Note 16 — Chapter III

From the Algonquin word "ouinipeg," signifying "bad smelling water," as salt-water was by them designated. When, therefore, the Algonquins spoke of this tribe as the "Ouinipigou," they simply meant "Men of the Salt-water;" that is, "Men of the Sea." But the French gave a different signification to the word, calling the nation "Men of the Stinking-water;" or, rather, "the Nation of Stinkards"—"la Nation des Puans." And they are so designated by Champlain in his "Voyages," in 1632, and on his map of that year. By Friar Gabriel Sagard ("Histoire du Canada," Paris, 1636, p. 201), they are also noted as "des Puants." Sagard's information of the Winnebagoes, although printed after Nicolet's visit to that tribe, was obtained previous to that event. The home of this nation was around the head of Green bay, in what is now the State of Wisconsin. Says Vimont (Relation, 1640, p. 35), as to the signification of the word "ouinipeg:"

"Quelques François les appellant la Nation des Puans, à cause que le mot Algonquin ouinipeg signifie eau puante; or ils nomment ainsi l'eau de la mer salée, si bien que ces peuples se nomment Ouinipigou, pource qu'ils viennent des bords d'vne mer dont nous n'auons point de cognoissance, et par consequent il ne faut pas les appeller la nation des Puans, mais la nation de la mer." The same is reiterated in the Relations of 1648 and 1654. Consult, in this connection, Smith's "History of Wisconsin," Vol. III., pp. 11, 15, 17. To John Gilmary Shea belongs the credit of first identifying the "Ouinipigou," or "Gens de Mer," of Vimont (Relation, 1640), with the Winnebagoes. See his "Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley," 1853, pp. 20, 21.