3. Appee' dush Geezhamonedo aakeedood, tah wassayau appee' dush wyaussayaug. 1. In the beginning, the merciful Spirit made heaven and earth. 2. And the earth was shapeless-it was empty; and it was dark to look upon the top of the waters. The shadow of the mer ciful Spirit then passed over the top of the waters. 3. And the merciful Spirit said, Let there be light, and light was. It must be observed, that the language provides two appellatives for the supreme Being; that which we have employed, signifying merciful Spirit, and Gitsh'emonedo, great Spirit. The former is the most sacred in its use. Both are compounds formed by adjective prefixes to the word mon'edo, spirit. The term 'manito' employed by authors, may be regarded as the anglicized expression, and is very nearly identical with the word as uttered by the Ottowas. But we hasten to close these remarks, already drawn out farther than we intended. Our principal object, in this hasty sketch, has been to place before our readers a few of the leading facts, connected with the situation and condition, geographical, moral, and political, of the Chippewa nation, as it existed at the time of colonel Long's passage over the northwestern skirts of their territories, and as it still exists at the present time. We are not aware that any striking changes have occurred within the few years that have elapsed since the close of that expedition. The intercourse, then recently established by placing an agent in their country, has been gradually increasing, and assuming a more decidedly friendly character towards the American government. Their national propensity to war has been restrained, and their sufferings, in some measure, alleviated, by the gratuitous distribution of food and clothing. Treaties of alliance and limits have been concluded, under the auspices of the government, between them and neighboring nations, which, it is confidently hoped and believed, will remove one great cause of predatory warfare. And there is not a doubt, but a continuance of the policy adopted, will produce results most auspicious to them and to us. The gentlemen who composed the exploring party under' colonel Long, entered the Chippewa country under circumstances unfavorable to correct observation. In the whole route from Red river to Fort William on the north shore of Lake Superior, estimated by them at five hundred and twenty miles, and which they were twenty-seven days in travelling, they conversed with Indians at but four distinct points. Bruce, upon whom they relied in part for information, is a man, on whose statements little confidence can be placed when interested motives do not interfere, and still less when they do. He is a Boisbrulé by birth, and a post-runner by occupation. Ignorance of both the English and the Indian, is not the least of his disqualifications, as is represented by those who know him. well. Hackneyed in the low arts of the Courier du Bois, with idle, intemperate habits, with most of the vices of the white man, and but few of the virtues of the Indian, any facts derived from him must be of questionable authority; and he is one of the last men in the Chippewa country, whom we should select to relate traditions, describe customs, give etymologies, and settle opinions. The party felt upon what slender grounds they were placing reliance; and these strictures will derive no small corroboration from their own acknowledgments on this point. We are induced to believe,' says Mr. Keating, 'that he never wilfully misrepresented a fact, but we did not find him to be as intelligent as he had been stated to be, and we have therefore omitted such parts of his narrative as savored of ignorance or credulity.' (Vol. 11. p. 152.) It will not be surprising, that in information derived from such a source many errors should be detected. Thus, the term Chippewa,' it is observed, which is generally applied to this nation, is derived from that of Ocheppewag, which they restrict to the Indians who reside near Fond du Lac ; it signifies plated shoes, from the fashion among those Indians of puckering their moccasins. The whole nation are by themselves styled Neenawesik,' &c. (Vol. I. p. 151.) Ojib'wa is the term which the Chippewas apply to themselves. Ojibwaag is merely the plural, and the word is applied indiscriminately. It admits of various other inflections. Thus they say, Ojibwäns', a small Chippewa; Ojibwäkwa', a Chippewa woman; Ojibwäkwans', a Chippewa girl; Ojibwayweek, he or she is a Chippewa; Ojibwaywaudizzi, half Chippewa; Wayjibwaywaudizzid, he who is a half Chippewa. The band living at Fond du Lac, sew up their moccasins without a tongue, and this is called by them a Chippewa shoe. That the national appellation was bestowed upon the shoe, and not vice versa, is as certain as it is that the custom of thus forming and denominating moccasins is local and partial, or that the nation itself was known under its present name long before any part of it had migrated to the banks of the St Louis, the Mississippi, or Rainy lake. There is still less authority for the term 'neenawesik,' by which it is said the whole nation is known, and which is stated to signify natural language.' Neenawesik' is a garbled form of the expression nee eenowaysik enuh, which implies literally, he does not speak correctly! It is manifestly the reply to a misconceived question. Kauween nin neeinowaysee, I do not speak correctly. Kauween kee neeinoway see, You do not speak correctly, &c. Ojibwamoong' is the term by which this nation denominate their own language, or as the term strictly implies, tongue or voice. Hence, Neen Dojibwaam, I speak Chippewa. Ojibwaamoo, He speaks Chippewa, &c. This mode of forming neuter verbs from substantive roots, is among the striking characteristic features of the language. We had prepared a considerable list of other errors in that part of the Narrative which relates to the language of the Chippewas, but our limits oblige us to omit them. One or two observations only we deem it important not to pass over. At page 389, vol. I, Boines' is stated to be the Chippewa term for the Sioux nation. Bwoin, not Boines,' is the singular number. It has its plural, not in s, but in ug. The term is derived from the Chippewa verb abwa', to roast. Hence abwain, roast thou; abwoinok, a stick upon which flesh is roasted; and is in allusion to the practice of the Sioux, of impaling their prisoners before a fire. The more common term, however, for the Sioux, as stated in a previous article,* is naudowaysee, 'our enemies,' a phrase which, from long application to them, has become almost specific in its import. Ossin, and not ‘assin' (vol. II. p. 71), is the name for a stone; and the Stone Sioux are hence denominated Ossinabwoin, and not Assinaboines.' Lord Selkirk, who, in allusion to this tribe and the river they inhabit, bestowed the name of 'Ossinaboina' upon his Red river colony, had taken pains to ascertain the Indian mode of pronunciation, and was determined by popular and correct usage. The etymology of 'Winnepeek,' as given at p. 81, vol. 11, * North American Review, No. L. Art. Indians of North America. is fallacious in its data. There is no adjective we,' signifying muddy, in the language. The word is derived from weenud, dirty, and neebeg, waters, and the full name is, Weeneebeg' o saugy'egun, that is, lake of dirty waters. Winnabago, is a term derived from the same roots, implying that the tribe who bear this name, dwell on dirty waters, in allusion to the Mississippi. The words 'oton,' onik,' 'okat,' 'osit,' 'okan,' (odoan, onik, okaud, ozid, okun,) do not mean respectively, mouth, arm, leg, foot, bone; but his mouth, his arm, his leg, his foot, his bone. An error has existed on this subject, from the days of Lahontan to the publication of the work before us. Although the Indians utter their pronouns as if they were inseparable from their nouns and verbs, yet they are not uniformly so, and the amalgamated aspect, which their language usually bears when put upon paper, is greatly attributable to the haste, or carelessness of travellers, particularly of our earlier travellers, most of whom have acquired but a slender reputation, either for rigorous research or profound erudition. Precedent is allpowerful, and it requires an effort to break through established customs, however ill-founded, trivial, or absurd. The following tabular view of substantives embraces their most common and least concrete forms. While it exhibits a principle which has hitherto been very obscurely defined, it affords a further illustration of a remark made in a preceding review,* respecting the original monosyllabic character of the language. Si Kee si ä Sheem brother Nee si ä sister O sia-un † (elder) Nee sheem 'a Kee sheem 'a O sheema-un † (younger s.or br.) * North American Review. No. L. Art. Indians of North America. † These, being nouns animate, have the objective inflections, een, un. VOL. XXVII.-NO. 60. 15 Verbs, as well as substantives, are thus employed, and may, for the most part, be traced back to monosyllabic or disyllabic But it is time to close these researches into the curious philology of our barbarous brethren. We are aware, that to a portion, perhaps the larger portion, of our readers, the theme is uninviting. There is, however, a class of inquirers in the country, respectable in numbers, and still more respectable for the characters of the men who compose it, to whom this subject has for some time been, and still continues to be, one of growing interest. Among the savans of continental Europe, there are few topics connected with America, which are considered more curious and important; and we have reason to believe, that no portion of our pages has been more acceptable to them, than those which we have devoted to the aboriginal languages of the country. When we consider how scanty are the means for tracing the history of tribes like those of this continent, which possess no literary memorials, we cannot but allow, that the most ought to be made of the few within our reach. Their languages, considered in their structure, diversity, and affinity, are unquestionably the most important of these means. To these we must look for our chief aid in ascertaining the consanguinity of the various tribes, while we have scarce any other clue to guide us to the solution of the still more important problem of the original peopling of America. We therefore trust, that while we give up the greater part of our pages to the general reader, he will not complain, that a due proportion of the North American Review is devoted to the languages of the North American Continent. |