=Paper Birch= (_Betula alba_ L. var. papyrifera [Marsh.] Spach) “wîgwas”. Birch occupies almost as important a position in the life of the Ojibwe as dates do in the life of an Arabian or cocoanuts in the life of a South Sea Islander. The bark is used for buckets, baskets, wigwam covering, and canoes. Patterns for their decorative art were made upon the bark; records of their medicine lodge ritual were kept on its virgin surface. It and cedar form the two most sacred trees of the Ojibwe, both of which are so useful to them. They regard the birch bark as a distinct contribution from Winabojo and point to the fact that it is the last part of the tree to decay. It keeps its form even after the wood has changed to dust and can be readily slipped from the wood in decayed logs. It also has the property of protecting from decay articles stored in it. They claim that a birch is never struck by lightning, hence offers a safe harbor in a thunderstorm. No birch or cedar is gathered by the Ojibwe without due offering of tobacco to Winabojo and Grandmother Earth. Families make a pilgrimage to birch groves during the latter part of June and in July to gather their supply of birch bark, because it peels most easily at that time. As everyone knows, there are many layers of bark on a birch tree ranging from the thinnest paper to quite heavy pieces that make very durable canoes. George L. Waite, Honorary Curator of Botany in this museum, made a special series of pictures, thirty in number, detailing every step in the manufacture of their canoes or “tciman” as they call them. Ogabeˈgijîg [rift in the clouds] and his wife Cawasînoˈkwe [rays of light from cloud] both 80 years old, about the only old couple at Lac du Flambeau, still remembering the proper Ojibwe method of making a birchbark canoe were engaged to carry on the work. Important steps are shown in plates accompanying this bulletin. To find a tree with thick bark suitable for canoe-making often necessitates a considerable journey on foot as it did in this case. The trunk should be ten to fifteen inches in diameter, smooth and straight as can be selected. Paper birches are of slow growth and the usual specimen of that diameter will be from fifty to seventy years old. This tree was collected with all the proper ceremony. Into a hole in the ground at the base of the tree, tobacco was placed as an offering. Tobacco was smoked by the man, who saluted the cardinal points of the compass, and likewise heaven and earth. The tree was then cut down. They say that usually it will be left standing on the stump, so that the bark may be undamaged, but for this canoe where the outside of the bark becomes the inside of the canoe, they felled crossed logs to hold it off the ground.