History of the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of Michigan | Page 4

raged among the Ottawas.
In my first recollection of the country of Arbor Croche, which is sixty
years ago, there was nothing but small shrubbery here and there in
small patches, such as wild cherry trees, but the most of it was grassy
plain; and such an abundance of wild strawberries, raspberries and
blackberries that they fairly perfumed the air of the whole coast with
fragrant scent of ripe fruit. The wild pigeons and every variety of
feathered songsters filled all the groves, warbling their songs joyfully
and feasting upon these wild fruits of nature; and in these waters the
fishes were so plentiful that as you lift up the anchor- stone of your net
in the morning, your net would be so loaded with delicious whitefish as
to fairly float with all its weight of the sinkers. As you look towards the
course of your net, you see the fins of the fishes sticking out of the
water in every way. Then I never knew my people to want for anything
to eat or to wear, as we always had plenty of wild meat and plenty of
fish, corn, vegetables, and wild fruits. I thought (and yet I may be
mistaken) that my people were very happy in those days, at least I was
as happy myself as a lark, or as the brown thrush that sat daily on the
uppermost branches of the stubby growth of a basswood tree which
stood near by upon the hill where we often played under its shade,
lodging our little arrows among the thick branches of the tree and then
shooting them down again for sport.
[Footnote: The word Arbor Croche is derived from two French words:
Arbre, a tree; and Croche, something very crooked or hook-like. The
tradition says when the Ottawas first came to that part of the country a
great pine tree stood very near the shore where Middle Village now is,
whose top was very crooked, almost hook-like. Therefore the Ottawas
called the place "Waw-gaw-naw-ke-zee"--meaning the crooked top of
the tree. But by and by the whole coast from Little Traverse to
Tehin-gaw- beng, now Cross Village, became denominated as
Waw-gaw-naw-ke-zee.]

Early in the morning as the sun peeped from the east, as I would yet be
lying close to my mother's bosom, this brown thrush would begin his
warbling songs perched upon the uppermost branches of the basswood
tree that stood close to our lodge. I would then say to myself, as I
listened to him, "here comes again my little orator," and I used to try to
understand what he had to say; and sometimes thought I understood
some of its utterances as follows: "Good morning, good morning! arise,
arise! shoot, shoot! come along, come along!" etc., every word repeated
twice. Even then, and so young as I was, I used to think that little bird
had a language which God or the Great Spirit had given him, and every
bird of the forest understood what he had to say, and that he was
appointed to preach to other birds, to tell them to be happy, to be
thankful for the blessings they enjoy among the summer green branches
of the forest, and the plenty of wild fruits to eat. The larger boys used
to amuse themselves by playing a ball called Paw-kaw-do-way, foot-
racing, wrestling, bow-arrow shooting, and trying to beat one another
shooting the greatest number of chipmunks and squirrels in a day, etc.
I never heard any boy or any grown person utter any bad language,
even if they were out of patience with anything. Swearing or profanity
was never heard among the Ottawa and Chippewa tribes of Indians, and
not even found in their language. Scarcely any drunkenness, only once
in a great while the old folks used to have a kind of short spree,
particularly when there was any special occasion of a great feast going
on. But all the young folks did not drink intoxicating liquors as a
beverage in those days. And we always rested in perfect safety at night
in our dwellings, and the doorways of our lodges had no fastenings to
them, but simply a frail mat or a blanket was hung over our doorways
which might be easily pushed or thrown one side without any noise if
theft or any other mischief was intended. But we were not afraid for
any such thing to happen us, because we knew that every child of the
forest was observing and living under the precepts which their
forefathers taught them, and the children were taught almost daily by
their parents from infancy unto manhood and womanhood, or until they
were separated from their families.
These precepts or moral commandments by which the Ottawa and

Chippewa nations of Indians were governed in