536 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 30 



extant from Indian tribes of the eastern portions of the United 

 States. In the case of the Virginia Indians, the only source of in- 

 formation is the meager description left by Capt. John Smith and 

 a number of drawings, now preserved in the British Museum, made 

 by the artist John White. There is likewise a scarcity of data re- 

 garding design motives of all of the eastern Indian tribes. Costumes 

 and objects of dress now in the National Museum from Indian tribes 

 formerly occupying the region east of the Mississippi River fill 



Simple buckskin garments, coarsely woven cloaks embellished 

 but one small exhibit case. 



with turkey feathers and used only in colder weather, moccasins, 

 and, in the case of the Gulf State tribes, leggings, fringed girdles, and 

 feather-plumed turbans were characteristic objects of dress. Weav- 

 ing of bast fiber of basswood and of the mulberry, also of yarn 

 fashioned from buffalo hair is said to have been practiced in the 

 Lower ISIississippi Valley, where basketry still remains as a live 

 weaving technic. Chitimacha basket weavers of Louisiana use spilt 

 cane splints in natural straw and in dyed black and red colors. 

 Mantles of turkey feathers were plaited in the Southeastern States, 

 but were apparently devoid of any attempt at decorative design. 

 Fringed buckskin garments, simple beaded designs on moccasins 

 and belts, and farther north woven belts and sashes made on an 

 upright frame, embroidered bags and pouches decorated with bead- 

 work in floral designs, and also body painting and tattooing are 

 forms of decorative art inferior to styles and types of ceramics from 

 the same area. Subareas of ceramic art are numerous east of the 

 Mississippi. 



The dimhle-cuwe motive. — Beads and quills are employed in 

 eastern Algonkian designs but in a different manner from that of 

 Plains tribes, resulting in a distinct type of design. Instead of rec- 

 tangular textile embroidery or angular painted figures, the lines are 

 curved and plantlike figures result. This design pattern, known as 

 the double-curve motive, is really a double incomplete spiral. Re- 

 sembling leaves, plants, and vines, the design is executed on birch 

 bark or painted on skins. Painted coat borders of the Naskapi 

 Indians of Labrador are a good example of this art, although the 

 Montagnais, Micmac, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot reached the 

 same results through quill or moose hair embroideries, bark etching, 

 and beadwork, while farther westward the same double-curve pat- 

 tern has been adopted by the Cree, the Chippewa, Huron, Sauk and 

 Fox, Menominee, Winnebago, and certain of the Plains tribes as the 

 Blackfeet. The Iroquois and Delaware Indians, like the western 

 tribes just mentioned, used beads and porcupine quills with which to 

 embroider similar curvilinear designs. 



