308 



USES OF PLANTS BY THE CHIPPEWA INDIANS [eth. ann. a 



Making Maple Sugar 2 



The two most important vegetable foods were maple sugar and 

 wild rice. The obtaining of these commodities was attended with 

 much pleasure, though the temporary camps were busy and there 

 was work for young and old. Each family or group of two or 

 three families had its own sugar bush, as it also had its own part 

 of the rice field, and the people went there in the early spring to 

 make the year's supply of sugar. Two structures remained in the 

 .sugar camp from year to year. These were the birch-bark lodge in 

 which the utensils were stored, and the frame of the lodge in which 

 the sugar was made. (PI. 31.) The former was generally round in 

 shape, but the one visited by the writer was constructed with a 

 " ridge pole " to give more room at the top. The latter was made 

 in a substantial manner and consisted of a stout framework of 

 poles covered with sheets of elm or cedar bark. Rolls of birch bark 

 might, if desired, be substituted for the heavier bark on the roof. 

 The size of the lodge varied with the number of families in the 

 camp. The lodge visited by the writer was of average size, the 

 length being 18y 2 feet, the width 19 feet 3 inches, and the height at 

 the eaves 10 feet. There Avas an entrance at each end and a plat- 

 form extended the entire length at each side. These platforms were 

 about 5 feet wide, 12 to 18 inches high, and might be on one or both 

 sides of the lodge. They were intended primarily for sleeping, but 

 the edge next the fire was used for sitting and eating, after the 

 bedding had been rolled and placed next to the Avails of the lodge. 

 If possible, the platform on one side was reserved for the sugar- 

 making utensils. In a small lodge the platform might be on only 

 one side, the utensils being placed on the ground at the opposite 

 side of the lodge. 



The fire space extended the length of the lodge beneath the ridge 

 of the roof, and a large log of green wood was placed at each side 

 of it. A structure for holding the kettles Avas erected above the 

 fire space. This structure consisted of four heavy corner posts, 6 or 

 7 feet high, with crotches at the top. BetAveen the crotches of the 

 posts, crosswise of the lodge, Avere laid stout poles, upon which Avere 

 poles laid lengthwise, and between these, oA r er the fire, Avere placed 

 the horizontal bars from which the kettles were suspended. Thus 

 it Avas possible by moving the horizontal bars to place a kettle over 

 any part of the fire. The largest kettles Avere hung in the center 



2 It is said that "the primitivo Indian method of making sugar before the introduction of 

 metal kettles was to throw red-hot stones in vessels of bark or wood, or again, to freeze 

 the syrup repeatedly in shallow basins and throw off the ice." Dr. V. Havard, U. S. A., 

 " Urink plants of the North American Indians," Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, 

 Lancaster, Pa., 1896, vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 42-43. 



