Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/218

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��HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY

��linn l)ark were laid down. These were cut from the tree, often of great length and from six to twelve inches in width. The}' were then cut into proper lengths to cover the cabin. At the ends of the cabin sj^lit timbers were set up, so that the entire cabin was inclosed except a small aperture at one end, which was left for a door. This was covered b}' a deer's or bears skin. At the top of the cabin an opening was left for the smoke to escape, for all Indians built their fires on the ground in the center of the cabin or wigwam, around which they spread skins and mats on which to recline and sleep. The cracks between the logs were filled with moss gathered from old logs. When made, the cabin was quite comfortalile, and was often constructed in the same manner by the pioneers, while making improvements, and used until a permanent structure could be erected.

In regard to food, the Indians were more careful to provide for their future needs than their successors of the West are to-day. In the spring they made maple sugar by boiling the sap in large brass or iron kettles which they had obtained from the French and English traders. To secure the w^ater they used vessels made of elm bark in a very ingenious manner. " They would strip the bark," says Dr. George W. Hill, of Ashland. '• in the winter season, when it would strip or run. by cutting down the tree, and, with a crooked stick, sharp and broad at one end, peel the bark in wide strips, from which they would construct vessels holding two or three gallons each. They would often make over a hundred of these. They cut a sloping notch in the side of a sugar-tree, stuck a toma- hawjv into the wood at the end of the notch, and, in the dent thus made, drove a long chip or spile, which conveyed the water to the l)ark vessels. They generally selected the larger trees for tapping, as they considered the sap from such stronger and productive of more sugar. Their vessels for carrying the sap would hold from three to five gallons each, and sometimes.

��where a large camp was located and a number of squaws at work, using a half-dozen kettles, great quantities of sugar would be made. When the sugar-water would collect faster than they could boil it, they would make three or four large troughs, holding more than a hundred gallons each, in which they kept the sap until ready to boil. When the sugar was made, it was generally mixed with bear's oil or fat, form- ing a sweet mixture into which they dipped their roasted venison. As cleanliness was not a reigning virtue among the Indians, the culti- vated taste of a civilized person would not always fanc}' the mixture, unless driven to it liy hunger. The compound, when made, was general!}" kept in large bags made of coon-skins, or vessels made of bark. The former were made h\ strip- ping the skin over the bod}' toward the head, tying the hole§ made by the legs with buckskin cords, and sewing securely the holes of the eyes, ears and mouth. The hair was all removed, and then the bag blown full of air, from a hole in the upper end, and allowed to dry. Bags made in this way. Dr. Bushnell says, would hold whisky, and were often used for such pur- poses. When they became saturated they were blown full of air again, the hole plugged, and they were left to dry. Some times the head was cut off without stripping the skin from it, and the skin of the neck gathered in folds like a purse, below which a string was tied and fastened with a pin. Skin vessels were very com- mon to the natives of America. All Oriental countries possess them, and there the traveler of to-day finds them the rule. They are as old almost as time.

The Indians inhabiting this part of Ohio were rather domestic in their tastes, and culti- vated corn, potatoes and melons. Corn w^as their principal crop, and was raised entirely by the squaws. When the season for planting- drew near, the women cleared a spot of rich alluvial soil, and dug over the ground in a rude manner with their hoes. In planting the corn

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