Historical and mythological traditions of the Algonquins.

  • Squier, E. G. (Ephraim George), 1821-1888.
Date:
[1849]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Historical and mythological traditions of the Algonquins. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    took possession of the country below them. For a long period of time, some say many hundreds of years, the two nations lived peace¬ ably, and increased their numbers with great rapidity. Ultimately some of the most adven¬ turous among them crossed the mountains to¬ wards the rising sun, and falling on streams running1 to the eastward, followed them to the great Bay River, (Susquehanna,) and thence to the Bay (Chesapeak) itself. As they pursued their travels, partly by land and partly by wa¬ ter, sometimes near and sometimes] on the great-salt-water Lake, (as they call the sea ) they discovered the great river which we call the Delaware ; and still further to the east¬ ward, the *Sheyicbbi country, now called New Jersey. Afterwards they reached the stream now called the Hudson. The reports of the adventurers caused large bodies to follow them, who settled upon the four great rivers, the Delaware, Hudson, Susquehanna and Potomac, making the Delaware, which they call “ Lena- pewihiUuck (the river of the Lenape) the cen¬ tre of their possessions. “ They add that a portion of their people re¬ mained beyond the Mississippi, and still another portion tarried between the Mississippi and the Mountains. The largest portion, they sup¬ posed, settled on the Atlantic. The latter were divided into three tribes, two of which were distinguished as Unamis, or Turtle, and Wnalachtgo, or Turkey. These chose the lands lying nearest the coast. Their settle¬ ments extended from the Mohicaniituck (river of the Mohicans, or Hudson) to beyond the Potomac. * * * The third great tribe, the Minsi, (which we have corrupted into Mon- seys,) or tribe of the wolf, lived back of the others, forming a kind of bulwark, and watch¬ ing the nations of the Mengwi. They were considered the most active and warlike of all the tribes. They extended their settlements from the Minisink, where they had their coun¬ cil-fire, quite to the Hudson on the east, and westward beyond the Susquehanna, and north¬ ward to the head waters of that stream and the Delaware. * * * From the above three divisions or tribes, comprising together the body of the people called Delawares, sprung many others, who, having for their own con¬ venience chosen distinct spots to settle in, and increasing in numbers, gave themselves names, or received them from others. * * * * Meanwhile trouble ensued with the Mengwi, who occupied the southern shores of the Lakes, and resulted in fierce and sanguinary wars. The reverses of the Mengwi induced them to confederate, after which time the contests with the Lenape were carried on with vigor until the arrival of the French in Canada.” It will be seen that there is a difference between the traditions, as given by Hecke- welder, and the Walum-olum, in respect to the name of the confederates against the Tallegwi. In the latter the allies are called Talamatan, literally Not-of-them¬ selves, and which, in one or two cases, is translated Hurons, with what correctness I am not prepared to say.* Heckewelder calls them Mengwi, Iroquois. This must be a mistake, as the Mengwi are subse¬ quently and very clearly alluded to in the Walum-olum, as distinct from the Talam¬ atan. It is remarkable that the traditions of almost all the tribes, on the eastern shore of the continent, refer, with more or less dis¬ tinctness, to a migration from the west¬ ward. “ When you ask them,” says Law- son, speaking of the Carolina Indians, “ whence their fathers came, that first in¬ habited the country, they will point to the westward and say, ‘ Where the sun sleeps, our fathers came thence.’ ”f Most of the nations speak of the passage of the Missis¬ sippi river. The Natchez, who assimilated more nearly to the central American and Peruvian stocks, (the Tollecan family,) in¬ formed Du Pratz that theyjonce dwelt at the south-west, “ under the sun.”J The Mus- cogulges or Creeks, according to Bar- tram’s manuscript, assert that they for¬ merly lived beyond the Mississippi, and that they relinquished that country in obe¬ dience to a dream in which they were directed to go to the country where the sun rises. They claim that they crossed the river in their progress eastward, about the period that De Soto visited Florida. The Cherokees (a cognate tribe) have a similar tradition. They assert that “ a long time ago all the Indians travelled a great distance and came to a great water. Upon arriving there, and immediately be¬ fore or immediately after crossing, it is not remembered which, a part went north and another part south. Those who went northwards settled in two towns called Ka-no-wo-gi and Nu-ta-gi; the others at Ka-ga-li-u, or old town, and because they took the lead in the journey were * In Heckewelder we find the Hurons sometimes called Delamattenos, which is probably but an¬ other mode of writing Talamatan. Although speaking a dialect of the Iroquois language, the Hurons seem to have generally maintained friend¬ ly relations with the Lenape. f Lawson’s Carolina, p. 170. % Louisiana, p. 292.