in these native houses, shown in plate 46, fig. 2, and plate 58, fig.
2, than in frame houses. Certainly they use more of these than any
other Wisconsin tribe. The mats for the benches or beds at the outer
rim of the wigwam, or for the floor inside, are skillfully made. They
can make their wigwams wind and waterproof with sewed cat-tail mats
and birch bark, as shown in plate 46, fig. 2, and can even live very
comfortably in their wigwams in sub-zero temperatures.
There are several agency schools scattered about the reservations,
where the children may go to school, and happily the teachers usually
encourage the children to learn their own Indian arts. The schools are
really boarding schools, where the children stay continuously for nine
months, being completely clothed by the Indian service. Sometimes boys
and girls will escape and run home to hide, but the disciplinarian and
Indian policeman usually ferret them out and bring them back, or else
seize the father and hold him in jail until the scholar is produced
again. Indian children are taught more of the useful arts and household
arts than are the white children, but also have access to a college
education through their university or normal schools.
Under the head of vegetal fibers, we also consider their uses of
forest trees, since these are so closely related. As before, the plant
families are listed alphabetically, and descriptions of uses are made
along the same lines as in the preceding divisions of this bulletin.
OJIBWE FIBER PLANTS
ACERACEAE (MAPLE FAMILY)
=Red Maple= (_Acer rubrum_ L.), “cicigîmeˈwîc”. This leaf is frequently
used in the Ojibwe beadwork designs. In fact, many leaves, flowers and
fruits furnish designs. Since the plants are sacred to their midewiwin
or medicine lodge, it is common for them to use especially valuable
remedies in their designs. These may be worked in either porcupine
quills or beads. Shell and copper beads were used in the older work,
while tiny glass beads obtainable from the whites are now used. Indian
women are usually most apt at their own aboriginal designs and do a
rather poor job, when they are given a white man’s design to copy.
In the early days, the Indian men drew outline pictures on birchbark
scrolls to remind them of midewiwin rituals, practices and medicines.
Indian women experimented with plant materials laid upon birch bark
until they found the design that suited them. Deer horns burned in the
fire to furnish charcoal or else flour was used to coat the underside
of a leaf, which was then pressed upon birch bark to leave its outline
as from a carbon copy. The birch bark design would be placed beneath
the native bead loom, as shown in plate 48, fig. 1, and the pattern
copied in beads. Sashes, anklets, bracelets, kneelets, belts, coats and
waists were beaded, also moccasins. The public is not very discerning
in choosing real Indian designs, but the ethnologist can quickly pick
the originals, even though he may never have seen that tribe of Indians
before.
=Mountain Maple= (_Acer spicatum_ Lam.), “cacagobiˈmûk” [emetic bark].
The three-lobed leaf of the Mountain Maple is a great favorite with
Ojibwe women for design work for beading, and it is more often seen
than any other kind of leaf.
=Sugar Maple= (_Acer saccharum_ Marsh.), “înênatîg” [Indian tree].[144]
Paddles for stirring maple sugar or wild rice while scorching or
parching it, bowls and many other objects of utility were made by the
Ojibwe from this wood.
APOCYNACEAE (DOGBANE FAMILY)
=Spreading Dogbane= (_Apocynum androsaemifolium_ L.), “wesaˈwûskwûn”
[nearly blue flowers]. The Flambeau women used to use the outer rind
for fine sewing. In the fall, when mature this fiber makes one of the
strongest native fibers, stronger even than the cultivated hemp to
which it is related.
BETULACEAE (BIRCH FAMILY)
=Paper Birch= (_Betula alba_ L. var. papyrifera [Marsh.] Spach)
“wîgwas”. Birch occupies almost as important a position in the life of
the Ojibwe as dates do in the life of an Arabian or cocoanuts in the
life of a South Sea Islander. The bark is used for buckets, baskets,
wigwam covering, and canoes. Patterns for their decorative art were
made upon the bark; records of their medicine lodge ritual were kept
on its virgin surface. It and cedar form the two most sacred trees of
the Ojibwe, both of which are so useful to them. They regard the birch
bark as a distinct contribution from Winabojo and point to the fact
that it is the last part of the tree to decay. It keeps its form even
after the wood has changed to dust and can be readily slipped from
the wood in decayed logs. It also has the property of protecting from
decay articles stored in it. They claim that a birch is never struck by
lightning, hence offers a safe harbor in a thunderstorm.
No birch or cedar is gathered by the Ojibwe without due offering of
tobacco to Winabojo and Grandmother Earth. Families make a pilgrimage
to birch groves during the latter part of June and in July to gather
their supply of birch bark, because it peels most easily at that time.
As everyone knows, there are many layers of bark on a birch tree
ranging from the thinnest paper to quite heavy pieces that make very
durable canoes.
George L. Waite, Honorary Curator of Botany in this museum, made a
special series of pictures, thirty in number, detailing every step
in the manufacture of their canoes or “tciman” as they call them.
Ogabeˈgijîg [rift in the clouds] and his wife Cawasînoˈkwe [rays of
light from cloud] both 80 years old, about the only old couple at Lac
du Flambeau, still remembering the proper Ojibwe method of making a
birchbark canoe were engaged to carry on the work. Important steps are
shown in plates accompanying this bulletin.
To find a tree with thick bark suitable for canoe-making often
necessitates a considerable journey on foot as it did in this case. The
trunk should be ten to fifteen inches in diameter, smooth and straight
as can be selected. Paper birches are of slow growth and the usual
specimen of that diameter will be from fifty to seventy years old.
This tree was collected with all the proper ceremony. Into a hole in
the ground at the base of the tree, tobacco was placed as an offering.
Tobacco was smoked by the man, who saluted the cardinal points of the
compass, and likewise heaven and earth. The tree was then cut down.
They say that usually it will be left standing on the stump, so that
the bark may be undamaged, but for this canoe where the outside of the
bark becomes the inside of the canoe, they felled crossed logs to hold
it off the ground.
To remove the bark, a long perpendicular slit is made the length
desired. From this cut the bark is laid back on either side, with an
axe, and peeled from the log as shown in plate 52, fig. 1. To overcome
the natural curl of the bark, it is then rolled up with the inner side
outmost, in proper lengths and tied with inner bark of the basswood,
which is their ready cord material. With a tump-line over the head, as
shown in plate 52, fig. 2, the man is ready to carry the bark home,
where he will make the canoe.
The framework was made of White Cedar or Arbor Vitae because it
is light, elastic, strong and easy to split. In plate 53, fig. 1,
Ogabeˈgijîg is shown splitting the cedar log to obtain the ribs and
framework. There are two lengths, sixteen feet for top rails, and six
feet for ribs, as shown in plate 53, fig. 2. The curves of the prow and
stern are obtained by slitting a stave twelve times so that it may be
bent at right angles, tied securely with basswood string, and held in
place until dried as shown in plate 54, fig. 1.
A staked form eighteen feet long is next laid out on the ground, as
shown in plate 54, fig. 2. The bark is secured between the two stakes
so that it cannot slip and is then ready for sewing together. Large
rocks are piled inside to overcome any tendency of the bark to curl.
The sewing material is the root of Jack Pine. These are especially
suitable since they are long and straight. Ogabeˈgijîg is seen pulling
them out of the ground after digging with a grub hoe, in plate 55, fig.
1. The central core is tough and is about the same diameter at the tip
as it is close to the main trunk of the tree. It is split into two and
coiled, to furnish a very tough flexible cord. The coils are shown with
Cawasînoˈkwe under the Jack Pine tree from whence they came in plate
55, fig. 2. Both cedar sticks and root fiber are sunk in the lake till
needed.
Sewing makes awl holes necessary, and a White Oak wood awl is used.
Both ends are drawn through the same hole with a lock stitch, like
the shoemaker used to use in putting on half soles. All holes must be
caulked and made watertight. Pitch is obtained from a Balsam, Norway
Pine, or White Pine. Notches made in the tree trunk fill with resin in
ten days. This is boiled with tallow in a kettle, as shown in plate
56, fig. 1. The resin is cooked a second time to obtain the pitch and
Hemlock or Larch bark is used to furnish the heat, because it produces
more steady heat than a wood fire.
Cawasînoˈkwe is seen again sewing the canoe into its form in plate
56, figure 2, and is shown applying pitch to the seams in plate 57,
figure 1. Decorations are made with native dyes such as blue clay and
red ochre. Nowadays white men’s colors are used and clan marks painted
on each end. Ogabeˈgijîg uses a bear picture for his clan mark while
Cawasînoˈkwe belongs to the chicken clan. The finished canoe is seen in
plate 57, fig. 2, as they are launching it upon Flambeau Lake. Very few
Ojibwe can still make a real birch bark canoe in this manner and the
museum considers this series of photographs a valuable one.
The tree is later salvaged for firewood, but the bark may be used right
away as soon as obtained. Emergency trays or buckets may be fashioned
at once in the woods, or the bark may be stored for future use. The
application of heat is all that is necessary to bend it in any shape
desired. Although it is highly inflammable, still buckets of birch bark
can be used to cook meats. Where water covers the inside of the vessel,
it will not burn. The Ojibwe woman saves scraps of birchbark to kindle
or light fires with them. A handy torch which will burn all night can
be made by rolling birch bark tightly. It is often used by the Ojibwe
in lieu of candles.
Nearly any kitchen utensil common to the white man, can be duplicated
in birchbark by the Ojibwe. Even funnels for pouring hot lard are
easily made. The mokoks or baskets are made for gathering and storing
berries, for storing maple sugar, dried fish, meat, or any food.
The birchbark keeps the food from spoiling. Some of the mokoks for
gathering berries or carrying maple sap, have bark handles like bucket
handles, as shown in plate 49, fig. 1, while larger storage baskets
have no handles, but a lid, or sometimes a flap of the basket itself is
used to close it tightly. All sorts of drying trays are made from birch
bark. Shallow trays for winnowing wild rice are also made of it.
Sheets of bark are sewed together with basswood string and made into
birchbark rolls, used as waterproof roofing for wigwams, as shown in
plate 46, fig. 2. Sticks tied across the end of the roll keep it from
splitting and tearing. A fine opportunity to see these bark rolls
was afforded during the Court of Neptune pageant in 1926 on the lake
front in Milwaukee, when the writer brought down over a hundred Ojibwe
Indians from Lac Court Oreilles, Wisconsin, and set up a model old time
village of eleven wigwams. There they lived for a week demonstrating
their former methods of life, jerking meats over open fires, as shown
in plate 47, fig. 2, and practicing their native arts and crafts.
=Low Birch= (_Betula pumila_ L. var. _glandulifera_ Regel), “bîneˈmîc”
[partridge bush]. The Flambeau Ojibwe use the twigs of this dwarf birch
for the ribs of baskets, where sweet grass is the weaving material.
=Hazelnut= (_Corylus americana_ Walt.), “mûkwoˈbagaˈnak”.[145] A
crooked stick with an enlarged base such as can often be obtained in a
hazel bush makes the favorite drum stick for the Flambeau Ojibwe. The
finer twigs are bound into a bundle, with the tips sheared, to serve as
a primitive broom or brush to be used on the bare ground in the wigwam.
The finer twigs may also be used as ribs in making woven baskets for
collecting or storing acorns or hard fruits.
CAPRIFOLIACEAE (HONEYSUCKLE FAMILY)
=Downy Arrow-wood= (_Viburnum pubescens_ [Ait.] Pursh), “wabanweˈak”
[east stick]. The bark of this species furnished one of the ingredients
of a Pillager Ojibwe kinnikinnik, which the writer smoked and
pronounces good.
COMPOSITAE (COMPOSITE FAMILY)
=Woolly Yarrow= (_Achillea lanulosa_ Nutt.), “wabîgwon” [white flower].
The flower heads are used in the kinnikinnik mixture for smoking by the
Flambeau Ojibwe. This mixture, is not however smoked for pleasure, but
in medicine lodge ceremonies for ceremonial purposes.
=White Sage= (_Artemisia ludoviciana_ Nutt.), “bebejiˈgoganjîˈ
wîˈngûsk” [horse hollow tube]. While the Pillager Ojibwe use this plant
as a horse medicine, they report that their neighbors the Sioux use it
in their smoking tobacco.
CORNACEAE (DOGWOOD FAMILY)
=Alternate-leaved Dogwood= (_Cornus alternifolia_ L. f.), “mosoˈmîc”
[moose tree]. The bark of this dogwood is used for kinnikinnik, while
the twigs are used in thatching and for various purposes by the
Pillager Ojibwe.
=Panicled Dogwood= (_Cornus paniculata_ L’Her.), “meskwabiˈmîc” [red
tree]. The Flambeau Ojibwe make kinnikinnik from the bark of this
species for smoking.
CYPERACEAE (SEDGE FAMILY)
=Wool Grass= (_Scirpus cyperinus_ [L.] Kunth.), “gaîeˈwûckûk”. The
Flambeau Ojibwe use these small rushes for a certain kind of mat, and
formerly used them for woven bags for storage.
=Great Bulrush= (_Scirpus validus_ Vahl.), “jîkaˈmiûskûn”. The Pillager
Ojibwe use this rush for their best mats. The bleached rushes are
shown in plate 51, fig. 1, after they have been immersed in water for
a few days and then cleansed. The Flambeau Ojibwe use the same rush in
the same way. They select long rushes, with small diameters, so that
the pith content is small. When the mat is in service, such a fiber
will not crush readily. The rush when gathered is an intense green,
white only at the base where it stands in water. All rushes must first
be bleached pure white, and afterwards colored as desired. They are
pulled, rather than cut, in order to obtain the maximum length. When
thoroughly bleached and dried, they dye them with white men’s dyes.
Formerly they used native dyes, which they really prefer. The writer
tried for a long time to secure the proper dyes for Whitefeather, but
without success. They had a small quantity of German dye bought in
1914, which was satisfactory, but the six lots sent them were not equal
to the small sample in penetration nor permanence. The bleached rushes
preponderate in any rug, and are ivory-white in color. The finished rug
or mat is three feet wide and from four to eight feet long, and sells
for from $8 to $30.[146] The edge is bound securely with nettle fiber
cord. The Flambeau Ojibwe use a more general term in referring to the
rushes “anaˈganûck” meaning rushes in general.
EQUISETACEAE (HORSETAIL FAMILY)
=Scouring Rush= (_Equisetum hyemale_ L.), “gîjiˈbînûsk” [duck plant].
The Pillager Ojibwe, besides using this for a medicine, employ a
handful of the stems to scour their kettles and pans.
FAGACEAE (BEECH FAMILY)
=White Oak= (_Quercus alba_ L.), “mîtîˈgomîc”. The wood is of much
value to all the Ojibwe, especially for making awls to punch holes in
birch bark as they are sewing it with Jack Pine roots. They use it in
making wigwams and for several other things. In fact, all the oaks are
used and appreciated.
GRAMINEAE (GRASS FAMILY)
=Sweet Grass= (_Anthoxanthum odoratum_ L.), “wîckoˈbimûckoˈsi” [sweet
grass]. While Sweet Grass is scarce around the Flambeau and Pillager
reservations, they secure it elsewhere for making baskets, and say that
in olden times it was used ceremonially because of its persistent sweet
scent.
HYDROPHYLLACEAE (WATERLEAF FAMILY)
=Virginia Waterleaf= (_Hydrophyllum virginianum_ L.),
“nebîneˈnanikweˈîag.” [having hair on only one side]. According to
White Cloud, Pillager Ojibwe, this root was chopped up and put into
pony feed to make them grow fat and have glossy hair.
JUGLANDACEAE (WALNUT FAMILY)
=Shell-bark Hickory= (_Carya ovata_ [Mill.] K. Koch.), “mîtîgwabaˈk”
[wooden?]. The Flambeau Ojibwe use the wood for making bows. Some are
quite particular about the piece of wood they select, choosing a billet
from the tree that includes heart wood on one side and sap wood on the
other. The heart wood is the front of the bow in use, while the sap
wood is nearest the user. It is likewise a wood of general utility.
JUNCACEAE (RUSH FAMILY)
=Dudley’s Rush= (_Juncus dudleyi_ Wiegand), “jîgomiˈûskûn”. The
Pillager Ojibwe use this tiny rush in their finest mat work, for small
pieces.
LEGUMINOSAE (PULSE FAMILY)
=Creamy Vetchling= (_Lathyrus ochroleucus_, Hook.), “bûgwaˈdjûk
pîniˈkmîneˈbûg” [unusual potato, berry leaf]. The leaves and roots of
this were used by the Pillager Ojibwe to put spirit into a pony just
before they expected to race him.
=Marsh Vetchling= (_Lathyrus palustris_ L.), “bebejiˈgoganjiˈ mackiˈki”
[horse medicine or literally “animal with only one hoof” medicine]. The
foliage was specially fed to a pony by the Pillager Ojibwe to make it
grow fat.
MYRICACEAE (BAYBERRY FAMILY)
=Sweet Fern= (_Myrica asplenifolia_ L.), “gibaimeˈnûnagwûs” [coverer].
This word is almost the same as the Menomini word for Sweet Fern and
means the same thing. The Flambeau Ojibwe use the leaves to line their
buckets when they pick blueberries and also cover them with the leaves,
to keep them from spoiling.
OLEACEAE (OLIVE FAMILY)
=Black Ash= (_Fraxinus nigra_ Marsh). Black Ash is the wood chosen
for basketry splints by the Ojibwe. While our Wisconsin Indians are
skilled at basket making, their product is more useful than highly
ornamental. If they had the yucca leaves, the devil’s claw fiber, the
sumac twigs, the bunch grass, and the other splendid basketry fibers
of the southwestern Indians, no doubt they would make equally fine
baskets. The Wisconsin Indians exercise possibly more ingenuity in
gathering and preparing their basketry material. They select a Black
Ash log from a swamp and peel it carefully. Then with a butcher knife,
they make a cut about a half inch deep and by pounding with an axe head
cause it to split up from the log, as seen in plate 50, figure 1. By
inserting wedges, and continually pounding ahead of them, they cause
the wood to separate along the annual rings. Then a further cut is
made in the center of the annual ring and the two halves peeled back
leaving a glossy surface. These splints are curled up into coils to be
immersed in kettles of dye stuffs. Then they are woven by the women of
the household as shown in plate 50, figure 2.
=Red Ash= (_Fraxinus pennsylvanica_ Marsh.), “aˈgîmak” [snow-shoe
wood]. All ash wood is quite valuable to the Ojibwe, as they use it for
bows and arrows, snow-shoe frames, sleds, basketry splints and cradle
boards as shown in plate 49, fig. 2. The Red Ash is not used for the
basketry splints when they can get Black Ash.
PINACEAE (PINE FAMILY)
=Balsam Fir= (_Abies balsamea_ [L.] Mill.), “jîngoˈb” [any kind of
fir tree]. More properly “jîngoˈb pikewaˈndag” [fir tree that goes up
to a peak]. The Ojibwe chop a hole in the trunk and allow the resin
to accumulate and harden. When gathered and boiled it becomes a canoe
pitch. It is usually boiled a second time with the addition of suet or
fat to make a canoe pitch of the proper consistency. Another name given
the tree is “jîngoˈbandag”.
=Tamarack= (_Larix laricina_ [DuRoi] Koch), “mûckiˈgwatîg” [swamp
tree]. Larch roots are also used as a sewing material by the Flambeau
and Couderay Ojibwe and they used to sew canoes with them. They also
make bags from the root fibers, which are considered especially durable.
=Black Spruce= (_Picea mariana_ [Mill.] BSP.), “jîngwûp” [its name].
The Flambeau and Couderay Ojibwe used these roots to sew canoes, and
from incisions in the bark gathered the resin to be boiled with tallow
to make pitch for caulking canoes.
=Jack Pine= (_Pinus banksiana_ Lamb.), “gîgaˈndag” [its name]. Jack
Pine roots have ever been esteemed by all Ojibwe as fine sewing
material for their canoes and other coarse and durable sewing. They
dig the roots with a grub hoe as shown in plate 55, fig. 1, and often
find them fifty or sixty feet long. These are split lengthwise into
two halves starting at the tree end, and are wrapped in coils as shown
in plate 55, fig. 2. They are then sunk in the lake which loosens the
bark and enables them to be scraped clean, as well as adding to their
flexibility. They are an ivory white when used and very tough and
flexible. An Ojibwe woman is shown sewing a canoe with them in plate
56, figure 2.
=Norway Pine= (_Pinus resinosa_ Ait.), “abakwanûgiˈmûg” [bark in
plates], shown in plate 63, fig. 2. The Flambeau Ojibwe gather resin
from the Norway Pine just as they do from the White Pine, Balsam and
Spruce, by chopping a hole into the trunk and collecting the resin as
it forms. It is boiled twice, being combined with tallow the second
time, to make a serviceable waterproof pitch. This is not only used for
caulking canoes, but for mending roof rolls of birch bark and other
things. The wood is also utilized.
=White Pine= (_Pinus strobus_ L.), “jîngwaˈkwacêskweˈdo” [white pine
cone], shown in plate 63, fig. 1. The Flambeau Ojibwe use the pitch
from the boiled cones, along with the resin that flows from boxed
trees, for caulking and waterproofing purposes.
=Arbor Vitae= (_Thuja occidentalis_ L.), “giˈjîg” [cedar or sky].
The Ojibwe worships the Arbor Vitae or White Cedar and the Paper or
Canoe Birch, as the two most useful trees in the forest. The pungent
fragrance of the leaves and wood of the Arbor Vitae are always an
acceptable incense to Winabojo, and the wood is their choice for light,
strong straight-grained canoe frames and ribs, as shown in plate 53,
figure 2. In earlier times, the tough stringy bark was used in making
fiber bags, but these are scarcely ever seen today.
=Hemlock= (_Tsuga canadensis_ [L.] Carr.), “gagagiˈwîc” [its name].
Hemlock bark was used by the Flambeau Ojibwe for fuel, when boiling
their pitch the second time, because the heat from it was more easily
regulated than that from a wood fire.
ROSACEAE (ROSE FAMILY)
=Hawthorn= (_Crataegus_ sp.), “mîneˈsagaˈwûnj”. The Flambeau Ojibwe
women use the sharp thorns for sewing awls on finer work such as
buckskin sewing with sinew.
SALICACEAE (WILLOW FAMILY)
=Shining Willow= (_Salix lucida_ Muhl.), “azisiˈgobmîc” [its name]. The
Flambeau Ojibwe use this bark for their kinnikinnik or native smoking
mixture. It is peeled and toasted over a fire and reduced to flakes.
SPHAGNACEAE (SPHAGNUM MOSS FAMILY)
=Sphagnum= (_Sphagnum dusenii_ C. Jens.), “asaˈgûmîg” [moss]. The
Flambeau and Pillager Ojibwe find Sphagnum Moss, shown in plate 66,
fig. 1, readily available. They gather and dry it to make mattresses.
TILIACEAE (BASSWOOD FAMILY)