INDIAISr COSTUMES KRIEGER 631 



served by charring in fire, by contact with copper, or through protec- 

 tion from the elements in caves. Our knowledge concerning the 

 costumes worn by the tribes living in the eastern portion of the 

 American continent is deficient because of the early abandonment of 

 tribal costumes and native adoption of white man's dress. Data 

 for several culture areas east of the Mississippi are therefore almost 

 altogether historical. 



Dress of the eastern Indiaiis. — In the case of the Virginia Indians, 

 the only source of information is the meager description left by 

 Smith and a number of drawings, now preserved in the British 

 Museum, made by the artist John White, of the Roanoke colony. 

 Aside from the simple buckskin garments, dressed skins of animals 

 and certain coarsely woven cloaks, sometimes tastefully embellished 

 with turkey feathers, were used in cold weather. 



In respect to their ceremonial life, industrial arts, political and 

 social organization, the Indian tribes of the southeastern United 

 States rank among the highest of the tribes north of Mexico. Weav- 

 ing of cloth, however, was limited. The warm climate of the Gulf 

 States and the infiuence of the example of Antillean and South 

 American tribes with whom a certain trade relationship was main- 

 tained may have retarded the development of the weaving of cloth. 

 The absence of any staple textile fiber also tended to make their 

 clothing inferior and scanty. 



The use of a buckskin shirt, overshirt, leggings, breechcloth, moc- 

 casins, belt, and turban is the characteristic dress of the Seminoles, 

 a typical Gulf State tribe of historic times. Formerly, the Gulf 

 tribes wore a robe, waist garment, and occasionally moccasins. In 

 the Museum collection a lay figure of a Seminole chief is shown dressed 

 in a chief's costume consisting of leggings of buckskin with shirt and 

 coat of many-colored calico. A girdle around the Vv^aist with long 

 fringes, moccasins of buckskin, and a helmet-shape cap with heron 

 plumes complete the attire. He carries a tomahawk of European 

 manufacture, an article which became very popular as an object of 

 trade in colonial times. 



The Florida Seminoles, now living in the Everglades, belong, with 

 the Creeks, Choctaws, and Chickasaws, to the Muskhogean family, 

 who formerly occupied the Southern States east of the Mississippi 

 River. The unremitting bloody conflicts with the white settlers 

 were brought to an end in 1838, when the Seminoles and their kin- 

 dred were forcibly removed to the Indian Territory; those that 

 remained fleeing to the Everglades. 



Costumes and objects of dress now in the National Museum from 

 the Eastern Indians may be placed in one small exhibit case. 

 The material is therefore entirely inadequate for purposes of 

 study. 



