The Ojibway of Rama Ontario

I remember as a boy said old Sam Snake , living in my father's wigwam. It was sixteen feet across, and covered with sheets of  birch bark,  sewn together with roots. We slept on rush mats. Above us, just beneath the smoke- hole hung strips of venison, which were dried by the smoke as it went up. When it was dry, they would take the venison down, salt it pound it down and store it away in bark boxes for the winter time" Thus did an elderly Ojibway Indian describe a scene oh his childhood days. He was born and brought up on the Rama Reserve , near Lake Couchiching , Ontario . It was there that we met, while camping for a few days on the reserve in the summers of 1937 and 1938, But things have greatly change n the last fifty years at Rama. This old Indian Sam Snake , typifies the change. No longer does he live by hunting and  trapping   but by farming. On the reserve , each family has a piece of land from one acre up, on which they have built their frame houses. Around the house lies the garden where they  raise all kind of vegetables for there own use. Many of the young men do not farm, but seek employment locally in the lumber camps. Quite a number of them also act as guides to the white tourists who come north every summer on fishing excursions. Fishing is also important on the reserve, for drawn up on shore in front of each dwelling are numerous small, canvas-covered fishing shacks. When winter comes, the Indians haul these out over the frozen lake, and through an opening in the floor they cut a hole in the ice. Then sitting down by a small stove, they defy the wintry weather and wait for the fish either a hook and line or a three-pronged spear, The many fish that they catch form an important part of there diet, as there little or no hunting left in the district. A blending of ancient and the modern can be seen at the annual fair in mid- September . On display are all kinds of farm produce, the children school exhibits, and many of their ancient hand crafts , These last include birch bark ware, beautifully decorated with porcupine quill work, bows and arrows , carved wooden souvenir swords, toy  canoes, and axe - handles. Walking about among the other Indians are the older men, dressed in traditional buckskin and feathers , ready to tell you of their hunting exploits in the"good old day. Also one would be sure to meet the chief, Alder Yorke.  He has been the chief for the past twenty- one years , or seven terms .  for nowadays  the chief and his two councillors are elected every three years. Alder Yorke is greatly responsible for the progress among his three hundred tribesmen. at rama during the last few years. although he himself was in his younger days a great hunter and trapper . Except among the older folk the fine legends and traditions of the Ojibway  have almost disappeared. But when the thunder rumbles and the lighting flashes, even the  youngest of the Rama Ojibway know that the thunder bird a monstrous white bird living in the clouds is angry and is shooting its long blue cylindrical stones or "thunder - bolts" through the air, trying to kill its traditional enemies, the serpents. In spite of many superstitions or belief in  murderous witches who fly about at night  in the form of a ball of fire, the Ojibways at Rama are a kind and hospitable people, they showed us every kindness while we were there. and we found that by being kind and honest to them , they would return the compliment with interest". One of our best memories of the reserve is of an elderly Ojibway women , who was very poor . Before we departed we gave her a few matches and some food that we had left over. She was very pleased, and thanked us as best an Indian can, But her real appreciation was shown when just before Christmas, she made and sent both to my friend and myself, a pair of tiny beaded moccasin.. By Emerson Coatsworth (Wah-sah-wah-gurh) Upper Canada College ,Ontario April 3 1939