lOO 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 68 



As the Chippewa were a people hving in the woods and beside 

 the water a study of their early life necessarily included the making 

 of a birchbark canoe. For this purpose an old canoe maker was 

 visited and his equipment photographed. Briefly described, the 

 process consisted in molding thick sheets of birchbark upward around 

 a removable flat frame which was held in place by heavy stones (figs, 

 loi, 102). The sheets of bark were sewed together with split roots 

 and fastened to a permanent binding at the top, the seams being calked 

 with spruce or other gum. Hunting and trapping were studied, 

 together with the manner of tanning large and small hides. Games 

 and pastimes were recorded and the implements used in the various 

 games were obtained. Tribal organization received some attention, 

 as well as tribal customs relating to marriage, home life, death, and 

 burial. Not least in importance was the additional information 

 secured concerning the beliefs and customs of the Midezvizuin, and 

 the practice of good and evil charms. 



ETHNOLOGIC WORK IN LOUISIANA 



The field-work of Dr. John R. Swanton, of the Bureau of American 

 Ethnology, during 1917, was confined to a short expedition to 



Fig. 103. — Mixed Houma Indians, Little Barataria Bayou. 



Louisiana between May 16 and June 25. In this period three sepa- 

 rate investigations were undertaken. The first of these was a visit 

 to the mixed-blood Houma Indians in La Fourche parish and the 



