A 19-year-old Narragansett tribal member was in stable condition yesterday at Cape Cod Hospital after being stabbed while trying to break up a fight at a Mashpee Wampanoag powwow last weekend, according to his mother.

While the police refused to identify the man who was stabbed early Sunday, Bella Noka, of Richmond, said yesterday it was her son Norman Gonsalves.

She said Gonsalves suffered a punctured liver and diaphragm, and a collapsed lung after being attacked from behind while trying to protect a woman. He has drifted in and out of consciousness, she said, but described yesterday as his first “very stable day” since the incident.

Gonsalves, of Providence, was competing in traditional dance at the annual powwow, she said. He is the stepson of tribal Councilman Randy Noka, her husband.

“He’s just a hardworking kid and for something like this to happen,” she said.

The Mashpee, Mass., police were called to a wooded area on Mashpee Wampanoag land at 4:16 a.m. Sunday, according to Police Chief Rodney Collins. They learned that a man had been stabbed twice in the torso, from behind, after trying to break up a fight between two people.

The man, who Collins refused to identify, was taken to Cape Cod Hospital with serious injuries. The police have not recovered a weapon, but believe it was a knife, he said.

Officers were met by hostility when they arrived and have gotten little cooperation from the 25 to 30 people who were there at the time, Collins said.

“Until some of the so-called witnesses step up and assist in our investigation, we’re being obstructed in making an arrest,” he said.

A Mashpee Wampanoag tribal leader presented Gonsalves’ family with a bald eagle feather during a healing ceremony Sunday, said Gayle Andrews, spokeswoman for the Mashpees.

“We really want to make sure the Narragansetts know [the incident] doesn’t reflect us,” Andrews said. The ceremony was a gesture about keeping the circle of native people whole, she said.

She added that the stabbing had occurred at dawn, in a camping area behind tribal headquarters, during activities that were not part of the powwow itself.

“It’s an unfortunate episode that happened,” she said. “Our prayers are with the family.”

Collins asked anyone with information about the stabbing to call Detective Robert Waterfield at (508) 539-1480, ext. 242.

kmulvane@projo.com