Footnotes to the Sea-Gull
101 Kay-óshk is the Ojibway name of Sea-Gull.
102 Gitchee—great,—Gumee—sea or lake,—Lake Superior; also often called Ochipwè Gítchee Gúmee, Great Lake (or sea) of the Ojibways.
103 Né-mè-Shómis—my grandfather. “In the days of my Grandfather” is the Ojibway’s preface to all his traditions and legends.
104 Waub—white—-O-jeeg,—fisher, (a furred animal.) White Fisher was the name of a noted Chippewa Chief who lived on the south shore of Lake Superior many years ago. Schoolcraft married one of his descendants.
105 Ma-kwâ or mush-kwa—the bear.
106 The Te-ke-nâh-gun is a board upon one side of which a sort of basket is fastened or woven with thongs of skin or strips of cloth. In this the babe is placed, and the mother carries it on her back. In the wigwam the tekenagun is often suspended by a cord to the lodge-poles and the mother swings her babe in it.
107 Wabóse—the rabbit. Penay, the pheasant. At certain seasons the pheasant drums with his wings.
108 Kaug, the porcupine. Kenéw. the war-eagle.
109 Ka-be-bón-ik-ka is the god of storms, thunder, lightning, etc. His home is on Thunder-Cap at Thunder-Bay, Lake Superior. By his magic, the giant that lies on the mountain was turned to stone. He always sends warnings before he finally sends the severe cold of winter, in order to give all creatures time to prepare for it.
1010 Kewaydin or Kewaytin, is the North-wind or North-west wind.
1011 Algónkin is the general name applied to all tribes that speak the Ojibway language or dialects of it.
1012 This is the favorite “love-broth” of the Ojibway squaws. The warrior who drinks it immediately falls desperately in love with the woman who gives it to him. Various tricks are devised to conceal the nature of the “medicine” and to induce the warrior to drink it; but when it is mixed with a liberal quantity of “fire-water” it is considered irresistable.
1013 [ Translation:
Woe-is-me! Woe-is-me!
Great Spirit, behold me!
Look, Father; have pity upon me!
Woe-is-me! Woe-is-me!]
1014 Snow-storms from the North-west.
1015 The Ojibways, like the Dakotas, call the Via Lactea (Milky Way) the Pathway of the Spirits.
1016 Shingebis, the diver, is the only water-fowl that remains about Lake Superior all winter. See Schoolcraft’s Hiawatha Legends, p. 113.
1017 Waub-ésè—the white swan.
1018 Pé-boân, Winter, is represented as an old man with long white hair and beard.
1019 Se-gún is Spring or Summer. This beautiful allegory has been “done into verse” by Longfellow in Hiawatha. I took my version from the lips of an old Chippewa Chief. I have compared it with Schoolcraft’s version, from which Mr. Longfellow evidently took his.
1020 Nah—look, see. Nashké—behold.
1021 Kee-zis—the sun,—the father of life. Waubúnong—or Waub-ó-nong—is the White Land or Land of Light,—the Sun-rise, the East.
1022 The Bridge of Stars spans the vast sea of the skies, and the sun and moon walk over on it.
1023 The Miscodeed is a small white flower with a pink border. It is the earliestblooming wild-flower on the shores of Lake Superior, and belongs to the crocus family.
1024 The Ne-be-naw-baigs, are Water-spirits; they dwell in caverns in the depths of the lake, and in some respects resemble the Unktéhees of the Dakotas.
1025 Ogema, Chief,—Ogema-kwa—female Chief. Among the Algonkin tribes women are sometimes made chiefs. Net-nó-kwa, who adopted Tanner as her son, was Oge-mâ-kwa of a band of Ottawas. See John Tanner’s Narrative, p. 36.
1026 The “Bridge of Souls” leads from the earth over dark and stormy waters to the Spirit-land. The “Dark River” seems to have been a part of the superstition of all nations.
1027 The Jossakeeds of the Ojibways are sooth-sayers who are able, by the aid of spirits, to read the past as well as the future.