| Reference Source | Reference Type | Archival Data | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blair, E 1911 | Use - Customs | Algonquians believe that the soul of the deceased, while travelling in a beautiful country on its way to the country of the dead; crosses a fast river which can only be crossed by one slender tree-trunk as a bridge. "They believe, furthermore, that as soon as the soul has left the body it enters this charming country, and that, after having traveled many days, it encounters on its route a very rapid river, over which there is only a slender tree-trunk by way of bridge; and that in passing over this it bends so much that the soul is in danger of being swept away by the flood waters. They assert that if unfortunately this mishap occurs, the soul will be drowned; but that all these perils are escaped when once the souls have reached the country of the dead". |
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| Blair, E 1911 | Use - Customs | The Illinois hung their deceased, wrapped in skins, in the tops of trees. "The Illinois did not inter their dead. The corpse, carefully wrapped in skins was attached by the head and feet to the upper part of trees". |
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| Pease, T. C. and R. C. Werner 1934 | Use - Customs | Trees used in killing prisoners of war. "When he [prisoner of war] is condemned to die, it is always by fire. I have never seen any other kind of torment used by this nation. They plant a little tree in the earth, which they make him clasp, they tie his two wrists, and with torches of straw of firebrands they burn him, sometimes for six hours." ("Quand il est condamne a la mort c'est toujours par le feu, Je n'ay jamais vu d'autres genres de suplices chez cette nation. On plante un petit Arbre dans la terre qu'on luy fait embrasser, on luy lie les deux poignets Et avec des Torches de pailles out tisons ou le Brule qulquefois pendant six heurs.") |
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| Pease, T. C. and R. C. Werner 1934 | Use - Customs | Trees used as location markers: "They also mark places for joining each other in case they are obliged to go by several different routes, and in such cases those who arrive first take a little of what they have left, if they need it, and leave their marks, which they never mistake. They paint a portrait of themselves for this purpose on the nearest tree. Although several of them have heads of hair that look just alike, the mark of their name identifies them." ("ils marquent aussy des Lieux pour se rejoindre s'ils sont obligez de faire plusrs. Routes, et en ce cas ceux qui arrivent Les premiers, prennent un peu de ce qu'ils ont laissez s'ils en ont besoin et Laissent leurs marques, en quoy ils ne se trompent Jamais ils se depeignent pour cela a l'arbe Le plus proche, quoy que plusieurs ayent la Chevelure faite de meme, la marque de Leur nom les font connoistre"). |
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| Gravier, J. ca. 1700 | Use - Technology | "I paint him, make his portrait on a tree, or on a war-club" |
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| Kellogg, L.P. 1923 | Use - Technology | Canoes are made from single tree trunks. "A Pirogue . . . This is a long sort of boat made of the trunk of a single tree. Canoes of bark are seldom made use of in these parts". |
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| Shea, J. G. (ed.) 1903 | Use - Technology | The dead are wrapped in skins and hung from the tops of trees. "Their custom is not to bury the dead, but to wrap them in skins, and to attach them by the head and feet to the tops of trees". |
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| Kellogg, L.P. 1923 | Use - Technology | Fortifications around villages were made with interwoven tree branches. "The piles of which they [palidade fortifications] are composed, are interwoven with branches of trees, without any void space between". |
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| Kellogg, L.P. 1923 | Use - Customs | A small tree cut was off and a hatchet head was placed into the slit. When the tree had grown around the hatchet head sufficiently, the tree was cut and a hatchet with firmly held hatchet head was ready for use.
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| Dunn, J.P. 1909 | Use - Customs | Tree branches were used to come out of water in the Myaamia creation story. "They came from the 'Coming out Place'. The first ones came from out of the water. "Grab ahold of tree-limbs" they told each other". |
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| Wheeler-Voegelin, E. 1934-1985 | Use - Technology | Tree bark was stripped off all the way around to mark "warrior cabins" on the north side of the Ohio, near the Scioto River. |
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| Dunn, J.P. 1909 | Use - Technology | Identifying mark drawn on tree during warring/burning prisoner of war on a tree. Gabriel Godfroy relayed the story of Kaapia, in Miami, to Dunn, which included the description of some Miami men on their way to get revenge for an act of war, following a trail in pursuit of a Kickapoo enemy named Buck . ". . . after a while we saw a buck drawn on a tree. My companions said: 'Its useless. Buck is a real Kickapoo warrior. We'll never catch him.' . . . 'We'll keep following him.' They caught up with him and burned him while tied to a tree" |