322 USES OF PLANTS BY THE CHIPPEWA INDIANS [nrH. ann. 44 
A Canadian Chippewa said that his people combined dried blue- 
berries with moose fat and deer tallow. 
All dried berries were boiled when used, and either seasoned with 
maple sugar or combined with other foods. 
PLANTS AS MEDICINE 
TREATMENT BY Means or Puants 
It must be conceded that the use of plants by the Indians was 
based upon experiment and study. The Indians say that they “ re- 
ceived this knowledge in dreams,” but the response of the physical 
organism was the test of a plant as a remedy. As the physical or- 
ganism is the same in both races it should not be a matter of surprise 
that some of the remedies used by the Indians are found in the phar- 
macopeia of the white race. An observer of the Cree Indians 
writes: “Although the list of materia medica is a small one there is 
remarkable judgment shown in the choice of remedies. Thus... 
the bark of the juniper and Canada balsam tree are doubtless as 
good an application to wounds as a people unversed in antiseptic 
application and ignorant of the existence of bacteria could devise. 
The use of Lobelia as an emetic and of Jris versicolor as a cholagogue 
and purgative approaches closely to the practice of more civilized 
nations.° 
Health and long life represented the highest good to the mind 
of the Chippewa, and he who had knowledge conducive to that end 
was most highly esteemed among them. He who treated the sick, 
by whatever means, claimed that his knowledge came from manido 
(spirits), and those who saw a sick man restored to health by that 
knowledge readily accepted its origin as supernatural. 
Two methods of treating the sick were in use among the Chip- 
pewa.° Both methods depended upon what was termed “ super- 
natural aid,” but material remedies were used in one and not in the 
other. The “doctors” who used material remedies were usually 
members of the Midewiwin, and their remedies were among the se- 
crets of that organization. He who treated the sick without material 
means was called a djasakid (commonly translated “ juggler ”)* 
His procedure included the apparent swallowing and regurgitating 
of short tubular bones. (PI. 46, 7.) 
Tt is a teaching of the Midewiwin that every tree, bush, and plant 
has a use. A country of such bountiful vegetation as that of the 
Chippewa presents a great amount of this material. Although the 
5 Holmes, E. M. (F. L. S.), ‘“‘ Medicinal plants used by the Cree Indians, Hudson’s Bay 
Territory,” The Pharmaceutical Journal and Transactions, 3d ser. vol. 15, pp. 303-3804. 
London, 1884-85. See also Bur. Amer. Ethn, Bull. 61, p. 271. 
®Cf. Bur, Amer. Ethn. Bull. 45, pp. 92-125; Bull. 61, pp. 244-278; Bull. 75, pp. 127- 
141. 
7See Bur, Amer. Ethn, Bull. 45, pp. 119-125, 
