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3 Origin of the Ojibways
- Minnesota Historical Society Press
- Chapter
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Origin of the Ojibways I am fully aware that many learned and able writers have given to the world their opinions respecting the origin of the aboriginal inhabitants of the American Continent, and the manner in which they first obtained a footing and populated this important section of the earth, which, for so many thousand years, remained unknown to the major portion of mankind inhabiting the Old World. It is,however,still a matter of doubt and perplexity; it is a book sealed to the eyes of man,for the time has not yet come when the Great Ruler of all things,inHiswisdom,shallmakeanswerthroughhisinscrutablewaystothe question which has puzzled,and still puzzles the minds of the learned civilized world.How came America to be first inhabited by man? What branch of the great human family are its aboriginal people descended from? Ever having lived in the wilderness,even beyond what is known as the western frontiers of white immigration,where books are scarce and difficult to be procured, I have never had the coveted opportunity and advantage of reading the opinions of the various eminent authors who have written on this subject, to compare with them the crude impressions which have gradually, and I may say naturally, obtained possession in my own mind, during my whole life, which I have passed in a close connection of residence and blood with different sections of the Ojibway tribe. The impressions and the principal causes which have led to their formation , I now give to the public to be taken for what they are considered worth.Clashing with the received opinions of more learned writers,whose words are taken as standard authority,they may be totally rejected,in which case the satisfaction will still be left me, that before the great problem had been fully solved, I, a person in language, thoughts, beliefs and blood, partly an Indian,had made known my crude and humble opinion. Respecting their own origin the Ojibways are even more totally ignorant than their white brethren,for they have no Bible to tell them that God 26 1. Warren may mean that as an adult he had always lived in the wilderness.From the age of eleven to sixteen he lived in Clarkson and Whitesboro,New York. Schenck bk p i-xxiv 1-318_Layout 1 5/13/11 10:54 AM Page 26 originally made Adam,from whom the whole human race is sprung.They have their beliefs and oral traditions, but so obscure and unnatural, that nothing approximating to certainty can be drawn from them. They fully believe, and it forms part of their religion, that the world has once been covered by a deluge,and that we are now living on what they term the “new earth.” This idea is fully accounted for by their vague traditions; and in their Me-da-we-win or Religion, hieroglyphics are used to denote this second earth. They fully believe that the Red man mortally angered the Great Spirit which caused the deluge,and at the commencement of the new earth it was only through the medium and intercession of a powerful being,whom they denominate Man-ab-o-sho, that they were allowed to exist, and means were given them whereby to subsist and support life; and a code of religion was more lately bestowed on them,whereby they could commune with the offended Great Spirit, and ward off the approach and ravages of death. This they term Me-da-we-win. Respecting their belief of their own first existence, I can give nothing more appropriate than a minute analysis of the name which they have given to their race—An-ish-in-aub-ag. This expressive word is derived from An-ish-aw,meaning without cause,or “spontaneous,” and in-aub-a-we-se, meaning the “human body.” The word An-ish-in-aub-ag, therefore, literally translated,signifies “spontaneous man.” Henry R. Schoolcraft (who has apparently studied this language, and has written respecting this people more than any other writer, and whose works as a whole,deserve the standard authority which is given to them by the literary world), has made the unaccountable mistake of giving as the meaning of this important name, “Common people.” We can account for this only in his having studied the language through the medium of imperfect interpreters.In no respect can An-ish-in-aub-ag be twisted so as to include any portion of a word...