Chippewa Customs

BOWS AND ARROWS

146 BUREAU OF All,1ERIOAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. $(j Thus, if a party were in danger from a storm it was not sufficient for any member of it to put the tobacco in the water or the fire. This must be done by someone who has had a suitable dream. BOWS AND ARROWS The principal informants on this subject were En'dusogi'jig (pI. 48), a chief of the Mille Lac band, and Tom Skinaway, a blind member of that band. Both had been skillful workers in wood. Endusogijig said that in old days the Chippewa made bows from small trees, scraping off the bark and bending them. Such bows·were probably for emergency use, like the sleds and snowshoes that were roughly made when needed. The bows of finished workmanship were made of hickory or ash, the former being preferred for bows used in war or when hunting large animals. The length of the bow varied with the stature of the owne.r and was equivalent to the measure from the point of the shoulder across the chest to the end of the middle finger of the opposite hand. It was said a typical bow was about 48 inches long, and the largest bows were about three fingers wide. Chippewa bows were of four varieties: (1) Bow having the outer surface flat and the inner with a ridge or rib. This was partiCUlarly strong. (2) Bow with both outer and inner surfaces flat. (3) Bow with the sides cut in scallops, this sort of bow being used when hunting squirrels. (4) Bow with the outer surface rounded and the inner surface flat. This type was a hunting bow and was also used in war. It was said that the bows with both surfaces flat were not strong enough for war and broke if used in that manner. After the bow was shaped it was put in hot water to bend the wood and also to strengthen it. A bow might also be strengthened by charring the inner surface. The bows were decorated in various ways. The colored juice at roots was formerly used for this purpose. A reddish color was produced by the use of a "black mud" found near a certain spring. They put this mud on the fire and held the bow in the fumes. Lines were also etched with a hot pointed stone or a hot iron and might be filled with red paint. Only two materials were said to make serviceable bowstrings. These were ze'sub (nettle-stalk fiber), and the neck of a snapping turtle. One informant included the sinew of moose or deer but the other said this material was likely to break when wet. The nettlestalk fiber was" waxed" or rubbed with pitch to make it waterproof, this being applied after the bowstring was finished. The preparation of this fiber is described on page 152. In making a bowstring of a turtle's neck the Chippewa cut off the neck of the snapping turtle DENSMORE] CHIPPEWA CUSTOMS 147 close to its body, removed the skin and cut it round and round, making a long strip, which they twisted into a cord. This type of bowstring was said to be particularly good as it would neither stretch nor shrink, and lasted a long time. The arrows used by the Chippewa were not so long as the Sioux arrows, partly because a long arrow was not convenient to use in the woods, and also because the Chippewa often shot" from the knee." The Chippewa war arrow was equivalent to the distance from a little below a man's elbow to the end of his first fingel<. The shaft was smoothed by a grooved piece of sandstone that was rubbed around the wood. Some arrows were of wood throughout but a majority consisted of a wooden shaft with an arrow point fastened with sinew. In very old times the stalk of the June berry bush was used for arrow shafts; a notch was cut in this stalk, the arrow point of stone or iron was inserted and held in place by winding the shaft with strips of green bark from the small branches of the June berry. Arrows made of pine or cedar were used in hunting ducks or other water birds, as they would float on the Witter if they missed their mark, itnd could thus be recovered. Such arrows had a further advantage in that they did not tear the bird. If arrows with metal points were used in hunting ducks, it was customary to sharpen the metal like a little blade so it would cut the feathers and go through the bird. A special arrow for hunting rabbits had the end tipped with the claw of a mud turtle. This was like a sharp spike and penetrated the fur better than an ordinary arrow point. In old times arrow points of bone were used for shooting deer: These were made of bones that were somewhat pointed and were made sharply pointed for this purpose. A Canadian Chippewa said that his people fastened the arrow point to the shaft so lightiy that it became detached as the deer ran through the bushes. Remaining i.n the animal, it made its death more sure. The earliest iron arrow points were cut from the hoop of a pork barrel and tied in place with sinew. Later they were cut from frying pans or other utensils obtained from the traders. (PI. 53, 0, Of.) Feathers were tied to the arrow shaft with sinew, the feathen1 most desired being those of the eagle and hawk. These were frequently dyed in bright colors. Each warrior had his own mark on his arrows, this being a special sort of feathers or a mark on the shaft consisting of lines burned with a hot iron. A good arrow would travel about 500 feet and the" shooting distance" for deer was about 50 feet. Tom Skinaway said that when he was a youn~ man he could make 10 arrows in a day, complete with points and feathers. This was the number that usually comprised an "order 'I from a worker in ·wood, 148 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 86 Arrows with sharp points were carried in a quiver of stiff buckskin fastened to a band that crossed the body, passing over the right arm and under the left. The quiver rested on the man's chest, the end of the arrows being in front of his face when he was using the bow, and easily available to his right hand. SNOWSHOES Three sorts of snowshoes were used by the Chippewa in the United States, i. e., the round snowshoe, the "snowshoe with a tail," and the snowshoe with the toe turned up. All these consist of a wooden frame with netting in the open spaces. A Canadian Chippewa added a fourth sort, which consisted entirely of wood and was fastened to the foot by a thong across the toes. A model of this snowshoe is shown in Plate 54, al. The wooden frame of a snowshoe is usually of ash, the wood being bent by heating it. Strips of rawhide were commonly used for the netting below the feet, and twine for the netting at the ends. It was said that horsehide is particularly adapted to this use, as it neither stretches nor shrinks when wet. On the north shore of Lake Superior the Chippe,va make the netting under the feet from the intestines of freshly killed moose and use the sinew for the smaller nettings. The round snowshoe is probably the oldest form and is called "bear-paw shoe" and" old woman's shoe." The shape of these snowshoes is not unlike that of a bear's footprint, and the name also refers to an old legend that the hear once wore snowshoes. The second name is due to the fact that old women usually wear this kind of snowshoes. One of a crude pair is shown in Plate 54, d. Such might be worn by old women or made in an emergency from unpeeled branches, laced with narrow strips of basswood fiber. A pair of bear-paw snowshoes in course of construction is illustrated in Plate 54, 0, showing the order in which the braces were adjusted. The netting in snowshoes was done with a wooden needle having the eye midway its length. (PI. 9, a (0).) The flat snowshoes are excellent for traveling on level country where there are no trees. For use in the woods, however, the snowshoes with the toes turned upward were more practical. These were similar to the flat snowshoes in every other respect. (PI. 54, b.) A Canadian Chippewa said; that his people had snowshoes with large-meshed netting for use on soft snow and with small-meshed netting for travel on hard snow.74 An informant at Mille Lac said .< Cf. Orr, R. B., Snowshoes. Thirty-second Ann. Arch. Rept., App. Rept. ~I1n. Ed. Ont., Toronto, 1920, p. 24. ...