Shin'gebis, the diver, or grebe.
Showain' neme'shin, pity me.
Shuh-shuh'gah, the blue heron.
Soan-ge-ta'ha, strong-hearted.
Subbeka'she, the spider.
Sugge'me, the mosquito.
To'tem, family coat-of-arms.
Ugh, yes.
Ugudwash', the sun-fish.
Unktahee', the God of Water.
Wabas'so, the rabbit, the North.
Wabe'no, a magician, a juggler.
Wabe'no-wusk, yarrow.
Wa'bun, the East-Wind.
Wa'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-wa'wa, the white goose.
Wawonais'sa, the whippoorwill.
Way-muk-kwa'na, the caterpillar.
Wen'digoes, giants.
Weno'nah, Hiawatha's mother, daughter of Nokomis.
Yenadiz'ze, an idler and gambler; an Indian dandy.
In the Vale of Tawasentha.
This valley, now called Norman's Kill; is in Albany County, New York.
On the Mountains of the Prairie.
Mr.Catlin, in his Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, andCondition of the North American Indians, Vol.II p.160, gives aninteresting account of the Coteau des Prairies, and the Red Pipe-stone 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 thrillingfumes 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, which 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 must use it for their pipes of peace,--that it belonged to them all, and that the war-club and scalping-knife must not be raised on its ground.At the lastwhiff of his pipe his head went into a great cloud, and the wholesurface 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 aud Tso-me-cos-te-won-dee), answering to theinvocations of the high-priests or medicine-men, who consult themwhen they are visitors to this sacred place."Hark you, 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, Iasked him how he thought that poor animal could understand what he said to it.'O,' said he in answer, 'the bear understood me verywell; did you not observe how ashamed he looked while I was upbraiding him?"'--Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Vol.I.p.240.
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 Delawares.
"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.....
"The history of this animal used to be a subject of conversation among the Indians, especially when in the woods a hunting.Ihave also heard them say to their children when crying: 'Hush! the naked bear will hear you, be upon you, and devour you,'"Where the Falls of Minnehaha, etc.
"The scenery about Fort Snelling is rich in beauty.The Falls ofSt.Anthony are familiar to travellers, 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 Indians called them Mine-hah-hah, or 'laughing waters.'" --MRS.
EASTMAN'S Dacotah, or Legends of the Sioux, Introd., p.ii.
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 Rocks.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."Onaway! Awake, beloved!
The original of this song may be found in Littell's Living Age, Vol.
XXV.p.45.
On the Red Swan floating, flying.
The fanciful tradition of the Red Swan may be found in Schoolcraft's Algic Researches, Vol.II.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.