version of a council talk must contain some of the graces of the white man's language, and some of its nuances of diction and idiom. Although such interpretations may gain in clarity, they necessarily lose much of the original Indian flavor, certain crude, rugged poetic qualities of the original expression in the Chippewa language, with its small but exceedingly suggestive vocabulary limited to strong nouns, strong verbs, and compact, colorful phrases, idioms, and figures. In order, therefore, to catch these more primitive poetic qualities, even though it be at the loss of other virtues, the two poems, "Chief Bear's-Heart 'Makes Talk,'" and "Little-Caribou Makes 'Big Talk,'" are written in the dialect spoken by some of the reservation Indians of the North,—on the theory that this broken, labored, colorful pigeon-English of the remote Indian more accurately registers certain elements of the strange charm and the rugged power of Chippewa oratory.
The phrases "Boo-zhóo!" " Boo-zhóo, boo-zhóo!" and "Boo-zhóo nee-chée!" are forms of the friendly salutation that is common among the Chippewas. They are apparently corruptions of the French "Bonjour!" of the Canadian-French voyageurs and coureurs-des-hois, many of whom have mingled with the Chippewas and have married into the tribe.
In the days of the old frontier the Indian was greatly impressed by the uniforms and the sabers of the cavalry officers. Therefore he spoke of soldiers as "Long-Blades," or "Long-Knives"; and he frequently used these terms to designate all white men.
