--Some of the rites and notions
of these northern barbarians are curious. The following custom is stated
to me to have been formerly prevalent among the Chippewas: After their
corn-planting, a labor which falls to the share of the women, and as
soon as the young blades began to shoot up from the hills, it was
customary for the female head of the family to perform a circuit around
the field in a state of nudity. For this purpose, she chose a dark
evening, and after divesting herself of her machecota, held it in her
hands dragging it behind her as she ran, and in this way compassed the
field. This singular rite was believed to protect the corn from blight
and the ravages of worms and vermin, and to insure a good crop. It was
believed that neither worms nor vermin could cross the mystic or
enchanted ring made by the nocturnal footsteps of the wife, nor any
mildew or canker affect the growing stalks and ears.
_21st. Grand Island, in Lake Superior_, lies transversely in the lake,
just beyond the termination of the precipitous coast of the Pictured
Rocks.
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