Page:History of the Ojibway Nation.djvu/40

 

HISTORY OF THE OJIBWAYS.

 

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CHAPTER I.

 

General account of the present local position and numbers of the Ojibways, and their connection with other tribes.

 

Divisions among the aboriginal inhabitants of North America—The Algic family of tribes—Their geographical position at the time of the discovery—Their gradual disappearance, and remarks on their present fate—Ojibways form the most numerous tribe of the Algics—The names, with their significations, of the principal tribes of this family—Causes of the difference in their several idioms—The importance of the Totemic division among the Algics—Origin of the name Ojibway—Present geographical position of the Ojibways—Their numbers and principal villages—Subdivisions of the tribe—Nature and products of their country—Present mode of livelihood.

 

Before entering into the details of their past history, it is necessary that the writer should give a brief account of the present position and numbers of the Ojibways, and the connection existing between them and other tribes of the American Indians residing in their vicinity, within the limits of the United States, Canada, and the British possessions.

Reliable and learned authors who have made the aboriginal race of America an object of deep study and research, have arrived at the conclusion, that the numerous tribes into which they are divided, belong not to the same primitive family or generic stock, but are to be ranged under several well-defined heads or types. The well-marked and total difference found existing between their several languages, has been the principal and guiding rule

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