322 



USES OF PLANTS BY THE CHIPPEWA INDIANS [eth. ANN. 44 



A Canadian Chippewa said that his people combined dried blue- 

 berries with moose fat and deer tallow. 



All dried berries were boiled when used, and either seasoned with 

 maple sugar or combined with other foods. 



PLANTS AS MEDICINE 



Treatment by Means of Plants 



It must be conceded that the use of plants by the Indians was 

 based upon experiment and study. The Indians say that they " re- 

 ceived this knowledge in dreams," but the response of the physical 

 organism was the test of a plant as a remedy. As the physical or- 

 ganism is the same in both races it should not be a matter of surprise 

 that some of the remedies used by the Indians are found in the phar- 

 macopoeia of the white race. An observer of the Cree Indians 

 writes : ''Although the list of materia medica is a small one there is 

 remarkable judgment shown in the choice of remedies. Thus . . . 

 the bark of the juniper and Canada balsam tree are doubtless as 

 good an application to wounds as a people unversed in antiseptic 

 application and ignorant of the existence of bacteria could devise. 

 The use of Lobelia as an emetic and of Iris versicolor as a cholagogue 

 and purgative approaches closely to the practice of more civilized 

 nations. 5 



Health and long life represented the highest good to the mind 

 of the Chippewa, and he who had knowledge conducive to that end 

 was most highly esteemed among them. He who treated the sick, 

 by whatever means, claimed that his knowledge came from manido 

 (spirits), and those who saw a sick man restored to health by that 

 knowledge readily accepted its origin as supernatural. 



Two methods of treating the sick were in use among the Chip- 

 pewa. Both methods depended upon what was termed " super- 

 natural aid," but material remedies were used in one and not in the 

 other. The " doctors " who used material remedies were usually 

 members of the Midewiwin, and their remedies were among the se- 

 crets of that organization. He who treated the sick without material 

 means was called a djamkid (commonly translated "juggler") 7 

 His procedure included the apparent swallowing and regurgitating 

 of short tubular bones. (PI. 46, g.) 



It is a teaching of the Midewiwin that every tree, bush, and plant 

 has a use. A country of such bountiful vegetation as that of the 

 Chippewa presents a great amount of this material. Although the 



5 Holmes, E. M. (F. L. S.), "Medicinal plants used by the Cree Indians, Hudson's Bay 

 Territory," The Pharmaceutical Journal and Transactions, 3d ser. vol. 15, pp. 303-304. 

 London, 1884-85. See also Bur. Amer. Ethn. Bull. 61, p. 271. 



6 Cf. Bur. Amer. Ethn. Bull. 45, pp. 92-125 ; Bull. 61, pp. 244-278 ; Bull. 75, pp. 127- 

 141. 



7 See Bur. Amer. Ethn. Bull. 45, pp. 119-125. 



