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Show ADMIiaSTRATIVE REPORT Lin indigenous in central Mexico but cultivated and distributed over the greater part of the American hemisphere during pre- Columbian times. Prominent among the noncultivated plants was that known as wild rice { Zizania, of two species), which grew extensively in the swamps and about the margins of the lakes left by the Pleistocene ice sheet in central North America; and several tribes learned to harvest, store, and utilize the natural crop yielded annually by this plant. Hitherto the knowledge concerning the use of wild rice by the aborigines has been vague; but in 1898 Dr Albert Ernest Jenks, an advanced student in the University of Wisconsin, undertook to systemize the knowledge by bringing together the references to the use of wild rice scattered through the early and rare literature pertaining to the aborigines of this region. As the work progressed, his interest grew, and he instituted inquiries concerning the use of the plant by surviving tribesmen in modern times; and when the results of his work were brought to the attention of the Bureau, he was commissioned to extend his field operations into northern Wisconsin and Minnesota, where the wild- rice crop is still harvested annually. The accompanying memoir is the product of Dr Jenks's researches in the literature and in the field. As is shown by the descriptions and illustrations, wild rice gathering is a well developed industry, playing an important r61e in the ceremonial and ritualistic life of the tribesmen, as well as in their domestic economy, though the ritualistic features of the harvesting and preparation of the crop have so far fallen into desuetude as to be traceable rather through vestiges than through conspicuous observances. A notable feature of the industry is the careful forethought given to the harvesting, as shown by the elaborate processes and devices adopted to protect the grain from birds, as well as from loss by storms, etc.; and this foresight, which is comparable to that of civilized agriculture, is brought into the greater prominence by reason of the almost total neglect of seeding, or of other devices ( save those of magical character) for the preservation of the plant and the maintenance of the important natural resource which it represents. Doubtless the unwitting processes of harvesting |
