Adjidan'mo, the red squirrel*
Ah dee k', the reindeer.
Ahkose' win, fever.
Ahmeek', the beaver.
Algon'quin, Ojibway.
Annemee'kee, tlie thunder*
Apuk'wa, a bulrush.
Baim-wa'wa, the sound of the thunder.
Bemah'gut, the grapevine.
Be'na, the pheasant.
Big-Sea-Water, Lake Superior.
Bukada'win, famine.
Cheemaun', a birch canoe.
Chetowaik', the plover.
Chibia'bos, a musician; friend of Hiawatha ; ruler in the Land
of Spirits. Dahin'da, the bullfrog.
Dush-kwo-ne'she, or Kwo-ne'she, the dragon-fly. Esa, shame upon you. Ewa-yea', lullaby. Ghee'zis, the sun.
Gitche Gu'mee, the Big-Sea-Water. Lake Superior. Gitche Man'ito, the Great Spirit, the Master of Life. Gushkewau', the darkness. Hiawa'tha, the Wise Man. the Teacher; son of Mudjekeewis. the
West-Wind, and Wenonah. daughter ofNokomis. Ia'^oo, a great boaster and story-teller. Inin'ewug, men, or pawns in the Game of the Bowl. Ishkoodah', fire ; a comet. Jee'bi, a ghost, a spirit. Joss'akeed, a prophet.
Kabibonok'ka, the North-Wind.
Kagh, the hedgehog,
Ka'go, do not.
Kahgahgee', the raven.
Kaw, no.
Kaween', no indeed.
Kayoshk', the sea-gull.
Kee'go, a fish.
Keewa/din, the Northwest-Wind, the Home-Wind.
Kena'beek, a serpent.
Keneu', the great war-eagle.
Keno'zha, the pickerel.
Ko'ko-koho, the owl.
Kuntasoo', the Game of Plum-stones.
Kwa'sind, the Strong Man.
Kwo-ne'she, or Duah-kwo-ne'she, the dragon-fly*
Mahnahbe'zee, the swan.
Mahng, the loon.
Mahn-go-tay'see, loon-hearted brave.
Mahnomo'nee, wild rice.
Ma'ma, the woodpecker.
Maskeno'zha, the pike.
Me'da, a medicine-man.
Meenah'ga, the blueberry.
Megissog'won, the great Pearl-Feather\ a magician and the Manito
of Wealth. Meshinau'wa, a pipe-bearer. Minjekah'wun, Hiawatha's mittens. Minneha'ha, Laughing Water; a waterfall on a stream running
into the Mississippi, between Fort SneJling and the Falls of 8t.
Anthony. Minnehaha, Laughing Water; wife of Hiawatha. Minne-wa'wa, a pleasant sound, as of the wind in the trees* Mishe-Mo'kwa, the Great Bear. Mtshe-Nah'ma, the Great Sturgeon. Miakodeed', the Spring Beauty, the Claytonia Virginica. Monda min, Indian Corn. Moon of Bright Nights, April. Moon of Leaves, May. Moon of Strawberries, June. Moon of the Falling Leaves, September. Moon of Snow-Shoes, November. Mudjekee'wis, the West-Wind; father of Hiawatha. Madway-aosh'ka, sound of waves on a shore. Mushkoda'sa, the grouse.
Na'gow Wud'joo, the Sand Dunes of Lake Superior.
Nah'ma, the sturgeon.
Xah'ma-wusk, spearmint.
Nee-ba-naw'baigB, water spirits.
Nenemoo'sha, sweetheart.
Nepah'win, sleep.
Noko'mis, a grandmother; mother of Wenonak.
No'aa, my father.
Noshlm, amp;»*/ look!
Odah'min, the strawberry.
Okahah'wia, the fresh-water herring.
Ome'mee, the pigeon.
Ona'gon, a bowl.
Onaway', awake.
Ope'chee, the robin.
Osse'o, Son of the Evening Star,
Owais'sa, the bluebird.
Oweenee', wife of Osseo.
Ozawa'beek, a round piece of brass or copper in the Game of the
Bowl. Pah-puk-kee'na, the grasshopper. Pau'gnk, death.
Pau-Puk-Kee'wis, the handsome Yenadizze, the Storm-Fool Pauwating, Sault Sainte Marie. Pe1)oaii, Winter.
Pem'ic amp;n, meat of the deer or buffalo dried and pounded, Pezheekee', the bison. Pishnekuh', the brant. Pone'mah, hereafter. Pugasaing', Game of the Bowl Puggawau'gun, a war-dub.
Puk-Wudj'ies, little wild men of the woods; pygmies. Sah-sah-je'wun, rapids. Sah'wa, the perch. Segwnn', Spring. Sha'da, the pelican. Shahbo'min, the gooseberry. Shah-shah, long ago. Shaugoda'ya, a coward. Shawgashee', the craw-fish. Shawonda'see, the South-Wind. Shaw-shaw, the swallow.
Shesh'ebwug, ducks; pieces in the Game of the Bowl Shio'gebis, the diver or grebe. Showain' neme'shin, pity me.
Shnh-shnh'gah, the blue heron.
Soan-ge-ta'ha, strong hearted.
Subbeka'she, the spider.
Sagge'ma, the mosquito.
Totem, family coat of arms.
Ugh, yes.
Ugndwash', the sun-fish.
Unktahee', the God of Water.
Wabas'ao, the rabbit; the North.
Wabe'no, a magician, a juggler.
Wabe'no-wnsk, yarrow.
Wa-bnn, the East-Wind.
\.Va'bun An'nung, the Star of the East, the Morning Star.
Wahono'win, a cry of lamentation.
Wah-wah-tay'see, the fire-fly.
Wam'pum, beads of shell.
Waubewy'on, a white skin wrapper.
Wa'wa, the wild goose.
Waw'beek, a rock.
Waw-be-Wwa, the white goo*.
Wawonais'sa, the whippoorwUl.
Way-muk-kWna, the caterpillar.
Wen'digoes, giants.
Weno'nah, Hiawatha's mother, daughter of Nokomis
Yenadiz'ze, an idler and gambler; an Indian dandy.
[" Suddenly and immensely popular in this country, greatly admired by many foreign critics, imitated with perfect ease by any clever school-boy, serving as a model for metrical advertisements, made fun of, sneered at, abused, admired, but, at any rate, a picture full of pleasing fancies and melodious cadences. The very names are jewels which the most fastidious muse might be proud to wear. Coming from the realm of the Androscoggin and of Moosetukmaguntuk, how could he have found two such delicious names as Hiawatha and Minnehaha ? The eight-syllable trochaic verse of Hiawatha, like the eight-syllable iambic verse of The Lady of the Lake, and others of Scott's poems, has a fatal facility, which I have elsewhere endeavored to explain on physiological principles. The recital of each line uses up the air of one natural expiration, so that we read, as we naturally do, eighteen or twenty lines in a minute, without disturbing the normal rhythm of breathing, which is also eighteen or twenty breaths to the minute. The standing objection to this is, that it makes the octosyllabic verse too easy writing and too slipshod reading. Yet in this most frequently criticised composition the poet has shown a subtle sense of the requirements of his simple story of a primitive race, in choosing the most fluid of measures, that lets the thought run through it in easy sing-song, such as oral tradition would be sure to find on the lips of the story-tellers of the wigwam." – Oliver Wendell Holmes : Remarks at meeting of Massachusetts Historical Society, April 13, 1882.]
Page 3. In the Vale of Tawasentha.
This valley, now called Norman's Kill, is in Albany County, New York.
Page 6. On the Mountains of the Prairie.
Mr. Catlin, in his Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American In-dians, vol. ii. p. 160, gives an interesting account of the Coteau des Prairies, and the Red Pipestone Quarry. He says: -
" Here (according to their traditions) happened the mysterious birth of the red pipe, which has blown its fumes of peace and war to the remotest corners of the continent; which has visited every warrior, and passed through its reddened stem the irrevocable oath of war and desolation. And here, also, the peace-breathing calumet was born, and fringed with the eagle's quills, which has shed its thrilling fumes over the land, and soothed the fury of the relentless savage.
" The Great Spirit at an ancient period here called the Indian nations together, and, standing on the precipice of the red pipe-stone rock, broke from its wall a piece, and made a huge pipe by turning it in his hand.
irhich he smoked over them, and to the North, the South, the East, and the West, and told them that this stone was red, – that it was their flesh, – that they most use it for their pipes of peace, – that it belonged to them all, and that the war-club and scalping-knife most not be raised on its ground. At the last whiff of his pipe his head went into a great cloud, and the whole surface of the rock for several miles was melted and glazed; two great ovens were opened beneath, and two women (guardian spirits of the place) entered them in a blaze of fire; and they are heard there yet (Tso-mec-cos-tee and T8o-me-cos-te-won-dee), answering to the invocations of the high-priests or medicine-men, who consult them when they are visitors to this sacred place."
Page 15. Hark you y Bear ! you are a coward.
This anecdote is from Heckewelder. In his account of the Indian Nations, he describes an Indian hunter as addressing a bear in nearly these words. " I was present," he says, " at the delivery of this curious invective; when the hunter had despatched the bear, I asked him how he thought that poor animal could understand what he said to it * Oh,' said he in answer, * the bear understood me very well; did you not observe how ashamed he looked while I was upbraiding him ? ' " – Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, vol. i. p. 240.
Page 28. Hush ! the Naked Bear will hear thee !
Heckewelder, in a letter published in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, vol. iv. p. 260, speaks of this tradition as prevalent among the Mohicans and De la wares.
44 Their reports/* he says, " run thus : that among all animals that had been formerly in this country, this was the most ferocious; that it was much larger than the largest of the common bears, and remarkably long-bodied ; all over (except a spot of hair on its back of a white color) naked. . . .
44 The history of this animal used to be a subject of
conversation among the Indians, especially when in the woods a hunting. I have also heard them say to their children when crying: * Hash ! the naked hear will hear you, he upon you, and devour yon.* "
Page 45. Where the Falls ofMinnehaha, etc.
" The scenery about Fort Snelling is rich in beaaty. The Falls of St Anthony are familiar to travelers, and to readers of Indian sketches. Between the fort and these falls are the * Little Falls,' forty feet in height, on a stream that empties into the Mississippi. The In* dians called them Minehah-hah, or ' laughing waters.'" – Mrs. Eastman's Daeotah, or Legends of the Sioux, Introd. p. ii.
Page 111. Sand Hills of the Nagow Wudjoo.
A description of the Grand Sable, or great sand-dunes of Lake Superior, is given in Foster and Whitney's Report on the Geology of the Lake Superior Land District, Part II. p. 131.
" The Grand Sable possesses a scenic interest little inferior to that of the Pictured Bocks. The explorer passes abruptly from a coast of consolidated sand to one of loose materials; and although in the one case the cliffs are less precipitous, yet in the other they attain a higher altitude. He sees before him a long reach of coast, resembling a vast sand-bank, more than three hundred and fifty feet in height, without a trace of vegetation. Ascending to the top, rounded hillocks of blown sand are observed, with occasional clumps of trees, standing out like oases in the desert"
Page 112. Onaway ! Awake, beloved !
The original of this song may be found it LittelFs Living Age, vol. xxv. p. 45.
Page 117. Or the Red Swan floating, flying.
The fanciful tradition of the Red Swan may be found in Schoolcraft's Algic Researches, voL iL p. 9. Three brothers were hunting on a wager to see who would bring home the first game.
" They were to shoot no other animal," so the legend says, " but such as each Was in the habit of killing. They set out different ways; Odjibwa, the youngest, had not gone far before he saw a bear, an animal he was not to kill, by the agreement He followed him close, and drove an arrow through him, which brought him to the ground. Although contrary to the bet, he immediately commenced skinning him, when suddenly something red tinged all the air around him. He rubbed his eyes, thinking he was perhaps deceived; but without effect, for the red hue continued. At length he heard a strange noise at a distance. It first appeared like a human voice, but after following the sound for some distance, he reached the shores of a lake, and soon saw the object he was looking for. At a distance out in the lake sat a most beautiful Red Swan, whose plumage glittered in the sun, and who would now and then make the same noise he had heard. He was within long bow-shot, and, pulling the arrow from the bowstring up to his ear, took deliberate aim and shot. The arrow took no effect; and he shot and shot again till his quiver was empty. Still the swan remained, moving round and round, stretching its long neck and dipping its bill into the water, as if heedless of the arrows shot at it Odjibwa ran home and got all his own and his brothers* arrows, and shot them all away. He then stood and gazed at the beautiful bird. While standing, he remembered his brothers* saying that in their deceased father'8 medicine-sack were three magic arrows. Off he started, his anxiety to kill the swan overcoming all scruples. At any other time he would have deemed it sacrilege to open his father's medicine-sack ; but now he hastily seized the three arrows and ran back, leaving the other contents of the sack scattered over the lodge. The swan was still there. He shot the first arrow with great precision, and came very near to it The second came still closer; as he took the last arrow, he felt hit
arm firmer, and, drawing it up with vigor, saw it through the neck of the swan a little above the breast Still it did not prevent the bird from flying off, which it did, however, at first slowly, flapping its wings and rising gradually into the air, and then flying off toward the sinking of the sun." – Pages 10-12.
Page 130. When I think of my beloved.
The original of this song may be found in Onedta, p. 15.
Page 132. Sing the mysteries ofMondomin.
The Indians hold the maize, or Indian corn, in great veneration. " They esteem it so important and divine a grain," says Schoolcraft, " that their story-tellers invented various tales, in which this idea is symbolised under the form of a special gift from the Great Spirit. The Odjibwa-Algonquins, who call it Mon-da-min, that is, this Spirit's grain or berry, have a pretty story of the kind, in which the stalk in full tassel is represented as descending from the sky, under the guise of a handsome youth, in answer to the prayers of a young man at Ida fast of virility, or coming to manhood.
" It is well known that corn-planting and corn-gathering, at least among all the still uncolonized tribes, are left entirely to the females and children, and a few superannuated old men. It is not generally known, perhaps, that this labor is not compulsory, and that it is assumed by the females as a just equivalent, in their view, for the onerous and continuous labor of the other sex, in providing meats, and skins for clothing, by the chase, and in defending their villages against their enemies, and keeping intruders off their territories. A good Indian housewife deems this a part of her prerogative, and prides herself to have a store of corn to exercise her hospitality, or duly honor her husband's hospitality in the entertainment of the lodge guests." – Onedta, p. 82.
Page 134. Thus the fields shaU be more fruitful
" A singular proof of this belief, in both sexes, of the mysterious influence of the steps of a woman on the vegetable and insect creation, is found in an ancient custom, which was related to me, respecting corn-planting. It was the practice of the hunter's wife, when the field of corn had been planted, to choose the first dark or overclouded evening to perform a secret circuit, sans habillement, around the field. For this purpose she slipped out of the lodge in the evening, unobserved, to some obscure nook, where she completely disrobed. Then, taking her matchecota, or principal garment, in one hand, she dragged it around the field. This was thought to insure a prolific crop, and to prevent the assaults of insects and worms upon the grain. It was supposed they could not creep over the charmed line/' – Onedta, p. 83.
Page 138. With his prisoner-string he bound him.
" These cords," says Mr. Tanner, " are made of the bark of the elm-tree, by boiling and then immersing it in cold water. . • • The leader of a war party commonly carries several fastened about his waist, and if, in the course of the fight, any one of his young men takes a prisoner, it is his duty to bring him immediately to the chief, to be tied, and the latter is responsible for his safe-keeping." – Narrative of Captivity and Adventures, p. 412.
Page 141.
Wagemin, the thief of cornfields, Paimosaidi who steals the maize-ear.
" If one of the young female buskers finds a red ear of com. it is typical of a brave admirer, and is regarded as a fitting present to some young warrior. But if the ear be crooked* and tapering to a point, no matter what color, the whole circle is set in a roar, and wa-gewiin is the word shouted aloud. It is the symbol of a thief in the cornfield. It is considered as the image of an old man stooping as he enters the lot. Had the chisel of
Praxiteles been employed to produce this image, it could not more vividly bring to the minds of the merry group the idea of a pilferer of their favorite mondamin. . . .
"The literal meaning of the term is, a mass, or crooked ear of grain ; but the ear of corn so called is a conventional type of a little old man pilfering ears of corn in a cornfield. It is in this manner that a single word or term, in these curious languages, becomes the fruitful parent of many ideas. And we can thus perceive why it is that the word wagemin is alone competent to excite merriment in the husking circle.
" This term is taken as a basis of the cereal chorus, or corn song, as sung by the Northern Algonquin tribes. It is coupled with the phrase Paimosaid, – a permuta-tive form of the Indian substantive, made from the verb pim-osa, to walk. Its literal meaning is, he who icalks, or the walker ; but the ideas conveyed by it are, he who walks by night to pilfer corn. It offers, therefore, a kind of paralleism in expression to the preceding term." – Onedta, p. 254.
Page 161. Pagasaing, with thirteen pieces.
This Game of the Bowl is the principal game of hazard among the Northern tribes of Indians. Mr. Schoolcraft gives a particular account of it in Onedta, p. 85. "This game," he says, "is very fascinating to some portions of the Indians. They stake at it their ornaments, weapons, clothing, canoes, horses, every thin g in fact they possess; and have been known, it is said, to set up their wives and children, and even to forfeit theii own liberty. Of such desperate stakes I have seen no examples, nor do I think the game itself in common use. It is rather confined to certain persons, who hold the relative rank of gamblers in Indian society, – men who are not noted as hunters or warriors, or steady providers for their families. Among these are persons who bear the term of Ienadizze-wug, that is, wanderers about the country, braggadocios, or fops. It can hardly be classed with the popular games of amusement, by which skill and dexterity are acquired. I have generally found the chiefs and graver men of the tribes, who encouraged the young men to play ball, and are sure to be present at the customary sports, to witness, and sanction, and applaud them, speak lightly and disparagingly of this game of hazard. Yet it cannot be denied that some of the chiefs, distinguished in war and the chase, at the West, can be referred to as lending their example to its fascinating power."
See also his History, Conditions, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes, Part IL p. 72.
Page 181. To the Pictured Mocks of sandstone.
The reader will find a long description of the Pictured Rocks in Foster and Whitney's Heport on the Geology of the Lake Superior Land District, Part II. p. 124. From this I make the following extract: -
"The Pictured Rocks may be described, in general terms, as a series of sandstone bluffs extending along the shore of Lake Superior for about five miles, and rising, in most places, vertically from the water, without any beach at the base, to a height varying from fifty to nearly two hundred feet. Were they simply a line of cliffs, they might not, so far as relates to height or extent, be worthy of a rank among great natural curiosities, although such an assemblage of rocky strata, washed by the waves of the great lake, would not, under any circumstances, be destitute of grandeur. To the voyager, coasting along their base in his frail canoe, they would, at all times, be an object of dread ; the recoil of the surf, the rock-bound coast, affording for miles no place of refuge, – the lowering sky, the rising wind, – all these would excite his apprehension, and induce him to ply a vigorous oar until the dreaded wall was passed. But in the Pictured Rocks there are two features which communicate to the scenery a wonderful and almost unique character. These are, first, the curious manner
in which the cliffs have been excavated and worn away by the action of the lake, which, for centuries, has dashed an ocean-like surf against their base; and, second, the equally carious manner in which large portions of the surface have been colored by bands of brilliant hues.
" It is from the latter circumstance that the name, by which these cliffs are known to the American traveller, is derived ; while that applied to them by the French voyageurs (' Les Portails') is derived from the former, and by far the most striking peculiarity.
" The term Pictured Rocks has been in use for a great length of time; but when it was first applied, we have been unable to discover. It would seem that the first travellers were more impressed with the novel and striking distribution of colors on the surface than with the astonishing variety of form into which the cliffs themselves have been worn. . . .
" Our voyageurs had many legends to relate of the pranks of the Menni-bojou in these caverns, and, in answer to our inquiries, seemed disposed to fabricate stories, without end, of the achievements of this Indian deity."
Page 218. Toward the sun his hands were lifted.
In this manner, and with such salutations, was Father Marquette received by the Illinois. See his Voyages et DicouverteSy Section V.