Tipatshimuna 
Description:
Top consisting of cone-shaped top and 7.5″ handle, grooved near end to fit around top’s peg. A rawhide string is knotted around top of peg and knotted through handle’s hole, which is stained with a light blue paint.
References:
James W. VanStone. 1982. The Speck Collection of Montagnais Material Culture From the Lower St. Lawrence Drainage, Quebec. Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History. Fieldiana, Anthropology New Series No.5. James W. VanStone. 1985. Material Culture of the Davis Inlet and Barren Ground Naskapi: the William Duncan Strong Collection. Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History. Fieldiana, Anthropology New Series No.7. Lynn Drapeau. 1999. Dictionnaire Montagnais-français. Sainte-Foy: Presses de l’Université du Québec.
Innu Narrative:
“Kessake (spin top). These are made too. What is this? It must be where it is pulled, eh?” Matinen (Rich) Katshinak
“Yes. I have made them. I make them with wood, you then use a string to release them, and they will spin. I think maybe it was used by the shaman, otherwise it’s just a game. Yes, it is a toy. It has to be very tight and it spins. Mr. White took all the toys, pupuke, tapanike.” Tshishennish Pasteen
“This looks like the thing that you pull on the strings and it spins. You pull the strings and it spins fast. Look at this? This is connected with the wood, and if you pull the strings and it is disconnected, it spins alone. You can call this kesake, because it spins around very fast.” Uniam Katshinak
Other Info:
“A European-derived spinning top of birchwood from the Barren Ground band is wrapped with a narrow strip of tanned caribou skin at the pointed end… Like some other Montagnais ‘toys’, including the toy bow and arrow described in the section on subsistence, this one was used in divination games as well as being an amusement for children. Spectators were asked to express ‘wishes’ and the individual indicated by the top when it stopped spinning would receive his or his wish.” VanStone (1982:19)
“There are two types of tops in the Strong collection, the first of which may be aboriginal. This type, of which there are four, consists of a flat, circular piece of birchwood with a peg in the center; it fits into a hole in a wooden handle and has a strap of babiche or twine wrapped around the peg. The top is held in an upright position by the handle which can be removed or lowered once the strap is pulled and the top is spinning… The second style of top is definitely European-derived and was spun with the aid of a babiche strap… This style of top, and perhaps those belonging to the first type as well, were, among the Montagnais at least, sometimes used in divination games.” VanStone (1985:36)
Drapeau (1999) lists teuepitshikan as “toupee; sorte de jouet bruyant fabriqué à partir d’osselets enfilés sur une ficelle (top; a kind of noisy toy made from knucklebones strung on a string).”