Note I-65 — Chapter I · ITINERARY: ST. LOUIS TO ST. PAUL, AUGUST 9TH-SEPTEMBER 21ST, 1805.

Those of a sentimental turn who may like to have the full-rounded legend of the maiden Winona will find the romance related in a scholarly yet sympathetic vein by Prof. Keating, in Long of 1823, pub. 1824, I. pp. 280-85. Beltrami, II. p. 183, calls the girl Oholoaïtha, her lover Anikigi, comparing the pair to the muse of Mitylene and Phaon. Whether the tragic event is fact or fancy is another question I see no use of raising. There is no inherent improbability in the case; any girl could have thrown herself over the rock with more ease than she had climbed it for that purpose, and suicide is not less frequent among squaws than various other peoples of both sexes. In the case of Indian women the most usual causes are said to be grief, anger, and revenge, though in some cases the suicidal resolve is more deliberate, and rather a matter of social etiquette or of a religious code than of emotional insanity. I understand that hanging is the customary method of taking one's self off; and that the smallest tree which will answer the purpose is preferred, because it is an article of belief that the ghost thus discarnated must drag the instrument of death about for a period, and a woman naturally prefers to lighten the load as much as possible. Supposing Winona to have taken the fatal leap, it is reasonable to infer from the faith in such affairs that she is there yet, chained to the rock like another Andromeda; for the bluff is too big for her to budge an inch, even with the assistance of a possible Perseus. There is unimpeachable precedent for her performance in the classics, not entirely dissociated from the name and fame of the gifted poetical archetæra Sappho; and rocks reputed to be the scenes of lovers' leaps abound in history and geography.