about the manner of using these stone objects. The knives were made of flint (hornstone), and were about 8 inches long, an inch and a half broad, and sharply pointed; some indeed were sharp enough to cut moose skin with ease. These implements were used for cutting meat, for scraping arrowshafts, and in making bows. Some of the Menomini say that musselshells are used even today, when necessity demands, both for spoons and for cutting. They are also sometimes used for scraping deerskin in tanning. The survival of the practice of thus using shells is not at all astonishing, for they serve the purpose as well as almost anything else, and thick strong shells of several species are abundant in the rivers of Wisconsin. Earthenware is no longer made by the Menomini, though some of the oldest women remember when pottery making was engaged in. MORTARS AND PESTLES In one corner of the living room, or perhaps outside the door, will occasionally be found troughs fashioned from solid trunks for containing water for fowls and other domestic animals, and sometimes a wooden mortar (figure 36) for crushing medicinal roots and plants is observed. These mortars are fashioned from a section of the trunk of an oak; they measure 11 inches in height, 10 inches in width, and 16 inches in length over the handles. The cavity, which is made by means of an ax, measures 9 inches in length and 7 inches in width at the top; it is 10 inches deep and terminates in a wedge-shape bottom, rounded so as to receive the end of a double-head pestle. The latter is about 37 inches in length, the ends being from 2 to 24 inches in diameter, while the middle third, which serves as a handle, is somewhat thinner. The specimen above figured, which was used for "medicine pounding" only, shows evidence of considerable age and much use. TROUGHS The troughs above mentioned are made in a manner similar to that in which the mortars are fashioned, and they are from 3 to 4 feet in length. 14 ETH-17 They appear to have been formerly used in sugar-making, but now are employed only for watering fowl, etc. CRADLES AND HAMMOCKS Cradleboards are used for the protection and convenient transportation of infants. These boards are made of any light wood, and measure about 30 inches in length and 16 inches in width. Across the top and front, and projecting forward therefrom, is a wooden band, which serves to hold the face cover, or mosquito bar, in summer time. The board is padded with a piece of quilt or blanket, over the upper end of which is sometimes placed a piece of buckskin on which the child's head may rest. To the lower portion of the board-that is, from the point where the arms emerge, downward-pieces of cloth or skin are tied across to fasten the child to the board. A space is always left about the middle of the body, in order that the child may receive attention when necessary. Plate XIX represents an infant on a cradleboard, placed against the inner wall of a medicine lodge during the ceremonies at which the mother was an attendant. Infants who have become too large for the cradleboard are put to sleep in hammocks. The Menomini hammock consists of a woolen shawl held together at each end by a cord; one of these cords is attached to a tree trunk, the other to a sapling placed slantingly against the tree. Near the head end of the shawl a piece of wood is inserted to keep the sides from pressing the child's face. The tendency of the hammock is to close tightly, and thus to hold the occupant quite securely. The simplicity of this form of hammock makes it very convenient for mothers, especially while domiciled in a temporary camp, since it may be suspended in a few moments. PRODUCTS OF MANUFACTURE MATS Several varieties of mats are made by Menomini women from leaves of rushes, from the flag or cat-o'-nine-tails, and from cedar bark. The leaf-made mats are used chiefly for roofing temporary structures, such as the covered medicine lodge shown in plate XII. These mats are from 6 to 12 feet in length and are usually a yard in width. They consist of two layers of leaves, each layer being secured by cords made of basswood fiber passed through transversely from one end of the mat to the other, to keep the edges of the leaves together. To each layer cords extend from end to end, at intervals of about 10 inches, thus leaving three or four cords to each layer, the ends of the leaves at the lateral edges of the mat being woven together to make a secure and durable seam. Each layer or sheet of leaves is therefore free from its fellow, so that when the rain falls on the mat, the water usually follows |