--- Begin Forwarded Message ---
Date: Tue, 13 Jul 1999 08:25:43 +0000 (/etc/localtime)
From: Ken Grabach <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: gitchmee-gumee <fwd>
Sender: Ken Grabach <[log in to unmask]>


According to my knowledge, based on reading several years ago, the
authentic Chippewa (or Ojibway) elements of the poem came from the reports
of Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, who made reports to Congress in the 1820s about
his expeditions to the Northwest regions inhabited by the group.  It might
be especially worthwhile to check Schoolcraft's Indian Legends from Algic
Researches ...  which has been reprinted more than once.  Several of his
reports are in the US Congressional Serial Set in government publications
collections.  Many of these others have been reprinted, also.

The name of the main character, Hiawatha, came from Iroquois legend of the
origins of their Five Nations confederation, but in most other respects
the poem is based on Ojibway legend rather than that of other Native
American traditions.  I have a vague recollection, again from reading of
this many years ago, that the name Gitchee-Gumee and its variants are the
Algonquian name for what the Anglos call Lake Superior.


_________________________________________
Ken Grabach         <[log in to unmask]>
Documents and Maps Librarian
Miami University Libraries
Oxford, Ohio  45056  USA
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