60 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY rBUi-i.. 53 



Truly Odjib'we was a musician as well as a warrior. More than 

 70 of his songs were recorded, and these were only ])art of the melodies 

 at his command. In the long years of his blindness, passed in the 

 Old People's Home at White Earth Agency, Minnesota, he loved to 

 sing. Several of his comrades were there also, and they loved to 

 recall the days when the sweep of the prairie, from horizon to horizon, 

 belonged to the Indian. Niski'gwiin ("ruffled feathers"),* who 

 fought beside him in the great struggle at Ca'gobens' village, was 

 also there, and how good it was to talk over the old times! And 

 Main'gans ("little wolf"), plate 9, was there, too. Although Main'- 

 gans came from Mille Lac, he had lived at White Earth for almost 

 a generation. He, too, loved the old ways and the old songs. 

 Main'gans is a cripple, his feet having been frozen when he was 

 a boy, yet he is remarkably active. He attributes his rugged strength 

 to the constant use of a native remedy called the bi'jtkiwUck' ("cattle 

 herb medicine"). This is a kind of medicine used by warriors 

 in the old days, and Main'gans, as his contribution to the war 

 chapter of Chippewa music, described this medicine for the writer, 

 secured specimens of the herb, and sang the songs connected with 

 its origin and use. On one occasion Niski'gwiln was present when 

 Odjib'we was recording songs and added to the collection his own 

 dream song and one or two others. The songs of the ini'msino'wuck 

 ("island herb medicine") were sung by Na'waji'bigo'kwe ("woman 

 dwelling in the midst of the rocks"), who well remembers when the 

 herbs were dug to make this medicine for the departing warriors. 

 Few persons on the Wliite Earth Reservation are more skilled than 

 she in the lore of native medicines. Personal reminiscences were 

 given also by Meja'kigi'jig (see footnote, p. 83), Ma'djigi'jig ("moving 

 sky"), and A'kiwen'zi ("old man"), all of whom took part in the 

 wars against the Sioux, the two last named fighting under Odjib'we's 

 leadership. These persons furnished the material in this section. 



Odjib'we died in AprU, 1911, Many of the songs herein preserved 

 were known only to him. He stood alone, his preeminence unques- 

 tioned by his tribe throughout northern Minnesota. His hand was 

 never lifted against the white man, but when war was glory he led 

 his people to victory over the Sioux. May he rest in peace. 



The final battles in the hereditary warfare between the Chippewa 

 and the Sioux were fought in central Minnesota. This warfare, 

 wliich began before the tribes became known to the whites, had its 

 origin at the time of the westward migration of the Chippewa (Ojibwa), 

 who found their progress barred by the Dakota, a Siouan tribe. 

 The conflict contmued with intervals of peace until brought to an 

 end by the removal of the Minnesota Sioux by tlie United States 

 Government. 



> See pp. 77-79. 



