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.

    60/160 page 52
    Textiles and Skins. While in a general way, it is true that the Plains Indians used skins instead of cloth and basketry, it cannot be said that they were entirely unfamiliar with the latter. Of true cloth, we have no trace. Blankets woven with strips of rabbit fur have been noted (p. 41) and on certain Osage war bundles, we find covers 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 Shoshone and Ute were rather skillful, making and using many varieties of baskets. The Nez Perce made a fine soft bag like their western neighbors. The Hidatsa, Man- dan, and Arikara made a peculiar carrying basket 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 unknown, except the simple willow backrests used by the Blackfoot, Mandan, Cheyenne, Gros Ventre, and others. These are, after all, but citations of exceptions most pronounced among the marginal tribes, the fact being that the area as a whole is singu¬ larly weak in the textile arts. Since skins everywhere took the place of cloth, the dressing of pelts was an important industry. It was
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