The boys also early learn to use the bow and arrows, and are often occupied in driving blackbirds and cowbirds from the growing maize.
AN “INDIAN MEAL.”
Corn is the only vegetable cultivated by the Indian, and the Chippewas, who are semi-civilized, grind their corn into a sort of coarse samp by pounding it in a mortar with a wooden pestle. They also roast the ears, and dry it for winter use. Great groups of children will sit with a squaw (perhaps mending moccasins) to help them at their work and preserve order, on high platforms the whole day, overlooking the corn-fields, so as to drive away the birds as they alight in flocks. Picture No. 3 represents a group at a little “Indian meal,” which plays both ways—as it is Indian meal they are feasting on. The lodges, or tepees, in the background are peculiar to the Chippewa tribe, being made of birch bark wrapped around poles.
INDIAN BABY AND DOLL.
The older boys amuse themselves by different games while tending the horses, one of which is represented. First they spread upon the ground a buffalo hide on which they kneel facing each other. Then one takes a little stick and passes it from one hand to the other, first behind and then before, while the other boy guesses which hand it is in. He is entitled to three guesses. The first, if right, counts him three; the second, two; and the third, one. If he misses altogether, he loses according to the number put up for stake. The one guessing designates his guess by hitting his right or left shoulder, according to the hand he thinks his opponent holds it in.
This, like all other Indian games, is made interesting by the stakes, which generally consist of some ornament, or some service to be rendered.
“WHICH, RIGHT OR LEFT?”