ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT. LV 



from farmers to hunters. Whether or not this be true, it is cer- 

 tain that the plains Indians depended largely on the buffalo 

 for subsistence, as well as for clothing and shelter, when first 

 seen by white men. Thus their industries, which, like those 

 of all primitive peoples, were adjusted directly to their condi- 

 tions, were controlled largely by the presence of the buffalo. 

 After the introduction of the horse, the Indians were able 

 more effectively than before to capture their sluggish and 

 naturally peaceful associates, and their industries came to be 

 still more profoundly aff'ected by the pro.ximity and wealth of 

 this source of food, clothing, and habitations. 



It was in the closing episodes of this stage in the history of 

 the plains Indians that the Reverend James Owen Dorsey 

 came in contact with the Omaha tribe, tirst as a missionary 

 and later as a scientific collaborator of the Bureau of Ethnology. 

 The Indians were still in the prescriptorial stage of culture ; 

 and thus some of their dwellings, in their arrangement, design, 

 and ornamentation ; their ceremonials, costumery, and furni- 

 ture, and some of their weapons and implements, were of 

 special interest. As Mr Dorsey observes, there were no sacred 

 rites connected with lodge-building or tent-making at the time 

 of examination; yet the symbolism elsewhere or othertime 

 connected with such ceremonials persisted. 



The more permanent lodges of the Omaha were of earth or 

 else of bark or mats; but the skin tents were common and 

 characteristic. In a general wa}' the tents of the northern 

 plains Indians are well known through the descriptions and 

 illustrations of many explorers; but few observers have noted 

 the minor features of construction with care, and Mr Dorsey's 

 descriptions are for this reason of special interest. So also 

 the descriptions of the calumet or ceremonial pipe, and of 

 the musical instruments, etc, are of value because of the 

 painstaking study given to minor details as well as to general 

 features. 



CASA GRANDE RUIN 



The territor}^ of the pueblos and cliff' houses merges south- 

 westward hito the land of low-lying plains, composed chiefly 

 of alluvial deposits, though isolated buttes and narrow yet 



