Chippewa Customs

SNOWSHOES

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. DENSMORE) CHIPPEWA CUSTOMS 149 that neither these nor the snowshoes made entirely of wood were ever used by the Chippewa of Minnesota. MAKING OF PITCH A necessary commodity in the economic life of the Chippewa was the pitch used to cover the seams of articles made of birch bark, rendering them water-tight, and also used for torches. The gum of any evergreen tree could be used in making pitch, but Endusogijig said that trees growing near the water had the best gum. It was the custom to go to the woods in summer and scrape the bark from portions of selected trees. The gum would then ooze out and the Indian would return later and gather it. The gum, with the pieces of bark to which it adhered, was put in a bag woven of basswood fiber (pI. 55, a), and boiled in a kettle. The texture of the bag was open so that the gum escaped and was skimmed from the surface of the water, the bark and refuse remaining in the bag. The writer saw this process at White Earth. The gum, having been boiled, was placed in a birch-bark dish for storage and a piece of birch bark tied on as a cover. At a subsequent time it was boiled to the proper consistency for use, and when it was almost done a quantity of charcoal was added to make the pitch firm. This charcoal was from cedar chips and was pounded to a fine powder. Pitch is applied to canoes with a paddle or spatula of suitable size and to small articles with a small spatula. (PI. 55, c.) TORCHES Birch bark and pitch were the materials used for glvmg light at night, various forms of torches being made from them. (a) The most common torch was a piece of tightly twisted birch bark. The torch illustrated (pI. 56, a) is 15 inches long and it is said would burn while a person traveled about a mile. If it burned low it was brightened by lowering and shaking it a little, after which it was held erect. (b) The women's torches were of the same type. They usually were lighted at the fire and carried by the women on errands about the camp. If a woman's work required a light she stuck this torch on the end of a stick placed upright in the ground. These torches (pI. 56, b) are almost the same length as the former torch, but much smaller in diameter. (c) The torch used for fishing was of a differ'ent type and is described on page 129. (PI. 45, c.) (d) A pitched torch was used in huntingc deer, which were attracted by its light. (PI. 56, c.) This torch was made by taking ...