308 USES OF PLANTS BY THE CHIPPEWA INDIANS  [rru. ANN. 44 
Maxine Marre Svear2 
The two most important vegetable foods were maple sugar and 
wild rice. The obtaining of these commodities was attended with 
much pleasure, though the temporary camps were busy and there 
was work for young and old. Each family or group of two or 
three families had its own sugar bush, as it also had its own part 
of the rice field, and the people went there in the early spring to 
make the year’s supply of sugar. Two structures remained in the 
sugar camp from year to year. These were the birch-bark lodge in 
which the utensils were stored, and the frame of the lodge in which 
the sugar was made. (Pl. 31.) The former was generally round in 
shape, but the one visited by the writer was constructed with a 
“ridge pole” to give more room at the top. The latter was made 
in a substantial manner and consisted of a stout framework of 
poles covered with sheets of elm or cedar bark. Rolls of birch bark 
might, if desired, be substituted for the heavier bark on the roof. 
The size of the lodge varied with the number of families in the 
camp. The lodge visited by the writer was of average size, the 
length being 181% feet, the width 19 feet 3 inches, and the height at 
the eaves 10 feet. There was an entrance at each end and a plat- 
form extended the entire length at each side. These platforms were 
about 5 feet wide, 12 to 18 inches high, and might be on one or both 
sides of the lodge. They were intended primarily for sleeping, but 
the edge next the fire was used for sitting and eating, after the 
bedding had been rolled and placed next to the walls of the lodge. 
If possible, the platform on one side was reserved for the sugar- 
making utensils. In a small lodge the platform might be on only 
one side, the utensils being placed on the ground at the opposite 
side of the lodge. 
The fire space extended the length of the lodge beneath the ridge 
of the roof, and a large log of green wood was placed at each side 
of it. A structure for holding the kettles was erected above the 
fire space. This structure consisted of four heavy corner posts, 6 or 
7 feet high, with crotches at the top. Between the crotches of the 
posts, crosswise of the lodge, were laid stout poles, upon which were 
poles laid lengthwise, and between these, over the fire, were placed 
the horizontal bars from which the kettles were suspended. Thus 
it was possible by moving the horizontal bars to place a kettle over 
any part of the fire. The largest kettles were hung in the center 
“It is said that “the primitive Indian method of making sugar before the introduction of 
metal kettles was to throw red-hot stones in vessels of bark or wood, or again, to freeze 
the syrup repeatedly in shallow basins and throw off the ice.’ Dr, V. Havard, U. S. A., 
“Drink plants of the North American Indians,’ Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, 
Lancaster, Pa., 1896, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 42-43. 
