118 



THE PIMA INDIANS 



(ETH. ANN. 20 



and it is probable that Gilefid women did little more than enough 

 skin dressing to keep the art alive among them. At present there are 



very few who know anything about 

 it. and this is the method which 

 they say "long ago make it." 



A skin was soaked in water for 

 two or three days to soften it ; then 

 it was laid on an inclined log and 

 the hair scraped ofl' with a deer's 

 rib. Two tanning nieilia were 

 used — brains and saguaro .seeds. 

 The former were kept dried into a 

 cake with dry grass until they were 

 needed, when they were softened 

 in water. The seeds were avail- 

 able at any time, as they were 

 always kept in store as an article 

 of food. 



The roots of the plant known 

 as urto, Krameria parvifolia, were 

 used to dve leather red. 



Fig. 41. Hairbrushes, a, Sacaton grass roots 

 b, maguoy fiber. 



Fire Bag 



Leather bags were iised to carry 

 flint and steel, and a specimen of these comparatively modern arti- 

 cles is shown in figure 42. It is ornamented with tin l)angles and 

 glass beads. 



Tobacco Pouches 



Tobacco was not recognized 1)y 

 the Pimas as a narcotic that would 

 stunt the growth in youth or injuri- 

 ously affect the heart as age ad- 

 vanced, nor yet as a solace for 

 leisure moments. It was to them 

 a plant of divine origin that in its 

 death (burning) released a spirit 

 (odor and smoke) that was wafted 

 by the breeze to the home of the 

 magic beings that shape man's 

 destiny. Throughout Pimeria one 

 may find sacred places where large numl)ers of cane cigarettes have 

 been deposited by worshipers. It is uncertain how far this form of 



Fig. 4-. Fin* bag. 



