Indians who frequent it are the Hawoyzask or Musquash, who speak the Chippeway language. They are usually more stationary than the generality of the Chippeways; they seldom leave the inlands, and are excellent hunters. Mr. Carver, in his chart, points out a village leading to Riviére St. Croix, which he says belongs to the roving Chippeways; but I believe all the nation, with very few exceptions, may be called rovers in the strictest sense of the word.[1]
The first day of our encampment we killed a hare, made fish-hooks of the thigh bones, and baited them with the flesh. The lines were made of the bark of the willow tree cut into slips, and twisted hard together. Success crowned our endeavours, for we not only caught sufficient for present use, but enough for the remainder of the journey to Lake Manontoye.
The day before our arrival we killed two otters, which
I intended as a present to Mr. Shaw, not doubting but
any animal food would be acceptable from the severity
of the season, concluding that his situation was as bad
as our own, except in the article of wild oats. When
arrived within about six miles of the lake, we met a small
party of Indians, who alarmed us by an account of a
dreadful confusion among their tribe, occasioned by the
Hudson's Bay Savages having killed three of their [63]
band; and they said they believed Mr. Shaw had fallen a sacrifice to their fury, as they had heard them consult
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- ↑ This is true not only of the St. Croix River (Wisconsin) Chippewas, but of nearly all the tribe up to the present time. The "woods Indian" north of Lake Superior is usually a Chippewa (Ojibwa), and a large portion of those under the care of the Canadian government are still hunters. The Canadian Department of Indian Affairs, in its Report for 1900, represents the modern Ojibwa as little changed, except from general inability to obtain liquor as freely as in the olden days of the fur-trade.―Ed.
