Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1870-06-16

was set on by their fathers before them,
and is marked as their own. They cut from
fifteen to twenty hundred of hay each. In
dian men handle the scythe we'll. They
cut few hours in the morning, and then
lay by. The women throw of their blankets,
and take the rake after dinner. When the
hay is heaped, two poles are run under
each cock, and the hay carried off and
stacked on dry ground. No teams are used
Those who have no stock sell their hay for
thirty dollars toll There are forty acres
of tame grass on the Government farm by
the village, two hundred acres of pasture
aud fifty OF ploughing. Neighbor Indian
does all the work.
RICE HARVEST.
Rice harvest begins in August. Whole
villages of travelling camps are set up be-
side the rice swamps, The rice grows two
feet or more above the water of the same
depth. Each family stakes of its lot OF
half or three quarters Of an acre, The rice
crop is first secured against the blackbirds
by catching up large bundles of tops to-
gether, and tying them with Eastwood
strings. They are tied in rows three feet
apart, and extend for miles, When the
grain can be loosened from the capsules
gathering commences Two squaws to each
canoe push out between the rows one guild
ng with paddle, while the other bends
the tops over the edge of the canoe with a
stick in one hand, and whips off the grain
with stick in the other. Rice harvest
lasts three weeks, and is the gala season of
the year. The girls gather spoils by day
the boys gather for trolic and dance at
night. During the season, four to ten
bushels of wild rice are gathered by each
family. 1t is taken home in canoes, dried
on cedar bark, and laid upon poles over a
fire. When dry, the grain is hulled by
girls, who tread 1t out with bare feet on
hard ground. 1t is then winnowed. put in
bark sacks, and is worth six cents pound
FISHING.
Fishing is not counted among the virtues
of farm life, but it is like light and shadow
to the Chippewa farmer. His pot of fish is
rarely empty; he fishes all the year round
He catches white.fsh and trout with gill;
nets in the lake, and sturgeon, weighing
forty to sixty pounds, in the river He
builds rack Of piles across the river near
the mouth, and as the surgeons are stop
ped in their ascent, he Jerks them up with
hook and pole. The surgeons are dress.
ed and smoked by the women, who have
built their camp fires near at hand. In
winter they take little sled and mat ont
on the edge of the lake, cut hole through
the ice, draw their blankets over their
heads, let down a decoy fish, and when
they have attracted their prey near the top,
they fasten them with spear. They often
90 out five miles of morning to catch fish
for breakfast. They rarely go out IN winter
till their fsh-pot Is empty.
AT HOME.
IL his way and at home, the Chippewa
farmer is hospitable, jovial, and contended.
The more provident lay in good stock OF
fish, rice, potatoes, and com for winter.
The potatoes are buried in pit-holes four
feet deep, and covered with birch bark and
earth. Six bushels of corn, twenty Of pota-
toes, hundred pounds of rice, two sacks
of -four, four half-barrels OF fish, and fifty
pounds of pig are considered bountiful
winters store. Summer takes care OF It.
self. They commence boiling corn, pump
kins and melons, when green, and continue
all the way up. They pick off the false
SQUASH and pumpkin-h flowers, and boil them
with corn and pork. They boil potatoes
with fish, or roast them ia sand under the
fire. They mix -four and water, and bake
it in iron pans, or boil 1t In dumplings'
The Indians have great faith in dumplings,
and in that faith we are all pretty much
agreed.