NOTES
I
⇒The references to authorities on Algonkin picture-writing are the Appendix to Tanner's Narrative of Captivity and Adventures, Copway's Traditional History of the Ojibway Nation, and Schoolcraft's Synopsis of Indian Symbols, in Vol. I of his History and Statistics of the Indian Tribes. I have not pursued an investigation of the symbols beyond the first chant.
1. Rafinesque translates wemiguna "all sea water." The proper form is wemmguna, "at all times" (Anthony). The symbol is that of the sky and clouds above the earth. Compare Copway, p. 134; Schoolcraft, Synopsis, Fig. 17.
2. Kwelik, a dialectic form of quenek, Z. long, stretched out. Kitanito, a compound of kehtan, great, and manito, mysterious being, is rendered by Raf. as Creator; wit is the substantive verbaffix.
Heckewelder (MSS.) distinguishes between the synthetic form, ketanittowit, which he translates "Majestic Being," and the analytic form, kitschi manito, which he renders "Supreme Wonder-doer." In the latter, the sense of manito is brought out. In the Delaware and related dialects it conveys the idea of making, or doing (maniton, to make, Zeisberger, Gram., p. 222; maranito taendo, make a fire, Campamus; Chipeway, win ma-nitawito he himself makes it, or, can make it).
The idea of making or creating is at the bottom of many native titles to supernatural powers, as the Shawnee We-shellaqua, "he that made us all." (Rev. David Jones, Journal of Two Visits, etc., p. 62.) See notes to line four. The Algonkin root, etu, he does, he acts, he makes, would therefore seem to be a radical of the word. (See Howse, Gram. of the Cree Lang., p. 160.)
Dr. Trumbull, on the other hand, believes the only radical to be an, = el or al, in the sense of "to be more than," "to surpass," "to exceed;" and maintains that the syllable it, of the theme manit, is a formative suffix. (In Old and New, March, 1870.)
Heckewelder, in his translation "wonder-doer," recognizes the force of both elements, and from the analogous expressions I have quoted, is probably correct. The element an is thus an intensive prefix to the real root it, and the compound radical thus formed in the third person, singular, månito, means "he or it does or acts in a surpassing or extraordinary manner."
Essop, pl. essopak, frequently recurring words, are suppositive (see p. 90) forms of the verb lissin, "to be or do so, to be so situated, disposed, or acting" (Zeisberger, Gram. p. 117). The terminal p is the sign of the preterite. They are dialectic for elsitup and elsichtitup.
The symbol of a head with rays represents a manito. Schoolcraft, Synopsis, Fig. 10.
3. Squier omits the word elumamek. These terms are formal epithets applied to the highest divinity. See page 158.
Squier also adds that Fig. 3 represents the sun, and is the symbol of the Great Spirit. Both these statements are incorrect. The oval is the earth-plain, with its four cardinal points, and the dot in the centre signifies the spirit. See Copway, p. 135.
4. Sohalawak is not a Delaware form, but is a true Algonkin word, as seen in the Cree ooseh-ayoo, animate, ooseh-taw, inanimate, he, it, makes, produces. (Howse, Cree Grammar,p. 166.) It appears in the Shawnee w'shellaqua, quoted in notes to verse 2; in the Minsi dialect the corresponding word is kwishelmawak; owak is a mistake for woak, and Rafinesque translates it "much air." Awasagamak, heaven, sky, literally, "the land or place beyond," from awossi, beyond; but Dr. Trumbull prefers a derivation from a root signifying "light," Del. waseleu, it is clear or bright (Trans. Am. Philol. Soc., 1872, p. 164); this latter appears to me overstrained. The symbol is the earth surmounted by the sky.
5. The symbol represents the sun, moon and stars in the sky, which is repeated with change of relative positions in the next verse. In Minsi, the fifth line would read, Kwishelmawak kischohk nipahenk alankwewak.
7. On the termination wagan see page 101. The prefix ksh, properly k'sch, is intensive, as it is an abbreviation of kitschi, great, large. Thus sokelan, it rains, k'schilan, it rains very hard.
The symbol seems to indicate the waters flowing off.
8. Mr. Anthony renders this line in Minsi: —
That is, that the islands rose dry and clean from the water, as they now are found.
Delsin-epit; the first part of this compound, properly w'dell-sinewo, is the indicative present, 3d p. pi., of lissin, to be thus, or so situated; epit is what Zeisberger (Gram. p. 115) calls the "adverbial" form of achpin, to be there, in a particular place. This adverbial is really the suppositive form of the verb, after the vowel-change has taken place. (See above, page 107.)
Former renderings of the line are: "It looks bright, and islands stood there" (Rafinesque). "All was made bright, and the islands were brought into being" (Squier).
The symbol is a three cornered point of land, rising above the water under the sky.
9. Manito manitoak, "made the makers'," Raf.; "made the Great Spirits," Squier. Either of these renderings is defensible, as will appear from the senses of manito, above given.
This line can be read in Minsi, Lapi-up Kehtanitowit man'ito mani'towak, Again-he-spake, Great-Spirit, a spirit, spirits. The symbol represents the communion of the spirits. Compare Tanner, Narrative, p. 359, fig. 24.
10. Raf. and Squier absurdly translate angelatawiwak, angels. It is from a familiar Del. verb, angeln, to die. Compare Abnaki 8anangmes8ak, "revenants," Rasles, and w'tanglowagan, his death, Zeis. The form in the text, according to Mr. Anthony, has the sense, "things destined to die," mortal, perishable. He gives the line in Minsi as follows: —
The wak of the last word is not the plural but the conjunction "and;" as in the Latin, omniaque.
11. Raf. translates jinwis as "man-being," and Squier thinks it the Chipeway inini, men; but it appears to be the adverb janwi, ever, always. The symbol is apparently that of birth, or being born. Compare Tanner, Narr., p. 351, fig. 1, with that meaning, an armless figure with wide spread legs.
12. The pictograph is a woman, with breasts, but armless. The "first mother" here represented was an important personage in the mythology of the Chipeways and neighboring tribes. She was called "the grandmother of mankind" (Me-suk-kum-me-go-kwa, in Dr. James' orthography), and it was to her that Nanabush (Manibozho), imparted the secrets of all roots, herbs and plants. Hence, the medicine men direct their songs and addresses to her whenever they take anything from the earth which is to be used as a medicine. Tanner's Narrative, p. 355.
13. The figure of a square, the world, with the four varieties of animals named.
14. The bad spirit was, in Algonkin mythology, the water god, and was represented as a serpent-like figure. See Copway, pp. 134, 135. Schoolcraft, Synopsis, figs. 93, 100.
Amangamek, plural form of the compound amangi, great; namaes fish; but amangi has the associate idea of terrifying, frightful, hence the reference is to some mythical water monster (Cree, am, faire peur, Lacombe).
Raf. translates both nakowak in this line, and nakowa, in II, 6, as "black snake." They can have no such meaning, black, in Lenape, being suckeu, and in none of the Algonkin dialects does nak mean black.
16. The figure represents the earth-plain under the form of the area of a lodge, with central fire and the people in it, typifying friendliness. Comp. Tanner, Narr., p. 348, fig. I.
V. 16 pursues the topic of v. 13, and it looks as if v. 14 and 15 should be transposed to follow v. 20.
17. The former renderings are. —
"Thou being Kiwis, good God Wunand, and the good makers were such." —Rafinesque.
"There being a good god, all spirits were good." —Squier.
Rafinesque mistook the adverb kiwis for a proper name.
18. Raf. translates nijini, the Jins, and nantinewak, fairies, and Squier follows him in the latter, but could not go as far as the former! As seen in the vocabulary, I attach wholly different notions to these words. The two figures united refer to the sexual relation. Compare Tanner, Narr., pp. 371, figs. 8, 9.
19. Gattamin cannot mean "fat fruit," as Raf. translates it. He has evidently mistaken the explanation given by Heckewelder, of Catawissa, Gattawisu, becoming fat, and thought that gatta, was fat, whereas wisu is "fat." (Zeis. Gram., p. 229.) Wakon is understood by Rafinesque as the proper name of the evil spirit, connecting it with the Dakota wakan, divine, supernatural.
20. The dream of "the good old times," the happy epoch of yore, when men dwelt in peace and prosperity, was, as I have shown, page 135, a myth of the Delawares, and George Copway tells us that the Chipeway legends also recalled it with delight. (Traditional History of the Ojibway Nation, pp. 98 and 169-175.)
21. The symbol is the same as that of the "bad spirit under the earth," given by Copway, p. 135.
A similar figure is given by Copway to signify "bad," p. 135. I do not understand its allusion.
22. Mattalogas; the prefix is the negative matta, no, not, and generally conveys a bad sense, as matteleman, to despise one, mattelendam, to be uneasy. Zeis.
Pallalogasin, to sin, from palli, elsewhere, other than, hence pallhiken, to shoot amiss, to miss the mark, to go wrong.
Maktaton, unhappiness. There is a relation in Lenape between the negative matta, in Minsi, machta, and the words for bad, ugly, evil, and the like; machtisisu, here it is bad, or ugly. Zeisb. It would seem to be an intuitive recognition of the profound philosophical maxim that evil is ever a negation; that Mephistopheles is, as he says in Faust —
"Der Geist der stets vernemt"
23. The symbol is apparently trees on hills, bent by a storm, and beneath a death's head.
24. The picture seems to be two countries connected by a bridge.
Atak kitahican, = attach, beyond, above; kitahican, the ocean, literally "the great tidal sea." It is possible this has reference to the deluge, which is described in the next section; but usually kitahican meant the ocean.
II
1. Maskanako; the Lenape words would be mechek, great, achgook, snake; but maska is more allied to the Cree maskaw, strong, hard, solid. Raf. translates the close of the line "when men had become bad."
2. Schingalan, to hate; from the adjective schingi, disliking, unwilling. This is the contrary of wingi, liking, willing. Both are from the subjective radical n or ni, I, Ego, the latter with the prefix wĕl, signifying pleasurable sensation (see page 104).
Shawelendamep, preterite form, strengthened by the prefix ksch, of the verb acquiwelendam, Zeis., to disquiet, to trouble; it has not the passive sense given in Rafinesque's translation. All verbs terminating in elendam signify a disposition of mind, the root being again the subjective n, ego. Raf. translates: "This strong snake had become the foe of the Jins, and they became troubled, hating each other."
3. Palliton, from palli, elsewhere (from what was intended), hence "to spoil something, to do it wrong," and later "to fall out, to fight."
Lungundowin, from langan, easy, light to do, Chipeway, nin nangan, I find it light, of no trouble; hence, "peace" as being a time free from trouble; and by a third application of the idea, elangomellan, friends, those who are at peace with us.
4. Raf. translates this line: "Less men with dead-keeper fighting," which is a total misunderstanding of the words. On the derivation of nihanlowit see ante, page 102.
6. On nakowa, see I, line 14. Here I consider it a derivative from nacha, three, and both the sense of the line and the symbol, with three marks to the right of the figure, indicate this meaning. The three antagonists are the monster, the waters, and the Great Snake himself.
7. The repetition of the words is to add force to the phrase.
8. This is an important line, as indicating the origin of the Walam Olum. Nanaboush is not the Delaware form of the name of the Algonkin hero-god, so far as known, but the Chipeway Nanabooshoo, Tanner, Nanibajou, McKinney, properly Nānâboj, the Trickster, the Cheater, allied to Chip. nin nanabanis, I am cheated. This term, like the Cree Wisakketjâk, which has the same meaning (fourbe, trompeur, Lacombe), was applied to the hero-god of these nations on account of his exhaustless ingenuity in devising tricks, ruses, disguises and transformations, to overcome the various other divine powers with whom he came in conflict. This seemingly depreciatory term arose from the same admiration of versatility of powers which has imparted such universal popularity to the story of the wily (πολυτροπος) Ulysses, and the trickery of Master Reynard.
The appearance of this form of the name indicates that the version of the legend here given has been influenced by Chipeway associations, as, indeed, we might expect, since it was obtained in Indiana, where the Delawares were in constant intercourse with their Chipeway neighbors.
Tulapit menapit = tulpe epit, menatey epit, "it was then at the turtle, it was then at the island." The form Tula has given rise to the strangest theorizing about this line, as, of course, the antiquaries could not resist the temptation to see in it a reference to the Tula or Tollan of Aztec mythology, the capital city of the Toltecs and the home of Quetzalcoatl.
The similarity of the words is purely fortuitous. The Lenape word tulpe means turtle or tortoise, especially, says Zeisberger, a water or sea turtle. In their mythology, as I have already shown (ante, p. 134) the earth was supposed to be floating on a boundless ocean, as a turtle floats on the surface of a pond. Hence, symbolically, the turtle represents the dry land.
Maskaboush = Chip. mashka, strong, wabos, usually translated hare or rabbit, but really "White One." I have fully explained this mistaken sense of the word in American Hero Myths, pp. 41, 42, and elsewhere.
9. The Algonkin myth relates that Michabo or Nanaboj after having formed the earth on the primal ocean, walked round and round it, and by this act increased it constantly in size.
Rafinesque's translation is: – "Being born creeping, he is ready to move and dwell at Tula;" and in his note to the line he adds, "Tula is the ancient seat of the Toltecas and Mexican nations in Asia; the Tulan or Turan of Central Tartary."
The entire absence of connected meaning in this and other lines of Rafinesque's translation is strong evidence that he did not fabricate the text; otherwise he would certainly have assigned it some coherent sense.
The turtle is, as usual, the symbol of the land or earth (see page 133).
12. Manito-dasin, the Divine Maiden, or the Daughter of the Gods, as it might be freely translated. The reference is to the Virgin who at the beginning of things descended from heaven, and alighting on the back of the turtle became the mother of Nanaboj and his brothers. She was well known in Eastern Algonkin mythology, as I have already shown. (See above, p. 131.)
13. This and the three following verses form, observes Rafinesque, a rhymed hymn to Nanabush.
14. In this line the men are referred to as Linapi, not lennowak as before. Here then begins the particular history of the Lenape tribe, whose chief sub-tribe was the Turtle clan.
The meaning of the line is very obscure. It seems to refer to the origin of the Unami, or Turtle sub-tribe of the Delawares.
16. Kwamipokho, translated by Raf. "plain and mountain," does not appear to me to bear any such rendering. I take it as a form of champeecheneu, Z. "it is still or stagnant water," the appropriateness of which to the context is evident.
Sitwalikho, Raf. renders "path of cave," deriving it obviously from tsit, foot, and woalheu, a hole. It has no sort of meaning in this rendering, and I assume, therefore, that it is a derivative from tschitqui, silent.
Maskan wagan, probably an error for maskanakon, as in v. I.
Palliwi, palliwi, "is elsewhere, is elsewhere," or, "is foiled, is overcome."
III
1. Wittank talli: in the MS. these words are first translated "dwelling town there," but the last two words are erased and "of Talli" substituted. This is one of a number of instances where Rafinesque altered his first translations, which is further evidence that he did not manufacture the text. In this instance, as frequently, he altered it for the worse. Wittank is from witen, to go with or be with, Zeis., and talli is the adverb "there."
3. Meshautang, "many deer" (see Vocabulary), translated by Rafinesque, "game."
Siliewak, rendered by Rafinesque sili, cattle, ewak, they go. The wak is the terminal "and" (see notes to I. v. 10). The word sisile, in modern Delaware sizil'ia (Whipple's Vocabulary), means "buffalo." Its older form is seen in the MS. vocab. of the New Jersey Indians, 1792, where it is sisiliamuus. This is a compound of the generic termination muus, Cree, mustus (whence our word "moose"), meaning any large quadruped, and probably the prefix tschilani strong powerful with an intensive reduplication
4. Powalessin from the same root as powwow (see page 70). The course of thought was that the dreamer (powwow) became wise beyond his followers and hence obtained power and riches though not of a martial character.
Elowichil hunters allowin to hunt, doubtless connected with alluns an arrow.
5, 6. A note in the MS states that the symbols of these two verses were united together in the original drawings.
7. In this verse the pre-eminence of the Turtle sub-tribe the Unami is asserted to have obtained from the most ancient times.
8. The verses 8, 9, 10 are referred in Rafinesque's free translation to the Snake people. They seem to me to be descriptive of the grief of the Lenape on leaving their ancient home.
12. Pokhapokhapek, Gaping Sea, Raf. Both this and the preceding word are descriptive of the sea referred to as offering means of subsistence namaes fish pocqueu muscles or clams being the two main food products of the water for the Indians.
The location of this productive spot I leave for future investigators to determine. The Detroit River and the Thousand Isles in the St. Lawrence are the most appropriate localities to my mind.
13. The last word of the line is given in the MS. both as menakinep and akomenep the latter a later interlineation. I prefer the former.
Wapasinep, may mean 'at the East' as well as 'in the light.' The latter is a metaphor, common in the native tongues for prosperity.
Verses 13 to 20 inclusive were printed by Rafinesque in the original and called by him, the poem on the passage to America, as he understood this narrative to refer to the period when the ancestors of the Lenape crossed Behring straits from Asia to America on the ice.
17. Kitahican, This is the term given by Zeisberger to the Ocean. The prefix Kit is "great" and the termination hican appears to have been confined to tidal waters (see above p. 21). Elsewhere this termination signifies an instrument. Probably it was applicable to all large bodies of water. On pokhakhopek, doubtless a carelessness for pokhapokhapek, line 12, see note to the latter.
18. Squier does not give the numerals, but says simply "in vast numbers." No doubt this is the intention of the expression.
20. Shiwaking, "the place of spruce firs" (see Vocab). They crossed in mid-winter a broad stream, rich in fish and shell-fish, and arrived at a land covered with forests of spruce. For a long time this appears to have remained their home.
IV
2. Sittamaganat, Raf. translates "Path Leader." The word tamaganat appears in other verses, as w'tamaganat, IV, 37; tamaganat, IV, 55; tamaganend, V, 2. I derive it from the root tam, literally to drink, but generally, to smoke tobacco, as in Roger Williams' Key wut-tammagon, a pipe (see above, page 49). Hence I take tamagamat to be the pipe-bearer, he who had charge of the Sacred Calumet. If it is objected that this puts the use of tobacco by the Lenape too remote, I reply that we do not know when they began to use it, and moreover, this may be an anachronism of tradition.
13, 14. The lands toward the four cardinal points are described from a centre where the tribe was then located. Neither Rafinesque nor Squier understood this, and their renderings do not mention the territories North and West. From the description, I should place the then location of the tribe in Western New York and Northern Ohio.
16. The four names seem to be appellatives of different tribes. One of the extinct tribes remembered in Chipeway tradition was the Assigunaik, Stone People (Schoolcraft, History and Statistics of the Ind. Tribes, Vol. I, p. 305).
25. The legend here relates that the cultivation of maize began after they had reached a low latitude, presumably Southern Indiana or Ohio. The legend of the New England Indians was that a crow flew down from the great God Kitantowit, bringing in one ear a grain of corn, in the other a bean, and taught them the cultivation of these plants. (Roger Williams, Key into the Language of America, p. 114.) See further, ante, p. 48.
34. Wisawana, the Yellow River. There is a small river, so-called, in the State of Indiana, a branch of the Kankakee, called on Hough's "Map of the Indian Names of Indiana" We-tho-gan, a corruption of wisawanna. (See Hough's map, in Twelfth Annual Report of the Geology and Natural History of Indiana, 1883.) When the Minsi made their first migration west, about 1690, they directed their course to this spot, where they were found by Charlevoix in 1721.
36. Tamenend, the name of the celebrated chief now better known to us as Tammany, who dealt with William Penn. Heckewelder translates it as "Affable." This is the first of the name. A second is mentioned, V, 32. The friend of Penn was the third.
46. Towakon pallitonep, Raf. translates "father snake, he was mad!"
48. Perhaps this line should be translated: "They speak well of the east; many go to the east."
49. Nemassipi, Fish River. In the MS. this name was first written mixtu sipi. The name "Fish River" was applied to various streams by the Delawares, but never, so far as I know, to the Mississippi. In the present connection it seems to refer either to the St. Lawrence, about the Thousand Isles, or else its upper stream, the Detroit River, both of which were famous fishing spots.
50. Talligewi. No name in the Lenape legends has given rise to more extensive discussion than this. It is usually connected with Alligewi and this again with Alleghany. This seems supported by Loskiel, who, writing on the authority of Zeisberger, says, "Nun nennen die Delawaren die ganze Gegend, so weit die Gewässer reichen, die in dem Ohio fallen, Alligewinengk, welches so viel bedeutet, als das Land, in welches sie sich aus weit entfernten Orten begeben haben." (Geschichte der Mission, etc., p. 164.)
The meaning here assigned to Alligewinengk, "land where they arrived from distant places," is evidently based on the resolution of the compound into talli, there, icku, to that place, ewak, they go, with a locative final. The initial t is often omitted in adverbial compounds of talli (itself a compound of ta, locative particle, and li, to), as allamunk, in there.
Bishop Ettwein gives to the word a different meaning. He writes: "The Delawares call the western country Alligewenork, which signifies a War-Path; the river itself they call Alligewi Sipo." (Legends and Traditions, etc., in Bull. of the Pa. Hist. Soc. p. 34.) Here the derivation would be from palliton, to fight, ewak, they go, and a locative, "they go there to fight." The omission of the initial p was not uncommon, as Campanius gives ayuta = alliton, to make war. (Catechismus, p. 141.)
Basing his opinion on an expression in the Journal of C. F. Post, to the effect that Alleghany means "fine or fair river," Dr. J. H. Trumbull analyzes it into wulik, hanne, sipu, which he translates "best, rapid-stream, long-river" (Connect. Hist. Soc. Colls. Vol. II).
Rafinesque, in the MS. of the Walum Olum, gives Talligewi the translation "there found," from talli, there, and I know not what word for "found."
There have not been wanting those who would derive the name Alleghany from Iroquois roots, as the Seneca De-o-na-ga-no, "cold water" (Amer. Hist. Mag. Vol. IV, p. 184). But there is no probability that the word is Iroquois.
Whatever its origin, the name was not confined to the Alleghany river, but included the whole of the Upper Ohio, as the interpreter Post distinctly says.
The Rev. Mr. Heckewelder was of opinion that Talligewi was a word foreign to the Algonkin, a nomen gentile of another tribe, adopted by the Delawares, just as they adopted Mengwe for the Iroquois from the Onondaga Yenkwe, men (see above, page 14). It is not necessarily connected with Alleghany, which may be pure Algonkin. He says, "Those people called themselves Talligeu or Talligewi." (Indian Nations p. 48.) The accent, as he gives it, Tallige'wi, shows that the word is, Talliké, with the substantive verb termination, so that Talligewi means, "He is a Talliké" or, "It is of (belongs to) the Talliké."
This appears to me the most probable supposition of any I have quoted, and it reduces our quest to that of a nation who called themselves by a name which, to Lenape ears, would sound like Talliké. Such a nation presents itself at once in the Cherokees, who call themselves Tsa'laki. Moreover, they fill the requirements in other particulars. Their ancient traditions assign them a residence precisely where the Delaware legends locate the Tallike, to wit, on the upper waters of the Ohio (see above, page 17). Fragments of them continued there until within the historic period, and the persistent hostility between them and the Delawares points to some ancient and important contest.
Name, location and legends, therefore, combine to identify the Cherokees or Tsalaki with the Tallike, and this is as much evidence as we can expect to produce in such researches. I can see no reason whatever for Dr. Shea's opinion that the Lenape "in their progress eastward drove out of Ohio the Quappas, called by the Algonkins, Alkanzas or Alligewi, who retreated down the Ohio and Mississippi." (Shea, Notes to Alsop's Maryland, p. 118.)
The question remains, whether the Tallike were the "Mound Builders." It is not so stated in the Walum Olum. The inference rather is that the "Snake people," Akowini or Akonapi, dwelt in the river valleys north of the Ohio river, in the area of Western Ohio and Indiana, where the most important earthworks are found – and singularly enough none more remarkable than the immense effigy of the serpent in Adams County, Ohio, which winds its gigantic coils over 700 feet in length on the summit of a bold bluff overlooking Brush Creek.
According to the Red Score, the Snake people were conquered by the Algonkins long before the contest with the Tallike began. These latter lay between the position then occupied by the Lenape and the eastern territory where they were found by the whites. In other words, the Tallike were on the Upper Ohio and its tributaries, and they had to be driven south before the path across the mountains was open. For this reason they are called wapawullaton, "possessing the East," that is, with reference to the then position of the Lenape in southwestern Ohio.
54. Talamatan. This was the Lenape name of the Huron-Iroquois or Wyandots. It is found in the form Telamatinos in a "List of 11 Nations living West of Allegheny" present by deputy at a Conference in Philadelphia, 1759 (Minutes of the Prov Council of Penna., Vol. VIII, p. 418). Heckewelder gives Delamattenos (Ind. Nations, p. 80).
Rafinesque translates the name in one place by "not Talas," and in another by "not of us," from Len. matta, not, Latin nos, us. That the Lenape did not speak Latin made no difference in his linguistic theory, as he held all languages to be at core the same! On the Hurons, see above, p. 16.
V
2. Wapalaneng, apparently the White River, Indiana, or else the Wabash.
16. In this line the three tribes are mentioned which were previously named in IV, 44, 45, 46, and the difference in the spelling shows that the chant was written down by one unacquainted with the forms of the language. The correspondent names are: —
The termination ako, uniformly rendered by Rafinesque snake, appears to be either the animate plural in ak, or the locative aki, place or land.
The Towako are probably the Ot-tawa called by the Delaware Taway; or the Twightees, called by them Tawatatwee (see "List of 11 Nations," etc., in Minutes of the Prov. Council of Pa., Vol. VIII, p. 418).
There is difficulty in reconciling Akowini and Sinako. In the former, the prefix ako may be from achgook, snake, as Rafinesque and Squier rendered it.
The word Lowanuski appears again in v. 18, where Raf. inserts the note, "Lowushkis are Esquimaux." It means simply "winter land," or "Northern people," and is not likely to have any reference to the Eskimo.
22. "Without snakes," i. e., free from enemies.
24. On the derivation of Susquehannah, see page 14.
25. Winakaking, Sassafras Land, the native name of eastern Pennsylvania.
29. The Wapings and the Minsi seem to be referred to.
33, 36. The omission of the numbers 34 and 35 is in the original MS.
50. Ganshowenik; Raf. translates this "the noisy place, or Niagara." It is a derivative from the root kan. See Vocab.
60. Ewenikiktit, may be translated "whites" or "Europeans." See Vocabulary.