Part 4

But the tribes the furthest advanced in the north, as far as the latitude of the Wisconsin, do not have these medlars, and those who are yet further, want also the nuts similar to the ones of France....

For this country [of the savages of the prairies] is entirely plains; there are only some islands [oases] where it is their custom to camp to dry their meat....

When the Ottowas had scattered towards the lakes [to Mechingan(3)], the Sauteurs and the Missisakis fled to the north, and then to _Kionconan_(4), for want of hunting; and the Ottowas, fearing they were not strong enough to resist the incursions of the Iroquois, who were informed of the place where they had made their establishment, took refuse on the Mississippi, called at present the _Louisianne_. They ascended this river to twelve leagues, or about [33 miles] from the Wisconsin, where they found another river that is called [river] of the Ioways(5). They followed it to its source, and there met nations who received them cordially. But, in all the extent of country which they overran, having seen no place proper to establish themselves, by reason that there was no wood there at all, and that prairies and level plains were all that appeared, although buffaloes and other animals were there in abundance, they returned upon their steps by the same route; and, after having once more reached the _Louisianne_, they ascended higher.

They were not there long without scattering, going from one side to another for hunting: I speak of a portion, only, of their people, whom the Sioux met and led to their villages, ... and then returned them to the rest.

The Ottowas and Hurons received them very well in their turn, without, however, making them any great presents. The Sioux having arrived at home with some little matters that they had received from the Ottowas, divided portions of them with the other villages, their allies, and gave to the ones, hatchets, and to others, knives or awls. All these villages sent deputies to the Ottowas(6)....

The Sioux received the Ottowas and Hurons in the best manner, wherever they went.... The Ottowas at last resolved to choose the island called Bald, [_Pelee_] to settle on; where they were several years in repose. They often received there the visit of the Sioux....

The Hurons, having so much audacity that they imagined the Sioux were incapable of resisting them without fire-arms and weapons of iron, conspired with the Ottowas to make war upon them, in order to drive them from their country, so as to be able to spread themselves more, to procure means of subsistence. The Ottowas and the Hurons joined together and marched against the Sioux. They believed that as soon as they would appear, the others would fly; but they were much deceived, for their attacks were sustained, and they were even repulsed; and if they had not retreated, would have been entirely defeated by the great number of people who came from the other allied villages to the assistance of the Sioux. They were pursued to their settlement, where they were obliged to make a hasty fort, which, however, was sufficient to cause the Sioux to retire;—not daring to storm it.

The continual inroads that the Sioux made upon them constrained them to fly(7). They had known of a river called the Black River. This they entered; and, having arrived where it takes its source, the Hurons found there a place fit to fortify themselves in, and to establish their village. The Ottowas, however, pushed beyond, and reached Lake Superior, where they fixed their home at _Chagouamikon_. The Sioux, seeing their enemies fled, remained in peace, without following them any more. But the Hurons were not content to stop there; they sent some parties against them, which, however, making little impression, drew frequent incursions on the part of the Sioux, and caused them to quit their fort to join the Ottowas at _Chagouamikon_, with a great loss of their people. So soon as they arrived there, they thought of forming a war party of one hundred men to go against the Sioux, and to revenge themselves for their former defeats.

It is to be remarked that the country where they are [the Sioux] is nothing but lakes and marshes, filled with wild rice, separated, the ones from the others, by little tongues of land, which, at the most, from one lake to the other, are but thirty to forty steps, and, in many cases, only five to six or a little more. These lakes, or marshes, contain fifty or more leagues square, [19 or 20,000 square miles] and are divided by no river but the _Louisianne_, which has its bed in the middle, and into which a part of their waters is emptied. Others fall into the river of _Sainte Croix_, which is situated, in respect to them, to the north-east, and flows near them. Finally, the other marshes and lakes, situated to the west of the river of Saint Peter, throw themselves similarly into it. Thus, the Sioux are inaccessible in that marshy country, and cannot be destroyed there, but by enemies having canoes, like themselves, to follow them; for, in these places, there are only five or six families together, which form a hamlet, or a kind of small village; and all the others are in the same way, at a certain distance, in order to be ready to help each other at the first alarm. If any one of these little villages is attacked, the enemy can hurt it but slightly; for all the neighbors assemble at once, and give prompt assistance where it is needed. The way they have of navigating these lakes is to strike into their [rice] fields with their canoes, and, carrying them from lake to lake, they force the flying enemy to turn round. Thus, they can go from one to another, till they have passed them all, and have arrived at the main land.

The hundred Hurons became entangled in the middle of these marshes, without canoes, where they were discovered by some Sioux, who hastened to give a general alarm. This nation [the Sioux] was numerous, scattered through all the extent of the marshes where they were gathering wild rice which is the grain of this people, and tastes better than rice.

More than three thousand Sioux approached, from all sides, and invested the Hurons, ... of all this party but one escaped(8).

...

The Hurons, seeing that they were so weak in numbers, concluded not to seek for revenge any more, but lived peaceably at Chagouamikon for many years. During all this time, they were not molested by the Sioux, who only applied themselves to making war on the Kiristinons, the Assiniboines, and all the other nations of the north, whom they have much injured, and by whom they have, on their part, been decimated....

Father Menard, who had been appointed missionary to the Ottowas, [in 1660, and who went to them], accompanied by some Frenchmen that were going to traffic with that nation, was abandoned by all who were with him, except one, who rendered to him, to the last, all the services and assistance that he stood in need of. The Father followed the Ottawas to the lake of the Illinois, and in their flight to _Louisianne_, as far as to above the Black River. There it was that this missionary had but one Frenchman for companion, and where all the rest had left him. This Frenchman, I say, followed carefully the route of the Ottawas, and made his portages in the same places that they had;—never leaving the same river that they were on. He found himself, one day [August, 1661], in a rapid that was carrying him away in his canoe. The Father, to relieve him, disembarked from his own, but did not take the proper road to come to him; he entered one that had been made by animals; and desiring to return to the right one, became embarrassed in a labyrinth of trees and was lost. The Frenchman, after having ascended the rapid, with a great deal of trouble, waited for the good Father, and as he did not come, concluded to search for him. He called his name in the woods with all his strength, for several days, but in vain. However, he met, in the way, a Sauk who was carrying the camp kettle of the missionary; and who told him news of him. He informed him that he had found his track a long way on, in the woods, but that he had not seen the Father himself. He told him, too, that he had found the traces of several others going towards the Sioux. He even said that he thought the Sioux might have killed him, or taken him prisoner. Indeed, several years afterwards, there were found amongst this nation his breviary and cassock, which they exposed at their ceremonies, making offerings to them of their food....

... to hunt in the direction of the Sioux; for _Chagouamikon_ is only fifty to sixty leagues [138 to 166 miles] distant from them, going across the country in a direct line....

... They gave him, for second. M. du Lhut, whom he sent word to [1684] at _Kamalastiguoia_, at the further side of Lake Superior, where was his post(9)....

I was sent to this bay [Green Bay, post of St. Francois Xavier], charged with the commission to have chief command there, and in the most distant countries on the side of the west, and even in any that I might discover [1685]....

I had no sooner arrived in the places where I was to command, than I received orders from M. Denonville to return, with all the Frenchmen that were with me.

... At that time, I was in the country of the Sioux, where the freezing [of the streams] had broken all our canoes; I was compelled to stay there during the summer [1686]....

I went by land to the Miamis, who were about sixty leagues [165½ miles] from my post [in the country of the Sioux], and returned from them the same way that I had gone....

Some days after, I went across the country to the Bay [Green] with two Frenchmen. I met, continually, with those who showed me the best road, and treated me very well(10).

§ 3. Extracts from the notes to the “Memoire sur les moeurs &c.”

(1) “Assinipoualaks, or _warriors of the rock_, now Assiniboines, a Sioux tribe, which, towards the commencement of the seventeenth century, having quarrelled with the rest of the nation, was obliged to secede, and took refuge amongst the rocks (assin) of the Lake of the Woods.”

(2) “The Kilistinons lived upon the banks of Lake Alimbegong, between Lake Superior and Hudson’s Bay.”

(3) “_Mechingan_—eastern Wisconsin and north-western Michigan.”

(4) “_Kionconan_—Kewenaw of the American maps.“ [Pronounced by the modern Chippewas It is like _Ke-wa-yo-nahn-ing_.—E. F. Ely.]

(5) “The Iowas, neighbors and allies of the Sioux, dwelt between the 44th and 45th degrees of north latitude, twelve days’ journey beyond the Mississippi: that they very likely belonged to the latter nation, is shown by the name of _Nadouessioux Maskoutens_, or _Nadouessioux of the prairies_, that the Algonquins had given them; for _Maskoute_, [Mush-ku-day,] the root of _Maskoutens_, signifies _land destitute of trees_, or _prairie_.”

(6) “We know indeed that two Frenchmen visited, in 1659, the forty Sioux villages without crossing, or even seeing, the Mississippi, of which they have only spoken from hearsay, and from the descriptions that the Hurons of Black River gave them of it. The villages belonged, then, all to the eastern portion of the Sioux territory, situated on this side of the river; that is to say, in the half of the country really occupied by this nation. It may, however, be that in the infant Mississippi, disguised, too, under a Sioux name, our two travelers did not recognize the large and powerful river that the Hurons told them of under its Algonquin title. In this case, they must have been, though without their knowledge, the first to see again in the seventeenth century, the Mississippi, discovered in the sixteenth by Ferdinand de Soto.” ... “One of these travelers was called Des Groseillers, and lived many months with the Sioux. This we gather from the following passage of the M. S. Journal of the Jesuits of Quebec, (Aug., 1660).... “The Ottowas arrived on the 19th.... There were three hundred of them. Des Groseillers was in their company; he had gone to them the year before.... Des Groseillers has wintered with the nation of the Ox [_nation du boeuf_], which he makes to be 4,000 men. They are the sedentary Nadouesserons’ (Sioux of the East).”

(7) “From the commencement of 1660, the Ottowas inhabited Chegoimegon Point [Shah-gah-wah-mik-ong—Ely], as well as the islands adjacent to it on the southern shore of Lake Superior. The Hurons, at that time, were in hiding near the sources of the Black River, at six days distance (40 or 50 leagues), from the same lake, and at seven or eight from Green Bay. The two peoples were visited, in 1659, by two French traders, who, penetrating beyond, made alliance with the Sioux. It is then between the years 1657 [at which time the Hurons and Ottowas were living in Mechingan,] and 1660, that the events described by Perrot must have taken place; that is, from the flight of these tribes to the Mississippi, up to their first troubles with the Sioux, which were followed by a new migration—that was not their last one.” ... “In reckoning at forty or fifty leagues the six days journey that separated the residence of the Hurons from Lake Superior, I have only applied the rule given in the _Relation_ of 1658 by Father Dreuillettes; ‘You will see also,’ he writes, ‘the new roads to go to the sea of the north, ... with the distance of the places, according to the days travel that the savages have made, which I put at fifteen leagues a day in descending, on account of the rapidity of the waters, and at seven or eight leagues in ascending.’” [The common league of France is equal to 2.76 miles.]

(8) “This disastrous expedition following the arrival of the Hurons at Chegoimegon, it could not, consequently, have taken place before 1662. On the other hand, it preceded, by many years perhaps, the visit that the Chief of the Sinagaux Ottowas paid the Sioux in 1665 or 1666; it is then very likely that the defeat of the Hurons by the Sioux occurred in one of the two years, 1662 or 1663.” ... “Two reasons have impelled me to place in 1665-1666, the arrival of the Sioux prisoners at Chegoimegon, followed by their return to their country with the chief of the Sinagaux and the four Frenchmen of whom Perrot speaks. The first is that, in this year, the Sioux very certainly visited the Point of the Holy Spirit; the second, that, according to the account of these events, as it is given by our author, four or five years at least, had passed away between this visit and the abandoning of Chegoimegon, in 1670-71, by the Hurons and the Ottowas.”

(9) “_Kalamalastigouia_—an application of DuLhut, made in 1693, in which he solicits the concession of this post, gives the name as _Kamanastigouian_.”

(10) “Perrot, who was recalled in 1685, from the country of the Sioux, received, four years later, express orders to take possession of it in the name of the king, as seen in the following document: ...

“‘_Nicolas Perrot, commandant pour le roi au poste des Nadouesioux ... declarons a tous qu’il appartiendra etre venus a la baye des Puants et au lac des Outagamis, rivieres des dits Outagamis et Maskoutins, riviere de l’Ouiskonche et celle de Mississippi, nous etre transportes au pays des Nadouesioux, sur le bord de la riviere de Sainte Croix, a l’entree de la riviere de Saint Pierre, sur laquelle etaient les Mantantons, et, plus haut dans les terres, au nord-est du Mississippi, jusqu aux Menchokatouches, chez lesquels habitent la plus grande partie des Songeskitoux et autres Nadouesioux qui sont au nord-est du Mississippi, pour et au nom du Roy, prendre possession des terres et rivieres ou les dites nations habitent, et desquelles elles sont proprietaires ... fait au poste Saint-Antoine le dit jour et an que dessus_’”—[le 8 Mai 1689.] See Neills’ History of Minnesota, pages 143 to 145, for _translation_ of this “deed” in full.

DAKOTA SUPERSTITIONS.

By G. H. Pond, of Bloomington.

BLOOMINGTON, December 14, 1866.

Rev. JOHN MATTOCKS—_Dear Sir_:—I have deferred complying with your request to prepare a paper for the Historical Society till now, only because I have never found the leisure necessary to do it. Even now I have been obliged to let every thing else go except what was absolutely necessary to be done in order to attend to it. The press of to-day contains a notice of your meeting last Monday. I suppose, therefore, that I am too late, but will forward to you what I have prepared. If it is not acceptable please return it to me.

The “superstitions” to which the paper relates, it may seem to some, are too absurd to be the religion of men, however degraded, but they have been obtained from the Indians themselves, and I have never discovered that they had anything better, but have discovered much that is worse. I presume that no one will be disposed to say that it is my own invention, for that would be giving me credit for more imaginative and creative genius than I ever claimed. Such as it is I send it, and shall be satisfied if the society accepts it or returns it to me.

The sack I send you will find explained under the head “_Medicine-man a DOCTOR_.” It is not the medicine sack of the medicine dancer.

In haste, yours, &c.,

G. H. POND.

The Dakota Indians are the tribes who are generally known by the name of Sioux, a name given them by early French explorers.

Of the Dakota there are several—seven—grand divisions who are, by their orators, sometimes spoken of as “SEVEN FIRES.”

These again were divided into a great number of smaller tribes or clans, each having its little chief, who was simply the most influential individual in the clan, which was composed chiefly of blood relations.

The chief, for generations, seems to have had but little authority except that which he derived from the support of some medicine-man, who attached himself to him, or from the fact that government officers and traders transacted business with the clans through them.

The name Dakotah signifies much the same as confederacy. The word is often used as the opposite of enemy.

These divisions and subdivisions of Indians are all embraced under the comprehensive name DAKOTA, the name by which they call themselves. The Assinnaboines are said to have belonged originally to the Dakota family.

A few years ago, these Dakota tribes occupied the country along the Mississippi river, from about Prairie du Chien, to far above the Falls of St. Anthony, the whole of the Minnesota valley, and the immense plains extending westward to, and beyond the Missouri river.

The language of all these tribes is the same, with unimportant dialectic differences, and seems to be entirely distinct from that of the tribes around, except, perhaps, that of the Winnebago tribe.

Being one in language they are alike in their civil polity, if indeed it can be said that they have any, alike in their religious belief and practice, and alike in all their manners, allowing for the modifications which have been produced by diversity of circumstances.

It is to the superstitions of these Dakotas that the following paper relates.

In the first place it seems to be necessary to define the very significant Dakota word _wakan_, for, in it is contained the quintessence of their religion. It is an epitome of the whole, containing its pith and marrow.

The word _wakan_, signifies anything which is incomprehensible. The more incomprehensible the more wakan. The word is applied to anything, and everything, that is strange or mysterious. The general name for the gods in their dialect is this, _Taku-Wakan_, i. e., that which is wakan.

Whatever, therefore, is above the comprehension of a Dakota, is God. Consequently, he sees gods everywhere. Not Jehovah every where, but _Taku-Wakan_.

This is the starting point in their superstitions, but it is not with ease that one can arrive at the other end of the subject. It runs out like the division of matter, to divinity. To use an expression of one of their own most intelligent men, “there is nothing that they do not revere as God.” _Wakan_ is the one idea of divine essence. The chief, if not the only difference that they recognize to exist, among all the tens of thousands of their divinities, is the unessential one of a difference in the degree of their wakan qualities, or in the purposes for which they are wakan.

_We_ speak of the _medicine_-man, _medicine_-feast, _medicine_-dance, and the great-_spirit_ of the Indian, while he speaks of _wakan_-man, the _wakan_-feast, the _wakan_-dance, and the great-_wakan_.

Evidence is wanting to show that these people divide their _Taku-Wakan_ into classes of good or evil. They are all simply wakan. The Dakotas have another word to represent spirit, or soul, or Jehovah, but the word wakan is never used in that sense, though a spirit might be wakan.

Evidence is also wanting to show that the Dakotas embraced in their religious tenets, the idea of one Supreme Existence, whose existence is expressed by the term GREAT SPIRIT. If some of the clans, at the present time, entertain this idea, it seems highly probable that it has been imparted to them by individuals of European extraction. No reference to such a being is to be found in their feasts, or fasts, or sacrifices. Or if there is any such reference at the present time, it is clear that is of recent origin and does not belong to their system. Individuals of them may tell us that the worship of the great medicine-dance is paid to the Great Spirit, but it is absolutely certain that it is not, as will be seen as we proceed.

Mr. Carver tells us of a religious ceremony of a very singular nature—very wakan—in which a person is carefully bound hand and foot and mysteriously released by the gods—the performance of which he witnessed, and which he said had reference to the GREAT SPIRIT. Doubtless it had such reference in his opinion, but it will be shown in another place, that in fact, it had not.

It is indeed true, that Dakotas do sometimes appeal to the Great Spirit when in counsel with white men, but it is because they suppose him to be the object of the white man’s worship, or because they themselves have embraced the Christian doctrines. Still it is generally the _Interpreter_ who makes the appeal to the Great Spirit, when the speaker really appealed to the _Taku_-wakan, and not to the wakan-_Tanku_.

Besides, the great struggle which at the present time exists between the heathen and the Christian Dakotas, is freely _expressed_ to be a strife, between the old system of worship rendered to the _Taku Wakan_, and the new, which is rendered to the _Wanku Tanku_. The Christians are universally distinguished from the pagans, as being worshippers of Wakan Tanku, or as we speak, the Great Spirit.

One word more by way of introduction. It is true of all the Dakota gods, or wakans, that they are male and female, are subject to the same laws of propagation under which men and animals exist, and are mortal. They are not thought of as being eternal, except it may be by succession.

DAKOTA GODS.

THE ONKTEHI.

It seems to be proper to allow this wakan object to take the precedence in our arrangement, as he does really in respectability. The literal signification of the name is probably lost, though it may, perhaps, signify extraordinary vital energies.