Page:History of the Ojibway Nation.djvu/58

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THE CRANE CLAN.
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have set foot and lighted their fires. The literal meaning of their totemic name is, "Echo-maker," derived from the word Bus-wa-wag, "Echo," and pertaining to the loud, clear, and far reaching cry of the Crane. This clan are noted as possessing naturally a loud, ringing voice, and are the acknowledged orators of the tribe; in former times, when different tribes met in councils, they acted as interpreters of the wishes of their tribe. They claim, with some apparent justice, the chieftainship over the other clans of the Ojibways. The late lamented chief Shin-ga-ba-wos-sin, who resided at Sault Ste. Marie, belonged to this family. In Gov. Lewis Cass's treaty at Prairie du Chien in 1825, he was the acknowledged head chief of his tribe, and signed his name to that treaty as such. Ah-mous (the Little Bee), the son of the late worthy chief of Lac du Flambeau, Waub-ish-gaug-aug-e (or White Crow), may now be considered as head or principal chief of this family.

The old war chief Ba-be-sig-aun-dib-ay (Curly Head), whose name is linked with the history of his tribe, and who died on his way returning home from the Treaty of Prairie du Chien above mentioned, was also a Bus-in-aus-e, and the only representative of his clan amongst that section of his tribe, who so long bravely struggled with the fierce Dakotas for the mastery of the western banks of the Mississippi, which now form the home of the Winnebagoes. He was the civil and war chief of the Mississippi Ojibways. Hole-in-the-day 1st, of later notoriety, and his brother Song-uk-um-ig (Strong ground), inherited his chieftainship by his dying request, as he died childless. Weesh-e-da-mo, son of Aissance (Little Clam), late British Ojibway chief of Red River, is also a member of this family. He is a young man, but has already received two American medals, one from the hands of a colonel of our army, and the other from the hands of the Governor of Minnesota