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.
