12 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOOY [bull. 48 



although a piece of metal is now used in the wooden handle, it is highly probable that 

 stone or bone was formerly employed for the same purpose. 



The hair having been removed, the skin is placed in a mortar, or in a hole cut in a 

 log (see pi. 11, b) which serves the purpose. Eggs and cornmeal mixed with a little 

 water are then pom'ed over the skin, which is thoroughly beaten with a long wooden 

 pestle. 



The skin is then taken from the mortar and wrung rather dry; a number of small 

 holes are cut around the edge and through these cords are passed, which serve to hold 

 the skin stretched between two upright posts, as shown in plate 12, a. While in this 

 position it is scraped and all particles of flesh are removed. The instrument now 

 employed consists of a piece of metal attached to a long wooden handle. A large bone 

 probably served as the primitive implement. 



The skin remains stretched until dry, when it is, of course, rather stiff. To soften 

 it, the skin is pulled back and forth over the top of a stake driven into the ground, 

 which has been made smooth and round to prevent tearing the skin (see pi. 12, a, on 

 the right) . 



This process of tanning renders the skin soft and white. The Choctaw claim that it 

 is a very ancient method of preparing skins. Eggs of various kinds, they say, are used 

 with equally good results. The method described, including the use of corn and eggs, 

 may have been followed by all the Southern tribes. 



Lawson,a in writing of the Indians of Carolina more than two centuries ago, 

 referred to their use of "young Indian corn, beaten to a pulp," in the place of the 

 brains of animals, in preparing skins. "Young indian corn" would probably have 

 about the same effect as the mixture of eggs and cornmeal. 



If the skins are to be smoked, a process that renders them more durable, a hole a 

 foot or more in depth is dug in which a fire is kept until a bed of hot ashes accumulates. 

 On this are put pieces of rotten oak, no other wood being used for this purpose; these 

 are not permitted to blaze, as the more smoke that arises the better it is for the skins. 

 These, already tanned soft and white and perfectly dry, are stretched over the hole 

 and allowed to remain in the smoke an hour or more. 



(b) Skins to be tanned soft, with the hair remaining. If the skin is dry and stiff 

 it is first softened with clear water, after which it is spread over a beam and scraped 

 on the inner surface to remove all flesh. The inside is then thoroughly rubbed with 

 a mixture of eggs, cornmeal, and water, great care being taken not to wet the outside, 

 or fur. When the skin is about dry, it is pulled and worked back and forth over the 

 top of a stake, as already explained, after which it remains soft. 



POTTERY 



. Pipes (asJiu'^'lcwa) are still made and used by the Choctaw. Two 

 specimens fashioned by Ahojeobe (Emil John), plate 13, are shown in 

 plate 14. These are made of a white clay that outcrops in certain 

 places beneath the superstratum of yellow clay and sand along the 

 banks of the bayous. There is no tempering of sand or pulverized 

 shell, only the clay being used. 



The clay is moistened and kneaded until the mass is uniformly 

 damp throughout. The pipe is then modeled and allowed to dry. 

 The incised decoration is added before the pipe is burned in a bed 

 of hot ashes and glowing coals. Wlien thoroughly burned it turns 

 rather dark in color, whereupon it is removed from the fire and 

 immediately immersed in a bowl of grease, which is absorbed by the 



a The History of Carolina, London, 1714; reprint, 339, Raleigh, 1860. 



