DEN SMOKE] 



PLANTS USED EST 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." 16 



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 Clintordm 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 eacli 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 k 7 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, c. A strip of bark is 

 folded across and the fold placed between the teeth, the pattern being 

 "bitten" along the fold. When the bark is unfolded the pattern is 



10 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. 



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