INDIAN NAMES GIVEN.
It is a custom with the Indians to bestow Indian names upon
missionaries and others who come to work among them, in order to make
them, as it were, one with themselves. We had not been many months
resident in Sarnia before we received an invitation from the pagan
Chief at Kettle Point, to come to a grand feast which the Indians were
preparing in our honour at that place, and to receive Indian names by
which we should be incorporated into the Ojebway tribe.
It was one of the coldest of winter days when we started, the glass very
low, a high wind, and the snow whirling through the air in blinding
clouds. We went by train to Forest, and there Ahbettuhwahnuhgund met us
with his sleigh. It was just a common box sleigh with two seats, and the
bottom filled with straw, and two horses to pull us. We were all bundled
up in rugs and blankets and wraps; the Chief, who was driving, had his
head completely smothered up in a bright blue shawl belonging to his wife,
and wrapped so many times round that he was as wide at the top of his eyes
as at his shoulders. The only one of the party who appeared careless about
the cold was an Indian named Garehees, who had come with us from Sarnia,
and he sat with his feet hanging over the side of the sleigh; however,
when we asked him how it was that he did not feel the cold, he replied
with a grin, "Moccasins no cold,--white man boot cold,--ice!--two pair
socks under moccasins me--big blanket too!" In about an hour and a half we
arrived at the Chief's house; it was the first time my wife had been to
Kettle Point, and she was very much pleased to make acquaintance with the
Indians of whom she had often heard, and who had sent her presents of
apples and cherries from their orchards. She had brought with her a few
small gifts for the children, with which they were much delighted. A
little boy named Isaac had a sugar-dog given to him; he soon had its nose
in close quarters with his mouth, and the people laughed to see it
disappearing. Indians are nearly always very much behind time in their
arrangements; they do not appear yet to understand the value of time--
whether in their councils, their daily work, their feasts, or their
attendance at church, they are generally behind the appointed hour. If a
council is called to commence at noon, three or four Indians will have
perhaps assembled at that hour; others straggle in as the day wears on;
they sit or lie about, smoking their pipes, chewing tobacco, and talking;
and it will probably be three o'clock before the council actually
commences.
The Indian feast of to-day was no exception to the rule. It was
appointed to take place at noon, but hour after hour sped by, and it
was nearly four p.m. when they at length commenced. On entering the
room where the feast was laid out, we found two seats arranged for us
at the end of the apartment beneath an ornamented canopy decked with
cedar boughs, and we were requested to sit down. Then the Chief and
Shaukeens (both pagans) stood up, and the Chief made a brief oration to
the people, which John Jacobs, a young native, then studying for the
ministry at Huron College, interpreted for us. The Chief expressed his
pleasure in receiving us among them, and his desire that we should
become as one of them by receiving Ojebway names; and then, taking me
by the hand, he continued: "The name that I have selected for you is
one which we greatly respect and hold in fond remembrance; for it was
the name of an old and respected Chief of our tribe who lived many
years ago and whose name we wish to have retained; and seeing you are a
missionary to the Ojebway Indians, it is the wish of my tribe as well
as myself that you should be called after our late respected Chief; so
your name hereafter is 'Puhgukahbun' (Clear Day-light)."
The moment my name was given, "Heugh! Heugh!" sounded from all sides,
that being the Indian mode of expressing approval when anything is said
or done.
Mrs. Wilson then rose and received her name in the same manner. The
Chief, addressing her, said: "It is with great pleasure that I bestow
also on you, the wife of the missionary, an Ojebway name. The name I am
about to give you was the name of one of our sisters who has long since
passed away from our midst, and it is our wish that her name should be
retained among us. Your name therefore is 'Nahwegeezhegooqua' (Lady of
the Sky).
"Heugh! Heugh! Heugh!" again sounded through the room, and then the
Indians one and all pressed forward to have a shake of the hand with
their new brother and sister. We almost had our hands shaken off, and
from all sides came the cry, "Boozhoo, Boozhoo, Puhgukahbun; Boozhoo,
Nahwegeezhegooqua, Boozhoo, Boozhoo!"
As soon as order was restored, the feast began. I had the seat of
honour next to the Chief, and Mrs. Wilson sat next to me. The table was
well covered with eatables--venison, cakes, pork, Indian bread,
preserves, all in the greatest abundance. About thirty persons sat down
to the first table the others waiting with true Indian patience for
their turn to come; and a long time it was coming, for as soon as the
first set had finished, an intermission was made for music and
speechifying. Several very pretty songs were sung by the Indian choir,
some in English and some in Indian.
After the feast was over and the tables cleared, I was asked to address
the people, and Wagimah interpreted for me. I told them briefly hew much
pleased I was to receive an Ojebway name, and thus become one of their
number, and how Mrs. Wilson and myself would now feel that we could
shake hands with them and regard them as our brothers and sisters. God,
I said, had greatly prospered our work since I came among them. We had
already our church completed and our Mission-house nearly so at Sarnia;
the great Society in England had contributed five hundred dollars
towards the erection of these buildings, and our friends in England
about five hundred dollars more; so that there would be no debt. As soon
as we had money enough I hoped that with their help we should be able
also to build a little church and teacher's house for them here at
Kettle Point, and send a catechist to reside among them and teach their
children. It was late in the evening when we bade good-bye and drove
back to Forest, where we remained for the night and the next morning
returned to Sarnia. On our arrival I found a letter awaiting me from the
Secretary of the Church Missionary Society, authorizing me to place a
catechist in charge of the Kettle Point Mission.