626 ANNUAL. EEPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 192 8 



obtained by him simply by exchanging a few animal pelts. He was 

 thus enabled to avoid much labor formerly required in the preparing 

 of the skin robes before they might be used as an article of dress. 



The distribution in native America of forms of dress, woven cloth, 

 or of tailored skin garments, is but a poor criterion of the antiquity 

 of man in America. Magdelenian man of the . old stone age in 

 central Europe understood the use of skin robes, and undoubtedly 

 tailored his skin garments to fit his needs and the dictates of the 

 fashion of the day, but sj)inning and the weaving of cloth came into 

 existence together with the industries of the new stone age. The 

 presence, therefore, of both forms of dress in native America — that 

 of tailored garments of tanned skins, and of garments of cloth 

 woven from vegetable or animal fiber — is due primarily to several 

 prevailing environmental factors, such as the distribution of animals, 

 principally the bison, deer, and caribou, and of fiber plants, princi- 

 pally cotton. The practice in tropical America of fashioning gar- 

 ments from the beaten inner bark of plants is parallel to a similar 

 practice having a wide distribution throughout the tropical islands 

 of the Pacific Ocean. Climate is probably the most important 

 environmental influence to be considered in any discussion of the 

 forms and materials of Indian dress. The northern tribes generally, 

 and the Eskimo in particular, were the most completely clothed of 

 all native Americans. The particular style of Eskimo dress, how- 

 ever, has been subjected to culture influence coming from north- 

 eastern Asia, from tribes with whom the Eskimo has always main- 

 tained an active trade. 



Northern Indian tribes and the Eskimo cut out and fitted pieces 

 of prepared animal hides. Fur skins, principally those of the seal, 

 and bird feathers were the materials used by the Eskimo of Alaska. 

 These they fashioned in much the same manner as does a modern 

 tailor. The central Eskimo of northeastern Canada depended more 

 on the caribou, an animal related to the Asiatic reindeer recently 

 introduced into Alaska by the United States Bureau of Education, 

 while the northern Indians of Canada and Alaska tanned and 

 tailored the skin of the deer. The hide of the elk was generally 

 considered too thick for use as clothing, while the hide of the bison 

 was valued by the Indian tribes of the Plains more as a robe than 

 as material for working into tailored garments. Like the hide of 

 the elk, that of the bison was considered unsatisfactory as clothing 

 but was tanned and used at times for shirts, leggings, and moccasins. 



Sinew from the tendons of animals was used as sewing material, 

 while perforators or awls of bone took the place of needles. The 

 more completely clothed Eskimo also had a higher development of 

 needlecraft than did the northern and Plains Indians. The needle- 

 case of an Eskimo woman contained both needles and thimble of 



