The American Indians / Their History, Condition and Prospects, from Original Notes and Manuscripts

by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft

Albarrada, a settlement of Indians in the kingdom of Chile, situated on the shores of the river Cauchupil. Also a settlement of New Spain, containing 22 Indian families.

Alempigon, improperly written for Nipigon, a small lake north of lake Superior.

Alfaxaiuca, a settlement of New Spain, containing 171 Indian families.

Algansee, a township of the county of Branch, Michigan. It is a compound derivative from Algonkin, gan, a particle denoting a lake, and mushcodainse, a prairie.

Algic, an adjective term used by the writer, to denote a genus or family of tribes who take their characteristic from the use of the Algonquin language. It is a derivative from the words Algonquin, and Akee, earth, or land.

Algonquin, a nation of Indians who, on the discovery and settlement of Canada, were found to occupy the north banks of the St. Lawrence between Quebec, Three Rivers, and the junction of the Utawas. Quebec itself is believed to be a word derived from this language, having its origin in Kebic, the fearful rock or cliff. When the French settled at Quebec, fifteen hundred fighting men of this nation lived between that nation and Sillery. They were reputed, at this era, to be the most warlike and powerful people in North America, and the most advanced in their policy and intelligence. Colden speaks of them as excelling all others. On the arrival of Champlain, who, although not the discoverer of the country, was the true founder of the French power in Canada, they were supplied with fire arms, and even led to war, by that chivalric officer, against their enemies, the Iroquois. They were stimulated to renewed exertions in various ways, by the arrival of this new power, and carried the terror of their arms towards the south and south-west. They were in close alliance with the Wyandots, a people who, under the names of Quatoghies and Hurons, on Cartier's arrival in 1534, were seen as low down the St. Lawrence as the island of Anticosti, and bay Chaleur. But as soon as the Iroquois had been supplied with the same weapons, and learned their use, the Algonquins were made to feel the effects of their courage, and combined strength. The Wyandots were first defeated in a great battle fought within two leagues of Quebec. The Iroquois next prepared to strike an effective blow against the collective tribes of kindred origin, called Algonquins. Under the pretence of visiting the Governor of Canada, they introduced a thousand men into the valley of the St. Lawrence, when, finding their enemies separated into two bodies, the one at the river Nicolet, and the other at Trois Rivière, they fell upon them unawares, and defeated both divisions. In this defeat the Nipercerinians (Nipessings) and the Atawawas (Ottowas) who then lived on the banks of the St. Lawrence, participated. The former, who were indeed but the Algonquins, under their proper name, drew off towards the north-west. The Atawawas migrated to the great chain of the Manatoulines of lake Huron, whence they have still proceeded further towards the west and south, until they reached L'arbre Croche and Grand River of Michigan, their present seats. The Quatoghies or Wyandots fled to the banks of the same Lake (Huron) which has derived its name from the celebrity of their flight to, and residence on its banks.

Of the Algonquins proper who remained on the St. Lawrence, and who are specifically entitled to that name, but a limited number survive. About the middle of the 17th century, they were reduced to a few villages near Quebec, who were then said to be "wasted, and wasting away under the effects of ardent spirits." Subsequently, they were collected, by the Catholic Church, into a mission, and settled at the Lake of Two Mountains, on the Utawas or Grand River of Canada, where they have been instructed in various arts, and effectually civilized. There, their descendants still remain. They are a tall, active, shrewd, lithe, energic race. Parties of them have been engaged as voyagers and hunters, within modern times, and led in the prosecution of the fur trade into the remote forests of the north-west. In these positions, they have manifested a degree of energy, hardihood, and skill in the chase, far beyond that possessed by native, unreclaimed tribes. The Algonquin women, at the Lake of Two Mountains, make very ingenious basket and bead work, in which the dyed quills of the porcupine, and various coloured beads of European manufacture, are employed. They also make finger rings out of moose hair, taken from the breast tuft of this animal, in which mottoes or devices are worked. They have melodious soft voices, in chanting the hymns sung at the mission. This tribe is called Odishkuaguma, that is, People-at-the-end-of-the-waters, by the Odjibwas. They were called Adirondacks, by the Six Nations. The term Algonquin, which we derive from the French, is not of certain etymology. It appears at first to have been a nom de guerre, for the particular people, or tribe, whose descendants are now confined to the position at the Lake of Two Mountains. It was early applied to all the tribes of kindred origin. And is now a generic term for a family or primitive stock of tribes in North America, who either speak cognate dialects, or assimilate in the leading principles of their languages.

The number of these tribes still existing, is very large, and viewed in the points of their greatest difference, the variations in the consonantal and diphthongal sounds of their languages, are considerable. As a general geographical area, these tribes, at various periods from about 1600, to the present time, ethnographically covered the Atlantic coast, from the northern extremity of Pamlico-sound to the Straits of Bellisle, extending west and north-west, to the banks of the Missinipi of Hudson's Bay, and to the east borders of the Mississippi, as low as the junction of the Ohio. From this area, the principal exceptions are the Iroquois of New York, the Wyandots west, and the Winnebagoes and small bands of the Docotahs. The grammatical principles of these dialects, coincide. As a general fact, in their lexicography the letters f, r and v are wanting. The dialects derive their peculiarities, in a great measure, from interchanges between the sounds of l and n, b and p, d and t, g and k, in some of which, there is a variance even in distant bands of the same tribe. The language is transpositive. In its conjugations, the pronouns are incorporated with the verb, either as prefixes or suffixes. Its substantives are provided with adjective inflections, denoting size and quality. Its verbs, on the other hand, receive substantive inflections. Gender is, as a rule, lost sight of, in the uniform attempt, to preserve, by inflections, a distinction between animate and inanimate, and personal or impersonal objects. It is remarkable for the variety of its compounds, although the vocabulary itself, is manifestly constructed from monosyllabic roots. All its substantives admit of diminutives, but, in no instance, of augmentatives. They also admit of derogative and prepositional inflections. The comparison of adjectives, is not, on the contrary, made by inflections, but by separate words. There is no dual number, but in all the dialects, so far as examined, a distinction is made in the plural of the first person, to denote the inclusion or exclusion of the object. There is no distinction between the pronoun, singular and plural, of the third person. The language has some redundancies, which would be pruned off by cultivation. It has many liquid and labial sounds. It has a soft flow and is easy of attainment. It is peculiarly rich and varied, in its compound terms for visible objects, and their motions or acts. Streams, mountains, vallies, and waters, in all their variety of appearance, are graphically described. It is equally suited to describe the phenomena of the heavens, the air, tempests, sounds, light, colours, motion, and the various phases of the clouds and planetary bodies. It is from this department, that a large portion of their personal names are taken.

It is true that many of the grammatical principles of the Algonquin languages, are also developed in other stocks. Yet these stocks are not as well known. It was chiefly in the area of the Algonquin tribes, that the British and French, and Dutch and Swedish colonists settled, and the result of enquiry, through a long period, has accumulated most materials in relation to this type of the American languages. Specific notices of each of the subdivisions of this stock, will be given under the appropriate names.

The general synonyms for this nation are but few. The principal differences in the orthography, between the French and English writers consist in the latter's spelling the last syllable quin, while the former employ kin. In old encyclopædias and gazetteers, the phrase Algonquinensis, is used. The term Abernaquis, is also a French mode of annotation for the same word, but is rather applied at this time to a specific band. The word Algic, derived from the same root, has been applied by the writer to the entire circle of the Algonquin tribes, in their utmost former extent in North America. Mr. Gallatin has proposed the term "Algonkin-Lenape," as a philological denomination for this important family. Their own name for the race, is a question of some diversity of opinion. Those particular tribes, who were found on the Atlantic coast between the Chesapeak-bay and the Hudson, called themselves Lenapes, generally with the prefixed or qualifying noun of Linno, or Lenno. Other tribes extending over the largest area of the union, and of British America, inhabited by this stock, denote themselves as a race, by the term Anishinábá, that is, the common people.