58 USES OF PLANTS BY INDIANS [eth. ann.33 



currents of air. And the winds tlieniselves were the paths of the 

 Hiphcr Powers, so they were constantly reminded of the mystic 

 cliuriictcT of this tree. 



The Sacred Pole, an object of the greatest veneration to the 

 Omaha Nation, was made of cottonwood. 



These three trees will serve as examples of plants to which mys- 

 tcrj' is ascribed and which had symbolism in the rituals of religion. 

 In the chapter on the aboriginal uses of plants, where the plants are 

 listed according to taxonomic order, several others will be found. 



It will be foimd that the sense of beauty and the pleasure-giving 

 arts will, with every people, find outlet and expression by means of 

 the natural products of their own region. Much of the enjoyment 

 of art arises from association. Tiie tribes of Nebraska found within 

 their range many plants yielding pigments to gratify the love of 

 color; they also found many plants whose leaves or seeds yield 

 fragrance. All of these scents are clean and wholesome and redolent 

 of the pure outdoors and freshness of breezes from nature's garden 

 and the farthest removed from any suggestion of hothouse culture 

 and of the moiling of crowds. By a whitf of any of these odors one 

 is mentally carried, by the power of association and suggestion, to 

 the wide, quiet spaces, where the mind may recover from throng- 

 sickness and distraction of the multitude and regain power and 

 poise. 



Native plants of the region also furnished the materials for per- 

 sonal adornment, although it is noteworthy that it has not been found 

 that flowers were used for this purpose by any of the tribes of the 

 plains. It was often remarked that the people admired the wild 

 flowers in their natural state, but they never plucked them. How- 

 ever, beads and pendants were made from many seeds. 



INFLUENCE OF HUMAN POPULATION ON FLOKA 



It would be most interesting if we could determine with any degree 

 of accuracy the efficient factors in the redistribution of vegetation 

 over the ice-devastated region after the glacial retreat. We should 

 like to know the distance, velocity, and direction, and the active 

 agents, eolian, hydrographic, fauiuil, and anthropic, of the various 

 currents in the resurgence of floral life over the region formerly ice 

 covered. 



^^'e see the results of human agency as a factor in plant migration 

 very clearly in the introduction into this State of a number of plants 

 since the advent of Europeans. Some species introduced here are 

 indigenous on the Atlantic seaboard, some have been brought from 

 Europe and naturalized in the Eastern States, and thence brought 



