CORN PLANTING AND ITS INCIDENTS. (CONCLUDED FROM PAGE 83.) If one of the young female huskers finds a red ear of corn, it is typical of a brave admirer, and is regarded as a fitting present to some young warrior. But if the ear be crooked, and tapering to a point, no matter what colour, the whole circle is set in a roar, and wa ge min is the word shouted aloud. It is the symbol of a thief in the cornfield. It is considered as the lot. Had the chisel image of an old man stooping as he enters the of Praxitiles been employed to produce this image, it could not more vividly bring to the minds of the merry group, the idea of a pilferer of their favourite mondámin. Nor is there any doubt on these occasions, that the occurrence truly reveals the fact that the cornfield has actually been thus depredated on. The term wagemin, which unfolds all these ideas, and reveals, as by a talisman, all this information, is derived in part, from the tri-literal term Waweau, that which is bent or crooked. The termination in g, is the animate plural, and denotes not only that there is more than one object, but that the subject is noble or invested with the importance of animated beings. The last member of the compound, min, is a shortened sound of the generic meen, a grain, or berry. To make these coalesce, agreeably to the native laws of euphony, the short vowel i, is thrown in, between the verbal root and substantive, as a connective. The literal meaning of the term is, a mass, or crooked ear of grain; but the ear of corn so called, is a conventional type of a little old man pilfering ears of corn in a cornfield. It is in this manner, that a single word or term, in these curious languages, becomes the fruitful parent of many ideas. And we can thus perceive why it is that the word wagemin is alone competent to excite merriment in the husking circle. This term is taken as the basis of the cereal chorus or corn song, as sung by the northern Algonquin tribes. It is coupled with the phrase Paimosaid, a permutative form of the Indian substantive made from the verb, pim-o-sa, to walk. Its literal meaning is, he who walks, or the walker; but the ideas conveyed by it, are, he who walks at night to pilfer corn. It offers, therefore, a kind of parallelism in expression, to the preceding term. The chorus is entirely composed of these two terms, variously repeated, and may be set down as follows: Wagemin, Wagemin, Paimosaid. Wagemin, Wagemin, Paimosaid. When this chant has been sung, there is a pause, during which some one who is expert in these things, and has a turn for the comic or ironic, utters a short speech, in the manner of a recitative, in which a peculiar intonation is given, and generally interrogates the supposed pilferer, as if he were present to answer questions, or accusations. There can be no pretence, that this recitative part of the song is always the same, at different times and places, or even that the same person should not vary his phraseology. On the contrary, it is often an object to vary it. It is a perfect improvisation, and it may be supposed that the native composer is always actuated by a desire to please, as much as possible by novelty. The whole object indeed is, to keep up the existing merriment, and excite fun and laughter. The following may be taken as one of these recitative songs, written out, on the plan of preserving the train of thought, and some of those peculiar interjections in which these languages so much abound. The chorus alone, it is to be observed, is fixed in its words and metre, however transposed or repeated, and, unlike an English song, precedes the stanza or narrative. Recitative. See you not traces, while pulling the leaf, See you not signs by the ring and the spot, Recitative. Where, little TAKER of things not your own— Where is your rattle, your drum, and your bone? Surely a WALKER so nimble of speed, Surely he must be a Meta* indeed. * A Juggler. See how he stoops, as he breaks off the ear, Cereal chorus. Wagemin! wagemin ! Blight of the cornfield Paimosaid. Recitative. Wabuma !t corn-taker, why do you lag? Why do you linger to gaze as you pull, Tell me, my little man, is it most full? Surely a warrior cannot be a thief! Ah, little night-thief, be deer your pursuit, TO HEALTH. BY THE LATE JOHN JOHNSTON, ESQ. Health! dearest of the heavenly powers, Not sovereign power, nor charms of love, E'en friendship, sympathy divine! Return then, to my longing soul, My muse, enraptured, then shall sing February 4, 1807. * A sharp exclamation quickly to behold something striking. ↑ A derogatory exclamation. § A masculine exclamation, to express surprise + Behold thou. OREOTA. OR THE RED RACE OF AMERICA. PART FIFTH. TALES OF A WIGWAM. THESE legendary tales are collected from Indian tradition, as it now exists. They are not creations of the writer's imagination, but results of his researches. This constitutes at once their peculiarity, and their value. They are the wildest and simplest of them, so many media for the exhibition of Indian thought, Indian reasoning, Indian mythology, and Indian opinion. They open a vista into the structure of Indian mind, which was before unknown. The very existence of such legends in the oral traditions of the tribes, is a discovery of recent date. The writer first found them, among the warlike and hunter tribes of the Odjibwas, at the outlet and around the borders of Lake Superior; and this district has, to the present time, furnished the most fruitful source of them. It was at this place, at the Falls of St. Mary's, that a gay and light hearted adventurer from the fashionable circles of the gentry and clergy of the north of Ireland seated himself, a few years after the close of the American Revolution, and linked in matrimonial ties with a noble chieftan's daughter, the Erse and Algonquin races. A family of four sons and four daughters ensued, which had the further peculiarity, that in their education and manners, they exhibited a blending of the refinement and taste of the father, with the strong love of country and peculiar nationality of the mother. If the red man has been correctly depicted as "a stoic of the woods," here were sources of warmth and of enthusiasm, and a love of social life, which might be fairly said to bring a counterpoise. Both the languages were spoken and written and read, with the same ease, fluency and propriety. Mr. Johnston himself was a man of extensive reading, of a taste for letters, and of elegant and easy man ners and refined hospitality. There never was, perhaps, a union between the European and the Indian stocks, so auspicious to the acquisition of a true knowledge of Indian history, manners and customs. The connexion of Sir William Johnson, with the Mohawk tribe, might indeed, have been equally so, had the tastes of that distinguished individual not led him rather to the sterner realities of war and national policy. The latter too, was rather a union of the heroic age of the race, when they were still feared and courted, than of the milder era, which began to dawn on them before the close of the 18th century. John Johnston, Esq. had all the enthusiasm and warmth of character of his nation. He went into the Indian country, in a spirit of romantic adventure, and he abode in it, in a spirit of honor, and just impulse to the ties of nature. It is from the various members of this family that a large number of these legends have been derived. They embrace the traditions of Wabojeeg, of Maidosagee, of Nabunwa, of Paigwaineosh, and of many other individuals, male and female, who were once well known, and some of them, distinguished in that quarter. Others are due to individuals of the same general area of country, who were either connected by descent, or intermarriage with the same people, or with their kindred, the Ottowas, the Pottowattomies and other tribes. Opportunities for extending the enquiry and increasing the collection, were sought during various journeys in the west, south-west, and north, and many proofs received, of the existence of a like story-telling faculty, and the existence of oral legends, among other stocks not related to the Algonquins. These were found, not only among tribes where they were expected, but also among the Wyandots and the Dacotahs, or Sioux. A few specimens of them were published, in my Travels in the Central Portions of the Mississippi Valley in 1825, and in the Narrative of an Expedition to Itasca Lake in 1834. Feeling that they opened a new and most interesting means for considering the mental characteristics of the race, two octavo volumes, devoted wholly to these legends, were published, under the title of Algic Researches, in 1839. These volumes have been favorably received, and noticed, over a wide area, both in England and America, and an increasing enquiry is made for them. It is under these circumstances, that I add to these miscellaneous papers, from my portfolio, such of the tales as have not yet been published. I submit these remarks for the information of readers who may not have been apprized of my prior researches in this department, or who may lie under any misapprehension as to the true character of the legends themselves. Perhaps a few remarks may not be out of place respecting the peculiar thought-work, and story-craft, exhibited in these creations of the wigwam. They supply, what has heretofore been deemed a wide hiatus in the Indian mind, and denote some of its peculiar supports, under circumstances of trial and difficulty. They show that the man is not, what he has been |