4G8 THE SIOUX OR DAKOTA INDIANS. 



were gathered together so as to form a kind of village. The frame- 

 work of the tent is made by putting up twenty or thirty lodge-poles, the 

 upper ends crossing each other and the lower ends resting on the ground 

 in a circular form. These poles are then covered with canvas or buffalo- 

 skins from which the hair has been scraped off. A hole is left in the 

 top where the poles join together, that serves as a chimney and allows 

 the smoke to pass out, the fire being built in the center of the lodge. 



Around this fire there are several compartments for the different 

 members of the family, in which there are good beds of buffalo robes 

 and blankets. The whole affair is very snug indeed, and is as warm 

 and comfortable in winter as need be. A large flap serves as a door, 

 and when this is pulled down over the doorway or opening, all is cosy 

 within. Here the women do their cooking, and the Indians eat when- 

 ever they take a fancy, they having no particular hour for eating break- 

 fast, dinner, or supper. In their wild state buffalo and deer meat are 

 the. principal articles of diet, but at the agencies they eat beef, corn, and 

 flour, and are remarkably fond of tobacco, coffee, and sugar. Some of 

 the squaws are good coffee-makers, and all of them know how to roast 

 meat to suit themselves. 



Until recently the Sioux roamed over the buffalo grounds, find in sum- 

 mer laid in a plentiful supply of meat for winter consumption,- besides 

 robes enough for trade and bedding for themselves and families. These 

 robes are sometimes painted with considerable skill, showing pictures 

 of the sun, or of the warlike achievements of individuals. The robes 

 are divided into two kinds, the first known as split robes, which have 

 been cut open along the back of the animal when it was skinned, and 

 then sewed together, and the others are called whole robes, as they 

 have been taken off entire and then dressed. On the dressed side of 

 these robes the pictures are painted, which resemble very much the 

 efforts which a school-boy makes with his slate and pencil. Horses aud 

 warriors in full war-gear furnish the great majority of subjects, and the 

 boastiug Dakota is able by these pictures to impress upon his people more 

 forcibly than he could otherwise do it the esceediug^ourage of his exploits, 

 and the number of women and children he has butchered in cold blood. 

 There is no boaster aud braggart on earth equal to a young Sioux war- 

 rior, aud in his opinion no human being ever created can in any way 

 compare with him. Even in the hottest weather he will strut about 

 with his buffalo robe wrapped around him, the hair being inside and 

 the painting outside, in order that less favored individuals may properly 

 admire his great beauty and gain a knowledge of his wonderful 

 prowess. Heat he does not feel, if he can properly impress spectators, 

 and he walks or rather shuffles along the most self-satisfied of human 

 beings. 



The Sioux are armed with bows and arrows, knives, pistols, and the 

 most improved kind of breech-loading rifles and carbines. It ap- 

 pears that they use the bows and arrows on ordinary occasions, but, 



