Chippewa Customs

DECORATIVE USE OF GRASSES AND PORCUPINE QUILLS

172 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 86 or "smoke" a piece of wood evenly was a difficult task, and was accomplished by holding the wood over a slow fire of green wood. A reddish color was secured on bows by putting "black mud" in the fire and holding the article in the fumes from the fire. The decoration consisted of (1lI) a smooth medium brown. This was a color as even as though the article had been painted; (b) a brown color with patterns in the original color of the wood; and (e) a shaded brown. Narrow pieces of green bark were fastened around a pipestem before it was scorched, these stripes showing white and uncolored when the scorching was completed and the bark removed. Marks of identification were sometimes applied in this manner. The frame for beadwork shown in Plate 88 is decorated with shaded scorching. DECORATIVE USE OF GRASSES AND PORCUPINE QUILLS We will next consider the use of two materials, one of which was applied to the other for the purpose of decoration. The simplest materials applied in this manner were colored grasses and porcupine quills which were placed upon birch bark and leather. Grasses were the more primitive, as they required less preparation, and it is also said that they were used prior to porcupine quills by the Chippewa. A metal awl was used in making holes through which were inserted the ends of short pieces of grass or porcupine quills, the pattern having first been drawn on the material with a stick or dull knife. It is said that the earliest use of these materials was in geometric and simple line patterns. Later they were applied in solid patterns representing leaves and flowers. Porcupine quills are dyed red, yellow , and sometimes purple. They are said to be easier to color than any other substance and to retain their color longer. Quills were dyed a brilliant scarlet under the writer's observation, leaving no doubt as to the process. (See p. 163.) The color was similar to that which is often seen on leather tobacco bags, and supposed to be due to the use of analine dye. A bright yellow was also obtained on quills with native dye, the work being done while the present study was in progress. According to the Handbook of American Indians (p. 341) the quills were flattened "by holding one end firmly between the teeth, pressing the edge of the thumb-nail against the quill held by the forefinger, and drawing it tightly along the length of the quill, the process being repeated until the quill became smooth and ready for use. This flattening process was never done until the quill was ready for immediate use." A small hole having been made in the bark or leather, "the sharp point of the quill was thrust from the back and drawn out on the front side. An end of the flattened quill DENSMORE] CHIPPEWA CUSTOMS 173 was left at the back, and this was bent and pressed close to the skin or bark to serve as a fastening, like a knot on a thread. Another hole was made, perpendicular to the first, and through this the quill was passed to the back, thus making the stitch. . . . As quills were always so short . . . the fastening of ends and uniformity of the length of stitches were important points in the technic of the work." APPLIQUE WORK The materials commonly used in this work were colored ribbons. The work was done by laying ribbon of one color over ribbon of another color and cutting the upper ribbon in a pattern, turning the edges under and sewing them neatly in place. (PI. 78, u.) The usual patt€rn was in notches or diamonds. This decoration was used as a border on leggings, also on the cuffs and front piece of moccasins, and on the binding bands of cradle boards. The latter sometimes showed a border 3 or 4 inches wide on each edge, entirely covering the cloth except for a narrow space where the woven braid was tied around the cradle board. MEMORY DEVICES A record of time was kept by notches in a stick. This might be a record of time after some important event, or might represent an entire year, a large notch being made for the day of a new moon and smaller notches for the intervening days (p. 119). It was the custom of Little Wolf, the medicine man, to mark his...