146 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 5o 



the east and south. Beside the drum were the four drumsticks used 

 by the leadmg drummers, each covered with soft brown deerskin and 

 decorated with a band of otter fur and long ribbon streamers. There 

 was also a longer stick used only by the owner of the drum in a par- 

 ticular part of the ceremony (see p. 171) . This stick was more than 3 

 feet long. Over the curved end was slipped the skin from the neck 

 of a loon, its glossy black feathers dotted with white. The pipe 

 belonging to the drum had a flat stem decorated with geometric 

 drawings, with a tuft of red woodpecker feathers sunk in the wood 

 (fig. 3). (The second pipe belonging to the drum, known 

 as the warrior pipe, is not shown in the illustration, as 

 it had been sent to Wis 'kino in anticipation of the cere- 

 mony.) Beside the pipe are seen also a turtle shell, which 

 contained apak'osigun' (tobacco mixed with the inner 

 bark of the red willow) and a wooden box having three 

 compartments; those at the ends contained, respectively, 

 tobacco and red willow and the middle one contained 

 matches. In a similar box are kept the feathers which 

 decorate the stakes of the drum. There are also 8 or 10 

 ordinary drumsticks used by the drummers. 



Four years ago this drum was given to Bi'jikens by a 

 leader of the Bad River Chippewa. Although he has 

 parted with it, Bi'jikens retains the right to make dupli- 

 cates and to give them away at any time. In connection 

 with this right the folio wmg incident came to the writer's 

 notice: A few weeks before the presentation of the drums 

 to the Menominee a drum was given by Mec'kawiga'bau to 

 a Chippewa at a neighbormg settlement. Mec'kamga'bau 

 stated that he intended to make a dupHcate of the drum 

 during the coming winter and to give it away the next 

 summer. According to him there are no songs or cere- 

 monies connected with the making of a drum, but the 

 songs used in connection with the new one must be 

 those he received with the original drum. He did not 

 receive the drum in the usual manner. It had been 

 given to Me'dweya'sM (see p. 249), the chief of the Lac du Flambeau 

 Chippewa, whose advanced age rendered him unable to discharge the 

 obligations associated with it. A few months before his death, there- 

 fore, he gave a dance at which he made a speech saying that he was 

 very feeble and wanted the drum to be in safe keeping, but that he 

 was not strong enough to visit some other settlement in order to 

 present it to the people. As he did not want to impose that duty on 

 his children in the event of his death, he publicly transferred the drum 

 to Mec'kawiga'bau, who was willing to assume the responsibility. 



Fig. 3. Stem 

 of the drum 

 pipe. 



