Page:Archæologia Americana—volume 2, 1836.djvu/96

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A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES.
[INTROD.

It is probable however that the Hatteras, the Paspatauks, and some other small tribes, mentioned by him, spoke dialects of the same language. They were bounded on the west by the Chowan and Tuscarora Iroquois tribes; on the south by extinct tribes of uncertain origin.


Western Lenape.

Under this head we include the Menomonies, the Miami and Illinois tribes, the Sauks, Foxes, and Kickapoos, and, finally, the Shawnoes.

The Menomonies or Malominies,[1] called by the French, "Folles Avoines," "Wild Oats," are seated on the northerly part of Green Bay, which is their boundary on the east. They are bounded on the north by those Chippeways, who inhabit the southern shores of Lake Superior; on the south by the Winnebagoes. Towards the west they join the Sauks and perhaps the Sioux Dahcota. Their name is derived from the wild rice (zizania [clavulosa?]), which grows abundantly in their country. The French have occasionally given to the neighbouring Chippeways the same name (Folles Avoines); and they have also extended to both the designation of "Sauteurs," from the Saut or Falls of St. Mary, on account of their visiting it in fishing-time. They are first mentioned by the Jesuits, in the year 1669, when they inhabited the same country as at this time. Their language, though of the Algonkin stock, is less similiar to that of the Chippeways, their immediate neighbours, than almost any other dialect of the same stock. As no other tribe speaks it, and they generally speak Chippeway, it is almost impossible to find good interpreters. It is probably owing to that circumstance, that they were for a long while supposed to have a distinct language, belonging to another stock than the Algonkin. The appended vocabulary was addressed by Mr. James D. Doty to Governor Cass; and some words have been supplied from Tanner's Narrative, edited by Dr. James. By the estimate of the War Department, they amount to four thousand two hundred souls.

The Sauks or Saukies (White Clay), and the Foxes or


  1. From Monomonick, "Wild rice"; Monomoniking, "In the place of wild rice." (Schoolcraft.)