DENIG] 



THE ASSINIBOIN 



541 



that the grease may penetrate; then taken down and smeared over 

 with the brains or livers of some animals boiled in water, being 

 soaked thoroughly and left all night in this state. In the morning it 

 is again stretched on the frame, the liver scraped off, clean water 

 thrown on and scraped off until the hide becomes white. A fire is 

 then made near and the skin slowly heated and rubbed with pum- 

 mice stone or porous bone until it is about half dry, then taken out 

 of the frame and drawn backward and forward round a strong cord 

 of sinew which is tied at each end to the lodge pole. Every few min- 

 utes the skin is held a short time to the fire, then rubbed, and this 

 operation continued until it becomes perfectly dry and soft. This is 

 also hard work. A good hand will rub two whole skins or four 

 halves in a day. The skin is now dressed. The holes made foi- 

 st retching it around the edges are cut off and it is sewed up along 

 the back with an awl and 

 sinew, which takes about 

 half an hour to each two 

 halves of the buffalo. 



The robe is now fit for 

 sale and is packed away. 

 Deer and elk skins undergo 

 the same operations, and in 

 addition the ^air is scraped 

 off with the same tool that 

 the hide is shaved with, 

 though they are skinned 

 whole and not in halves 

 like the buffalo hides. It 

 will thus be seen that at least three days are required to prepare 

 one buffalo robe for market, but by their division of time in attend- 

 ing to several skins in different stages of advancement the labor 

 would be about equal to two days for each buffalo skin. Twenty- 

 five to thirty-five robes is considered an excellent winter's work for 

 one woman. The average is about 18 to 20 each. Wolf, bear, fox, 

 rabbit, beaver, hare, ermine, lynx, otter, rat, mink, etc., are not 

 dressed for market, and all these are skinned, stretched and dried 

 by the. men and boys. A wolf or fox skin is now and then dressed for 

 the use of a woman or hunter to wear round his head, and undergoes 

 the preceding operations, though the skin being small and light 

 not much labor is required. Robes and skins are packed up in small 

 bundles, the hair side out, each bundle weighing 30 or 35 pounds, 

 and when a sufficient number are collected for supplies, one of these 

 bundles is tied on each dog travaille and they go to the trading house 

 to dispose of them. 



Figire 34. — Tool for scraping hides or shaving 

 the skin 



