238 THE MENOMINI INDIANS [eth.ann.14 



things for their use." So the old woman caused the bridge to assume 

 a very small shape, when she buried it in the earth, where it remains 

 hidden from mankind. 



Then the old woman told Ball Carrier to follow her to the door of 

 the wigwam. When they had reached the opening, she pointed out 

 toward two distant wigwams and said, "There are the wigwams of 

 your people, from whom you have been separated for a long time. Your 

 father is now an old man and needs your care and protection; go, 

 therefore, to your people and provide for them while they live." Ball 

 Carrier then remembered his people, and returned to them. 



ORIGIN OF THE WORD CHICAGO 



The Menomini have a tradition to the effect that some Potawatomi 

 Indians used to live at the marshes where the city of Chicago is now 

 situated. These Indians reported good hunting, so that when some 

 Menomini went there for game, their dogs would bark during the night; 

 but every time the hunters arrived at the »\wt they found that only 

 skunks had caused the alarm. 



The Ojibwa relate a story of an Ottawa hunter and his wife who lived 

 with that tribe farther north, on the shore of Lake Michigan. Taking 

 his wife with him this hunter went southward to hunt on a lake some- 

 where between the present cities of Chicago and Milwaukee. When 

 he reached the lake, where he had the previous year caught beaver, it 

 was still covered with ice, but on sounding it with a piece of wood 

 he soon discovered the thinner places where the animals hail congre- 

 gated. He therefore broke holes at these weak points in the ice for 

 the beaver to emerge and then went to his wigwam to get his traps in 

 readiness. The hunter's wife chanced to pass one of these holes, and 

 discovering a beaver on the ice, quickly caught it by the tail before it 

 could escape into the water, and called to her husband to come and kill 

 it. The husband replied that he would not come, saying that if he 

 killed that beaver the others might become frightened and escape from 

 the lake by some other openings in the ice. At this the woman became 

 angry and a quarrel resulted. 



Later in the day the hunter went out to examine the holes which he 

 had made and to make others where necessary. This task completed, 

 he returned to the wigwam, but found his wife gone. Thinking that 

 she might have gone only to visit a friend and that she would return 

 before the night was over, he went to sleep. On the following morning 

 his wife was still absent, so the hunter searched for her footprints and 

 found from them that she had gone toward the south. Kuowing that no 

 Ottawa lived in that direction, he started in pursuit and traveled all 

 day. As he progressed, he observed that her footprints gradually 

 changed in outline, becoming more and more like those of a skunk. 

 He followed the trail until it ended in a marsh, where Chicago now 



