Communipaw

“ CHILEELI.
The Chippewas relate that the spirit of a young lover, who was killed in battle, determined to return to his affianced maid, in the shape of a bird, and console her by his songs. He found her in a chosen retreat, where she daily resorted to pass her pensive hours.
Stay not here—the men are base,
I have found a happier place,
Where no war, or want severe,
Haunts the mind with thoughts of fear;
Men are cruel—bloody—cold,
Seeking like lynx the rabbit's wold,
Not to guard from winds or drought,
But to suck its life's blood out. ”

“ What will our fathers think the tribes of the Wyandots have become? They will look on their children with a dark eye, and say, 'Go! a Chippewa has come hither with the name of a Huron.' Brothers, we must not forget the dead; a red-skin never ceases to remember. ”

“ A small Chippewa village, under the chieftainship of Tshwee-tshweesh-ke-wa, or the Plover, and Kundekund, the Net Buoy, was found on the west bank of the river, near its mouth, the chiefs and warriors of which received us in the most friendly manner. If not originally a people of a serene and placid temperament, they have been so long in habits of intercourse with the white race that they are quite familiar with their manners and customs, and mode of doing business. ”

“ The great village of the Chippewas was situated on Chegoimegon Bay, and at the moment of Allouez’ arrival a grand council of ten or twelve nations had assembled there to prevent war between the Chippewas and the Sioux. Into this assembly advanced the fearless missionary, and in the names of Christ and of the monarch of France commanded peace; offering to them the advantage of commerce, and protection from the French against their common enemy the Iroquois.
These Indians who had never before seen a white man, listened to him with reverence. ”

“ I think it questionable whether some literary hack was not employed, by the booksellers, to draw up the part of the work "On the origin, manners, customs, religion, and language of the Indians." Considerable portions of the matter are nearly verbatim in the language of Charlevoix, La Hontan, and other authors of previous date. The "vocabulary of Chippewa," so far as it is Chippewa at all, has the French or a mixed orthography, which it is not probable that an Englishman or an American would, de novo, employ. ”

“ They evinced the same feeling of welcome, and pleasure we had met from the Chippewas on the lower part of the stream. Kabamappa said that nothing had been very recently heard from the direction of Lac du Flambeau and the borders of the Sauc disturbances. He readily communicated many facts respecting the existing difficulties, and the means taken to enlist the Indians in a general war. He said, that the137 confederacy, as it is, had been reported to consist of nine tribes, whom he named. [23] With respect to a permanent peace with the Sioux, he cordially approved it. ”

“ Hence the troubles which occasionally break out between the Chippewas and the Sioux. To gain the applause of their tribe they will incur almost any danger, and undergo almost any privation. Thus, we see that for those objects which their education has taught them to regard as first and best, they will sacrifice all their comforts. They have sense enough, and ambition enough, and fortitude enough. To those they love they are affectionate almost to excess. Only direct their ambition in the proper way, and they will at once rise. ”

“ The Chippewas and all the nations westward, call us and ask us,—‘Brothers of our Fathers, where is the place you have preserved for us to lie down upon?’ You have compelled us to do that which has made us ashamed. We have nothing to answer to the children of the brothers of our fathers. ”

“ Aishkebugékozh, or the Flat Mouth, called Guelle Platte, in the patois of the Fur Trade. The Head chief of the band of the Chippewas, called Mukundwas or Pilligers, who are situated at Leech Lake, on the sources of the Mississippi. This band, it is estimated, can furnish 200 warriors. They are a brave and warlike people, and are at perpetual war with their western neighbours, the Sioux. They subsist by the chase, and by taking white fish in the lake. Some corn and potatoes are also raised by the women and the old and superannuated men of the band. ”

“ Owato Wanisha, we met as strangers, we part as friends. Tell your young warriors you have been among the Comanches, and that we would like to know them. Tell them to come, a few or many, to our waikiams (lodges) they will find the moshkataj (buffalo) in plenty.
“Farewell, young chief, with a pale face and an Indian heart; the earth be light to thee and thine. May the white Manitou clear for thee the mountain path, and may you never fail to remember Opishka Toaki (the White Raven) , who is thy Comanche friend, and who would fain share with thee his home, his wealth, and his wide prairies. ”

“ I understand you now, Chippewa; you wish to know how many of us there are in the country we call America?”
“Juss so,” returned Pigeonswing, nodding in assent. “Dat juss it—juss what Injin want to know.”
“Well, we do have a count of our own people, from time to time, and I suppose come about as near to the truth as men can come in such a matter. There must be about eight millions of us altogether; that is, old and young, big and little, male and female.”
“How many warrior you got?—don't want hear about squaw and pappoose.” ”

“ I am however of opinion that the barbarous and uncouth dialect of the Winnebagoes, the Menomonies, and many other tribes, will become in time totally extinct, and this be adopted in its stead.
The Chipéway tongue is not incumbered with any unnecessary tones or accents, neither are there any words in it that are superfluous; it is also easy to pronounce, and much more copious than any other Indian language. ”

“ American: mountaineers of Patagonia.
Calmuc or Kalmuk.
A dialect of Moghol, spoken by the Kalmuk Tartars, in the steppes of the Caucasus, between the Volga and the Ural, towards Astrakhan, on the shores of the Caspian, S. Russia.
Camacan.
American: a dialect of Botocudo. Da Silva: “Diccionaria ... Lingoa Geral.” See Mongoyo. ☞
Camarian.
A dialect of S. Ceram, closely allied to Amboyna. See Wallace’s “Malay Archipelago.”
[40]
Camba, see Kambali.
Cambojan.
A monosyllabic tongue, peculiar to Cambodia, in the E. peninsula of S. Asia.
Cambrai.
A patois of France; Dept. du Nord. ”

“ Suppose that, according to our most approved European notions, the poor woman had been burnt at the stake, corporeally or metaphorically, or hunted beyond the pale of the village, for deviating from the law of custom, no doubt there would have been directly a new female sect in the nation of the Chippewas, an order of wives of the sun, and Chippewa vestal virgins; but these wise people trusted to nature and common sense. ”

“ At this island, story says, formerly lived the noted warrior and meta, Sagima; and it was also, according to Indian mythology, the residence of Mishosha, who owned a magic canoe, that would shoot through the water by uttering a charmed word.
22d. I have heard much of the ancient Chippewa capital of La Pointe, as the French call it, or Chegoimegon, in Lake Superior, situated near its west end, or head. The Chippewas and their friends, the old traders and Boisbrules, and Canadians, are never tired of telling of it. All their great men of old times are located there. ”

“ The conviction here livingly enforced of the superiority on the side of the white man, was thus expressed by the Indian orator at Mackinaw while we were there. After the customary compliments about sun, dew, &c., "This," said he, "is the difference between the white and the red man; the white man looks to the future and paves the way for posterity. The red man never thought of this." This is a statement uncommonly refined for an Indian; but one of the gentlemen present, who understood the Chippewa, vouched for it as a literal rendering of his phrases ”

“ The Chippewas have grievances that would make white men tear their hair and howl from one end of the country to the other; but they prefer to submit quietly and peaceably to the powers that be, praying without ceasing, hoping continually that the good men of the Great Father’s household will yet hear and answer their petitions by the necessary legislations. ”

“ General. All things have terminated happily. Our arms have been triumphant, and our gallant soldiers rewarded with the approbation of their country. Love has intwined a wreath for your brows, Lenox, and domestic peace and happiness await you; and when old age draws on apace, may you remember the Plains of Chippewa, and feel towards Britain as freemen should feel towards all the world: "Enemies in war—in peace, friends." ”

“ The inhabitants of Coupang are a very heterogeneous mass, being composed,—1st, of a mixture of Dutch and Malay blood, to which class belong the Resident, the Secretary, and other Public Functionaries; 2dly, the unmixed Malay: 3dly, Chinese, of which there are a considerable number; 4thly, a mixture of the Chinese and Malay:—there are few Europeans, Mr. Bechade, a merchant, Mr. Macleod, a naturalist, and the ex-Secretary of Banda, a pure Dutchman (sent here without his own consent) , being the only white inhabitants. ”

“ The larger boys used to amuse themselves by playing a ball called Paw-kaw-do-way, foot- racing, wrestling, bow-arrow shooting, and trying to beat one another shooting the greatest number of chipmunks and squirrels in a day, etc.
I never heard any boy or any grown person utter any bad language, even if they were out of patience with anything. Swearing or profanity was never heard among the Ottawa and Chippewa tribes of Indians, and not even found in their language. ”

“ One day, a few years before he died, after the last council wigwam was demolished [Pg 145] (wigwam, or we-go-wam, is a Chippewa word for any kind of a house) , and the ground on which it stood had been ploughed up, he called together at his residence, the few who still adhered to the ancient customs of the tribe. It was his last feast, and the last dance song of this feast sounded mournful to the ears of the distant passer, who knew what it was. ”

“ I want you to understand also, that the Kiowas and Comanches don't want to fight, and have not been fighting since we made the treaty. I hear a great deal of good talk from the gentlemen whom the Great Father sends us, but they never do what they say. ”

“ This fact is known to all the tribes—even to the Comanches, who are so distant. It has satisfied them as to what they may expect from those who thus violate all treaties and all faith. The remainder of that brave tribe is now dwelling on the west borders of Ioway, but their wrongs are too deeply dyed with their own blood to be forgotten even by generations, and their cause is ready to be espoused by every tribe, even those who have been their hereditary enemies ”

“ Finished an article for the Literary and Theological Review, on the influence of the native priests, or metais, and the adaptation of the general principles of Christianity to the North American Indians. Some of the phenomena of the Chippewa language are of deep interest. The substantive verb to be, deemed by many philologists to be wanting in the Indian language of this continent, is perceived to be freely used by Mr. ”

“ After the lapse of a quarter of an hour, one of the aged blacks approaches him, carrying in his hand a fire-stick, or a piece of thick bark ignited at one end. The messenger presents his token to the old man, who scans it and orders his conduct accordingly. Some hours after, if the messenger has announced visitors, the members of his tribe arrive, and, if they are friendly, there is a corrobboree at night. If the purpose is war, the messenger has to hold a debate with the old men of the tribe, which sometimes lasts far into the night. ”

“ Perfectly versed in the arts of the forest, they have enjoyed the advantage of concealment in the progress of a war, which has been directed against the Sioux, a powerful assemblage of tribes, who live essentially in plains, but who aim to make up the disadvantage of this exposure, by moving habitually in larger bodies. It seems, however, indisputable, that, with fewer numbers, the Chippewas have not hesitated to fall upon their enemies, and have routed them, and driven them before them, with a valor and resolution, which in any period of written warfare, would have been stamped as heroic. ”

“ The comparative exemption from heavy taxes and duties which the Cambodians enjoy, when compared with the Siamese, made me imagine I should be able to live here in comfort and abundance; but I was disappointed. Almost every vice seemed prevalent at Komput—pride, insolence, cheating, cowardice, servility, excessive idleness, [181] are the attributes of this miserable people. It is often remarked that no one should judge a country through which he is merely a traveller, and that only those are capable of doing so who have resided in it for some time. ”

“ Chippewa Indians, by Which They Were Governed in Their Primitive State,
Before They Came in Contact With White Races in Their Country—The Ten
Commandments, The Creed, and The Lord's Prayer in the Ottawa Language
as Translated by the Author.
1st. Thou shalt fear the Great Creator, who is the over ruler of all things.
2d. Thou shalt not commit any crime, either by night or by day, or in a covered place: for the Great Spirit is looking upon thee always, and thy crime shall be manifested in time, thou knowest not when, which shall be to thy disgrace and shame. ”

“ Mél. i. 100.
c. 1535.—"Passing from Siam towards China by the coast we find the kingdom of Cambaia (read Camboia) ... the people are great warriors ... and the country of Camboia abounds in all sorts of victuals ... in this land the lords voluntarily burn themselves when the king dies...."—Sommario de' Regni, in Ramusio, i. f. 336.
1552.—"And the next State adjoining Siam is the kingdom of Camboja, through the middle of which flows that splendid river the Mecon, the source of which is in the regions of China...."—Barros, Dec. I. Liv. ix. cap. 1. ”