In many respects the Woods Indian is the legitimate descendant of the
Cooper Indian. His life is led entirely in the forests; his subsistence
is assured by hunting, fishing, and trapping; his dwelling is the
wigwam, and his habitation the wide reaches of the wilderness lying
between Lake Superior and the Hudson Bay; his relation to humanity
confined to intercourse with his own people and acquaintance with the
men who barter for his peltries. So his dependence is not on the world
the white man has brought, but on himself and his natural environment.
Civilization has merely ornamented his ancient manner. It has given him
the convenience of cloth, of firearms, of steel traps, of iron kettles,
of matches; it has accustomed him to the luxuries of white
sugar--though he had always his own maple product--tea, flour, and
white man's tobacco. That is about all. He knows nothing of whisky. The
towns are never visited by him, and the Hudson's Bay Company will sell
him no liquor. His concern with you is not great, for he has little to
gain from you.
This people, then, depending on natural resources for subsistence, has
retained to a great extent the qualities of the early aborigines.
To begin with, it is distinctly nomadic. The great rolls of birch bark
to cover the pointed tepees are easily transported in the bottoms of
canoes, and the poles are quickly cut and put in place. As a
consequence, the Ojibway family is always on the move.
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