Katahdin is no further from Meductic than from the present Penobscot reservation at Old Town, and is visible in some parts of Maliseet territory. Mali­ seet and Penobscot traditional cultures were more similar than their languages, which were a full (but closely-related) language apart. Giles (1869:46-47) therefore calls Katahdin "the Teddon", and al­ though mentioning that some "kind spirits" live there, he stresses unkind ones: I have heard an Indian say that he lived by the river, at the foot of the Ted­ don, the top of which he could see through the hole of his wigwam left for the smoke to pass out. He was tempted to travel to it, and accordingly set out on a summer morning, and labored hard in ascending the hill, all day, and the top seemed as distant from the place where he lodged at night as from his wigwam, where he began his journey. He now concluded the spirits were there, and never dared to make a second attempt. I have been credibly informed that several others have failed in like attempts. Once three young men climbed towards its summit three days and a half, at the end of which time they became strangely disordered with delirium, &c, and when their imagination was clear, and they could recollect where they were, they found themselves returned one day's journey. How they came to be thus transported they could not conjecture, unless the genii of the place had con­ veyed them.

John Chadwick, surveyor of the upper Penobscot River in 1764, supposedly reported what Penobscots had told him about climbing Katahdin: that they can ascend only as high as any green grows; and that once an Indian attempted to go higher but never returned (ac­ cording to Bangor Historical Magazine 4:146,1888-89, as quoted by Eckstorm (1924:46)). Surveyor Charles Turner, Jr., on 13 August, 1804 with six Whites from Bangor and Orono and two Indians made the first recorded as­ cent of Mt. Katahdin. Both Eckstorm (1924:46) and Speck (1940: 10-11) refer to the Indians' reactions. Eckstorm purportedly quotes Turner directly: 186 Alvin H. Morrison

The Indians have a superstition respecting this mountain, that an evil spirit, whom they call Pamola, inhabits it, at least in the winter, and flies off in the spring with tremendous rumbling noises. They have a tradition that no person, i.e., native, who has attempted to ascend, has lived to return. They allege that, many moons ago, seven Indians resolutely ascended the mountain and that they never were heard of afterwards, having undoubtedly been killed by Pamola in the mountain. The two Indians whom we hired to pilot and assist us in ascend­ ing the mountain, cautioned us not to proceed if we should hear any uncommon noise; and when we came to the cold part of the mountain they refused to pro­ ceed ahead—however, when they found that we were determined to proceed even without them, they went forward courageously, and seemed ambitious to be the first on the summit. On our return to Indian Oldtown, it was with difficulty that we could convince the natives that we had been upon the top of Mount Catardin, nor should we have been able to satisfy them of the fact, so superstitious were they, had it not been for the Indians who accompanied us. That is the most direct statement yet, but it is not unique. A very similar account was given 162 years earlier, in June 1642, about the first recorded ascent of Agiochook (now Mt. Washington) in neigh­ bouring New Hampshire, in Abenaki country. Katahdin and Washing­ ton (the two highest peaks in Wabanakia) are only 160 miles apart, and Penobscot and Abenaki are merely a dialect apart. Therefore these mountains,languages, peoples, and beliefs are truly comparable. Adventurer Darby Field of Exeter and only two Indians from a larger party reached Agiochook's summit. Massachusetts Governor John Winthrop, Sr.'s contemporary journal, later published as The History of New England from 1630 to 1649 (1853 (2):81), states:

Some of them accompanied him within eight miles of the top, but durst go no further, telling him that no Indian ever dared to go higher, and that he would die if he went. So they staid there till his return, and his two Indians took courage by his example and went with him.

Ethnohistorian Fannie Hardy Eckstorm, in her article "The Katahdin Legends" (1924:47, 42), cites two other reports about specifically identified Penobscots:

[In] 1837, when Dr. Charles T. Jackson was caught on the top in a severe northeast snowstorm, his Indian, Louis Neptune, "declares that Pamola was an­ gry with us for pretending to measure the height of the mountain and revenged himself upon us by this storm."

Old John Neptune, famous Oldtown Indian. . .[ca. 1845] related his exper­ iences with the fury of the mountain. "Folks say no Pamola, if they want to," he said, "but I know; I see him. 01' Pamola there all right." He told how, though he had been warned against the deed, he went up into the mountain to hunt and stayed overnight in a shack with a strong door. In the night, when John was asleep, Pamola swooped down from his fastnesses in the crags and alighted in the yard by the shack, a great beast, with mightly wings that dragged on the ground, The Spirit of the Law 187

with a head as large as four horses, and with horrible beak and claws. He beat upon the door of the shack, and roared and howled and heaved again and again at the fastenings, but by good luck the door was frozen down and he could not budge it. So, with a last, long yell of rage and defiance, he flappedfilthily an d wickedly away. Four other Indians whom John knew, less fortunate, went into the mountain and never returned. Pamola got them somewhere. John had seen the entrance to Pamola's cave, and knew where, in the northwest basin, he hung out his lantern of nights, before his den, where he crawled with his prey.

Eckstorm (1924:47, 40) summarizes:

[The] only ones who left any record, before 1850, of an unseen power inhabi­ ting Katahdin, all agree that it is harmful only to those who ascend the mountain top; "as far as any green grows," they were safe.

The word Pamola, as the whites have usually written the Indian Bumole (which they pronounce Bahmolai), stands for three entirely unlike Indian con­ ceptions. One of them is Bumole, the spirit of the night wind. . .; one is the Storm-bird; and one is the giant Katahdin, of human figure, who dwells inside the mountain. One is almost harmless, one is hideously destructive, one is rather friendly; but to the white man they are all Pamola.

Ethnologist Frank G. Speck (1935;15, 1940:10) mentions Pamola in two very different ways, but without reference either to Eck- storm's analysis or to his own inconsistent usage. In Speck's 1935 monograph Penobscot Tales and Religious Beliefs, he states, in part: "Pemule is the spirit who inhabits the neighborhood of Mt. Katahdin .... He is friendly to the people." But in Specks's Penobscot Man of 1940, in reference to Turner's 1804 ascent of Katahdin, we are told that "the Indians of the vicinity, Penobscots and Abenakis, believed the mountain the lair of an evil spirit whom they called Pamola; and never would an Indian ascend higher than the tree limit for fear of this monster." Here Speck is quoting a 1924 article by a Union College professor, but since he makes no comment he imples agreement. Because Pro fessor Speck and Mrs. Eckstorm sometimes were not on cordial terms, one may wonder if he chose that 1924 article by a fellow academi­ cian instead of her 1924 article as a deliberate snub. If he did so, it was a Pyrrhic victory, for he emerges self-contradictory and our knowledge is not a bit enhanced. The most positive interpretation we can make of Speck's two statements is that he, like Eckstorm, recog­ nized more than one aspect of Pamola—however silent such a recog­ nition may have been in this case. CONCLUSION

To the Gordian-Knot-Cutters among us, an oversimplified conclu- 188 Alvin H. Morrison sion probably appears obvious: Pamola was a Wabanaki gimmick to try to keep Whitemen off the summits of their sacred mountains. But while this facile assumption might seem to apply to the cases of summit-climbers Darby Field in 1642, John Chad wick in 1764, and Charles Turner, Jr., in 1804, it certainly cannot be relevant in the case of captive John Giles ca. 1690, who, as a prisoner, was not in any position to climb Mt. Katahdin. Furthermore, the 1837 and ca. 1845 accounts, purporting to quote individual Indians who had been caught by bad storms near the summit, make less sense as threats to Whites than they do as expressions of belief in the personification of a very real danger to anyone, Indian or White. Clearly, even though coming from or through Whites, these six ac­ counts of traditional Wabanaki beliefs, taken altogether, qualify some of the modern Penobscot claims about the religious use of Mt. Katahdin, namely:

1) The whole mountain and surrounding area certainly were con­ sidered supematurally endowed—but does this mean that they were "sacred" in the usual sense of the term? 2) Occasional temporary lodges are reported near or on the moun­ tain, but is this sufficient indication of a real village close-by the mountain? 3) Given the consistently reported overall fear of the summit, is this a likely place for vision-quest rites? And if so, by whom? All males? Only shamans?

While final answers to these questions are unlikely to be attained, some likely hypotheses may be attempted. Some such follow. Foremost to consider is change (i.e., difference over time) in be­ lief systems and religious practices. Using Christianity as a case in point, two examples of such change are pacifism and the Holy Trin­ ity. Obviously, peace has been much honoured in the breach ("On­ ward Christian Soldiers"). But anthropologist Marvin Harris (1974: 153-203) makes a plausible case that even the "Prince of Peace" was originally just another militant revolutionary in the old Jewish tra­ dition of freedom-fighters, whose later followers altered his public relations image as protective colouration against Roman displeasure. The major Christian concept of the Holy Trinity is not written into the New Testament, but is a later-developed product of church coun­ cils. And the nature of the Trinity has also been subject to different interpretations among major segments of organized Christianity. The last point raises another issue—variation through factionalism. Can change and factionalism account for the differences between these reported traditional Wabanaki beliefs and their modern reli- The Spirit of the Law 189

gious claims? Somewhat, no doubt; no belief system is static, and factional differences in interpretation are inevitable. And beyond fac­ tionalism, ethnocentric preceptions cause misinterpretations of ano­ ther group's beliefs. For example, in item 1) above, are negative su­ pernatural forces considered "sacred", like positive ones often are? Maybe not to the average Whiteman, but he might agree that one can be scared of the sacred—indeed, the official motto of two separate Scottish families is "Dread God". All of these seem logical contribu­ ting factors. However, it would be naive to stop here. In item 2) above, the former presence of a Wabanaki village close- by Mt. Katahdin might be proven by archeological research, but that would be very difficult to carry out in a dense forest with few clues as to where to start looking. In the absence of tangible archeological evidence, this claim cannot be verified. And to those who believe the pre-1850 reports of supernatural presence in the vicinity, such a vil­ lage site seems somewhat incongruous—a secular intrusion at best. Item 3), pertaining to vision-quests at the summit, seems the most unlikely of traditional Wabanaki rituals, unless it refers only to sha­ mans, whose needs and duties are extraordinary. Modern braves, in­ corporating knowledge of both Whites' disbelief in Pamola and Plains Indians' maturity rites of passage along with respect for Wabanaki an­ cestral land, may have started a "neo-tradition"2 for themselves and the future, but it seems based only upon wishful thinking or "sub­ junctive history" (i.e., condition contrary to fact). Certainly the bur­ den of proof is upon the modern claimants to successfully refute all of the written accounts of traditional Wabanaki summit-shunning. Cross-culturally we know of individual tests of bravery (like attack­ ing a wasps' nest with a stick), and of the collective need of offering sacrifices to a malevolent mountain, but there is no traditional Waba­ naki evidence whatever to support combining these elements into a vision-quest on Katahdin's summit. It was a place for all wise persons to stay away from—and it still is, in both bad and quick-changing weather. Pamola as Storm-Spirit is still very much alive and living at the summit. 2It is not at all the intent here to suggest that the particular neo-tradition in question was devised just to take advantage of PL 95-341. As envisioned here, the concept of neo-fradition implies a more gradual synthesis of old traditions and newer ideas—some of the latter being borrowed from outside sources, others being local reworkings adaptive to changing indigenous conditions. Considerable thought could be given to this concept. For example,How much change can an old tradition sustain before it ceases to be "old" and becomes something "new" instead? How many significant turning points can be found in the adaptive evolution of any particular tradition? Can meaningful origin points (or awareness dates) be discovered for both old traditions and their variations, as well as for neo-traditions? 190 Alvin H. Morrison

The reluctance of the modern Wabanaki to put their Katahdin ce­ remonial claims in writing surely may be seen as typical of their tra­ ditional roles as orators, not authors. It also may be viewed as play­ ing it safer in a gamble. The timing of the Wabanaki visits to the Bax­ ter State Park Authority coincided with two other relevant events: both the height of the scare among Maine Whites that the Indians really might win their land claim to more than 60 percent of the state, and the Congressional hearings on the American Indian Reli­ gious Freedom Act. The Penobscots and Passamaquoddies, through their newly-acquired status as Federal Indians, surely were not un­ aware that the expressed spirit of PL 95-341 actually invited exagger­ ated claims of traditional beliefs and practices. Certainly no one should blame them if they took up such a golden opportunity; in­ deed, we should wonder why if they did not. This Wabanaki case study clearly exemplifies how the spirit of the law in question opens up its implementation to the troubles inherent in all unbalanced treaties: wherever unilateral advantage is given, ra­ tional people will be apt to take it.

APPENDIX

Baxter State Park, the location of Mt. Katahdin (Maine's highest peak at 5267 feet elevation), is a separate and unique entity under control of the State of Maine, but it is not at all just another state park under the general state parks system. It has its own independent administration, consisting of a three-person Authority: Maine's Attorney General, Commissioner of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, and Director of the Bureau of Forestry. It is operated by a Director and his staff, headquartered in Millinocket, which is the nearest town, 15 miles out­ side the park. It is in the files of this office that the minutes of meetings between the Indians and the Park Authority are housed. The park area was not public domain, but was privately owned timberland, bought up to create the park. Starting in 1931, former governor Percival Proctor Baxter (d. 1969) donated the first of an eventual 32 individual parcels of land totaling 201,018 acres, throughout a 45-year effort of fund-raising, acquisition, and legislative action. A trust fund provides operating income. Governor Baxter was a conservationist pioneer of the wilderness concept, al­ though his operating definition of "wilderness" seems somewhat serendipitous and fluctuating (Hakola 1981:227-256). Nonetheless, his project was so im­ mense as to lack meaningful precedents for guidelines. "Even if one factors in his probably desire to leave a monument to himself, one finds his labors remark­ able" (Schriver 1981:260). His clear intent was to leave for all the people of Maine an intact natural legacy, in perpetuity, with no one or a few special inter­ est groups prevailing over others in the long run. His own vision can be seen in the following statement, quoted in Delorme (n.d.): "Monuments decay, buildings crumble and wealth vanishes, but Katahdin in its massive grandeur will forever remain the mountain of the people of Maine." Thus it appears that the ongoing availability of Mt. Katahdin is quite safely secured, even if Wabanaki privacy in the use of it is not. The Spirit of the Law 191

According to Eckstorm (1941:xxii), "the [name] Katahdin is from the [Pen- obscot/AbenakiJ adjective keght 'principal', and the inseparable -ad'ene- ' a mountain ; but from the first root we retain only the k and t, and from the se­ cond only d and n, the vowels being inserted for English use."

REFERENCES Delorme n.d. Delorme's Map and Guide of Baxter State Park and Katahdin. Yar­ mouth, Maine: Delorme Publishing Co.

Eckstorm, Fannie H. 1924 The Katahdin Legends. Appalachia 16:39-52.

1941 Indian Place-Names of the Penobscot Valley and the Maine Coast. Maine Bulletin 44, University of Maine Studies, 2nd. ser., Vol. 55. Orono. Giles, John 1869 Memoirs of Odd Adventures, Strange Deliverances, Etc. in the Cap­ tivity of John Giles, Esq....[1736]. Cincinnati: Spiller and Gates.

Hakola, John W. 1981 Percival P. Baxter: The Wilderness Concept. Maine Historical Society Quarterly 20:227-256.

Harris, Marvin 1974 Cows, Pigs, Wars, & Witches: The Riddle of Culture. New York: Random House.

Schriver, Edward O. 1981 Percival P. Baxter: A Comment. Maine Historical Society Quarterly 20:257-260.

Speck, Frank G. 1935 Penobscot Tales and Religious Beliefs. Journal of American Folk­ lore 48:1 -107.

1940 Penobscot Man: The Life History of a Forest Tribe in Maine. Phil­ adelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Winthrop, John, Sr. 1853 The History of New England from 1630 to 1649. From His Original Manuscripts. With Notes by James Savage. 2 vols. Boston: Little, Brown. 192