Nowhere else north of Mexico was the system of picture writing developed so far as among the Algonkins, especially by the Lenâpés and the Chipeways. It had passed from the representative to the symbolic stage, and was extensively employed to preserve the national history and the rites of the secret societies. The figures were scratched or painted on pieces of bark or slabs of wood, and as the color of the paint was red, these were sometimes called “red sticks.” One such, the curious Walum Olum, or “Red Score,” of the Lenâpés, containing the traditional history of the tribe, I was fortunate enough to rescue from oblivion, and have published it with a translation.[92] The contents of others relating to the history of the Chipeways (Ojibways) have also been partly preserved.
The religion of all the Algonkin tribes presented a distinct similarity. It was based on the worship of Light, especially in its concrete manifestations, as the sun and fire; of the Four Winds, as typical of the cardinal points, and as the rain bringers; and of the Totemic Animal. Their myths were numerous, the central figure being the national hero-god Manibozho or Michabo, often identified with the rabbit, apparently from a similarity in the words. He was the beneficent sage who taught them laws and arts, who gave them the maize and tobacco, and who on his departure promised to return and inaugurate the Golden Age. In other myths he is spoken of as the creator of the visible world and the first father of the race. Along with the rites in his worship were others directed to the Spirits of the Winds, who bring about the change of seasons, and to local divinities.
The dead as a rule were buried, each gens having its own cemetery. Some tribes preserved the bones with scrupulous care, while in Virginia the bodies of persons of importance were dried and deposited in houses set apart for the purpose.
The tribe that wandered the furthest from the primitive home of the stock were the Blackfeet, or Sisika, which word has this signification. It is derived from their earlier habitat in the valley of the Red river of the north, where the soil was dark and blackened their moccasins. Their bands include the Blood or Kenai and the Piegan Indians. Half a century ago they were at the head of a confederacy which embraced these and also the Sarcee (Tinné) and the Atsina (Caddo) nations, and numbered about thirty thousand souls. They have an interesting mythology and an unusual knowledge of the constellations.[93]
The Lenâpés were an interesting tribe who occupied the valley of the Delaware river and the area of the present State of New Jersey. For some not very clear reason they were looked upon by the other members of the stock as of the most direct lineage, and were referred to as “grandfather.” Their dialect, which has been preserved by the Moravian Missionaries, is harmonious in sound, but has varied markedly from the purity of the Cree.[94] It has lost, for instance, the peculiar vowel change which throws the verb from the definite to the indefinite form. The mythology of the Lenâpés, which has been preserved in fragments, presents the outlines common to the stock.
ALGONKIN LINGUISTIC STOCK.
- Abnakis, Nova Scotia and S. bank of St. Lawrence.
- Arapahoes, head waters of Kansas river.
- Blackfeet, head waters of Missouri river.
- Cheyennes, upper waters of Arkansas river.
- Chipeways, shores of Lake Superior.
- Crees, southern shores of Hudson Bay.
- Delawares, see Lenâpés.
- Illinois, on the Illinois river.
- Kaskaskias, on Mississippi, below Illinois river.
- Kikapoos, on upper Illinois river.
- Lenâpés, on the Delaware river.
- Meliseets, in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
- Miamis, between Miami and Wabash rivers.
- Micmacs, in Nova Scotia.
- Menomonees, near Green Bay.
- Mohegans, on lower Hudson river.
- Manhattans, about New York Bay.
- Nanticokes, on Chesapeake Bay.
- Ottawas, on the Ottawa river and S. of L. Huron.
- Pampticokes, near Cape Hatteras.
- Passamaquoddies, on Schoodic river.
- Piankishaws, on middle Ohio river.
- Piegans, see Blackfeet.
- Pottawattomies, S. of Lake Michigan.
- Sauteux, see Crees.
- Sacs and Foxes, on Sac river.
- Secoffies, in Labrador.
- Shawnees, on Tennessee river.
- Weas, near the Piankishaws.