ROSACEAE (ROSE FAMILY)
Smooth Juneberry (Amelanchier laevis Wiegand), “gozîgagoˈ mînûn” [thorny berry]. According to John Whitefeather, Flambeau Ojibwe, this is the name of the Juneberry, while Charley Burns on the same reservation called it “bîsegaˈ gwomîn”. Both knew it only as a food, although some tribes use the bark as a medicine. Juneberries were also dried for winter use, the Indians often preferring them to blueberries. The Pillager Ojibwe also use them as a food and use the bark as a medicine.
Red Haw Apple (Crataegus sp.), “mînesagaˈ wûnj”. The Pillager Ojibwe use the haw apples as a food in the fall of the year.
Wild Strawberry (Fragaria virginiana Duchesne), “odeˈ imîn” [heart berry]. Both Flambeau and Pillager Ojibwe have the same name for the Wild Strawberry, and call it the heart berry from its shape and color. They are very fond of it in season and make preserves of it for winter use.
Wild Plum (Prunus nigra Ait.), “bûgeˈ sanatîg”. The Pillager Ojibwe find quantities of the Wild Plum in thickets and gather it for food and for preserves.
Pin Cherry (Prunus pennsylvanica L.f.), “baeˈ wimînûn”. The Pin Cherry is abundant around the Flambeau Reservation and the Ojibwe are fond of it. It is an education in itself to see a group of Ojibwe women working on mats with a supply of fruit laden branches beside them. With one hand they will start a stream of berries into the mouth and the stream of cherry stones ejected from the other corner of the mouth seems ceaseless. The Pillager Ojibwe also have the tree and use it in the same manner.
Sand Cherry (Prunus pumila L.), “sewaˈkomîn”. The Flambeau Ojibwe find plenty of this species on sandy openings in the forest, and gather the fruit for food.
Wild Cherry (Prunus serotina Ehrh.), “okweˈ mîn” [worm from egg of a fly]. The Flambeau Ojibwe prefer this cherry to all other wild cherries, and dry it for winter use. Some of them also make whiskey from the ripe cherries.
Choke Cherry (Prunus virginiana L.), “saweˈ mîn”. Although the fruit of this cherry is sufficiently acrid to be unsatisfactory to the whites as a food, the Pillager Ojibwe like it, especially after the fruit has been frosted.
High Bush Blackberry (Rubus allegheniensis Porter), “odatagaˈ gomîc” [blackberry stem].[142] The Flambeau Ojibwe relish the Blackberry and also the Dewberry (Rubus villosus Ait.) although we found no specimen nor distinctive name for it. They make a jam of the berries for winter use.
Red Raspberry (Rubus idaeus L. var. aculaetissimus [C. A. Mey.] Regel & Tiling) “meskwaˈ mîn” [red berry]. This is a favorite fresh fruit of the Flambeau Ojibwe and is also used for making jams for winter use.
SALICACEAE (WILLOW FAMILY)
Large-toothed Aspen (Populus grandidentata Michx.), “asadiˈ” [bitter bark]. The Ojibwe scrape the cambium layer to obtain a food which is boiled and is something like eggs. They also scrape the cambium of several other trees for food.
SAXIFRAGACEAE (SAXIFRAGE FAMILY)
Prickly Gooseberry (Ribes cynosbati L.), “meˈ skwacaboˈ mînûk” [red berries with thorns]. The Flambeau Ojibwe relish these berries when ripe and make them into preserves for winter use.
Wild Black Currant (Ribes americanum Mill.), “amîˈkomîn” [beaver berries], shown in [plate 70], fig. 1. The Pillager Ojibwe eat these berries fresh, in jams, and preserves and dry them for winter. In the winter, a favorite dish is wild currants cooked with sweet corn. The Flambeau Indians use them in a like manner, but call them “kagagîtciˈ mîn” [raven berries].
Wild Red Currant (Ribes triste Pall.), “mîcitciˈ mînûk”. The Flambeau Ojibwe gather these currants and use them as they do the Wild Black Currants.
Smooth Gooseberry (Ribes oxyacanthoides L.), “caboˈ mînûk” [smooth berry]. The Flambeau Ojibwe gather this berry for fresh food, and also make it into preserves for winter use. It is often cooked with sweet corn.
SOLANACEAE (NIGHTSHADE FAMILY)
Ojibwe Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.), “opîn” [potato].[143] The Ojibwe have cultivated this early potato, according to their traditions since aboriginal times, and it surely looks primitive enough. It is round in circumference, about two or three inches long, has purplish flesh, and never cooks to a mealy consistency. It is much prized for soups and is always firm and crisp when cooked. White Cloud’s potato patch on Bear Island, Leech Lake, Minnesota, is shown in [plate 58], fig. 1.
URTICACEAE (NETTLE FAMILY)
Hop (Humulus lupulus L.) “jiˈwîciniˈ goniˈ bûg”. The Pillager Ojibwe often use the hop fruit as a substitute for baking soda.
VITACEAE (VINE FAMILY)
Virginia Creeper (Psedera quinquefolia [L.] Greene), “manîdoˈ bimakwît” [spirit twisted]. The Pillager Ojibwe say that the root of this vine was cooked and eaten a long time ago by their people and that it had been given as a special food by Winabojo.
River-bank Grape (Vitis vulpina L.), “cîˈ wimînûn”. The Pillager Ojibwe use these grapes after they have been frosted, and make them into jelly for winter use.
OJIBWE VEGETAL FIBERS
The Ojibwe Indians have always been far removed from the beaten paths of the white men, and for this reason make good use of their native plant materials. Oft times, it seems to the white man that they bestow considerable labor, upon making cord, string, mats, baskets and similar articles that might as easily be purchased at a store. But money is not plentiful, and many of the things that can be purchased have inferior lasting qualities. Disgust for a poor substitute, pride in their own resourcefulness, and the habit of centuries has kept them constantly proving that they are the master of their environment and continuing to make their products in the good old Ojibwe way.
Outside of yarn sashes, they have not woven textiles for a long time. Perhaps the last of their textile work is in storage bags made from nettle fiber or basswood string. Cedar bark fiber was used long ago for some coarse textiles but not within the past century.
Their bark wigwams are quite comfortable and probably more Ojibwe live in these native houses, shown in [plate 46], fig. 2, and [plate 58], fig. 2, than in frame houses. Certainly they use more of these than any other Wisconsin tribe. The mats for the benches or beds at the outer rim of the wigwam, or for the floor inside, are skillfully made. They can make their wigwams wind and waterproof with sewed cat-tail mats and birch bark, as shown in [plate 46], fig. 2, and can even live very comfortably in their wigwams in sub-zero temperatures.
There are several agency schools scattered about the reservations, where the children may go to school, and happily the teachers usually encourage the children to learn their own Indian arts. The schools are really boarding schools, where the children stay continuously for nine months, being completely clothed by the Indian service. Sometimes boys and girls will escape and run home to hide, but the disciplinarian and Indian policeman usually ferret them out and bring them back, or else seize the father and hold him in jail until the scholar is produced again. Indian children are taught more of the useful arts and household arts than are the white children, but also have access to a college education through their university or normal schools.
Under the head of vegetal fibers, we also consider their uses of forest trees, since these are so closely related. As before, the plant families are listed alphabetically, and descriptions of uses are made along the same lines as in the preceding divisions of this bulletin.
OJIBWE FIBER PLANTS
ACERACEAE (MAPLE FAMILY)
Red Maple (Acer rubrum L.), “cicigîmeˈwîc”. This leaf is frequently used in the Ojibwe beadwork designs. In fact, many leaves, flowers and fruits furnish designs. Since the plants are sacred to their midewiwin or medicine lodge, it is common for them to use especially valuable remedies in their designs. These may be worked in either porcupine quills or beads. Shell and copper beads were used in the older work, while tiny glass beads obtainable from the whites are now used. Indian women are usually most apt at their own aboriginal designs and do a rather poor job, when they are given a white man’s design to copy. In the early days, the Indian men drew outline pictures on birchbark scrolls to remind them of midewiwin rituals, practices and medicines. Indian women experimented with plant materials laid upon birch bark until they found the design that suited them. Deer horns burned in the fire to furnish charcoal or else flour was used to coat the underside of a leaf, which was then pressed upon birch bark to leave its outline as from a carbon copy. The birch bark design would be placed beneath the native bead loom, as shown in [plate 48], fig. 1, and the pattern copied in beads. Sashes, anklets, bracelets, kneelets, belts, coats and waists were beaded, also moccasins. The public is not very discerning in choosing real Indian designs, but the ethnologist can quickly pick the originals, even though he may never have seen that tribe of Indians before.
Mountain Maple (Acer spicatum Lam.), “cacagobiˈmûk” [emetic bark]. The three-lobed leaf of the Mountain Maple is a great favorite with Ojibwe women for design work for beading, and it is more often seen than any other kind of leaf.
Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.), “înênatîg” [Indian tree].[144] Paddles for stirring maple sugar or wild rice while scorching or parching it, bowls and many other objects of utility were made by the Ojibwe from this wood.