[15] The Ojibways, like the Dakotas, call the _Via Lactea_ (Milky Way) the
Pathway of the Spirits.
[16] _Shinge-bis_, the diver, is the only water-fowl that remains about
Lake Superior all winter.
[17] _Waub-ese_--the white swan.
[18] _Pe-boan_, Winter, is represented as an old man with long white hair
and beard.
[19] _Segun_ is Spring (or Summer). This beautiful allegory has been "done
into verse" by Longfellow in _Hiawatha_. Longfellow evidently took his
version from Schoolcraft. I took mine originally from the lips of
_Pah-go-nay-gie-shiek_--"Hole-in-the-day"--(the elder) in his day
head-chief of the Ojibways. I afterward submitted it to _Gitche
Shabash-Konk_, head-chief of the _Misse-sah-ga-e-gun_--(Mille Lacs band
of Ojibways), who pronounced it correct.
"Hole-in-the-day," although sanctioned by years of unchallenged use, is
a bad translation of _Pah-go-nay-gie-shiek_, which means a _clear spot
in the sky_.
[Illustration: HOLE-IN-THE-DAY. _From an original photograph in the
author's possession._]
He was a very intelligent man; had been in Washington several times on
business connected with his people, and was always shrewd enough to
look out for himself in all his treaties and transactions with the
Government.
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