Chippewa Customs

MAKING OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

CHIPPEWA CUSTOMS 165 pended above this framework and drawn down over it, the circle of cloth around the lower edge of the hide being a little larger than the circumference of the hole, so that it could be spread on the ground and held down by heavy sticks laid flat on the ground. A fire had previously been made in the hole, Zozed using dry corncobs for the purpose. This fire smolders slowly, the smoke giving to the hide a golden yellow color. The hide is almost .white before being colored in this manner. GLUE An important aid in many forms of handicraft was glue, which was usually made from the sturgeon in the following manner: The cord was pulled out of the backbone of the fish, cut in pieces, and " fried" in a pan. While this was in the pan and warm, the Indian took a little stick and wound the" glue" on the stick. He put this away and, when glue was needed, he warmed the outer surface of the mass and used what was required, allowing the remainder to cool. The Chippewa" glue stick" was probably pointed like that of the Sioux, so it could be stuck upright beside the worker while the glue was moist. MAKING OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS (a) Drwm.-Two types of drum were in use among the old-time Chippewas, the hand drum, and the Mide drum. (See pp. 95, 96.) In recent years the Chippewa have used a large flat drum, either placed on the ground or suspended from curved stakes. This drum is decorated with beaded velvet and is used for dances or in a ceremonial manner. (Bull. 53, pI. 18-19, pp. 142-180.) A modern bass drum is placed on the ground, and occasionally a washtub is converted into a drum by stretching rawhide over the top a.nd covering the sides with cloth and beadwork. The simplest form of hand drum consists of a piece of rawhide stretched over one side of a hoop and laced or tied together on the reverse side to form a handhold. A more common form at the present time is a drum having two heads with a loop of rawhide as a handhold. Such a drum is made of a single hide stretched over both sides of a hoop and sewed with rawhide on the outer edge of the hoop. These drums at present are often supplied with cords after the manner of "snare drums." A specimen illustrated in Bulletin 53 (pI. 3) is 181/2 inches wide and 21/2 inches in thickness, and has three tightly stretched cords inside the drum, each provided with small pegs tied at equal distances. The pegs are tied to the cord before the cover of the drum is put in place, and the 166 13UREAtr OF AMERtcAlot E'I'E:NOLOGY [nULL.S6 cord is twisted to increase the tension, permitting the pegs to vibrate against the deerskin. Such a drum is commonly called a moccasin game drum, being used during that game. The heads of both styles of hand drum were frequently decorated. A war drum might have either one or two heads. Odijbwe's war drum (Bull. 53, pI. 7) was decorated with a turtle and the lightning, these being his dream symbols. A certain moccasin game drum was painted red with a blue circle about 6 inches in diameter placed in the middle of the drum head. The decorations of Mide drums are separately considered. Little )Volf said that in old times the Chippewa" liked to use several hand drums at once if they could get those that chorded together." At Grand Portage, Minn., in 1905, the writer witnessed a Chippewa ceremony in which the drum was suspended from the rafters of a log. house. The drum was about 20 inches in diameter and had two deerskin heads laced together over a hoop about 6 inches wide. A green star was painted at the top of one side, and below the star a cord was stretched close to the head of the drum. (See pI. 5, b.) Drumming sticks: The druUlming stick used with the last-mentioned drum had a crossbar near one end about 5 inches long. As the drum hung before the leader of the ceremony he struck it with one end of this crossbar. The sticks used with Mide drums were in some instances symbolic and are described on page 96. Frequently the stick used with a hand...