﻿NO. I SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I925 I25 



Mide'wiwin. Remaining at the Menomini ceremony about four 

 hours she found that the songs used were chiefly Chippewa songs, 

 with words in that language. She witnessed the " shooting with 

 spirit power," in which members of the society thrust their medicine 

 bags toward others with deep ejaculations. These persons " become 

 unconscious " for a time and the performance is continued until 

 all the members have thus " received spirit power." The meeting 

 was held in a long lodge (fig. Ii8), and the members sat on the 

 ground or danced in a line around the lodge, the songs being ac- 

 companied by a "water drum" and three gourd rattles (fig. 119). 

 At the right of this illustration may be seen the top of the " water 

 drum;" the dancers, including a little child; and the gifts for the 

 leaders which are hung from a horizontal pole. The man near the 

 drum is carrying his medicine bag, probably made of weasel skin. 

 Many medicine bags were made of otter and were elaborately 

 decorated, the material indicating the owner's rank in the society 

 (fig. 120). 



Continuing her study of Chippewa customs, especially those con- 

 nected with the treatment of the sick, Miss Densmore visited the 

 Cass Lake and Mille Lac reservations in Minnesota, in June, 1925, 

 obtaining additional specimens of medicinal plants with descriptions 

 of their uses. At Mille Lac she witnessed the making of two na- 

 tive dwellings of bark and rushes, and took photographs at various 

 stages of the construction. Specimens of native implements made 

 of wood were also obtained. 



INVESTIGATION OF SHELL AND SAND MOUNDS ON PINELLAS 



PENINSULA, FLORIDA 



Mr. David L Bushnell, Jr., collaborator of the Bureau of American 

 Ethnology, while on the west coast of Florida during the present 

 year, visited various shell and sand mounds on Pinellas Peninsula. 

 The peninsula extends southward into Tampa Bay and is of irregu- 

 lar form. On the northeast it is bounded by Old Tampa Bay, on 

 the southeast and south by Tampa Bay, and on the west by Boca 

 Ciega Bay, the latter being separated from the Gulf of Mexico 

 by low, sand keys. Part of the peninsula is quite low and the en- 

 tire region is infested with mosquitoes and other insects in vast 

 quantities. Much of the shore is bordered by a broad stretch of 

 marsh, with a dense growth of semi-tropical vegetation, but some 

 of this marshy expanse has recently been reclaimed in the endeavor 

 to make it suitable for building sites. 



