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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    natural shape of the tanned skin fit into the desired garment, with as little waste as possible. We do not know how skins were cut before the introduction of metal knives by white traders. 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 theni into a thread by rolling 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 ordinary woman’s sewing outfit was carried in a soft bag of buffalo skin and consisted of bodkins, a piece of sinew, and a knife. Bodkins were sometimes 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, etc., in other cultures.
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