Part 8

=High Bush Blackberry= (_Rubus allegheniensis_ Porter), “odatagaˈ gomîc” [blackberry stem].[142] The Flambeau Ojibwe relish the Blackberry and also the Dewberry (_Rubus villosus_ Ait.) although we found no specimen nor distinctive name for it. They make a jam of the berries for winter use.

=Red Raspberry= (_Rubus idaeus_ L. var. _aculaetissimus_ [C. A. Mey.] Regel & Tiling) “meskwaˈ mîn” [red berry]. This is a favorite fresh fruit of the Flambeau Ojibwe and is also used for making jams for winter use.

SALICACEAE (WILLOW FAMILY)

=Large-toothed Aspen= (_Populus grandidentata_ Michx.), “asadiˈ” [bitter bark]. The Ojibwe scrape the cambium layer to obtain a food which is boiled and is something like eggs. They also scrape the cambium of several other trees for food.

SAXIFRAGACEAE (SAXIFRAGE FAMILY)

=Prickly Gooseberry= (_Ribes cynosbati_ L.), “meˈ skwacaboˈ mînûk” [red berries with thorns]. The Flambeau Ojibwe relish these berries when ripe and make them into preserves for winter use.

=Wild Black Currant= (_Ribes americanum_ Mill.), “amîˈkomîn” [beaver berries], shown in plate 70, fig. 1. The Pillager Ojibwe eat these berries fresh, in jams, and preserves and dry them for winter. In the winter, a favorite dish is wild currants cooked with sweet corn. The Flambeau Indians use them in a like manner, but call them “kagagîtciˈ mîn” [raven berries].

=Wild Red Currant= (_Ribes triste_ Pall.), “mîcitciˈ mînûk”. The Flambeau Ojibwe gather these currants and use them as they do the Wild Black Currants.

=Smooth Gooseberry= (_Ribes oxyacanthoides_ L.), “caboˈ mînûk” [smooth berry]. The Flambeau Ojibwe gather this berry for fresh food, and also make it into preserves for winter use. It is often cooked with sweet corn.

SOLANACEAE (NIGHTSHADE FAMILY)

=Ojibwe Potato= (_Solanum tuberosum_ L.), “opîn” [potato].[143] The Ojibwe have cultivated this early potato, according to their traditions since aboriginal times, and it surely looks primitive enough. It is round in circumference, about two or three inches long, has purplish flesh, and never cooks to a mealy consistency. It is much prized for soups and is always firm and crisp when cooked. White Cloud’s potato patch on Bear Island, Leech Lake, Minnesota, is shown in plate 58, fig. 1.

URTICACEAE (NETTLE FAMILY)

=Hop= (_Humulus lupulus_ L.) “jiˈwîciniˈ goniˈ bûg”. The Pillager Ojibwe often use the hop fruit as a substitute for baking soda.

VITACEAE (VINE FAMILY)

=Virginia Creeper= (_Psedera quinquefolia_ [L.] Greene), “manîdoˈ bimakwît” [spirit twisted]. The Pillager Ojibwe say that the root of this vine was cooked and eaten a long time ago by their people and that it had been given as a special food by Winabojo.

=River-bank Grape= (_Vitis vulpina_ L.), “cîˈ wimînûn”. The Pillager Ojibwe use these grapes after they have been frosted, and make them into jelly for winter use.

OJIBWE VEGETAL FIBERS

The Ojibwe Indians have always been far removed from the beaten paths of the white men, and for this reason make good use of their native plant materials. Oft times, it seems to the white man that they bestow considerable labor, upon making cord, string, mats, baskets and similar articles that might as easily be purchased at a store. But money is not plentiful, and many of the things that can be purchased have inferior lasting qualities. Disgust for a poor substitute, pride in their own resourcefulness, and the habit of centuries has kept them constantly proving that they are the master of their environment and continuing to make their products in the good old Ojibwe way.

Outside of yarn sashes, they have not woven textiles for a long time. Perhaps the last of their textile work is in storage bags made from nettle fiber or basswood string. Cedar bark fiber was used long ago for some coarse textiles but not within the past century.

Their bark wigwams are quite comfortable and probably more Ojibwe live 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”.