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.

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    Skins with the hair on, are treated in the same manner as above, except that the adze-tool is not applied 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 some¬ times 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 group for Plateau culture (south side of the Woodland Hall). The exact distribution of this trait is not. known but it has been credited to the Santee-Dakota, Hidatsa, and Mandan. The Blackfoot 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 Plateau area were especially skillful in coloring the finished skin by smok¬ ing. There were many slight variations in all the above processes. The adze-like scraper was in general use throughout 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. Information 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 cannot be fastened to the handle in the same manner as the iron blades, the latter being placed
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