THE MENOMINEES. 179 



independent spirit, and esteemed by the whites as their friends and protectors. 

 When in the country I have heard their chief assert, in council with the Sioux and 

 Chippeways, that although they were reduced to a few in number, yet they could 

 say — we never were slaves."* 



Their bravery is so much respected by the Chippeways, that the latter permit 

 the Menominees to hunt on their grounds on the Mississippi and Lake Superior.f 



" Their language, though of the Algonkin stock, is less similar to that of the 

 Chippeways, their immediate neighbors, than almost any dialect of the same stock. 

 As no other tribe speaks it, and they generally speak Chippeway, it is almost 

 impossible to find good interpreters. It is probably owing to that circumstance 

 that they were for a long time supposed to have a distinct language, belonging to 

 another stock than the Algonkin."J 



PLATE XXIX. 



MENOMINEE. 



By the kindness of Dr. Satterlee, of the United States Army, and J. A. 

 Lapham, Esq., I have received a series of Menominee skulls, embracing eight 

 specimens. They are something larger than the average of Indian crania ; and 

 although for the most part they present a rather oval shape, they are all marked 

 by a gently flattened occiput. 



The annexed plate was drawn from the cranium of a young Menominee 

 woman, probably not more than twenty years of age. The symmetry of this 

 skull, and its equal proportions, are more remarkable than in any other Indian 



* Pike, Exped. p. 52, 89. 



t Warden, United States, III, p. 540. — Beltrami, Trav. II, p, 175. 



J Gallatin, Archasolog. Amer. II, p. 60. 



