380 USES OF PLANTS BY THE CHIPPEWA INDIANS  [£TH. ANN. 44 
the lengthened proportions of these dolls and the small bodies which 
were well adapted to the grasp of a little hand. This was the more 
advantageous among a people who moved frequently from one camp 
to another. In these migrations it was necessary for a child to keep 
possession of its own toys. 
The outer covering of cat-tail rushes was formed into toys repre- 
senting human beings and ducks. (Pl. 51, a.) The latter were 
usually made in groups of five. They were placed on the surface of 
smooth water, and the child agitated the water by blowing across 
it, which caused the ducks to move in a lifelike manner. 
Little figures were made of tufts of the needles of the red pine 
or “ Norway pine,” by cutting across the needles at different lengths 
to represent the arms and the hem of the dress. (Pl. 51,6.) These 
little figures were placed upright on a sheet of birchbark or, better, 
on a piece of tin, which was gently agitated in such a manner that 
the figures appeared to dance. Considerable skill could be shown 
in producing a motion of the figures. 
Grass was used in the making of dolls, as noted, and also in the 
making of a game implement. The purpose of the game was to toss 
up the little bundle of grass and catch it on the pointed stick. In 
the “ring and awl” game the ring was of wood. Numerous other 
toys and game implements were made of wood. 
A “coaster” was made of slippery elm bark (pl. 52, a), a stiff 
piece of bark being selected, turned up at the end, and a piece of 
stout twine attached to this portion. A child stood on this with one 
foot, held the twine in its hand, and coasted down hills in winter. 
The down of the cat-tail rushes was put around an infant in its 
cradle board, and sometimes put inside a child’s moccasins for addi- 
tional warmth in winter. Sometimes it was mixed with moss for 
added warmth. 
Three types of uses of sweet grass were noted among the Chip- 
pewa—i. e., ceremonial, economic, and pleasurable. 
An instance of the first use occurs in the narrative of a hunting in- 
cident in which a party of men placed sweet grass on the fire when the 
camp was in danger of starving and they were going again to hunt. 
The use of incense is more characteristic of the Plains Indians than of 
Algonquian tribes." 
Medicine men kept sweet grass in the bag with their medicinal 
roots and herbs. 
Strands of sweet grass were made into “coiled basketry ” by means 
of cotton thread. This took the form of bowls, oval and round, and 
of flat mats. Birch bark was sometimes used as the center of such 
articles, the coils of sweet grass being sewed around it. 
10 See Handbook of American Indians, Bull. 30, Bur, Amer, Ethn., pt. 1, p. 604. 
