INDIAN COSTUMES KRIEGER 653 



Feather head dresses, basketry, rabbit-skin robes, and various cere- 

 monial objects are illustrative of the stage which had been reached in 

 their arts and industries. In general, the culture of these tribes was 

 low and the lack of color as contrasted with the Plains tribes notice- 

 able. 



In the plateau area, the common form of robe.s for winter use were 

 of antelope, elk, and mountain-sheep pelts, while in summer tanned 

 skins without the hair were worn. The piecing together of skins of 

 the smaller animals was resorted to, also the weaving of a blanket 

 from strips of rabbit skin was practiced. The use of this latter form 

 of robe extended from Canada to the Southwest but was not taken 

 up by the central Plains tribes. The buffalo robe of the Plains 

 tribes was fashioned from the entire skin including the tail, and 

 the robe was so worn as to bring the tail section on the right hand 

 side. 



The plateau area is generall}^ understood as including the upland 

 portions of Utah, Nevada, and the States on the north, including 

 British Columbia. This region was more or less arid and inhos- 

 pitable, and therefore was never the home of a large population. 

 Wild grasses, seeds, roots, and fish played an important role in native 

 culture. The weaving of baskets reached a high state of development 

 and the weaving of textiles from bark fibers was practiced to some 

 extent. Many of the tribes of this area borrowed much from the 

 nomadic Plains tribes, and the Nez Perce, Bannock, and others are 

 garbed very much like their neighbors of the Plains ; while the tribes 

 of the middle and upper Columbia and of the interior of British 

 Columbia accepted many of the culture traits of the coast Salish. 



The Nez Perce Indians belong to the Shahaptian stock, living 

 on the middle portions of the Snake River Valley in the States of 

 Washington and Idaho; they dress in buckskin shirts and robes of 

 buffalo hide. So far as leggings, moccasins, shirt dress for women, 

 and other accessories of wearing apparel are concerned, their dress 

 is very much like that of the northern Plains tribes neighboring 

 on their right. There is one peculiarity of dress pertaining to the 

 decorative designs on their war shirt. Somewhat like the saddlebag 

 of the Apache, the war shirt of the Nez Perce is pierced with in- 

 numerable small circular holes, which are never more than a third 

 of an inch in diameter, but cover the entire shirt. The smoked, 

 salmon-colored, tanned deerskin with this unique ornamental motive 

 worked out in symmetrical fashion is beautiful indeed. (Cat. No. 

 22851, U. S. N. M.) 



A warrior's costume from the Piegan Indians of Montana, collected 

 by R. H. Pratt (Cat. No. 153589, U. S. N. M.), carries out the same 

 decorative motive as in the Nez Perce shirt, but in the form of 

 dots painted black, a form of ornamentation which gives the same 



