RANUNCULACEAE (CROWFOOT FAMILY)
Goldthread (Coptis trifolia [L.] Salisb.), “weˈsawadjiˈbîkweˈak” [yellow root?], shown in [plate 75], fig. 1. The Flambeau Ojibwe add the golden-colored roots to other plant dyes to emphasize the yellow color.
Bristly Crowfoot (Ranunculus pennsylvanicus L. f.), “manweˈgons”. The entire plant is boiled by the Flambeau Ojibwe to yield a red coloring dye. Bur Oak is added to set the color.
ROSACEAE (ROSE FAMILY)
Wild Plum (Prunus nigra Ait.), “bûgesanaˈtîg”. The Flambeau Ojibwe use the inner bark as an astringent color fixative in dyeing with other plant dyes.
MISCELLANEOUS USES OF PLANTS
John Whitefeather, of the Couderay Ojibwe, in explaining the four degrees of the medicine lodge, told the writer about the many uses of charms or bewitching plants that the initiate learned in the fourth degree. The Mîde who perfected himself in the fourth degree was called a juggler or “Jessakîd”. He is supposed to have supernatural powers of magic, and can read the thoughts of others, as well as call forth the ghosts or spirits of the other world. He can give Indians charms or lures which will aid them to do almost anything they have in mind, and he is most feared and respected among the Ojibwe.
These charms are supposed to work without physical contact and are thus different from medicines. They are addressed and prayed over, often with ceremonial tobacco offered to the four points of the compass, to heaven and the earth. They are usually referred to as medicine, and are carried in little buckskin packages about the person of the owner. Much of the contents of the war bundle, hunting bundle or medicine bundle, is composed of such charms. They guarantee a safe journey, the winning of a lacrosse or bowl and dice game, and the ability to find persons lost in the woods or lost articles. They can bewitch a man’s wife, win the love of the opposite sex, work evil, and attract game to be shot, or small animals to one’s traps. There is no doubt that medicines were often applied with as much faith in their power to charm as belief in the medicinal value of the medicine root for that specific disease. The connection between actual and superstitious remedies was oftentimes close.
Although a juggler or witch doctor had the power to cast these spells or charms, he was also supposed to have the power to dispel them and cure them. John Whitefeather called attention to the frequent wry mouth or twisted side of an Indian’s face, and said that it had been caused by some witch doctor, but that it could be corrected by the victim, if he would pay the medicine man more to heal it than the one had paid for bringing on the affliction in the first instance. Many of their people think this unjust and the medicine man who does it may have to leave the village and flee for his life. This actually happened in the case of Anawabi and the boy who died of pneumonia, the parents claiming that Anawabi took his breath away. Of course, Anawabi was not within miles of the boy and assured the writer that he had nothing at all to do with that case, nor had even thought about it, but he made a hurried trip to Oklahoma and remained a couple of years until the anger of the parents had lessened.