he ag st “ _ & ed — 1 Lon — Po i sgn 7 " - ee Pt St = | ae — ce > i” — : ane f ORY | oe pe ee 4 | se ro) S on) | 6 5S 2 & = aw ae Ww D> =| : % > = te =| : jaa uw ao 7 _ Fi ) i” : ae a TN halt if > a ee ? ' ne - 1 : ‘ \ \ \ \) WS \ i : \ Mody Re NYY Ml dS \\ WX \\ ‘AN \X \\\\ \\\\ AMAT Ol ASSINIBOIN WARRIOR (After. Maximilian. ) AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS OF THE PLAINS i, tee ’ By CLARK WISSLER CURATOR OF ANTHROPOLOGY HANDBOOK SERIES No. 1 (THIRD EDITION, SECOND PRINTING) NEW YORK 1934 MAN ASTRA 4 VARGO ELI Ba aan ates oe ante tO MOURA | 1 Yin é i i anh Tis oh S44' SESUEYY ANY} } aN - PUBLICATION © | eS VEN i Or ane ANTHROPOLOGICAL HANDBOOK FUND : et oi! ; fs 1 Bhoks x _ LANCASTER PRESS, INC., LANCASTER, PA. | f ie . OSAGE PAWNEE ES £3 HIDATSA PLAN OF THE PLAINS INDIAN HALL. The Museum exhibits for the various tribes are arranged in ap- proximate geographical order, beginning with the Plains-Cree of the north and proceeding with the typical nomadie tribes (p. 13). In the northwestern part of the hall are the Shoshoni, Ute, and Nez Percé, whose culture is intermediate between that of the Plains and Plateau area. In the northeastern section are the Mandan, Hidatsa, and other Village tribes, also manifesting an intermediate culture between the Plains and that of the Woodlands to the east. The Woodland hall to the east and the Southwest hall to the north are so arranged as to bring the intermediate tribes of each region near the entrance to the Plains Indian hall. Thus, from case to case, one may follow changes in culture from the Atlantie Coast to the Colorado River and the Gulf of California. PREFACE. . | ‘HIS little book is not merely a guide to museum collections from the Plains Indians, but a sum- mary of the facts and interpretations making up the anthropology of those Indians. The speci- mens in this Museum were, for the most part, sys- tematically collected by members of the scientific staff while sojourning among the several tribes. They were selected to illustrate various points in tribal life and customs, or culture. The exhibits in the Plains Hall’ contain, as far as space permits, most of the typical objects for each tribe; yet it has been physically impossible to show everything the Museum possesses. So the most charaeteristic ob- jects for each tribe have been selected and care taken to have the other objects common to many tribes ap- pear at least once in some part of the hall. The ideal way would be to get every variety of every ob- ject used by each subdivision of a tribe and exhibit all of them in their entirety; but few collections can be made so complete, and even if they could, space in the building could not be found for them. The exhibits, then, should be taken as material indices, or marks, of tribal cultures and not as complete exposi- tions of them. This handbook, on the other hand, deals with the main points in the anthropology of the Plains Indians many of which (as marriage, so- cial and political organization, language, ete.) can- not be demonstrated by collections. The statements in the text are made upon the authority of the many 5 6 INDIANS OF THE PLAINS special students of these Indians in whose writings will be found far more complete accounts. Citations to the more important works will be given in the bibliography. The illustrations are chiefly from the anthropological publications of the Museum and for the most part represent specimens on exhibition in the Plains Hall. For a mere general view of the subject, the legends to the maps, the introduction, and the concluding chapter are recommended. ‘The intervening topics may then be taken up as guides to the study of collections or the perusal of the spe- cial literature. pperrare™ dalled CONTENTS. PREFACE ‘ INTRODUCTION CHAPTER I. MATERIAL CULTURE ‘ ‘ ; . , ‘ ‘ : Food. Buffalo Hunting. Hunting Implements. Pemmican. Agriculture. Transportation. The Tipi. Earth-Lodges. Dress. Industrial Arts. Fire-making. Textiles and Skins. Tailoring. The Use of Rawhide. The Parfleche. Rawhide Bags. Soft Bags. Household Utensils. Tools. Digging Stick. Pipes. Weapons. Games. CHAPTER II. SOcIAL ORGANIZATION . ‘ , . - ; F ‘. 3 The Camp Circle. Marriage. Government. Soldier Bands or Societies. Social Distinction. CHAPTER III. RELIGION AND CEREMONIES . : 3 , ; ‘ ‘ ‘ Mythology. Religious Concepts. A Supernatural Helper. Medicine Bundles. Tribal Ceremonies. The Sun Dance. Ghost Dance Ceremonies. Peyote Worship. Dancing Asso- ciations. War and Scalp Dances. Ceremonial Procedure. CHAPTER IV. DECORATIVE AND RELIGIOUS ART ; é ~ 5 = - CHAPTER V. LANGUAGE. 4 2 : . : : 7 . ~ CHAPTER VI. PHYSiCAL TYPE . . Hy - a q r . . F CHAPTER VII. THE CHRONOLOGY OF PLAINS CULTURE ; 3 The Pre-Columbian Period. The Horse Calture Period. CHAPTER VIII. ORIGINS . a . ; 7 ‘ n : 7 ; ; ‘ BIBLIOGRAPHY . = P ‘ ; ; . ‘ INDEX . : - ' . ; E P ; , : = 7 106 132 139 144 152 161 167 169 MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE. Assiniboin Warrior . ; ‘ ; : . Frontispiece Plan of the Plains Indian Hall : - ‘ : : 3 : 3 Culture Areas in North America ‘ : : ‘ : ea The Indians of the Plains . : F gee The Distribution of Forests in Wastevs United Sichan : ae Map showing the Distribution of the Buffalo about 1800 . ee! Sinewed-backed Bow and Quiver from the Blackfoot and a Com- pound Bow of Mountain Sheep Horn from the Nez Percé ee: Lance with Obsidian Point. Nez Percé . ‘ ; : Be Meat Drying Rack. Blackfoot . , : ; : . Pen | Stone-headed Pounders . , ‘ ; : ‘ : Pee) Crossing the Missouri in a Bull- Boat ; - ‘ ‘ ; . 82 Blackfoot Travois ; . . 3 = ; : : Soi Assiniboin Dog Travois : J : . , : p wo fae Setting up a Crow Tipi ; : , , ‘ : , . 39 Hidatsa Village in 1868 7 : ; : , ; : 2; eee One-piece Moccasin Pattern : : , . F ~ . 44 Two-piece Moccasin Pattern F : ‘ : : : . 45 Man’s Shirt. Blackfoot : ‘ ; , : + wae Costumed Figure of a Dakota ise : ‘ ; ; . 48 Woman’s Dress of Elkskin . : : : : : ¢ ~dO A Woman’s Dress made from Two Deorakina . : : a ee Distribution of the Plains Type of Woman’s Dress . ‘ - 53d Firedrill. Northern Shoshoni . 3 : . é Lee 56 Fleshing a Hide . : : : ‘ . 2 ‘ : - 58 Using a Stone Scraper F : 2 F ‘ , .- as Seraping a Hide. Blood . : . f e ° ‘ « « upon a travois. When the chief gave out the order to break camp it took but a few minutes for the women to have everything loaded on travois and ready for the march. Even the Village group used tipis and horses when on the buffalo hunt (p. 19). The smaller baggage was often loaded upon dog travois. We have no accurate data as to how the MATERIAL CULTURE of camp was moved before horses came into the coun- try, but the process was certainly more laborious and the marches shorter. The Tipi. One of the most characteristic fea- tures of Plains Indian culture was the tipi. All the tribes of the area, almost without exception, used it for a part of the year at least. Primarily, the tipi Was a conical tent covered with dressed buffalo skins. u r a) we ce. RAN VA wile nine VT eli OTT a OT] Sy eh 9 ar | 3 ee. NMER i; +i) Fig. 15. A Woman’s Dress made from Two Deerskins (Av A’) folded and pieced (B, C, B’, C’). The skins are folded on the dotted line and sewed together, leaving a hole for the head. 52 INDIANS OF THE PLAINS Northern Shoshoni, and Plains-Cree in that the ex- tensions of the cape are formed into a tight-fitting sleeve. Some writers claim that in early days the Assiniboin and Blackfoot women also used this form. Formerly, the Cheyenne, Osage, and Paw- nee women wore a two-piece garment consisting of a skirt and a cape, a form typical of the Woodland In- dians of the east. A close study of Plains costumes will disclose that in spite of one general pattern, there are tribal styles. In the first place, all dresses show the same main outline, curious open hanging sleeves, and a bottom of four appendages of which those at the sides are longest (Fig. 14). Almost without excep- tion these dresses are made of two elkskins, the natural contour of which is shown in Fig. 15. The sewing of these together gives the pattern of the garment, which is modified by trimming or piecing the edges as the tribal style may require. This is a particularly good example of how the form of a cos- tume may be determined by the material. The dis- tribution of tribal variations in these dress patterns is shown in Fig. 16. The shirts for men are also made of two deerskins on a slightly different pattern, but one in which the natural contour of the skin is the determining factor. The manner of dressing the hair is often a con- spicuous conventional feature. Many of the Plains tribes wore it uncropped. Among the northern tribes the men frequently gathered the hair in two MATERIAL CULTURE s Dress. pe of Woman’ ains Ty li Distribution of the P Fig. 16. 54 INDIANS OF THE PLAINS braids but in the extreme west and among some of the southern tribes, both sexes usually wore it loose on the shoulders and back. The Crow men some- times cropped the forelock and trained it to stand erect; the Blackfoot, Assiniboin, Yankton-Dakota, Hidatsa, Mandan, Arikara, and Kiowa trained a forelock to hang down over the nose. Early writers report a general practice of artificially lengthening men’s hair by gumming on extra strands until it sometimes dragged on the ground. The hair of women throughout the Plains was usually worn in the two-braid fashion with the me- dian part from the forehead to the neck. Old women frequently allowed the hair to hang down at the sides or confined it by a simple headband. Again, we find exceptions in that the Oto, Osage, Pawnee, and Omaha closely cropped the sides of the head, leaving a ridge or tuft across the crown and down behind. It is almost certain that the Ponca once followed the same style and there is a tradition among the Oglala division of the Teton-Dakota that they also shaved the sides of the head. (See also History of the Expedition of Lewis and Clark, Re- printed, New York, 1902, Vol. 1, p. 135.) We may say then that the love of long heavy tresses was a typical trait of the Plains. By the public every Indian is expected to have his hair thickly decked with feathers. The striking feather bonnets with long tails usually seen in pic- tures were exceptional and formerly permitted only MATERIAL CULTURE 55 to a few distinguished men. They are most charac- teristic of the Dakota. Even a common eagle feather in the hair of a Dakota had some military significance according to its form and position. On the other hand, objects tied in a Blackfoot’s hair were almost certain to have a charm value. So far as we know, among all tribes, objects placed in the hair of men usually had more than a mere aesthetic significance. Beads for the neck, ear ornaments, necklaces of claws, scarfs of otter and other fur, ete., were in gen- eral use. The face and exposed parts of the body were usually painted and sometimes the hair also. Women were fond of tracing the part line with ver- milion. There was little tattooing and noses were seldom pierced. The ears, on the other hand, were usually perforated and adorned with pendants which among Dakota women were often long strings of shells reaching the waist line. Instead of combs, brushes made from the tails of porcupines were used in dressing the hair. The most common form was made by stretching the porcupine tail over a stick of wood. The hair of the face and others parts of the body was pulled out by small tweezers. Industrial Arts. Under this head the reader may be reminded that among most American tribes each family produces and manufactures for itself. There is a more or less definite division between the work of men and women, but beyond that there is 56 little specialization. equal skill, but still each practises practically the whole gamut of industrial arts peculiar to his sex. Pigs lf, Wiredrill: ern Shoshoni. North- INDIANS OF THE PLAINS The individuals are not of This fact greatly increases the importance of such arts when considered as cultural traits. Fire-making. The meth- ods of making fire are often of great cultural interest. So far as our data go, the method in this area was by the simple firedrill as shown in the Shoshoni collections, Fig. 17. Some of the Wood- land tribes used the bowdrill but so far this has not been reported for the Plains. It may be well to note that to ate ; strike fire with flint one must have some form of iron and while pyrites was used by some Eskimo and other tribes - of the far north, it seems to have been unknown in the Plains. Naturally, flint and steel were among the first articles introduced by white traders. Textiles and Skins. While in a general way it is true that the Plains Indians used skins instead of MATERIAL CULTURE 57 cloth and basketry, it cannot be said that they were entirely unfamiliar with the basketry art. Of true cloth, we have no trace. Blankets woven with strips of rabbit fur have been noted (p. 48) and on certain Osage war bundles we find covers coarsely woven of thick strands of buffalo hair; these are about the only traces of true weaving. On the other hand, baskets were more in evidence. The Shoshoni and Ute were rather skilful, making and using many varieties of baskets. The Nez Percé made a fine soft bag like their western neighbors. The Hidatsa, Mandan, and Arikara made a peculiar carrying bas- ket of checker weave, and are also credited with small crude coiled baskets used in gambling games. It is believed by some students that the last were occasionally made by the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Dakota. The Osage have some twined bags, or soft baskets, in which ceremonial bundles are kept, but otherwise were not given to basketry. The Omaha formerly wove scarfs and belts. On the south, the Comanche are believed to have made a few crude baskets. Woven mats were almost un- known, except the simple willow backrests used by the Blackfoot, Mandan, Cheyenne, Gros Ventre, and others. These are, after all, but citations of excep- tions most pronounced among the marginal tribes, the fact being that the Plains area as a whole is singularly weak in the textile arts. Since skins everywhere took the place of cloth, the dressing of pelts was an important industry. 58 INDIANS OF THE PLAINS It was not only woman’s work but her worth and virtue were estimated by her output. Soles of moe- MO Ber 8. Des e Fig. 18. Fleshing a Hide. Fig. 19. Using a Stone Scraper. casins, parfleche, and other similar bags were made of stiff rawhide, the product of one of the simplest and perhaps the most primitive methods of treating MATERIAL CULTURE 59 skins. The uppers of moccasins, soft bags, thongs, ete., were of pliable texture, produced by a more elaborate and laborious process. For the rawhide finish the treatment is as fol- lows:—Shortly after the removal of a hide, it is stretched out on the ground near the tipi, hair side down, and held in place by wooden stakes or pins such as are used in staking down the covers of tipis. Clinging to the upturned flesh side of the hide are many fragments of muscular tissue, fat, and strands of connective tissue, variously blackened by coagu- lated blood. The first treatment is that of cleaning or fleshing. Shortly after the staking out, the sur- face is gone over with a fleshing tool by which the adhering flesh, ete., is raked and hacked away. This is an unpleasant and laborious process requiring more brute strength than skill. Should the hide be- come too dry and stiff to work well, the surface is treated with warm water. After fleshing, the hide is left to cure and bleach in the sun for some days, though it may be occasionally saturated by pouring warm water over its surface. The next thing is to work the skin down to an even thickness by secrap- ing with an adze-like tool. The stakes are usually pulled up and the hard stiff hide laid down under a sun-shade or other shelter. Standing on the hide, the woman leans over and with a sidewise movement removes the surface in chips or shavings, the action of the tool resembling that of a hand plane. After the flesh side has received this treatment, the hide is 60 INDIANS OF THE PLAINS turned and the hair scraped away in the same man- ner. This completes the rawhide process and the subsequent treatment is determined by the use to be made of it. Fig. 20. Scraping a Hide. Blood. The soft-tan finish as given to buffalo and deer hides for robes, soft bags, etc., is the same in its initial stages as the preceding. After fleshing and scraping, the rawhide is laid upon the ground and the surface rubbed over with an oily compound com- ell itl MATERIAL CULTURE 61 posed of brains and fat often mixed with liver. This is usually rubbed on with the hands. Any kind of fat may be used for this purpose though the pre- ferred substance is as stated above. The writer observed several instances in which mixtures of packing house lard, baking flour, and warm water were rubbed over the rawhide as a substitute. The rawhide is placed in the sun, after the fatty com- pound has been thoroughly worked into the texture by rubbing with a smooth stone that the heat may aid in its further distribution. "When quite dry, the hide is saturated with warm water and for a time kept rolled up ina bundle. In this state, it usually shrinks and requires a great deal of stretching to get it back to its approximate former size. This is accomplished by pulling with the hands and feet, two persons being required to handle a large skin. After this, come the rubbing and drying processes. The surface is vigorously rubbed with a rough-edged stone until it presents a clean-grained appearance. The skin is further dried and whitened by sawing back and forth through a loop of twisted sinew or thong tied to the under side of an inclined tipi pole. This friction develops considerable heat, thereby drying and softening the texture. As this and the preceding rubbing are parts of the same process their chronological relation is not absolute, but the usual order was as given above. The skin is then ready for use. Skins with the hair on are treated in the same 62 INDIANS OF THE PLAINS manner as above, except that the adze-tool is not ap- plied to the hair side. A large buffalo robe was no light object and was handled with some difficulty, especially in the stretching, in consequence of which they were sometimes split down the middle and afterwards sewed together again. Among some of the Village tribes, it seems to have been customary to stretch the skin on a four-sided frame and place it upright as shown in the exhibit for the Thompson Indians (south side of the Jesup North Pacific Hall). The exact distribution of this trait is not known but it has been eredited to the Eastern Dakota, Hidatsa, and Mandan. The Black- foot sometimes used it in winter, but laid flat upon the ground. Buckskin was prepared in the same manner as among the forest tribes. The tribes of the western plains were especially skilful in coloring the finished skin by smoking. There were many slight varia- tions in all the above processes. ~ The adze-like scraper was in general use through- out the Plains and occurs elsewhere only among bordering tribes. Hence, it is peculiar to the buffalo hunting tribes. The handle was of antler, though occasionally of wood, and the blade of iron. Infor- mation from some Blackfoot and Dakota Indians indicates that in former times the blades were of chipped stone, but the chipped scraper found in archaeological collections from the Plains area can- not be fastened to the handle in the same manner as MATERIAL CULTURE 63 the iron blades, the latter being placed on the inner, or under side, while the shape of the chipped stone blade seems to indicate that it was placed on the out- side. Hence, the former use of stone blades for these scrapers must be considered doubtful. The iron blades are bound to the wedge-shaped haft, Fig. 21. Hide Scrapers. which each downward blow, when the tool is in use, forces tightly into the binding. When the pressure is removed the blade and binding may slip off. To prevent this, some tools are provided with a cord running from the end of the handle once or twice around its middle and thence to the binding of the blade. Again a curved iron blade is used, one end of which is bound near the middle of the handle. These types (Fig. 21) are widely distributed throughout the Plains, but the curved iron blade seems to be most frequent among the Arapaho and Cheyenne, and wooden handles among the Co- manche. 64 INDIANS OF THE PLAINS On the other hand, fleshing tools, chisel-shaped with notched edges, were used throughout Canada east of the Rocky Mountains, and in many parts of the United States. Hence, they cannot be taken as Fig. 22. Fleshing Tools. (The two short fleshers are of bone; the one on the left is of iron; and that on the right, of bone, with an iron blade.) peculiar to the Plains. The older type of flesher is apparently the one made entirely of bone, while the later ones were made entirely of iron. Sometimes MATERIAL CULTURE 65 an intermediate form is found in which a small metal blade is fastened to the end of a bone shaft (Fig. 22). The shaft of the flesher is usually covered with raw- hide and to its end is attached a loop for the wrist. The iron flesher seems to be the only type peculiar to the Indians of the Plains. The distribution of the bone flesher is such that its most probable origin may be assigned to the Algonkin tribes of the Great Lakes and northward. The production of soft buckskin usually necessi- tates a peculiar process called béaming, in which the skin is laid over the rounded surface of a tree sec- tion and scraped with a tool suggesting a draw- shave. Beaming tools are thus identified with the dressing of deerskins and in this respect stand dis- tinct from the adze-tool used in dressing buffalo skins. They seem to be used wherever the dressing of deerskins is prevalent and are best known under the following types :—a, split leg bones; b, combined tibia and fibula of deer or similar animal; c, rib bone: d, wooden stick with metal blade in middle, stick usually curved. From the collections in this Museum it seems that the split leg bone type is not found in the Plains. Should further inquiry show this to be the case, it would be a matter of some interest since the split bone type is found in archaeological collections from British Columbia, Ohio, and New York, and is there- fore of great antiquity as well as wide distribution. In any case the data for historic times indicate that 66 INDIANS OF THE PLAINS some form of beaming tool is a concomitant of deer- skin dressing from Alaska and California (the Hupa) to Labrador, and Pennsylvania. The rubbing with a rough stone is the usual treat- ment accorded deerskins, and cannot be considered peculiar to the Indians of the Plains. Tailoring. The garments of the Indians of the Plains were simple in construction, and the eutting of the garment was characterized by an effort to make the natural shape of the tanned skin fit into the desired garment, with as little waste as possible. (Fig. 15.) We do not know how skins were cut be- fore the introduction of metal knives by white trad- ers. Needles were not used by the women among the Plains Indians, but the thread was pushed through holes made with bodkins or awls. In former times these awls were made of bone; the sewing was with sinew thread made by shredding out the long tendons from the leg of the buffalo and deer. When sewing, Blackfoot women had at hand a piece of dried tendon from which they pulled the shreds with their teeth, softened them in their mouths and then twisted them into a thread by roll-— ing between the palms of their hands. The moisten- ing of the sinew in the mouth not only enabled the women to twist the thread tightly, but also caused the sinew to expand so that when it dried in the stitch it shrank and drew the stitches tight. The woman’s ordinary sewing outfit was carried in a soft bag of buffalo skin and consisted of bodkins, a MATERIAL CULTURE 67 piece of sinew, and a knife. Bodkins were some- times carried in small beaded cases as shown in the exhibit. The Use of Rawhide. In the use of rawhide for binding and hafting, the Plains tribes seem almost unique. When making mauls and_ stone-headed clubs a piece of green or wet hide is firmly sewed on and as this dries its natural shrinkage sets the parts firmly. This is nicely illustrated in saddles. Thus, rawhide here takes the place of nails, twine, cement, ete., in other cultures. s The Parfleche. ers < RELIGION AND CEREMONIES 131 Painting the face and body and the use of a pipe are also highly developed elements. In most cases, there is a distinct painting for each ceremony, again supposed to be according to the directions of the initial revelation. " = = DECORATIVE ART 137 turtle’s head and legs as he emerged from the lake (the beaded yoke). Yet, somewhat similar figures occur on the dresses of other tribes from whom no such symbolism has been reported. This might be explained as brought about by the other tribes bor- rowing the pattern from the Teton; but when many of these garments are examined, we observe that often the U-shaped turn is made to carry the beaded border around the hairy tail-of the deer left, or sewed, upon the skin from which the garment was made. The tail tuft naturally falls just below the yoke because the dresses are fashioned by joining the tail ends of two skins by a yoke, or neck piece. Hence, it seems more probable that the pattern was developed as a mere matter of technique and that later on the Teton read into it the symbolism of the turtle, because of some fancied resemblance to that animal and because of some special appropriateness. The preceding remarks apply exclusively to ob- jects in which the motive was chiefly decorative. There was another kind of art in which the motive was mainly religious, as the paintings upon the Blackfoot tipi, the figures upon the ghost dance shirts of the Dakota, ete. Such drawings, as with heraldry devices (p. 104), were almost exclusively the work of men. Another suggestive point is that this more serious art tends to be realistic in contrast to the highly geometric form of decorative art. In general, an objective study of this art suggests that the realistic, decorative, and other art seem to 138 | INDIANS OF THE PLAINS have been greatly developed on the northeastern border of the area, while the geometric was most accentuated on the southwestern. Thus on the northeast, beyond the limit of our area, the Ojibway especially possessed a highly developed pictographic type of art while the Ute (Shoshoni) of the extreme southwest of the area seem to have practised no such pictographic art but presented in contrast a highly developed geometric type both in embroidery and rawhide painting. Taking the Arapaho and Teton- Dakota as two intermediate groups, we find the former inclining to the geometric art of their Sho- shonean neighbors, while the latter show almost equal proficiency in the two contrasting types. Thus, we seem to have two influences from opposite directions, reinforcing the common suggestion that the geometrie art of this area was introduced from the southwestern part of the continent. w ai -EFEEE seEETES \\ §5ss555== e Hrs: ANB SS Sao’, S=s==e° SpaaSss Gu pie eae sbsssa_— =: SE2== BSE ESSSy %, gees ss5"_=E === S—aaoe a= ee = FELESS Seg © Weta Ss--S=e siege a oh BS ee Eee = SESespe===e BSG (ode Ih \ SSS ES =SeEE BEEEEEESEzEE Te SESESES ESSE MCU \ ,OEEEEETEE =R=ESSSER P= G°SS SSSR ee = = ad hh Oy in Fig. 49. Blanket Band in Quills. Blackfoot. ill aa el [a yy ae | 9 ee — ? CHaptTer V. LANGUAGE. S STATED at the outset, it is customary to classify peoples according to their languages. The main groups are what are called stock languages, or families. Under such heads are placed all languages that seem to have had a com- mon origin regardless of whether they are mutually intelligible or not. Thus English and German are distinct forms of speech, yet they are considered as belonging to the same stock, or family. In North America, there are more than fifty such families, of which seven have representatives in the Plains. Only one, however, the Kiowa, is entirely confined to the area, though the Siouan and Caddoan are chiefly found within its bounds. The others (Algon- kian, Shoshonean, Athapascan, and Shahaptian) have much larger representation elsewhere, which naturally leads us to infer that they must have mi- erated into the Plains. Though this is quite prob- able, it cannot be proven from the data at hand, ex- cept possibly for the Algonkian-speaking Plains- Ojibway and Cheyenne, of whose recent movement out into the Plains we have historic evidence. These tribes are of special interest to students, since in a comparatively short period of time they put away most of their native culture and took on that. of their neighbors in the Plains. 139 140 INDIANS OF THE PLAINS INDIANS OF THE Piatns, accorDING TO LANGUAGE. Siouan Language Assiniboin Mandan Crow Missouri Dakota Omaha Hidatsa Osage Towa Oto Kansa Ponea Algonkian Language Arapaho Gros Ventre | Blackfoot Plains-Cree 3 Cheyenne Plains-Ojibway | Caddoan Language | Arikara Pawnee Wichita | Kiowan Language Shoshonean Language Bannock Northern Shoshoni : Comanche Ute Wind River Shoshoni Kiowa Athapascan Language Kiowa-Apache Sarsl Shahaptian Language Nez Percé SS Oe LANGUAGE 141 The Athapascan-speaking Kiowa-Apache and Sarsi are also worthy of notice because the family to which they belong has representatives in five of the eight great culture areas into which North American cultures are localized, affording us the unique example of five distinct cultures with lan- guages of the same family, or stock. Returning to our classification of Plains tribes under linguistic families, it may be well to note that while it is absolutely true that these families have nothing in common, the differences between the vari- ous tribes under the same stock are by no means equal. Thus, while a Dakota and an Assiniboin can make themselves partially understood, Dakota and Crow are so different that only philologists are able to discover them to be of the same family. Again, in the Algonkian group, the Arapaho and Gros Ventre are conscious of having related languages, while the Blackfoot lived on neighborly terms with the latter for many years as did the Cheyenne with the Arapaho, not once, so far as we know, discover- ing any definite relation between their languages. It is well to remember, therefore, that the term linguistic stock does not denote the language or speech of a particular tribe, but is a designation of the philologists to define observed relationships in structure and form, and that the speech of these Indians differs in varying degree as one passes from one group to the other. Thus, the seven tribes of the Dakota form at least three dialectic groups: 142 INDIANS OF THE PLAINS the Eastern tribes say Dakota and the Teton, La- kota, one always using d for the other’s /; the San- tee hda (go home), the Teton gla, and the Yankton kda. Even within the different communities of the Teton small differences are said to exist. Hence, the differences in speech are after all gradations of variable magnitude from the study of which philolo- gists are able to discover relationship and descent, all believed to have originated from,one now extinct mother tongue, being classed under one family, or stock name. In short, there are no language char- acters peculiar to the Plains tribes, as is the case with other cultural characters. The foregoing remarks apply entirely to oral lan- ouage. We must not overlook the extensive use of a sign language which seems to have served all the purposes of an international or intertribal language. The signs were made with the hands and fingers, but were not in any sense the spelling out of a spoken language. The language was based upon ideas alone. Had it been otherwise, it could not have been understood outside of the tribe. Though some traces of such a language have been met with out- side of the Plains, it is only within the area that we find a system so well developed that intertribal visitors could be entertained with sign-talk on all subjects. The Crow, Kiowa, Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Blackfoot are generally regarded as having been most proficient and the Omaha, Osage, Kansas and Ute, as least skilful in its use. It may not be —— —_— -s,T _— LANGUAGE 143 amiss to add that in most tribes could be found individuals priding themselves in speaking one or more languages. In former times, many Nez Pereé, Blackfoot, Gros Ventre, Dakota, and Mandan are said to have known some of the Crow language which Was in consequence often used by traders. This, if true, was no doubt due to the peculiar geographical position of the Crow. The sign language, however, could be used among all tribes familiar with it and must, therefore, be considered one of the striking peculiar traits of the Plains and an important factor in the diffusion of culture. CuHapter VI. PHYSICAL TYPE: O FAR we have concerned ourselves with how the Plains Indians lived, or with their culture, but our subject would not be complete without a general idea of their anatomy and physical con- dition. According to the census of 1910 there re- sided within the United States 50,208 members of the tribes we have designated as Plains Indians. ~The number for each tribe, together with the extent of mixture, is shown in the table. Nearly all of the mixed-bloods are descendants of white men and Indian women. We have no exact data as to the number of these Indians in Canada, but consider it to be less than 12,000. Since 1880 there seems to have been little change in the density of this popu- — lation, though some tribes are now increasing. As to how the number of 1910 compares with the popu- lation of a century or more ago we can but guess, but there is no reason to believe that it ever ex- ceeded 100,000. No careful study of the physical types for the Plains has been made. Our general impression of the tribal appearance is largely influenced by hair dress, costume, and posture, and it is difficult to dis- sociate these externals from somatic features. Yet, 144 *MOUD ‘ VLOMV(-NOLA, OFT "TAN MV q ‘"INNAADHO LbT (ojoyg ASofouy}y nvoing) : (‘aqtiy, poor) poo Hy t IF a ‘INOHSOHY YAR GNIAA ge ‘LOOAMOVIG 148 INDIANS OF THE PLAINS a brief scrutiny of casts of faces or photographs usually reveals tribal resemblances like those we see in families among ourselves. As the Indians of the Plains are but a subdivision of the same race, this is POPULATION AND MIXTURE OF BLOOD. Total Total Popula- Percentage Popula- Percentage Tribe. tion. Full-Bloods. Tribe. tion. Full-Bloods. Teton-Dakota 14284 74.2 Omaha 1105 80.1 Shoshoni 3840 86.7 Sioux (miscellane- Cheyenne 3055 Sr ous ) 996 49.6 Sisseton Dakota 2514 64.9 Ponea 87D. * Sacer Piegan 2268 53.5 Pawnee 633 85.9 Ute 2240 94.1 Hidatsa 547 76.4 Yankton Dakota 2088 64.6 Iowa 547 24,2 Crow 1799 69.0 Gros Ventre 510 76.5 Eastern Dakota 1539 51.9 Caddo 452 74.3 Arapaho 1419 92.4 Arikara 444 83.8 Osage 1373 43.0 Bannock 413 78.2 Yanktonai Dakota 1357 84.3 Oto 332 63.6 Nez Perecé 1259 77.0 Wichita 318 96.9 Assiniboin 1253 63.38 Karsa 238 29.8 Comanche eek 62.9 Mandan 209 78.9 Kiowa 1126 72.6 Average percentage of Total population 50208 full-bloods 70.00 Total full-blood population 35000 about the only difference that should be expected. The color tone of the skin (a reddish chocolate) seems about the same throughout the area, though perhaps lighter with occasional leanings toward the yellow among some Blackfoot of the north; yet to be exact, no color studies worthy of the name have been made. The hair is, like that of all Indians, uniformly black and straight. As to stature, they appear rather tall. The following average meas- urements have been reported. PHYSICAL TYPE Millimeters. Cheyenne 1745 Crow 1732 Arapaho 1728 Dakota 1726 Plains-Ojibway 1723 Blackfoot 1715 Kiowa 1709 Comanche 1678 149 Inches. 68.7 68.1 68.03 67.09 67.8 67.9 67.2 66.06 These are from the typical nemadie group of tribes as previously defined and with the exception of the Comanche are quite tall. As the figures above are averages, we must expect among the Chey- enne some very tall individuals. On the west, the statures are less: Millimeters. Nez Percé 1697 Ute 1661 Among the village group we note: Millimeters. Omaha ae Pawnee AS _Arikara 1690 again a tendency toward tall statures. : 3 (Twenty percent | of those measured, exceeded 1820 mm.) Inches. 66.8 69.4 Inches. 68.1 67.4 66.5 So, as compared not only with other Indians, but with mankind as a whole, the Indians of the Plains are a tall people. 150 INDIANS OF THE PLAINS Looking at the faces of the various tribes, some general differences appear. Those of the Blackfoot, Plains-Cree, and Assiniboin seem rather rounded and delicate while those of the Dakota are longer and clear cut with strong lines, an eagle nose, and more prominent cheek bones. The Pawnee again ~ have large, heavy, or massive faces. On none of these points, however, have investigations been made and it is an open question whether anything would be accomplished thereby other than the defi- nition of minute differences. In historical times, at least, there was a great deal of intermarriage and visiting between these tribes, which must have tended to level down somatic differences and which makes the successful determination of genetic re- lationship quite improbable. As to head form, we find an index of about 80 for the Ute, Cree, Dakota, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Pawnee, and a con- siderably higher value for the Comanche, Osage, Omaha, Wichita, and Kiowa. Thus in general it appears that the Indians of the Plains are not anatomically distinct from those oc- cupying some other parts of the continent. Yet, when closely considered they tend to form a group in distinction to the tribes of other areas. In the preceding chapters we observed that the tribes in the center of the Plains were more original in eul- ture, whereas those on the borders had assimilated many foreign traits. So in much the same way we find that the central tribes tend to be tall, while the — PHYSICAL TYPE 151 marginal ones are shorter, like those of the neigh- boring culture areas. The same kind of differences appear in other characters. It is thus plain that the Indians of the Plains are somewhat distinct from other Indians, but these differences are small as compared with the differences between Indians and Europeans. Cuapter VII. THE CHRONOLOGY OF PLAINS CULTURE. O FAR we have sought to sketch the outline for a mental picture of what Plains Indian life was like a half century ago. We have given no con- sideration to what it was before the discovery of the New World, how these people worked out their food problems, whence they came, the ideas that led to their most characteristic inventions; in short, the course of their culture history. The data for a his- tory of any culture come from three sources, direct observation of the living people, written records, and archaeological remains. So far we have de- pended almost entirely upon observations made upon the living, that is, we have carefully sifted and compiled the facts reported by contemporary writers. Since the Plains Indians had no native system of writing there are no records of the past and so nothing is to be expected from that source. Thus the only additional aid we may expect would come from archaeology, or the study of objects and traces of culture preserved in the ground. This limitation to the information available for a history of Plains culture divides our subject into two peri- ods: the historic period and the prehistoric. These terms are, however, not the best because the historic 152 THE CHRONOLOGY OF PLAINS CULTURE 153 period for the Plains Indians opens about 1540, while we think of history as beginning a few thou- sand years before Christ. It is therefore less con- fusing to speak of the prehistoric period of the American Indians as pre-Columbian. So from the information at hand we can make the accompanying outline of Plains history or, as we frequently say, the chronology of its culture. ~ To make it easier to understand this chapter, we should fix in our minds the following characteristics of Plains culture: They lived in the open grass land of the Great West. The buffalo is the keynote to their culture. About 1540 they became horse Indians, but before that date used the dog for a beast of burden. The most typical tribes made no pottery, nor at- tempted agriculture, but lived in tipis and roamed the open plains. CHRONOLOGY OF PLAINS CULTURE. 1880—-———__ Reservation Period. Gradual Americanization and disap- pearance of native culture traits. Extinction of the buffalo. Many objects illustrated in this book and exhibited in the Museum were made in the early part of this period, but are typical of the pre- ceding. 154 INDIANS OF THE PLAINS 1540-1880 Horse Culture Period. The culture described in this book be- longs here, but many customs, ob- jects, and decorative designs ob- served in this period seem to have originated in the pre-Columbian. Probable intensification of roving habits, buffalo hunting, and the use of skins. Firearms and other trade objects in- troduced. ) Trade beads substituted for quills. Horses, saddles, and the art of riding introduced. —-1540 Pre-Columbian Period. Quillwork introduced. Agriculture, pottery, and simple weav- ing appear among the border tribes, but buffalo hunting the chief oc- cupation. Dog traction developed. Beginning of buffalo culture, probably very ancient. The first immigrants brought the use of stone and bone tools. The Pre-Columbian Period. Though the lands of the New World were first sighted in 1492 it is not until 1540 that we hear of the Plains Indians. At about this time two famous Spanish expeditions THE CHRONOLOGY OF PLAINS CULTURE 155 reached the southern corners of the area. De Soto came to the Mississippi in 1541 and made some ex- cursions into the prairies to the west. A year earlier Coronado set out from a camp near what is now New Mexico, and traversed the plains north- eastward, apparently to the country of the Pawnee. It is from the reports of these two romantic journeys that we get our first glimpse of Plains culture. Coronado, at least, saw typical roving Plains In- dians, for we read: ... They have better figures, are better warriors, and are more feared. They travel like the Arabs, with their tents and troops of dogs loaded with poles and having Moorish pack saddles with girths. When the load gets disarranged, the dogs howl, calling some one to fix them right. These people eat raw flesh and drink blood. They do not eat human flesh. They are a kind people and not cruel. They are faithful friends. They are able to make themselves very well understood by means of signs. They dry the flesh in the sun, cutting it thin like a leaf, and when dry they grind it like meal to keep it and make a sort of sea soup of it to eat. A handful thrown into a pot swells up so as to increase very much. They season it with fat, which they always try to secure when they kill a cow. They empty a large gut and fill it with blood, and carry this around the neck to drink when they are thirsty. When they open the belly of a cow, they squeeze out the chewed grass and drink the juice that remains behind, because they say that this contains the essence of the stomach. They cut the hide open at the back and pull it off at the joints, using a flint as large as a finger, tied in a little stick, with as much ease as if working with a good iron tool. They give it an edge with their own teeth. The quickness with which they do this is something worth seeing and noting. (Winship, Coronado, 111-112.) . » - They do not live in houses, but have some sets of poles which they carry with them to make some huts at the places where they stop, which serve them for houses. ‘They tie these poles together at the top and stick the bottoms into the ground, covering them with some cowskins which they carry around, and which, as I have said, serve them for houses. From what was learned of these Indians, all 156 INDIANS OF THE PLAINS their human needs are supplied by these cows, for they are fed and clothed and shod from these. They are a people who wander around here and there, wherever seems to them best. (Winship, Coronado, 230.) It was more than a hundred years later that the French and English first came in contact with the northern part of the Plains area, and made similar observations which may be consulted in the books treating of Hennepin, Radisson, Perrot, and La Salle. From all these accounts we learn that Plains culture in 1600 was very much like what could have been observed in 1800, if we ignore horses, guns, _and all other trade articles. Hence, we can safely say that the greater part of the culture traits de- scribed in the preceding pages originated in pre- Columbian times. Our next problem, then, is to de- termine which of these originated first. To assign relative ages to pre-Columbian advances in Plains culture we can proceed only by interpret- ing the facts at hand. A people living in tents and packing their belongings with a few dogs could scarcely be expected to leave behind them ruins or earthworks, but only traces of camp fires, heaps of bones, and here and there a stone tool. This is just what the archaeologists have been able to find in the area occupied by the typical tribes, named and lo- cated in our introductory chapter. Of stone ob- jects, there are arrow-heads, lance heads, knives, scraper blades, grooved hammers, and club heads, grooved rubbing stones for smoothing arrowshafts, : : THE CHRONOLOGY OF PLAINS CULTURE 157 pipes, ete. Bone objects are not so indestructible as the preceding, but when surviving consist of skin- dressing tools, awls and other perforators, wedges, pattern markers on skins, quill flatteners, knives, arrow points, whistles, beads, and other ornaments. Pottery is absent. Thus even a general enumera- tion of the objects found in archaeological collec- tions from the heart of the Plains indicates that the tribes of the buffalo country never rose above the cultural level of nomadic hunters. Though it is true that no ruins or earthworks are to be found out in the Plains there are some evi- dences of habitation. Camping places are marked by circles of stones used to hold down the edges of tipis, the lines of old buffalo and antelope drives are marked by boulders, and occasionally there are heaps of stones. But of far greater impressiveness are the great ‘‘diggings’’ from which came the stone for knives and arrow-heads. The most extensive of these is known as the ‘‘Spanish Diggings’’ in Con- verse County, Wyoming, but many others of about equal magnitude are found in that part of the State. Each of these covers many acres, one pit after an- other from which were dug blocks of quartzite and jasper, and around them heaps of broken blocks, chips, and rejected forms. Tons and tons of this worked-over material lie heaped about as evidence of the antiquity and reality of pre-Columbian Plains culture. Hence in this earlier period as well as in later historic time, the Plains were occupied by stone age hunters. 158 INDIANS OF THE PLAINS Unfortunately all of these interesting traces of the pre-Columbian Plains Indians have not been studied closely enough to tell us much about their age, but by comparing the facts of Plains culture with those of the surrounding parts of the continent and especially by studying the cultures of the border Plains tribes some conclusions as to the relative ages for a few culture traits have been formed. These are presented in the chronological table. The Horse Culture Period. The Indians of the Plains lived a free life until long after the Civil War. The European invasion of the New World brought him the horse, an animal far superior to his dog. Just when and how the horse came into his hands we do not know, but most of the typical tribes seem to have been mounted long before 1700. Both De Soto and Coronado brought many horses into the Plains, some of which escaped, starting wild herds, and the Spanish settlements in New Mexico gave the Indian ample opportunity to learn their use. Once the Indians of the extreme south came to use horses, their spread northward from tribe to tribe would not be long delayed. At least all the tribes west of the Missouri had horses when the French and English explorers first met them. It is worth noting that most of these tribes be- came horsemen before they saw Europeans, or were otherwise influenced by traders. Thus Plains horse culture, though introduced by Europeans, was self supporting. The Indian made his own saddles, ete., THE CHRONOLOGY OF PLAINS CULTURE 159 while his herds increased by natural laws. Had connection with the Old World been broken, it is safe to assume that horse culture would have flour- ished indefinitely. This is in contrast to the other European traits introduced to the Plains after 1700. The Indian never learned to make guns, powder, cloth, kettles, knives, ete.; hence, these never became a part of his culture in the same sense as the horse. For this reason we characterize the historic period in the development of the Plains Indians as the period of horse culture. During the long interval from 1540 to 1850, or thereabout, these horse-using Indians roamed the plains at will except as intertribal hostilities and occasional white intrusion prevented, but from 1850 to 1880 settlers began to crowd into the territory, occupy the lands, and exterminate the buffalo. Then followed a period of Indian wars, the establish- ment of reservations and the gradual subjection of all tribes to white control and close confinement to their reserved lands. By 1880 these methods had completely exterminated the buffalo and all but brought the typical culture of the Plains Indian to an end. Now he sends his children to school, sup- ports churches, cultivates the land, and acquires citizenship. The establishment of reservations for the Plains Indians began about 1855, but it was not until 1880 or later that all were settled and confined to definite tracts. The first Europeans to visit America 160 INDIANS OF THE PLAINS treated the Indians as independent nations and their chiefs as the equals of kings. The same attitude was taken by the United States under President Washington so that the chief of each little tribe was recognized as a ruler and treaties were made with him by all succeeding Presidents until the time of Grant, when, in 1871, Congress declared all Indians subjects of the United States. This was the first important step to the assimilation of the Indian, a process which has now progressed so far that all Plains Indians will soon be citizens and their reser- vations disappear. This not far distant event will -_ mark the close of the last period in the history of Plains culture. Yet the memory of this culture dur- ing the horse period will long remain as a source of inspiration for art and literature. No other cul- ture is so picturesque as this, and certainly none holds a higher place in modern art. CuHapter VIII. ORIGINS. HIS brief sketch of the anthropology of the Plains naturally raises a few quite funda- mental questions: How did these tribes come to be here? How long have they been here? What was the origin of their cultures? While final an- swers cannot be given for these, some progress to- ward their solution has been made. Taking the cul- tural classification as our point of view, we see that Plains Indians are not peculiar in stature or head form, yet seem to fall into a group distinct from other parts of the continent. These differences are, however, slight and give us no insight into the origins of the tribal groups. For example, the shorter western tribes ranging from 165 to 170 em. fall into a large group of low statures including most of the Californian, Plateau, North Pacific Coast, and Southeastern areas. ‘The Comanche, who speak a language of Shoshonean stock widely distributed over the Plateau area, are also relatively short. The greater part of the typical and Village tribes, however, range from 170 to 175 em., including the Yuma, Mohave, and Pima of the Southwest, the Iroquois and most Algonkin of the Woodland area. As to head form, the moderately long head of the Plains does not hold for the Osage and Wichita of 161 ea ~ ae meee 162 INDIANS OF THE PLAINS the south and the Nez Percé of the northwest, but extends over the Plateau area on the west and into the Woodland area of the east. Hence, in a general way, the tall, somewhat long-headed, typical tribes seem to have relatives to the east in the Woodlands through Indiana, Ohio, and New York. Possibly this represents the influence of some older parent group whose blood gradually worked its way across the continent through many languages and several varieties of culture. On the other hand, the shorter, less long-headed tribes were massed around the Plains in the Southwest, the Plateaus, and part of the Woodlands, almost engulfing the taller group. ~ Now, while it seems clear that migrations of blood are in evidence, there is, as yet, no satisfactory means of determining the point of origin and the direction of movement for these types. Turning from physical type to language, we have several large masses impinging upon the Plains and while it seems most likely that the parent speech for each stock arose somewhere outside the Plains, we are not yet clear as to the impossibility of their arising in the Plains and spreading to other cultures. It does not seem probable that all of them would arise within this small area, but, on the other hand, it is impossible to give satisfactory proof for any par- ticular tribe. Thus, language gives us but a pre- sumption in favor of migrations into the Plains of the Siouan, Caddoan, and Shoshonean speaking — tribes. It is true that many tribes have migration ORIGINS 163 legends some of which are consistent with a few de- tails of culture; but as these nearly always take the forms of other myths, they cannot be given much historical weight. The plain fact is that the moment we get beyond the period of exploration in the Plains, historical data fail us. We know where the tribes were when discovered and most of their movements since that date, but beyond that we must proceed by inference and the interpretation of an- thropological data. Not being able to discover how the various tribes came to be in the Plains, we can searcely expect to tell how long they have been there. The archaeo- logical method may be brought into play here; but as yet we lack sufficient data. Mounds and earth- works have been discovered in the Dakotas and southward along the Missouri, apparently the fringe of the great mound area in the Woodlands to the east, but in the open plains we have so far only evi- dence of states of culture similar to those we have just described, from which we infer that no other culture preceded this one. Yet for all we know, its origin may date back several thousand years. Cer- tain it is that in 1540 all the typical Plains traits of culture were in function, and since the wheels of primitive progress move slowly we can safely as- sume a remote origin. Anyway when we consider the culture of the Plains since 1540, it appears that so many of the traits enumerated in these pages are almost entirely 164 INDIANS OF THE PLAINS peculiar to the area that we are constrained to conclude that they developed within it. This is strengthened by the peculiar adaptation of many of these traits to the geographical conditions, sug- gesting that they were invented or discovered by a Plains people. It seems, therefore, that while the origin of the blood and languages of the Plains can- not be determined, its cultural problem is in a fair way to be solved. Among the most distinctive traits are the sun dance, a camp circle band system, the soldier societies, highly developed ritualistic bundles, a peculiar geometric decorative art, the use - of the horse and travois, the skin-covered tipi, the earth-lodge, and economic dependence upon the buf- falo. Some of these are absolutely confined to the area and though others are found elsewhere they occur as secondary rather than as primary traits. We may safely conclude, therefore, that the tribes of the Plains at least developed these traits to their present form, if they did not actually invent them. Miss Semple favors the theory that a Plains region is the most favorable environment for the diffusion of cultural traits. Whatever may be the fate of this hypothesis, it is clear that among the Indians of the Plains there has been sufficient diffusion to carry many traits over the greater part of the area. That diffusion rather than independent development or convergent evolution is the most satisfactory ex- planation of this case, may be seen from noting that the various tribes were acquainted with many of Ew ORIGINS 165 their neighbors, that in the sign language they had a ready means of intercommunication, and that since their discovery the actual diffusion of several traits has been observed by anthropologists. Perhaps the most interesting phase of Plains an- thropology is the general diffusion of traits among the many political and linguistic units found therein. BIBLIOGRAPHY. The following is not offered as a complete bibliog- raphy of the subject but as a list of books likely to meet the needs of the general reader. For a mere view of Indian life on the Plains, the books of Catlin, Grinnell, Maximilian, and McClintock are recom- mended. zi Annual Reports, Bureau of American Ethnology, 3d, 11th, 13th, 14th, 17th, 22d, 27th. Anthropological Papers, American Museum of Natural History, Vols. Lo, 4, ot, Gone, 13, 2G, 17, 21, and 25. Anthropological Series, Field Museum of Natural History, Vols. 4 and 9. Bulletin, American Museum of Natural History, Vol. 18. Catlin, George. Illustrations of the Manners, Customs, and Condi- tions of the North American Indians. London, 1848. Clark, W. P. The Indian Sign Language. Philadelphia, 1885. Dodge, Richard I. Our Wild Indians. Hartford, 1882. Farrand, Livingston. Basis of American History, 1500-1900. The American Nation: a History, Vol. 2. New York, 1904. Grinnell, George Bird. Blackfoot Lodge Tales. New York, 1904. Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk-Tales. New York, 1893. The Story of the Indian. New York, 1904. The Fighting Cheyennes. New York, 1915. The Cheyenne Indians, Their History and Ways of Life. 2 vols. New Haven, 1923. Handbook of American Indians. Washington, 1907, 1910. Henry and Thompson. New Light on the Early History of the Great Northwest. Edited by Elliott Coues. New York, 1897. Lewis and Clark. Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedi- tion. (Thwaites Edition.) New York, 1904. 167 168 INDIANS OF THE PLAINS ~ Lewis and Clark. History of the Expedition under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark to the Sources of the Missouri, across the Rocky Mountains, down the Columbia River to the Pacifie in 1804-6. Three volumes. New York, 1902. Mason, Otis T. The Origins of Inventions: A Study of Industry among Primitive Peoples. London, 1895, Maximilian, Prince of Wied. Travels in the Interior of North America. Translated by H. Evans Lloyd. London, 1843. McClintock, Walter. The Old North Trail. London, 1910. McLaughlin, James. My Friend the Indian. Boston and New York, 1900. Mooney, James. The Cheyenne Indians. (Memoirs, American An- thropological Association, Vol. 1, Part 6, pp. 357-642. Lancaster, Pa., 1907.) Paget, Amelia M. The People of the Plains. Toronto, 1909. Papers of the Peabody Museum, Harvard University. Vol. 3, No. 4. Perrot, Nicolas. The Indian Tribes of the Upper Mississippi Valley and Region of the Great Lakes. Translated, edited, annotated and with bibliography and index by Emma Helen Blair. Two volumes. Cleveland, 1911. Wilson, Gilbert L. Waheenee, an Indian Girl’s Story. St. Paul, Minnesota, 1921. Winship, George Parker. Editor. The Journey of Coronado, 1540- 1542, from the City of Mexico to the Grand Cafion of the Colorado and the Buffalo Plains of Texas, Kansas, and Nebraska, as told by himself and his followers. Translated and edited, with an introduction, by George Parker Winship. New York, 1904. Wissler, Clark. The American Indian. An Introduction to the An- thropology of the New World. New York, 1917, 1922. INDEX. Adolescence ceremonies, 95. Age-societies, 101; origin, 99, 103. Agriculture, implements used in, 83; tribes practising, 13, 18, 30-31. Algonkian language, 139, 140, 141. Altars, 121, 129. Amulets, 113; navel, 95. Animal tales, 108-109. Archaeology, Plains, 156-157, 163. Armor, 84-86. Arrows, poisoned, 86. Art, decorative and_ religious, 132-138. Athapascan language, 140, 141. Awls, 66. Axes, 82. Backrests, 57. Bags, rawhide, 67, 69-70; soft, 57, 71-75. Bands, 92; in camp circle, 94. Bark houses, 41, 42. Basketry, 57, 75. Beadwork, 133-134. Beaming tools, 65-66. Blankets, rabbitskin, 43, 57. Bodkins, 66, 67. Bowls, of wood, 79. Bows, types of, 25-27. Breechcloth, 43. Bridle, native type of, 36. Brush lodges, 42. Brushes, hair, 55. Buffalo, calf pipe, 116; cere- mony for ealling, 119; distri- bution of, 15, 18; hunting, 22- 25; importance in Plains eul- ture, 17-18, 31. Bull-boat, 32-33. Burial, methods of, 96. Caddoan language, 140. Calumet, 116. Camp circle, 93, 94. Campsites, 157. Canoes, use of, 32-33. Catlin, George, paintings of, 36. Ceremonial procedure, 129-131. Ceremonies, 106-131; ghost dance, 124-127; religious, 109; sun dance, 121-124; tribal, 119. Charms, received in visions, 112. Children, care and rearing of, 95. Chronology, of Plains eulture, 152-160. Clans, 92. Clubs, stone-headed, 27. Combs, 55. Confederacies, 97. Cooking, methods of, 76-78. Copper, prehistoric use of, 82. Costumed figure, of a Dakota woman, 48. Council, tribal, 96. Coup, counting of, 103. Cradles, 95. Cree dance, 128. Cruppers, 36. 169 170 Cultural characteristics, Plains, 17-18, 87-89, 99, 102-103, 157, 163-164. Culture, areas, 11, 12, 17; centers, 12; chronology of Plains, 152— 160; diffusion of, 127, 164; heroes, mythical, 107-108. Dances, Cree, 128-129; ghost, 124-127; grass, 128; green corn, 119; kissing, 128; Omaha, 128; scalp, 129; sun, 121-124; war, 129. Dancing, associations, at sun pole, 121. Death, 96. Decorations, on bags, 70, 71; on robes, 43. “Deluge myth, 106. Designs, on moccasins, 105, 132- 135; on woman’s robe, 136. Digging stick, 83. Dectors, 95-96. Dog, as pack animal, 18, 33; so- ciety, 99. Dress, 48-55; women’s, construe- tion and pattern, 50-52. Drilling, methods of, 82. 127-129 ; Ear ornaments, 55. Earth-lodges, construction, 40-43; distribution, 42. Earth-works, 157, 163. Environment, infiuenece on eul- ture, 88-89. Exogamy, 92-93, 94. Facial characteristics, 150. Feathers, significance of, in hair, 55, 105. Fire-making, 56. Fleshing tools, 64—65. Food, 21-22; cooking, 76-78. worn INDEX Forests, distribution of, 14. Four, ceremonial number, 130. Games, 86-87. Gentes, 92. Geometric art, 132-134, 137-138. Ghost dance, 86; ceremonies, 124— 127. Government, 96-97. Grass, dance, 128; lodge, 42-45. Green corn dance, 119. Hair, color and form, 148; manner of dressing, 52, 54-55. Hand game, 87. Headdress, sun dance, 122-123. Head form, Plains Indians, 150, 161-162. Headgear, 49. Head men, of a band, 96. Heraldry, 104, 105. Hierarchy, Dakota, 110. History, outline of Plains Indian, 153-154. Hoes, 83. Horse, culture period, 154, 158— 159; introduction of, 18, 22, 31, 154, 158-159. Hunting, buffalo, 18, 22-25; eus- toms, 21, 22, 25; implements used in, 25-27; individual, 25. Individual medicines, 111-1138. Industrial arts, 54-75. Inheritance, membership in a band, 92. Knives, 80-81; bone, 81-82. Kissing dance, 128-129. Kiowan language, 139, 140. Labor, division of, 56. Lance, 27. INDEX Language, 139-143, 162. Leggings, 46. Linguistic stock, and _ culture type, slight correspondence be- tween, 12; defined, 139. Lodges, types of, 40-43. Mad (or foolish) society, 99. Maize, ceremonies for growing of, 118; cultivation of, 21, 30. Marriages, 94-95; exogamic reg- ulation of, 92. Masks, ceremonial, 130. Material culture, 21-89. Mauls, stone, 27, 82. Medicine bundles, 113-119; trans- fer of, 116, 118. Medicine-pipe, 84, 114, 115, 116. Medicines, individual, 111-113. Migration legends, 109, 162-163. Mittens, 49. Moccasins, designs on, 105, 132- 135; types of, 44-46. Morningstar, sacrifice to the, 119. Mortars, rawhide, 29. Musical instruments, in monies, 131. Mythology, 106-109. cere- Names, manner of giving, 95. Navel cord, preservation of, 95. Needles, 66. Omaha dance, 127, 128. Okipa, 124; drums, 116. Origins, 161-165. Paint bags, distribution, 73-75. Painting, of the body, 55; for ceremonies, 131. Parfleche, 67-69. Pemmican, 27-29. 171 Personal adornment, 55. Peyote worship, 127. Physical type, 12, 144-151. Pictographie art, 138. Picture writing, 105. Pipe bags, 71-72. Pipes, 83-84; use in ceremonies, 131. Plains Indian Hall, plan of, 3. Plains tribes, political divisions of, 90-92; range of, 11, 13, 14, 15, 20; typical, 13, 19. Plateau tribes, 14, 19, 20. Police, camp, 97. Political divisions, Plains tribes, 90-91; organization, 96. Polygamy, 94. Population, Plains Indian, 144, 148. Pottery, 75, 76, 77, 88, 157. Pounders, stone-headed, 29. Pre-Columbian period, of Plains eulture, 154-158. Property, ownership of, 103. Quill embroidery, 132-133. Quirts, 36. Rack, for drying meat, 28. Rawhide, use of, 29, 36, 58-60, 67, 69-70. Realistic art, 135, 138-139. Regalia, grass dance, 128; used by societies, 101. Religion, 106-131. Religious concepts, 109-111. Reservation period, of Plains eul- ture, 153, 159-160. Riding gear, 35-36. Rituals, demonstration of, 130; for medicine bundles, 118. Robes, of skins, 43-44, 172 Saddle, bags, 75; blankets, 36. Saddles, types of, 36. Sand paintings, 129-130. Sealp, dance, 105; taking, 129. Serapers, skin-dressing, 62-63. Sewing, 66-67. Shahaptian language, 139, 140. Shamans, 111-112. Shields, buffalo hide, 84, 85. Shirts, distribution of use, 49; scalp, 46-47. Shoshonean language, 139, 140. Sign language, 142. Siouan language, 139, 140. Skin, color, 148; dressing, 57-66. Sled, use of, 35. Social, distinetion, 103-105; or- ganization, 90-105. ' Societies, 97-103; origins of, 99, 101; women’s, 102. Soldier bands, 97-102. Soldiers, or police, 18, 97. Soldier societies, 102. pongs, £12, 135 229; Spoons, types of, 79. Stature, 149, 161-162. Stirrups, types of, 36. Strike-a-light pouch, 73. Sun dance, 18, 120, . 121-124; bundle, 122; pole, 121. Sunwise movements, 94. INDEX Supernatural helper, 111-113. Sweathouse, 129. Symbolism, in art, 134-137; in ghost dance regalia, 125; in medicine bundles, 116. Taboos, 112. Tailoring, 66—67. Taimay image, 116. Textiles, 56—57. Thunderbird, in mythology, 109. Tipi, construction of, 37-38; distribution of use, 38, 40. Tobacco, ceremonies for planting, 119; cultivation of, 30-31, 84. Tools, primitive, 80-82. Torture, in seeking a supernatural helper, 112; in sun dance, 121 124. Transportation, 18, 31-37. Travois, types of, 33, 34, 35. b) Vegetable foods, 21, 31. Village tribes, 19, 20, 36, 70: Visions, 111. War, bundles, 113, 116; dance. 129; deeds, 103; record, 104. Weapons, 84-86. Weaving, 57. Women’s clothing, 49-52. Women’s societies, 102. wee » y i is. wy if if ’ ree weet i! pee ae a yee dj aleeiis het P| i \ Ne il - ' . . ~ ‘ » - ad 4 -” + ‘ fal « ’ ’ . ’ Ay € it i lay a E78 Wissler, Clark -W5W82 Indians of the Plains 1934 t SMe, curHRIE, Egg leey. a yeie ves ; 100074462