The word “travail” appearing above, as given by the interpreter, requires explanation. It refers to the peculiar sledge which is used by many tribes of Indians for the purpose of transportation. It is used on the surface of the ground when not covered with snow, even more than when snow prevails. The word is more generally found in print in the plural, where it is spelled “travaux” and sometimes “travois.”
The etymology of this word, which has not yet been found in any Indian language, has been the subject of considerable discussion. The present writer considers it to be one of the class of words which descended in corrupted form from the language of the Canadian voyageurs, and that it was originally the French word “traineau,” with its meaning of sledge.
Figure 139 is taken from a roll of birch bark obtained from the Ojibwa Indians at Red Lake, Minnesota, in 1882, known to be more than seventy years old. The interpretation was given by an Indian from that reservation, although he did not know the author nor the history of the record. With one exception, all of the characters were understood and interpreted to Dr. Hoffman, in 1883 by Ottawa Indians at Harbor Springs, Michigan. This tribe at one time habitually used similar methods of recording historic and mythologic data.
Fig. 139.—Bark record from Red Lake, Minnesota.
No. 1. Represents the person who visited a country supposed to have been near one of the great lakes. He has a scalp in his hand which he obtained from the head of an enemy, after having killed him. The line from the head to the small circle denotes the name of the person, and the line from the mouth to the same circle signifies (in the Dakota method), “That is it,” having reference to proper names.
No. 2. The person killed. He was a man who held a position of some consequence in his tribe, as is indicated by the horns, marks used by the Ojibwas among themselves for Shaman, Wabeno, etc. It has been suggested that the object held in the hand of this figure is a rattle, though the Indians, to whom the record was submitted for examination, are in doubt, the character being indistinct.
No. 3. Three disks connected by short lines signify, in the present instance, three nights, i. e., three black suns. Three days from home was the distance the person in No. 1 traveled to reach the country for which started.
No. 4. Represents a shell, and denotes the primary object of the journey. Shells were needed for making ornaments and to trade.
No. 5. Two parallel lines are here inserted to mark the end of the present record and the beginning of another.