May i6, 1890.] 



SCIENCE. 



299 



Oreat Lakes and on their tributary streams, and the Lenape 

 took possession of the country to the south. For a long 

 period of time, some say many hundred years, the two 

 nations resided peacefully in this country, and increased 

 very fast. Some of their most enterprising huntsmen and 

 •warriors crossed the great swamps, and, falling on streams 

 Tunning to the eastw^ard, followed them down to the great 

 bay river (meaning the Susquehanna, which they call the 

 great bay river from where the west branch falls into the 

 main stream), thence into the bay itself, which we call 

 •Chesapeake. As they pursued their travels partly by land 

 and partly by water, sometimes near and at other times on 

 the great salt-water lake, as they call the sea, they discov- 

 ered the great river which we call the Delaware." 



If this tradition has any foundation in fact (and it certainly 

 seems to have), there must have been a people to whom the 

 name " Tallegwi " was applied, for on this a large portion of 

 it hangs. Who were they ? Is it possible to trace them to 

 any tribe of modern times ? The supposition of Col. Gribson 

 mentioned by Heckwelder, that the name survives in " Alle- 

 ghany," applied to the chief river and mountains of western 

 Pennsylvania, is not generally accepted by linguists of the 

 present day. Heckwelder was of opinion that " Talligewi" 

 was a word foreign to the Algonquin, which was simply 

 adopted by the Delawares. Dr. Briuton says, "It is not 

 necessarily connected with Alleghany, which may be pure 

 Algonquin. He (Heckwelder) says, 'Those people called 

 themselves Talligeu or Talligewi.' The accent as he gives 

 it, 'Talligewi,' shows that the word is Tallike, with the sub- 

 stantive verb termination, so that Talligewi means ' He is a 

 Tal like ' or ' It is of (belongs to) the Tallike '" ( " The Lenape 

 and their Legends," p. 320). 



Heckwelder's account, no doubt colored to some extent by 

 his own interpretation, varies slightly from the tradition as 

 given in the " Walam Olum." He interprets Namaesi-Sipu 

 Tjy "Mississippi" because of his opinion that the migration 

 w^as from the west. It is more probable that Mr. Hale is 

 correct in assuming that it was some portion of the great 

 river of the north (the St. Lawrence) which connects 

 together and forms the outlet for the Great Lakes, possibly 

 that portion which connects Lake Huron with Lake Erie. 

 If this supposition be accepted, it would lead to the inference 

 that the Talamatan — the people who joined the Delawares in 

 their war with the Tallegwi — were Hurons or Huron- 

 Iroquois previous to separation. Mr. Hale's views on this 

 ^juestion are expressed in the American Antiquarian, 

 April, 1883, as follows: — 



"The country from which the Lenape migrated was 

 Shinake, the 'land of fir-trees;' not in the west, but in the 

 -far north, — evidently the woody region north of Lake Su- 

 perior. The people who joined them in the war against the 

 Allighewi (or Tallegwi, as they are called in this record) 

 were the Talamatan, a name meaning ' not of themselves,' 

 whom Mr. Squier identifies with the Hurons, and no doubt 

 correctly, if we understand by this name the Huron- 

 Iroquois people as they existed before their separation. The 

 river which they crossed was the Messeesipe, the ' Great 

 River ' beyond which the Tallegwi viere found ' possessing 

 the east.' That this river is not the Mississippi is evident 

 from the fact that the works of the mound-builders extended 

 far to the westward of the latter river, and would have been 



encountered by the invading nationsif they had approached 

 it from the west long before they had arrived at its banks. 

 The great river was apparently the Upper St Lawrence, 

 and most probably that portion of it which flows from Lake 

 Huron to Lake Erie, and which is commonly known as the 

 Detroit River. Near this river — according to Heckwelder, 

 at a point west of Lake St. Clair, and also at another place 

 just south of Lake Erie — some desperate conflict took place. 

 Hundreds of slain Tallegwi, as he was told, were buried 

 under mounds in that vicinity. This precisely accords with 

 Cusick's statement that ' the people of the great Southern 

 Empire had already penetrated to Lake Erie ' at the time the 

 war began. Of course, in coming to the Detroit River from 

 the region north of Lake Superior, the Algonquins would be 

 advancing from the west to the east. . . . The passage 

 already quoted from Cusick's narrative informs us that the 

 contest lasted perhaps one hundred years. In close agree- 

 ment with this statement, the Delaware record makes it en- 

 dure during the term of four head chiefs, who in succession 

 XJresided in the Lenape councils. 



The passages of the Delaware record which refer to the 

 Tallegwi, as translated by Dr. Brinton, are as follows: — 



" They (the Lenape) separated at Fish River (Nemassipi, sometimes 

 written Mistissippi) ; the lazy ones remained there. 



Cabin-man was chief; the Tallegwi possessed the east. 



Strong-Friend was chief; he desired the eastern land. 



Some passed on east ; the Talega ruler killed some of them. 



All say in unison, ' War, war ! ' 



The Talamatin, friends from the north, come and all go together. 



The Sharp-one was chief; he was the pipe-bearer beyond the river. 



They rejoiced greatly that they should fight and slay the Talega 

 towns. 



The Stirrer was chief ; the Talega towns were too strong. 



The Fire-builder was chief; they all gave to him many towns. 



The Breaker- in-pieces was chief; all the Talega go south. 



He-has-pleasure was chief; all the people rejoice. 



They stay south of the lakes ; the Talamatin friends north of the 

 lakes." 



Further on, and referring to a later period, are the follow- 

 ing verses : — 

 . " 14. The Bich-Down-Eiver-Man was chief, at Talega River. 



18. Snow-hunter was chief; he went to the north land. 



19. Look-about was chief; he went to the Talega, mountains. 

 30. Eafit-Villager was chief; he was east of Talega. 



40. At this time whites came on the eastern sea. 



43. Well-Praised was chief; he fought at the south. 

 43. He fought in the land of the Talega and Koweta. 



45. White-Horn was chief; he went to the Talega, 



46. To the Hilini, to the Shawnees, to the Kauawhas." 



The reasons for identifying the Tallegwi or Talega of this 

 tradition with the Cherokees, which will be more fully re- 

 ferred to hereafter, are briefly as follows: 1st, The very 

 close agreement in sound between Tsalake, the name the 

 Cherokees gave themselves, and Tallegwi or Talega as given 

 in the tradition; 2d, The fact that the traditions of the 

 Cherokees refer to the region of the Upper Ohio as their 

 former home; 3d, The statement of Bishop Ettwein that the 

 last of the Cherokees were driven from the Upper Ohio 

 about the year 1700 (see Brinton's " Lenape and their Le- 

 gends," p. 18); 4th, The testimony of the mounds; and. 



