Who is Tequamuck from Caleb's Crossing: A Novel and what is their importance?

Tequaamuck is a powerful pawaaw, what contemporary language would describe as a medicine man, a member of a native community with a strong spiritual connection to the gods and to nature. He is both feared and revered by those with whom he lives and works and deeply resented by whites. At the narrative's conclusion, and in spite of his hatred for whites, Tequamuck helps Bethia to help Caleb into a good death.