BULL. 30] 



CHIPPEWA 



279 



assert that cannibalism was occasionally 

 practised ceremonially by the Chippewa 

 of Leech lake, and that since 1902 the 

 eating of human flesh occurred on Rainy 

 r. during stress of hunger. It was the 

 custom of the Pillager band to allow a 

 warrior who scalped an enemy to wear 

 on his head two eagle feathers, and the 

 act of capturing a wounded prisoner on 

 the battlefield earned the distinction of 

 wearing five. Like the Ottawa, they were 

 expert in the use of the canoe, and in 

 their early history dejiended largely on 

 fish for food. There is abundant evi- 

 dence that polygamy was common, and 

 indeed it still occurs among the more 

 wandering bands (Jones). Their wig- 

 wams were made of birch bark or of 

 grass mats; poles were first planted in 

 the ground in a circle, the tops bent 

 together and tied, and the l)ark or mats 

 thrown over them, leaving a smoke hole 

 at the top. They imagined that the shade, 

 after the death of the body, followed a 

 wide beaten path, leading toward the 

 w., finally arriving in a country abound- 

 ing in everything the Indian desires. It 

 is a general belief among the northern 

 Chippewa that the spirit often returns to 

 visit the grave, so long as the l;)ody is not 

 reduced to dust. Their creation myth is 

 that common among the northern Algon- 

 quians. Like most other tribes they be- 

 lieve that a mysterious power dwells in 

 all objects, animate and inanimate. Such 

 objects are vmnitni^, which are ever 

 wakeful and quick to hear everything in 

 the summer, but in winter, after snow 

 falls, are in a torpid state. The Chipjiewa 

 regard dreams as revelations, and some 

 object which appears therein is often 

 chosen as a tutelary deity. The Mede- 

 wiwin, or grand medicine society (see 

 Hoffman, 7th Rep. B. A. E., 1891), was 

 formerly a powerful organization of the 

 Chippewa, which controlled the move- 

 ments of the tribe and was a formidable 

 obstacle to the introduction of Christian- 

 ity. When a Chippewa died it was cus- 

 tomary to place the body in a grave 

 facing w., often in a sitting posture, or 

 to scoop a shallow cavity in the earth 

 and deposit the body therein on its back 

 or side, covering it with earth so as to 

 form a small mound, over which boards, 

 poles, or birch bark were placed. Ac- 

 cording to McKenney (Tourtothe Lakes, 

 1827), the Chippewa of Fond du Lac, 

 Wis., practised scaffold burial, the corjise 

 being inclosed in a box. Mourning for a 

 lost relative continued for a year, unless 

 shortened by the meda or by certain ex- 

 ploits in war. 



Authors differ as to the names and 

 number of the Chippewa gentes, which 

 range all the way from 11 to 23. Warren 

 gives 21 gentes, of which the following are 



not included among those named by Mor- 

 gan: Manamaig (C'atfish), Nebaunaub- 

 ay (Merman), Besheu (Lynx), Mous 

 (Moose), Nekah (Goose), Udekumaig 

 (Whitefish), Gyaushk (Gull). Some of 

 them, Warren says, have but few mem- 

 bers and are not known to the tribe at 

 large. The Maskegon sprang from the 

 Reindeer, Lynx, and Pike (Pickerel) 

 gentes, which went to the n. of L. Su- 

 perior when the trilje moved w. from 

 Sault Ste Marie. Among some of the 

 Chippewa these gentes are associated in 

 5 phratries: the Awausee, Businausee, 

 Ahahweh, Noka, and Mousonee. The 

 Awausee phratry includes the Catfish, 

 Merman, Sturgeon, Pike (Pickerel), 

 Whitefish, and Sucker gentes — all the 

 Fish gentes. The Businausee phratry 

 includes the Crane and Eagle gentes, 

 businausee, 'echo-maker,' being a name 

 for the crane. The Ahahweh phratry 

 includes the Loon, Goose, and Cormorant 

 gentes, ahahweh being a name for the 

 loon, though the Loon gens is called 

 Mong. Morgan makes Ahahweh distinct 

 and called them the 'Duck' gens. The 

 Noka (No-'ke, Bear) j^hratry included 

 the Bear gentes, of which there were for- 

 merly several named from different parts 

 of the bear's body; but these are now 

 consolidated and no differences are recog- 

 nized excepting between the common and 

 the grizzly bears. The Mousonee phratry 

 includes the Marten, Moose, and Reindeer 

 gentes. Mousonee seems to be the proper 

 name of the phratry, though it is also 

 called Waubishashe, from the important 

 Marten gens which is said to have sprung 

 from the incorporated remnant of the 

 Mundua. Morgan ( Anc. Soc, 166, 1877) 

 names the following 23 gentes: Myeengun 

 (Wolf), Makwa (Bear), Ahmik (Beaver), 

 Mesheka (Mud turtle), Mikonoh (Snap- 

 ping turtle) , Meskwadare, ( Little tur- 

 tle), Ahdik (Reindeer), Chueskweskewa 

 (Snipe), Ojeejok (Crane), Kakake (Pig- 

 eon hawk) [=Kagagi, Raven], Omegee- 

 ze (Bald eagle), Mong (Loon), Ahahweh 

 (Duck), [=Wa''wa^ Swan], Sheshebe 

 (Duck), Kenabig (Snake), Wazhush 

 (Muskrat ) , Wabezhaze ( Marten ) , Moosh- 

 kaooze (Heron), Ahwahsissa (Bullhead), 

 Namabin (Carp [Catfish] ), Nama (Stur- 

 geon), Kenozhe (Pike) [=Kinoga, Pick- 

 erel]. Tanner gives also the Pepegewiz- 

 zains (Sparrow-hawk), Mussundummo 

 (Water snake), and the forked tree as 

 totems among the Ottawa and Chip- 

 pewa. 



It is impossible to determine the past or 

 present numbers of the Chippewa, as in 

 former times only a small part of the 

 tribe came in contact with the whites at 

 any period, and they are now so mixed 

 with other tribes in many quarters that 

 no separate returns are given. The prin- 



