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ALGIC RESEARCHES,

COMPRISING

INQUIRIES RESPECTING THE MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS

OF THE

NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS.

FIRST SERIES.

INDIAN TALES AND LEGENDS.

IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. I.

BY HENRY ROWE SCHOOLCRAFT.

Author of a Narrative Journal of Travels to the Sources of the Mississippi;
Travels in the Central Portions of the Mississippi Valley;
An Expedition to Itasca Lake, &c.


NEW-YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, 82 CLIFF-STREET.

1839.


Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1839,
By HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT,
In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New-York.


TO

LIEUT. COL. HENRY WHITING,

OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY.

SIR,

The position taken by you in favour of the literary susceptibilities of
the Indian character, and your tasteful and meritorious attempts in
imbodying their manners and customs, in the shape of poetic fiction, has
directed my thoughts to you in submitting my collection of their oral
fictions to the press. Few have given attention to the intellectual
traits and distinctive opinions of these scattered branches of the human
family, without finding the subject interesting and absorbing. But in an
age of multifarious excitement, in which topic after topic, and
invention after invention, have poured in upon us with an almost
overwhelming rapidity, the interest felt on the subject, and the tribes
themselves, and their strong claims to attention, have been thrown into
the background and nearly lost sight of.

It is a pleasing coincidence, that, in addressing one whose feelings and
sentiments, in relation to them, have preserved their equanimity, amid
the din of the intellectual and moral novelties of the day, I can, at
the same time, appeal to the ties of literary sympathy and of personal
friendship. Accept these expressions of my respect, and believe me,

Most truly yours,

HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT.




CONTENTS

OF

THE FIRST VOLUME.


                                                  Page

General Considerations                               9

Preliminary Observations on the Tales               31

       *       *       *       *       *

Ojeeg Annung; or, the Summer-maker                  57

The Celestial Sisters                               67

Tau-Wau-Chee-Hezkaw; or, the White Feather          74

Peboan and Seegwun. An Allegory                     84

The Red Lover                                       87

Iamo; or, the Undying Head                          96

Mon-Dau-Min; or, the Origin of Indian Corn         122

Peeta Kway; or, the Tempest                        129

Manabozho                                          134

Bokwewa; or, the Humpback                          175

Iena; or, the Magic Bundle                         181

Sheem; or, the Forsaken Boy                        191

Paup-Puk-Keewiss                                   200

Iadilla; or, the Origin of the Robin               221

The Enchanted Moccasins                            226

The Broken Wing                                    233

The Three Cranberries. A Fable                     238

Paradise opened to the Indians; Pontiac's Tale     239




GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.


It is proposed by the author to publish the result of his observation on
the mythology, distinctive opinions, and intellectual character of the
aborigines. Materials exist for separate observations on their oral
tales, fictitious and historical; their hieroglyphics, music, and
poetry; and the grammatical structure of the languages, their principles
of combination, and the actual state of their vocabulary. The former
topic has been selected as the commencement of the series. At what time
the remaining portions will appear, will depend upon the interest
manifested by the public in the subject, and the leisure and health
necessary to the examination of a mass of original papers, the
accumulation of nearly twenty years.

The character and peculiarities of the tribes have been studied under
favourable circumstances and new aspects; offering, it is believed, an
insight into their mental constitution, as yet but imperfectly
understood. Hitherto our information has related rather to their
external customs and manners, their physical traits and historical
peculiarities, than to what may be termed the philosophy of the Indian
mind. Such an examination required time and diligence. Much of the
earlier part of it was necessarily devoted to clearing the ground