PREHISTORIC ABORIGINES OF MINNESOTA 217 



It is necessary now to rely on tradition, and on the preliminary con- 

 siderations already presented, to show what became of the rest of the 

 moundbuilders of the Ohio dynasty. It is apropos, however, to remark 

 that the whole of the mounctybuilding people could not have escaped by 

 the route traced out by Thomas up the valley of the Kanawha River. 

 By far the larger part of them had a habitat further south and further 

 west, and the most probable line of retreat for them was down the 

 Ohio Valley. 



There are many traditions that relate to the migrations of the native 

 tribes within the United States. I will call your attention to but two 

 of them. These relate to the great movements that are here discussed, 

 but they are confirmed by several others that supply contributory 

 details, and when taken all together their force amounts almost to as 

 great a body of evidence as if the events were a matter of history. 



These two traditions have been accepted by all archeologists as 

 trustworthy testimony, as far as the Indians could communicate a his- 

 tory of past events. The only differences of opinion that have ap- 

 peared pertain to the interpretation and application of the traditions 

 themselves. 



One of these two traditions recounts the hostile incursion of the 

 Lenni-Lenape, an Algonquian tribe or group of tribes, into the region 

 west of the Alleghany Mountains, their conflict with the " Tselaki," 

 a word which has been corrupted into Cherokee, and with the Allegewi, 

 a word which is perpetuated in the term Alleghany, and their final 

 settlement, under the name Delaware, in the eastern part of Pennsyl- 

 vania and in New Jersey, together with some further migrations toward 

 the east. The other relates to the migration of some of the Siouan 

 tribes down the Ohio Eiver and their going " up stream " and " down 

 stream " on the Mississippi on reaching the mouth of the Ohio. I do 

 not know that any one has called in question the essential parts of this 

 tradition. 



John Heckewelder, a Moravian missionary with the Delaware or 

 Lenni-Lenape in Pennsylvania, gave the first printed account of the 

 hostile incursion of the Lenni-Lenape against the Ohio mound builders. 

 It is published in Vol. XII. of the memoirs of the Historical Society 

 of Pennsylvania, in 1818. He took it from the relation of the intel- 

 ligent Indians. With some abbreviation it is as follows: 



"The Lenni-Lenape (according to traditions handed down to them 

 by their ancestors) resided many hundred years ago in a very distant 

 country in the western part of the American continent." For some 

 reason they determined on migrating to the eastward, and accordingly 

 set out together in a body. After a very long journey, and with many 

 long stops on the way, they at length arrived on the " Namaesi-sipu," 

 which by Mr. Heckewelder is translated "Mississippi, or Eiver of 



