Every tribe of Indians has a different coat of arms, or symbolical sign
by which they are known to one another. The emblem of the Ottawas is a
moose; of the Chippewas, a sea gull; of the Backswoodsmen, a rabbit;
that of the underground tribe, to which I belong, is a species of hawk;
and that of the Seneca tribe of Indians is a crotch of a tree. The
Ottawa Indians are very nearly extinct in the state of Michigan as
there are only two or three families in the state, whose national
emblem is a moose, showing them to be descended from pure Ottawa blood;
but those who represented themselves as the Ottawas in this state are
descendants from various tribes of Indians, even some are Senecas, of
the Iroquois family--formerly deadly enemies of the Ottawas. The cause
of this mixture is by intermarriage, and by prisoners of war in former
times.

The first man who signed the treaty of 1886, one of the Chippewas of
the Grand River Indians, whose name was "Mixinene," was a descendant of
the Backwoodsmen, whose emblem was a rabbit. Therefore, all the rest of
those Chippewas who went to Washington to form a treaty with the
Government felt displeased about this matter and tried to ignore the
signature of Mixinene, because they thought that the first signature
should have been made by a pure Ottawa or a pure Chippewa, because they
had the first right to the land of Michigan. But the "Backwoodsmen,"
they considered, had no claim nor title to this land which they ceded
to the Government of the United States. But the Government did not know
the difference, however,--all she wanted was the land. So all the
Chiefs of the Ottawas and Chippewas signed this said treaty, not with
free will, but by compulsion.

The tradition gives no reason why the Ottawas continually moved towards