RACIAL GROUPS HOUGH. 625 



ture writing and the sign language had their highest development 

 among the tribes of the Great Plains. This feature of Indian life 

 which has always attracted general interest permitted communica- 

 tion of ideas among tribes speaking different languages. 



DWELLING GROUP OF THE SIOUX INDIANS. 



Northern Plains. 



The Sioux Indians belong to the great Siouan family. Before they 

 were disturbed by the whites their sustenance was derived from the 

 flesh of the buffalo, and most of their industrial arts were associated 

 witli the same animal. Their tents were made in conical shape from 

 the skins, and supported by poles. The draft from the fire in the 

 center of the tent was regulated by a long pole attached to a fly on 

 the top. They were not sedentary, but roving, moving the camp 

 from place to place, so great burdens were carried on the backs of 

 their women, but they had gotten so far as to use the dog for pack 

 and for traction by means of two poles called a travois. They also 

 moved their goods along the streams of water in a coracle of buffalo 

 hide, built over a crate of small poles. The village group here shown 

 represents the tents closed, opened, and in process of erection; the 

 men in ceremonial and hunting costume ; the women raising a tent, 

 skinning a deer, dragging tent poles, and dressing a buffalo hide ; the 

 dog hauling a travois, and meat hanging up to dry. (See pi. 21.) 



FAMILY GROUP OF THE SIOUX INDIANS. 



A glimpse of the somewhat barren home life of the Sioux is af- 

 forded in this group. The father, skilled with the bow and arrow, 

 returns with trophies of the chase. The wife, or wives, engage in the 

 arduous duties of the household in the open. While one woman re- 

 moves the hair from a buffalo hide stretched on a frame — the first 

 step in the tanning process — the other prepares the jerked beef for 

 future use by pounding it in a rawhide basin and mixing it with 

 berries gathered from the neighboring bluffs. The two girls are 

 interested in their beadwork and dolls. The small boy greets the 

 father returning from the hunt, and the tightly swathed babe, hung 

 up in his cradle frame, looks appreciatingly on. 



Their principal subsistence was the buffalo, whose annual northern 

 and southern migrations they followed. For this reason their habita- 

 tions were light and easily transported, and their culture was limited 

 in regard to the furnishings which commonly accumulate around 

 fixed habitations. They crossed rivers in boats made of buffalo hide 

 stretched over a framework of poles. At first they employed the dog 

 for transporting their belongings, and later the introduction of the 

 42803 °— 22 40 



