28 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. bv the Miamis.* They are however intimately connected by alliance and language, not with these, but with the Chippeways and Ottawas. About the year 1671, the Ottawas of Lake Superior re- moved to the vicinity of Michillimackinac, and finally returned to their original seats on the west side of Lake Huron.f It is well known, that this nation occupied till very lately a great portion of the Michigan Peninsula, north and west of the Po- towotamies, whilst the Chippeways, who are much more numer- ous, are situated around Lake Superior, extending northwest- wardly to Lake Winnipek, and westwardly to Red River, that empties into that lake. They are bounded on the north by the Knistinaux, on the west and southwest by the Sioux, on the south and southeast by the Menomenies and the Ottawas. We have not sufficient data to ascertain the dividing line which, north of Lake Superior, separates them on the east from the residue of the old Algonkin tribes. Both names, Algonkin and Chippeway, have become generic, and are often indiscriminately used. When the Algonkin tribes of the River Ottawa were dis- persed in the middle of the seventeenth century, a portion sought refuge amongst the French, and appears to have been incorporated with those of their nation, who still reside in sev- eral villages of Lower Canada. The Nipissings, and some other tribes, fled towards Michillimackinac, the Falls of St. Mary, and the northern shores of Lake Superior. It has al- ready been stated that the Nipissings had returned to their old seats. What became of the others is uncertain. John Long, an Indian trader, says that he first learnt the lan- guage amongst the Algonkins of the two mountains above Mon- treal, and that it was mixed and corrupt. Of this he might not be a proper judge ; but his statement shows, that there was a difference between that dialect, and that spoken by the Indians with whom he afterwards traded. These, whom he calls Chip- eways, reside north and northeast of Lake Superior from Lake Musquaway, north of the Grand Portage, eastwardly to the sources of Saguenay and to the waters of James's Bay. His Chippeway vocabulary must be that of the dialect of those In- dians, and differs but little from those, either of the Chippeways
- They sent word to the Miamis, that they were tired of living on
fish, and must have meat. f Relations, A. D. 1671, and Charlevoix, A. D. 1687.
