Howard] THE PONCA TRIBE 61 



DRESS AND ADORNMENT 



In the early 19th century the Ponca man's clothing consisted of 

 moccasins, leggings, breechcloth, and belt in the summer season. In 

 winter a buckskin shirt, a fur cap, a robe or blanket, and perhaps a 

 pair of mittens were added. A woman wore high-topped moccasins, 

 knee-length leggings, a deer or elkskin dress, and a wide belt. Both 

 sexes wore a buffalo robe or blanket as a kind of "overcoat" in winter 

 and as an item of fancy dress at other times of the year. Children's 

 clothing was cut on the same pattern as that of the adults. 



For special occasions, such as feasts and ceremonies, special clothing 

 was worn. Men wore otterskin bandoliers and porcupine and deer- 

 hair roach headdresses, as weU as other headdresses of fur. In the 

 latter half of the 19th century breastplates of bone ''hair pipes" were 

 worn by both sexes, the pipes arranged horizontally in the man's 

 ornament and vertically in the woman's. Women sometimes wore 

 long beaded or quilled pendants hanging from their hair in back. 



An early type of Ponca woman's dress, reflecting the Woodland 

 affiliations of the tribe, is mentioned by Skinner (1915 c, p. 784), who 

 writes: 



... At one time the two-piece, open skirt, woman's garment of Central Algonkin 

 type was used, together with soft-soled moccasins. For many years these have 

 been worn only by women who have been tattooed [i.e., women whose fathers or 

 husbands had been admitted to the aristocratic Night-dance society, and who 

 had been tattooed with its markings]. The ordinary females use the typical one- 

 piece Plains garment. 



The early "Woodland" type Ponca woman's costume was probably 

 identical with that still worn as dance costume by conservative Mesk- 

 waki, Potawatomi, and Winnebago women. So far as I know, we 

 have no good patterns or illustrations of the later "one-piece Plains 

 garment" mentioned by Skinner, though it presumably resembled 

 the Teton Dakota woman's dress. 



An early account of Ponca male attire is given by Maximilian 

 (1906, vol. 17, p. 98), who records his impressions of a chief's costume. 

 "Schudegacheh's dress was remarkably handsome. His shirt was of 

 beautiful otterskin, with a red cloth collar. He wore a cap of otter- 

 skin, and a tobacco pouch of the same material. This dress was ex- 

 tremely becoming to this fine man." A very different impression of 

 Ponca dress and appearance is given by the explorer Brackenridge 

 (1904, pp. 93-94): "The greater part of the men were naked; the 

 women were filthy and disgusting." 



