" When
called upon they could give their Christian names and answer to
William or Magloire, to Mary or Madaline, but, in spite of priest or
parson, their home name was a Cree one. In many cases the white
forefather's name had been dropped or forgotten, and a Cree surname
had taken its place, as, for example, in the name Louis Maskeg??sis,
or Madeline No??skeyah. Some of the Cree names were in their meaning
simply grotesque. Misho??stiquan meant "The man who stands with the
red hair"; Waupun?©kapow, "He who stands till morning." One of the
applicants was Kanawatchagu??yo, or "The ghost-keeper."
[It may be mentioned here that this half-breed's "inner" name, so to
speak, meant "The Ghost-Keeper," for the name he gave, following
an Indian usage, was not the real one. Kanawatchagu??yo was the one
given by the interpreter, but accompanied by the translation of
the inner name, to wit, "The Ghost-Keeper." This curious custom is
more fully referred to in a forthcoming work on Indian folk-lore,
traditions, legends, usages, methods and manner of life, etc., by
Mrs. F. H. Paget, of Ottawa. This lady is an expert Cree scholar,
and her work, which I have had the pleasure of hearing her read, is
the result of diligent research and of ample knowledge of Indian
life and character.]
But others were strikingly poetical, particularly the female
names. Pay??cko geesigo, "One in the Skies"; Pesawakoona kapesisk,
"The silent snow in falling forming signs or symbols"; Matyatse
wunoguayo, or rather, for this is a doubtful name, Pow??stia ka
nunaghqu??netungh, "Listener to the unseen rapids"; Kese koo
??peoo, "She sits in heaven," were all the names of applicants
for scrips, and many others could be added of like tenor.
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