In the present volume I have grouped a series of ethnological studies of the Indians of Eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland, around what is asserted to be one of the most curious records of ancient American history.
For a long time this record—the Walam Olum, or Red Score—was supposed to have been lost. Having obtained the original text complete about a year ago, I printed a few copies and sent them to several educated native Delawares with a request for aid in its translation and opinions on its authenticity. The results will be found in the following pages.
The interest in the subject thus excited prompted me to a general review of our knowledge of the Lenape or Delawares, their history and traditions, their language and customs. This disclosed the existence of a number of MSS. not mentioned in bibliographies, some in the first rank of importance, especially in the field of linguistics. Of these I have made free use.
In the course of these studies I have received suggestions and assistance from a number of obliging friends, among whom I would mention the native Delawares, the Rev. Albert Anthony, and the Rev. John Kilbuck; Mr. Horatio Hale and the Right Rev. E. de Schweinitz; Dr. J. Hammond Trambull, Prof. A. M. Elliott and Gen. John Mason Brown.
Not without hesitation do I send forth this volume to the learned world. Regarded as an authentic memorial, the original text of the Walam Olum will require a more accurate rendering than I have been able to give it; while the possibility that a more searching criticism will demonstrate it to have been a fabrication may condemn as labor lost the pains that I have bestowed upon it. Yet even in the latter case my work will not have been in vain. There is, I trust, sufficient in the volume to justify its appearance, apart from the Red Score; and the latter, by means of this complete presentation, can now be assigned its true position in American archaeology, whatever that may be.
CONTENTS.
| PAGE |
| CHAPTER I.—§ 1. The Algonkin Stock | 9 |
| Scheme of its Dialects.—Probable Primitive Location. | |
| § 2. The Iroquis Stock | 13 |
| The Susquehannocks—The Hurons—The Cherokees. | |
CHAPTER II.—The Wapanachki or Eastern Algonkin Confederacy |
19 |
The Confederated Tribes—The Mohegans—The Nanticokes.—The Conoys.
—The Shawnees.—The Saponies.—The Assiwikalees. | |
CHAPTER III.—The Lenape or Delawares |
33 |
Derivation of the Name Lenape.—The Three Sub-Tribes:
the Minsi or Wolf, the Unami or Turtle, and the Unalachtgo
or Turkey Tribes.—Their Totems.—The New Jersey Tribes:
the Wapings, Sanhicans and Mantas.—Political Constitution
of the Lenape.—Vegetable Food Resources.—Domestic
Architecture.—Manufactures.—Paints and Dyes.—Dogs.—
Interments.—Computation of Time.—Picture Writing.—
Record Sticks.—Moral and Mental Character.—Religious
Belief.—Doctrine of the Soul.—The Native Priests.—
Religious Ceremonies. | |
CHAPTER IV.—The Literature and Language of the Lenape |
74 |
§ 1. Literature of the Lenape Tongue.—
Campanius; Penn; Thomas; Zeisberger; Heckewelder;
Roth; Ettwem; Grube; Dencke; Luckenbach; Henry;
Vocabularies; a Native Letter. | |
§ 2. General Remarks on the Lenape.
§ 3. Dialects of the Lenape.
§ 4. Special Structure of the Lenape.—The Root and the Theme;
Prefixes; Suffixes; Derivatives; Grammatical Notes. | |
CHAPTER V.—Historical Sketches of the Lenape |
109 |
§ 1. The Lenape as "Women."
§ 2. Recent Migrations of the Lenape.
§ 3. Missionary Efforts in the Provinces of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. | |
CHAPTER VI.—Myths and Traditions of the Lenape |
130 |
Cosmogonical and Culture Myths.—The Culture-hero,
Michabo.—Myths from Lindstrom, Ettwein, Jasper
Donkers, Zeisberger.—Native Symbolism—The Saturnian
Age.—Mohegan Cosmogony and Migration Myth. | |
National Traditions.—Beatty's Account.—The Number Seven.—
Heckewelder's Account.—Prehistoric Migrations.—Shawnee
Legend.—Lenape Legend of the Naked Bear. | |
CHAPTER VII.—The Walam Olum:
Its Origin, Authenticity and Contents |
148 |
Biographical Sketch of Rafinesque.—Value of his Writings.—
His account of the Walum Olum.—Was it a Forgery?—
Rafinesque's Character.—The Text Pronounced Genuine
by Native Delawares.—Conclusion Reached. | |
Phonetic System of the Walum Olum.—Metrical Form.—
Pictographic System—Derivation and Precise Meaning
of Walum Olum.—The MS of the Walum Olum.—General
Synopsis of the Walum Olum—Synopsis of its Parts. | |
THE WALUM OLUM.—Original Text and Translation |
169 |
Notes |
219 |
| Vocabulary | 233 |
| Appendix | 255 |
| Index of Authors | 257 |
| Index of Subjects | 259 |
THE LENAPE AND THEIR LEGENDS.
