The paint is red and black.

The paint is red, green, and black.

The paint is red and black.

« The Montagnais-Naskapi believed that taking a sweat bath, like drumming, strengthened the will and "reinforced the soul spirit" of the individual (Speck, 1935, p. 212). The collection contains a model bathhouse from the Barren Ground band which is described in Speck's notes as being the "scene of a shaman's efforts." It consists of four narrow sticks of wood set in a wooden base and slanting toward one another at the top. Another strip is bent to circle the four at the top and lashed to them. This framework is covered with a strip of tanned caribou skin, the ends of which are sewn together with sinew (fig. 26a). The bathhouses of the Lake St. John Montagnais, the Mistassini, and the Naskapi of northern Labrador are all described as being dome-shaped and formed of poles thrust in the ground to form a circular enclosure (Speck, 1935, p. 212; Rogers, 1967, p. 14; Turner, 1894, p. 299). Rather than a bathhouse as Speck indicates, this specimen may be a model of a "shaking tent," a specially constructed lodge in which a shaman conversed with spirits (E. S. Rogers, personal communication). » Vanstone, James W. "The Speck Collection of Montagnais Material Culture from the Lower St. Lawrence Drainage, Quebec." Fieldiana. Anthropology. New Series, No. 5 (October 29, 1982), p.21.

« Shorter, lighter versions of this spear were used for taking beaver and the collection contains the shaft of a model beaver spear; the point is missing. The shaft is round and 60.2 cm in length with a slit in the distal end into which the point would have been fitted. Narrow creases in the wood indicate that the point was held in place with sinew. » Vanstone, James W. "The Speck Collection of Montagnais Material Culture from the Lower St. Lawrence Drainage, Quebec." Fieldiana. Anthropology. New Series, No. 5 (October 29, 1982), p.6.