North American Indians of the plains / by Clark Wissler.

  • Clark Wissler
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: North American Indians of the plains / by Clark Wissler. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    54/160 page 46
    severe winters. We also have positive knowledge of their early use by the Blackfoot, Assiniboine, Crow, Dakota, Plains-Cree, Nez Perce, Northern Shoshone, Gros Ventre, and on the other hand of their absence among the Mandan, Hidatsa, Ankara, Pawnee, Osage, Kiowa, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Comanche. Thus, the common shirt was after all not typical of the Plains Indians: it is only recently that the special decorated form so characteristic of the Assiniboine, Crow, Black- foot, and Dakota has come into general use. Several interesting points may be noted in the detailed struc¬ ture of these shirts, but we must pass on. For the head there was no special covering. Yet in winter the Blackfoot, Plains-Cree, and perhaps others in the north, often wore fur caps. In the south and in the Plateaus, the eyes were sometimes protected by simple shades of rawhide. So, in general, both sexes in the Plains went bare-headed, though the robe was often pulled up forming a kind of temporary hood. Mittens and gloves seem to have been introduced by the whites, though they appear to have been native in other parts of the continent. The women of all tribes wore more clothing than the men. The most typical garment was the sleeveless dress, a one-piece garment, an excellent example of which is to be seen in the Audubon collection, Fig. 14. This type was used by the Hidatsa, Mandan, Crow, Dakota, Arapaho, Ute, Kiowa, Comanche, Sarsi, Gros Ventre, Assiniboine, and perhaps others. A slight variant is reported for the Nez Perce, Northern Sho-
    No text description is available for this image
    No text description is available for this image
    No text description is available for this image