Chapter XIX

OF THEIR WOMEN, THEIR DISPOSITIONS, EMPLOYMENTS, USAGE BY THEIR HUSBANDS, THEIR APPARELL, AND MODESTY.

To satisfie the curious eye of women-readers, who otherwise might thinke their sex forgotten, or not worthy a record, let them peruse these few lines, wherein they may see their owne happinesse, if weighed in the womans ballance of these ruder _Indians_, who scorne the tuterings of their wives, or to admit them as their equals, though their qualities and industrious deservings may justly claime the preheminence, and command better usage and more conjugall esteeme, their persons and features being every way correspondent, their qualifications more excellent, being more loving, pittifull, and modest, milde, provident, and laborious than their lazie husbands. Their employments be many: First their building of houses, whose frames are formed like our garden-arbours, something more round, very strong and handsome, covered with close-wrought mats of their owne weaving, which deny entrance to any drop of raine, though it come both fierce and long, neither can the piercing North winde, finde a crannie, through which he can conveigh his cooling breath, they be warmer than our _English_ houses; at the top is a square hole for the smoakes evacuation, which in rainy weather is covered with a pluver these bee such smoakie dwellings, that when there is good fires, they are not able to stand upright, but lie all along under the smoake, never using any stooles or chaires, it being as rare to see an _Indian_ sit on a stoole at home, as it is strange to see an _English_ man sit on his heels abroad. Their houses are smaller in the Summer, when their families be dispersed, by reason of heate and occasions. In Winter they make some fiftie or thereescore foote long, fortie or fiftie men being inmates under one roofe; and as is their husbands occasion these poore tectonists are often troubled like snailes, to carrie their houses on their backs sometimes to fishing-places, other times to hunting places, after that to a planting-place, where it abides the longest: an other work is their planting of corne, wherein they exceede our _English_ husband-men, keeping it so cleare with their Clamme shell-hooes, as if it were a garden rather than a corne-field, not suffering a choaking weede to advance his audacious head above their infant corne, or an undermining worme to spoile his spurnes. Their corne being ripe, they gather it, and drying it hard in the Sunne, conveigh it to their barnes, which be great holes digged in the ground in forme of a brasse pot, seeled with rinds of trees, wherein they put their corne, covering it from the inquisitive search of their gurmandizing husbands, who would eate up both their allowed portion, and reserved seede, if they knew where to finde it. But our hogges having found a way to unhindge their barne doores, and robbe their garners, they are glad to implore their husbands helpe to roule the bodies of trees over their holes, to prevent those pioners, whose theeverie they as much hate as their flesh. An other of their employments is their Summer processions to get Lobsters for their husbands, wherewith they baite their hookes when they goe a fishing for Basse or Codfish. This is an every dayes walke, be the weather cold or hot, the waters rough or calme, they must dive sometimes over head and eares for a Lobster, which often shakes them by their hands with a churlish nippe, and bids them adiew. The tide being spent, they trudge home two or three miles, with a hundred weight of Lobsters at their backs, and if none, a hundred scoules meete them at home, and a hungry belly for two days after. Their husbands having caught any fish, they bring it in their boates as farre as they can by water, and there leave it; as it was their care to catch it, so it must be their wives paines to fetch it home, or fast: which done, they must dresse it and cooke it, dish it, and present it, see it eaten over their shoulders; and their loggerships having filled their paunches, their sweete lullabies scramble for their scrappes. In the Summer these _Indian_ women when Lobsters be in their plenty and prime, they drie them to keepe for Winter, erecting scaffolds in the hot sun-shine, making fires likewise underneath them, by whose smoake the flies are expelled, till the substance remains hard and drie. In this manner they drie Basse and other fishes without salt, cutting them very thinne to dry suddainely, before the flies spoile them, or the raine moist them, having a speciall care to hang them in their smoakie houses, in the night and dankish weather.

In Summer they gather flagges, of which they make Matts for houses, and Hempe and rushes, with dying stuffe of which they make curious baskets with intermixed colours and portractures of antique Imagerie: these baskets be of all sizes from a quart to a quarter, in which they carry their luggage. In winter time they are their husbunds Caterers, trudging to the Clamm bankes for their belly timber, and their Porters to lugge home their Venison which their lazinesse exposes to the Woolves till they impose it upon their wives shoulders. They likewise sew their husbands shooes, and weave coates of Turkie feathers, besides all their ordinary household drudgerie which daily lies upon them.

* * * * *

[Of the treatment of babes the writer says]: The young Infant being greased and sooted, wrapt in a beaver skin, bound to his good behaviour with his feete upon a board two foote long and one foote broade, his face exposed to all nipping weather; this little _Pappouse_ travells about with his bare footed mother to paddle in the ice Clammbanks after three or foure dayes of age have sealed his passeboard and his mothers recoverie. For their carriage it is very civill, smiles being the greatest grace of their mirth; their musick is lullabies to quiet their children, who generally are as quiet as if they had neither spleene or lungs. To hear one of these _Indians_ unseene, a good eare might easily mistake their untaught voyce for the warbling of a well tuned instrument. Such command have they of their voices.

* * * * *

Commendable is their milde carriage and obedience to their husbands, notwithstanding all this their customarie churlishnesse and salvage inhumanitie, not seeming to delight in frownes or offering to word it with their lords, not presuming to proclaime their female superiority to the usurping of the least title of their husbands charter, but rest themselves content under their helplesse condition, counting it the womans portion: since the _English_ arrivall comparison hath made them miserable, for seeing the kind usage of the _English_ to their wives, they doe as much condemne their husbands for unkindnesse, and commend the _English_ for their love. As their husbands commending themselves for their wit in keeping their wives industrious, doe condemne the _English_ for their folly in spoyling good working creatures. These women resort often to the _English_ houses, where _pares cum paribus congregatae_[52], in Sex I meane, they do somewhat ease their miserie by complaining and seldome part without a releefe: If her husband come to seeke for his _Squaw_ and beginne to bluster, the _English_ woman betakes her to her armes which are the warlike Ladle, and the scalding liquors, threatening blistering to the naked runnaway, who is soon expelled by such liquid comminations. In a word to conclude this womans historie, their love to the _English_ hath deserved no small esteeme, ever presenting them some thing that is either rare or desired, as Strawberries, Hurtleberries, Rasberries, Gooseberries, Cherries, Plummes, Fish, and other such gifts as their poore treasury yeelds them. But now it may be, that this relation of the churlish and inhumane behaviour of these ruder _Indians_ towards their patient wives, may confirme some in the beliefe of an aspersion, which I have often heard men cast upon the _English_ there, as if they should learne of the _Indians_ to use their wives in the like manner, and to bring them to the same subjection, as to sit on the lower hand, and to carrie water and the like drudgerie: but if my own experience may out-ballance an ill-grounded scandalous rumour, I doe assure you, upon my credit and reputation, that there is no such matter, but the women finde there as much love, respect, and ease, as here in old _England_. I will not deny, but that some poore people may carrie their owne water, and doe not the poorer sort in _England_ doe the same; witnesse your _London_ Tankard-bearers, and your countrie-cottagers? But this may well be knowne to be nothing, but the rancorous venome of some that beare no good will to the plantation. For what neede they carrie water, seeing every one hath a Spring at his doore, or the Sea by his house? Thus much for the satisfaction of women, touching this entrenchment upon their prerogative, as also concerning the relation of these _Indians_ Squawes.

[52] Equals assembled with equals.

PAWNEE BARBARITY.

That the tribes west of the Missouri, and beyond the pale of the ordinary influence of civilization, should retain some shocking customs, which, if ever prevalent among the more favoured tribes east of the Mississippi and the Alleghenies, have long disappeared, may be readily conceived. Wild, erratic bands, who rove over immense plains on horseback, with bow and lance, who plunge their knives and arrows daily into the carcasses of the buffalo, the elk and the deer, and who are accustomed to sights of blood and carnage, cannot escape the mental influence of these sanguinary habits, and must be, more or less, blunted in their conceptions and feelings. Where brute life is so recklessly taken, there cannot be the same nice feeling and sense of justice, which some of the more favoured tribes possess, with respect to taking away human life. Yet, it could hardly have been anticipated, that such deeds as we are now called upon to notice, would have their place even in the outskirts of the farther "Far West," and among a people so sunk and degraded in their moral propensities, as the Pawnees. But the facts are well attested.

In the fierce predatory war carried on between the Pawnees and Sioux, acts of blood and retaliation, exercised on their prisoners, are of frequent occurrence. In the month of February, 1838, the Pawnees captured a Sioux girl only fourteen years of age. They carried her to their camp on the west of the Missouri, and deliberated what should be done with her. It is not customary to put female captives to death, but to make slaves of them. She, however, was doomed to a harder fate, but it was carefully concealed from her, for the space of some sixty or seventy days. During all this time she was treated well, and had comfortable lodgings and food, the same as the rest enjoyed. On the 22nd of April, the chiefs held a general council, and when it broke up, it was announced that her doom was fixed, but this was still carefully concealed from her. This doom was an extraordinary one, and so far as the object can be deduced, from the circumstances and ceremonies, the national hatred to their enemies was indulged, by making the innocent non-combatant, a sacrifice to the spirit of corn, or perhaps, of vegetable fecundity.

When the deliberations of the council were terminated, on that day, she was brought out, attended by the whole council, and accompanied on a visit from lodge to lodge, until she had gone round the whole circle. When this round was finished, they placed in her hands a small billet of wood and some paints. The warriors and chiefs then seated themselves in a circle. To the first person of distinction she then handed this billet of wood and paint; he contributed to this offering, or sort of sacrificial charity some wood and paint, then handed it to the next, who did likewise, and he passed it to the next, until it had gone the entire rounds, and each one had contributed some wood and some paint. She was then conducted to the place of execution. For this purpose they had chosen an open grassy glade, near a cornfield, where there were a few trees. The spot selected was between two of these trees, standing about five feet apart, in the centre of which a small fire was kindled, with the wood thus ceremoniously contributed. Three bars had been tied across, from tree to tree, above this fire, at such a graded height, that the points of the blaze, when at its maximum, might just reach to her feet. Upon this scaffold she was compelled to mount, when a warrior at each side of her held fire under her arm pits. When this had been continued as long as they supposed she could endure the torture, without extinguishing life, at a given signal, a band of armed bow-men let fly their darts, and her body, at almost the same instant, was pierced with a thousand arrows. These were immediately withdrawn, and her flesh then cut with knives, from her thighs, arms and body, in pieces not longer than half a dollar, and put into little baskets. All this was done before life was quite extinct.

The field of newly planted corn reached near to this spot. This corn had been dropped in the hill, but not covered with earth. The principal chief then took of the flesh, and going to a hill of corn, squeezed a drop of blood upon the grains. This was done by each one, until all the grains put into the ground, had received this extraordinary kind of sprinkling.

This horrible cruelty took place in the vicinity of Council Bluffs. Offers to redeem the life of the prisoner had been made by the traders, in a full council of eighty chiefs and warriors, but they were rejected. The original narrator was an eye witness. He concludes his description by adding, that his wife's brother, a Pawnee, had been taken prisoner by the Sioux, in the month of June following, and treated in the same manner. Truly, it may be said that the precincts of the wild roving Red man, are "full of the abodes of cruelty."

* * * * *

Hunting and war are arts which require to be taught. The Indian youth, if they were not furnished with bows and arrows, would never learn to kill. The same time spent to teach them war and hunting, if devoted to teach them letters, would make them readers and writers. Education is all of a piece.

Example is more persuasive than precept in teaching an Indian. Tell him that he should never touch alcohol, and he may not see clearly why; but show him, by your invariable practice, that you never do, and he may be led to confide in your admonitions.

"THE LOON UPON THE LAKE."

BY E.F. HOFFMAN.

[From the Chippewa.[53]]

[53] Nenemoshain nindenaindum
Meengoweugish abowaugoda
Anewahwas mongoduga, &c., &c.

I LOOKED across the water,
I bent o'er it and listened,
I thought it was my lover,
My true lover's paddle glistened.
Joyous thus his light canoe would the silver ripples wake.--
But no!--it is the Loon alone--the loon upon the lake.
Ah me! it is the loon alone--the loon upon the lake.

I see the fallen maple
Where he stood, his red scarf waving,
Though waters nearly bury
Boughs they then were newly laving.
I hear his last farewell, as it echoed from the brake.--
But no, it is the loon alone--the loon upon the lake,
Ah me! it is the loon alone--the loon upon the lake.

TO A BIRD, SEEN UNDER MY WINDOW IN THE GARDEN.

By the late Mrs. H.R. SCHOOLCRAFT, who was a grand daughter of the war chief WABOJEEG.

Sweet little bird, thy notes prolong,
And ease my lonely pensive hours;
I love to list thy cheerful song,
And hear thee chirp beneath the flowers.

The time allowed for pleasures sweet,
To thee is short as it is bright,
Then sing! rejoice! before it fleet,
And cheer me ere you take your flight.

ODJIBWA SONG.

The following song, taken from the oral traditions of the north, is connected with a historical incident, of note, in the Indian wars of Canada. In 1759, great exertions were made by the French Indian department, under Gen. Montcalm, to bring a body of Indians into the valley of the lower St. Lawrence, and invitations, for this purpose reached the utmost shores of Lake Superior. In one of the canoes from that quarter, which was left on their way down, at the lake of Two Mountains, near the mouth of the Utawas, while the warriors proceeded farther, was a Chippewa girl called Paig-wain-e-osh-e, or the White Eagle, driven by the wind. While the party awaited there, the result of events at Quebec, she formed an attachment for a young Algonquin belonging to the French mission of the Two Mountains. This attachment was mutual, and gave origin to the song, of which the original words, with a literal prose translation, are subjoined:

I.

Ia indenaindum
Ia indenaindum
Ma kow we yah
Nin denaindum we.

Ah me! when I think of him--when I think of him--my sweetheart, my Algonquin.

II.

Pah bo je aun
Ne be nau be koning
Wabi megwissun
Nene mooshain we
Odishquagumee.

As I embarked to return, he put the white wampum around my neck--a pledge of truth, my sweetheart, my Algonquin.

III.

Keguh wejewin
Ain dah nuk ke yun
Ningee egobun
Nene mooshain we
Odishquagumee.

I shall go with you, he said, to your native country--I shall go with you, my sweetheart--my Algonquin.

IV.

Nia! nin de nah dush
Wassahwud gushuh
Aindahnuk ke yaun
Ke yau ninemooshai wee
Odishquagumee.

Alas! I replied--my native country is far, far away--my sweetheart; my Algonquin.

V.

Kai aubik oween
Ain aube aunin
Ke we naubee
Ne ne mooshai we
Odishquagumee.

When I looked back again--where we parted, he was still looking after me, my sweetheart; my Algonquin.

VI.

Apee nay we ne bow
Unishe bun
Aungwash agushing
Ne ne mooshai we
Odishquagumee.

He was still standing on a fallen tree--that had fallen into the water, my sweetheart; my Algonquin.

VII.

Nia! indenaindum
Nia! in denaindum
Ma kow we yuh
Nin de nain dum we
Odishquagumee.

Alas! when I think of him--when I think of him--It is when I think of him; my Algonquin.

* * * * *

Eloquence on the part of the speakers, is not so much the result of superior force of thought, as of the strong and clear positions of right, in which they have been placed by circumstances. It is the force of truth, by which we are charmed.

An Indian war song, sung in public, by the assembled warriors on the outbreak of hostilities, is a declaration of war.

NIAGARA, AN ALLEGORY.

An old grey man on a mountain lived,
He had daughters four and one,
And a tall bright lodge of the betula bark
That glittered in the sun.

He lived on the very highest top,
For he was a hunter free,
Where he could spy on the clearest day,
Gleams of the distant sea.

Come out--come out! cried the youngest one,
Let us off to look at the sea,
And out they ran in their gayest robes,
And skipped and ran with glee.

Come Su,[54] come Mi,[55] come Hu,[56] come Sa,[57]
Cried laughing little Er,[58]
Let us go to yonder broad blue deep,
Where the breakers foam and roar.

And on they scampered by valley and wood,
By earth and air and sky,
Till they came to a steep where the bare rocks stood,
In a precipice mountain high.

Inya![59] cried Er, here's a dreadful leap,
But we are gone so far,
That if we flinch and return in fear,
Nos,[60] he will cry ha! ha!

Now each was clad in a vesture light,
That floated far behind,
With sandals of frozen water drops,
And wings of painted wind.

And down they plunged with a merry skip,
Like birds that skim the plain;
And hey! they cried, let us up and try
And down the steep again.

And up and down the daughters skipped,
Like girls on a holiday,
And laughed outright, at the sport and foam
They called Niagara.

If ye would see a sight so rare,
Where nature's in her glee,
Go, view the spot in the wide wild west,
The land of the brave and free.

But mark--their shapes are only seen
In fancy's deepest play,
But she plainly shews their wings and feet
In the dancing sunny spray.

[54] Superior.

[55] Michigan.

[56] Huron.

[57] St. Claro.

[58] Erie.

[59] An exclamation of wonder and surprize.--_Odj. Lan._

[60] My father.--ib.

A PSALM.

OR SUPPLICATION FOR MERCY, AND A CONFESSION OF SIN, ADDRESSED TO THE AUTHOR OF LIFE, IN THE ODJIBWA-ALGONQUIN TONGUE.

BY THE LATE MRS. HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT.

1. Gaitshe minno pimaudizzeyun, Gezha Monedo, gezhigong aibeyun

2. Keen, maumauwaikumig waozhemigoyun.

3. Keen, kah ozhieeyong, keen gaugegaikumig, kai nuhwaunemeyong, aikoobemaudizzeyong.

4. Keen, kainuhwaubaimeyong, geezhig tibbikuk tibishko.

5. Keen, Keozheahn-geezhik-geezis, dibbik-geezis, aunungug gia.

6. Keen, kegeozhetoan tshe kimmewung, gia tshe annimikeeaug, tshe sai sai yung, tshe sogepoog gia.

7. Keen kau ozheiyong tshe unnewegauboweyaung, kakinnuk kau ozheudjig akeeng.

8. Kee, gemishemin odjechaugwug, wekaukaine bosigoog. Kee gemishemin kebauzhigo kegwiss Jesus Christ, tshe oonjenebood neeno-wind.

9. Mozhug issuh nemudjee-inaindumin, kagait mozhug nemudjee-eki-domin; nahwudj neminwaindumin tshe mudjee-dodumaung.

10. Kagaitego me kaisoondje izhauyaungebun mudjee Moneto.

11. Showainemishinaum, Gezha Monedo.

12. Showainemishinaum, Jesus Christ.

13. Maishkoodjetoan ne mudjee-odai-enaunin.

14. Meezhishenaun edush oushke odaiyun.

15. Apaidush nah saugeigsayun, gia dush todumaung kau izhe gugeek-wayun.

16. Me ozhissinaum odaiyun tshe minwaindumaung, tshe annahme autogoyun.

17. Showainim neendunahwaitmaugunenaunig unishenaubaig.

18. Showainim kukinnuh menik pemaudizzejig akeeng.

19. Showainemishenaum kaidokoo pemaudizzeyong, appe dush nee-boyong.

20. Showainemishenaum neen jeechaugonaunig tshe izhowaud keen.

21. Kaugegaikumig edush tshe menawaunegooz eyong ozaum ne mudje-pemaudizzewin auno unnahmeyauyongin.

22. Kauween edush kewee pemaudizzewin, kishpin aitah appainemo yong Kegwiss Jesus Christ.

23. Aipetainemud kegwiss showainemishenaum. Kunnah gai kunnah

TRANSLATION.

1. Great good author of Life, Gezha Monedo, abiding in the heavens

2. Thou hast made all things.

3. Thou art the giver,--Thou, the everlasting preserver of life.

4. Thou hast guarded me, by day and by night.

5. Thou hast made the sun and moon, and the stars.

6. Thou makest the rain, the thunder, the hail, and the snows.

7. Thou didst make man to stand upright, and has placed him over all that is on the earth.

8. Thou hast given us souls, that will never die. Thou hast sent thy son Jesus Christ to die for us.

9. Continually are our thoughts evil, and truly, our words are evil continually.

10. Verily, we deserve punishment with the Spirit of Evil.

11. Show pity on us, Gezha Monedo.

12. Show pity on us, Jesus Christ.

13. Reform our wicked hearts.

14. Give us new hearts.

15. May we love thee with all our hearts, and by our acts obey thy precepts, (or sayings.)

16. Give us hearts to delight in prayer.

17. Show mercy to all our kindred, unishenaubaig, or common people, (means exclusively the Red Men.)

18. Show mercy to all who live on the earth.

19. Pity us, and befriend us, living and dying.

20. And receive our souls to thyself.

21. Ever to dwell in thine abiding place of happiness.

22. Not in our own frail strength of life, do we ask this; but alone in the name of Jesus Christ.

23. Grant us thy mercy, in the name of thy Son. So be it ever.

Those who take an interest in the structure of the Indian languages, may regard the above, as an _improvised_ specimen of the capacity of this particular dialect for the expression of scripture truth. The writer, who from early years was a member of the church, had made a translation of the Lords prayer, and, occasionally, as delicate and declining health permitted, some other select pieces from the sacred writings, and hymns, of which, one or two selections may, perhaps, hereafter be made.

* * * * *

The distinction between the active and passive voice, in the Odjibwa language, is formed by the inflection ego.

Ne sageau, I love.
Ne sageau-ego, I am loved.

TRADITIONARY WAR SONGS

OF THE

ODJIBWA ALGONQUINS.

Whoever has heard an Indian war song, and witnessed an Indian war dance, must be satisfied that the occasion wakes up all the fire and energy of the Indian's soul. His flashing eye--his muscular energy, as he begins the dance--his violent gesticulation as he raises his war-cry--the whole frame and expression of the man, demonstrate this. And long before it comes to his turn to utter his stave, or portion of the chant, his mind has been worked up to the most intense point of excitement: his imagination has pictured the enemy--the ambush and the onset--the victory and the bleeding victim, writhing under his prowess: in imagination he has already stamped him under foot, and torn off his reeking scalp: he has seen the eagles hovering in the air, ready to pounce on the dead carcass, as soon as the combatants quit the field.

It would require strong and graphic language to give descriptive utterance, in the shape of song, to all he has fancied, and seen and feels on the subject. He, himself, makes no such effort. Physical excitement has absorbed his energies. He is in no mood for calm and connected descriptions of battle scenes. He has no stores of measured rhymes to fall back on. All he can do is to utter brief, and often highly symbolic expressions of courage--of defiance--of indomitable rage. His feet stamp the ground, as if he would shake it to its centre. The inspiring drum and mystic rattle communicate new energy to every step, while they serve, by the observance of the most exact time, to concentrate his energy. His very looks depict the spirit of rage, and his yells, uttered quick, sharp, and cut off by the application of the hand to the mouth, are startling and horrific.

Under such circumstances, a few short and broken sentences are enough to keep alive the theme in his mind; and he is not probably conscious of the fact, that, to an unimpassioned and calm listener, with note book in hand, there is not sufficient said to give coherence to the song. And that such a song, indeed, under the best auspices, is a mere wild rhapsody of martial thought, poured out from time to time, in detached sentences, which are, so to say, cemented into lines by a flexible chorus and known tune. The song and the music are all of a piece. Vivid and glowing, and poetic pictures will float in such a train, and often strike the imagination by their graphic truth and boldness; but the poet must look elsewhere for finished melody, and refined and elaborate composition.

The Indian is to be viewed here, as elsewhere, as being in the highest state of his _physical_, not of his _mental_ phasis. Such glimmerings may however be picked out of these warlike rhapsodies, as denote that he is of a noble and independent tone of thinking. We shall at least enable the reader to judge. The following specimens, which have been derived from actors in the depths of the forest, consist of independent songs, or stanzas, each of which is sung by a different or by the same warrior, while the dance is in progress. The words have been taken down from a young Chippewa warrior of lake Superior, of the name of Che che-gwy-ung. It will be perceived that there is a unity in the _theme_, while each warrior exercises the freest scope of expression. This unity I have favoured by throwing out such stanzas as mar it, and afterwards arranging them together.

WAR SONG.

_a_. In beginning this song the warrior has turned his eyes to the clouds.

O sha wan ong (From the place of the south)
Un dos' e wug, (They come,) _repeat_.
Pe nae' se wug, (The birds, _i.e._ the warlike birds.)
Ka baim wai wa dung-ig. (Hear the sound of their passing screams
on the air.)

_b_. The idea of ravenous birds hovering in the sky, still prevails--

Tod ot' to be (I wish to change myself to be)
Pe nae' se. (A bird.)
Ka dow' we a we yun'. (His swift body--to be like him.)
*/

_c_. The warrior now rises above all thoughts of fear.

Ne wae be na, (I cast it away.)
Ne ow a. (My body.)
Ne wa be na, (_Repeats_.) This is a high symbolical
Ne ow a. boast of personal bravery.

_d_. He appeals to the Great Spirit for extraordinary power.

Na bun a kum ig, (On the front part of the earth,)
Tshe ba be wish' em ug. (First shines [strikes] the light.)
In do main' em ik, (Such power to me,)
Mon' e do, (My God,)
Shae wa nem id. (In thy mercy give!)

By the boldness of this figure he claims the omnipotent power of the sun to see and discover his enemies.

_e_. He upbraids such of his people as hold back, and do not join in the dance--that is to say, enlist in the war.

Wae go nain', e win? (Why do ye, warriors,)
A be yun ah, (Stand back?)
Wae wos is se, we yun. (Ye who bear the mark of the Awasees.)
*/

The Awasee is a kind of fish, which is the _totem_ of a clan.

_f_. He declares his full purpose to enter into the war.

Ne ma je, e yeh! (I go to the spot--the war path!)
Ne ma je, e yeh! (_Repeats_.)
Ne me kun ah, e yeh! (My war path!)
Ge zhig neen wa tin, (My sky is fair and clear.) The common
phrase to denote good fortune.
Hoh! Ne monedo netaibuaetum (Let others linger. Onward! my
o win. God!--my right!)

In presenting these specimens of the original words of some of our western warriors, we are permitted to give the annexed versions of them from the pen of one of our most gifted writers.

WAR-SONG--"Pe-nae' se-wug."

(From the Algonquin of Schoolcraft.)

BY C.F. HOFFMAN.

I.

Hear not ye their shrill-piping
screams on the air?
Up! Braves for the conflict
prepare ye--prepare!
Aroused from the canebrake,
far south by your drum,
With beaks whet from carnage,
the Battle Birds come.

II.

Oh God of my Fathers,
as swiftly as they,
I ask but to swoop
from the hills on my prey:
Give this frame to the winds,
on the Prairie below,
But my soul--like thy bolt--
I would hurl on the foe!

III.

On the forehead of Earth
strikes the Sun in his might,
Oh gift me with glances
as searching as light.
In the front of the onslaught,
to single each crest,
Till my hatchet grows red
on their bravest and best.

IV.

Why stand ye back idly,
ye Sons of the Lakes?
Who boast of the scalp-locks,
ye tremble to take.
Fear-dreamers may linger,
_my_ skies are all bright--
Charge--charge--on the War-Path,
FOR GOD AND THE RIGHT.

Take the following additional example, of a death song. These stanzas have all been actually sung on warlike occasions, and repeated in my hearing. They have been gleaned from the traditionary songs of the Chippewas of the north, whose villages extend through the region of lake Superior, and to the utmost sources of the Mississippi. Those bands are the hereditary foes of their western neighbours, the Dacotahs or Sioux, who are generally called by them, by way of distinction, Na do wae' sees, that is to say, OUR ENEMIES. The allusions in the songs are exclusively to them. In writing the original, I omit the chorus, as it is not susceptible of translation, and would increase considerably the space occupied.

DEATH SONG.

1. In opening this song the warrior is to be contemplated as lying wounded on the field of battle.

A' be tuh ge zhig, (Under the centre of the sky,)
Ne ba baim wae' wae. (I utter my baim wae wae.)

Baimwaewae, is the sound of passing thunders, which will convey a just idea of the violence of this figure.

2. His thoughts revert to the star of his destiny.

Ain dah' so gezhig (Every day, thou star!)
Ke ga gun o wa bom in. (I gaze at you.)

It is the morning star that is here alluded to.

3. He sees the birds of carnage hovering over the field.

A' be tuh geezh-ig (The half of the day)
Ai be yaun (I abide--gazing)
Pe nae se wug (Ye warlike birds.)

4. He keeps the flight of these birds before his mind and hears their shrill cries.

Pe misk wosh e wug (They fly round the circuit of the sky.)
Pe nae' se wug (The birds--circling)
A' be tuh geezh ig oag. (Round half the circuit of the sky.) The
meaning is, approaching him in circle
more nearly, as life becomes fainter in
him.

5. This figure is continued. He lies bleeding.

A' zha waush e wug (They cross the enemy's line)
Pe nae se wug. (The birds.)

6. He feels that he is called to another world.

A pit she Mon e doag (The high gods)
Ne mud wae wae (My praise)
Wa we ne goag. (They sound.)

7. He is content and willing to go.

Kae gait', ne min wain' dum (Full happy--I)
Ne bun ai kum ig (To lie on the battle-field)
Tshe ba be wish e naun. (Over the enemy's line.)

DEATH-SONG--"A' be tuh ge zhig."

(From the Algonquin of Schoolcraft.)

BY C.F. HOFFMAN.

I.
Under the hollow sky,
Stretched on the Prairie lone,
Centre of glory, I
Bleeding, disdain to groan,
But like a battle cry
Peal forth my thunder moan,
_Baim-wae wae!_

II.
Star--Morning-Star, whose ray
Still with the dawn I see,
Quenchless through half the day
Gazing thou seest me--
Yon birds of carnage, they
Fright not my gaze from thee!
_Baim-wae-wae!_

III.
Bird, in thine airy rings
Over the foeman's line,
Why do thy flapping wings
Nearer me thus incline?
Blood of the Dauntless brings
Courage, oh Bird to thine!
_Baim-wae-wae!_

Hark to those Spirit-notes!
Ye high Heroes divine,
Hymned from your god-like throats
That Song of Praise is mine!
Mine, whose grave-pennon floats
Over the foeman's line!
_Baim-wae-wae!_

WAR SONG.

Where are my foes? say, warriors, where? No forest is so black,
That it can hide from my quick eye, the vestige of their track:
There is no lake so boundless, no path where man may go,
Can shield them from my sharp pursuit, or save them from my blow.
The winds that whisper in the trees, the clouds that spot the sky,
Impart a soft intelligence, to show me where they lie,
The very birds that sail the air, and scream as on they go,
Give me a clue my course to tread, and lead me to the foe.

The sun, at dawn, lifts up his head, to guide me on my way,
The moon, at night, looks softly down, and cheers me with her ray.
The war-crowned stars, those beaming lights, my spirit casts at night
Direct me as I thread the maze, and lead me to the fight.
In sacred dreams within my lodge, while resting on the land,
Bright omens of success arise, and nerve my warlike hand.
Where'er I turn, where'er I go, there is a whispering sound,
That tells me I shall crush the foe, and drive him from my ground.

The beaming WEST invites me on, with smiles of vermil hue,
And clouds of promise fill the sky, and deck its heavenly blue,
There is no breeze--there is no sign, in ocean, earth or sky,
That does not swell my breast with hope, or animate my eye.
If to the stormy beach I go, where heavy tempests play.
They tell me but, how warriors brave, should conquer in the fray.
All nature fills my heart with fires, that prompt me on to go,
To rush with rage, and lifted spear, upon my country's foe.