292 THE MENOMINI INDIANS [eth.ann.M 



middle Wisconsin. Formerly, temporary shelter-tents of bark were 

 erected, but now the simpler and less troublesome canvas tent is used. 

 Large quantities of snakeroot {Senega polygala) also were collected 

 aud afterward pressed, for transportation to the larger towns. Now, 

 however, this plant has become rather scarce, aud search therefor has 

 been practically abandoned. Most of the snakeroot now comes from 

 northern Wisconsin and Minnesota, both localities being within the 

 territory of the Ojibwa. 



CANOES 



The Menomini have almost entirely discontinued the making of both 

 the simple dugout and the birchbark canoe, and even among the old 

 men but few are now recognized as having, in their day, been experts 

 in this industrial art. 



The simpler form of boat was the dugout, made of the single trunk — 

 preferably that of a butternut tree. This wood is much heavier than 

 most others available, but the Indians believe it to resist better than 

 any other variety the effects of long contact with water, as well as the 

 erosion to which the bottom is subjected by frequent rowing in shallow 

 streams with beds of gravel or bowlders. 



The specimen represented in plate xxxv is of pine. It was made by 

 Ma'tshi-kine'u T — Bad-eagle — shortly after the removal of the Menomini 

 to their present reservation. The canoe is therefore about fifty years old, 

 but it is a typical example. The total length is 20 feet, the diameter 

 across the gunwale at the point of the first inside rib is 21^ inches, and 

 at the second rib 20£ inches. The total height is 11 inches. It will be 

 observed that on the inside of the bottom of the canoe, near each end, 

 stands a ridge of wood resembling a rude rib — for which it is really 

 intended to serve — to give strength to the sides aud to preserve the 

 form of the vessel. 



As the dugout is only from an inch to an inch and a half in thickness, 

 it becomes apparent that such a permanent support is necessary co 

 prevent the breaking of the bottom, such damage easily resulting from 

 exposure to the air after having been in the water for a long time. In 

 the example above illustrated, a longitudinal crack, at some points over 

 half an inch wide and extending nearly the entire length of the boat, 

 resulted from drying. 



The paddles employed are the same as for the birchbark canoe, the 

 blade and handle each being about 2 feet in length. 



When a single oarsman uses a canoe, he always kneels at the stern 

 or narrower end of the canoe, the difference in the width of this part 

 corresponding to the smallest diameter of the trunk from which it was 

 made. When the tree does not have any perceptible variation in diam- 

 eter, the outside is chipped down with an ax aud a draw-knife, in order 

 to make the stern narrower, and thus to give the canoe almost the shape 

 of a cigar. The oarsman places a small bunch of grass in the bottom. 

 On this he kneels and paddles only at one side, readily keeping the canoe 



