628 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1920. 



mats, robes, and other useful articles. Indeed, the process could 

 scarcely be called weaving, since the warp is not laid in by means of a 

 shuttle, but with the fingers, after the fashion of twined basketry. 

 (See pi. 29.) 



PLAINS INDIAN TRAVOIS. 



Before the coming of the horse, clogs were used to drag a vehicle 

 consisting of a cage on two poles and on which the various possessions 

 of migrating tribes were carried. These vehicles were called by the 

 French voyageurs of that period travaux, and the word became cor- 

 rupted to travois. They were very useful in transporting tents and 

 other baggage when moving camp, and with them tired children and 

 the women were insured of a ride. (See pi. 30.) 



KIOWA INDIAN CHILDREN AT PLAY. 



The Kiowa Indians formerly lived in Colorado and now are per- 

 manently located on the Washita River, Oklahoma. They retained 

 their native customs later than any other tribe of Plains Indians, 

 and the clothing and other articles used in this group were collected 

 before the general disappearance of the native arts, which took place 

 rather suddenly. 



This group illustrates an interesting feature of the child life of 

 the Plains tribes, the Kiowa being taken as representative. 



A play tent, games, and amusements, of which these children have 

 a variety, form the attractions. The girl and boy in the foreground 

 are bantering as to a play in the wheel and dart game. Boys in the 

 background are playing with whip tops. The girl and the little boy, 

 the latter dressed in imitation of his warrior father, are in the act of 

 surprising their sister, who is playing doll in the tent. The girl, lay- 

 ing aside her miniature papoose cradle, lifts the flap of the tent while 

 the boy, joining in the sport, emphasizes the surprise by a war whoop. 

 (See pi. 31.) 



DWELLING GROUP OF THE PAWNEE INDIANS. 



The Pawnee Indians formerly lived in Nebraska on the Platte 

 River. They belong to the same family as the Arikarees in North 

 Dakota and the Caddoes in Louisiana and eastern Texas. Although 

 their home was in the country of the skin-tent dwellers, they pre- 

 served with great pains the ancient and northern type of underground 

 abode. The frames consist of logs set on end ; these are covered with 

 smaller timber and brush, and then with earth and sod. From this 

 structure a passageway several feet in length leads outward. This 

 type of dwelling is also interesting in that it is suggestive of the 

 possible origin of many smaller mounds in different parts of the 

 Mississippi Valley. (See pi. 32.) 



