644 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 2 8 



inferior in this respect to tlie more sedentary village or Pueblo In- 

 dians. They have been called nomads, as they settled where they 

 chose regardless of the claims of the several Pueblo groups already 

 occupying the area. They belong to four linguistic stocks, the Atha- 

 pascan, Piman, Yuman, and Shoshonean. The Plains east of the 

 pueblo area were traversed by many groups of hunters in search of 

 the bison, also by the Kiowa and Comanche Indians, who raided 

 the less aggressive settlements of the pueblo area and of Mexico. 



West of the pueblo area is the barrier of the Colorado and the 

 desert which effectively separated the Pueblos from the Californian 

 tribes and from any influence that might reach them from the 

 Pacific coast. The Pueblos were also separated from the highly 

 cultured native tribes of the valley of Mexico by the desert and 

 hostile tribes of Sonora. Therefore, the only communication with 

 other tribes was by way of the Great Plains. This almost complete 

 isolation served to emphasize the peculiar development of habits of 

 dress peculiar to the Southwest, but with a certain leaning toward the 

 dress of the Plains tribes on the east and that of the Pima on the 

 south. 



The dress of the Pueblo Indians has remained practically^ as it 

 was in Coronado's time in the sixteenth century until recently, when 

 the influences of modern transportation such as railroads and auto- 

 mobiles have brought about a change. Factory made cotton prints 

 have almost entirely replaced the products of the native weaver. 



Villages occupied by the Pueblo Indians are divided into two 

 general groups, the Rio Grande Pueblos of New Mexico on the east, 

 and the Hopi and Zufii on the west. There are minor differences 

 within the Rio Grande area, but these need not be considered here. 

 The eastern or Rio Grande group of Pueblo Indians have within 

 historic times dressed pretty much as do the tribes of the southern 

 Plains. Men dressed in garments of tanned skins which were painted 

 with decorative designs similar to the painted war shirt collected by 

 Doctor Fewkes from San Domingo, one of the Rio Grande Pueblos. 

 At present the woman's dress of the Rio Grande Pueblos of Taos 

 and Pecos is the long skin dress of the Plains type. Long leggings 

 of fringed buckskin and a breechcloth of colored flannel are worn 

 by the men. 



The more westerly Pueblos, those of the Hopi in Arizona, and the 

 Zuiii, were dressed, according to early accounts, in aprons or kilts 

 of woven cotton. These kilts had tassels at each corner and re- 

 sembled the kilts still used on certain ceremonial occasions. The 

 essential garment of the Pueblo man at present is the breechcloth 

 of woven cotton, which falls below the belt before and behind. In 

 general, the clothing for the Pueblo men consists of a blanket or 

 robe of rabbit skin or feathers, a shirt with sleeves, short breeches 



