CHAPTER II THE INDIANA INDIANS In the last quarter of a century, the best Miami interpreter in Indiana. was Gabriel Godfroy. He was a son of Francois Godfroy, a French Miami half blood and his wife Sakwata, a Miami woman. It is stated in local histories that Francois Godfroy's Indian name was Pah-lons'-wa, but he had no Indian name, and this is merely the Miami effort to pronounce his French name. They have no sound of "f", "r", or "v" in their language, and substitute "p" for "f", and "1" for "r". Gabriel was born near Hartford City, in Blackford County, January 1, 1834, and a few days later his mother asked an old Indian friend to give him. a name, as is often done by the Indians. The old man gave him his own name, Wa'-pa-na-ki'-ka-pwa, or White Blossoms. The old man held the tribal office of Ka'-pi-a, which they usually translate "overseer", but which is more nearly equivalent to umpire or judge. His chief function was, in case of a receipt of annuity goods, or on a joint hunt, to see that an equitable distribution was made of the proceeds. Gabriel was sometimes called Ka'-pi-a on this account, but the title did not belong to him. Neither was he a chief, but simply an amiable, honorable gentleman, who bore adversity bravely, and was universally respected. Indeed his good-heartedness was his financial ruin. His father's family was one of those left in Indiana when the rest of the tribe was moved to Kansas, and was given several reservation tracts, one half section of which was in the Mississinewa valley, opposite Peru, near which Francois had a trading house. To this Gabriel succeeded, and on it he erected a fine brick home, where he kept open house for all his Indian and white acquaintances; and he never lacked for company. He held one office-that of road supervisor-and he blamed politics for his reverses. Politicians persuaded the Indians that they had the right of suffrage, and ought to vote; and after they began voting the County. Commissioners decided that they ought to be taxed, and put the Indian lands on the tax-duplicate. At that time the national government was not giving as much care to its "wards" as it does now, and the Indians had to look out for themselves. The brunt of the litigation fell on Godfroy; and after the case had dragged along for thirteen years, and what was left of his property had gone for costs and attorney's fees, it was dismissed. He had no schooling. When he was about ten years old his father sent him to Vincennes for instruction by M. Bellier, the village pedagogue, but within a week the youthful student was so homesick that he was packed back home. However he had a bright mind and a fine memory. The book of nature was very attractive to him, and he became an encyclopedia of forest lore and local history. His excellence as an interpreter was due to his general information and the fact that he knew English so well that he could think in it as well as in Miami. No Indian interpreter is very reliable until he reaches that point. I did considerable language work with him in the last five years of his life he died on August 14, 1910-and one day, when we were talking about the early history of the Miamis, he gave me the following legend of the origin of the tribe, which he had learned from Ki-tŭn'-ga (i. e. Sleepy, commonly known to the whites as Charley.) who used to take the boys fishing at night, and tell them stories while waiting for a bite: Ä-HON'-DJI KIN-DO'-KI PI-A'-WATC Mi-ta'-mi In the beginning sa-ka'-tci-wa-tcik'. nä-wa-yo'-sa-tcik' Ni-an'-dji Ka-pot'-wä After a while kwi-ta-ka'-ki other MI-A'-MI-A'-KI. THEY CAME THE MIAMIS. FIRST they came to the top. il-li'-ti-tcik'. they told each other. nun'-gi now ma'-tci-ka-tik'; "Pä-mit'-ta-nok Nä'-hi And when a-min-o'-tä-tcik'. they made a town. ni-a'-hi min-o'-tä-ni na-ka-tan'-gik. A-pwä'-pi-at Sa'-ki-wa-yun'-gi. Nä-pa'-sa na'-pi (at) Coming Out Place. He was surprised but Mot'-yi n'gi'-kä-li'-ma-so' wän'-dji-na-ko'-si-watc'. of what tribe they were. ki-kä-li'-mä-wat' The river referred to is the St. Joseph's, of Lake Michigan, and Sa-ki-wa-yun-gi is the name of South Bend. This fable teaches many things, and first the tendency of mankind to make stories to fit names. The obvious source of the story is the fact that in the early period the site of South Bend was the beginning of the portage to the Kankakee, and consequently the coming out place for travelers going that way, while the chief distinction of the river was that it was the way to reach the portage. Godfroy started with the statement that he got the story from Ki-tun'-ga; but he winds up with the statement that his mother and aunt told him about it, and that all the old Indians believed it. It was a general tradition, and yet the common use of the portage had not been discontinued as much as a century when Godfroy was a boy. It was not used by the Miamis after they settled in Indiana, for they were never a "canoe people". La Potherie says of them: "They travel by water very rarely but are great walkers, which has caused them to be called Metousceptinioueks, or Pilgrims". They did not use birchbark canoes in Indiana, partly because suitable birch did not grow here, and partly because a boat of that kind would soon be made useless by the stones and snags of our rivers. An Indiana Indian GABRIEL GODFROY had little use for a boat except for hunting and fishing, and a dug-out was entirely satisfactory for these purposes. The French fur traders used bateaux or the large dug-outs called pirogues. In emergency, Indians, French and pioneer Americans would make a raft of logs tied together with vines, which the Canadians called a "cajeu." The story also illustrates a habit of mind of the Indian. The first essential of wood-craft is to know "the reason of things", and he was constantly seeking them. An Indian will revert to anything unusual or strange again and again, until he works out some explanation for it. In this case the story is confirmed not only by the names of the place and the river, but also by the personal names. Indian babies were often named on account of some little peculiarity manifested in the first few days of their lives, and such names as these were originally adopted for infants that showed a disposition to clutch at objects, as many babies do, and later were still more widely spread by the practice of naming for relatives and friends. But all this was forgotten when such a fine theory of the name was presented. Such stories are common everywhere. Within fifty years the Winnebagoes invented a story that the name of Chicago originated from a monster manito skunk being seen to land at that place, whence the name "Place of the Skunk." In reality the name means "Place of garlic or wild onions", the same stem, ci-kag, occurring in both words, as is conclusively shown by the testimony of Tonty, LaMothe Cadillac, and other early writers. In like manner the Romans made the story of Romulus and Remus to fit the name of Rome; and we have half-a-dozen wholly unfounded stories to explain the word "Hoosier". As to the words of the story, it will be noted that some of them do not end with a vowel. This is due to the common practice of the Miami to abbreviate in ordinary conversation, just as we use can't and don't, when the context shows all that the ending would show. As to spelling, all Indian words in this book are in the uniform orthography recommended by Major Powell, of the Bureau of Ethnology, which may be briefly stated as follows: All unmarked vowels have the "Continental" force, which is, e as a in fate or ey in they; a as in far; i as in pique, or e in me; o as in note; u as in rule; w and y are always consonants, as in wet and yet. The short vowels are ä as in bat; è as in bet; Ĭ as in bit, and u as in but. Others are â as in law, and û as in pull. The diphthongs are ai as i in pine; au as ou in out; âi as oi in boil. The consonants have their usual English force, with these exceptions: g is always hard as in gig; c is always soft as sh in shall; te is sounded as ch in chin; j is as z in azure; dj is as j in judge; q represents a rare sound of gh, similar to German ch. Finally, the story comes as near accounting for the origin of the Miamis as any offered elsewhere. In his speech to Gen. Wayne at the treaty of Greenville, The Little Turtle, the Miami head chief, said: "It is well known by all my brothers present, that my forefathers kindled the first fire at Detroit; from thence he extended his lines to |