DENSMORE] PLANTS USED IN ARTS 393 
The modern application of the art is mentioned by Speck, who 
says that among the Montagnais “the patterns for decorating birch 
bark consist of thin paper-bark stencils made by folding and biting 
designs in them with the teeth.” Also, “The bitten paper-bark copy 
patterns supply practically all of the motives of these people.” ** 
The Mille Lac Chippewa made little or no mention of the biting 
of patterns in a broad leaf, but Mrs. English said she remembered 
seeing it done by the Chippewa at La Pointe, on Lake Superior, and 
the writer was informed that it was commonly done on the Manitou 
Rapids Reserve in Ontario. A specimen of the leaf was obtained 
there, and was identified as Clintonia borealis. This leaf with a 
simple pattern bitten in it is shown in Plate 58. 
The technique of biting birch bark is impossible to describe beyond 
the statement that the bark is placed between the upper and lower 
teeth, usually the eyeteeth, and that the teeth are brought together, 
either sharply or with a slightly grinding motion. One informant 
said that the bark was slightly twisted between the teeth. The 
simplest technique is shown in the patterns used for beginners in 
beadwork, the intention being to use one bead for each prick. The 
manner of folding and refolding the bark is also an important part 
of the technique. The pattern is in the mind of the worker and she 
does not hesitate or unfold the bark during the process of biting the 
pattern. In reply to an inquiry, a woman said that when she un- 
folded the bark she found the design to be what she expected because 
she “had the pattern in her mind before she began to bite it.” One 
transparency is never copied from another, but an attempt to vary a 
pattern is suggested by Plate 59, a and /, made by the same woman. 
In one pattern it was found that 24 thicknesses of bark had been 
indented at the same time, yet the pattern was clear and the marks 
were uniform. It was not unusual for 12 thicknesses of bark to be 
indented at the same time. 
The range of subjects is wide and includes geometric designs, 
flowers, leaves, and stars, men and women, tipis and houses, animals 
and insects. The vegetable and life forms are natural and also con- 
ventionalized. The patterns comprise borders or “ running patterns,” 
and units based upon the circle, square, pentagon, hexagon, and 
octagon, and the trefoil and quatrefoil. The simplest patterns re- 
quire only one folding of the bark, after which a pattern is indented 
along this fold. These are what may be termed “running patterns.” 
An example of such a pattern is Plate 59, ¢ A strip of bark is 
folded across and the fold placed between the teeth, the pattern being 
“bitten” alone the fold. When the bark is unfolded the pattern is 
18 Speck, Frank G. The Double-curve Motive in Northeastern Algonkian Art. Depart- 
ment of Mines, Memoir 42, No. 1, Anthropological Series, pp. 11, 12. Ottawa, Govern- 
ment Printing Office, 1914. 
55231 °—28——26 
