480 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 137 



sometimes worn on the left side, perhaps by left-handed persons. 

 This bag was ordinarily ornamented after the manner of the belt 

 and garters. 



Adair (1775, p. 454) tells us that "the Choktah weave shot-pouches, 

 which have raised work inside and outside," and a Choctaw informant 

 of the writer said that a small pouch for powder and shot was 

 generally made of a gourd shaped like a citron upon which the skin 

 of an otter, raccoon, or mink had been shrunk and which had after- 

 ward been hardened. Another kind was made by sewing one of these 

 skins over a horn green, and allowing it to shrink on. The horn was 

 taken from an adult cow or ox, not so old that the horn would be 

 brittle or so young that it would be oversoft. It was put into water 

 and boiled until it was soft enough to work easily. Then the inside 

 of the horn would come out readily and they could bend the remain- 

 der, straighten it, ornament it, or spread it out by driving a stick 

 into it, handling it like gutta percha. A large pouch corresponding 

 to those used by the Creeks, was made of the skin of an otter, beaver, 

 raccoon, or fox and used for grease, gun wadding, patching, and so 

 on. The doctor carried such a pouch all of the time for his herbs 

 and powders. The biggest pouch of all was made of the entire hide 

 of a beaver. The mouth served as the opening and it was bent over 

 between the rest of the pouch and the wearer's body, the tail hanging 

 down at the side. My informant added that one could usually tell 

 to which band of Choctaw a man belonged by his pouch (Swanton, 

 1931 a, pp. 42-43). A missionary report of 1852 mentions among 

 ancient Choctaw productions "bags of the bark of trees, twisted and 

 woven by hand" (Foreman, 1934, p. 18). 



Speck has the following regarding Yuchi pouches : 



Rather large pouches, Idti', two of which are ordinarily owned by each man 

 as side receptacles, are made of leather, or goods obtained from the whites, and 

 slung over the shoulder on a broad strap of the same material. It has 

 already been said that various articles were thus carried about on the 

 person: tobacco and pipe, tinder and flint, medicinal roots, fetishes and 

 undoubtedly a miscellaneous lot of other things. The shoulder strap is 

 customarily decorated with the bull snake design by attaching beads, or 

 if the strap be woven, by beading them in. There seems to be a variety 

 in the bead decorations on the body of the pouch. Realistic portrayals of ani- 

 mals, stars, crescents and other objects have been observed, but the realistic 

 figure of the turtle is nearly always present either alone or with the others. 

 The turtle here is used conventionally in the same way that the bull snake is 

 used as the decorative theme on sashes and shoulder strap, that is, in imitation 

 of the mythical being Wind who went forth with a turtle for his side pouch'. 

 (Speck, 1909, p. 49.) 



