2 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 66 



of earth and stones, and to have the shape of "a serpent." It was 

 described by Mr. Stone as being 15 to 18 feet in l^gth and 3 to 5 

 feet high. An old Chippewa Indian, whom Mr. Stone consulted on 

 the point, was certain that it was not the work of his people. The 

 writer was not able to visit the mound in person. Its presence on 

 La Pointe Island is interesting. Neither Lapham (1855) nor 

 Thomas (1894) reports any mounds so far north. There is a mere 

 possibility that it was made by the Chippewa ^ but, more probably, 

 its builders were an offshoot of the tribes to which must be attributed 

 the numerous mounds farther south in Wisconsin. 



MIGRATIONS OF THE CHIPPEWA (OR OJIBWA) AND THEIR 

 HISTORY ON LA POINTE ISLAND, 1490-1620 



The Chippewa belong, as is well known, to the great Algonquian 

 linguistic family. Much of that stock dwelt around the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence, and there are traditions that the Chippewa themselves 

 once lived in that region.^ Warren, basing his knowledge on what 

 was told him by an old " priest " of the Midewiwin (Grand Medicine 

 Lodge), tells the following story of the westward migration of the 

 Chippewa : 



Starting from the region around the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the 

 Ojibwa moved up the river, following the megis (sacred sea-shell), 

 which was their guide. They stopped for a time at Mo-ne-aung, 

 now Montreal. Eventually the megis guided them to the Sault Ste. 

 Marie, called by them Bow-e-ting. At Michillimackinac the Ojibwa 

 (who were not then known by that name) split into three separate 

 but always allied divisions ; the Ojibwa proper, the Ottawa, and the 

 Potawatomi. The Ottawa moved somewhat eastward from the 

 Sault; the Potawatomi moved south; the Ojibwa moved west. In 

 historic times, at least, the Potawatomi dwelt near Lake Winnebago 

 and Green Bay.^ These three new tribes, as they became, always 

 remained in friendly relations. 



After their separation from the Ottawa and the Potawatomi, 

 the Ojibwa stayed for a long time at Bow-e-ting (Sault Ste. Marie). 

 ]\Iany of them remained there after the main body had gone on. 



^ According to Brinton, they occasionally built a mound " to celebrate some 

 special event " — Brinton, D. G., Essays of an Americanist, Phila., 1890, p. 70. 



"Cf. Warren, 1885, pp. 76-80; Powell, 1891. (Bibliographical references at 

 end of paper.) 



^Bulletin 30, Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 290; Verwyst, 1886, p. 211; Jes. Rel. for 

 1640; Thwaites, 1908, p. 194. 



