BUSHNELL] VILLAGES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI te 
The ceremonial lodge of the Ojibway, where the Midé rites were 
enacted, was often 100 feet or more in length and about 12 feet in 
width. The frame was made of small saplings, bent and fastened 
by cords, similar to the frames of wigwams which were to be cov- 
ered with mats or sheets of bark, but the coverings of the ceremonial 
lodges were usually of a more temporary nature, boughs and branches 
of the pine and spruce being sometimes used, which would soon 
fall away, although the rigid frame would stand from year to year, 
to be covered when required. Somewhat of this form was the 
“ medicine lodge,” described by Kane. This stood in the center of 
a large camp of the “Saulteaux” or Ojibway, not far from Fort 
Alexander, which was about 3 miles above Lake Winnipeg, on the 
bank of Winnipeg River. The camp was visited June 11, 1846, and 
in referring to the lodge: “It was rather an oblong structure, com- 
posed of poles bent in the form of an arch, and both ends forced into 
the ground, so as to form, when completed, a long arched chamber, 
protected from the weather by a covering of birch bark... . 
On my first entrance into the medicine lodge... I found four 
men, who appeared to be chiefs, sitting upon mats spread upon 
the ground gesticulating with great violence, and keeping time to 
the beating of a drum. Something, apparently of a sacred nature 
was covered up in the centre of the group, which I was not allowed 
to see... The interior of their lodge or sanctuary was hung 
round with mats constructed with rushes, to which were attached 
various offerings consisting principally of bits of red and blue cloth, 
calico, &c., strings of beads, scalps of enemies, and sundry other 
articles beyond my comprehension.” (Kane, (1), pp. 68-71.) 
It is quite evident the frame of the large lodge encountered by 
Hind was similar to the structure described by Kane a few years 
before. Both stood in the northern part of the Ojibway country, 
a region where birch bark was extensively used as covering for the 
wigwams, and where it was easily obtained. 
The temporary, quickly raised shelters of the Ojibway were de- 
scribed by Tanner, who learned to make them from the people with 
whom he remained many years. Referring to a journey up the valley 
of the Assiniboin, he wrote: “In bad weather we used to make a 
little lodge, and cover it with three or four fresh buffaloe hides, and 
these being soon frozen, made a strong shelter from. wind and snow. 
In calm weather, we commonly encamped with no other covering 
than our blankets.” (Tanner, (1), p. 55.) On another occasion fire 
destroyed the wigwam and all the possessions of the family with 
whom he lived, and then, so he said: “ We commenced to repair our 
loss, by building a small grass lodge, in which to shelter ourselves 
while we should prepare the pukkwi for anew wigwam, The women 
