Ojibway & Cree

[Mike Cleven]

> Lisa M Peppan wrote:
>
> On Sat, 29 Dec 2001 George Lang <george.lang at UALBERTA.CA> writes:
>
> > One thing I find puzzling about the purported Ojibway
> > origin of _tutush_ was that circa 1790 Meares used
> > the word, presumably in its guise as "breast", for
> > Tatoosh Island off Cape Flattery.  I think we all suppose
> > that the Ojibway and Cree came in through the continental
> > fur trade   One of those little mysteries....
> I dunno.
>
> I think that saying Ojibway and Cree came in through the fur trade is
> about as close to the truth as we're going to get without time travel,
> because:
>
> A few did come West with the fur trade through employment of the
> Hudson's Bay Company/the North West Company/the American Fur Company.
> There was an Abenaki/Abenaquois man who was living -- with family --
> in what is now southwest Washington state in 1827, Pierre Charles dit
> Langlois, fomerly of Sorel Québec.
>
> And in November of 1824, an expedition was sent out from Fort
> Vancouver on the Columbia River "to explore the shore line of Puget
> Sound and the waters of the Fraser River.  The party was comprised of
> McMillan, three clerks and an interpreter, 36 men and an Iroquois
> Freehunter and his slave."  Why an Iroquois Freehunter?  Because "he
> was acquainted with the coast line for part of the way."
>
> Just my two cents worth...  :)
>
> ...  <-- and a few grains of salt.

Seasalt, I hope.....

The main thing to remember is that all the Metis were not only of part
native origin but also spoke various native languages; although there
were non-Metis natives also travelling west, as Lisa notes.

MC