b. Ojibway camp on bank of Red River. Photograph by H. L. Hime, 1858
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 9
a. Wigwams covered with elm bark
b. Two types of wigwams covered with birch bark
OJIBWAY HABITATIONS, ABOUT 1865
While in the vicinity of Red River the year before (1857) Hind encountered several interesting Ojibway structures. At a point not far north of the Minnesota boundary his party crossed the Roseau a few miles east of Red River, and there "on the bank at the crossing place the skeletons of Indian wigwams and sweating-houses were grouped in a prominent position, just above a fishing weir where the Ojibways of this region take large quantities of fish in the spring. The framework of a large medicine wigwam measured twenty-five feet in length by fifteen in breadth; the sweating-houses were large enough to hold one man in a sitting position, and differed in no respect from those frequently seen on the canoe route between Lakes Superior and Winnipeg, and which have been often described by travelers." (Hind, (1), I, p. 163.) During the journey, when camping on an island in Bonnet Lake, the party encountered "an Indian cache elevated on a stage in the centre of the island. The stage was about seven feet above the ground, and nine feet long by four broad. It was covered with birch bark, and the treasures it held consisted of rabbit-skin robes, rolls of birch bark, a ragged blanket, leather leggings, and other articles of winter apparel, probably the greater part of the worldly wealth of an Indian family." (Op. cit., p. 120.)
The canoe route between the lakes mentioned by Hind was often broken by dangerous rapids, around which it was necessary to carry the canoes, as Catlin described the Ojibway party doing at the Falls of St. Anthony.
The ceremonial lodge of the Ojibway, where the Mĭdé rites were enacted, was often 100 feet or more in length and about 12 feet in width. The frame was made of small saplings, bent and fastened by cords, similar to the frames of wigwams which were to be covered with mats or sheets of bark, but the coverings of the ceremonial lodges were usually of a more temporary nature, boughs and branches of the pine and spruce being sometimes used, which would soon fall away, although the rigid frame would stand from year to year, to be covered when required. Somewhat of this form was the "medicine lodge," described by Kane. This stood in the center of a large camp of the "Saulteaux" or Ojibway, not far from Fort Alexander, which was about 3 miles above Lake Winnipeg, on the bank of Winnipeg River. The camp was visited June 11, 1846, and in referring to the lodge: "It was rather an oblong structure, composed of poles bent in the form of an arch, and both ends forced into the ground, so as to form, when completed, a long arched chamber, protected from the weather by a covering of birch bark.... On my first entrance into the medicine lodge ... I found four men, who appeared to be chiefs, sitting upon mats spread upon the ground gesticulating with great violence, and keeping time to the beating of a drum. Something, apparently of a sacred nature was covered up in the centre of the group, which I was not allowed to see.... The interior of their lodge or sanctuary was hung round with mats constructed with rushes, to which were attached various offerings consisting principally of bits of red and blue cloth, calico, &c., strings of beads, scalps of enemies, and sundry other articles beyond my comprehension." (Kane, (1), pp. 68-71.)