The American Indians: Their History, Condition and Prospects, from Original Notes and ManuscriptsSchoolcraft, Henry Rowe
History
The American Indians: Their History, Condition and Prospects, from Original Notes and Manuscripts
Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe
Indians of North America
This tribe has a general tradition of a deluge, in which the earth was
covered with water, reaching above the highest hills, or mountains, but
not above a tree which grew on the latter, by climbing which a man was
saved. This man was the demi-god of their fictions, who is called
Manabozho, by whose means the waters were stayed and the earth
re-created. He employed for this purpose various animals who were sent
to dive down for some of the primordial earth, of which a little was,
at length, brought up by the beaver, and this formed the germ or nucleus
of the new, or rather rescued planet. What particular allegories are hid
under this story, is not certain; but it is known that this, and other
tribes, are much in the habit of employing allegories, and symbols,
under which we may suspect, they have concealed parts of their
historical traditions and beliefs. This deluge of the Algonquin tribes,
was produced, as their legends tell, by the agency of the chief of the
evil spirits, symbolized by a great serpent, who is placed, throughout
the tale, in an antagonistical position to the demi-god Manabosho. This
Manabozho, is the same, it is thought, with the Abou, and the Michabou,
or the Great Hare of elder writers.
Of their actual origin and history, the Chippewas have no other certain
tradition, than that they came from Wabenong, that is to say, the land
of the EAST. They have no authentic history, therefore, but such
remembered events, as must be placed subsequent to the era of the
discovery of the continent. Whether this tradition is to be interpreted
as an ancient one, having reference to their arrival on the continent,
or merely to the track of their migration, after reaching it, is a
question to be considered. It is only certain, that they came to their
present position on the banks of Lake Superior, from the direction of
the Atlantic seaboard, and were, when discovered, in the attitude of an
invading nation, pressing westward and northward. Their distinctive name
sheds no light on this question. They call themselves _Od-jib-waeg_,
which is the plural of Odjibwa,--a term which appears to denote a
peculiarity in their voice, or manner of utterance. This word has been
pronounced Chippewa by the Saxon race in America, and is thus recorded
in our treaties and history. They are, in language, manners and customs,
and other characteristics, a well marked type of the leading Algonquin
race, and indeed, the most populous, important, and wide spread existing
branch of that family now on the continent. The term Chippewa, may be
considered as inveterately fixed by popular usage, but in all
disquisitions which have their philology or distinctive character in
view, the true vernacular term of Od-jib-wa, will be found to possess
advantages to writers. The word Algonquin is still applied to a small
local band, at the Lake of Two Mountains, on the Utawas river, near
Montreal, but this term, first bestowed by the French, has long been a
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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