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THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



skin but in the newer ones the curves are 

 rounded off. 



Then if we pass out to the Woodland 

 hall to the Indians of the East we find a 

 peculiar cloth skirt, technically known as 

 the Algonkin slit skirt. These Indians 

 have been in contact with civilization so 

 long that cloth garments alone are found 

 in our collections but this slit skirt has 

 two peculiar trailing pieces at the side. 

 Now, if one took a deerskin and \\Tapped 

 it around the waist, the head and neck 

 ends would be brought together on the 



side and one hind and one fore leg would 

 trail. Though we cannot be absolutely 

 sure, this seems the most likely origin of 

 this pattern. 



We may then formulate a principle 

 that the present styles of shirt and skirt 

 among the Plains, and possibly among 

 the Woodland tribes also, grew naturally 

 out of the form of the material used, and 

 were not creations of the imagination. 



We may go farther afield to the South 

 American hall where we find the shirts, 

 or ponchos, of a prehistoric people. 



To make a inau's shirt of Ihc jioncho type two skins are cut, as in the one above (at the left). The two hind 

 portions with tail attaclied, form the body of the shirt, and each sleeve is made by folding the upper portion of one 

 of the skins as indicated by the dotted line 



In the Plains area, two skins are put together to make a woman's shirt, but the tail is at the top and the skins 

 are not cut (see lower figure at the left). The tail end of the skin may be folded over giving lines for decoration 

 as seen in the drawing of the finished garment 



