"From this village [at the entrance of the Lake of the Woods], we received ceremonious presents. The mode with the Indian is, first to collect all the provisions they can spare, and place them in a heap; after which they send for the trader, and address him in a formal speech. They tell him, that the Indians are happy in seeing him return into their country;
that they have been long in expectation of his arrival;
that their wives have deprived themselves of their provisions, in order to afford him a supply;
that they are in great want, being destitute of every thing, and particularly of ammunition and clothing; and
that what they most long for, is a taste of his rum, which they uniformly denominate milk.
"The present, in return, consisted in one keg of gunpowder, of sixty pounds weight;
a bag of shot, and another of powder, of eighty pounds each;
a few smaller articles, and a keg of rum. The last appeared to be the chief treasure, though on the former depended the greater part of their winter's subsistence.
"In a short time, the men began to drink, while the women brought me a further and very valuable present, of twenty bags of rice. This I returned with goods and rum, and at the same time offered more, for an additional quantity of rice. A trade was opened, the women bartering rice, while the men were drinking. Before morning, I had purchased a hundred bags, of nearly a bushel measure each. [...]
"When morning arrived, all the village was inebriated; and the danger of misunderstanding was increased by the facility with which the women abandoned themselves to my Canadians. In consequence, I lost no time in leaving the place" (243-4).

"A sorcerer was the Ojibwa ideal strong man, defining and holding at bay the terrible forces of existence, manito and human. His skills were inseparable from his alarming personality, seen in the manifestations described as jealous, greedy, bullying, and extremely ambitious. [...]
"The shaman's evil powers were conceptualized as a Frankenstein devil that returned to its 'owner', the sorcerer, upon completing an assignment and so wreaked evil in the sorcerer's family by the noxiousness of its presence (Landes, 59).
"Hole-in-the-Sky, [...] was always advised to eschew evil: 'My father said I could learn if I wished but that I should never use it, for then it would never bother me. He meant, if I never sent evil medicine out, it would never become active, and return to trouble the house. So he never taught me to compound a prescription--he just handed me one ready-made and said what it was for. [...] Of course, he gave me a great deal, enough to last years. Maybe my father didn't really know any more, because his father may not have told him how the medicine was made, putting off telling him until finally he died.... No one should know bad medicine, it should be off the earth. People die off fast enough anyway'" (Landes, 60).

"The Ojibwa horror of love medicine suggested to me a horror like that they attached to the tongue-abduction. Both were sneak assaults on human will. Love medicine was considered the ugliest sorcery and the explanation of rape; romantic sex was prized, seen as a 'hunt' and a game, by men especially. There were several love-medicine prescriptions, transferred with or without cost, depending on the relations of the parties. [...] Like any sorcery, including the herbal, love formulas were revealed anciently in visions and were subsequently transmitted verbally.
"In old and contemporary tales, the victim falls into a hypnotic relationship with the sorcerer, showing abnormal or overwhelming lust. The victim, male or female, trails the medicine-wielder or 'owner' and makes shocking sexual displays and demands in public. Women, reportedly, would throw their skirts over their heads, exposing themselves (though white communities told similar tales of some of their women), regardless of age. An afflicted man attacked the woman sorcerer sexually at any opportunity, pursuing her constantly. Those who [sorcerers] conquered thus were defeated in the end, however. For the victim underwent complete decay, informants said. If the sorcerer then deserted, it appeared that the victim could never be cured. [...] (Ojibwa Religion, Landes)."