INDIAN COSTUMES KEIEGER 643 



wrapped around the stem with cord and the split feathers are fas- 

 tened to a continuous cord. These are coiled round and round to 

 make a dense bundle. The whole is mounted on a long skewer or 

 harpoon of wood. Associated with the headdress is a headband of 

 down formed on a cord of cedar bark in the same way that Christmas 

 wreaths are made up, and also a network headband made from the 

 native hemp. The network is first wrapped round the head, then 

 covered with a wreath of down. The stall of the feather headdress 

 is forced between the head and these bands and so held in place. 



A feather blanket from the Maidu Indians of central California 

 was collected by Charles Wilkes and is now in the Museum collec- 

 tions. (Cat. No. 2119, U. S. N. M.) This blanket is made from 

 the white, gray barred, and iridescent dark brown feathers of water- 

 fowl applied closely to fiber cord by wrapping around the quill ends 

 of the feathers. This cord is run continuously back and forth and 

 twined with bark cord forming the warp. The corner cords are 

 plaited like the lariats of the northern region. The middle portion 

 of the blanket is of gray barred feathers bordered with white. The 

 outer border is a wide band of dark-brown glossy iridescent feathers. 

 The robe is feathered equally on both sides. Dimensions: Width, 

 45 inches; length, 63 inches. (PI. 12, B.) 



A Seri bird-skin blanket collected by W J McGee from the Sen 

 Indians of Tiburon Island, Sonora, Mexico, is made from the skins 

 of fully matured California brown pelicans. The entire breast and 

 portions of the vv^ing feathers are used from each bird. As many as 

 10 skins enter into a complete blanket or robe. The skins are sewn 

 together with sinew. (Cat. No. 174555, U. S. N. M.) 



These blankets are complete dresses for both men and women, 

 and are worn about the middle as short skirts secured about the waist 

 by suitable girdles, or thrown about the shoulders as mantles. They 

 are used also as mats or beds. They take the place of the blankets 

 or dressed-skin robes of more northerly Indians. 



The whole Pacific coast west of the coastal mountain ranges was 

 occupied by barefooted, scantily clothed peoples. Among these 

 tribes, from the Tlingit in Alaska to the Seri in Lower California, 

 coat and trousers were not worn, the robe of woven hair or of feathers 

 or rabbit skins serving instead. 



Dress of the Puehlo Iiulians. — The tribes of the pueblo region 

 belong to the Athapascan, Shoshonean, Zuiiian, Keresan, and Tanoan 

 linguistic families. These various stocks embrace not only tribes 

 living in pueblos, but others like the Navaho and the Apache who 

 do not live in pueblos but have their homes in the valleys and on the 

 plateaus of northern Arizona and New Mexico. These latter In- 

 dians were chiefly hunters and therefore did not live in settled com- 

 munities. They practiced agriculture to a limited extent but were 



