1898-99. | FAMOUS ALGONQUINS ; ALGIC LEGENDS. 307 
This song was composed, more than one hundred years ago, for the 
expedition in which our hero led three hundred and forty warriors and 
overcame the Foxes and Sioux at the Falls of St. Croix, now in Polk 
County, Wisconsin. The battle decided the possession of St. Croix 
valley.(w) 
Waub-Ojeeg’s daughter inherited much of the poetic spirit of her 
father. Her Irish husband was also embued with romance, and, in turn, 
characteristic and beautiful sentiments seemed to be innate with their 
daughters. Mrs. Jameson gives several examples, tales or legends taken 
down by her from the lips of these talented ladies. 
ALGIC LEGENDS AND HIAWATHA MYTHS. 
Then when I have strayed a while 
Through the Manitoulin Isle, 
Breathing all its holy bloom, 
Swift I mount me on the plume 
Of my Wakon-Bird and fly.(x) 
THOMAS MOORE. 
Before Mr. Johnston’s time, Alexander Henry traversed this region, 
met Algonquins of various tribes, was at the taking of Macinac by the 
Sacs and Chippewas, and for some time a prisoner among them. In 
1767 he published some legends regarding Manabozhu,and other Indian 
stories. We may here note that the spirit of the Algic muse was of a 
very different character from that of their southern neighbours. Mr. 
Parkman compares the legendary lore of the Iroquois with that of the 
Algonquins. The former black as the midnight forests, awful in its 
gloomy strength, while the tales of the Algonquins were different in 
aspect, of necromancy and witchcraft, men transformed to beasts, and 
beasts transformed to men, animated trees and birds who spoke with 
human tongues. The credulous circle around the Ojibway lodge fire 
heard of sorcerers dwelling among lonely islands, of spell-bound lakes, 
of grisly wendigoes, of evil manitoes lurking in the dens and fastnesses 
of the woods, of heroes who by subtle strategy or magic art achieved 
triumphs over brute force. The God of Thunder, who made his home 
among the caverns beneath the cataract of Niagara, was a conception 
(w) ‘*Schoolcraft’s:Indian Tribes of United States,” 5, 524. 
(x) This verse is in the poem, ‘‘ From the Banks ot the St. Lawrence.’ In a note the Wakon-Bird is 
stated to be ‘of the same species as the Bird of Paradise, the Bird of the Great Spirit.” In this poem 
Moore describes Niagara and, passing through the lake, sees: 
**Where the blue hills of old Toronto shed 
Their evening shadows o’er Ontario’s bed.” 
As this was in 1804 what the Irish poet saw was the cliffs known now as Scarboro Heights, east o 
the infant city, and then covered with magnificent oak and pine trees. 
