JENKS] OURING AND DRYING 1065 
was beaten out with a stick. It was again dried or cured before 
hulling, but the details of the process could not be ascertained. * 
The Winnebago, who still gather wild rice in large quantities, cure 
the grain on a rack over a slow fire.” In 1820 the Indians around 
Sandy lake, Aitkin county, Minnesota, often cured their rice on a 
scaffolding of small poles about 3 feet high (see plates Lxxtv4 and 
Lxxva). This rack was covered with cedar slabs, upon which the 
grain was spread. A slow fire was then kept burning beneath until 
the kernels were entirely dry. It required about a day to dry a scat- 
foldful. Again, mats were spread over a scaffolding, on which the rice 
was put and cured by a fire underneath.” Marquette said that the 
Indians on Green bay cured their rice on a wooden lattice, under which 
they kept a small fire for several days, or until the grain was well 
dried.* 
By the Mississagua Indians about Rice lake, Ontario, the following 
method was employed in 1888: ; 
Returning to the shore, they stick into the ground pine or cedar branches, so as to 
form a square inclosure. Within this they drive in forked sticks, upon which cross- 
pieces are laid, and upon these latter mats of bass-wood or cedar-bark are placed. 
Under this framework a fire is then lit, and the hedge of green branches serves to 
keep in the heat. The rice is spread upon the mats, and kept turned about with the 
paddle until dried.° 
A recent method of the Dakota was to build a scaffold from 20 to 50 
feet long, 8 feet wide, and about + feet high. This was covered with 
reeds and grass, upon which the grain was spread. A slow fire was 
then kept burning for thirty-six hours so as slightly to parch the 
hull.’ At Rat Portage, Ontario, the grain of the first day’s gathering is 
parched, after which a scaffolding is made ‘“‘with poles about eight feet 
high andcovered . . . with cedar slabs, and over these grass, and 
then a layer of rice.” A fire is built beneath to dry the grain.‘ 
The parched or popped rice is lighter in color than that cured in the 
sun. The kernel is also swelled almost to twice the diameter of the 
sun-dried kernel, and much of it is slightly popped or cracked open. 
However, it does not open like popped corn, but most of the g rains 
when parched have a peculiar translucent crystalline appearance. In 
1820 Edward Tanner wrote: ‘‘One method of curing the rice, and that 
which makes it the most palatable, is by putting it in a kettle in small 
quantities, and hanging it over the fire until it becomes parched.” * 
Chamberlain says of the Mississagua Indians, above referred to: 

1Information of John Hutchinson, Elroy, Juneau county, Wisconsin. 
2Tnformation of Winnebago near Elroy, Juneau county, Wisconsin, winter village in 1898-99. 
Seymour, Sketches of Minnesota, p. 18: 
4Shea, Discovery and Exploration, p. 9; also Carver, Travels, p. 524. 
5 Chamberlain, in Journal of American Folk-Lore, vol. 1, 1888, p. 155. 
6 Palmer, Food Products of the North American Indians, p. 422. 
7 Pither, letter, December 4, 1898. 
8 Edward Tanner, Detroit Gazette, December 8, 1520. 


