370 USES OF PLANTS BY THE CHIPPEWA INDIANS [ETH. ANN. 44 
MINERAL SuBsTANCES Usep IN Dyes 
The reddish substance that rose to the surface of certain springs 
was collected, dried, and baked in the fire. It then “became hard 
like stone.” This was powdered and the fine red powder kept in 
buckskin. When mixed with grease it made a paint that was reddish 
but not vermilion and was used on arrows and for painting faces and 
bodies. The “scum ” contained iron oxide, and the powder is referred 
to as ochre in the following formulae. 
A black earth which “ bubbled up in certain springs” was used 
in black dyes. The writer visited such a spring on the Manitou 
Rapids Reserve in Ontario and was told that the Chippewa women 
buried their rushes in the black earth for a few days and thus secured 
a satisfactory black color. A specimen of this mud was obtained and 
submitted to a chemist in Washington who stated that “it is full of 
compounds of iron with organic acids.” He suggested that the 
method of staining is the action of these irons on the tannin in the 
wood, producing an ink. 
It is said that the material used in earliest times to “set a color’ 
was obtained by putting a piece of “black oak ” in “dead water ” and 
allowing it to remain for about two years. Thus it became so hard 
that it could be used as a whetstone, and the dust from this whetstone 
was combined with vegetable matter in dyes. At the present time 
the substance commonly used to “set the color” is the dust from an 
ordinary grindstone. A specimen of this dust was submitted to Dr. 
G. P. Merrill, of the United States National Museum at Washington, 
who pronounced it silt. On testing it with hydrochloric acid a 
greenish color was produced, showing the presence of iron. 
b) 
b] 
ForMULAE FoR Dyess + 
RED DYE 
First ForMULA 
Betula papyrifera Marsh. White birch. 
Cornus stolonifera Michx. Red-osier dogwood. Outer and inner bark. 
Quercus species. Oak. 
Ashes from cedar bark. 
Hot water. 
Directions—Boil the barks in the hot water. Prepare the ashes 
by burning about an armful of scraps of cedar bark. This should 
make about 2 cups of ashes, which is the correct quantity for about 
2 gallons of dye. Sift the ashes through a piece of cheesecloth. 
Put them into the dye after it has boiled a while, then let it boil up 
again, and then put in the material to be colored. Do not let a man 
or any outsider look into the dye. 
1 Unless otherwise stated, the portion of the tree used in dye was the inner bark. 
