630 ANNUAL EEPOET SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 192 8 



in profusion for the adornment of their most precious basketry. 

 From Mexico southward throughout the Tropics, where gorgeous 

 phnnage was in abundance, the Indians made use of feathers for 

 decorating their persons, and ancient Mexican sculptures show that 

 in prehistoric times fcatherwork of the most elaborate kind was in 

 use. Many specimens of garments in which the patterns were 

 worked out in brilliant feathers are recovered from the ancient 

 tombs of Peru. In the collection shown in the National Museum 

 feather work is illustrated by the striking war bonnets of the Plains 

 Indians, and by headdresses, plumes, body ornaments, and textiles 

 of various South American tribes. That most of the native tribes 

 appreciated brilliant colors and harmonious effects and were skillful 

 in utilizing the aesthetic resources of the plumage of birds, arc 

 amply apparent from these exhibits. 



Native culture and Indian reservations. — The student of Indian 

 dress likes to consider the Indian as occupying a distinct geograph- 

 ical environment with its corresponding culture area. Actualh^, the 

 day is past when such a study may be undertaken in situ. The 

 process of relocating entire Indian tribes upon lands set aside for 

 their use by the Government began as early as 1786. Kemoval of the 

 Indian from the lands traditionally his hunting preserA'es, was based 

 in part on peacefully executed treaties and in part on removal by 

 force. The establishment of Indian reservations has in the history 

 of our country amounted to a temporary reserving of specified lands 

 from settlement and the holding of such lands in trust for the Indian 

 occupant. As the Indian is now a citizen of the United States and 

 is allotted an individual holding of land, it is but a question of time 

 when the policy introduced by Carl Schurz, Secretary of the Interior 

 under President Haj^es, of weaning the Indian from his native cul- 

 ture and of absorbing him into the body of American citizenry will 

 be entirely accomplished. The Reservation will then have become a 

 closed chapter in the history of the Indian, and acculturation to 

 American modes of dress a completed process. 



Infuence of the trader. — The first permanent English colony in 

 changed for corn and other Indian products such as tobacco. From 

 extinction by the energy and resourcefulness of Capt. John Smith 

 who engaged in trading with villages of the Powhatan confederacy 

 on the James River. Articles of European manufacture were ex- 

 changed for corn and other Indian products such as tobacco. From 

 that time on and continuing up to present times, the advent of the 

 trader and missionary has profoundly influenced native culture. 

 Native costume became modified over a vast area of America by 

 the copying of European dress and the use of traders' wares. Knowl- 

 edge of prehistoric and early historic primitive textiles has been 

 derived from impressions of fabrics themselves that have been pre- 



