Interpreting the Ojibwe Pictographs of North Hegman Lake MN - 5

Sr. Inez Hilger described Ojibwe pictography in general terms as follows:

"A form of pictography, consisting of symbolisms that represented numbers, directions, days, hills, lakes, sky, and earth, and of crude delineations that represented men, birds,, animals, and material objects was known to a few persons in every band. Those who were well versed in it could combine these delineations and symbols into ideographs that represented progressive action. Such ideographs, if used in messages, records of time, directions, or maps designed for travel, could be interpreted by many, but only members of the Midewiwin could read the ones related to their lodge. . . . Picture writing was done with a bone on the inner surface of birchbark, or occasionally on slabs of cedar or ash. In order to give the pictures some relief, charcoal or colored soil was rubbed into the markings" (Hilger 1992:108).

The portrayal of a ground line is quite notable for rock art researchers. For example, Jean Clottes, of the French Ministry of Culture, who is responsible for preserving and interpreting Upper Paleolithic caves, has observed that in the European Upper Paleolithic:

Generally figures were painted or engraved without any understandable reference to one another; explicit "scenes" . . . are exceptional. The art is not an accurate depiction of the artist's world; for example, the sun, stars, and moon are never drawn, nor is the ground line (emphasis supplied) (Clottes 2001:464-465).

The presence of the ground line suggests that what is above it may be objects up in the sky, particularly where, as here, the feet of the animals are not shown connected to the ground, there are canoes above the figures, and also a star symbol. Unlike most other Ojibwe pictographs, which seem to be related to medicine men and women's dreams and visions or to the recording of biographical exploits, this panel appears to be devoted to accurately depicting of the rock artist's physical world. A need for accuracy would be self-evident to the maker if it was to be used as a schema for winter navigation. Contrasting Clottes observations with the Hegman Lake panel one can appreciate how significant this panel could be to international rock art studies generally.

Winter was moose and deer hunting season for the Ojibwe. In the 1830's, George Catlin made a painting of the Ojibwe Snowshoe Dance which was performed when the first snowfall occurred (Catlin 1973: vol.2:plate 243).

Many were the dances given to me on different places, of which I may make further use and further mention on future occasions: but of which I shall name but one at present, the snow-shoe dance (plate 243), which is exceedingly picturesque, being danced with the snow shoes under the feet, at the falling of the first snow in the beginning of winter; when they sing a song of thanksgiving to the Great Spirit for sending them a return of snow, when they can run on their snow shoes in their valued hunts, and easily take the game for their food (Catlin 1973:vol.2:p.139).

Inez Hilger indicated that with regard to the winter hunting season: "Families set out for their hunting grounds soon after the cold weather began, about the beginning of November, and returned to the winter camp only after severe weather set in. They hunted moose, elk, and deer; bear, wolf, and fox; beaver, ducks, and other fowl; and buffalo, if they resided near the prairie lands" (Hilger 1992:120).

According to Schoolcraft also hunting was seasonal and by June 1st the forests were deserted (1851:367). Winter was the time when animals put on their heaviest fur--which was what was valuable for the fur trade. According to the records of the fur trade at Grand Portage, moose hides were not a particularly valuable item in the fur trade and so we can assume they were hunted by the Ojibwe primarily for food rather than trade.

Nicholas Perrot, a Jesuit, "entered the fur trade among the Ottawa Indians in 1665" and "became well acquainted with the tribes of the upper Mississippi valley and Great Lakes region. Perrot's Memoir on the Manners, Customs, and Religions of the Savages of North America, written in French about 1680 to 1718" provides valuable ethnohistoric information from this period (Blair 1996: back cover).According to Perot:

The moose are hunted [[by driving them towards snares]], especially when the savages are in a region where these animals are numerous; or else they endeavor to take them by surprise and kill them with guns or arrows. But in the winter, when the snows are deep, they have sharp blades on long handles for killing the moose by coursing them [[running after them or pursuing game with dogs]]. . . .

The Kiristinons [or Cree], who often frequent the region along the shores of Lake Superior and the great rivers, where moose are more commonly found, have another method of hunting them. First they embark on the water, two men in each canoe, and keep at a certain distance from one another; their dogs are on the land, and enter a little distance into the depths of the forest to seek their game. As soon as the dogs have found the trail, they never quit it until they have found the moose; and the wonderful instinct which they possess of remembering in what place their masters are leads them to drive on the game directly to that quarter, continually pursuing them until the moose are constrained to dash into the water. The savages, who are [now] on the shore listening intently for the barking of their dogs, at once enter their canoes [again], and attack and slay the moose (Blair 1996:107-108).

Both Hilger and Kohl in their ethnographies describe the Ojibwe hunting deer at night from canoes with torches (Kohl 1985:311-2). According to Hilger:

"Flashlights have replaced lanterns and torches, especially among the younger hunters today. . . . Deer are easily caught at artificial salt licks deposited by hunters in the deer's watering places. La Pointe Indians (1935) watched at night in one such area on lumber laid in the crotch of a tree and in another from a platform constructed of saplings. When a noise was heard flashlights were played upon the space, the deer being easily discerned because of the glare of their eyes."

According to Benton-Banai dogs are an important animal to the Ojibwe.

"If a man was to get lost in the wilderness, his dogs could lead him back home. The joining of man and dog was also important because it continued the teaching of the close bond that once existed between Anishinabe and the wolf in their journeys around the earth. The number seven, obtained by joining the six dogs to the one man with the [dog] sled, was to become a very special number to the Earth's people as their spiritual ways developed" (Benton-Banai 1988:27).

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