588 TRIBES OF THE UPPER MISSOURI [eth. ann. 46 



No. 6. — Winter Dress 



Buffalo robe 1 robe. 



Dressed cowskin cotillion 1 robe. 



Dressed cowskin leggings and shoes 1 robe. 



3robesat$3=$9. 00 

 No. 7. — Winter Dress — Crows 



Buffalo robe much garnished with porcupine quills 4 robes. 



Big Horn cotillion trimmed with scarlet and orna- 

 mented with porcupine quills 3 robes. 



Leggings of elk skin, fringed and worked with quills 2 robes. 



Wrist, ear, and neck ornaments, say 3 robes. 



12 robes at $3=$36. 00 



There are many other dresses worn, differing in cost according to 

 the ornaments or labor bestowed on them, and the foregoing are 

 varied with their fancy and means; some therefore would cost high 

 and others merely a trifle. Those of mounted warriors, for dances, 

 •soldiers, etc., are still more valuable owing to the war eagle feathers 

 and other decorations. It is difficult to determine the cost and dura- 

 bility of each costume. The cost has been stated, but every Indian 

 can dress only according to his means, which, if sufficient, will adorn 

 his clothing with ornaments to a great extent; but if limited, he 

 must be contented with such materials for covering as are yielded by 

 the skins of the animals that furnish him with food; consequently 

 every shade and variety of dress is visible among them. Some por- 

 tions of these dresses are only worn on occasions, while others are 

 retained all the time, and wear out the sooner. As an ordinary rule, 

 Indians, both male and female, renew their clothing of European 

 manufacture every spring, though the portions discarded are cut up 

 for leggings, breech flaps, hunting caps, gun wadding, etc. 



It may be said to last six months if worn while hunting, or a 

 year if only used at times, in traveling and while idle, as is com- 

 paratively the case in the summer season. A complete suit of skin 

 will last the whole year round, its actual cost being only the labor 

 of dressing, and as time in the summer is of no value to them it may 

 be said to cost in reality nothing if not ornamented. Blankets and 

 cloth are not damaged by wet but do not resist the cold. Skins 

 are impervious to cold and wind but are destroyed by being wet, 

 hence the necessity and advantage of wearing the one in summer and 

 the other in winter, independent of the filthy nature of skins when 

 long worn, and of the capability of woolens to be cleansed by wash- 

 ing. The dress of a mounted warrior (pi. 76), as in battle or in the 

 dance, would be as follows, the cost being estimated as before : 



