--- 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 --- End Forwarded Message ---