JENKS] TYING IN SHEAVES 1059 
leave it in this fituation two or three weeks longer, till it is perfectly 
ripe. About the latter end of September they return to the river, when 
each family having its feparate allotment, and being able to diftinguifh 
their own property by the manner of faftening the fheaves, gather in 
the portion that belongs to them.”' E. $8. Seymour wrote: **In the 
first place, to protect it from black birds, they collect the grain in 
bunches while the grain is in the milk, and cover each bunch with a 
band made of the bark of the linden or bass wood tree.” 
The Ottawa Indians used to so tie the bunches that a pathway was 
left between the rows: ‘* Vn peu auparauant qu’elle monte en espy, 
les Sauuages vont en Canot lier en touffes Vherbe de ces plantes, les 
separant les ynes des autres autant d’espace qu'il en faut pour passer 
vn Canot lors qwils reuiendront en cueillir le grain.”* There is little 
doubt that all of the tied rice was similarly arranged in rows, as that 
would be the simplest manner to tie it, and would afford the easiest 
way to gather it when the laborers used canoes. 
It is seen from the above quotations that the chief reason for tying 
the stalks is that the grain may be saved until it is matured. Many 
kinds of birds consume it with avidity when they can get at the heads, 
and if it is tied up it is also much less liable to be destroyed by rain or 
wind storms. 
The care in tying is shown in a letter by Roger Patterson, govern- 
ment farmer of Bad River reservation, Wisconsin, which is here 
quoted in part: ‘‘About August 15th the squaws, using small canoes, 
go out along the river and gather together the heads of rice, tying 
them with bark strings into sheaves, taking care to draw them 
together gently, so as not to break the stems or roots. After being 
tied and wrapped with bark strings so that the grain will not waste, 
it is left standing, supported by the stalks that are not broken, about 
2 feet above the water.” ® 
The women at Lac Courte Oreille reservation tied their wild rice 
in the season of 1899 in the following manner: They were camping 
with their entire family at the field and spent several days at this 
particular process while the grain was in the milk (see plate Lxxm). A 
large round ball of ** bast,” the bark string with which they were to tie 
the bunches, was ready behind them in their canoes. This ball is often 
a foot in diameter and is made of strings of the green inner bark of 
basswood; it is so wound that it unwinds from the inside, like the 
modern binding twine. The string averages a quarter of an inch in 
width. A forked pole is used to push the canoe into the thick, heavy 
mass of stalks, it being impossible to paddle in such a forest, and the 
mud bed being too soft to allow a straight pole to be used. Then the 

1 Carver, Travels, p. 523. 
2 Relations des Jésuites, 1663, p. 19. 
3 Patterson, letter, November 23, 1898. See also Rodman, letter, February 14, 1899. 
