ABORIGINAL SKIN -DRESSING. 677 



we see washing women wring clothes, and carried over to the tree 

 where the scraping process had been done. Here the tanner selected 

 a small limb about 5 or C feet from the ground and passed the head and 

 neck of the hide under and over it, and then carefully folded this latter 

 part lengthwise along the middle of the body surface of the hide, and 

 twisted the whole over and over again until he came to the fore legs. 

 It will be seen that the limb was firmly folded within a loop of the 

 hide, and by pulling heavily upon it I saw that there was no such 

 thing as its slipping. In a similar manner the skin of the fore legs was 

 folded lengthwise inside the hide; then the borders of the abdominal 

 incision were likewise folded in, and in turn the skin of the hind legs, 

 but this latter had, of course, to be thrown in, in the direction of the 

 tree, so as to include them. The borders of the hinder parts were 

 thrown over in such a way as to form a loop like the one around the 

 limb of the tree. During all of this operation the hide was being twisted 

 from left to right, and at its completion looked like a wet hide rope, 

 fast, as we have described, to the tree at one end and looped over a 

 stick about two feet long at its middle at the other. This latter was 

 used as a twister by the tanner, for now he proceeded to wriug the 

 hide thoroughly by twisting it over in one direction, causing the water 

 to be rapidly squeezed out of it. (PI. LXIII.) By continuance of this 

 twisting the skin was finally brought up close to the limb of the tree in 

 a hard coil, where by hooking the turning stick under the limb it was 

 held in that position and allowed to drip for nearly an hour. At the 

 end of the above-mentioned time the Indian unhooked the stick, un- 

 twisted the hide, and took it down. It had apparently shrunk two- 

 thirds of its size, and looked like a damp, semi-tauued dog-skin. The 

 tanner immediately set to work to pull it into shape as he walked in 

 the direction of his camp-fire. 



" Spreading out a small buffalo robe, he sat down on it (Plate LXIV) 

 and proceeded to pull the hide vigorously with his hands in every direc- 

 tion. Catching hold of the extreme edges, he tugged away at it until 

 it was nearly its original size. I noticed, however, that he only em- 

 ployed his hands in this part of the operation, and never once resorted 

 to his feet for assistance in the stretching. 



"After he was satisfied that the entire surface of the hide was opened 

 and exposed again, he carefully spread it out perfectly flat, with the 

 hair side up, upon the buffalo robe on which he had been sitting; then, 

 taking his basinful of dissolved deer brains, he commenced applying it 

 with his hand to the surface from which the hair had been removed. 

 It is never put on the opposite side of the skin. In doing this he fre- 

 quently rubbed the solution well in, using his open hand for the pur- 

 pose, and as he came to the head, cars, and legs he, worked the stuff in 

 with his fingers, and occasionally kneade.Lit with his knuckles, going- 

 over the entire skin on the side referred to until his basin of braius was 

 expended and the whole had been worked in as described. (Plate LXV. 

 H. Mis. 224, pt. 2 37 



